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Author Topic: Contributor ranking changing  (Read 59458 times)

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« Reply #50 on: November 27, 2008, 14:07 »
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I'm just amazed at Chad's "It's too easy to become successful, so we're making it harder" post on the yahoo group.

Could you please show us the link to this statement.

Thanks.
He made it in the micropayment yahoo group


« Reply #51 on: November 27, 2008, 14:15 »
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It's too easy to behave like a real partner, so let's behave like a real a..hole...  ::)

Is that a business philosophy? Did they learn anything from the uproar after the introduction of subs?

Just one more reason not to rely on them, what is valid now may not be anymore tomorrow...

« Reply #52 on: November 27, 2008, 15:16 »
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I haven't been able to follow the forum this week but today I can stop by and the first thing I see is this business with Fotolia.

This is crap. What are we going to do about it?  Are they not in breech of contract or do they have one of those convient clauses that says they can do that whenever they feel like?  What is the governing country, or what country is the parent company in?  United we stand.  We have to do something before they do something even more stupid.

We "let" them give away our photos as subs.  If we let them do this, what will they do next? 

« Reply #53 on: November 27, 2008, 15:17 »
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By something stupid I mean like take away our referral earnings.

Oh wait, they already did that without announcing it to us.

AVAVA

« Reply #54 on: November 27, 2008, 16:09 »
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Hi Pixart,

 Go run around the block or take some meds or a stiff drink for the time being. I was there last night and it really pissed me off as well. Deep breathing helps. >:( This is crap and come monday or maybe sooner I will be making more comments. Today I eat and watch football in America. It is thanksgiving. You have every right to be upset I just know you have bigger things to deal with right now in your life.
 " don't let the *insult removed* get you down ".

Peace,
Jonathan

« Reply #55 on: November 27, 2008, 16:21 »
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New change is an improvement, still far from being edible.  Maybe if they increased commissions at each level - THAT would make it better. 

I feel like in the subs creation, when the "big" improvement was raising the subs commission, instead of letting us opt out.

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #56 on: November 27, 2008, 16:22 »
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Hehe... thanks Avava.... and I'm also giggling because I'm sure I didn't write crap... it wasn't that nice and it had the word bull in it.

AVAVA

« Reply #57 on: November 27, 2008, 16:26 »
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My Bad Pixart,

 That was my choice of words. I must be careful not to put crap in other peoples mouths ;D I apologize you are far more eloquent than I. Have a great day.

Best,
AVAVA

« Reply #58 on: November 27, 2008, 19:49 »
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Around the same time as Fotolia changes the ranking requirements, Alamy decreases commission by 5%.

Honestly, I think a drop in commission by 5 percentile points is  more serious and impactful issue than a change in ranking requirements.  However, the difference in the way both agencies handled implementing the change is so different.  Alamy chose to handle it in a professional and forthright manner.  Fotolia chose the opposite. 

To me the big issue is not the change in rankings per se, it is the indication of the disregard in which Fotolia holds its contributors, and its willingness to change its arrangement with contributors arbitrarily and at its sole convenience.  I honestly ask myself if this is an agency I can have a long-term relationship with? If we are basically being punished for contributing to Fotolia's success, do we wish to continue contributing to Fotolia's ongoing success?

Speaking for myself personally, I have suspended submissions to Fotolia.  I will decide on more drastic action later.

« Reply #59 on: November 27, 2008, 20:47 »
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LOL, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad....  I'm pretty sure I used the BS words above and the forum automatically switched it to crap.  So, MY bad!  Not to mention my 7 year old said the f word today.  I gave him his get out of "tobasco on the tongue" free this time card so hopefully he won't say that again until he's 18.

My Bad Pixart,

 That was my choice of words. I must be careful not to put crap in other peoples mouths ;D I apologize you are far more eloquent than I. Have a great day.

Best,
AVAVA

AVAVA

« Reply #60 on: November 27, 2008, 22:37 »
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Hey Pixart,

 Yu did much better than my wife and I. My second son was just barely able to talk and he was riding in his car seat and out of know where he said " F'ing Day ". He has since become very polite but when my wife heard it she just about crashed the car. It has become a bit of a family joke over the years.

Peace,
AVAVA

« Reply #61 on: November 27, 2008, 23:35 »
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Boy what a bummer.. Just as I was regaining confidence with Fotolia.. Well confidence level is dropped drastically again.. Bummer.. Not sure about uploading anymore we'll see..

« Reply #62 on: November 28, 2008, 09:58 »
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Can someone please post the old rankings, so that I can compare the two.

« Reply #63 on: November 28, 2008, 10:04 »
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Before
 0 - 100    White
100 - 1000    Bronze
1,000-5,000    Silver
5,000-10,000    Gold
10,000 - 50,000    Emerald
50,000-100,000      Saphire
100,000 - 500,000    Rubis
500,000 + Diamond
After
Less than 100                      White
Between 100 and 1000       Bronze
Between 1000 and 10000       Silver
Between 10000 and 25000       Gold
Between 25000 and 100000       Emerald
Between 100000 and 250000       Sapphire
Between 250000 and 1000000       Rubis
Above 1000000       Diamond

Apparently the bottom 3 tiers were upped before too but fotolia set them back down.

« Reply #64 on: November 28, 2008, 10:47 »
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This development solidifies in my mind the need to remain completely nimble. Is there really a downside to keeping the ranking at its old levels? Does Fotolia work on an image exclusive basis or does it follow the iStock, we own your soul method?

Peter



AVAVA

« Reply #65 on: November 28, 2008, 12:59 »
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Good Morning,

 Yes the bottom three tiers were changed back. These tiers didn't help to up your sales point or let you double it. They didn't give you anything back. I am a silver and I don't get anything more than a bronze. Nope the change was made to stop giving the people that helped build this company a chance to make more money that they were promised and to increase profits through tougher competition by keeping their pricing down.
 The biggest single reason I thought Fotolia was the best bet out there is all but been removed. I still have to put my images up online and they are one of the only reasonable choices so I will continue to upload but this a big sign on the door for me.   
 To offer a contract with curtain opportunities and then pull those out of reach without even writing a proper proposal to their photographers to explain before doing so makes the future just a bit clearer for me. How can I be sure they won't change the agreement next week to something even worse. I wish I had somethiing positive to say but this is just a shame.

AVAVA
 

« Reply #66 on: November 28, 2008, 19:40 »
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I am a silver and I don't get anything more than a bronze.

Not really.  You get higher commission and the possiblity to set higher EL prices.

Regards,
Adelaide

AVAVA

« Reply #67 on: November 28, 2008, 19:51 »
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Madelaide,

 You are absolutely correct I was not aware until you brought it to my attention. Thank you for pointing that out. I will look further into the extras. I guess I should have said that our image price per credits doesn't change. That is the part that makes me feel this is based on drawing more exclusives. I will go right now and read the contract in detail. Some of these site I find it hard to locate the information but I will go hunting.

Thanks for the help,
AVAVA

« Reply #68 on: November 29, 2008, 01:17 »
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Have you noticed this tidbit "four files sold from subscription are equivalent to one old file from classical system." I'm pretty sure the "classical" (love that euphemism) system gave you one sale point for each sub DL. So for those of you who get lots of subs. Are you noticing your ticker going up even slower. Pretty easy to tell, just add sub plus paids should equal total files in the sold stats.

Peter



« Reply #69 on: November 29, 2008, 01:39 »
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Another point, sorry if has been mentioned, is they have basically lowered commissions paid on regular sales. It used to be Gold was achieved at 5,000 now it's 10,000 so that is 5,000 sales at 35% instead of 37% by reaching gold earlier. I am averaging a bit over a buck for standard downloads. So that means a loss of $100 while waiting to reach Gold, $300 loss for waiting to reach Emerald from Gold and so on and so on. Never mind the 50,000 to get to where you can elevate prices. This loss is also seen on subs, since they go up incrementally a penny. This may have something to do with exclusives but really its just a good old fashioned lowering of payment percentages. Alamy just did, Corbis will do it on next contract flip, blah, blah, blah. Another squeeze of the tender areas.


Peter



AVAVA

« Reply #70 on: November 29, 2008, 02:00 »
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Hi Zues,

 I beleive before the change they considered three subs equal to a classic sale so there has been a change there as well. Now you need 25% more subs to equal a " classic sale ".

AVAVA

« Reply #71 on: November 29, 2008, 02:25 »
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I beleive before the change they considered three subs equal to a classic sale so there has been a change there as well. Now you need 25% more subs to equal a " classic sale ".

Nope, it's always been 4 subs = 1 classic.

« Reply #72 on: November 29, 2008, 04:10 »
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I beleive before the change they considered three subs equal to a classic sale so there has been a change there as well. Now you need 25% more subs to equal a " classic sale ".

Nope, it's always been 4 subs = 1 classic.


except of course when it was subs don't count towards ranking at all
« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 04:12 by leaf »

« Reply #73 on: November 29, 2008, 04:50 »
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Another point, sorry if has been mentioned, is they have basically lowered commissions paid on regular sales. It used to be Gold was achieved at 5,000 now it's 10,000 so that is 5,000 sales at 35% instead of 37% by reaching gold earlier. I am averaging a bit over a buck for standard downloads. So that means a loss of $100 while waiting to reach Gold, $300 loss for waiting to reach Emerald from Gold and so on and so on. Never mind the 50,000 to get to where you can elevate prices. This loss is also seen on subs, since they go up incrementally a penny. This may have something to do with exclusives but really its just a good old fashioned lowering of payment percentages. Alamy just did, Corbis will do it on next contract flip, blah, blah, blah. Another squeeze of the tender areas.


Peter

Alamy are spending the extra money on opening a new US office and paying a sales team to increase sales.  They still give 60% to their contributors, I don't mind that at all.  What are FT going to do with the money they are taking from us?  If they spent it on marketing and increasing sales, that would be OK but it looks like they are just pocketing it.  I am not going to put up with that.  There are enough sites paying me at least 50% commission or making more than FT and I will carry on uploading to them.  FT can go on hold until I see what they are doing with the extra money they have taken from us.

« Reply #74 on: November 29, 2008, 10:22 »
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Hi Zues,

 I beleive before the change they considered three subs equal to a classic sale so there has been a change there as well. Now you need 25% more subs to equal a " classic sale ".

AVAVA

Sorry I'm confused here, what is a classic sale and what is its relevance? Is that what is used to give a ranking?

Peter


 

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