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Author Topic: Can we do something against them?  (Read 4436 times)

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« on: February 02, 2010, 21:24 »
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What happens at Fotolia its just unacceptable. If we do nothing
I was thinking what we can do against them. In my case its simple, in few months Ill be exclusive at IS. But everybody cannot do this.
They act like terrorists so discussion with them is pointless. In my opinion just stopping uploading in not very efficient. So what else? I have few ideas (maybe not very clever):
-   uploading batch(s)  of 100 crap images. All will be rejected, reviewing costs  will hurt FT
-   spread bad (but true) information about dishonest behavior of FT. Allmost everybody has his own site, have different accounts at popular sites (Facebook, If Fotolia is associated with tags like thief, dishonest in Google research some serious companies will hesitate before buying images.
-   There are many copyright infringement case with FT images (logos, copyrighted designs, places) If we contact a legal department of involved company FT lawyers will have a lot of work
-   FT withhold 28% of all commissions from some contributors (even from no US sales). Is this tax transferred or they keep it in this case they are in trouble. Can we check it?
Do you have any ideas?


RT


« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2010, 04:15 »
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-   spread bad (but true) information about dishonest behavior of FT. Allmost everybody has his own site, have different accounts at popular sites (Facebook, If Fotolia is associated with tags like thief, dishonest in Google research some serious companies will hesitate before buying images.

There's nothing to stop people saying that they feel Fotolia treats it's contributors unfairly, or that they're not happy with the commission structure and communication but to call them "thief or dishonest" will leave you open to legal implications unless you have evidence to the contrary.

« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2010, 04:40 »
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I will wait and see what they have to say to us over the next few days.  They have had a terrible communication problem for a long time now but perhaps with the increased threat of a large proportion of their contributors going exclusive with istock, they might make a change now.  We should be informed about big changes before they happen, not after the event.  We need to be given time to consider if we want to agree to these changes and to give feedback before they are implemented.  Finding things out after the event in the forum is appalling.

If they continue like they are, I will stop uploading for good, like I have with other sites in the past.

« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2010, 04:59 »
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They've pushed me to the brink of considering exclusivity with iStock. Fotolia may think they've got us all over a barrel but now it seems that it may be more lucrative at iS than being non-exclusive everywhere, even without considering extras such as Vetta, Getty and better search placement.

The apology from Chad Bridewell is a joke. In private dealings with him I have been treated with the same arrogant, dismissive contempt that he says is not Fotolia's culture ... so I know exactly why the employees thought they could talk to us like that and who they got that attitude from. Of course, at the bottom of his emails is the note saying this information is privileged and may not be passed on blah blah, so I can't tell you exactly what he said, but the arrogance of his employees is mild by comparison. I hope he isn't punishing them for upholding his own standards and getting caught out.

The real issue, though, is that not only have our percentages been cut to barely acceptable levels according to the published agreement. It now turns out that through various pieces of trickery we are not actually being paid the true percentage of the purchase prices.

That really leaves me feeling sick and very, very doubtful about whether I want to continue to be associated with this company.

Eating crap from customer relations is something I can stomach on the basis that selling through Fotolia has been part of my business plan and I don't have to like them to do business. Having a legal agreement that says they will pay me a certain percentage of earnings and then finding that they are not adhering to that, but are paying a fixed cash rate regardless of the sale value, is something else entirely. It undermines the basis of my business strategy and throws trust out of the window.

« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2010, 05:02 »
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They annoy me, always have, so I'm just leaving. In fact, this post is just another reminder to do so. It's been on the list of things to do since Jan 1. These days I submit a lot of vectors, and their quirky requirements are just an annoyance for me.

Plotting etc is a waste of time and energy and more constructive things can be done instead of uploading batches of bad images. To the OP -  If they bother you so much, just get out. We all know they suck.

« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2010, 05:12 »
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-   FT withhold 28% of all commissions from some contributors (even from no US sales). Is this tax transferred or they keep it in this case they are in trouble. Can we check it?
Do you have any ideas?

I think your points are all valid, but I'm especially interested in this one. How come FT is the only one witholding tax on non-us sales?

PS: I think some suggestions might be counter productive. Spreading a bad word might only make the buyers go away. Which will hurt us in the end.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2010, 05:16 by LostOne »

« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2010, 07:14 »
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What happens at Fotolia its just unacceptable.
Could you elaborate on what is "happening" there? Perhaps I missed something. The only thing I am aware was the recent issue with the tax forms, but that seems to be resolved...

« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2010, 07:38 »
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They have revamped the price packages for buyers, effectively creating a price rise, but they are not passing any of this on to their contributors, so they are cutting our commission percentage by stealth.

They also have for a long time been paying different commission rates to people in different currency zones, and charging different prices to customers in different countries, so the supposed percentage payout is nothing of the kind. Where they claim to be paying over 30% (in line with the agreement) they may in fact be paying less  than 20% under the new price structure.

« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2010, 09:19 »
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while this obviously sounds very unfair I must admit that my total income keeps growing with FL...

« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2010, 09:30 »
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They have revamped the price packages for buyers, effectively creating a price rise, but they are not passing any of this on to their contributors, so they are cutting our commission percentage by stealth.
Not defending FT, I think it is not correct to say they raised prices, but that they created a variable cost according to the credit package purchased.  As credit prices may vary from 75c to 1.20 (in the USA site), in some packages prices are now in fact cheaper.

The differences in prices according to zones (USD, UKP, EUR) have been around for a while, and it's no news USA-site members receive less in % for purchases made in UK and EUR (in real money, not credits), whereas UK and EUR-site members receive more % for purchases made in the USA site.

« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2010, 10:26 »
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They have revamped the price packages for buyers, effectively creating a price rise, but they are not passing any of this on to their contributors, so they are cutting our commission percentage by stealth.
Not defending FT, I think it is not correct to say they raised prices, but that they created a variable cost according to the credit package purchased.  As credit prices may vary from 75c to 1.20 (in the USA site), in some packages prices are now in fact cheaper.

The differences in prices according to zones (USD, UKP, EUR) have been around for a while, and it's no news USA-site members receive less in % for purchases made in UK and EUR (in real money, not credits), whereas UK and EUR-site members receive more % for purchases made in the USA site.

Yes, you can get credits for 0.75c as long as you hand over $2,400. How many customers do we imagine will do that? Customers have to buy at least $180 worth of credits to get the price down to $1 each. The three smallest bundles are priced at over $1 and it is a fair bet that the great bulk of the sales will be of small packages in the $1.14 to $1.04 bracket.

The second point is that they are pricing ALL credits at $1.20 for buyers and $1 for sellers. If you look at the purchase side, all the packages are listed as being at $1.20 per credit but with "free" credits being thrown in as a bonus the more you spend. It is a fair bet that these "discounts" will eventually be reduced or discontinued and everybody will be told that nothing has changed, that was just a special offer that has been ended.

I actually wasn't aware until this came up that I was being paid less than my fellow Europeans just because I was forced to join the US site. I resent that pretty deeply, particularly as my work sells primarily in the non-US market, which means I definitely am getting paid less than the agreed percentage. No wonder some of my European friends seemed able to make so much more than me out of it!

I am very close indeed to telling Fotolia to stuff its discriminatory, deceitful, arrogant and very possibly dishonest practices, even though that may cost me a few thousand dollars a year.

« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2010, 10:30 »
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Ok, this is getting confusing.  There must be 4 threads about this and counting - the threads all sort of start out with different subjects but turn into the same one.  Therefore I will lock this topic and we can move the discussion here.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/increase-in-credit-value-at-fotolia/

I will leave this topic by itself as it started out as something with a slightly different slant.


 

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