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Author Topic: DepositPhotos and Shotshop- standard purchases gives only subscription amounts?  (Read 132444 times)

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« Reply #150 on: February 17, 2014, 08:34 »
+3
Or they just preemptively removed it from people who posted here and where obviously unhappy. It would be a logical thing to do. I also deactivated many files, it probably got someones attention.

They need to offer an unambiguous totally clear opt out for all media types.

There will still be people who dont mind and will opt in. But we need to be a given a clear choice. If we want our files only on deposit photos.com, this is what we should get.

They can offer incentives for the people who are opted in if they want. Higher royalty, better placement in best match etc...just make it transparent and honest and upfront. No sneakiness and hiding behind legalese doublespeak.

But then of course...this is what they promised Sean...and....
« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 08:38 by cobalt »


« Reply #151 on: February 17, 2014, 09:40 »
+6
I complained and was told they would remove mine, but I see they are still currently there.

« Reply #152 on: February 17, 2014, 09:58 »
+9
I wrote 2 Emails, got no replay at all.

I just disabled the first 2000 images, 3200 left to go :D Once my click flinger has recovered, I'll disable the rest.

« Reply #153 on: February 17, 2014, 10:01 »
+4
I wrote 2 Emails, got no replay at all.

I just disabled the first 2000 images, 3200 left to go :D Once my click flinger has recovered, I'll disable the rest.

Same here

Beppe Grillo

« Reply #154 on: February 17, 2014, 10:30 »
+3
I have asked and invited them to answer on this thread .

They answered me directly by email:

"Our Partnership programs have been created to boost your sales and expose your portfolio to new markets.
Our API re-sellers re-sell images not only by subscriptions but by credits as well. Your royalty rate is fixed and depends whether our API re-sellers purchased your files by credits or by subscriptions directly on depositphotos.com. Once your file is sold by credits, you will get your commissions that you usually receive  when your files are sold by credits, depending  on your contributor's level. So the point is that our partners re-sell your portfolio by credits as well throughout the world. Regardless the way your files are sold on our partner sites, Depositphotos remains your main source of revenue.

If you want to opt out of all our partner deals, please confirm and your portfolio will be sold only on depositphotos.com."
« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 10:38 by Beppe Grillo »

« Reply #155 on: February 17, 2014, 10:41 »
+7
On Roberts Blog someone is reporting that shotshop is calling the artists who wrote to to them and complained. Apparently they say that until 2 days ago it was not possible to filter out the artist who were also uploading to shotshop directly, but now this was possible. They also didnt like being blamed in any way and put all blame on the artist for supplying an agency like deposit in the first place.

They will not reply to anyone in writing, I guess they must be aware they have a liability problem.


stockphoto-images.com

« Reply #156 on: February 17, 2014, 10:46 »
+3
I complained and was told they would remove mine, but I see they are still currently there.
So their deal with Shotshop (who purchases our images through subscription) did include your images that were not supposed to be sold at subscription prices?

Technically there is no excuse why your images should have been at (least at) Shotshop in the first place.

As contributor of your caliber I'd expect a more "professional" treatment...

« Reply #157 on: February 17, 2014, 10:56 »
+6
I complained and was told they would remove mine, but I see they are still currently there.
So their deal with Shotshop (who purchases our images through subscription) did include your images that were not supposed to be sold at subscription prices?

Technically there is no excuse why your images should have been at (least at) Shotshop in the first place.

As contributor of your caliber I'd expect a more "professional" treatment...

They were simply hoping he wouldn't find out.

stockphoto-images.com

« Reply #158 on: February 17, 2014, 11:02 »
+6
I complained and was told they would remove mine, but I see they are still currently there.
So their deal with Shotshop (who purchases our images through subscription) did include your images that were not supposed to be sold at subscription prices?

Technically there is no excuse why your images should have been at (least at) Shotshop in the first place.

As contributor of your caliber I'd expect a more "professional" treatment...

They were simply hoping he wouldn't find out.
That's the really scary part. On the one hand they write in the contributor terms that they can sell our images as they please but after agreeing with Sean not to include his images in the subscription plan it's absolutely disrespectful to hand out his content under that very subscription simply labeled "PP" or "reseller program".

Bold move.

« Reply #159 on: February 17, 2014, 12:28 »
+2


Bold move.
[/quote]

underhanded/ backdoor move

EmberMike

« Reply #160 on: February 17, 2014, 13:16 »
+3
...They also didnt like being blamed in any way and put all blame on the artist for supplying an agency like deposit in the first place...

To be fair, they're kinda right. DepositPhotos didn't exactly have a clean start in microstock, we all know about their past. But for me personally I eventually opted to give them the benefit of the doubt and signed on, accepting them for who they were and hoping for the best moving forward.

So Shotshop is right, we supplied the images to this company. We're at least partially to blame.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 13:18 by EmberMike »

« Reply #161 on: February 17, 2014, 13:49 »
+16
Shotshop thinks it is stupid to offer files at subs prices, doest have a subs program themselves but will happily take our files as a sub reseller and make their incredible credit profits from it.

So if they feel they can benefit from taking advantage of us...everything is fine...

Sorry, I will never work with a company like that.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2014, 03:47 by cobalt »

« Reply #162 on: February 17, 2014, 14:17 »
+15
DP's noticeable absence from these boards speaks volumes in itself doesn't it?

« Reply #163 on: February 17, 2014, 16:14 »
+3
At this time I'm thinking of contacting all other agencies inquiring about their pricing policies for their resellers/PPs. I have a funny feeling that DP is by far not the only one doing this... Hopefully I'm wrong.  :-X

Exactly the right thing to do.  But don't hold your breath waiting for replies that make sense.  And whatever they do tell you, it could change next week.




« Reply #164 on: February 17, 2014, 17:05 »
+3
I have asked and invited them to answer on this thread .

They answered me directly by email:

"Our Partnership programs have been created to boost your sales and expose your portfolio to new markets.
Our API re-sellers re-sell images not only by subscriptions but by credits as well. Your royalty rate is fixed and depends whether our API re-sellers purchased your files by credits or by subscriptions directly on depositphotos.com. Once your file is sold by credits, you will get your commissions that you usually receive  when your files are sold by credits, depending  on your contributor's level. So the point is that our partners re-sell your portfolio by credits as well throughout the world. Regardless the way your files are sold on our partner sites, Depositphotos remains your main source of revenue.

If you want to opt out of all our partner deals, please confirm and your portfolio will be sold only on depositphotos.com."

This is the boilerplate response I got verbatim.
Read it carefully.
It says that resellers can sell your images by either subscription or credits. Fine.
Next it says you will get paid according to your royalty level, whether the reseller bought your image via subscription or credits. Fine.
Now comes the inevitable question: If the reseller purchased my images by subscription from DP, and I got paid according to my royalty rate on subscription sale, but turns around to sell it via credit, I am getting hosed 2 ways.
Firstly I'm getting the paltry rate of a sub, secondly,  is this not a violation of the licensing agreement of turning around and re-selling an image without a proper EL that is needed for resale?
I have received no answer yet on these further questions. I have also told them to come here to MSG as it is a topic of grave concern for many contributers. So, they probably know about this thread, but so far have kept silent.
Not a good sign.

That response they sent to us above dances around the issues at the very crux of discontent. Namely, whether licensing restrictions are being blantantly violated, and the amounts being paid to contributers are being done in an underhanded way.

« Reply #165 on: February 17, 2014, 17:22 »
+3
"your royalty rate is fixed and depends [on] whether...". followed by a bunch of gobbled-gook about credits and APIs.

So it's fixed... but it depends.  On something, somehow, which we can't coherently explain.  Don't worry, be happy.





farbled

« Reply #166 on: February 17, 2014, 17:36 »
+1
I have received no answer yet on these further questions. I have also told them to come here to MSG as it is a topic of grave concern for many contributers. So, they probably know about this thread, but so far have kept silent.
Yep, ditto here. I've told them via email and livechat that we are all watching carefully to see how this gets handled, and that we are concerned.

« Reply #167 on: February 17, 2014, 18:02 »
+1

Firstly I'm getting the paltry rate of a sub, secondly,  is this not a violation of the licensing agreement of turning around and re-selling an image without a proper EL that is needed for resale?


I think it's worse than that.
ELs allow "items for resale", i.e. your image printed on a t-shirt that is sold.
What they are effectively doing is sub-licensing. That is not at all allowed within any of the licences.

I told them as well that they should join the discussion here (and that they should publish all terms of their partner deals in detail on their website and provide an opt-in/opt-out option per deal).
Their response was "Thank you for all your suggestions, we will definitely take them into consideration." (plus the copy & paste response everyone else seems to have received).

I'm not holding my breath though.

« Reply #168 on: February 17, 2014, 20:23 »
+1
I complained and was told they would remove mine, but I see they are still currently there.

Likewise. I asked them to remove my images from all their partner, reseller, API and any other affiliate sites. Got a response that it will be done as soon as possible. However find that my images are still showing up on Shotshop. Have sent them another email asking them to remove promptly and am waiting. If there is no action from their side in next day or two to remove all my files from their partners, resellers etc, I plan to delete a significant number of my portfolio from DP itself. 

Can't imagine why this agency does not respond in a fair and comprehensive manner to address a problem that is now literally in their face. It's also disappointing that they haven't found it necessary to come around to this forum to try resolve issue! Someone mentioned March 1st as day to deactivate in an earlier post.. Something to seriously think about I guess?

« Reply #169 on: February 17, 2014, 20:41 »
+3
I wonder if DP has to make financial amends to their partners/resellers and also future lost revenue?

1. reimburse shotshop for the purchase price of the images

2. look at the sales history of the images and pay a penalty to shotshop for lost future revenue for those images that were producing revenue for shotshop.

I can't images its as simple as telling them to take down these images you purchased from us legitimately. 

« Reply #170 on: February 17, 2014, 21:28 »
0
Forgive my ignorance - what does the acronym API stand for?

« Reply #171 on: February 17, 2014, 21:32 »
+1
Forgive my ignorance - what does the acronym API stand for?

Application programming interface, a way for companies to communicate/work with each other.

« Reply #172 on: February 17, 2014, 21:34 »
0
Forgive my ignorance - what does the acronym API stand for?

Application programming interface, a way for companies to communicate/work with each other.

Thank you.

Batman

« Reply #173 on: February 17, 2014, 22:39 »
+8
DP's noticeable absence from these boards speaks volumes in itself doesn't it?

They had some troll accoucts come to tell us how dp is the best money agency and how happy they are.  Posters with 3 and all on dp form. That's the way they work. I think this back door deal is just like them to make money from underhanded deals. Now caught they make excuses. It's against the contract and they know it.

« Reply #174 on: February 18, 2014, 01:36 »
+3
I have asked and invited them to answer on this thread .

They answered me directly by email:

"Our Partnership programs have been created to boost your sales and expose your portfolio to new markets.
Our API re-sellers re-sell images not only by subscriptions but by credits as well. Your royalty rate is fixed and depends whether our API re-sellers purchased your files by credits or by subscriptions directly on depositphotos.com. Once your file is sold by credits, you will get your commissions that you usually receive  when your files are sold by credits, depending  on your contributor's level. So the point is that our partners re-sell your portfolio by credits as well throughout the world. Regardless the way your files are sold on our partner sites, Depositphotos remains your main source of revenue.

If you want to opt out of all our partner deals, please confirm and your portfolio will be sold only on depositphotos.com."

Why is a partner having to buy images via depositphotos.com like a regular buyer ? Do they not have the API route to get all the DP images and host them on their site ? If I were to go by the statement from DP (in bold), it means that I will get a max of 1 subs sale per image purchased by Shotshop eventhough Shotshop might sell the image any number of times. In reality, I checked for any sales on DP for an image of mine that I saw in Shotshop and I could not find any sale (subs or credits) in DP. To be honest, I am not sure what exactly is the real deal  :(


 

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