Cindy Claveau

Let's talk prices.

There are some designers in SL whose clothing I've always felt was worth the money - Solange is a good example of extremely well-designed outfits. Insolence undies. Ivalde, Simone and Nicky Ree gowns. I don't have a problem paying the prices these creators ask because I always feel as though I'm getting quality merchandise. I would expect to pay anywhere from $300L to 900L for an outfit depending on how intricate it is and how many options it comes with.

Then I run into the occasional shop in SL that is charging Solange/Nicky Ree prices for stuff that doesn't look unique at all, textures are average and the vendor ads aren't very well done. I'm not paying $500L for a dress & stockings I could easily make myself without shadowing or hems on the textures.

The reason I bring this up is because after seeing one of those stores, I TP'd over to BareRose. I got the most awesome jacket/skirt outfit for $140L. I loved it so much I got the pink AND the black. Then I saw June's astrology avatars - intricate Chinese dragon motif with prim headgear and silks for $180L.

!!!!!

BR's not the only place that sells great stuff at low cost. And as I kept hitting "buy" it occurred to me that shops have a choice of two strategies - if you're selling high quality, complex stuff involving sophisticated textures, sculpties, etc., it's ok to charge what it's worth.

OR, you can take a page out of June Dion's book and offer a lot of variety at very reasonable prices and depend on volume to pay your sim bills.

I find myself getting thrifty if the price has 4 digits in it A place like Stilletto Moody's probably charges an appropriate rate for their sculpy boots and shoes, but there's something about paying 1195L for a pair of boots that makes me go somewhere else. I can go over to Juicy's (run by a former SM designer) and buy great sculpty pumps for $500L - they're higher than Maitreya but well worth it for quality, IMO.

Which strategy do you prefer as a store owner? As a customer?

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Carthalis

I love June Dion's male range and have bought quite a lot sets from there.

There are a couple of male stores that I go to on a regular basis namely Form and Sidewalk because I love their t-shirts/jeans and and the prices are really good, when they could most probably charge more. Brogear I love his stuff, quality designed stuff and again at a decent price. I did come across some awesome sculptie boots and was happy to pay the pricetag because they look awesome and can't remember her name now that made them. Some sculptie trainers I've bought as well that I normally wouldn't pay for, but I loved the look and design of them.

I've been to some male stores and walked out to go back to the ones I like. I just find male clothing in sl to be frustrating sometimes and I usually end up wearing the same jeans and t-shirt for ages.

Carthalis

Mourna Biziou

Ever been to Acedia? The owner is on crack, I think. (This is the 4,000 L outfit place I was talking about the other day. I wasn't going to name them, but meh... they're obviously proud of themselves, as my dad would say. )

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Cindy Claveau

/me jots down names for the next time she's asked.

Another great store I discovered that sells sculptie shoes, skirts, and jackets - Naima. Their prim bomber jackets for men look good I think, and I own several pair of their boots and sculpty skirts.

I guess my point was that a store owner can charge high prices and still do ok, but you're not going to move much volume unless you're a skin artist. My personal preference would be to have moderate prices that encouraged people to buy entire sets of something.

Circle Widdershins

I also really really like the fact that Bare Rose stuff is usually tfr ok. If ever I have to buy a pressie for a guy I go straight there first
As well as err having quite a collection of her stuff myself

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WarKirby Magojiro

As a content creator, I generally try to strike a balance between what I feel my things are worth, and what my competitors charge.

As a customer, I tend to go for reasonable prices, but when I see high quality at ridiculously low prices, my first thought is that it's stolen, and I avoid it like the plague.

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Isablan Neva

"What it's worth" is the sticking point there. Worth to whom?

My personal opinion is that the higher the price, the fewer people who will decide that the item is "worth" the money. I know when I'm shopping I also get thrifty when the price goes over 4 digits. Something with a $2000L price tag better be really, really good and something that I will use extensively. $2000L on a house that is going to be my SL home, yeah sure. $2000L on a pair of boots that I'll only wear sometimes when the mood strikes me for that outfit - no freakin' way. If I'm going to spend over 4 digits it better be something that I'm going to use pretty much every day of my SL existence**.

At the end of the day, the market sets the price and if people think the item isn't worth it they won't buy.


(** full perms items by value-added contractors for use in products such as animations, textures, scripting, etc are exempt as the upfront cost becomes amortized over time.)

Aki Shichiroji

I've never really been one to find it acceptable to pay for a brand name, RL or SL, and for the most part I tend to be very scrupulous about what I buy. The less expensive the better, though as Warkirby suggests, I do tend to get suspicious when I see high quality stuff being sold at rock bottom prices. (EDIT: mind you, if i do find something of quality and I feel it is worth it, I will pay the price if i really need it. It's rare that this would also happen to be an expensive item, for me, but it's been known to happen.)

That said, I don't find it wrong or out of the ordinary for folks to price their products what they wish. Any given price could appear high to one person, normal to the next, or still 'low' to the next. Only the market as a whole can really decide - not one individual.

To me, a successful business is able to withstand the test of the market and time and still come out reasonably well, with a good return. Those who don't get through it that well will disappear sooner rather than later.

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Miriel Enfield

As a customer, I'm really, really cheap. For clothing, hair, and accessories, anything over L$250 and I start to balk. I'm kind of dumb about, though, because I'll happily load up on lower priced things.

As a business owner... guh. I hate pricing things. I ran a customer survey some time ago, and got a number of people saying that L$300 for a nice jewelry set was a bit too high for them. This has me a little puzzled, because some other jewelers habitually charge prices like that or higher, but I've gone ahead and lowered my prices anyway. Don't know how well it'll work out, though.

Siobhan OFlynn

L$250 is about my limit, too. Unless something is spectacular. I'd happily pay more for your exquisite jewelry, Miriel, but I'm thankful that you have lowered prices.

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Tya

i stay with in the market and at times under charge

Tya

as for shopping, something has to knock my socks off for me to spend lindens and honestly not to many things do

Winter Ventura

500

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Sarah Nerd

A few years ago when I had a club a regular got her to tp to the club. The guy talked like she was a god. She spammed everyone with landmarks to her store then tp'd away. I went to her store which at the time was a newbish lot with boxes going to the sky and the items had outrageous prices. I left and haven't been back since. That was a few years ago and people generally improve and skill improves. So she may have an amazing store and amazing items but I have no idea because I haven't been back.


And as for BR, I'm with you Cindy. Overpriced stores I think over a 500L item thoroughly, but then I find a place like BR with great prices and click click click I've spent like a crazy woman. When you think about it, high quality with lower prices that allow it to be affordable for all players gets 1)People that are happy and come back, 2)The volume means more people around SL wearing your items and advertising for you bringing in even more customers 3)and people more willing to buy 3 or 4 outfits as compared to one because they feel they are getting a good deal.

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Siyu Suen

I definitely try to follow this. I know as quite a niche market, masks aren't exactly going to fly off the shelves on their own unless I make it pretty much irresistible. There are certainly a lot of masquerades out there, and I know I'm the go-to spot for pretty much everyone who's seen the googled misfitting cylinders out there that are the alternatives. But as a few people have said, no one is going to pay over 500L or so for something they'll only ever wear to one party. So I price down and always less than what I feel they are worth , to give people no choice but to wear my lovelies . I also try to make things that people will want to wear every day, or more often, but that's definitely where the "niche" part comes in.

Anyway, with that sort of logic, I figured I might as well make all of my prices lower than the work involved, because the more people that have it, the more people that will see it, like Sarah said. Classifieds, places, traffic, blogging... I still believe the best way to publicize your store is word of mouth Also, I always think it's a good idea to have a couple of really low price loss leader type of items, to make people impulse buy something a large amount of people will like and maybe even buy for their friends.

Edit: BTW HI TEA!!!

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Decadent

I'm like Tya: something has to blow me away in order to get me to part with my money. A lot of my inspiration comes from seeing the pieces on other people (mainly Mourna), because I'm just not a big shopper.

As it stands, I'm hesistant to spend over 200L on anything these days because 500L is my budget for the week. 4000L for, what, an outfit? Would have me leaving and never going back, no matter how spectacular. Simply out of my league. I'll buy relatively expensive things if it's a friend or I just have to have it (and can afford it at the time), but even that's a stretch.

There are so many wonderful creators out there with cheap prices that some of the higher-end prices just don't even make sense.

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Aspen d'Grey

For me, my tipping point is 5 digits- if I'm going to use it all the time, I'll pay 5 digits. I've paid high 4's for stuff like jackets and boots.

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Beebo Brink

I lowered my shape prices for the summer, and volume appears to be making up for the difference. July was my 2nd best sales month ever. So I'm making those prices permanent now, even though it means re-doing all the d*mn vendor posters.

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Tya

you need a sugar mama

Decadent

Yes. Yes, I do.

Decadent

Also, what the feck? Mourna, I sure hope the Acedia you mentioned isn't the one in Bolinas that I'm at right now. 2800L for an outfit with a system skirt and hair that looks like it was bought at Calla / Here Comes Trouble / ETD?

Vaelissa Cortes

First off, I only make things as I want them for myself, if they sell, so much the better. I really like to get my items out there to the masses and see people enjoy them, but I know I can profit quite a bit from it, so I set them up for sale.

For most of my items, I check for similar and price mine about the same or a bit lower. I also believe in getting value for your money, so I make things copy & mod and toss in all possible variants and often include the ability to add your own tints to the touch menu and what not. Doing this has been especially popular with my trees .

I set most items at a bargain impulse buy price range and try to offer more than any competition feature-wise. Everything has free updates too, and I often toss in little items that go with the main one. Like for my top hat I tossed in a quickie sculpted cane and a halo for my angel wings, etc..

In short, I go for maximum "bang for your buck".

Io Zeno

You know, going on Miriel's puzzle hunt (I got all the jewels, btw, haha) made me look again at the pricing on well made jewelry. And man alive, it is really overpriced, to me. I mean, a lot of people are charging 800L and up for what she charges 300-400L for (or gives away). I used to think she underpriced her jewelry but you know, there is no way I am spending 1k on a necklace that she and others charge half or less for. Yes, I know working with tiny prims is time consuming. But so is making sculpty anything or a lot of other things. They aren't really jewels, they are all plywood under the texture, ahem.

Io Zeno

Also, jewelry to me is the last accessory I think to spend money on. And if I had charged just for the amount of time I spent on textures alone, I would have most jewelry makers beat and I know I'm not alone. But you can't price by the hour of work in SL or everything would be outrageously expensive.

Io Zeno

I didn't even see your post here.

Miriel, people are charging three times what you do for similar work. Don't listen to people who won't spend 300L on a fine piece of work like yours.

I also want to thank you for the lovely jewelry you are giving away on your treasure hunt and the great freebies you give, too.