Author Topic: Any action? Anyone? (Read 24619 times)

stockastic · « **on:** December 29, 2011, 12:08 »

I've had 120 images at CC for over a year and have made 20 cents. Now I know this is a small number of images, but they do sell elsewhere and some of them sell frequently. I can only conclude I'm totally out of synch with what CC sells. Or I did something wrong. Or it's a curse someone laid on me.

Obviously I'll never get a payout in my lifetime and should just close the account. But is anyone selling anything there (besides Warren) ?

luissantos84 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 29, 2011, 12:10 »

they are ALIVE (sarcastic)

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2011, 12:15 »

Quote from: stockastic on December 29, 2011, 12:08

I've had 120 images at CC for over a year and have made 20 cents. Now I know this is a small number of images, but they do sell elsewhere and some of them sell frequently. I can only conclude I'm totally out of synch with what CC sells. Or I did something wrong. Or it's a curse someone laid on me.

Obviously I'll never get a payout in my lifetime and should just close the account. But is anyone selling anything there (besides Warren) ?

My last sale was in June, Stock, and it wasn't motocross.

CD123 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 29, 2011, 17:42 »

Had about 500 images port by mid year and are now just below 1000. Made $7.84 in selling 4 images for 2011. In my books they are therefore 4x better than Zoonar

luissantos84 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 29, 2011, 18:05 »

Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 17:42

Had about 500 images port by mid year and are now just below 1000. Made $7.84 in selling 4 images for 2011. In my books they are therefore 4x better than Zoonar

I am finishing uploading my portfolio to Zoonar

CD123 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 29, 2011, 18:08 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on December 29, 2011, 18:05

Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 17:42
Had about 500 images port by mid year and are now just below 1000. Made $7.84 in selling 4 images for 2011. In my books they are therefore 4x better than Zoonar

I am finishing uploading my portfolio to Zoonar

I stopped uploading mid year. Put in a lot of effort into the site. Have 500 images now for a year there - still no sales.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 29, 2011, 18:24 »

Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 18:08

Quote from: luissantos84 on December 29, 2011, 18:05
Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 17:42
Had about 500 images port by mid year and are now just below 1000. Made $7.84 in selling 4 images for 2011. In my books they are therefore 4x better than Zoonar

I am finishing uploading my portfolio to Zoonar
I stopped uploading mid year. Put in a lot of effort into the site. Have 500 images now for a year there - still no sales.

I don´t see where is the much effort.. FTP and like 5 clicks to place 100 pictures into partners.. that said I can FTP 25GB in a day

stockastic · « **Reply #7 on:** December 29, 2011, 18:28 »

It was a disappointing year for those of us who hoped to see new sites gain traction. So far that has not happened and for small players like myself, new sites haven't even repayed the time spent applying and submitting.

IS has died (for independents) and I have nothing to replace it. The only possible exception is PhotoDune, which made its appearance with miserably low prices and commissions.

I hate to give up on sites like CC, and I wish them success, but I don't want my photos sitting idly on hard drives at companies that may simply go away. Hoping for some positive developments in 2012.

CD123 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 29, 2011, 18:48 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on December 29, 2011, 18:24

Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 18:08
Quote from: luissantos84 on December 29, 2011, 18:05
Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 17:42
Had about 500 images port by mid year and are now just below 1000. Made $7.84 in selling 4 images for 2011. In my books they are therefore 4x better than Zoonar

I am finishing uploading my portfolio to Zoonar
I stopped uploading mid year. Put in a lot of effort into the site. Have 500 images now for a year there - still no sales.

I don´t see where is the much effort.. FTP and like 5 clicks to place 100 pictures into partners.. that said I can FTP 25GB in a day

Most sites are like that, but only if you do not care about all the marketing opportunities every site offers you. Like Canstock has 3 (you can just upload, or you can upload and index, or you can upload, index and create galleries). They also have lightboxes of which I created 8 and updated them as I uploaded. Bit more trouble than just dropping your images into the FTP client

CD123 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 29, 2011, 19:02 »

Quote from: stockastic on December 29, 2011, 18:28

It was a disappointing year for those of us who hoped to see new sites gain traction. So far that has not happened and for small players like myself, new sites haven't even repayed the time spent applying and submitting.

IS has died (for independents) and I have nothing to replace it. The only possible exception is PhotoDune, which made its appearance with miserably low prices and commissions.

I hate to give up on sites like CC, and I wish them success, but I don't want my photos sitting idly on hard drives at companies that may simply go away. Hoping for some positive developments in 2012.

Not a big player either, so a bit of feedback of some sites that worked for me.

If you are not a contributor yet, I can recommend 123RF (sold 43 images for $38 now in December). They also climbed very rapidly on the tier list the last quarter of the year, indicating that they are the site to watch in 2012:
http://www.123rf.com/#cd123
Another hidden jewel for me is Isignstock. Do not expect much in the sense of sales info (as there are none), but they have a very easy FTP upload process and then, a very nice advantage, they pay in British Pounds. I had a nice payout from them this year:
http://www.isignstock.com?urefid=IMSUSER:A47E73D7-19B9-EAA4-1054CF408687C22D

Canstock was my second best, (guess you are already contributor, but here is my referral link in any case):
http://www.canstockphoto.com?r=77532

Hope 2012 will lighten up for you stockastic

velocicarpo · « **Reply #10 on:** December 29, 2011, 19:16 »

Sadly, not much movement there...zero sales the last two month. I continue to support them for now but have them on my drop out list....

stockastic · « **Reply #11 on:** December 29, 2011, 19:16 »

Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 19:02

Hope 2012 will lighten up for you stockastic

December was the best month I've ever had (in my tiny world). Even made my first Alamy sale. So overall, I've been slightly encouraged. But I'd like to get another productive site going, and so far haven't had any luck.

I tried 123RF once a long time ago, and sold nothing, so I closed the account. Maybe I should try again. I looked at ISignStock and couldn't really get what it was about, so I lost interest. Images for signs?.

Currently starting to submit at PhotoDune but having second thoughts because of the low prices.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #12 on:** December 29, 2011, 19:48 »

Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 18:48

Quote from: luissantos84 on December 29, 2011, 18:24
Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 18:08
Quote from: luissantos84 on December 29, 2011, 18:05
Quote from: CD123 on December 29, 2011, 17:42
Had about 500 images port by mid year and are now just below 1000. Made $7.84 in selling 4 images for 2011. In my books they are therefore 4x better than Zoonar

I am finishing uploading my portfolio to Zoonar
I stopped uploading mid year. Put in a lot of effort into the site. Have 500 images now for a year there - still no sales.

I don´t see where is the much effort.. FTP and like 5 clicks to place 100 pictures into partners.. that said I can FTP 25GB in a day
Most sites are like that, but only if you do not care about all the marketing opportunities every site offers you. Like Canstock has 3 (you can just upload, or you can upload and index, or you can upload, index and create galleries). They also have lightboxes of which I created 8 and updated them as I uploaded. Bit more trouble than just dropping your images into the FTP client

don´t think that lightboxes at canstockphoto will make you sell like crazy, per example Yuri has only 3 lightboxes, it is a lot more about the pictures, also canstockphoto have the similar below the picture, it is more than enough

johngriffin · « **Reply #13 on:** December 29, 2011, 23:35 »

Lots of people are making sales at our site and Cutcaster is nowhere near going under. Your efforts will pay off and not supporting sites like ours only empowers the larger agencies who are squeezing you and will do so more in the future. We have big plans for 2012 and are planning a big expansion internationally as you can see by the efforts we made to translate our site and get it ready for new buyers. In addition, we have been making updates to the site frequently based on your requests and listen to our customers and contributors. And we have increased our payout split in the contributors favor.

I appreciate all your support and promise you that we are hard at work making sure we have more sales in 2012 so we can become a viable alternative to the other sites that aren't meeting your expectations.

CD123 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 30, 2011, 07:53 »

Quote from: johngriffin on December 29, 2011, 23:35

Lots of people are making sales at our site and Cutcaster is nowhere near going under. Your efforts will pay off and not supporting sites like ours only empowers the larger agencies who are squeezing you and will do so more in the future. We have big plans for 2012 and are planning a big expansion internationally as you can see by the efforts we made to translate our site and get it ready for new buyers. In addition, we have been making updates to the site frequently based on your requests and listen to our customers and contributors. And we have increased our payout split in the contributors favor.

I appreciate all your support and promise you that we are hard at work making sure we have more sales in 2012 so we can become a viable alternative to the other sites that aren't meeting your expectations.

Thank you for the update John. As you know I have supported your site with feedback and assistance wherever I could with your new developments. Unfortunately, in the end, money talks. I have hoped to start seeing some better return by last quarter this year, but it was not to be. I am sure there are other contributors doing much better than me, but in the end, contributors portfolios work on certain sites and on others not. So at this stage it is difficult for me to decide if my portfolio is a mismatch with your site, or is the general income potential of the site not viable.
Glad to hear about your plans, not that it would make any difference in the bigger scale of your site's development, but your feedback has bought you another 6 months upload efforts from my side. Hope 2012 will turn out to be a huge growth year for us all.

stockastic · « **Reply #15 on:** December 30, 2011, 11:04 »

Yes I can certainly appreciate that it takes years to get something like this off the ground.

Carl · « **Reply #16 on:** December 30, 2011, 18:03 »

I have 547 files in my CC portfolio, with one sale and a total of 46 cents. Hallelujah! Mom can finally afford that operation! The last file was uploaded at the end of May of this year (2011). I stopped uploading because I thought some of the rejections were irrational, and I saw no activity. Given what John has said about his plans, I'm thinking maybe I'll push my portfolio up to 1000 with some of my recent material and see what happens, assuming the inspectors have matured a bit.

stockastic · « **Reply #17 on:** December 30, 2011, 18:12 »

Quote from: csproductions on December 30, 2011, 18:03

I have 547 files in my CC portfolio, with one sale and a total of 46 cents.

We should start a club. If we pool our earnings, how long until we can buy one beer and a pack of straws? But seriously. As long as CC has plans for the future and the energy to carry them out, I'll leave my stuff there. Might even add to it.

I should have acknowledged at the start that the new CC web site looks very good.

I raise my (our) glass to 2012!

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #18 on:** December 30, 2011, 18:20 »

We have about the same count of images online. I have received well over $500 in payouts, mostly vintage motocross images.
I think we could have done better but I stopped promoting my stuff at CC and started a different tactic ... no middle man.

There are possibilities with CC. You just have to find a niche and work it.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #19 on:** January 09, 2012, 07:03 »

I had a sale a few weeks ago. I've had files on cc since before they restructured the pricing both times. So my files are mostly priced at different levels, going up to quite high for the non-microstock images. The sale I got was was downloaded at medium size and for this particular file the price is $10.50, so my share should be $4.20, however I received $2.76.

I emailed support and the response I got was that the image was sold for 6 credits and therefore I get $2.76. However if I look at the image it is still priced at $10.50 for medium size which is the price I chose to sell it on cc. I sincerely hope that the images I have on cc are still being sold at the price I set them, especially as I have files there which I priced between $50 to $100+ at full size.

I'd appreciate a reply from cc either here, pm or via email. Thanks.

helix7 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 09, 2012, 10:30 »

I had one sale in December and before that, no activity since July. I'm uploading some new stuff this week, but beyond that I don't intend to put much effort into CC. I submit to 21 different sites and they are the bottom of the list in earnings.

THP Creative · « **Reply #21 on:** January 11, 2012, 22:34 »

As a brand new Cutcaster member, I hope the comments John made above about 'big things for 2012' are accurate. I'm not expecting much from them, but hopefully more than 46cents!

WaterView · « **Reply #23 on:** January 12, 2012, 15:38 »

With a small portfolio I've had some sales and some referral income.
John,
Thanks for adding the banners. Looks good.
Maybe you should email the contributors that banners are now available or add a note at login or New in red next to Referral Banners link on Cutcaster site so more contributors know about it.

borg · « **Reply #24 on:** January 13, 2012, 15:32 »

Look what promotion can make!!!

We can always promote sites like Cutcaster as a better deal for us contributors...
Here are results:

Cutcaster, Live long and prosper!

Thanks John!

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Author Topic: Any action? Anyone? (Read 24619 times)

stockastic

luissantos84

WarrenPrice

CD123

luissantos84

CD123

luissantos84

stockastic

CD123

CD123

velocicarpo

stockastic

luissantos84

johngriffin

CD123

stockastic

Carl

stockastic

WarrenPrice

Microstock Posts

helix7

THP Creative

johngriffin

WaterView

borg

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