http://www.renderosity.com/news.php?viewStory=13758#3

This policy doesn't mesh well with the current free stuff system, which has no expiry for aging free items even though they are given disk and bandwidth hosting - it seems to me the Clearance policy is a holdover from earlier times when disk and bandwidth were a lot more limited than they are today.  Under the Clearance policy, when an item is removed from the store, everyone loses - Renderosity, the vendor and the customer.  I review the sales records for my market items sold through another brokerage with no such policy, and I can see pretty clearly that even though an item might not sell for 90 days, some time later its sales can pick up again - good for the broker, good for the merchant, good for the customer.  I'd be much more interested in brokering here if this policy were removed.  Thanks!

As a fairly new merchant on here, I do agree with you. It's quite intimidating and scary knowing that something you put a lot of work into, not onlt the modeling, etc, but with packaging it correctlly and ensuring it will work for anyone, can disappear in 3 months if no1 wants it "yet". Which also in turn keeps people from making as many new and unique, and they stick to the safe zone and make what people know sells (i.e. skimpy V4 clothes opposed to realistic clothes and even male clothes)

I agree, to much good stuff has wanished into oblivion because of this policy.

Creators thinking their work is no good and shelfs it after it has been trough clearance.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll pass it to the store staff :)

~Jani

Thank you :)

Excellent suggestion!

I can't count the number of times I've gone after an item - found it in the marketPlace - only for it to say it is no longer available for purchse. How hard would it be to set up a site/deaprtment with items that have passed out of the limelight, but that might still attract a purchase or two? Might even have the item at a reduced price? Even some archive thingie where you could request items? I don't know... seems there should be some form of purchase availability for those items.

We need a "Blue Light Special" Marketplace Section :o)

I agree that the Clearance policy shoud be reconsidered. I agree with BionicRooster that it's very intimidating to have products disappear if they don't happen to be selling right at that time, especially to vendors who make less popular (but still desired) styles of content.

Also from the point of view of a customer--I'm apparently one of the people who doesn't buy the content that seems to have mass-market appeal (i.e. the almost-invisible V4 "fantasy" wear). I'm also into some older and/or less popular figures, and I've often wondered how much content I would have gladly bought had it not died a quiet death before I could find it.

"How hard would it be to set up a site/deaprtment with items that have passed out of the limelight, but that might still attract a purchase or two? Might even have the item at a reduced price?"

Isn't that what the MP warehouse/clearance section was for?  Whatever happened to that?

The automatic price decrease is a separate matter - I don't like that policy either, but I was mainly asking about the automatic removal of items from the store.

I agree, please let the products stay in the marketplace until the vendors themselves remove them.

It has happened to me as well - finding old products no longer for sale that I would have purchased if I could.

Quote - "How hard would it be to set up a site/deaprtment with items that have passed out of the limelight, but that might still attract a purchase or two? Might even have the item at a reduced price?"

Isn't that what the MP warehouse/clearance section was for?  Whatever happened to that?

I think clearance items will be removed from being sold after a time if they don't get a sale, meaning you can't get them after they expire.

Quote - > Quote - "How hard would it be to set up a site/deaprtment with items that have passed out of the limelight, but that might still attract a purchase or two? Might even have the item at a reduced price?"

Isn't that what the MP warehouse/clearance section was for?  Whatever happened to that?

 

I think clearance items will be removed from being sold after a time if they don't get a sale, meaning you can't get them after they expire.

Correct and also note that a vendor cannot resubmit the same product again, unless more then 50% of it is changed. As for the products being lost, that's up to the vendor, they can always move them to a different store that doesn't enforce such policies. I've recently closed my store here and another place as well, I've had enough of all of these unnecessary policies and stores changing policy at will. A store should have only the necessary policies in place for a vendor to be able to sell their items, not all of these extra rules and regulations that are benificial to no one at all.

Yep. And with an ever widening thematical spread, nichè products should be accessible, even if the do not sell for what? Was it 90 days? Six-point-five times the testing time?

Storage space (including it's price) has become a joke, and I simply can't understand why products that are actually made and have been tested and went through the set-up procedure are deleted. I mean - they don't eat bread while  they are sitting on a harddrive....

That means: there's money been thrown out of the window. Of course that's not fitting into quick-buck philosophies.

Yes, I know my thoughts are selfish -  1st: they always are, and 2nd: I DO produce nichè content....

is that why that happens?  i hate clicking on a hair item or something and it says no longer available.  terrible tease!

To my knowledge, the product is removed from the MP, yet R'osity keeps it on the server for the people who have already purchased it. So if that's the case, I don't see what the problem would be to just let them stay available since they already keep the files on the server anyways.

Quote - To my knowledge, the product is removed from the MP, yet R'osity keeps it on the server for the people who have already purchased it. So if that's the case, I don't see what the problem would be to just let them stay available since they already keep the files on the server anyways.

Excellent point. Is it really that more to leave it as a sellable item? If not, remove the bloody thing. Don't be telling us: "oh yeah, we had that, but you can't have it anymore - you missed the boat. Bad luck, mate!'

This is deja vu for me. DAZ just tried to retire several old Platinum Club (PC)  items, but met with some stiff resistance. And one argument was that they were keeping the files on the server, like you mention. The one big difference is that PC members are paying to be members, which allowed us to make other arguments like "taking value away from the PC", etc. 

Another argument against it was how annoying clearance items are at Renderosity!!

DAZ eventually called it off. At the end of the day, there's really no good reason to retire items. The only reason I can think of is it could result in too many items to search through, but maybe create new search engine just for these items?

As a sisde note, I boycotted DAZ the whole time the retrement sale was on, which made me more curious about Rederosity. DAZ ended up canceling the retirement portion of the sale (and extended the sale portion to Jan 31st). So I' back to going broke spending money at DAZ. And now here as well. Sigh.

Anyway, I think it's interesting to see that 1) apparently DAZ does a better job at listening to their customers -- but then that's part of the DAZ brand -- and 2) apparently marketing departments everwhere do not grasp that disk drives are so cheap that there is no reason not to keep every item. Or that having a huge catalog of products makes the store much more attractive. Or that all it takes is one or two movies (or a TV show) to suddenly make niche items popular.

And as a new customer here, there are a lot of things I am interested in. I just can't pick up every clearance item all at once, especially when I'm playing catch up on other great items like GND4. So the clearance items generate a lot of ill will with new customers. Well, at least with this customer. And I held out against some really nice fastgrabs and bundles at DAZ while I was boycotting them. Ill-will means I waste time griping in these forums instead of e.g. building my new graphics workstation or buying products.And as it builds up, it could mean I take my money elsewhere or just save it (or spend it on e.g. Anime). This is a hobby -- any policy that drives hobbyists away means lost business.

Instead of retiring them, maybe have them rolled into some type of bundle. Maybe something else that the artist sells. Or maybe just build a bundle of clearance items (maybe themed based). So keep them around, but bundle them, and thus promote them a bit. There are definitely better options than getting rid of them.

BTW, can the artist sell them somewhere else once they are removed from the store? If so, I would suggest talking to DAZ about offering them as Platinum Club items. At $1.99 for PC members, some of these clearance items would be hard to pass up.

As a side note, removing items enourages piracy. As an example, Wanted was (texture pack for StormChaser) was retired (I'm guessing as short run get while you can type offr and not a clearance item). Well, I was googling for StormChaser stuff, and a link to a pireated copy of it was on the first page of results. So I can no longer buy it on here, but if I really want it I can get it. So you could sell it to me, or by takign it off the market, in effect create a black market for it.For the record, I did not download it, but I have to admit the temptation was much higher than usual. We're not stupid -- at the end of the day all you are doing is creatign artificial scarcity and not providing what your customers are looking for (i.e. the option to buy a ligit copy).  I mean, every time I search for soemtihng on DAZ, here, etc. I always find links to pirated copies, usually on the first page of results. I usually end up doing the **-**word_I_want_excluded on Google to filter them out, but it's a real pain and it puts the temptation right there in front of me. This artifical scarcity you are creating just increases the temptation factor. For what? What does it really buy you?

BTW, I was Googling for StormChaser because I could swear there was soem product on soem site that was designed for the V4 bodysuit and Stormchaser, but I do not reember what it was or where I saw it. I thoguht it was here, but so far cannto find it (keep thinking there was a silver liek trim on Shadowchaser).

Anyway, seems like piracy is a touchy subject, but there were two texture packs for Stormchaser that came and went fairly quickly, and as a newcomer to Renderosity, it's very frustrating to see soemthihg I would buy if it was still available. And then to have apoireated version pop up in a search less than an hour later. Talk about throwing salt on the wound!

And I'd also like to secodn the suggestionmade eleswhere for spell check!! Too tired to correct the problems in this post.

Quote - As a side note, removing items enourages piracy. As an example, "Wanted" -a texture pack for StormChaser - was retired (I'm guessing as short run get while you can type offr and not a clearance item). Well, I was googling for StormChaser stuff, and a link to a pirated copy of it was on the first page of results. So I can no longer buy it on here, but if I really want it I can get it. So you could sell it to me, or by taking it off the market, in effect create a black market for it. For the record, I did not download it, but I have to admit the temptation was much higher than usual. We're not stupid -- at the end of the day all you are doing is creating artificial scarcity and not providing what your customers are looking for (i.e. the option to buy a ligit copy).  I mean, every time I search for soemtihng on DAZ, here, etc. I always find links to pirated copies, usually on the first page of results. I usually end up doing the **-**word_I_want_excluded on Google to filter them out, but it's a real pain and it puts the temptation right there in front of me. This artificial scarcity you are creating just increases the temptation factor. For what? What does it really buy you?

BTW, I was Googling for StormChaser because I could swear there was some product on some site that was designed for the V4 bodysuit and Stormchaser, but I do not remember what it was or where I saw it. I thought it was here, but so far cannot find it (keep thinking there was a silver-like trim on Shadowchaser).

Anyway, seems like piracy is a touchy subject, but there were two texture packs for Stormchaser that came and went fairly quickly, and as a newcomer to Renderosity, it's very frustrating to see something I would buy if it was still available. And then to have a pirated version pop up in a search less than an hour later. Talk about throwing salt on the wound!

And I'd also like to second the suggestion made eleswhere for spell check!! Too tired to correct the problems in this post.

You've raised an excellent point, one which I'm quite certain the sales department here never even considered. Otherwise why would they sell textures for items that appear on a page with the enscription "Item No Longer Available". They might as well add "try your luck on warez or whatever".

Oh, I know, we are meant to contact the vendor. Yup, oh, and that really works, too! I can't tell you how many vendors I've contacted and no one has even bothered to reply... so significantly low is the response count that I can count on one finger the number of vendors who have had the courtesy to acknowledge my request. Based on that sort of response, the likelihood of my wanting to take the time to write anyone diminishes drastically. I will have a look for a website, but that usually quickly goes into the too-hard basket.

So, what options are left? Me, I generally just forget about it. I won't publish anything that an irate content creator would want to take me to task for. Not worth it. But I'm certain there are others who haven't any qualms seeking and finding whatever they want wherever they need to. So effective is the marketing of items on here, that if the item is displayed and then not for sale, I mean c'mon, this is the bloody internet. What do you reckon people would do? And so, as the above poster said, you are encouraging piracy. Bad!

If not remove it extend it out longer.

I could understand when the policy was enacted back when disk space was expensive, but thats dropping by leaps and bounds.

I don;t agree with eliminating it completely but would like to see the periods extended.

Also Daz is going to be going through another retirement phase, but they are retiring VERY old items , (V1).

Quote - Also Daz is going to be going through another retirement phase, but they are retiring VERY old items , (V1).

**No, absolutely not!! DAZ called it off!!
**

Several Platinum Club members (myself included) put a ton of pressure on them to call it off. We also threw out several ideas on how to get the PC items to sell better. So I think between the two, they realized it was better to call it off and rethink things. I doubt they expected such a strong backlash.

DAZ just extended the sale and never changed the name. For example, the droid was on the reitement sale list but it's still availabe: http://www.daz3d.com/i/shop/itemdetails/?item=973.

Steve (SKondris) made the announcement in the Members Only forum afternoon of the 24th. Here are some relevant excerpts:

Quote - Ok, so we've decided not to retire any items from the Platinum Club. We will extend the sale, as stated earlier, so it will not expire until the end of the month.

  -- and --

Quote - No other waves are planned - so let loose and buy all you want. :-)

Sources:

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=2733122#2733122

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=2736045#2736045

Being a creator who has considered placing items for sale in the MP, one of the primary reasons I have not is that I generally make textures for the more "modest" clothing items and while I know that there is a market out there for them (my ShareCG account is poof there) the clearance policy here has me putting the breaks on that idea.  If they don't sell well, they go into "oblivion" here. 

Many times I've gone in search of a great product here only to find the infamous "Item No Longer Available".  As a seller, I don't want that happening to my products.  If I choose to take them off the sales floor, that should be my choice not the choice of some ambiguous person who has never met me, or my customers.

Just my $.02 worth here.

I agree. It's not like the stuff is piling up on shelves like they do in a physical store. It's virtual.

There is no need to shove things out of the store into clearance and then gone from the store completely.

I've been saying this since the clearance section came into being and have put that on every MP/site poll that I've completed. But it falls on deaf ears :(

I missed out on a lot of clearance stuff gone because I procrastinated, ummed and ahhed, waiting for my next pay check, and was busy paying off the credit card from other sales inspirred mad buying. Sigh!

Anyhoot if they must stick to having clearance items then I suggest a countdown indicator. It could spur on more sales for a clearance item. The indicator could reset on every sale made so as to extend the countdown. It's a fun idea. Maybe also a toon image of some goofy sales guy who's expression changes as the coundown approaches the end.

Another suggestion is to have special comeback sales for most request items from a list of items that have been cleared. I'll put my vote on for a lot of motif's textures, please! And some Aery Soul V3 stuff I missed from their last clearance (I'm sure they did it to give other vendors a chance at Vendor Of The Year title. LOL).

One thing I do agree with is that putting items quickly into clearance does stiffle both creativity and versatility in the market place. I would love to see more M4 fanatsy clothes. I note this is happening at DAZ, they have a lot more cool stuff for M4 than they ever had for M3.

And as far as the excuse of storage space is concerned....come on guys! Terrabyte hard drives are now avaiable as cheap as fish & chips (well maybe the chips. A good piece of fish is still kind of expensive).

Quote - I agree, please let the products stay in the marketplace until the vendors themselves remove them.

It has happened to me as well - finding old products no longer for sale that I would have purchased if I could.

I am not happy with this policy either. It does take some time and cost to package up products the way Rendo wants, and likewise, Rendo makes an investment too during the testing process.

I believe the previous policy is one year - that makes a lot more sense to me. Sometimes product sales can go in waves. Some products will sit a very long time, then a few people start to talk about it, and then suddenly there's six or seven sales of the item.

On the other hand, Rendo could also lose business in another way - someone goes to locate a model, find it gone. So they do a search on the internet, find the vendors site and buys it directly from them.

+1 vote for abolishing the clearance policy and retention of the products.

Our voices have been heard!

Got the email today about the changes that are going to be made about the Clearance Policy.

They are also adding a "Rising Star" area for new vendors. But, even though I am still a new vendor, only 7 months, unfortunately I can't be a  "rising star" as per their qualifications  :o(

Such is life, but hey, changes are being made :o)

Jeff

@BionicRooster: that is promising news. let's see how it's implemented, before the celebrations begin.

regards,

waningmoon

The expiry time was only extended another 90 days (180 days total).  The policy remains, it just takes a little longer for items to be removed from the marketplace.  Guess I'll sell elsewhere.

Edited your post above as it is a violation to copy and paste information from the private vendor forum, FYI.  

Thanks

Stacey

:

no party.

StaceyG:

Quote - Edited your post above as it is a violation to copy and paste information from the private vendor forum, FYI.  

That was what was emailed to me, not from the private forum (I can't even read that, no permissions), and aside from that it's pretty odd that you don't want this information known - is it a secret?  Do you not want people to know your market policy?

it would be nice if there was a way,

to request something be made available again.

maybe like a sitemail link on the discontinued product page  to rmp admins ?

it's a shame the Water Park is down.

and Sincere M4 by receicup is a shame to be down, too. He's a gorgeous M4 character.

It looks like some of the Elf Flirty Dance stuff is gone, too.

Regrets.

I agree completely with pjz99, it is bad business to just pull products from the marketplace both as a vendor and customer.

regards and thanks

Still of the same belief here that clearance should just be done away with entirely; perhaps just make a different department for "what's not-hot products" ? lol

That or I can definitely get behind a request button for customers who might want to purchase something that is no longer available. 

As long as everything is still being stored on RMP, it might as well be available in some capacity, unless the vendor chooses to remove it entirely.