Socially|Mundane

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.)