I used to write regularly about Direct Delivery (DD). But, there just isn’t much known about what the Commerce Team is doing with it. None of the Lindens outside the Commerce Team know whats going on, or they won’t talk about it if they do. So, about all one can say is it sort of works and the Lab is working on it.

Merchants are frustrated. A number of them have gone looking for a better choice. Some have closed up shop. But, no one has built a better market place system. There is certainly a demand for a better market place.

My first article that carried the term Direct Delivery was published in mid April 2011: SL Market Place – Direct Delivery. Direct Delivery was on the verge of starting closed beta. In October of 2011 DD made it into the Le Tigre release channel in the main grid. (#SL Direct Delivery in Testing) In mid January 2012 DD made it to Open Beta testing on the Preview Grid Aditi. (Direct Delivery Beta Post) DD launched in mid March 2012. (Direct Delivery Launches)

DD got a start when Phillip Rosedale, the Lab’s owner and then CEO, decided the Lab would create a better and more reliable delivery system and announced it at the 2010 (?) SLCC. We saw the first discussions and visible parts of the DD system in early 2011. I’ve noted the milestones above and the launch of DD about two years after conception.

Since the launch in March 2012 the termination date for Magic Boxes has been postponed a couple of times. The latest postponement was made July 31, 2012. See: Marketplace and Direct Delivery Update. Magic boxes will now live to… WE DON”T KNOW WHEN. The Lab has stopped giving us dates. Magic Boxes will remain functional until the Lab figures out how to get ‘Limited Quantity’ items working correctly. No one knows when that might be.

For consumers and merchants using the Market Place Direct Delivery it has remained a problem. The goal and reason for the change was to provide reliable delivery of goods sold in Second Life^TM. That has just not happened. An article in NWN by Iris Ophelia, she relates her latest experience with DD. See: Iris Rants: The Second Life Marketplace’s Direct Delivery is Not Yet Ready for Prime Time. There is no doubt DD has problems and it is driving the merchants nuts.

I am not at all sure why developing this market is such a problem. The Lab obviously has people capable of handling large interactive databases. Companies like Amazon and eBay run market places on a much larger scale. Whatever the problem, Direct Delivery remains a major pain.

I’ve put some of my items into DD. But most of my top selling items I still have in a Magic Box. I’ve put off moving to DD because it is flaky and delivery is unreliable. I’m not having problems with my products (know on wood), so there is little reason to move provided I’m not forced to. The Lab has been pretty good about not pushing people too much.

I buy stuff each week. Lately I have not received much of anything into the DD Received Items folder. Most of my stuff comes into inventory from either the simple Buy function or Magic Box delivery. So, I’m not the only merchant relying on the older technology.