Your2ndPlace

I'll kill two birds with one stone here today, as it's the season to be jolly, I'm going to play the role of Scrooge and be a miserable git. Firstly I'll talk about the new search engine and secondly I'll briefly mention VAT.

One of the first things I said when Robin Linden was telling us about the new search feature was :

"It will kill classifieds".

Now that the new search is developing I feel I should rephrase that:

"It will make classifieds largely pointless for small business".

Removing classifieds from the main body of the new search all feature seems a rather absurd notion to me, especially when there has been talk of RL ads appearing in the search results. Classifieds will be in the body next to search all, the smaller body, the harder to read body. Which probably means less space, less exposure and less likelihood of being found.

The other issue being if you can get to the top of search all without a classified, why bother paying for a classified in the first place?

LL are trying to give us inworld google type search results, but this isn't google we're playing with here, it's a part time business platform and classifieds should be given higher priority in search results, that's surely common sense.

In terms of my rental business, I don't think it will make much difference as people who search for rentals will probably search the land rental tab.

However in terms of my stores, I think they're going to take a big hit making my classified ads pretty damn pointless. I'm currently pondering whether I should just pull the plug on them, indeed I was going to but as the new search features aren't out yet I think I'll leave them for a while.

I don't like the new search for several reasons, one big issue for me is having my profile searchable from outside SL. I do not see the point in this, even facebook allow users to opt out of that feature but LL just ignore this concern. However this new issue with removing classifieds from the main body, this just seems silly to me. Hopefully someone else will explain how this benefits classifeds.

Now onto VAT, I have been in contact with European MEP's and Her Majesty's revenue and customs (HMRC). The MEP's haven't replied, bunch of gravy train jolly boys that they are. However HMRC have been in touch. They've told me that VAT is liable for electronic services. However, I being a whiney git have not accepted their answers.

I'm arguing that charging VAT on premium membership fees is fine, but charging VAT on land tier is not fine. Land is owned by LL, they are an American company, a European user cannot rent land to me and cut LL out of the loop, therefore we're using land in San Francisco, it's an Intranet type scenario, not an Internet type scenario.

To this end I seem to have stumped HMRC somewhat and they have now dispensed with emails and sent me a letter by regular mail to inform me that they have consulted with their unit of expertise who are now looking into my query and they will respond in full soon.

They will almost certainly reply with big words, convoluted excuses and a "tought titty, you have to pay". However I know damn well that I'm morally right on this issue, we're being ripped off. Welcome to Europe!

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