Author Topic: Buying Images Using Contributor Earnings (Read 4095 times)

THP Creative · « **on:** May 01, 2013, 04:06 »

Something came up this afternoon and I needed to buy a couple of images quickly for a little project. I haven't really had to do this before, so its new to me (always selling, never buying!) so if I have missed something please let me know.

But something struck me... Hardly any of the agencies that I tried allowed you to buy an image using the credit that you have in your account as earnings as a contributor. Eg: Say you have $50 in your earnings account that you've earned as a contributor and you want to buy 1 image using it.

I might have missed something, but it seemed I couldn't do it at 123rf, canstock, dreamstime, or shutterstock. I ended up being able to do it at Fotolia surprisingly enough.

These other agencies required you to buy a credit pack first, before you could do it. Perhaps you can use your earnings to buy a credit pack, but how does that help if you just want an image (or in my case 2).

So my thought from this experience is this: ALL AGENCIES need a SIMPLE way for contributors to buy images using their earnings, without pre-purchasing credits. Just buy a single image, money comes out from the earnings of the contributor. That simple.

Surely, this would be a way to boost sales.

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2013, 04:16 »

It used to be very easy to do this at iS, for $1 per credit, but I can't find the link now - anyone know if it still works, and if so, where the link is?
(It may not be relevant to the OP, as he didn't mention iS; but others might like to know)

gillian vann · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2013, 05:12 »

123 has a "convert balance to credits" link. I don't want to click it in case it actually does that without making me confirm again. (not being a fanboy, I was just in there today doing EOM stuff for my spreadsheet and I saw it)

JPSDK · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2013, 07:25 »

I have done it at fotolia. That was easy.

Mantis · « **Reply #4 on:** May 01, 2013, 07:27 »

Also very easy at Graphic Leftovers.

daveh900 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 01, 2013, 09:23 »

I've done it at Dreamstime and CanStock. A few simple clicks to convert earnings to credits.

THP Creative · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2013, 18:30 »

Thanks for your replies. I'm sure there are some agencies that it is simple at, but out of the ones I tried, simple didn't seem to be in their vocabulary (except Fotolia).

Not sure if some fully understood what I meant though. I did do it at Fotolia, and yes it was easy. Seems strange to me that Fotolia has it worked out better than the others.

As for Canstock and Dreamstime, the only options I saw was to get actual credits - not what I wanted. Especially with DT, the minimum credit pack was something like 20 or so, but I only wanted 7 for instance. Surely you should be able to get a single image, without credits, just paying with earnings.

Anyway, I didn't raise this to go through each agencies process and debate the pro's and con's, but rather to say this: Agencies are always saying they are trying to find new markets and ways of selling. Well, why not look at your contributor base? You already have a captive audience. Make it INCREDIBLY EASY to buy images one at a time, no credits, no conversions, no packs, just click download and it adds it to your cart and you buy it - just a good old fashioned exchange of money for product.

I can't see why this wouldn't add a few more sales to every agency.

Thats my rant done for the week

lucy · « **Reply #7 on:** May 06, 2013, 15:04 »

I think the answer is simple - taxes. In most countries you have to pay taxes for your income and pay another taxes for your expenses. It's became a little bit complicated when you do this with your earned royalties. That's why most agencies do not allow such exchange.