Difference between revisions of "Marketplace/Sellers FAQ"
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Yes. Each language is a separate listing, though they can be created simultaneously in the listing process. | Yes. Each language is a separate listing, though they can be created simultaneously in the listing process. | ||
== Are links allowed in the long descriptions or featured lists? == | == Are links allowed in the long descriptions or featured lists? == | ||
Revision as of 10:36, 20 October 2010
Hello Second Life merchants! This help page is created with your needs and questions in mind as we have transitioned from XstreetSL to the SL Marketplace. Bookmark this page and check back frequently!
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Tip: Want to know what's new with the overall Marketplace? Go to the Marketplace portal. |
Newest answers
These answers will be prioritized by rough importance, including relevance and how recent they are.
Why are deliveries so slow?
Also related, you may have heard these complaints from your customers:
- "Why didn't my order get delivered? It's been several hours!"
- "Items failed to be delivered but my L$ is gone, and I haven't received a refund. What happened?"
We're so sorry about how confusing and painful this is for both you and your customers.
Short explanation: Try waiting for up to a day for this to correct itself. There are several interrelated causes, and we're working towards an overall faster and more reliable Marketplace system, which includes replacing Magic Boxes.
Longer explanation: If your customers have complained or you've noticed, slow deliveries may be more noticeable because unlike the old Xstreet (which closed for purchases on 2010-10-06), you have a cart to which you can add multiple items, and we can only send so many items at once to be delivered.
As Brodesky Linden commented in top-priority issue WEB-2920, there are at least 6 distinct but related issues happening here.
If you see lines that look like:
- [ITEM NAME] Undelivered [L$PRICE] Not paid Not available for redelivery
this may be because the items are in the process of being delivered, so wait up to a day (as tedious as that feels), then re-check your order history to see what happens.
Xstreet delivery failures
These examples from Xstreet — not the Marketplace — show two possible examples of pending deliveries causing confusion:
- You (as a customer) buy 5 items for L$1,000.
- You're charged L$1,000.
- 4 items (a total are L$800) are delivered.
- 1 item (L$200) isn't delivered yet, and eventually fails delivery.
- That 1 item (L$200) eventually fails delivery.
- Typically 2-8 hours later, your L$200 is refunded.
But, if you continue to buy something else despite pending deliveries (perhaps you're a high-volume shopper), your situation may look like this:
- You buy 5 items for L$1,000.
- You're charged L$1,000.
- 4 items (a total of L$800) are delivered.
- 1 item (L$200) isn't delivered yet, and eventually fails delivery.
- Shortly after, you buy another 1 item for L$400.
- You're charged L$200, because Xstreet has L$200 in escrow from the failed delivery.
How is "relevancy" determined in search results?
The criteria for "relevancy" periodically change and are rebalanced as we monitor actual Marketplace activity. To prevent "gaming the system" abuse (consistent with how other company formulas are implemented, like inworld search rankings and the Risk API), we won't be revealing exactly how it works. However, we can tell you the formula includes:
- Average rating
- Past sales over a chosen time period (it could be 1, 7, 15, or 30 days at our discretion)
- Sales rank
- Search term matching
So, our recommended approach to increase your relevancy is: simply create excellent products and market them effectively for the long-term, as explained in our Seller's Guide.
What should I do if a category doesn't exist for my product?
At the very least, include apt keywords when editing your item listing. This enables your product to still be found. There are more search tips in our Seller's Guide.
If there are several categories your product could possibly belong in, insert your product in the category you think fits best, and add keywords related to the others.
You can also suggest new Marketplace categories.
Are there signs to promote my store?
In a few weeks (after 2010-10-06), the Commerce Team plans to offer signs for sellers who'd like to send inworld shoppers to their website storefront on the Marketplace. (If you're familiar with the older Xstreet SL Magic Boxes, those could also be clicked to go to your web presence.)
If you'd like to create your own sign sooner or otherwise customize it:
- Create a sign object. (Presumably, you're already familiar with content creation.) We recommend adapting the same graphics you may already be using on your Marketplace and inworld stores for branding consistency and saving time.
- Right-click the sign object and choose Edit.
- In the build tools window, click the Content tab.
- Click the New Script button.
- Double-click the "New Script" in contents to edit it.
- Completely replace the script's contents with this script:
default
{
touch_start(integer total_number) {
// load a dialog with a URL
llLoadURL(llDetectedKey(0), "Visit my Marketplace Store", "https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/30");
}
}
Now:
- Customize the highlighted text to specify your store. The store number is shown in your browser when you login to the Marketplace and choose My Marketplace > My store.
- Click Save.
- Close the script and build tools windows.
- Click your sign object. A notification should appear, directing you to your web store on the Marketplace. This is what your customers will experience, too.
As a shopper or seller, how do I see my order history (transaction logs)?
^ Click the question to learn how.
How do I add a new item to the Marketplace?
^ Click the question to learn how.
How do I redeliver an item to a customer?
^ Click the question to learn how.
Are Magic Boxes going to be replaced?
Yes! See "A Boxless Future" in this post made by Grant Linden on 2010-09-17. While historically, Magic Boxes have served as an intermediary to integrate inworld and web commerce, it's clear that as we grow, they're problematic for both usability and technical reasons — they're difficult to set up (as shown here) and don't scale well.
Eventually, we plan to allow you, as a merchant, to list Marketplace products directly from your inventory, simplifying the process of both adding and updating your products.
How does the new "Distribute Funds" feature work?
As of 2010-08-03, and announced earlier in a blog post, funds distribution in the new Marketplace is here.
Active products on Xstreet SL that have distributions (payments to multiple Residents) were migrated over the new Marketplace but not made active. A merchant can activate a product if they choose to and handle the distributions themselves until this is automated.
Here's what the new "Distribute Funds" looks like:
The biggest difference in the new Marketplace is that unlike Xstreet, distributions are based on percentages that scale, not fixed L$ amounts.
For example, say you're selling a car on Xstreet for L$1,000. You make L$700 per each car sold, and distribute L$200 per sale to Alice and L$100 per sale to Bob. On the Marketplace, instead of L$ amounts, you see 20% goes to Alice and 10% goes to Bob. The L$ amounts are the same as before, but if you increase the car's price to $1,500, while Alice's share stays at 20%, her profits increase from L$200 per sale to L$300. Similarly, Bob's 10% per sale goes up to L$150.
Items that meet these criteria did not have their distributions migrated:
- Distributions which totaled more then the price of the item.
- Distributions which were entirely to the merchant
- L$0 and L$1 distributions.
- Distributions of L$1,000,000 on free items.
Some of the above information also appears on this page where item fields are described.
What happens when I make a Marketplace purchase with PayPal or a credit card?
When you use PayPal or a credit card to make a Marketplace purchase, your Transaction History might show a debit or credit originating from "Commerce Linden" and/or "Marketplace Linden". You may be wondering why these names show up on your Transaction History.
Here’s the explanation:
Marketplace transactions that use PayPal or a credit card actually contain two steps. The first step is a conversion of your payment to L$ (Linden Dollars, via Commerce Linden), and then the second step is the actual payment of those L$ to the merchant (via Marketplace Linden).
Who is "Commerce Linden"?
Commerce Linden is the account name used by Linden Lab to convert your payment into L$. If you see a reference to Commerce Linden as a "Quick Buy" of L$ on your Transaction History, then this is acknowledgement that your purchase has successfully converted into L$ via Quick Buy.
Who is "Marketplace Linden"?
Marketplace Linden is the account name used by Linden Lab to finalize payment in L$ to the Merchant. If this appears on your Transaction History, then this indicates that the payment has been successfully transferred to the merchant in L$.
As a shopper, what happens if there is a problem with a Marketplace purchase that uses PayPal or a credit card?
If an item purchased on the Marketplace using PayPal or a credit card does not successfully get delivered to you, then you typically will not see that credit or debit appear in your Transaction History. Since there was no payment subtracted from your account, please do not contact the Merchant directly since they will have no record of your unsuccessful transaction. You may try to purchase the item again from Marketplace.
As a Merchant, what happens if there is a problem with a Marketplace purchase that uses PayPal or a credit card?
If an item is not delivered to the shopper after an attempt to purchase on the Marketplace using PayPal or a credit card, then the transaction will not appear in the Transaction History for the Merchant. No funds for the unsuccessful purchase were transferred to the merchant, so the shopper should attempt to purchase the item again with their existing funds.
Why does an order show no recipient?
The Recipient header shows if an item was intended to be delivered as a gift to another Resident. If it wasn't and was intended to be received by the same Resident who bought it, then you'll see the buyer's name next to Customer:.
Answers added on 2010-05-07
... and shortly after. This batch came in response to hot Resident requests.
Will cashing out on XStreetSL continue as usual?
When the XstreetSL marketplace is retired the Xstreet Linden Dollar Exchange will also be closed. Residents can use the cash out services that the LindeX provides.
There's a 5000 character limit on long descriptions. Where should EULA (end user licensing agreements) and product instructions go?
We recommend that product instructions go into the .pdf file. Product specific EULAs should also go there, but if you only have one EULA for all items, we suggest you put this in your store policies area, linked from your merchant profile, and also duplicate in the .pdf.
What the limit to the file size of the PDF merchants can attach to the listing for instructions and further information?
There is no limit to the size of the PDF file, but we do encourage merchants to use their buyers' time and bandwidth wisely — few Second Life Residents are on ultra fast computers. If you don't own Adobe software on Windows, you can use Microsoft Word or Open Office to create PDF files. On a Mac, almost every application can "print" to a PDF file.
This feature is on the way! Each merchant will be able to link up to 8 other listings to the main listing. These recommended listings will be seen in a tab in the listing page called "related items".
This is a great way to show off a fatpack that includes multiple colors, the chairs that go with a table, jackets that match pants, and in the short term, items of another color and texture. Later, we will add the ability to show multiple colors of an item, as well as recommendations from other merchants based on the item purchased; these will show up at the bottom of the page.
Will merchants be able to preview a listing before posting it live?
Yes.
Will there be a link to the store policies on the item page?
No. Store policies are set by Merchant and are linked from the merchant's page
Will merchants be able to create extra versions of listings in several languages?
Yes. Each language is a separate listing, though they can be created simultaneously in the listing process.
Are links allowed in the long descriptions or featured lists?
No. While you may hard code the text of a URL into these areas, the text will not be linked to the page. There is room on the merchant page for links to the merchant's web page or blog.
Can each item have a SLURL or is there just one Merchant SLURL?
Each item may have its own SLURL. Merchants may also have one slurl in their merchant page.
How many assistants can a merchant have?
An unlimited number.
How many levels of permissions are there to assign to assistants?
Only one at this time.
I'm a services merchant. Does the new Marketplace accommodate me?
Currently, we're focused on goods delivery via Magic Boxes. We'll add features to support services at a later date.
Are animated .gif files allowed on the Marketplace?
Will logins be retained across sessions?
Linden Lab is working hard on the single sign-on project and the situation should improve soon, but the teams that are working on this project are not the same ones working on the Marketplace. Once the single sign-on work has been completed, the marketplace will adopt it immediately.
Can listings be saved mid stream to work on later?
Yes.
Will the Marketplace eventually be integrated with Avatars United?
Yes, but there is no current timeline for it.
We don't have this feature yet, but we have captured the request for the roadmap.