Attached Link: http://poserpros.daz3d.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44360

Holy geez. I didn't realize he was in the area.

I will definitely buy some stuff from his site. (I've done it before. If anyone's wondering, it's easy and painless, and you do get to download your items right away.)

I just read that DebbieM has lost her home. :-( :-( So it would be great if we could help her out, too. She has given so much to this community, and I know she'd appreciate anything we can do for her. She's still got a couple of products over at PPros

Studio11

and I think she's still got some at DAZ. Not sure yet how else we can help Debbie. I sent her an e-mail asking what she needs but haven't heard back yet.

what a mind boggling tragedy, made worse when it's people you know or know of...we will do/are doing what we can, and even that feels so inadequate..............

I'm glad I could do a little something by buying some of Debbie's and Joe's products. I'm afraid that's about all I can do from the other side of the Atlantic.

Absolutely agreed. It's SO much worse when it's someone you know. And it was horrific enough before. Thank you to everyone who can help them.

Went to the Studio to buy, and I ended up going back to PoserPros instead. The Studio doesn't get "100%" of the purchase, by the way. PayPal gets a chunk. Plus the right to censor the site and the right to seize his assets if they don't think his site is moral enough. At PoserPros, I paid about 40% more for my purchases than they would have cost at the Studio, so I'm guessing his share is close to similar. I closed my PayPal account years ago. I don't do business with their kind. I get 2-4 emails a month trying to verify the security of "my" PayPal account. It's a measure of the company's sleaze that I assume a few of them are coming from my "friends" at PayPal. No doubt they will find a way to profiteer on the mess in New Orleans. After all, blessed are the rich. And the warmakers. And the prideful. And those who think hunger means missing lunch. M

I'm just repeating what Joe said about getting 100% of the profits. And he was the one who asked that people buy at his store instead of at PPros. The reason being that money from his store, 3% maximum Paypal cut notwithstanding, goes directly to Joe's Paypal account. He has a Paypal debit card, so funds sent there are available to him immediately. Funds from purchases at other sites will sit in that store until next month when merchant pay day rolls around. I rarely get the fake Paypal e-mails. But I do get tons of e-mails asking me to join a Christian dating group. Maybe I should stop doing business with Christians? ;-)

Maybe I should stop doing business with Christians? ;) Don't ask. ;) The problem with PayPal is that you must set up an account with them to use their service. I'm not boycotting him for using PayPal. PoserPros uses it too, after all. I'm just unwilling to use it myself. I'm sure he gets a better cut from direct sales, but if he only took Discover or AmEx, I wouldn't open a Discover account to shop there. Anyway, I hope people will take your advice and help out by purchasing from NWS and DebbieM. And do whatever else we can to help the Americans our government doesn't have time for. If we don't help out from our sense of community, we deserve the kind of "leaders" we ended up with. M

Thank you Butterfly_Fish and I had no idea you posted this!

Thank you everyone it means a lot to my wife and I. I plan on giving back to the community and to the hurricane fund when I can get settled. Of course that may be a little while. Going to get on the road again Sunday and try to get closer in - probably Houma at my mom's place.

On the paypal thing - yes, they do have certain moral convictions or whatnot. However, the way I feel about it is that If I'm going to play in their backyard, I play by their rules - or just not play in their backyard at all ;)

Presently, I can work around nudity, violence and other non-G Rated elements and still effectively engage in commerce.

I know that paypal doesn't work for everyone and I do understand that :)

Paypal is set up for micropayments, so the chunk they take is less than what credit cards take, in fact it's 2.9% + 0.30, which is not bad at all. That's, for example, 0.59 on $10 which is 94% return. I have basically a bank card tied to that account which gets credited immediately per transaction.

Not that I can even attempt it at this point in time, but so far looking at receiving credit card payments, an initial fee needs to be dropped plus the percentage is higher. Also the "account" is not accredited automatically and thus you receive a montly payment. This is pretty much the same as brokering with the added headache of keeping track of yet another set of payments - so instead I'd just rather keep track of my brokered PoserPros and Renderosity accounts.

Not a problem. I know it's hard to ask for help when you need it, so I went ahead and did it for you. :-) And yeah, I understand that PayPal is the Big Brother of their little world, but I don't feel like I've got any alternatives. Now a Discover card is something that I wouldn't ever have. Don't get me started. lol.

Donate to Red Cross and OxFam, if you want your help to go direct to the needy. The main thing, right now, is to do what we can to dig the helpless out of the mess, and brace ourself for more proof that God may be on our side, but Mother Nature is no indifferent to boundaries and ideologies. M

butterfly_fish...I agree with you 1000%...I'll never have Discover again...had it once and boy, do they ever appear crooked to me...we got shafted by them...and I also agree on the point about dont get me started! ;P hehe...so that's all I'll say to keep it short... Netherworks...so glad you and your wife are safe...I feel for you trememdously though, because I know I cant begin to imagine the trauma experienced by all caught up in, and affected by, this event...I'm in NW Arkansas, so not all that far from y'all...I'm close enuf that I feel a sense of guilt that we got off scott free and I still have a "normal" life, day to day...god speed to you and your wife...keep safe!

ps: not to detract from your situation Netherworks, but can y'all say a few prayers for another one of ours, from the Terragen community, who lived in Biloxi, and whom we haven't heard from yet...I will have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomache until we hear something from Mark...Markal is his RR name...thanks......................

I love Discover. They've always been very good to me. I started using them back in the early days of PayPal. Discover was the only card that would do chargebacks for PayPal purchases back then. (I think Visa and MC had to be sued before they would.)

PayPal I view as a necessary evil. I hate 'em, but so many sites don't take anything else.

...had it once and boy, do they ever appear crooked to me...we got shafted by them... Same here. I understand completely. Watch out if you have an emergency come up where you fall behind in your bills! O.O I hope that Markal just can't get word out because of the downed phone lines. My cousin and her family live in Gulfport, and she hasn't been able to get in touch with her son who went to rescue his girlfriend yet. Hopefully there will be good news all around once the phones are working again.

Watch out if you have an emergency come up where you fall behind in your bills!

That, unfortunately, holds true for all of them these days. Credit card companies make the most profit off people who are on the edge. Half of credit card users don't carry a balance ("freeloaders"), and many of those who do have extremely low interest rates, even 0%. So they make their money off late fees, "penalty rates," and the like. Fleet, for example, was sued because they were intentionally holding payments until they were late, then charging late fees and penalty rates. Some people have reported similar problems with Citibank.

Credit card minimum payments are set to double as soon as next month. I have a feeling that is going to push a lot of people into declaring bankruptcy. Of course, the credit card companies are conveniently waiting until after the Oct. 17 change in the bankruptcy rules before they push their cash cows over the edge. :-P

You know what, though? I had a whole array of credit cards when I fell upon hard times, and Discover was the absolute worst one, hands down, no contest, game over. And yes, between my husband and I we had accounts with Citibank, Fleet, and Chase Manhattan. Discover used to call me every morning at 8:00 am. Then they would call me later in the day and tell me that no, they never called anyone before 9:00 am, since it is illegal. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

I had a whole array of credit cards when I fell upon hard times, and Discover was the absolute worst one, hands down, no contest, game over.

I'm not surprised. (Though it was probably hired thugs who were doing the calling, not Discover.) Discover is known for having "higher quality" customers than other cards. Which means they are more selective when they hand out cards...and, no doubt, harder on those who fall behind.

It's kind of like insurance, really. The risk is spread out over all the customers, so the worse it is for high-risk customers, the better it is for low-risk customers. And vice-versa.

I definitely would not recommend carrying a balance on a Discover card. The interest and fees are not competitive with other cards.

But I've found their customer service fantastic. And I like the cash back. They gave 5% back for gas purchases this summer, which was very popular, given the price of gas these days.

Discover is known for having "higher quality" customers than other cards. LOL. Since when? Not when I got it they weren't. I got the card when I was in college and had a part time job working at a department store. My friend that went with me got one, and she didn't even have a job. They were pretty much just passing them out outside Sears. And I got a present (candle, I think) for just applying. And it's neither here nor there whom the actual party was doing the calling. Discover is responsible for whomever calls and represents them. Anyway, I'd really rather not de-rail this thread any further if it's all the same. I've had a bad experience with Discover, and I wouldn't do business with them again even if I were desperate. That's the risk they take with the way they handle their business.

Discover was invented by Sears. That is why they were handing them out outside Sears. To compete with MC and Visa, they had to build a customer base quickly.

But Sears gave up on the financial services business long ago. Discover is owned by Morgan Stanley now. It's not the same card it was back then.

Um, yeah. I realize it was owned by Sears. I was getting the statements. ;-) But my problems with them were within the last five years.

I meant the part about them reputedly having "higher quality" customers. When I got my card, they were giving them out to anyone with a pulse. (Or I wouldn't have gotten one!) Now a lot of my friends who make a lot more money than me have been turned down by Discover.

BTW, if you get any updates about community members, post a new thread. Here on Rosity, once a thread is off the front page, it's pretty much dead.

Not the way I read messages they aren't. If you mark all messages read when your done only threads with new messages appear on your front page from day to day. And since I actually mark all messages read about 3 or 5 times a day, my front page remains small all day except for when I first wake up and haven't been looking while I slept.

Yeah, I know, but most people don't do that.

i believe i saw discover cards being given out on our campus this past week. i noticed because i was thinking, "oooh, i want one of those." when i saw their gift, then noticed what came with it. and we're a state college. you don't have to have a pay pal account to pay someone through paypal. you can just put in your credit card info. i closed my account with them, but have paid people through them. and the security spam messages aren't from pay pal. i get tons of "pay pal" spam, all to my work email account which pay pal knows nothing about. that's the whole point of that spam: it's asking you for information pay pal (or any site admin) wouldn't need to ask for.

Yeah I guess I'm just special that way. LOL! It certainly makes it easier to read new messages though!