Shopping in SL is fun and if you are a regular player, it is necessary but shopping in-world and on SL Marketplace can also be very frustrating. We talked with several heavy duty shoppers and merchants to get some tips to make your buying and selling experience go as smooth as possible.
Complaints and Advice from Customers to Seller's:
" If I am shopping, I will only buy items that are copy and modify. I usually only shop on the marketplace so if I want to transfer something to a friend, I will send it as a gift. I have several sims and a club so I am always buying furniture, buildings and décor. Nothing is more frustrating than rezzing something out that doesn't appear or looking for an item that SL ate and there isn't a copy! Also, many times I will get an item that is a little to big or too small for what I need it for, I want the option to resize it. Creator's can set their items to copy/modify but no transfer."
" I hate it when a photo of something looks nothing like the actual product. Recently, I bought an outfit because it looked so good in the photo. I don't know if they photo shopped the picture or what, but the actual outfit was hideous. The fabric looked like burlap, not the nice tan suede like in the picture and the details were burry and not set right. I wasted $L550 on something I can not wear."
" Stop putting non related keywords in the descriptions of your merchandise. If I type in "swimming pool" in search, I don't want to see a sofa, a fountain, window treatments, etc, on the same page as swimming pools."
" Clothing designer's need to always offer a demo. I learned from experience never to buy an outfit without trying in on first. An outfit that may fit and look good on my friend, may not look good on my shape. I see really cute clothes that I would buy if I could try a demo first."
" Good customer service is important. If I have a problem with a purchase and send a notecard to the seller, I expect a response within a reasonable amount of time. I have bought things that didn't work, only to find out the seller hasn't been in Second Life for a few years. If you can not provide help with your products, take them off the Marketplace. I have even bought items that didn't get delivered and contacted the seller, never to hear from them or get a redelivery."
" I will find something I like and then it won't have a prim count listed. I wonder why it isn't listed. Is the seller trying to hide something, like high prims. I stopped buying anything that doesn't have the prims listed."
" People need to take their old, outdated stuff off the Marketplace. I hate having to choose the "newest to oldest" category instead of "relative" then I get items on the page that have nothing to do with the item I searched for."
" I do most of my shopping inworld, it's one of my favorite activities. My biggest complaint is getting lost in big stores and having the landing miles way from the actual store. I don't want to waste my time walking around an entire sim looking for a shop. If I haven't spotted it within a few minutes, I tp out and go somewhere else. Giant warehouse stores that don't have departments clearly marked is another gripe of mine. If you sell men's and women's clothing, shoes, hair and other accessories, there should be a teleport system right at the entrance that takes you to each department or large signs that can be seen from the front door. I am there to do some serious shopping, not mark up traffic for you."
" I hate creator's that are rude when I ask a question about one of their items I bought. I paid them money not the other way around. And saying to me, "No one else has had a problem with it and I sell hundreds." does not correct my issue. I will not buy another item from a seller that get's rude to me for a simple question and I will warn all my friends about them."
Complaint's and Advice from Merchants to Buyers:
" I try my best to put out a quality product and double check the permissions, on the rare occasion when I missed setting the permissions as advertised then get a 1 star review instead of a message from the buyer ticks me off. We are human, we make mistakes and I know buying a product marked copy or modify only to find out it isn't is an inconvenience and frustration but I am online around 14 hours a day, I will fix it for you right away. It's even more maddening to get the review while I am online. Contact the creator before writing a bad review. Many times they will gladly fix the problem and in some cases return your purchase price or give you a gift card or free product for letting them know."
" If a product is marked copy, do not ask for a refund, you will not get it from anyone. A no copy product can be returned but not a copy of one. And please try my demo's before buying. I offer demo's of most all the clothing I sell both in-world and on SL's Marketplace, don't buy it and then leave a bad review because it doesn't fit your body."
" Beware of thieves. Products that have been illegally copied and resold without the creators permission will not be supported by the creator or updated but it can be reported and Linden Lab will remove the item from the grid and your inventory. If you buy an item from a seller that is not from a reseller kit and lists someone else as the creator, let him or her know right away."
"Read the instructions carefully before contacting a creator. I am very busy and have hundreds of customers daily. I get contacted several times a day with questions that can simply be answered by reading the included notecard. I don't mean to sound rude but I don't have time for an hour long conversation or to give someone the same step by step instructions that are already in the notecard."
" Do not stand in a store telling everyone that you only need $50L more to buy an outfit. This is an old scam and if you are approached by someone asking for money in a store, please contact the store owner and let them know. Many top designers and store owner's have a "blacklist" that we share with names of beggar's to help stop this annoyance. One scammer bragged on a blog that they made hundreds of dollars USD per week running this scam."
Helpful Tips Summary:
* Always try a demo
* If you can help it, do not buy no copy items
* Contact the creator before leaving a bad review
* If a product gives copy permissions, you will not get a refund
* Only buy items that have the prim count listed
* Report suspected theft
Use all the provided tools when navigating the SL Marketplace. Choose a category and sub categories. For instance, when looking for a tuxedo, choose "clothing", then the sub category Men's clothing, then the sub category men's formal clothing. You can also filter your search by "Relevance" " Highest to Lowest Price", "Lowest to highest price", "Newest to Oldest", Oldest to Newest", etc.
Narrow down your search by using keywords. If you are looking for jeans to fit a TMP mesh body, type in Jeans, TMP, mesh.
If you only want to buy items with copy and modify permissions, check it in the side menu. Same with prims. If you only want product that are 20 prims or less, type in 1 prim to 20 prims and if you are on a budget, you have the option to type in the highest amount of money you are willing to pay. If you wont pay a dime over $500 then type in $2 to $500. Putting $0 or $1 will give you endless pages of demo's and some freebie items.
If you have a shopping tip or advice for SL merchants, leave it in the comments below.
