Product Listing Guidelines
- Oren Hurvitz
- Ilan Tochner
A good product listing should be clear and descriptive. This page contains requirements and recommendations for creating good product listings.
If you are new to the Kitely Market then please read the Kitely Market Overview, our page on Respecting Intellectual Property, and our Maturity Ratings Guidelines.
Modifying Products and Variations
Required
When modifying a product or variation the modification may not change the product's basic nature. For example, making a small change to the product's appearance is allowed, but replacing it with an entirely different product isn't allowed. Doing so would be misleading because the previous product already has a known URL; sales rank; rating; reviews; and sales history, and the new product would inherit all of this history. Therefore, if you want to create a new product then you must actually add a new product, and not replace an existing one. The same restriction applies to variations as well.
Product Name
Required
The name should describe the product briefly. It shouldn't contain information that can be seen elsewhere in the product page, such as the product's permissions or the creator name (but using brand names is allowed).
The name shouldn't include any special characters or capitalization whose only purpose is to make it stand out. However, it can include special characters or capitalization if they are an integral part of a brand name.
Good | Bad |
|---|---|
Flowing Hair w/Ribbon HairCorp Flowing Hair ::MyBrand:: Leather Pants | Flowing Hair w/Ribbon (Full Perms) FLOWING HAIR Flowing Hair [by HairCorp] ..:::{{ Flowing Hair }}:::.. Super Gold Ring!!! |
Recommended
Write product names in English to maximize the number of people who will be able to understand them. In addition, non-Latin characters may not be visible in users' inventories.
Images
Required
Product images should accurately reflect how the product appears in the virtual world viewer. Don't show artistic renditions or real-world images; people should be able to see exactly what they will be getting. You can add additional elements to the image if you want, but only if they aren't misleading as to what users will actually get.
Recommended
Product images use a 4:3 aspect ratio, so we strongly recommend that you use the same aspect ratio when uploading images.
We recommend uploading images with at least 800 x 600 pixels. We automatically resize the images to a few other sizes depending on where they're used. If you can, it would be useful to upload even larger images: 1600 x 1200 pixels. Currently such large images will be scaled down, but in the future we might use them to display very high quality images on high-resolution displays such as newer iPads.
The minimum size of uploaded images is 400 x 400 pixels.
When a product contains multiple variations, usually each variation should have at least one image. However, sometimes variations don't have any visible differences (e.g., they differ only in their scripts). In that case the variations should share an already uploaded image instead of uploading the same image again. This is possible because when a variation doesn't have an image we automatically display the image from a nearby product variation instead (one of the previous variations, or if they don't have any images then one of the next variations).
Try to create images where the product fills the entire image area. People are attracted to large images, so this can help you increase your sales.
Images should almost never include overlay text. Text distracts from the product and makes for poor quality images. Even for products that aren't objects (e.g., scripts), try to come up with an in-world image that you can show. For example, if the product is a script that controls a vendor then perhaps show an avatar buying from a vendor. If there's absolutely no way to show an in-world image then it's okay to put text in the image.
Note that when people view the product's full-size images they will also see each image's Caption, so you can put relevant text there.
Variations
When creating listings, you will need to decide whether to create separate products, or variations within a single product:
Required
Items with significant differences must be separate products. For example:
Different hair styles: each hair style should have its own product.
Different types of cars: each car model should have its own product.
Items with minor differences should be variations. For example:
Product: Hair. Variations: by color; by length.
Product: Car. Variations: by color; with or without spoilers.
Product: Big foam hand. Variations: left-handed or right-handed.
Attributes
Required
Don't specify attributes if they're not relevant to the product variation. For example, the "Occasion" attribute is often not relevant, so you should leave it as "N/A". When you specify irrelevant attributes you might get a few people to view your product by mistake, but they won't be interested in it and will just be annoyed.
A more serious problem is specifying attributes that don't match the product variation at all. If that happens then we will suspend your entire product.
In almost all cases, you should specify only one value for each attribute. For example, for the "Color" attribute, specify only the main color of the product; not all the colors that it uses. If a product truly uses two colors in equal amounts (e.g., a red-and-white candy cane) then it's okay to use multiple values.
Recommended
Fill in all the attributes that are relevant to all your product's variations. Doing so will help people find your product when it is relevant for their search criteria.
When your product has multiple variations, (e.g. different colors), use variation-specific attributes to distinguish those variations from one another.
Demo Items
Required
If you provide a demo version of a product then it must be listed using the Demo Items feature and not as a Product Variation or a separate Product listing.
Recommended
Provide demo items for all your product variations so that potential buyers will be able to try your products before they buy them.
Make demo items non-Modify, and brand them with textures and attached objects that clearly mark them as demo items.
Product Description
Required
If you write a product description then it should be meaningful, accurate and written in full sentences or bullet points.
We will suspend products that spam the description with keywords or use keywords that don't relate to the product.
Descriptions can be up to 5000 characters in length.
Recommended
A product has only one Description, which is displayed for all of the product's variations. Therefore, the description should begin by describing the product as a whole. If you want to add anything about individual variations then include that only after describing the product.
Write product descriptions in English to maximize the number of people who will be able to understand them.