Can I get anyone's honest feedback?  Maybe an honest feedback from a vendor?  I really need to boost sales but I'm doing something deathly wrong.  Don't worry, I won't be offended on any critics, critics are for people to learn and I've learned a whole lot of things from them.

...wolfie

(Disclaimer: I don't own the figures, so can't comment on anything not communicated by the product page. I am not a Renderosity Vendor, sorry. But, I have plenty of other valuable experience to offer that could help.) Just honest commentary, nothing more, nothing less. :)

I'll focus on Tina Perez, but may come back and comment on the other product, if you wish.

Tina Perez

1. It may have been a better idea to go with a more neutral name for your character. A single name might have been better or even a fanciful name. ie: "Tina" or "Tina the Bombshell" It most likely would have been much better if you had used a name that promoted your figure's unique attributes. A potential consumer should be presented with a product's "selling point" as soon as possible. Often, the best place to do that is in the product's name. So, for instance, "Versatile Tina" (if your figure was exceptionally versatile) or, probably more accurately in this case "Custom Tina", since the model includes some custom morphs and even some "extra" morphs. So, in that line of thinking, "Extra Tina" might be an interesting name. (But, whatever you do, don't name a product like that "Tina With Extras" or "Tina With Custom Morphs." The idea is to pique the customer's interest by using words that they can quickly associate with certain features, not to "spell it out for them" with a non-snazzy descriptive name.)

1a - Additional advice: If you continue producing "custom" morphs and products that make heavy use of them, I would suggest you start learning about "Brand Marketing." Specifically - You need a "Brand Name" for this sort of "Product Line." Why? All it takes for a customer to associate value with a product line is ONE good experience. That's it. Of course, the same can be said for bad experiences and that's where "quality" comes into play with helping to generate product sales and brand-name recognition. If I were you, I would begin marketing a brand name by creating a line of custom-morph figures and I would use that brand name to help me market them and to associate quality with future products. (This goes far, far, beyond anything your user/vendor name can do on its own.) For instance, the brand name of "Custom" or "JW Custom's" or "Wolfpack Custom's" or whatever you can think of that is catchy, implies the major beneficial attribute of the product (Custom Morphs, which can be scarce.) and can be easily remembered by both current and prospective customers would be exactly the thing you'd want to create. In this case, "Tina Perez" would be changed to "Custom Tina" or "JW Custom's "Tina"" or "Wolfpack Custom's "Tina."" (Take a moment to look through "Brand Name" products in the portfolio of successful competitor creators and, after a bit of consideration, you'll see the benefits of using the same strategy.)

2. The ad-panes do not quickly and easily communicate the most desirable or most important features of the product. The title render does a decent job of it, but what's the first render after that? Fingernails... and eye colors... You've been around for a long time. How many eye-colors have you seen advertised for a figure product? Lots, right? And, count on your fingers the number of times you have said to yourself "Gee, I really wish I had six eye colors, some custom fingernails and six makeup options for this figure!" Yes, it's possible that you have said that... BUT, was that the first thing you thought about when using the product for the first time? I hope not! :) And, if it wasn't, then why is that the first ad-pane on your product page? See how that works?

Use this product as a case-study on how you should consider marketing your products in the future:

1. What makes this product unique in what it offers the consumer? Find the most powerful "reason to buy" for this product that you can. What is it? Is it the custom face? Custom gens? Materials? Texture choices? What, exactly, is in this product that will force a customer to purchase it because they "just gotta have it?" Find those things, list them in order of "customer's incentive to purchase," then structure your marketing in such a way to focus on those features, first, before your "also-ran" filler material.

2. So, how do you focus on those desirable qualities that will bring customers? Well, for one, you don't devote an entire ad-pane to "tanlines and tatoos" and then don't show the "tanlines and tatoos." Go ahead, refresh your memory of that ad-pane and then think on the sorts of things I'm focusing on. What do you think I would say about that ad-pane? Now, take ALL of the text off that ad-pane and then ask yourself "What is this picture trying to advertise to me." What's your answer? Is it unique "tanlines and tatoos" or is it clothing? Or, is it just texture sets for clothing? Maybe poses or hair?

How many ad-pane pics have you seen for a hair model that don't show the whole hair model or ANY of its special morphs or movement morphs? How about clothing? How many clothing products do not show movement morphs or opening/closing/on/off/whatever/special morphs? Take a look at "texture packs." What do they typically advertise effectively? (And, this is one of the few instances when I will praise non-merchant-resource-clothing-retexture-packs...) They show the product that they are selling and make it obvious what that product is. (Kind of hard not to with those products, really...)

Do the same with every single ad-pane that you produce. Yes, you can do "glamor shots" and there is nothing wrong with a few of those to show off your product. But, the only thing your prospective customers are looking for are answers to the question "Why would I want to buy this product." If you don't answer that question in your ad-panes, it will NOT get answered and they will move on to products that answer that question successfully.

3. In highly technical product pages, a good bit of pointers and text are needed to get the customer to focus on specific visual features. But, remember that you have limited real-estate - Every letter on a graphic covers up what is behind that letter, if anything. So, do you really need that much descriptive text and, if you do, how can you arrange it so that it doesn't detract from the graphic image you're using to show off that particular feature? You have two lines of communication in those ad-panes: Written language and graphic presentation. Which is more important for each and how much of either should you include in that planned ad-pane?

On Renderosity, you have the option to include a wall-of-text (More or less), if you wished, on the product page, but you have LIMITED options regarding ad-panes. That means that graphical presentation space is at a premium! Yes, include some descriptive text, here and there, but be sure that you use the ad-pane graphics and renders to the fullest extent that you can. Customers here want to "see" the product and, while they do appreciate good descriptions, you have a word-count for every ad-pane! You must give a good graphical representation, FIRST, if you're creating a demonstration pic of the product's features. Only once that is done can you then determine the best way to incorporate any necessary text inclusions. Once it starts to get filled with text, then you have to think about moving such "details" into a good, textual, presentation on the product or editorial page.

Too much textual explanation in a graphic ad-pane means that either the graphic is poorly done or a graphic, and must be explained, or the ad-pane is not suitable for a good explanation of the product's features.

4. From what I can see of this product, from its product page:

a) The mouth morph is too extreme, almost cartoonish. This is the first thing I notice on any morph package, free or for sale, that has been done by an amateur intending to produce a "realistic, yet distinctive" morph. Please, understand, I'm not calling you an amateur! I'm saying that this portion of the morph looks amateurish, considering that the product appears to be intended to be rendered as a realistic figure. Further, I'll also add that V4's facial topology, while forgiving in some respects, can get cranky when it comes down to the realism of dialed Expressions a custom face can portray. So, whenever geometry gets yanked around too severely, unexpected results can often be found when custom morphs are not created with close attention to working with common Expression morphs. I don't know if that is the case or not, here, but seeing that extreme lip/mouth morph causes me to ask the question - "How well does that morph really work with the figure's Expression morphs?" (That might just be me, but others could have asked themselves the same question. In essence, unless done very, very, well, with very close attention and evidenced knowledge of how V4's topology deforms with its Expression morphs, there is every likelihood that truly "unique" face morphs will just not deform very well. This is the strongest limiting factor for V4 Custom Face morphs. Some conscientious creators recognize this and add their own custom expression morphs, fixes or controlled morphs to handle this ever-present problem. See the "GND" figures or "Aery Soul's V4" figure for excellent examples.)

b) The eyes are too rounded on the outside edge. It looks as if the geometry was smoothed there and contracted around that edge and others. (I don't have a wire-frame, obviously.) The eye opening also, consequently, appears small. Here, I'm not talking about "beauty", just a "technical" issue if the figure's facial features are intended to be realistically proportioned. In that line of thought and in concert with the point above concerning Expression morphs, the chin, from bottom lip to bottom of chin, looks a bit too long and could present some issues, IMO, with certain morphs. You can see those issues in some of the expressions you rendered. The resulting expression, due to that distance AND V4's native topology, moves out of the region of "the uncanny valley" and into a more cartoonish look. Is that what you wanted? If so, then, perhaps, you should have moved further in that general direction with the rest of the figure. Consistency of overall artistic design is important for discriminating customers. That doesn't mean that every single customer is going to be very discriminating in this sort of category of choices! However, you want to maximize the opportunity that EVERY single category of potential purchaser is pleased with your product, right? In terms of overall choice, between caricature and realism, the best products seem to firmly embrace one or the other, not both.

c) It's great that you have taken steps to optimize certain material and platform choices. That's a very smart idea! However, you should probably have pushed that a little bit more in your marketing. "Crossover" character sets are not that common and that is a quality in your product that needs to get noticed a bit more. Also, you have no full texture shots that I can see. (Also remember the "Tanlines and Tattoo comments, above.) That means that I can't see the full quality that you're promoting, only tiny bits of it. I don't want full body nudes of the character for some prurient interest I might want to satisfy, I want to see the whole "product" that I am considering spending my money on.

d) Tanlines don't look like that, from what I can see of them. A "tanline" texture should be more than just a Photoshop overlay or filter. The tanlines look painted on because they do not diffuse realistically into the surrounding skin tone. Tanlines are sharp only where the clothing is held closely to the body and will not move very much, giving the sun ample opportunity to do its concentrated damage in specific areas. Fade your tanlines in areas where clothing would be loose and only make them sharper, not "sharp", in areas where clothing is tight. Sharp tanlines do, however, depend on the clothing, so I would advise that you provide three types of tanline and ADVERTISE that fact: Bikini, One-Piece and Halter-Top. You could, if you wished, add others or even use some material wrangling to mix and match them. Once you have the base texture done, taking some time to add features to it, like you have done, is a great thing. But, don't put that extra effort into it if what you're producing isn't truly "special" or isn't done well. It's just not worth your time to go through that unless it's done right and is truly a "value added" feature of the product.

e) I have no idea what tattoos are included beyond the partially obscured bits I can see. They look like overlays of mostly "primitive tattoos." That's not "bad", but it's not "great", either. So, having them spotlighted tells the customer what, exactly? "Not great tattoos", perhaps? You may have been better served by devoting that space to something else and combining the tattoos and tanlines in a collage shot of all the various types, so that the customer just gets the impression "The product also includes some tanlines and tattoos" with no increased expectation beyond that. Spotlighting them makes it appear as if they're a major feature and they're really not looking good enough to me to be a "major feature" of the product, considering that you have more features more worthy of increased marketing shots. If you really want to highlight the tattoos, make sure that they are of a quality worth highlighting. (See various, very good, tattoo texture packs sold here and compare them with your inclusions. You're not selling just tattoos, but if you're highlighting them, their quality should be no more than just a mere step below good quality examples of such products.)

Let's take a look at what I consider to be a good presentation and overall good product page that incorporates many of the things I've pointed out, above: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/the-metropolitan-collection---lyon-and-paris-v4-2/93874

For any Poser user, the name "danae" is almost synonymous with "Quality" when it comes down to texture packs. This is no exception and it's obviously no accident - It's a wonderful product. But, more importantly, see how danae has used some of the principles I discussed, above? "The Metropolitan Collection." That's a "Brand Name." Look at what the ad-panes focus on and look at their hierarchy of presentation. What's being stressed in this product's images? Two faces, very distinctive, and a nice body shape with very good body texture, right? Notice how ad-pane space is maximized in this product page by the combination of the use of the different faces and some makeup options in the SSS product highlight ad-panes! Two ad-panes, one for each morph, and even some flaunting of makeup options, without the distraction of the mention of them, in a single ad-pane that is actually meant to focus on the SSS feature. See how that small amount of space was used to communicate several different attributes for the product without being overly "busy?" Very classy, right? And, what's the "punchline" for this product at the end? What little "extra" does this product advertise at the end? Hands and feet, right? AND, another plug for the SSS feature, as well. There are four pics there and they tell the potential customer "This product pays attention to details and, not only has great SSS, but has very realistic textures for the hands and feet - No expense has been spared in bringing you this high-quality product." That's a six-shot combo straight to the potential customers "throw money at it" button. An extremely nice finisher!

These are "honest" criticisms made in an honest effort to help you better promote your products. When I make these sorts of comments, my first concern is, almost always, in helping an artist increase the quality and saleability of their product. Here, that is my only concern. I am willing to answer, or attempt to answer, any sort of question you have regarding this subject. What I would suggest that you do is to spend some time researching a few key points that can help you improve the presentation and quality of your products:

1. Take a look around for information regarding human form, especially facial characteristics and facial proportions. V4's face is difficult to get "realistic", but it has a good bit of geometry to work with, which is more than can be said about some other figures. Focus not on "defining" individual features, but in defining them in relationship to the overall proportions of the face. An example: "Big Lips" are often considered "big" in regards to proportion of nearby facial landmarks. A narrower jaw and chin, for instance, will make lips appear "bigger", right? Similarly, a narrower face and higher cheek structure can make a nose appear "hawkish" in combination with just some slight adjustments to the nose structure. "Hollow" eyes can be defined by a heavier brow ridge and some puffiness added below the eyes. etc.. So, when going for a "distinctive" look or when trying to reproduce a certain face, those features that really stand out at first-glance may not actually be the ones that truly add that "certain something" that gives the observer that overall impression.

2. Sell what you mean to sell and be sure that the customer knows it when they look at the literature for your product. Establish a hierarchy of important selling points and stick to it. Any "value added" features that are not main feature of the product should be presented as such. Keep the focus where it needs to be and the customer will naturally interpret those small, value-added, features as being truly valuable additions. Don't water everything down by showing everything, but focusing on nothing.

3. Work on two rendering styles - Technical and Illustrative. Do Not Clutter Up Your Marketing Materials With Unnecessary Glamor Shots. (I didn't focus on this, above, but will try to quickly explain, here.) All of your marketing ad-panes, except for one, are glamor shots that don't really add anything. In some cases,like with the tattoos and tanlines, they actually confuse what's being advertised. Either the render is a "Technical" render, showing off technical and specific aspects of the product, or it's an Illustrative render, showing how a certain aspect of the product works in a "real world" situation. Glamor shots are good for the main pic or as an additional inclusion, but do not use them in Technical or Illustrative shots. They're for funsies, appeal and for eye-catching, not for explaining to a customer what a product's features are.

4. Work on writing ad-copy. Go to a major manufacturer's website and take a look at their ad-copy. What you wrote in your text portion of your product page was not worth writing. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. In this particular market, what you must do is to elaborate on the features that you have presented, visually and effectively, to the potential consumer. All you did was tell the potential consumer that you were proud of the product and that it was "good." That's not worth writing.

What you write must be worth writing because it is worth reading!

Focus on that when you write your product's description. Also - There's an editorial page available, right? Does it cost extra to fill it up? If not, why didn't you use it? If it costs more to use it, then you either have to be much more efficient in your initial presentation or you're going to have to make up for that by footing a bit more percentage. While I don't think you would have had to use the Editorial section, you probably should have, just because you chose to highlight so many features of the figure. But, no matter what, there is no excuse for just using what amounts to a "tagline" in your product description. None. Words are important and they were invented for people to be able to communicate across space and time. Use them effectively and you will be rewarded.

PS - I'm a long-winded blowhard and I know it. :) That's ok, since nobody sent me a check to limit my word-count on this post. (I charge eight cents (USD) per word to redact words... and only five cents to write them.) But, I'm also willing to offer whatever sort of helpful commentary I can, either on general or specific topics. If you have any questions or would like me to address anything specific, all you have to do is ask. If you want to cuss me out, you can PM me and launch a tirade in my general direction and I won't mind. :) But, I think you wanted honest commentary so that's what I'm giving. Take care and good luck!

Edit-Add: I'm sorry that I didn't see your "no more critics desired" instructions. I just answered the OP. Just know that once you turn it on, you can't turn off the Internetz... :) If Rendo would allow long-term edits, this misunderstanding could have been cleared up by an edit to the thread-title or OP.