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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Pickerell on December 15, 2020, 10:50

Title: Is Wirestock’s “Instant Pay Program” A Scam?
Post by: Pickerell on December 15, 2020, 10:50
If you use Wirestock (https://wirestock.io/ (https://wirestock.io/) ) to aid you in the process of filling out descriptions, titles, keywords and other required fields, and submitting images to stock agencies you need to read this story (https://www.selling-stock.com/Article/is-wirestocks-instant-pay-program-a-scam (https://www.selling-stock.com/Article/is-wirestocks-instant-pay-program-a-scam) ) by Robert Kneschke (first published in German) and consider taking action before December 19, 2020 if you hope to earn much from your images in the future.

Note: All readers now have FREE ACCESS to all the stories at https://www.Selling-Stock.com (https://www.Selling-Stock.com) including this one. 
Title: Re: Is Wirestock’s “Instant Pay Program” A Scam?
Post by: Uncle Pete on December 15, 2020, 13:54
While Jim's articles are usually well researched, he missed a bit on this one.

This is not a new program. It's only new to the person in Germany who got the email. This Instant Pay has been going on since before I ever uploaded anything to Wirestock, earlier this year. Oh and by the way, I've gotten some, it's $3.40 per download and they do appear on FreePik. I have no idea who is using them and I don't know if they are used with attribution. I don't care. All images are listed under Wirestock's name, and thus the credits are given to Wirestock not me.

The images that I have on WS are the collection of mine since 2008 that have no sales, and some with one sale, and I haven't included anything that gets repeat sales on SS, AS or DT. I don't have those places included on my WS distribution either.

This is not "a scam" (unless you don't like it in which case, maybe just a bad license?) It's a sell out of your work. You can opt out all or none of your images. Unless this changed, there's no selecting which images are in or out. All or none. If someone wants to work with Wirestock, and you don't like having your images given away forever on Freepik or possibly somewhere else for $3.40, by all means, when you get the email, opt out.

Now about that email. It's triggered by just what it says. "You have ## photos that have been listed for more than 2 months and have not generated any earnings. " Plain and simple. I'd willing to bet that the source of this for Jim's article has been with WS for about 3 months. He's right, they don't say which images.

Another note: "The selected images may be listed for free download on the agencies that select them, and you will no longer be able to remove the images from those agencies after you have received the advance payment." So once someone gets that $3.40 from who knows where, probably Freepik, they have rights to your image FOREVER!

Quote
For photographers, there is a real risk of being blocked from the payment agencies if you are supplying free agencies at the same time.

Really? When did that start?

Lets be fair, Wirestock is not the best deal, and this Instant Pay is something that most people should turn off and avoid. WS keywording is better now, but at the start it was pretty ridiculous, in a bad way, generic and vague descriptions. 15% of everything, forever, for distribution is pretty fair? I do my own uploading except for DP, P5 and 123RF which are through Wirestock.

If you have a Wirestock account and haven't disabled Instant Pay, you can see many reasons why you might want to. Top of the list is, some free site now owns right to your work, forever and even if it's given credit for a free download, that credit will be to Wirestock, not the artist.

The big quibble with the article is, this is not new, it's only new to someone who was notified recently. Other people who have received the same email have been given the same notice.

Here's mine from July 1st, 2020 and yes, it's only a 7 day notice.

 We are happy to inform you that your portfolio has been selected for the Instant Pay Program.

You have 332 photos that have been listed for more than 4 months and have not generated any earnings. We would like to improve this and include these photos in our Instant Pay Program. The program allows contributors to receive advance payments from our new partners - Freepik, as well as other Instant Pay partner marketplaces.

You will receive a one-time advance payment of $4-5/image from each agency that selects your images. This means that you can potentially earn $1128.8 (332*$3.40) and even more if multiple agencies select your images. Please note that the images may be listed for free download on the agencies that select them. Periodically, we will review your portfolio and send more photos with low sales for Instant Pay.

If you wish to opt out of the Instant Pay Program, please email us by 08 July 2020.


Wow I could be rich, but actually, I had 27 Instant Pay downloads for $91.80 and that's roughly $89 more than those 12 earned in the last decade.  ;D

Instant Pay is not a favorable deal for artists and image creators who care about the images they upload to Wirestock.
Title: Re: Is Wirestock’s “Instant Pay Program” A Scam?
Post by: alan b traehern on December 15, 2020, 15:14
No it's not a scam, a dishonest scheme, a fraud or a swindle. It is a piss poor way to sell our work.