As a regular Fotolia submitter I noticed that - all of a sudden - there must be something wrong with me. Since early september, most of my images got rejected because of technical problems. The weird thing is, they were accepted everywhere else. So nice of them to tell me there are Technical Problems. I can sort out myself which of these apply to my images. To make it less boring, a few were rejected because of quality issues. Only once a whole batch got accepted, which I knew when this reviewer is on duty again so I can submit my images then.

These are the familiair technical problems:
Blurry or out of focus image
 Voluntary blurs need to bring added value to the subject/theme. Your photograph must be focused on the subject. When focusing on a small area, try a higher depth of field to avoid blurring.

Over/Under exposure

Cropping
 The subject matter or background has been cropped too tightly. -> I understand this one, but what if the whole subject was in the image?

Over or under saturated colors -> possible, but DT and IS liked the image enough to accept it

Inadequate contrast -> not according to 123, DT and IS

Noise or Pixelation 
 Please verify your images at 100% zoom to review pixel quality. -> I did, and so did all the other agencies before they accepted them.

Interpolation problem
 Images must be in their original definition. Enlarging a picture in software is strictly forbidden. -? C'mon, only beginners make this mistake

Effects Problem
 Use special effects with caution (buyers generally prefer to add their own effects). -> no special effects used!

Size Problem
 Images must have a minimum definition of 4 MP, and a maximum definition of 50 MP-> My 18 megapix camera shoots images somewhere in the middle, so that's not the problem.

I guess it is just a random pick of images at Fotolia. Some images or subjects they like and whenever you submit that images form 15 different angles it will be accepted while other subjets or topics are just a standard rejection. This week, the images that are already selling elsewhere were rejected and a couple of images that were the poorer ones according to my standards got accepted....

Anyone else have the same experience lately?

It's their defacto rejection. It's not that there is any technical problem it's that they don't want your pics.  That's all I get now is 90 percent technical rejections. It's laughable.

YOu??  Wow, thats hard to believe with your work.

I have just got one few minutes ago.
Two enough similar images, same light, same focus, same post-processing, same quality, etc.
One accepted, other refused for the same reasons (not reasons) as for you.

I think that in Fotolia the reviewers have a special (maybe pink - why not?) big button tagged "random".
They, themselves, don't know the effect of this button as every time they push it it generates a different message (accepted or refused image for any random reason)�

total non-sense, please pick one of the following 47 reasons

yep im ready to dump Fotolia. Getting 100% rejection now. Accepted elsewhere. Load of rubbish

     Every  time   i  get  a  reject  -  I  get  a  sale  within  a  few  days.

oh really? that is just gobsmacking

They don't now which one has the real sale potential and usually take the wrong ones and reject the really good ones.

Plus their rejection reasons are meaningless.

Fotolia is a really well known brand in microstock industry but they are shooting themselves in the foot with this inconsistent reviewing policy.

I have had exactly the same experience during this last week - have got a load of images rejected due to "technical problems" when they are all being accepted by other agencies such as SS, iS, 123RF, DS, etc etc and have started selling.

Has anybody tried resubmitting the images with a Note to the Moderator/Reviewer saying that they are being accepted by other agencies and are starting to sell?

Quote from: chrisdorney on November 06, 2013, 06:27

I have had exactly the same experience during this last week - have got a load of images rejected due to "technical problems" when they are all being accepted by other agencies such as SS, iS, 123RF, DS, etc etc and have started selling.

Has anybody tried resubmitting the images with a Note to the Moderator/Reviewer saying that they are being accepted by other agencies and are starting to sell?

I have added a note to some of my most popular images, and they wouldnt budge an inch. they dont care about sales, only about what their library looks like.

I've even contacted FATOLIA about their rejections and their response was "inspections are a different company, we don't control them, but keep uploading".  I thought that said it all because the only way to speak to an admin is to put a not to the loons doing the inspections. Basically they create a filter between the artist and the gatekeeper. Now, just to piss them off I reup everything over and over and over and over.  I just got a few more accepted that were repeatedly rejected over the last year.

I uploaded three images this afternoon (which they previously rejected last week due to "technical problems") and they have been approved.

I'm of course delighted at this - but also extremely confuzzled.