Quantity

ivezicm said
I just feel that quantity is not a bad thing if quality is good. Lot of top authors over here has both, right?

Correct, quantity is not a bad thing if quality is good – BUT it will take a lot to convince me that all the projects on here is of top quality. And I will say SOME authors has both, but not a lot.

From a business/profit perspective I can see why Envato would accept files that are not the best quality but then still accept them and just price them cheaper (maybe in the middle range between high quality and low quality). But why accept files which are borderline low quality? I know standards and taste are very relative and vary from person to person, but like I said before, if a project is not really that good and does not really add to the value and overall image of Videohive, why add it?

miseld said
It would be nice if they had categories: beginner, intermediate and advanced so that customers can go right to that which they need and that would solve the problem of quantity, which in this case will be treated as a beginner.

That’s an excellent idea. +1

-f.

I think the problem of quantity is not just a quality issue, but also one of differentiation, repetition and speed of searching.

From a buyer’s point of view, whatever keywords you put in, you will be swamped by masses of video displays on shiny floors with some pseudo-3D text and a smattering of particles and lens-flares (some of them excellent, btw). In other words, it’s hard using the search parameters to differentiate between files. It’s difficult to find what you want.

Once you factor in the two-clicks to preview problem and the recent slowness of previews to buffer, you realise how difficult it is to find something specific. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack that has been doused in treacle (that’s molasses for those of you in the US).

I would guess that most potential buyers only look at a handful of items before they decide to buy (or perhaps more to the point, not buy).

Ken’s (Graphic444) comment is telling. Buyers want quality, because they want to be able to find better stuff faster.

-f.

Here’s a couple of constructive thoughts too.

• Encourage originality and development by making a category called The Originals. Anything that is particularly innovative goes in this prestige category. When a buyer goes here, they know they are getting the real thing, not some knock-off. For authors it’s an incentive to be original.

• Let the market decide on quality: Strip files automatically from the marketplace that have less than 5 sales after 6 months. This will get rid of more than a third of market place files. If the level were set to 10, then around half would disappear. No revenue would be lost – buyers will still find a file.

• Since nearly all files have a five or a four rating, then have an alternative way of sorting searched files… not by rating, but by number of ratings – or number of ratings per sale.

• Add a “search files of the week” into the main search criteria. Once again, an incentive for authors to produce ground-breaking, high-quality files.

As ever, my suggestions are not about banning smaller or lower quality files from the site – they are important to the site too- but simply about giving those authors who are inclined to produce something original a little more incentive to do so than exists at present. And ultimately about making the Videohive experience more stimulating for buyers. Happy buyers benefit every author, no matter what kind of file they produce.

-f.

I agree with Felt, more sophisticated and extended search options will definitely help buyers find what they want.

felt_tips said
Here’s a couple of constructive thoughts too.

• Encourage originality and development by making a category called The Originals. Anything that is particularly innovative goes in this prestige category. When a buyer goes here, they know they are getting the real thing, not some knock-off. For authors it’s an incentive to be original.

• Let the market decide on quality: Strip files automatically from the marketplace that have less than 5 sales after 6 months. This will get rid of more than a third of market place files. If the level were set to 10, then around half would disappear. No revenue would be lost – buyers will still find a file.

• Since nearly all files have a five or a four rating, then have an alternative way of sorting searched files… not by rating, but by number of ratings – or number of ratings per sale.

• Add a “search files of the week” into the main search criteria. Once again, an incentive for authors to produce ground-breaking, high-quality files.

As ever, my suggestions are not about banning smaller or lower quality files from the site – they are important to the site too- but simply about giving those authors who are inclined to produce something original a little more incentive to do so than exists at present. And ultimately about making the Videohive experience more stimulating for buyers. Happy buyers benefit every author, no matter what kind of file they produce.

-f.

+1

+1 for all the ideas here so far, they’re headed in the right direction …

one key part of this marketplace is you authors, the high-quality ones—because you folks will be less motivated (and have been, the last few months I’ve seen), to create high quality (ones that are priced $20-$30) projects, if you know that they’ll be pushed off the front page within a day or so, cluttered with all the low quality cheap junk $8 stuff we’ve seen far too much of here lately.

maybe rather than an ‘originals’ category for high quality/premium, let’s make that the default, since it spotlights the best, and like the other poster said, somehow set up a separate category like:

- “budget” project category (the sub-$10 stuff, great idea re especially for ones that are sub-$10 and haven’t made more than a few sales in 6 months or whatever)... that should require an extra click/link to access, that’s not in the main file category a user sees when going to: http://videohive.net/category/project-files

because it’s important not only for buyers to see high quality projects more easily, but also to make it worthwhile for the premium authors (felt, inlife, generator, plamen, nickolas, wayman, d3luxxe, yocreative, carlb, flashato, drudoran, unvi, others) to continue working on projects that they know will get the proper visibility and sales they deserve… not to be mucked around inside a slew of low price budget projects on the same page, pushed off of first page within 2 days due to all the new low-quality stuff (which I’d rather see just disappear, or be set up in a separate marketplace or category).

==>> Reward your best authors with better visibility, so they get more sales… or you’ll keep seeing them set up their own individual sites and/or being nonexclusive, which makes sense from their perspective; eg you’ll lose your best guys if you penalize them by having their stuff “lost in the shuffle” of low quality stuff from newbie/less talented authors. That’s the biggest strategic danger of business as usual I think, like hollywood movie studios or record companies losing their stable of talent, over time. Take care of, and encourage your best and brightest, so they keep producing, which attracts good customers.

it’s very difficult to decide how to do this to a) optimize sales for everyone b) create a welcoming environment for new/less talented authors and c) make it user-friendly for buyers.

agree w/felt re right now the needle in haystack in treacle metaphor is right.

fwiw I rarely use the search engine since it produces too many results, rather I come back here to: http://videohive.net/category/project-files to see what’s new… so having good quality projects there and available, and giving good exposure to top quality authors’ projects on that page, is important imho. Also think of the brand/reputation videohive is working to build; what do you want to be known for? I’d suggest quality is most important, not a bunch of low quality cheap stuff with occasional good gems that one has to hunt for. There’s place for all of it, but let’s separate it out better somehow.

-k

Graphic4444 is COMPLETELY right about everything he said above. Great recap!

I feel the same way in terms of keeping a high standard of quality. There are some projects that get accepted that just aren’t quite that good.

My fear is that the marketplace might become overwhelmed with low quality projects, and potential buyers will be discouraged by having to sift through all of the files that are sub-par.

I’m sure the marketplace has use for all the files that are submitted, but there is an obvious line between the quality projects, and the not-so-quality projects.

Of course, determining quality during file acceptance is a difficult thing to accomplish… where do you draw the line in terms of overall quality? And what would the guidelines be for not allowing a certain project to be allowed?

It would be a tough thing to turn down a project submitted by an author, stating that “it just ins’t good enough” for the marketplace, but maybe thats what needs to be done.

Hey, look at Apple and their App Store! They rule with an iron fist and don’t let a lot of apps get accepted for many various reasons.

I’m grateful for VideoHive, and think that we should be very welcoming of new authors. I, myself am new as I just joined in November.

felt_tips said
Here’s a couple of constructive thoughts too.

• Encourage originality and development by making a category called The Originals. Anything that is particularly innovative goes in this prestige category. When a buyer goes here, they know they are getting the real thing, not some knock-off. For authors it’s an incentive to be original.

• Let the market decide on quality: Strip files automatically from the marketplace that have less than 5 sales after 6 months. This will get rid of more than a third of market place files. If the level were set to 10, then around half would disappear. No revenue would be lost – buyers will still find a file.

• Since nearly all files have a five or a four rating, then have an alternative way of sorting searched files… not by rating, but by number of ratings – or number of ratings per sale.

• Add a “search files of the week” into the main search criteria. Once again, an incentive for authors to produce ground-breaking, high-quality files.

As ever, my suggestions are not about banning smaller or lower quality files from the site – they are important to the site too- but simply about giving those authors who are inclined to produce something original a little more incentive to do so than exists at present. And ultimately about making the Videohive experience more stimulating for buyers. Happy buyers benefit every author, no matter what kind of file they produce.

-f.

+100

@MotionRevolver.

That’s why the automatic removal after 6 months might be great. Everyone would know the ground rules and reviewers wouldn’t need to make tricky calls.

If after 6 months, the market has voted decisively against your file (i.e. less than 5 sales) then it disappears.

It has to happen at some time anyway. Imagine Videohive after 10 years. There will be thousands upon thousands of redundant, abandoned, unsold files.

-f.