I subscribe to a lot of blogs and news sites, most of which are Second Life-related and one thing I've noted over the last couple years is how people will start a blog and then kind of fade away posting less and less often, allowing that blog to sooner or later fizzle-out. It was started in excitement, for the fun of it and eventually the fun turns into a chore and it eventually withers.

I started this and several other blogs for the same purposes and yes, it has definitely at times turned from fun into a chore. But I've tried to keep at it, especially with this one and my other, not-so-SL-related blog that I ironically call "Blackthorne inSL".

Common Sensible is officially more than two-years-old now. In the beginning I had no idea what I was doing and I tried to emulate others, such as Hamlet Au (by just finding news and reblogging it) - which to me didn't really feel "genuine". I never considered my own experience on the grid that interesting to others so I never approached it from the "personal journal" aspect, but rather from a "big picture" aspect like what New World Notes (even though it is 90% reblogging other stuff) and Massively and Dusan Writer and those guys do. But this is difficult because the "news" comes in wild spurts with a dozen today and none for a week or two and often it is the ridiculous reactions by the vitriolic loud minority that makes it "news" to begin with. It also is hard to "sand-bag" stories of any kind of time-sensitive nature and no one is interested in "old news".

But I stuck with it.

There are many who fear the Second Life (SL) economy is booming, growing, steady, slowing down or in the tank depending on who you speak to. For those who feel it is in some kind of steady to slowing decline, I beseech you to please stop for a moment and think "outside" the box. Retail rules in SL are vastly different from First Life (FL).


For example, in FL as far as foot traffic is concerned, you want as much of it as possible. But this is not really the case in SL. Traffic just does not carry as much weight because it is far too easy to literally bounce from retail point of sales to the next to the next to the next.

There are too many creators who are paranoid about being "ripped-off" in SL. However, your customer care is far more important. Remove all incentives to steal your product! It is a proven fact that if you give your customer what they truly want at a fair price, except for a very few - they will purchase your product because it's the right thing to (and less hassle and risk.)

There is practically no reason (very, very rare cases at least) to sell your stuff as no-copy. It is selfish on your part. There are even rarer reasons to sell as no-modify (excluding scripts, of course.) People in SL want modify/copy items. In truth, if I wanted to "steal" your product - it is far too easy to do. No-copy, no modify items are moot. I genuinely believe a significant number of "copybotters" are doing so to convert their purchased no-modify items into modifiable items.

When you give the customer what they truly want, the only hard part is to get them to buy. So make it easy as possible for them to give you their money.

My own simple selling policy is:

I will give a refund within 72-hours of purchase on all no-copy items. You must return the the fully functional item to me. I'll give a full refund, no questions asked and without hesitation. I'll even give you a quality consolation gift as a thank-you for at least trying-out my product - not some useless trinket, but a quality product I sell or not available in any other way.

I have yet to have a single refund request in three years of selling products in Second Life.

Also, I have since converted all my products to "copy/no-transfer" (this article was written a couple months ago) and I still offer the same refund under the same conditions- I am that confident in my product (and I also have the ability to disable that product if a refund is given- and this is made known up-front.)

Just like "hammock pricing", your point-of-sale (POS) optimization is integral to making it easy as possible for anyone to give you their money.

A quick recap: on XStreet SL (XSL) you'll want to provide as much information as possible: highly detailed description - leave nothing out - and include the full instructional (how to use it) notecards. If it involves animations or effects - post YouTube movies and link to them - even if you must hire someone to make the machinima for you.

Rezzing time is a problem as most shoppers are hunters and are impatient. You must optimize your POS as much as possible with low-resolution textures - face your booth to the West so TPers will face your booth when they land (we face east after teleporting) causing your textures to start rezzing first.

No matter if you create prim attachments properly or anything else, product pricing is Second Life is ridiculously inconsistent. You cannot judge quality based on price and many products are either under or over-priced. The example image here shows the wild variation between two products of the same type from different creators. This makes shopping for anything is SL hugely difficult and often frustrating. What if there is a better product for less money out there? How do I know I'm getting a good deal? What is the support like from this creator? [Disclosure: I am the creator of one of those products.]

First, quality of your product should be your highest priority. Never be satisfied with your own creations and always strive to make them better. The next priority is your customer care support. They are your virtual bread and butter and Linden Dollars is real money. Good quality, good customer care will garner good word-of-mouth and increase sales.

Start with "hammock pricing". Hammock pricing is where the significant number is the middle digit in a three digit price, or the first in a two-digit price. Get that number down low as possible.

Let us say we have a bedroom set for sale - and the quality of ours and our competitor is top-notch - so it comes down to price. Firstly, a better, more detailed description in your notecard will definitely swing the mood into your favor. But either way, let us consider the following:

Our competitor prices each item sold separately like this:

• Bed: L$500
• Dresser: L$150
• Night Stand: L$70
• Desk with chair: L$150
• Working lamp: L$100

Let us say we want to sell our bedroom set for basically the same amount. But, what if we change these numbers a little? We could take the advantage like this:

• Bed: 490L$
• Dresser: 145L$
• Night Stand: 79L$
• Desk with chair: 149L$
• Working lamp: 95L$

We lowered the price of the bed by 10L$ - it looks better and is instantly L$100 "less" - perceptually - even when ending with a zero. Also, we want to end with a zero or a five most often - but not every time as nines are all too common and an "unbalanced" number. A "balanced" number like zero or five subconsciously "feels" better. But we throw-in a nine or two just to mix things-up.

Similar with the dresser. Dropping the second digit to a lower number. The night stand actually went up in price - giving it a higher value (80L$), but keeping in the lower threshold of the L$70 range. A single dollar off the desk drops the second digit to a lower number - but still an effective L$150.

And losing a five Linden Dollars off the lamp makes it now less than 100L$ - down to two digits from three. A huge subliminal psychological effect.

So, why place the currency symbol after the price digits? It helps hide that last digit so it is not the focus of the written price, but the previous digits to the left are - which are now lowered.

Consider this: your lamp sitting right next to your competitor's lamp in-world, both selling for essentially the same price. They both look great, so it comes down to price. Which looks better to you?:

• Buy this lamp for only L$100!
...or...
• Buy this lamp for only 99L$!

Yes, the difference is minimal and obviously isn't necessarily a deciding factor. But subliminal forces are at work here. Making it easy as possible for me to give you my money also extends to how hard I must think about doing so.

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Want the whole kaboodle? There is far more detail in the 'how' and 'why' in my book: Successful Business in Second Life (SBSL - Second Edition for 2009/10; 270-pages) is available at XStreet SL. The book includes both, an in-world and eReader version. There also is an  Amazon Kindle version, (you receive both: ereader and in-world versions no matter where you purchase it.)

Okay, this one's for all you avatar attachment-makers out there. Besides avoiding product art clutter, you also really need to pay attention to how your prim attachments fit your customers. Among the most frustrating thing I run across in an attachment is no-modify and worse, modifiable but still cannot be made to fit.

Business tip to maximize sales: if it's "worn" it should be "modify=yes" and "copy=yes". The massive mistake many attachment-creators make is that they design and build their prim attachments to their own shape. Unfortunately most in Second Life are 8-foot-tall Amazonian freaks. Certainly most creators create things for themselves, then choose to sell those creations. However, even for yourself it would be best to allow the most flexibility in your products.