Matterport Digital Pro - your direct competition18284
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi guys, As we have all been discussing for a long time, it's quite obvious that Matterport completely wants to wipe out any service providers so that they can rake in all the profits themselves. Today, they announced "Digital Pro", a service being offered by their subsidiary, VHT studios, which is pretty much in direct competition with Matterport service providers. Here are some links: clickable text And VHT Studios: clickable text Your thoughts? |
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daslack private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @twinmoons First of all thank you for sharing that information! I agree with you, it appears that Matterport wants to sell their high-end cameras and hosting to MSP's but then turn around and cut their throats. I had an exchange with Amir Frank on a Shop Talk when they introduced the Axis. I pointed out that it lowered the bar of entry for people who wanted to occasionally scan a space, i.e., real estate agents. I told him that it was detrimental to those of us who spent the money for the higher end equipment. He disagreed, of course. This news today really makes me question why I bought a Pro 3 a month ago. Matterport's customer service is brutal, it often takes me days to get answers to my questions. All of these things add up to me not feeling really positive about Matterport going forward. |
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denlee private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Competing directly with photographers, Matterport will never sell enough Pro 3 cameras (at $6K+) to justify the R&D cost. They're also apparently too stupid to realize that the overwhelming majority of Realtors won't spend $300 on marketing a listing. | ||
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rhelling private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I agree completely. If Matterport wants to dominate the visualization real estate market - it's a great move. But they should NOT plan on selling anymore cameras. I'm assuming a large portion of their camera sales come from future entrepreneurs. Why would I buy a camera from Matterport and think I could start-up my own business offering tours of houses for realtors? They just cut the legs from under all their potential clients. Support your customers...don't compete with them. Profits will soar. |
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 WGAN FanClub Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I am not really sure they can find anyone who would do 1000sqf property for the same fee as say 5000 sqf. Plus it already does not line up with Capture services which can be used for residential properties too. If I remember correctly it is $0.2 per sqf so 1000sqf property costs $200 just for capturing a tour. Then you go with 2000sft and say it is $360 through capture services just for capturing and $299 though digital pro with extras. Two similar services from one company with completelly different pricing structure never looks good to a customer and confusing to say at least. |
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 WGAN FanClub Member Buffalo, New York |
GETMYVR private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Before I became a real real estate photographer & bought a real camera, I ripped all my images from the Matterport scans in the workshop. There's a compromise when only using scan images, however, I think Matterport just gave me a pay raise. I read the fine print for this offer, and I'm not sure this is what I call premium photography services. All images produced, are from the 3D Scan only, most likely a Pro23D at a minimum. That also means any exterior photos are taken from a scan or 360 images. No DSLR or anything like that. They outsource editing, like many of us. No guided video tour, mattertags or blurring. The floor plan, probably won't be labeled. The video is simply the teaser Matterport automatically produces. If this is the new PRO, I must be ULTRA! |
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm assuming the same people who signed up to do scans for their capture services will also be signing up for this. It's a race to the bottom. I agree that this is confusing when comparing it with capture services pricing and doesn't provide anywhere near the same level of quality that you can get from dedicated photographers. Also, usually, when we book clients, they want additional services such as aerial photography, dusk photography, and virtual staging. So I guess they are going for real estate brokerages to provide basic tours and photography for their realtors. | ||
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WGAN Fan Club Member Buffalo, New York |
GETMYVR private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @twinmoons Probably the upsell | ||
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WGAN Fan Club Member Buffalo, New York |
GETMYVR private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @denlee Any agent who rips through a 75-hour real estate course, and thinks they are pros are kidding themselves - and doing their clients wrong. RE is all visual. All online. Invest in a good real estate photographer, and life will be smooth sailing! It's a tough bye-in for agents, yeah and I don't know why. When I was an automotive CTO, we spent $600-$800 avg per unit on new & used online advertising (websites) for average profit $400-$1200. Let's compare: The average home sale price in 2022 was about $455K. Let's say at a selling price of $400K, you are the selling agent and only got 1%, that's $4,000 in commission. $600-$800 in advertising looks doable, $300... get outa here! |
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dave3d private msg quote post Address this user | |
| When we bought our last camera (Pro3) I called for sales. I couldn't speak to a person. They said I could open a ticket and be contacted by sales. So I gave up and bought on-line from Adorama. No matter what's offered or what price is given without great service you can always compete. Established communication and dependability, ease of access, and ability to rapidly respond to unexpected change would annihilate the service level I experienced. I'm sure they'll improve over time but it's gonna be a bit before they own the world. | ||
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daslack private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @dave3d That is a great point! That seems to be the consensus in this thread. | ||
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Agreed! | ||
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WGAN Fan Club Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by GETMYVR In countries when it is organised that way I can at least understand they need to pay for marketing from their commission and also share commission with some 3rd party. In Australia a vendor is usually asked to pay marketing cost ahead(most won't even refund it if they cannot sell a property) and then goes 2.5-3 or 4% commission. I paid $2000 for marketing my property sold 7 years ago before me moved to Brisbane. It is huge and there is 0 justification for it to be so big. I had photos and floor plan only and listings on 2 MLSs costed about $300 maximum. We did pay low commission(below 2%) but was an agreement with our friend who got a re license and that was his first house to sell. I know now some ask $2500 and more for marketing cost and asking over 3% for commission. In my area in Brisbane houses are over $1 000 000 and in case of a huge mansion a price tag can be even 2 000 000 and 3 000 000. I recently helped to sell one which is 10km away from me in some semi-rural area for $4 000 000. But commission is still at a minimum of 2.5% So even on 1 000 000 house agent commission is $25 000 and they will get most of it into their pocket(all of it if it is just one independent agent) and some will be shared with REA they work for. And yet only one agency has invested in Matterport with me from all local 5-10 agencies whose principals know I am just around a corner. As you can see there is plenty of money in their commission they can put towards faster and better sales and still NO. But to be honest they do not even need to invest their money. Even with less marketing cost $2000 is more than enough to pay for a 3D tour, photos and video but they do not want bring anything more to a vendor. It will be much less left for their pocket from all media markups they are doing. I know for sure from my friend who was doing property videos including aerial video for one local agency he was charging agents $750 for the video and they were charging their vendors $1500 for it. And that extra money for them earned on any media even before they put a property on the market. They have now even stopped using him after 5 years and 100s of videos produced. They have realised they can earn more from marketing by having a photo/video guy employed. He does everything being on a salary and with agency selling a lot it costs them much less and let them earn more on marketing paid by a vendor as a fixed fee. So it is absolutely wrong tactic for Matterport to attract agents who do not want to pay a full price based on time required for us to capture a property and offer them a flat fee. First most agents won't still do a tour and those who will buy on digital pro offers will think Matterport as a cheap tech that can be pushed even more in cost letting them pocket more. If they call themselves salesmen and claim to have sales skills that just not lining up. Any good salesman will use any tech to make sales easier and less time consuming for each. And selling anything in digital era cannot be used by old "no internet" tactic as effectively as the one where all suitable tools are used. Budging to people who are scared of it or simply do not want to use it because it is less profit for yourself from marketing or for people who cannot see clearly visible benefits for themselves, vendors and buyers cannot lead to anything good. Apart from some others being not happy with Capture Services I am not so critical of it. It has good rates in my opinion and if I could get at least 70-80% paid for these rates to me I would be happy to help Matterport with it. But this digital pro is way off and it is actually targeting wrong people. Matterport needs to drill with marketing property with a 3D tour into vendors' head explaining them benefits. For example as peace of mind during selling as you do not need regular public inspections and you do not need to disturb the whole family during them getting everybody out. That is what every agent does and I bet vendor just agree there is no other way. But there is one with a tour and they should be aware of it or reaching more buyers and creating competition between each interested party that way. |
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WGAN Fan Club Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| btw, a bit of personal experience. When my friend offered me to create a business mostly for video production for documentaries, short movies and ads he later told me about Matterport and offered to buy it and use it. I was more focused on drones as I was getting my license and barely was thinking of professional photography. I wanted to do drone mapping and that was it and my friend needed a licensed drone pilot for his video production. He probably noticed it only because he was also doing drone videos for real estate as side jobs. I looked at one Matterport tour and it was cool but that was it. I could not link it myself to a property selling benefits or doing it for a business. But I am the guy who is trying to think outside of a box and later when I accidentally walked into other 3D tours online it all started bringing ideas where it can be used. Then I started googling and found it was created as a real estate marketing tool. So it was me who actually found a used Pro2 later for our partnership even though the idea was originally promoted by my partner. I am saying it all just to prove the more people see 3D tours and ideas what they are being used for around them the more end users will want them for a lot of different things with some of them not even being found. And at some point more & unique ideas will be born in their heads. |
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daslack private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Wingman You make a good point. I have only been working with Matterport for a year and I have far more ideas for usage now than when I started. | ||
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WGAN Fan Club Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| And there will be much more but how fast and when depends on MSPs but mostly on Matterport trying to promote them to anybody. We have an army of MSPs and they will be contributing posting their clients' tours and explaining what they are for to the rest. However we are small entities who do not have millions for ads and endorsements while Matterport does. TO be honest Matterport would be better buying a TV channel or a newspaper/magazine as this is how they can reach a general crowd in big numbers, instead they went and bought VHT and mostly I guess they did it for their client data.. again agents that do not want to use 3D tours. |
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 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi All, When Matterport acquired VHT Studios, I posted this commentary to the WGAN Forum: => Matterport Acquisition of VHT Studios: 9 Reasons This is a Bad Strategy Dan |
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I had totally missed that commentary. Great analysis, Dan. | ||
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
 Hi All, From this WGAN Forum discussion (Friday, 17 April 2020): => Transcript: Matterport Capture Services Webinar | Thursday, 16 April 2020 Linda McNair: [Matterport Director, Communications and Content Marketing] Thanks, Brendan. ... So, the first question if for Jay: Many MSPs feel that we're trying to compete with them. What do you have to say about that? Jay Remley: [Matterport Chief Revenue Officer] Good question, Linda, and yeah. We definitely don't see this as competing with our Capture technicians. As I had mentioned earlier in the beginning, it's a huge opportunity out there in the market, with over four billion buildings globally, and we're capturing today between two and a half and three million on our platform, and yes, we're growing quickly at 100,000+ per month that we're adding to our platform, but by no means are we even close to reaching our potential. And so, we see this program as really incremental to the business that our Capture technicians are seeing today as we expand this, as Brendan mentioned, really more into the enterprise space and overcoming some of the challenges that we had in the last five or six years that I had mentioned earlier, about inconsistencies in the customer experience, the quality of the experience, as well as just the pricing and transparency when large customers are asking for 50, 100, 200 scans. We just weren't able to efficiently support those, that whole segment of the market. So, I see this truly as incremental and a growth opportunity for any of the Capture technicians that participate in our Capture Services Program. Brendan Doddle: {Matterport Senior Director Business Development] And something I'd like to add to this, Jay, is in terms of the service offering that we're providing these enterprise customers: to be absolutely clear, all we're providing is Matterport scans and Matterport services. Services such as drone, DSLR photography, and other services are not going to be serviced through this program itself. We're really trying to make Matterport itself more available to our customer base, and we're not looking to expand beyond that service offering at this point, or any time in the future. --- Hmmmmm..... Dan |
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| According to VHT's website, they also offer DLSR photography, drone and videography services, so "we're not looking to expand beyond that service offering at this point, or any time in the future." isn't quite true. Of course, you can "become a VHT photographer" and make pennies on the dollar. | ||
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denlee private msg quote post Address this user | |
| They should just rename the company to Matterliars! | ||
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daslack private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I wish Matterport would have done this press release for the Matterport Digital Pro at the same time they announced the Pro 3 available for sale. I am certain I would have not bought one and I am sure that many others would have followed suit. They had to know that this program was in the works at the time, but they still went ahead and pushed the Pro 3 out onto the independent MSP's anyway. It's a very bad look for them. I am curious, has anyone ever worked for MP Captures Services? I am wondering what they pay. I am not planning on doing that, but I have heard rumblings that it is not real lucrative. Also, curious how Matterport plans to handle the hosting for their new offering? You need to have a Professional Plan minimum to host a Pro 2 or Pro 3 tour. This will be telling about how aggressive they really intend to be with crushing the competition. As I like to be a glass half full type of guy, I will say this; If their customer service for the new program is as poor as the service I have received on numerous occasions this program will flounder. Furthermore, I don't think $299 will stick around for a real long time. It's a $500 value after all... |
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @daslack We recently bought a Pro 3 as well. We have used it for a few architectural projects so far as well as projects where we have scanned apartment buildings and exterior amenities and clients really love being able to walk anywhere on the property. We would have probably still bought the Pro 3 because real estate isn't our core service, but I can see that it wouldn't make sense for a lot of photographers whose core business is real estate. I also agree that their customer service can't touch what we dedicated photographers provide our clients. We actually used their Capture Services to scan a store in another state and there was ZERO communication from their service provider, despite the fact that we had asked them to contact us before going to the job site. |
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daslack private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @twinmoons That is very interesting that their service provider didn’t reach out. Communication is so important for good customer service. | ||
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Absolutely! I was surprised as well. | ||
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
 Text Me 5 Minutes Before WGAN-TV is Live | WGAN-TV | Tom Sparks (Sparks Media Group): I Paid $299 for a Matterport Digital Pro Package for a RE Listing: What Every MSP Should Know | Guest: Scan Your Space (a Division of Sparks Media Group) Founder and CEO Tom Sparks | Episode: 178 | Tuesday, 28 February 2023 | www.ScanYourSpace.com | www.SparksMediaGroup.com | @ScanYourSpace WGAN-TV: Tom Sparks (Sparks Media Group): 'I Paid $299 for a Matterport Digital Pro Package for a Real Estate Listing: What Every Matterport Service Provider Should Know' Hi All, On WGAN-TV Live at 5 (5 pm ET) today (Tuesday, 28 February 2023): WGAN-TV: Tom Sparks (Sparks Media Group): "I Paid $299 for a Matterport Digital Pro Package for a Real Estate Listing: What Every Matterport Service Provider Should Know" Dan |
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twinmoons private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Can't wait for this one! Thanks, Dan! | ||
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