Why I left Turbosquid

Thank you for sharing your experience, i think that's possible that you will earn more money by being only on cgtrader because like you have said many clients will take a look on both sites to compare the prices and since you will earn more here maybe it worth it, however they will be always some clients that they will buy the model even if it is a lot more expensive on turbosquid or even the opposite, because these clients can be big societies that will not care a lot about a few dollars of differences and they will buy the model directly when they found what they are looking for, or because they don't have time, some times a freelancer or an agency it is pressed by time and each second count so they will not lose time comparing prices here and there, if your model look great they will buy it whatever the price is.
Also the good thing in Turbosquid is that they show the certified "checkmate" models first and these models are expensive and this for some category of clients a good sign, it give the impression of high quality marketplace, they will feel that this marketplace is serious, unfortunately the low prices of many models in cgtrader that figure in the first pages and lines can give the impression of cheap and bad quality marketplace, it can be fishy for some people ! (like any other products they will be always some people that judge the product by its price and believe me it can make a difference) , also Turbosquid have changed recently their algorithms to show expensive models in first lines even if it is not checkmate and this can reinforce this image of serious and high quality marketplace.

By the way i wonder if you have any experience with other marketplaces apart from turbosquid and cgtrader ? something like sketchfab, 3docean, 3dexport...

I understand what your telling, its same for me, had all sort of thoughts like this enforcing somehow that I needed Ts. But my experience is that there are very few people that do not go outside of Ts, not worth losing 60% cut on the other clients I would swing myself just by having a Ts account there to serve those few. Chekmate maybe looks fancy but its expensive to maintain. I do not need that service because I'm capable enough to do the quality check myself and reflect it in the descriptions and showcase (no fancy expensive badges needed to convince my clients), but needed to pay for that service anyways and it probably crippled me because my good enough models potentially got filtered away in case someone used Chekmate filter.

I believe CGtrader approach is way more efficient and cost effective, they just provide more tools for artist to display the work as good as it possibly can. Its up to the artist to use them successfully or not. To that end maybe less experienced artists need the help of Ts to maintain quality and for those the Chekmate service is maybe good solution? But then again, why did I needed to pay for it, why not give experienced users better royalty and let less experienced that need to rely on Ts checking (or want a fancy badge) pay for that service?
Maybe because its just part of the exclusivity trap?

I’m just glad its over, I had a feeling of reliance on them to get to clients but it turned out an illusion. Was afraid to lose sales but actually earn more now with my single account then the two combined and it feels like unexpected victory. The funny part is they actually helped it happen with introducing price guarantee. If that did not happen I would probably still be trapped in my illusions.

Anyways, Ts will stay there and its fine for those who like it and believe they need it, just wanted to share the mental experience I had with it and I’m very thankful CGtrader made it possible to shift the unbalanced situation. Feel very much at home here now, never was able to say that on Ts.

Was also on former The 3D Studio but Turbosquid successfully killed that one with its nasty tactics, the rest they simply acquired and submitted to its rule. Also was on 3D Export and Creative Crash (now called Highend3D), Was a bit longer on 3D Export but eventually also left that one, it was not worth investing time maintaining multiple accounts for very few extra sales it generated. All the rest I simply find to expensive to deal with (that includes Turbosquid now).

I’m working on own website (its up and running but still limited) but CGtrader will remain my favorite partner, I will keep working with them for long time.

This post prompted me to evaluate my income from different marketplaces in 2019 so far. Here are the results:

cgtrader: 53% (I'm at 75% royalties), sketchfab 29%, turbosquid 17%, 3dexport 0% (no sales on 3dexport this year, I even forgot I had an account there).

While my sales on turbosquid are not a lot worse than on cgtrader, the royalties certainly are, so I will happily abandon turbosquid if they start annoying me for real. I didn't know about the price guarantee and my models are more expensive on turbosquid.

I wouldn't recommend 3docen and 3dexport. 3docean is low royalty marketplace and no one wants to drive our customers to that. I had models(550+) on 3dexport sold 9 models in a year. When comparing the traffic ranks of 3d marketplaces i think something fishy going on there. I would never trust that marketplace

Looks like our suspicions about 3dexport being fishy is right, my account got deleted and it appears there are now no 3d models nor forum threads on the website.

Hi everyone,

This was a really useful post for me! I've been filling out a Sketchfab marketplace and moving a lot of things onto here. I've had pretty good sales in the past with the Unreal Marketplace but the hoops they make you jump through and the wait times are annoying.

I'm glad to hear that CG Trader has been treating people well. I actually have some things on Turbosquid but they're easily 10 years old or more. So, they restrict prices now? Do you find that, in general, they're devaluing your work?

Also, big question: how do you drive traffic to your page and make sales? I'm a total newbie to this, I'd really appreciate any tips. =)

感谢，知道了很多

Learned a lot