Macabre Merchant Application
Anyone with a store with a significant portion dedicated to Halloween, horror, or the macabre that might be interested in having it included in our list on the Second Haunts Macabre Merchants page can let us know using the form on this page. Any interested store owner should first ensure that they read all of the eligibility requirements and then fill out the application on this page if they are interested in being listed.
Eligibility Requirements for Inclusion:
- STORES MUST HAVE A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF HALLOWEEN, HORROR, OR MACABRE WARES. We want to ensure that those of us that love the spooky season can find stores that have well sized inventory for them to decorate their haunted places or dress up to visit the haunts of others.
- ALL STORES MUST BE PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE WITHIN THE SECOND LIFE VIRTUAL WORLD. If you use a security system or ban list on your land in-world that is fine, we understand the need for those and have no issue with them. That said please do not use whitelisting security systems or forms of exclusionary filtering (IE avatar age, payment info, pass sale, or group exclusive access) at your store. You may use the age verification access restriction if you absolutely feel the need to do so at your store, but outside of that any visitors should be able to access the landing point of your location if they have not been implicitly added to a blacklist in a security system or added to the parcel or region ban list.
- ALL STORES MUST HAVE A PRESENCE WITHIN THE SECOND LIFE VIRTUAL WORLD. This means stores must have land that they either purchase, rent, or otherwise use that can be reached through use of landmarks or SLURLs. We will not list any stores that only have a presence on the Second Life Marketplace.
- NO FORCED LPs (Landing Points) that do not land visitors in front of (or inside of) your store. Malls or other such areas with forced landing points can be confusing for some visitors. If your store is on land that you do not own yourself, please make sure that the land owner is courteous enough to allow your visitors to arrive inside of your store, or at least close to the front door of your store, when using a landmark or SLURL.
- NO CLUBS. The Macabre Merchants page is not for listing clubs. This means that night clubs, hangout clubs, and escort businesses will not be listed. Those using this list will be expecting to shop for products and while visitors understand a little lag they will get annoyed quickly if they must wander through a wave of people and/or enthusiastic hosts. Just know that we are more than happy to accept a store that is on the same region or otherwise connected to, or contains, a club area, but we will not add any store to, or continue to list a store on, the Macabre Merchants page that requires its visitors to pass through such an area to reach the store.
- NO RESALE or BUSINESS IN A BOX (BiaB) STORES will be accepted. This type of store is defined as one with more than 20% of its products consisting of items from resale kits or third party creators. Collaborative stores and stores with resale items from other creators are perfectly welcome, but the bulk of the products in your store should be under your own store or brand name. If more than 20% of the products sold in your store are reseller or BiaB vendors/items then your application will likely be rejected.
- SUBMITTED DESCRIPTIONS SHOULD BE APPROPRIATE. The description submitted should be targeted for the audience of the Second Haunts web site, and as such should focus on Halloween, horror, and the macabre. Descriptions should be written in English and crafted to be appealing to human readers. Submitted descriptions should never be meant to provide any sort of boost for containing specific keywords (IE keyword stuffing). While keyword stuffing may work positively in Second Life, it is something that often leads to negative repercussions on the Internet outside of Second Life and can result in reduced ranking or de-listing of pages in search engines and, given the potential for harm to all of the listed merchants, such practices will not be allowed. Applicants that violate this rule may have their submitted descriptions altered or have their application denied.
- MERCHANT LISTINGS ARE NOT FREE. Being listed on the Macabre Merchants page should be considered a form of advertising and a form of promotion for your store. We ask a nominal fee in return for this listing to help us continue our efforts and keep the site and related services running. This fee covers your listing for the period from September 15 of the year it is paid to September 14 of the following year. This fee is not pro-rated and is non-refundable. The merchant listing fee is L$200 for current sponsors and L$400 for all others and is due upon request of Laurel Pumpkins.
- MERCHANT LISTING PERIOD. The period in which a merchant listing is active is from September 15 of the year the listing is accepted and the merchant listing fee is paid through September 14 of the following year.
- KEEP YOUR LISTING UPDATED. Applying merchants will be provided with a link to edit the application data once the application has been submitted. Applying merchants should make sure to keep this link in a safe place as it allows anyone with it to edit the data for your listing. Should you lose this link, or fail to save it, please contact a member of the Second Haunts Team to have it sent to you. If you need a new link let us know by using the contact form and we will be happy to assist you. Be sure to tell us what application you need the link for when inquiring about your existing link or if you need to obtain a new link.
- LISTINGS ARE PERIODICALLY CHECKED. Listed merchants that do not continue to meet the eligibility requirements and/or fail to keep their listings up to date may be dropped from the Macabre Merchants page without any refund of the merchant listing fee due. Merchants with listings that have been dropped from the Macabre Merchants page may be required to file a new application and pay the listing fee again should they wish to be re-listed.
- INCLUSION IS AT THE SOLE DISCRETION OF THE SECOND HAUNTS TEAM. While we wish to provide all who love Halloween, horror, and the macabre an exhaustive list of stores to visit, sometimes we may have to decline a store for one reason or another. For this reason, we reserve the right to make the decision of which applying stores to accept or decline to list at our own discretion. Any such decisions should be considered final.