What makes items sell?

I think it’s time we had this discussion again. I was just browsing some files on the Hive and came across some absolute stunners that just aren’t selling. It’s quite perplexing.

So what is it? What makes items sell?

-f.

To me it looks like well branded thumbnail images and good names (not as important though) are vital for getting lots of sales. Some authors have great templates but they rush with the thumbnail and sometimes they make the file look real crappy so I don’t even bother to check them out.

On the other hand most of the featured files have great thumbnails but I just saw that one of them was sold only 6 times (uploaded weeks ago)! It was 30$ so buyers seem to be afraid of some of the more expensive items. To sum everything up, it’s still a big mystery to me why some files sell and some not…

SubsonicDesign said
To me it looks like well branded thumbnail images and good names (not as important though) are vital for getting lots of sales. Some authors have great templates but they rush with the thumbnail and sometimes they make the file look real crappy so I don’t even bother to check them out. On the other hand most of the featured files have great thumbnails but I just saw that one of them was sold only 6 times (uploaded weeks ago)! It was 30$ so buyers seem to be afraid of some of the more expensive items. To sum everything up, it’s still a big mystery to me why some files sell and some not…

I do agree that thumbnails are one of the crucial elements. When I visit VideoHive, I only check out projects with interesting thumbnails. I also think the music or soundfx plays a huge rule in convincing the buyer that your project is epic

felt_tips said
I think it’s time we had this discussion again. I was just browsing some files on the Hive and came across some absolute stunners that just aren’t selling. It’s quite perplexing.

So what is it? What makes items sell?

-f.

I made 4 Good projects in my Opinion,but they are not selling at all,0 Sales.I am kind of disappointed…

I really don’t think pricing plays that large of a role. At least not pricing that falls within our normal range. $30 for example has not really stopped any files from making sales before. Take Spectrum for example, its got over 600 sales and it’s priced at $30. It was also the first file to ever get that price tag, and was selling extremely well here when the market for project files was minimal. I mean the file is absolutely great, but since then, there’s been a ton of files that far exceed it.

Here’s my thoughts, in order…

1. visibility (popular items / front page etc.)

2. author marketing (how many hits is the author bringing in from outside)

3. how many other people have bought it

4. reliability of author (overall sales / overall rating)

5. keywords / description / name (are there words that people are searching on in there?)

6. perception that it’s easy to customize.

7. design / animation (why so low? well because there are many examples of most design styles that other factors become important in choosing… if you were presented with 12 pullovers all much the same and at the same price, you’d probably go for the brandname…. i.e. the one that everyone else bought)

8. price – but this is completely relative to all of the above. (although I notice that logo files that get a low price tend to do very well)

But there’s an X factor too, that means some files just take off for no good reason that I can easily put my finger on, while other files that by all accounts should sell really well, just flop.

Many authors have several files that are of a similar type, where one goes ballistic and the other flops. It’s fascinating and frustrating all in the same breath.

How I’d love to have access to those stats.

-f.

agree, I would add just one more thing felt. When someone brings something new to the hive, like original idea/concept, it sell’s pretty good.

EFEKT_Studio said
agree, I would add just one more thing felt. When someone brings something new to the hive, like original idea/concept, it sell’s pretty good.

sometimes

-f.

agree w/Mark and felt’s points. one “leak” to plug that likely also makes a difference is, choose your music carefully, as it counts… some decent files have awful background tracks that were chosen, which though doesn’t make a lot of sense since people are buying the for aep not the audio, it’s part of the ‘package’ that counts. though i don’t like copying, in this instance I’d suggest, when in doubt, use the same background tracks that bestselling projects use, that match the style (epic, whimsical, fast-paced, whatever) of your project. poor choice of music will reduce sales.

also as a reminder everyone who’s posting stuff now, you’re all competing with the library of prior bestsellers, many of which are magnificent here, so it gets tougher over time to differentiate (hence my suggestion for specific themed ones, like sports, poker, wedding, dvds, diet/fitness themed (that’s a top-selling category of videos by the way at amazon; check amazon bestseller categories for ideas), ipod type like we’ve seen, retail sales, other ‘template’ categories like you see at template sites, and more).

example sports has done well:

.

there’s other topics out there that can do good sales, too

A thought folks…

Imagine to yourself that you want to make a Wordpress site… or find a piece of music for your next showreel or whatever…. (better still if you’re doing it for real)

Then go to the relevant sister site and try to find what you want.

Notice how you use the site when you are not a regular, when you’re perhaps not familiar with the technology, when you have no idea where to start. Suddenly, you are like most buyers.

Now come back to VH and apply that knowledge.

-f.