Summary: Here are the key steps required to upload an item, so that you can start earning with Envato. At this stage, we expect that you’ve already signed-up as an author and have an item ready to upload.
Start at step 1. If you know what you need or want to skip ahead, you can find more information by clicking on the other steps below.
By the end of step 3: Your item will be ready for review
By the end of step 5: Your item will be in front of customers!
Please note: When you have finished this article, your next step is to review our upload methods to understand the specialized pathways that may be available if you are submitting lots of items or contributing items to Envato Elements. If that’s not needed, check out how to get through review so that you can best prepare for success!
- What Makes Your Item Ready for Selling on Envato?
- Where Do You Upload Your Item?
- Adding Your Item Presentation & Item Information
- From Upload To Review
- From Review to Published on Envato
- I’ve Published, What’s Next?
1. What Makes Your Item Ready for Selling on Envato?
Not everything you create is ready to be an Envato item. There are a few specifics that we require before you can upload. The first is in the technical way that you prepare your item. We use ZIP files to compress and deliver your items to customers and depending on what you are creating, there may be additional files you need to include in your ZIP.
2. Where Do You Upload Your Item?
Once you’ve signed up as an author, you are dropped into the dashboard of your chosen marketplace, such as:
- ThemeForest for Web Themes & Templates
- AudioJungle for Audio & Music
- VideoHive for Video Templates & Stock Video
- PhotoDune for Stock Photos
- GraphicRiver for Graphic Fonts, Logos, Icons, Templates and more
- CodeCanyon for Code Script Items
- 3DOcean for 3D Print Models and CG Textures
From your Author Dashboard, you can now begin the upload process by clicking on Upload My First Item.
Some item types have specialized pathways to make things easier and quicker (especially if you have a lot of items to upload) or if you are contributing them to other platforms (such as Envato Elements or Placeit).
If you have been invited to contribute to other platforms, please review our upload methods to know which tools are the best to use and understand how your item is being carried over, depending on your content-type.
3. Adding Your Item Presentation & Item Information
Once your item is approved for sale, it becomes available immediately. Because of this, uploading your item and filling in your item information or metadata (for your item page) are part of the same step.
Check out our handy Item Presentation and Item Information articles for everything you’ll want to have ready to go in more detail.
To give you a quick snapshot, these are some of the top things to have in mind as you look through these:
- Item Category / Subcategory
- Item Title
- Item Description
- Purchase Price
- Item Thumbnail
- Cover & Preview Images / Video
- Tags
- ZIP File
You’ll pick your Item Category first and this will determine exactly what fields you’ll need to fill in for your item page. Some item types have additional fields.
Your Item Title is next and we’ve got some tips and guidelines for choosing wisely. Generally, your title should be no more than 100 characters including spaces and using English characters only. It’s the first thing potential customers see, so it's important to include the most relevant information only.
When it comes to your Item Description, you have a few options. Many authors use this section as a way to present the features of their item, highlight use cases or present customer feedback. It uses a full HTML editor so you can add images (hosted on your own server), markup your text with bold, italics, and a variety of sizes.
Our top tip is to use an HTML or text editor to prepare your item description and then copy and paste it into your item description field. This way, you’ve got a saved copy you can edit later. Setting your purchase price includes three separate amounts. There is your fee, the buyer fee and the author fee. The author fee is set by Envato and is a percentage of your item price.
For exclusive authors, this becomes less over time as your sales increase. The buyer fee is a flat fee that is set by Envato. Every category includes a recommended purchase price but you are free to set the item price to whatever you would like.
There are three different sizes of images you will need for your item. A thumbnail image, preview image and cover image. In some cases, it might make sense to have multiple preview images to show off your item. Likewise, some preview assets are created automatically for authors by our system, depending on the content-type.
Finally, there are tags. These are additional keywords you can add to describe your item and help customers find it through search and discovery.
Once you’ve completed all the required information fields, your item is ready for review. Click Upload and your item will be on its way!
4. From Upload To Review
Once uploaded, every item submitted to Envato is reviewed for quality and integrity. We’re looking for great items that work well for customers and follow our copyright rules.
It can take some time for our review team to get to your items and sometimes, it can even take a few rounds of feedback to get things right. This doesn't mean that your item isn’t good, but that it might not be Envato-ready.
We’ve created detailed review guidelines to help you understand what gets through the review process and why, so that you know how to best prepare for success!
5. From Review to Published on Envato
Once your item has been reviewed and approved, you will receive a notification on the review outcome and it will become available for sale on Envato Market immediately. (check: do authors receive an email?).
Items for sale on Envato Market can also be considered for other Envato sites, such as Elements and Placeit. If you’re interested in being considered for these platforms, apply here.
6. I’ve Published, What’s Next?
Keep an eye on your item and become familiar with the tools and resources available to best manage your sales on Envato, so that you can track and optimize your effort going forwards.
What you can expect to earn (and when) largely depends on the item-type and platform, as well as how it is presented to customers (outlined in step 3). We’ve created this new item expectations guide to give you an insight into average earnings and when you can expect to start earning an income from your items on our Envato platforms.
Uploading FAQs
How Do I Contribute and Select my Items to Sell on Envato Elements?
How Do I Upload Graphics Items to Envato Elements?
Help! I’m Having Issues Uploading Using FTP - Troubleshooting.
---------- and more! Check out more Uploading FAQ’s