As we all experience eventually in our Second Life, we often run into scammers and false advertisers. Unfortunately, many people become victims of a scam every day, and while Linden Labs doesn't always enforce these kinds of things from happening, it is up to us to stop a scam in its tracks. If for some reason you've stumbled upon this blog and don't know what Second Life is, this can also pertain to you in the real world.
Today, we start a movement for a safer, friendlier and satisfactory experience on Second Life, and part of it will be writing product and business reviews. Some of you may be scratching your heads in confusion, but in this blog post, I will be explaining how writing reviews work and why you should write them for every purchase you make and keep notes on the people you come in contact with!
The Marketplace
The most easiest way people scam someone is using the marketplace. Have you ever found something for sale on the MP and thought the price was too good to be true, but you really want it and are trying to figure out if you should or shouldn't do it? On top of that, the product page has NO REVIEWS! That doesn't help your situation at all! Since you can not physically see the item for sale, test the item, or really know what the item is with advertising, it is a very easy way to scam consumers. Eventually, someone takes the chance of getting ripped off for that amazing pair of Slink shoes for $5L and whether it is good, bad, or even a freebie, it is important to leave a product review no matter what, especially if there is no reviews left on the page! This lets future buyers know whether to steer or if they're in the clear!
What's great about writing reviews is that the seller CAN NOT delete reviews from their product page without removing the product from the Marketplace completely, and if they do remove it and renew it, they risk losing customers due to 0 reviews, so really it's a win win!
This does not go to say all reviews are 100% accurate, but the more reviews there are, the better the accuracy gets. This is why I intend to get as many people as possible on the bandwagon so we can work together on making the world of SL a better place.
If you think it's not your job to leave business reviews, just think about the next time you're suspicious about an item with poor advertising, a too good to be true price, or receive an item that is different from what was advertised. A good business review could have helped you out in that case! You don't even have to write a long description, but simply selecting 1-5 stars and submitting your star rating does just as good, it literally takes seconds!
I try to write as many reviews as I can, especially on items that have absolutely no star reviews. It's always hard to shop without customer feedback and I try to give back to the community by helping everyone shop with reviews. Plus, the more reviews you write, the more people are likely to review your own products! So sharing is definitely caring!
You don't even have to keep track of everything you've purchased! Second Life keeps a record of all of the items you have purchased in the past and it allows you to write reviews directly from the page. To view your marketplace purchase history, click here, or you can follow the instructions below on how to get to the page.
To view your purchase history and review product:
- Open your browser and go to marketplace.secondlife.com and log in
- At the top of the page in the black bar, click the "My Marketplace" arrow and select "My Account"
- On the left hand side in the menu, select "Order History" which is located under "Account Overview"
- Locate the item in which you would like to review and select "Review Product". You will be brought to the review page of the item that you have purchased!
Getting Scammed in The Marketplace
Writing bad reviews will not necessarily prevent scams from happening, but leaving a review while linden labs views the scam case will alert other buyers to steer clear until it is taken down. It is strongly advised to report scammers to linden labs and have as much information as possible to give them. Linden Labs is like pulling teeth to get a hold of so having a good amount of info will help rid scammers quicker!
In World Scammers & How to Spread Awareness
Let's take the Zooby's Babies shop for instance. It has been very well known to the prim baby community for a while that owning a Zooby baby harbors serious scammers. There are people who set up accounts with names similar to the staff members. These people claim that your Zooby baby needs an update, is broken or they would like to check your baby for what ever reason and asks if you can hand your baby over to them, so you hand over little Billy to the woman/lady and POOF, they disappear and they teleport over to an adoption agency where they put your baby up for sale and profit off of your gullibility... While this seems like common sense of what you shouldn't do, unfortunately this isn't common sense for a lot of people, and it got so bad that the Zooby store had to set up an automated system to warn customers of the scammers.
Aside from the scammers that ask for inventory trades to steal your things, one of the things to be weary of is making personal sales. Below are some scenarios and what you can do to avoid being scammed.
When a seller asks for the money up front or a down payment
This is just too risky. NEVER just hand the money over, because they could easily teleport away and there is no chasing them down!
What you can do instead: Ask the seller to rez out the item and set it as "for sale". Make sure that you can see the contents of the item before you click buy so you're not buying a dud or a photocopied prim! If you feel that you have been scammed even after following the appropriate steps, notify Linden Labs immediately and let others know to steer clear of a specific user.
Buying from an in world store
Buying from an in world store is typically safer than buying online or making a personal sale, but it is not always safe! When buying an item from a single panel, make sure to view all of its contents before selecting the buy button. That way you know you're paying for a non empty box. If for some reason you did not receive an item that you purchased, first contact the store owner. If they do not get back to you or exhibit threatening or aggressive behavior, contact Linden Labs immediately and post in the forums, and tell your friends about what store to steer clear of while Linden Labs reviews the case. Keep screen shots and conversation logs, order receipts and anything else that may assist in the investigation.
Other tools in finding legit and reputable sellers
Aside from hearing it by word, the community forums on Second Lifes main website is a good place to start! If you've had a bad experience with a store or seller, a great place to let everyone know is in the Merchants forum. Other people with similar experiences may comment on the thread or even post their own. The more people that are aware of a malicious seller, the chances of the business being shut down increases. Word of mouth is very powerful along side with reviewing products, and more people should get involved with the consumer community.
I hope that this blog has interested you into making the community a safer place to shop!
