SLBoutique Search Issues...

I've been selling particle effects fairly easily on Slexchange.com, and recently I had the opportunity to try out Slboutique.com. From what I had read, it sounded like the two sites were different, but more or less equal in terms of good and bad points.

That has not been my experience. After several days on SLB, I had no sales whatsoever. Now, this is something any seller may experience and I accept that. However, I wondered what my customers would experience when using SLB. So, I attempted to use the site by searching with keywords that might lead to my items.

No matter what search terms I used, I was unable to show any of my items. I even would scroll through dozens of screens, hoping to see one on, say, page 48. But no, they didn't appear on any of them! I even searched on my very unique product names - and did not receive any results at all!

Figuring that I did something wrong, I viewed my entire inventory via the standard slb.com/avatar_name and did successfully see the items. I even bought one myself as a test, successfully.

I suspect that my no-sales is a result of no one being able to bump into my products via search. So, I sent an IM to Commerce Leader, as instructed, asking for assistance. Today, a full day later, I have received no response from them.

Worse, I noticed that the list of new and popular items seems suspiciously familiar! The same as the other day! I think their database is completely broken - and the lucky vendors who happen to show up on their search are making all the sales.

Is this the same experience others are having, or am I crazy?

I for one have not seen these issues...but a few points:
1. This is the building forum, for issues and questions regarding building
2. SLboutique is a 3rd party site and therefore really should be asked on thier forums.

Like you I very successfully sell on SLExchange, Arminasx. Any time I've needed help, the response has been right there.

Like you I decided to try SLBoutique. From attempting to create an account, through actually getting the vendor in-world to listing goodies for sale it was a challenge to say the least.

Then when finally organised (having listed 8 items and having only 4 show up even though 8 appear in the inventory box and list), having text appear almost constantly in-world informing me the box is ready to be used blah blah, no sales, can't find them when I search using product names as well as generic key words - I gave up.

I deleted all items from the account, transferred the money I had placed there and tried to work out how to delete the account with no success. I emailed, asking for instructions to help me cancel the account some 4 days ago with no response yet.

No doubt there are many people who swear by SLB. I'll just stay with SLExchange, though.

True, but SLB doesn't seem to HAVE forums, and there are no forums at secondlife.com that are close to this topic. I figured that people who build things may also sell them too, and that they may have something to say about it. Sorry for the intrusion, otherwise!

Actually, if you look under the Resident Conversation heading, which incidentally appears on the main page above the Content Creation section, you'll see the very first forum is called Resident Run Websites. As SL Boutique is just such a site, discussing this issue in that forum would be proper.

You're right that builders sell things SL Boutique, but so do animators, scripters, and texture artists. This post would be no more appropriate in those forums though than it is here. Granted, the description of the Resident-Run Websites forum does say "If you have your own site..." so it's not exactly a direct invitation for this sort of thing either, but it's a hell of a lot closer than "Discuss building techniques".

In any case, I believe SLB has been having some database issues in the last few days. Keep in mind that the SLB staff is rather small, everyone's human, and that the site is a completely free service. They don't want it to be broken any more than you do, and they're working as fast as they can. While I can understand your frustration, I don't think it's quite complaint-worthy that you haven't yet received a response, only a day since you sent in your IM. Imagine how many other people are probably sending IM's about the exact same thing. Sure, as consumers we always want instantaneous service, and we always want to be treated like we're the only customer in the world, but we also have to take a breath every once in a while and realize that that expectation is not realistic.

I'll mention this thread to the right people at ESC, if that helps you at all. It won't make the database get fixed any faster though.

Thanks for your reply! That clears up a lot of things for me, and I agree completely with your analysis.

A friend and I both noticed this and Contacted Commerce Leader about it. We were told they are indeed having issues and are working on it.

Hi folks! We do recognize that browsing and searching for stuff on SLBoutique is not the ideal experience, and work is being done as we speak to improve that. We'll have it all fixed up as soon as we can. Thanks so much for your patience!