I know that 30% off is a pretty good deal, but you're only saving 15 dollars or so and you've got to spend quite a bit to get that. 

For clarification, I'm talking about the renderosity ad I got today.

not only that, which is even a bigger deal, is the fact you cannot use the discount on items already on sale or on clearance.
this is the first time I have seen this requirement.
Is this a new Rendo policy?

This is a new type of coupon.  It's shared between Rendo and the vendors so the requirements are a bit different.

Quote - I know that 30% off is a pretty good deal, but you're only saving 15 dollars or so and you've got to spend quite a bit to get that.

Exactly.
"Saving" is no more than a manipulative marketing term for what is, in reality, the precise opposite:
"Spending".
If I'm not prepared to pay the full price for something, I can't want it enough to buy it even when it's "on sale"!

In the past I've often used coupons in sale items.  If there is something I really need/want I'll pay full price.  .   However, I've got a bunch of 'Luxury' things sitting on my wishlist waiting for a 50% off coupon. The last time there was one I spent quite a bit...

all of it is luxury for me, so if I can't get maximum value from a sale, it doesn't happen. no loss for me, but its at least some cash for the vendors that they won't get.

hey folks,
let me explain the shared coupons:

until now, coupons have come out of Renderosity's cut of product sales. so if a vendor submits a product at a 50/50 cut, and Renderosity issues a 25% off coupon, that 25% comes out of Renderosity's 50% share.

the new 'Shared Coupons' are a way for Renderosity to pass 50+% of the 'cost' of coupons to the vendors. For the vendors, they are basically a forced sale that they have absolutely no control over. there are tentative 'limits' informally discussed, but theoretically these shared coupons could go as high as 50-90% off. Renderosity has left no way for vendors to opt-out, simply a loophole where the coupons will not apply to products already on sale. if a vendor does not want to participate in a forced sale on their entire store, then they have no choice but to put their products pre-emptively on sale to avoid the shared coupons. as myself and many other vendors predicted, this will be confusing to the customer.

there is a slight conflict of interest in that customers want products as cheap as possible, and vendors want to be compensated for their work. i can tell you, however, that many of the vendors that put the time in to create quality products simply will not stand to have their products forcibly discounted to flea-market prices.

apologies for the confusion - hopefully this sheds more light on the issue.

Do you really need the stuff?  I'm talking about life or death/food on the table/roof over head here.  

The answer is probably "no".  In which case, you have a choice to not buy.

The other side of it is:  No store anywhere ever has to make any kind of sale/reduction/special offer.  

You pays your money (or not) and you takes your choice.

FWIW, There are several vendors I'll happily pay the going rate for.  Gabriel above is one of them.  

OTOH, if I can get a fistful if his stuff at lower cost, I'd be a fool not to.

So, go buy my stuff - and Gabriel's, whether it's on sale or not.  Me babby needs a new cot.  Or something.  :)

Quote - hey folks,
let me explain the shared coupons:

until now, coupons have come out of Renderosity's cut of product sales. so if a vendor submits a product at a 50/50 cut, and Renderosity issues a 25% off coupon, that 25% comes out of Renderosity's 50% share.

the new 'Shared Coupons' are a way for Renderosity to pass 50+% of the 'cost' of coupons to the vendors. For the vendors, they are basically a forced sale that they have absolutely no control over. there are tentative 'limits' informally discussed, but theoretically these shared coupons could go as high as 50-90% off. Renderosity has left no way for vendors to opt-out, simply a loophole where the coupons will not apply to products already on sale. if a vendor does not want to participate in a forced sale on their entire store, then they have no choice but to put their products pre-emptively on sale to avoid the shared coupons. as myself and many other vendors predicted, this will be confusing to the customer.

there is a slight conflict of interest in that customers want products as cheap as possible, and vendors want to be compensated for their work. i can tell you, however, that many of the vendors that put the time in to create quality products simply will not stand to have their products forcibly discounted to flea-market prices.

apologies for the confusion - hopefully this sheds more light on the issue.

OMG! No shit? Well, this certainly makes me look at things in a whole new way... Sorry to hear that Blackhearted. I, for one, don't mind paying full price when I want something. If I won't buy it full price, then I probably won't buy it on sale ;o). Now I think I'll skip the coupons too...

I used to be a vendor here and pulled my stuff when RO's cut went up to 50/50. It's looking less and less likely I'll ever be a vendor here again.Thanks a million for letting us know Gabe ;).

Laurie

I think in future I'll bypass Rendo's store and contact the merchant directly and buy from them.

I wonder if those who have never been a vendor realize 1. How much work goes into making a product that's quality (even tho quality is subjective ;o)) and 2. How little the vendor actually gets for their troubles at the point of sale. God forbid you actually have a partner, like Gabe sometimes does or I was planning to or others do...then it gets even smaller. With the way prices have been crawling downward over the years I'm surprised anyone even makes anything to sell at all anymore. The way I see it, it's looking more and more like those who create and sell would do better to bypass the larger stores and just sell from their own website. Then if shit hits the fan, at least they know it was all on them, not someone else shooting them in the foot ;o).

Laurie

Quote - Now I think I'll skip the coupons too...

well, dont let it stop you from using them - just understand why youll see many merchants putting products on sale whenever one is released. with an upcoming 30-50% shared coupon,  a vendor may choose to put their store on 1-10% off just to avoid losing 30-50% of their income -- its their only way to opt out.

if Renderosity removes our opt-out, expect price raises across the board. if they issue a 90% off promotion with no opt-out, then i will tell Renderosity to raise the base price of my product by 90% for the duration of the coupon. im simply not going to have the control over my prices usurped by anyone.

for non-vendors to understand what this feels like, imagine this:

you spend weeks knitting a unique wool sweater with very elaborate cabling/stitching.  its one of a kind. you bring it to the neighborhood craft/knitting store and agree with the owner that they will sell it in their store, and you get to keep 50% of the sale price. you tell them that is fine, you would like it priced at $100.

a week later the owner of the store phones you up and tells you that your sweater sold, come and pick up your money. you head over there and they hand you a $20 bill, and say heres your cut - they had to put it on sale for 60% off to sell it.
'but i didnt authorize you to put it on sale for 60% off'
'we made the decision to do so because our sales were slow at our store'.

^thats whats happening here.

I know that's what's happening here ;o). However, you don't fix it by hamstringing your very lifeblood...the vendors...lol.

I don't blame you for doing whatever you do Gabe, or anyone else for that matter. It's not like RO is the only place/entity that's hurting right now. We all are. That's just the way things are, but that also means that the vendors need every penny they get more than ever. I will always side with the vendors, not because I've been one here, but because I know the work that's involved. I thought the 50/50 cut was unfair, but this makes it even more so.

Laurie

Quote - I know that's what's happening here ;o). However, you don't fix it by hamstringing your very lifeblood...the vendors...lol.

Ah, if only it was true.  Far too many businesses do exactly that, or variations thereof.

Quote - > Quote - I know that's what's happening here ;o). However, you don't fix it by hamstringing your very lifeblood...the vendors...lol.

 

Ah, if only it was true.  Far too many businesses do exactly that, or variations thereof.

I suppose I would make a very, very bad businessman...LOLOL ;o). I can't bring myself to the idea of screwing someone elses income so that mine gets bigger ;o).

Laurie

 Hey, guys, I know this is a subject of concern for you all, but we in the Poser forum can't do anything about it for you...but, I can, and plan to, move this thread to the Customer Service forum, where store staff can listen to your questions/problems/concerns about it.

Jeni

JenX has moved this thread from the Poser forum to the MarketPlace Customer Support forum as of Saturday, May 29, 2010 10:53 pm.

don't get me totally wrong, i have uin the past paid full price for a lot of stuff. However, as the economy gets bad, and my pay hasn't gone up in 10 years, I'm forced, like a lot of people, to make the most out of the dollars I have. It becomes imperative to but Poser items at sale prices, therefore, if an item is on sale for 30% off and I have a coupon for 30$ off, I'm going to take advantage of it.

Obviously, as Gabe stated, this used to come out of Rendo's 50% share of the revenue. I also think 50/50 is highway robbery to the vendors. Its a ridiculous cut. Obviously the exposure for the vendor by selling at Rendo must be worth the loss? If it was me, I would be forming up a cooperative of vendors that would become as big as Rendo, but have it more 80/20 in favor of the vendor with the remainder going to website management and associated costs.

This new coupon deal, then is another kick in the teeth of the vendors. I would have all my stuff on sale all the time at 10% off or something like that, but now you only get 40% ... but its better than 20, I guess.

That steep of a cut might be worth it at some place like Daz, but not here :o(. While this place gets lots of exposure, the sheer number of items for sale pretty much guarantees that your products get lost quickly.

Laurie

So is this how all of the coupons will be from now on?  Or is this 'shared' thing something that comes along once in a while?

From what we've been told, they won't all be like this from now on. Renderosity will still be issuing normal coupons as well which can be applied as before. Whether or not this will be the case isn't shown though.

Well done Rendo - good move on the coupon - I went and spent my small fundage allowance at DAZ instead. No $$$ for you this weekend from me, sorry.

Quote - don't get me totally wrong, i have uin the past paid full price for a lot of stuff. However, as the economy gets bad, and my pay hasn't gone up in 10 years, I'm forced, like a lot of people, to make the most out of the dollars I have. It becomes imperative to but Poser items at sale prices, therefore, if an item is on sale for 30% off and I have a coupon for 30$ off, I'm going to take advantage of it.

I would very much like to be able to pay full price for things because I do believe the vendors deserve it. But as much as like this stuff, I don't need it, not like I need food and my medications. So yeah, I will wait for great sales and coupons, I don't have much of a choice.^^; So this week I will be buying 10-20 dollars worth of things for forbiddenwhispers sale, and I won't be at all tempted to add more things to reach the coupon amount. Which leaves me more to spend at other places or save for C8pro. There is always a bright side.:P

I think Rendo should tweak the rules for this coupon (of course I liked it better when it appled to everything ordered whether on sale or not). But if this is the new reality at least let the $50 spending requirement include on sale and off sale items... and then only give the discount on the off sale items. The way it is now you might have a nice clothing or armor and also want a great texture set to go with it... but one is on sale and the other isn't... very confusing.

Well, my problem was I did have some full price items in my cart and I could have made the $50....but then the vendors turned around and put their things on sale that were full price  just as I was starting to check out  and my cart went below the 50 so I couldn't qualify to use it.  I was like $2 away.

So everything goes back on the wishlist, because even though those things were on sale, I would have saved more money paying the full price using the coupon, as opposed to paying with the vendor's set sales prices. While I do feel for the vendors, I have a budget and like them, have to worry about taking care of me and mine. So my budget was spent elsewhere and Renderosity and the vendors get no money from me this month.

With this economy everyone is between a rock and a hard place and I'm not seeing any winners. What I am seeing is something that is going to create a rift between vendors and customers as vendors need and deserve to be paid a fair price and customers would like the 'wants' (and for some they are needs as well to complete obligations) at a price that right now they can afford.

I do have to ask, if a coupon comes out and the percentage is 40 or 50% and the vendor raises their price of the product to match that until the coupon expires(as was suggested in Gabe's post)...how is that going to help the vendor sell something? I understand it's the principle and I understand it's to make a point, but then who really wins in a situation like that?

As it is, the vendors that I was going to purchase from lost sales from me this weekend (and I imagine more then a few others). Those things will stay in my wishlist until a good sale and a coupon comes along.  It's how I've shopped here for years and with a tight budget it's even more important now.  It allows me the luxury of spreading my budget to more vendors and I like that idea.

I think the vendors should have an opt out, I also think that they should be able to make the decision if they want to include things that are already on sale or in clearance , for a coupon like this.  Some will opt out, but I suspect others won't mind the possible boost in sales, or keeping something in clearance a little longer. 

The point being the decision should be in the vendor's hands.

This whole thing has me more then a little perplexed.

Hmm... reading all of this, you gotta think about what's fair to Renderosity....

BUT............ a bit BUT....

All these big stores charge way too much to load contents in their stores.  50%????  I mean, come on!!  I thought this first from the beginning when I found out how much you'll be getting from YOUR products, "GAH, 50% is an awful deep cut, it should be at the most 25%.  We're doing all the creating, not them.  And we're doing all the customer support, not them!".

To this day I still think that.  It's totally unfair!  But then submit them to a little store (which charge between 25 & 40%) and they don't sell much 'cause the little stores don't get hit much.  Make your own website and it isn't gonna get hit much either by customers.  So you really don't have much of choice.  Sell at big stores and sell many, but be prepared to get paid only 50% of your price.  That's really pretty much the reason I haven't been loading anymore products.  I don't get the pay I deserve.

And yes, a forced sales isn't what I support either, we as a vendor should have a choice to put our stuff on sale or not.  If they want to put stuff on sale, then they should get the cut, not us, we're already getting a big cut.

...wolfie

like I said above, Wolfie ...you guys need to band together and create your own "big" store.
With a forum and everything else thatt goes with it. I don;t really see why it couldn't be done if set up correctly. Web space is pretty cheap if you go to the right IP. If you get a bunch of quality people to join you, the customers will follow.

Sorry to stir the pot rendo, but 50% is not fair at all, in my opinion. with the number of vendors and the quality vendors you have here, lower your take and give some back to the creators. And stop this new coupon deal, unless the cut is coming from Rendo's share, not the vendors.

**It would be nice to see a bigger cut.... The smaller stores, even though less well known, have the ethic foundation in their morals, to offer 60, sometimes 70% to the vendors.... It would be nice to have a bigger cut from rendo, and i'm not saying I ain't greatful for every penny I get from here, I am.....

Just i find it very frustrating sometimes when 50% is taken away automatically, just for hosting the files and testing....  and a few free banner adds..... Doesn't seem alot of bang for my buck if ya catch my drift....

Alot of these smaller sites let you have as my banner adds in circulation as your please, as at the end of the day, its our products that give them their website monies....These sites have to do the same work rendo, and daz and runtimeDNA does, they do sales, they promote products, they test and place them in their store....and their cut is still bigger, regardless...**

 I was always wondering why Renderosity asks for 50% cut if it can't provide the same level of QA, QC and technical support DAZ3D (and have this clearance policy)? Extra ad banners don't cost that much, IMHO. Previously I know some vendors prefered Renderosity because it let them control sales better (so they had only one sale per year and it was long-awaited -event-) but if matters are like explained in this thread (forced sales with a coupon or forced "sale" to avoid a forced sale with a coupon) it makes me wonder what the appeal of this 50/50% cut?

As someone who is not a vendor (and likely never will be) but is an active shopper, I am surprised that the split is 50/50 - seems like a lot for the artist to have to give up.
I agree with the sentiments expressed here that the vendors should be rewarded for their hard work, and should have control of when their work is put on sale and how much that sale will be.
I understand that bigger sites like this one guarantee a bigger audience for the products, but I personally feel much better buying from a site where I know the artist gets the lion's share.
Band together folks - if you build it, we will come.... ;-)

Quote -  Hey, guys, I know this is a subject of concern for you all, but we in the Poser forum can't do anything about it for you...but, I can, and plan to, move this thread to the Customer Service forum, where store staff can listen to your questions/problems/concerns about it.

Jeni

translation:
we want to sweep this under the rug, so we are going to move it to a forum that hardly anyone visits so we can ignore it until it goes away.

Quote - > Quote -  Hey, guys, I know this is a subject of concern for you all, but we in the Poser forum can't do anything about it for you...but, I can, and plan to, move this thread to the Customer Service forum, where store staff can listen to your questions/problems/concerns about it.

Jeni

translation:
we want to sweep this under the rug, so we are going to move it to a forum that hardly anyone visits so we can ignore it until it goes away.

Well, there is a link to this thread in the Daz forums now, which is why I noticed it:P

I'm not sure I understand the 50% cut with rendo, I know Daz takes 50% but they also take over the techinal support and testing. I thought rendo just hosted like the smaller stores. I know they don't test, I've bought one too many things that have every single file path wrong or other simple issues that would have been noticed immediately upon testing.

For me it's always been simple, I don't have allot of cash to spend so vendor sales & coupons (usually combined together) are how I can afford stuff so the new coupon really doesn't work for me. Won't be using this one & will most-likely skip ones like it in the future. Besides the $50 size ($33.50 after savings) puts these beyond my means. Don't get me wrong, Rendo has every right to conduct business as they see fit but more 'coupons' like these are going to see me spending my meager 3D dollars somewhere else.

I was thinking about picking up Scampixie Pranx, but I don't actually have $35.00 lying around at the moment. I know using the coupon would basically get me $15.00 worth of stuff for free, but I really, I just don't have the 35.00 at the moment.

I want the vendors to make as much as possible. I understand the policy on not allowing coupons to be used on discounted items, but I really don't like it. I don't usually shop here at all unless I have a coupon, and then I see what items on my wishlist are on sale to come up with the required dollar amount.

If I need an item right now, going to render it as soon as it is installed, I will pay full price. The other 93% of my runtime is items I got on sale.

Quote - I think Rendo should tweak the rules for this coupon (of course I liked it better when it appled to everything ordered whether on sale or not). But if this is the new reality at least let the $50 spending requirement include on sale and off sale items... and then only give the discount on the off sale items. The way it is now you might have a nice clothing or armor and also want a great texture set to go with it... but one is on sale and the other isn't... very confusing.

Are you sure it isn't working like that anyway? That is, that the voucher isn't usable on the off-sale items as long as the cart total is over the qualifying amount? The email says only that sale and clearance items aren't eligible for the discount, not that they don't count towards the total so I came in here to ask the question.

From what I understand, on-sale items will count toward $50 minimal limit but won't be discounted by coupon (so the total discount save will be less then 30% if cart has on-sale items). A pure assumption, of course, I didn't try the coupon.

In all fairness, RO does test products before they put them in the store. But so does the vendor test before they submit to the store if they're worth their salt ;o). And RO (I believe) only tests for file path errors, missing textures and the like.

Back when I was a vendor and when RO raised it's cut to 50/50, I voted with my feet and left. I went to PoserPros. The cut there was 70/30 in favor of the vendor which I thought was more than fair. But it was a site also run by people who were vendors themselves and so didn't count as much on what the site itself made. This site counts on the dollars they rake in from the sale of the works of others and nothing more. There are hundreds of vendors and thousands of buyers. The monies that the actual vendors get is a mere pittance of the work they put into the product.

Let's say I make a product. I charge 10 bucks for it. I sell a grand total of 20. I get a hundred bucks from my cut, which on the surface sounds good. But when you total in the hours and hours of work it took to create the product in the first place, the end hourly rate is less than minimum wage, which is sad. So, it's either jack up the price and maybe sell less items, or devalue the work even more and sell it for less in order to sell more items. In the end, it hurts the vendor by the 50/50 split much more than it does RO since RO does not depend so much on what one vendor makes because they make from multiple vendors. And all by an automated process which costs them only bandwidth, server storage and maybe some programming now and then. Something, I might add, they would pay anyway because the forums also must work ;o). In the end, the scales are always tipped in the site's favor. I'm not saying they shouldn't be, because that's why Tim and his group started the site store in the first place. It's a business and should make money. But you have a site who's vendors are pretty much at the mercy of it's store's owner. Since RO makes the rules, they can keep taking and taking and taking until ultimately their vendors flee for greener pastures. IMVHO, they are getting close to that point right now. In my mind, the site can run as many sales as it wants if they think the promotions will bring in the buyers, but to then take that from vendor who had no input in that decision is just, well, underhanded and sneaky. After all, since RO's gig is to change the rules as they go, chances are most of the vendors already here never agreed to that bit before becoming a vendor.

It all just smells to me. But like I said, I was a vendor once. So I tend to side with the vendors. I was a waitress once too, and I always give a big tip ;o)...lol.

Laurie

my son works for tits...he always is mad at me when I don't give up the big tip .. but I give what I can afford and of course to the level of service.  anyway, that''s way OT :)

hopefully RO will give in a bit and give the vendors a bigger cut of the pie. It seems i to me it should be close to 75% in the vendors favor, considering they are the ones doing 100% of the creative and production work.  Not a bad gig being automated and collecting 50% of the fruits. Of course you need to consider the overhead in keeping the store and site running.

It would be interesting to see the income and expense sheets for this business.

Quote - > Quote -  Hey, guys, I know this is a subject of concern for you all, but we in the Poser forum can't do anything about it for you...but, I can, and plan to, move this thread to the Customer Service forum, where store staff can listen to your questions/problems/concerns about it.

Jeni

translation:
we want to sweep this under the rug, so we are going to move it to a forum that hardly anyone visits so we can ignore it until it goes away.

No, and you know me better than that, Gabe.  I'm not a vendor anymore, so the best I can do is email the store staff (which I already did), and move this thread somewhere where they basically have to pay attention to it.  They don't go to the Poser forum.  They DO come here.  
But, you know, thanks for reading into my post something that wasn't there.  That's always awesome for my first day back on the job ;)

Quote - In all fairness, RO does test products before they put them in the store. But so does the vendor test before they submit to the store if they're worth their salt ;o). And RO (I believe) only tests for file path errors, missing textures and the like.

I can tell you from when I was a tester a few years back, much more than just file path errors and missing textures are tested.  We were expected to test the actual product for usability, and the review team reviews it for marketability before it even gets to testing.  Just FYI ;)

One thing I actually really like about Content Paradise is that initial splits(from what I remember) are 70/30. The vendor then has the option to "purchase" more aggressive advertising which is not an up front cost, but more of a split towards the site up to 50/50. I think they have a 60/40 for increased advertising and 50/50 for full blown advertising. I wouldn't mind this so much as it would be totally up to the vendor on how much they want to split with them. The problem comes in where they don't have the traffic that there is here, so sales potential are actually down.

For newer vendors like myself, you have to do so much work in order to get noticed on top of basically de-valuing products. While speaking for myself personally, I try to give the customer as much value possible while still keeping my shirt :) Then again, this isn't my primary source of income, and even though I would love for it to be and dedicate all my extra time to it, with what we have to do to even generate enough interest to make it worthwhile, it's just not feasible. My most popular product, sat on the front page of What's Hot for nearly 2 1/2 weeks which translates to a decent amount of sales. However, after all is said and done, for a month of sales I take home less than I make a week at my main job. Now there is an even bigger cut into my net with this while forcing the customer to pay an obscene amount of money (for the times we're in) to get it just doesn't sit right with me at all. I would gladly take the cut if it was a benefit to the customer and have demonstrated that by putting my entire store on sale for 30% for the month back on the 14th. I've also rotated my stuff out for Fast Friday. The difference is that those are choices I made, not Renderosity. Here there is no choice except to opt out with a sale of your own if you don't want them putting you on sale.

Topping it all off, their "shared coupon" is only translating to them sharing information and putting the store on sale for whatever the coupon is. If it's a 30% coupon and I'm told it will be shared, I should only be losing 15% of the price off, not 30. If they want to kill spending limits, speaking only for myself, go ahead and do the coupon as it benefits the customer. I can't say that all vendors agree because some of them do this as their sole means of income which I can also understand and sympathize with.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote -  Hey, guys, I know this is a subject of concern for you all, but we in the Poser forum can't do anything about it for you...but, I can, and plan to, move this thread to the Customer Service forum, where store staff can listen to your questions/problems/concerns about it.

Jeni

translation:
we want to sweep this under the rug, so we are going to move it to a forum that hardly anyone visits so we can ignore it until it goes away.

Well, there is a link to this thread in the Daz forums now, which is why I noticed it:P

I'm not sure I understand the 50% cut with rendo, I know Daz takes 50% but they also take over the techinal support and testing. I thought rendo just hosted like the smaller stores. I know they don't test, I've bought one too many things that have every single file path wrong or other simple issues that would have been noticed immediately upon testing.

If that's the case, then you need to contact store@renderosity.com.  The store admins don't test, but they do oversee the testers.  If something goes through testing and comes out broken, the store admin WILL do something about it.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote -  Hey, guys, I know this is a subject of concern for you all, but we in the Poser forum can't do anything about it for you...but, I can, and plan to, move this thread to the Customer Service forum, where store staff can listen to your questions/problems/concerns about it.

Jeni

translation:
we want to sweep this under the rug, so we are going to move it to a forum that hardly anyone visits so we can ignore it until it goes away.

No, and you know me better than that, Gabe.  I'm not a vendor anymore, so the best I can do is email the store staff (which I already did), and move this thread somewhere where they basically have to pay attention to it.  They don't go to the Poser forum.  They DO come here.  
But, you know, thanks for reading into my post something that wasn't there.  That's always awesome for my first day back on the job ;)

I was kinda wondering about that, but then I thought maybe it was to get Rendo's attention on this (since more than likely they don't visit the forums).  I'm glad you confirmed, Jeni, I do hope this get's Rendo's attention.

As most can see by now, the 50% cut is unfair, and I really hope Rendo does something about that.  I'm not gonna be happy till it's AT LEAST 70/30 in the vendors favor.

This will do good on both sides.  First of all, some vendors will provide lower prices.  This will make more customers happy and more sales as a result, second, this will make more customers happy since most of the money's going to the creators instead.  Rendo will still make their bucks, at the same time, vendors will feel better about their share.

I absolutely don't support sites getting rich over screwing over their vendors.  It's poor business practice.  That goes as well with Daz, but at least they do take the tab on customer service/returns. (there's things I don't like there though, but that's another story).

...wolfie

Quote - I can tell you from when I was a tester a few years back, much more than just file path errors and missing textures are tested.  We were expected to test the actual product for usability, and the review team reviews it for marketability before it even gets to testing.  Just FYI ;)

From my experience, it is just not the same level of QC. Yes, Renderosity tests for pathes and such (nevertheless, I got a product with wrong paths more than once) and they check, for example, for all advertised features (like morphs) to be actually in pack and spinning with some result. But Renderosity doesn't appear to test for -quality- of those features. Once I got a product where morphs looked like they were translated with a help of Morphing Clothes with obviously no manual tune-up from a side of the vendor. Promos was done in such a cleaver way that it wasn't obvious from pictures (promos are always like that).
The result looked awful. I coudn't use the product and I coudn't ask for refund, because, technically, the product had the announced feature. It is just that quality of that feature was bad and QC/QA didn't bother to work with vendor to fix it before the release, because, FWIK, it isn't a purpose of testing on this marketplace.
Comparatively with the quality of testing of DAZ3D it isn't the same level. Sure, DAZ3D has mishaps sometimes, but very rarely on my memory in rate of total items and I can always ask for refund if I don't like the quality. So what with the 50/50% cut for that low level testing and no technical support from Renderosity? Not understandable to me.

Quote - No, and you know me better than that, Gabe.

not you specifically -- but this has been standard Rosity MO for quite some time now.
when anything remotely controversial pops up it is either swept to some deserted forum or the thread is locked - just like the threads in the vendor forum protesting the shared coupons were.

Quote - > Quote - In all fairness, RO does test products before they put them in the store. But so does the vendor test before they submit to the store if they're worth their salt ;o). And RO (I believe) only tests for file path errors, missing textures and the like.

I can tell you from when I was a tester a few years back, much more than just file path errors and missing textures are tested.  We were expected to test the actual product for usability, and the review team reviews it for marketability before it even gets to testing.  Just FYI ;)

Thanks Jen ;o). My point was, a good vendor will already have done that before it even gets submitted and I think most do ;o).

Laurie

Quote - > Quote - No, and you know me better than that, Gabe.

not you specifically -- but this has been standard Rosity MO for quite some time now.
when anything remotely controversial pops up it is either swept to some deserted forum or the thread is locked - just like the threads in the vendor forum protesting the shared coupons were.

Well, rest assured that this isn't the case this time.  Granted, even though I'm answering stuff right now I'm not really "in charge".  If the admins choose to give an answer that is final and lock it, I have no say in that.  But, the purpose of moving this thread was to get answers from those who have them, rather than let the thread turn into something totally non-productive.

Quote - > Quote - I can tell you from when I was a tester a few years back, much more than just file path errors and missing textures are tested.  We were expected to test the actual product for usability, and the review team reviews it for marketability before it even gets to testing.  Just FYI ;)

From my experience, it is just not the same level of QC. Yes, Renderosity tests for pathes and such (nevertheless, I got a product with wrong paths more than once) and they check, for example, for all advertised features (like morphs) to be actually in pack and spinning with some result. But Renderosity doesn't appear to test for -quality- of those features. Once I got a product where morphs looked like they were translated with a help of Morphing Clothes with obviously no manual tune-up from a side of the vendor. Promos was done in such a cleaver way that it wasn't obvious from pictures (promos are always like that).
The result looked awful. I coudn't use the product and I coudn't ask for refund, because, technically, the product had the announced feature. It is just that quality of that feature was bad and QC/QA didn't bother to work with vendor to fix it before the release, because, FWIK, it isn't a purpose of testing on this marketplace.
Comparatively with the quality of testing of DAZ3D it isn't the same level. Sure, DAZ3D has mishaps sometimes, but very rarely on my memory in rate of total items and I can always ask for refund if I don't like the quality. So what with the 50/50% cut for that low level testing and no technical support from Renderosity? Not understandable to me.

Still, when you get a product like that, I'd contact (in this case) both the vendor and the store staff, let them know why you're disappointed.  I know it feels like, sometimes, words fall on deaf ears, but you'd be surprised at how many times they don't.  

Quote - . . . I understand the policy on not allowing coupons to be used on discounted items, but I really don't like it. I don't usually shop here at all unless I have a coupon, and then I see what items on my wishlist are on sale to come up with the required dollar amount . . .

Ditto'ng that.  If this is the policy going forward, I'll only be buying what I need when I need it, which at this site isn't very much or very often.  Nearly all of what I buy here is "maybe someday" stuff using the coupon/sale combo that DestinysGarden described above, and it's embarrassing how often I've gotten hit with a RenderReward-for-spending-way-too-much-money-you-sucker "gift" certificate.  Well, that won't be happening any more!

Quote - > Quote - No, and you know me better than that, Gabe.

not you specifically -- but this has been standard Rosity MO for quite some time now.
when anything remotely controversial pops up it is either swept to some deserted forum or the thread is locked - just like the threads in the vendor forum protesting the shared coupons were.

That still going on? How sad. I know those "discussions" used to get hot and heavy sometimes, but I thought that was why the forum existed in the first place ;o).

And I quoted the word "discussions" for a reason. RO would start a "discussion" and ask for opinions, then go right ahead and do what they wanted anyway. Seems some things never change.

Laurie