Author Topic: Regarding the CanStockPhoto payout schedule. (Read 5884 times)

grace · « **on:** April 27, 2014, 21:34 »

Hi, everyone.I just want to double confirm that Canstockphoto is pay 50% royalty to the contributor? Because I saw a sale few days ago, it sold in "Large" size and the price is USD 5, but for my earning just USD 1, is it correct?

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #1 on:** April 27, 2014, 22:58 »

http://www.canstockphoto.com/about.php

I may be imagining it, but I think CanStock might have increased the cash prices (versus credit prices) for images.

What I see now is that a large is $7 cash and 4 credits. I tried to look at the wayback machine to see old versions of the site but got a message saying that the site couldn't be crawled because of its robots.txt file...

So I don't know that CanStock promises 50% (a long time ago I think it did). For Fotosearch sales I think it's 20%. For sales on the site, you would get $1 for a large sale that was credit based and $2 if it was paid with cash (you'll see Regular and Instant in your sales list.

If the price for a large sold for cash is now $7 - and I would have sworn it was $5 until recently - then we get 28% of the sale versus with credits (4 could cost from $2.40 to $1.76, giving us from 41.6% to 56.8%). Even if you account for PayPal fees on a cash purchase (I pay 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction on sales from my own site), that would be $1.083. Our percentage of the net ($5.917) is 33.8%

So CanStock does much better out of a cash sale any way you look at it.

Does anyone have any old price data to see if the cash prices went up without us getting an increased royalty?

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #2 on:** April 27, 2014, 23:01 »

I found a blog post from Michael Jay Zwahlen with a screen shot of old prices - the cash prices did increase!

http://www.michaeljayfoto.com/buyer-views/how-much-does-a-microstock-image-really-cost/

I guess I'll go and post in the CanStock forums asking when we get a raise in our royalties on instant sales

http://www.canstockphoto.com/forum_read.php?id=6281

dirkr · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2014, 02:37 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on April 27, 2014, 22:58

http://www.canstockphoto.com/about.php

I may be imagining it, but I think CanStock might have increased the cash prices (versus credit prices) for images.

What I see now is that a large is $7 cash and 4 credits. I tried to look at the wayback machine to see old versions of the site but got a message saying that the site couldn't be crawled because of its robots.txt file...

So I don't know that CanStock promises 50% (a long time ago I think it did). For Fotosearch sales I think it's 20%. For sales on the site, you would get $1 for a large sale that was credit based and $2 if it was paid with cash (you'll see Regular and Instant in your sales list.

If the price for a large sold for cash is now $7 - and I would have sworn it was $5 until recently - then we get 28% of the sale versus with credits (4 could cost from $2.40 to $1.76, giving us from 41.6% to 56.8%). Even if you account for PayPal fees on a cash purchase (I pay 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction on sales from my own site), that would be $1.083. Our percentage of the net ($5.917) is 33.8%

So CanStock does much better out of a cash sale any way you look at it.

Does anyone have any old price data to see if the cash prices went up without us getting an increased royalty?

Following that link in your post I still see $5 for a large size.
Changed back? Or some testing going on?

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2014, 09:33 »

I'm in the US (if that makes a difference in what I see) - here's a screen capture of the relevant bits of the "about" page and one of my images, both referencing $7 for a large size. I have no idea why it might be different for others

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2014, 14:58 »

Duncan replied to the thread to say that the pricing is experimental and not all users see it.

What he didn't say (but I have asked) is what will the contributor receive if a purchase is made at the higher price, and if it becomes permanent, will the contributor see a share of the increase.

dirkr · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2014, 16:33 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on April 28, 2014, 14:58

Duncan replied to the thread to say that the pricing is experimental and not all users see it.

What he didn't say (but I have asked) is what will the contributor receive if a purchase is made at the higher price, and if it becomes permanent, will the contributor see a share of the increase.

That explains why I still see the old prices (in Germany).

Let's see when (if) we get an answer to the more important question...
If they raise our share proportionally, such a move would be good.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #7 on:** April 28, 2014, 18:37 »

Duncan's reply on the CanStock thread was that we receive our standard payouts during test pricing - not lower if the test is cheaper, nor higher if it's more expensive. He had no specific timeframe for the duration of the test. He also said that they normally reassess contributor payouts if they change pricing.

So no promises and no deadlines - I guess we just need to watch this carefully. Once upon a time I'd never have dreamed that an agency would increase its prices while leaving our royalty amount unchanged, but in the current climate it seems important to keep a very close eye on what happens so we can fuss - or vote with our feet - when necessary.