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Microstock Photography Forum - General => Microstock Services => Topic started by: microstockinsider on October 29, 2008, 20:52

Title: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: microstockinsider on October 29, 2008, 20:52
Is anyone using lookstat.com ? they offer a microstock portfolio monitoring service, but I'm not really sure I want to give them my logins just yet (!), it's similar to what prostockmaster does in aggregating and monitoring your sales (without the uploading function)

the creator, Rahul Pathak has a blog at http://www.rp0229.com/blog

i was quite happy to enter all my microstock account details into an ftp program, but i'd like to know a lot more about the company before i'd be ready to place all that info into an online platform. they have printed their address on the site, and it all looks quite legit, anyone have any other comment? at the moment i think they only support a couple of sites, but they plan to support 7


Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: snurder on October 31, 2008, 09:39
It looks interesting, but I am in agreement with you with regards to the password security.
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Lee Torrens on October 31, 2008, 10:25
I've met Rahul and found him to be a genuine bloke.  We spoke in detail about his service and I'm excited about the developments he has planned for LookStat.  I'll be using the service myself.
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: mantonino on October 31, 2008, 10:51
I've also been approached about alpha testing it - but TBH haven't had time to look yet.  I think I will and hopefully he's an ok dude. :)
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Rahul Pathak on November 18, 2008, 20:27
Hi Everyone,

I'm the founder & CEO of LookStat and I just wanted to introduce myself to the forum. Our goal is a to create a web platform that allows users to track their earnings (by image, not just by site) automatically and to help them analyze their performance with a view to identifying interesting areas of opportunity.

I sincerely hope that some of you do decide to give the service a try and give me your feedback - good or bad. LookStat is in beta but we're making regular improvements. Input from the contributor community will play an important role in shaping its evolution so I hope to hear from you.

There are more details and some screenshots on the blog (http://blog.lookstat.com) and please feel free to contact me in the forum or directly if you have questions or comments. My email is <firstname> at lookstat.com. If any of you are in the Seattle area, I'd love to meet in person.

Thank you.

Rahul

PS: Thanks for the kind words, Lee.

Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: No Longer Cares on November 18, 2008, 20:39
The tool sounds great, except for one thing; it's online.  Are you going to create a software package that does the same?  I would love to see a nice software application that would maintain per picture sales data for all sites.

Being online means I now have to give someone my account data.  Trusted or not, I do not plan on giving my username and password to any site.  Just as I would not give my bank account details to other sites.
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Rahul Pathak on November 18, 2008, 21:33
Brandon,

Thanks for your note and your point is well taken. At this stage, we don't have plans for a software package. If we have to, we may well explore that option but so far, it appears that an online solution will work for enough people to make it viable.

We have spent a great deal of time and effort working on security. There are a number of sites (I actually use a couple of them) that do this sort of thing with bank and credit card data and we've adopted their best practices. Everything is stored in encrypted databases, we do not know your passwords, we do not have access to credentials, only automated systems have read access to transaction data and every single page on the site is encrypted. We know this is important and we spent a lot of time testing and refining our security.

Having said all this, I can understand your perspective and completely respect your decision. Your position is not unreasonable and I'm not trying to push you to change it.

Rahul

PS: Regardless of your decision on the service, I'd love to chat metrics sometime if you have the inclination.
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: UncleGene on November 18, 2008, 23:41
Rahul, thanks for preventing me from developing this myself :)

What are you plans for covering more sites?



Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Rahul Pathak on November 19, 2008, 00:48
My pleasure! Happy to help and hopefully we'll continue to save you time and effort as we evolve.

In terms of new sites, I'm open to feedback (and this may shift) but the current thinking is to cover the big 6 (fotolia, stockxpert, 123rf) and then see where we stand and what's happening in the market. I am curious about what Getty will do with StockXpert, so that may potentially change our plans. Some of our early users have also suggested bigstockphoto as a site we should cover.

Please feel free to comment on the above list and let me know if there are other sites we should be looking at.

Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: andresr on November 19, 2008, 03:17
Rahul it was great to meet you in person in NY at photoplus expo. I have had a look at the site and opened an account and it is unbelievable. The potential you have there for development is amazing, honestly.
I can not wait until you have the full version running, any ideas on when will this happen?

:)
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Rahul Pathak on November 19, 2008, 10:59
Andres,

It was a pleasure to meet you as well and it's great to have you on board as an early LookStat user. It is terrific to hear your excitement about the potential of the service and I'm confident that you'll see rapid improvement over the next few weeks. Given the scope of our plans, we're going to be working on this for a while, but the beauty of a web service is that we can make it better for new and existing users virtually every day.

Thanks for taking the time to try the service and for sharing your thoughts here. I really appreciate it. Please don't hold back with your feedback, especially when it's this positive  ;)

Rahul
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Kngkyle on November 19, 2008, 11:06
I signed up with just Istock, and now that I see how it works I would like to add the others as well, but I don't see a way to do that?

Thanks
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: CofkoCof on November 19, 2008, 11:06
How many users do you currently have (if it's not a secret)? I'm interested in your site, would just like to see other agencies added before I'll try it.
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: UncleGene on November 19, 2008, 11:25
I agree with andresr, site has a great potential, though everything depends on how well this potential will be realized.

Rahul, perhaps it would be a good idea to discuss this in person (I believe we are nearby). Do you do some kind of stakeholder discussions?
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Rahul Pathak on November 19, 2008, 12:45
Thank you all for engaging with me in such a constructive way.

One request: if the question concerns support after you sign up, an email to [email protected] will get you the fastest response because the entire team monitors that. I'm the only one keeping track of the forum postings so there may be a lag between replies. Having said that, I will do my best to address issues here.

Kngkyle: As of right now, we do not have a convenient way for you to do add more accounts. This is in the works and should be online in less than a week. Sorry for the hassle. The system will be able to reconcile the data when it is entered without any trouble. Thanks for trying us out and we will contact you as soon as this is ready.

CofkoCof: The user count is relatively low but we're lucky to have some fairly high profile people on board with large accounts so the system is getting a great workout. I completely understand about waiting until we have more agencies on board. I hope you'll give us a try in the near future.

UncleGene: I'd love to meet in person and get your thoughts. Perhaps you could drop me a line via email and we'll go from there? My address is visible if you click on my profile. And yes, potential is great, but the proof, as always, is in the pudding.
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: grp_photo on November 19, 2008, 12:59
Yes looks nice i will give it a test after christmas  :D
Title: Re: anyone using lookstat.com?
Post by: Rahul Pathak on November 19, 2008, 20:52
Thanks to all those who have signed up for accounts thus far. Initial account creation takes about 24 hours so you should be hearing from us shortly if you haven't already. As always, please let me know if you have questions.

Rahul