MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Cutcaster => Topic started by: TreeOfLife on September 17, 2008, 09:21
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It was nice to see that photographer's payout helped her through "Ike." I really didn't think people were earning that much already through Cutcaster! I'd love to see her portfolio.
I've been toying with the idea of uploading to Cutcaster but so far haven't. The reason? I've looked through some portolios and have been horrified at the low technical quality that's been accepted. I've only been doing microstock for about a year in my spare time and have been trained through the SS and IS "school of hard knocks." Now I know what to look for and I'm my own worst critic. I can't even look at a friend's photos anymore for fear they'll ask me "what I think." (well, your white balance is off, the focus is soft and the composition is not very interesting.) I'm in no way proclaiming to be a great photographer- far from it, but I'm always looking to improve and use rejections as a stepping stone.
So- back to the original dilemma. I really love John's attitude and the way he's running things over there. On the other hand, how can a site that offers lower quality for more $$$ compete with sites that have a high standard for less $$$? But then you hear a story like "Fern" so obviously something is selling there...plus I joined Photoshelter about a month ago (may she rest in peace) so I'm still reeling from that one and wondering if it's worth my time to try another new site, especially with the above mentioned problems.
I really need someone to shed a fresh perspective on this. Any thoughts?
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Well, like most things in life, decision is on you. Only you can decide what to do. Someone will tell you to upload there, and someone will tell you not to upload. I uploaded there all my photos for next reasons:
1. Different agencies have different criteria about accepting photos. I have very good results with some agencies known as "easy" when accepting photos is in question. I sell there photos rejected from some agencies that have strict rules about reviewing photos.
2. John has great attitude and he answered on every my question in minutes, so he deserved my support. I think, if he continues this way he will make huge success.
3. I love to give a chance to newcomers because many times in my life someone gave me a chance too.
These are my reasons... again, you have to decide yourself
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Very nice reply, whitechild! It's always helpful to get a fresh perspective. :)
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I give them a fair chance like the others. Who knows what buyers want. most all my work are isolated images . i just closed my accounts on a couple of sites because they weren't selling any of my images. So I'll stay with Cutcaster for awhile before i make a decision.
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As whitechild has pointed out, Cutcaster has a great customer service, and that alone is a good reason for me to give them a fair chance.
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You rule, Whitechild!
I am a stock photographer for 3 months now and I am uploading to Top 6 + Cutcaster, because:
1) I really like John's attitude
2) I think there must be some kind of change in the microstock market and Cutcaster is a fresh perspective
3) There customer service is great
Regards,
Zdravko
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I got a long way to go and I promise not to disappoint. I am in it for the long haul and thank you guys for the support so far.
I hope you will join us TreeofLife and you trust us to protect, promote and sell your work.
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The positive vibes are coming through the computer!
Thanks everyone for your responses.
"I love to give a chance to newcomers because many times in my life someone gave me a chance too"
Whitechild, what you said here really struck a chord with me. So true, so true. You all are winning me over and I think I will give it a go.
John, thanks for your personal response. I admire you for your positive attitude and your continuous involvement in your endeavor. Much success to you!
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Today all my photos have price of 20 $...
Does anyone know why!?
My price option is : Cutcaster algorithm...
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Maybe it's the same glitch that is preventing me from even viewing the site today. I get an error that says "Internet Explorer cannot open the site www.cutcaster.com Operation aborted."
Weird...it worked fine yesterday!
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I have no problem opening cutcaster.com all day long.
20$ is the starting price, if you choose cutcaster algorithm. All my photos were 20$ the first day they were uploaded. It will change in time.
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Maybe it's the same glitch that is preventing me from even viewing the site today. I get an error that says "Internet Explorer cannot open the site [url=http://www.cutcaster.com]www.cutcaster.com[/url] Operation aborted."
Weird...it worked fine yesterday!
I have been getting the same failure and error message all day when I try http://www.cutcaster.com/. And this morning I got an email from Cutcaster saying that I got a sale there (my first). Hope it's not an error!
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Yeah that was fixed. Had to clean up some of the javascript on the homepage which was giving an error. Sorry about that. You won't see that again.
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Also to address the quality issue :-)
We have only been open since April (beta) and I can guarantee you that when IS and SS started they weren't signing up Yuri, Andres, Ron C. or whoever else was selling thousands of images at the time. Istock was Bruce and his buddies.
If you have been to the site recently you will see that the quality has drastically improved as we get more and more traction. Ron C. just joined and his 16,000 impressive images will help improve the quality of our database and we will work as hard as we can to generate him more money than he makes on any other site and do the same for anyone else that joins us in this fight. It's a dream now but we all have to start somewhere. We know we are nothing without great content and members that believe in our site and want to work with us.
We are young. We are hungry. We are listening. And we are improving. Now we just need you guys and the quality will go way up like it is doing now. Take a look at the browse page.
http://www.cutcaster.com/search/browse
It's improving every day and so are we with your help.
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I signed up with Cutcaster after John contacted me directly and asked me to check it out. That is something that no one has ever done with me before, and I figured that alone made it worth my time. Sure it's an unproven site, and generally I avoid newcomers, but the fact that John seems to have such dedication and drive to make the site succeed and gets so personally involved in building Cutcaster's roster of talent makes me believe that taking a chance on Cutcaster is nothing like taking a chance on some of the many other new sites that don't put as much into it as John has. I'm not saying that anyone else should or shouldn't sign up. That's up to you guys. I just happen to have had a good experience with Cutcaster so far, and I am inclined to believe that we may see this site sticking around for a while, possibly even shaking things up a bit in the list of top microstock sites at some point.
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Sharing pretty much the same experience as you guys with Cutcaster. John's dedication is unbelievable. Hell, he even answers to mails on the run. Not sure he sleeps at all;)
Keep up the great work, Cutcaster.
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Sharing pretty much the same experience as you guys with Cutcaster. John's dedication is unbelievable. Hell, he even answers to mails on the run. Not sure he sleeps at all;)
Keep up the great work, Cutcaster.
The same with me. Sometimes I feel that we don't send mail to each other because it looks more like a live chat.
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;)) His Blackberry skills are amazing.
p.s.: John, calm down, man!;)
p.p.s.: Whitechild, pička mu materina, dober je!;)
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;)) His Blackberry skills are amazing.
p.s.: John, calm down, man!;)
p.p.s.: Whitechild, pička mu materina, dober je!;)
Hahaha, good one domencolja ;D
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p.p.s.: Whitechild, pička mu materina, dober je!;)
;)
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Hahaha. I said when I started and made a pledge to always be available and not hide behind a PO box or [email protected] email.
You can see that pledge on the contact us page at Cutcaster. http://www.cutcaster.com/info/contact
If you guys are going to trust me with your hard work, I am going to be there to provide feedback and work my butt off to sell your images.
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John, I believe that your attitude is what differentiates your site from the rest. I really believe Cutcaster will make it big.
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I'm gonna try out cutcaster as well. I had high hopes with Photoshelter, but that all went south. I really don't want to go back to Microstock; especially Shutterstock with their two bit (literally) commission. Ive got several
hundred good images, so as I have the time Ill see how things go over there.
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I am here to help Eppic so let me know if you need it. my email is john at cutcaster dot com.
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Anyone care to comment about how they're doing on Cutcaster? It's a new site but doesn't seem to be going anywhere; perhaps it's still too early----visions of Un-Lucky Oliver come to mind.....
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Too early to judge, I got about 10 views per image so it's hard to expect anything. Way better UI than many established sites but still needs to be discovered by customers ;-)
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ouch HughstoneIan...Not going anywhere ;-)
Things have actually been going well and we are growing a lot. I hope others on here will describe their experience so you can see and judge for yourself. Please be harsh if you haven't been treated well or don't like the site. It will help us improve.
Like you said we are a young company and just ramping up. I am by no means in a position to compare myself to the big 6 and you shouldn't expect that out of my company but I can promise you that I won't stop working until I can and you will always have someone who will get back to you right away and listen to you to help you sell more photos. I want to sell photos and vectors as much as you guys do. We have all invested time and money into making this work so I am asking you for a chance and to be patient as I build up this "force" to compete with the bigger sites out there. It will happen but I am NOTHING without your content and I know that.
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After visiting the page.
What I like from Cutcaster: they sell for decent prices and they offer good comisions.
What I don't like: That "free section for rejected files" that reminds me of something similar that failed in Fotolia. So many free and searchable files a month for customer, even if dubious rejected stuff can be a magnet dor the kind of customers... that don't want to pay and thhat will very rarely buy regular stuff.
I'm not going to upload there, but, well, I wish you good luck.
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Sorry, John, it wasn't meant as a slam. I just haven't been hearing much about the site lately. The concept of Cutcaster is really good. I'm hoping it gets going fairly well soon. The dilemma of a new stock site these days is that so many experienced shooters who understand stock are wary of dumping much or any of their work into a new unproven agency. But then how does a site get "proven" without a large number of good photos in order to increase sales. etc, etc, etc.
???
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I'm working on submitting 500 or so images onto Cutcaster. Investing time and effort into a new company can be risky as I found out with Photoshelter, but I really want to support places that rise above the basic microstock rates like the big 6. I also like the fact that John seems to be a pretty open and up front kind of guy who replies to your emails and comments pretty quickly, so I'm certainly up for helping cutcaster succeed.
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HughstoneIan. That is a big dilema but only one that photograhers can change or they can tell me what they need and i can provide it. I have tried to do that.
Thanks eppic for your support. I am working very hard to make this worthwhile for everyone.
Loop what is your take on the free section. What are some more of the pros and cons. I just released it so it can be tinkered with but I am open to any suggestions for improving it.
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Like everyone who has joined, I think John has a great attitude.
I disagree that he accepts everything you submit, as some of my colleagues
images have been rejected. As with another medium stock site I am aware of,
you cannot assume that your SS and IS,etc images are going to be automatically
accepted at Cutcasters. It's a different culture, and as one of the commentors
mentioned, enough of SS already.
Yes, I regret too the demise of Photoshelter, as they took some of my best images
that I kept aside from microstock .
All in all, I think we shoot ourselves in the foot , so to speak, when we upload to SS and other sites that sells for peanuts. Buyers now know they can get more for less, and we the contributors are told to settle for so much less.
Not so with Cutcaster, and some higher priced sites. Bravo to all of these sites.
Sales are harder to come by, for sure. But it's a good start to get paid for your good images, rather than give them away.
What do you think?
oh,. almost forgot. N o, I don't think it's a good idea about the freebies on rejects. This cheapens the site . Just my tuppence worth , John.
Stay away from the freebies rejects. Rejects are rejects. Trash them, or send them to the "penny-stocks" (bad pun), ha!ha!
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I don't agree with the freebie thing on CC either and I won't offer any of my images for free. I too think that SS and others of it's ilk that are offering 2 bits per download are indeed "two-bit" operations. I used to have a port on SS but have since deleted everything there in favour of supporting sites more in line with what CC is doing.
I have about 400 images submitted so far with about 20 rejects, but at the same time I'm careful with quality control so I expect a low rejection percentage.
I was around the same percentage of acceptance at Photoshelter as well. I still got another 250 or so images left to submit to CC, so I'm doing my part to keep John busy!
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Point well taken and I am debating the free image section. And it is not for everyone obviously and I would never insult anyone by having it there. If you don't want to add to the free section, by all means do not. You can not see from the search engine on the site or within the site the free section so paying customers wont see it. Just those that find it through Google and similar search engines.
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Hi John!
How can I put all the images in my portfolio at the same price, not one by one !?
My images are still non-exclusive on Cutcaster, and prices are lower on other sites...
I think that is main reason why I haven't any sale till now...
In the future I will upload only exclusive images on the algorithm option...
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just sent me an email at john @ cutcaster DOT com and I will help you change them all in one go.
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just sent me an email at john @ cutcaster DOT com and I will help you change them all in one go.
Thanks John!
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I put all the pictures on the ASK of 3 $ ...
It's silly to claim tens of dollars for a RF picture that is not exclusive...
Also, same picture is selling for cents on the other sites...
3 $ is usual price for PPD on most sites ...
But, my exclusive photos will be on algorithm or on my much bigger price...
Also extended license will be interesting for making price, i think that BID-ASK pricing system is the best for EL.
I also hope that this will be my contribution to "convergence" of Cutcaster to customers.
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I put all the pictures on the ASK of 3 $ ...
It's silly to claim tens of dollars for a RF picture that is not exclusive...
Also, same picture is selling for cents on the other sites...
3 $ is usual price for PPD on most sites ...
But, my exclusive photos will be on algorithm or on some much bigger price...
Also extended license will be interesting for making price, i think that BID-ASK pricing system is the best for EL.
I also hope that this will be my contribution to "convergence" of Cutcaster to customers.
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I put all the pictures on the ASK of 3 $ ...
It's silly to claim tens of dollars for a RF picture that is not exclusive...
Also, same picture is selling for cents on the other sites...
3 $ is usual price for PPD on most sites ...
But, my exclusive photos will be on algorithm or on my much bigger price...
Also extended license will be interesting for making price, i think that BID-ASK pricing system is the best for EL.
I also hope that this will be my contribution to "convergence" of Cutcaster to customers.
This is quite example of 'kick in your own stomack' approach... PPD on SS is $5 as well there is $5 average on FeaturePics and other worthy agencies... What is your cut if image is sold for $3? On CC it would be 40% if you are non-exclusive and that counts $1.20! If I sell PPD on SS my commision is $2.48! So what now? I don't see the reason to work with agencies who sell for less than $5 PPD full resolution image.
I already had some issues with few agencies where they even tried to sell my complex vectors for $1 on PPD... I will never submit my images to them again.
And... One detail for those who don't like SS and subscription system on other agencies at all... You know, buyer must pay several images or some time period based subscription... It is fair to give them discount for money they payed. It is just the way things work because that are volume buyers. But some agencies are introducing even $1 full resolution PPD which is out of any good sense for success! That kind of agencies and contributors are doomed to stay low! They don't have money for advertising. They don't make enough to be serious contributor there and they simple don't have any chance to succeed in this industry! Why? Because I can name at least 5 other sources where you can obtain images for even cheaper prices - FREE OF CHARGE! Buyer who needs full resolution image and willing to pay just $1 PPD is not buyer...
$3 is quite low for 4mp image, but when you shoot with 12mpix PRO DSLR and get just $3 on PPD it is silly! Not to mention people who shoot at more mpix with cameras bought for more than 4 figures prices! $1 is quite nice money for blog usage and $3 is nice to get on 2mpix.
Borg, I beleive you are quite wrong with supporting that stance with $3 PPD! It should be at least $5 full resolution image!
I've observed what is selling and where for what money... So I can tell you $5 full resolution image is pretty fair price for all.
Oh... My 'full resolution' images are downsampled at 1/2 of images real full resolution so it is about 6mpix and it is quite enough for most ways that image to be used...
Vector price is something other and it should be from $5 and up to at least $25 depending on complexity and it is the current usual price on all respectable microstock agencies.
Just take a look at this stats and think it over:
http://www.featurepics.com/Stat/PollStat.aspx
So John... I think limits are to be introduced on CC ;-) No less than $5 for full resolution image! We dont need underpricing people killing other peoples earnings as well they are making agencies look silly and block way to agency be able to grow and advertise! If those like to give away their works - let them do it somewhere else - so many underpricing agencies over there...
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Long live John!!! :) I will always support him because he has great attitude.
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my two cents,I don't believe in the free image concept! ::)
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You have right Milinz!!!
I still haven't any sale on Cutcaster but I will put my photos at min 5 $ of PPD...
I do not know why I think (foolish) that the 3 $ is my complete commission and Cutcaster his part adds to my price...
Thanks!
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You have right Milinz!!!
I still haven't any sale on Cutcaster but I will put my photos at min 5 $ of PPD...
I do not know why I think (foolish) that the 3 $ is my complete commission and Cutcaster his part adds to my price...
Thanks!
I am glad you agree... Your acceptance of my words means that we'll have better income and real byers on CC ;-)
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Well guys, for the past couple of months or so I've being debating wether to upload to any of the new sites, specially after Photoshelter's downfall, but the positive energy and comments that I'm reading on this thread about Cutcaster and its administrator has made up my mind, I will also subscribe to become a Cutcaster contributor and put my two cents worth of help into the site.
Thank you all for the terrific references you have giving me about Cutcaster.
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so all the nice things said about John aside, is anyone making money there?
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so all the nice things said about John aside, is anyone making money there?
I just hope John is spending as much time courting buyers as he does with contributors.
We're all pulling for you, John. Sell, sell, sell. 8)
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i'm rocking and rolling on that front. have been doing a lot of site demos with buyers, going on site visits to learn more about their workflow and built out a direct sales team so things are moving in the right direction and its awesome to have everyones support. lots more to come on the buyers and marketing front.
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Good to hear John.
I would like to hear from a site that actually gets out and knocks on doors of designers.
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designers, big publishers, ad agencies and 3rd party sites that can bring in a new type of buyer. im hoping for some good annoncements on the last front coming up. i've got some interesting ideas and some interested parties in terms of bringing in new buyers so we will see. not promising anything other than I will work my butt off.