Summary: Here are the most common item rejection reasons we come across during the review process, top tips for submitting an application for Envato Elements and the three characteristics of creating a successful portfolio - including examples.
The guidance below applies to authors preparing to submit an application when our selective intake model reopens. Applications will be open for Video (including Video Templates, Stock Footage, and Motion Graphics), 3D, and Animated Graphics at launch, with Fonts planned to open later in 2026.
If your content type is not listed above, applications are not planned to reopen for your category at this time.
Learn more about which categories will be supported.
Most Common Item Rejection Reasons in the Review Process
Your submission doesn't meet our quality requirements
Unfortunately, your submission doesn't meet our current minimum technical quality requirements for the category it was submitted to. Please consider taking some time to familiarize yourself with our current library and quality levels of popular items before resubmitting.
In general, an item must:
- Be useful to customers
- Not include any potentially offensive content (e.g., violent, sexual or otherwise offensive content)
- Not be compressed to the point where the aesthetic quality suffers
- Not include your logo, URL, or watermark (you may include information about your services in an attached help text file)
- Be well constructed
- Be as compatible as possible
- Be easy to customize
Please review the Quality and Technical Requirements.
Your submission does not have sufficient commercial utility
We're not able to accept your submission as it does not provide enough commercial utility. Submissions need to be commercially viable and provide a minimum level of utility for potential buyers. Please consider browsing the Market to see what kind of submissions provide more commercial utility.
You have uploaded this submission to an incorrect category
This file would be better suited to the [correct category]. Please read the category upload instructions and resubmit this file using the [correct category] upload form.
Please review how to correctly fill in your item information.
Your submission is too similar to existing items
Though there may not be anything wrong with your file, we either have plenty of this submission type already or there is currently not enough demand from customers for this type of submission.
You have resubmitted a previously rejected submission without changes
This is a resubmission of a previously rejected submission. Resubmitting without making the required changes or any improvements is not considered acceptable use of the Envato Market and repeated attempts may result in a temporary or permanent suspension of authorship.
If this item was previously soft-rejected, please resubmit your updated files by updating the item directly. If this item was previously hard-rejected, it must be significantly improved such that it qualifies as a new item.
Your submission does not meet our maturity content guidelines
Unfortunately, your file contains inappropriate language and/or explicit sexual, violent or drug-related content, which will need to be removed from all previews and download files. Please remove offensive material from future uploads before submitting them.
Your submission contains watermarked images that are not from Envato sites
Your submission appears to include watermarked images or other watermarked assets not from Envato's marketplaces.
Envato policy does not allow non-Envato watermarked assets. You are welcome to use any watermarked preview of an item for sale on the Envato Market within your submission preview, screenshot or a live demo, as long as the item is credited.
You should not include these assets in your main file. For further information, view this blog post and consider browsing our various marketplaces, such as PhotoDune, for watermarked assets to use in your submission previews.
Your submission is not suitable for sale due to copyright or intellectual property issues
We're not able to accept your submission as it appears to contain copyrighted content or content in the submission is protected by intellectual property rights and is not allowed to be sold as commercial stock.
Your submission has an incorrect description
Your file description was either not relevant, not appropriate, or contained a list of keywords/tags, which is not allowed. Descriptions should briefly and coherently describe what is in your submission.
Your submission has incorrect tags
Your submission contained no tags/keywords or contained tags which were irrelevant or misleading. Please add some descriptive tags/keywords to your submission via the dedicated tagging section of the submission form.
For help with effective descriptions and tags, see here.
Your submission requires a release form
- Your submission requires a release form. For more information about providing signed release forms for images containing recognizable humans and/or locations protected by intellectual property rights, please refer to the Model and Location Releases article. Please attach your release form(s) in a single zipped folder.
In addition to these general responses, reviewers use pre-written responses to tackle market-specific issues.
Top Tips for Getting Through the Envato Elements Application Process
General Guidelines for all Content Types include:
Being open, honest and clear about who is applying. When filling out an application, make sure your application includes your full name (not just your business name or username). This helps our team identify you and your work more easily, especially if you are applying with an account that already exists.
Choosing your best and newest assets for Envato. When it comes to evaluating a portfolio, it’s not always based on what’s sold the most. Remember that what sells well on Market, might not be the same as on Elements as it is a different customer base and experience. So, make sure to only include your best items that you know you can create well and, if you can, prioritize some of your more recent items. Help us get a sense of who you are and what you’re creating now, not what you created 2-4 years ago.
Having a history of publishing new items regularly on Envato. Coming in with a portfolio with an array of high quality items is something that we’re after. We want to know you’ll be active in publishing new content so that there is fresh content available for customers.
Our Envato Elements Curator has noted that from observing the platform, the portfolios that do the best are the ones that have a good sustained publishing plan. It’s not just about one or two files, it’s about the whole library.
Showing some variety and diversity in your items. We want to see how you can create different kinds of items in your portfolio. It helps us to get a sense of the types of things you can do and the kinds of things you can produce for customers on Elements.
Having a history of doing the right thing. This means doing the right thing by customers, by authors and by Envato. We care about the interactions and behaviours within our ecosystem. The way you respond to customers, the way item pages are created and how you treat other authors via the forums for example; all those things play a role in helping to give us a sense of who you are as an author.
In addition to the general guidelines above, particular guides and information for each content type can be found below.
Graphics
- Make sure to send the 3 folio links that are requested, not 3 items.
- Curate your folios to present the work you expect to be putting on Envato Elements, not simply links to pages that contain all of your work.
- Check out our Top Tips for Graphics Items.
Photos
- Curate your folios to present the work you expect to be putting on Elements, not simply links to pages that contain all of your work.
- Check out top Top Rejection Reasons for Photos & How to Avoid them.
- Check out our lookbook to get a better understanding of our quality expectations.
Video
- Read up on our Common Rejection Reasons for Video, which will help you understand what we’re looking for.
Audio
- Read up on our Review Tips and Tricks for Music and for Sound Effects, which will help you understand what we’re looking for.
Web
- All of the general guidelines above apply for this content type.
Where Else Can I Find Help?
If your application has recently been rejected, please don’t be discouraged from applying again.
In addition to the guidelines above, here are some things you can do to help prepare your portfolio going forwards:
- Visit our Envato Author Hub to discover current trends, author stories, current competitions and content challenges.
- Have a look at popular items on Envato Elements to get some inspiration, gain a better understanding of the quality bar and learn what items are performing well, including the newly approved items and top sellers.
- Learn some new skills or improve your current skill set by completing some tutorials on Envato Tuts+.
The Three Characteristics of a Successful Envato Portfolio
1. High Quality: The item is easy for the subscribers to use, it saves the subscribers time and displays an understanding of techniques that are at an equal or higher skill level than the average Envato customer.
We love to see Authors branching out into different media types and encourage people to continually add to and improve their skills. Please make sure that you’re at an appropriate skill level before uploading files to a category you’re unfamiliar with.
2. Relevant: The files shouldn’t look dated at the time of upload. Upload and create items that are relevant to contemporary industry trends or have a unique and timeless style.
Please review our Envato platforms to get a sense of what we’re looking for and head over to the Envato Author Hub to see what's trending.
3. Attractive: The file needs to be described and presented in an attractive manner. Show off the key selling points and features of the item without cluttering the cover image. Please review how to best prepare your item presentation for more information.
Example: Here is "RNS Miles" by Yorlmar. It has an eye catching cover image that clearly shows the item with additional preview images to showcase the features.