Royalty percentages - what's your thoughts?

So I know a lot of people have been giving PhotoDune a hard time about its low royalty payments for non-exclusives, especially for a new site.

So what do you guys think – what would be fair – 40%, 50%? And should it be a sliding scale like the exclusives get (eg, more you sell, more you earn)? Do goals like ‘reaching the next tier’ work for you?

I know PhotoDune has mentioned that they are interested in reviewing their payment structure in the near future, so perhaps knowing what their contributors suggest would be useful.

I think they want unique content, and that is why have a big different between exclusive and non-exclusive. But I think so too that the non-exclusive should have a sliding scale too. How about an increase of 5% after 100 accepted images, and another 5% after the first $100 of sales.

Probably Photodune needs levels for non-exclusive contributors royalties if they want to bring more photos in Evanto’s portfolio…

Price are much lower here than on other stock agencies, also 25% isn’t too much, it’s just 1/4 of already low price of photos… I think that percentage between 30% for beginners and 40-50% for old contributors will be enough!

Surprised to see how few people have commented on this!

I really think there needs to be incentive to keep ‘going up the ranks’ like SS and others have.

But the amounts that are needed need to be realistic, unlike the current exclusive list – that might work for the other envato sites where one file sells for $40 or more but when you are selling for only $2 or so per image you’d never rise through the percentage scale.

Perhaps it could be linked to the “Paw” community badges?

Would love to hear what others think…

I believe 40% would be a fair comission, we need to take in consideration the EL´s prices which are very low in the small sizes, please PD review this matter

Yes, EL prices are not according to current market, too low. 100 would be normal for resale items.

Hey folks!

Glad to see a discussion about rates! It wouldn’t be a marketplace without a thread on this topic Although I think this is the first time we’ve had one about non-exclusive rates!

We’ve been discussing our rates a lot amongst the team (actually we always discuss them a lot!) specifically in relation to non-exclusives. There’s still more analysis to be done, so I don’t have any pronouncements just yet to make.

One thing that is worth considering is that we have always had one rate set across the marketplaces. So any rates we offer in one place are the same as they are on the others. This is good because it’s a fair system, but does have the effect that it makes changes much trickier as their consequences are more far reaching.

With relation to Extended Licenses, that’s something else we’ve been looking at since it was raised on Microstockgroup quite a few times, and is a much easier type of change to make. I’m hoping to make an announcement about that with my usual month-end report back that I’ve been making for PhotoDune!

Hey collis, thanks so much for giving us some input. Much appreciated!

Yep, rates will always get a mention – and for good reason. I can honestly say I am very happy to see the sales that are coming from the site already, that is really really encouraging for the future. But to keep up the enthusiasm and keep us non-exclusives as keen to back PD as we are to back some other sites (SS for example) I feel a sliding scale is a must.

Having something to reach for percentage-wise is a fantastic motivator (more so than cute little badges, as much as I like them!), and is also a way to reward those who are taking the site seriously and backing it with their latest content.

Anyway, look forward to hearing more in your end of month report – where can I find that btw? Keen to see what you have in the works, particularly with extended licenses too. Cheers.