Category Archives: Plus Size Jewelry
Simple Ideas To Prepare For The Baby Shower Favors
It is a good gesture to give thanks to the people who came into your baby shower. Aside from sending out thank cards, at the party, you might want to give baby shower favors.
Baby shower favors are small gifts that are meant for the guests. They serve as symbol of appreciation as well as memorabilia of the baby shower. When they are chosen good, they can definitely make a great difference that will impress the party guests.
Today, there are so many baby shower favor ideas that you can always resort to. Both online and local market offer a wide variety of party favors for different occasions. With this, people can always find the right favor option for their special occasion.
Baby shower favors don’t need to be too much. You can choose simple ideas such as cookies, candies, mints, and or chocolates. These are usually easy to make or assemble at home. If your budget is quite limited, giving simple party favors is enough to end your baby shower thankful and joyful.
Baby shower favors can further be enhanced or modified through personalization. One of the ways you can personalize the tokens is by including your baby’s name, initials, monogram, or even the date of the baby shower. Personalizing them makes a nice idea to consider, especially when you have room for it on your large size cookies, candles, thank you cards, gift boxes, or gift baskets as your party souvenirs. Putting your baby’s name or initials can also be done on mini favor containers such as candy jars, small gift boxes, organza bags, mint tins, and plastic bags.
One way also to personalize the tokens is by making them on your own. There are simple homemade ideas that are easy to make, plus you can have them personalized because you make them yourself. Some of the ideas to choose from include homemade edible treats, small gift baskets, scrapbooks, picture frames, photo albums, quilts, handmade baby jewelry, and many more.
Online shopping can make a convenient shopping alternative if you don’t want to spend time checking every aisle of your local department store or mall. If you opt to shop online, chances are you will have a much wider selection of baby shower favors to choose from, without working to much. At the comfort of your home, you can shop whatever things you may need by simple clicking your computer mouse. Online stores are accessible any time of the day, which makes online shopping a more favorable way to buy necessary stuff.
There are hundreds of online stores that specialize in . You can find a wide variety of baby shower invites, , party favors, decorations, and a lot more. Some of them also allow customization for a minimal charge, but you can also find online store that offer free personalization. Aside from necessary supplies for your special occasion, you may also want to register online. The internet is also encouraging guests to buy gifts online if they want to save time and money on .
Modern Furniture Warehouse
Imagine yourself as a bride who is so excited about her wedding next day. You are all set to enjoy that best moment of your life but then you do not have jewelries! Oh! You then think that what’s that? How’s that possible? A barber without blade! The same situation can be imagined with a house without any proper furniture. The furniture not only gets us comfort but actually it serves as a jewel of the house. In addition, modern bedroom furniture is just more than pieces of wooden sticks and boards!
Your bed is closest to you and it is the best companion in your life! You can shop modern bedroom furniture to adore your sleeping place. The good news is you can shop such furniture online without getting out of your house. Whether it is Italian bed or something else, you can get it online. All you need is to get onto the website that sells genuine furniture. The access to such website is quite easy and it is totally a user-friendly adventure! You can simply browse the item you want for your bedroom and can get a list of available material right in front of you. You can also read a little description about the item and can view how exactly it looks.
If you want to purchase Italian bed, the best comfort zone you could ever imagine, you can straightaway buy it online. The beds are available in various sizes, shapes and patterns. Their unique designs mesmerize you that you cannot resist yourself going for it. The best part of platform bed is it gets you a comfort plus it is stylish that you and your partner would simply love it. You can get various shades and colors which are important as with modern bedroom furniture, the color play significant role. You can also match modern bedroom furniture’s color for the other rooms or can go for various shades for the bedroom according to surroundings such as curtains and color of the walls.
When you go for platform bed, keep your bedroom space in mind as it determines the size and shape of the furniture. A big size Italian bed, for example, in a small bedroom would turn it appearing full and cluttered. Nevertheless, it also depends on the way you arrange the furniture in the bedroom. You have to place it in the room so that moving around is not troublesome and cleaning is made easier.
Thing To Do To Care For Anime Collectibles
The collecting of anime themed merchandise and anime collectibles is an interest that is enjoyed by many individuals. If your an admirer of the anime genre, anime collecting is a spare time activity that you may want to examine.
One or more of the ordinarily asked questions, concerning anime collections, is what should be collected. Before focusing on a couple of anime collectable pieces that are worthwhile examining, it is first important to examine your ambitions. Are you curious about collecting anime Collectibles because you are a lover of the genre, or would you like to later resell those Collectibles for a profit? If so, the majority of your focus ought to be placed on rare, limited edition, or valuable anime Collectibles.
One type of anime collectable that should be examined by both professional collectors and enthusiasts is figurines. Anime figurines are ideal for collecting, in addition to reselling for a profit. These popular collectable pieces often come in a a few different formats. For example, there are several well-known and popular anime characters in figurine formats. Anime figurines often come in a a few different sizes, including full size and miniature sizes.
Anime costume accessories are collectable pieces that are typically in high necessity. Anime costume accessories commonly include headbands and jewelry. Many anime costumes and costumes accessories replicate those worn by popular and well-known anime characters.
Anime plush Collectibles are another sort of anime themed merchandise that is ideal for the purpose of collecting. As a matter of fact, many come in limited edition formats. Anime plus Collectibles are ideal for all types of collectors, especially children. From a collector point of view, these Collectibles are easy to care for and maintain, specially when storage are used.
DVDs are another piece of anime merchandise regularly used for the function of collecting. By and large, anime movies and tv shows on DVDs are best for enthusiasts, as they’re often invaluable. With that in mind, anime tv shows and movies on DVDs that will later be resold should be left in the original package. This’ll help to maintain original value.
The items highlighted above are just a a couple of the numerous that are highly sought after by professional anime collectors, along with traditional conventional hobbyists. Collectors looking to purchase or put money into these things should know that they have a few different options, in terms of buying locations. For anime Collectibles that can later be resold for a profit, professional anime dealers ought to be examined. Professional dealers often specialize in selling rare and limited edition Collectibles. Professional anime dealers can easily be discovered online, as well as at many anime conventions, particularly those with trading themes.
Online websites are also a fantastic source of anime collectibles. Online auction web sites are a chosen method of purchase by both professional collectors and fans. Many collectors are pleased with large selection of anime themed merchandise, in addition to the costs online. At any given point over time, it is achievable to find affordable anime collectibles or rare, valuable anime collectibles for sale.
Despite the fact that lots of anime collectors, specially those who are considered investors, opt to specialize in collectable anime figurines, there are no requirements to do so. A few of the best anime collections are those that contain a large choice of merchandise, including DVDs, plush anime characters, and costume accessories.
Amway, Is it the greatest con game since the shell game?
MLM; ( Multi-Level Marketing) What is It?
It Is Fatally Flawed from Inception!
Like the world of Muslims, illegal immigrants and Gay Marriages, few things engage readers more than a discussion of MLM: Multi-level marketing.
This author has studied MLM both face to face and from the side lines, for 38 yrs. Our firm has spent over 100,000 hours examining interviews, newspaper reports, legal decisions and the like and we now present this data to you. Further, this author admits a bias. Now that we both realize that I am not a totally neutral party, let the exam begin.
It is possible that MLM was started before 1969, but the most public announcement of its existence was when the two founders of Amway successfully recruited “Independent Representatives and thus, the world of pure IRs began. Further, this business model, as researchers would say One of the introduced benefits to the prospective Independent Representative was that this was an ideal way of earning money for the stuck at home housewife or unemployed person since “NO selling was needed.” After all, everyone needed soap and most people liked the idea of earning extra cash-so, why not have a party with good snacks, music, and chatting and the opportunity to have people representing a company that was mature, had other Representatives around the city and very good soap to sell. At most of these parties, relatives would be introduced to this system since the idea was, that relatives would not think they were being sold and relatives needed soap. And why not help relatives earn spare money too. It never seemed odd that each person that “Signed up” was asked to buy a “Kit” that sold at a cost from to 0, depending on where one lived and when one joined. While the attorney general of each state was inevitably called into the picture to review the size of the “Levels”, there were often 12. We had the two founders and their first officers who branched out from their homes. The company needed a home office and distribution, so those individuals were at the top level, or, seen clearer, at the bottom of the “Pyramid.”
All companies that sell products, have to either make the products [requiring raw materials and packaging materials] or buy them from wholesalers.
These products thus have a cost to make and the Amway Company needs a specific margin to pay for their operating expenses and to provide a profit. This is what all companies need to stay in business.
Presuming for sake of discussion, that a box of soap [this author met a "middle level" Representative when he was asked to audit her records] cost the Representative, .00, that cost would provide Amway with its needed profit. Anything above that then began to provide a profit for the new field Representative.
So, the VP, operations, for example, would then “Recruit” 6 people at his or his good friend’s home. Perhaps 12 people came to this “Hello party.” Those 6 people would buy one kit each and from that, the VP would pocket perhaps .00. Amway would net over , since the soap cost .00 to provide Amway its profit. It is presumed the business cards and brochures costs less than .10 total, to provide.
Now we have two partners, a crew of employees to get the soap out the door and the VP with 6 new Representatives.
Next month or so, these 6 new Representatives would have, in their respective neighborhoods, parties to recruit new/more Independent Representatives. Soon, the box of soap costing .00 actually cost Amway .50 because a ton of it was being made at the same time. Years later, this same soap might cost less than .01 when hundreds of tons of it was made at the same time. Since the soap would retail almost the same all the time, its .99 gross margin could support a lot of Representatives.
Within ten years of Amway bringing out their Independent Agents/Representative approach and Recruiting, Princess House, Mary Kay Cosmetics. Tupper Ware and others began to adopt this method of growing their companies.
As is obvious to the reader, this method of “Selling” is called multi-level marketing. From the minute its system was put to use, attorney generals of each state began receiving complaints about Agents/Representatives misleading people or conning them with promises of profits that never materialized.
This author has met Independent Representatives from different MLMs and he was amazed that those from highly regarded professions seemed to be agents in this as well. And insurance companies, real estate offices and others have begun to adopt this system-much to this author’s amazement.
Also, since this world has lots of travelers, this system has begun to spread around the world.
The law, while stating many things, includes a provision where no company may state they are in one business and yet, their actual business is primarily that of recruiting others. This recruiting can be confused with the employment agency business. In the licensed or professional field of employee recruiting, a company is paid a fee to seek and help a company hire, employees for one or more employers. In MLM, the Independent Representative never pays anyone anything from his pocket. The Representative also seeks no one for anyone else-the Representative only seeks more Representatives for his own distribution system which the MLM world calls a “Down line.”
This Representative earns money three ways; he sells kits to new Representatives. He earns money from soap sales to his own customers [of which there are rarely many] and he earns money from the soap sales that HIS Representatives and his Representatives and their Reps sell. And on and on and on. This organizational structure is also called a pyramid. Most pyramids are illegal. It has been shown in court that most pyramids require more people than exist on earth to provide profits to 12th level Representatives. It is for that reason that the Attorney General of most states winds up suing MLM Representatives for violating at the least the law about being in a business whose main business is in recruiting for MLM.
Within MLM, the founders also often sell “Motivation” tapes which are supposed to provoke Independent Agents to “Hang in there” and keep knocking on doors or having more parties to keep the cash flow up.
What are the fallacies, faults and problems within MLM:
First; they are a violation of the recruiting law [one cannot recruit for no one and the Independent Agent is not a business].
Second; the party plan or recruiting program system supposes that one’s friends and relatives will be pleased to earn money in this manner and will of course, support the family agent by buying this soap that is priced two to five times what other retailers charge for equal quality and quantity of soap.
Third; the Independent Representative is obligated to buy a “Kit” that “Normal” business representatives are given free.
Forth; When the energetic Agent prepares to open a retail store, to facilitate sales, the supplying Representative [Up-line Representative, if you will] will inform the Agent that store site sales are not permitted “As it will bring unfair advantage to those Agents who cannot afford to pay for a retail site.” [This occurred to this report's writer as he experimented and informed a purported Representative that he was going to buy fifty cases of product and sell them from a fixed site [store] to which the Representative said “I will stop supplying you and make sure Amway does not supply you either if you have a retail outlet.”
This author challenged a 6th level Amway Representative twelve years ago, to a sales duel. I claimed that if I could sell his firm’s product my way vs his, and we had only one week to earn our revenue and profits, that I would out sell him two to one. In front of 25 people he was training, he chose not to accept my bet-dual. He would have lost.
Any “college business school taught “method of distribution/sales will outperform an MLM.
He is why:
First, the MLM person “By habit”, will seek out Representatives. He will take two weeks to prepare a presentation at a home, hotel or elsewhere and hope to “Hook” five to ten percent of his audience to become Agents for him and Amway.
Thus, in this example, I would have begun finding retail sites to carry my product for their customers and I would have visited laundry-mats to see if I could sell products and I would have removed the label and introduced this product to local grocery chains at near my cost-just to move it-with retail prices being required after the first month’s sales.
I would keep my profit margin low -15 to 20 % instead of the several hundred percent required the Amway.
I would be able to sell perhaps 1,000 boxes of soap by the end of my second week and my competitor using the party or seminar approach, will have sold perhaps 10 boxes-just those boxes that are in the “Kits” that MLM companies have and require their Agents to sell to new Representatives.
Also, when I talk to Agents who gloat about their down-lines-having perhaps 15 to 25 Agents below them [they can only earn money from their own recruited Agents, not from those above them as in profit sharing that other firms use who are not in MLM] how their actual sales are doing, I find that the average Agent’s down-line is selling perhaps 1 to 2 boxes of product per week. That amount of product would give the Agent a gross of perhaps -50 dollars.
[The profit margin of each box to the Agent who did the recruiting]. Next, I ask the agent “Are you allocating operating costs to your business? When I ask that, they either have no idea what I am talking about or they say “We don’t have operating expenses since we are not a full-time business or, “We don’t operate that way!” Since these Agents have party expenses, transportation to Agents seminars and homes, etc., they have Transportation costs. When I ask about Liability, they claim “No.” When I ask about Advertising expenses, “No.” And the list goes on. No expenses.
My opportunity to conduct an audit of a 6th level Amway Agent came at a unique time. I was in the dating game. It just so happened that on her way to recruit a new Agent, this lady in AZ found me “Desirable” and visa-versa. During our third week dating, I offered to audit her books after listening to her stories and visiting he home and seeing her Amway assets, and methods. She was bothered that her net cash in the bank was much less than she felt it should have been.
I examined her paperwork, compared it to her stated answers and compared that to her history with the company and deduced, ANALYTICALLY, that instead of her netting .00 an hour [1982], she was instead netting .62. She was horror stricken. While she was proud of her wall of cassettes that her up-line Agent had sold her and was assured was recoverable-that the up-line agent would buy them all back at her original cost-she called him and he said “You have misunderstood, we don not buy back cassettes. She could have made a big deal out of his previous lies to her but she decided not too.
She lost her house two months later and filed for bankruptcy.
This author has never found one person who was ANY level Agent for any MLM that netted more than .70 an hour. These agents were, unfortunately, not only not previous or current business students in college, but had never taken one course or read one book in accounting, so they had no idea about how to examine an income statement or balance sheet.
I will agree that, with one trip to any public library, that literature or education could have been surmounted.
Next, the proliferation/invasion of MLM into internet newsgroups world-wide.
This author “Owns” several Yahoo Groups, also known as newsgroups. Mine deal with real estate and business. I have a FAQ [Frequently Asked Questions] that state “No MLM invitations or ‘business’ may be conducted on this group.” I have 25 groups. Each time I create a group, immediately, 25% of the new subscribers are MLM Agents. And they have the audacity to admit it. “Wanted, Agents to open down-lines in A, B and C cities and nations.”
When I ask my peers who have newsgroups on similar or different subjects, we all find that 25% or more of new subscribers are doing the same thing; promoting their MLM group in spite of a prohibition of same. Polite requests to refrain from doing so, are ignored.
Next; new Agents I met.
In the past 12 years, I have met on the phone or in person, many new and mid-level Agents
with Amway, Excel [phone service] and real estate companies. Each and every one is excited when I initially talk to them. “I love it”, “We are making so much money”, etc.
The Excel lady even told me about the long distance phone service MLM she was with. I had not heard of that one. I had a few minutes to spare and asked her the normal questions
I have asked others and that are above in this report “Have you had your finances audited?” How long have you been with them? And so on. If I have the time, by my 3rd question, the armor that they have had to create to “Protect their time and financial investment” begins to wither. By question number 4, I get this “You know, we have been wondering why some of the down-line Agents who were doing so well three months ago, are not answering their phones anymore or are at home when we call to visit them.” OR, “You know, it’s funny, but when we went to buy a new house/car/boat, we found that our income was not as high as we had thought and so, we did not have sufficient discretionary funds to pay for this new toy/house.”
And, almost always “How did you know?” [Regarding their presumed net profit vs what their up-line Agent said it was after their forth month]. The idea that a product or service has to be priced high enough to allow many levels of staff/agents to profit rarely is understood by MLM Agents.
Sometimes, I get a newly wed person who is so excited by her new marriage and almost more excited by the new income she is expecting with her new Amway business. She is also perplexed when her family would not finance the purchase of the “Kit”, so the newly weds had to take the cash out of rent or food money, easily expecting to earn enough to replace that cash. None of them ever do. So, I suggest that they take the soap and sell it to a neighbor who she knows is going to the laundry next Saturday and write off the rest.
What an expensive lesson and what a loss of presumed income. Even a few marriages suffered when the ego of the newly weds was hurt by family members refusing to finance the “Kit” and the newly weds “Divorced” their parents because of it.
Keller-Williams straddles the line when they offer new Agents a fee to recruit other new agents.
This real estate office claims it is purely profit sharing which does not make much sense. With profit sharing, the more Agents there are, the fewer the profits are per Agent.
In some European and Middle East nations, the ethics of MLM makes their operation prohibitive.
The main law that is broken in the US by MLM is the federal law of Deceptive Practices. Plus the law where recruiting is the main objective without having any employers seeking employees.
While I have never seen one, this is of interest:
“A legitimate multi-level marketing opportunity is the value of some business purpose. Ask yourself, “What does the company sell?” An illegal pyramid scheme has no business purpose—rather its emphasis is on getting other people to enlist.
More references;
Multilevel marketing (MLM) schemes
[Indiana University Information Services-http://kb.iu.edu/data/afvn.html]
More references;
Amway is a multilevel marketing (MLM, also known as network marketing) company founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos. The company’s name is an abbreviation of “American Way.” [1] Based in Ada, Michigan; personal care products, jewelry, dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers and cosmetics. Wikipedia.
Ja-Ri Corporation was the original multi-level marketing distributorship for Nutrilite nutritional products, founded by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos in 1949.[3] Ja-Ri’s name comes from the founders’ first names, Jay and Richard. Friends since childhood, Van Andel and DeVos became business partners in endeavors such as a hamburger stand, air charter service, and a sailing business.
Ja-Ri was incorporated in 1959, and changed its name to “Amway” in 1963.
Regarding legal actions:
In the 1979 In re. Amway Corp. (93 F.T.C. 618) ruling,[7] the Federal Trade Commission found that Amway does not qualify as an illegal pyramid scheme since the main aim of the enterprise is the sale of product and money is paid only for business volume, personal and group. It did, however, order Amway to change several business practices and prohibited the company from misrepresenting the amount of profit, earnings or sales its distributors are likely to achieve. Amway was ordered to accompany any such statements with the actual averages per distributor, pointing out that more than half of the distributors do not make any money, with the average distributor making less than 0 per month. The order was violated with a 1986 ad campaign, resulting in a 0,000 fine
In 1983, Amway pleaded guilty to criminal tax evasion and customs fraud in Canada, resulting in a fine of million CAD, the largest fine ever imposed in that country. The company was fined another million CAD in 1989 to settle a suit brought by Canada’s trade office.[10][11][12]. In an 1994 interview, Amway co-founder Rich DeVos stated that this incident had been his greatest “moral or spiritual challenge”, first in “soul searching as to whether they had done anything wrong” and then for pleading guilty for technical reasons, despite believing they were innocent of the charges. DeVos stated he believed that the case had been motivated by “political reasons”.[13]
[To stave off further negative publicity, for now]
In 1999 the founders of the Amway corporation launched a sister (and separate) Internet-based company named Quixtar. The Alticor corporation owns both Amway and Quixtar, plus several other concerns. Quixtar replaced the North American business of Amway in 2001, with Amway operating in the rest of the world. Amway’s internet sales in Europe are conducted via their Amivo website. The Access Business Group was split off to handle manufacturing.
http://www.mlmsurvivor.com/melaleuca.htm
March, 2000
Fourteen Melaleuca distributors have sued their upline and the company on charges that have become all too familiar to followers of MLM lawsuits. The crux of this case rests on claims that the company and its representatives knowingly, fraudulently and persistently misrepresented their distributor retention rate.
Distributor retention is vital to the success of any MLM endeavor, because you have to be able to sponsor new people faster than the old ones quit. In the landmark FTC decision of 1979, Amway testified to a 50% retention rate, which was excellent for the direct sales industry. This means that, in any given year, 50% of the distributor force quits. Anyone wanting to succeed at sponsoring would have to sponsor two for every one they want to keep.
So (according to the complaint), instead of an average attrition rate of only 5.5% per year, as they had been led to believe, the Holtons discovered that the annual dropout rate was really 66% per year — an enormous difference. Kim Holton, who had sponsored people she cared about, was thrown into a serious depression and eventually committed suicide, leaving her husband and son.
PROSTEP LEAD MLM DEAD AFTER 12 YEARS
26 August 2005 — ProStep the lead generation company, dies at hands of the Law. After a recent defeat with the state of Texas over a disputed multi-year franchise tax and sales and use tax payments Prostep is shutting down. Here at the MLM WatchDog we can pretty well determine that means filing bankruptcy to escape the Texas bills due… Ed. Note: We always hate to see MLM Companies die, however there will be some humor if the Name List Brokers are selling the “Experienced Networkers! – Prostep Name List” next week!
THE WORLD’S DUMBEST PYRAMIDERS ARE HANGING THEMSELVES!
22 July 2005- You have to read about these guys standing in front of a judge telling him that Elite Activity is not a pyramid ponzi… In person! Wow, all they had to do was shut down the website and run. Now, there’s a shootout between them and the AG. Good luck!
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/12155218.htm
MORE LAWSUITS EVERY TIME WE LOOK!
21 July 2005- Wow, this is one of the most sue happy couple of years I have seen in the MLM Industry!
MLM Lawsuits
http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com/scams.shtml
Attorney General Warns of Marketing, Pyramid Schemes 11/22/06 4:15 AM … and Charles Counties Attorney General Warns Consumers of Multi-Level Marketing Schemes, Pyramid Cons Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., warns Maryland residents to …
Better Business Bureau expels 2 firms Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 6/30/06 12:57 AM … which include the plan’s parent company, American Family Prepaid Legal Corp. of Irvine, Calif., to immediately halt their “illegal” conduct regarding current or future marketing …
Lee’s Summit business owners indicted for false tax returns BizJournals.com 6/30/06 3:48 AM … information. The Aldridges co-own and operate a multimillion-dollar multi-level marketing firm called , which sells American Silver Eagle coins. The company employed about 5,000 sales … Concept Marketing International
UK’s Times Online reports crack down on scams and “matrix” schemes…”FINANCIAL fraudsters prey on the gullible and the vulnerable. But one scam has plumbed new depths” 10/19/2005
Norwich Evening News in the UK lists the top 10 scams in Europe – Click here 10/4/2005
New payment processor that will replace PayPal? Maybe not. See comments on GreenZap.
Buyer Beware on Australian 2-Ups like Liberty League and Coastal Vacations! – see Rod Cook article.
Government Cracks Down On Internet Mall Pyramid Promoters WFMY-TV CBS 2 Greensboro (NC) 5/13/05 10:35 PM … NexGen3000.com, Inc.; Globion, Inc.; Robert J. Charette, Jr.; David A. Charette; Stephen M. Diamond; Christine Wasser; Infinity2, Inc.; and Edward G. Hoyt are barred from participating in any multi-level marketing businesses in the future. All are barred from making false or misleading earnings or income …
USATODAY.com – U.S. cracks down on 200 scam operations 2/22/2005
Federal agencies announced a crackdown Tuesday on about 200 operations that falsely offered lucrative work-at-home and other questionable business opportunities. … U.S. cracks down on 200 scam operations. WASHINGTON (AP) – Make big bucks at home stuffing envelopes …
http://attitudeadjustment.tripod.com/Essays/MLM.htm
by Luke Setzer
Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies like Amway and Nu Skin are notorious for hyping their “business opportunities” and promising riches to those who “work hard” at “building the business”. However, a closer look reveals a very dark side to the MLM industry, as the following testimonial from a seasoned MLMer will demonstrate:
My wife and I have been involved with the MLM industry for 20 years. We have built many large downlines and have come to the following well-reasoned conclusions.
We’re tired of building big downlines only to see them fade away, companies go out of business, regulatory action, lawsuits, bad press, etc. Distributors are along for a ride in a cart driven by someone else.
Selling a product-based deal is fine, but the idea of marketing a business opportunity to prospects when we know the numbers is not ethical for us. In its purest form, MLM is a viable method of marketing if its focus is on products and not primarily the business. Selling the dream of financial independence with MLM is a mirage for 90+% of distributors. The MLM industry statistics are that on average only 10% of distributors get a commission check each month. Of that 10%, 80% do not make enough to sustain themselves as a full-time income. Industry-wide company statistics show that 90% of distributors drop out of each company within a 1-2 year period. The distributor churn rate is terrible.
Any way you cut it, MLM statistically does not work for 90+% of those involved. And those who make the big bucks are in a more elite group–usually 1/10 of 1% of all distributors.
We found that we could not ethically sell the MLM dream of financial independence for all. It is impossible. For me to get ,000+ a month, I have to build this on the backs of all the users, consumers, and little people–the ones who buy their 0 a month of whatever and don’t get a check. This money flows upline to distributors and back to the company from people who don’t make their monthly qualifications.
In MLMs, you do not own your own business, you do not own the product, and you are not in control of your destiny. The company holds all the strings–product supply, computer tracking, commissions, collections, customer service, order fulfillment, publicity, compliance, public relations, comp plan, everything. All you own is a position in a long line of distributors. You do not control the product you sell, the comp plan, what the company does or does not do, the money that is paid . . . distributors own nothing other than the opportunity to sign more distributors and manage the existing downline. You are at the mercy of the company, upline, downline, media, and government.
This is why we’re doing our own thing–developing our own products (books, information products), marketing, and selling. We started this four years ago. We’ve got no one to answer to except us. We’ve got control. We direct market to customers, find more new customers, nurture that relationship, and make more sales. The most important thing we’ve got is our customer list and that relationship and goodwill.
I would like to recommend that you check out the following links. These pages will explain more:
What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing
What’s Wrong With MLM–FAQs
The Zero Sum Theory
MLMer Tom “Big Al” Schreiter on MLM
MLM Watch: A Skeptical Guide to Multilevel Marketing
The Network Marketing Game
Dr. Jon Taylor, who did the Network Marketing Payout Distribution Study
Worldwide Scam
MLM or Pyramid Scheme?
Cagey Consumer MLM and Financial Scams Exposed
False Profits Analysis of Network and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
How do MLMs manage to recruit and retain enthusiastic distributors, even when those distributors lose money year after year? A close examination of the mind control systems of cults reveals disturbing similarities between MLMs and cults.
This web site supplies a generic checklist for identifying cults:
Let’s go through the list and comment:
Based on this analysis, I think the notion that MLMs have cultish tendencies has merit. I’ll be the first to admit that excellence in any endeavor requires a passionate dedication. But that dedication is usually internal rather than external. When external “authorities” begin overwriting people’s identities with their own scripting, to the detriment of the people getting scripted, that’s when the problems begin. I think that happens most of the time with MLMs given the dismal statistics of MLM failures. When rigorous studies reveal gambling to be less risky than MLM, it is time to bail out of MLM.
http://dmoz.org/Business/Opportunities/Opposing_Views/
Anti-MLM and Anti-Amway Webring – Sites containing informational material regarding the MLM industry, especially Amway. Cagey Consumer: Multi-level marketing – Analysis and debunking of Multi-Level Marketing as an industry as well as scrutiny of a number of specific MLMs and complaints generated about them. An Employment Scam in the Financial Services Industry – Describes an employment scam that finance grads and those considering financial, insurance and securities sales should be aware of. What to do if you’ve been scammed; links to similar sites. False Profits – About the book, an exposé and analysis of the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry FTC Sues Nationwide Internet Scam – Press release about FTC lawsuit against StreamLine business opportunity. The God of the Bible versus the god of Multi-Level Marketing – Christian site calling the teachings of Amway Motivational Organizations “a Satanic distortion of Biblical truth.” The Hype of It – True story of a PartyLite Gifts consultant’s trek to the top followed by the use of the 10 day clause by the company to terminate her contract. The Mirage of Multilevel Marketing – Article by Stephen Barrett, M.D., on bogus health products. MLM Survivor – News, lawsuits, personal experiences, and information. MLM Survivors Club – A discussion group for people who’ve survived MLM. Multilevel Marketing Plans – Tips from the Federal Trade Commission regarding MLMs. Personal Experience: Mary Kay Cosmetics – Associate recounts her negative experience with the company. PinkLightHouse.com – Ex-Mary Kay consultants offers news, stories, testimonials and forum on negative experiences with the company. ield – Exposes, studies and aims to prevent illegal pyramid schemes. Site includes news, alerts, resources, legal information, updates and consumer information about a number of companies and MLMs operating suspected pyramid schemes. Skeptic’s Dictionary: multi-level marketing – Encyclopedia-type article about multi-level marketing. The Truth About Marketing Plans – Information on evaluating network marketing plans. What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing? – Business analysis of 4 major systemic problems with MLM: 1) Market Saturation, 2) Pyramid Structure, 3) Morality and Ethics, and 4) Relationship Costs WorldWide Scam Network, The – Parodies of and information about the multi-level marketing scams, frauds, and rip-offs.
Metabolife probe launched – Metabolife International, the leading seller of the controversial weight-loss supplement ephedra, is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. (August 15, 2002) Bigsmart Pyramid Promoters Settle FTC Charges – Federal Trade Commission press release announces that Darrin Epps and Edward Lamont are barred for life from participating in multi-level marketing schemes. (August 9, 2001) MetroActive: Shaking the Money Tree – by Amy Chen Mills- “From Amway to Equinox, multilevel marketing schemes have won 7 million devotees on the promise of unlimited wealth and freedom. But when the numbers don’t add up, distributors lose more than their dreams.” (October 3, 1996)
Conclusion
AS there are people who are passionate about most every field of endeavor, this paper has shown that there are people. While this paper’s author liked creativity, he abhors unethical behavior. He feels both mad and sad when the corporation takes advantage of the employee.
While I do agree with a few quoted responders, that “While some MLM people are honest, it is unfortunate that the many have made it impossible for the few”. Your author must go beyond this and return to the beginning or introduction to this paper.
We have syllogisms we can use here:
a; If a legal body had unlimited resources, it could examine all the workings of every company and idea to seek out illegal behavior and then, see what percent of the entire workings of MLM were illegal vs illegal. Unfortunately, such 24/7 review sources do not exist. Our protective bodies must do the best they can with what they have.
B; IT was a hypothesis of this paper that the founders of MLM made assumptions; that people would love the party system or the “Just do these simple things” and earn lots of money while others perform for you. The fact is, no business ever has, can or will work that way.
That does not mean that money cannot be invested PASSIVELY and earn for oneself but MLM is not an investment-[if it was, it would be worse], it is a shady world created to look like a business but not have the ethical characteristics of a business.
C: MLM’ers must lie, cheat and steal to earn money. In most cases, it must sell worthless kits to earn any money at all. It harms families, loved ones and acts worse than illegal drugs;
it offers PRODUCTS that are likely of value in and of themselves but such products are offered in a “heinous”, illogical, immoral and distasteful manner.
D; As reviewed earlier, I can take any product or service that MLM has, and outperform
the MLM model! Thus, the marketing model of Multi-level is flawed from the get go.
E. While a human still-born is a very sad event, MLM should have been still-born.
The only unfortunate way to keep such an accident of business creativity alive, is to try to act like it is a business [care about customer's needs] while in fact, it is only caring about itself.
Finally; more than one previous member of the MLM family in this report said it well:
And I paraphrase: “When you are offered loads of money and the best you can earn DOING ALL YOU ARE told to do, is earn minimum wage OR LESS, the system is terminally flawed.
Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members. “You must surround yourself with positive people! Negative people say, ‘Be realistic’! Positive people ask, ‘What is possible?’ Most people die from the neck up by the time they’re adults! Stay away from them! They’re dream stealers!”
Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group. Spend every waking moment “working the business” regardless of whether it ever makes you any money.
Members’ subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group. Listen to some Amway tapes and learn how people have lost valuable relationships with families and friends because Amway became their all-consuming passion. Very sad. It’s as if the MLM company “overwrites” the recruit’s personality with its own scripting regardless of the damage such scripting may cause.
The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them. Example: “What? You didn’t make any phone calls today for your business? How are you ever going to get that new Mercedes (or big house, or quitting your job, or whatever other ‘hot button’ you might have).”
The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities). Unethical MLM practices include (1) outrageous income claims not achievable by “just anyone” despite their arguments to the contrary, (2) telling people to “fake it till you make it” (heard this one from a Nu Skin Blue Diamond distributor tape), (3) encouraging retail customers to use excessive amounts of product to boost resales (heard this one from another Nu Skin distributor tape).
The group’s leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations). MLMers dislike well-educated critical thinkers who can see through their smoke and mirrors, and FTC regulators who expect MLM companies to substantiate their outrageous claims.
The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society. See above comments on MLMs vs JOBs in corporate America.
The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity). MLMers “save humanity” with their product or their business opportunity. The “bad guys” are corporate America and their foisting of JOBs (Just Over Broke) onto the American “sheep”. Never mind that it’s much easier to manage life on a steady JOB income than on a nonexistent or even negative MLM income.
The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth). For MLMers, the dictates are that “thou shalt market thy product every waking moment when one is not listening to one of thy company tapes or contacting thy friends and family to recruit them into the cause. Should thy fail to do this, thou art the gravest of sinners.”
Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). Ever been to an MLM “motivational seminar”? It’s not so much “mind numbing” as it is “mind distracting”. Good feelings are whipped up and lifelong dreams stimulated and then linked to the “business opportunity”, as if the latter could materialise the former. Logical flows of cause and effect based on rigorous research are replaced with highly emotional but intellectually flawed mental linkages to keep the MLM recruit hooked.
Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. In MLM, the answer is YES! YES! YES!
The group is preoccupied with making money. In MLM, the answer is YES! YES! YES!
The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. In MLM, the answer is YES! YES! YES!
The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. In MLM, sometimes it’s a leader, sometimes it’s the company itself. More often it’s a charismatic individual, whether that’s the company founder or an upline.8/19/04 11:59 AM … “Gifting Club” – “Elite Activities” through recruitment of participants, as opposed to a multilevel marketing scheme, where money is made through the sale of a product or service. Staci Schneider, …Multilevel marketing plans, also known as network or matrix marketing, are a way of selling goods or services through distributors. These plans typically promise that if you sign up as a distributor, you will receive commissions for both your own sales and those of other people you recruit to join the distributors. Multilevel marketing plans usually promise to pay commissions through two or more levels of recruits, known as the distributor’s downline. While some MLM schemes are supposedly legitimate, if a plan offers to pay commissions for recruiting new distributors, it likely is illegal. Most states outlaw this practice, which is known as pyramiding. State laws against pyramiding say that a multilevel marketing plan should pay commissions only for retail sales of goods or services, not for recruiting new distributors. Pyramiding is prohibited because plans that pay commissions for recruiting new distributors inevitably collapse when no new distributors can be recruited. When a plan collapses, most people, except perhaps those at the very top of the pyramid, lose their money.Original Source: Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1999.”
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Manufactures have come up with designs and functionality to meet the needs and expectations of each outdoor grill. Prices range from $ 30 to $ 1,000 or more.
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Cutting Edge, Ebay Tactics, That Will Explode Your Sales
Shop the competition
When you have items to sell, start by searching eBay for similar items, noting the categories other sellers list their items under, how much they are asking for them, what descriptions they use, and the photos they provide. Take note of what you like and dislike about the product descriptions, and if the photos make the item seem more appealing.
Do your research before listing.
Knowledgeable bidders love it when sellers are too lazy to research their items before putting them up for sale on eBay. Those sellers consistently offer them bargain after bargain, which can be sold again on eBay with a better title and description for lots more money. Use your books on antiques and collectibles, Web sites like this one and to learn about what you’re selling on eBay long before you attempt to auction it off.
Choose a Category.
Choosing where to list your item is a critical part of the auction process. If users can’t find your items, they can’t bid. More market research can help you here. Look at other auctions for similar products to find logical locations for your items.
If still you are unsure about which category to use for your listing, eBay can suggest categories during the listing process. You will be prompted to further narrow down the category through subcategories and add optional additional categories for more exposure.
Identify your market.
Take a while to sit and watch for what sells and what doesn’t out of the items you’re interested in. Any market research data you can collect will be very useful to you later on. You’ll probably see the ‘sweet spots’ quite quickly – those one or two items that always seem to sell for a good price.
Write a compelling description.
While choosing a category is relatively easy, writing good product descriptions is not as simple as it seems. Your title needs to catch a potential buyer’s attention, get them to click on your item, and bid on it. EBay’s search engine uses the auction title to index items for sale, so don’t waste precious title real estate with words like “wow” or “L@@K!” Searchers aren’t looking for these terms, so you are much better off using every character of your title to describe the item. Think of every related term someone might look for when looking for an item like yours, and include as much information as you can.
For an additional fee, you can increase the visibility of your listings by adding bold text, highlighting, gallery status, and other techniques. EBay is constantly looking for ways to help you make your listings more prominent – and charge you for the privilege. Depending on the items you sell and the categories you list in, you may want to consider these option.
Focus on getting positive feedback.
Feedback really matters when you’re selling on eBay. If you have a consistent record of positive feedback, prospective buyers will both bid more often and be willing to pay higher prices. So you may want to hold back on placing higher priced products until you have a successful track record as an eBay seller established.
Watch your competition
Before you invest any money, see what the other sellers in your category are up to, Take a look at similar items to what you would like to sell and price your goods competitively. Look out for people bidding on the same item as you are selling and email those bidders to let them know you are selling the same item also. Figure out what are the strategies of your competitors, Pay special attention to any flaws their auctions might have, because this is where you can move in and beat them at their own game.
Find a product
Get hold of a supplier for whatever it is you want to sell, and see what the best rates you can get are – don’t be afraid to ring round quite a few to get the best deal. If the eBay prices you’ve seen are higher than the supplier’s, then you’re set.
Start small
Don’t throw thousands at your idea straight away – get started slowly, see what works and what doesn’t, and learn as you go. Remember that it’s very cheap to try out even the craziest ideas on eBay, and who knows, they might just work! Any business takes 12-18 months to become established, somehow you still hope that you can get there in 2! But, one mistake entrepreneurs consistently make is to throw their life’s savings into buying case loads of stock – before they even know how eBay works. It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security on eBay after buying just one or two items. For buyers, eBay is meant to be user friendly. For sellers, things are a little more complicated. All powersellers agree that there are new things to be learned all the time and you’ll be surprised at how much more you know after several months selling small, inexpensive items. Be prepared to spend the first couple of months buying and selling a variety of inexpensive items you can purchase with your loose change. Keep track of what sells best and work on narrowing down the possibilities to a few strong products. By this stage you will also have experienced the best and worst situations eBay has to offer, so you will be much better prepared to crank things up a notch.
Work out a business plan
A business plan doesn’t need to be anything formal, just a few pages that outline the market opportunity you’ve spotted, your strategy, strengths and weaknesses of the plan and a brief budget. This is more for you than it is for anyone else.
Keep your shipping and handling charges reasonable.
Shipping and handling charges can really jack up the cost you pass along to bidders. Some folks avoid auctions that quote very high shipping and handling fees altogether. Consider charging only what it costs you to mail the item, and build in the cost of packaging and labor into your starting price instead. And if you’re not stating the shipping charge in your listings already, be sure to do so. Bidders want to know how much they’re going to have to pay to get their buys home before they bid. Again, some people will avoid auctions that don’t explicitly state shipping charges up front. It’s not fair to spring a high shipping fee on a bidder after the fact, and you sure won’t earn buyer loyalty that way.
Invest & Expand
This is the time to throw money at the problem. Buy inventory, and start spending more time on your business. Set a goal number of sales each week, increasing it each time.
Make it official
Once you’ve made a few thousand dollars worth of sales, you should really register yourself as a business. Don’t worry, it’s not expensive or hard to do – a lawyer is the best person to help you through the process.
Automate
You’ll probably find that you’re writing the same things again and again in emails or item descriptions. This is the time to give up on the manual method and turn to automated software that can create listings for you, and respond to completed auctions and payments with whatever message you provide.
Keep in contact with your wholesale supplier regularly to ensure you are aware of any stock issues.
A backorder can create a lot of extra work for you soothing customer’s ruffled feathers. And if they want their order refunded, it costs you money too. So make life easier for yourself by regularly touching base with your suppliers and ensuring communication lines stay open.
Think twice about ending an auction early.
If your item is not bringing in the bids you expected during the course of the auction, don’t panic. Since many bidders wait until the last minute to bid, a practice known as “sniping,” the price on a desirable item can double or even triple during the last few seconds of an auction. If a potential buyer makes you an offer via e-mail to end the auction early and sell the item to them outright, that’s not a good idea either. It’s not only against eBay’s rules to skirt around paying ending item fees, you could be cheating yourself out of a high ending price by selling to someone making a low-ball offer.
Consider search keywords in titles.
Keyword research is the way to ensure your potential customers find you successfully. The small amount of space you’re alloted for an eBay item title is valuable real estate from a selling perspective. Why? Most searches on eBay are done on item titles rather than descriptions. When you leave out specific keywords pertaining to the size, maker, color or age of a piece in your item title, fewer potential bidders will find your wares. Consider replacing extraneous words (such as wow, must see, huge and look) with pertinent detail words most bidders would use in a search. To do this, put yourself in the searcher’s shoes. Do you think a bidder will key in “signed lovely old sparkling choker” as a keyword phrase? Perhaps “vintage clear rhinestone necklace by Lisner” would be the foundation for a better title.
Keep in touch with your best bidders.
If you specialize in certain items such as glassware, pottery, toys or jewelry, consider setting up email lists to keep in touch with past bidders. You’ll want to ask them before placing them on the list so your email won’t be considered spam, of course. Once you’ve compiled lists of people interested in your specialties, you can keep in touch with them weekly, bi-weekly or monthly to let them know when you’ve listed items they might be interested in viewing. Include links directly to the items, or to your seller’s list in your communication.
Dont over price.
people look on ebay for a bargain, I always find that with most items if you start the bidding at 99p more people will be interested and will start the bidding straight away.
Respond to questions as quickly as possible
Most people use the Internet because it provides what they need instantaneously: information, contacts, gifts, advice, and so on. Therefore I can’t emphasize enough the importance of checking your emails as often as you can and replying to queries as quickly as possible.
A picture IS worth 1000 words.
The old saying remains as true as ever: A picture speaks a thousand words. It’s old-fashioned, but people still like to see things before they buy them. For successful eBay selling, make sure any products you list on eBay are accompanied by professional quality photographs. A bad picture can look unappealing and unprofessional. Plus, if the buyer can’t really see the item properly, they may be put off bidding because they can’t tell if it is what they really want. So right from the beginning, work on creating the most professional pictures you can, even if it means spending money on a photo tent and better lighting.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – use other ways of selling apart from eBay
eBay is not the be all and end all of selling online – although it is one of the best ways to start. As soon as you can though, try thinking of other ways you can increase your web presence. Perhaps you could place a classified ad in Yahoo or write about your auctions in a MySpace blog. There are plenty of cheap and easy ways to build up your profile.
Keep a constant look out for other products to sell, while also monitoring carefully what you are already selling.
Don’t become complacent! Even if your items appear to be stock standard – such as chairs for instance – make sure you keep looking at what other sellers are doing, emerging trends, magazine articles, home decor programs, and more. There may be another related product opportunity just waiting to happen that you completely overlook if you keep your blinkers on.
Don’t offer free shipping as a gimmick unless you can afford it
Free shipping is a very effective way of attracting more people to your listings. However, before you consider offering free shipping, think carefully about your profit margins, how much your item weighs, and the fact that shipping will vary depending on how far away you are sending it. Offering free shipping is a good move if you can absorb the cost in your profit margin, but it could easily become crippling if you apply it to a variety of items of different shapes and sizes.
Learn all about shipping.
Shipping is under the control of the eBay seller, but some methods of shipping are better than others when you’re selling on eBay. You want to find the best method of shipping for your product in terms of expense and reliability and then specify that shipping method in your eBay listing. (And don’t forget to include the shipping cost in your shipping information for potential buyers.)
Pay as much attention to the writing of your eBay listing as to your picture.
For selling on eBay, you need a powerful eBay listing. And the trick to writing a strong eBay listing is to combine search engine friendly phrasing with concrete details about the product in a way that will entice people to bid on your product. Take the time to craft your eBay listing just as you would any ad.
Offer a full slate of payment options, including credit cards.
The more payment options you, as an Ebay seller, offer prospective bidders, the more bidders your product will attract and the more successful your selling on eBay will be.
Be business-like.
Act professionally, provide the kind of superior customer service that will build your reputation, and make sure that you’re following all the business rules that apply, such as registering your business and properly charging and remitting taxes. Selling on eBay is just like any other business; to become an eBay success, you need to follow the rules and provide the kind of customer satisfaction that will translate into increased eBay sales.
Create your “About Me” page on eBay
Use this page to tell other eBay users about yourself and your interests, your experience and your products.
Get ID Verified through eBay
as an extra sign of security for buyers. When a member gets ID Verified, a third-party company working with eBay confirms the member’s identity by cross checking their contact information across consumer and business databases. You’ll see the ID Verify icon in verified members’ profiles.
Promoting through eBay blogs
Use to promote your eBay store. eBay blogs are a nice new addition, where you can create blogs with links pointing to your store or bulk listings (not to individual listing). When creating blogs, use the most specific keywords in the title and description. Also choose the keywords to describe your blog to tell your visitors what you sell and searchers find your blog quickly. Blogs are so simple to operate, yet a powerful marketing tool. You can create immediate rapport with your buyers through your eBay blog. The restriction on promoting individual listing is indeed a drawback. If there is sufficient pressure from sellers, eBay may change the policy on promoting individual listings – no such communications are there from eBay till now. Alternately you can actively seek feedback from customers in the form of comments. It is easy to get lost with tweaking CSS templates. Better option is to write quality content for your blog and give your readers something to read about the products you sell.
Improving sales through an eBay Store
One simple, but effective tip to ensure more sales through an eBay Store – use keywords. Use keywords that accurately describe your product. Instead of ‘cool great jewelry’, use ‘butterfly gold pendants’. The first example sounds great, but tells nothing. The second one accurately tells what the buyer can expect at your store.
You can use eBay Stores alongside your present e-commerce shop. You can customize your eBay Storefront and make its look and feel comparable to your website. Make navigation as uncluttered as possible for easy navigation. It can translate into better sales.
Start 99% of your eBay auctions for .01.
EBay makes money by charging sellers both a front-end and back-end transaction fee. The fees are based on the item’s beginning price and final selling price. No sense paying more in fees just to start your item off at a higher price. I’ve found that .01 auctions tend to generate a lot of interest at first and create a lot of “watchers.” These watchers will monitor the item throughout the selling process and come back near the end of the auction to bid. It’s tempting to set the starting price closer to what you would like to actually get paid, but I’ve found this method to be both costly and largely ineffective. One disclaimer: If you are selling a high-priced item you may want to consider a higher starting price, and/or setting a reserve price.
List your items at the end of the day.
Most people peruse eBay auctions later in the day, so consider listing your items in the evening to get maximum exposure near the end of the auction. Consider the various time zones – ending your auction too early may not allow those on the west coast enough time to get home, have dinner and fire up eBay to see your listing. Listing items around 10:00p.m. EST has always worked well for me.
Read more on:
http://www.wholesalesamurai.com/WholesaleArticles/eBayTips.html
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Second Life
History
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In 1999, Philip Rosedale (known as Philip Linden inworld) formed Linden Lab. His initial focus was on the development of hardware that would enable computer users to be fully immersed in a virtual world experience. In its earliest form, the company struggled to produce a commercial version of the hardware, known as “The Rig”, which was realized in prototype form as a clunky steel contraption with several computer monitors that users could wear on their shoulders. That vision soon morphed into the software application Linden World, in which users could participate in task-based games and socialization in a three-dimensional online environment. That effort would eventually transform into the better known, user-centered Second Life. Although he was familiar with the metaverse of Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash, Rosedale has said that his vision of virtual worlds predates that book, and that he conducted some early virtual world experiments during his college years at the University of California San Diego, where he studied physics.
On December 11, 2007, Cory Ondrejka, who helped program Second Life, was forced to resign as chief technology officer .
In January 2008, residents (including bots used to simulate traffic for better search rankings) spent a total of 28,274,505 hours “inworld”, and, on average, 38,000 residents were logged in at any particular moment. The maximum concurrency (number of avatars inworld) recorded is 88,200 in the 1st qtr. 2009
On March 14, 2008, Rosedale announced plans to step down from his position as Linden Lab CEO and to become chairman of Linden Lab’s board of directors. Rosedale announced Mark Kingdon as the new CEO effective May 15, 2008.
In 2008, Second Life was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the development of online sites with user-generated content. Rosedale accepted the award.
In January 2010, 18 million accounts were registered, although there are no reliable figures for actual long term consistent usage.
Classification
During a 2001 meeting with investors, Rosedale noticed that the participants were particularly responsive to the collaborative, creative potential of Second Life. As a result the initial objective-driven, gaming focus of Second Life was shifted to a more user-created, community-driven experience.
Second Life’s status as a virtual world, a computer game, or a talker, is frequently debated. Unlike a traditional computer game, Second Life does not have a designated objective, nor traditional game play mechanics or rules. As it does not have any stipulated goals it is irrelevant to talk about winning or losing in relation to Second Life. Likewise, unlike a traditional talker, Second Life contains an extensive world that can be explored and interacted with, and it can be used purely as a creative tool set if the user so chooses.
It also used to be for any age, but now requires users to be at least 18 years of age.
Residents and avatars
Main article: Resident (Second Life)
There is no charge to create a Second Life account or for making use of the world for any period of time. Linden Lab reserves the right to charge for the creation of large numbers of multiple accounts for a single person but at present does not do so. A Premium membership (US.95/mo., US.50 quarterly, or US/yr.) extends access to an increased level of technical support, and also pays an automatic stipend of L0/week into the member’s avatar account (down from an original stipend of L0, which is still paid to older accounts). This stipend, paid into the member’s avatar account, means that the actual cost for the benefit of extended tech support for an annual payment of US is only US. However, the vast majority of casual users of SL do not upgrade beyond the free “basic” account.
Avatars may take any form users choose (human, animal, vegetable, mineral, or a combination thereof) or residents may choose to resemble themselves as they are in real life, or they may choose even more abstract forms, given that almost every aspect of an avatar is fully customizable. See Second Life Culture for more details. A single resident account may have only one avatar at a time, although the appearance of this avatar can change between as many different forms as the Resident wishes. Avatar forms, like almost everything else in SL, can be either created by the user, or bought pre-made. A single person may also have multiple accounts, and thus appear to be multiple Residents (a person’s multiple accounts are referred to as alts).
Avatars can communicate via local chat or global instant messaging (known as IM). Chatting is used for localized public conversations between two or more avatars, and is visible to any avatar within a given distance. IMs are used for private conversations, either between two avatars, or among the members of a group, or even between objects and avatars. Unlike chatting, IM communication does not depend on the participants being within a certain distance of each other. As of version 1.18.1.2, voice chat, both local and IM, is also available on both the main grid and teen grid. Instant messages may optionally be sent to a Resident’s email when the Resident is logged off, although message length is limited to 4096 bytes. If a message is sent to an offline Resident it will also be saved to be viewed when they log on.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Second Life
Second Life has an internal currency, the Linden dollar (L$ ). L$ can be used to buy, sell, rent or trade land or goods and services with other users. Virtual goods include buildings, vehicles, devices of all kinds, animations, clothing, skin, hair, jewelry, flora and fauna, and works of art. Services include “camping”, wage labor, business management, entertainment and custom content creation (which can be broken up into the following 6 categories: building, texturing, scripting, animating, art direction, and the position of producer/project funder). L$ can be purchased using US Dollars and other currencies on the LindeX exchange provided by Linden Lab, independent brokers or other resident users. Money obtained from currency sales is most commonly used to pay Second Life’s own subscription and tier fees; only a relatively small number of users earn large amounts of money from the world. According to figures published by Linden Lab, about 64,000 users made a profit in Second Life in February 2009, of whom 38524 made less than US, while 233 made more than US00. Profits are derived from selling virtual goods, renting land, and a broad range of services. In March 2009, it has become known that there exist a few Second Life entrepreneurs, whose profits exceed 1 million US$ per year.
Some companies generate US dollar earnings from services provided in Second Life.
Accessibility
Second Life has been criticized for its lack of accessibility as users unable to use a mouse or unable to see are excluded from accessing Second Life using the Second Life viewer. However, since the Second Life viewer was made open source a number of solutions towards making Second Life accessible have been developed (listed chronological order):
A modification of the Second Life viewer has been developed that allows users who are visually impaired to navigate their avatar using force feedback. Different object types are distinguished through different vibration frequencies.
TextSL is a text client developed by the University of Nevada that allows Screenreader users to access Second Life. TextSL allows users who are visually impaired to navigate, communicate with avatars and interact with objects using a command based interface inspired by the Zork adventure game.
IBM’s Human Ability and Accessibility Center developed a Web based interface for Second Life that can be accessed with a screen reader. This client provides basic navigation, communication, and perception functions using hotkeys.
The guide dog project developed by Virtual Helping Hands offers a virtual guide dog object that can be “worn” by a user’s avatar. The guidedog provides a number of functions such as navigation and querying the environment through a chat-like interface. Feedback is provided using synthetic speech.
A recent study shows that one of the biggest barriers towards making Second Life accessible to users who are visually impaired is its apparent lack of meta data, such as names and descriptions, for virtual world objects. This is a similar problem for the accessibility of the web where images may lack alternative tags. The study found that 32% of the objects in Second Life are called ‘object’ and it is estimated that up to 40% of the objects in Second Life lack an accurate name.
Localization
In 2007, Brazil became the first country to have its own independently-run portal to Second Life, operated by an intermediarylthough the actual Second Life grid accessed through the Brazilian portal is the same as that used by the rest of the worldwide customer base. The portal, called “Mainland Brazil”, is run by Kaizen Games, making Kaizen the first partner in Linden’s “Global Provider Program”. In October 2007, Linden Lab signed a second “Global Provider Program” with T-Entertainment Co., LTD., Seoul, South Korea and T-Entertainment’s portal called “SERA Korea” serves as a gateway to Second Life Grid. Previously, starting in late 2005, Linden Lab had opened and run their own welcome area portals and regions for German, Korean and Japanese language speakers.
Public chat within the world supports many different written languages and character sets, providing the ability for people to chat in their native language. Several resident-created translation devices provide machine translation of public chat (using various online translation services), allowing for communication between residents who speak different languages.
Land ownership
Main article: Real estate (Second Life)
Premium membership allows the Resident to own land, with the first 512m (of Main Land owned by a holder of a Premium account) free of the usual monthly Land Use Fee (referred to by residents as Tier, because it is charged in tiers). There is no upper limit on tier; at the highest level, the user pays US5 for their first 65536m. Any land must first be purchased from either Linden Lab or a private seller.
There are four types of land regions; Mainland, Private Region, Homestead and Openspace. A region comprises an area of 65536m (16.1943 acres) in area, being 256 meters on each side. Mainland regions form one continuous land mass, while Private regions are islands. Openspace regions may be either Mainland or Private, but have lower prim limits and traffic use levels than Mainland regions. The owners of a Private region enjoy access to some additional controls that are not available to mainland owners, for example they have a greater ability to alter the shape of the land. Residents must own a region (either Mainland or Private) to qualify for purchasing an Openspace region.
Linden Lab usually sells only complete 65536m (16.1943 acres) regions at auction (although smaller parcels are auctioned on occasion, typically land parcels abandoned by users who have left). Once a Resident buys land they may resell it freely and use it for any purpose that it is not prohibited by the Second Life Terms of Service.
Residents may also choose to purchase, or rent, land from another Resident (a Resident landlord) rather than from Linden Lab. On a Private region, the built in land selling controls allow the landlord to sell land in the region to another Resident while still retaining some control. Residents purchasing, or renting, land from any other party than Linden Lab are not required to hold a Premium membership nor to necessarily pay a Tier fee, although typically the landlord will require some form of upfront and/or monthly fee to compensate them for their liability to pay the Land Use Fee charged by Linden Lab. However Linden Lab acknowledges only the landlord as the owner of the land, and will not intervene in disputes between Residents. This means, for example, that a landlord can withdraw a Resident’s land from availability, without refunding their money, and Linden Lab will not arbitrate in the dispute.
Fee schedule
Second Life General Fees
Fee
Benefit
Free
Sign Up, Avatar Creation, Login ID, Access, Participation
US
250 Linden Dollars (variable) – brokered purchase; may go to LL or a resident seller
US.30
per transaction fee for buying Linden Dollars on Lindex currency exchange
3.5% of transaction value
per transaction fee for selling Linden Dollars on Lindex currency exchange
US.95/month
Premium membership (access to higher mainland ranges as below, 300 Linden Dollars per week, access to live and ticket support)
US5/month
Land as below, plus Concierge service (live support access)
US0
Island relocation
US
Island rename
US0
Island interuser transfer (includes relocation and renaming)
US0 plus 20 premium memberships
Unique avatar surname for an organization
Second Life Land Use Fees
Monthly Land Fee
Additional Land
Parcel Size (m2)
Square Equal Line Length (m)
Max Prims
US
1/128 Mainland Region
512
22×22
117
US
1/64 Mainland Region
1024
32×32
234
US
1/32 Mainland Region
2048
44×44
468
US
1/16 Mainland Region
4096
64×64
937
US
1/8 Mainland Region
8192
90×90
1875
US
1/4 Mainland Region
16,384
128×128
3750
US
OpenSpace
65,536
256×256
750
US5
1/2 Mainland Region
32,768
181×181
7500
US5
Homestead
65,536
256×256
3750
US5
1 Mainland Region
65,536
256×256
15,000
+US
+1/2 Mainland Region (when already at US5 level)
32,768
181×181
7500
US5
Private Island on pre-2007 server technology (second hand purchase only)
65,536
256×256
15,000
US5
Private Island on current server technology
65,536
256×256
15,000
For Mainland fees, the fee determines only the area of land available; the number of prims available is determined by the land itself. The values shown above are the norm but some rare mainland regions offer more prims in the same land area. For non-mainland fees, the fee sets both the land area and the prim count. (1 us $ is equal to approximately 1.6 Linden, otherwise known as sl dollars
Separate grids
In Second Life, there are two age-differentiated grids (one is for teens 13-17, one is for adults 18 or over). When a teen turns 18, he/she is transferred from the Teen Grid to the Main Grid. Linden Lab has received controversy for the lack of integration between teens and adults. Some parents protest that they cannot be on the grid together with their teenage children, and companies cannot market to both teens and adults in SL even if their products have universal appeal. Teen grid residents have spoken out in favor of merging the two grids with certain limitations to protect minors from adult content and predators on the main grid. This grid merge is widely supported by teen grid residents, although some also oppose it. It should be noted that the majority of those on the Teen Grid who oppose merger would want a separate “Teen Only” area, much like the recently-created “Adult” mainland in Second Life. Linden Lab employees (known as “Lindens”) have also been in favor of merging the grids, most notably Blue Linden, former teen grid manager.
The teen grid and the adult grid actually are technically parts of one grid called Agni. (Some of the Second Life grids are named after Hindu gods.) However, teen residents cannot access the adult regions, and adult residents cannot access the teen regions.
On 19 January 2009 Linden Lab, Philip Linden related (in an interview with Metanomics) an intent to merge the two grids into one. This immediately attracted uproar on SL’s private forums, largely from residents who feared they would be required to use the unpopular age verification system, and would be permanently under threat of a false sex-related allegation or lawsuit by a teenager or his/her parents.
The grids are made of regions each 256 meters square. Regions without servers appear as deep sea and cannot be entered and cannot be flown over, but regions with servers can be seen across regions without servers.
These regions’ coordinate numbers locating them within the grid can be from 0 to (220-1), giving in theory a total grid size of about 281.475 million kilometers square; but all or most regions with servers are in the extreme northwest corner of this vast theoretical area.
Underage users, who are under 18 in real life, are not allowed onto the main grid, and being an underage user there is an offense that can be abuse reported. However, Linden Lab places burden of proof on alleged underage users, and does not check to verify anything themselves. As a result, false underage user reports are filed by some residents as a form of griefing or for revenge.
Technology
Second Life comprises the viewer (also known as the client) executing on the user’s personal computer, and several thousand servers operated by Linden Lab.
Client
Linden Lab provides official viewers for Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7, Mac OS X, and most distributions of Linux. A third-party version is available for Solaris and OpenSolaris. The viewer renders 3D graphics using the OpenGL technology. Since the viewer is open source, users may recompile it to create their own custom viewers; modified viewer software is available from third parties. One such example is the Nicholaz Edition. This viewer, produced by Nicholaz Beresford, includes bug fixes developed outside Linden Lab that are not yet included in the Linden Lab code. More recently a client known as Emerald, created by a group of residents who previously made their own clients yet have since banded together to work as one, has become popular among the user base of Second Life due to the large number of features they have added to the original client.
An independent project, libopenmetaverse, offers a function library for interacting with Second Life servers. libopenmetaverse has been used to create non-graphic third party viewers, including SLEEK, a text browser using.NET, and Ajaxlife, a text viewer that runs in a web browser and TextSL a text client inspired by the Zork adventure game that allows users who are visually impaired to access Second Life using a Screenreader.
In February 2008 a partnership between Linden Lab and Vollee was announced. In May, Vollee launched an open Beta trial for a Second Life mobile application that lets Residents travel and communicate in-world by logging in from a handset using an existing account. The service, introduced for free, requires downloading a thin client to a 3G or Wi-Fi enabled handset. As of June 2009, it seems Vollee no longer exists as their web sites are no longer available.
A special beta client is available, which has been updated and used for software testing by volunteers. The beta client connects to a “beta grid” which consists of a limited number of regions mirrored at regular intervals from the real grid. The mirroring process overwrites any changes made on the beta grid, and thus actions taken within it are not stored by the servers; it is for testing purposes only.
Server
Each full region (an area of 256×256 meters) in the Second Life “grid” runs on a single dedicated core of a multi-core server, Homestead regions share 3 regions per core and Openspace Regions share 4 regions per core, running proprietary software on Debian Linux. These servers run scripts in the region, as well as providing communication between avatars and objects present in the region.
Every item in the Second Life universe is referred to as an asset. This includes the shapes of the 3D objects known as primitives, the digital images referred to as textures that decorate primitives, digitized audio clips, avatar shape and appearance, avatar skin textures, LSL scripts, information written on notecards, and so on. Each asset is referenced with a universally unique identifier or UUID.
Assets are stored on Isilon Systems storage clusters, comprising all data that has ever been created by anyone who has been in the SL world. Infrequently used assets are offloaded to S3 bulk storage. As of December 2007[update], the total storage was estimated to consume 100 terabytes of server capacity. The asset servers function independently of the region simulators, though the region simulators request object data from the asset servers when a new object loads into the simulator.[citation needed]
Each server instance runs a physics simulation to manage the collisions and interactions of all objects in that region. Objects can be nonphysical and non moving, or actively physical and movable. Complex shapes may be linked together in groups of up to 255 separate primitives. Additionally, each player’s avatar is treated as a physical object so that it may interact with physical objects in the world. As of 1 April 2008 (2008 -04-01)[update], Second Life simulators use the Havok 4 physics engine for all in-world dynamics. This engine is capable of simulating thousands of physical objects at once.
Linden Lab pursues the use of open standards technologies, and uses free and open source software such as Apache, MySQL, Squid and Linux. The plan is to move everything to open standards by standardizing the Second Life protocol. Cory Ondrejka, former CTO of Second Life, has stated that a while after everything has been standardized, both the client and the server will be released as free and open source software.
OpenSimulator
Main article: OpenSimulator
In January 2007, OpenSimulator was founded as an open source simulator project. The aim of this project is to develop a full open source server software for Second Life clients. OpenSIM is BSD Licensed and it is written in C# and can run under Mono environment. In 2008 there were some alternative Second Life grids which are using OpenSimulator.
Applications
Education
Second Life is used as a platform for education by many institutions, such as colleges, universities, libraries and government entities. There are over one hundred regions used for educational purposes covering subjects such as chemistry and English. Instructors and researchers in Second Life favor it because it is more personal than traditional distance learning. Research has uncovered development, teaching and/or learning activities which use Second Life in over 80 percent of UK universities. At least 300 universities around the world teach courses or conduct research in SL. New educational institutions have also emerged that operate exclusively within Second Life, taking advantage of the platform to deliver content to a world wide audience at low cost.
Info Islands uses library programming sponsored by the Illinois’ Alliance Library System and OPAL currently offered online to librarians and library users within Second Life. Another virtual continent called SciLands is devoted to science and technology education. While initially centered on the International Spaceflight Museum, it now hosts a number of organizations including NASA, NOAA, NIH, JPL, NPR, National Physical Laboratory, UK, and a host of other government agencies, universities, and museums. In December 2008, the United States Air Force launched MyBase, a Second Life island overseen by the Air Education and Training Command.
Second Life’s usefulness as a platform for pre-K12 education is limited due to the age restrictions on the main grid and the difficulties of collaborating among various educational projects on the teen grid. New approaches to fostering collaboration on the teen grid, such as the Virtual World Campus, offer some hope of overcoming some of these obstacles. For now, however, the primary utility of Second Life for pre-K12 education is in the education and professional development of teachers and school librarians. Still, K12 educators use Second Life to meet each other and to create objects and structures that help them develop curriculum, as EnergyTeachers.org does with its Sustainability Energy Science Lab.
Needs to hold meetings of more people than can be supported by a region’s server, have prompted a behavior called “four-cornering”, i.e. meeting where four regions with servers all meet; this is unwelcome, as it tends to put excessive load on the system sending object and texturing information between those four regions’ servers.
Language education
Main article: Virtual World Language Learning
Language learning is the most widespread type of education in virtual worlds, with many universities, mainstream language institutes and private language schools using 3D virtual environments to support language learning.
Arts
Second Life residents express themselves creatively through virtual world adaptations of art exhibits, live music, live theater.
Art exhibits
Second Life has created an environment where artists can display their works to an audience across the world. This has created an entire artistic culture on its own where many residents who buy or build homes can shop for artwork to place there. Gallery openings even allow art patrons to “meet” and socialize with the artist responsible for the artwork and has even led to many real life sales. Numerous art gallery sims abound in second life. Most notable of these is the art gallery sim “Cetus”, which has been in continuous operation since 2006 as a planned, mix-use art community of galleries, offices and loft apartments for residents. Created by avatar Xander Ruttan, it has resulted in many collaborative efforts amongst artists, designers and builders from across the world.
The modeling tools from Second Life allow the artists also to create new forms of art, that in many ways are not possible in real life due to physical constraints or high associated costs. The virtual arts are visible in over 2050 “museums” (according to SL’s own search engine).
In 2008 Haydn Shaughnessy, real life gallerist, along with his wife Roos Demol hired a real life architect, New York based, Benn Dunkley to design a gallery in Second Life. Dunkleys goal was to design an interactive gallery with art in mind in a virtual world. “Ten Cubed” is a radical departure in art exhibition, a futuristically designed gallery showcasing art in a unique setting. On January 31, 2008, “Ten Cubed” was launched. For its inaugural exhibition, Crossing the Void II, owner and curator Shaughnessy selected five artists working in and with modern technologies. These artists included Chris Ashley based in Oakland, California, Jon Coffelt based in New York, New York, Claire Keating based in Cork, Ireland, Scott Kildall based in San Francisco, California and Nathaniel Stern originally based in New York, New York now in Dublin, Ireland. Real life as well as Second Life editions are available from the gallery.
The virtual creations from the metaverse are disclosed in real life by initiatives such as Fabjectory (statuettes) and Secondlife-Art.com (oil paintings).
In 2007, artists Adam Nash, Christopher Dodds and Justin Clemens won a AUD,000 Second Life Artists in Residence grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. Their Babelswarm installation was launched in Second Life and The Lismore Regional Gallery in NSW, Australia on April 11, 2008 by Australia Council Chairman James Strong. In 2008, the French Artist Fred Forest had entered the virtual world of Second Life to show his art project for the first time in his country. He inaugurated his “Experimental Center of the Territory of M2″ (“Centre exprimental du terrioire du M2″), where he invited politicians to discuss about sustainable development and digital identity card ( Capucine.net). In another art project, he discussed about art institutions in France in his action called “The Corrida of Art”.
Live music
Live music performances in Second Life takes place in three distinctly different ways;
With in-world voice chat, where the user dons a headset and microphone then enables a Second Life browse to “broadcast” his voice to other users, much like a telephone conference call.
With streaming, where vocal and instrumental music by Second Life residents can be provided with the aid of Internet broadcast software, such as Shoutcast. This is input, via microphones, instruments or other audio sources, into computer audio interfaces and streamed live to audio servers. Similar to webcast radio, the audio stream from the live performance can be received in Second Life for the enjoyment of other Residents on their computer speakers. This started with performances by Astrin Few in May 2004 and began to gain popularity mid 2005. For example the UK band Passenger performed on the Menorca Island in mid-2006. Another UK band, Redzone, toured in Second Life in February 2007.
With inworld samples, where sounds samples are uploaded and an inworld user interface instruments is made to trigger those. Unlike streaming, performing with inworld samples make use of the Second Life environment and creates a three-dimensional sound experience to the audience. The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse featuring among other composer Pauline Oliveros is the most prolific representative with this approach.
Linden Lab added an Event Category “Live Music” in March 2006 to accommodate the increasing number of scheduled events. By the beginning of 2008, scheduled live music performance events in Second Life spanned every musical genre, and included hundreds of live musicians and DJs who perform on a regular basis. A typical day in Second Life will feature dozens of live music performances.
In 2008 the UK act Redzone announced they would release their new live album only via Second Life.
Redzone also began choreographing and synchronising their performances via MIDI in October 2008.
Many amateur performers start their music careers in Second Life by performing at virtual karaoke bars or Open Mic, then progress to performing for “pay”, or Linden dollars, in-world.
Theater
Live theater is presented in Second Life. The SL Shakespeare Company performed an act from Hamlet live in February 2008. In 2009 the company is producing scenes from Twelfth Night.
In 2007 Johannes von Matuschka and Daniel Michelis developed Wunderland, an interactive SL theatre play at Schaubhne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin, Germany.
In 2007, HBO hosted a comedy festival in Second Life, using live streaming audio. In March 2009, SL residents staged a two-day Virtually Funny Comedy Festival to “help build awareness for Comic Relief, Red Nose Day 2009 and of course, comedy in Second Life.”
In December 2008, The Learning Experience, a not-for-profit virtual education campus in Second Life, staged its first live theater events with the production of two short plays, A Matter of Husbands by Ferenc Molnr and Porcelain and Pink by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 2009, the TLE theater company began producing full-length plays in Second Life, starting with The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde in February, and followed by Candida by George Bernard Shaw in April.
Science
Second Life is used for scientific research, collaboration, and data visualization. Examples include SciLands, American Chemical Society’s ACS Island, Genome, Nature Publishing Group’s Elucian Islands Village.
Work solutions
Second Life gives companies the option to create virtual workplaces to allow employees to virtually meet, hold events, practice any kind of corporate communications, conduct training sessions in 3D immersive learning spaces, simulate business processes, and prototype new products.
Religion
Religious organizations have also begun to open virtual meeting places within Second Life. In early 2007, LifeChurch.tv, a Christian church headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma, and with eleven campuses in the USA, created “Experience Island” and opened its twelfth campus in Second Life. The church reported “We find that this creates a less-threatening environment where people are much more willing to explore and discuss spiritual things”.[citation needed] In July 2007, an Anglican cathedral was established in Second Life; Mark Brown, the head of the group that built the cathedral, noted that there is “an interest in what I call depth, and a moving away from light, fluffy Christianity”.
Egyptian owned news website Islam Online has purchased land in Second Life to allow Muslims and non-Muslims alike to perform the ritual of Hajj in virtual reality form, obtaining experience before actually making the pilgrimage themselves in person.
Second Life also offers several groups that cater to the needs and interests of Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers. One of the most active groups is SL Humanism which has been holding weekly discussion meetings inside Second Life every Sunday since 2006.
Embassies
The Maldives was the first country to open an embassy in Second Life. The Maldives’ embassy is located on Second Life’s “Diplomacy Island”, where visitors will be able to talk face-to-face with a computer-generated ambassador about visas, trade and other issues. “Diplomacy Island” also hosts Diplomatic Museum and Diplomatic Academy. The Island is established by DiploFoundation as part of the Virtual Diplomacy Project.
In May 2007 Sweden became the second country to open an embassy in Second Life. Run by the Swedish Institute, the embassy serves to promote Sweden’s image and culture, rather than providing any real or virtual services. The Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, stated on his blog that he hoped he would get an invitation to the grand opening.
In September 2007, Publicis Group announced the project of creating a Serbia island as a part of a project Serbia Under Construction. The project is officially supported by Ministry of Diaspora of Serbian Government. It was stated that the island will feature Nikola Tesla Museum, Gua trumpet festival and Exit festival. It was also planned on opening a virtual info terminals of Ministry of Diaspora.
On Tuesday December 4, 2007, Estonia became the third country to open an embassy in Second Life. In September 2007, Colombia and Serbia opened embassies. As of 2008, Macedonia and the Philippines have opened embassies in the “Diplomatic Island” of Second Life. In 2008, Albania opened an Embassy in the Nova Bay location. SL Israel was inaugurated in January 2008 in an effort to showcase Israel to a global audience, though without any connection to official Israeli diplomatic channels.
Malta and the African country Djibouti are also planning to open virtual missions in Second Life.
Live sport entertainment
Popular forms of live entertainment have been making their appearance in Second Life. Many sports have appeared, allowing residents to watch or participate in many popular activities. Sporting leagues have sprung up in Second Life for cheerleading, American football, association football, boxing, pro wrestling, and auto racing. The Digital Championship Wrestling Federation (DCWF), founded February 2008, is a professional wrestling promotion in-world, providing live wrestling for residents regularly. It holds two main shows: Showdown on Saturdays at 12 noon SLT and Warzone on Wednesdays at 4pm SLT. It also hosts frequent exhibition matches and holds its monthly Main Events on the first Saturday of each month. The DCWF uses its own in-house wrestling system, provided free of charge to accepted applicants.[citation needed] RAGE Fighting Championships brings mixed martial arts to Second Life, allowing residents to have a virtual career as a professional prize fighter. Free training and equipment is available to get users started. Users can choose fighting disciplines including boxing, muay thai, kung fu, capoeira, kick boxing, and many others. RAGE Fighting Championships offers an extensive amateur circuit and events held several times each week. RAGE has recently added wrestling to its lineup of sports that take place as well in association with the Xtreme Wrestling Action organisation. RAGE Fighting Championships can be seen on Rezzed.TV.[citation needed]
Gaming
Perhaps the most widespread gaming application of Second Life is user-created multiplayer role-playing games. Each of these mini-MMORPGs is referred to as a “roleplay sim” even though some span 25 simulator environments or more, existing over several physical servers. Their storylines, players and factions, and weaponry or spells are very complex, involving hundreds of players and thousands of props. The virtual world component adds a new dimension to MMORPGs. Political strategy, secrecy, and manipulation, for instance, are as important as skill at combat in many of these sims.
Roleplay sims follow a theme such as Post-Apocalyptic, Goreans, Vampires, Steampunk, Pirates, Star Trek, Feudal Japan, Battlefield Combat, Wild West, and Ancient Rome. Most, but not all, are English-speaking sims. Mexico Monteray, for instance, is a Spanish roleplay sim. Favela Cidade de Deus is a popular Brazilian combat sim that recreates the violent slums of Rio de Janeiro.
Roleplay sims use one of several advanced roleplaying combat systems, most of which are based on Dungeons & Dragons game mechanics. These are web-enabled, using an API, to communicate data on each character. Character creation includes character classes, races, attributes, and proficiencies/spells/abilities. A system of hit points, which are reduced by damage incurred, is implemented through one of the many combat HUDs. It allows for PvP Melee Combat and Combat with NPC Monsters. It can be used to build full quests.
First-person shooter combat is also a popular gaming choice in Second Life, with many in-world military groups battling each other, vying for prestige. Combat is performed by most of these organizations through the built-in Linden Labs Damage system (LL damage) and not the above mentioned third-party roleplay HUDs & systems. The Second Life military community hosts many organizations dedicated to combat, research & development, and community. Initially, the community began as a small group of individuals seeking to emulate first-person shooter game mechanics within Second Life. It has since steadily grown to span across many simulators with many participants. There also exists non-English speaking groups like Commando Anti Terrorismo Internacional (sim: CATI Combat Zone), Tercio de Madrid (sim: Great Land), and Mercenary Brothers Commando (sim: MBC). All of these organizations have a simulator (or multiple simulators) dedicated as their home base with objectives to secure by other organizations in order to achieve victory.
Racing vehicles, be it motorcycles, cars, hovercraft, airplanes, or other, more fantastical craft is also a popular activity, with some courses spanning multiple simulators. Sailing using sophisticated simulations of real-world physics is very popular, especially since the creation in January, 2009, of the Blake Sea, over 46 interconnected sims of open water area. While the Blake Sea was created primarily as an area for sailing, it is also popular as an area for simulated flight in a wide range of aircraft. Board games, including chess, Go, and Mahjongg, also have many in-world incarnations.
Skill games such as Dragonz, Gempuz, Gem Sorter, Letterz, Pipz, Quince, Solo Dices, Sudoku, Syzygy and XMemory have come under attack due to a prohibition on gambling in Second Life enacted in July 2007 by Linden Lab. There are still many games that mimic the appearance of traditional “casino” games, but their payouts are ultimately based on skill.
The ability in Second Life for anyone to create objects, textures, and scripts has allowed just about every style of game to be implemented in-world, at least to some extent, by people who are passionate about it.
Criticism and controversy
Main article: Criticism of Second Life
Regulation
In the past, large portions of the Second Life economy comprised businesses that are now regulated or banned. Changes to Second Life’s Terms of Service in this regard have largely had the purpose of bringing activity within Second Life into compliance with various international laws, even though the person running the business may be in full compliance with the law in his own country. Typically, Linden Lab offer no compensation for businesses that are damaged or destroyed by these rule changes, which can render significant expenditure or effort worthless.
On July 26, 2007, Linden Lab announced a ban on in-world gambling, in fear that new regulations on Internet gambling could affect Linden Lab if it was permitted to continue. The ban was immediately met with in-world protests.
In August 2007, a 0,000 in-world bank called Ginko Financial collapsed due to a bank run triggered by Linden Lab’s ban on gambling, which halved the size of the Second Life economy. The aftershocks of this collapse caused severe liquidity problems for other virtual “banks”, which critics had long asserted were scams. On Tuesday, January 8, 2008 Linden Lab announced the upcoming prohibition of payment of fixed interest on cash deposits in unregulated banking activities in-world. All banks without real-world charters closed or converted to virtual joint stock companies on January 22, 2008. After the ban, a few companies continue to offer non-interest bearing deposit accounts to residents, such as the e-commerce site XStreet, which had already adopted a zero-interest policy 3 months before the LL interest ban.
Technical issues
Due to Second Life’s rapid growth rate, it has suffered from difficulties related to system instability. These include increased system latency, and intermittent client crashes. However, some faults are caused by the system’s use of an “asset server” cluster, on which the actual data governing objects is stored separately from the areas of the world and the avatars that use those objects. The communication between the main servers and the asset cluster appears to constitute a bottleneck which frequently causes problems. Typically, when asset server downtime is announced, users are advised not to build, manipulate objects, or engage in business, leaving them with little to do but chat and generally reducing confidence in all businesses on the grid.
A more disturbing fault, believed to be caused by the same issue, is “inventory loss” in which items in a user’s inventory, including those which have been paid for, can disappear without warning or permanently enter a state where they will fail to appear in world when requested (giving an “object missing from database” error). Linden Lab offers no compensation for items that are lost in this way, although a policy change instituted in 2008 allows accounts to file support tickets when inventory loss occurs. Many in-world businesses will attempt to compensate for this or restore items, although they are under no obligation to do so and not all are able to do so. A recent change in how the company handles items which have “lost their parent directory” means that inventory loss is much less of a problem and resolves faster than in recent years. “Loss to recovery times” have gone from months (or never) to hours or a day or two for the majority of users, but inventory loss does still exist.
Second Life functions by streaming all data to the user live over the Internet with minimal local caching of frequently used data. The user is expected to have a minimum of 300 kilobits of Internet bandwidth for basic functionality, with 1000 kilobit providing better performance. Due to the proprietary communications protocols, it is not possible to use a network proxy/caching service to reduce network load when many people are all using the same location, such as when used for group activities in a school or business.
Fraud and intellectual property protection
Although Second Life’s client and server incorporate Digital Rights Management technology, the visual data of an object must ultimately be sent to the client in order for it to be drawn; thus unofficial third-party clients can bypass them. One such program, CopyBot, was developed in 2006 as a debugging tool to enable objects to be backed up, but was immediately hijacked for use in copying objects; additionally, programs that generally attack client-side processing of data, such as GLIntercept, can copy certain pieces of data. Such use is prohibited under the Second Life TOS and could be prosecuted under the DMCA.
Linden Labs may ban a user who is observed using CopyBot or a similar client, but it will not ban a user simply for uploading or even selling copied content; in this case, Linden Lab’s enforcement of intellectual property law is limited to that required by the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which requires filing a real-life lawsuit. Although a few high-profile businesses in Second Life have filed such lawsuits, the majority of businesses in Second Life do not make enough money for a lawsuit to be worthwhile, or due to real-life work commitments cannot devote enough time to complete one; thus, they are effectively unprotected.
There have also been issues with the use of false DMCA takedown notices. Once a DMCA takedown notice is served, reversing it requires an individual to expose his personal information to the filer (filing a notice does not require this); for the penalty of perjury to be enacted, a lawsuit is required (anything less, the false DMCA claimer can just claim it from a different account every week causing legitimate business unlimited losses). In addition, the technical process of removal and re-instatement of content on Second Life is subject to failure which can result in content becoming unusable to its owner. This does not effectively prevent content theft; a thief who is subject to a DMCA takedown notice will not challenge it, but will simply create a new account and re-upload the content, often releasing it with all permissions available to maximize propagation out of spite.
Most users in the world as paying, private individuals are, likewise, effectively unprotected. Common forms of fraud taking place in-world include bogus investment and pyramid schemes, fake or hacked vendors, and failure to honor land rental agreements. Some residents have claimed that there is also a high incidence of sales of content to users unaware of its value (for example, weapons which would require the buyer to own a private island, as firing them in any other area would violate the terms of service; or avatars which appear to represent advanced roles but which, in reality, are nothing more than party costumes due to the inability to support those roles in a world with free social behaviour[clarification needed]).
References in popular culture
Main article: Second Life in popular culture
Since its debut in 2003, Second Life has become increasingly referred by various popular culture mediums, including literary, television, film and music. In addition, various significantly-popular personalities in such mediums have themselves used or employed Second Life for both their own works and for private purposes.
Competitors
Second Life has several competitors, including Entropia Universe, IMVU, There, Active Worlds, Kaneva, and the Red Light Center.[citation needed]
Further reading
Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein M. (2009) Consumer use and business potential of virtual worlds: The case of Second Life, International Journal on Media Management, 11(3).
Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein M. (2009) The fairyland of Second Life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them, Business Horizons, 52(6).
John Zerzan, Telos 141, Second-Best Life: Real Virtuality. New York: Telos Press Ltd., Winter 2007.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Second Life
Virtual reality
Simulated reality
Social simulation
Cyberformance
Emerging Virtual Institutions
Interactive online characters
Active Worlds
PlayStation Home
Linden Scripting Language
CyberTown
References
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^ “The SL Humanism Group”. http://slhumanismgroup.blogsp…
