Warning: Search For Your Classified

Yes, my classified ad disappeared again. But this time, things were a bit different.

In the past, when my classified was not renewed, it would disappear from my profile as well. So this was how I would check for it. Every morning - and particularly around the rewnewal day - I check my profile to make sure my classified ads were running. When I see that my classified ad is gone, I recreate it.

This week my ad did not disappear from my profile.

After two days of massively reduced sales (on the order of 80% fewer sales) I decided to search the classfieds to see if I had some new competition. My ad was not found. I checked my profile ... and it was still there. But it did not show up in the classified search.

Last night, in an attempt to solve this I pressed the "update" button instead of renewing. This seemed to work ... my ad was now coming up in search.

But this morning when I searched again ... my ad was gone. Still listed in my profile, but not showing up in search.

So, I deleted my classified ad and recreated it.

Do yourself a favor and search for your classified ad. Looking in your profile is not enough.

Did you try doing the search multiple times? I've noticed that once in a while my ad won't show up in a search, even though it's showing up fine most of the time. At one point last night, I tried searching "animation" to check and it wasn't just my ad missing from the search results, barely anything showed up. I immediately tried the search again and it was fine.

The Classified search is clearly chugging.

Thanks for the reminder. I still haven't replaced mine since the first time it went missing.

Thanks for the warning. I'll be checking tonight.

In point of fact, this entire Classifieds issue has been rather demoralizing. I have a very new business launched barely a month ago. During the first few weeks I had a very steady rate of viistors, with at least a half-dozen requests for landmarks, which I took to be a good sign of interest among potential customers.

Then visits took a dive, as did LM requests. And the only sales I've made have been through SL Exchange.

The problem is, I haven't been in business long enough to establish a pattern on which to base expectations. Did interest drop off because people aren't finding my products on Search? Or have I simply run through the small pool of people who find my niche-product of interest?

Or did I shoot myself in the foot by changing my ad? The L$50/wk ad wasn't doing so bad, so then I upped it to L$200/wk. Bad timing or bad decision? Either way, I'll probably have to go back to the cheapest ad because I'm not making enough money to handle that financial drain much longer.

There are so many variables that it's hard to figure out exactly what is responsible for my business slump. If I'm just trying to sell something no one wants, then I need to know that so I can decide whether or not to continue. But if Classifieds issues are killing me, then I won't be so discouraged. Frustrated, angry, but not discouraged.

Oh yes, I searched many times, using several different key words including the name of my shop. The ad was no longer listed. The only difference this time around, was that it was still showing up in my profile.

SHE IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

I just went in and discovered that one of my classifieds was listed on my profile but NOT IN SEARCH. Other people could not see it.

coco

The effect on my sales was dramatic. Monday was a record day for me. Tuesday (the day my ad was to renew) my sales were suddenly halved. Wednesday and Thursday my sales were down at around 20% of normal. Now that I have restored my ad, sales have spiked right back up to their normal levels.

So, just be careful everyone. You cannot check your profile to see if your classifieds are currently running. You must use search. And you cannot merely update the classified from your profile (this only works temporarily). You must delete your ad and re-create it.

I sure wish Linden Lab was paying attention to the forums these days.

ouch! Thanks for the notice. I assumed since there were in my profile, they would be fine. Now I'll have to check.

I found that mine was still there, both profile and classifieds under search. The odd thing I found was today I got a refund for the ad that went missing 2 weeks ago. Nuttin like speed huh SL?

My classified have gone missing 3 times now even though I have the auto renew button checked. I have started to check my profile everyday and have a notecard made up with all my ad descriptions so I don't have to remember what I said in them every time I recreate. Never thought to actualy do a search for them though. My sales have taken a huge hit in the last few weeks. This really sucks.

Nor have I, mostly due to the pissiness and frustration I have over the fact that three of them disappeared without a trace and we never got acknowledgement or credit for it.

I mean, hell, classifieds work GREAT when they exist, but they are just flaky as hell right now and could turn out to be thrown away money....

Wish I had done that....

I don't blame you. For me it's just because I have some new products to feature and haven't had the time to do a proper ad yet. Hopefully when I do get around to it, it won't go poof a few days later.

In my case, I do not believe I was ever charged for an ad that was not renewed. My ads have simply not been auto-renewed. Linden Lab did post something a few weeks ago about having discovered the reason for this, and said they had made changes that should fix the problem. It appears not to have worked.

I guess it could be that I failed to notice the lack of a charge in my transaction history We have thousands of transactions in the last few weeks, and some classifieds that did renew, so I haven't bothered spending the time to go through it with a fine-tooth comb. But I strongly feel like I remember seeing the charge on the day of renewal...