How do you find your kitty?

[Malayaa Resident]

Hi,
Most of the kitties I buy are at auctions, or off the love tables when I realize I don't have a good mate or "trait poker" for a kitty that is special and ready to kitten. I have had fairly good success in using the area search to find specific traits by name. There are also several awesome breeders that I know always have interesting kitties or use line breeding, and I will go to their stores to window shop and sometimes buy. My notices are all turned off due to spam and IM overload, but I do like checking out the kitties posted in the forum for sale. I don't buy off the bid boards too often, mostly because of the time constraints conflicting with real life work...but I look at the new traited cats there and try to get an idea of how dominant the new stuff is (research lol).

It seems to me (as a seller) that a small selection of well displayed live cats in the very front of a shop sell better than items in the back or when there is a lot of visual clutter (like a gazillion boxes with a lot of text), but have not figured out how to offer kitty buyers lots of choices without.....lots of boxes lol. The central kitties for sale -search database concept would be awesome if it ever came to fruition with the right business model but there are so many complications I can see why we don't have one...

[Crepe Myrtle]

I like the idea of database. Shoot, I can even help on this if this is going to be a gridwide effort. This is what I do in RL lol.

(11-21-2014 08:32 AM)Malayaa Resident Wrote:  The central kitties for sale -search database concept would be awesome if it ever came to fruition with the right business model but there are so many complications I can see why we don't have one...

[JessicaArianaHamby Resident]

For me, the second markets. I also look at the forums to see if there is any good deals. But definitely, the second markets.

I never go to auctions, as I just like to see what I want, and get it. For me, the auctions will just drive up the cat I want. Although, I am not against going to auctions or bid boards if there is a cat I seriously want there.

One thing I do not like doing is buying a cat from second life marketplace. Main reason for that, is that it is too risky. There is only one time I have done this, and that was because it was for a cat I have been wanting for a long time, but have not been able to find. Plus, I got it for a steal!

[Lila Luckstone]

While I do now have several shops, when I started with Kittycats, I was given a few special collectibles as gifts and learned to shop around at Adorable secondary markets. It was there that I came across the Love Shack tables, and I still rely heavily on these to find desirable traits. When shopping secondary, I use "area search" a lot, to find cats for sale with the traits I'm looking for. It saves a lot of time. I also like the Adorable Bid Boards, and love auctions because I learn so much about the new traits and see how great breeders mate cats for certain outcomes. I am always learning, and I have certain sims that I prefer, like Pixel Paws and Adorable "The Kitten Box" and UKF, for their variety. Of course, I also purchase collectibles from the Kittycats Main Store when they come out, to see what new traits they may possess. I've never had any problem with lag in any of the sims.

[Lila Luckstone]

While I do now have several shops, when I started with Kittycats, I was given a few special collectibles as gifts and learned to shop around at Adorable secondary markets. It was there that I came across the Love Shack tables, and I still rely heavily on these to find desirable traits. When shopping secondary, I use "area search" a lot, to find cats for sale with the traits I'm looking for. It saves a lot of time. I also like the Adorable Bid Boards, and love auctions because I learn so much about the new traits and see how great breeders mate cats for certain outcomes. I am always learning, and I have certain sims that I prefer, like Pixel Paws and Adorable "The Kitten Box" and UKF, for their variety. Of course, I also purchase collectibles from the Kittycats Main Store when they come out, to see what new traits they may possess. I've never had any problem with lag in any of the sims.

[SapphireJolla Resident]

Over time, I've established what works well for me as there are several factors that affect my buying decisions:

1. Auctions -- A great place to learn about what sells, desired traits, get to know breeders. Plus, so much fun to Kinja! When I buy at an auction, it's often the apparent breeding plan plus the kitty's traits that makes me decide. As a result of getting to know those breeders, it's their stores I visit more often than others. I only wish more sellers would use Pedigree Profilers during an auction.

2. Bid Boards -- Great deals can be found, too bad their usage seems to be down everywhere.

3. Love Shacks -- These are great opportunities to find and see live kitties that often have a lot to offer. A great way to throw in new lines and traits, but only after looking into their pedigree. Pedigree Profilers give a lot of detail and if these are activated for the kitty I'm considering, I often end up buying that kitty. If their in-world pedigree is off or no Pedigree Profiler is present, I do not buy that kitty.

4. Forums -- These offer a lot of information and a great place to consider the purchase of difficult-to-locate collectables.

5. In-world Groups & Notices -- I open some groups while I'm logged on as every once in a while a notice will catch my attention. NOTE: I mute all the inconsiderate bots and bot owners that spam endlessly, e.g. every hour. The bots that limit their notices to 1-3 per day, I leave on as their information can be useful and it's my way of "thanking" the considerate bot owners who respect my time and usage of that particular group. (TAKE NOTE all you over-aggressive bot owners listening/reading this!!!!!!!!!). It's work on my part to mute all the excessively spamming bots, but it permits the occasional and legitimate breeders/sellers to send a notice and I will check those out. Sometimes I end up with the most lovely kitty purchase! That's when I know that muting those ever-spamming bots was worth it.

6. Area Search -- If kitties are properly labeled, what a wonderful way to do specific searches in mere minutes!

7. Secondary Markets exploration -- This takes time, but getting to know stores and breeders can be an interesting component to KC-dom. What appeals to me personally is diversity in the buildings and stalls. It makes me want to explore. If everything looks the same, it's just not interesting to stay and wander around.

8. Store Decoration -- Whether extravagant or minimalist, what draws me in more often than anything is seeing at least one live roaming about. It doesn't matter if it's for sale or not. If the kitty/kitties are healthy and obviously loved by their owners, their mere presence is a singular invitation to come in and visit.

9. Specialized Areas -- For example, Mega and Teeny areas; also By Breed areas. Some furs show off better in different sizes and have even convinced me of starting breeding projects I'd otherwise not considered before.

10. Friends, Contacts -- We often share so many of our kitty breeding results that they are great resources for locating kitties with specific traits or even just locations to explore.

Where I will not buy a kitty from is Marketplace. A database search idea is an interesting one, I'd like to see that idea developed.

[AstridSolace Resident]

I go to auctions mostly to sell my best cats, its rare when I ever sell anything from my inworld stores, although I put my best cats there too. I sell some cats on my marketplace store, the downside to having a MP store, is it can be time consuming to set up a cat if u like to be thorough like me, and sometime transactions can fail, no cat sent = no money charged, this only seems to be an issue for me if a customer is buying a cat as a gift for someone else. I've sold more on my MP store than my inworld store.

As for buying cats, well usually, I buy at auctions and live love tables such as at Too Adorable and Vygg, if I find I have a mature cat with no mate - which happens often :0. Auctions are a great place to find trait packed well thought out breeders, or really special cats. However, it's easy to get carried away, and buy too many, and especially depressing if I end up buying several cats there, and end up with a "future sale" on my own cat. As some of the best bargains can be had easily at auctions now days, especially on new traits. Bid Boards are a great place to find bargains too, but I hardly visit them because of the lag, also I prefer to bid near the end, so I can be sure I'm online when it closes, as it's easy for me to forget that I've made a bid otherwise, and some people get really antsy if I happen to be offline when the Bid Board closes. I do like to explore the markets, and I usually check most markets out when i have time, but i find i can end up overspending this way, so i prefer to use area search if looking for something specific, however not everyone clearly labels their cats, so the range of choices this way can be very limited. I do buy on the MP, and have no issue with doing so when I don't have time to look around the markets, or cant find what I'm looking for inworld, and there are amazing cats to be found on there for cheap also, also if I like the breeders cats on the MP, I like to also search their inworld stores if listed. I don't just plan to buy cats from friends and well know breeders only, although because I buy mostly at auctions it ends up that way. I do check out friends shops, but if I can I like to mix up my lines with cats from many different breeders, new or familiar, I buy a lot more cats than I sell!

[jwenting Resident]

I just browse markets, picking up cute looking bargains.
As I'm not a big time breeder looking for specific, rare, expensive stuff, it's the way to go

[Olgita Ruby]

I just go to Lokhe (Jackson Verlack) and demand pretty kitties!!!

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Okay, on a more serious note, I do try to stick to "Shop Locally" policy, I will go and shop on markets where I rent.
-> I usually buy from breeders I know and whose cats I like, after almost two years of breeding, I do have list of favorite shops.
-> I will check out forums and will definitely click on some catchy forum post name, I'll drop by if there is a sale somewhere too.
-> Once a month or so I'll go around many markets just to see what's there, yet again, just certain markets as some I like, some I don't.
-> On auctions I will buy occasionally if I see some epic kitty
-> I can buy a cat absolutely randomly anywhere.
-> Oh yes, I do buy boxed kitties 95% of time.

[LibGwen Resident]

I find buying too frustrating because I can never find what *I* want, only the latest cats. I only use markets to get a look at traits I haven't seen yet (so I ignore image cats). Occasionally I will stumble across one I buy, but more usually I get exasperated and give up. If I *need* a cat, I offer a trade in the "kittycats ONLY swappers and givers" group, advertise in the forum here, or search SL Marketplace.