I created a CGTrader account years ago. My first submissions were all free. I wanted a way to give back to a community that had help me learn Blender. And then one day I saw a post on the user forum. Someone was complaining because the models were under priced. They were seeing a drop off in sales and believed it was because more content was being offered for free or for a very low price.
That got me thinking. I don’t think anyone makes a ton of money selling on CGTrader. There may be a few, but it’s now way to make a living. Considering the amount of time it takes to make a model, the price charged is usually a token. By offering models for free, I was taking that token away from others.
Today I have a mix. Some are free. Some are for sale. No models are expensive. If you want to buy a model, I appreciate it. I put many hours into creating and posting them. Sales are nice, but I’m not going to put my kids through college with the revenue.
Here is a partial list (for now) of models I have on CG Trader:
Simmer3D 