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Author Topic: 'Featured' on FAA  (Read 7129 times)

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ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« on: May 04, 2015, 15:10 »
0
I don't spend enough time on FAA discussion group, so miss a lot that's happening.
Seems it's well known that the owner is 'aggressively' targetting known artists with large collections which get 'featured' (promoted) on FAA:
E.g. http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=2493055

Interesting on that page that some people are asking what 'featured' means. That must be something which rotates on the site. I read about 'featured' here on msg first, and at that time and for some time afterwards, I couldn't see it.
Now I know that at some times, and on certain searches, there are 'featured' artists or groups at the top of the page, as well as in the main body of the search (some searches, even without any 'featured' have the whole first search page by one artist other than if someone has 'sponsored' the page, in which case three images will be by other/s on rotation).

BTW, it has to be said that just because someone posts a lot and is authoritative in certain matters, it doesn't mean they're always correct. (not referring to that thread in particular).

XXX
« Last Edit: May 04, 2015, 17:53 by ShadySue »


« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2015, 16:51 »
0
Can you link me to that buyer complaint?

As far as I know, FAA does inspect every purchased image before printing; however, that inspection might only cover sharpness and noise.  So I'd like to see what a buyer was unhappy aboutl

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2015, 17:06 »
0
Can you link me to that buyer complaint?

As far as I know, FAA does inspect every purchased image before printing; however, that inspection might only cover sharpness and noise.  So I'd like to see what a buyer was unhappy aboutl

XXX
« Last Edit: May 04, 2015, 17:52 by ShadySue »

Semmick Photo

« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2015, 17:16 »
0
I want to comment on this thread, but I refrain as I dont want to have my account closed. My words may not be very pretty ;)

« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2015, 17:32 »
0
I'm not aware of a 'feedback' page.  I just hunted around through the FAA menus and site, and didn't find one.

memakephoto

« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2015, 17:35 »
0
I'm not aware of a 'feedback' page.  I just hunted around through the FAA menus and site, and didn't find one.

Me either. Always helpful when people post references to specific posts on a forum and then say find it yourself.

I see a discussion page but no posts with complaints and no feedback page.

Could you be more specific with maybe a link?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2015, 17:36 »
0
I'm not aware of a 'feedback' page.  I just hunted around through the FAA menus and site, and didn't find one.
I didn't bookmark it.
Its existence was mentioned somewhere in the discussion groups. I saw it at the weekend.
Of course, as the review and the image were so bad, it may have been removed.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2015, 17:38 »
0
I'm not aware of a 'feedback' page.  I just hunted around through the FAA menus and site, and didn't find one.

Me either. Always helpful when people post references to specific posts on a forum and then say find it yourself.

I see a discussion page but no posts with complaints and no feedback page.

Could you be more specific with maybe a link?

All I was doing was pointing out a site myth.
I didn't want it to turn into a witch hunt.

« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2015, 17:40 »
+1
Image quality issues at FAA forced me to restrict acceptance in groups which i manage. We started to use groups for collections presentations for our clients. So even i was not a reviewer at SS, i do some kind of curation and people can get upset in case if they want to see their image accepted but it is rejected. It is hard to find time to do 'reviews', but more slowly growing collection is more warmly accepted and people are willing to spend some time watching it. Issues are the same: noise, focus, shaked images, stretched, underexposed, paintings sent to photo group, US images sent to Europe collection, the same landscape taken from positions different just for several meters  etc.
In old time SS rejections were useful for learning, users of FAA don't have this school and they have a bit different purposes. And of course this is not a review at full size, but even this allow to filter out heavy cases, which we cannot show to interested people.
We try to do our own presentations and already don't pay attention how search engine works at FAA and others.

memakephoto

« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2015, 17:43 »
0
I'm not aware of a 'feedback' page.  I just hunted around through the FAA menus and site, and didn't find one.

Me either. Always helpful when people post references to specific posts on a forum and then say find it yourself.

I see a discussion page but no posts with complaints and no feedback page.

Could you be more specific with maybe a link?

All I was doing was pointing out a site myth.
I didn't want it to turn into a witch hunt.

But you must be able to understand that when you post such things people would be curious and want to investigate for themselves. I'm curious but it's not likely I'll find this illusive forum post on my own so now I'm frustrated.

Semmick Photo

« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2015, 17:50 »
+2
There's nothing to get frustrated over

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2015, 17:53 »
+1
I'm not aware of a 'feedback' page.  I just hunted around through the FAA menus and site, and didn't find one.

Me either. Always helpful when people post references to specific posts on a forum and then say find it yourself.

I see a discussion page but no posts with complaints and no feedback page.

Could you be more specific with maybe a link?

All I was doing was pointing out a site myth.
I didn't want it to turn into a witch hunt.

But you must be able to understand that when you post such things people would be curious and want to investigate for themselves. I'm curious but it's not likely I'll find this illusive forum post on my own so now I'm frustrated.

I'm sorry I upset you.
I've deleted that part of my post. Wouldn't want you getting ill.
Forget it happened. It was ungallant of me.

KB

« Reply #12 on: May 04, 2015, 19:16 »
0
I don't know which comment the OP was referring to, but this is the link to buyer feedback:
http://fineartamerica.com/buyercomments.html

Most comments seem to be very positive, but this one was funny (to me):
I do not want a review
posted by a buyer for two purchases. I'm guessing FAA must ask for a review of every purchase?

There certainly are a few negative ones in the mix.

« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2015, 19:18 »
+1
I want to comment on this thread, but I refrain as I dont want to have my account closed. My words may not be very pretty ;)

Send me your feedback privately.  I will post it as an anonymous quote.

« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2015, 19:38 »
+2
Thanks for the link, KB.  Yes, some interesting negative reviews.  One said the photo looked like the sky had been Photoshopped - I looked at it at 100% and yes, it had some serious cloning or copying blunders resulting in harsh and obvious lines.   Could happen to any of us if we're not careful.

Others were unhappy with painting reproductions and there I think FAA has a real problem.  I've seen lots of forum posts there from painters asking "what camera should I buy to photograph my paintings" so you know they're clueless about photography and aren't going to produce a good photo of their work.  It's too bad really, but when I've tried to tell them they'll need experienced help with the photography they usually insist on doing it themselves, and go back to asking "which camera is sharpest" and "what DPI do I need to shoot at" :-)
« Last Edit: May 04, 2015, 20:05 by stockastic »

« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2015, 22:50 »
0
Speaking of FAA

Can someone share something or link to any reading about their search engine...

I tend to stand extremely bad out there so I keep wondering what am I doing wrong because I really feel that at certain searches I should be standing at least a bit more above the bottom :)

Thanks


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #16 on: May 05, 2015, 03:24 »
0
Speaking of FAA

Can someone share something or link to any reading about their search engine...

I tend to stand extremely bad out there so I keep wondering what am I doing wrong because I really feel that at certain searches I should be standing at least a bit more above the bottom :)

Thanks

Allegedly, it's due to previous sales and 'a lot of other factors'. Certainly, it's not unusual for one person to dominate the whole first page of a search, even one with hundreds (or more) images, not counting those 'featured' (which could be an individual or collection). Whether it's previous sales on that search which boosts one file, or a person's overall sales that boosts all of their files.
To be fair, the person who dominates one search I'm particularly thinking of (though there are now a different two in #1 and #2) is showing as having sold two in the most recent 'sales' tranche as of this morning. Chicken/egg, I couldn't say. Their work is good.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2015, 03:35 »
+1
OK, here's an example of a disingenuous 'official' answer to a simple question:
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=2494974
Pixels.com is mentioned along with the FAx variants.
But there are lots more, e.g. deckthewalls / shopforart; earthprintsondemand/earthporm and I think I've read of at least one more.

« Reply #18 on: May 05, 2015, 07:47 »
+2
I'm still on FAA on the free site. They tried to auto charge my credit card but it was outdated.  I wouldn't give these guys another penny. I don't get sales there, all I get is "you need to participate in contests and discussions.....I don't have time for another forum and such when your work should be discovered on a fair search and its merit, not how often you participate in their "community".

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2015, 09:16 »
+1
Participating in the community was always of dubious value as you were interacting with other producers, seldom, if ever, with buyers.
Anyway latest 'word' FWIW is that community participation doesn't count for much as people were gaming the system. So now they aggressively target large collections to promote. Oops, I mean 'feature' - no works get "promoted" on FAA. Allegedly.

« Reply #20 on: May 05, 2015, 09:21 »
+2
Things have been steadily deteriorating at FAA.  The search is totally messed up and has been for weeks - there have been several forum threads.  Keyword spamming is rampant.  Google searches are directed to 'Collections' of featured artists - so no SEO for you, sorry.   The owner is  making deals with other sites - 5000 images from 1x.com just showed up last month, in a 2 day period.   Want to be in their "designer" program and sell for 10% of your normal commission?  Me neither.   

All these sites start out as "a community for artists" and end up as generic t-shirt and poster outlets.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2015, 09:24 by stockastic »

« Reply #21 on: May 05, 2015, 10:59 »
0
You can't rely on its search engine. It's tweaked in a way your work is put on the bottom of the results.

You have to bring traffic to your work through social media or a blog etc. Ignore FAA's search engine like it doesn't exist.


I'm starting to lose interest in that site.


I've sold prints on ImageKind... A website "nobody" uses. It's about priorities: if that site doesn't work for you after you tried your best, then move to another one.
 
« Last Edit: May 05, 2015, 11:05 by Braznyc »

« Reply #22 on: May 05, 2015, 11:08 »
0
Ok, but I guess those people exchanging comments those competitions or whatever probably know something more because I doubt they are doing that because they like it.

Is there any official reading about what is influencing experience in searches?

There is just one thing i tried, that sponsor page thing, and after the search 3 of your images comes on first page, but on your own computer when you are logged in, when I tried from another place those images were not there but again at 100+ page even more.

So is there a list of thing that help on FAA?
 

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #23 on: May 05, 2015, 11:12 »
0
None that bear any resemblance to reality.
Except that it's really up to you to bring in your own buyers, any which way you can.   They make no bones about that.

« Reply #24 on: May 05, 2015, 11:48 »
+4
I've been there for a couple of years and I think I can give you the plan in a few simple rules.

1.  Search placement is 99.5% determined by past sales and is totally owned by the big sellers, so forget it.

2.  You have to promote yourself extensively, via Facebook and Twitter.

3.  Facebook has had its day and no longer works.

4.  Twitter has had its day and no longer works.


 

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