SLUniverse Forums

SLUniverse Forums http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/ Discuss issues involving running a business in a virtual world. DO NOT POST ADS. en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:27:35 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/images/styles/bingo/misc/rss.jpg SLUniverse Forums http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/ Questions about SL economy http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/37107-questions-about-second-life-economy.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:35:36 GMT Hello SL opinion leaders and shop owners, I am doing a small research about Second Life Economy, its part of my study. In order to backup my... Hello SL opinion leaders and shop owners,

I am doing a small research about Second Life Economy, its part of my study. In order to backup my theory "making money is possible in Second Life", I need to gather some data from the web and answers/opinions from you (experienced SL players, shop owners).

Would you like to help to answer some questions? ]]> Virtual Business jskywalker http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/37107-questions-about-second-life-economy.html Web Based Marketplaces for Second Life http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/37087-web-based-marketplaces-second-life.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:14:15 GMT This thread is for posting information about the various Web-Based Marketplaces that service the Second Life grid. Hopefully this can become a... This thread is for posting information about the various Web-Based Marketplaces that service the Second Life grid. Hopefully this can become a sticky, and can serve as a clearing house for information about the alternatives that are out there. Please do not use this thread for idle discussion. Keep it factual, this isn't the place for slamming people's service offerings.

Quote:

XStreetSL http://www.xstreetsl.com
Formerly known as "SL Exchange" aka "SLX". Owned by Linden Lab™.

XStreetSL uses inworld "ATMS" to transfer user funds to a holding account. Items are listed manually using their listing form. The following is a breakdown of some important facts.

PROS

Integration with Second Life website, officially sanctioned and promoted
Seasonal "Special promotions" announced on Linden blog
Integrated currency exchange
Listing enhancements available
Buy as gift features is available (receiver MUST have an XStreetSL Account)
Supports private "favourite items" list
Adult content tolerated, but segregated.

CONS

Charges commission on sales
Charges a monthly fee per-listing (10L per listing per month) (soon)
Discourages freebies (99L per listing per month) (soon)
No Brand or storefront support
No support for multiple item colours
No integrated vendor system
Removal and later re-listing items is prohibited

]]> Virtual Business Winter Ventura http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/37087-web-based-marketplaces-second-life.html SL Shopping Sites Tracking http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/37026-second-life-shopping-sites-tracking.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:49:39 GMT With the announcement of higher fees for XStreetSL, I though it would be useful to start tracking the stats for all shopping sites. If you have more... With the announcement of higher fees for XStreetSL, I though it would be useful to start tracking the stats for all shopping sites. If you have more sites you know about that are not listed here, add them in a follow up post or contact me so I can add it

Here is the starting data as it is today, the day they announced the new fee structure:

https://xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace
================
Animals (14794)
Animations (41696)
Apparel (397841)
Art (41341)
Audio and Video (4988)
Avatar Accessories (150733)
Avatar Appearance (81163)
Building Components (85275)
Business (17269)
Celebrations (43722)
Gadgets (14406)
Home and Garden (184256)
Miscellaneous (6079)
Recreation and Entertainment (29523)
Scripts (4775)
Services (453)
Used Items (1993)
Vehicles (12378)
Weapons (13051)
Xstreet SL (13)

Total Listings = 1145749

http://www.apez.biz/modules.php?name=Shop
=================================
Total Listings = 123733

http://www.slapt.me/market/index.php
==========
Total Listings = 7072

http://meta-life.net/
==============
Total Listings = 11,960 ]]> Virtual Business DanielRavenNest http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/37026-second-life-shopping-sites-tracking.html Has anyone been tracking LindeX volume lately... http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/36864-has-anyone-been-tracking-lindex.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:54:04 GMT ...what I'm looking for is the typical monthly 'peak' versus 'average' LindeX volume ratio across a few years. And trying to see if it:

a) correlates year per year, by season
b) saw a disruption before/after the economic incident of fall 2008.

* * * * *

Detail: around the first of the month we see a lot of activity, as:
a) people get their paychecks, and,
b) pay their monthly private estate land tier &c.

Sometimes we'll see a small mid month peak too. I suspect that 'area under the curve of the peak' as compared to base LindeX volume activity is probably a more accurate measurement of what I'm looking for, but... bleah, that's a lot of calculation.

Peak vs baseline ratio may well do, such as $L 120,000/day at peak, divided by $L 100,000 $L/day baseline trading average (hypothetical example might be 120,000/100,000 or 1.2) for a given 30 day period.

The idea being: more discretionary spending should correlate to low peaks (people buying $L just whenever, because they feel like it) and tighter budgets might correlate to higher peaks (buying land tier only for the month, or a tightly fixed budget).

Of course there are other factors influencing this stuff, but I just need a rough idea.

* * * * *

And no, I'm not going into LindeX speculation or anything like that.

I just want a good read on this in order to 'do my homework' as completely as possible for an upcoming project of mine. If I don't get this info it's no big deal; it's not central to what I'm up to. At best it would possibly bracket the magnitude of some risk factors, in some actuarial calculations I'm doing. In the sense that I don't want to be trying to sell authentic Rolex's in Bangladesh if nobody has the discretionary income for such a thing, but on the other hand I don't want to be selling cheap knockoffs at Harrod's either.

Any and all publically available analysis appreciated and welcome. If anyone is a standout, remarkably significant help then they will be privately told what I'm up to, if they wish to know and agree to keep it confidential for a little while. ]]> Virtual Business Desmond Shang http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/36864-has-anyone-been-tracking-lindex.html