In the recent announcement about our new approach to photos, we mentioned that we would soon be changing PhotoDune to offer only a single size option for customers. We have now made this change to all photos in PhotoDune. Instead of seeing options to buy different sizes of photos at different prices (from Extra Small at $1 to Extra Extra Large at $9), customers will only be able to buy the maximum resolution option available for that item.
For example, if a photo was previously uploaded at 6MP, the highest resolution available for this is a Medium, priced at $3 and this will now be the only option available for purchase this is an example. Here’s an example of a 36.2MP photo that was previously uploaded which is now only available as Extra Extra Large at $9.
Why have we done this?
There are two reasons for this change. As mentioned in our announcement about our new approach for photos, we want to move to offering a finely-tuned, quality-driven collection to our customers.
This change is in preparation for Author Driven Pricing which we plan to introduce to PhotoDune within the next few weeks. We want to ensure that we have tested the impacts of moving to single resolution items on sales before we introduce Author Driven Pricing. When we move to Author Driven Pricing for photos, we want to ensure that Authors have more control of their pricing and simplifying the pricing options for photos will be an important part of this change.
We will monitor the impacts of this change on sales and report back any impacts in a few weeks.
Got so sad when I browsed photos and saw that there are no price options anymore. It’s really sad to see this, photodune was my #1 source for stock photos. Sometimes you just need small images for a reasonable price. For example - last week I had to design a brochure for a client which used ~20 small images which previously were $1 and cost me $20, but now if I had to buy them for $7x20=$140, it’s 7 times more! Just want to ask - is there any chance that you may switch back to old pricing policy?
Yea well do be honest now please, this was introduced because ADP but not for the reason you are stating but so you can charge fixed fee on the price. Fixed fee is not possible to charge if you have option for a dollar at least not the amount that will make you happy. The most troubling part is yet again almost zero time for preparation.
It pretty sad that these changes have been made with partial consideration to what the buying customers really want. Just like @Huseens mentioned, one just needs small images for a reasonable price. If I need a higher resolution, I can choose the buy that option. That’s why detergent manufacturers like Tide would have different sizes of packs of Tide.
In my country, we are now limited to $100 international transactions in a whole month. That’s a huge constraint. Photodune was my number one option for getting images. Please reconsider for the new pricing policy in favour of your buying customers as well.
To me, subscription free image size choice with corresponding price points was your unique selling point. The value for small images that make up many projects such as brochures and websites was not available elsewhere.
At the new prices, a subscription with one of the bigger libraries will now not only give me a better choice, but now better value.
If you are re-positioning yourself in the market I hope you can back it up with content, which I have always felt photodune lacked but made up for in pricing model, happy to use other envato services but photodune is permanently off the radar for me now.
I’m incredibly disappointed by this. Not only was Photodune my #1 place for stock photos, but I encouraged all my clients, most of whom have blogs, to purchase from Photodune. I found it so helpful to just spend $1 on a stock photo for a blog post rather than $10 for a larger image than was needed or $100 on a monthly subscription they might only use 5 times a month.That’s what set you guys apart. Now you’re no different from any other company. I’m afraid I’m going to be looking for an alternative.
You’ve been a great source to designers and developers such as myself for many years. This is a major departure from what many folks came here for which is affordable stock photos and options to pay for smaller sizes.
The old offerings in multiple resolutions were exactly the reason I signed up. I run a small blog and simply would not create posts if I’m paying $7 per photo. I hope this direction is highlighted in loss of sales and the decision reversed. Until then, farewell and thanks for all the fish.
This came as a shock. I regularly purchase small and med for a blog. These high prices will now force me to look elsewhere. How many people need an image that is almost 36+MP? Was about to purchase an image without any sales and now I won’t. Why not just a simple price increase rather than making everyone buy huge images. Something I could have purchased for 1 or 2 dollars is now 9 -14 dollars.
I’m sorry, but I don’t believe your reasons for doing this. Price segmentation, Gone! Price gouging is what my initial feelings were when I saw the dramatic increase. The spike in the prices of photos to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair is the reason I am shocked. It seems exploitative.
Unbelievably unprofessional and extremely irrelevant to customers’ needs.
Also, in the same context, I thought it would be relevant to bring @JasonRColeman 's comment about your shocking approach to “stock photos”, I think his comment is very important and to the point…:
“As a frequent buyer of Photodune product, this is very shocking. Yesterday I could buy different resolutions based on my project needs and today I am forced to find another company to get my images from. Removing the different resolutions is huge and forcing higher prices for image quality I don’t need is quite frankly a really dumb business move. I’m shopping somewhere else now. All you photographers should be upset at this recent change. No buyers were given a heads up ( at least I wasn’t) . You will definitely sell less product now because of the price change. Frequent buyers were used to a specific system and now that system is gone. And another thing. The reason buyers like me are here is because they hate the crappy service they get from other stock services like iStock, Shutterstock, Fotolia, etc. Direct cash prices ARE THE WAY TO GO! If you let them move to a credit system or a membership system, you might as well be shooting yourselves in the foot. My two cents…already getting my images somewhere else…sorry.”
So again, the question is…:
Why are you continuously sabotaging what was already working for years, such blatantly?
It’s really so disappointing to see you are making such vital decisions such irresponsibly.
All valid points. We are making a custom project and had some images in collections ready to purchase. Now … well as the rest photodune is out and for all our future themes also its out.
I’ve purchased a few small images for blog posts. $1-$3 was the reason I purchased. A 22MP image at 3 times the price does not seem appealing. However new customers probably wont mind as they wont know how good it was before.
This is completely delirious.
I’ve been a customer with you for years.
You are not the only ones selling photos on the net.
Going from 1 dollar (+ VAT) to 5/9 dollars the picture? It is nonsense.
I only buy images for the web. I do not need a high resolution image. I bought hundreds of photos at home. If you want to earn more money this is your problem. I go back to your conccurents who have the same photos as you, at 1 euro.
You will lose thousands of customers who only work on the web.
I will not be the pigeon to pluck.
I have to echo the sentiments from the posts above. This is a ridiculous move and essentially cuts out a segment (and my guess would be a fairly large one at that) of your user base. I don’t need high resolution images for use on a website. I’ve got 9 pages worth of mostly image purchases and now I’m going to have to find an alternative. I’ve been singing Themeforest, Photodune and Codecanyon’s praises for years and have sent many new customers to this community. I won’t be doing that anymore.
The good news is that many buyers who need smaller sizes and want to pay smaller fees for those smaller sizes will defect to another micro where we will have our ports. I see this as a good move by Envanto to help those who they decided to boot from their collection. Believe me when I say, this will be such an exclusive, limited collection that buyers with simple needs will be forced to go elsewhere. So for me, who only makes about $30 a month here, this is good since I’m confident I will not be selected as an elite contributor.
I’ve spent all of my stock photo money with photodune. I always license photos and strongly discourage my clients from using unlicensed photos. I work with people who have significant budget limits for the most part being able to buy the resolution that was required at a lower rate made this a perfect solution.
I will be looking for CC licensed items and another source. This is a sad day. Today I will, for the first time in three years, buy photos elsewhere.
Well, to me, to be honest, the most shocking part is that for small things like adding a separate category in the forums, a survey is made…and for other things too, but for such an important move, there was no survey, nobody asked the buyers what they really need. Sad
Hmm. I bought hundreds of $1 and $2 licenses for smaller-size images to use on my AudioJungle item pages. I guess I’m no longer the type of buyer PhotoDune is targeting
Well, whatever you plan to introduce, you won’t see me sticking here with you for that long. And I have been a customer for years.
This is clearly a profit maximization move, and I get it, we all gotta feed someone, buy new shoes. And beer. But as a servicing company you completely forgot the most important drive of your profits: returning customers.
I’m shoppin’ in a different store starting today.
I would also like to express regret that photo dune have decided to change their pricing on photos. I’ve also been a loyal customer for many years but will also have to look else where. For the piece I am doing at the moment, the price of buying the photos here has gone from $20 to $70-$90. If I did buy them at the higher price I would have to reduce the resolution as I don’t need massive file sizes. Maybe Photodune could have looked at reducing the cut they take from authors rather than trying to milk their customers for a lot more money. It’s really frustrating as I will have to sign up for subscription service to get this piece finished.
