Classifieds - Do they have a future for small business owners? / HMRC to investigate VAT on virtual land.
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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On Search.
Oddly enough, I was thinking about that today while dealing with a ham in one way so that I can deal with it another soon. That I bring the ham into this is probably not relevant on the first pass - but it is quite relevant.
You have to prepare the ham before you eat it. Whether that means slapping it in the oven or doing some work beforehand - you have to prepare the ham. Linden Lab is preparing their ham.
It seems like years ago that I believed Linden Lab was concerned about the community - when in fact it was only about 1 year ago. They are not out to please this community of business owners... they are trying to define a framework that allows a future. I didn't emphasize 'trying', but that should go unspoken.
Your point about search engines and classifieds is especially well made on me - I've never paid for an advertisement on the internet. I almost did it for Your2ndPlace.com before opening it up, but I didn't want the site to be a flash in the pan - as many advertised sites are. And also - why advertise content in a search engine when, if you have relevant content that is worthwhile, you do seem to stand a better chance with search engine rankings.
The question, of course, is how they see the framework. Google isn't stupid, or has been amazingly lucky. Google wouldn't be bothering with searching a virtual world unless they saw something worthwhile for them. So this is probably part of a negotiation that happened - and may have even been part of why the CTO- whats-his-name - left. A technical difference vs. a business difference is quite prominent there, when you consider it. There is a business case for search engine results as Linden Lab in the direction it is heading - BUT - you are also correct.
One of the issues of virtual worlds, even the overused term 'metanomics' (beginning to catch up with 'Web 2.0'), is the issue of scale. Now, we're talking real taxes in this post as well - and there is a connection.
So, in a way, I see this as an unfortunate normalization of the grey area between Second Life and the 99.99% of the global population that doesn't have an avatar. Its bleeding edge technology meeting Lexus and the Olive Tree through fat pipes of bandwidth.
Will it work? Probably. Why? The people who liked the system as it was, and were willing to fight for changes that would improve it - they are leaving. Mostly quietly. And the new folks coming in have no clue that things used to be different - and in a year's time, I wonder what will be left.
Is it bad? Good? Hell if I know. So I just suggest everyone prepare their hams and keep a weather eye on what is going on along these lines...
I have to write a post on stuff like this, but I'm actually saving up for the New Year. ;-)
Second Life Consultant
Good luck with your attempts
Good luck with your attempts with HRMRC, hopefully they're more sensible than the IRS here in the states and will tell LL to stop charging tax on tier. Or better yet just tell LL to go bugger themselves and their tier :).
What is true and what is not entirely accurate :)
1. If you right-click on your avatar, choose 'Profile' and the window opens (hehe) you may see the checkbox "Show in Search". Check it and your profile will not be available through web-search (have you seen it, btw? because I had and I did just what I've just said). So... not... entirely accurate. :)
2. I agree with your point that 3D environments require different search applications. MOREOVER, I would add, that classifieds are the WHOLE DIFFERENT APPLICATION. Google had convinced many people that both should be mashed up, but it's not the ultimate and universal truth, you know. :)
We are building a service for just what you described in this article, for classifieds. There will be an option to include your commerce/business blog into our index (right now it's working with the news only and is here: http://yolto.com), then it will be easy to find through search. You will be updating your blog and all updates will appear in search automatically. And commercial information will NEVER be mixed with other information.
I will let you know when these options will be available for rental businesses and event organizers (they will be the first). Regards.
Well unless they've changed it
Removing your profile from show in search didn't actually remove your profile, it removed the details but your name was still there with a message saying this user has chosen to hide their profile. I don't consider that an opt out as it's spam I fear I'll get hit with and my name and UUID are all a spammer will need and both were available previously.
Thank you for making the point more succinctly than me regarding classifieds, your point about google mashing everything together is a great point. I agree that that's not a universal truth.
Thanks for the link, I look forward to seeing how that develops :)