turbosquid rates?!?!?!!

[mskin]

just me? or does anyone else find Turbosquids 50% take on a sale seem high? haventt done much research, but what are similar web services charging? could thier overhead possibly require such a rate?

[Jeff Mottle]

Actually they are about average, but given the money spent into the infrastructure, initial marketing and development that went into that site I think 50% is not un-reasonable. Model sites vary anywhere from 50-65% cut to the modeler.

 

On one hand there is no way you could get the exposure they can provide modelers, on the other hand their site has become so cluttered with crap that it's also hard to get found on their site. In the beginning it was better, but to be found on there now, you either have to upload a lot of very very good stuff, or offer something that no one else has already uploaded.

[Jim Mann]

their site has become so cluttered with crap that it's also hard to get found on their site.

 

That unfortunately applies to whether you are selling or buying. There are so many items listed now, its getting harder and harder to find what you need. For some items there are literally hundreds of the same thing whereas for other items there is nothing. I tried to find a triumph herald car there recently, it was a long shot but there weren't any triumph cars, no Stag, GT6, even a Spitfire. There are huge gaps so just like Jeff says, you need to try and sell something that no-one esle has uploaded yet.

 

I've had a couple of items up there for five years which have made $207 for Turbosquid, so they aren't doing too badly out of the deal I reckon. They have also had the benefit of all that interest on my 50% as I have yet to fathom the W-8 forms, but that is my failing. I think my biggest complaint would be that Turbosquid set the price something is sold for after a period of time. I don't think that what I have for sale there is worth the $27.50 price that TS set.

[STRAT]

unfortunately it's the way of things.

 

i've grossed a couple of grand in TS over the last few years, and it works out i gross somewhere over $100 a month these days.

But thats 50% less to me, and after you convert the $ into £ thats almost another 50% less. i only end up with about 25% of the original sale. (maybe 30 or 40 quid in my pocket a month)

 

It kinda sucks, but as mentioned, it's the going rate, and i see it as money for nothing i spend in e-bay every month.

[3D_IC]

strat whats the link to your turbosquid area? I wouldn't mind checking out your stuff.

[STRAT]

http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Index.cfm?FuseAction=ProcessSmartSearch&blKeepCheck=y&blShowCategorySelect=FALSE&intCategory2=-1&intMediaType=-1&intMinPrice=&intMaxPrice=&dateBeforePub=&dateAfterPub=&stgBoolean=l&istSearchKey=&istExcKey=&istIncAuthor=sjleworthy&istExcAuthor=&intFileType_1=-1&intFileType_2=-1&intFileType_3=-1&fltRating=0&intRatingCount=0&x=0&y=0

[3D_IC]

you've got some good stuff on there strat.

I especially like your trees.

[STRAT]

ta

 

i got a load more standards i've done over the years planned to go on there, but i've not the enthusiasm to prepair them compaired to the returns i'll get.

 

soon maybe.

[grishick]

Actually they are about average, but given the money spent into the infrastructure, initial marketing and development that went into that site I think 50% is not un-reasonable. Model sites vary anywhere from 50-65% cut to the modeler.

 

Exchange3D.com gives from 60% to 75% depending on how many models you have. Right now we (well, duh, this is sort of a self-promotion) give 100% for the first two months to new artists.

 

On one hand there is no way you could get the exposure they can provide modelers, on the other hand their site has become so cluttered with crap that it's also hard to get found on their site. In the beginning it was better, but to be found on there now, you either have to upload a lot of very very good stuff, or offer something that no one else has already uploaded.

 

It is true, many artists say that it is hard to get noticed on Turbosquid among thousands of artists and hundreds of thousands of models. Just this week, one of the TS artists left them and joined Exchange3D.com. He told me that he got pissed of at TS, because they did not allow to post his contact info and totally messed up communication between him and customers to the point where customers returned the products. Exchange3D.com on the other hand considers artists to be business partners. We work with each artist to help them improve their sales, and get custom projects.

[3D_IC]

Slagging off the competition isn't really a good way to start up a business.

If you are new to the model selling market then how do you know you won't suffer the same problems as TS when you get too big for your boots? Yes there should be a competitor to TS to keep rates competitive, but good word of mouth advertising is better than blatantly attacking your peers.

[grishick]

Slagging off the competition isn't really a good way to start up a business.

You are right, but I don't think we are really slagging the competition. In fact, I do not think TS even considers us a competition. I have no illusions about the fact that we are so small that whatever we do does not affect TS sales much. It's like thinking that one mom and pop shop can affect WallMart sales. Also, we wouldn't be waging a price war on TS, we have no chance in it, because they have more leverage. At the same time, what we are doing is just positioning ourselves differently. Here's the difference in positioning:

TS is

• a place where an artists can sell their content without much hassle, just upload them there and TS will do everything else. After the content is there artists' involvement is limited to collecting the check once in a while. TS handles customer service, pricing and everything else
  
• in TS an artist is a vendor, whose product is on the same shelf as everyone elses

Exchange3D.com is

• a place where an artist is a partner
  
• artists at Exchange3D can take part in all aspects of the business, in setting the prices, in customer service, in marketing, in promotion and in advertising
  
• an artist can promote him/herself on exchange3d, connect with new customers for doing freelance projects. Not only we do not interfere with artist-customer interaction, we encourage it

I know some guys who uploaded their models to TS and never visited the site again except to check the sales, because they do not want to be bothered. At the same time, there are guys who are leaving TS and coming to us because they want to be more involved. For TS they are a pain i t a, because they want to publish their contact info, because they are not satisfied with how TS employees handle communication with customers, etc. For us - they are perfect partners.

 

 

If you are new to the model selling market then how do you know you won't suffer the same problems as TS when you get too big for your boots?

We are not new to this market, Exchange3D.com have been around since 90s So, we will listen when artist write to us that smth is wrong.

Yes there should be a competitor to TS to keep rates competitive, but good word of mouth advertising is better than blatantly attacking your peers.

Excuse me, I didn't attack anyone, did I?