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Agency Based Discussion => New Sites - General => Topic started by: leaf on August 25, 2009, 02:19

Title: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on August 25, 2009, 02:19
Clustershot has been mentioned in a few threads but I thought I would start a discussion about it in it's own thread.

Who is using clustershot?  Does it work well?  Do you have a pro account and do you have it integrated into your website?  I would be interested in seeing some uses of it or feedback.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on August 25, 2009, 02:19
here is a link

http://www.clustershot.com/ (http://www.clustershot.com/)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: JerryL5 on August 25, 2009, 05:47
Uploaded a couple of test photos back in May, not a pro account.
Just haven't got back somehow. I like the site, but some sections seem slow.
I think they are in the process of upgrading the system.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: borg on August 25, 2009, 07:39
I think that is "Storefront site" like many others for photography...

Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on August 25, 2009, 08:15
Uploaded a couple of test photos back in May, not a pro account.
Just haven't got back somehow. I like the site, but some sections seem slow.
I think they are in the process of upgrading the system.


Yeah, we are a little slow. This is mainly due to more activity then we expected. We have over 250,000 published photos by over 1500 users. We have new hardware going live this week which should speed things up considerably.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: JerryL5 on August 25, 2009, 19:19
Uploaded a couple of test photos back in May, not a pro account.
Just haven't got back somehow. I like the site, but some sections seem slow.
I think they are in the process of upgrading the system.


Yeah, we are a little slow. This is mainly due to more activity then we expected. We have over 250,000 published photos by over 1500 users. We have new hardware going live this week which should speed things up considerably.

Thanks for replying Clustershot. Hope you do well.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on August 26, 2009, 03:00
I have been playing with the site a bit more and will see if I can work it into my site.  I will post a link later if I get it working the say I want.

If you look on an image though
http://tylerolson.clustershot.com/photo470320 (http://tylerolson.clustershot.com/photo470320)
With the 'buy now' button, do you think it feels like people are buying rights to the image?  Or is it clear enough that they are just buying a license?  Should the button say 'License Now' or something else?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Adeptris on August 26, 2009, 07:00
Not bad, but I think the text the photgrapher gets $xx.xx is a bit naff and not needed, I should think I am on the photographers site so what does that mean?

To much real estate is taken up by text, thumbs are to small!

Add to cart and it is annoying when it shows what I have added each time, if I want 6 images I will go elsewhere.

Cart page has no Continue Shopping or back button.

Suggestions.
So a lightbox/cart system where you can add images to the lightbox or cart and stay on the gallery page, a view lightbox/cart with continue shopping option.

Remove the Photographer gets text, have an option to show only thumbnails to increase thumbnail real estate by removing the image and the horrible at % thumbs, all I would want to see is a search box and sets of readable 150px - 170px thumbnails and a watermarked larger view and details when I click a thumbnail.

On checkout a flag which says the buyer has read and understood the licence T&C's even if they have not.

Search is way too slow on an XP client, Intel core 2 CPU's, 1.8ghz, 2gb Ram 'yawn'!

David  8)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: cidepix on September 02, 2009, 16:31
Uploaded a couple of test photos back in May, not a pro account.
Just haven't got back somehow. I like the site, but some sections seem slow.
I think they are in the process of upgrading the system.


Yeah, we are a little slow. This is mainly due to more activity then we expected. We have over 250,000 published photos by over 1500 users. We have new hardware going live this week which should speed things up considerably.

It would be good if we can place our proper logo up there instead of a bad looking text. I would definitely want my original logo on the banner If I was to get a pro account.

I don't like the text at all. It should be possible to upload our logo in PNG or jpeg formats if we prefer.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 03, 2009, 07:15
Uploaded a couple of test photos back in May, not a pro account.
Just haven't got back somehow. I like the site, but some sections seem slow.
I think they are in the process of upgrading the system.


Yeah, we are a little slow. This is mainly due to more activity then we expected. We have over 250,000 published photos by over 1500 users. We have new hardware going live this week which should speed things up considerably.

It would be good if we can place our proper logo up there instead of a bad looking text. I would definitely want my original logo on the banner If I was to get a pro account.

I don't like the text at all. It should be possible to upload our logo in PNG or jpeg formats if we prefer.

Thanks for your suggestions. We have thought of this and may be implementing it in the future.  Allowing anyone to upload a logo to a page is complicated endeavour as there are quite a few design related challenges associated with that.

As we further develop our pro-accounts you'll start to see more flexibility.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: cidepix on September 03, 2009, 08:09
Hello,

I am a logo designer myself and this issue is just extremely important for me.

I just can't think of joining clustershot before it is completely ready. I was seriously thinking to give clustershot a try as it is hassle-free compared to starting my own illustration store website. But as a logo and icon designer my site on clustershot just can't be without a nice logo. It wouldn't look nice.

Looking forward to something like this. My feedback about this issue is "the font you use for clustershot pro accounts looks awful" Don't take this as a bad comment. This is my sincere opinion.

A logo is a must, otherwise it won't look like my site. If I join I have my own domain I want to use. But if I join now, as it stands, it would be a downgrade for me lookswise. Looks, graphics and my prestige is equally important as sales.

Good luck! I hope you do well.


It would be good if we can place our proper logo up there instead of a bad looking text. I would definitely want my original logo on the banner If I was to get a pro account.

I don't like the text at all. It should be possible to upload our logo in PNG or jpeg formats if we prefer.

Thanks for your suggestions. We have thought of this and may be implementing it in the future.  Allowing anyone to upload a logo to a page is complicated endeavour as there are quite a few design related challenges associated with that.

As we further develop our pro-accounts you'll start to see more flexibility.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Digital66 on September 03, 2009, 14:14
I have a "pro" account and I really like it.

My only concern is the current Royalty Free License text.  It should state a limit in the number of reproductions allowed.  An Extended License should be available.

A Continue Shopping button would be great. 
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: rmarinello on September 03, 2009, 14:30
Hi All,
I have a Pro account and I'm using it as a FrontEnd Portfolio, like very much. You can drive your clients or people interested to see your work trough a neat portfolio site (with your domain, i.e. my pro site is http://portfolio.mystockphoto.org (http://portfolio.mystockphoto.org)

I spoke with Dan James, co-founder of Clustershot, and you can read some interesting things he said here:

http://www.mystockphoto.org/clustershot-a-different-approach-to-sell-photos/ (http://www.mystockphoto.org/clustershot-a-different-approach-to-sell-photos/)

Cheers,
       roberto
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Adeptris on September 03, 2009, 14:33
Search Engine needs sorting out, I looked at the link from 'Leaf', and wanted to test keyword relevence, typed in 'Girl+Outdoors', on checking relevence the keywords are displayed in alphabetical sequence.

I then checked if that was a search or display problem, but the first images had placement 11 + 12 and the lower ones 11 + 24.

I thought it may be a lightroom thing as this sometimes re-sorts keywords, so checking the images on the main website same problem alphabetical sequence.

Sorry but I earn my living designing accounting software, and have to look under the hood to see how things work.

David  ::)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 04, 2009, 08:54
Search Engine needs sorting out, I looked at the link from 'Leaf', and wanted to test keyword relevence, typed in 'Girl+Outdoors', on checking relevence the keywords are displayed in alphabetical sequence.

I then checked if that was a search or display problem, but the first images had placement 11 + 12 and the lower ones 11 + 24.

I thought it may be a lightroom thing as this sometimes re-sorts keywords, so checking the images on the main website same problem alphabetical sequence.

Sorry but I earn my living designing accounting software, and have to look under the hood to see how things work.

David  ::)


David, you're right. our search is pretty bad and we are going to be working on improving it. It wasn't our intention to become a one-stop-shop for photo searching. We initially wanted to be the "Checkout" part of the process. People find a photo through other means (Google, blogs, self-promotion) and we simply take care of the selling procedures.  Now that we have that work mostly in place we're starting to address our weaknesses, like the search.

I think it's important to note that the reason the search hasn't been our #1 priority is because of the initial reason we started ClusterShot: Random internet users searched google, found our images and emailed us offering to buy them. Google does a pretty good job at searching the internet.

Take this example: http://www.flickr.com/groups/dmu2/discuss/72157622104997769/ (http://www.flickr.com/groups/dmu2/discuss/72157622104997769/) (log in required). The sold photo mentioned here was found by the buyer by searching google for "Stock photography Noe Valley" . The vast majority of our traffic is from Google search refers just like this. (~55-60%).

As usual, thanks for your comments!
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 04, 2009, 09:05
I have a "pro" account and I really like it.

My only concern is the current Royalty Free License text.  It should state a limit in the number of reproductions allowed.  An Extended License should be available.

A Continue Shopping button would be great. 


I'm very glad to hear you like your Pro account.
Re: Continue shopping button" - We're going to be re-vamping our entire checkout process in the months to come. What's there now was our initial proof of concept work. The concept has been proven and we're now focussing on long-term solutions.

With regards to the licensing. We're only offering royalty free right now as we feel that's the lowest hanging fruit. It's simple and easy to deal with. We may get into other types of licensing (editorial is a strong contender) but for now we're sticking with Royalty Free.

We're not keen on limiting the number of reproductions. We feel that's an archaic artefact of the pre-internet pre-digital world.  How do other's feel about this?

Thanks again for your comments. We're listening to this forum as we're more internet geeks than photographers.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 11, 2009, 10:37
Here is a chart reflecting our sales for 2009. August and September seem to be taking off.

http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2009/september/clustershot (http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2009/september/clustershot)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: No Longer Cares on September 14, 2009, 22:13
You can add me to that Sept chart.  I had my first sale there today.  It was from my site, which I link to clustershot as my portfolio; so it's a "checkout" sale from my site.

I like it.  Its simple, yet mostly has what we need (I have sent in emails requesting features). Editorial is a must with all the images there not model or property released.  I also vote for a usage limit or allow us to set them.

I like how the3dstudio does it where it defaults to editorial until its set RF.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 15, 2009, 07:36
You can add me to that Sept chart.  I had my first sale there today.  It was from my site, which I link to clustershot as my portfolio; so it's a "checkout" sale from my site.

I like it.  Its simple, yet mostly has what we need (I have sent in emails requesting features). Editorial is a must with all the images there not model or property released.  I also vote for a usage limit or allow us to set them.

I like how the3dstudio does it where it defaults to editorial until its set RF.

Hey Brandon,
Congrats on the sale. We really appreciate your feature request and we're starting to plan our next round of development. We have drastically needed improved UI coming out on Friday with a pile of feature bug fixes. Once we get that out of the way we're going to start adding features. Some new features will be rolled into our Pro-subscription while others will be available to all.

Editorial licensing is absolutely on our radar and my guess is you'll see it from us in the next few months.

Usage limits: We're really struggling with this one. Do you have any suggestions on how this could be done simply and in a way that makes sense for your average buyers? We tend to shy away from the arbitrary # of copies, etc.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Dan on September 15, 2009, 08:54
  I've  uploaded  some  pics  and  really  like  the  site.  I   think  some  of  the  above  suggestions  are  great.  I'm  waiting  to  see  what  will  happen.  Have  more  uploads  to  go.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Tim Markley on September 20, 2009, 20:19
I like the site, I signed up for a pro account since i was looking at setting up a web site anyways. easy interface. I was concerned though when I started searching pictures. There are a lot of photos with copy righted materials and logos everywhere. You might need a copyrights information link somewhere during the sign up process.

I like the watermark tool but I wish it was a little bigger.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Adeptris on September 21, 2009, 02:57
I like the site, I signed up for a pro account since i was looking at setting up a web site anyways. easy interface. I was concerned though when I started searching pictures. There are a lot of photos with copy righted materials and logos everywhere. You might need a copyrights information link somewhere during the sign up process.

I like the watermark tool but I wish it was a little bigger.

I Agree about the need for a release flag and a Limited Use (Simple RM) or  Editorial Licence, because the licence states that the Photographer/Artist is giving the permissions, I think that there is not enough due diligence from Clustershot in protecting buyers and artists.

Quote from: Clustershot RF License: Your Agreement with the Photographer/Artist
You are welcome to use the image:
On websites, in multimedia presentations, in broadcast film and video, and emails, etc.
In printed materials, such as magazines, newspapers, posters, books, brochures, flyers, CD/DVD covers, etc.
To decorate your home, your office or any public place.


David  ::)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 21, 2009, 14:25
I like the site, I signed up for a pro account since i was looking at setting up a web site anyways. easy interface. I was concerned though when I started searching pictures. There are a lot of photos with copy righted materials and logos everywhere. You might need a copyrights information link somewhere during the sign up process.

I like the watermark tool but I wish it was a little bigger.


Thanks for the feedback! We are in the process of revisiting our UI and warnings/notices for contributors and buyers. Part of this is explicitly stating that a photographer must have the legal right to sell the photos they are uploading. We also have a very quick and diligent reporting review system. If you find a photo you believe should not be for sale let us know. We will review it and defend or remove it VERY promptly. We are starting to look into ways to automate some of this and perhaps begin a human review of content.

In all honesty the only place that this has been an issue is in this forum. That isn't to say the comments here are valid and being digested here on our end. Simply, we have had no complaints from actual buyers/sellers. What we've found is that buyers are as smart about these issues as photographers.  Most, if not all, photos being sold are those without any noticeable or obvious legal issues.

As for the watermarks... We've had a few people complain that they are to large. I'm sorry, we can't please everyone.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: RacePhoto on September 21, 2009, 20:26
You would probably do well to have a human reviewing photos as well as keywords. For example...

(http://files.clustershot.com/files/photos/large/556625.jpg)

background, Bottle, Can, canned, container, cooking, cylinder, distribution, eating, edible, expiry, extended, flavor, Flavour, Food, fruit, isolated, jar, jars, ketchup, life, Meat, Metal, nutrition, Old, opener, preservative, preserved, Reflection, safe, safety, sauce, saving, sealed, steel, Storage, stored, Survival, taste, tin, tomato, tomatoes, transport, travelling, Vegetables, White

I only hit a couple with bold that didn't fit.

Now imagine a buyer searching for "tomato isolated" and finding all kinds of things that have no tomatoes and are not isolated? I'd want to look elsewhere, where I could find what I was looking for, not pictures to wade through of something else.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on September 22, 2009, 08:00
You would probably do well to have a human reviewing photos as well as keywords. For example...

([url]http://files.clustershot.com/files/photos/large/556625.jpg[/url])

background, Bottle, Can, canned, container, cooking, cylinder, distribution, eating, edible, expiry, extended, flavor, Flavour, Food, fruit, isolated, jar, jars, ketchup, life, Meat, Metal, nutrition, Old, opener, preservative, preserved, Reflection, safe, safety, sauce, saving, sealed, steel, Storage, stored, Survival, taste, tin, tomato, tomatoes, transport, travelling, Vegetables, White

I only hit a couple with bold that didn't fit.

Now imagine a buyer searching for "tomato isolated" and finding all kinds of things that have no tomatoes and are not isolated? I'd want to look elsewhere, where I could find what I was looking for, not pictures to wade through of something else.



Thank you for your feedback.  I appreciate the concern you have for the keywording. On the other end of the spectrum there are images without any keywords at all. Admittedly neither of these are ideal situations.

Part of the bigger issue going on here is that we are not really trying to become a micro-stock site like IstockPhoto. We got grouped in with them by TechCrunch this past winter and have been valiantly trying to NOT become that since. We are foremost building a platform for which photographers can sell their photos. A side effect of that is the open market that is clustershot.com.

The vast majority of our traffic, and sales, are from search engine refers. Someone searches google for 'Noe Valley Stock Photo", finds a photo and checks out. The other growing area of our traffic and sales is from our Pro Account users promoting their own stores. This, again, is how we're building out a photo selling platform.

All of this said: We are getting pushed into the global search issue fairly heavily and we will react and adjust to it.  Overtime we'll make the search better. We'll add new searching options, new ways to search, and new ways to sort photos. Please don't be disappointed if we decide to further the distance between how we do things and how Istock and the other micro sites do things. That market and method is saturated and we probably couldn't compete in any meaningful way with those big players. We'll be doing new things, some might fail, some might be very disruptive to the industry.

We truly appreciate all of the feedback. I'm sorry for the lengthy response but I feel it is better to explain our rational for doing or not doing something.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Pixart on October 01, 2009, 19:11
Are pro accounts $20 per month or per year?  The word "subscription" leads me to believe it is per year?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on October 02, 2009, 01:08
It is per year.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: oboy on November 02, 2009, 12:52
no ftp?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: kaycee on November 02, 2009, 13:15
no ftp?
You can if you want uplload a zip folder with xxxx amount of images in it.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Fotonaut on November 02, 2009, 13:30
I must say I like the ClusterShot model. And PhotoShelter and SmugMug etc. I have a hard time understanding why contributors want to sell through a system earning them (you) as low as $0.20 per image with these alternatives in existance. So much of the work I see from people here is worth ten if not a hundred times that amount.

I used to be an art director buying for thousands of dollars over the years from iStockphoto when I discovered that service. The low prices felt like stealing. We could and would have payed more.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on November 02, 2009, 15:11
The reason someone would sell on iStock and not clustershot is because you get very good sales on iStock (or the other big 6)

What I am really concerned about is how much I earn per shoot and if I am making a profit.

If I get 90% of the sale price and there is only 5 sales at $100 each that isn't going to pay the bills.
If I get 20% of the sale price and there is 1,000 sales at $5.00 each I will start to make money.

That is the different between iStock and other sites like clustershot or even hosting them yourself.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: oboy on November 02, 2009, 16:04
Do you think it would be worst my time to upload my portfolio to clustershot.com? Or do you have to advertise your port yourself?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on November 02, 2009, 16:10
well they do sell from their site as well.

I don't know, I thought it was worth a try since I was looking for a way to have my 'own store' to sell through and it wasn't any work to get the images online.  I just set up the local drive thing and copy and pasted all the images there, and presto my images were online.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: oboy on November 03, 2009, 08:55
Yes, it looks like the image uplaod goes fast with this.

Is there somewhere a place to the your account balance and views?
How are you integrating the site in you website or do you just place a link on your website?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: NitorPhoto on February 14, 2010, 19:11
This site looks very interesting. I would be happy to use it with my own domain as a 'private' store. But I have two serious concerns:
1. I f upload like 10k photos and they fade away in a few months then I wasted a lot of time and effort.
2. 20$ for a year? I sounds a bit low for me. Will they exist longer than a few months?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: shiyali on February 14, 2010, 21:30
I don't like their webdav upload feature. On my setup it has transfer problems and I have to set it to autoskip with the result that quite a few files don't get uploaded. I wish they would set up a proper FTP upload or a solid Java uploader.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: leaf on February 15, 2010, 02:16
Yes, it looks like the image uplaod goes fast with this.

Is there somewhere a place to the your account balance and views?
How are you integrating the site in you website or do you just place a link on your website?

you can see views and other stats in the account area
https://www.clustershot.com/account (https://www.clustershot.com/account)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: sharpshot on February 15, 2010, 03:17
If a lot of us used clustershot, it might be worth paying for our own marketing.  I am holding off for now, the site doesn't quite do what I want.  Hopefully they will improve it and I will give it a go.

If they add different sizes and let us link our portfolios, I will be more interested.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on February 17, 2010, 14:27
If a lot of us used clustershot, it might be worth paying for our own marketing.  I am holding off for now, the site doesn't quite do what I want.  Hopefully they will improve it and I will give it a go.

If they add different sizes and let us link our portfolios, I will be more interested.

Thanks for the feedback. We have a slew of new features currently under development. We'll be rolling them out in the coming months. Some are trivial, others are more substantive.

Can you let me know what other features, other than the two you listed, would interest you? Also, can you clarify what you mean when you say "link our portfolios"?

Cheers,
Dan
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: sharpshot on February 18, 2010, 05:05
By linking portfolio I mean a way of searching within a group of portfolios.  There have been several threads here about starting our own site but it has never happened.  Having a searchable collection on clustershot could be another option.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: runamock on February 18, 2010, 05:30
I think your ideas are a good way forward sharpshot. Clustershot appear open to suggestions I hope this is one they pursue.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on February 18, 2010, 09:19
By linking portfolio I mean a way of searching within a group of portfolios.  There have been several threads here about starting our own site but it has never happened.  Having a searchable collection on clustershot could be another option.

Ok, this sounds like something that will be doable with our new feature set. I'll keep you posted.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on March 28, 2010, 12:50
So you heard it from us first:

During a round of upgrades and new feature launchs Paypal has deemed that we are an escrow company. As a result our account, which is our entire payment processing system, is restricted until we sort out a mountain of paperwork and by necessity change-up our business model.

You can get more information about what has happened here:
http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/march/eatingescrow (http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/march/eatingescrow)

This has been a very vocal community and I wanted to make sure that we interacted with you and got your feedback on how we should tweak our business model. The idea we are leaning towards the most is this:

We will become a listing company, much like Ebay. When someone goes to buy a photo they will pay you directly (via paypal, or whatever methods you choose). We will, of course, have a record of the sale and each month we would send you an invoice for the listing fees. Listing fees would be based on percentage of your sales. This, in our understanding, would alleviate our current affliction and I read enough of this board to know that a lot of photographers would appreciate getting the money first. After all, it's your money.

We will of course continue to charge for additional services such as a pro account (we've built awesome new customization tools that we can't launch until this is sorted out) and other additional features.

Let me know your thoughts. We're VERY open to everyone's opinions and feedback. We wanted you to hear this from us first. We pride ourselves in being transparent and forthcoming. We like it when other companies do that so we figured we should too.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: cthoman on March 28, 2010, 14:48
I was disappointed they didn't offer vectors at Clustershot.  :'(  Hopefully, that's in the pipeline.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: No Longer Cares on March 28, 2010, 15:49
So if we are paid directly by the buyer, what then would the commission be to ClusterShot?  Right now its 12%, but that includes the transaction fees also.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: sharpshot on March 28, 2010, 16:03
So you heard it from us first:

During a round of upgrades and new feature launchs Paypal has deemed that we are an escrow company. As a result our account, which is our entire payment processing system, is restricted until we sort out a mountain of paperwork and by necessity change-up our business model.

You can get more information about what has happened here:
[url]http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/march/eatingescrow[/url] ([url]http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/march/eatingescrow[/url])

This has been a very vocal community and I wanted to make sure that we interacted with you and got your feedback on how we should tweak our business model. The idea we are leaning towards the most is this:

We will become a listing company, much like Ebay. When someone goes to buy a photo they will pay you directly (via paypal, or whatever methods you choose). We will, of course, have a record of the sale and each month we would send you an invoice for the listing fees. Listing fees would be based on percentage of your sales. This, in our understanding, would alleviate our current affliction and I read enough of this board to know that a lot of photographers would appreciate getting the money first. After all, it's your money.

We will of course continue to charge for additional services such as a pro account (we've built awesome new customization tools that we can't launch until this is sorted out) and other additional features.

Let me know your thoughts. We're VERY open to everyone's opinions and feedback. We wanted you to hear this from us first. We pride ourselves in being transparent and forthcoming. We like it when other companies do that so we figured we should too.

Thanks for your honesty about this.  I decided to try the pro account recently, hope you can sort this out.  I know a few sites have had paypal problems before, delaying our payments while they sorted it out.  Can't you get on the phone and sort this out?  I don't see why all the other stock photography sites are OK but you aren't.  Ask them why and then you will know.  Perhaps it is because they use credits, why is that so bad?  I would like to know your reasons.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on March 28, 2010, 17:38
Thanks for your comments and for being a pro-account holder. We greatly appreciate the business. We have some really nice tools that at as soon as we figure this out you'll be able to play with.

What would the commission be if you sold to buyers directly? We're not sure yet and we'll probably be calling it a "listing fee" or something like that. It will not be more than 12%. Probably will be less given the fee issue you point out. We'll look at the #'s and let you know.

I definitely will be doing my best to talk with some other stock sites to figure out how they've dealt with this. Sadly Paypal isn't great for communications so we're left a little to our own devices as well.

We have some ideas and will be setting a direction within the next 24-36 hours. One of the possible directions, as mentioned above, is only facilitating the sale in information only and letting you and a buyer do the actual money exchange. This is Ebay's model. We're going to do our best to figure out the best way for sellers (and buyers) and move that way. Once we do that we can assure Paypal  that we're not criminals of any sort (which we've done already) and that they can reinstate our account for pro-accounts and services.

All-in-all we see this as an obstacle that is forcing us to think how to best do this. We hope to have a solution in place this coming week if all of the stars align.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: khwi on March 29, 2010, 00:54
all transactions are only in paypal i assume?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: PixelBitch on March 29, 2010, 01:22
I'm finding their WebDAV upload system is brilliant...so much faster than the usual FTP...wonder why all the micros don't have that feature?????


I don't like their webdav upload feature. On my setup it has transfer problems and I have to set it to autoskip with the result that quite a few files don't get uploaded. I wish they would set up a proper FTP upload or a solid Java uploader.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: sharpshot on March 29, 2010, 04:17
I'm finding their WebDAV upload system is brilliant...so much faster than the usual FTP...wonder why all the micros don't have that feature?????


I don't like their webdav upload feature. On my setup it has transfer problems and I have to set it to autoskip with the result that quite a few files don't get uploaded. I wish they would set up a proper FTP upload or a solid Java uploader.
It isn't as good as FTP for me.  It takes longer than using FTP with any other site and the time it estimates to upload is always wrong.  I would much prefer FTP.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on March 29, 2010, 07:08
Yes, all transactions are currently only in Paypal.

Apparently our webdav service is seeing mixed results :)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on March 29, 2010, 09:53
We've worked out a plan to conquer this issue:
http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/march/frombuyerto (http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/march/frombuyerto)

What this means is that you're going to be paid directly, then we'll take our slice from you once a month. We hope you like that option.

We hope to have this built, tested, and launched this week.

Let us know what you think.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: sharpshot on March 29, 2010, 10:40
Will be interesting to see if this works.  There is an obvious problem if a contributor doesn't pay you but hopefully that wont happen very often.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: oboy on March 29, 2010, 11:08
Anyone else here from California that has an account at Clustershot?

My photography is more of a hobby that generates a little money. So far I made sure not to sell anything directly. So I only receive royalties / commissions. If I understand this correctly, because of this I don't have to register as a business, and I don't have anything to do with sale/use taxes. At the end of the year I file also a schedule C with 1040 to the IRS.

This would change if I would get payed directly by the buyer. In the moment you don't have to charge use taxes in California for an electronically transferred image, but that my change tomorrow as they change the rules quite often in California. And I don't know how that would affect sales to some of the other states that have sale/use taxes.

So for me I think it would be better to close my account then at Clustershot if the sale would be directly.

Dose any else know a little more about this type of situations?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on March 29, 2010, 11:15
Will be interesting to see if this works.  There is an obvious problem if a contributor doesn't pay you but hopefully that wont happen very often.

That is the only exposure for us. We trust our users and worst case scenario would only be out 1 month of revenue for the user as we would close their account if unpaid.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: oboy on March 30, 2010, 12:38
Anyone else from California that has thought or a tip about this?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: NitorPhoto on March 31, 2010, 07:10
I liked that option much better when you got the payment from the buyer and you transfered the royalty. I see no point why this new system is better.  I am not happy you change the business model on the fly. I already uploaded 3000+ images but need to stop now.  :(
By the way the webdav uploading is simple but extremly slow. A batch of 2-300 images usually takes 10+ hours  - totally insane. In all other factors the software design and the usabilty it tripleA.

Edit: ok, after reading the whole story I see your point now. I am sorry what happed to you and I really hope you can sort out your problems. Looking forward to see those great new tools! :)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: FD on March 31, 2010, 08:40
I sortof gave up on them. They are not stock oriented at all. All the plans they announce have nothing to with building a virtual stock site and grouping acounts, nothing with licenses and sizes.
I planned to write some integration but they don't even have a unique image IDs that addresses thumbs and full size pages, so it's far too much work to integrate.
They are totally obsessed with Flickr and I'm not interested with Flickr after they phased out my Pro account in a too blunt way because my shots were watermarked and I had links to sales sites.

I don't like that in "similar images" on Clustershot are linked to ports of free account amateurs. I'm not paying a Pro account to drive traffic to snapshooters. I wanted:

- variation in licenses: edtorial, commercial / RF, RF-extended;
- variation in sizes: web and full size, automatically priced differently;
- a virtual agency where accounts could be coupled to show "similars" or at least the free accounts could be left out;

Nothing of that has been announced in 7 months, so I think I'll just have to swallow my 20$ loss and start deleting in August. They obviously aren't interested in what we want. The direct payment is just another PITA. Although I could easily incorporate, I'm not planning to do it just for them, especially since I had no sale whatsoever despite they being prominent on my site. The 100$ payout limit is ridiculous for an average uploader, and it seems to become one of those sites earning money and then vanish, like LO and FM and Crestock.

No thanks. I stopped uploading months ago and I curse myself for the wasted time since even their IPTC extraction is non-standard. Why the heck they have to import the location in the keywords? Why the heck they don't import the title? Wasted...
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on March 31, 2010, 08:48
I sortof gave up on them. They are not stock oriented at all. All the plans they announce have nothing to with building a virtual stock site and grouping acounts, nothing with licenses and sizes.
I planned to write some integration but they don't even have a unique image IDs that addresses thumbs and full size pages, so it's far too much work to integrate.
They are totally obsessed with Flickr and I'm not interested with Flickr after they phased out my Pro account in a too blunt way because my shots were watermarked and I had links to sales sites.

I don't like that in "similar images" on Clustershot are linked to ports of free account amateurs. I'm not paying a Pro account to drive traffic to snapshooters. I wanted:

- variation in licenses: edtorial, commercial / RF, RF-extended;
- variation in sizes: web and full size, automatically priced differently;
- a virtual agency where accounts could be coupled to show "similars" or at least the free accounts could be left out;

Nothing of that has been announced in 7 months, so I think I'll just have to swallow my 20$ loss and start deleting in August. They obviously aren't interested in what we want. The direct payment is just another PITA. Although I could easily incorporate, I'm not planning to do it just for them, especially since I had no sale whatsoever despite they being prominent on my site. The 100$ payout limit is ridiculous for an average uploader, and it seems to become one of those sites earning money and then vanish, like LO and FM and Crestock.

No thanks. I stopped uploading months ago and I curse myself for the wasted time since even their IPTC extraction is non-standard. Why the heck they have to import the location in the keywords? Why the heck they don't import the title? Wasted...

I'm sorry to hear that you aren't happy with us. For the record, we don't link to other users on your pro site, only on the general ClusterShot site. As for grouping accounts (we're calling that "collections" internally) that is something that is definitely on our list of things to develop.

We've been fairly clear on our position regarding multiple sizes. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

What I can do for you is refund your $20.00. You obviously feel it hasn't been worth it for you. We'll gladly settle that for you. Just contact us directly with the email you use to log-in and we'll settle up.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: NitorPhoto on April 01, 2010, 07:39
I sortof gave up on them. They are not stock oriented at all....

I have an opposing opinion. The site design is good and simple in many ways, in appearance, in usability and also in licencing. They do not follow the common microstock agency rules, this is a different service - otherwise I wouldn't upload anything. It is a great tool as the shopping section of your own business website. Well, yes it would be nice to have some more features especially in how can you link it to your own site.. but we will see what the new improvements are. And hey 20$ for this is really NOTHING! My only concern is how long can they hold on.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: cardmaverick on April 01, 2010, 21:21
Not sure where else to post this request...

Is there anyway you can record INTERNAL site search requests used to find my images? I see that my integrated search box on my website has brought traffic into my pro store, but I can't really see what it is they are actually searching for, seeing the images being viewed is helpful however and gives me a rough idea.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Microstock Posts on April 03, 2010, 10:18
Last month I got a sale on clustershot for $100, with just 30 images online with them. I still haven't opened a pro ac. yet though and probably won't until I'm able to syndicate my stuff from iSyndica. The cool thing about the image that was bought is that only a few months ago, I disabled the image which was only on dt and hadn't sold, because I felt that the image could fetch more one day.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on April 05, 2010, 15:33
We just wanted to give everyone an update.

We've made all of the necessary changes to the site that should free the restrictions on our paypal account. We have let Paypal know and they will be reviewing the changes we've made. Hopefully all will go well and we'll be back to normal within a number of hours.

Once the new changes go live to satisfy Paypal we will be waiting 1-2 days to roll out the new features that got us into this mess in the first place.

WARNING: For anyone who has been considering a pro-account with us this 1-2 day window is your last shot at getting in at the $20.00/year for your first year. When we launch the new updates we are raising our prices to a staggering $50.00/year. The big new feature launching is a very cool and very slick pro-store/page customization. Your own logo, choose a font, you own backgrounds, colours, etc.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: a.k.a.-tom on April 05, 2010, 16:17
 I am looking for something new, to expand.  I already have a personal pro site but would not be opposed to linking up...   
     Just moments ago, I made my first visit to Cluster..  I like the site,  I like most of what I see..    I decided to check out the competition, see what I'm up against. I am primarily a landscape/travel 'tog. I punched in Grand Canyon National Park..     
     Low and behold,   on the first page,  a picture of a jellyfish .....   ?  ... keyworded  Arizona, California, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Landscape, Mountains....   Humm....   
Perhaps there is a aquarium somewhere in Arizona...  ??  Don't know.     However,  I do know for a fact after spending  considerable time in the Grand Canyon.....  there are no jellyfish.

I am not a big fan of keyword spamming.  And it seems to be more prevalent than it should be. I would be interested in signing on...  but...  guys,  this for me is a problem.  8)=tom
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: PixelBitch on April 05, 2010, 20:02
You have a link to upgrade to a pro account but it comes up with an empty window. You could at least email present contributors offering the upgrade and a 48 hour time frame rather than have us keep checking to see when it can be done...and you may get more takers that way.


We just wanted to give everyone an update.

We've made all of the necessary changes to the site that should free the restrictions on our paypal account. We have let Paypal know and they will be reviewing the changes we've made. Hopefully all will go well and we'll be back to normal within a number of hours.

Once the new changes go live to satisfy Paypal we will be waiting 1-2 days to roll out the new features that got us into this mess in the first place.

WARNING: For anyone who has been considering a pro-account with us this 1-2 day window is your last shot at getting in at the $20.00/year for your first year. When we launch the new updates we are raising our prices to a staggering $50.00/year. The big new feature launching is a very cool and very slick pro-store/page customization. Your own logo, choose a font, you own backgrounds, colours, etc.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: Microstock Posts on April 06, 2010, 01:18

WARNING: For anyone who has been considering a pro-account with us this 1-2 day window is your last shot at getting in at the $20.00/year for your first year. When we launch the new updates we are raising our prices to a staggering $50.00/year. The big new feature launching is a very cool and very slick pro-store/page customization. Your own logo, choose a font, you own backgrounds, colours, etc.

You initially started with an almost idealistic stance. You then started charging $20 for pro. accounts, which most people can take with a pinch of salt. Now it will be $50 a year, which you yourself describe as 'staggering', which is odd to say the least for a company to describe it's own prices. It also leaves me with the impression that you aren't making much from buyers, which was your initial intention and are going down the road of making money from photographers. So from free to $20 to $50 to.....? Thanks for the WARNING:
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: NitorPhoto on April 06, 2010, 02:38
Good news. I want you to make money otherwise you will close the shop. 50$ is still a very good prize and I hope it helps you stay alive.
On the other hand. Uploading is extremely slow! I am uploading 300+ images in the current batch and it already took like 24 hours. Hey, I want ot upload 10k images it will take a year then?!
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on April 06, 2010, 07:03
Thanks for all of your comments. I'll do my best to cycle back to them and address them correctly. I just wanted to let everyone know that we got the thumbs up from Paypal and we're making all the necessary roll-out changes here on our end. We should be back to normal within an hour or two.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on April 06, 2010, 08:03
Good news. I want you to make money otherwise you will close the shop. 50$ is still a very good prize and I hope it helps you stay alive.
On the other hand. Uploading is extremely slow! I am uploading 300+ images in the current batch and it already took like 24 hours. Hey, I want ot upload 10k images it will take a year then?!

Can you contact us directly via our contact form? We want to get more information from you as to where you are uploading from, what client, etc. We should be quicker than that for uploads.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on April 06, 2010, 14:43
We're back up and running. For those of you who sold photos and hadn't reached the $100.00 payout level, or hadn't requested an early payout, we've sent your payment along with no additional fees.

For those of you thinking about upgrading to a pro account, now is the time. Our intro price of $20.00 for the year is still good for another 24-48 hours. After that we're launching new features and a new price (50.00).

Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding during this time. In the end we think it's made ClusterShot better, and most importantly, better for the photographers who use it.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on April 07, 2010, 16:12
Our new visual customization feature has launched for our pro account stores. Let us know what you think:

http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/april/customizethe (http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/april/customizethe)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: ljooc on April 07, 2010, 16:59
I just registered but it says upgrade to pro a/c for $50, which page do I go to get the $20/yr for the first year?

jc
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on May 18, 2010, 09:49
We just added multiple currency support for our pro accounts. 21 Currencies are now supported.
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: oboy on May 18, 2010, 11:00
Are the different buyer account/plans - pro vs. non-pro? Is there a list of all supported Currencies ?
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: clustershot on May 18, 2010, 21:25
Are the different buyer account/plans - pro vs. non-pro? Is there a list of all supported Currencies ?


We have two levels: Pro and free. Pro is 50.00/year.

For a list of currencies supported please see this post:
http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/may/newprofeature (http://www.clustershot.com/blog/archive/2010/may/newprofeature)
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: ouchie on August 27, 2010, 16:45
Anyone else having touble signing in to clustershot.

After uploading a bunch of pics i now cant sign in.
The status bar is taking forever to fill.

I emailed through clustershot contact form and have not received any responce.

thanks,
nick
Title: Re: Clustershot.com
Post by: mtkang on October 11, 2010, 06:02
hi anyone can explain more about clustershot? is it a website that aim for your own customer? provide a webpage for you to sell photos?

i just register with a free account, it seems i can sell with free account too.

it is not typical stock agency right?