Author Topic: Price set back to 1 Credit (Read 2207 times)

bad to the bone · « **on:** November 03, 2011, 20:36 »

Meanwhile I found 3 Images in my bestselling 100 set back to 1 Credit basic price for non selling. Well, FT, this is my answer: they go to all other agencies what can sell them!
You get them first and exclusive and you can't sell them.
That's not my problem it's yours.

With best regards.

cthoman · « **Reply #1 on:** November 03, 2011, 20:57 »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akAj-TWUq0E[/youtube]

bad to the bone · « **Reply #2 on:** November 03, 2011, 21:00 »

Is it? ;-) Wow.

stockmarketer · « **Reply #3 on:** November 03, 2011, 23:33 »

Every so often I see the same thing... an image selling for 1 credit when I'm Emerald and just about everything I sell is at 2 credits. I understand this is how it is under the new Fotolia rules... if it hasn't sold in a period of time, its price it put back at 1 credit. But once it sells for 1 credit, that means it has recently sold, and shouldn't it go back up to 2 credits?

saniphoto · « **Reply #4 on:** November 04, 2011, 04:20 »

Quote from: bad to the bone on November 03, 2011, 20:36

Meanwhile I found 3 Images in my bestselling 100 set back to 1 Credit basic price for non selling. Well, FT, this is my answer: they go to all other agencies what can sell them!
You get them first and exclusive and you can't sell them.
That's not my problem it's yours.

With best regards.

Well, done! I have made the same. Moreover, you must pay attention to all your portfolio to set back the 1 credit files to 2, once they have sold again 5 times... I found recently one of mine was ready to be back at 2 and continued to sell for 1 until I noticed (they would care to notify me obviously...).
Sad, but as i said in another post, I wish them a long, slow agony. This week I have deleted all images that were put back at 1 credit. Now I know why in FT just one photo every 50 or so have some 'success' (downloads over 10), so that they can put all back to 1 credit!

FD · « **Reply #5 on:** November 04, 2011, 05:50 »

Quote from: wiseguy on November 04, 2011, 04:20

Moreover, you must pay attention to all your portfolio to set back the 1 credit files to 2, once they have sold again 5 times... I found recently one of mine was ready to be back at 2 and continued to sell for 1 until I noticed (they would care to notify me obviously...).

Huh? I just had a look at my port and credits at FT. They are all on 1 credit, included one with 175, 75 etc... downloads. I don't really understand the site. Do you have to do something special, or are "levels" or something the like automatically applied as on DT?

dirkr · « **Reply #6 on:** November 04, 2011, 08:33 »

Quote from: AttilaTheNun on November 04, 2011, 05:50

Quote from: wiseguy on November 04, 2011, 04:20
Moreover, you must pay attention to all your portfolio to set back the 1 credit files to 2, once they have sold again 5 times... I found recently one of mine was ready to be back at 2 and continued to sell for 1 until I noticed (they would care to notify me obviously...).
Huh? I just had a look at my port and credits at FT. They are all on 1 credit, included one with 175, 75 etc... downloads. I don't really understand the site. Do you have to do something special, or are "levels" or something the like automatically applied as on DT?

Nothing automatic. You can raise prices a) for exclusive files or b) if your rank is emerald or higher. That does not happen automatically, you have to do it (although you can set the price when uploading a file).
New rule (since a while, IIRC): When a file does not sell for six months (used to be a year not so long ago) the price will be reduced to the minimum price (1 credit for XS). Once the file has sold again five times, you can raise the price again - but you have to actively do it, nothing automatic.

All the above from what I understand from their website, does not affect me personally since I do not have exclusive files and my rank is far from emerald...

FD · « **Reply #7 on:** November 04, 2011, 08:39 »

Quote from: dirkr on November 04, 2011, 08:33

Nothing automatic. You can raise prices a) for exclusive files or b) if your rank is emerald or higher. That does not happen automatically, you have to do it (although you can set the price when uploading a file).
New rule (since a while, IIRC): When a file does not sell for six months (used to be a year not so long ago) the price will be reduced to the minimum price (1 credit for XS). Once the file has sold again five times, you can raise the price again - but you have to actively do it, nothing automatic.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm far from emerald (I think) and I guess I'll have to cancel them soon since they are selling my best seller (level 5 on Dreamstime) far too cheap at 1 credit.

Update: I just deleted all my level 3-5 DT images that were on FT at 1 credit. Nothing personal but I just don't want my images for 1 credit on FT when they are making much more on DT. On the other hand, I noticed some files on FT that are doing well but are in the free section on DT for no sales in 4 yrs. This game (nanostock) is getting too crazy for my poor head.

fotografer · « **Reply #8 on:** November 04, 2011, 17:41 »

Quote from: AttilaTheNun on November 04, 2011, 08:39

Thanks for the explanation. I'm far from emerald (I think) and I guess I'll have to cancel them soon since they are selling my best seller (level 5 on Dreamstime) far too cheap at 1 credit.

That's ironic considering that they plan on knocking our images back to 1 credit if we sell them on other sites for less than they do.

FD · « **Reply #9 on:** November 05, 2011, 10:43 »

Quote from: fotografer on November 04, 2011, 17:41

That's ironic considering that they plan on knocking our images back to 1 credit if we sell them on other sites for less than they do.

That's the point I wanted to make actually.

Elenathewise · « **Reply #10 on:** November 05, 2011, 10:54 »

This also automatically prices all seasonal images down to 1 credit. Christmas related images can sell a lot in season and them sit dormant for 6 months. I have seasonal images with over 20-30 total downloads that have been set back to 1 credit.

donding · « **Reply #11 on:** November 05, 2011, 12:00 »

Quote from: Elenathewise on November 05, 2011, 10:54

This also automatically prices all seasonal images down to 1 credit. Christmas related images can sell a lot in season and them sit dormant for 6 months. I have seasonal images with over 20-30 total downloads that have been set back to 1 credit.

I dumped Fotolia well over a year ago because of their screwy payouts and pricing, but I think that where seasonal images are concerned, those should be an exception. They are just that, Seasonal and don't sell year round and I don't think they should be dropped down to 1 credit.

disorderly · « **Reply #12 on:** November 05, 2011, 12:21 »

Quote from: Elenathewise on November 05, 2011, 10:54

This also automatically prices all seasonal images down to 1 credit. Christmas related images can sell a lot in season and them sit dormant for 6 months. I have seasonal images with over 20-30 total downloads that have been set back to 1 credit.

Six months is obviously too short a timeframe to decide that an image is a non-seller. I'd say two years is a better measure. Heck, if an image sells only a copy or two in a year, that might make it a good candidate for a higher price. What if it's not of general interest, but worth more than the minimum price to those who need it?

Not that any of this matters to me. I would never have reached Emerald at Fotolia at the rate they were selling my work. And with the last royalty cut, I stopped uploading and removed most of my images. There's only so much abuse I'm willing to accept.

Elenathewise · « **Reply #13 on:** November 05, 2011, 15:59 »

Quote from: donding on November 05, 2011, 12:00

Quote from: Elenathewise on November 05, 2011, 10:54
This also automatically prices all seasonal images down to 1 credit. Christmas related images can sell a lot in season and them sit dormant for 6 months. I have seasonal images with over 20-30 total downloads that have been set back to 1 credit.

I dumped Fotolia well over a year ago because of their screwy payouts and pricing, but I think that where seasonal images are concerned, those should be an exception. They are just that, Seasonal and don't sell year round and I don't think they should be dropped down to 1 credit.

It used to be 1 year, and then they changed it to 6 months (I don't think that was even announced properly). 1 year would take into account seasonal sales at least. 6 months is just ridiculous.

OM · « **Reply #14 on:** November 06, 2011, 11:17 »

Quote

It used to be 1 year, and then they changed it to 6 months (I don't think that was even announced properly). 1 year would take into account seasonal sales at least. 6 months is just ridiculous.

Yep, poor from their point of view too. I can imagine that a lot of seasonal is bought as a download rather than a sub.

Fotolia is pretty good at this sort of stuff.

To the best of my knowledge, I never received notification of the change. Just came across it one day on FT site and saw that it had been changed from 1 year. Remember they also offered to give 50 cents for any images, unsold for 2 years, when placed in the 'Free' section. That was originally valid for 2 years but then they surreptitiously changed it to 5 years in 'Free'. I can also remember all the misinformation given as gospel from FT contributor support (UK) regarding the correct form to be filled in by European contributors for taxation/exemption by the IRS. They said to fill in a form which required an original signed letter from Fotolia and $100 in fees to the US IRS.............and then FT issued a few copied letters which, if sent with the form after paying $100, were rejected by the US authorities anyway because it wasn't the correct form in the first place.

gostwyck · « **Reply #15 on:** November 06, 2011, 17:00 »

Quote from: Elenathewise on November 05, 2011, 15:59

It used to be 1 year, and then they changed it to 6 months (I don't think that was even announced properly). 1 year would take into account seasonal sales at least. 6 months is just ridiculous.

It does seem bizarre especially when you consider that FT themselves stand to be by far the biggest losers from this policy. Could it be a panic measure? My stats suggest strongly that FT are losing market share on a monthly basis and maybe they are taking whatever actions they can think of in a desperate attempt to stem the flow. Are we witnessing the backlash from the way they've treated their contributors?

I know we're only 6 days into November but so far my sales at FT have been truly awful. They've slipped into 4th place behind DT. I almost can't remember the last time I sold an EL on FT. It must be several months ago whereas they were commonplace a year or two ago.

dirkr · « **Reply #16 on:** November 06, 2011, 17:41 »

Quote from: gostwyck on November 06, 2011, 17:00

<snip>...
I almost can't remember the last time I sold an EL on FT. It must be several months ago whereas they were commonplace a year or two ago.

The strange thing for me is: My sales were always relatively stable with FT (though on a really low level, on average around one download a day). Starting October, sales dried up (44 sales in September, only 9 in October, only 3 in November so far). But the strangest thing is: Out of the 12 sales from beginning of October, 8 were subs - and the other 4 were ELs, all of them in the last two weeks

I used to sell an EL roughly every three months.
I don't really know what to think about that...