This is a section of the tutorial “Upload a Product“. See the entire article here.
○ Info Tab
On the right hand side of the IMVU Studio interface is the Info Panel. This Panel contains all the Product information, which you can edit.
Here, you can edit the Product Name and its Type. You can also set the Rating and Category. If you want to set a different margin of profit for this product, you can also do so.
Let’s go through all the fields and how to fill them.
◇ Thumbnail
This is the first thing about your product that your customer sees. This image is used in both the Shop and Inventory and it should represent the product you are trying to sell.
- The dimensions of your image must be 100 x 80 pixels.
- The supported file types are: GIF, JPG, or PNG.
- The file size of the image must be 50KB or less.
- The file name of the image must be 50 characters or less.
For more information about how to make a good product image, please read the Make Product Image article or watch the Create a Basic Catalog Icon and Create an Animated Catalog Icon videos.
Using a good image that clearly highlights the product in context, can make your product more appealing to consumers. For example, the following images (animated and non-animated) meet the aforementioned IMVU guidelines and they make the product attractive.
◇ Name
This is how your customers will find your product. Product names matter to a product’s relevance in catalog searches. So, chosen a clear name will have a good impact on sales.
There is a 24 character limit for product names.
◇ Type
This is the type of item you are Creating. It is pre-filled depending on the base product you derived from to create the current item.
If you want a product to end up in Female Tops, you have to derive from a Female Top product. If you want a product to end up in Furniture, you have to derive from a Furniture product.
◇ Rating
The IMVU Terms of Service requires that every Creator rate each product they submit to the IMVU Catalog appropriately.
Every product available for purchase in the IMVU catalog has a rating of General Audience (GA), Access Pass Only (APO), or Unsuitable for IMVU (UFI).
| GA | Goods available to all users. |
| APO | Goods available only to users who have purchased the Access Pass product. |
| UFI | Goods not available anywhere on IMVU’s website. |
To learn what rating is appropriate for your product, please read the Virtual Goods Policy.
If your product is inappropriately rated, it will fail Peer Review and/or be flagged for review by a member of the community. So, please make sure you understand the Virtual Goods Policy before setting the rating.
◇ Category
This will depend on your product’s Type. For example, if you are creating Clothing, you can choose whether the product is a Top, Bottom, etc. Choosing the category that best suits the product you want to submit, help consumers to know which kind of product they are purchasing (a room, a piece of furniture, an item of clothing, or an accessory).
◇ Compatibility
This determines which avatars will work with your product. The Male avatar is designated as 191, and the Female avatar is designated as 80.
◇ Profit
You can set any number in this field from 0 to 999,999.
Adding or changing the Profit does not result in existing Products going through Peer Review.
As you type in the Profit field, the Total Price of the product is calculated on the fly.
The total price is made up of three components:
- Profit: credits you will earn once your product is purchased.
- Derivation Fee: a fee you will need to pay to the creator you are deriving from in order to upload your product to the Shop. Depending on the kind of product you are creating the fee will be lower or higher.
- Markup: amount charged (10%) for submitting your product. This is standard.
◇ Search Keywords Field
Many consumers search products in the Shop using keywords. Although this field is not required to submit your product, we encourage you to add keywords to help customers to find your product.
To add keywords, just type them in the Search Keywords field. Make sure they are comma separated.
You can add up to 12 words.
Towards the bottom of the tab, you will be able to input search keywords by which your potential customers will be able to find your product. Finally, you can change settings your item is Derivable (can be used as base to create future products), Searchable in the Catalog, Display Only (Searchable, but cannot be bought), and available for inclusion in Bundles.
◇ Controls Field
This field (which is optional) allows you to set whether your product is Visible, Derivable, Bundleable, and/or Display Only.
[ht_message mstyle="info" title="Visibility, Derivability, Bundlability, and Display Only" show_icon="true" id="" class="" style="" ]
- Visibility
- If you check this option, it makes your product visible in the Shop. If you un-check this option (hide your product), it does not effect its usability to those who already own it.
- Derivability
- This allows other Creators to derive new products from this product and set their own product as derivable. This permission allows them to re-use any and/or all of your product’s assets on their child product. This setting can be turned off only if the product has never been derived from. Once a product has been derived from this Derivation permission as well as its profit are permanently locked.
- Bundlability
- This setting allows other Creators to add your product to their Product Bundles, Promotional Bundles, Outfits, etc., if they have also purchased the item. When that Creator sells a bundle with your item in it, you will receive your full profit as if you had sold the item. This setting can be changed at any time but it will not remove the item from already existing bundles.
- Display Only
- If this option is checked, your product is visible in the Shop but consumers cannot buy it.
Check “Visible in shop,” “Allow derivation from this product” and “Allow inclusion in 3rd party bundles” to make your product (1) Visible in the Shop, (2) Derivable by other Creators, and (3) Eligible for product bundles.
It is possible to change the default settings for Derivability and Bundleability by going to the Creator Preferences Panel on the Account Page and setting those Flags to On or Off.
◇ Required Fields
In order to submit a product to the IMVU Catalog, there are five fields that are required to fill: Location, Name, Image, Rating, and Profit.
◇ Submit Button
Once you’re ready, simply press the Submit button on the upper-right corner of the window. It will turn into a loading bar, and once completed your product will be submitted to Peer Review!
