The following article contains some legal considerations. Please consult with a legal representative for official legal advice. The information provided here is for general knowledge only and should not be used as a basis for any legal pursuit.

Saturday, April 26 2025 at 02:30AM, the official account of IMVU sent creators a message about new changes added to the Creator Agreement. While these new changes were not highlighted, IMVU changed a major and very concerning topic: What happens to my pending income if I get disabled?

The answer is – you lose any right to request any of your available money.

If a creator has a positive money account balance at a time when the creator voluntarily terminates their account, then IMVU will continue to make monthly payments to the creator as described herein (if all other conditions to eligibility for payment are and remain satisfied). If a creator has a positive money account balance at a time when the creator’s account is suspended for violation(s) of IMVU’s Terms of Service or other policies, then IMVU shall not be obligated to make payments to the creator during such suspension. If a creator has a positive money account balance at a time when the creator’s account is permanently disabled or terminated for violation(s) of IMVU’s Terms of Service or other policies, then the creator forfeits any right to receive money earned hereunder.

The new IMVU rule says:

• • If you voluntarily close your account and you still have a positive balance, they will continue paying you monthly, as long as you still meet their payment conditions.

• • If you are suspended temporarily (for breaking rules), they pause your payments.

• • If you are permanently banned (terminated for breaking rules), you forfeit your right to the money — even if you earned it before.

So yes, under their rule:

• • If you had $10,000 pending and they ban you, they keep the money, and you get nothing.

At first glance, it might seem abusive for IMVU to simply forfeit your right to withdraw your pending money, especially since there is a system set in place called MASA (monthly average sales amount). MASA limits how much you can withdraw in a month from the money you’ve made selling products on IMVU.

For example, if you sign up to become a creator on IMVU, and make 1000$ in your first month, you will only be able to withdraw 500$ for that month, with the other 500$ becoming your available balance that you can use for the next month. The issue? For almost all creators, making 1000$ one month means that there is continuity in sales – the same person will make a few hundred dollars the next month too (at least). This system keeps your money stuck.

IMVU’s definition of MASA is:

The MASA for a creator is calculated by taking the total aggregate number of IMVU Credits that are attributed to the creator under the product derivation chain for all bona fide sales of virtual items from the IMVU catalog or sales of In App Purchases (IAP) from a developer app for most recent 12 full calendar months, multiplied by the Royalty Rate (as established by IMVU from time to time), and divided by 12.

The reality is that if you start earning a livable income, let’s say 1500$+ a month, and you are consistent with earning a high number, it takes more than 12 months to be able to withdraw 1500$ in a single month. This means that you will have hundreds of dollars pending in your account.

Before the change to the Creator Agreement, if something happened and you did something that goes against IMVU’s Terms of Service, either knowingly or unknowingly, and you get banned/disabled by IMVU permanently, you would get the money from IMVU. The following screenshot is from IMVU’s old Terms of Service, prior to April 26 2025:

Knowingly breaking IMVU’s Terms of Service as a creator

This is quite obvious, but it means doing exactly what IMVU doesn’t like: creating branded content (using logos and copyrighted materials to which you do not own the rights), creating adult products and selling them to all age groups (not just 18+ users), creating extreme adult content that would be deemed as unfit for IMVU, engaging in suspicious activities, such as using VPN with the whole purpose of bypassing location-imposed limits (music availability, credit-sending limits, etc.), artificially boosting sales of products and other activities that could be considered fraudulent in a clear matter:

In such cases, it does make sense to take away the ability from a creator to get their pending money – but only to some extent.

I say this because there are cases of creators who do just that – create only illegal content. But what happens when it’s a mixture? What happens if someone has a pending balance of 2000$ from genuine sales, but derives a product that is a stolen product, or has some depiction of aroused genitals (as we have all seen everywhere on IMVU for Access Pass/adult content)?

If that creator gets banned for a simple product mistake, and gets permanently disabled, do they lose the right to get their 2000$ money that was earned through honest, hard work? What if it’s 20,000$ stuck? This gets us to the next point:

Unknowingly breaking IMVU’s Terms of Service as a creator

Picture this: you are a long-term creator on IMVU. You know the rules. You follow them strictly because you care about your account, you care about your business. IMVU could even be your main source of income, I know that for many people it is, including myself. You derive from a bodyshape made by a top-selling creator, someone who has had a good reputation for years, just like yourself. You trust that this creator you are deriving from has created an original, fully IMVU-terms-approved.

You derive.

You make a summer collection with 5 dresses.

You get to the top page because your dresses are really that cute and worth the popularity. Congratulations, you deserve it!

Months pass, everything is fine. You cash out normally, there’s funds growing in your Available balance on IMVU, life is good, or so you think.

You wake up and check IMVU again, but – surprise, you can’t access your account. It gives you an error information that your username is disabled. You check your email.

You panic. You see a very-generic email from IMVU saying “Your account has been permanently suspended for violating IMVU’s Terms of Service. If you have any questions, please contact support.” You’re full of questions, you’re fuming and thinking that IMVU wouldn’t have enough support agents to answer all of your questions. What happened? How could it happen? Where did it go wrong?

You feel a sense of anger and desperation for hours until you get in touch with an agent, only to be greeted by generic responses that you went against IMVU’s Terms of Service and that you should have known better. You are shocked. Actually, there probably isn’t a word to describe your feelings because you did everything right, you were always careful, and now you’re trying to find out what happened to your account, to your business, to thousands and thousands of dollars stuck, money that you’ve worked for months, or years because rememeber, IMVU is your full time job and you have treated it as such.

After some more emails and asking for escalations for your ticket, you finally get the answer: the 5 summer dresses you derived from the long-lasting-good-reputation creator were UFI because the bodyshape was too sexual.

You are even more shocked wondering how it was possible, since that dress had hundreds of other derivations, all of which are still available in the shop, and those creators are still active, unlike you, the disabled one.

Turns out the bodyshape might have been too sexual, maybe it had some slight nipples that you never bothered to check in pixel-detail, because you trusted the creator community, thousands of people, who kept deriving that bodyshape, or, at least, you would have believed that other people would be in the same scenario, banned, like yourself. But it’s not the case, it’s just you, everyone else is fine.

While the scenario above might seem pushed, it might happen. What do you do? It’s unfair enough that you get disabled for a simple mistake, maybe something that you didn’t even do directly. Or the situation is of such a nature, that the world seems against you – and only you. What do you do then? It’s heartbreaking enough to lose access to your account, let alone to be denied the money from the previous months that come from genuine sales? Not even going to talk about a destroyed financial future. No security. Heck, one could argue that even the summer dresses sales could have been genuine – after all, why wouldn’t they be, since no one else seems to have gotten disabled?

Part of me thinks that there might be such cases, part of me trusts that IMVU is an ethical business with good standing practices. Even if they weren’t, as a registered business operating under Californian & US laws, they have to be. Not only that, but operating in any country worldwide makes IMVU legally responsible for adhering to laws.

Fair, unfair, legal, illegal?

It doesn’t seem fair that IMVU wouldn’t pay you the money you earned. But this isn’t a question of fairness, but rather – is it legal?

Is IMVU legally allowed to deny you the chance to your payment in case you become permanently disabled? Yes and no.

Yes, if IMVU can prove that the activity/activities you have engaged in were breaking IMVU’s Terms to such an extent that IMVU had to permanently ban you, then yes, IMVU can make the legal case against you that the money you have earned is unlawful, and therefore deny you the right to get the money.

For example, imagine a user signing up for the creator program and every single product uploaded to the shop is a ripped product from other creators. That’s pure theft. Plain and simple, aaand, I would side with IMVU in such a case – don’t allow, and don’t encourage unethical behaviors.

But, again, the issue is in gray-cases. Surely there are creators who make genuine products, but sometimes like adding ripped products to their shop, or have the bad luck of deriving (unknowingly) products that aren’t original, thus risking getting DMCA takedowns and potentially getting banned.

In the United States, companies can include forfeiture clauses (such as the new Creator Agreement update) in their contracts. Courts often uphold them if:

• • They are clearly written in the ToS.

• • They are not grossly unfair (what’s called “unconscionable”).

However, in some jurisdictions (like parts of Europe), consumer protection laws may make such forfeiture clauses unenforceable, especially if they are one-sided (all risk on the user, none on the company).

If IMVU bans you unfairly just to keep your money, then yes, that could be illegal. But if you violate their rules (and it’s provable), courts usually side with the company.

In short:

• • If you really break IMVU’s Terms (copyright violations, fraud, etc.), they can legally deny you the money.

• • If IMVU makes a mistake, or bans you unfairly, you could potentially sue or demand payment.

• • Unfortunately, lawsuits are extremely expensive, but in cases where you, the user/creator, have a strong case that your ban was not justified for a permanent ban, you can fight back.

Legal Matters

For many people, myself included, IMVU is a full time job. It’s a business. While the average hobby-creator probably wouldn’t want to fight back an undeserved account termination, the big players would. And the laws would be on our side – only if we play the game by the rules.

While it might be expensive, in gray-cases, or in abusive account-termination cases by IMVU, contacting a lawyer to resolve the issue might not be very costly. You could find a lawyer who could help you with no upfront charges, basically for free (they would demand payment afterwards if they win the case, and they can ask for more money than just the pending amounts from the banned-creator’s account).

For example, Europe has extremely strong laws against platforms that act unfairly or abusively toward freelancers (IMVU creators can be considered freelancers, or, at least, money-making users).

I will use Germany as an example (because I live here) – many lawyers offer free consultations. After that, if they think your case is strong, they might offer a success-based fee (especially if it’s about unpaid earnings). It is possible to claim not just the pending money, but damages too:

If IMVU bans you without proper proof, and you lose both your earnings and future business (clients, reputation), you could sue for:

• • The money owed

• • Damages for lost income, court fees, or emotional stress depending on the case.

Example of laws that protect creators against abusive account terminations

European Laws

1. EU Unfair Contract Terms Directive (93/13/EEC)

(Protects consumers from abusive contract terms)

Key Article:

Article 3(1):
“A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.”

In simple terms:
If IMVU’s Terms of Service are one-sided (they can keep your money if they ban you but you can’t do anything back), it can be considered legally unfair.

Important: In the EU, small creators and freelancers are often treated like consumers, not businesses, meaning you get this protection.

2. Digital Content and Digital Services Directive (EU) 2019/770

(Governs digital service providers)

Key Articles:

Article 12(2):
“In the event of termination of the contract, the supplier shall reimburse the consumer for any payments made under the contract.”

And:

Article 14(4):
“The supplier shall not be entitled to any compensation for the use of the digital content or digital service prior to the termination.”

In simple terms:
If your account is terminated, IMVU must return what is yours — they cannot confiscate the money you already earned unless they have legal proof of serious violations (like fraud, crime, etc.).

3. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Regulation (EU) 2016/679

(Gives you the right to access your personal data, including ban reasons)

Key Articles:

Article 15 – Right of access by the data subject
“The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning him or her are being processed, and access to […] the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned, and the recipients.”

In simple terms:
If they ban you and don’t fully explain why, you can legally demand all information about why you were banned — in detail.
If they don’t answer or are vague, it can be used as proof of unfair treatment in court.

4. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

(Highest level protection inside the EU)

Key Article:

Article 17(1) – Right to property
“Everyone has the right to own, use, dispose of and bequeath his or her lawfully acquired possessions.”

In simple terms:
Your earned money is your property.
A platform cannot just steal it without a serious, lawful reason and proof.
If IMVU keeps your earnings without real cause, it violates your fundamental property rights under EU law.

US Laws

1. Contract Law (General Principle in All U.S. States)

Under U.S. law, terms in a contract (like IMVU’s Terms of Service) must be:

• • Clear and definite

• • Consistent with public policy

• • Mutually fair (no “unconscionable” terms)

Key legal principle:

A court can strike down a contract or contract clause that is “unconscionable,” meaning so unfair to one party that it shocks the conscience.

Example Case:

• • Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co., 350 F.2d 445 (D.C. Cir. 1965)

• • Ruling: A contract that is grossly unfair or deceptive can be invalidated.

Simple meaning for you:
If IMVU says “we can keep all your money for any violation” without clear and reasonable justification, a U.S. court could call that unconscionable and invalidate that clause.

2. Unfair Business Practices Laws (State-specific)

Each U.S. state has a consumer protection law against unfair or deceptive practices. Some examples:

Example wording (California Business & Professions Code § 17200):

“Unfair competition shall mean and include any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice.”

Simple meaning for you:
If IMVU takes your money after you earn it without fair reason, you could sue them under state law for unfair business practices.

3. Good Faith and Fair Dealing (Implied in All U.S. Contracts)

In every U.S. state, there is an implied covenant in all contracts called:

“Good Faith and Fair Dealing“

It means:
Even if it’s not written explicitly, IMVU must act honestly and fairly toward you.
They cannot abuse their power or take actions that unreasonably deprive you of your earnings.

Key case example:

• • Market Street Associates Ltd. Partnership v. Frey, 941 F.2d 588 (7th Cir. 1991)

Court ruled:

A party breaches the duty of good faith when it exploits contractual terms in a way that violates the spirit of the agreement.

Simple meaning for you:
Even if IMVU says “we can ban you anytime,” they still must act fairly — they cannot just ban you to avoid paying.

4. Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) – 15 U.S.C. §§ 41–58

This U.S. federal law prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce.

Key part:

Section 5:
“Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are declared unlawful.”

Simple meaning for you:
If IMVU misleads you into thinking you’ll get paid, then bans you to avoid it, that can be reported to the FTC as an illegal deceptive business practice.

(Note: FTC complaints are serious; while the FTC usually fines companies, your complaint could be used as strong evidence if you sue.)

Key Takeaways

To be very honest with you, the cases I know of where genuine creators were banned “for no reason” (as they stated on social media), were actually not genuine. Yes, IMVU had the right to suspect and take action against these users/creators, as they were engaging in some shady business practices (artificially boosting sales), or doing illegal things (adding stolen products, creating branded content, etc.). If anything, all users from such scenarios had plenty of time to rethink their unethical practices and adjust accordingly – but they didn’t for a long period, or, at least, these creators engaged in multiple such activities seen as illegal. Then IMVU stepped in.

IMVU is and has been a clear, truthful, lawfully-abiding company. While I don’t agree with some of their policies and business practices (e.g. MASA, support team doesn’t offer much help in unban requests, denied payment requests, etc.) IMVU is a California-based company that has been legally operating and continuously providing a creative platform for millions of users worldwide.

Despite its imperfections, and despite the new Creator Agreement, my advice to every ethical, concerned creator reading this article: do not panic.

My advice to every concerned creator, the ones that knowingly add stolen goods, branded content, UFI products (and thus make a mockery out of every terms-abiding hard-working creator): panic.

While the new terms are stricter, and they seem discouraging to good-standing creator accounts, I believe the opposite: I believe IMVU is making it easier to encourage ethical creating, to motivate OG creators to continue their hard work and submit new, original creations. I do believe that IMVU will not punish gray-area zones, isolated cases, honest mistakes that creators make (such as the example above of deriving a very popular mesh product), but will instead target the obvious, blatant rule-breaker creators who have been creating and not giving a flying duck about any kind of rules, the ones that broke the trust within the creator community where users feel let down by IMVU not taking enough action against boosters, thieves, etc.

This shift could mark the beginning of a stronger, more supportive creator environment — one where originality, fairness, and true creativity are finally put back in the spotlight. For those who build, create, and contribute with integrity, the future is looking brighter than ever.