XStreetSL and merchant fees
We have been loyal merchants on Xstreet SL (even from back in the days when it was humble little Secondlfe Exchange SLExchange) , so you can imagine our shock when we found out that they are now going to try and scrape what little profit we make from our items. Our company ethos has always been to provide a high level of quaility for minimum expenditure to help those that don’t have a lot of L$ in their accounts, and don’t want to buy in cash. We have lots of items between us, most under L$50 listed on Xstreet SL, and thier plans to charge L$10 a month (per item) for us to list them is making it impossible for us to stay using this “service” – between us, Sorka and I have over 300 items, and do not make anything like the 3000L$ a month needed to list them.
Because we simply refuse to put up our prices to “absorb” this cost (as we still wouldn’t sell enough volume to cover the monthly costs anyway), we are simply going to be pulling any items we have made from Xstreet SL in protest, if LL come to their senses and revert back to simply charging a commission on items sold (which we have no issue with) we may return but for now, we will be moving all items over to other SL online marketplaces – we are currently looking at slapt.me, metauniverse.com, and already use apez.biz.
We urge all you other merchants that use this “service” to do the same, maybe if enough of us bail out they will see the error of their greedy little ways, and if you don’t at least you have been made aware of the issue.
The official announcement is at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Managing_Freebies_on_Xstreet_SL_Roadmap_FAQ if you are interested.
Im pulling out as well. This was NOT requested by the residents as a whole (they only mention a few during office hours of meeting that were in favor). I remember filling out a survey and answered this was NOT a good idea to inact. It’s costing WAY to much for the little merchant to gain any lead. The commercial advertisers or professional advertisers will gain all the benefits. I’m outraged at the way this (what USE to be beneficial exchange) commerce system has changed. Greedy is right!
I have no choice but to pull out too – I don’t sell anything like enough volume to cover the cost of 10L$ per item I list there (I have 22 pages of items on SLX).
It will take time but I am going and I am looking at alternatives, Riley, take a look at metauniverse.com, slapt.me, or apez.biz as possible alternatives…
I think LL have finally lost their minds and are trying to destroy the “little guys” who build for love not bucks!