Buying "Quality"

Let's say you're advising a newbie on buying merchandise in SL. What are your best tips? Are they different for different items? What should someone look for who's new and doesn't know reputations?

Oh, and look for the new M2. My new column debuts this week.

M2 in the M2

For someone new with limited bucks - go see the item in world - if its clothing see someone wearing it - if its a gadget - watch it being demo'ed.. for furniture or houses - make sure you SEE it in world - or test it in world.

I put as much of my stuff out on display as I can - I encourage folks to try it out or watch it being tried out to make sure it's what they want and operates how they expect.

The very best tip, possibly, may be: Get Help!



I've advised new folk NOT to buy my 350ish prim Chateau for their first land, &c.

But I'd say... a big part of user retention is allowing the new person to forge their identity - set up their avatar in a manner that is comfortable and proper to them.

This requires almost encyclopedic knowledge of what is out there in the world, if you are not a graphic designer yourself.

I would say, some of the most wonderful things in Second Life never graced a Classified or a Find advertisement. Often not even available for sale, but frequently free for the asking.

Count down until the shameless self-endorsement of merchandise and endorsement of friends' merchandise start pouring in ...

3....2....1....

I tell them to not buy anything including land. Don't buy or rent anything until you've wandered the grid, toured a hundred sims on foot, attended a months worth events and met at least a few dozen people that've stopped to talk with you at length.

Being assured that they have all the time in the world to shop and that there is an endless supply of rental land on tap, they go their way happy in the knowledge that they don't actually every have to buy anything in Second Life. They just might find that they have a knack for building or clothes designing after taking the time to look around and get a feel for the place.

The GNU Dollar store has some good things (different things, too, not just clothes).

Buy Freebies!

I'm torn between the desire to do right by other people and the wicked psychosis to gyp newbies of all their money. Add to that the fact that I'm CEO of my corp. and have a serious case of brand loyalty, and you have one messed-up opinion that I ought not to give.

Quality is a difficult concept to define. ISO 9000 defines it as 'conformance to requirements'.

I like to think 'fitness for purpose' also sums it up quite well. The problem is of course that one person's quality may not be another person's.

There can never be advice that would be 'one size fits all' so when a newbie wants to know about something you simply have to ask what they want! How to effectively ask questions and gather requirements is a whole new ball game however....

Ah, I forgot!

Yadni's Junkyard!

Hey, a LOT of quality stuff there for $L 1. And no, I have NO affiliation with him at all.

Home Depo is okay imho. In addition the seperate site Textures R US are also good.

And for general web browsing SL Exchange.

For people who want to buy or rent land in acceptable neighbourhoods without grief, but in exchange are prepared to accept some constraints on what they can do, consider Anshe Chung's private sims.

And finally when I get going my own prefab houses.......

For me, without a moment's hesitation: get to know who you're buying from.

It accomplishes several things, including getting a feel for one's customer service, and not the least of which is: you may make a great new friend in SL!

A couple ways to tell quality in items you buy (or see inworld), regardless of your budget:

For clothing, check the seams between front to back (goes from the armpit down). If they line up and you don't notice the transition, it's a good sign the designer put some time into it.

For objects, check how the prims (primitive shapes, or elemental building blocks that make up an object) line up. If there are no gaps or weird shimmering textures then it's probably high quality.

For scripted objects, observe people using it or try it out if you can. If you see bizzare error messages, stay away.

These don't mean you'll never get ripped off or disappointed, but they're good indicators.

Many good designers/builders offer discounts so do a lot of shopping around before you spend your cash until you get to know what to look for.

Yes, I always advise new residents to go there first before even thinking of buying elsewhere. Not least so that they can avoid the freebie sellers.

Yadni's is where Shagz took me first!

I still go there to get the updated freebies. I have quite the freebie collection. I go to the other freebie places as well.

The freebie clothes are most of my wardrobe. I fiddle around with them, accessorize them, mix them up, etc. Those, and the wonderful outfits Reddish has given me, which I consider my "good" clothes, lol.

coco

Freebie places are good for newbies as well because it gives them a clear idea of the kind of items that are thought to be so basic that they literally aren't worth charging money for.

I find this really helps with clothes because then when you see an item of similar quality being sold for hundreds and hundreds of lindens, you *know* you probably are not getting value for your dollar.

It gives you a kind of "base quality level" to judge your future purchases against.

Yeh, I send people there, plus dump a whole bunch of stuff I think is cool at the time on them myself.

If I run into new folk, I try to drop some things on them that I've made and sell or have sold, so they get a feel for what things look like that aren't freebies. And I advise them to visit places like the Shelter, where they can pick up free items and talk to newb-friendly folks like Travis.

The real irony of buying things in SL is that often the fancy-schmantzy pictures of items for sale in SL have been Photoshopped and enhanced to the point that they may not always be a true representation of the items that are being sold. One good idea is to look for clothing sellers that show both the front and back views of a garment, and side views showing how seams, collars, etc. match up are even better. But Siggy's suggestion about seeing the actual item in-world is the best, because that will give the buyer the most accurate idea of what he/she's actually going to get when he/she purchases it.

And, as others like Khamon have said, I advise people to wait and spend time looking around before making many purchases, especially ones which will involve outlay of real dollars. So many things that I've paid money for in SL I regretted later because I realized I could make something that was just as good quality or better. (Not everything, mind you, but many things.)

As a greeter I keep a folder of landmarks for noobies. I always include De Designs for the guys, Lashed for everyone that wants hair ( I throw in a free lesson on making bald bases), Akim for color-changing shoes and Yadni's junkyard for everything else.

I second the recommendation to browse SL Exchange, and SL Boutique as well. It's a good way to see a wide variety of items easily all in one place. Most of the sellers there put links to their shops, so if you see something you like you can often (for non-clothing items) go see the item actually rezzed in game to make sure it's as good as its pic. But be sure to buy through SL Exchange and SL Boutique too -- they're great services and I'd hate to see them go out of business.