Heya Wayman, I hope you don’t mind me replying to you, I’m an author here since 2009, and I can shed some light on this as well.
Putting it on a different angle. You’re ready to get the latest ePhone, you checked, rechecked, it pefectly suits everything you ever needed. You’re on a timeline (as most buyers are) and you need to get it yesterday. You finally found your product, then an ad shows up “Unlimited ePhones for $33 instead of $25”. Here comes the most important factor of all. Is your potential buyer ready to strike a deal for your item. Is it “the one”? If it is, nothing will change their mind.
The marketplaces are indeed for a type of customer, and Elements for another type, but they do intertwine at some point, since both serve “I wanna purchase Stock Digital Goods” customers, which in turn makes Elements drives traffic to the Market and vice versa. The more buyers on both camps, the better. And they will intertwine since most authors don’t upload their entire portfolios, and there are absolutely TONS of great stuff unavailable on Elements and vice versa.
I doubt that mate. Let’s take a different scenario into account, one that use actual numbers. There are Videos, Themes, Audio, Graphics, 3D files that cost more than an average subscription, lots even in the triple digit range, correct? So, out of a single subscriber, Envato racks up 50% of that purchase, let’s say out of $33 they get $16.5, the rest gets split to contributors, even less when the price is $16, but that’s not the point.
Now, out of a SINGLE item sold on the Market worth more than $50 Envato gets more revenue than 1 Single Subscriber. So, the Marketplaces definitely generate more revenue. Why would Envato act on killing the major source of income?
Plus, both cater for the same thing, to have the most “interested/likely to purchase” buyers interested as a conversion to Envato’s Goods and Services.
Envato Marketplaces - Stock Goods Interested Visitors
Envato Elements - Stock Goods Interested Visitors
Envato PlaceIt - Stock Goods Interested Visitors
Envato Studio - Customization Works
Envato Tuts - Learning and Knowledge
Both attract the same quality of visitor, one that is interested in purchasing stock goods. So attracting one to Elements is automatically making him a potential buyer for the Marketplaces and vice versa. It’s a great marketing tactic to drive more users with a common interest to the Market and to Elements, which in term is a win-win scenario for everyone.
I’m not saying sales will not be affected, but I’m also saying, sales can grow due to the increase customer base sharing the same end goal and the increase of customers visiting the ecosystem which currently is expanding to fit all potential “Digital Goods” interested visitors. Which, in my humble opinion, can only be a fantastic thing in the end.
Cheers mate, looking forward to your thoughts.
Your author colleague since 2009, Enabled 