This might have been brought up previously, but when a product such as new hair colours or clothing textures etc. require an existing prodict, why is no hot-link given to it?

While the product requirements do mention it, you have to go searching for it with Google as it could be at Rendo, Daz, CP or any of a host of other content providers.

Is there some sort of store rule that prohibits providing direct links to other people's products?

the base product SHOULD be the first product in the 'Related Products' at the bottom of the product page.  the merchant enters the related products manually when they are uploading their product.

if the base product is off-site, and its not something ridiculously obvious like Vicky4, then many merchants will put a link to it in the vendor editorial page.

neither of these are done automatically, however, and are up to the merchant to do -- its really in their best interest to do so though.

I wished they split the hair and clothing section in a texture and an original model part. I hate to wade through dozens of textures until I find the model I like. Often one model can have three or more texture spinoffs. And the names in the advertising are not always obvious if it's a model or a texture pack.

^what you suggest would absolutely crush add-on texture sales.

not to mention many clothing creators are great at modeling and conforming but weak at texturing and/or promos.  having add-on textures in the same market shows the potential of these  clothing items - often much better than the original product could have on its own.

That's absolutely true, and sometimes the texture sets are even more expensive than the original model. But it would be a nice gesture to the customers to be more specific if a product is a texture or an original model. Most of the time you can see it by the name like "toxic" or "real" but it isn't always that obivious.

Quote - That's absolutely true, and sometimes the texture sets are even more expensive than the original model. But it would be a nice gesture to the customers to be more specific if a product is a texture or an original model. Most of the time you can see it by the name like "toxic" or "real" but it isn't always that obivious.

No kidding, I passed on Toxic for months because I thought it was a V4 character instead of a Hair texture.

Maybe Rendo can add a little icon to the thumb corner like they do the prime thumbs, that would be so easy to pick up on between textures and models, I also get frustrated at having to search but BH does make a valid point, t I suppose they have a symbiotic relationship to one another.

Quote - sometimes the texture sets are even more expensive than the original model.

this practice really annoys me most of the time.

the exception being if someone releases a relatively simple model and the 'add-on' texture set is an elaborate, super high quality set of maps and shaders. in that case it is possible that the texture add-on actually took more effort to create than the original product.

an example would be a simple suit of armor that an add-on texturer has textured into an ornate, detailed piece complete with spec maps, displacement/normal maps, complex shaders, etc. in that case i can totally see spending $15 for the armor and $15 for the texture addon.

if you are significantly improving the base product with your add-on then i dont see why the add-on necessarily has to cost less than the base product.

It took me a year to figure out how to find things in the RO market.  During that year, I didn't buy that much, but once I figured out how things work around here, my spending increased dramatically. Even so, I never knew about the "related products".

You'd think it would be in RO's best interest to make it easier to find things. Strict enforcement of keywords would be good, for one. There's no reason for clothing that only fits V4 to show up in the M4 category. Or for animals or buildings to appear there.

Mostly, I don't have time to browse for hours, so I default to loyalty to those vendors I've purchased from before. I doubt I'm the only one who does this. Not great for newcomers to the marketplace, I realize.

RO could really learn something from how stock photography sites are run.

^its not Renderosity's fault -- a lot of the confusion is due to merchants simply not taking the time to set up their product kitting (related products), marketplace categories, and search keywords properly.

it amazes me that people dont make use of these tools. i mean a new merchant just starting out, not putting in their keywords? or not putting the product in the related categories?

i was trying to add some Anastasia, Shae, etc content to MY kitted products and i had the damndest time just FINDING it in the marketplace -- because people dont put it in the Anastasia or Alyson2 categories or use the keywords.

Quote - ^its not Renderosity's fault -- a lot of the confusion is due to merchants simply not taking the time to set up their product kitting (related products), marketplace categories, and search keywords properly.

it amazes me that people dont make use of these tools. i mean a new merchant just starting out, not putting in their keywords? or not putting the product in the related categories?

i was trying to add some Anastasia, Shae, etc content to MY kitted products and i had the damndest time just FINDING it in the marketplace -- because people dont put it in the Anastasia or Alyson2 categories or use the keywords.

It is a real problem - I noticed when I did a search for Anastasia products under Poser 9 and then a separate search under Poser 2012, I got a different list of stuff.

Quote - ^its not Renderosity's fault -- a lot of the confusion is due to merchants simply not taking the time to set up their product kitting (related products), marketplace categories, and search keywords properly.

it amazes me that people dont make use of these tools. i mean a new merchant just starting out, not putting in their keywords? or not putting the product in the related categories?

i was trying to add some Anastasia, Shae, etc content to MY kitted products and i had the damndest time just FINDING it in the marketplace -- because people dont put it in the Anastasia or Alyson2 categories or use the keywords.

No, it's not Rendo's fault, I know. But what I wish they would learn from stock photog sites is that you can't rely on many vendors to do this unless you force them. So quality control must vet the photo keywords before acceptance and reject those that are not properly keyworded. Mainly it's done to stop keyword spamming, but in the long run it helps newcomers get a bit more exposure and customers to find what they're looking for amidsts a huge database of items.

I guess Rendo figures the potential increase in sales wouldn't offset the time vetting products, especially since there's an enormous backlog of stuff that would want fixing before any substantial effect could be noticed. They're probably right. Also, I'm assuming vendors are entirely on their own when it comes to actually setting up their products in the store once they've been accepted? So they are free to ignore all that stuff if they want?

i have yet to click on a product for mavka that would inform me who, what, where is mavka.  not in a hurry though, lol, still working on collecting the nursoda figures.

Something maybe Rendo can do that would help (me at least):  Anything that is obviously a base figure, and that figure is in the Marketplace, should be coded somehow to always list first, with any add-ons listing afterwards it w/e order - chronological, probably.  Having to sort through half a page of " . . . for w/e" to find the w/e is a bit frustrating especially for things that are really popular.

If the base figure is not in the Marketplace, we would have no idea just looking at the page unless we checked the name for everything listed or happened to click a thumb wherein is says "requires w/e from [site]" but, if we knew the figure would list first if it was here, any page where it did not list first would probably be an easy clue all by itself.

I know we are asked to include a link to the Must Have item in description when we upload. I keep forgetting and get nagged about it lol

If all else fails its in the Readme file, which admitedely is a nuisance for casual browsing but if you are curious you should be able to get the link there

Theres a reason I try to give my items really obvious boring names, and include the figure its for if I can. I know what a nuisance it is to track down these things ... I'm sure Evanescance for Enchantments for v4 is more sexy sounding but 'Texture Expansion for Enchantments v4' is easier to understand. we have a lot of non-english speakers, so I try to make things clear for everyone

Lyrra

Quote - I know we are asked to include a link to the Must Have item in description when we upload. I keep forgetting and get nagged about it lol

Yeh, I forget lots of stuff too, so I can understand that.

Maybe renderosity should add a compulsory field to the page so the vendor has to complete this when uploading the product and show in the "required products" bit.  I think this should include links to offsite items which the product is for. 

If rendo is happy to broker an expansion/texture item for a particular pack they don't sell then they should at least give abit of free advertisement to the product it was meant for, this is also benefical to them as alot of potential customers may just pass it by if they can't find the main item or can be bothered to.