MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Photography Discussion => Topic started by: sigalavaca on November 16, 2015, 15:32
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I'm still quite new to this business with a relatively small port on several sites, mostly editorial and travel photos. But I've been noticing a weird pattern with some pretty specific images (e.g.: traditional household in rural Senegal) being sold on the same day in 2, or sometimes 3 different agencies. Always as subs.
So I would like to hear the most experienced colleagues, is it just a coincidence and statistical noise, or a pattern? If the latter, what would be the explanation?
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I'm not the most experienced but I think it is probably a coincidence
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My best guess would be some event that has multiple customers looking for images of that type or from that location. Different buyers have their preferred sites and so go there when they need something.
I have some images from San Antonio, TX and I can generally tell if there's something that gets San Antonio into the news as there's a little bump in sales for that image.
Way back when I was offering free image of the week to various sites, I noted that people were buying an image at other sites when it was free that week and one site. That told me that people don't shop around much (except when making the decision about where to buy in general).
Why subscriptions versus credits? Because they've gone to "their" agency and used an existing subscription.
But this is all just educated guesswork
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Thank you Jo Ann, that makes a lot of sense.
Since it's been happening on weekly basis I started to worry it could be the same buyers to avoid buying an Extended Licence. But probably it is just some event triggering the sales of these niche pics, too bad that reverse search rarely finds anything.
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Since it's been happening on weekly basis I started to worry it could be the same buyers to avoid buying an Extended Licence.
It seems to me that's not a likely scenario. If the buyer is going to cheat, why buy more than one license? Just abuse the license terms and use the image however you want...
There are some agencies, like Fotolia, that permit usages that elsewhere would require an extended license with print on demand sites. They allow the would-be purchaser to offer images for prints without purchasing any license and to purchase one license for each print sale actually made. Other sites require an extended license to offer prints on physical media like T shirts or wall art.
As far as finding your images in use, have you tried searching for your name (or your login name at whatever agency)? That can turn up the credit lines (on web sites, sometimes it's in the alt text so you won't see it on the page) for web uses
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It's not unusual. What you have is a good photo that is appealing to a wide range of people and getting some sales. This should make you happy. You should use it as a learning opportunity to shoot similar images that could also get the same attention.
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This is one of the microstock phenomenons which hasn't been resolved. Happens to me frequently..