MicrostockGroup

There is definitely something wrong with their copywriter! But I suppose they think it's 'hip' (does anyone use that word anymore?) and amusing. I would imagine that any expenses incurred by FT as a result of the offer come out of the marketing/advertising pot and not from contributors' revenues.

A little history lesson.

Right, they don't cut the full commissions on sales, they just do stupid things like this to screw the artists:



(quoting the Fotolia site:) If Fotolia becomes aware that a non exclusive contributor with a rank of “Emerald” or above is distributing any images, vectors or videos (the “Works”) through another stock agency or website (where at least some of such Works are the same as the Works being distributed through Fotolia), and if the pricing charged on such other stock agency or website for the downloading of any of such contributor’s Works are comparatively lower than the pricing charged on Fotolia for downloading Works of “White” ranking contributors, then, subject to applicable law, Fotolia reserves the right, at its discretion, to lower the pricing of any of such contributor's Works offered through Fotolia so as to match the pricing for the Works of “White” ranking contributors on Fotolia. Subject to applicable law, Fotolia reserves the right to inquire, from time to time, with any given contributor with a rank of “Emerald” or above as to whether such contributor is distributing any Works through any other stock agency or website, and such contributor shall promptly provide this information to Fotolia. For clarity, Fotolia is under no obligation to make any such inquiries.


2011 Commission Cuts:

Dear Fotolia Contributor,
2010 was another record year for the Fotolia community. We set new all-time highs for the number images in our collection, the number of members, and photographer royalty payouts. For 2011, we're implementing some changes in efforts to continue this trend.

Competition in the market is increasing, both amongst the photographers in the community, and amongst stock photography agencies. We've been monitoring the situation carefully, and have continued to increase our marketing spend in the number and frequency of ad campaigns. In addition, Fotolia continued its international leadership in new markets, with the opening of the Russian and Chinese web sites. With the increase in sales, the velocity of the rank changes has also accelerated. In order to sustain our continued efforts in marketing, we are making some changes to the royalty structures at the mid and lower tiers next week.

Fotolia continues to maintain photographer commissions at a significantly higher than those of our major competitors, and our increased efforts in marketing will result in an even higher velocity towards increased rankings.

Please note also that our new recency filter gives some priority to newer and fresher content, which means that the best new photographers with fresh content will have a better chance of rising to the higher ranks.

Thanks for your continued support, and we look forward to a great 2011 together.

Sincerely,
Fotolia.com

new rates (but I dont know the old)

Here is the price and royalty chart for non-exclusive files

Ranking    Contributor royalty (%)   
White    20   
Bronze    23   
Silver    25   
Gold         31
Emerald    37   
Sapphire    40   
Rubis    43   
Diamond    46


Reranked without notice thread, Dec 2008:

Now we are talking about a company led by a man who

1. Instituted subscription sales and tried to pay us 22 cents per download when the current market rate was 30 cents

2 . recently made unannounced attempts to take away referral earnings

3. Changed the ranking levels with no discussion and no annuncment just as a significant number of long time contributors where on the threshold of reaching their goals.

4. Refused to give subscription sales the same weight in the ranking scale as a standard sale. Instead forcing us to give away 4 sub sales to equal one sale for the purpose of rank increase even though their is no difference in the license terms  for either sale.

-=-=-

So you say, yes they give you the full commission, but there are some details left out like percentages, levels, commission cuts and back door tactics.

Or maybe some single malt?

I hate making a point and someone says, "you have nothing to back it up." So I did the years of reductions to point out that, sure FT pays full commission. Problem is credits have dropped, commission has dropped, levels have been diddled, percentages adjusted, values of credits have dropped vs what buyers pay, files have been reset to 1 credit, without notice. So paying "Full Commission" on reduced cost credits, is smoke and mirrors.

Like the bank that just sent me a notice that they were not charging for the Debit Card, like some others, and a little down from that, listed the conditions where if I don't use the card or make 12 approved transactions a month (for fees of course) They will bill me a monthly service charge of $10. Oh boy, am I happy. Instead of $35 a year, they are going to nail me for $120 a year, at $10 a month. I'll be closing that account as soon as I can and get all my automatic deposits sent somewhere else. Ta Ta - Toodles - Bye Bye. See Ya TCF and your formerly Free Checking. True no annual fee, and no minimum balance either, they removed that, so we get screwed, but that's in the terms, like it's a benefit?

Yeah, FT pays full commission at a much lower rate, which keeps going lower. Gee I'm so happy for them doing sellers that grand favor.

Happy New Year to you too.

Pete