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Author Topic: Fine Arts America.  (Read 21402 times)

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ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #50 on: September 24, 2020, 16:41 »
+1
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 

EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

correct - when someone comes to your page only your work is shown but , as i sad,  do a SEARCH from the top of your page and the user sees work from everyone
Not in pixels.com - just my own work inside my pixels 'site', and that's with me logged out, so not 'flattering' me in the search, which sometimes happens in FAA.


« Reply #51 on: September 24, 2020, 21:49 »
+1
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 

EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

correct - when someone comes to your page only your work is shown but , as i sad,  do a SEARCH from the top of your page and the user sees work from everyone

Again...as I said...no it doesn't  :D .  There is no way that someone using top search on MY pixels.com page get any art that is not mine and that I haven't uploaded there.
I dont know if it happens with free option or when your subscription expires,  but at this point there is no way that it happens.

You are probably talking about pixel.com main page profiles and not about personal pages which act as private stores. On any personal page you can just search trough that persons art, and any search on that private store cannot take you away besides two little links to FAA and pixels.com at the bottom of the footer.

You can even assign a custom domain yourname.com to it if you want.


Here is an example of a nice little pixels.com shop i just googled so feel free to test the search and you an see for yourself that you can browse just trough his artwork and nothing else.

https://guido-borelli.pixels.com/



« Last Edit: September 24, 2020, 22:08 by Lizard »

« Reply #52 on: September 25, 2020, 09:22 »
0
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 

EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

It's happened in the past. Then a bunch of users complained on the forum there, and eventually it was fixed.  I think this happened more than once.

I've been selling there for years, usually a few a month.

« Reply #53 on: September 25, 2020, 13:08 »
0
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 

EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

It's happened in the past. Then a bunch of users complained on the forum there, and eventually it was fixed.  I think this happened more than once.

I've been selling there for years, usually a few a month.

Really strange, Im there from 2013. and somehow it never happened to me, and Im on my account almost on daily basis so I would probably have noticed. That not happening is one of the main reasons i use FAA at first place because than the personal store would lose its purpose.

« Reply #54 on: September 25, 2020, 17:38 »
0
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 


EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

It's happened in the past. Then a bunch of users complained on the forum there, and eventually it was fixed.  I think this happened more than once.

I've been selling there for years, usually a few a month.

Really strange, Im there from 2013. and somehow it never happened to me, and Im on my account almost on daily basis so I would probably have noticed. That not happening is one of the main reasons i use FAA at first place because than the personal store would lose its purpose.

pixels does a nice display of your work, it's the search that lures people away

 i noticed this when  i first returned earlier this year & FAA acknowledged this was the case and went on to say pixels wasnt really meant for personal sites but to display the entire collection by all!

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #55 on: September 25, 2020, 17:46 »
+2
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 


EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

It's happened in the past. Then a bunch of users complained on the forum there, and eventually it was fixed.  I think this happened more than once.

I've been selling there for years, usually a few a month.

Really strange, Im there from 2013. and somehow it never happened to me, and Im on my account almost on daily basis so I would probably have noticed. That not happening is one of the main reasons i use FAA at first place because than the personal store would lose its purpose.

pixels does a nice display of your work, it's the search that lures people away

 i noticed this when  i first returned earlier this year & FAA acknowledged this was the case and went on to say pixels wasnt really meant for personal sites but to display the entire collection by all!
I've just been again on my pixels site, and like last night, I can't seem to do anything there which brings up anyone's images other than my own. What are you doing to bring up a general search?

« Reply #56 on: September 25, 2020, 18:40 »
+1
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 


EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

It's happened in the past. Then a bunch of users complained on the forum there, and eventually it was fixed.  I think this happened more than once.

I've been selling there for years, usually a few a month.

Really strange, Im there from 2013. and somehow it never happened to me, and Im on my account almost on daily basis so I would probably have noticed. That not happening is one of the main reasons i use FAA at first place because than the personal store would lose its purpose.

pixels does a nice display of your work, it's the search that lures people away

 i noticed this when  i first returned earlier this year & FAA acknowledged this was the case and went on to say pixels wasnt really meant for personal sites but to display the entire collection by all!

Once again we are not talking about pixels.com main site but personal pages you get to use as your own stores.

Here is a link to one random example store, anyone can try a top search and the only authors work  you can get is the page owner. Try it yourself. It absolutely impossible to get anyone elses work. Which more prove do you need ? 

https://guido-borelli.pixels.com
« Last Edit: September 25, 2020, 18:46 by Lizard »

« Reply #57 on: September 25, 2020, 19:27 »
+1
   
 
One of the things that makes FAA convenient is that you get your personal pixels.ccom site which is basically FAA store clone  which you can use as a store implemented in your personal website or by app on page, or via link to your pixels store where only your work is shown. 


EXCEPT for the little fact that when  someone does a search on 'your' pixel site, the results come from the entire FAA collection, so any users you may attract are soon lured away

No it doesn't. That happens only on your FAA profile page. On your personal pixels.com site only your work shows up and nothing else.

I was 100% sure in this but I just checked again. Only your work shows up and its a huge +

It's happened in the past. Then a bunch of users complained on the forum there, and eventually it was fixed.  I think this happened more than once.

I've been selling there for years, usually a few a month.

Really strange, Im there from 2013. and somehow it never happened to me, and Im on my account almost on daily basis so I would probably have noticed. That not happening is one of the main reasons i use FAA at first place because than the personal store would lose its purpose.

pixels does a nice display of your work, it's the search that lures people away

 i noticed this when  i first returned earlier this year & FAA acknowledged this was the case and went on to say pixels wasnt really meant for personal sites but to display the entire collection by all!

Once again we are not talking about pixels.com main site but personal pages you get to use as your own stores.

Here is a link to one random example store, anyone can try a top search and the only authors work  you can get is the page owner. Try it yourself. It absolutely impossible to get anyone elses work. Which more prove do you need ? 

https://guido-borelli.pixels.com

Thanks!

Yes , i can see and i figure out with your example and i can see my page in pixels.com, look https://1-alexander-sanchez.pixels.com/

« Reply #58 on: September 26, 2020, 18:43 »
0

I've just been again on my pixels site, and like last night, I can't seem to do anything there which brings up anyone's images other than my own. What are you doing to bring up a general search?

ok, i found the reason for diff results

there are 2 ways to access a site

 https://steve-estvanik.pixels.com  is the one y'all have been using and keeps you on the site


but there's another version from within FAA and which i found searching google for 'pixels estvanik' (i didnt remember the site name since i use the widget on my website)
https://pixels.com/art/estvanik   this one takes you away when you search   
« Last Edit: September 26, 2020, 18:46 by cascoly »

« Reply #59 on: September 26, 2020, 20:15 »
+3

I've just been again on my pixels site, and like last night, I can't seem to do anything there which brings up anyone's images other than my own. What are you doing to bring up a general search?

ok, i found the reason for diff results

there are 2 ways to access a site

 https://steve-estvanik.pixels.com  is the one y'all have been using and keeps you on the site


but there's another version from within FAA and which i found searching google for 'pixels estvanik' (i didnt remember the site name since i use the widget on my website)
https://pixels.com/art/estvanik   this one takes you away when you search

Right, because the second one is just your profile on main pixel.com site which is pretty much same as FAA main site and the top search includes art from all artists.

The firs link is your store and if you want to keep you customers around your art only you should promote just that one.   

« Reply #60 on: September 27, 2020, 14:25 »
+3
I've been on FAA for about 8 years, and by some miracle I usually sell a few photos every month.I've been reading their user forum all that time, and I've seen the issues.   You want opinions on FAA, you've come to the right place, I have them.

The FAA "Artist Web Site" sounds like a good deal, and it's better than nothing, but it has some serious shortcomings.

It's not really a web site, just a customized view of the FAA site restricted to your work.  You can't use your own domain (although you can redirect it).   

Customization is very limited; you can't actually get at the HTML/CSS or add any of your own. 

The big issue in my mind is Google.  FAA plays lots of games to funnel Google keyword searches to their main site, not to "your" site.  I think it's very questionable whether an FAA 'Artist' web site gets indexed in any meaningful way, or has useful search ranking.  You never build up your own 'domain authority', you're just adding to FAA's.  And since you don't own the domain, you can't hook up Google Search Console and see what's really happening.

If you use Google's site performance tool, you'll see that an FAA 'artist' site ranks poorly for speed, due mainly to the overly large JPGs they're serving, which the browser has to resize (this is NOT the case on their main site).  And it's also bad on mobile devices.  Google is probably penalizing these sites because of this.  While you can have keywords and a description, the image pages overall are cluttered and repetitious, likely to be rejected by Google's crawler.

Bottom line, one of these 'artist sites' can be useful IF you have your own ways of sending customers to it.  But I don't think you can ever build up a Google ranking.

These are just my opinions and observations.  If someone thinks they're getting good Google ranking for their work on an FAA 'artist' site,  please jump in here.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2020, 16:58 by stockastic »

steheap

  • Author of best selling "Get Started in Stock"

« Reply #61 on: September 27, 2020, 14:33 »
0
Quote
You want opinions on FAA, you've come to the right place, I have them.

Have you ever experimented with pricing - ie bring your margins low for a period to see if sales increase? I think if you have a sale it makes it a bit more likely for that file to appear higher in their own searches so getting some low margin sales might help when you put your prices up again

Steve

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #62 on: September 27, 2020, 15:33 »
0
I've been on FAA for about 8 years, and by some miracle I usually sell a few photos every month.I've been reading their user forum all that time, and I've seen the issues.   You want opinions on FAA, you've come to the right place, I have them.

The FAA "Artist Web Site" sounds like a good deal, and it's better than nothing, but it has some serious shortcomings.

It's not really a web site, just a customized view of the FAA site restricted to your work.  You can't use your own domain (although you can redirect it).   

Customization is very limited; you can't actually get at the HTML or add any of your own. 

The big issue in my mind is Google.  FAA plays lots of games to funnel Google keyword searches to their main site, not to "your" site.  I think it's very questionable whether an FAA 'Artist' web site gets indexed in any meaningful way, or has useful search ranking.  You never build up your own 'domain authority', you're just adding to FAA's.  And since you don't own the domain, you can't hook up Google Search Console and see what's really happening.

If you use Google's site performance tool, you'll see that an FAA 'artist' site ranks poorly for speed, due mainly to the overly large JPGs they're serving, which the browser has to resize (this is NOT the case on their main site).  And it's also bad on mobile devices.  Google is probably penalizing these sites because of this.  While you can have keywords and a description, the image pages overall are cluttered and repetitious, likely to be rejected by Google's crawler.

Bottom line, one of these 'artist sites' can be useful IF you have your own ways of sending customers to it.  But I don't think you can ever build up a Google ranking.

These are just my opinions and observations.  If someone thinks they're getting good Google ranking for their work on an FAA 'artist' site,  please jump in here.

I'm pretty certain you are correct with the above. FAA mostly works for those who do marketing themselves (I don't), they don't pretend otherwise. However, some of their claims, like 'Fully customisable artist website', as you noted, are Trumpian in hoodwinkery.

A similar thing happens, or did until recently, I probably haven't checked for a couple of months, with both iS/Getty and Alamy, whereby if your file turns up in a Google search and  you click on the file and it takes you to a general page, on which your file may not even be visible, which you'd think might be annoying for buyers, but I don't know how many buyers do a google search for stock.

« Reply #63 on: September 27, 2020, 16:12 »
+1
Quote
You want opinions on FAA, you've come to the right place, I have them.

Have you ever experimented with pricing - ie bring your margins low for a period to see if sales increase? I think if you have a sale it makes it a bit more likely for that file to appear higher in their own searches so getting some low margin sales might help when you put your prices up again

Steve

I probably don't sell enough to conduct a useful test.  My markups are pretty low anyway. And for a big print or canvas, the shipping charges outweigh everything else.

I'd say that FAA's internal search rankings are based almost completely on past sales.  And although I do sell some, I haven't seen an upward trend.  During the time I've been there, big content companies like Getty and Conde Nast have cut deals with FAA and come in with their 10s of thousands of images, and so we're now selling against them, in addition to the thousands of new wannabes like me who come in all the time.


gillian vann

  • *Gillian*
« Reply #64 on: September 27, 2020, 17:54 »
0
OK...MSG account closed, Im done. be well.BTW. I don't get 10 cents.  got a raise today from SS.

Im sorry things got a bit hot and that you decided to leave and I can just wish you the best.
He said last week that he was going to leave here very soon.

I only pop in here from time to time so missed this bit of drama. 

Can anyone explain the "I don't get 10 cents.  got a raise today from SS." bit?

« Reply #65 on: September 27, 2020, 19:19 »
+1
OK...MSG account closed, Im done. be well.BTW. I don't get 10 cents.  got a raise today from SS.

Im sorry things got a bit hot and that you decided to leave and I can just wish you the best.
He said last week that he was going to leave here very soon.

I only pop in here from time to time so missed this bit of drama. 

Can anyone explain the "I don't get 10 cents.  got a raise today from SS." bit?

It sounded to me like he negotiated a deal with SS for more money. I think people who sell alot can do that. Im pretty sure Africa Studios negotiated a better deal with SS, too.

« Reply #66 on: October 01, 2020, 01:50 »
0

*This is a "random selection" of recent print sales, so you can get an idea of what sells: https://fineartamerica.com/recentprintsales.html

Very diverse. I'm surprised to see a number of images in there that would normally be submitted to stock agencies as editorial. Images that feature company names, private businesses and copyrighted products. I thought it would be pretty risky submitting content like that to a POD site. I'm not sure how a company would feel if they see their brand name or whatever displayed on a product like a coffee mug without their consent.


« Reply #67 on: October 01, 2020, 11:00 »
0
I'm keen on submitting some of my images to FAA. Though when clicking on individual images to bring up a larger version, I notice there's not much protection against thieves. Some images have a very small watermark near the bottom right hand corner which is not much of a hindrance. And some images have no watermark at all. Is anyone worried about this?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #68 on: October 01, 2020, 14:52 »
+1
I'm keen on submitting some of my images to FAA. Though when clicking on individual images to bring up a larger version, I notice there's not much protection against thieves. Some images have a very small watermark near the bottom right hand corner which is not much of a hindrance. And some images have no watermark at all. Is anyone worried about this?
Yes**, but I've seen my files* being used on pornsites with big watermarks on porn sites, so you either keep your files off the internet or take a deep breath.
*wildlife images, not (thank goodness) people pics, which I don't do. I can only imagine they thought that someone wanting to see a photo of an elephant or a hippo or whatever really wanted to see porn and would click through and buy.  ::)

** and FAA specifically advise not to use the watermark option, as it puts off buyers. They say they have proof of that. And if you look up a lot of 'big name' fine art photographers, they sell their files much larger off their own or 'curated gallery' sites with no watermarks, so watermarks aren't usual in the pukka Fine Art market.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #69 on: October 02, 2020, 10:20 »
+1

*This is a "random selection" of recent print sales, so you can get an idea of what sells: https://fineartamerica.com/recentprintsales.html

Very diverse. I'm surprised to see a number of images in there that would normally be submitted to stock agencies as editorial. Images that feature company names, private businesses and copyrighted products. I thought it would be pretty risky submitting content like that to a POD site. I'm not sure how a company would feel if they see their brand name or whatever displayed on a product like a coffee mug without their consent.

Recent Sales, if you look, many of these look like custom POD orders, where for example, someone takes a photo of a specific pet, or car or something else, personal. Then the photographer posts it on FAA and the customer can choose what they want. This makes it much easier for a photographer to sell many items, on demand, without the complications of production or shipping. They might have been paid for the shoot as well and this is just a delivery system.

Don't assume that people are just uploading images and being discovered through the search.

I don't know why or how FAA ignores the trademark and copyright laws and gets away with it. There are FAA artists who simply copy a photo of someone famous, add some filters and publish it as their own. There are people who take news photos straight from magazines and do the same, and sell them (try to sell them?) as original art.

Looking today, Campbell's Soup Can, Andy Warhol, POD really? A whole collection, made of others art. Another "...is a british professional photographer who specializes in photographing art.   His images sell throughout the world via the major agencies.   He has photographed art in the best art galleries and museums around the world from St Petersburg to Chicago. " This is just one, the practice is common on FAA. Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin and many more. There's some technicality with Marilyn Monroe not protected?

I know that pretty much everyone here, who creates, also respects the laws that protect us and won't steal others works, but there are some people who do nothing but copy, alter, and sell on POD sites.

With that, consider someone like me, making my own images, will sell, just by being found on FAA or Pixels. Not very likely compared to the competition. I still think there's room for a test and I'll see if I can sell some wall art, of my own making, or the products that are on Pixels. Maybe in November?

I'd look forward to anyone here who has found success selling on FAA and Pixels and what kind of things are most likely to create some return? I don't ask for best sellers or specifics, just concepts and what the market actually is?

« Reply #70 on: November 01, 2020, 17:44 »
+2
I don't know Fine Arts America, but it sell for good price? Can i sell landscape photos i have in microstock there? People from Venezuela can sell there?
Thanks!

You can sell prints or print-on-demand items (tote bags, greetings cards, etc.) via Fine Art America and you get to set the markup. In other words, if their cost to print an item on canvas is $25, you get to set your markup (let's say $10) and the resulting price for the buyer is $35.

You can use microstock images - nothing is exclusive - but bear in mind what sells is something people want to look at (versus some of the useful shots that do well for stock agencies). I don't know of any reason they couldn't allow a contributor from Venezuela, but you have to be able to receive payments via PayPal.

https://fineartamerica.com/termsofuse.html?document=contributortermsofuse

If you start with a free account, you can only upload 25 items and see how things go. If you want to upload more, you need the premium account at $30 per year.

Thank you very much, Jo Ann Snover . I had my first sale on Fineartamerica.com look https://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=16dc7ae829efc087f63c929b58a7210b :)

« Reply #71 on: December 03, 2020, 16:46 »
0
Uploading seems to not be working at Fine Art America

« Reply #72 on: December 03, 2020, 17:30 »
0
Uploading seems to not be working at Fine Art America

i uploaded yesterday w no problems

« Reply #73 on: December 03, 2020, 18:48 »
0
Me too.  Today was the problem.

« Reply #74 on: December 03, 2020, 19:40 »
0

I'd look forward to anyone here who has found success selling on FAA and Pixels and what kind of things are most likely to create some return? I don't ask for best sellers or specifics, just concepts and what the market actually is?

I've had 30 sales this year, 10 this month, mostly framed prints, welcome but unexpected given the Covid slump. Here's a recent one:

https://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=21d6c7bca338cbdda426e3cacb5cd9e3

Landscapes (color and black and white) tend to sell pretty well.

I also sold a greeting card: https://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=f68dc2022274614cbb857498c6c974a6

a couple of masks including this which sold for the third time this year: https://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=77ea5a01b0e7e999cf52405a549b845a

And a bunch of other nautical and landscape prints. So even in my portfolio there's a wide variety of what sells, but items like the top image sell most often.  Fortunately most of my sales are prints which net me anywhere from about $40 for a very small print to a few hundred for larger ones. I uploaded some card and mask-friendly designs since I figure cards and stocking stuffers are a safe bet this time of year, but I only make a buck or two on them, so it is not really worth the trouble, unless someone buys a box of cards. I think even small sales move you up in searches though, so maybe it's worth it.

I've been on Fine Art America since 2010 and have seen significant sales growth in recent years, with net income more than doubling each year starting in 2018, while my stock photography income took a big hit in that same time period. I spent time starting in 2017 sharing my work on twitter, pinterest, and G+ when it was around, but many of my recent sales were images that were uploaded fairly recently and which I had not shared on social media. I think it's worthwhile. The next two weeks (along with November) are peak selling times, but you can get sales year-round.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2020, 19:46 by wordplanet »


 

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