I am a new contributor to GL and would like to upload via FTP. I do not not see the FTP Login and password in the uploads section where the Help info says it will be. Any direction on this would be appreciated.

Quote from: stockastic on August 13, 2016, 13:22

I think the idea that a small 'web' sized image should cost less is just another unfortunate buyer expectation created by existing microstocks.   The photographer and the agency see the same costs.  The large 'print' image might be seen by 1000 people, the small 'web' image by 10,000.   So why the discount - are we selling content, or pixels?

When you buy music, you get the full fidelity tracks, maybe 192kbs or 256 kbs. You don't the option to pay a lower price for a scratchy 32kbs version just because you're only going to play it through cheap earbuds.   

Doesn't really matter how it happened, the fact is many sites have tried one price for all sizes and have then changed to different prices for different sizes.  They must of done that because buyers have demanded it and I really don't see how GL can go against that tide when they are selling the same images.

The comparison with music doesn't work because that's not being used for business purposes, like most of out images are.  I doubt someone making a 5 second music clip for an advert would charge the same as a 1 minute clip.

Sellers don't have to cave in to every discount request from buyers.   I'd like all the shirts at Macy's to be the same price, but it isn't going to happen.    That's because producers of those shirts have some control over their pricing.  As far as GL doing things differently, well, not every store has to be a Dollar Store, selling the same merchandise in the same way.   There are many ways to differentiate yourself in the market.    And maybe, eventually, they aren't selling "the same images".   SS will never get another photo from me, but GL will.

I tried editing the price of an image but upon submitting/saving, it said:

"We're sorry, but something went wrong.

We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly."

Now the image in question seems to be unavailable, only the error message shows?

Doesn't really matter how it happened, the fact is many sites have tried one price for all sizes and have then changed to different prices for different sizes.  They must of done that because buyers have demanded it and I really don't see how GL can go against that tide when they are selling the same images...

Who went to one-price-for-all and then went back to per-size pricing? istock still does one price regardless of size. Have other companies really backpedaled on that move? Which ones?

I think this is a good move by GL. Pricing based on size is an old notion, one that should definitely go away. Ultimately people are buying a license. The number of pixels they get with that license shouldn't matter.

I could also be slightly biased on this, being a vector guy who rarely ever had the luxury of selling by size (minus a few exceptions).

" think this is a good move by GL. Pricing based on size is an old notion, one that should definitely go away. Ultimately people are buying a license. The number of pixels they get with that license shouldn't matter. "

Well, as I've already said, pixel size does matter a bit and it's a way of tailoring a product to what the buyer wants.  For instance, I license/rent a movie from iTunes.  I don't need the HD version, so I'm glad they offer a SD version at a lower price.  It fits my needs.

It probably comes down to at some point vectors and photos should split. Some of the differences will probably never be agreed upon.

To GL,

I closed my account with you folks several months ago and doubt I'll try again.  But I wanted to say two things:

1. Glad you are making a renewed effort to build a better business. I wish you well on that.

2. Participating in the forums is very much appreciated by many of us contributors.  I would only suggest that your team continue communicating with us through these forums in a meaningful, honest manner.  The one thing that frustrates us the most is a company coming into MSG with all the right messaging then they go stealth and we never hear anything again. Like SS, for example. 

Best of luck and I can't wait until you turn on video and see what that system offers.

Perhaps being able to set our own prices and choose if we want different prices for different sizes would keep us all happy?

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One size fits all?  I'm not really sold on that.  It's a nice idea and makes the selling/buying experience more straight forward. 

Hypothetical:  what if I'm a small time blogger and want to write a post to my blog from my phone, I don't want to download a 32 mp photo to my phone.  I wouldn't want to post a huge photo to my blog, and the photographer wouldn't want me to either.  I happen to have Photoshop on my desktop, but it's a PIA to download, open in PS, resize, name, save.  Now I have 2 copies on my computer - not to mention my hard drive is red because I had to download 70 photos today and they are all so huge these days.

I know, it's a case of "what type of customer do I want?".  Of course you want the big corporations with graphic design and marketing departments and not the small time bloggers.

From my own selling experience - I have hundreds of released photos of dancers - but they are just not a huge money maker so I only upload a few here and there when I'm not so busy.  So, hardly worth my time UNTIL a bump during Recital/Competition Season and Fall Registration.  Even then - not a big money maker - the only L/XXL I sell are inside cheap subs so a majority of the sales are S/M.  The thing about dance schools is - 95% are owned by a woman who is passionate about dance and children.  She is artistic director, teacher, choreographer, social worker, front desk and marketing all rolled into one.  She lives a very modest life, because there is a limit to how much you can charge, how many kids fit in a classroom, how many days in a week.  Earnings fluctuate from year to year.  Why do I describe her?  Because every town has a dance school.  Some towns you can't drive down the street and throw a rock without hitting one.  I do know of a couple local schools with 1200 kids, most have 200-300 and only operate 9/10 months of the year.  Those studio owners are not paying a marketing team, like cleaning the toilet - they do it themselves.  Think about the age of their clients, the studio owner is slowly becoming aware of the importance of social media.  They have a limited budget and can't buy anything from a $15 site when the other site charges $4 for a web-ready size and get 3 or 4 photos for the same price.   Moral of the rambling story:  they are not a big buyer, but there happens to be a LOT of them.  You are excluding an entire niche of thousands of studio owners who buy twice a year and maybe make an attempt at social media.   I mention dance because it's a genre I have small experience in.  I'm certainly not the only photographer with a few dance photos so the agency might actually do pretty well twice a year from this genre.  What else is seasonal like this:  Obviously Christmas, but back-to-school (albeit, likely bigger budgets), little league, summer camp etc.  There's a lot of little seasonal genres you may exclude with XXL pricing - how much do they add up to in the course of a year?

But - what type of buyer are you looking for?   I would love to see data on who buyers actually are these days.  What is the balance of corporation vs the rest of the buyers.

Since opening up to contributors again, the amount of daily images being uploaded to GL has increased 5-fold within 2 weeks, and the pricing structure changes has been met with positivity for the most part.

I think we're probably more interested about the buyers.  GL never hurt for numbers of images.

The one price thing isn't a deal killer, but I want to make sure that the notion that there is value in pricing images at different sizes isn't lost.  If there isn't value in the size of an image offered, you might as well have a max download size of 1000x1000.

This is a known bug that is being fixed as we speak. Sorry for the inconvenience, we will update when this is corrected ASAP.

GL you have to ask yourself who thinks one pricing for all images is positive? hobby shooters or seasoned pros? since you are new to the business you have no experience in what works best.

@Etudiante, we are based out of New York.  Do you mind showing me where you saw we are based in Singapore?

Definitely appreciate the input, we are not coming in trying to be like the others.  Everything takes time, but we certainly want to differentiate from the other companies out there.