How is it possible and even legal for MASA to shrink on a creator account that has exactly 16,883.84$ available balance, pending money 1800$ and MASA shrinking for the 4th consecutive month, even though every other metric is going up by a lot?
To make a very clear picture for everyone reading this:
January Payout Request: $2666.06
February Payout Request: $2900
March Payout Request: $3000
April Payout Request: $2943.87
May Payout Request: $2900
June Payout Request: $2828.65
July Payout Request: $2762.47
The lowest the income of the account was about 2200$ in March, then went up again. During this time, I had an available balance of at least 16,000$ (aka stuck money that I can't touch because IMVU won't let me get my own money).
I've had an absurd amount stuck since forever. For example, last year in August, the metrics were the following:
Available: $16,642.39
Pending: $1,417.70
MASA: $1,621,77
Over the course of one year, my MASA grew up to $2762.47 as of today, yet my available balance has been stuck for one year at around 15-17,000$ (just for this account).
If MASA is a median of the last 12 months of earnings, why keep it a secret? I want to be able to calculate how much I can withdraw every month.
One of the aspects IMVU covered about MASA was that is was set in place to help both creators and IMVU itself, as IMVU for example gets its money from transactions from the Apple Store after 90 days. If 90 days is the longest time IMVU waits for its payments, then every user should be able to withdraw EVERY cent they made today in 90 days (the latest).
If MASA is set in place to protect me as a creator, how come if I forget to withdraw this month of July for example, no one will pay me double next month in August? How is that remotely fair, IMVU?
To have so much money stuck and being unable to cash it out in this endless circle of "you have to work this much and at this high level until you die" to get your money is absolutely insane.
I'm at around 30,000$ stuck in total.
That would be enough for me to get a mortgage and pay significantly less on monthly bills. Because I can't touch that money, my own money, on average I lose about 600$ every month because of this simple fact.
But maybe owning your own place is a luxury and IMVU wants to keep it like that, but let me ask you this, IMVU:
What do I do if I need a lot of money for an upcoming life-saving surgery?
This is actually a true story and a genuine question. I've been saving up for 2 years now and it's not enough because daily life costs, rent costs, utilities cost, taxes cost. It would be more than enough if I could access my own money (all 30,000$ stuck in 4 account balances) - I'd have enough to start the process of everything related to living a normal life, scans, MRI, blood tests and the surgery itself (plus anything follow-up).
What do I do? Do I go to the doctors, tell them that I will pay them later, get some documents which I can show to the money team for them to take pity on me and give me maaaybe 1000$ extra on my payment request? I can't do that, nor should I have to justify why I need my own money.
I'm not looking for sympathy from anyone, I am just asking for a real life case, my own case. I'm not even asking IMVU or anyone else for anything other than access to my own money. Everyone else has a story like I do. Everyone should be able to access their own money, even if it's delayed.
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3 months ago
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Posted by “ShopTina” on July 08, 2023.
[Archived]
Unless expressly addressed in the ToS, a family can legally take over an account in the USA (if allowed) with a last will and testamate that accounts for online accounts. You will need a copy of the Will, a death certificate, and the executor of the estate would have to contact IMVU and set up a transfer of the account to the new owner.
Some companies, Like Apple, will NEVER hand over an account in the untimely demise of it's account holder, and instead slate the account to be deleted in 3-6 months. Google, Microsoft however account for deaths and will (with proper documentation) hand over control of the account to the new account holder.
On a side note, as with any online information, doing your own research and laws for your country/state/province is always a must.
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Communityposted
3 months ago
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Posted by “Shiva” on July 05, 2023.
[Archived]
It's heartbreaking that this is a valid question... even more so with MASA locking tens of thousands of dollars for years.
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Communityposted
3 months ago
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Posted by “ManillaSets” on July 05, 2023.
[Archived]
As I've understood it, if your account gets disabled you'll be paid your Available and Pending balance at the end of June or the end of December, whichever comes first. It's somewhere in the TOS I think. So if your account gets disabled at least you'll get your money much faster, I guess, lol.
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3 months ago
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Posted by “FaithShaw” on July 03, 2023.
[Archived]
Forgive me if I shouldn't post this here but I believe this also leads to a question I have been asking for years though I have never been given any information, nor a place to direct this message towards. nor have I seen any direction to the concerns of my question! Perhaps it's going unnoticed. Though, I mainly worry and feel like it's being ignored.
What happens when a creator dies?
Will that money be given to IMVU, or can IMVU put something in place where the money goes to my next of kin?
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Communityposted
3 months ago
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Posted by “Cheo” on July 02, 2023.
[Archived]
I agree there needs to be a happy medium. I would be perfectly OK with IMVU withholding our income until the 90 day Apple period is up, but I'm in a similar boat - money stuck in “Available” that, at this rate, I’ll never have access to.
This is money we have already earned, in some cases YEARS ago. That is money I could have been earning interest on in my own bank account, or invested, or like other users have stated, used to simply exist. If I had been able to cash it out at the time I earned it I could have earned a better exchange rate on it. And look at recent inflation: one dollar earned 3 years ago doesn’t have the same buying power as a dollar earned today. $1000 cash three years ago would have bought me a lot more than if I was handed that $1000 today. I earned that money three years ago so why does IMVU get to hold on to it indefinitely?
I understand that IMVU has a MASA to help prevent theft/abuse of the system. But if you have an established account that has been running for years, I think the rules need to be relaxed a bit, to allow creators to have access to their own money. Similar to how MASA stays $500 for a year. After that year is up you should have access to any money earned after 90 days, imo.
What happens if my account gets banned? I’ve had products erroneously flagged and re-rated, only to be reinstated after I followed up. I live in fear that a simple miscommunication or oversight will result in the banning of my account and the loss of thousands of hard earned dollars. Money that has been sitting there for years, untouchable.
My sales and therefore my MASA took a huge dive these last three months when the shop algorithm was broken. They’re slowly rebounding now that the algorithm has been fixed, but that doesn’t help my MASA situation, which is now low due to no fault of my own. It will take me a year to make up for 3 months of bad sales/MASA, meanwhile money I have earned is sitting in an account I could lose any day, also through no fault of my own.
It’s adding so much anxiety and stress when it doesn’t need to.
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Communityposted
3 months ago
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Posted by “Nums” on July 02, 2023.
[Archived]
I hope more people chime in on this. I agree that it's fine to withhold some money due to things you mentioned here (like the 90 day Apple Store part) but the reality is IMVU keeps your money for years.
That money of yours that IMVU is keeping is money you could be investing yourself, or spending it on things incredibly important.
I feel so embarrassed explaining my IMVU income to my family. They immediately think I'm being scammed. The worst part is I can't even explain the whole process because I don't fully know how it works since IMVU keeps our pay a secret. 6 months should be the maximum time IMVU is allowed to hold your money, and even that is questionably too long of a period.
IMVU, please revisit MASA.
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Posted by “Shiva” on July 01, 2023.
[Archived]How is it possible and even legal for MASA to shrink on a creator account that has exactly 16,883.84$ available balance, pending money 1800$ and MASA shrinking for the 4th consecutive month, even though every other metric is going up by a lot?
To make a very clear picture for everyone reading this:
January Payout Request: $2666.06
February Payout Request: $2900
March Payout Request: $3000
April Payout Request: $2943.87
May Payout Request: $2900
June Payout Request: $2828.65
July Payout Request: $2762.47
The lowest the income of the account was about 2200$ in March, then went up again. During this time, I had an available balance of at least 16,000$ (aka stuck money that I can't touch because IMVU won't let me get my own money).
I've had an absurd amount stuck since forever. For example, last year in August, the metrics were the following:
Available: $16,642.39
Pending: $1,417.70
MASA: $1,621,77
Over the course of one year, my MASA grew up to $2762.47 as of today, yet my available balance has been stuck for one year at around 15-17,000$ (just for this account).
If MASA is a median of the last 12 months of earnings, why keep it a secret? I want to be able to calculate how much I can withdraw every month.
One of the aspects IMVU covered about MASA was that is was set in place to help both creators and IMVU itself, as IMVU for example gets its money from transactions from the Apple Store after 90 days. If 90 days is the longest time IMVU waits for its payments, then every user should be able to withdraw EVERY cent they made today in 90 days (the latest).
If MASA is set in place to protect me as a creator, how come if I forget to withdraw this month of July for example, no one will pay me double next month in August? How is that remotely fair, IMVU?
To have so much money stuck and being unable to cash it out in this endless circle of "you have to work this much and at this high level until you die" to get your money is absolutely insane.
I'm at around 30,000$ stuck in total.
That would be enough for me to get a mortgage and pay significantly less on monthly bills. Because I can't touch that money, my own money, on average I lose about 600$ every month because of this simple fact.
But maybe owning your own place is a luxury and IMVU wants to keep it like that, but let me ask you this, IMVU:
What do I do if I need a lot of money for an upcoming life-saving surgery?
This is actually a true story and a genuine question. I've been saving up for 2 years now and it's not enough because daily life costs, rent costs, utilities cost, taxes cost. It would be more than enough if I could access my own money (all 30,000$ stuck in 4 account balances) - I'd have enough to start the process of everything related to living a normal life, scans, MRI, blood tests and the surgery itself (plus anything follow-up).
What do I do? Do I go to the doctors, tell them that I will pay them later, get some documents which I can show to the money team for them to take pity on me and give me maaaybe 1000$ extra on my payment request? I can't do that, nor should I have to justify why I need my own money.
I'm not looking for sympathy from anyone, I am just asking for a real life case, my own case. I'm not even asking IMVU or anyone else for anything other than access to my own money. Everyone else has a story like I do. Everyone should be able to access their own money, even if it's delayed.
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6 Comments
Community posted 3 months ago Admin
Posted by “ShopTina” on July 08, 2023.
[Archived]Unless expressly addressed in the ToS, a family can legally take over an account in the USA (if allowed) with a last will and testamate that accounts for online accounts. You will need a copy of the Will, a death certificate, and the executor of the estate would have to contact IMVU and set up a transfer of the account to the new owner.
Some companies, Like Apple, will NEVER hand over an account in the untimely demise of it's account holder, and instead slate the account to be deleted in 3-6 months. Google, Microsoft however account for deaths and will (with proper documentation) hand over control of the account to the new account holder.
A couple of articles I found are located here Roche Legal and How to Geek
On a side note, as with any online information, doing your own research and laws for your country/state/province is always a must.
0 Votes
Community posted 3 months ago Admin
Posted by “Shiva” on July 05, 2023.
[Archived]It's heartbreaking that this is a valid question... even more so with MASA locking tens of thousands of dollars for years.
0 Votes
Community posted 3 months ago Admin
Posted by “ManillaSets” on July 05, 2023.
[Archived]As I've understood it, if your account gets disabled you'll be paid your Available and Pending balance at the end of June or the end of December, whichever comes first. It's somewhere in the TOS I think. So if your account gets disabled at least you'll get your money much faster, I guess, lol.
0 Votes
Community posted 3 months ago Admin
Posted by “FaithShaw” on July 03, 2023.
[Archived]Forgive me if I shouldn't post this here but I believe this also leads to a question I have been asking for years though I have never been given any information, nor a place to direct this message towards. nor have I seen any direction to the concerns of my question! Perhaps it's going unnoticed. Though, I mainly worry and feel like it's being ignored.
What happens when a creator dies?
Will that money be given to IMVU, or can IMVU put something in place where the money goes to my next of kin?
0 Votes
Community posted 3 months ago Admin
Posted by “Cheo” on July 02, 2023.
[Archived]I agree there needs to be a happy medium. I would be perfectly OK with IMVU withholding our income until the 90 day Apple period is up, but I'm in a similar boat - money stuck in “Available” that, at this rate, I’ll never have access to.
This is money we have already earned, in some cases YEARS ago. That is money I could have been earning interest on in my own bank account, or invested, or like other users have stated, used to simply exist. If I had been able to cash it out at the time I earned it I could have earned a better exchange rate on it. And look at recent inflation: one dollar earned 3 years ago doesn’t have the same buying power as a dollar earned today. $1000 cash three years ago would have bought me a lot more than if I was handed that $1000 today. I earned that money three years ago so why does IMVU get to hold on to it indefinitely?
I understand that IMVU has a MASA to help prevent theft/abuse of the system. But if you have an established account that has been running for years, I think the rules need to be relaxed a bit, to allow creators to have access to their own money. Similar to how MASA stays $500 for a year. After that year is up you should have access to any money earned after 90 days, imo.
What happens if my account gets banned? I’ve had products erroneously flagged and re-rated, only to be reinstated after I followed up. I live in fear that a simple miscommunication or oversight will result in the banning of my account and the loss of thousands of hard earned dollars. Money that has been sitting there for years, untouchable.
My sales and therefore my MASA took a huge dive these last three months when the shop algorithm was broken. They’re slowly rebounding now that the algorithm has been fixed, but that doesn’t help my MASA situation, which is now low due to no fault of my own. It will take me a year to make up for 3 months of bad sales/MASA, meanwhile money I have earned is sitting in an account I could lose any day, also through no fault of my own.
It’s adding so much anxiety and stress when it doesn’t need to.
0 Votes
Community posted 3 months ago Admin
Posted by “Nums” on July 02, 2023.
[Archived]I hope more people chime in on this. I agree that it's fine to withhold some money due to things you mentioned here (like the 90 day Apple Store part) but the reality is IMVU keeps your money for years.
That money of yours that IMVU is keeping is money you could be investing yourself, or spending it on things incredibly important.
I feel so embarrassed explaining my IMVU income to my family. They immediately think I'm being scammed. The worst part is I can't even explain the whole process because I don't fully know how it works since IMVU keeps our pay a secret. 6 months should be the maximum time IMVU is allowed to hold your money, and even that is questionably too long of a period.
IMVU, please revisit MASA.
0 Votes