Author Topic: Is envato worth the effort?? (Read 4957 times)

SuperPhoto · « **on:** January 17, 2018, 18:33 »

I was considering using envato (did sign up)... But then noticed the amount you get is virtually nothing... You'd have to make a *lot* of sales to even compare to other microstock agencies...

It most cases - they set the prices - and looking for similar work (videos) - the range seemed to be between $8-$25... But the going rate/average seemed more like the $8-$12 range... Since they take 55% (unless you go exclusive - in which case you need to make $10k before it's only about 12%)... That means you get between $3.60 - $5.40/sale... and if they have tax withholding, that's another -30% - $2.52 - $3.78...

To make really anything of that even started to approach say something, i.e., $500/month - you'd have to sell about 150 items/month...

So... my question to anyone using them - do you find you actually *make* that number of sales or higher/month?

I'm just trying to figure out whether it's worth the time to even submit to them...

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #1 on:** January 17, 2018, 18:47 »

It's $8 for HD under 30 seconds, $9 for 30 seconds and over... $25 for 4K. Current split for video means you get 36% for non-exclusive, 50 to 70% for exclusive... with it increasing by 1% every time you sell $3,750 worth of content. That's not exactly how they calculate it... but the result of the calculation is the same. Long story!

Sales are higher than elsewhere, but they might not be enough to match or exceed your total revenue from elsewhere. I find animations do well there, much better than live action content. The current review queue for live action is very long as well, but it's gradually coming down.

They'll be implementing author driven pricing in the next few months (so you can set your own prices), so all the percentages above won't be accurate due to the way they calculate commissions. There will be a combination of a percentage based on the price and also a fixed fee that won't vary whatever the price. So if you set your price lower than $25, for example, you'll get less than 50%. If you set it higher, then you'll get more than 50%.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #2 on:** January 17, 2018, 19:04 »

Wow, I didn't catch that - video is even lower than I thought.

Where do you see the price breakdown for video? It seems they've hidden those prices - I can't seem to find that. I can only find the page where they talk about the author fee (55% non-exclusive) - vs the sliding scale (37.5-12.5, 1.25% difference for every $3750 sold).

That being said... did you find it worth the time to submit there? I know you said you focus primarily on animations... but trying to figure out whether it is/was worth the time/effort...

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #3 on:** January 17, 2018, 19:19 »

PPS - I forgot to add - did you go exclusive, or non exclusive?

Thanks!

trek · « **Reply #4 on:** January 17, 2018, 20:07 »

Read this thread.. before deciding if Evanto is worthwhile:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/photodune-108/what-a-'nice'-surprise/msg485598/#msg485598

angelawaye · « **Reply #5 on:** January 17, 2018, 20:58 »

If you are in the US, you pay their taxes on their commission ...

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #6 on:** January 17, 2018, 23:16 »

Quote from: angelawaye on January 17, 2018, 20:58

If you are in the US, you pay their taxes on their commission ...

That's not entirely true.

A) You don't pay their taxes. It's not possible to pay somebody elses taxes. Well, you could physically pay their tax bill, or give them the money for their tax bill... but you will never be held responsible for taxes that aren't your responsibility to pay. So the only way you could be paying their taxes is if the withheld money is actually being used by Envato's taxes rather than your taxes. If that was happening, it would be easily found out (and would have been found out by now), and would result in massive fines and possible jail time. I don't think they're that stupid.

B) If I pay more tax than I should, in relation to a transaction, it doesn't mean somebody else can pay less. Like if VAT is 20% and I charge someone 40% instead, I can't use that extra 20% to reduce the amount of income tax I have to pay on that sale. If Envato is getting $4 from an $8 sale then they can have the most complicated fee, commission or tax structure in the world... but that full $4 is still going to have to show up on their tax return as revenue.

C) When submitting a tax return, Envato will provide you with a document every year stating the amount of tax that has been withheld. If you're in the US, or any country that has a double taxation treaty with the US... then you can use that amount to offset the tax due in your country.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #7 on:** January 17, 2018, 23:23 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on January 17, 2018, 19:04

Wow, I didn't catch that - video is even lower than I thought.

Where do you see the price breakdown for video? It seems they've hidden those prices - I can't seem to find that. I can only find the page where they talk about the author fee (55% non-exclusive) - vs the sliding scale (37.5-12.5, 1.25% difference for every $3750 sold).

That being said... did you find it worth the time to submit there? I know you said you focus primarily on animations... but trying to figure out whether it is/was worth the time/effort...

I have an exclusive account and a non-exclusive account. I have about 500 items in my exclusive account and about 200 items in my non-exclusive account. It was the first site I ever uploaded to back in 2009 and I only uploaded there until 2012 when I started uploading to Pond5. Then in 2014 I started uploading to the rest of the big four and a few others. Currently make over 20K a year at VideoHive, but about a third of that is from After Effects templates... the other two thirds from animated shots.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2018, 00:56 »

Hmm.

Interesting. The 20k - is that gross, or net after their fees?

Do you find 4k or HD sells better, and do you submit both, or do they automatically downconvert (so if you submit 4k, they do an HD version as well?)

Which do you find does better, the exclusive or non-exclusive? (i'm trying to decide myself which one I should go in, and/or focus on more).

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2018, 01:30 »

$25K actually, just checked. And that's after fees. I'm on the highest commission rate for my exclusive portfolio... 70%, and just 36% for my non-exclusive one.

HD sells a lot better than 4K, even when you take the increased price into account. The need for 4K should gradually increase over time though, so I'm getting in early. I'd say half of my portfolio is 4K and half is HD... yeah, you need to upload both unfortunately. Hopefully they'll change that at some point. Although it means you don't get the same issue as you do at Pond5, and I beleive SS... that if you search for HD content then 4K stuff won't show up in the search, even though buyers have the option of buying a down-converted HD version of the same file.

The price could be an issue though. Although I don't think in any way that $25 is too much for a 4K clip... it does seem slightly high in comparison to an $8 HD clip. I appreciate you need better equipment, more storage space and there's longer render times... but over three times the cost is slightly excessive in my opinion. I think a 100% increase is just about right.

As for which one to go for, exclusive or non-exclusive... I'd either go for non-exclusive or both. If you're only going to upload to one agency then Pond5 would probably be the general consensus. You might make more at VideoHive, but that's not generally the case. Most people go for multiple agencies, myself included, so that might be the way to go. But you could still have an exclusive account there as well, try a few files there (in addition to your non-exclusive content) and see how they get on.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #10 on:** January 18, 2018, 02:07 »

Hmm k, thanks for the insight.

That helps!

angelawaye · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2018, 07:20 »

Sorry, I'll clarify, they put "their" commission on your MISC 1099 so you report "their" earnings on your tax return ... You never saw the money or received it but you have to claim it. Just their way of getting out of paying their taxes. Very shady to me.

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Author Topic: Is envato worth the effort?? (Read 4957 times)

SuperPhoto

SpaceStockFootage

SuperPhoto

SuperPhoto

trek

angelawaye

SpaceStockFootage

SpaceStockFootage

SuperPhoto

SpaceStockFootage

SuperPhoto

angelawaye

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