Quote - >> However, I doubt, even as community minded as they are, they'd let Barnes & Noble advertise at their store.

While I agree with what you're saying, Jen -- and I do, honestly -- I cant help but feel that this going to create even more of a fragmented "merchant/buyer" mentality than we already have on the various sites, just amplified by the fact that now the advertising has to be site-specific. That, coupled with Rosity's almost complete dependence, in some respects, with products from another site, just makes the whole thing... well, a bit xenophobic.

True, Borders wouldnt let B&N advertise there, but the comparison falls apart when you acknowledge that Borders doesnt have anything that requires a prior purchase from B&N. It's self-standing. Without V4 et al, the marketplace here would be roughtly a tenth, maybe a twentieth, of what it is now, if that.

Just my 0.02. As I said, I agree with what you're saying. I just dont think it's the wisest course of action.

That is true, Sean, that without sites like DAZ and Content Paradise for figures, our MP would have no existence.  We're not saying "You can't advertise that your product is for X figure at X site if you sell with us" because, frankly, that would be dumb.  If I make a character set for V4 and want to sell it here, it behooves me to link to the V4 product page to say "Here's where you can get the base figure to use my character on".  That's just good customer service, and that is still allowed.  IMHO, it should be encouraged, both by us on staff and by customers.

As for the merchant/buyer mentality....it's been so long that we all have had that...that's not going to change, Sean.  However, in that sort of market, the buyer has ALL of the power.  The power to say "You know what, that's not the quality I want, I can get it elsewhere."  The power to say "I can get a better, similar product for free, why should I pay your asking price?"  And that's what is important.  There are still a LOT of generous freestuff providers that create amazing products for free.  For instance, there are a LOT of people who look at the whole M4 figure and think "Hmmm...I can get Apollo, which already has awesome features, for free.  Give me something amazing, or I'm not paying."  And there are still others who equate quality with the amount of cash they have to give up. 

As long as there is money to be made, there will be that merchant/buyer mentality. 

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