MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Adobe Stock => Topic started by: roede-orm on January 15, 2014, 14:44
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Did you read this?
Fotolia Launches Dollar Photo Club, An Exclusive Club For Heavy Stock Photo Clients
What does that mean? Any Ideas?
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/15/fotolia-launches-dollar-photo-club-an-exclusive-club-for-heavy-stock-photo-clients/ (http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/15/fotolia-launches-dollar-photo-club-an-exclusive-club-for-heavy-stock-photo-clients/)
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It looks like a subs program, but without the upfront cost. So, you can get less money and less volume.
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I really don't get the business logic behind a move like that. Are they dying anyways and have they decided to take the whole market with them?
Anyways, gotta love the fact that the article calls it Fotolia's first microstock offering. Whut?! And what would they call, uhm, FOTOLIA?
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That article talks about the "club" being exclusive - because who wants those overused RF images - but then says they'll have 25 million images. Where are they going to get 25 million exclusive images?
There was mention of some of them coming from Fotolia - if all of them are, then what exactly is exclusive?
And a monthly commitment of $10 is peanuts; how do you avoid giving away the store at $1 a pop to "smaller" buyers?
Nothing mentioned there as to what a contributor will make from this - let alone who would give an exclusive image to a dollar store...
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There was mention of some of them coming from Fotolia - if all of them are, then what exactly is exclusive?
I think they meant the club was exclusive, so not everyone would get the deal.
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"...Dollar Photo Club will target a small audience of approved members and provide exclusive photos."
from the TechCrunch article
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That article talks about the "club" being exclusive - because who wants those overused RF images - but then says they'll have 25 million images. Where are they going to get 25 million exclusive images?
Was wondering the same!
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If you take a look you'll find probably the whole FT library there. My whole portfolio is on that site. I bet we will receive subs royalties at best...
No idea why they think that makes sense...
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This is bogus- All my images are there. What kind of exclusive images is that?
http://www.dollarphotoclub.com (http://www.dollarphotoclub.com)
Search for one of your images and click on it, and then click on the link for your portfolio - mine is the same as what FT has online.
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"...Dollar Photo Club will target a small audience of approved members and provide exclusive photos."
from the TechCrunch article
It's a mistake or a plain lie. Or maybe worse; maybe they have 25 million of non exclusive photos and one hundred exclusive, so they can say that they provide exclusive photos. Anyway, I've found some of their images all over the places.
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there's certainly nothing exclusive about the images, for sure. This from their FAQ:
"Dollar Photo Club does is not accepting contributors at this time. We do urge you to sell your images using our parent site, Fotolia (www.fotolia.com (http://www.fotolia.com)). Contact Fotolia for details."
Perhaps we should all contact Fotolia for those all important details..?
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Also from their FAQ:
Dollar Photo Club images can be used for any non-commercial projects such as websites, web banners, newsletters, PDF documents, blogs, email, slide shows, standard-resolution TV and video presentations, and cell phone splash screens. Images can also accompany magazine articles, books, advertising, brochures, documents, illustrations, booklets, brochures, billboards, business cards, packaging, high-resolution videos, and presentations where the value of the images is not the main value of the overall project.
What does that last bit mean? (my bolding)
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"...Dollar Photo Club will target a small audience of approved members and provide exclusive photos."
from the TechCrunch article
and
"While the company promises exclusive content."
If the exclusive photo part is true, most of us are safe unless you are, well, exclusive. BUT...they do mention 25M images ("you get access to 25 million high-resolution photos at $1 each") and unless they are partnering with some other content providers whose aggregate collections sum 25M, there is no way in hell that FT has that many exclusive images. So that article is misleading & poorly written. The author, Romaine Dillet, did a horrible job of vetting the new program, especially when you consider he/she had direct contact with Oleg:
“We want to target big buyers, and provide them with exclusive offers,” co-founder and CEO Oleg Tscheltzoff told me. “
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Their FAQ makes no mention of exclusive images. Merely that membership is exclusive for buyers (they are proposing a limit). TechCrunch appear to have got the wrong end of the stick in that respect.
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From the site itself it seems they're trying to peddle their dollar bin as something high end and restricted, but you're right that I couldn't find anything about exclusive images there
"Exclusivity
Exquisite images at straightforward prices
Select benefits and offers from high-value partners
Join Dollar Photo Club today and discover why it's the world's top photo club"
The application page says they have space for a thousand new members (and the whole idea of limiting this is reminiscent of those "limited editions" that were limited to however many people were daft enough to buy)
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/Member/sign-up (https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/Member/sign-up)
So possibly Tech Crunch got the wrong end of the stick, or possibly the web site doesn't reflect what Fotolia PR people are saying about it.
Anyone who sells there want to ask what the contributor end of this giveaway is - and if it includes vectors and footage and all sizes for those prices?
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Dollar foto club...wow ;D
The must have came up with the name at some team building session
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This is their Tweet:
DollarPhotoClub @DollarPhotoClub 10h
DOLLAR PHOTO CLUB LAUNCHES TODAY! Want the most exclusive images at $1 for one low monthly fee? #dpc Apply now:
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Ft probably made a typo..... they mean elusive
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I checked and my entire portfolio is on the site. Should I insist they take them down? Or would that just get me banned from FT? They aren't one of my better earners anymore, so I suppose it's worth considering.
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I checked and my entire portfolio is on the site. Should I insist they take them down? Or would that just get me banned from FT? They aren't one of my better earners anymore, so I suppose it's worth considering.
it's probably a partner site that you are on. I would email them to find out who that partner is and first see if there is an opt out. It could be that the only way you can remove your images is by closing your account with the partner site.
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Are they dying?..
Looks like it ...
My entire portfolio also is in this millionaire club. The same "exclusive" content sits on at least six more agencies. So now customer will find my "exclusive" photos in OneDollar club and later he will see the same photos on DT, SS, IS, FT, RF and wherever you want. How do you think, what he'll think?
:o
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I checked and my entire portfolio is on the site. Should I insist they take them down? Or would that just get me banned from FT? They aren't one of my better earners anymore, so I suppose it's worth considering.
it's probably a partner site that you are on. I would email them to find out who that partner is and first see if there is an opt out. It could be that the only way you can remove your images is by closing your account with the partner site.
No, I don't think images are drawn from a partner site. I believe DPC is an offshoot of Fotolia itself and there is no opt out. Email from Fotolia Support: "photos sold earn the same commission as a subscription sale."
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Fotolia is the only site where I have exactly the same number of files so I am pretty confident they come from them. Regardless of where they come from, they are not exclusive. So I guess we all will commit fraud by representing our non exclusive content as exclusive.
I'm so fed up with Fotolia. I am afraid if I pull my account that they will still have my photos on hundreds of 3rd party sites though.
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I'm so fed up with Fotolia. I am afraid if I pull my account that they will still have my photos on hundreds of 3rd party sites though.
I actually found Fotolia very courteous in closing my account. They even let you cash out a final payment that is under the minimum payment for a small fee.
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Hi all,
I looked into Dollar Photo Club. It is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
All the best,
Mat Hayward
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It's not an affiliate - it's Fotolia
Whois Lookup
Domain Name: dollarphotoclub.com
Registry Domain ID: 1706263693_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.gandi.net
Registrar URL: http://www.gandi.net (http://www.gandi.net)
Updated Date: 2014-01-07T21:16:12Z
Creation Date: 2012-03-08T21:59:12Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2014-03-08T21:59:12Z
Registrar: GANDI SAS
Registrar IANA ID: 81
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +33.170377661
Reseller: Fotolia LLC
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status:
Domain Status:
Domain Status:
Domain Status:
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Thibaud ELZIERE
Registrant Organization: Fotolia LLC
Registrant Street: 41 East 11th Street,11th floor
Registrant City: New York
Registrant State/Province: New York
Registrant Postal Code: 10003
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.7185771321
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Thibaud ELZIERE
Admin Organization: Fotolia LLC
Admin Street: 41 East 11th Street,11th floor
Admin City: New York
Admin State/Province: New York
Admin Postal Code: 10003
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.7185771321
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: [email protected]
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Thibaud ELZIERE
Tech Organization: Fotolia LLC
Tech Street: 41 East 11th Street,11th floor
Tech City: New York
Tech State/Province: New York
Tech Postal Code: 10003
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.7185771321
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: [email protected]
Name Server: NS1.P24.DYNECT.NET
Name Server: NS2.P24.DYNECT.NET
Name Server: NS3.P24.DYNECT.NET
Name Server: NS4.P24.DYNECT.NET
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
DNSSEC: Unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/ (http://wdprs.internic.net/)
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2014-01-16T18:31:19Z <<<
Reseller Email:
Reseller URL:
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Hi all,
I looked into Dollar Photo Club. It is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
All the best,
Mat Hayward
Im sorry but this sounds like another crappy (I typed in the word BS but auto cuss corrected it) way to further devalue our work and I'd rather not receive a penny from this in exchange for killing the program. Stupid to think that these customers can't already afford the cheap rates Fotolia already has. Just deplorable.
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Stupid to think that these customers can't already afford the cheap rates Fotolia already has. Just deplorable.
Those last two sentences get you a heart. I miss the money from quitting some of these agencies, but things like this always remind me of why I did it. I just hope enough people get the message eventually and we can make a positive change.
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It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content)
"company promises exclusive content" - quote from the article. And this is essential point, beside the prices and photographs revenue.
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Hi all,
I looked into Dollar Photo Club. It is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
All the best,
Mat Hayward
Sorry, but do you really believe what you write here?
So the "heavy buyers" that move over there are those who had a subscription before? And now want to pay 1$ per image instead of the advertised 0,16$ before?
Completely irrational.
Or the "heavy buyers" were credit buyers before, so now we get subscription royalties instead of the royalties for credit sales.
Great deal. Not.
Subscription programs (and the attached low royalties) only make sense with big volume - and thus the minimum investment for the buyer must be big enough to warrant that volume.
This scheme (along with Fotolia's current "subscription" schemes with monthly download volumes) are nothing but a way to shift the FT payout from the credit-based payouts to the subs payout.
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My entire FT port is on this new site too. Time to depart from Fotolia.
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This explains why I'm only getting subs nowadays and earnings are way behind normal.
I'll wait for payout and pull my port from FT.
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I remember a few years ago when every new year brought some sort of raise in this industry. Ah the good old days...
Now each new year brings new ways to devalue our work and cut into our earnings. Every January like clockwork.
I really look forward to when my daughter finishes graduate school and begins earning enough to support herself. Then I will be quite happy to throw in the towel. It stopped being fun somewhere around 2010-2011.
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I just received this message from FT. Anybody have further thoughts?
Hi Martha,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we cannot remove your files from Dollar Photo Club unless we completely delete them from Fotolia first.
Please note that Dollar Photo Club is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
Sincerely,
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I just received this message from FT. Anybody have further thoughts?
Hi Martha,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we cannot remove your files from Dollar Photo Club unless we completely delete them from Fotolia first.
Please note that Dollar Photo Club is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
Sincerely,
Thats the exact same message Hayward posted on page 1. LMAO. Canned responses all around. Only difference is that that message starts with, I looked into the photo dollar club and.... I think FT just handed out a template.
Sorry, but its just too funny. I dont believe anyone paid by an agency any more. How can they ever be impartial?
They tell you its an exclusive club, but the site says its exclusive content. They cant even get their messages straight. I am sure they borrowed Istock's incompetence.
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This explains why I'm only getting subs nowadays and earnings are way behind normal.
I'll wait for payout and pull my port from FT.
I tend to agree. I was wondering why I only see subs these days, I used to get a lot more credit sales.
I am just wondering, how would a sub sale make more money for FT than a credit sale? Should they be pushing the option that makes everyone the most money?
Anyhoo, I stopped uploading to FT months ago when my sales start to drop. If this dollar club is causing another drop in sales I might just quit them as well.
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I dont believe anyone paid by an agency any more. How can they ever be impartial?
It's kind of sad that you/we have to be convinced at all. Like Lisa said, I remember when we used to get raises all the time and there was exciting news in January. I'd love for somebody to shock me with some amazingly good news.
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I have been thinking about this. I am hoping somewhere somehow a contributor or journalist or whoever got a job high up at an agency and will come out as whistleblower. The Snowden of Stock. That would be awesome. Maybe there is someone out there. How can it be that no one knows what goes on inside an agency.
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I have been thinking about this. I am hoping somewhere somehow a contributor or journalist or whoever got a job high up at an agency and will come out as whistleblower. The Snowden of Stock. That would be awesome. Maybe there is someone out there. How can it be that no one knows what goes on inside an agency.
There are quite a few former Istock admins who probably have some good stories to tell. Probably Rob Sylvan would be chief among them, but I am fairly certain they must have signed non-disclosure agreements, because we haven't heard anything.
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I have been thinking about this. I am hoping somewhere somehow a contributor or journalist or whoever got a job high up at an agency and will come out as whistleblower. The Snowden of Stock. That would be awesome. Maybe there is someone out there. How can it be that no one knows what goes on inside an agency.
There are quite a few former Istock admins who probably have some good stories to tell. Probably Rob Sylvan would be chief among them, but I am fairly certain they must have signed non-disclosure agreements, because we haven't heard anything.
I guess a normal employee will never tell, but A whistleblower doesnt care about a non disclosure. I am sure Snowden wasnt supposed to say anything either. :)
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If you look at the numbers on this new deal - and on the monthly limit subscriptions, FT will make out like bandits if they can get customers to go for this.
Fotolia's cut of the total customer payment is waaay higher on a monthly limit subscription or on the "dollar club". I don't keep track of their prices and royalties any more but I just went to take a look.
A one month subscription costs $249 and although they theoretically could have 750 images for that price, experience suggests no one does.
A monthly limit subscription for full size images costs $80 for 50 images. Or you could have 100 images if you only need medium size or smaller.
If you're accepted into the dollar fraternity you'd pay $50 ($10 monthly fee and $1 each for the other 40 images).
For the sake of an example, let's take a royalty rate of 30 cents (the range is from .25 credit for white to .40 credit for diamond)
For the daily download limit ($249) subscription, if a buyer uses 650 of their 750, FT pays out $195 or 78% of the gross. If the buyer only takes 500 images, FT pays out 60%
For the monthly limit of 50, FT pays out $15 for the full size images - or 18% of the gross. If they go for medium sizes, then FT pays out $30 or 37.5%. Both are clearly a huge win for them over the contributor.
For the dollar bin club, they'd be paying out $15 or 30% of the gross.
So they get to cut the contributor's share while increasing their own. Very nice...not
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I have been thinking about this. I am hoping somewhere somehow a contributor or journalist or whoever got a job high up at an agency and will come out as whistleblower. The Snowden of Stock. That would be awesome. Maybe there is someone out there. How can it be that no one knows what goes on inside an agency.
What would they really expose that we don't already know?
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So they get to cut the contributor's share while increasing their own. Very nice...not
Well then I can see why they jumped all over it. >:(
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I assume that the 10 FREE images the 'exclusive club' member receives as part of the package are, in fact, paid to the contributor at the prevailing subs rate? Or are the 10 Free images from the truly FREE section of FT (all the rejected stuff that the contributor foolishly gave away free by ticking the wrong box).
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Joanne's explanation makes me even angrier. She gets a plus for that analysis.
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I was going to close my account when I got a payout a few months back - I've never had more than about 50 photos at Fotolia and deleted many of them ages ago, leaving a few up to keep the account open, so I could reach the payout - sales there have been so dismal and though I haven't allowed ELs on most of my images there in ages, I hate that I get around $4 for what other sites at least charge as an EL - my best seller there shows up right in the top row on the new dollar club when I do a search for that location - time to close it down. The payout fee will probably be equivalent to what I've earned since the last payout. No loss there. This new concept will only help the ship sink faster. Pimping my images for a $1 for a $50 payout really sickens me the more I think about it. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
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I didn't want to delay and just sent them a message requesting that they close my account. No financial consequences really since I was making so little there, but I feel good that I did it.
I want out of their "exclusive" club! 8)
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I didn't want to delay and just sent them a message requesting that they close my account.
I did exactly the same thing tonight. I want nothing more to do with FT and their "Dollar Club."
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I wonder if these sales will be reported in such a way that we know where the sales came from: FT or FT-Dollar Club, or if they are simply going to hide it all under one mysterious umbrella.
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I wonder if these sales will be reported in such a way that we know where the sales came from: FT or FT-Dollar Club, or if they are simply going to hide it all under one mysterious umbrella.
There won't be any way to identify sales from DPC, I asked.
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I wonder if these sales will be reported in such a way that we know where the sales came from: FT or FT-Dollar Club, or if they are simply going to hide it all under one mysterious umbrella.
Since we don't know how their other affiliate earnings are reported my guess is the last one.
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I wonder if these sales will be reported in such a way that we know where the sales came from: FT or FT-Dollar Club, or if they are simply going to hide it all under one mysterious umbrella.
There won't be any way to identify sales from DPC, I asked.
Thanks. What a f-%^$^ng joke FT has become.
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Even though I told FT two days ago that I wanted to remove my port there, my images are still up. Maybe I'll hear back from them about that tomorrow (Monday).
But... I had my first "Dollar Club" sale today. I made a whole $.20 for one of my best images. That's twenty cents, folks.
Who-hoo!!!!!!
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Even though I told FT two days ago that I wanted to remove my port there, my images are still up. Maybe I'll hear back from them about that tomorrow (Monday).
But... I had my first "Dollar Club" sale today. I made a whole $.20 for one of my best images. That's twenty cents, folks.
Who-hoo!!!!!!
How did you determine it was a DollarClub Sale?
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Even though I told FT two days ago that I wanted to remove my port there, my images are still up. Maybe I'll hear back from them about that tomorrow (Monday).
But... I had my first "Dollar Club" sale today. I made a whole $.20 for one of my best images. That's twenty cents, folks.
Who-hoo!!!!!!
How did you determine it was a DollarClub Sale?
Under that image in my "Files Overview" section, it shows this:
License XS
Price 1.00
Commission 0.20
Sales 2
I've never seen that combination of info until this weekend. So I interpreted "Price 1.00" as meaning "Dollar Club", and "Commission 0.20" as $0.20"
Is that not correct?
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XS is extra small, which just happens to cost a dollar.
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XS is extra small, which just happens to cost a dollar.
OK. Maybe I got that wrong.
But... if an image already costs $1.00, then what's the big deal about the "Dollar Club"? Is it that you can get an XXL image for $1.00?
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I kind of see this as their ThinkStock and possibly will drive more of our sales to this sub scheme than to the credit sales we
could should be getting.
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XS is extra small, which just happens to cost a dollar.
OK. Maybe I got that wrong.
But... if an image already costs $1.00, then what's the big deal about the "Dollar Club"? Is it that you can get an XXL image for $1.00?
No, its a credit sale, its one credit, and you get 20% of 1 credit, is 0.20 credits. Depending on what you account you have thats converted to 1 credit = 1 Euros, 1 credit = 0.75 pound or 1 credit = 1 dollar.
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XS is extra small, which just happens to cost a dollar.
OK. Maybe I got that wrong.
But... if an image already costs $1.00, then what's the big deal about the "Dollar Club"? Is it that you can get an XXL image for $1.00?
No, its a credit sale, its one credit, and you get 20% of 1 credit, is 0.20 credits. Depending on what you account you have thats converted to 1 credit = 1 Euros, 1 credit = 0.75 pound or 1 credit = 1 dollar.
OK. I get that.
But it still begs the question: Will the "Dollar Club" make our images available for $1 regardless of size? Will the large size still be $1?
ADDED: Perhaps I should point out that my FT port is very small and I've not had many sales there. Certainly, nothing close to a payout. So I don't quite understand how their system works.
And the whole bit about "credits" calculated differently depending on where one lives is rather murky.
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Yes, that is unbelievably for every size. I assume that they will throw us a sub, but will hold my breath - it is Fotolia after all and won't be surprized if they make it even smaller.
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Yes, that is unbelievably for every size. I assume that they will throw us a sub,
So... it will be $.25 (twenty-five cents) for each sub sold, regardless of size. Forever.
I started at that stage with SS and have happily moved up in the royalty rankings since then. But it doesn't sound like FT plans any increasing royalties with its swanky new "Dollar Club." The photographer will get $.25 forever.
Good grief. I am definitely outta FT.
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Yes, that is unbelievably for every size. I assume that they will throw us a sub,
So... it will be $.25 (twenty-five cents) for each sub sold, regardless of size. Forever.
I started at that stage with SS and have happily moved up in the royalty rankings since then. But it doesn't sound like FT plans any increasing royalties with its swanky new "Dollar Club." The photographer will get $.25 forever.
Good grief. I am definitely outta FT.
As I understand it, you will make the same from a DPC sale as a regular sub on FT. I make 29 Cents per regular sub. I expect to receive that for sales on DPC.
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Yes, that is unbelievably for every size. I assume that they will throw us a sub,
So... it will be $.25 (twenty-five cents) for each sub sold, regardless of size. Forever.
I started at that stage with SS and have happily moved up in the royalty rankings since then. But it doesn't sound like FT plans any increasing royalties with its swanky new "Dollar Club." The photographer will get $.25 forever.
Good grief. I am definitely outta FT.
As I understand it, you will make the same from a DPC sale as a regular sub on FT. I make 29 Cents per regular sub. I expect to receive that for sales on DPC.
But how many credit sales is that going to steal from you? Assuming that at least some of these "special exclusive" customers (which in my mind is everyone they can pump into it) purchased credit packs, and now are on a subs program, we lose way more that the peanuts for a .20-.29 cent sub.
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Subscriptions?... this really is: sell photos XL on demand for a dollar, not a real subscription.
Our work is like a crap for Fotolia "the microstock Titanic"
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Microstock............R.I.P.
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Closing account.... it's time we showed our market muscles, because we actually do have those: there are plenty of other sites. Just like buyers, "vote with you feet", leave them.
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Yes, that is unbelievably for every size. I assume that they will throw us a sub,
So... it will be $.25 (twenty-five cents) for each sub sold, regardless of size. Forever.
I started at that stage with SS and have happily moved up in the royalty rankings since then. But it doesn't sound like FT plans any increasing royalties with its swanky new "Dollar Club." The photographer will get $.25 forever.
Good grief. I am definitely outta FT.
As I understand it, you will make the same from a DPC sale as a regular sub on FT. I make 29 Cents per regular sub. I expect to receive that for sales on DPC.
But how many credit sales is that going to steal from you? Assuming that at least some of these "special exclusive" customers (which in my mind is everyone they can pump into it) purchased credit packs, and now are on a subs program, we lose way more that the peanuts for a .20-.29 cent sub.
Hi Mantis, I wasn't supporting Fotolia's DPC, merely correcting an inaccurate assumption made by the previous poster (Marthmarks) that all payments would be 25 cents forever. I share your concern that this initiative will eat into credit sales. I'll wait and see how this affects the balance of sub / credit sales on FT before making a decision to drop them..
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Yes, that is unbelievably for every size. I assume that they will throw us a sub,
So... it will be $.25 (twenty-five cents) for each sub sold, regardless of size. Forever.
I started at that stage with SS and have happily moved up in the royalty rankings since then. But it doesn't sound like FT plans any increasing royalties with its swanky new "Dollar Club." The photographer will get $.25 forever.
Good grief. I am definitely outta FT.
As I understand it, you will make the same from a DPC sale as a regular sub on FT. I make 29 Cents per regular sub. I expect to receive that for sales on DPC.
But how many credit sales is that going to steal from you? Assuming that at least some of these "special exclusive" customers (which in my mind is everyone they can pump into it) purchased credit packs, and now are on a subs program, we lose way more that the peanuts for a .20-.29 cent sub.
Hi Mantis, I wasn't supporting Fotolia's DPC, merely correcting an inaccurate assumption made by the previous poster (Marthmarks) that all payments would be 25 cents forever. I share your concern that this initiative will eat into credit sales. I'll wait and see how this affects the balance of sub / credit sales on FT before making a decision to drop them..
I hear ya. I meant "US" not you specifically. This whole thing stinks.
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exclusive high volume clients..... who only want 10 images per month. ???
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It's been over three weeks since I advised fotolia I wanted to close my account and I'm still getting the occasional sale there, so my photos are still online. Meanwhile, still no response to my request to close the account. Maybe I ought to send them a message by certified mail or maybe there's a 30-day waiting period?
Anyone else get a response?
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Hi "WordPlanet"
Looks like Customer Service was waiting for a response to an email, hence the delay. I just confirmed that your account is now closed.
-Mat
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Hi "WordPlanet"
Looks like Customer Service was waiting for a response to an email, hence the delay. I just confirmed that your account is now closed.
-Mat
Mat, I guess I'm in the same situation. I asked for cancellation, then got an email asking "Are you sure?" I tried to write back and say YES! but I couldn't figure out how to reply to that message I received.
Perhaps you can take the initiative of closing my account too, and removing my images.
Thanks!
EDITED TO ADD: Mat did make that happen. Thank you, Mat!
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I just received this message from FT. Anybody have further thoughts?
Hi Martha,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we cannot remove your files from Dollar Photo Club unless we completely delete them from Fotolia first.
Please note that Dollar Photo Club is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all API sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
Sincerely,
I think we will see more sites using api to offer discounted sub deals to large entities. Fortune 500 companies and such.
It would not surprise me a bit to find that SS is offering similar API deals via BS where they pay lower royalties overall.
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This is very similar to what SS did with Facebook - give them a giant 'subscription' for some upfront payment - from which we get nothing - then pay photographers a token amount per download.
In the new world of microstock there are no more "sales" or "royalties". The big money is in upfront fees which the agency doesn't share with contributors. A download via an API isn't a sale, so the payment isn't based on a percentage.
As always, You'll Make It Up On Volume.
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Not really. In the Shutterstock – Facebook deal the images are used only ones (one time usage) and only on the Facebook site in a smaller size. Unless I’m mistaken, this Fotolia deal is for multiple uses (royalty free) at any size?
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Not really. In the Shutterstock – Facebook deal the images are used only ones (one time usage) and only on the Facebook site in a smaller size. Unless I’m mistaken, this Fotolia deal is for multiple uses (royalty free) at any size?
That's how I interpret it.
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Hi "WordPlanet"
Looks like Customer Service was waiting for a response to an email, hence the delay. I just confirmed that your account is now closed.
-Mat
Thank you Mat!
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Excuse me but is it possible for BS to offer lower royalties? They added that failed 50,000 DL RC level. And already pay less than SS. How much lower can it go there?
I closed my FT account and I must say, they waited for the end of the month and removed everything and paid me in 30 days. Couldn't have been any smoother or easy.
I closed mine over the partner programs and potential of losing all rights to everything because of mass distribution to unknown agencies, lack of detailed accounting or being able to monitor what was going on with my work. A general plague that's been afflicting microstock.
It would not surprise me a bit to find that SS is offering similar API deals via BS where they pay lower royalties overall.
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I remember a few years ago when every new year brought some sort of raise in this industry. Ah the good old days...
Now each new year brings new ways to devalue our work and cut into our earnings. Every January like clockwork.
I really look forward to when my daughter finishes graduate school and begins earning enough to support herself. Then I will be quite happy to throw in the towel. It stopped being fun somewhere around 2010-2011.
Wow, Lisa, I remember when you were just talking about which college your daughter would attend. Graduate school! Time marches by, and the only difference I see at Fotolia is that they have gone from being an arrogant agency with pretty good sales to becoming an arrogant agency with really lousy sales. Matt can whistle past the graveyard all he wants, but it's over at Fotolia.
Time to open that taco stand I always wanted...
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... Time marches by, and the only difference I see at Fotolia is that they have gone from being an arrogant agency with pretty good sales to becoming an arrogant agency with really lousy sales. ...
It's a shame that an agency that started out with so much promise, and managed to survive a near-death experience with their V2.0 software (http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/fotolia-v-2/msg16249/#msg16249) has been a leader of late in various royalty cutting moves and not much else. They were the agency that really made an effort to do something for the European (non-English-speaking) market - which iStock and Shutterstock sensibly followed.
Good agencies gone bad :)
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I closed mine over the partner programs and potential of losing all rights to everything because of mass distribution to unknown agencies
Same reason why I closed my FT account, Pete. It seems better to retreat to a few "trusted" agencies (assuming any are trustworthy) and my own website than see my port spread all over the world on vague "partner" sites. Too much of it is in that situation already, but at least I can do a better job with images to come.
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I remember a few years ago when every new year brought some sort of raise in this industry. Ah the good old days...
Now each new year brings new ways to devalue our work and cut into our earnings. Every January like clockwork.
I really look forward to when my daughter finishes graduate school and begins earning enough to support herself. Then I will be quite happy to throw in the towel. It stopped being fun somewhere around 2010-2011.
Wow, Lisa, I remember when you were just talking about which college your daughter would attend. Graduate school! Time marches by, and the only difference I see at Fotolia is that they have gone from being an arrogant agency with pretty good sales to becoming an arrogant agency with really lousy sales. Matt can whistle past the graveyard all he wants, but it's over at Fotolia.
Time to open that taco stand I always wanted...
My post may have been misleading... She's halfway through her junior year of college, but planning on getting a masters degree, so that's when our financial obligation to her ends. Assuming it ever does. Anyone with self-sustaining adult kids want to provide a ray of hope? PLEASE!!
;)
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If I get it right they all are same, one dollar:
- small $1
- medium $1
- xxl $1
"Only our highest resolutution files Unlimited image use, unlimited print runs".
Why even bother for small downloads if they all are SAME PRICE!
And "Unlimited print runs, Unlimited image use", it's just extended USE, nothing less!
And this "heavy image users".. 10 images on month, realy realy HEAVY USERS ONLY!
All my images on Fotolia are extended marked, So, what happens if I will set them not extended. Fotolia take my images out from Dollar Club or not?
ERR: some typo: exclusive versus extended .. lol
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They are clearly targeting Shutterstocks bottomline as FT has no stand in the US. And as usual with FT they are targeting our bottomline too with their DollarPhotoClub (ReallyStupidName).
If you love these 28,- Dollar ELs and if you depend on the income stream from Shutterstock you should worry!
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Hi all,
I looked into Dollar Photo Club. It is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
All the best,
Mat Hayward
:o Wow - I never knew I was a heavy buyer of images at FT. How did that slip past me? I received my invitation this week to join the dollar club as an exclusive member.
Funny thing is, I've never bought a single image from FT - contributor only.
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I have 20+k images at FTL. It took me a lot of effort to upload that many images so it is not an easy decision to quit. It never was. They know this. And I am sure they don't care if I quit. But to tell you the truth my imcome is going to be so low on their site that I also don't need to care anymore. Means I can quit just for the fun. :) And it would be a fun!
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I have 20+k images at FTL. It took me a lot of effort to upload that many images so it is not an easy decision to quit. It never was. They know this. And I am sure they don't care if I quit. But to tell you the truth my imcome is going to be so low on their site that I also don't need to care anymore. Means I can quit just for the fun. :) And it would be a fun!
This is where we are today, unless you are of the caliber of the likes of Sean. But you are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT when you say they don't care because, regardless, there are far more artists who aren't on these forums, who aren't unaware of the manipulation agencies undertake, and new content will keep flowing. With guys like Sean they can use that as branding leverage. With guys like me they take a dump, throw their cigarette in the water and flush. Why? They will gladly take another dump tomorrow.
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Well, my overall rank at Fotolia is no25 currently so they should have a reason to care. But I know they don't.
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I came across the site while looking for other places to sell my stuff. Race to the bottom for sure.
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Also from their FAQ:
Dollar Photo Club images can be used for any non-commercial projects such as websites, web banners, newsletters, PDF documents, blogs, email, slide shows, standard-resolution TV and video presentations, and cell phone splash screens. Images can also accompany magazine articles, books, advertising, brochures, documents, illustrations, booklets, brochures, billboards, business cards, packaging, high-resolution videos, and presentations where the value of the images is not the main value of the overall project.
What does that last bit mean? (my bolding)
Have you looked at Fotolia’s standard license lately? It says pretty much the same thing. The Dollar Club license looks pretty much the same as Fotolia’s standard license. Actually I’ve noticed quite a few agencies now have this in their standard license. I think there might be a lot of contributors who need to check licenses at their agencies. They have been changing…
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So... the BS about this club being exclusive and not being available to everyone... Well I just got an invitation. I got an account when PhotoXpress first opened - and edited to add that I NEVER SPENT A CENT THERE.... but I'm important enough to get this exclusive elusive invitation.
From: PhotoXpress [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 10:06 AM
To: XXXX
Subject: New Stock Photo site, just $1 a Vector
Our friends at Fotolia just launched an amazing new site we know you'll want to check out...
Dollar Photo Club is the next wave in stock photos - a members-only club offering 25 million royalty free images for one easy price.
$1 for any vector and any high res image - guaranteed!
Discover downloads that NEVER expire - cancel your membership and purchased downloads will STILL be there when you need them, always...
Don't ever pay more than $1 for professional stock images and vectors!
Join Dollar Photo Club today!
The Dollar Photo Club Committee
P.S. PhotoXpress customers like you can get preferred admission to Dollar Photo Club; just choose "PhotoXpress" when asked which stock agencies you currently use
- but hurry, places are strictly limited!
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double post
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And just to remind everyone... Mat did look into this for us right away and this is what he was told... (Just trying to understand the e-mail's: "Our friends at Fotolia have just launched an amazing new site... Could I be misreading that statement?) (Edited to fix that sentence)
Hi all,
I looked into Dollar Photo Club. It is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
All the best,
Mat Hayward
[/quote]
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@ Pixart
Lol, thanks for posting! I'm not with them but I had really good time reading this... [censure]
;D ;D
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Thought... maybe everyone reading this should sign up for as many accounts as possible and use up all their limited spots?
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And "Unlimited print runs, Unlimited image use", it's just extended USE, nothing less!
But the standard licence at Fotolia already offers unlimited print runs - this from the licences page on their site:
"Fotolia’s standard license allows unlimited print runs" It also covers so many uses like book covers etc that it is a wonder anyone ever buys an extended licence. I don't allow them with my FT port since I got $5 for one not long after I started. Dollar Photo Club doesn't seem to offer extended licences that I can see, but when the permitted use of the standard licence is so broad who needs one apart from TShirt and mug sellers?
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Discover downloads that NEVER expire - cancel your membership and purchased downloads will STILL be there when you need them, always...
Ok, what happends if I quit Fotolia and delete my portfolio. My images will sill be there for future downloads for those who bought them before? Even if I do not work with Fotolia anymore and do not allow them to have my photos on their website and servers? Where and when did I sign this?
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Discover downloads that NEVER expire - cancel your membership and purchased downloads will STILL be there when you need them, always...
Ok, what happends if I quit Fotolia and delete my portfolio. My images will sill be there for future downloads for those who bought them before? Even if I do not work with Fotolia anymore and do not allow them to have my photos on their website and servers? Where and when did I sign this?
It means that just like regular buyers, even if they stop buying at Fotolia, they still have any files they already bought and downloaded.
Some subs sites have clauses that say buyers can't use files in new projects after they stop their subscription payments, but I have no idea how they'd police that.
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It means that just like regular buyers, even if they stop buying at Fotolia, they still have any files they already bought and downloaded.
Some subs sites have clauses that say buyers can't use files in new projects after they stop their subscription payments, but I have no idea how they'd police that.
Yes ok, I got it! That wasn't my point.
My point is, they promise that buyers can redownload bought images forever, anytime. Or am I wrong and they aren't offering this? If they do, how can they keep their offer if the photographer quits and FTL is loosing the right to store the files on their servers?
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I would bet they didn't consider that case (deleting files or closing accounts) when making that promise.
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It means that just like regular buyers, even if they stop buying at Fotolia, they still have any files they already bought and downloaded.
Some subs sites have clauses that say buyers can't use files in new projects after they stop their subscription payments, but I have no idea how they'd police that.
Yes ok, I got it! That wasn't my point.
My point is, they promise that buyers can redownload bought images forever, anytime. Or am I wrong and they aren't offering this? If they do, how can they keep their offer if the photographer quits and FTL is loosing the right to store the files on their servers?
I can't see where they are offering that buyers can redownload them forever.
Where are you seeing that?
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It was in the enticement letter they sent me:
Discover downloads that NEVER expire - cancel your membership and purchased downloads will STILL be there when you need them, always...
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That's a matter of interpdetation. I read that as I said before. I guess at a push you could interpret it your way, in which case you are right to aak for clarification.
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Hi all,
I looked into Dollar Photo Club. It is an affiliate site that is using the Fotolia api program. The database on Fotolia is mirrored on this site as it is on many other partner sites. The difference is that Dollar Photo Club isn’t available to everyone. It is an exclusive club (not exclusive content) that is going to be made available to heavy buyers.
The sales from Dollar Photo Club take place through Fotolia (as do all api sales) so your commission remains the same. It is essentially a giant subscription. You will receive the same subscription commission you would if the image were purchased directly from a Fotolia member with a subscription.
This is another way to drive traffic to your portfolios and should result in an increase in overall sales for each of us.
All the best,
Mat Hayward
I saw API here and I immediately think of Deposit photos/shotstop.
Are these 'heavy users' going to be allowed to resell the images, while the contributor gets only subscription rate?
edited - I went and looked - Fotolia has a ton of partner programs.
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I deleted all my Fotolia video files a couple of months ago because of the pathetic pricing. No regrets whatsoever. I will now also delete my photos and be done with Fotolia. I only have a small account so this won't impact Fotolia or myself, but if enough contributors take a stand then we actually have the power over the agencies. That's the only way to control pricing, by uniting together and leaving en masse agencies which consistently try to bring the market down further to gain market share. However I appreciate that for Fotolia contributors with substantial accounts this is no so straight forward.
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I've only just noticed the DPC banners and then this thread.
It's actually much worse than it first appears. On the splash page it says this;
$1 an image. Always.
26 million high-res images and vectors
Business-ready royalty free license
Unlimited print runs
Unlimited image use
Social media ready
"Unlimited image use" basically means every image downloaded is effectively a free EL for any use whatsoever doesn't it? So we're getting a few cents for EL's courtesy of the DPC?
I asked that earlier, FT's answer:
Hi,
Dollar Photo Club only provides Standard Licences, not Extended Licences. Fotolia's Standard Licence also allows Unlimited print runs and Unlimited image use.
Kind Regards,
Fotolia UK
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So the words "unlimited image use" is then purposely a misleading statement, which is not only untrue to mislead unsuspected buyers, but will also prompt most buyers to use the images purchased outside of the "actual" usage rights. Wow, setting new ethical standards in the industry (at our expense).
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I think you pay 10 Dollar each month but you are only getting the initial 10 downloads one time, and then you have to pay for every download a Dollar. The photographer get only his subscription commission if the buyer actually downloads a photo. Fotolia get its ten Dollar every month and in addition their commission if they buyer pays and download a photo.
Buyer downloads two photos in a month he pays 10 Dollar plus 2 Dollar for the actual downloads this results in 12 Dollar payment.
Photographer get his commissions for the two downloads let's say 30%, 30% from two Dollar are 0.6 Dollar.
So Fotolia gets 12 Dollar but has only to pay 0.6 Dollar in commission, this results in only 5% artist commission.
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An important part of the discussion was locked down here http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/dollar-photo-club/25/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/dollar-photo-club/25/)
That should be moved over here. Especially this comment.
Hi guys,
To set the record straight, DPC does not offer Extended licenses and does not allow for Extended license use with the images. The term "unlimited" referenced above is regarding the print run which is unlimited.
The license agreement can be read here and is pretty straight forward: [url]http://www.dollarphotoclub.com/Info/RoyaltyFreeLicense[/url] ([url]http://www.dollarphotoclub.com/Info/RoyaltyFreeLicense[/url])
To clarify, DPC members cannot use the images on objects that will be resold where the primary value is found with the image. No coffee cups, greeting cards, tee shirts, etc. They cannot distribute the images to multiple clients. To do so they would need to purchase the image each time, etc. For that type of use, DPC members are referred to Fotolia.com where they need to purchase an Extended license.
Cheers,
it seems that unlimited print runs are not considered an EL. Which is utterly ridiculous. How can someone in the industry defend an unlimited print run NOT to be an EL. SS has a limit of 250,000 and otherwise an EL is needed. On Fotolia's Dollar Club I can now get an unlimited print licence for a dollar.
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Until very recently Fotolia did not have any print run restriction in their standard license.
Here (http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/extended-creativity-and-licenses/)we can find the announcement that this will change and a print run of up to 500.000 will be covered with the standard license.
I just checked their license terms on their website, the restriction to 500.000 is indeed now in the standard license terms.
Interesting that Fotolia UK (see jarih's post above) doesn't seem to know this...
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Next conversation, is this misleading marketing?
Hi,
I don't agree that this is misleading.
The licences have no global or time restrictions so the images can be used unlimited in this way. A downloader can also use it in unlimited multiple projects under the terms of the Standard Licence too.
Kind Regards,
Fotolia UK
UNDER the SL.. it is LIMITED.. and misleading!
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unless you rely on the money from Fotolia, make a stand and delete your account. Photographers have to make a stand. I have $1 more to make a payout and then I'm gone.
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I have serious doubts this will generate increased revenue for anyone other than FT since I'm not convinced these "bulk buyers" are anything other than a cannibalization of existing or perhaps dormant customers already attuned to buying from FT.
To be fair, FT are only doing as others do in this business and (sad to say) in most of the larger corporations I've worked with i.e. having singularly failed to penetrate and grow new markets they resort to squeezing every last drop out of their suppliers and existing customer base to manufacture profit from flattening revenue streams.
Not very entrepreneurial in my opinion and the consequence of the short term vision now ingrained in many organizations. As someone once said in a meeting "so what happens after we've picked all the low hanging fruit you keep banging on about?"
Appropriate response: "We're f**ked mate."
Actual response: Gobbledygook and a swift end to another useless meeting
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I get 37% on Fotolia (emerald), so I guess I should be receiving $0.37 per download from this DPC deal, is that right ?
If that's the case I have yet to see a download from DPC on my Fotolia account.
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I get 37% on Fotolia (emerald), so I guess I should be receiving $0.37 per download from this DPC deal, is that right ?
If that's the case I have yet to see a download from DPC on my Fotolia account.
I understood those sales will be credited as normal subs downloads, so you won't be able to distinguish between regular subs and sales from the DPC.
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I get 37% on Fotolia (emerald), so I guess I should be receiving $0.37 per download from this DPC deal, is that right ?
If that's the case I have yet to see a download from DPC on my Fotolia account.
No you will only see a subscription download!
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The buyer is told 1$ - 1 photo, which is a typical pay-per-image deal. Why then Fotolia pays the subscription royalty?
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The buyer is told 1$ - 1 photo, which is a typical pay-per-image deal. Why then Fotolia pays the subscription royalty?
Because Fotolia does not want to pay the % of your rank and does not want to count the downloads as credit download to calculate your rank.
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The buyer is told 1$ - 1 photo, which is a typical pay-per-image deal. Why then Fotolia pays the subscription royalty?
Because Fotolia does not want to pay the % of your rank and does not want to count the downloads as credit download to calculate your rank.
The ranking system became pointless anyway. The better rank you have the worse search position you have (they put lower rank in better search position to pay smaller %). Since I have very high rank and very low earnings (much lower than few years ago) I'm thinking about asking Fotolia to move me back to much lower rank. I'm punished for having high rank, simple as that. And they are the ones who introduced ranking system at the first place, not me.
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The ranking system became pointless anyway. The better rank you have the worse search position you have (they put lower rank in better search position to pay smaller %)...
Is that proven or just your theory?
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The ranking system became pointless anyway. The better rank you have the worse search position you have (they put lower rank in better search position to pay smaller %)...
Is that proven or just your theory?
Just a theory, of course.
There is noone at Fotolia you can talk to, they don't answer to questions like this. And their forums are a joke.
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I've started to see "File Sold" -e-mails from m.fotolia.com so I suppose these are coming from the "million dollar club" ;)
In my small opinion that club just sucks big time for contributors and fotolia. First they raised vector pricing from 4 -> 6 credits and then they do this one dollar scheisse. Interesting way to do business.
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I get 37% on Fotolia (emerald), so I guess I should be receiving $0.37 per download from this DPC deal, is that right ?
If that's the case I have yet to see a download from DPC on my Fotolia account.
I wonder if by spinning off a new agency, DPC, that this legally nullifies the FT agreement and we have to live by the terms of the new DPC T&C's. I'm no lawyer but seems precisely like what they are doing.
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http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/comparison-of-standard-rf-license-agreements/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/comparison-of-standard-rf-license-agreements/)
FT has been screwing everyone for years and people are just now figuring this out????
General Information
By uploading your files to Fotolia, you are presenting your work to millions of image buyers around the world, 24/7. There are no registration or portfolio management fees, and you have the potential to earn thousands of dollars every month.
Selling creative files on Fotolia requires strict adherence to Fotolia's Terms and Conditions:
You must be at least 18 years old
You must be the author of all the files you upload
You must own, or have authorization for all the rights to the elements represented in your files (products, people, property ...)
When your files are sold, they can be used without limits on time or the number of copies printed. The customer may use a single file in multiple applications including advertising or marketing materials, press releases, articles, business documents, packaging, websites, and blogs. Extended (X) Licenses allow customers to use images on items for resale, such as t-shirts, calendars and other image-based products.
For every file sold, you will receive a royalty payout based on your portfolio exclusivity and ranking:
from 20% to 63% for content sold via single-image download
from 0.25 Credits to 0.40 Credits for content sold via Subscription download
Sales from Fotolia resellers via re-licensing will be granted the same royalty payout for single-image or Subscription downloads.
Please note: you will be asked to select the currency zone when you register on Fotolia. Please choose carefully, as once an account is validated, the zone cannot be changed.
You can decide to remove your files from the database at any time. In this case, your files may remain online and available for sale for 3 months. They are definitely removed after this period of 3 months.
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Do you still sell your works on extended license for a subscription price?
Community of russian-speaking contributors will be remove their works from the Fotolia and DPC portfolios. This is due to a violation of the rights of authors and dumping policy pursued by the administration of these stocks.
Deactivation Day - May 1, 2014!
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Excuse me but is it possible for BS to offer lower royalties? They added that failed 50,000 DL RC level. And already pay less than SS. How much lower can it go there?
I closed my FT account and I must say, they waited for the end of the month and removed everything and paid me in 30 days. Couldn't have been any smoother or easy.
I closed mine over the partner programs and potential of losing all rights to everything because of mass distribution to unknown agencies, lack of detailed accounting or being able to monitor what was going on with my work. A general plague that's been afflicting microstock.
It would not surprise me a bit to find that SS is offering similar API deals via BS where they pay lower royalties overall.
They will push the API that brings the greatest returns for them, my comment was in reference to using bigstocks API over shutterstocks API implementation.
And yes they have kept pricing stagnant for 9 years to capture market share. If that market shares starts to slide, I do not think they will have any problem devaluing our assets further to garner a larger share of the market.
https://www.bigstockphoto.com/partners/ (https://www.bigstockphoto.com/partners/)
http://help.bigstockphoto.com/hc/en-us/articles/200303245-API-Documentation (http://help.bigstockphoto.com/hc/en-us/articles/200303245-API-Documentation)
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Here is a link to Russian petition
http://boycottfotolia.org/ru/petition.html#.U1vqIlf85Gw (http://boycottfotolia.org/ru/petition.html#.U1vqIlf85Gw)
Now it is translated in English.
http://boycottfotolia.org/en/main.html#.U1_ISlf85Gw (http://boycottfotolia.org/en/main.html#.U1_ISlf85Gw)
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Hi All,
I can tell you with 100% confidence that the Fotolia team cares very much for the photographers and respects your opinions and feedback. Your concerns about being in Dollar Photo Club have been heard and I’ve been told that soon an option for contributors to choose will be made available to all Fotolia contributors. In the meantime if you do not want your images sold through Dollar Photo Club send your request via a Fotolia customer support ticket and you will be manually removed.
A couple of points of interest. Contrary to what has been posted earlier in this thread, every dollar spent by a Dollar Photo Club member goes towards a download. Every image downloaded at DPC is paid to the artist through Fotolia immediately. Monthly members pay $10 per month and receive 10 downloads. Annual members pay $99 and receive 99 downloads. Each of those downloads pay a commission to the contributing artist.
Something you may not have considered is that the Dollar Photo Club membership actually is more beneficial to the contributors than traditional subscriptions. In a traditional subscription if the sub expires, unused downloads also expire. As a result, no commission is paid. At Dollar Photo Club, even after a member cancels their subscription they can use their unused downloads. As a result, a higher percentage of money spent goes to the photographer.
Another misconception is the license. The license sold via Dollar Photo Club is a Standard license. Members that need Extended licenses are referred to Fotolia to purchase them. Soon an Extended License will be made available to Dollar Photo Club members at rates similar to those at Fotolia.
The simple truth of the matter is this. The only way for Fotolia and/or Dollar Photo Club to be successful is for the contributors to be successful. Regardless of what has been written in msg, the interests of FT and of the contributors are aligned. The goal for all parties involved is to drive sales. Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors. The site will continue to grow and to push sales in a positive direction for all of us.
-Mat Hayward
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Hi All,
I can tell you with 100% confidence that the Fotolia team cares very much for the photographers and respects your opinions and feedback. Your concerns about being in Dollar Photo Club have been heard and I’ve been told that soon an option for contributors to choose will be made available to all Fotolia contributors. In the meantime if you do not want your images sold through Dollar Photo Club send your request via a Fotolia customer support ticket and you will be manually removed.
A couple of points of interest. Contrary to what has been posted earlier in this thread, every dollar spent by a Dollar Photo Club member goes towards a download. Every image downloaded at DPC is paid to the artist through Fotolia immediately. Monthly members pay $10 per month and receive 10 downloads. Annual members pay $99 and receive 99 downloads. Each of those downloads pay a commission to the contributing artist.
Something you may not have considered is that the Dollar Photo Club membership actually is more beneficial to the contributors than traditional subscriptions. In a traditional subscription if the sub expires, unused downloads also expire. As a result, no commission is paid. At Dollar Photo Club, even after a member cancels their subscription they can use their unused downloads. As a result, a higher percentage of money spent goes to the photographer.
Another misconception is the license. The license sold via Dollar Photo Club is a Standard license. Members that need Extended licenses are referred to Fotolia to purchase them. Soon an Extended License will be made available to Dollar Photo Club members at rates similar to those at Fotolia.
The simple truth of the matter is this. The only way for Fotolia and/or Dollar Photo Club to be successful is for the contributors to be successful. Regardless of what has been written in msg, the interests of FT and of the contributors are aligned. The goal for all parties involved is to drive sales. Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors. The site will continue to grow and to push sales in a positive direction for all of us.
-Mat Hayward
Sorry Matt, but I have to call the BS card on your feedback, as much as I respect you. ACTIONS speak louder than words, and we can quantify their actions by the lack of growth, declining commissions, manipulating the search to de-emphasize Emeralds, etc.....we FEEL the results of those actions. They are moving to aggressively further cheapen the market with DTP and whenever anyone posts anything negative about this on their forums they close it down. In my opinion they are very unprofessional and tend to hold grudges. Example: When Joanne was interested in re-joining FT they said no, we do not wish to do business with you, or something along those lines. They should have embraced such a fine artist and leveraged her assets accordingly. But that's their decision. FT has proven far beyond a reasonable doubt that all they care about is them, and not one iota about their suppliers.....and I am 100% sure it's because the supply of digital assets will keep them shored up no matter how crappy they treat us and no matter how many contributors might leave.
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Another misconception is the license. The license sold via Dollar Photo Club is a Standard license. Members that need Extended licenses are referred to Fotolia to purchase them. Soon an Extended License will be made available to Dollar Photo Club members at rates similar to those at Fotolia.
Well, it's _your_ standard license. In particular, most other agencies require an extended license for both unlimited reproductions and multi-seat use. Your "standard license" allows:
"The Member may create a digital library, network configuration or similar arrangement to allow the Work to be viewed by their employees, partners and clients. "
which certainly sounds like a typical multi-seat license. Unusually, though you prohibit the usage of content by a buyer for more than one client, which is certainly not a "standard license" as seen elsewhere, and which does conflict, imo, with "a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide, non-transferable sublicense to use, reproduce, modify and/or display the Work, for any purpose other than as prohibited hereunder. "
Also, that last bit indicates unlimited reproductions, and I can't find anything that would say otherwise. So, that's two typical ELs that you include in your "standard license".
As a buyer, I'd be afraid of the wording of this bit. Who knows what someone in an image "may find offensive":
"they shall not ... use the Work in a way that places any person in the photo in a bad light or depicts them in a way that they may find offensive"
A vegan may be offended by being in an ad for burgers.
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As a buyer, I'd be afraid of the wording of this bit. Who knows what someone in an image "may find offensive":
"they shall not ... use the Work in a way that places any person in the photo in a bad light or depicts them in a way that they may find offensive"
Hmmm.
Stocksy 3c: shall not "use the Content in a way that is considered by STOCKSY in its sole discretion, or under applicable law, that may be considered pornographic, obscene, immoral, infringing, defamatory or libelous in nature, or that would be reasonably likely to bring any person or property reflected in the Content into disrepute;
Shutterstock 13: 13.
Use an Image in a way that depicts any person therein in a way that a reasonable person might find offensive - this includes, but is not limited to the use of Images: a) in pornography, "adult videos" or the like; b) in ads for tobacco products; c) in ads or promotional materials for adult entertainment clubs or similar venues, or for escort, dating or similar services; d) in connection with political endorsements; e) in advertisements or promotional materials for pharmaceutical or healthcare, herbal or medical products or services, including, but not limited to dietary supplements, digestive aids, herbal supplements, personal hygiene or birth control products; and f) uses that are defamatory, or contain otherwise unlawful, offensive or immoral content. You may not use an Image containing the likeness of a person if such use implies that the model engages in any immoral or illegal activity or suffers from a physical or mental infirmity, ailment or condition.
iStock 4a6 "use the Content in a fashion that is considered by iStock (acting reasonably) as or under applicable law is considered pornographic, obscene, immoral, infringing, defamatory or libelous in nature, or that would be reasonably likely to bring any person or property reflected in the Content into disrepute" modified in the following paragraph point that they can be so used with a 'posed by model' sort of disclaimer.
DepositPhotos: "Under NO circumstances can Files be used ... In items or products used to promote racism or other discriminatory practices that could embarrass the File contributor or a person or model in the File;
For the use, demonstration, and posting of materials in a way that would lead to the conclusion that the model in the File approves of or endorses the items or services of any venture or trademark."
AlamyRF 3.9: "If any Image featuring a model is used in (i) a manner that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the model personally uses or endorses a product or service, or (ii) if the depiction of the model in the Image would be unflattering or unduly controversial to a reasonable person, you must accompany each such use with a statement indicating that the person is a model and the Image is being used for illustrative purposes only."
etc etc.
Yet a contributor here has assured us twice that 'erotic writings' are allowed uses by most of the agencies with no 'posed by model' signifier required.
Is there any legal definition of 'reasonable person', 'reasonably', or 'acting reasonably'?
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Hi All,
I can tell you with 100% confidence that the Fotolia team cares very much for the photographers and respects your opinions and feedback. Your concerns about being in Dollar Photo Club have been heard and I’ve been told that soon an option for contributors to choose will be made available to all Fotolia contributors. In the meantime if you do not want your images sold through Dollar Photo Club send your request via a Fotolia customer support ticket and you will be manually removed.
A couple of points of interest. Contrary to what has been posted earlier in this thread, every dollar spent by a Dollar Photo Club member goes towards a download. Every image downloaded at DPC is paid to the artist through Fotolia immediately. Monthly members pay $10 per month and receive 10 downloads. Annual members pay $99 and receive 99 downloads. Each of those downloads pay a commission to the contributing artist.
Something you may not have considered is that the Dollar Photo Club membership actually is more beneficial to the contributors than traditional subscriptions. In a traditional subscription if the sub expires, unused downloads also expire. As a result, no commission is paid. At Dollar Photo Club, even after a member cancels their subscription they can use their unused downloads. As a result, a higher percentage of money spent goes to the photographer.
Another misconception is the license. The license sold via Dollar Photo Club is a Standard license. Members that need Extended licenses are referred to Fotolia to purchase them. Soon an Extended License will be made available to Dollar Photo Club members at rates similar to those at Fotolia.
The simple truth of the matter is this. The only way for Fotolia and/or Dollar Photo Club to be successful is for the contributors to be successful. Regardless of what has been written in msg, the interests of FT and of the contributors are aligned. The goal for all parties involved is to drive sales. Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors. The site will continue to grow and to push sales in a positive direction for all of us.
-Mat Hayward
Mat,
if FT really cares for their contributors, then I'd like them to completely scrap the Dollar Photo Club as well as their mini-subscriptions.
Both of those are simply taking away credit sales. Who in his right mind would spend 10 credits on an XL file, when he can get 10 XXL files for 10 Dollars?
Subscriptions do only work (sort of) for contributors, if there is huge volume and if they are no replacement for credit sales of low-volume buyers. That only works if subscription buyers have to fork out a reasonably high amount (significantly higher than the amount needed to buy a few high-res files on credits) to buy a subscription.
This is the reason why both these initiatives are completely against the interest of contributors.
So, if you care, stop them both.
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Is there any legal definition of 'reasonable person', 'reasonably', or 'acting reasonably'?
I was pointing out the difference between (A) what everyone else says and what presumably could be decided by a judge, and (B) letting the person be the final say (per the wording) on what is "offensive" to them:
"depicts them in a way that they may find offensive"
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I remember being exclusive at FT many moons ago and this gave me the option to 'opt out' of sub sales which I did for a short period of time. Bad experiment....no sales for weeks because my placement in the search was annihilated. It's the way their algo works.
Why do I get the idea that the same will happen to DPC opt-outees? Because, if there's one thing in which FT shows any consistency, it's making more for themselves by reducing earnings of contributors.
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Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors.
not that I care but where can we see that wonderful information?
apart from that how can it be positive for FT and contributors if DPC is undercutting FT?
the XXL size (Silver ranking and above) is selling at FT for 36 credits, the same goes for 1$ at DPC
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Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors.
not that I care but where can we see that wonderful information?
apart from that how can it be positive for FT and contributors if DPC is undercutting FT?
the XXL size (Silver ranking and above) is selling at FT for 36 credits, the same goes for 1$ at DPC
I think it becomes positive because, overall, subs are more profitable for them than OD's. Of course that isn't profitable for us, but probably substantially for them. Not to keep pounding on Matt (he's probably a real good guy, just being the messenger more or less) but it's NOT good for contributors if all of our FT sales end up being cannibalized by DPC. Great for FT, very bad for contributor.
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Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors.
not that I care but where can we see that wonderful information?
apart from that how can it be positive for FT and contributors if DPC is undercutting FT?
the XXL size (Silver ranking and above) is selling at FT for 36 credits, the same goes for 1$ at DPC
I think it becomes positive because, overall, subs are more profitable for them than OD's. Of course that isn't profitable for us, but probably substantially for them. Not to keep pounding on Matt (he's probably a real good guy, just being the messenger more or less) but it's NOT good for contributors if all of our FT sales end up being cannibalized by DPC. Great for FT, very bad for contributor.
sure but I don't think it is that great for FT!
lets do some maths :)
at DPC
contributor gets from 0.2$ to 0.46$ (non exclusive)
FT 0.44$ to 0.8$ per file
at FT
XXL size Silver ranking - 12 credits - (contributor gets 3$, FT 9$)
XXL size can go up to 36$ (contributor gets 14.4$, FT 21.6$)
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Dollar Photo Club has already proven to be successful and has resulted in many sales paid out to contributors.
not that I care but where can we see that wonderful information?
apart from that how can it be positive for FT and contributors if DPC is undercutting FT?
the XXL size (Silver ranking and above) is selling at FT for 36 credits, the same goes for 1$ at DPC
I think it becomes positive because, overall, subs are more profitable for them than OD's. Of course that isn't profitable for us, but probably substantially for them. Not to keep pounding on Matt (he's probably a real good guy, just being the messenger more or less) but it's NOT good for contributors if all of our FT sales end up being cannibalized by DPC. Great for FT, very bad for contributor.
sure but I don't think it is that great for FT!
lets do some maths :)
at DPC
contributor gets from 0.2$ to 0.46$ (non exclusive)
FT 0.44$ to 0.8$ per file
at FT
XXL size Silver ranking - 12 credits - (contributor gets 3$, FT 9$)
XXL size can go up to 36$ (contributor gets 14.4$, FT 21.6$)
Right. I think there's two main issues.
1. Sub pack pricing. For ft they effectively get away with paying us less.
2. They are trying to FORMALIZE a subs program not necessarily to complete against themselves, but to take share from IS, SS, two more or less high volume sub sites.
My intuition is that while their sub pack pricing may bring them less than their FT pricing they can actually grow revenue through customer volume. Thats my thinking anyway and it could be way wrong. I haven't bothered to look at pricing on the two sites but they must have data that provides purchase modes & means and done the math that told them to open up DPC. I think they know the weighted purchasing behaviors (how many each sub customer actually uses of their package allotment) of the modes and determined the technical outcome of CHA CHING!
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BTW this DPC not a subscription at all.
1) This is a credit pack with 1 credit=1$ ( other sites has 1.4 or about it and only when buying big amount)
2) Price of xxl photo is set to 1$ instead of 7-20 or so on other sites.
So it's double damping scheme masked as a sub system.
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Please help to bring this info to maximum artists.
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Here is commercial for Dollar Photo Club on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E3SkLrkjoY&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E3SkLrkjoY&feature=youtu.be)
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Good news is Fotolia added the button , now you can remove your portfolio from DPC.
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Good news is Fotolia added the button , now you can remove your portfolio from DPC.
It is currently under 'My Profile' and in that under 'Contributor Parameters'
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Bad that it's on by default.
and they still try to say us that this is sub site.
This is credit site.
So keep action.
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it is NO Sub site,
No Credit site
its an on demand site!!!
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deleted (wrong topic)
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It's the new trend on agencies like FT or DP.
Call everything a subscription plan to pay subscription royalties.
Soon they will change the word upload into subscribe and contributors will be subscribing images to them and everything will be a subscription.
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I bought dollarphoto.club domain name today!
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I bought dollarphoto.club domain name today!
lol start a own agency. The Fair Alternate
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I bought dollarphoto.club domain name today!
Smart move. You may make a million $$$ on that some day!