I was reviewing some of my video sales and noticed that there have some NON VIP members using VIP ONLY promo codes. I will remind anyone who is using promo codes illegally that you are fraudulently cheating Store Owners out of money and cheating UMD from your VIP Dues. I also remind everyone when a video sales Store Owners see the Username of the buyer. So those jerks who pay $0.01 for a Name your price video, or even the assholes who do $0.00, we know who you are.
Bear in mind that people can move in and out of VIP status all the time, you get it free as a perk if you get enough heart-clicks on you stuff, and at a guess codes obtained while classed as VIP still remain valid when the member has dropped back to standard.
I've actually started posting fewer promo images and trailers deliberately to avoid becoming VIP because it turns the ads off and I think that spoils the forum, not having the endlessly changing messy images down the side - plus I want to be able to see my own ads so I know when the credits run out - checking through the My Scenes page takes forever, easier just to watch for them appearing.
Regarding Name Your Price, nothingtoseehere is right, only way to avoid getting taken for a ride is not to use it. I tried it for a good long while with two clips, but binned it a month or so back due to all the people paying pennies or nothing - it's soul destroying to see people do that to a scene that a girl worked hard to create, plus having the notification emails arrive saying the clip had sold at full price, then logging in to find someone had paid $0.10.
The videos I set to Name Your Price are older lower quality videos. I don't mind lower amounts for them but when you buy all the ones I have in the NYP and pay 0.00, and you never actually buy from me, and I found you've uploaded them to Tumblr along with all my photos from my profile. As for the VIP the way it's set up you only see the code as VIP and the people who have been using it without being VIP have blank profiles, so I doubt it's because they were Honerary VIP members. Each seller makes up the VIP Promo, there is not a master promo code.
I know how the codes work - I create ones for my site members to give them a discount on the download store. I wonder how the non-VIP members are getting hold of them though? People with two accounts, a "public" one they use for posting to the forum, and a separate "private" one used for making purchases without revealing which "name" account it is?
Pieology said: I was reviewing some of my video sales and noticed that there have some NON VIP members using VIP ONLY promo codes.
A non-VIP member can't use VIP coupons because UMD won't let them. Even if you had the coupon code, your status must be VIP before UMD will apply it to the sale. (We actually list all current VIP coupons on the VIP page for all to see.) You may have noticed the VIP sale long after their membership had expired. You can contact me and I can research any individual sale you'd like, if you want more details.
Pieology said:I also remind everyone when a video sales Store Owners see the Username of the buyer. So those jerks who pay $0.01 for a Name your price video, or even the assholes who do $0.00, we know who you are.
The Name Your Price option is meant to allow users to pay nothing or to pay a lot. When considering using it for your video, you should think of it as a free video primarily, but one that actually gives viewers the option to pay something if they choose (like a tip jar). You cannot expect NYP to operate on the same business model as for-pay does. It straddles the ground between free trailer and for-pay scene, and the purpose is to allow producers to come up with unique business models that also blur the line between pure advertisement and just sales-only. I've seen some make hundreds in a week from it, and some make almost nothing money-wise but get a boost in the rest of their catalog sales from the exposure, which is the original purpose. Put some strategy and consideration into the vids you put on NYP, and it may or may not be a useful tool for you. You get to make of it what you envision, but I'm not going to force any producer to use it if it doesn't work for them.
A side note that we do have a private shopping option for shoppers who prefer to keep their usernames private when buying stuff.
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