There are a lot of ways to answer that question, but in the end, there are three factors that you want to look at to determine which 3d marketplaces are worth your time and effort: Keep in mind, we’re looking at non-exclusive royalties. Almost all these sites offer higher payment in exchange for an agreement that you won’t sell a specific model anywhere else. Exclusivity contracts are something you definitely want to consider once you’ve established yourself, but in the beginning, we recommend you don’t limit your options. Here are the royalty rates, from best to worst: Notice two markets were left off the list. Shapeways and Sculpteo both employ a flexible royalty scale where the vendor sets a price based on how much it costs them to manufacture the 3D print. The artist then chooses how much of a markup they want to add. Although you’re free to set an 80% markup at Shapeways, you run the risk of pricing yourself out of the market. In general, the relatively high price of 3D printing means you’ll probably make less per sale at Shapeways and Sculpeo than an all-digital vendor like 3D Exchange. Here are the Alexa rankings for ten 3D marketplaces. A smaller number means more traffic! Included in the sites’ raw traffic information from January 2012 in parenthesis. We compared the sites’ Alexa rankings with freely available traffic statistics from January 2012. Looking at a single month’s worth of data can be misleading, but we wanted to determine whether there were any major discrepancies between the Alexa rankings and the raw traffic data. For the most part, traffic statistics (unique monthly visitors) were accurately reflected in the Alexa rankings with one very notable exception. 3DOcean, despite having the fourth-best Alexa ranking on the list, was actually ranked eighth for monthly traffic. Our best guess is that 3DOcean’s close affiliation with the very powerful domain Envato.com falsely bolsters it’s Alexa score. To determine competition, we simply looked at the total number of 3D models for sale in each marketplace: The marketplace at Turbosquid has the most offerings, boasting a selection more than three times larger than its closest competitor. However, Turbosquid also happens to have the most traffic. Let’s do some analysis. Which sites fit the bill? Eliminate: Right off the bat, remove 3DOcean and Falling Pixel as options for your primary marketplace. They both have frustratingly low royalties and low traffic. Even though competition isn’t heavy at 3Docean, you’ll make almost twice as much per sale elsewhere. Recommendation for 3D Printing: ShapewaysIf you’re interested in selling 3D prints, it’s almost a wash. Shapeways has far more traffic than Sculpteo, but the competition is also much stronger. Shapeways earns a recommendation for two reasons: First, printing costs tend to be lower, which means more profit per sale. Second, the high level of traffic at Shapeways means there’s more potential upside if your models get featured on the front page. Analysis for Regular 3D ModelsIf you’re already into DAZ Studio and Poser, then Daz 3D and Renderosity are a no-brainer. They both have high traffic, low competition, and reasonable royalties. If you’re willing to wade through their stringent quality control requirements and successfully get your work into their stores, there’s a fantastic chance you’ll profit from it. If you’re not into the DAZ/Poser scene, you’ll want to look elsewhere. 3DExchange had the highest royalty rates, but has surprisingly low traffic and an awful lot of competition. Going by the numbers alone the best option is Creative Crash. Creative Crash has by far the lowest competition for the amount of traffic they receive — honestly, it isn’t even close. However, Creative Crash has an enormous library of free models. Free downloads likely account for up to half their traffic, which means their competition may be more similar to Turbosquid than the numbers imply.
