Are the review times for AE templates too long at this moment? Just about uploading for this Christmas or not

Hi, I have almost finished an after effects template for Christmas, and I’m about to upload it.
I have worked a lot on it and it’s quite unique, so I think it would get good sales, but I’m wondering if the review times will be too long, so I may end up with just a few sales for this year, and less probability of sales for the next coming years, as it might not get too much visibility.

What is your experience with this, how are the review times now? Is it worth?

http://quality.market.envato.com

Hi there, frankly I think it is too late for Christmas item to get some significant sales this year and it would need to be a killer to get a chance for next year… Timing is important for seasonal items so next year make Christmas submissions in mid Nov. Personally, I would not do it now and rather work on Valentines if you wish to make seasonal items…

Hello @LuxArts

This December month is busy for holiday, you can upload your item in January for better sale

Thanks :slight_smile:

The current average wait for Ae is 3 days, but as @skyjoy mentioned, it’s somewhat late in the month to gain significant sales momentum on a Christmas item.

If you feel it’s good enough to create a lot of traction in the few days before Christmas, please by all means upload it for review. However, its usually best practice to begin uploading Christmas projects sometime in mid-to-late November.

Yeah, thanks, I know I’m late, but I’m more concern about getting exposure for Christmas next year, than the sales on this year.
I don’t know how the algorithm works, how many sales more or less would you need for getting exposure for next year? Or is it about getting labeled as trending?

I didn’t know that link, thanks cyzer! I’m surprised that the review times are 3 days, before it was 5, good to know that has been improved…

When it comes to seasonal content, algorithms really aren’t a factor. Instead, it’s mostly about timing, and giving customers enough time to find, purchase, customize, and utilize the items you’re selling before the holiday approaches.

Thanks, well I’m actually asking about how the algorithm works in order to get in the search results for next year as best match or trending category, best rated, or so…
So if I understand well you mean that for example, a similar item that was created at the end of November, would have more sales on December than mine uploading it on December?

Uhmm I’m having a look at the sales of the new items, and I’m surprised to see lots of them, good ones, with 0 sales or a few sales and even from November… I’m getting discouraged. This is very different from last year as far as I remember, templates were selling from the first day.

In my opinion you could rather focus on diverse marketing for your items. Email list, social network etc to promote your items because search engine is just a reactive tool.

However, there is a pattern how customers search for what they want. Something like 1) new, 2) trendy, 3) bestseller 4) best rated. New item for seasonal content should be launched properly as regards to timing, because new item may get trendy soon (something like if there are two sales of item in one day -> item gets trendy), trendy item may become bestseller and so on. Bestsellers together with best rated have a chance to become successful for years.

Absolutely, middle of December is too late for Christmas item if it should be successful. There might not be time enough to become trendy, etc and after New Year’s Eve, it is gone.

Do not be surprised that market is changing all the time.:slight_smile:

My advice: if you are aiming for the christmas season 2019, don’t upload it now but in November 2019.
You might gain some sales now but the front page exposure at the right time is more worth it, imo.

However, keep in mind:
Quality standards will raise in one year (needs higher quality to be accepted than this year). So your chances of approval are theoretically higher this year, but if your item is good enough it should have no problems next year as well.

Many thanks guys, you have confirmed me what I was guessing, that here the strategy is more important than the quality.
As hard as it is for me to accept it, as this is the 2nd year I can’t upload it again, I have decided to give up on this for this year, or I will see my ton of work buried in the mass of templates…
I don’t think to get approved will be a problem next year, but what I see as well is that the market is changing indeed, but kind of dying… And I don’t know how is going to be next year, but it doesn’t look very promising…