Author Topic: Birthday Bash at Envato (PhotoDune) (Read 3846 times)

leaf · « **on:** August 05, 2011, 09:31 »

It's Envato's (the guys behind PhotoDune) 5th birthday and they have some good deals for the artists and buyers. ) - 70% commissions for everyone for the 5 days prior to their Bday -

http://themeforest.net/bundles/birthday

This won't be so relevant for most people here, as they are still in closed beta (although I have it on good authority that the open beta is coming soon) but for anyone with stuff in any of their many other store, it is good news for the artist!

+ a little more info
http://notes.envato.com/authors/70commission/

VB inc · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2011, 12:11 »

wow sounds pretty neat!

collis · « **Reply #2 on:** August 05, 2011, 22:26 »

Thanks Leaf! I think there are some GraphicRiver contributors here on the forums as well who will benefit. The 70% is for all contributors - exclusive and non-exclusive. And 5 days is the longest we've been able to offer this special rate (previous years were just a couple days) so we're really excited! It's a nice opportunity to give back to all the authors who make our marketplaces what they are!

Meanwhiles ... 5 years went quick!!

collis · « **Reply #3 on:** August 15, 2011, 17:42 »

Hey folks, just remembered to come and mention that it's the 70% week this week! :-) So every author, non-exclusive or exclusive, gets the same 70% commissions on sales for the next few days.

Anyhow if you're selling on PhotoDune, hope you get many sales this week!!

sharpshot · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2011, 01:16 »

Keep that 70% forever and I'll be interested

dirkr · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2011, 01:37 »

Quote from: sharpshot on August 16, 2011, 01:16

Keep that 70% forever and I'll be interested

+1

collis · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2011, 22:15 »

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the highest commission rate that a photo marketplace offers?

velocicarpo · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2011, 22:30 »

Quote from: sharpshot on August 16, 2011, 01:16

Keep that 70% forever and I'll be interested

+2

velocicarpo · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2011, 22:32 »

Quote from: collis on August 16, 2011, 22:15

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the highest commission rate that a photo marketplace offers?

Alamy pays 60%. There are a couple of smaller Companies that pay more, but these are not reasonable to mention.

disorderly · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2011, 22:33 »

Quote from: collis on August 16, 2011, 22:15

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the highest commission rate that a photo marketplace offers?

Zoonar offers a sliding scale based on the submitter's number of accepted images or total revenue generated, whichever is better for the submitter. The maximum is 80%, as described at https://www.zoonar.com/commission. Getting to 80% is possible; I've done it. Sales, however, have been scarce lately, and 80% of nothing is, I'm afraid, nothing.

dirkr · « **Reply #10 on:** August 17, 2011, 02:19 »

Quote from: disorderly on August 16, 2011, 22:33

Quote from: collis on August 16, 2011, 22:15

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the highest commission rate that a photo marketplace offers?

Zoonar offers a sliding scale based on the submitter's number of accepted images or total revenue generated, whichever is better for the submitter. The maximum is 80%, as described at https://www.zoonar.com/commission. Getting to 80% is possible; I've done it. Sales, however, have been scarce lately, and 80% of nothing is, I'm afraid, nothing.

You are right, they don't have sales numbers that will put them anywhere near the top agencies. But to put that into perspective: They say that they are already making a profit running the agency and that they deliberately take the slow route (instead of taking up debt to finance a massive marketing campaign to win market share). Whether that will lead to more sales in the future remains to be seen, but the remarkable thing is: It is possible to run an agency paying high commissions without losses. That means high commissions can be sustainable.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #11 on:** August 17, 2011, 03:40 »

Quote from: collis on August 16, 2011, 22:15

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the highest commission rate that a photo marketplace offers?

It's nice ur taking an interest in this forum and maybe the PhotoDune team have been in discussions on commissions and prices, which we've already discussed in this forum. I feel that if commissions are not raised you will always be lumbered in with the agencies that we feel take too much and there will be constant negativity about PhotoDune, whether it be here, in other forums or on peoples blogs, more so probably as you jumped in at the low end. istock lowered their commissions from already low figures and since then ironically, it is believed that their market share has been falling, karma maybe.

But the main point is that I think that you have something good, but good is not good enough if you want to enter this market, you have to have something beyond good, otherwise you're just wasting your time. You can't simply fall under the name Evanto and think you will be a success. This is microstock, there are more agencies than hot cakes, how are u going to get buyers to leave their regular agencies and purchase from you, how are you going to get contributors (and you need more than the top dogs) to bother uploading to you, a new agency which offers 25%, we already feel pretty uncomfortable from agencies which pay us that but at least we get regular payments (of course it would be more regular if they paid us our worth).

I would suggest that you really seize the opportunity to become one of the big players and by that you need everyone on side. News spreads on the internet like wildfire, if everyone is talking about you and it's mostly positive, it gets you noticed and for all the right reasons. I doubt that there are too many istock buyers now who aren't aware of the turmoil created by them by lowering commissions, unless they've had their heads in the sand for the past year. The negativity which surrounds the agency where images are bought from can also have an effect on the company that buys from them, and it could be partly why many buyers seem to be leaving istock.

You could kick the other agencies asses if you had the best images and the most choice, but that won't happen if contributors don't come to you and come to you in massive amounts.

sharpshot · « **Reply #12 on:** August 17, 2011, 05:58 »

I find it interesting that the sites that have cut commissions seem to of had a fall in sales. There are several reasons why that might happen. Lots of buyers are also contributors and they might be taking there custom to the sites that offer us a better deal. The sites that cut commissions usually combine it with a price rise, that reduces the number of images sold and might make buyers look elsewhere. I also think that the less money we make, the less quality content we upload and that results in a reduction in sales. Some people remove their portfolios or stop uploading because they don't need the income and would rather just use sites that pay a fair commission.

FT have compounded the problem by cutting commissions again. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall further back now. This does make me wonder why sites haven't tried the opposite approach, rewarding their contributors. This will make many of them that are also buyers switch to their site. It should increase the quality of their collection and attract more buyers. It might seem like a crazy idea but I wouldn't be surprised if a site that broke this downward trend in commissions suddenly found their business doing very well in this market.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #13 on:** August 17, 2011, 06:52 »

Quote from: sharpshot on August 17, 2011, 05:58

I find it interesting that the sites that have cut commissions seem to of had a fall in sales. There are several reasons why that might happen. Lots of buyers are also contributors and they might be taking there custom to the sites that offer us a better deal. The sites that cut commissions usually combine it with a price rise, that reduces the number of images sold and might make buyers look elsewhere. I also think that the less money we make, the less quality content we upload and that results in a reduction in sales. Some people remove their portfolios or stop uploading because they don't need the income and would rather just use sites that pay a fair commission.

FT have compounded the problem by cutting commissions again. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall further back now. This does make me wonder why sites haven't tried the opposite approach, rewarding their contributors. This will make many of them that are also buyers switch to their site. It should increase the quality of their collection and attract more buyers. It might seem like a crazy idea but I wouldn't be surprised if a site that broke this downward trend in commissions suddenly found their business doing very well in this market.

I'm a buyer, albeit a small one and I buy my images from sites which offer good commissions, and I'm sure there are plenty of people like me. 123rf still to this day offer 50% for credit purchases and they are now on the up and will maybe break in to the top four one day soon.

VB inc · « **Reply #14 on:** August 17, 2011, 07:45 »

Quote from: sharpshot on August 17, 2011, 05:58

I find it interesting that the sites that have cut commissions seem to of had a fall in sales. There are several reasons why that might happen. Lots of buyers are also contributors and they might be taking there custom to the sites that offer us a better deal. The sites that cut commissions usually combine it with a price rise, that reduces the number of images sold and might make buyers look elsewhere. I also think that the less money we make, the less quality content we upload and that results in a reduction in sales. Some people remove their portfolios or stop uploading because they don't need the income and would rather just use sites that pay a fair commission.

FT have compounded the problem by cutting commissions again. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall further back now. This does make me wonder why sites haven't tried the opposite approach, rewarding their contributors. This will make many of them that are also buyers switch to their site. It should increase the quality of their collection and attract more buyers. It might seem like a crazy idea but I wouldn't be surprised if a site that broke this downward trend in commissions suddenly found their business doing very well in this market.

I think commission cuts happen at agencies with falling sales numbers. They need to make up the lost profit somehow and the cuts is the easiest short term solution to a longer term problem.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #15 on:** August 17, 2011, 07:51 »

Quote from: VB inc on August 17, 2011, 07:45

Quote from: sharpshot on August 17, 2011, 05:58
FT have compounded the problem by cutting commissions again. I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall further back now. This does make me wonder why sites haven't tried the opposite approach, rewarding their contributors. This will make many of them that are also buyers switch to their site. It should increase the quality of their collection and attract more buyers. It might seem like a crazy idea but I wouldn't be surprised if a site that broke this downward trend in commissions suddenly found their business doing very well in this market.

I think commission cuts happen at agencies with falling sales numbers. They need to make up the lost profit somehow and the cuts is the easiest short term solution to a longer term problem.

Yup. They are definitely falling. Commission cuts won't fix the problems they have. Oh well, at least Shutterstock keeps on bringing in the money.

sharpshot · « **Reply #16 on:** August 17, 2011, 10:11 »

Istock and FT seemed to be doing very well before the commission cuts. I don't think they did it because of falling sales numbers. It looks like their investors/owners wanted more money quickly and taking it from us seemed like an easy option. Now it appears to of backfired, FT are trying it again. Quite often if a business makes a mistake, they try and fix it by making a bigger mistake. Istock can get away with it because they sell a lot but I have real doubts about FT clinging on to their top tier status now. They might make more cash in the short term but I don't think it's going to work in the long term.

collis · « **Reply #17 on:** August 18, 2011, 02:36 »

Wow 80% is great from Zoonar, though I must admit I'd not heard of them until now.

I knew that iStock had cut commissions (which was odd given they had such tough commission rates already), but didn't know that Fotolia had as well. I've been reading the Selling Stock report lately which has some interesting things to say about what iStock and Getty are trying to achieve. I'd be fascinated to hear from Bitters/Bruce Livingstone on how he feels the company has gone since the purchase, it's certainly a lot bigger!

Meanwhiles since we're running our 70% for all authors week, I've run a PhotoDune post across the Envato network today, figure we'll rack up some more sales while everyone is on the bumper rates :-)

borg · « **Reply #18 on:** August 18, 2011, 02:46 »

So, we expect a "big hug for wounded microstock contributors" from Evanto...

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #19 on:** August 18, 2011, 02:56 »

Quote from: borg on August 18, 2011, 02:46

So, we expect a "big hug for wounded microstock contributors" from Evanto...

No we don't we just want money, the same like Collis does. He wouldn't have created PD, if he thought he wasn't going to make money, we're not going to submit if we think we're not going to make money.