MicrostockGroup

Sorry, but I don't think that is fair... No matter what they charge if they don't pay 50% or more...
I know one very good place which don't charge you and they even pay you 60%... It starts on "A" and has 5 letters name ;-)

I will stick to them for now...

Yeah, it's probably waived for the elderly - even supermarket do those kind of offers at times

Yes they can do that:
# If your bank account is outside Germany, please enter your IBAN and BIC (mandatory). Otherwise, please leave them empty.
# There is a charge for transfers outside the EU. The fees are charged to the photographer and will be deducted from their remuneration. If you do not wish to pay these fees, please use PayPal or Firstgate Click&Buy instead.
# We reserve the right to charge a fee of EUR 10 for problems caused by incorrect account details. Please check your account details carefully

Also, if you prefer PayPal you don't have to give it to Panthermedia at the time of your account registration, you can indeed do it later.

Hi everybody,

there seem to be some misunderstandings. Let me help top clear all issues:

Regarding the registration, there is following message on registration:
"If you wish to offer images in our stock agency, you need a free account with one of our payment partners, PayPal or Firstgate. You need this account for several reasons: 1)we transfer your remuneration from licence sales to this account, and 2)to verify your registration data (for legal and security reasons) The set-up fee for registration with PayPal is 0.35 euros (=35 cents ). If you register with Firstgate, the set-up is for free. " Please note that it is very important for us to verify every contributor. We have never had any legal problems with stolen or illegal images, and we want to continue with that quality of service to our customers.

Regarding the FAQs: Thanks for the hint. I have changed it already.

Regarding the cancellation and removal policy:
Once a contributor cancels the contract with PantherMedia, there is a 6-month cancellation period. Within this period, we still payout photographers, since open invoices will be paid by customers and we transfer the remuneration still after the cancellation. Within this 6 month period, we are removing the images from all partner sites. Usually, the removals happen every 3 months, so it should be faster than that. If you still see your images on partner sites, please contact us and we will check with the partner.

Regarding releases for editorial shots:
Sending images as editorial is not free from any obligation. If you shoot images from e.g. inside a historic building, you may not publish it without a PR as editorial, neither with iphones or the like. We are the last legal filter before the contributors get into trouble, and we take that very seriously.

Regarding sales after deletion: As mentioned above, many customers pay via invoice. The remuneration is transferred, once we receive the payment. Hence, it is possible that we well an image, you delete it, and 2 weeks later the customer pays. That is why you get a sale after you have deleted the image.

I hope I have cleared many of the problems.

Best regards,

Robert

Back to the original question: "Panther Media Upload / Contributor Back End" - Any updates, please?

Panthermedia is not terribly bad regarding sales, yet it's not worth the time the actual upload process required. So the new back end is crucial for us photographers to decide whether PM is a nice addition or forget about it

Oh why so hostile and impatient? They announced the new system June 16th 2009 and in only 18 days it will be a full year of waiting for the promises. If you write to support, expect two to three weeks wait for an answer, sometimes not answering the question you asked. Confusing navigation with far too many options that don't lead to anything useful. No views, no sales... aren't we supposed to be happy about this? 

[sarcastic mode off]

For at least a year, I had higher hopes and the site looked like it had potential. Now they have fallen into the rest of the pack with unfulfilled promises, buggy system issues, insanely slow and inconsistent reviews.

that's the point! I usually have 2 or 3 sales a month at panthermedia - some at decent prices - with only about 50 images online due to their terrible upload method

while on other sites (cutcaster / yaymicro / mostphotos / featurepics) I usually have 0 (zero) sales a month with thousands of pictures online

so there is hope - if they ever decide to take some action instead of waiting indefinitely

although it may well happen that sales disappear once they simplify their upload method and we upload our entire portfolios

Good high commissions when there are sales, or at least there used to be. Different market, they seem motivated to keep adjusting to meet the demands of buyers, growth, and increasing their position. It's very hopeful and may still grow. Hope and promises won't pay the rent.

Just not a good match for me or my material. That and the minor aggravations sent me away. I think most people with a more professional Micro attitude and better materials will do better and find Panther brings in returns and will eventually be a good consistent performer with fair returns. That is if they ever come through with their year old promises.

There are two sides to this, some very positive, some incomprehensible.

I check the website, and if you try to register as photographer, there is 4 plan? and you need to pay 0.35cents EURO? can it be deducted from sale? and which plan a photographer should choose?

i haven't logged in to my panther media account for a very loooong time. i got 13 pics accepted about 2 years ago but their upload procedure annoyed me.

now, surprisingly i've got euro 11.97 on my account which is quite ok with only 13 pics so i considered uploading again as i'd have approx. 800 pics ready.

unfortunately panther media's upload is still way too complicated. i can't spend 2-3 minutes on every single picture, don't they understand that? why would i want to waste 3 or 4 full days in order to make 5-10 euros a month

very sad but i'll login and check again in a few month. maybe the panthers will wake up one day...

I hear they are getting veee...e..r..rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyy close to getting the new upload back end going.  I have heard that before, but this time is seems like it is really going to happen. 

your message may also contain hidden messages prefiguring a future in which one or two companies will own all microstock  
hope it's not true