Author Driven Pricing for PhotoDune

Once all PhotoDune contents are available on Elements at $29/month for UNLIMITED downloads, sales on PhotoDune will disappear, no matter what price you set. Envato is the home of low budget buyers. This is the president that was set since the inception of the Envato marketplaces (e.g. see the pricing on VideoHive compared to the average on all other agencies). This is where Envato has found its place in the market and also the reason why PhotoDune without a subscription option did not do well for them. Elements will basically offer a subscription service for images that was missing, but in common with Envato’s policy of catering for the low budget buyers the low entry cost and allowance for unlimited downloads will add a new dimension to undercutting the competition.

I can see a clear purpose for PhotoDune: enticing photographers to upload quality contents to PhotoDune thinking that they will sell for decent prices, while in the meantime PhotoDune will be nothing more than a gateway to Elements. Images are primarily destined for Elements where they will be sold for pennies. Since there will be no more reviewing of images the overhead costs to Envato of acquiring new images will be very low to zero (not paying reviewers). This will enable Envato to increase their earnings from images by selling a low cost product in volume at a very low price. Unfortunately for us photographers this will just contribute to a further decline in our earnings.

We are free to accept this or leave. Just don’t fool yourself in thinking that you will get many sales for your images on PhotoDune. Buyers willing to pay “fair” prices for images are not buying here.

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No bulk edit? So nothing changed.

A: As others said, we definitely need a bulk edit option. Fast, please.
B: About Elements: We need an opt out. I will not sell my photos on an unlimited subscription, therefore undercutting all other markets.

@Envato: please clarify these two points. When will a bulk edit function be available (including setting default pricing for new uploads)?
Will there be an opt-out for Elements or are all existing (plus newly uploaded) photos forced into Elements? If so, please do close my account, delete all photos and pay out the outstanding balance.

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Hi everyone,

Thanks for the discussion around this. There have been a few points raised around the need for a means of adjusting the prices of your photos in bulk and rest assured, we read you loud and clear :smiley:

Those familiar with the way Envato works will know that we tend to do things in stages, this is simply the first in a series of changes towards better item management tools for photos.

In the new year you’ll see more in this space, so stay tuned.

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(st)ages :slight_smile:

Hopefully it will come sooner rather than later, because things here tend to be “in the pipelines” for years without ever being finalized/implemented…

But, I won’t be a hater :smiley:

Thanks
I didn’t think about this.
Thank you very much :slight_smile:

If you are not on elements, then anybody buying into this subscription will not have access to your item. Your whole rant is based on quantity. But not everybody is after quantity.

People look for something specific and for these individuals, actually for authors selling items that cannot be found in elements, can view elements as a gateway to them making a sale? Just food for thought perhaps.

So I guess it works vice vera where all parties involved will benefit from helping each other and/or working together toward the same goal.

I think what one needs to realize here is that each item is unique and not EVERY buyer is after quantity.

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I have a portfolio of more than 3000 images on PhotoDune. I don’t want a buyer to potentially download my whole portfolio for $29 on Elements. This is suicide to the microstock industry. I have to protect the value of my images since they are also available on other, better paying agencies. If you don’t have a problem with the unlimited downloads nothing I can do about that.

We don’t have to hypothesize about the effect of elements. PhotoDune images are not currently available on Elements, yet since Envato made changes with only the largest size available that cost a lot more my sales virtually stopped overnight. Look at the forums post from buyers in response to these changes - many are leaving. One of two things will happen: buyers wanting quantity will switch to elements and those that want to buy single images will buy from another agency. If you want to continue making the occasional sale on PD you will have to set the price of all your images at the lowest level possible. I am also not prepared to do that either.

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They won’t. Well, they might, but they won’t actually use them. You have to register your license to use each element you download, or you’re not allowed to use it. If you make up a reason for use, then you don’t have a valid license, and although some people will take advantage of the system, I’d like to think that most people are pretty honest here. I mean, if the plan was to get as many images as possible at the cheapest possible price… would they bother to pay $29 to $49 a month, or would they just source them some other way?

This is news to me. Can you point me to more info on how exactly this is done. On most other sites by clicking the download button you also agree to the specific RF licence conditions - no separate registration required. It is also not clear what we will earn for each downloaded image on elements, but I suspect it will be minimal.

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Here’s the bit about registering items:

And some info on payments:

Thank you SpaceStockFootage for that info.

The one answer glaringly missing in all the answers is what we will earn from an image downloaded on Elements? In my long involvement in microstock (11 years) I have yet to see an example of changes like these that benefit contributors, resulting in higher earnings. In most (all) cases it is just another form a royalty cut masked by the hype of “exiting news”.

Look at the contradictions: Question: This will be up to the Author’s choice, right? Answer: 100%. Elements is entirely opt in. We’re reviewing existing portfolios and inviting authors that meet our selection criteria to participate. But if the authors don’t want to take part, that’s fine, we’re not forcing anyone to do anything. Another question: For those who are accepted, will their entire portfolio be included? Answer: Our current thinking is yes.

See, we don’t really have the option of an opt in or opt out. It is all or nothing. If you don’t want your images included in Elements you cannot sell on PhotoDune only. You will have to delete all your images and close your PD account (or Envato will conveniently do it for you).

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Have you watched the video? It explains how much you get from a calculation point of view… not from a dollar value though, as that depends on too many factors. As an example… you could get a few cents a month (unlikely unless your items aren’t very popular and subscribers are downloading loads of stuff every month), and with 12,000 subscribers… the upper limit you can earn is $294,000 a month. Extremely unlikely and highly improbably, but it is physically possible.

So yeah, they’ve not said how much you will earn as they don’t know, and they can’t know, not with the way subscriber share works. Once the month is over, and they know how many items have been downloaded, and how many of those items were your items, and how many items each individual downloaded, then they can give you a figure… which will no doubt come in the form of a fancy eanings page.

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Unfortunately these are bad news for any buyers.

Now buyers are forced to pay something between 5$ to 9$ for a single image. Beforehand buyers could select the resolution needed and pay an appropriate price according to the resolution needed and selected.

For what to purchase an ultra high resolution at 9$ now if the small resolution needed was available at 1$ formerly? So buyers are overcharged now.

Well, my colleagues and me are ready to pay a fair price for images, of course. But we want to select what we really need and don’t be overcharged. So we will turn to other stock providers where we can still chose the resolution and pay an appropriate price for it.

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Hello.
I can not upload ‘’ PhotoDune ‘’ photos. No ‘’ Upload ‘’ tab!

image

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Bulk operations will be very appreciated. Price setting for new items (in a bulk) would be great!
I can’t understand where to opt-in or opt-out elements.
It would be good to opt-in or out for EVERY SINGLE ITEM :slight_smile:

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All uploads have been disabled for now. Here you go…

You have to be kidding me! I just came to buy one xs size and one large photo from Photodune and the photos I like cost 9 dolars each? If I am forced to give that much for a single photo, I can go to other market places as well. Envato grew so much because It is cheaper, not because they have a portfolio that no other market places have. I dont understand the idea behind “We have grown enough so lets dump all the values and strategies that brought us here and try to make more and more money!”

Good luck with your new pricing model, I came here to spend up to 10 dolars for 2 photos and I am leaving without buying anything.

The beauty of it all is that you’re not forced to do anything. If the car you like is a Ferrari you pay what that car costs. If not, buy something else. And true fair prices for photos in commercial use would be $100-300. $9 is still dirt cheap.

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