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.

Both sites don't test for DS quality either.   When I buy things from both sites, I still have to reset speculars and ambients.  In Poser, everything looks great and shine naturally, and come out nice and colorful.  In DS, they come out looking "BLAH".  I mean, come on, specular set on black, 100% strength and at 97% glossiness while ambient set at black at 100% and no bump effects whatsoever??  Those are called DS mats???  Put lights on those things and you'll see a tiny barely lit spark on their skins/clothes.  Stupid, stupid stupid.

Renderosity, to my understanding, don't EVEN touch DS testing and I get a lot of missing/mis located files from DS mats (which I contact the vendors to let them know since Rendo won't do anything about it).

Us DS users are screwed and STILL stuck with resetting mat settings whether we buy anything at non-DS stores or the main DS store.  It totally sucks as a DS only user.

This is why I've been offering so many vendors to do DS mats for them.  My stuff look real and render nicely under good lights.  And when I do them, I put them under many lights and test them and make sure they load fine.

...wolfie

Quote - 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...

In other hobbies, it's even more.  I'm also into model trains, and there is a distributor in the middle that the retailer buys from who takes another 10%, so the manufacturer only sees 40% of list price...

^merchants are not 'manufacturers'.

Quote - ^merchants are not 'manufacturers'.

LOL!  I was gonna say... :)

Quote - ^merchants are not 'manufacturers'.

No they're not...lol. I think RO thinks of them that way though ;o).

Laurie

Quote -
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.

Jen,

Is there a way to put a pointer to this thread back in the Poser Forum?  When I saw the thread was gone, I assumed it had been deleted, and I'm sure others did too-I just  happened to have it open in another tab, and thus found the new location. 

That way there won't be any accusations of covering up peoples' views...

Yes those "discussions" still go on, Laurie, although mostly they don;t even bother to ask for opinions any more, just state what they are going to do and after DAYS of protest posts are made their usual answer to why a change is being made amounts to "we have decided to go forward with it anyway - we are locking the thread!" and the thread is locked or disappears altogether.

When I asked if the vendors would be shown sales information to see if these "shared" coupons actually had a positive effect on individual vendor sales (even just  type information showing trends, not specifics, I was told 'No, Rendoerosity doesn;t give out financial information". Makes me feel good, they take 50% of my sales, now they can force a sale on my products at their whim, and fix the sale percentage to boot (with no written limit, just some vague verbal promises, and in business that amounts to nothing), but they won;t even show me if their sales techniques are actually helping me or hurting me. Boy us vendors are really important.

 IIRC, the forums used to do it automatically.  Why they stopped, I have no idea.  
Honestly, if there are accusations, I can answer them ;)

Quote - ^merchants are not 'manufacturers'.

I disagree-a few model railroad suppliers are large, but most are quite small, many operating out of garages and basements, who do it out of love for the hobby.  There is a saying "to make a small fortune in the Model Railroad business, start with a large one".

If you want to get into the business, one of the larger decal manufacturing operations is for sale-their entire assets are shown here. it looks like it would fit into a two-car garage...

www.minot.com/champ/sale.html..

Quote - Yes those "discussions" still go on, Laurie, although mostly they don;t even bother to ask for opinions any more, just state what they are going to do and after DAYS of protest posts are made their usual answer to why a change is being made amounts to "we have decided to go forward with it anyway - we are locking the thread!" and the thread is locked or disappears altogether.

When I asked if the vendors would be shown sales information to see if these "shared" coupons actually had a positive effect on individual vendor sales (even just  type information showing trends, not specifics, I was told 'No, Rendoerosity doesn;t give out financial information". Makes me feel good, they take 50% of my sales, now they can force a sale on my products at their whim, and fix the sale percentage to boot (with no written limit, just some vague verbal promises, and in business that amounts to nothing), but they won;t even show me if their sales techniques are actually helping me or hurting me. Boy us vendors are really important.

What a shame. shakes head

Well, all I can say is there should be another avenue for people to use. Since PPros is gone, the balance is thrown off some and vendors have fewer and fewer choices. These bigger sites pretty much have everyone by the short hairs.

Laurie

Quote -
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.  

A refund is always an good end option from a customer viewpoint but from an observer viewpoint - what Renderosity can offer to vendors to earn that 50/50 cut in comparasion with the other site?

Sure, the place is a good hub (thanks in no small part to a community and freebie contributors), has a prominence and also low acceptance limit which makes it, IMHO, appealing to new vendors who want to make their breakthrough and don't care much about %%. But those qualities are a double-edged sword - the flood of items, many of them are all of the same theme and level of quality - makes new products be lost very quickly. In this situation even an extra ad in my perception isn't a benefit to be bought - it is mandatory step from Renderosity side to give the product -any- spotlight.

I highly doubt that Renderosity works with vendors in loops of testing in order to reach high quality. Considering how fast the product can be accepted to marketplace, I somewhat doubt that they are spending much time in testing so QC is minimal (check if all features here, if all pathes work, if its promos don't claim something that they don't deliver, etc). Most of good vendors here are known, IMHO again, because they deliver a good product -themselves-, not with help of Renderosity testers and QC. Renderosity for a half cut offers no technical support, no good QC, doesn't monitor or offer a help with promos which often don't show product as they should. And as I said, I consider newsletters spotlights and additional ad banners to be an esential part of what marketplace should offer, not a bonus to be bought.Yes, until recently vendors had somewhat better control over sales but I can't figure out other benefits except being on marketplace where a lot of stuff accepted and a lot of people come for freebies (so Renderosity can show more ad banners to them).

So what Renderosity can offer as a "sell value" to vendors if it wants 50% cut out of them? I'm not asking this personally from you, as I understand your position, but I think this is a question that both, Renderosity and its vendors, should ask themselves.

**Poser Addicts is a good place to sell, and they give a larger cut than rendo does

i did try and sell at poserpros, but never any joy...... The place I've sold most products on are, Renderosity, Digital Designs Unlimited, Poser Addicts and 3Dcommune (but they no more)..... When i sold on 3Dcommune, i only had to achieve half the product sales that I would do on rendo, to achieve the same, if not more of an income of money. Just shows how important cuts are to vendors.....**

Quote - > Quote - ^merchants are not 'manufacturers'.

I disagree-a few model railroad suppliers are large, but most are quite small, many operating out of garages and basements, who do it out of love for the hobby.  There is a saying "to make a small fortune in the Model Railroad business, start with a large one".

If you want to get into the business, one of the larger decal manufacturing operations is for sale-their entire assets are shown here. it looks like it would fit into a two-car garage...

www.minot.com/champ/sale.html..

Um, no. This site is basically a consignment shop, not a retailer as such. There IS a difference. A retailer will buy the product outright then resell the item at a price they deem worthy. That doesn't happen here. The vendors are "supposed" to have control over their products. And in the early days of the store, the percentages were much lower than what they are now. So certain things have happened since then. Either the owners saw a cash cow and decided to grab all they could from it, or they have delusions that they are like Daz and have the same vendor pool. While I'm on the side of the vendors, I might venture to say that this place is somewhat like some trying to sell quality handmade items at a flea market. One, you have to root thru all the inferior stuff to find the good stuff and two, since it's a flea market people expect cheap, even if the quality is superior. I'm not pointing to any one vendor or vendors in particular ;o).

Laurie

What we need is a store who's sole purpose is not for the site to make money per se, but for the vendors to, like a cooperative of some sort ;o). Shame there aren't any like that...lol.

Laurie

Quote - I might venture to say that this place is somewhat like some trying to sell quality handmade items at a flea market. One, you have to root thru all the inferior stuff to find the good stuff and two, since it's a flea market people expect cheap, even if the quality is superior. I'm not pointing to any one vendor or vendors in particular ;o).

Laurie

I think that's quite an astute analysis. 

Even in the couple of years I've been into this, I've seen the number of new vendors and products steadily growing, but I don't know if the available number of dollars is really growing, which will of course tend to drive prices down.  Then you get people asking "why should I spend for Alice or GND, when I can get SuperDuper Girl on sale" (no knock meant against SuperDuper Girl if there really is one, nor any other Girls).

But yet, the Artist needs to make enough per unit to justify his/her efforts, and also has to contend with pirates.  It's a tough place to be.

Quote - What we need is a store who's sole purpose is not for the site to make money per se, but for the vendors to, like a cooperative of some sort ;o). Shame there aren't any like that...lol.

Laurie

or a merchant union that can actually negotiate for better treatment.

Quote -
or a merchant union that can actually negotiate for better treatment.

I'm not a Lawyer, but the problem is that as independent agents, any such cooperation would likely be illegal under Federal Antitrust laws.  This page, although written for doctors,  has some guidelines as to what is permitted and what is forbidden...

www.msma.org/mx/hm.asp

This is NOT Legal advice-talk to an Attorney for that...

A reminder that this thread needs to stay on topic of the ORIGINAL post. At this point, it is far off topic. If we cannot keep the thread on topic with the original post, unfortunately ,I will have to lock this thread.

Vendors that are participating in this thead with off topic concerns/questions, please use the vendor forum as the Marketplace Manager is monitoring those and as is always standard procedure that forum is where you should direct vendor concerns/questions.

In response to the original post, coupon discounts and minimum purchase amounts vary from coupon to coupon.

Thank you.

Quote - A reminder that this thread needs to stay on topic of the ORIGINAL post. At this point, it is far off topic. If we cannot keep the thread on topic with the original post, unfortunately ,I will have to lock this thread.

Vendors that are participating in this thead with off topic concerns/questions, please use the vendor forum as the Marketplace Manager is monitoring those and as is always standard procedure that forum is where you should direct vendor concerns/questions.
In response to the original post, coupon discounts and minimum purchase amounts vary from coupon to coupon.

Silence dissent, divide and conquer, same-old same-old.  See my post count?  Why should I bother participating here?  And after this, why should I bother buying here?

Jesus bids us shine
With a pure, clear light,
Like a little candle
Burning in the night.
In this world of darkness
So let us shine—
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

Ouch....

Stacey considering what's already been posted here both before and after this thread was moved, I suspect you are giving exactly the wrong signals but as always it;s your ( certainly no longer our inho) site, so I will refrain from further comment.

The $50 spending requirement does seem rather high for the average buyer.

Not to be overly argumentative, but two of the shops that have been pointed out as treating the vendors more fairly, PoserPros and 3DCommune, both went down the tubes.  In the case of 3DCommune at least some vendors didn't even get paid at the end because the money intended to go to them got spent before they could be paid.  People seem to be assuming that it's easy and cheap to run a site like Rendo, and that the people who run the site are wallowing around in piles of cash earned off the sweat of the vendors.  This just may not be true.

Quote - The $50 spending requirement does seem rather high for the average buyer.

Well, with 15% off, that's a cost of $35, so that isn't too high.  I must admit, though , that I've been spoiled by the big percentage-off sales at DAZ and RDNA

However, I'll need to have a good, hard look at my wish list, as I have a few Clearance items that I was hoping to use a coupon on, so I guess I need to decide if they are worth the current price or if I should just delete them.

As far as the thread, I think it has given me as a customer a valuable look at what vendors have to deal with it, and It's been good to hear the views of Bernie, Gabe and Laurie, among others, who are skilled artists whose work I admire.  I'd like to hear some of the issues that the MP administration has had to deal with the growth of the site and traffic, but this thread obviously shouldn't be that venue.  Openness and honest discussion are good, and the I think  thediscussion here has been quite respectful.

We also now know that if certain stores go on sale, there's a big coupon coming! :lol:

Quote - The $50 spending requirement does seem rather high for the average buyer.

Not to be overly argumentative, but two of the shops that have been pointed out as treating the vendors more fairly, PoserPros and 3DCommune, both went down the tubes.  In the case of 3DCommune at least some vendors didn't even get paid at the end because the money intended to go to them got spent before they could be paid.  People seem to be assuming that it's easy and cheap to run a site like Rendo, and that the people who run the site are wallowing around in piles of cash earned off the sweat of the vendors.  This just may not be true.

They went down the tubes for entirely different reasons and neither one was because of their choices with the vendors ;o).

Laurie

It was bizarre shopping experience with the coupon... looking for stuff not on sale. Maybe they need another filter for it... what's hot but not on sale:)

I like Rendo as a customer because the regular prices are usually very competitive, I trust the site with my credit info or paypal transactions, and mostly because of all of you great artists who sell here.

Quote - 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.

I did try it, doesn't work that way.  You have to have $50 in full price items before the coupon kicks in, at least that is how it was when I tried it yesterday.

Quote - > Quote - 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.

I did try it, doesn't work that way.  You have to have $50 in full price items before the coupon kicks in, at least that is how it was when I tried it yesterday.

Thank you for a test. Doesn't look very nice for me.

Quote - > Quote - The $50 spending requirement does seem rather high for the average buyer.

Well, with 15% off, that's a cost of $35, so that isn't too high.  I must admit, though , that I've been spoiled by the big percentage-off sales at DAZ and RDNA

However, I'll need to have a good, hard look at my wish list, as I have a few Clearance items that I was hoping to use a coupon on, so I guess I need to decide if they are worth the current price or if I should just delete them.

As far as the thread, I think it has given me as a customer a valuable look at what vendors have to deal with it, and It's been good to hear the views of Bernie, Gabe and Laurie, among others, who are skilled artists whose work I admire.  I'd like to hear some of the issues that the MP administration has had to deal with the growth of the site and traffic, but this thread obviously shouldn't be that venue.  Openness and honest discussion are good, and the I think  thediscussion here has been quite respectful.

We also now know that if certain stores go on sale, there's a big coupon coming! :lol:

You can't use the coupon on clearance items either. 

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - 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.

I did try it, doesn't work that way.  You have to have $50 in full price items before the coupon kicks in, at least that is how it was when I tried it yesterday.

Thank you for a test. Doesn't look very nice for me.

You're welcome.  Now I just read in another thread that everything was supposed to count towards the minimum, and only full price items counting towards the 30%.  Deb said she was going to contact the programmer, so it looks like it could be a programming error....sigh. too late, too late....money already gone.

All in all the whole thing is very confusing.

Quote - You can't use the coupon on clearance items either. 

Yes, that's a point I was trying to make (apparently unsuccessfully!) The question I was debating was whether to buy them at the current price or not at all...

Quote - Stacey considering what's already been posted here both before and after this thread was moved, I suspect you are giving exactly the wrong signals but as always it;s your ( certainly no longer our inho) site, so I will refrain from further comment.

Nods in silent agreement, goes away.

that was a pretty blunt and unfriendly response to legitimate concerns.
Its too bad a lot of my favorite vendors sell here.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - The $50 spending requirement does seem rather high for the average buyer.

Well, with 15% off, that's a cost of $35, so that isn't too high.  I must admit, though , that I've been spoiled by the big percentage-off sales at DAZ and RDNA

However, I'll need to have a good, hard look at my wish list, as I have a few Clearance items that I was hoping to use a coupon on, so I guess I need to decide if they are worth the current price or if I should just delete them.

As far as the thread, I think it has given me as a customer a valuable look at what vendors have to deal with it, and It's been good to hear the views of Bernie, Gabe and Laurie, among others, who are skilled artists whose work I admire.  I'd like to hear some of the issues that the MP administration has had to deal with the growth of the site and traffic, but this thread obviously shouldn't be that venue.  Openness and honest discussion are good, and the I think  thediscussion here has been quite respectful.

Thanks icprncess!  (in case anyone doesn't know, "Bernie" is me).  It's a view (50/50 cut) I've wanted to discuss openly for a long time but wasn't sure what anyone else thought, and I'm glad I see I'm not the only one in this boat.  I'd like to see Renderosity's feedback on that as well.

...wolfie

A reminder that this thread needs to stay on topic of the ORIGINAL post. At this point, it is far off topic. If we cannot keep the thread on topic with the original post, unfortunately ,I will have to lock this thread.

How typical...

 Guys, in all fairness, they're trying to address your concerns.  It's a holiday weekend in the US, AND it's hard to figure out what are concerns they can deal with and what are concerns that they can really do nothing to change.  Feedback is awesome, but if the feedback coming from everyone is "You guys suck, I'm going to do my own thing", well, what incentive do they have to change anything?

Patience is a virtue.  I can assure you, this decision wasn't an overnight one, so, if there's to be a fix, it won't be an overnight fix.  I know they welcome feedback, but, please, let's give feedback on the situation at hand, rather than veering off onto tangents that really do not have anything to do with the original topic.  

Quote - The $50 spending requirement does seem rather high for the average buyer.

For many People that $35 is a Tank Full of gasoline to commut back and forth to their jobs all week long.

I elected to spend what discretionery $$s I had at RDNA's Sale this week. Where I could buy "Only" the item I wanted and NOT required to spend three times as much as I inteded to spend.

I have never found Rendersoity's Discount Coupons all that great to begin with and this one I deleted as soon as I red "Full price Only" Items and $50.00.

I have to agree with you mariner. That;s one of the problems vendors are having with this. In essences it;s a forced sale on our stores. However we have no control over it AND rendo sets a minimum price limit. The minimum price limit benefits the site since they make a percentage of EVERY sale made, but it doesn't benefit the individual vendor (I made one sale using the coupon), nor does it really help the buyer since the minimum was set so high the most people (myself included) relly don;t have that much "fun money" to spend.

A normal sale by a vendor would have the same effect but allow the buyers to only purchase what they want/need with no lower limit on spending.

And let's face it, vendors that normally don;t have sales are going to use whatever means to "opt out", say by placing a minimal "sale" on their product anyway.

All I can see of this whole situation is that is has cause more friction in a host/vendor/buyer situation that has been strained for some time.

And to Stacey, my apologies for going back on my word and inflecting my views in this thread again. I will try harder to hold my opinions.

Quote - A normal sale by a vendor would have the same effect but allow the buyers to only purchase what they want/need with no lower limit on spending.

All I can see of this whole situation is that is has cause more friction in a host/vendor/buyer situation that has been strained for some time.

!00% in agreement here.