(10-05-2014 08:36 AM)phoenixfire01 Resident Wrote: I think she was just coming up with suggestions. What would you suggest we do to improve the market?
Cut down on Auctions for one. Some sims are having Daily Auctions if not more. So many Auctions are killing the Market and talking with other people, most agree.
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Its not the auction that is killing the market ...its the run of the mill cats saturating the market that is killing it. How can promoting the sale of your cat kill the market? There are only ever 12 to 16 panels on an auction per auction 60 to 80% sell on average which means about 10 cats per auction. HOW is that killing the market. We are selling your cats not our own...Try using one once or twice a week to supplement your sales in your store.
The problem with the markets is largely to do with people trying to sell cats that are not valuable anymore.
I have 1200 cats in my cattery...boxes...this is after I have culled so many that there are nothing but good cats in there. So many people ...2 and 3 years later want to be able to sell cats that
1. are not relevant (except to a very few) in the market ie. triple myst/old overly bred furs and at prices that just are not current
2. They are trying to sell cats to people who already have cats that are identical to every one else that is in the same market.
3. NOT utilizing the markets to the full potential with services such as bid boards and love shacks and auctions which the sims offer to help you market and network your selves and your cats.
Look, there is no reason to be putting 20 cats in your store that are out of date by todays standards and then expecting them to sell at a price that does not reflect the value of the cat.
I personally do not want to buy a cat I bred a year before, or one that has ancient traits that are not attractive to anyone but you. No one likes all cats. And many breeders breed far to many of certain cats that just won't sell then blame the market and auctions for being the problem. You have to be a smart breeder. Triple myst cats are not going to sell as fast as a cat that has a new trait or a special quality about it. Its unfair to say its the auctions or the sim owners problem for that. STOP breeding cats whose boxes are not selling. Its that simple.
Look i don't know about anyone else but i personally don't want a chateau pink that has changing leaf eye , flair shade frisky tails mysterious ears and white mysterious whiskers.
I HAVE THAT CAT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER again and I'm just not going to buy it...auction or store.
HOWEVER. If that pink cat has grotto eyes and a twinkle, flash or blush shade...and a posh tail and rounded boo boo ears and dusky swanky whiskers. NOW that cat i would love to purchase and would pay the value of it because so much work has gone into breeding it.
There are MANY things kittyCats.biz could change to help the secondary market. For Instance... allowing us to decide when we want to breed the cat without having to be charged for turning the cats breeding on again or paying to break a breeding pair up ( which in the REAL world would be a split second decision that would not cost a penny) or not charing us for permapetting which would allow more people to feel they can keep their cats WITHOUT having to be charged for that too. (lots keep cats breeding to avoid having to inventory it because they just CANNOT bring themselves to menagerie it. In my opinion Permapet essentially is a way for us to pay for our cats twice! plus pay for feeding them the entire time we own them even when they are hundreds of days old or having to starve them in inventory which is an upsetting thing for many people.
KittyCats should be retiring more traits such as mysterious ears and whiskers for instance...and some of the old furs and eyes so that actually owning a cat with them makes it valuable only because its harder to find. (like the shorty tail which is still holding its own because it is a retired trait)
The other thing that KittyCats could be doing is making it more desirable to menagerie cats. Giving incentive to send them to heaven with more options other than one of 3 tigers or a better price than 20l for that cat that is going to menagerie. That is one thing that bothers me so much. We all get upset about the 100l cats but what is KittyCats promoting ...? its this..that at the end of the day your cat...if you don't pay KittyCats more for keeping it as a pet, is worth 20l . I might spend thousands of lindens to purchase a cat...even a starter is worth 200. I feed it for 120 days at least and all the milk vitamins and what not that I purchase form them to breed but at the end of the day instead of making it worth our while to menagerie cats...they put a value of 20l on a cat that is sent there. This makes people keep them rather than sending them into the great beyond. Especially since there is never anything new as an incentive to do so. They could be creating new menagerie cats every year and making them like LE's I mean come on, the tigers aren't even selling on secondary markets very well anymore. Give us options!
Personally speaking...what is needed is fresh eyes in kittyCats.biz and the way they are marketing the cats. There is much dissent in this breedable. Its never like this in biopets and others I have seen. And in fact many of their markets are still thriving and have settled in to steady pace because they are taking a more customer friendly approach to the breedable.
Do not blame auctions for the problems of selling outdated and old cats. KittyCats needs to keep current. Current with retiring furs/traits...make them valuable in that way. They need to rethink food/permapetting costs especially KNOWING there are many many people out there that have hundreds of cats.
KittyCats COULD recoup those costs of say free permapetting by giving us a reason to buy new starters. Traits should not be coming out in bunches but rather trickling one or two every month so there is a reason to buy starters every month rather than saturating the market twice a year with traits (which i think is FOOLISH) causing these extreme price fluctuations and upheaval in what could otherwise be a steady market. KittyCats could be making more money on starters which would offset something like free permapetting or lower food costs which would in the long run profit the market by giving people a chance to earn more which in turn means more cash flow and and incentive to buy more cats directly from KittyCats.
One thing that absolutely should be done is giving a definite length of time that any trait will be available. For instance...after its been in circulation a year...let it retire...make it valuable...keep the movement ...the flow. I mean for heaven sakes why are some of these three year old traits still available now. How dumb is that. THAT is what is killing the market...not the sim owners or the auctioneers.
The bottom line is always cash. And as much as that is important in any business. You have to remember that you need to honour your customers by giving them a product that works for them as well as makes money for you...
That goes for KittyCats and the secondary market.
Don't blame the auctions...we are promoting sales...which is more than a lot of people are doing...
And KittyCats...get yourselves a marketing specialist. It may help you see how you can help your CLIENTS which is the reason you exist to begin with. Quit making it so hard for us...Your business could flourish and prosper all the more for making some of the above changes mentioned...rather than milking the consumer dry.
KittyCatS! Market Improvement Suggestions
