Selling on Xstreet just got more expensive

OMG - you mean like a REAL Market Website?

This is a privately owned forum. There is no freedom of speech.

Gee..remember when Des asked what we thought the November Bombshell would be?

LL has lost the original vision, the original dream. They sold out to corporate greed and this is the result.

yep. Check the Posting Guidelines, here, in the Blog, and in the XStreet-SL item listing guidelines. It is forbidden to link to ANY e-commerce site that LL does not own. Period. No exceptions.

That anti-competitive change was enacted what the killed the XStreet Forums and forcably mooved that to the Commerce Flog. WE can't do anything anti-competitive here, yet THEY can enact anti-competitive rules against us.

Thanks, Pearl. I've decided to reactivate my items since none of this is happening tomorrow. I will be looking for retail (or freebie retail) space. I guess I'm going into retailing whether I like it or not.

I stand corrected! Wow, guess they slipped that interesting little "rule" under my nose awhile back. Shame LL, shame!

It's a shame that most can't see it as a good thing. But then, it wouldn't matter what they propose - everyone is going to complain. A ton of people complained about the freebie stuff clouding the marketplace...here's the solution. It would actually help some small merchants with great product to offer, and get them to price at a market value that will gain them some profits for motivation to continue.

6 months ago, I was making a good profit....from hard work. Then I started reading the forums. You don't like this, you don't like that....you can't do this, you can't do that....that's not acceptable....this isn't acceptable.....LL this, LL that....the economy is dead....SL is dead....no more customers....BULLCRAP.

48 hours off the negative, consistent whining forums....and I can make a profit again. Quit bitching. If you spend half your days whining, instead of DOING....well, hell NO....your business won't make it.

If all they wanted to do was to keep the freebies from "clouding the marketplace", then all they had to do was to shove all of the freebie items over to another part of the marketplace and out of the general search. Make a new freebies section, and only allow searching and browsing from that section. It's simple.

What they are doing is forcing a minimum price on "freebies" to increase the bottom-line, and to increase sales of L$ (with USD/EUR/etc.) thus helping the bottom line. They want to eek out more profit. It's an attempt to defacto remove all freebies from the store because they want more RL profits. Combining this with outlawing the mentioning of non-xstreetsl merchants (and buying out the major players awhile back), it's anti-competitive behavior at best.

One would need to be blind to see what is coming next. A TAX on purchases inworld at shops or on transactions. Why else would they have used draconian measures to prevent competition from offworld sites?

Agreed. This is a sad day indeed.

I do not normally succumb to "the sky is falling", but I would say that in my nearly three years here, this is perhaps one of the most catastrauphic decisions LL has ever made. The repercussions of this will not be good for the vast majority -- including LL.

The rich become richer and the poor even poorer. How SL is reflecting RL these days.

Ahhh well.

And regarding the idea that XStreet is not intended to replace the in world shopping experience, I have this to say to LL: Then improve the SEARCH feature!

YOu guys- there was a huge jump on _____ Linden just now on Second Lfe Commerce Merchants- You shd have heard said Linden trying to explain how this was all such a good idea and good for the community. OH yeah- the spin doctors at work..

From what I see here, it sounds like freebies won't be charged. The posting says "non-free" items will be charged.

Update: read the linked URL. I was wrong.

Wouldn't matter. That would create a fuss, too. Anything they do will create a fuss. You and I have no idea why they make decisions, and it is not for us to analyze. They offer a service. If you don't like it.....don't use it. I happen to like it.

Right now, I'm delisting items that I haven't sold in a while or are so old that I was going to delist them during the Christmas rush anyways.

When this goes live, it's buh-bye Xstreet. Note, I said, "when," rather than "if." They've already made up their mind what they want to do. This asking for "feedback" is the getting everyone ticked, letting them complain and moan.. then by the time they implement it, we'll all be like, *sigh* Okay... and go along with it.

This time, not happening for me. It goes live, I leave Xstreet.

And up until now, it has worked. Every BS plan that they have rolled out has been accepted, no matter how much it is hated. Will this be the time it finally bites them in the Linden?

Stay Tuned.

Normally, I would have agreed with you. Vote with your pocketbook...delist your stuff in xstreetsl, and goto the competition.

But there is that little clause that forbids advertising of services that competes with xstreetsl. It would be as if the government had outlawed private industry, and sought to control the systems of advertising and commerce.

How will newbies know about alternatives? What additional restrictions or rules will be put into place that outlaw competition?

So much for: "Hey, why not just put it up on XStreet and see if there's any interest? What's the worst that could happen?"

/me sighs.

Every noob I help out I tell them about the real merchant sites and to stay away from xstreesl like the plauge the words getting out slowly... but getting out still

If I were a merchant that was going to foolishly yank all my stuff off of Xstreet tonight....then I would hope that the site wanting my business had the marketing tools in place to reach those newbies. Not my concern, to do the merchant web site's marketing for them. If you don't have the marketing tools in place....I would find another alternative. But then, I'm not in the category that is yanking stuff off Xstreet tonight.

While I agree that no matter what LL does some people will complain, I do feel in this case the complaints are mostly justified. This just reminds me of the OS sim debacle all over again.

More intelligent product categories, a better search, and a distinct freebie area separate from the main search would go a long way to clearing up xstreet.

Instead, LL decides to tackle the problem by taking a little more money out of resident's pockets. They already take a percentage of sales, yet now they want an additional listing fee for each item?

This, combined with the merchant survey of last week, and it's hard not to feel we've stumbled into the age of Nicklendimeya Linden.

Well, I don't get it, Autumn. For people who describe themselves as "merchants", they seem to fall into two different categories.....it's either a game....or it's a business for them. Both, should be acceptable. If it's not acceptable for it to be treated as a business, then they need to take away the currency exchange, and do not allow money out of SL. Simple as that.

It seems as though those who treat it as a business are in the minority....but I think that they just aren't speaking up. If they go into one of those commerce threads, and voice their opinions on how they see something like this helping....and that includes small merchants....they will be labeled with names such as "elitist snob"....they will be told that half the thread participants are not going to shop at their stores....and that they are greedy....and that they are out to crush the little guy/gal.....you're just not going to hear their voice.....that's all.

I work SL kind of like I work Ebay. I expect fees. Fees keep me on my toes. It makes you produce effectively. Neither fee structure is exorbitant....in fact, quite the contrary.....considering that you are reaching a worldwide base. You can start a business in SL with absolutely nothing. That's rare. And I'm tired of hearing people complain about that opportunity. The problem with the nickel and dime concept, is that so many have had it for free for so long....that they are not going to accept that.

OK....so it was profitable for you. For free....I assume? And now you ditch it...because you can't take profits away for nothing.

I have a very low turnover on Xstreet: the whole thing is just hobby money for me. My biggest 'selling' item is a freebie, and, I'll admit, it's a promo item.

I just looked at the figures. Based on the last six months' sales, the proposed charges would reduce net by 36%. If I de-list the freebie, I still face losses of over 15%. I'm clearly not the kind of business this move is intended to help. Somehow, I can't see my turnover rising by enough to cover this loss.

I'm still debating whether to scrap the freebie entirely when this comes in, as I've no idea how many extra sales its presence generates. Probably not enough to justify the cost of listing. I can see L$10 items becoming the new freebie, listed not to necessarily be sold, but to give sellers exposure on the site.

The main problem is that if you have one product in many variations, you are faced with having to pick which variations you're going to sell on XSL. Most of the "bloat" on XSL are thing slike color variations. The best way to remove the bloat would be by letting people organize their stuff into groups, so they can have one entry for a jacket, say, and then 20 color variations behind it.

If someone was making money, it wouldn't be for free, as Xstreet charges commission. The only people who use Xstreet for free are those who only list freebies.