IMVU Economy

IMVU contains its own economy with a currency system based on IMVU "credits" and "promotional credits." A third form of currency also exists for members who sell custom-made items, "developer tokens," which are earned when a user purchases an item with "promo credits," also known as "predits." Credits can be purchased online using actual currency either directly from IMVU or from third party resellers. Credits may also be purchased on IMVU gift cards available from retail outlets such as department stores. Credits may not be transferred back from IMVU to actual currency but can be sold to registered resellers who will purchase them for real-world currency. The credits are used by members to purchase virtual items like fashion pieces (hair, clothes, skins, and accessories), pets, and 3D scenes such as homes, clubs and open landscapes. Furniture can also be purchased the same way and placed into unlocked rooms, but there are also rooms that have some furniture included in them as well as locked rooms that include furniture that can not be removed.

Promotional credits, abbreviated to "promo-credits" or "predits," are a second form of currency distributed to members by IMVU and can be obtained by participating in various "Partner" promotions as well as a few activities the IMVU provides. With relation to a standard free or full member, promo-credits are similar to standard credits. A given number of credits equates to the same number of promo-credits. However, promo-credits cannot be used to purchase items as gifts for other members and may not be traded back to an IMVU reseller for actual currency. Promo-credits used to purchase a virtual product are exchanged into "Developer Tokens," also known as "Dev Tokens." The purchase transfers the Predits into Dev Tokens but nets a single developer token per purchase when predits are used regardless of the price of the product purchased.

IMVU allows members that have paid for VIP membership and have had guest_ removed from their username to participate in a 'Content Creator Program', which offers participants software utilities for creating custom, virtual, in-client items.

They may then sell their items by listing them in an online product catalog and IMVU Software the client which allows them to view or try first the products before purchasing. Content creators earn credits when their items are sold and are allowed to resell the credits they earn, though an approved trusted Re-Seller, as they cannot be resold to IMVU itself. Developer tokens appear only if a member pays a developer for a custom item using promo-credits instead of standard credits.

Once received by the content creator, promo-credits automatically translate into developer tokens. One developer token is technically worth ten credits, but developer tokens may be spent only on developer related fees, such as the initial cost that must be paid when putting an item on sale or to buy advertising called a "Shout Out," which buys the purchaser a certain number of placements in the scrolling ads that appears on the top of all IMVU pages