drakmanover opened this issue on Oct 16, 2008 · 65 posts
3-DArena posted Thu, 20 November 2008 at 9:58 PM
Quote - Thanks for your contribution to the debate LadySilverMage. I take onboard what you are saying and I agree that creators should get fair reward for their labours. But you yourself point out that Renderosity takes 50% of the price paid. If your selling a model say on Renderosity for $15 and only actually receiving $7.50 it's not the buyers fault. Surely you would get better sales selling direct from your own website for $11?. That way it's a win, win situation for the seller and the buyer. There are a few sellers who sell both on Renderosity and on their own web sites but I notice the prices are (in general) the same on both. Now whether it's a condition that Renderosity insist on I don't know as I'm not a seller. But if you are willing to let Renderosity take 50% of your income just for the listing of your items in their store then it might be a good time for sellers to either renegotiate their terms or go it alone. Judging by the figures you have given for the average seller I don't think that Renderosity can be that hot of a selling medium anyway if sales are as poor as you say. Surely it would'nt take too much effort for someone to put up a gateway site to list and link to the various sellers sites?. The costs involved of running your own web site pale into insignificance compared to what your are paying Renderosity in commissions. Please don't get me wrong. I think Renderosity is a great site but I would be more than happy to buy direct knowing that the seller was getting a bigger cut and I was saving money also. I already buy direct when it's in my interests to do so. Lastly, please remember that a hell of a lot of buyers buy purely as a hobby and for fun. They have no professional or commercial intentions for the models they buy. It would'nt take a lot to stop a hobbyist or enthusiast to cut back on their purchases as other far more important demands are placed on their disposable incomes. I've noticed recently that Daz has been incorporating a far greater inventory of good value models within their passort range than previously offered, and I for one have increased my spending at Daz because of this. I think Daz are ahead of the loop at the moment in realising that the present downturn is going to be brutal. They appear to consolidating their customer base with some great value for money offers and (for me) it's never been a better time to be a Daz Passport member. Perhaps it's time for the sellers to put pressure on Renderosity to do something similar!.
Actually I'm also a brokerage owner, have been for over 7 years so I look at it from 2 angles. I also know that there are many buyers who refuse to shop outside their comfort zones. They also like to know that there is some testing procedures in place, maybe not as stringently or as restrictive at Rendo as elsewhere but the products are checked to make sure they work.
Buyers do not want to shop at 50 different stores so brokerages are needed and the brokerages need to get a cut, what that cut is might differ but so too might the number of customers.
Brokerages take their percentage to handle various aspects of the selling process, so if a vendor has a store of their own they are still putting out a percentage of their income on the costs and maintenance for that store. As an example I had custom code created for the back end of my site just this week, a customer would never see it but it will help things run smoothly. The cost for processing payments if you do not use just Paypal (which charges a business account as well) and the time spent maintaining and designing. So while it may seem viable to say - go start your own store and keep the money that really isn't an answer for everyone and so the cut the brokerage takes is considered an expense for production.
We have very very loyal 3DA customers, but some of them will open buy from us via Content Paradise. They buy regularly too but they have said that they will not buy from the us directly only because they want the convenience of 1 payment in 1 place. I understand that I want the same things.
As for hobbyist, well that doesn't fly overly much with me, I mean I take it into consideration and we tend to have extremely fair pricing. However, that said there are many types of hobbies and some of them can be quite expensive, from the costs for soap and candle making, to photography and cars among various others. People are "enthusiasts" and hobbiests for a reason, because they love it. Frankly we all find that little something on occasion to reward ourselves. Me, I go for weekly massages ;-)
This is a business, despite the many who claim to do it for a hobby. Those who look at it as a hobby and get upset because they have not earned enough to even buy content are quite frankly looking at it the wrong way.
Is some content overpriced, perhaps, but I've been around long enough to know that at one time it was even more highly priced. Although that said I've never been accused of being overpriced. I lowered my prices for awhile but I'm starting to put them back to where they were.
As for what I pay Rendo, well to be honest my earnings at Rendo are so far below my own radar I don't pay attention to themheh (and probably Rendo doesn't either), but I will say that despite what I earn here I actually do this as my full time job and it does and has paid the bills when Hubby's work is slow among other things. I can also tell you that the costs of running my website are probably equal to or greater than what I have paid Rendo in their split for the past year because I've actually licensed all the software I use, paid for a variety of modifications including custom coding, promotional costs and I hire a coding genius to occasionally go over the site with a fine tooth comb for any issues that might pop up. So I think that gives me a different perspective in regards to pricing because this is a job for me, one that I do about 10 - 12 hours a day and usually 7 days a week.
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