The Death Toll of IMVU Resellers

Why did imvu decide to offer cash payments to content creators and cut credit resellers out of the loop?

This is old news by now, and the dust has settled for the most part, but it still garners a closer look at WHY imvu went the route of axing credit resellers.

As predicted in 2009, it's here. The US IRS wants a piece of the pie.

http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/taxes-coming-to-virtual-worlds

The shit has hit the fan and in 2014 the IRS has given it's stamp of un-approval regarding transactions involving actual dollars in the virtual world.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Tax-Consequences-of-Virtual-World-Transactions

I'm not a tax attorney, and don't quote me, but this was mined off the IRS pages:

• Wages paid to employees using virtual currency are taxable to the employee, must be reported by an employer on a Form W-2, and are subject to federal income tax withholding and payroll taxes. 
• Payments using virtual currency made to independent contractors and other service providers are taxable and self-employment tax rules generally apply. Normally, payers must issue Form 1099. 
• The character of gain or loss from the sale or exchange of virtual currency depends on whether the virtual currency is a capital asset in the hands of the taxpayer. 
• A payment made using virtual currency is subject to information reporting to the same extent as any other payment made in property.

And exactly how do content creators get paid in imvu? The following screen captures show you the web pages. Visit imvu.com for the official tutorial showing how to sign up for cash payments. These screen captures here show after you've already been verified for payments

Above, log in to the site, from "Community" click "Creator Program".

Click on "Learn More" as above.

You are able to choose your payment distribution levels. All credits, all cash or any variation in 10% increments.

The Payment information section, as indicated, tells you what you have available and what is pending or on hold for two weeks.

The above form is what you would fill in to request a cash payout. Payouts usually take about 3 business days providing there are no mistakes on the form.

This is an example of pended cash amounts.

  This is an example of pended cash amounts. Reports are available to download to your computer.

The Marriage Package

So you want to get married...?  I have screen captures and a tutorial plus tips below. Good luck!

Above shows the imvu upgrades section where you'd purchase the marriage package. I advise waiting for a sale, and buying the package - yes, ahead of time. You don't have to use it immediately. All the motions are set in action once you send out the proposal, but as far as I know you can hold on to it indefinitely. The only way to reverse the marriage is to get a "divorce", so, be sure marriage is for you..lol.

The package includes:
Two avatar id registrations, two name change tokens, one shared room, linked profiles and a badge. A mass announcement for each of your friends.

The above shows the proposal page. This is where you fill in the avatar id of the person you want to marry. This person must already be in your friend's list. Be sure to add a romantic message in the field provided.

The above capture shows the confirmation page after you've sent out the marriage proposal to your intended. Once he or she replies you should find a message in your inbox. Cross your fingers!

The above capture shows the acceptance page. This will be a redirect from the message the system sends to the person being proposed to.

Above is the proposal message.

Once your intended has accepted you'll find the website contains your marriage section. You are able to send out announcements to your friends, and here is also where you'd end your marriage, if you decide to do so.

The above capture shows the marriage announcement web page.

This capture above shows where you'll find your "Shared Room". You are given a room that you both have access to. The photos show a decorated room, the way it comes plus a few extra items added from both users inventories.



Keep in mind:
If you divorce the shared room will remain in both of your room inventories, although it is no longer shared. Any decorating will be lost/discarded because the shared room itself is deleted. The room and furniture remain in inventory. At the time of this post the badges do not stay in your badge inventories.

One last thing, if you divorce you lose the package and you'll have to buy another marriage package if you want to marry again. They are not reusable.

Even though you can share the room you cannot make it public unless you already own a public room slot.


In addition

The shared room can also be purchased without having the marriage package.

The awesome thing about the marriage package is it's an inexpensive way to obtain both registered avatar ids and name change tokens. So whether you plan to stay married or not, this is a notable way to change your id for two accounts without a lot of cash outlay. I recommend buying the starter pack at first, but if you missed the opportunity and you can't get your hands on a $25 prepaid card (the $25 and the $50 prepaid cards come with avatar id name registration if you choose the VIP option when redeeming the card on imvu's website) then this way is your next best bet.

Above shows the Divorce option, and the confirmation page. ::sad face::

Changes Abound

imvu has implemented so many changes in the past year that I hardly know where to begin. I will being by reporting on this bit of news:

• I no longer own the myimvu.info domain. GoDaddy stopped offering their free hosting package with a paid domain so I opted to cancel the site altogether.
• The Videos that are still up on YouTube are OLD old old old, but perhaps still pertinent in many cases, therefore, I have left them up..for now at least.

I plan to cover a few of imvu's changes here in the coming days. Some topics to include are:

Varsha has left imvu

The Shared Room Package

The Marriage Package

imvu NEXT

imvu MOBILE

The new imvu Help Center including a Forum Format change

Removal of the PHOTO STREAM in favor of FEED

How to JimmyRig the imvu install directory or How to run to different versions of imvu on one computer

Payments in cash for content creators

The lastest scams and hacks against users