It's not assumed, it's based on their published information. It quite clearly states that the 60% is after the third party takes their cut.

"60% after third party share"

Yes, there is a pricing floor (of $19), but the commission/payout/royalty floor is as yet unknown to us... as we dont know what the cut is for the third party.

As for why they have a third party pricing scheme... well the payout is 100% of the sale price for the marketplace and it's 60% of the sale price for Enterprise. The payout for third party does not match either of those two options, plus there are different licensing options at lower prices (I.e. the $19 one), so a new pricing scheme is required.

Nobody is saying there isn't a pricing floor, but it's the payout floor, or at least a rough idea of the third party cut that I'd be interested in knowing... which hasn't been communicated yet.

Although, I will admit that I guess there is a possibility that 'after third party share' might mean that 40% is the third party share. If so, its a pretty poor choice of wording, but it would go to explain why they haven't published the third party share... maybe they feel they already have!

If not, then I'll assume the reason they haven't published it yet is that it's a complicated split share based on many factors, or... it's a really high share and they want to make sure a bunch of people opt in before publishing it, so they can show off the massive portfolio they have of files available for the service at launch... before they all opt out!

Here's how the "partner sales" game would work in real estate.

I'm a real estate agent, you list your house with me, and agree that my commission will be 6%.  Later on you agree to increase your chance of a sale by participating in my "partner" plan: if the "partner" sells it, you also pay him 6% .   Now, I hand your listing over to another agent, he sells it, I do nothing, we both get 6%.

But hey,  it's "a sale you would otherwise not have gotten".   

I'm very skeptical.

We know the minimum price the consumer will pay, we know our commission, but we don't know what percentage of the gross revenue is for the third party. They haven't even disclosed which third parties are involved.

Until there's more info about our minimum royalties, I'm opted out. I rather see them putting effort into improving Marketplace sales, because these have dried up.

I opted in, for now, it may work ok after all.  Willing to give them a chance and support them.  I would rather see them pay us 80% commission and use the 20% to grow the business and client department than venture into the PP world.

They state you can opt out at a later date if you need to which is a good thing.   We all know how iStock's PP was a horrible experience, but the VB/SB team may be able to pull off something good for all involved.  Stay tuned!

I guess they don't want to announce the partner until the big launch, but they want to get people on-board now so they have some numbers to use when they promote the launch.

I received an email from them:

"Thanks for reaching out. We�re incentivized to sell the assets at a higher price since we share in profits, which means more money for you!

Content for the Consumer License will not be sold for less than 49$, which is the guaranteed price floor and you will make 60% after the platform has received their share. For example, if the Third Party were to receive 20% then you would receive $23.52 after a sale. If this were a Single-Use License you would take home $9.12. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!"

I followed up with another email asking if the third party's take is always 20%, or if it could be more. If it's only 20%, it sounds like an okay deal.

Third party: 20%
Storyblocks: 32%
Contributor: 48% of sale price

Edit:
Received another reply:
"The prices will vary for each integration, but our goal is always to offer competitive prices points to buyers while ensuring the majority of the revenue we collect goes back to the artists. We are always looking for new ways to drive sales to our contributors and that is something we are strongly focusing on in 2018."

Not the answer I was hoping for. If the percentage is going to be different for each partner deal, I'm not convinced to join.

Thanks for that, I'm also opting out.

It would be a bit cheeky using an example with the partner taking 20% if it's not physically possible for them to take 20% on whatever sliding scale they're using.

They should specify a maximum third party share. And also Single use HD minimum price should be mor than $19.
And they should announce what partners they work with. Can they guarantee that it's really only single use?