Something is wrong with CGT...

Discussion started by ShaunMars101

It was one of the best site on the internet. But things are getting weird lately. There are issue while purchasing, Support team which use to reply within a day or two is not even responding.
My seller friends told me there sales are dropping.
Result page layout become more messy.
This was an amazing site, using it for years now.
I'm worried about CGT, I don't think its just inflation or AI changes made to website. There is something else.

Answers

Posted 5 months ago
10

Yes. Sales have totally stopped this month. Only 1 sale in 8 days! Never happened before. Not sure what CGT is doing but it's not working. Sales has dropped almost 95%!
This is very worrying!

lezzotanya3d wrote
lezzotanya3d
What do you think is an alternative site to this site? Are your models only available here?
Giimann wrote
Giimann
My models are everywhere. Type Giimann in Google to find them all, CGT was the best of them all for the last 5 years until 2 months ago. This month it's projecting to be the worst of all the sites I sell on. Makes no sense.
zabotlama wrote
zabotlama
I absolutely do not understand what is happening. I have no such wonderful portfolio like you but this month 6 sales on the other marketplace so far and still 0 sales here. Whole year 2023 my sales here were dropping and dropping. Only exception was november with Black friday and the beginning of the year. And at the end my 2023 earnings will be same like in 2021. With bigger portfolio than in 2021.
Posted 5 months ago
5

I think the ship is sinking.

jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
It’s strange to see some forecasts and analytics from a user with five reputation points.
Posted 5 months ago
2

I sent a support ticket to enquire about the unusual drop in sales but go no answer no reply. It's like everyone has gone home..

jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Just interesting, what answer are you expecting? Show me a marketplace whose terms and conditions guarantee regular stable income.
3DCargo wrote
3DCargo
I asked support too, they responded to me by saying that they have also heard lots of artists complaining about this and trying to resolve it. Looks like the last 2 months my sales are starting to return to normal since the huge drop in April when the search engine changed, so hopefully that starts to happen for everyone else.
Posted 5 months ago
5

I've been waiting to see when it would arrive. You came immediately. I did not write from my seller account. Just because you silence people from their portfolios. Let's get back to the topic. Situation is bad. You know this very well. @jaguarbeastproduction

jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
And somewhere it’s just paradise and sales are like a cornucopia? Where?
zabotlama wrote
zabotlama
The situation is not pink anywhere. But I must say that on the very well known other marketplace the sales are more stable and not so extremely fluctuating in connection to site changes or corrections in search algorithm. Also it seems to me that here the customers are more and more price sensitive. Maybe my 0 sales this month here are because of my experiment that I turned off the discount and loyalty programme. I do not know wheater it is result of the practically permanent up to 70% discounts. It looks like customers here have been "educated" only for buying in discounts.
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Other marketplaces didn't have such large-scale interface changes as here. Considering that there was a decrease before this, it is quite likely that after updating the interface, situation with CGDream and AI licenses, sales decrease more (temporarily, of course).
zabotlama wrote
zabotlama
But who knows maybe mistake is in my portfolio. It is true that if I look at big sellers for example Squir - you can see that they have 2 customers reviews from this month. So maybe some big sellers have still high frequency of sales.
zabotlama wrote
zabotlama
If the sales will decrease more then it will be total death for me here. And question is why changes like new AI interface should have such big impact on the section of selling regular 3D models. Or changing licence to "NoAI" should also not have big impact because most customers are buying models here not for AI training purposes. In other word licences of models remained the same (only it was officially stated that it is not allowed for AI training). Maybe the changes cause problems in whole site systems (payment systems included).
VityaB wrote
VityaB
You are absolutely right Zabotlama that customers have been conditioned to be used to 50% off models constantly. I turned it off and so far only 1 sale this month. But still I feel like i'll make more money with less frequent sales at a more fair price to me. More people should follow.
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Even moving (or changing) one button can have a very significant effect on users. Obviously, not everyone was delighted with the new style of search pages.
Posted 5 months ago
4

I don't think that the issue is exclusively with cgtrader only. It looks like whole 3D models stock market is becoming increasingly volatile. It's too early to say how this month will look at the end, but December never was good month in terms of revenue, for obvious reasons. So far it's ok for me at cgtrader, but i have zero sales at other marketplaces, which is highly unusual. My last sale on TS was more than 2 weeks ago, something that has never happened to me, even when i had 5 times less models like i do now. For me that marketplace is effectively dead. Cgtrader is still holding, but stats are steadily decreasing.

Giimann wrote
Giimann
I, on the other hand am beginning to see a significant increase in sales on that other website as sales on this site continued to drop. But their low royalty payments means I earn less than I would have if the sales happened on this site.
Posted 5 months ago
1

It’s an upsetting decline for me as well, I believe AI has lots to do with it, probably lots of customers needed the work to make images and now those are gone. Probably only clients left are game developers and that's a smaller market, however no way to actually measure anything for fact.

Anyways, I truly believe going somewhere ells is going to solve the problems.

iterateCGI wrote
iterateCGI
(typo, isn't going to solve the problems) so no solution, just adapt to new situation.
RealtimeModels wrote
RealtimeModels
Quote "Probably only clients left are game developers" --- what a huge BS. And what game developers will do with (rendered) rasterized pixel images?
Posted 5 months ago
4

Yes, the statistics are strange sometimes.
June - 1 sale, July - 1 sale, August - 4 sales, September - no sale (well, I was disappointed but added more models and it helped), October - 3 sales, November - 11 sales (wow, it started to work), but December - no sale again. Yes, the month has 22 more days to go, but I doubt it will bring any big result. And the most strange thing - sales on June, August, October, November 1st day.
Anyway, I don't think it is a technical issue. Maybe December is a bad month because people are busy with Christmas and New Year preparations.

ShaunMars101 wrote
It was all started in April and going down and down...
Abelian wrote
Abelian
Before June, I had sale only in January. But I had only several models.
Posted 5 months ago
6

I think there has been a managerial change at CGT, which is ruining everything. I mean, no matter how much anyone defends them or asks us to accept the situation, the truth is that things have changed a lot lately. All of a sudden, they're more into AI, introducing something called Model Verification, Kodoma plugin integration, and layout changes. We don't really need all these things. Only thing we need is smooth experience of buying and selling. Bash me all you want, but this is the truth. After April 2023 things are going down.
here.

skapricorn wrote
skapricorn
Maybe Cgt's sugar daddy (Meta corp.) resumed to donate their "honey" to CGT again. Or contracted with new "investor" (sponsor). Because 2021/22 here was also very unusual fluctuations with sales and all was "accidentally" corelated with the news about the partnership with Meta.
skapricorn wrote
skapricorn
And yes. At least in my niche sales started to saturate from this april.
IndieArt wrote
IndieArt
Looks like the Model Verification wasn't about any standards but about us preparing our models for their AI CGDream.
ShaunMars101 wrote
I was not aware about the Meta involvement in this. One thing is sure no one understands your vision better than you, if CGT runners are thinking Meta can do them any better they're wrong, because things are pretty F up here. and this AI thing is also putting fuel to this fire of downgrade
Posted 5 months ago
6

Would be awesome if customers could actually be able to pay for the products without any errors. Would help with sales I think. Thats just me tho:)

Abelian wrote
Abelian
So, the problem is that the clients receive error during payment?
VityaB wrote
VityaB
It is one of the problems. But I think its a major contributor to the low sales these past months. Many have reported such errors
Abelian wrote
Abelian
OK. In this case you can ask screenshots from potential buyers and post here, maybe CGTrader team can handle it. Or maybe users can send the screenshots to them by email. It's weird to have 100$ income one month and 0 next month.
VityaB wrote
VityaB
A single extra click can be too much for a buyer let alone sending a screenshot to support. Having these problems can be offputting and they'll likely never use CGTrader again
RealtimeModels wrote
RealtimeModels
Yep. Instead of TONS of bugs promoted and SOLD to us as "features" by CGT, and to their sellers too.
Posted 5 months ago
8

Additionally, I've noticed a few accounts on forums actively attempting to justify every wrongdoing and silence those who raise questions. Despite the evident impact on both sellers and buyers, it makes me wonder if they're insiders. Advocating for something wrong usually involves personal benefits in the entire deal.

kolimarket4d wrote
kolimarket4d
@jaguarbeastproduction One of these. He is cgtrader's soldier. It's been getting on my nerves lately. According to him, we are all wrong, cgtrader's policies are correct. Maybe he can suspend my profile to silence me. Hey where are you? I order you to come here. Come and defend Cgtrader. @jaguarbeastproduction
ShaunMars101 wrote
I don't know if they can suspend you for this...is it a designers oriented website or for everybody who want to sell their work ? We're definitely not here to argue, but if this is true because... clearly, suspending someone for having the audacity to disagree or, heaven forbid, hold a different point of view is the epitome of fairness it's such a shining example of a company that truly upholds the highest standards. Bravo!
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Well-well. Show at least one profile that was banned due to disagreement on any issues.
kolimarket4d wrote
kolimarket4d
Welcome jaguarbeastproduction. We were talking about you too. What do you say about our other conversations? Why do you always defend Cgtrader as if you were in court?
kolimarket4d wrote
kolimarket4d
Did you see, friends? How does he change the subject? Ignore what this man wrote.
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
LOL. The simplest request, provide evidence that someone here is being banned due to disagreement with admins, etc. There is no evidence. Instead, complete ignoring and demands for explanations from me.
kolimarket4d wrote
kolimarket4d
Well-well. From what you wrote, I understood that you are a subordinate manager. Now go and tell your superiors. The sellers here are disgruntled. The ridiculous policies implemented in the last year have started to harm us. If we don't exist, you are nothing. You need us.
ShaunMars101 wrote
Hey, with no disrespect, you seem to be a prominent figure here with several designers on your page and a large number of models. Maybe the problems that small buyers and sellers are mentioning here might not be relatable to you. You might be gaining profits, and things might be normal for you. But it doesn't change the fact that the problems we're mentioning exists, and If you are not someone from inside you're just like all of us but on few stairs up so you don't owe us any explanation. Thanks !
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Team is working on solving the problems mentioned here. If you notice new ones, don’t hesitate to send a ticket via support@cgtrader.com.
ShaunMars101 wrote
Are you suggesting that payment issues, drop in sales, and other concerns have been brought to the attention of the CGT Team?"
ShaunMars101 wrote
OK, then we should wait to see the changes they gonna make to fix this up. As kolimarket4d said, they need to hear us, this is "mutualism" many families and lives depend on this. Thanks for the info JBP
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Thank you for your help, feedback is very important to our platform and we really appreciate it. We understand that some issues can cause difficulties and frustration. Not all bugs can be fixed as quickly as we would like, but our team is working to fix them quickly as possible. Thanks for understanding and have a nice day!
Abelian wrote
Abelian
I am sure the CGTrader team is not indifferent to these issues, because every payment problem, every sale drop means decrease of their income too.
ShaunMars101 wrote
Yes, time is tough for everyone, these wars and inflation after covid messed things up very badly. This was not the time for updates and make big changes the best they could do now is restore the old version of the website. The good old golden CGTrader.
Blissbasket wrote
Blissbasket
You are right @ShaunMars101 its tough time for almost everybody. As @jaguarbeastproduction said they are working to fix things the best we can do is cooperate with them and wait. It is true that it is somewhat a "Mutualism" but we should be thankful to the idea which helped us creators to make money from our work. They should read these opinions which contains pain and anxiety of people here and think accordingly. We are in the end times of this era. Everyone should stand together in this, God knows what AI companies gonna do to us HUMAN artists.
skapricorn wrote
skapricorn
Дворовый кот админов просто лизун и зловонный душнила.
ebalstudios wrote
ebalstudios
This place is 100% astroturfed! (i.e. fake accounts posing as real). I didn't mind it when they would give comments on my models like "looking good', "great etc". But it's annoying when they pretend to be real users and try to sell you how great AI is.
RealtimeModels wrote
RealtimeModels
Noticed already. Jaguar and Lemonade are by far the most active and most BOLD, AGRESSIVE and OFFENDING.
Posted 5 months ago
6

It would be also interesting to have some statistics (weekly and monthly based) similar like on the other very well known marketplace where we could see how many models have been added into shopping carts. And then I saw that for example this month potential customers added 20 of my products into their carts and it resulted for example into 13 sales. It would be ok. But if 20 carts led only into 5 sales I could surely identify that customers have problem with ending of the purchase. Or I could see that customers are not adding my models into carts and then I knew that my portfolio is not interesting for them.

Posted 5 months ago
0

Try Sketchfab

zarahorizon0 wrote
zarahorizon0
How are things on Sketchfab? Is it a good marketplace?
VityaB wrote
VityaB
Yeah its a good place to get your models stolen. Some time ago I wanted to put my things up there and started with a few models. I get a message on there from someone asking if I plan to put my other stuff on Sketchfab aswell. It took me a bit to realise he just wanted to steal the rest of my models too.
jaguarbeastproduction wrote
jaguarbeastproduction
Yes, try it. Tim Sweeney recently jokingly referenced “We really need money” in addition users of various software rippers also really need money! Having more than 500 models and leaving them without gifts for Christmas is simply a crime. Hurry up!
Posted 5 months ago
5

Many designers lost their trust into CCgtrader after they silently were changing license agreements for years. Thy allowed reselling of your rendered models by any other person on stock files, now they put that AI training into default license... They never listen artists and their concerns, but yes, they were the best on the market once.

Posted 4 months ago
3

I deleted all of my 3D models from this place last month and I immensely regret ever posting here. What a huge mistake.

They basically publicly state that they will steal artists work and they expect to keep the ship running. Thanos, one of CGTrader's employees stated that they plan to use all free 3D models posted on CGTrader as their own and redistribute them through their AI platform.

Additionally, they switched everyone to AI by default and they manually had to opt out. Which doesn't generate trust. Posting here is the equivalent of giving your 3D models away for free. They can be used for AI and sold for peanuts. That is if they give you peanuts.

There will be a lot of alternatives.

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