Second Life Marketplace Direct Delivery FAQ
What is Direct Delivery?
Direct Delivery is the new, more convenient system for delivering Second Life Marketplace products to shoppers as well as helping sellers more efficiently list products on the Marketplace. Some of the benefits of Direct Delivery include:
- Customers will no longer need to accept delivery of an object in order for the item to be successfully delivered in world. The item be automatically delivered and the customer will be notified of the delivery.
- Customers will not need to rez unboxed items in world to use them. Merchants may still choose to box items for sale with Direct Delivery, but it will not be required.
- Rolling sim restarts will not result in failed deliveries.
Will Direct Delivery affect my personal Inventory in the SL Viewer?
Direct Delivery will access ONLY two folders in your personal inventory:
- Incoming Items Folder: Items delivered to you will be placed in a special incoming folder in your inventory. Note that items will now be delivered in a folder from the Marketplace, as opposed to in a box as was required with Magic Boxes. (Sale and delivery of boxed items will still be supported with Direct Delivery as well.)
- Outgoing Items Folder: Items you list on the Marketplace will be retrieved from a special outgoing folder in your inventory and copied to your Marketplace Inventory. Note that outgoing items will be COPIED from your inventory except in the case of no-copy items. Merchants listing no-copy items will be warned that those items will be moved as opposed to copied as an extra check to prevent accidental moves. When an item is delivered, it will be delivered from your Marketplace inventory--your in world inventory will not be affected.
Will Direct Delivery be supported by Third Party Viewers?
Yes, it will be supported by approved Third-Party Viewers, in terms of delivery. If Third-Party Viewers choose to support listing items on the Marketplace, they may use the API that will be provided to allow this.
When will Direct Delivery be available?
Direct Delivery will be entering Beta this summer. We expect the Beta period to last 1-2 months. Once it is completed, Direct Delivery will be available to all Merchants. We will be sure to keep you updated on the upcoming launch on the Commerce Forum.
Can I choose between Direct Delivery or Magic Box Delivery?
At launch time, you will be able to choose whether your items will use Direct Delivery or Magic Box Delivery.
What about gifting, ANS, etc.?
Working with the Beta Merchants, we are reviewing and testing the way various current functionality will be addressed with Direct Delivery:
- ANS: ANS will be replaced with a similar functionality in Direct Delivery to address the same goals and will use the same format as is currently in use to ease migration.
- Gifting: gifting will be supported with Direct Delivery.
- Limited quantity items: sale of limited quantity items will be supported with Direct Delivery.
When will you provide more details on Direct Delivery?
At least 2 weeks before the Beta starts, we’ll provide more details about how Direct Delivery will work, including details on the API.