1. Buy Now! (Without Depositing)
   Easily one of the most common complaints on our marketplaces is that people need to use our depositing system, often meaning they need to deposit more than they might actually want to spend. While the system rocks for repeat users – something we really like to encourage – it does have its drawbacks.

   We’re currently beta testing our Buy Now system which will let users buy items one-off without depositing a minimum amount. It’s going to make life a lot simpler for first time and one off users.

   That said, our preference will always be to push buyers towards depositing, because that way they are more likely to be repeat users, to join in the community and to buy more! So we’re introducing a $2 price difference for Buy Now purchases that will be split at the usual %’s between authors and Envato.

   So an item that is currently priced at $10 will be $12 for Buy Now customers and $10 for prepaid deposit customers. Similarly an item that is $3 to Buy Now will be $1 for prepaid deposit customers.

   This also makes it possible to offer one-off purchases on items that cost just one dollar – given that payment fees could eat up most of the price otherwise.

   All in all, Buy Now will mean more flexibility, additional sales for authors, additional commissions for authors coming out of the extra $2, and most importantly happier buyers!

   Buy Now should be out of beta testing *very* soon!

2. Better Deposit Expiry
   When you deposit cash on the Envato Marketplaces it has a one year expiry date. In other words it’s a time-sensitive credit that you need to spend. We send out notifications as the expiry date approaches and given customers the ability to extend the credit should they wish.

   Since last week we’ve also upgraded the system so that a new deposit will automatically extend any previous deposits so that the whole balance has a single expiry date.

   So if you deposited $100 on Jan 1st 2009, then you deposited $100 on Nov 1st 2009, your total account balance of $200 would now be set to expire on Nov 1st 2010.

   This is a subtle change that ensures we don’t expire credits unless a user really has just gone away.

3. Introduction of Fees on Bank Transfer Author Payouts
   Authors on the marketplaces have always had the choice of payout via PayPal/Moneybookers or Bank Transfer. While PayPal/Moneybookers automatically add charges, for three years we’ve kept the bank transfers charge free, despite the bank fees and considerable time it takes to organize transfers to dozens of banks around the world.
   

   Unfortunately this is no longer sustainable as the number of authors requesting transfers has grown large enough that it requires Jun who manages all our payouts to spend days at a time processing the transfers, while the bank charges mount up on top. Given how fast the marketplaces are growing it’s clear that it’s finally time to add a charge.

   As a result we’re going to be introducing a processing fee of $35 for each withdrawal via SWIFT transfer. This is to cover both bank fees and administration time.

   The fee will be applicable from the January 15th 2010 payment cycle onwards. In other words, if you withdraw your December earnings via bank transfer, when it’s paid in January the fee will be applied.

   We’re exploring additional ways for authors to be able to withdraw their earnings, and will hopefully be able to add additional useful options for payouts in the future.

In related news over the December/January period we’re going to be carrying out some major performance tuning and infrastructure upgrades. Since the redesign the app has been humming along, but experience has taught us that it’s better to improve things *before* they need an improvement

So it’s onwards and upwards around here as we round out what has been a very big year with a slew of upgrades and improvements! Thanks, as always, for buying and selling with us!

What This Means For You!

By merging sites we’re combining our inventories. This means you visit one site, from one account and have access to all of the great files from both sites. Alongside the file migration, we’ve also bought over new authors and buyers to join our community! Of course with a larger author base brings more file submissions, so you’ll have more frequent submissions and more of a variety to look through when searching for that perfect project to suit your needs.

Some Insight

I was able to sit down and have a chat with Justin McClure (one of the masterminds behind the creation of Rerendered) about his thoughts regarding the merger, and the future of VideoHive.

Q. Tell us a little bit about why you got started in video?

A: When I was 12 years old my brother and I would borrow my parents (then state-of-the-art) VHS video camera and create short films which were entirely edited in camera WITH music being pumped through a tape walk-man that was duct taped to the microphone. Yep, that is where it all started. My true passion developed later in college with my first After Effects 4.0 course. I was a Design major, but at Fort Hays State University you were required to have a final portfolio on an interactive CD. So along with learning programs like Director and InfiniD, After Effects for the animation and interactive components was essential. I was hooked. I mean, come on… Photoshop in motion? I was in love.

Q. Why After Effects, and why not a different software package?

A: I have never been opposed to trying new things. When Motion first came out I must of gave it a good full month of test driving, because I was sure that it was the next big thing. I also bought Shake when it first came out, I knew it wasn’t really motion graphics driven, but I wanted to have multiple tools for different needs. In the end, After Effects was just so easy to use and robust, it was really the only tool I needed.

Q. Are you a Mac or a PC? Any specific reasoning?

A: I am totally a MAC snob. I don’t have an apple sticker on my F-150 anywhere, but I can’t even begin to figure out how to adjust the volume on a PC. MAC is all that I have ever known, even since the days of Lemon-aid Stand and Oregon Trail… I realize I just hit a soft spot with a certain age group.

Q. We all love to hear each other’s war stories. Got any great horror jobs?

A: Not so much a war story, but my first week at CMT was a rough one. I was given a very small introductory project, I was to develop and animated a logo for a 5 sec open that would be on CMT.com. So I of course started where I always start, sketching and filtering through my available fonts. For some ungodly reason, Extensis Suitcase was giving me huge headaches. I think because CMT has a trillion fonts first of all, and secondly because I was of course like a kid in a candy store activating all of the cool new ones I had never seen before. Reggie, our groups IT guy, took a look and seemed to fix the issues I was having, but I was left with zero fonts activated… got to have at least the basic ones right? Anyway, at some point while activating, waiting, watching pin wheel, activating, waiting, watching pin wheel, I mistakenly ‘Activated All Fonts’ bringing the already slooow G5 to a screeching crawl and the issue that had been fixed was back again and I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. My Art Director at the time, Amie Nguyen, somehow without fail only walked by my workstation while I had my hands over my mouth, staring at my fonts with the pinwheel rotating. Gut wrenching and nerve racking experience, I was already the newbie treading water in the deep end of the pool and I thought for sure I was going to get fired before I even finished my first project. I hope Amie reads this, because I’m pretty sure even to this day, she thinks I have some kind of weird font fetish.

Q. You’ve worked with some amazing clients, such as the Discovery Channel and Dell. What’s been your experience working with such large clients, and what’s the project you’re most proud of.

A: I have had the opportunity to work with a large range of clients, some big and some small, but the recipe to do great work is the same every time.  There maybe a few more pages in the branding guidelines and a couple more levels of reviews for the bigger fish, but that is to be expected. All in all, the process remains the same. I think I am most proud of the CMT Coyote Ugly show package, It was my first big solo project at CMT and I was able to get my hands dirty from start to finish. Directing the green screen shoot wasn’t so bad either.

Q. Can you tell us why you decided to launch Rerendered?

A: Rerendered started out as my personal library of experimental After Effects tests and cutting room floor materials. It certainly didn’t start out as a marketplace, it was simply an online location to keep my files available for download, instead of being scattered across multiple hard drives at home, work and in between. My friend, and later business partner, Larry Penrod, who at the time was helping me set up the site, had asked me if it maybe worth including other After Effects artists and also selling the files. We agreed to try it, but also agreed it should to be more like a garage sale and less of a corporate type of site. It was meant for AE artists to download and share files, very simple files, files that could save an hour perhaps and other files just to inspire creative things a third party plugin could do.

Q. What makes you feel that Rerendered is a good fit with VideoHive?

A: I think Rerendered is a great fit for VideoHive, because it fills a void. Most of the files you find on the current site are much more elaborate files that a producer might be more inclined to purchase as opposed to an After Effects artist. Having these types of smaller presets and pre-comp type files allows AE artists another outlet. Artist such as myself are not looking for, “replace photo & type here” plug and render types of files. But, I am however searching for little nuggets that I can change and alter very quickly and then sprinkle into a commercial or promo. Items such as trees and birds, simple little particular effects for a quick transition and so on and so forth. I am really excited for more of these types of files to start showing up, and I am looking forward to downloading them.

Q. In your opinion, what are the advantages that come with using stock motion graphics?

A: Besides the advantages I listed above, I would say the other big advantage, is introducing different styles and elements to your work. Of course they are also great time savers as well. One of the most creative things i have been exposed to while working in this field, is collaborating with multiple artists on a single project. I have always grown creatively every time, with no exceptions. Whether it is being exposed to a different way of animating or simply an introduction to a different style, I believe we all can grow from interacting with and learning from other artists and this can easily be achieved via stock items and the online community of VideoHive as easy as it can be from working with another artist sitting right next to you.

Q. Tell us a bit about SqueezeMe.tv?

A: SqueezeMe.tv (link: http://squeezeme.tv/) started out as another internal idea actually. I wanted to create a home page that had nothing but the latest motion graphics industry’s news, highlights and tutorials all in one place. It is simply a one stop shop and I think if you are in to motion graphics or video at all, you will fall in love with it. Special thanks to Dominic Flask (link: www.dangerdom.com) and Jeff Lang for bringing it to life.

Q. Where do you see the industry going in the next ten years?

A: Without giving up my plot to rule the galaxy, here are a few things to be aware of. First off, there is a great new tool coming out soon called the internet. It will be amazing; you will be able to collaborate with people from around the world from the luxury of your very own home. All joking aside, most agencies and studios still are not utilizing this amazing tool, they simply don’t get it. They want to hire people in house and on site, and build with bricks and mortar. This method is on the brink of extinction, or at least a silent revolution. Times have changed, and a new trend has been set in motion and will remain to be the norm for the next 5 to 10 years. Everyone is looking for a bargain, including big businesses. I’m not saying you should lower your price tag, but you better be able to offer something new and have incentives for your customers. And if you are a big agency or studio you better be able to leverage your overhead, by hand picking temporary talent for each particular project as opposed to hiring someone full time with benefits that is mediocre because you think they can fill multiple rolls. You also might want to rethink those round trip plane tickets to Los Angles for your two creative directors, because you no longer need to be sitting right next to an editor, to be art directing. You no longer have to have everyone is the same building to collaborate effectively, you just need to have them on the same page.

Q. Do you have any advice for aspiring video artists?

A: Find something you love and then work your ass off owning it.

We couldn’t be more excited about the decision. We welcome the Rerendered team, authors, and buyers over to VideoHive. We’re looking forward to a long lasting relationship, and some really great files! Visit VideoHive now to check out the files that have already made it over, and be on the lookout in the coming weeks for a Best of Rerendered article highlighting some fantastic Rerendered files!

As you all know, the Envato marketplaces are going through an extensive redesign which we’ll be launching by the end of this month.

Besides giving the sites a bit of a facelift, we’ve done our best to take on board as much of your feedback as possible, and added many new features in order to make the marketplaces even better!

I wanted to give everyone a ‘sneak peek’ of what you can expect, so here’s a couple of screenshots based on our new and improved Forums.

We hope you like them, and we wanted to say a special ‘thank you’ to everyone who’s supported us and given us great feedback over the years!

We’re all working hard to add the finishing touches, but you can expect the grand unveiling by the end of the month. Stay tuned!

All this before the end of September

We’re on a bit of a roll at the moment, what with the birthday celebrations, the launch of the new Envato.com website, lots and lots of recent upgrades to our server infrastructure and the launch of Phototuts+ … but it doesn’t stop there. Nope, in the next 6 weeks we have a rather huge amount of stuff planned which in turn means we’re all going to be working some serious overtime! Here’s what’s coming before the end of September:

• Plus coming to Aetuts+
  Since its inception Aetuts+ has been flying along. Now Skellie and new editor Adam Everett Miller are going to be taking things up a notch with the addition of bonus Plus content for members of our $9 a month Plus program.

• Email Templates coming to ThemeForest
  If you’ve ever designed HTML emails you know how painful it can be even with programs like Litmus. But soon you’ll be able to pick up affordable, high quality newsletter and email templates over at ThemeForest!

• Brand New "How to Be Awesome at Work" blog … a
  One of our most enduringly popular sites is FreelanceSwitch a site to make you better at freelancing. Well we’ve been thinking, what about everyone else – they probably want to be awesome too! So we’re launching a brand new blog called WorkAwesome.com. FreelanceSwitch editor Joel Falconer is at the helm and is compiling content for the new site for its imminent launch.

• 2 New AppStorm sites about Web Apps and Air Apps
  In 2009 thousands of Mac software junkies have discovered our little Mac Apps blog – Mac.AppStorm well we’re expanding out into two new areas – Web Apps and Adobe Air Apps. Look out for the first of these next week!

• The BIG one … Envato Marketplace Redesign
  This has been in development for almost three months now and finally the new marketplace design is approaching readiness. It’s a total overhaul of the look and is packed with all sorts of features, including forum improvements, interface improvements, author following, and much, much more. It’s going to be massive!

So look out for all this and more! It’s going to be a big couple of months!

The most immediate consequence is we will definitely be running Birthday Bundles every year in August from now on. So if you enjoyed this bundle there will be more to come next year!

As I write this it looks like we’re set to pass 5,000 sales of the Birthday Bundle which has far surpassed all our expectations by a long, long, long way. This is fantastic because we’ve seen lots of new buyers joining, lots of old buyers returning, and generally a lot of buzz and excitement. We’ve also noticed that many buyers are discovering our other marketplaces by looking through files in the bundle – we love this type of cross pollination!

Of course the immediate benefit of the Birthday Bundle is that rather a lot of cash has come in, in the last three days. That’s always a good thing for any business, and we’d like to share this unexpected windfall with the authors who helped make the bundle a reality. So a few hours ago Cyan wrote to all the Birthday Bundle authors to let them know that next week we’re sending over a big bonus to them all. We’ll also be creating a special Bundle badge for authors who contribute to bundles, because let’s face it you can never have too many badges!

We’d like to thank these authors for allowing us to include their files in this promotion:
380nm, ArikB, bitfade, dan_djorgi, dannyngs, dari, dashitai, designesia, digitalscience, dvkro, EAMejia, epicera, felt_tips, flashato, frayquantum, hipis, iKarina, instinct, jonathan01, kailoon, KenSHinH, KLANDA , MartynHarvey, Maximus, ParkerAndKent, scorpy, scottwills, Segen, Solidbeats, SoundProdigy, vaisnava, VF, vice_and_virtue, webrider, Webtreats, Xandros.

Some Lessons Learned!

As it was the first year we’ve tried a buyer promotion for the birthdays we learnt a couple of valuable lessons. In particular some authors have reported general sales went down a little during the time the Birthday Bundle was up. I think in the long run the buzz and marketing will end up bringing us new buyers and this will balance out in the future. However it did mean that our 70% author commissions wasn’t timed so well. In previous years when we upped the % rates (this was our third year of doing this) it was always done on its own to great effect. So next year we’ll be splitting the two parts of the celebration to make sure authors get a bit more of a kick out of the celebrations.

We’d like to say thank you to all authors for supporting us. The strength of the marketplaces is the great files and authoring community we have here, so the fact that they continue to be successful is really testament to the brilliance of the community!

I’ll be back later tonight with a wrap up of the birthday along with some previews and news about upcoming Envato sites!

Oh…one more thing (for those of you hoping for the “one more thing” bomb at the most recent Apple keynote), in addition to opening up to CS4 projects, we have also decided to do one better.

We are now accepting project files that make use of plug-ins. You are no longer restricted by the basic tools of AE, feel free to use any of the third-party plug-in’s available to you. There are a few things that need to be clear though.

We are trying to work out a way to make this next process as simple as possible. But for the time being, if you want to submit a project that makes use of third party plug-ins, please make sure to specify clearly which plug-ins are required to use the project properly. Make this text bold in your description, and possibly provide a link to the plug-in’s website so buyers know where to go to get them.

A little suggestion

Its no question what plug-ins offer in terms of expansion on AE’s basic tool set. If there was no use for plug-ins, they wouldn’t exist. But because there are so many available plug-ins, and all of them come at their own costs, be aware that making a project that makes use of 10 different plug-ins may make it difficult for buyers to be covered for all of them. My advice, is use them when you need to use them. And when possible, do it in AE.

In the words of a very wise rabbit, thats all folks!

From now on when authors upload a file they will need to fill in a series of tags that pertain to their file. The tags have been divided up into categories to help authors pick useful tags.

During the reviewing process, reviewers may edit tags slightly so that wording remains consistent wherever possible (eg. entered tags of “puppy”, “doggy” and “hound” might be edited to consistently be “dogs”). This will make tagging more useful for search.

Please note that if your file tagging is incorrect or missing but otherwise the file is appropriate for sale, you file will still be approved. Reviewers will add or alter tags as they see fit during the review process, and you are free to update your file and refine your tags at a later date.

For now tags will only be visible on the upload and update pages. In the next stage tags will then be used in search and to navigate groups of files, which will be a massive improvement!

In order to add tags to existing files, authors will need to update their files, only filling in the Tagging fields. In order to assist reviewers in getting through any tagging updates quickly, please put “Tagging Update Only” in the reviewer notes wherever possible. This is not essential, but will definitely be helpful to the review team!

We expect a big jump in updates as authors will be adding tags to their existing files, so we ask for your patience if the queue gets temporarily longer. There will be at least a month before tagging will be used in search, so there is no need to update all existing files immediately.

If you have any troubles or questions about this new feature, please let support know, and stay tuned for stage three, where search will be supercharged with tagging!

To begin with we’re adding a new multiple use license that means you pay less to get more usage out of an item. Here’s how it works:

1) Buy a Standard Single Use License.
This is the same license as the old default license, to be used when you wish to purchase a file to use on a single project.

2) Buy a 10 Project License for just 3 x the cost of a Single Use License.
A 10 project license means you can use the same file over and over – up to ten times – without having to buy it again and again.

For more information on what each of these license types entails, please visit this page. If you have any queries or concerns at all, please contact support who will be happy to assist you.

Stay tuned for more useful license types in the future.

Thanks and happy shopping!

That authors can make as much as US$15,000 a month with the marketplaces is a very rewarding thing to see for everyone here at Envato. And while FlashDen authors are definitely leading the way, we’re seeing solid growth on all the marketplaces, particularly ThemeForest and VideoHive with authors on both earning in the four figures each month.

As always the team is working hard to make our marketplaces truly profitable places for the whole authoring community. We just recently passed 2000 authors with at least one sale and a total community size of over 150,000 people – a staggering number.

So here’s to many more records to smash in the coming years!