Raising prices?

And what I tried to explain was they don't. Back in december the linden traded in the 260's it's now over 300. If you still place the same USD value on your creation now as you did back in december your Linden price would rise 15% WITHOUT you getting a penny more for your work.

As I'm still tweaking things inside and trying to get enough 'clutter' to provide a realistic atmosphere without it being too overfull, it's set to minimum L$5 per player in the pot with only 10% going to me as a 'playing fee', Depending how busy it gets will depend on how - and if - I raise the prices.

Only a couple of hours left, if everything goes to plan.

*coughs*

Lewis

i can understand that... im guessing people who raise their prices either sell products in sl to make rl money or do some kind of daytrading? since i dont do either, the value of $L v USD doesnt really matter much to me.

No problem Dhalia, and a landmark isn't even needed! Simply look me up and its under my 'picks' or follow the slurl on my signature. Even if you don't see anything you like, the look is appreciated by me and my group.


Once hardware lighting is up on the grid (1.9.1 is released) then I will be putting together a new item for sale. I'll add you to the list to get a free one for the launch

wow thanks! and i asked for a LM cause im well... really forgetful! by the time i get home ill never remember ill try to remember to come back here for the link

Okay, I don't know if you missing it, or if the fact that your coming at it from a completely different view point that it's not occuring to you what they are doing.

They are basing their prices in USD based on their time and work. A content creator decides, that they are worth say $15/hr USD (Note: Most of the better content creators in SL could make significantly more then that outside SL.) So they then spend 10hrs working on some new widget, a set of clothes or a new skin.

They feel they've invested $150 USD in the creation of that item. They then make a guestimate (often wrong) about how quickly the item will sell, and how many they're likely to sell. Into the forumla goes other things, like how quickly they expect to recover the costs of creating that item.

In the end, they may decide that they're going to try and sell 1000 copies over the next 30 days to recover their $150 USD in time/effort spent. So they price it based on the current exchange rate (for arguments sake L$300 to $1 USD.)

$150 USD * L$100 = 45,000
45,000 / 1,000 = L$45/ea

If the exchange rate suddenly drops to L$350 to $1 USD, the same content creator would have to adjust their linden pricing *up* to receive the same amount of USD for their time/effort. Or roughly L$52/ea.


These people aren't being greedy. They just happen to live in th Real World, and have real world costs -- such as Tier, Account Fees, Internet Connection Fees, a desire to eat on a regular basis, and have a home to live in.


Now, if someone creates a product -- and if because that product got suddenly popular -- as a result they raised their prices, then *that* I'd call greedy...

dhalia, just because you might live in secondlife and measure the value of your time in L$ doesn't mean everyone else does. the majority of the best content creators in sl are foreigners. they visit SL on work visas. they value their time in USD.

I'll drop one just in case

ok i can understand that, i really can. Once again im not trying to belittle anyone. Out of curiousity are you one of the ones raising prices?

And really... doesnt it take more time and effort to go through and change all those prices? I know someone said (either in this thread or another) that its true we dont have to go around and change stickers, but the thought of going through sl and slx and changing all my prices gives me a headache and doesnt seem that like that much of a big deal. Take my $50L product for example: is it worth my time to go and change the price in several places to 53L (or whatever)?

And I'd like to know... are these people upping prices because they sell their L? Or because they make their living through sl? I'd really like to hear from someone raising their prices and hear what they have to say.

I'd say there are 4 basic levels of economic interest in SL sellers.

1 Paid Entertainment Only

These people don't cash out for any reason. If they want more lindens than they have they will buy them. They pay any account charges out of pocket and don't look for their in game income to compensate. Since they sell for amusement the only reason to raise prices is "they feel like it"

2 Free Entertainment Only

These people would be looking to make playing SL a net zero activity They want their ingame income to equal their ingame expenditures and and any USD account charges. These people would raise their prices if their income in lindens was no longer enough to cover what they wanted to buy in world and any USD expenses they incured.

3 Hobby Income

These people aren't relying on what they make from the game, but they do want to get a little extra spending money out of their time investment. These people would raise their prices if they no longer felt what they were getting out of it was worth what they were putting in.(ex I had enough to rent 3 movies last month this month I can only rent 2 I feel I'm putting in enough effort to be worth 3)

4 Living Income

These people use SL as their primary source of income. They would raise prices if they no longer made enough to meet their RL needs and goals.

Level 1 pricing is entirely uninterested in the exchange rate. The higher you climb the levels the more exchange rate bound pricing would be. And obviously people can fit between levels or take features from more than one.

thanks for breaking it down like that Sir. It does give me a better insight!

To argue the morality of raising a price is silly. (So I usually do it only in the deepest bdsm dungeons LOL - NOT!)

The only person qualified to decide the current relative value of a shirt is the person in need of a shirt.

It has nothing to do with designers getting paid "enough". There's no set fair dollar per hour rate that I know of. You like? You buy... Saw a better price someplace else? Walk 4 meters to the next stall.

yw

That is the biggest downside in SL.. The lack of commodities to
create a base line for the manufacture of goods/services. With the
ability to create everything in SL for free, any price that is charged
is determined by an arbitrary method or an assumed value for the
developer's time to create the product.

The L$ has dropped considerably again in the past few hours. If it reaches 320:1, I'm going to raise my prices again.

Where is your shop Mad?

In Eaton, top right corner.

Thanks

edit: OO guitars That I may get.

bought some glasses love the box collection

I have raised my prices because I now base my prices on the dollar not the linden.

I don't use Linden in-world as I have every item I need and do not particularly wish to own land at the moment - so what do I do with my Linden ? I sell it. ( And yes it does go to pay some RL costs )

So when I make something I now set a US$ price for it - what that is in Linden depends on the rate of exchange.

Am i wrong in doing it ?

Some say yes - some say no.

You get the same product I get the same amount - that's my thoughts

Until someone like me comes along, copies your product, sells for lindens, not caring about USD value, and takes all your customers.

Thats why it is called a marketplace with competition

Just putting it out there

I am not proposing to raise prices but there is some interesting views on this topic

Apart from the ever lowering value of the Linden $ this is now compounded by the lowering value of the dollar against the British Pound. 3 months ago a pound was worth 1.72 $USD now its worth 1.85 $USD.

Brits are seeing the end value hit even more that our Cousins across the water. I guess we need to take our vacations in the USA

Same thing here in Canada, the Canadian Dollar recently hit over 91 cents to the US$ a value that has not been seen here since 1972. Sure if you are buying L$ its great more bang for you buck, for sellers not so good. Me, I'll sit on my L$ for now thanks.

At least the value isn't falling as much as the Linden itself.