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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: brianholm on January 18, 2013, 07:10

Title: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: brianholm on January 18, 2013, 07:10
Hi guys

Seems to be a lot going on with Istock these days!

Do you know of a site called http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ (http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/) - it's based in UK. They are also giving away free photos, but in smaller, almost useless sizes and quality. Then the bigger, better and more useful versions of the same pictures are being sold at a pretty good price. This is all something that you as a contributor knows, when you sign up. These are the terms that you sign up to. I have had lots of downloads of my pictures, and a fair amount of sale, where my commission ranges from $ 2,25 - 7,50 per file.

Their philosophy is that if people really want free pictures, nothing can prevent them to find it online. That's why they're giving customers access to photos in almost useless quality, and sell the bigger files at a little higher price.

What's your view on this kind of business plan?

Another thing: Do you know the Colourbox.com site? It's based in Denmark, with offices in Finland and New York. I guess they will be happy to take over Istock's contributors and customers :-) I'm having fair sales there, and uploading is pretty easy. They're covering Scandinavia, Germany, UK and other parts of Europe as it is now, and they're supplying MetroXpress in Scandinavia with photos. They're not even between the Low Earners in the microstock poll, but I think they could be worth trying out for some of you.

Best regards

Brian
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: leaf on January 18, 2013, 07:16
I see colourbox used as stock photos in quite a few Norwegian publications but I feel the artists royalties are a bit low and don't like the amount of free images they give away.  Check out the previous threads for more info
http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/anyone-selling-on-colourbox/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/anyone-selling-on-colourbox/)
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: leaf on January 18, 2013, 07:18
And here is the answer from the Colourbox team:

Quote
Yes, it is correct that currently you receive EUR 0.35 per downloaded vector or EUR 0.70 per video, regardless of whether a client purchases it as a single download or though a subscription. By far most of our images are downloaded as part of subscriptions where they pay less than 1 Euro per image - see more details here

Here is my answer:
Wow, just saying for us contributors, it is really the lowest payout seen in the industry for single image download. You make 10 EUR and we make .20 or .35 EUR... This is putting me off. 0.70 EUR for Video subscription when other sites who has more traffic (Shutterstock) gives an average of 18.00$ per video download, no thanks again.

I will send them a thread to this page. They seem like a good agency but a 4% payout on single download and 0.70eur per video is a ripoff.

Colourbox pays as low as 3.5% royalties... I'm not interested in that.
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: flotsom on January 18, 2013, 07:20
It's the 'All images €9.50 - any size, any use' bit that puts me off.
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: leaf on January 18, 2013, 08:07
It's the 'All images €9.50 - any size, any use' bit that puts me off.

... all that for a 0.35 royalty that puts me off even more.
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: JPSDK on January 18, 2013, 11:52
also me!
Plus their licence allows a lot.
I do not give them my fine things, but snapshots of water pipes and things.
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: luissantos84 on January 18, 2013, 18:13
how far can we go without having issues with "regular" stock agencies?

(I am talking about the free one)
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: dk on January 19, 2013, 10:03
About the free one, i thought about it and decided against it because as noted there could be issues with other agencies but mostly because it would be like giving away all sales for web use. Actually i see a lot of sales for small sizes so giving them away for free even at 300x400 pixels seems risky in the long run.
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: CD123 on January 19, 2013, 17:30
Only 15 contributors on the contributor list of the Freedigitalphotos site with more that 1000 images and 15 with more that 500. That already shows big red lights and tells me that it can not be that a good a deal.

@dk - Your fears actually in their about page addressed:
These free images are small sized, but perfect for websites or draft printed work. 

Thanks, but no thanks.

PS They actually carry an advertisement of their "competitor" Dreamstime at the bottom of their about page - how clever.....  ::)

(edited to correct typing error)
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: damo87 on January 19, 2013, 19:30
I've used Freedigitalphotos to find images for various blog posts. The free size is fine for this purpose. I have no budget for these blogs so if I couldn't find a free image I would go without, so in my case it is not taking away from a sale elsewhere. I wouldn't contribute though.
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: luissantos84 on January 19, 2013, 19:38
I've used Freedigitalphotos to find images for various blog posts. The free size is fine for this purpose. I have no budget for these blogs so if I couldn't find a free image I would go without, so in my case it is not taking away from a sale elsewhere. I wouldn't contribute though.

have you given the requested credit to the photographer/agency?
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: somethingpretentious on January 19, 2013, 19:55
Colorbox is not on my top 250 of agencies I would consider submitting to. Its pretty much giving your images away for free...They make Thinkstock look amazing!
Title: Re: Do you know Colourbox and Freedigitalphotos?
Post by: damo87 on January 19, 2013, 22:39
I've used Freedigitalphotos to find images for various blog posts. The free size is fine for this purpose. I have no budget for these blogs so if I couldn't find a free image I would go without, so in my case it is not taking away from a sale elsewhere. I wouldn't contribute though.

have you given the requested credit to the photographer/agency?

Yes - this is a requirement of the free download.