MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Adobe Stock => Topic started by: gostwyck on September 26, 2011, 14:21
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In an effort to try and establish whether FT's threatening email is aimed at contributors to either Thinkstock or to Photodune ... or alternatively is totally random ... please vote for which ever of the above statements apply most accurately to you.
Honest answers from contributors to Fotolia only please. Thanks.
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you need to add at least 1 more, no email and on PD and TS
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you need to add at least 1 more, no email and on PD and TS
Whoops __ good point!
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Ignore this, something got edited as I was replying!
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Think one's ranking at FT might well be another factor not taken into consideration here. Do not think they will go to the trouble to threaten contributors with small ports or low sales.
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Ignore this, something got edited as I was replying!
"When you can take the pebble from my hand Grasshopper, it will be time for you to leave."
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I did not have photos at TS, but I understand I have now, after recent IS changes? Or not?
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I did not have photos at TS, but I understand I have now, after recent IS changes? Or not?
right, don´t know the limit day to accept the new agreement but you don´t have much to do, IS/TS or nothing
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I did not have photos at TS, but I understand I have now, after recent IS changes? Or not?
You won't have any from the hijack of independents' images at TS yet.
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Supposedly unless you deactivate or pull your portfolio on IS they get copied onto the PP sites for all indys after Sept 28. Since this is something that they are forcing, it might happen fairly quickly, or maybe it will take months like so many of their other things. Who knows they could even "accidently" push it earlier (if they want a #%%$storm on their hands).
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No email here and no images at TS or PD.
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So only one person so far got the email. I receive FT's emails for sold images only, and replies to eventual support msgs, nothing more from them.
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So only one person so far got the email.
Yep. So far all we appear to be establishing is that 90%+ of contributors did not receive the email. I wonder what the critera for selection could possibly be? There's certainly no evidence so far that it has anything to do with either TS or PD. Are there any other cut-price sites out there that FT might consider a threat to it's business?
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As someone already said, it's posted on the site anyway. How is TS a problem (at least as an IS partner) - rates better than FT white & more than SS (bottom level)
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It seems a very limited and select group were honoured with the e-mail. If you did, I would be afraid... very afraid ;)
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I'm silver at Ft. They seem to be targeting the higher earners / full timers... so far.
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I'm silver at Ft. They seem to be targeting the higher earners / full timers... so far.
What makes you think that? Historically FT have always taken care of their top earners best of all, especially the one or two at the very top.
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I'm surprised that only two respondants got the letter so far. Would be interesting to know their ranks.
Like the majority, haven't had one.
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I only have 20 images there, so I'm pratically a nobody...I didn't get any email LOL
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You can discount one of those 'received the email' selections. I'm afraid I clicked the wrong radio button, and couldn't subsequently alter the vote. I'm sorry about that.
Since we're now forced into TS, I SHOULD have clicked: NO email - on TS - NOT on PD.
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You can discount one of those 'received the email' selections. I'm afraid I clicked the wrong radio button, and couldn't subsequently alter the vote. I'm sorry about that.
Since we're now forced into TS, I SHOULD have clicked: NO email - on TS - NOT on PD.
Thanks for the honesty! I think we've probably learned all we are going to from the poll by now.
Could there be one specific small agency that few of us here contribute to and only those that do received the email? Alternatively maybe FT have only bothered to search out the portfolios of a few major players to send a warning to. Not much of a warning though without naming any particular agency. Probably intentional as it gives them carte blanche to do what they want whenever they feel like it.
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No problem! I can't allow my own embarassment to skew the results.
Didn't Chad refer to 'new' agencies in his message? To my mind that would suggest 'small'.
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Leaf got one ?
Any comments on which one you might think it is ?
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.
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Is there a web page somewhere that compares the commission rates and prices of all the major agencies?
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Is there a web page somewhere that compares the commission rates and prices of all the major agencies?
It'd be a full time job to keep such a thing up to date! OTOH we could just have a piece of software that automatically cut the commissions in the chart every 9 months and it'd be close enough :)
Seriously, I'm not aware of anything like this
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http://www.spiderpic.com/examples (http://www.spiderpic.com/examples)
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We need a page on this forum with tables we can collectively keep updated
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We need a page on this forum with tables we can collectively keep updated
that's what the wiki is for... :)
http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/ (http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/)
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Wonder if they'll target GraphicRiver contributors. It's in the same family of sites (Envato) as PhotoDune.
Kind of wonder what Yuri thinks of all this. And Collis at Envato. Anyone know if they've commented?
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Depositphotos is Fotolia target
In the Italian Fotolia forum after a heated discussion with the members, administrator said that
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Depositphotos is Fotolia target
In the Italian Fotolia forum after a heated discussion with the members, administrator said that
Interesting. Thanks for that.
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Depositphotos is Fotolia target
In the Italian Fotolia forum after a heated discussion with the members, administrator said that
Thanks for this info.
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We need a page on this forum with tables we can collectively keep updated
that's what the wiki is for... :)
[url]http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/[/url] ([url]http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/[/url])
Err.... the only info on there seems to be about an SEO company?!?
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We need a page on this forum with tables we can collectively keep updated
that's what the wiki is for... :)
[url]http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/[/url] ([url]http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/[/url])
Err.... the only info on there seems to be about an SEO company?!?
Another HackAttack it seems
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We need a page on this forum with tables we can collectively keep updated
that's what the wiki is for... :)
[url]http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/[/url] ([url]http://wiki.microstockgroup.com/[/url])
Err.... the only info on there seems to be about an SEO company?!?
Another HackAttack it seems
fixed. More like spam. I have to find a way to make it so the spam accounts can't sign up to the wiki.
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THE CHAD is on FT forum delivering his message but, as you might expect, no names of agencies are named.
THE CHAD
27/09/2011 20:38
Hello Fotolians,
It has come to our attention that some new agencies are selling the same contributor content at prices far less than most other microstock agencies. We feel that this is bad for both photographers and stock agencies. We do understand photographers are free to choose their own destiny in a free market economy, and our intention in these actions is to encourage everyone to support fair pricing for customers and commissions for contributors. Only a handful of sites and contributors have been identified thus far, and we will communicate with them before taking any action.
By sponsoring and uploading to sites that undercut prices, photographers put the whole industry in jeopardy - and we feel our duty is to take action. If the community agrees with our approach, the status quo remains. If the community wants to place down pressure on pricing, we'll adjust accordingly, as a measure to be fair and respectful to our costumers and stay competitive . Keep in mind that when rankings drop, the ability to charge more for images goes away - and that hurts everyone's bottom line, including ours .
Chad Bridwell
Director of Operations
Fotolia.com
rimglow
27/09/2011 21:47
Please advise us what sites you are talking about. How are we to avoid these sites if we don't know which ones you consider unfair?
godfer
27/09/2011 21:49
Chad, could you tell us which agencies you are referring to? It is sometimes very complicated to work out exactly how some of the sites compare against each other and I would hate for any of us to get put down to white level just because of contributing to a site where we probably aren't making any money anyway,
thanks
mandy
Jim Barber
27/09/2011 22:13
I don't remember seeing this in the contributors agreement. Does this mean that you are expecting us to work under the constraints of exclusivity without the benefits? This is a very confusing policy. What sites are you referring to? What price level do you consider unfair?
Cory Thoman
27/09/2011 23:42
Hello Mr. Pot. Meet Mr Kettle. lol
Darla Hallmark
28/09/2011 16:17
If you pay attention when submitting to sites, you will KNOW how much they pay. Set yourselves a minimum acceptable price, and stick to it.
Especially, don't give your stuff away in one place, if you are selling it in another.
rimglow
28/09/2011 22:31
If we are to be unwilling participants in a war on other sites, I would like to know who I'm at war with. Maybe they're friends of mine. I support Fotolia, but you are going to have to name names.
No names so far..............do you really expect names! Everything is nice and arbitrary at the moment.........you get downgraded and they never have to tell you why specifically and you wouldn't be able to take legal action IMHO.
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But you CAN do something though. I don't care which sites they're after, the very moment after they put me back to white I'm gone, together with my 7000 files.
I'm doing GREAT at DepositPhotos, btw. And I wouldn't give up on them.
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Deposit Photos?
Why would they be targeting Deposit Photos?
It makes no sense whatsoever, sorry.
Deposit Photos pays a higher commission and their subscription payment is higher than Fotolia's, (at least at my level, it is). How can they target Deposit Photos, an agency that pays more?
(Can we have the link in Italian please? Not that I don't believe you, but I just want to read it myself :) ).
Well, I don't know, but I'm still firmly convinced Fotolia's new rules, specially at this time, are a direct response to last month's IStock's decision to force independents to contribute to ThinkStock.
I might be wrong, of course, but it makes a lot more sense to me.
Time will tell, meanwhile good luck everyone :)
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But you CAN do something though. I don't care which sites they're after, the very moment after they put me back to white I'm gone, together with my 7000 files.
Likewise, and I think they'll be a great many others too.
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Fotolia is not talking about our commission and our part of subscription... They are pointing their finger in prices...
But, as I said before, we are on "lower price agencies" because of them and their percentages, (Fotolia's 13% and Istock's 15%-19%) that is too small part for us...
We should have 35-50% on FT and IS, then we won't search for an alternative earning...
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Fotolia is not talking about our commission and our part of subscription... They are pointing their finger in prices...
But, as I said before, we are on "lower price agencies" because of them and their percentag, (Fotolia's 13% and Istock's 15%-19%) that is too small part for us...
We should have 35-50% on FT and IS, then we won't search for an alternative earning...
Exactly - they don't care about the artist - it may well be that 50% of $1 = 50c, and 13% of $2 that they pay = 26c, as may well be the case at FT if you're being paid in $$.
Really there's nothing that FT has said or done in the last few years that has been in any way in favour of contributors. Its their own revenue that they're worried about now as always.
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But you CAN do something though. I don't care which sites they're after, the very moment after they put me back to white I'm gone, together with my 7000 files.
Likewise, and I think they'll be a great many others too.
Target the herd and you'll get lots of complaints and possibly not much action, target the individual and it's personal and a real deal breaker....
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Deposit Photos?
Why would they be targeting Deposit Photos?
It makes no sense whatsoever, sorry.
Deposit Photos pays a higher commission and their subscription payment is higher than Fotolia's, (at least at my level, it is). How can they target Deposit Photos, an agency that pays more?
(Can we have the link in Italian please? Not that I don't believe you, but I just want to read it myself :) ).
Well, I don't know, but I'm still firmly convinced Fotolia's new rules, specially at this time, are a direct response to last month's IStock's decision to force independents to contribute to ThinkStock.
I might be wrong, of course, but it makes a lot more sense to me.
Time will tell, meanwhile good luck everyone :)
http://it.fotolia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36254 (http://it.fotolia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36254)
page 5, reply 28/09/2011 13:05
admin: "Il punto è: se compro una macchina a 30mila € e poi trovo la stessa a 5mila dietro l'angolo, come ci resto da compratore? e che cosa faccio la prossima volta? e quanto guadagna il produttore di quella macchina se il prezzo finale è 5mila?
se proprio tenete a restare nel deposito almeno andate in massa a chiedergli di alzare i prezzi. Molti hanno cancellato già i loro portfolio e molti stanno chiedendo di equiparare i prezzi a quelli del mercato. Fatelo per voi se non volete farlo per le altre agenzie dove collaborate...
one day after was modified in:
Il punto è: se compro una macchina a 30mila € e poi trovo la stessa a 5mila dietro l'angolo, come ci resto da compratore? e che cosa faccio la prossima volta? e quanto guadagna il produttore di quella macchina se il prezzo finale è 5mila?
se proprio tenete a restare nel sito almeno andate in massa a chiedergli di alzare i prezzi. Molti hanno cancellato già i loro portfolio e molti stanno chiedendo di equiparare i prezzi a quelli del mercato. Fatelo per voi se non volete farlo per le altre agenzie dove collaborate...
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[http://it.fotolia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36254 ([url]http://it.fotolia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36254[/url])
page 5, reply 28/09/2011 13:05
admin: "Il punto è: se compro una macchina a 30mila € e poi trovo la stessa a 5mila dietro l'angolo, come ci resto da compratore? e che cosa faccio la prossima volta? e quanto guadagna il produttore di quella macchina se il prezzo finale è 5mila?
se proprio tenete a restare nel deposito almeno andate in massa a chiedergli di alzare i prezzi. Molti hanno cancellato già i loro portfolio e molti stanno chiedendo di equiparare i prezzi a quelli del mercato. Fatelo per voi se non volete farlo per le altre agenzie dove collaborate...
one day after was modified in:
Il punto è: se compro una macchina a 30mila € e poi trovo la stessa a 5mila dietro l'angolo, come ci resto da compratore? e che cosa faccio la prossima volta? e quanto guadagna il produttore di quella macchina se il prezzo finale è 5mila?
se proprio tenete a restare nel sito almeno andate in massa a chiedergli di alzare i prezzi. Molti hanno cancellato già i loro portfolio e molti stanno chiedendo di equiparare i prezzi a quelli del mercato. Fatelo per voi se non volete farlo per le altre agenzie dove collaborate...
Here is the gooogle translation of above:
Page 5, 09/28/2011 13:05 reply
admin: "The point is: if I buy a car for € 30 thousand and then find the same at 5 thousand around the corner, as we rest from buyer? and what do I do next time? and how much money the manufacturer of the machine if the final price is 5 thousand?
if you keep going at least to remain in the store in droves to ask him to raise prices. Many have already canceled their portfolios and many are seeking to equate prices than the market. Do it for you if you do not want to do it for other agencies where she worked ...
One day after was modified in:
The point is: if I buy a car for € 30 thousand and then find the same at 5 thousand around the corner, as we rest from buyer? and what do I do next time? and how much money the manufacturer of the machine if the final price is 5 thousand?
if you keep going at least to remain at the site in droves to ask them to raise prices. Many have already canceled their portfolios and many are seeking to equate prices than the market. Do it for you if you do not want to do it for other agencies where she worked ...
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Aha Antonio!
I get it now, mille grazie :)
He changed it quickly, didn't he? :)
Oh, so this is not about ThinkStock/Istock?
I was wrong all the time!
This is about selling images at lower prices than Fotolia, right?
Deposit Photos is cheaper (to designers) than Fotolia, right?
Fotolia feels threatened by Deposit Photos's success, right?
Well, I don't like lowering prices, that's for sure.
But my question is how is DepositPhotos, a new agency compared to Fotolia, able to sell files at lower prices AND pay photographers a higher royality at the same time?
If they can do it, (and they certainly can), why can't you, Fotolia?
Chin up, Fotolia!
No need to lower the prices and definitely no need to cut artists' commissions (yet, again!). You're one of the best agencies in the world, offices all over the place, plenty of profits, you'll survive this fine-and-dandy, I'm sure!
Instead of lowering our payments, what about raising them up, to at least match Deposit Photos? It's an incentive for us and it shows good will from you. It works :)
Until that day don't ask us to choose between you and Deposit Photos. It's stabbing us in the back and not a good thing to do.
I like Deposit Photos a lot. And they have never treated me in any other way but fair. Not the same can be said about you.
This move, being the latest example of your unfairness and corporate greed.
Not recommended.
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Didn't Fotolia start off very similar to Deposit Photos? It was before my time but I read that they paid people to upload. Their commissions seemed quite reasonable when I first started uploading and I'm sure prices were lower.
Deposit Photos might seem good now but I can't help feeling that if they get in to the big 4, their investors are going to want a return on their money. They've spent a lot paying us to upload and giving new buyers free credits. Establishing a successful microstock site quickly must be very expensive now. I just hope they don't follow the FT strategy in the future and find an alternative way to keep their investors happy.
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DP site looks exactly like FT... Even upload system is the same...
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DP site looks exactly like FT... Even upload system is the same...
How do you figure that? DP lets me edit and submit a batch of images in one go; it's fast and easy. FT is more like DT, requiring that I submit each image individually. In most other respects, FT and DP are no more similar than any other two agencies.
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DP site looks exactly like FT... Even upload system is the same...
How do you figure that? DP lets me edit and submit a batch of images in one go; it's fast and easy. FT is more like DT, requiring that I submit each image individually. In most other respects, FT and DP are no more similar than any other two agencies.
I disagree and agree with borg! they look very similar not just the upload but also the way a buyer seach and look at the pic and the all size structure, the design is very close