Community Feedback: where can CGTrader improve?

More dashboard customization. Instead of having the set tabs (All activity, Following, Forum, Notifications), allow user to add their own tabs such as a specific forum category (3D showcase, tutorials, etc) so they can quickly access what they're on the site for.

More detailed model stats. How many views did my model get per day? Where has this traffic come from? How many people put my product in their shopping cart but didn't buy it? How many people previewed through my images in the search page?

CGTrader promoted sales/ discounts (not sure if this happens yet or not). Approach sellers and ask if they would be willing to take part in a site wide sale/ discount on X products. Then promote the sale through CGT social media or home page.. For example, do a week long sale on Landscapes and any sellers that have landscapes that meet CGT standards will be included in the sale if they opt in. This is will save the seller having to set up their own sales/ discounts and promote as they might not have the same reach as CGT and it will bring much more traffic to the site.

Something that bother me when uploading models, is that the preview images order get messed up. What I mean is that when you drag and drop for example image01; image02; image03 the final order may look like image03; image02; image01
and you have to manually rearrange them the way you want. It's OK if it's just 10 images but when you have like 70, it take too much time. It would be nice if the system arrange them in alphabetical order.

Also in "My Products" we have "view" and "likes" for each product, it would be nice to also have "number of sales" and "download" for each.

Also, something small but when you edit an already published product and click Save, youre taken to the product page and this is classed as someone viewing your product. I try and avoid viewing my own products after publishing as the views i provide do not accurately portray the views the product is getting. Maybe instead after saving you are taken back to the products page where you can edit more of your products.

I'm wonder if in the "My Products" page it is possible to have more options for sorting items...for example sort by views .
And also it will awesome if you adding "create collections offer" using existing items, so if I have 4 chairs 3d model, I can sell together at less price than sell each item separatly ...

right now, i have to manually set up combo packs..... would be nice if Cgt had options to create combo packs with published products....

make referral programs more front & center in the site....

more referral programs..... Cgt members could team up with Cgt publishers..... Cgt publisher provides a referral link, Cgt user posts the link in social sites..... for any sales coming to the Cgt publisher from the referral link , the Cgt user gets a commission.... commission could be percentage or set dollar amount.....

Cgt user and Cgt publisher decide on the commission rate..... or Cgt decides, whichever is more fruitful....

customizable ad widgets or templates.....

Cgt user or publishers - just add link, image to products and run ad campaigns on social sites.....

a standardized ad design used by various Cgt users will look more professional and higher quality....
Cgt user could use Cgt publisher supplied referral link for commissions....
Cgt publisher could use the template or widgets to promote their products on social sites.....

We have three suggestions that will enhance not only the Artist experience but also make the customer an important part of the development process.

1. It should be a requirement that if a customer wishes to negatively rate a model they have purchased, they would have to do two things. First they have to contact the artist and explain what they found wrong with the model. This would give the artist a chance to work with them to modify the model and to send them a new model and thereby keep the client as a long term buyer for both the artist and CGTrader. Second if the artist does not satisfy them they can negatively rate the model. As it is now, anyone can rate a model negatively and the artist is not given any idea of what to change or how to improve. In many cases the customer has bought a model that is not what they want in poly count or configuration. The artist doesn't have a clue, just that they gave a negative rating for unknown reason.

2. We also believe that CGTrader should provide a report system to artists, that will on activation give the artist an excel spreadsheet that would include, model product name, date posted, price, discount, views, no of sales, subtotal income from the model, and negative or positive ratings and if available comments. This will give the artist the opportunity to focus efforts on their best selling subjects, improving views, renderings, and a host of other information. We could also use these reports to compare with sales and product reports from other sites to help us insure that all of our best models are posted at CGTrader.
3. Update the VAT Tax, as we recently paid a VAT Tax for a model sold in UK. They exited the EU. That was 12 dollars taxes I paid and no one was in the EU. Taxes on model purchases for the EU should not be paid by an artist who is not in the EU, rather they should be paid by the buyer if they are in the EU. This VAT tax is expensive and reduces our ability to make any profit on models sold in Europe.
Thanks
Rick Johnston
Dreamscape Studios

Top Customer Keywords

I think improving the way ,, search,, on Google. If I'm looking for 3D models (EX: by images) on Google the sites like Evermotion, TS, Tf3dm...etc are in front. :(

I love the discoverability bar on sketchfab - during upload it basically gives you in realtime an idea about how well people will be able to find your model based on your description etc. That would be nice here too. For those who have never seen it, more info here (also some good tips to get more exposure):
https://help.sketchfab.com/hc/en-us/articles/210273623-Discoverability?utm_source=website&utm_campaign=properties_hints

About ratings. Comment next to rating should be mandatory, If buyer decided to rate model, he should be obliged to explain what he did like or didn't like in the model. Those comments should be visible publicly to help others in making decision about purchasing particular model. Individual ratings should be displayed next to models they was given to and accumulated ratings could be displayed in designers public profile. Also it would be nice if something would be done to encourage buyers to more frequently leave ratings. Like one time e-mail reminder week after purchace and constant notification when buyer is logged in in CGT.

I'm approaching one hundred sells, yet i have only one rating. That is ridiculous and it basically means that rating system doesn't work on CGT. That must be changed. Anyone that buys or sells on ebay, knows how much ratings means and how much more confidence it can give.

Somehow low priority, but still important one: improve or should i say fix the forum. Honestly, it's the worst forum i ever saw. One cannot edit his own message, unless he started thread or directly replied to some other message, one cannot reply to other message if that message is already reply, one cannot upvote/downvote a reply message, one cannot change his mind once voted a message, one cannot search in forum, unless OP has left some tags (almost nobody does that), one cannot attach images in any but the very first post, one cannot... the list goes on and on.

Would be nice if you could re-arrange product order manually in the storefront, thus combining similar products together.

1. Definitely being able to see how many times a given model has been bought.
2. I think the preview images should be fit entirely into the window, not just cropped to given proportions.
3. That may be a long shot: CGT knows best what models are in demand but not supplied enough - how about they contacti the sellers that create simmiar models, giving them more personalized advice on what to do next?

I think that the option to download my own models should be implemented (if it isn't already working ), maybe in the "my product page", next to edit and delete buttons

A decent mobile version of the site would be nice too. Im not talking a version where we can upload models from our phones/ tablets cos that would be silly. But a version that would allow us to see our dashboard/ messages/ stats/ forum etc easier from mobile would be nice because im not always by my PC when replying to messages and I dont want to leave customers waiting for replies because I cant use the website properly on my phone. The current mobile version is just the normal website but shrunk down to mobile size and its difficult to navigate.

A better search system. That is not based only on reputation.
I mean, when i search for newest files or lowest price, i want to see it in order of date or price and not a mix between that and the reputation.

I received a lot of 2$ offers for a 50-99$ models, it's kind of insulting for us artist. I would like to see a feature not allowing less that 50% or something like that. Thanks.

I think allot of work can be done on the like and following/mail notification system.

I'm telling this because there is this movement going on amongst these major portfolio websites (like Artstation)where popular artists are now starting to use the build in cutting edge like/following + mail notification systems to effectively market products via links on their profile pages. They mainly use gumroad to exchange the products and the trend is increasing as more concept artists are now gradually starting to design strait in 3D and also understand the value their designs poses for independent developers/other designers and VR developers, etc.

Compare following two images to see the difference in information gathering and distribution capabilities.

Notification settings/information gathering/exchanging on CGt (http://imgur.com/XPRHRkI)
Notification settings/information gathering/exchanging on Artstation (http://imgur.com/a/znu96)

I think this is an important development to follow up as it would be a good thing CGt could pick up on this movement and attract these next gen designers hoe will have important role to play in upcoming age of VR developments.

But think about it, why would those specialized artists enjoying this direct connection with their specific audience/followers use CGt instead of these popular portfolio websites in combination with gumroad?

I'm convinced this cutting edge information exchange capability's lay at basis and can make a difference.

Let me explain why.

I get sometimes mails from CGt, in those mails there are seemingly random offers that almost never have something in common with what I do (it contains things for architectural, or cars, etc.) they seem not tailored (probably same case for others as well?).

On other hand I follow a list of specific 3D artists/scripter's on artstation that do interesting stuff and things I can use/like. I get mails on regular basis about new things these people post and I regularly buy stuff because some things they do hit spot on (sad to see they mainly use gumroad but it also happened someone posted his stuff on CGt).

So on one end (artstation scenario) I have this place that provides me this system for gathering information specifically to my needs (and have vast notification settings for it), also I can update my needs on regular basis and know I will get updates on that too. As a bonus it is also fun to explore and find new talented artist to follow because know I get notified about what they do/offer next.

On the other end (CGt scenario) provides a powerful sales platform and tools (best on the planet) but I don't know what other relevant designers are doing on it because there is no clear way to follow them and get information about new things they do/post.

CGt effectively gathers vast amounts of data but it feels like separate sections of vast data I'm not able to selectively follow and receive relevant updates from afterwards?

I can like something (a model for example) and then it gets in a separate overview, but that does not mean I can use it or want to buy it, it's just a nice model and well made so basically not more than a compliment I give to the maker. In the end it probably serves some system to bring best models up, but then again so many others probably abuse it for other reasons?

If I follow someone then basically his entire collection appears in a separate section but I do not understand the value of it because it seems to provide no updates on other information about the persons activity or am I missing these options somewhere?

So it seems like some functions are here and there but it's not a whole functioning mechanism that effectively runs through the site to connect all the relevant information?

The question basically is, what simple to use jet advanced systems got CGt in place to remember what individuals view/like/follow/purchase, and how does CGt effectively translate this input to provide/mail tailored information based on it?

I would also like to do suggestion about the personal page layout.

The info on the left side of current profile page(regarding stats/user info) can maybe all be placed under " about designer" button, making more room to add other features?

Maybe a page that has a top banner and menu below it would be more consistent with the layout of all major social media and portfolio websites?

Personally I would like to see more tools for customization of the profile page.
For example options to make own menu, upload custom top banner, personal blog to post updates, links to tutorials, etc. Having the page look more like a personal mini website so artist can brand themselves and serve followers.

But most importantly have this all closely managed via advanced information exchanging system so individuals can follow their relevant designers and get updates and tailored information.

Sorry for crazy long reply :-p

Why don't you put an "adult content" blank on top of models with actual adult content?
For example this model:
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/character-people/woman/beautifulgirl
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/character-people/woman/3d-model-sexy-woman

There is a lot of people using this site from around the world, from different cultures. I think it will improve site a lot.

@Zet, since uploaded models isn't moderated, it is left for sellers conscience to mark model as adult content. Some sellers honestly mark their models for adult content, but many don't bother, either because they think that this potentially can affect views negatively or they simply don't care. You can flag offensive models and usually CGT staff will take care about it, but nothing stops seller to later check off adult flag and make his models visible to everyone again. I have reported few nudity containing models in the past just to watch how a few weeks later they become "family safe" again, so i don't bother anymore. If CGT is not willing to solve this problem somehow, there's little we can do it about.

@limonadinis, thanks for reply. I totally overlooked this option which allows to flag an offensive models. I'll try this option as well as contacting directly to a seller (what I've already tried to do). Even if it is a little we can do about it, it is great that we have such opportunity.

apple pay support on the mobile version....? buyers do the transaction in mobile, then later download on pc.....

A way to be able to preview the 3D model would be handy.

Maybe a way of getting a CGT asset approval tick or stamp. Once we upload a model we can submit it to the CGT team for further approval and if it meets a certain standard that they set, we get a tick or a stamp on the thumbnail of the model. This would allow customers to browse a category and see the higher quality, CGT approved models and know they are going to get a good product.

Obviously CGT is going to have to set the parameters of what will be required to meet their standards quality wise and there would have to be a pricing structure in place but I think it will be good for artists to improve work quality and good for buyers who can be reassured that they are getting a good product.

I would like to be able to add links to words in the description to my other models. For example, if I wanted to create a bundle of some of my models and provide a link to this bundle from one of the individual products, I have to insert the full url in the description and then the user has to copy and paste it in the address bar. A more streamlined version would be to highlight the word(s) and have an option to insert a link, then the user can just click the link and they are taken to the product page.

When looking for 3d models, add option to search for most popular, most sold, most liked etc without picking a certain category.

Possible to see most sold, most popular for each category

Your guys want sell stuff to someone who does not know much about modeling, any way the downloads are in such a way that it left me stuck and ------- , if the artists could put the 3d models in a easy to understand window not their preferences, {setup} they might have a chance to sell some stuff.

I think you should create an facebook application, which will create own shop for the artist. In this case, when artist uploads his/her model to cgtrader, it will be automatically uploaded to the shop on facebook. With application, when buyer clicks to purchase the model of artist, s/he will be forwarded to cgtrader purchase steps and hence product again will be sold on CGTrader.

1- This will create the opportunity to increase traffic to cgtrader
2- Any and every artist will have the opportunity to advertise his/her shop and hence cgtrader.

and

a statistics dashboard which will show % of visits to each product, from which keywords customer reaches to which product, average duration of the customers on the page of related products and report for after which steps they left the page of the related product.

on the other hand, there should be a info part which will show last online date of artist (or registered member of site), average online duration of artist who has products to sell on CGtrader.

Hi everyone,

Uff. So. many. Answers! Just to check in with you - this week we'll be taking a look at the suggestions that have been posted here. Hopefully some of them will come to fruition before you know it. Others may take longer time - but do have in mind we don't forget them - just as the vengeful ex girlfriends don't forget anything. Ever. Only in this case, we want good things to happen.

Thank you for all the feedback, and we'll be hoping of receiving more of it - right after I post this reply. There's always room for improvement and hearing it from the community is helpful in a lot of ways.

Cheers!
Eddie, CGTrader

Improving technical support...

So in profile right now i see first Low poly models, then regular 3d models etc ....
I really don't like that when someone enters my profile he sees low poly models first.
Because low poly guns are old models, but other good fresh 3d models are in regular 3d model section.

So i my thoughts about it:
1) Let users can change witch section will show first
2) First section will be for example "Featured 3D Models" so users can put his best models in that section. There will models i want to sell or i know it will sell. For example collections etc ... Let us organize first section it will be great.

I think it will be also great to show total number of sales of artist. In general, there is positive and negative feedbacks but there is no info about in how many sales artist have got those positive or negative feedbacks. There are buyers who do not rate after purchase of models.

Use email more often. Send out information about discounts or sales or new website features. Maybe include section spotlighting an artist and running an interview with them. Use it to notify when you're running maintenance on the website.

Not all customers use social media, but people will check their emails.

It would be good idea to add VAT on checkout to customer depending on the location of the buyer rather deducting that from the price of product, so we artists can better price our models and expect certain amount per model independent where the model is bought.

I think categorization also needs some special attention, not only from staff but also from community members.

I'm sorry to express this but I get impression that there are people that select categories/add tags in order to maximize getting appearance in all categories or getting tag hits next to only the ones they really fit in, this is something working in everyone's disadvantage right now because it promotes disorder and affects browsing in adverse way.

For example, for people that make unique models (fantasy/artistic) it's not that easy to find fitting category. Personally I use category "Various" but now that category is completely filled with architectural models, furniture, plants/trees and cars.

There are clearly categories for plants, cars, furniture, architecture interior/exterior, so there is no need to also have them in various category?

In my case I don't really need to complain because my models are upfront in the various category, but I do sometimes like to browse the various category to find unique models, but that is near impossible now. This is probably also true for potential customers that are looking for unique/artistic models?

Basically you need to go through 15 pages of architectural models to get to the point where actual unique/various models start appearing, so those artist are in bad luck now.

It was mentioned elswhere already, but it won't hurt to remind. Sorting in models search needs to be sorted out finally. At the moment, no matter what sorting criteria is chosen, models are sorted by ranking primarily and by chosen criteria only secondarily, which of course leads to completely wrong and unexpected results. So if user selects to sort models by higher price, he gets following results: $895, $449, $900, $799, $999, $1000... The only sort criteria that somehow works is top selling, but that's probably because sale numbers have biggest impact on rankig. That issue could be easily fixed by swapping primary and secondary search criterias.

Also i thing that criterias best match and trending is too overlapping now. IMHO best match should be sorted by overall accumulated rating and trending should be sorted by recent rating only.

i don't know if it's been mentioned here already, in case it hasn't been, custom tabs in the product section..... it would be -all 3d models, low poly, 3d print, followed by custom tabs..... maybe rearrangeable....?

Ok.. move to here
I would like to see the following features:
To be able to give the buyer a discount when ordering N number of models.
The possibility of accumulation of bonuses with the purchase of any model (the bonus provided by the seller). Personally, I am ready to give the buyer a cumulative bonus accrual in respect of customizable in the form of adding the model to the trading platform.
You can add a condition bonuses spending only on the author's model or for all models of CG
Also you can add a promotional bonus from the seller when you subscribe to updates from the author, provided that the buyer will buy from the author at least one model.
It is useful to have a referral system to see which links and where you came from the buyer. Even without paying the artist (as on TS)
Personally, I place a lot of inbound links to my models and I want to see what works.

and one thing
in "My Conversations" accumulated a lot of messages that are out of date or do not make sense. It is desirable to be able, if not to remove (for dispute resolution), then at least to hide from the user interface (send to the archive)
I hope you will understand my text. I guess it's funny to read in English

some sort of standardized quality control feature for 3d print products.....

i'd like to sell 3d print products in the future, but i don't own a 3d printer.... so, quality control becomes a problem; as a result, i have to price the product low..... would be nice if cgt had a quality control feature designed into the site for 3d print products......

I think there should be advance payment rule for the 3D jobs. If someone looks for 3D modeller for a budget, s/he should give for example 30% of budget to cgtrader (will be blocked by cgtrader to be paid to designer) and when job is completed, 70% will be also paid to cgtrader for the payment of 3D designer. In such case, because there will be 30% advance payment for the post of Job, only realy jobs will be announced on the 3D Jobs part of the cgtrader and fake ones will be stopped. In any case, the one, who looks for designer will find one designer on this site and in the end he will pay the announced budget, for this reason, 30% advance payment for the announcement will not be a serious issue for the real job announcers.

Two issues are really imperative for me and cgtrader does not have them:

1 - Buyer are not notified for product updates in any way since they acquired them.
2 - Sellers can not change their username.

I would greatly appreciate that one day these improvements would be implemented.

I think there should be a place for the owners of models to download their models without temporarily price their models for free. Sometimes, when I asked to revise any sold model and I don't have my computer with me, I apply temorarily pricing method but I believe it is not good. On My Products section, I must have another button nearby each model, which will give download option for the owner/modeller of the model.

I would like to have ability to enable / disable price offers for each model independently. Simple button "allow price offers for this model" in publisher would be fine. Thing is that i dismiss price offers for models that costs $10 or less. Ability to selectively enable price offers for individual models, would save both, my and customers time.

In relation to an ongoing discussion the idea came up to have multiple license option.
(https://www.cgtrader.com/forum/topics/3d-scifi-base-released)

So one would be able to purchase a commercial license at higher price but also a non commercial license for consumers at lower price.

It probably gets sorted out via the offering button now but maybe a build in option would make more sense?

Please make display real model price in my product page and not discounted one - now i always have to bring calculator with me whenever i want to do corrections on my models prices.

My biggest issue is sorting by format. I work exclusively in Cinema4d. Almost everything on here is delivered in a 3ds max file. This wouldn't be a problem if the filtering system actually worked. It doesn't.

When I use the filter > .obj it doesn't actually work. It still delivers items that aren't actually available in .obj. They're available on request. The filter needs to only show actual .obj files ready to download.

Also, shout out to all of you who provide in the other file formats. I appreciate it.

Not sure if this topic is still being monitored by CGT team, but anyway...
I think we need watermark function for textures, since actual product is more than likely will be displayed as preview images in that category. For now i have to add my own watermarks, but that's not optimal solution and it would be great to have ability to add watermarks in the process of product publishing.

There's something not right about the payment agreement. it requires the dob to be first the year, then month, then day, and I enter 1949/08/03 which is correct, but it tells me it's invalid, that you must be at least 18...last time I checked, 68 IS at least 18...and I've tried the NORMAL way 08/03/1949 but nothing works so I cannot finish filling out the form.

I would like to see an option to display latest sold models download only in My Sales/Latest Downloads section. Info about free downloads is nice, but it totally outweights info about sold models download and that is not so nice. Every evidence about paid downloads is vanishing in a couple days of its existence. I can't even download CSV and do data filtering by myself in spreadsheet, because there are 30k+ records and CGT can't handle this. So any change in this regard would be more than welcome - either separate free downloads from paid ones, or get rid of free download records altogether.

Sorry for offtop. But am I only person viewing this ship models the same? (like if they were copypasted):

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/watercraft/recreational/cruise-ship--2
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/watercraft/military/cruiser-cruise-ship-boat
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/watercraft/industrial/cruise-ship-2007
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/watercraft/recreational/mariner-of-the-seas-cruise-cutaway-3d-model

This one has a lot of parts looking the same:
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/watercraft/recreational/mariner-of-the-seas-cruise
https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/watercraft/recreational/mariner-of-the-seas-cruise-cutaway

Is it good or bad for CGT?
I think it doesn't look serious. The complexity of products same, but prices ranges between $2-280. And it may affect customers confidence in negative direction.

I think this sketchfab support on CGT was great, now it's gone! Please bring it back since it improves CGT!

logo "Like" does not change when you click on it, is this normal?
Can make it transparent before clicking?