Quote - I am not a vendor here, but am at another site (not going to state which site). I feel that as a vendor I like to show my products how they render right "out the box" with no settings changed except maybe no shadows. This may or may not hurt my sales but my products do sell.

What I don't like are the renders that are so touched up that you cannot get the real look of a product. But that maybe just me. I rarely photoshop any of my renders of my products unless it is a background image to highlight the product.

I do agree with you.  I also very much agree with you in being against postworking anything except non-related rendered content. Backgrounds, text, arrows, etc.. are just fine.  Touching up rendering of the product should always be strictly forbidden as an unsavory practice.

Quote - I do understand your point of view, but you also have to look at others point of view before being so critical. Some of us may have been using Poser or Daz Studio for years, but there are allot more users now just getting started with both programs who don't have the "eye" or the know how to get a good render.

Please understand, I am not being "critical" of bad renders.  That's not my intent.  I am not even labeling anyone or anything as a bad render.  I would never criticize anyone for either not knowing something or simply having a different aesthetic taste than I.

However, that is a far cry from doing what is akin to purposefully torpedoing your own products with very bad renders.

Like in my example above, we had a great producer of quality products but, usually, offering products with less than stellar renders as "advertising."  How many hamburgers would McDonald's sell if instead of showing you a nice, juicy burger on a fresh bun with crisp lettuce, they showed you a pic of a burger someone forgot to throw away at the end of the day?  Usually, they have fresh burgers that are on fresh buns with good lettuce and sauces.. why not show that to the consumer?  I'm not saying disguise a shabby product with a good render; I'm saying don't sabotage your quality products before they even get a chance to be sold.

That's all I want to see: Producers of content actually benefiting from improving their rendering skills.  I will also add, "In honest ways" to exclude any possibility of photoshop or rendering with programs others would not have access to in general. 

It is possible to render in the Poser's default settings  and default lighting arrangement and come out with a render that is totally unsatisfactory.  :) Yet, content producers still use these as an inducement to purchase.  It doesn't make sense when simply moving the light or choosing a better rendering mode, better pose, better anything would be all that was needed.

If using advanced techniques is seen as a problem, then don't use them!  It isn't necessary to show "1337 mAD Skeelz" in order to have a good render of a good quality product.  A couple of well placed infinite lights and, walla, a decent product render!  If the producer wishes to salve their conscience for some unforeseen transgression at using lights included in Poser already, they can include the lightset settings by saving it and copy/paste... /shrug