New site offers users 100% profit from model sales
New online marketplace CGTrader is offering artists the chance to earn 100% of the profits when selling 3D models through the website.
Unlike traditional marketplaces, which deduct a percentage of each sale, the site charges a flat fee. After the first sale, which is free, artists choose to pay either $5 to keep the asset available until the next sale, or $20 to keep it hosted for a year.
The business model neatly sidesteps the debate over what commission rate it is reasonable for online marketplaces to charge: a topic recently in the news during TurboSquid’s merger with former rivals Falling Pixel and Exchange3D.
For the vast majority of assets, a flat fee of $5 per sale would work out less than the 40-60% commission rates most sites charge. How well it works in practice depends on how much traffic CGTrader can attract.
Edited 27 December: The site is now out of beta. In addition to a number of bugfixes, the developers have implemented an external Revit browser, enabling Revit users to publish models directly from within the software. Read the full announcement here.