Author Topic: Fotolia's standard commission base rate is 13% (Read 5666 times)

BaldricksTrousers · « **on:** September 26, 2011, 04:17 »

We've been citing Fotolia's base rate as 16%, based on Leaf's excellent analysis at the beginning of this year. I've just realised that his calculation was done when "white" was at the pretend 25% rate. It has since been reduced to a pretend 20% so the 16% has to be reduced by a fifth.

Just thought people might like to know.

sharpshot · « **Reply #1 on:** September 26, 2011, 04:52 »

There's several sites that pay around 50% commission. How hard would it be for buyers and contributors to switch? I think the FT investors must want their money quickly, why else would they have so many commission cuts? It must be endangering the site. Unlike istock, they aren't one of the market leaders and it wont hurt as much if they're going to implode. It feels like FT shrinking would be the best option for buyers and contributors, sending a message out that this isn't the way to run a site.

I'm just stopping uploads for now, not going to remove my portfolio in haste but if enough people leave and buyers see that low commissions are damaging microstock, perhaps FT will be the site that has pushed us too far? Until this phase of sites cutting commissions stops, there's really no incentive for me to produce new microstock images. I'm sure there's lots of us thinking like that now and it will be hitting all the sites eventually. I have a few thousand to upload and keyword with alamy as RM. I'm going to be doing lots more video for Pond5. That will keep me busy.

rubyroo · « **Reply #2 on:** September 26, 2011, 05:04 »

@ Sharpshot:

Ditto on stopping uploads and ditto on loss of incentive.

Good for you re RM on Alamy, I hope it goes well for you. I haven't ventured into RM myself yet, but am definitely feeling the push towards that avenue.

I still love SS and DT and 123RF are going very well for me. I've pretty much lost faith in all the rest. iStock seem to be selling again, but they've lost my trust (and my new uploads). There are a couple of small sites I have a trust and fondness for, but the sales just don't show any upward trend.

hofhoek · « **Reply #3 on:** September 26, 2011, 05:30 »

I've stopped uploading about two weeks ago and I don't think I will restart in the near future. I hardly see any downloads above 29 cents while it used to be a meagre 32. Going down, down, down....

XPTO · « **Reply #4 on:** September 26, 2011, 06:07 »

Well, RM isn't an easy market these days too.

In the last two months I had 7 RM sales in alamy which averaged $50, being the highest $150 and the lowest $4.17. And this is before the commission cut, which include sometimes the distributor cut too.

All of these sales have been heavily discounted from the standard price, and some got a 98% discount.

For the RM market you must be highly creative and explore concepts that set the image apart from RF particularly micro. But you have the freedom to explore the surreal.

If you plan on shooting travel, you either go to exotic and trendy places where there's not much competition (high costs of production), or if you go to touristy locations like Paris, London, NY, etc., the images must be exceptional because you'll be facing the competition of local photographers who have access to the location 24/7/365.

But I also stopped uploading to micro for several months now. Since I've been accepted at two more major RM agencies I'm investing my time in them for the moment. Still, it will take many months to see clear results despite both have given me sales already, even if the prices are in line with alamy.

Sammy · « **Reply #5 on:** September 26, 2011, 07:31 »

Quote from: sharpshot on September 26, 2011, 04:52

There's several sites that pay around 50% commission. How hard would it be for buyers and contributors to switch?

Ditto!

+11111111111

borg · « **Reply #6 on:** September 26, 2011, 07:36 »

Quote from: sharpshot on September 26, 2011, 04:52

There's several sites that pay around 50% commission. How hard would it be for buyers and contributors to switch?

1.Promote only sites with better commissions on social networks etc...
2.Announce about end of uploading images to specific agencies...
3. Do it whole the time...

That is the process!

Regards