Microstock Group - A meeting place for microstock photographers

Hi,

The Reviewers would normally not override the price selected by you, unless they have some specific knowledge that a photo could move better at a different price. Can you tell me what the original price you set was and what the set price was?

Aside from a deliberate price change, there is also the possibility that you or the Reviewers applied the price accidentally with the new batch interface: it is definitely easy to select some files and leave some options checkmarked unintentionally, everyone can do this from time to time.

For the Art Manager, it is getting an upgrade like the Submissions page within the coming weeks: batch pricing options, along with live statistics to help you make choices about price and keyword changes. For now if it is giving you grief, I would simply avoid using it (Doctors favorite advice).
 

Ok we would definitely not have priced down - the idea is to get away from Microstock pricing and not closer.    As my previous guess was, I think it must have been either our team or you accidentally leaving a checkbox on when not intended.  If you shoot a PM with the file ID's I could price them up in the meantime.

Ok thanks to Zymm I will have a big for x-mas 

damnit Well I had a $ 20 sale then so that's good, just hit my first payout on Zym
Thanks for the update Keith

Should be fixed now. 

ha ha 

I think I got the first sale there today, but I'm not sure since the sales manager web page is under construction.

congratulation to your first sale at zym.
I like them...  especially for the easy upload process.
and for me the sales are better then at bigstock.

the only annoying thing is that I had some problems with the "Methode A - Batch Photo Upload" during the last days....

Good stuff guys..  just to let you know we've turned off uploading till Dec. 15 (FTP and the web methods) for a couple reasons:

- Like you pointed out, it's not perfectly smooth with either FTP or the Flash uploader. We need to do some stress testing to find the weak links in the chain and fix 'em.. unfortunately it's become impractical to have 100% realistic test environment with that area of things (anyone who licenses expensive software knows this pain), so the only answer is to take the live uploading offline for a bit so we can rough it up and make it spill the beans as to why it's giving people grief sometimes.     

- Although our Reviewers have been doing an amazing job thus far, and we have been getting better at training and getting additional Reviewers in when needed, there has been a backlog in particular in the Graphics dept.  We need to focus on neglected files that have been waiting too long and get this spare tire around the queue's waist into shape.         

..  Dec. 15 is an absolute latest date for this, i'm sure we will accomplish our goals sooner.   Thanks for your patience as we take this needed breather to give it a post-launch tuneup.

hey nata_rass,

may be its a question of pricing your images. may I ask which price do you select on zym for your images?

I usualy select the lowest possible price (3$) in order to compete with other images... but I am not sure whether this is the right strategy.

gunnar

It is unfortunate that you have no sales, may ask I,

- have you contacted us in this one year period to ask what can be done to improve visibility of your existing portfolio
- have you linked to Zymmetrical to help bring new buyers
- have you asked us or members who do have sales what themes are indeed selling
- have you uploaded fresh content in small batches to help with visibility
- have you had a disproportionate number of rejected photos, which can negatively affect your ranking

Now I am aware there is pretty popular feeling that people do not want to 'find out what this or that new agency wants', because they haven't earned you money yet.  I get the feeling some people would be more inclined to play the gambling machines in Vegas than to take methodical, coordinated look at how to build an earnings base in the 'midstock' arena.  Presenting a checklist of actions to take is probably the last thing you want to see.

The carpet-bomb upload strategy that seems to apply with subscription agencies, will not work as well in midstock. If a buyer is going to shell out $60 for a photo, to get the photo they want directly on target, you need laser-guided intelligence, and that comes from having your team on the ground guiding that sale in.  If you consider that there are many members, with a similar portfolio size as you, that are making regular sales in the price range of $10 - $70, then the question needs to be asked, what is different about their portfolios than yours.

I am not aware of any major DSLR with an agency-specific mode dial setting- if you are reading this forum, you are a probably already a great photographer, you have the ability to technically and conceptually shoot most anything. From everything I know, the vast, vast majority of Microstockers have to actually perform a great deal of hustling to get their monthly payouts, and not very many are ready to cash out for that summer home in the south of France or a new boat.  If you are ready to work with us to increase sales, we are always here.

zymmetrical, WOW 
I will contact support soon. Thank you very much!

If you could outline the major preferences of Zymm-buyers in this topic, it would be very usefull for all of us. Probably, the content I submit is not really needed