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3DXModz Merchant System


Nym

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Hi all

Some of you will have seen my announcement on the Modz Discord channel about this topic, but for those that did not... here is whats happening :)

 

For a long time member have requested the Modz site to have the ability to be sell content.

I have never been against the Idea... more against the drama that might come along with it. However I have have decided to give a Merchant system a go and make it available to the Modz Membership.

 

I invited MCU Discord members to give feedback and I am now inviting Modz Site Members to also give feedback about this.

Please feel free to post your thoughts in this thread.

 

Here is how the Modz Merchant System will work (as of me posting this and is subject to change!!!  :) )

 

There is a lot of ways this could work, but basically...it comes down to what Commerce system the Web engine supports. There are additional Plugins i can purchase to enhance the system...like adding the ability for auctions. But for now we will use the base Commerce system.

So if you would like to propose a new idea in this thread...just keep in mind i am limited by the Web sites commerce capability.

 

To start with...a few selected members (2 or 3) will be invited to advertise their products on the site. This is to allow for more testing because i need to ensure the system is robust.

Over time, I will open up the Merchant system to more people to allow them to offer their products to the community.

I will create a separate post for these "Modz Merchants" as there will be detailed explanation given to them on how the system works and Terms and Conditions they need to agree with.

But the basics are this:

  • There will be a separate category set up in where only Modz Merchants can post products for sale at a price they choose.
  • 3DXModz Members will have access to purchase these products from these Merchant through the Modz site.
  • The Modz site will collect a commission of a sale to cover the cost of making this facility available to the Membership. Currently commission is set to 30%
  • All purchases by Modz Members and payment to Modz Merchants will be done via PayPal
    • You do not need a PayPal account to purchase from the Merchant as PayPal accepts Cards.
    • You WILL need a PayPal account to be  Mod Merchant
  • Once the transaction has been completed, the site will allow you to receive/download the purchase.

 

Now why I still have you attention, i want to quickly cover TAX?

As I live within the Australia TAX system... I am not required to collect GST/VAT/TAX on these purchases because they are less than AUD$1000 (I will limit the max amount per item) and I am not exceeding AUD$75,000 revenue per year. So there will be no tax on these purchases. However if you live in a country...that you think you will be required to pay a form of tax for a purchase...please let me know and i will look into it. But i doubt the Australian Tax office will want me to collect GST/VAT/TAX for foreign entities :)

Now to be clear, the above is about purchases....not Merchant Payment. That will be discussed with each Merchant.

 

Ok, as for "Selling Content" and the issues/concerns around that. 

The 3DXModz web site is making the system available to its membership and Modz Merchants have the ability to sell their content. The site is just providing a place and system for the transactions to happen safely. All purchases are recorded and are traceable on the site by the Member and Merchant, in addition too invoices being emailed out to everyone involved.

 

Free content:

This will always be available and existing free content that is currently free on the site...will remain free...including the ability for people to post free content.

Do not think if you have existing content on the site you will be able to become a Modz Merchant and Move it all over to the Merchant section...I will not allow it.

The Merchant system is for New content only.

 

Now as for copyright, and i am going to be blunt about this...

If you want to sell your Nike Shoes on the site...you are welcome to

If you have a Game account on a popular MMO and have Bad Ass Armour and 10Bil gold in your bank and want to sell your account here...you are welcome to

if you have created something that can be uploaded into a game and want to sell it here...you are welcome to.

This site is facilitating a transaction only...I will be expecting Modz Merchants and Modz Members whom make a transaction to understand this explicitly. You do so at your own risk.

There are check and balances in place in the back ground for me to watch over the transactions and Merchants will be screened/interviewed....by me! 

 

Time frame for all this to happen.

Currently a wonderful friend of mine is helping me test the commerce system and because it takes 5 to 7 days for Paypal to clear funds we are waiting for that to happen to complete the first test of the system.

Once i am happy that I know how the system works i will invite 1 or 2 more people to be Merchants. I am hoping that will happen around the 19th of July..maybe a bit sooner and a few items will be available for purchase to allow more testing.

I am aiming for the end of July to have the system working and slowly growing from there.

 

I am tentative about the growth of the Merchant System because currently it seems that there is more "Manual" button clicking in the back ground than i expected to complete a transaction...its not as simple as i had hoped. But i will monitor it :)

 

So that is it for now. I will up date this post as required.

Please add your comments below, i am happy to hear all ideas. but remember i am limited by the sites available commerce system :)

 

P.s   .I love talking about TAX...so TAX me up BBY!!!! <3   

 

Regards 

Nym

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Feed back from members

  1. Seems members want the ability to sell items as a single exclusive sale as well as sell the items an unlimited amount of times. This will require the purchase of a Commerce App...I'll start looking into it :)

 

 

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  • Modz Gold Member

Hey there,

to be honest I feel uncomfortably with the hole idea. Same like exchanging XGOLD among players. This whole attitude to always think about how to make money out of everything makes me puke.

If modz become economic I pack my bags and go. If someone thinks the builds done are that greate everyone is free to do as Alivia does and sell this crap on a web-page.

 

I always considered this place an expression of a community idea. That's why I liked to supporte it too, inside of the boundaries of my abilities. But a "marketplace" on this page is something which would repell me. Bounce off and ricochet.

 

regards

Pan

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Seems like an interesting idea to me at first glance, but a few issues come to mind.  First, has the issue involving room theft been addressed/solved?  Because if not, tech-savvy thieves can get whatever they want for free thus bypassing the merchant system.  And not only that, they may be able to steal rooms that were uploaded to the game but not 3dxmodz, and sell the rooms themselves.  That’s theoretically possible, right?  Then there’s free rooms on 3dxmodz that aren’t transferable to the merchant system.  What if someone downloaded these free rooms, harvest them for small builds within (objects, rooms or sections of rooms etc), and then produce something for sale that was essentially plagiarized?  Also theoretically possible?

 

I don’t intend to be a “stick in the mud.” I just think that if a potential merchant spent a lot of time making something for sale, they ought to be secure knowing that they haven’t been ripped off (nor can they potentially be).  So yeah, seems a little tricky to me.  I’m not necessarily against the idea of sell-able builds, just a little apprehensive.  
 

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Hi, Well certainly seems you are thinking this through fully and trying to pre empt most issues, which is good. I am not a good enough builder to sell things or rooms but have always appriciated the Builders that do give their creations freely to us mere mortals lol. And I have bought a few very well built and priced items before also. I believe a lot of builders will still give freely but also understand those that wish to get some compensation for time, effort and skill. I do hope they price reasonably and realise that once bought, that item can be passed to many others. I would also suggest once an item has been sold once, it can not be then transferred to the free downloads, or the buyer will feel cheated.

As to Vat, from a EUC and British point of view, unless your part of the EUC then its down to the seller to include VAT in the price, if their business is registered for VAT and reaches the level of income required to charge it. Therefore in this instance, would not be applicable. Some one from the UK would need to be making a turn over of £90,000+ per annum to have to do this. Also even if that was the case, it is the sellers responsibility to make sure thats included in the price and collect it, not the mediator or buyer. The only concern you would have at that point is the commission would need to be 30% of the nett price excluding VAT. But highly unlikey to happen anyway. 

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Hi and thank you for the feed back so far, keep it coming!!

I just want to answer a few quick questions that have come up

 

On 7/12/2020 at 1:36 PM, MsAndrea said:

First, has the issue involving room theft been addressed/solved?

So one of the main reasons i have concidered this...Now...is because of a post by the Devs stating "Protection of User Worlds" as you can see below.

I am only presuming the Devs are coming up with a way to stop people intercepting room data and stealing the data. So this should stop this form of room theft

image.pnghttps://3dxforum.com/index.php?/topic/10971-build-420-test-server/

 

On 7/12/2020 at 1:36 PM, MsAndrea said:

What if someone downloaded these free rooms, harvest them for small builds within (objects, rooms or sections of rooms etc), and then produce something for sale that was essentially plagiarized?  Also theoretically possible?

So, i did not know this but with the announcement of the merchant system I have received lots of messages and apparently...this is a thing!! People actually Download free stuff here, turn it into a room and sell these rooms elsewhere!!...

I believe that by making products available to sell here it will discourage this from happening as you....The Modz membership....will help police this. You all Know whats available on this site a lot more than I do and I am 100% sure if there is something here for sale that can be found in the free section...you will all tell me...you all do now!!!

In addition making a place for items to be sold here will...i hope...give buyers confidence in their purchase as they will know they have the Modz community policing the content for them.

On 7/12/2020 at 6:03 PM, DavinaS said:

I would also suggest once an item has been sold once, it can not be then transferred to the free downloads, or the buyer will feel cheated.

Agree, this will be a condition that a merchant needs to agree to. I actually thought Merchants would want to see more than one copy....but it seems lots are only interested in selling an item once. that suits me :)

 

On 7/12/2020 at 6:03 PM, DavinaS said:

VAT

 

I agree, but lets not talk to much about TAX.... :)

 

 

Please keep your questions coming :)

 

regards

Nym

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
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Hi All, just a quick update

the site being offline for a week has put testing back ...well a week! :P

 

But today a commission payment was process and so far so good.

It will take a few days for the payment to complete so i can ensure the currency system is working.

 

All going well I hope to open up the Merchant system to a few players in the next two weeks.

 

 

regards

Nym

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  • 1 month later...
  • Modz Administrators

Hi all

So after a lot of testing and some annoying bugs in a plugin that was required to allow an item to only be sold once, the merchant system is now available for use by Modz Members.

If you wish to use the merchant system to sell things on the Modz site, just contact me on the site with a private message so I can explain how it works and what's involved in being a Modz Merchant.

I need to finish writing the Terms and conditions, but i plan to get to that this weekend. :)

 

cheers 

Nym

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