How do you find your kitty?

[Jackson Verlack]

There has been a looot of talks about pros and cons of shop sales, auction sales, facebook pages, pictures, marketplace sales...
What Id like to know and actually form a topic where many breeders can see and find info as well, where do you like shopping for your kitty. This will help shop sellers to see the opinion of certain people, perhaps encourage some to open a shop, to open a marketplace shop or to join auctions or even look into some groups, either way this can be a beneficial discussion for all breeders, sellers and buyers alike, dont be shy to voice your thoughts

Here is few examples and keep note I may ahve forgotten some but youare welcome to add and talk of them

1. Advertising group notices
2. secondary marketplace web-pages
3. Fickr
4. facebook
5. Secondary Market shops (exploring sims)
6. auctions
7. Love shacks/gazebos/spots...
8. Bid boards
9. other way

Give us your opinion how you shop for your kitties, as well as comment on other ways that you think are good or less good for you.

Ill start with myself here:

I personally buy mostly at auctions, 90% of time I go for a live kitty with some unique traits or new ones that Id like to add to my own projects.
Notices I keep 99% closed down due to huge number of bot spams. Sadly web pages such as web sites, face book, tweeter ect... I do not follow either since as I said mostly what I need i find at regular auctions that I attend weekly or bi-weekly depending on rl.
There is times when I have a shopping spree along the love shacks but as bid boards go, I can say in a year of breeding I bought cats maybe 2-3 times off bid boards.
Instead of shopping for kittycats through notices, I much rather enjoy going through shops once or twice a week through few sims to see whats new, how are prices and if anything interesting is there to catch my attention.

thats just how I shop for KC

[Arwen Swordthain]

I have 3 shops on different markets myself but find I sell more at auctions these days. I also tend like you to buy at auctions. Sometimes I'll have a spree on the markets but not often, I tend to wander the markets if I'm bored to see whats about or if I'm looking for something specific. I have brought from the marketplace again when looking for something specific but last time I brought a pair from the same seller and only one was delivered leaving me without the boy I needed for breeding, that has put me off using the online marketplace a bit.
Like you I have most groups notices turned off due the huge amount of spam from bots. I post notices in groups myself but once a day if that, if I hate lots of spam others do too so am not convinced the notices are beneficial if no ones reading them. I do think if notices were limited to one per day per person and bots stopped from spamming every couple of hours that group notices would be more effective in drawing trade to shops and markets.
I like to browse the bid boards at least once a week and have brought from there quite a few times. One market also used to do a price drop bid board auction which was a lot of fun and I used to buy and sell there but sadly it stopped as people lost interest and other auctions sprang up at the same times.
The one thing I have found hard to resist is the random vendors or gatchas. I do love the surprise you can get for a few L$.

[Milena18 Grau]

Hello , I buy my Kittycats to 90% at Secondary Market SIMS . Yeah I love to walk around the Shops ..check Prices and look whats going on with new Traits and so on. I dont go to Auctions too often.cause its my Strong believe that you have good Chances to buy an overpriced Cat there (which is good for the seller) ..but sometimes I do..simply because some Cats you only find at Auctions.
I have turned down nearly all Group Notices . I am simply bored about all that "great Sale ..unbelievable Prices" Messages.
I absolutely prefer the more LOW LAG MARKETS ..and in High Lag Markets I mostly only visit the bidboards area or the 100% love Areas
I am buying cats now for at about 1,5 Years..and I dont see the end :-) Milena
PS: I never do Gatchas..I want to see the Kitten before I buy..even if it is a cheap one

[Mizaki Resident]

If there is a kitty I really really want, the first thing I do is browse the forums, since I am a frequent forum scanner it is the first place I check to see offers or anything new. IF I dont find what I am looking for then I just browse markets, mostly those shops where I have bought something from before. Love shacks are the best and most of the time it is where I get cats! I go for one cat, then end up buying 4 more. xD

To be honest though like most now a days, I buy from auctions now and even sell in auctions. I also have all group notices turned off except for the main group where the main shop is. For other groups I do browse notices here and there out of curiosity. I as well use bots but keep it limited to 2 notices every 3 days and in different groups since I also do not believe in constant crazy spamming.

We are all out to try to sell as much as we want to buy and it is a challenge to try and get your cats across but I feel auctions help a lot in getting yourself established and it is self marketing as a whole. I know from experience if I see cats I like and the breeder is the same, I end up checking their shops. =)

Happy shopping and selling! :3

[phoenixfire01 Resident]

I buy most of my kitties at Auction unless I'm looking for something in particular and then I'll do the leg work and go secondary market hopping. Selling at Auctions lately has been on the slow side. Some breeders/sellers have dropped the start bids on their kitties to get a sale, sometimes asking a lot less than they are worth. Though good for buyers, maybe not so good for the seller. Bargains are available at Auctions, I think even more so nowadays with the secondary market being the way it is, a lot more breeders have come to rely on Auctions for kitty sales.

Bid boards can also be a good source of kitty bargains. The only issues with the bid boards are ...... lag monsters which can cause bid boards to take 15 minutes plus to fully rez, by that time, people are usually bored and moved on. Also the turn around on the board themselves. Sometimes bid boards are left far too long after their rentals have expired, to be restarted for the next user.

As for Marketplace ........ I once tried to get kitties to the Marketplace as I already have a store on there ....... was a no go. There are no clear instructions on how to get the kitties up there and I wasn't going to risk losing kitties.

Group notices are a great way to advertise your store, Auction or Kitties ......... BUT ........ you get those who really do take the p**s when it comes to spamming, sending out the exact same message in various groups, EVERY HOUR !!!! Worst part is, it's their group and yet they tell group members not to spam yet they do it themselves. It shouldn't be do as I say, not as I do. Lead by example.

As for advertising on websites, unless the link is posted in a notice, I'm not likely to see them. Some people don't have the time to be searching site after site looking for something unless it's advertised. Also make sure your web page is from a recognisable, easily identified web provider like flickr as most people don't like clicking links due to all the scams out there.

A good tool for advertising all your web pages, stores in one go is notecard it. These can be attached to notices and there isn't much you con't attach to notecards, like LM's, web links, textures. It's about getting all the info out there in a short and snappy burst without making people have to read and read. Also how you word notices, even decorate them makes a difference. Make it stand out, make it grab people and you stand a better chance of people taking a look. Just make sure you don't go OTT on the decor and forget the info.

Last but not least. Store Decor. I love a store where people have taken the time and imagination to actually decorate it. I know most will say it's a waste of prims but those few prims could again grab people's attentions and draw them in. As some know, I LOVE to decorate my stores and they are never the same for too long and I try to decorate it in the seasons we are in (currently winter/christmas). I do this partly to attract people and partly because I just have a strange need to decorate my stores LOL, being a builder helps. There are so many low prim, low price items out there to decorate your stores with. Just think of a theme your comfortable with and doesn't violate any sim rules and go for it.

Well that's my pennies worth, hope it helps someone RED

[Kerri Fizzle]

I found my kitten boxes in the beginning in a few big shops as I found the owners I talked to knew what they were doing. (unlike newbie me ..LOL)

I Had a new cattery of 400 live cats breeding & several small shops . I sold a few in the summer at one small shop in Vygg. That was it. My New Main Store has sold a few.
I have had a few friends I made in the summer now sell off all their cats ..discouraged
and they have sadly left . They didn't really want to, but it just gets too much to feed them without selling a one.



Ok now I have not rezzed replacements for my basic cats in the cattery and brought it from 400 breeders to 150 and a Gazillion boxes of course.
I am hoping the Market will get better at some point and I can rezz more.


To sum it up for me----->

Right now ...If I was a new breeder . I'd watch for the sell-offs(people leaving and selling their cats in leaving sales) to build my cattery. Some really good 9 trait cats for cheap like 250-350 L

For New traits I always check the auctions

For Fancy Collector Kitties (I only get a few I love) I find them at the kitty sims shops walking around and sometimes shouting out on the chats to see if anyone has or knows where some are. Ask around some people are reasonable and some price gouge you. This has worked out well as people have them but not put out and will work with you on prices.

Even though the market is slow ...I still Love my KittyCatS and will bring more in when it gets better.

Also ... People I have met in KittyCatS have been wonderful. Many terrific Friends and everyone is always willing to help!!!! Huggs You all!

[Dimpz Morane]

I use the forums but look for specific traits and bypass the mass spammers of forums

I also look and see what people post in the kittycats chat group and im individual breeders if they post a kitty that I like.

I occassionally browse the bid boards - but as someone already mentioned the sim can be incredibly laggy and the board takes over 15 mins to rez so often get frustrated with it.

Once in a while I will also visit various love shacks - sometimes there is a great bargin to be found!

[Crepe Myrtle]

I have 3 shops, but I don't put any kitties at those shops except my product, which is my kittycat calculator. My best friend and my SL daughter put their kitties in those shops. I just love to decorate the shops. I am a big hoarder of my kitties. However, I do sell my kitties at auctions only.

At first, I went around the markets to see what kind of kitties they have and paid attention how they breed and what they breed. Also, I know which breeders turn the pedigree link, lmao. If I don't see a pedigree link, I don't buy even though the kitty has the traits I want or I contact the breeder to turn on the pedigree (I rarely do this unless I am desperate and I can't find any other kitties). Since I got to know many breeders over the years, I hardly go around the markets to shop now unless if I know a breeder sells a specific trait. Plus, I buy kitties at auctions only now. If I am looking for specific traits, I ask breeders I know and/or I post what I want on forums.

[Ivy Norsk]

I mostly have notices turned off. I get disgusted at the spammer bots.
I do browse the forums here intermittently, but am struggling to think of when that actually led to me purchasing a cat. I suspect that the forums work best to get the word out that one has a particularly distinguished collectible.
I never do gachas; I get enough random cats through the LE babies.

I do attend auctions, and buy cats through auctions. I have sold cats at auction in the past, but over time have found my own computer less able to cope with laggy situations which has made my auction attendance unreliable, which makes me hesitant to promise that I can be at a given auction at a given time. I know that auctioneers love to decorate their sites, but I wish that more attention was paid to keeping lagging scripts and other extraneous factors to a minimum at the sites.

And... once a month or so, I get an itch to walk around the sims and love tables. There are always cute cats to be found. I have found my own sales do best on smallish sims that make walking about easy.

I also have a stand-alone skybox shop, but I will say that I get almost zero sales there. People seem to want to go to where there are more cats. Still, it's not such a bad thing (and very low lag) to go shop-hopping down the landmarks of the KittyCatS directory stand alone shops. I've been down the list, and return periodically to 2 or 3 of my favorite stand alone shops.

It's a lot of work but I do wish there were a cooperative database where people could input their cats and people could search for traits (or possibly even hiddens). I know that's a huge undertaking and at least one person has tried and failed to do it. But the person who can do it will be doing something key for the community to put buyer and seller together.

[Shamu077 Resident]

I only buy if I really need a trait I don't have in inventory, usually as a custom cat order someone would like, and I can do in a few weeks. I use Area Search at the market Sims to check prices and search for cats - so if you don't put the basic important traits in the name, I will not find it at your shop or stand. With two businesses and some social life, I don't have the time to walk around shops looking at every cat.

Auctions honestly waste my time - I spent 60 hours/week selling at auctions a few years ago, with a couple other popular breedables - and selling 30 breedables in an hour was the norm. The auctioneers were professionals, and the people there were looking for traits and deals, so if you could not go through them fast, the buyers would leave. The majority of the buyers were men, which might explain why social interaction was not the reason they were there.

I sell most of my cats at 100% Love stands. My shops are at a Sim that is 1/2 empty and I have my shop out on the sim edge in the middle of nowhere - which does make it easy to find I was once next to an active auction and other shops, but they all left. New traits I usually stick on bid boards and price them fairly.

And for those having trouble with those bid board numbers rezzing (Adorable is the worst for that) try setting your Draw Distance to 32 or 28 meters in the Quick Preferences Box. Without the other thousands of textures filling up the pipeline, the boards will rezz in a couple mins or less.

Apache 100% Love Stands:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ap...125/128/23

Sham's Furballs:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ap...234/108/22