Online Marketplace

[Ziyal Ochs]

I have recently been playing around with Fennux, which is another breedable. They have an awsome feature; when you set them for sale, they will show up on a online market where they can be sorted by traits. At the bottom you will find a teleport link to the place where the breedable is set for sale, so that secondary markets are still necessary. And it makes shopping so much easier!

See what I mean here: Fennux Market

[Kayleigh McMillan]

Denies to know anything concerning F*nn*X but I agree that market feature rules not sure how I know this ...
But they can learn a lot as for convenience from KC gosh what a pain!
Not sure why I feel that pain while I don't know anything about them XD
Wasn't it so Roos had the same market system?

[anna Acanthus]

I do agree that a Fennux style online market for KCs would be extremely useful and would probably dynamise our secondary market quite a bit. How often does one give up hunting for a specific kitty, asking around and trying to get around all the markets to find it ?

On the other hand i'd like to add that having dabbled in Fnx a bit for the last few weeks I have yet to find any other aspect else that comes anywhere near KCs at all.

I hope it's ok to give the link so that others can check out the system and see whether they'd like to see something like this for kitties :

http://www.fennux.com/market

If this were to be implemented i'm sure the team would make an awesome job of it

[Saga Felix]

I LOVE this feature for Meeroos & Fennuxes (yes I have a few of both species ), but I also see a few drawbacks.

First of all, it is SO frustrating when you TP to a nest you want to buy - only to find out that the damn scanner-thing was scanning not only nests for sale, but ALL nests & lives including people's personal breeders. That's a major drawback of the Meeroo-system "Roo-Mate".

The Fennux made that better - you actually have to set each individual den/animal for sale, so the above doesn't happen... much... except when people "cheat" to pull people to their market by setting stuff on the online market that is super-awesome-deluxe, but not actually for sale.

The general drawback of both systems is that in some ways it hurts the secondary market, or rather the social aspect of it. You don't often see people browsing markets, checking bid boards & meeting each other there. For instance the Too Adorable bid board area has become quite the meeting place - which it perhaps wouldn't be if everybody was browsing via a website instead. But then again, I could be wrong. Bid boards will most likely always be THE place for potential super deals, online market or not....

Another drawback is for the market owners.... Why even rent a market stall when your boxes & cats can be sold from home just as easily because everyone just browses the website-market and TP's directly?
-But that could of course be seen as a major advantage for those that no longer has to rent stalls to sell kitties - so that goes both ways. Also, Meeroo- and Fennux-markets still exists, so I suppose it's not everyone who just sets their animals for sale at home after all.

That being said, it IS super-awesome to be able to sit at home and browse for that dream-meeroo I've been looking for... being able to check the market for that specific combo ever so often, and being able to follow the market SO much better, by easily looking up "How many with this trait/coat are for sale just now?"

If this was possible for KittyCatS, it would be nothing short of AWESOME! -Particularly because there are simply too many markets now for anyone to be able to check them all, all the time. So we all run around like headless chickens in a way, not knowing what is out there, how other people price it, who has what etc.etc. -And we are ALL in doubt of how to price out stuff, so we ask other people who are also in doubt and who can't follow all the markets either.

The only reason this system is even possible for Meeroos & Fennuxes though, is that the info on each animal is already publicly available and viewable via the HUDs + websites. This is not the case for KittyCatS, who unfortunately have made the whole pedigree-system extremely hard to access by anyone but the owner - which would make a third-party market place like Roo-Mate impossible, and require a major change in the system for an official one like the Fennux one.

I do think a change of system would be good, all in all, especially if KittyCatS keep growing and the secondary market to become increasingly confusing, for new people in particular. But yes, it would take a major change from KittyCatS, so let me suggest once again: Remove names of owners from pedigrees, and make them publicly accessible! Then we could FINALLY access the full pedigree of our own kitties, even if we sold ancestors, and sharing would be so much easier <3


Sorry, this was quite a ramble - trying to see things from both sides often is - but conclusion: YES! Please give us a system like this! :-D

-Saga

[Kayleigh McMillan]

The social aspect you mention or the potential lack of it is actually a very good point!

[anna Acanthus]

Well i had'nt really thought out the technical difficulties but in fact, the markets being rather dead anyhows, i think actually this could even increase footage as many will TP to a market to see the cat they were looking for, find it too expensive and decide to stay have a look around anyway.
Also many people won't want droppers inners to their home and /or cattery so i doubt it would much affect the market renting business, not forgetting that quite a few breeders sell from home already.

[Tad Carlucci]

I don't know about pulling traffic using tricks.

I've watched Charm .. and I'm thinking she's probably pretty average in this .. if she follows a TP from a spam or a Fennux market item or whatever she'll waste a couple minutes checking that it really was a false/misleading/outdated listing and move on to the next. So, unless the other offerings nearby are WAY GOOD and can catch her eye, the effort is largely wasted.

[Serena Stroikavskoi]

I still dabble in another breedable market and about the only thing I like is their 'salesyard' style I love as it gives a pedigree link as well as a SLurl. If that gives any hint. You can search for live as well as bundles too. It also has a stud service feature. At the moment it's about the only think I like about them.

[anna Acanthus]

Well Tad, i'm exactly the same as Charm for that, but then again, i'm not much of a shopper, and don't forget we're oldies too so we've long run out of the fun of looking around for that maybe lucky find. But there are plenty of newer clients who haven't and i'm sure some would stay on to browse a bit seeing as they were there anyhow.

But also (@Saga), why wouldn't an online market be possible WITHOUT making the pedigrees publicly accessible ?

Anyhow, whatever is technically possible i'm sure KCR can do it, and with his own innovations and twists.

[Tad Carlucci]

To do an online market place, publicly visible Pedigrees are, most definitely, a requirement.

Without pedigrees publicly visible, any online market listing would be nothing more than seller-entered claims; the purchaser would have no way to verify those claims. You could do exactly that, now, for boxes or starving lives using the Second Life Marketplace.

Yes, you could do a listing with an SLURL to a Pedigree giver script. But, as it now stands, you'd do better simply walking around a large marketplace area. The same effect as an online cat market can be achieved simply keeping a well-maintained listing of areas offering cats for sale. The Marketplace forum, here on the KittyCatS web site, does most of the job, already. Its only lacking is some assurance of timeliness and accuracy.

Here's my take on the start of an SRS (System Requirements Statement) for an online marketplace for the KittyCatS product.

• The system must be hosted at http://kittycats.biz/. The system will require access to cat details only possible from within the company's systems.
• Cats and boxes offered for sale must be placed in the Cattery. Passing physical (sic) control of the cat/box to the Cattery ensures the offering is actually available for transfer when a sale consummates.
• To list a cat or box the seller must select to do so. This listing can be revoked at any time prior to sale. Removing the cat or box from the Cattery automatically, and immediately revokes the listing. Consummation of a sale automatically revokes the listing.
• The public Pedigree (what we now see from the in-world script) must be made available. This view must include the asking price. It should also include an area for a brief comment from the seller, and a link to the seller's Profile page so that purchasers can send private messages, check the seller's reputation score and comments, and add their own (if possible). Public access to the limited Pedigree Tree view is automatic upon listing the cat or box, and is automatically revoked when the item is un-listed or a sale consummates.
• Sale prices must be in Kitty Dollars. This is the only currency understood by the existing system.
• Paypal (and, through that service, major credit cards) should be accepted for the purchase of Kitty Dollars. This should be a separate system as it can be used elsewhere on the site and has its own set of requirements.
• The sales consummates by transfer of Kitty Dollar credits from the purchaser to the seller's account, and the transfer of the cat(s) or box(es) from the seller's Pedigree Roster and Cattery to the purchaser's.
• Sale of Genesis and Special Collection Starters directly from KittyCatS should be enabled through this system.