Second Life Selling in the Marketplace Guide

Second Life Selling in the Marketplace Guide by Jeremy Linden

This article explains the basics of how to get started as a merchant on the Second Life Marketplace. Already a merchant? Check out How to market your products for tips on how to make your business stand out, or learn about Managing your Marketplace store.

Products and pricing

What to sell
Sell things you create to meet your own desires.
For many Residents, selling goods is a byproduct of their creative efforts to enhance their personal Second Life experiences. Create things you would be proud to own: if you won’t wear it or use it, odds are no one else will. Quality wins over quantity every time.
Take a walk on the wild side. It’s a fact of life — controversial things sell.
If you want to sell a high-volume item, consider creating “Adult” paraphernalia, weapons, or counter-culture items. However, keep the following things in mind:

•  You can be successful without venturing down this road — you may just have to work a little harder.
•  You still need to focus on quality, or you won’t have many repeat customers.
•  You are venturing into a highly established market. To stand out from the competition, you will need to develop some strong marketing strategies.

Pricing your item
Great! Now you have a product. How much are you going to sell it for? Pricing is an art form, and there are many theories as to the best way to price your merchandise. Here are a couple to consider:

• Using x99 in your pricing. It has been proven time and again that an item selling for $199 will sell more than an identical item priced at $200.
• Premium pricing. Promoting your items at higher price can create a sense of prestige around your product. Of course, this strategy is likely to backfire if you use it to market a shoddy product.

Getting started
To start selling in the Second Life Marketplace, you need to:

1. Create a store – Accept the Marketplace Terms of Service and create your store.
2. List items for sale – Set up a Magic Box and list your products.
3. Preview your store – See your store as your customers will see it.
4. Promote your products – Learn how to market your products succesfully.

Creating a store

Preparing to create your store
If you are brand new to selling in Second Life, there are some preparations you should make.

1. Make sure your store name is unique! Establishing a brand is important, so search the Marketplace to check if someone is already using the name you have in mind.
2. Read the Fee and Listing Policies to be sure your products and listings meet Linden Lab requirements.
3. Have your store information and graphics ready (logo, banner, store policies, inworld links, etc.) and make sure they meet the store profile requirements.

Creating your store
To create your store:

1. On any Marketplace page, click My Marketplace in the upper-right and click Create a Store.

   

• Read the Marketplace Terms of Service carefully, then scroll down to the bottom and click Accept.

You can customize your store profile to make it more attractive and easier to find.

Listing items for sale

Setting up your item permissions
Make sure to set up permissions on any items you list. You can:

• Sell multiple identical copies of your item.
• Set up your item to be one-of-a-kind.
• Allow or disallow your customer to resell or give away the item.
• Allow or disallow your customer to make further copies.

Learn more about setting permission on items for sale.

Packaging your items in a box
You can package an item for sale in a box along with supporting materials, like instructions or a landmark to your inworld shop. This is convenient if you are selling a group of items together.
You can learn how to pack a box for sale here.

Note: Don’t forget to set the permissions on your box! The permissions on a box work the same way as permissions for individual items.

Adding a new item to your Marketplace listings

Important: Magic Boxes will eventually be obsolete and replaced with a better system. Stay tuned for details.

You add items to your Marketplace listings by using a special inworld object called a Magic Box, which connects to the Marketplace website.
When you drag objects into the box, the Marketplace recognizes them. Then you can enable the related listings on the Marketplace website and start selling. You can have multiple Magic Boxes, but start with one for the sake of simplicity.

Setting up your Magic Box inworld

1. Log into the Marketplace website and get a free Magic Box.
2. Log into Second Life, and go to a land parcel you own or a place where you can permanently keep your Magic Box.
   

   Note: The Magic Box must stay inworld permanently, or as long as you want to sell the items inside it. If you don’t have a permanent place to rez your Magic Box, you can buy a piece of land to keep it on.

3. Open the My Inventory sidebar panel, and rez the Magic Box as you would any other box you purchase.
4. Right-click the Magic Box and choose Edit.
5. In the Build window, click the Content tab.
6. Drag the object you want to sell from your inventory into the Content area. You should see it appear.
7. Wait for the Magic Box to finish uploading the new inventory.

Adding the item on the Marketplace website

1. On the Marketplace website, choose My Marketplace > Merchant home in the upper-right.
2. Click Manage Inventory on the left-hand side.
3. Click the Sync Marketplace with Magic Boxes button.
4. Click Create on the right of the listing and complete the required fields. You can find a description of all the listing fields here.

Important: When you click Create, our automatic filter checksyour listing’s maturity level and updates it automatically If necessary. An alert at the top of the page appears telling you that the maturity level has been changed.

Previewing your store
After you have listed at least one item, you can preview your store:

1. Go to My Marketplace > My Store.
2. On the left-hand side, click View my Store. This is how your customers see it — but it also helps to browse the Marketplace as an alt to really walk in your customers’ shoes.

Important: To see items in your store that you have listed as Moderate or Adult content, make sure you have your Maximum maturity level set to General, Moderate or General, Moderate, Adult or Adult when you search!

Learn how to customize your store profile to promote your brand.

Delivering items to the buyer
The Marketplace, using Magic Boxes, automatically delivers your items for you, so item delivery is as easy as setting up your Magic Box.
Occasionally, the Magic Box system fails (which is why the Marketplace team is working hard to create a new delivery system), and a delivery gets lost on its way to the customer. If that happens, you can easily redeliver the item.