Shopping in Second Life

Shopping is a popular activity in Second Life. Linden Lab even has a page that tells you all about it. There is a list of selected stores in the Destination Guide. 

There are several ways to shop: Inworld at virtual stores. online through the Marketplace, and at periodic inworld sales events where items are on sale for a limited time.

My 'go to' for sales is Seraphim, which has a pretty comprehensive listing of sales and hunts; however, sometimes I will also see items from SL bloggers who are showing off items they have gotten on sale or as a group gift. I also get sales notices from groups I belong to.

When I am inworld and see something I like I will try to find out who the creator is, and look for their store.

Some things to remember:

Disputes between buyers and sellers are considered private matters. In Rand Linden's words:

However, Linden Lab cannot verify, enforce, certify, examine, uphold, or adjudicate any oath, contract, deal, bargain, or agreement made by the Residents of Second Life.  Nor does Linden Lab enforce or uphold rental agreements between Residents.  While you may have a valid agreement with another person, Linden Lab is not a party to and cannot resolve your dispute.   Please contact the Resident involved and resolve the issue with them. 

Looking at Marketplace Listings: You can look for items either by sorting through categories and sub-categories, shown on the left side of the Marketplace page, or you can use keyword search. 

Either way you can narrow the search by putting in price ranges, land impact, and permissions. You can also ask not to see Limited Quantities and Demo Items. 

Different "Keywords" will get different results - Remember you can use terms like "And", "Or", and "Not" to help narrow your search.

This is what I got when I put "t-shirt" in the Keywords field.

Top part of Marketplace Ad

The numbers refer to different parts of the ad.

 1. General maturity level: Unless you are specifically looking for 'Adult' objects, it is safer to put 'General' in your search fields. Maturity level is right under Merchants/Stores tab at the top.

 2. General categories and sub-categories. The merchants usually choose this, and they can choose wrong, but search results are erratic in any case.

 3. 'Add to Cart as Gift' means you can pay for it and send it to someone else.

 4. 'Buy Now' - Pay for it right away and get it without putting other items in cart.

 5. "Get the demo version" - always a wise idea. Remember that whether or not a clothing item fits depends on what kind of avatar body you have. 

 6. 'Visit the Store' shows you all the other Marketplace listings, not the Inworld Store.

 7. "Works with Mesh Avatars" - some things don't.

 8. Permissions:

 "Copy" - You can make copies

 "Modify" - You can change this product 

"Transfer" - You can transfer this product

Having all these permissions means it is "Full-perm" -  you will see a lot of products on Marketplace that are "Full-perm" and some merchants make a living by buying full-perm items, modifying them, and re-selling them. Read the fine print.

 9. Automatic redelivery - means that they have a re-delivery method that works without you having to contact the seller directly.

10. "100% Mesh, Fitted Mesh" - Just because it is 'mesh' doesn't mean it is great. Also, be careful of ads that state item is "Low Land Impact" - Just because an item is only one prim doesn't mean it will rez quickly - badly configured mesh, poor scripts, or too many complex textures, can slow things down.

11. "Flag this item" - if you think there is a problem with the listing you can flag it and ask Linden Labs to eject the seller. Unfortunately, the scammers just seem to set up shop under another name.

12. Details. The more information the better. Also check "Features" and "Content" for more information.

13. Reviews. It is always good to read reviews, if there are any; however, you can only leave a review if you buy from the Marketplace. Merchants have to pay a fee to sell on the Marketplace, and may prefer to sell from their inworld store

Some merchants offer a lot of information at the bottom of their listings. One seller had links to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Pinterest, and Instagram, as well as videos of his product. Smaller merchants may not offer all this information, but it does not mean there is a problem with their product.

 "See Item In Second Life" - if you decide to visit an inworld store listed on the Marketplace always teleport in 'flying' mode, and be prepared for surprises. Marketplace listings have a lot of parts, and when a merchant is moving his inworld store the last thing he thinks about is changing the teleport location on his Marketplace ad.

I prefer shopping Inworld if it is an option but using the Marketplace makes it easier to find items. Inworld you usually get a chance to see the merchandise in person, and many merchants go to a lot of trouble to make their inworld stores interesting places to visit. Some may have both inworld and Marketplace stores. Some may offer a wider variety of goods on the Marketplace simply beause of space limitations.

You find some merchants that operate only inworld and some that sell only on the Marketplace, so look around.