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An xStreet-car Named Desire? Firstly, I'm not entirely opposed to LL charging for the use of xStreet. It's their right to make money from it, and I understand that it does cost money to service a site like this. What I object to is the method LL have employed to announce this, which is disingenuous at least, if not downright dishonest. Firstly, they claim to have consulted the merchants, and that this action has widespread support. I think the response to this blog disproves that. I have been selling my items on xStreet for several months now, and heard about this roadmap entirely by chance, in common with many other of my friends who also sell on xStreet. I've certainly never heard of "office hours" before, but am not in a position to attend them anyway because of time zone issues. xStreet emails me when I make a sale, or get a review. Why was it not possible to email merchants, who are after all the most significantly affected by this isse, and invite wider feedback? Secondly, this broad statement that the roadmap will reduce clutter avoids the key issue, which is that the main problem with xStreet is not freebies. In fact, they are part of its delight, and the reason why until now it's been such a great place to send newbies. Many people list items cheaply or for free, not because they are promoting something, but out of a genuine desire to help others. What a kick in the face for them this is! xStreet could be vastly improved with a few simple actions. 1. Improve the search engine. When I search for a red dress on eBay, I can make sure that only listings with the phrase "red dress" come up. On xStreet, it will bring up any item with either the word "red" OR "dress" an the title, the description, in fact anywhere in the listing. That is almost worse than useless. 2. Allow a single listing for items in multiple colours. This is just common sense. 3. Require merchants to relist items that don't sell within a set time period, say one month. This would clear out those stale items which really do clutter up the site and most likely don't come with adequate customer support. 4. Clamp down on keyword spam. Because of the rubbish search engine, this is one of the most irritating features of xStreet at the moment. A search brings up any number of completely unrelated items, simply because of unscrupulous merchants putting lists of words at the foot of their listings to increase traffic. Why won't LL make these changes? Because they involve time, effort and money. Implementing the charging structure is less work and means instant income, and hang the quality of the site. The tragedy is that a properly functioning site with the features I've outlined above would be easier to use and almost certainly increase traffic and income. After all, how many times have you given up on xStreet and not bought anything - not because it wasn't there, but because you simply couldn't find it? Instead, they'll plump for a third tier of fees. You'll pay for the land where you place your Magic Box (either in tier fees or by using the "free" land for which you pay a premium membership). You'll pay a commission when you sell an item. And pretty soon you'll pay to list them as well. Colossus Lindeon, the moderator of the blog post relating to this issue, is are aptly named. His responses on this thread have been a colossal waste of time. Simply agreeing with those who support LL, and refusing to even consider the concerns of those who don't is not good customer service, and for a business that so heavily relies on customer-created material, that is unacceptable. And that's it, folks. Merchants are already pulling out of xStreet. They're visiting similar sites that offer the same service, but don't act in such a high-handed manner with their customers. If you want to do the same, why not visit Apez.biz, slapt.me or Meta-Life and show LL that they should try listening to us, just for a change. Night xx Forward to Friend | Comments (4) Readers Comments
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