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Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Royalty Guarantee
Posted on Friday, August 07, 2009 @ 4:00 AM by The3dStudio.com

 

As I mentioned in my Building Trust at The3dStudio.com – Introduction post, I plan to start posting more about how things works here and what our future plans are for The3dStudio.com so you can see how they impact you as a member.

One of the hottest topics for any member who sells 2D/3D resources is on the subject of royalty rates. When we first started The3dStudio.com we had a rate that was a little bit higher than the 60% rate we offer now. We were new at this and wanted to give our sellers as much of the money from every sale that we could.

We didn’t just pick any old random number, but calculated what our costs where and based it on what we thought we need to keep the company going. It turned out to be the classic mistake that most new companies make and we didn’t truly understand the cost of doing business. Because of that, we had to change the rate down to 60% and that, of course, didn’t go over well with some of our sellers.

Surprisingly, many were okay with it as we explained why we were doing it and listed out the costs involved in running a business like this. These were the people who likely knew us for a while and had some trust that we really were making a change for the better. For others, they just saw a loss of 5-10% of their royalties and didn’t see the bigger picture.

Changing royalties is something no company wants to do and I am pleased to say that we won’t be lowering anyone’s royalties ever again on The3dStudio.com. That’s right; whatever standard royalty rate you are currently at is one that I promise will never be lowered. We might raise it (nobody would argue with a raise after all!) but we will NEVER EVER lower your standard royalty rates for as long as you are a selling member here.

Wait, what did I just say? Is it possible that somebody running a company just put their money where their mouth was and gave some sort of personal guarantee? Yes, that’s what just happened. No dates on that, no strings attached, no fine print. That's my personal guarantee to you.

Pretty sad that something like that is so shocking in our world today, whatever happened to personal relationships and handshakes that sealed a deal? Whatever happened to somebody telling you something that you could trust? Well, that’s how we work here and I want to make sure those of you who don’t know me as well understand that. So, what better way than right in here a blog post…something that will remain here forever, a historical document of sorts.

Tags / Keywords: trust, t3ds 


Reader comments:

Nyl Textures @ 8/7/2009 7:06 AM
Thank you Matt! Nice to hear such kind of brave words from you. Keep the good work on. I am sure one day The3dStudio will come to a point where it truly deserves.

3D_Garden @ 8/8/2009 5:46 AM
Sorry ,Matt,but you did it before two times.My royalty at the beginning with The3dstudio,was:%75,later you dropped to 70,and beginning of this year(2009),again dropped one more 10 percentaces.
So how can I beleive that you wont do the same act,in future?

Regards

Celal

The3dStudio.com @ 8/8/2009 6:45 AM
Well, that's the ENTIRE point of this post. You can believe it because I just made that our policy to NEVER lower your royalties again. Ever. Period. End of story.

This blog post will remain here, you can save it or print it as well. The idea is that I am not just telling you that it won't change, I am not just putting it in email, here it is on my own blog as company policy.

Lisa @ The3dStudio.com @ 8/8/2009 10:34 AM
Hi 3D_Garden,

For the past few months, during our weekly staff meetings, we have been discussing comments in forums by some 3D and stock photo sellers about their lack of trust of agencies. We wondered how we could demonstrate OUR committment to try to change how things are done and show them The3dStudio.com is different than other agencies.

Matt has said time and again to us during meetings that he wasn't ever going to lower the royalty rate. As last week's meeting, it suddenly "clicked" and we said, "put that in writing". Matt quickly agreed and has now done that. WE WILL NEVER AGAIN LOWER YOUR ROYALTY RATE!

Until that moment in our meeting, it hadn't dawned on us that publicly committing to this was necessary, because we all knew it was our policy. But of course it is necessary to share that info--our Members aren't mind readers! (This may be the disadvantage to a small company--when we all know something, we might forget everyone else doesn't knows it.) :)

And while we don't push exclusivity, we do offer it to those who ask, so that is another option to receive a higher royalty.

lisa@the3dstudio.com

Alex Kontz @ 8/9/2009 10:34 PM
"Surprisingly, many were okay with it as we explained why we were doing it and listed out the costs involved in running a business like this. These were the people who likely knew us for a while and had some trust that we really were making a change for the better. For others, they just saw a loss of 5-10% of their royalties and didn’t see the bigger picture"

When I first read this, I think: "Are you joking, Matt?" Many were OK? Better to say, "many were happy and saying take it more", hugh! Yes, you are right, we noticed loss of 10%, but this is not "just", this is like Turbo Squid, where we will also notice loss of 10% after 1st Sept. OK, I may believe you never lower percentage again, but matter of fact, there is no sense, if your percentage just give less than 10% from Turbo Squid profit. You promised rising the vendor's profit, meantime I see you can give less than 10% from TS. Where is the progress? I got the same before you cut my royalties, and after. Where is your #2? You mean these <10%? This is not acceptable. In the time, when TS announced their new program, I need >10% to compensate the losses and stary free. Or can't see any reason to stay with the3dstudio.com. You had time, Matt, but I can't see you used this time in the right way.

The3dStudio.com @ 8/10/2009 8:33 AM
Yes Alex, many authors were okay with the royalty change once they understood why. That doesn't mean they liked a royalty drop, but that they understood why it had to be done. Many understand that running a business like this costs a LOT of money. In fact, check my blog post that comes out tomorrow (4AM -7 GMT) on the cost of doing business to see where all the money goes.

I have said that I think most authors will do much better in overall sales this year vs last. I stand behind behind that even in this crappy economy. Many already have surpassed their 2008 sales and it is only August!

Now, that doesn't mean that every single author will do better nor does it mean that we will be #2 for every author. But for the vast majority of sellers we are doing better than their 2008 sales and are their #2 site for sales. Some already rate as as their #1 sales sources an by next year I know that a much larger percent will be doing the same.

If you aren't happy here or aren't happy with us and want to be blackmailed by the calamari then that is your choice and I completely understand. We wish you the best of luck in whatever you do. I guess I just don't understand the hostile attitude you take with me every time you email me. I've been nothing but nice, helpful, and professional to you each and every time. I am always happy to help you (or anyone) but there is no need to be on attack right from the start like this.

Now, if you stick with us and make sure that we know you are sticking with us then we will continue to work on increasing your sales. If you will remember Alex, I offered to have Lisa optimize your account and keywords and you turned down that offer. Well, once an author decides o not let us help and constantly threatens leaving us then there is much we can do. If you want to stay and you want to get serious about increasing your sales then let me know and we can give your products an overhaul.

If you want to contribute to this thread you can, but let's keep it on topic, I have no desire to have an off topic rant here as that doesn't help anyone. If you want your situation to improve then please let me know how WE can help YOU.


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