Thank you CGTrader!
Discussion started by LemonadeCG
I know that recently it become pretty popular to criticize cgtrader over their pricing policy. I must admit that i myself sometimes get carried away with crowd psychology and start ranting about neverending sales. But then i look at history of my income from CGT and it shows very clear, that those guys knows what they're doing and they're do it very well. I'm attaching chart of my income from sold models on CGT over last 16 month. Could you tell by this chart, that starting from september 2016 i get 10% less royalties from CGT? Could you tell that starting from november of the same year, all my models are sold with almost permanent significant discount? I can't, because all i can see, is constant increase in revenue. Of course i'm trying my best to increase sales too. I constantly add new models, i'm trying to increase their exposure as best as i can, but i know that those actions alone, can't assure such rapid increase in revenue. I have no doubts that CGT is doing outstanding job and i can only hope that they will continue to do so long in to the future. So i salute you CGTrader and thank you very much for your efforts!
Answers
4
I totally agree with you!!
I find people tend to be serial complainers and even more so, sitting behind a screen. They will very likely complain about anything in general.
It's not a massive part of my income but I love CGTrader because it generates its' own income on the side without me having to do an enormous amount of work. It's a total bonus income for me!
Thank You GCTrader!!
0
As one of the complainers I feel I should at least explain why we complained about the sales. I can see how you feel this is the best strategy when you create models which compete with others only in a price range. In fact, for models like that this is the perfect strategy and it is great that this works for you.
We are trying to compete more with quality than price. We liked the idea of seeing what the sales do for your earnings, but now you can see that the whole image of CGTrader is changing. From a maker-friendly marketplace where I always saw mainly a lot of quality, to a sales-oriented marketplace where you can find cheap deals. This is fine, but in the long run it will create a marketplace where most artists who are trying to create quality will shy away from all the sales and will move towards a different marketplace or their own website. And then it is very well possible that the marketplace itself will deteriorate because all you are left with are the models who are trying to compete via sales. It just feels like a slippery slope for quality-driven models like ours..
This does not mean that I think CGTrader should not do the sales or should change, but I cannot see the same benefit as described above in the long run to be honest..
It’s good to have some opposites in the marketplace now, Cgtrader feeding an independent market of freelancers and consumers, while Turbosquit on other hand is increasingly only focusing on the very expensive production oriented stuff.
CGtrader may deliver a much larger repository of more affordably work but there is still plenty of room for quality at higher price point here. I think in long run the CGtrader model will prove more successful, especially when considering consumerism of virtual goods is rising as VR industry is moving forward at delivering social VR experiences and abilities to customize own social spaces.
Yeah I don't think Turbosquid has a lasting business model either no.. And before I would have compared the two, but sale after sale, making it a part of your business model, devalues the entire market in my humble opinion, something I don't see as a favorable strategy. Sure you can only look at the short term and see how such sales will spark interest, but you can see how the discounts are already staking up, how do you want to continue this for a year? or two? or ten? Will the sales still have the same effect or will the entire market devalue because of the continuing sales?
I think in the bigger scheme of things, all we can do is uphold the quality of our products for sale, regardless of what anyone else is selling.
The rest will fall into place :)
2
Here's some more info on the changes I experienced during the sales:
- Collection prices seemed more appealing to buyers, resulting in overall larger income
- Sold more items at once per customer
- Frequent sales
- More followers
- Moved up a bit on the designer list :)
I will never make assumptions for the long term based on a few good months. However, I feel much safer investing in new collections at the moment. So expect a lot more quality 3D scanned content!
Thanks CGTrader, customers and fellow artists.
Mark
We offered LemonadeCG about 2 millions in monopoly money, but boy was he reluctant. The negotiations were tough. After intense hours we agreed on final offer - 2.4 million in 10 dollar bills, plus get out of jail free card (which is actually 2 seasons DVD of Prison Break).
Actually Eduardas "forgot" to mention most important part of the deal - i requested that all the revenue from teressio92 sold models, would reach my account. So please upload your first model and start selling instead of trolling - from now, at least one person is very interested for that to happen ;]
1
more sales please~~~
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