Advertising ???

I don't know, but the issue may be that you're reselling and not creating? Perhaps there are already too many others out there selling what you sell?

Ah, think you're missing the point here Freckles. The Lucky Chair is mainly a temptation to hang around. Whilst doing this, visitors might chat, browse or .. buy!
If they won something or even heard woots of joy from some other lucky winner then they've found something else to remember about the shop.
It's the places you remember that you'll go back to .. and it's the customers who come back again and again who keep a shop open rather than the occasional one-off visitors.
A good atmosphere, good content and good prices I think in that order of preference make ashop a 'hit'

That's possible. I'm still looking for other products.

The Lucky Chaire is activated.

Every 30 minits a FREE JET-SKI.

For sale in our shop for 150l$

Do a search for ZoHa PlaZa.

As Zaphod has already intimated, this has got much more to do with the quality/price of your goods than anything else.... but the chair will certainly bring eyeballs to your store, and any SL retailer will tell you that's half the battle. Once they're there, you fail or succeed on the merit of your own goods and service

Incidentally, if you haven't done so yet, I recommend popping into as many of the Lucky Chair groups as you can find, and telling them about your chair - just to get the chair hoppers onto the scent (the groups that I mentioned in my earlier posting are good starting places). The fact that you have a prize that'll be of interest to male chair-hoppers will also work in your favour (the majority of chair prizes out in the world tends to be female clothing - so male chair hoppers tend to sieze whatever prize opportunities they get.... there's even one or two groups exclusively dedicated to finding "male" chair prizes!) .... oh, and check out the "Lucky Chair Station" that's run by Popfuzz Bamboo (should be findable in search)... she's built a rather nifty client/server system that collates current chair offers around the grid - another good source of publicity.

As far as freebies go, my own outlook is that people tend to value items that took them a bit of effort to obtain (even if that "effort" was something as trivial as finding a chair with their initial letter on it!)... it's the old MMORPG grind/skinner box psychology - the very fact that the goodies aren't up for grabs to all comers kind of makes people covet them a little more than they would an outright freebie. In my clothing stores, I tend to dish out freebies on an "only-for-newbies" basis (using a simple script that checks how many days the avatar has been in-world). For older avatars, I veer more towards Lucky chairs and similar devices (like the MobVend!) to distribute the "freebies". I've found this combination to be really successfull; I think it helps me get plenty of sample products out in the world, but without deminishing the (perceived) value of my merchandise.

In my experience, unless you have a *really* strong brand (and I can think of maybe a dozen fashion houses in SL that would get away with it) free T-Shirts will be binned and ignored by anybody more than a few days old. I wouldn't waste the effort on them.

Oh... one other good marketing technique with the chairs - used in several locations - is to use the lucky chair next to a vendor which offers the same merchandise ... effectively, it's a "buy it now" option for people too impatient to wait for their letter to come up.... or, use the chair to distribute a less popular colour of an outfit, or a small subset of a particular product range - good way to lead your chair users into follow-up sales

Best of luck with your business!

Shep.

I allready did it.

I made a small pool in the shop with 2 jet-ski's in it for sale at 150l$.

Next to the pool is the magic chair.

How does this work ?

How do I announce my lucky chair into it ?

You'll need to ask popfuzz about that... I didn't make it (!)

Zoha, I stopped by your mall out of curiosity. Just a little hint - those 'herb' plants that you have scattered around your mall are illegal pyramid schemes and against TOS, as well as against US law. And they are a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I turn around and leave every business I see that has those. This might be part of your problem. I'd remove them before the Lindens get hold of you.

This is really more of a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) type of operation than a classic pyramid scheme. There is an actual, tangible product, and it's not priced outrageously high at $L200. Also, the "downline" sellers get a bigger take than the original creator. This does not have the legally accepted characteristics of a pyramid scheme.

But still..

Actually LL has flat out said these things are pyramid schemes. I've done my homework.

From the old Linden answers forum:

/139/d4/158261/1.html

They can say it is a pyramid scheme, but that doesn't make it one. They can still say it's not allowed, that DOES make it so.

Perhaps your idea of a tangible product at a reasonable price differs from mine and Linden Labs'. I do not consider a virtual representation of a pot plant to be worth L$200.

Besides, to be a legitimate MLM scheme, the product has to be purchased and used by people outside the MLM group. Does anyone buy these things to have them sit and look pretty? I certainly don't think these things would pass the FTC's 70% test for end user distribution of goods.

I didn't say "reasonable", I said "not outrageous". It is more similar to MLM than it is to Pyramid, although you're right, it probably doesn't quite measure up technically there either. (However, each recipient has the opportunity to play or pass)

This is a perfectly sustainable business, and there is an actual tangible product being received in exchange for money during each transaction. This does not a pyramid scheme make.

Linden Lab's idea of a reasonable price for what is clearly a tangible product is irrelevant. So is the fact that it's a pot plant.

I still dislike the idea, but I disagree with Chadrick's assessment. Pyramid schemes have the inescapable result of folks at the lower end of the money stream having lost their money, with nothing to show for it. In this case, every single participant receives exactly what they paid for.

Meaning, a $200L representation of a pot plant is a tangible product? That's fair enough in the SL world. Legally, I still think it leans more toward a pyramid scheme than a legit MLM. But then again, LL lets people flout the law in other areas all the time, i.e. internet gambling.

I will stick with my whole it's wrong and people shouldn't do it because it's against TOS argument, cuz a Linden said so, and it's hard to get a straight answer out of them.

Please don't call it a sustainable business- it's all about suckering the newbs with yet another make money fast pitch, who in turn sucker other newbs. And they're damn ugly. Do you really want to encourage people to use these things and take the chance that LL will come down on them for it?

Zoha - sorry I hijacked your thread. Bottom line - it's risky having all those money making pot plants sitting around your mall.

Yeah - it is risky, regardless of the technical fine points, as LL has clearly stated their position on this particular product. I agree that it is pure slime. There's probably another place and time to continue discussing this, however I have brought this thread off topic much more than you have Annabelle, and for that I apologize to Zoha and the rest.

No problem, (it's free advertising for my thread )

I am new to SL, trying to make money like everybody.
I still have a lot to learn.

I have removed the herbs. (10 in total on all my lands )
In fact it is a piramid/mlm system and that's illegal in real life.

If those "herb" plants grew flowers you could pick, dry and then smoke (much like the real life plants they are imitating) they would be worth a lot more than $200L. All someone needs to do is add a script to these plants that grows flowers that are pickable and smokable and it would be a perfectly valid product. I have seen joints for sale in SL for $40 and you would expect a plant to grow a lot more than 5 joints.

That's why. The quality of the product and service is the reason why people shop, return, and tell their friends. In SL, your business is centered around word of mouth. This is partly due to the fact that there are more shops and malls then one can go to and the limitations of the search function.

It's pretty easy for shoppers to tell you are reselling. This in of itself looks hinky. Are these freebies? Are these poses sold with full rights designed to be sold IN a piece of furniture? Are these textures sold with the purpose for builders to use within the buildings they sell? Selling items made by other creators is not looked on well by the majority of SL residents.

If every item you resell has permission to sell alone (not just by the set permissions) how do your shoppers know? To me logically, it doesn't sound right that anyone would give someone full unaltered resale permssion of their hard work.

Fact of the matter is people will think they are being scammed.

The situation is different as regards poses and textures. If I buy a texture, I expect to be able to use it in an item I sell on. That's what I buy it for. But I don't sell on the texture, and my customer cannot extract the texture from the item, so the original texture creator loses no business. With a pose, in most cases I would assume it can be extracted, so the original creator of the pose would indeed lose control over it.

I'm glad we could help, even if we did veer off topic a bit.

Regarding the reselling - it would be worthwhile to visit the Ivory Tower of Prims to learn about building, and make some original items to add to your mall. The building and texturing forums are also very helpful in that respect. There are a lot of malls/stores that resell the same items, so if you can put in some original creations for people to see when they first come in, they may stay and shop a little longer.

Both can loose control over it based on the person who bought the origional. A responsible furniture creator changes the permissions before selling it. Then, while the pose can be taken out, it either breaks the furniture or can't be given to anyone else. Just like a responsible builder doesn't just sell the textures that they bought.

Hi there,

I'd like to suggest MyAd as a diferent way to advertise. Our system track clicks, redirect to websites or teleport avatars. After the marketing period you can send out a direct marketing to each customer offering new services just like RL. Our focus is not only generate visibility and clicks but sales through our products.

I invite you to visit us http://www.MySystem.com.br/SL click in MyAd.

We also have a plent of new product such as Plasma TV, Billboard and Tele Plasma.

If you have any doubt please contact me.

Tks

Kracatoa Alonzo
[email]KracatoaAlonzo@gmail.com[/email]

Are you Looking for land?
http://www.MySystem.com.br/SL