MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Adobe Stock => Topic started by: Miguel Calo on September 18, 2013, 12:58
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Hi, all!
Something's missing but I can't figure it out. My sales are almost down to zero and it didn't use to be like that.
Is somebody else experiencing the same thing? Especially now in August, September... :'(
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There are many threads about sales on FT. Did you see them? In the fotolia section of this forum.
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yes but I don't have an answer...
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My sales didn't drop. Actually, they are pretty good but to me it looks like they changed their image acceptance policy.
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I think a lot of contributors disapointed by istock arrive on fotolia now
and there is more competition
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"Is Fotolia dying? Or what happens?"
The answer is: "What happens!"
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certainly dead for me, over a year now since my sales hit the bottom level, i don't anticipate much from them any more, elsewhere, sales are ok, nothing like that,so my be bad luck to blame,who knows:))
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so why thier rank is still on no3??????? :-\
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so why thier rank is still on no3??????? :-\
They've shifted sales from higher (more expensive) ranked contributors to newer, lower ranked (lower cost) contributors. It's my impression that a lot of newer members to FT are doing extremely well there, so that's probably why they still rank #3.
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so why thier rank is still on no3??????? :-\
They've shifted sales from higher (more expensive) ranked contributors to newer, lower ranked (lower cost) contributors. It's my impression that a lot of newer members to FT are doing extremely well there, so that's probably why they still rank #3.
Probably they shifted as you mentioned. I am silver and I see a remarkable increase in the sales this month. But I had been waiting for a very looong time indeed...
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Congrats on your resurgent sales ACS! It's always such a relief when they start to pick up after a long dry spell :)
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small port - 9 pics
total sals - 54
biggest seller - mailbox 44 sale
Don;t know if it's dying but my sales are growing
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small port - 9 pics
total sals - 54
biggest seller - mailbox 44 sale
Don;t know if it's dying but my sales are growing
Statistic from 9 pictures maybe not too relevant for an overall picture, but at least you honest about it. I have seen many threads of excited contributors (mostly newbies) how sales are rising on MSG and at a second look it turned out that they have a comparable port to your one.
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I know its a small port compared to others. But the question was "is fotolia dying". If my small port draws sales than a large port should do just fine. FT may be slowing down some but it's not dying. yet
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I think a lot of contributors disapointed by istock arrive on fotolia now
and there is more competition
Frying pans and fires come to mind.
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I'm also unsuccessful in fotolia recently. Just last year, in autumn (i'm selling mostly vector images) i used to get payout every month there . Sales were very steady, everything was great, it was one of my favorite agencies... and now my monthly earnings are 1/10 of what it used to be last year at the same time and continue getting worse. I am thinking of stopping uploading there. With somewhere about 1500 works online - just several dollars/month... I've just done one simple vector illustration for one client in about one hour (working as freelancer) - and i've earned twice more.
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I know its a small port compared to others. But the question was "is fotolia dying". If my small port draws sales than a large port should do just fine. FT may be slowing down some but it's not dying. yet
This sounds like a very logical argument. Unfortunately, Fotolia actually punishes success by pushing emerald and above portfolios way down in the searches and promoting smaller, newer ports.
The reason for this, it has been speculated, is that they keep a much higher % of the sales of low ranked contribs, so they are saving a LOT of money by promoting them over more established and larger portfolios.
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I am silver with 2200 images - and FT is working well for me - second to SS -
it is true - that lower levels got better search position lately
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I am silver with 2200 images - and FT is working well for me - second to SS -
it is true - that lower levels got better search position lately
how many pictures have you got approved this year?
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I am silver with 2200 images - and FT is working well for me - second to SS -
it is true - that lower levels got better search position lately
I didnt. So its not true?
Which one is it?
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I am silver with 2200 images - and FT is working well for me - second to SS -
it is true - that lower levels got better search position lately
how many pictures have you got approved this year?
about 800 - but FT is far behind SS
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I am silver with 2200 images - and FT is working well for me - second to SS -
it is true - that lower levels got better search position lately
how many pictures have you got approved this year?
about 800 - but FT is far behind SS
that might be the reason
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This sounds like a very logical argument. Unfortunately, Fotolia actually punishes success by pushing emerald and above portfolios way down in the searches and promoting smaller, newer ports.
The reason for this, it has been speculated, is that they keep a much higher % of the sales of low ranked contribs, so they are saving a LOT of money by promoting them over more established and larger portfolios.
I am emerald, sales way down, lost 80% sales within two years.
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I am emerald, sales way down, lost 80% sales within two years.
Same story here. I feel your pain...
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Yeah, I can say exactly the same here.
I was never very happy with Fotolia sales but they were ok-ish until December 2010. Sudden drop 30%.
Then March -April 2011 sudden drop another 50%, since then it goes down only and now I am making around 10% of what I made before December 2010.
I am not motivated to upload anymore and last two years I did not upload much.
If we are losing sales on Fotolia and they're losing uploads from us, at the end of the day, I don't even know who is losing more.
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Kone, I have read quite a few people suggesting that Fotolia requires regular uploads or they drop your images even further back. I don't know if it's true. I've been uploading around 40/month and my sales are still slipping, but I don't know if it would be even worse if I stopped.
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Nope Fotolia is not dying .... constant sales for me.... :D, and from my point of view FT is my 2nd earner after SS. Considering that i don't contribute on IS, the pool is correct.
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Kone, I have read quite a few people suggesting that Fotolia requires regular uploads or they drop your images even further back. I don't know if it's true. I've been uploading around 40/month and my sales are still slipping, but I don't know if it would be even worse if I stopped.
I have stopped uploading and my sales have dropped by about 30%. Also a FT representative told me I would be punished in the search when I told her I stopped uploading because of their latest price cut for old files
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I stopped uploading and my earnings fell. Then I uploaded a big batch one day and my earnings fell even more. I think they have made changes that hit most people that used to do well there. It does make sense for sites not to just keep selling the same old stuff but it means that only a few people will be able to do this full time. I hope Shutterstock hasn't done the same thing. It looks like they might of at the moment.
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I hope that's what it is so they can change it back the way it was. I'm having my worst october month ever at SS.
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It's the same story here. I am emerald with 20k images. I am still uploading more than 200 images every month. Sales droped down to 20% of the BME what happened back in 2010. I am sure they are not dying but they are dead for me.
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It's the same story here. I am emerald with 20k images. I am still uploading more than 200 images every month. Sales droped down to 20% of the BME what happened back in 2010. I am sure they are not dying but they are dead for me.
Amen!
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It's the same story here. I am emerald with 20k images. I am still uploading more than 200 images every month. Sales droped down to 20% of the BME what happened back in 2010. I am sure they are not dying but they are dead for me.
that is just great! work hard and get the proper reward, after a while they decide to take it away, nicely done FT ;D
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Yes, it's a really strange and confusing situation... The earnings fell down since summer... and now it's October... :o
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This is not the fist time they are doing this. I still remember when they raised the level limits in their royalty structure. I was one or two months away from the next level and a day after it jumped to 3-4 years away. I still aeven't reached that. With the recent number of downloads it is still 3-4 years away. Nevermind I do not want to reach the next level since it seems it will just drop me back even further in the search results.
Well, what they are doing is logical but very unethical.
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Kone, I have read quite a few people suggesting that Fotolia requires regular uploads or they drop your images even further back. I don't know if it's true. I've been uploading around 40/month and my sales are still slipping, but I don't know if it would be even worse if I stopped.
I have stopped uploading and my sales have dropped by about 30%. Also a FT representative told me I would be punished in the search when I told her I stopped uploading because of their latest price cut for old files
Thanks for confirming this Ron. I better get my next batch ready ;)
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It's the same story here. I am emerald with 20k images. I am still uploading more than 200 images every month. Sales droped down to 20% of the BME what happened back in 2010. I am sure they are not dying but they are dead for me.
It takes such a lot of work to upload 200/month. To do that and still see decline would be extremely discouraging!
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It's the same story here. I am emerald with 20k images. I am still uploading more than 200 images every month. Sales droped down to 20% of the BME what happened back in 2010. I am sure they are not dying but they are dead for me.
It takes such a lot of work to upload 200/month. To do that and still see decline would be extremely discouraging!
I think anyone in that position should look at what new uploads have earned for the last six months and ask some hard questions about whether uploading anything else makes any sense.
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Kone, I have read quite a few people suggesting that Fotolia requires regular uploads or they drop your images even further back. I don't know if it's true. I've been uploading around 40/month and my sales are still slipping, but I don't know if it would be even worse if I stopped.
Thanks Lisa, yes I read that too but the last couple of years I've been doing things other than stock and I haven't had the time to produce a lot of images. To be honest, since sales are going down everywhere, that does not encourage me to take new photos and upload them.
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Here is an observation the is concerning me slightly when it comes to FT.
I regularly read a certain magazine when waiting at my hairdresser. For months I've seen it illustrated largely with images from FT.
Today, I looked at it again - and about 5 in that 100 page magazine were FT - the rest were largely IS/TS.
So FT seems to be loosing market share in Germany, where it used to have a strong showing for years.
Of course, the observation is not representative, but maybe suggestive. It seems to suggest that FT and IS/TS fight over the same market segment/ customer base and FT seems to be on the losing end (hmm with those search results not surprising). I guess this also gives a bit of an explanation why FT seemingly follows IS' price strategy/ race to the bottom.
OF course - it could also be a faulty conclusion as it was made on just one observation.
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Very different for me. FT is really picking up this month. 8)
Hi, all!
Something's missing but I can't figure it out. My sales are almost down to zero and it didn't use to be like that.
Is somebody else experiencing the same thing? Especially now in August, September... :'(
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I have a decent-sized portfolio of 2000-3000 photos on Shutterstock, istock, Dreamstime, Fotolia, Canstock, 123rf, Bigstock, and Depositphotos. For many years (since 2005), every month Fotolia was usually my third or fourth best selling agency. However, this year, they are my sixth best selling site and statistically not that far from the bottom. Also, after not adding photo to any sites for several years, I've added about 700 this year . . . . for some reason, my photos just aren't selling on Fotolia. Typically, Shutterstock, istock, and Dreamstime make up 70-80% of my sales.
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With nearly twice as many images on FT as on SS, I make 20% on FT of what I make on SS every month! All my more recent images on SS are also on FT and the better sellers on SS are the same as on FT and FT has improved recently (past 4 months)!
One thing that is noticeable about FT is that a best seller often tails off rapidly to near zero after a fairly short time whereas that same best seller on SS just keeps on getting downloads.
Notwithstanding the recent improvement in dl's for me at FT, it's just too unpredictable/unreliable as a source of income. It really seems to have that, 'One minute you're hot and the next minute you're not' character.
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so true OM, well said!
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If you keep shooting yourself in the head, eventually it has to have an effect. For years now, Fotolia seems to be at the forefront of anti-contributor actions- cutting royalties, subs taking over, changing searches to benefit them, not us, and at least in my case, an arrogance in communications that has left me unwilling to upload any more.
Most of my work is video now, and the prices they pay for a sale are absurd. I don't even bother checking in there more than once a month, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can forget they exist for even longer.
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If you keep shooting yourself in the head, eventually it has to have an effect. For years now, Fotolia seems to be at the forefront of anti-contributor actions- cutting royalties, subs taking over, changing searches to benefit them, not us, and at least in my case, an arrogance in communications that has left me unwilling to upload any more.
Most of my work is video now, and the prices they pay for a sale are absurd. I don't even bother checking in there more than once a month, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can forget they exist for even longer.
Somebody said this about them very recently, not on this forum though
It's true, Fotolia is still one of the most open minded libraries around, and one of the friendliest
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and at least in my case, an arrogance in communications that has left me unwilling to upload any more
Oh, you got it too, did you? I was gobsmacked by the way Chad talked to me.
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If you keep shooting yourself in the head, eventually it has to have an effect. For years now, Fotolia seems to be at the forefront of anti-contributor actions- cutting royalties, subs taking over, changing searches to benefit them, not us, and at least in my case, an arrogance in communications that has left me unwilling to upload any more.
Most of my work is video now, and the prices they pay for a sale are absurd. I don't even bother checking in there more than once a month, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can forget they exist for even longer.
If you don't like the price they sell video clips, why supply them? I have 327 video clips on Pond5 and zero on FT.
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and at least in my case, an arrogance in communications that has left me unwilling to upload any more
Oh, you got it too, did you? I was gobsmacked by the way Chad talked to me.
I figured out that when THE CHAD started appearing in forums, it was time not to take them too seriously!
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If you keep shooting yourself in the head, eventually it has to have an effect. For years now, Fotolia seems to be at the forefront of anti-contributor actions- cutting royalties, subs taking over, changing searches to benefit them, not us, and at least in my case, an arrogance in communications that has left me unwilling to upload any more.
Most of my work is video now, and the prices they pay for a sale are absurd. I don't even bother checking in there more than once a month, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can forget they exist for even longer.
If you don't like the price they sell video clips, why supply them? I have 327 video clips on Pond5 and zero on FT.
I don't. The only thing they have are stills, and the only reason I keep them there is inertia- I'm too lazy to figure out out to kill the whole thing.
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I found out how to get a Fotolia account closed immediately, with absolutely no back-and-forth frustration and no questions asked. In fact, you don't even need to go through the hassle of closing your account, deleting files, or any of that sort of thing. All you have to do is get a model who signed a model release to change her mind and contact them for you. I recently received the following message from Fotolia:
"Hello Carl,
We were recently contacted by one of your models, [model's name]. She has asked us to remove the images you uploaded even though a model release has been provided. This complaint has raised some questions about your account and as a result we have blocked your account until this issue can be resolved. If [model] will remove her request we can reopen your account. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Chad Bridwell
Director of Operations
Fotolia.com
206-683-4942
[email protected]
Skype – Chad_fotolia
Linkedin - www.linkedin.com/in/chadbridwell/ (http://www.linkedin.com/in/chadbridwell/)"
Why, you could even write such a message yourself, because I bet they didn't even check to see that the message was valid and actually sent from the model. And the fact that you can't edit or delete approved files in your portfolio has no bearing whatsoever.
So for those who are having trouble with closing your FT account, or if you've closed your account but your images are still being offered for sale, just pick one of your models and send a message as if you're him/her, telling Chad that you want images of you removed forthwith. That seems to work better than anything else.
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Holy crap, thats almost criminal behaviour, who do they think they are?
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It would be criminal if not for the fact that their "agreement" says they can do anything they want with your material and your account, for any reason or no reason. You don't have to agree to their terms, of course, but if you don't, you can't sell your material on their site... which might not be such a bad thing. I certainly won't miss 'em. :P
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The "other questions" bit is total an utter horse manure if it's down to the model having a change of heart.
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It would be criminal if not for the fact that their "agreement" says they can do anything they want with your material and your account, for any reason or no reason. You don't have to agree to their terms, of course, but if you don't, you can't sell your material on their site... which might not be such a bad thing. I certainly won't miss 'em. :P
FT is a bunch of greedy, incompetent sponges. They are arrogant and narcissistic and I wish them well in their path to self destruction.
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total joke....
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I don't. The only thing they have are stills, and the only reason I keep them there is inertia- I'm too lazy to figure out out to kill the whole thing.
Just send them a message to close your account. That worked for me after their last rate change, and it worked surprisingly fast. Photos were gone from the site within 24 hours...
Don't forget to tell them why you close the account ;D
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I am exclusive to Fotolia and emerald-colored.
I lost within a year about 60-70 percent of my income sales.
I am now almost bankrupt because I idiot trusted this idiots.
I trust you aren't still exclusive with them. If you are, you must have a lot of files you could upload at Shutterstock without activating them until you are ready. That might help to solve your problems.
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I trust you aren't still exclusive with them. If you are, you must have a lot of files you could upload at Shutterstock without activating them until you are ready. That might help to solve your problems.
Thank you for your note, this is a good tip, I did not know.
I'm still exclusive, but not for long.
If it then goes up again somewhere else (shutterstock), then I'll delete my account at Fatalia.
I'm looking for solutions at the moment. Your reference is a possibility.
I think I'll do it. Thank you!
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Fotolia was a great microstock site 5 years ago, and now the photographers are not worthy of their company. I can't understand how it is in the top tier when so many photographers are unhappy with the commission, cuts, and rejections. It's like being married to a person who beats the s----- out of you and that person thinks he can treat everyone the same. Not a good relationship to be in. But, after a while the person who is beaten down wakes up and take everything with him/her. (Portfolio)
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It's a long time ago, but I could swear that Fotolia was the first company to bleat endlessly about giving photographers a fair deal, how existing sites were ripping them off and the only way to end exploitation of creatives was to support Fot, etc, etc. Of course, that was when they had no content and were desperate to get enough to be able to compete with iS, SS and DT. They must have been laughing up their sleeves, given that the management doesn't seem to have changed since then.
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Make that #4, as Self Hosted just passed them. :) DT is hot on their tale.
I'd like to see statistical data from the survey, what was FT in numbers, not rank, last year for Oct. Nov. Dec? Then maybe someone could see if it's up or down or just looks like it's down for one individual?
Anyone have that?
so why thier rank is still on no3??????? :-\
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I don't. The only thing they have are stills, and the only reason I keep them there is inertia- I'm too lazy to figure out out to kill the whole thing.
Just send them a message to close your account. That worked for me after their last rate change, and it worked surprisingly fast. Photos were gone from the site within 24 hours...
Don't forget to tell them why you close the account ;D
Ok, the actual truth is I'm just too lazy. But, i promise I will do it today!
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I cancelled my account with Fotolia last year for this very reason. Weekly payouts dropped to payouts every three months practically overnight. No way was I going to contribute anymore to an agency that doesn't have my back.
Yesterday I discovered that Fotolia is still using my images on Google to draw in buyers, even though the photos are no longer there. How can they possibly do that after I terminated my contract? Ugh. Fotolia......the never-ending nightmare.
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Two days ago I wrote few words about Fatalia. Where is my post?? :o Is there no way to write my opinion? Censorship here?! Lol.
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Two days ago I wrote few words about Fatalia. Where is my post?? :o Is there no way to write my opinion? Censorship here?! Lol.
I guess its been deleted. Shame.
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My entry is also deleted. I think there were too many facts at once about fotolia. ::)
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My entry is also deleted. I think there were too many facts at once about fotolia. ::)
That's a shame. I thought your post provided useful information to the group and was certainly heartfelt. The wording was strong because it reflected your feelings __ quite understandingly so.
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My entry is also deleted. I think there were too many facts at once about fotolia. ::)
That's a shame. I thought your post provided useful information to the group and was certainly heartfelt. The wording was strong because it reflected your feelings __ quite understandingly so.
It would be interesting to know if this was a decision taken by the site, or if there was some pressure from Fotolia.
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My entry is also deleted. I think there were too many facts at once about fotolia. ::)
That's a shame. I thought your post provided useful information to the group and was certainly heartfelt. The wording was strong because it reflected your feelings __ quite understandingly so.
It would be interesting to know if this was a decision taken by the site, or if there was some pressure from Fotolia.
What 'pressure' could FT bring to bear here? They don't appear to advertise on MSG and, unlike Scott and Anthony from SS, they do not bother to contribute or help here either.
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so true, communication from FT is the worst of all agencies
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My entry is also deleted. I think there were too many facts at once about fotolia. ::)
That's a shame. I thought your post provided useful information to the group and was certainly heartfelt. The wording was strong because it reflected your feelings __ quite understandingly so.
It would be interesting to know if this was a decision taken by the site, or if there was some pressure from Fotolia.
What 'pressure' could FT bring to bear here? They don't appear to advertise on MSG and, unlike Scott and Anthony from SS, they do not bother to contribute or help here either.
Maybe, just maybe, they could pull the hostage card. If you dont delete those comments, we close the accounts.
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My entry is also deleted. I think there were too many facts at once about fotolia. ::)
That's a shame. I thought your post provided useful information to the group and was certainly heartfelt. The wording was strong because it reflected your feelings __ quite understandingly so.
It would be interesting to know if this was a decision taken by the site, or if there was some pressure from Fotolia.
What 'pressure' could FT bring to bear here? They don't appear to advertise on MSG and, unlike Scott and Anthony from SS, they do not bother to contribute or help here either.
Threat of legal action, maybe. I don't know, that's why I was asking.
I'm sure their communications are better when they want something, compared with when you want something.
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I joined Fotolia in 2006, and am Emerald in rank. My sales graph for FT shows a perfect bell curve from 2006 to now - sales initially grew rapidly, peaking in 2010, and have since declined just as dramatically, currently back to my 2008 levels and still falling. Since the decline started my sales have not improved at all whether I've uploaded regularly or not.
I'm very glad for all the newer contributors who are doing well - just a word of warning that you should be wary of doing too well - if you work like crazy and manage to climb their mountain, instead of supporting your efforts they give you a boot up the backside and push you back down the other side. Oh, and they deny doing it, of course.
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I joined Fotolia in 2006, and am Emerald in rank. My sales graph for FT shows a perfect bell curve from 2006 to now - sales initially grew rapidly, peaking in 2010, and have since declined just as dramatically, currently back to my 2008 levels and still falling. Since the decline started my sales have not improved at all whether I've uploaded regularly or not.
I'm very glad for all the newer contributors who are doing well - just a word of warning that you should be wary of doing too well - if you work like crazy and manage to climb their mountain, instead of supporting your efforts they give you a boot up the backside and push you back down the other side. Oh, and they deny doing it, of course.
To be honest I doubt if they've done themselves any favours either. Most times that significant contributors lose out then so does the agency. I suspect that one of the major reasons that Yuri and Andres recently defected to 'pretend exclusivity' was their inability to grow their income at FT. If they, like you and I, were back down to 2008 levels of sales then it is hardly surprising.
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I joined Fotolia in 2006, and am Emerald in rank. My sales graph for FT shows a perfect bell curve from 2006 to now - sales initially grew rapidly, peaking in 2010, and have since declined just as dramatically, currently back to my 2008 levels and still falling. Since the decline started my sales have not improved at all whether I've uploaded regularly or not.
I'm very glad for all the newer contributors who are doing well - just a word of warning that you should be wary of doing too well - if you work like crazy and manage to climb their mountain, instead of supporting your efforts they give you a boot up the backside and push you back down the other side. Oh, and they deny doing it, of course.
To be honest I doubt if they've done themselves any favours either. Most times that significant contributors lose out then so does the agency. I suspect that one of the major reasons that Yuri and Andres recently defected to 'pretend exclusivity' was their inability to grow their income at FT. If they, like you and I, were back down to 2008 levels of sales then it is hardly surprising.
You make good points. I live in hope that as a company they achieve the level of success they deserve. ;)