Author Driven Pricing: ThemeForest, CodeCanyon and 3DOcean

Thanks UltimateCode !

This means some authors on those close spots of yours stop earning as “much” as you. Lucky you!

Your spot is 590, so I guess your’e an Elite author.
My observation, i don’t know if this is the reason, some Elite authors also race to the bottom with price decrease. They can do anything to boost sales/draw attention in the very first day of items release and the items that stopped selling to become weekly popular items. So those will earn less compared to you (if you don’t do discount).

1 Like

This was, hands down, so far the single, worst, most stupid decision Envato could make and will lead to decrease of cross-platform profit (not sales mind you). This is basic market mechanics and we already see game theory in action, which hurts authors (and in the end Envato) and all because of their lack of economical knowledge.

3 Likes

Actually for now envato isnnot hurting. Rember they have fixed platform fee. Meaning when they told us that race to the bottom will not happen actually they expected it, otherwise they would leave the % model, but they calculated the golden zone for the fee and they never go to a model were they would earn a bit less or if authors get hit so do they. They just dumb the load to authors. It all began with sale reversals, trough terminating the 2$ fee for paypal payment by removing our 1$ profit and left just theres… to us taxing etc. Not one single move they made was to there burden.

1 Like

That’s not quite right. Take a $59 Wordpress theme for example, submitted by a new, exclusive author.

Prior to ADP the author would get $29.50 and Envato would get $29.50.

With ADP, if the price is kept the same then the author will get $29.37 and Envato will get $29.63. So yes, Envato makes a little bit more.

But… if the author reduces the total price to $13, then the author gets $0.62 and Envato get $13.38. Less than half of what they’d get if the price was kept the same.

So yes, I guess you could say that Envato have factored in a certain amount of ‘insurance’ (with the fixed buyers fee) that will help to cover them if everyone drops their prices to the bare minimum, but there’s no benefit to them if people do. They’ll lose money, it’s as simple as that. So the odds of Envato expecting price drops across the board, and still implementing ADP anyway… are pretty low. In fact, it’s more likely that Envato expect prices to stay the same or increase. I mean, they’ve had long enough to test the waters with GraphicRiver… why would they implement it on other marketplaces if all the GR people were dropping prices left, right and centre, and they were losing money as a result?

(Sorry for the late response… only just noticed your comment and thought it was important to chip in!)

1 Like

I am mostly talking about elites… and i am not sure with non elites… but with us they get the same fee no mater the price drop… so if we lower the price the amount they get is the same. Actually if sales go up because the price drop they get more. So for example there was a theme that sold 30 per week and when they lowered there theme to bare minimum they got few $ but envato the same amount, they got to top with 120+ sales. Envato got more much more on that singe theme.

With more sales they get much more… in compare to authors… Authors always get the hit. All i am saying if they were so sure that sales would not drop why then they went to fixed fee?

The days when envato actually cared are far gone! Today there are just lies, shadows, covers and manipulations. Not one honest reason was given for any implementations. Elements were to be for graphics not html, cms, etc.

ADP should have been announced for WordPress in my eyes at least 6 month ago if not a year… now rumours circle that wp is coming to elements till the end of the year, which has the potential to get authors to close shops but we will get notified a week before or even not. CMS templates are announced on elements and what about authors here? Well this is off this topic, lets get back to adp.

ADP was implemented to yet again dump responsibility to authors. I bet you that not far away in the future envato will raise the price. But how?.. Simply they will raise there fee and leave us to yet again kill each other with pricing war.

Orman Clark smelled this at the right time and left… i really do not see any future for a business here any more so its just a matter of time for us also.

5 Likes

I read izmeneniya.And I think that all will be fine.We are all sensible people.

Most of Ecommerce category authors decreased their items’ price, significant drop for most of items. Not sure why Matt expected it will be increased.

There are many items that claim “50% discount only this week” but that discount offer lasts several weeks. I think Envato should manage the discount offer under unique rule, they can show discount offer like “Trending” badge.

WHAT ALL THIS LOOKS LIKE FROM A CONSISTENT BUYERS PERSPECTIVE…

I am all for authors getting paid more for their excellent products. I’m also for authors setting reasonable pricing increases, of which when I go back to collections to buy items, show a modest to “iffy” price increase to balance out their return on investment of time and energy to develop said product. Today I saw an item (with no comments or rating to warrant such a cost) for $399 with a regular license, in my routine daily perusal of new items on the site. As someone that constantly buys authored material, I refuse to sift through such overpriced rubbish, which in my opinion, goes against everything Envato markets have stood for in my 7+ years as a member.

Allow more freedom for authors, but keep in mind, people like me, that are dedicated and addicted to the reasonably priced items across the market place, are the reason the authors use the market in the first place. Price gouging will provide an addiction treatment program for your most avid and loyal buyers, and end the disparaging conflict between the authors dividends and Envato’s operating costs. At first glance, ADP has a potential to destroy the spirit of competition and passion that drives newness and quality into products. Make changes that are fair as you see fit, realize however what it looks like outside the fishbowl to those that are actually buying the fish.

My point…I couldn’t care less what the fishing boats do to get my dinner, I’m going to go to the fish store that meets my needs of quality, time, and cost not necessarily in that order. It’s scary to see that you are allowing people to set unreasonable pricing because of pricing mechanics that appear to balance out differences between authors and Envato. You figure out what you need to figure out on the back end, but without us, the happy and satisfied consistent buyer, both sides of the aforementioned conflict are screwed.

To those saying you are seeing a normalization or increase in sales after the initial (1-2 weeks) ADP roll out across markets, you are using novel knee jerk enthusiasm to validate a sustainable long term market strategy. Right now, I don’t mind paying a bit more on one or two things… Nor do I have a problem with paying a “bit” more to the authors providing me with quality products…that will end at some point in time across all of the market consumers…I assure you.

My lowly opinion and observation of this newfound strategy:

  • At bare minimum, fix and monitor your pricing better, so that your customers do not sustain sticker shock

  • Pay the authors so that they keep creating good stuff and selling it within the Envato marketplace without all the pricing shenanigans and over engineered pricing strategies

  • Marketing 101 psychology dictates that Envato will gain more profit if author volume/quality increases due to their happiness/success with their partner. This is based on economies of scale that will dictate that smaller steps in commissioning (i.e. Envato taking a hit in the beginning) takes longer to see pink or black, but it releases volatility in a sustained positive business model where inputs and outputs are benefited similarly and concurrently. This strategy will always promote long term growth, and increased strength against like services, up to and including those authors that go independent.

  • As the laws of diminishing returns kick in on this “ADP” effort from both sides on the back end, Envato will wish they kept everything the same and the authors will kick themselves for causing such a fuss in the first place.

Okedokee… love to everyone…back to buying stuff… Peace! :slight_smile:

8 Likes

Sooooo… did you guys see the latest weekly popular list on tf? Cyber monday ended on wendsday but discounts kept going and… the result is here. I am urgin envato to make more rules aboud discounts and limits and inspections on missleading advertisings etc. This results will fuel further on the pricing war.

1 Like

Hi, it’s already been almost two months since the change was made, are you planning to release that update soon? Thanks

Here you go…

This is regarding elements not adp. Or am i wrong?

1 Like

That’s from a different matter…this is the topic for ADP, not Envato Elements…

Ooops, sorry!

Great point of view, i wish more buyers to think alike.

I find it very important for me as an author, to have a fair price and a happy customer with my price and product. It is the basic of a healty business for those involved starting with envato, the buyer and me.

Sorry - not sure how to start a new discussion: QUESTION to azzaroco, re SOCIAL SHARE & LOCKER:

I’m ready to launch my new website and yet I’m afraid I will lose my social share counts… Is there a way to preserve the old numbers on all of my posts and pages? How can I migrate those to the new website? Thanks!

If you have any question or concern the best way is to get in touch with the support team behind that script:
http://support.wpindeed.com/

1 Like