Why do we run sales on Superhive (The Indie Blender Marketplace)

Whenever we run a sale on Superhive (the indie Blender Marketplace), there's a natural, unspoken thought: “You're just trying to make more money.”

That’s not entirely wrong. Creators, artists, and Blender businesses need to be profitable to keep doing what they do. That benefits the whole community. But there’s another perspective I want to highlight.

It’s about creating a moment in the community. Accelerating productivity. Lowering the barrier to entry for you as a Blender artist.

This focus on sustainability and commerce isn’t new. Ton Roosendaal, the founder of Blender, has long supported commercial activity around Blender. In a recent interview, he reaffirmed that the economic layer of Blender belongs to the community. To us. To you. To build.

I get it. Discounts can feel transactional, flashy, and purely revenue-driven. Honestly, they make me a little uneasy too.

I grew up admiring products that never went on sale. The price was the price. Fair and worth every cent. Steve Jobs was a critic of discounting. In Elon Musk’s biography, it’s mentioned he would not discount a Tesla, even for a close friend. The value was inherent in the price.

As a co-founder of small online businesses, the idea of commoditizing products and sparking a race to the bottom keeps me up at night. It can be a great short-term strategy, but it often causes long-term damage. You have probably seen sites that are “always on sale” with rolling 25 to 30 percent discounts under a fresh coat of paint.

We do not want to head in that direction. So we approach sales with caution. We have even done a deep dive into our own data to understand where we actually stand.

So, how many 3D artists only shop during sales?

Across years of data, only about 4 percent of buyers purchase exclusively during sales.

The vast majority of you purchase both during sales and at full price throughout the year. Most of Superhive's and our creators' revenue comes from these mixed supporters. You invest in tools and assets year-round because they improve your workflow and productivity.

This tells us something crucial: sales on Superhive are not conditioning the community to wait for the next discount. They are not replacing full-price purchases. They are activating them.

The real constraint is attention

The real constraint in a marketplace like Superhive is not supply. It is attention.

There is so much great work here. Thousands of Blender assets. Talented creators. Endless options. Without a reason to focus, it is easy to browse and move on.

A sale creates a moment. It compresses attention into a window where you explore more intentionally, revisit bookmarks, and finally make a decision.

What we consistently see in the data is discovery.

You might show up for one product and leave having found three new creators. A creator gains a new supporter. That relationship often continues long after the sale ends. The discount is temporary. The connection is not.

Connections and relationships are the sticky stuff that holds this Blender community together. I am grateful that Superhive gets to play a small positive role in that.

If we were optimizing for a quick revenue spike at the expense of long-term trust, we would behave very differently. We would run endless promotions. We would anchor pricing around discounts. We would condition you to expect a deal.

We are not interested in doing that.

We run sales intentionally. As events. As activation moments. As a way to bring energy and focus to the ecosystem without undermining the value of the work itself.

Superhive, a project within the Autotroph ecosystem, exists to foster and elevate creative work. Sales are one tool in that mission, not the mission itself.

If a sale helped you start a project, try a new workflow, or support a creator you have been following for months, then it has done its job.

If you have purchased during a sale, thank you. It genuinely means a lot to our small team and to the creators. If you have purchased at full price, thank you for investing in yourself and in this community.

Either way, you are part of what makes this Blender ecosystem work.

We will keep running intentional sales. Not constantly. Not carelessly. Just thoughtfully. Maybe one day we will be the cool company that never runs a sale. 😎

Until then, we will keep creating small moments that help great work move forward.

Happy Blending. ✌️

Wes Burke
Co-Founder, Autotroph - the humans behind Superhive