This all started roughly 2 years ago when the Envato team changed the forums by replacing the old system with this new forum, then they jacked up prices across the marketplaces. Themes that used to cost $30- $35 are now going upwards of $60 and even $70 a piece. Now Photodune is going to do the exact same thing.
There are many marketplaces and clubs that benefit from your mistakes. Every time Envato makes a change they seem to screw it up. The Authors are losing sales across all platforms because the buyers are not going to pay these prices and yet Envato tries to dictate to the buyers what is best for us.
Yes there will new buyers all the time but not in the masses and once they see what Envato has done they will also find alternatives. At this point I do not care how I voice my opinion. This is plain crazy, stupid and most of all down right greed! My entire team says this is called âcompany suicideâ. When will all of us realize what ignorance this is.
In another post the authors who LOVE this feature are praising the idea of better resolution and pricing. Are they the ones who think they will make millions? A company should listen to their buyers. Just search the internet for other marketplaces and see what you will find. Sometimes itâs best not to keep all your âeggsâ in one basket. This marketplace has become to big to serve smaller buyers, companies and their audience. Photodune was my best resource of all of Envato. This surely is the last straw. Are we angry or upset⌠yes we are. This was pulling a fast one on all of us. No beta, No initial warnings, no concerns. Really???
Will we just swallow this garbage and stay here and live with these decisions? Maybe some of you will but we will not.
When did these answers become acceptable for a âcommunity-driven marketplaceâ ? Youâre bluntly acting like a bully here. Dictating whatever rules you want & telling others to go away if they donât like it.
P.S : Props for using popular buzzwords such as â_Fully respect your decisio_nâ and âGeniuely thank youâ - impressive yet thereâs an arrogant undertone to it.
Will Envato ever be humble (again) to admit theyâve made a mistake?
Those were some nice days back in 2012
We really donât intend to be a bully @johnnybd, in fact, quite the opposite. Everyone at Envato does what they do because they want whatâs best for our community of contributors. That might not always be visible to those contributors, but itâs genuinely the case. Sometimes we have to make decisions that are uncomfortable in the short term in order to make way for longer term sustainability. This is one of those instances.
To be clear, Envato does not make decisions by creating a consensus from volunteers within the community. Weâre not Linux or Wikipedia, we are a private company. We listen to our forums, but we also look closely at data which plays the most prominent role in informing our teamâs decision making. Sometimes we do make mistakes, and we will course correct appropriately.
Fundamentally however, these changes are being made because we can admit that the previous model of PhotoDune was not working and needed to change.
What about buyers? whatâs oneâs worth as a contributor if thereâs no one left to buy?
Additionally, can you please also elaborate how disabling over thousands of personal portfolios is ever going to benefit these contributors ?
@matthewcoxy Envato turned my life into pure bliss for the past 4.5 years, and for that you have my obsolete gratitude.
All thatâs left is to hope now, crossing fingers.
Youâve definitely clarified, (in tactics some of us disagree with) that this change is irreversible.
Looking forward many years of incredibly happy buyers and authors.
Love you.
Shalom! The author of this idea is not smart, because photodune sales will fails after that, i (and 95% customers) will NEVER buy a photo for $7 or $9 because i need a small size for $2-3, so bye Photodune!! Good luck, guys.
This is a major blow to us. Just did a project where I used a bunch of photos thinking if we are approved, weâll go buy the extended license. We carefully choose only the sizes we needed and budgeted accordingly. Now coming back to purchase the extended license on these photos and they are soooo expensive. So items that were budgeted at $24 are now $40-$90, even more then Shutterstock! Absurd! Iâve always realized the quality in Shutterstock was a little better overall but def not worth paying $89 per commercial image. Now Photodune comes along and stabs everyone with this ridiculous price. Ugh. Of course theyâll do what they want but they lost me as a customer. Shutterstockâs library is way more extensive and the quality is way better, so tell me Envato, why stay with you? You had the price advantage but not the quality which many, including myself, did not mind. Now, you have officially become more expensive than your competition who offers better quality stuff. Going to shutterstock for quality and price now. Bye
I requested a refund via paypal as I was unable to use my credits at the price and image resolution when purchased, My account was instantly blocked and I was unable to respond to the email requesting me to liaise with the help centre as I was blocked and unable to sign in. Extremely disappointed having bought hundreds of images from you previously - and having received to response no previous concerns posted on this forum. I have run a service based business for more than 20 years - never have I treated a customer with such a total lack of respect.
It seems to me that their refund system is not set up for block credits but for disputes with specific authors.My request is more generic as cannot but the quantity of images at the resolution I believed I was purchasing prior to the unannounced changes. I have used photodune extensively so am extremely disappointed at the way they are handling this - if they choose to make changes and not honour the credits previously purchased they should at least offer a refund.
As a buyer - I dont really understand what you are trying to say here.
I need small Images with low Resolution. What has this to do with short term/long term ? You simply just stopped selling things that I as a buyer need. That is all.
I will not buy a high Resolution Image for 7-9$ when all I need is a small Image with low Resolution for 1-2$.
Since there are enough other Websites out there where i can buy small Images - i have no Problem with you decision.
But I dont really understand why you stop selling things that people want/need. thats a weird business decision.
Well, guess we have to find a new site. We just canât afford the higher priced ones for multiple blogs. Sad, knowing we spent hundreds a year and now we will be going elsewhere.
Iâve already found another site to buy photos for my blogs. Same pictures, but in multiple sizes like Photodune used to be. Same prices as Photodune used to be. Why would I come back here?
Except to get my money back from the deposits in three separate accounts for different clients.
Iâm a marketer, and I am flummoxed as to why this was handle so badly. No advance notice. No transition period. Not even the illusion of any give-a-damn about your Photodune customers.
If this is a test, as you say, I think youâre already discovering the results.
And oh yeah, most of your photos can be found on other sites, that makes your excuse about doing it for your contributors a little weak. Or are you trying to talk them into showing exclusively here? Good luck with that when all youâll be able to prove from this test is that you can help them lose visibility and sales.
You should fire your management team. If you needed to increase revenues, there are much better ways to do it.
And back to shutterstock we go where thereâs far more range and quality for a few pence more on a price plan.
Itâs the lower end buyers that made Photodune and now theyâre the ones that get dumped on.
Great move. Almost as good as the massive mess that was the forum redesign.
Iâm sure youâre all sitting there thinking that all the customers will bleat a little and then itâll pass over and back to business but every time you pull a stunt like this it chips away at your brand image with your current customer base. Short term gains but long term youâre pushing people away.
Goodbye photodune but before i leave i want my money back.
You changed the rules so you should inform all users who paid money to the account photodune.
