@Kruxt, Orclover's theory doesn't take into account that many peeps may have bought this and any other controversial card, just in order to find out what all the ruckass was about..lol...quite apart from the sex. And they would have thought of this..so @Team can't truely expect first sales gives an accurate guide to iStripper use in popularity of the meme generally anyway . However, by using memes it certainly may open up their push more into social media, fresh customers & thats good :-)

In the style of Grabandt, for once a meme sums things up perfectly :D

I just want to say, that 24 credits is indeed to expensive for 1 card imo even if its a cosplay one, so I didnt buy it because of that, simpel as that. I still prefer the old pricing aswell but I'm not gonna whine about that. 16 credits is a good price imo and the maximum price I want to pay (Unless its a really special card like the one with the 4 models in 1 card). So I surely hope it wont get more expensive in the future.

@Kruxt
I feel sorry for you.. A simple price question did not do this.

@goldiecharleston
Yikes....That would be another can of worms right now I belive :).

This is not a Moderator Post, Just Me posting my Thoughts

My whole take on this issue is this..
you go shopping in a store.
There are multiple Brands of the Same Item... A, B and X
???? Is there some Pop up or Advance notice to let you Know Brand A will cost you 30% more...
Is there a Bright Flashing Sign, when you Pick up Brand X...

Blink Blink Blink... This one is 30% More Expensive Blink Blink Blink

or do you have to look at each one to see it's price.
if it's edible.... Do you get to Sample a taste of it First, and then decide if it's worth the price???

the Answer is: in most case, NO...
It's up to you the Buyer, to
1) discover the Price of Brand A, B, and X
2) decide if you want the Bargain Brand, or if you want the Premium brand

Totem has no obligation to Explain their Pricing...
they can darn well Price the Card(s) how they See Fit, without having to Explain... X Y Z to every one...

This is an Excellent Card.. I think it will be a Collectors Card.. One to Have...

Sample the Demos.. Buy it if you like, Don't buy it if you don't
But Stop demanding that Totem explain every little detail...

Totem,
I love this Idea.. ( A collector Series that carries a Premium Price )
Doesn't have to be Just Cosplay. Could be An Card for any Reason,
Give it a Different Card Image Style. Have some type of Different / Special Clip content..
an Outfit, a Prop, a Role Play... Something that sets it apart...
It's a Collectors Series, and Charge a Premium Price for It / Them...
One a Month or Something like that..

Then You No Need to explain why... It's Simple, It's part of the Collectors Series ..

To be honest i think looking at things from a business perspective what's ultimately going to have to happen is that Totem needs to get rid of the forum all together. Because as a company trying to do certain things to get new users and a larger client base all this back and forth that we all do on a regular basis is not a good look to new people coming in. If i'm a new guy reading these posts and comments i'd think the company was always trying to pull a fast one on their customers. Alot of sites like these don't even have a forum just a comment section.

@Ironman: I respectfully disagree. This forum has kept me as an active member for around 3 years.

Without the forum, problems won't get fixed nor advances in the software. Our community here is one of the best I've found, if not THE best! :)

From Wyldanimal
you go shopping in a store.
There are multiple Brands of the Same Item... A, B and X
???? Is there some Pop up or Advance notice to let you Know Brand A will cost you 30% more...
Is there a Bright Flashing Sign, when you Pick up Brand X... or do you have to look at each one to see it's price.
if it's edible.... Do you get to Sample a taste of it First, and then decide if it's worth the price???
the Answer is: in most case, NO...
It's up to you the Buyer, to
1) discover the Price of Brand A, B, and X
2) decide if you want the Bargain Brand, or if you want the Premium brand

I agree, partially.
The main difference, here, is that EVERY new card is release at 25 credits, not counting our member rebate.
This is the standard (except for the 4 girls cards, of course).
So...surely many members buy this card...without noticing the higher price.
I didn't, only because i always check the Virtuagirl forum, with the last topics used...and peoples were ***** on it.

My take.
Totem should say in the card description if this is a special card, at higher price.
like they did with the 4 girls card...
Simply because they were transparent before.
Now they change.
Facebook, youtube, tweeter concours,...
this card at higher price...to surf on the movie release...
and with an explanation...only because some peoples ***** about it.

I didn't mean my speculation to be a negative. I know Rex is a very smart business man who has worked with this product for a very long time. My theory would be a good thing for the company to do, raise the price for those who DEMAND the card in the moment, and when the demand drops over time, give some discounts. That is generally how sales of all things work. The demand for Estonika was unusually high, the price was set to match that, and with their new discount system I imagine the price will come down. Now those who bought first may be upset, but they will already be focused on the new thing that they must have, as collectors, and the extra 90 cents will be inconsequential. Their previous discount system was a great idea because it ***** people who love deals, like me, to make a decision in a short period of time. And almost universally I bought any card that I thought I may want later. Now I just buy one card for each girl, and if I get a good review on the girl I may buy later. At this point there is no incentive buy the day of release.

And for those upset about not noticing the price increase. They put the price in bright red, and then they gave us a notification that we were buying the card, for said price. I noticed, went to the forum to make sure it wasn't a bug. Waited for confirmation from the staff as to reasoning and then bought it. Notifications, and extra coding requires new releases of software, and extra money and we should not need THREE notifications that we are buying a card. One is fair.

Oh I don't know, the price for UHD cards has been the same for ... drumroll ... almost around 700 cards, with the one exception of sex on the beach, which got a special post. Aside from the overall change in pricing system I rarely notice the price - because it's always been standardized. That's why it would be nice to have a premium card system in place in the future to avoid this exact situation. Because we know that there are more premium cards to come, right Totem? :p

The idea that it's a superstore is a bit off. There is only one brand. Totem. No brand B, certainly no brand X. They shut that one down for piracy! :)

The idea that you go in for your usual brand of ice cool totem energy drink and today it's 17.50cr because, you know... it's hot...

I now expect much, much more of the same. ;)

Just having fun pouring gas on the fire!

:)

I think it's an interesting comparison though. I never liked the costumes of the old days, I thought they looked cheap and cheesy. Estonika's was pretty well done so I give them credit for that.

The price increase seems a little excessive to me (and like some others I wondered if it would eventually drop), I think 25-30% would have been more reasonable, but I guess in the end only the actual numbers will determine whether it was worth it to Totem.

The biggest problem I have is that it wasn't even mentioned until people *****. Another big misstep IMO. Many of the decisions made by Totem really boggle my mind.

Hey guys,

I fell into the category of "OMG it's the Harley Quinn card" and just hit download without checking the price. I wasn't too happy when I noticed how much I paid.

The makeup, hair and costume are all amazing but what saved me from being angry that I paid extra was the model who did a fantastic job, she is very energetic and used the props very well. To me this should be the normal standard of creativity that Totem should have to create a POD with other adult sites.

Lately you have provided some very beatiful models but the standard of direction in the shows is very boring, the routines are so similar, no theme to them like this card has.

I'm glad to hear the performance is good. I agree with you that so many of the models recently have been quite dull. It's ***** because they're all beautiful women. I've always thought that far too many of them aren't selected for their moves and body language.

With respect guys, the last 2 posts boggle me

@gdavis

The biggest problem I have is that it wasn't even mentioned until people *****

@xfmmx

I agree with you that so many of the models recently have been quite dull.

1. See pic above: the only problem I see is that the price on the 'girls page' on preview gets covered by the 'See me Naked' sign.

2. Kudos to Makeup, Hair, Costuming & Choreography Teams and the recent Models who I believe are the opposite of dull, in fact engaging & recently better than ever.

Not all my posts are some form of moderation and this fits in the "not moderating" category
Just me sharing my thoughts on the matter

This whole thing is a little disappointing for me to see here in the forum

The members ***** about wanting diversity
The members say they want new stuff
The members ***** about wanting hotter girls
​The members say they want more role playing
The members ***** about wanting better and different outfits
(Of course, not every member is saying this stuff)

​Totem attempts to give the members what they're reading that they want

Some members ***** even louder

​Some people want to demand that Totem explain themselves and want full disclosure about all the decisions they make

My response to that is........
Totem already shares way more information with the members than they need to and they interact with the members more than any other site I've poked around in

​Then we have the ones saying stuff that comes across as..........
"Wait, you mean this stuff will cost more and we have to pay more for it ?
I'm not paying more !
Nevermind !!
​You can keep it !!!"

Those sort of responses are Very Disaapointing to me

Anyway........
Moving on

91hebasu

I've been involved in large scale custom information system specification, design and development for maybe 35 years. I'm not at all surprised to learn that people want more than they are willing to pay for or that they feel they are being overcharged. I think this is human nature. It is disappointing, but it is human nature.

@91:

I know we've had our differences and at times I've fallen foul of the rules. I've never intended to do that deliberately.

But I have to agree with everything you just said 100%.

I'm not trying to suck up or anything like that, I just happen to think the same way as 91 when it comes to Totem staying in business so we can all keep enjoying the beautiful girls we have access to :) Totem ALWAYS listen to us guys here and try their best to give us what we, AS a Community want to see.

I'm VERY happy with how iStripper is evolving in almost every way. There are still a couple of bugs to fix and improvements to be made but I'm sure they will come soon.
Thanks to ALL! :D

You can't please all the people all of the time, you can only please some of the people some of the time.

This card didn't appeal to me, the cost was immaterial. I like the cards featuring a girl properly dressed in a sexy dress who slowly reveals, if the girl is wearing a tatty pair of shorts or whatever, to me that says she hasn't made an effort so why should I bother to buy the card and that was my objection to this card and the reason why I didn't buy it.

I do however recognise we all have different tastes so there is really no point in ***** because if there is a market Totem will endeavour to satisfy it, if there is no market, they won't.

I haven't seen one post where a member has ***** and said they don't want different outfits, role playing etc, they have questioned the value of the product against the price, pretty reasonable thing to do, do I believe I got value for money, you ask yourself that in most transactions.

Totem don't have to explain themselves, they will make a decision based purely on sales of this card and if it made a profit. Is this card having any impact on future sales, postively or negatively. The decison will be sales driven not by members comments.

Some of these posts come across as Totem has done everyone a favour and that everyone should be grateful. Totem has made a business decison based on member requests to provide a product they can then make money on, no friends, just business,

Cheers ...

I'm still trying to make up my mind on how I feel about this card. Totem has the right to charge what it wants for a given card but the cost of these cards are rising at a cernering rate. I started paying $1 then it bacome about $1.40 per card .. and now this card is worth $2.20? If there were 2 girls in the card I could understand but did the make-up really cost that much?

Any case I may get the card but if I do I'll pass on 2 other cards. I've gone to buying cards monthy instead of weekly and there are more than a couple handful of cards I am considering .. it will be hard deciding if I want that card more than 2 others I would have to pass on.

That said I do like costume / cos-play cards and hope that they will help Totem to increase it's customer base so that they can produce more cards like these without the addition cost to members.

...
Those sort of responses are Very Disaapointing to me

Your response is very disappointing to me as you seem to have completely missed the point. At least you took your moderator hat off so I realize it's just your opinion and not an official response :)

I guess I'm in a mood to try and clarify what I feel is the issue for anyone who is interested, so here it is:

When you take a product that has had a very specific and well established pricing structure then suddenly jack it up 60%, people are going to wonder why. Nobody is demanding "full disclosure", but some sort of acknowledgement in the marketing blurb to give CUSTOMERS a reason to pay more than they're accustomed to is nothing more than common business sense. It's basic marketing to give your CUSTOMERS a reason to spend their hard earned money. If totem feels they're truly "giving customers what they have been asking for", they should be shouting it from the roof tops: "Look! Here it is, what you've been asking for, an extra special cosplay..." Instead it came off as, I don't want to say "just another card", but there wasn't anything in the presentation that really made this standout as being so different to justify the price increase.

I don't know, maybe it's a US thing where we're accustomed to vendors trying much harder to convince customers to spend money, but I think this is the root of the reactions you're seeing, not that people expect an internal business justification or don't expect to pay more to get more. People want to know what they're paying for. If I was at a store talking with a sales person, I would ask, "why is this card more than this other one" and expect a description of what makes the more expensive one better and why I should pay more for it. Again, just basic marketing, you've gotta sell it.

Hi Guys,

Some of you are wondering why Harley XX card is more expensive and I agree that you deserve some explanations.

Actually this card is absolutely one of a kind :

• Une lignCosplay has not been cheap! We have created all special pieces of this outfit like the baseball bat and the t-shirt. And you can believe me when I tell you that was hell of a job! e
• The makeup is quite particular and asked lot of time to our make up artist. And you know that time is money.
• The card layout is unique and can trully be considered like a collector item
• We have created lot of artworks with this card like wallpapers, special skin (available soon), etc.
• And finally we know we have a high demand on this cosplay since the Harley Quinn madness is in full swing.

Cheers :)

I'll adress some pointers.

• Une Ligne provides class A fashion products for companies. That is not cost effective at all, and i can't even tell what item you got from them to use in this shoot.
  
• The make-up is NOT special by any means. Yes time is money, there is also a thing called planning so you wont spent more time or money then planned. This was planned wasn't it?
  
• All cards are unique and different, how is this different from being different? With that said, all cards are collectors items, thats what we do here, collect cards.
  
• Artworks... *facepalm*
  
• You already did know Harley was in high demand, and you exploited it to the fullest, right in time with the release of the movie.
  

These are all poor excuses, now if you would have to a pay a license to use the DC character, now that would make sense. But i presume you have not, and you might get in trouble for selling the likeness of their copyrighted character. Unless that all has been cleared.

This is bad business on several points, and i hope this will not become common practice.

@gdavis and @Kaandorpius
You write exactly, what i think.
Thank you very much, gentlemen.

The magic words are "transparency" and "communication".

My favorite game, heroes and generals, is situated in Denmark and I haven't heard a peep from their top brass since June...and they released a broken patch right before they left for vacation. Eerily similar to totem. I am guessing european vacation has interfered with some decision making. I am fine with it, as long as the status quo returns in September.

This not a moderator Post.
I think Totem did not need to give any details.
a Simple,
"the card cost more to Produce"
without specifics would have been more than enough information.

I'm hoping for more cards like this, Part of a Collectors Series.
I fully believe the higher cost is justified on Totems part.
good golly miss molly, you are all yelping like it was $100

Totem's sales metrics will tell the story to them.
member complaints is a part of it, but the bottom line is their sales.
If they do well, then the cost is more than justified, and maybe we will see more Specialty cards.
If Not, then this will be a One Time release, stifled by member complaints, and lack of sales.

i respectfully disagree, sir wyldanimal

"the card cost more to Produce"
without specifics would have been more than enough information.

maybe. the point is the timing. this info in advance, i had watched the demo and
not bought the card because there is nothing special. no need to waste more words.
(at the usual price i buy allmost all cards without watching the demo clips)

some hours after the release a rediculous explanation like "harley quinn is en vogue
at the moment" and "we build wallpapers and skins" is pretty insolent.

i had my own skins for virtual girl, but totem dont let me use this software any longer,
now the buyers of 1 card should pay for skins and wallpapers? really?

the problem is not the price, the problem is the bad timing, transparency and the
anti-community-behavior.
keep in mind, istripper only works WITH the users.
the video- and soundquality is much better than before, so if its necessary to higher
the price, to keep the quality on this high level and the istripper thing alive, lets talk
about! im sure, it is needless to tell the users lame stories, if the price is fair.

maybe next time totem will have an eye on a better timing and nothing like this thread
will happen.

nevertheless, i like the vgirl...dbabes...istripper thing very much

I have just returned fo seeing ***** Squad at our local cinema, having during the past couple of days processed a number of Screen shots of Estonica as Harley Quin. I must say that this has left me much more pleased with the card and therefore more accepting of its extra cost. I think we should have more faith in Totem. when it says its costs were higher for this card. My choice of a background of one of Monet's panoramic Nymphea Paintings as backgound reflected the somewhat gently image Estonica presents as Harley Quin, putting me in mind of a water ***** ( they can be crafty at times. ( think of the Rhine maidens in Wagner's Ring Cycle. ) The last shot is I hope decent enough to qualify on this page.

Who could ever forget the Rhine maidens in Wagner's Ring Cycle...???......:@

Assuming ??? + WTF, I take it Wagner is not your thing DIDGEDRUM ? However, in some productions they would not be at all out of place on iStripper. :-)