As promised in my post about some big names leaving IMVU Moderating, here is the list of community members resigning their post as forum mods today.

• Kaffe
• MinhyrdinWindrose
• Badboy
• Ewe
• Mandie
• Shauncy
• Shira

Why are these people stepping down? I don’t exactly know and the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) prevents them and even me from discussing their reasonings. But you can wager that if that many people are leaving all on the same day, it’s not coincidence. Probably a group of people simply fed up over… whatever it is that’s going on.

Imagine how scary the Off Topic forums will be now. Yikes.

This information was given to me by a member of the community. It may or may not be 100% accurate. If it isn’t, my sincerest apologies. But since it was given to me by a reputable and long-standing member of the community, I can consciously accept it as truth.

Let’s discuss the future of IMVU… shall we? I know so many of you are eager for a place where you can discuss this topic and say what you really feel without moderators looming over you and cleaning up behind you. So here is your chance to use my personal space as your own.

As a pro developer who uses IMVU as a major source of income, it’s only natural that I hope and pray that IMVU as a company succeeds in the way I believe it should – meaning IMVU makes money as well as provides me with the tools and opportunities required for me to continue profiting from my work. Unfortunately, the last year has shown me a steady decline.

I’ve made a lot of excuses for this – the economy, the summer slowdown, more developers and competition, my lack of desire to create, file sales, etc. I’m sure any one of these and mostly likely a combination is to blame. That said, I just don’t think these things alone are enough to cause the horrendous decline in sales that I have experienced.

Sure, I’m willing to admit that I haven’t worked as hard and a lot of people view me in a different light now because of this website. I get it. But it’s not really even about me – it’s about all of us. How many of you are experiencing a decline so great that you wonder if it’s time to move on… pack your e-bags and take your talent elsewhere? Some days, I feel that way and I’m noticing that more and more IMVUers are migrating to other virtual worlds [not just Second Life although that is the major one].

How much money are we all really making these days? Whoever thinks pro developers are “rich” is sadly mistaken. Remember those days when earning 60-100k in a 24 hour span was a good day? Okay I realize not all of you reading this have experienced that – especially if you’re fairly new to our community. But believe me… some of us used to make that kind of money. I’m sure some still do, but there isn’t a developer that I know personally that is making that kind of money any more – sadly myself included.

IMVU is slowly turning into a monopoly of sorts. The big name brands are taking over and IMVU is quickly taking larger slices of the pie. All of the “sales” they are running for their credits and outright knocking the value of our credits lower with each campaign they run – it’s killing the developing community. Sure, it’s good for the buyers but think about how much you make from a product on average. We’ll say 150 credit profit. In order to make just $5 you would have to make about 10,870 credits (or about 72 sales). That’s a lot of sales to make a measly 5 bucks. But we pro developers used to get that – easy. We used to easily make upwards of 100k or more in a day meaning making $40-$50 for a days work on IMVU was likely.

That used to be $16,426 give or take per year! That’s a full time job getting paid more than the minimum wage in America. Not bad for a job you can do in your favorite pajamas while sipping coffee.

Except now we’re making more like 15-20k per day. That’s what I’m making and while I’m ashamed to say it, I think it’s only right that I be honest. I know a lot of you are making that too because we’ve discussed it. So we’re making more like $10 per day maximum. And now? We’re talking more in the ball park of $3,650 per year. That’s grossly disturbing to me. That means we’re making only about 4.5% of what we were making a year ago. Yes.. can you believe it? That much change in just a year!

Who is IMVU fooling? They suggest sales are up “across the board”… but for who!? More developers of course equals more money to IMVU in the long run, but if everyone were really making more sales, we’d all see an incline in profit and we’re not.

Do these numbers scare you? They should. They scare the hell out of me. They aren’t exact numbers but the ballpark figures are very much real. How do yours compare? I hope you all are doing a hell of a lot better than I am. In order to put food on the table, I have no choice but to continue to sell files thus sadly contributing to apart of the problem. I sell ad space here to help pay for my hosting space. I make a buck where I can. It’s the only way to survive on an IMVU income.

What are your thoughts?

• How much are you making these days? (you don’t need to give a precise answer… I realize that information is very private for some).
• Have you seen a decrease in sales and profit in the last year?
• How much of a decrease have you seen?
• Are you seeking out other online opportunities such as Second Life or another virtual world?
• Has your decline in sales meant that you needed to acquire a job outside of our community?

I’d love for you all to take time to discuss this. I will be moderating comments as usual but I will not edit nor delete your commentary unless I find it to be overly vulgar or potentially harmful to yourself or my website. While I believe heavily in free speech and that this is my website and we can pretty much do whatever we want – I cannot guarantee the safety of your account. IMVU has rights too. So please use caution.

I heard it through the grape vine *does a little dance* that some BIG names will be leaving the forum moderating circle this month. Any guesses as to who? Pay very close attention to the names on the mod list within the forums and come back here soon for my list.

Dear Digital Dish readers,

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted since my birthday on September 14th. I think it’s only fair that I be honest…

I’m in poor health right now. It’s not like I’m going to die or anything, but it’s bad and I’m having some problems that are affecting my heart. On September 15th, I went back to the doctor to get the results of my blood work and got piles of bad news.

For starters, I am suffering from hypertension and vertigo – both of which aren’t horribly bad, but it’s really taking a toll on me. My heart is beating too fast and I am having dizzy and fainting spells. I am now on beta blockers to slow down my heart rate. The doctor says that a lot of the problem is stress related and I am supposed to be taking it easy – which is much easier said than done.

I need a CT scan. It’s possible that I may have a brain tumor and I have to figure out a way to pay for that. It’s not outrageously expensive – my insurance covers most of it. But it’s just extra money I don’t have right now. So I’m holding off on it for now and praying for the best. The doctor says I probably don’t have one, but I am experiencing symptoms that suggest that I might and well, better safe than sorry.

So for the past… what it is, 11 days now? I have been trying to relax, working on some other projects and spending time with my family. I’ve missed out on some important updates and for that, I’m really sorry. Sometimes real life really does get in the way and sometimes we need to sit back and take a deep breath.

I hope you all aren’t too cross with me and will be understanding. I will do my best to continue bringing you the juicy gossip and important news you crave.

Sincerely,
Kimi

Can you believe that we’re still talking about IMVUPay!? I can’t. It’s rather sad that it’s a topic I continuously have to report about. I know so many of you reading this are still owed money – some of you in the thousands. Being that my own finances are so tight right now and with the economy in a slump all over the world, I can just imagine how difficult this situation is for so many of you and how badly you not only want, but need the money you are owed.

IMVU doesn’t want me to post about this. In fact, I risk disablement by talking to you about this. But since this is my website, I have constitutional right to say what I want, and since this isn’t IMVU’s territory… I’ve decided to take that risk to deliver this important information. But please, save yourselves the hassle and do not post about this in groups, the forums or even private messages.

Several members of the community have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) against IMVUPay either in the form of writing a complaint specifically against its former owners or by attacking Depthwire Corporation – the company that  I talked about previously that purchased IMVUPay. There has been little to no communication from this new company who we were all told would basically fix things and pay back the dozens of customers who hadn’t been paid. In fact, it seems that unless you got rather rowdy and feisty with them, you didn’t get so much as a piss off.

And then along came one member [who's name I am excluding for the sake of his privacy] of the community walking the all too well treaded path to redemption in this unfortunate situation. He’s one of many to have filed a complaint against IMVUPay to the BBB and one of few to get any type of response. With his permission, I share it with you below. [I am not including a link to the actual complaint page as it contains very personal information that I don't feel should be shared publicly on my website. But rest assured, I have seen the complaint and read it in its entirety and I can promise you that you will read the real facts.]

Hi [first name removed by me]

Thank you for your note. From Feb through June this year IMVUPay operations were purchased by Depthwire Corp. During this time over $35,000 of our investors money was put into addressing the systems and customer fraud issues that had caused the cash flow problems that brought IMVUPay to bankrupcy. During this time, disputes with Paypal on providing a vendor merchant account and issues with our developer providing coding enhancements to the site to prevent further fraud prevented us from re launching the company. Over $35,000 was spent trying to do this including salaries legal fees equiptment etc.

During June we ran out of our seed capital and without a merchant account that would allow us to bill and pay customers, and without a fuctional website since the re coding effort was only half completed we started the process of bankruptcy and deregistering the business. This will shortly be completed. IMVUPay, its operations and business have failed and will be terminated. A new site or business will not launch. I am sorry for your loss. I became involved with the business in late February and at significant personal financial loss on my seed capital investment I have had to accept that the new venture to relaunch the company has similarly failed.

For those of you who either didn’t understand what was said above or would like to read it in layman’s terms… It is with deep regret that I must inform you that the company known only to us as Depthwire [the company who purchased IMVUPay] is filing for bankruptcy. According to information I received, Depthwire answered a BBB complaint in regards to IMVUPay and announced that after $35,000 in investment with the company they are filing for bankruptcy and that those owed their money… won’t be getting it.

Read that again – They have absolutely NO intention of paying anyone who is owed money and are basically writing it all off as a loss. How nice of them.

I think this whole scene is very sad. For starters, $35,000 is a heck of a lot of money to invest in anything – much less some online company selling virtual currency [not to mention a defunct company already in the red]. And where did that $35,000 go? – Certainly not to paying off the debts owed to the IMVU community. I want to highlight a point from the above response from Depthwire.

…During this time, disputes with Paypal on providing a vendor merchant account and issues with our developer providing coding enhancements to the site to prevent further fraud prevented us from re launching the company. Over $35,000 was spent trying to do this including salaries legal fees equiptment etc….

Never mind that the guy doesn’t know what spell check is and can’t spell equipment. The real issue is this – $35,000 on a website, new coding, the salaries of those working on it, legal fees and equipment?

If they were going to purchase a business knowing that said business was grossly in the negative, the FIRST plan of action should have been to pay off those debts. How else could they ever expect to formulate any sort of business? Furthermore – who thought up the brilliant idea to buy such a company? Very poor business decision if you ask me. Which leads me to legal fees. I know all too well how much a lawyer can cost and it does add up quickly. So okay, I could easily see them spending $10,000 on lawyers and such. But I just can’t see a lawyer [even a greedy one] recommending that someone put themselves through such a time and money sucking investment.

I’m very concerned for the IMVU community. This scenario can happen again and IMVU has made no public effort to clean up this mess. I worry that we all looked to IMVUPay as a reputable reseller and were left seriously burned. Any one of the otherwise wonderful and reputable resellers could go belly up. Who will stand the test of time? How will concerns about IMVUPay effect the credit resellers we have left?

Please remember… do NOT post about this in groups or in the forums. It’s against the TOS to discuss legal issues and I fear that you will receive more than a slap on the wrist. But do feel free to discuss this in comments. I welcome the discussion.