It does seem like you have a customer base - do you accept vectors (EPS) or do you intend to do it in the near future ?

And also, yes, you would attract significantly more european contributors with an online tax treaty form like the one they set up on Shutterstock

ThomasAmby: We will be offering Vector options in the future but we want to concentrate on JPGs for now while we get started in stock.

For everyone else, we looking into the "is the ITIN" required issue again. When we first started in 3D the way this was written and the way the CPAs want this done is the way we have it. I would love nothing more than to lose the requirement of requiring a ITIN for individuals so I am seeing what we can figure out on that subject.

As for electronic submission of the W8BEN itself, I think we can likely do this one but are checking to be sure. E-signatures are fairly well accepted these days so I will see what I can find out on that. In the mean time, if anyone wants to be paid you can scan in your W8BEN and simply email it to us as well. I've even had some people take a photo of it and send the photo which is fine as well if you don't have a scanner.

I will keep this post updated with what I find and The3dStudio.com will be updated as well.

In my view 5% is ridiculously high for a referral __ especially if it is 'for life'.

I'd find it much more of an incentive if you either upped the commission by that amount for 'self-referrals' or, probably better, put the money into increased marketing.

Unfortunately, in my experience, the higher the % commission an agency pays the fewer the sales that result. I can't see how one agency can possibly be effective in a crowded marketplace in which almost all their competitors are paying 30-40% commission. Paying 5% referrals on top of 60% commissions is just not going to work and I'd struggle to take any agency seriously that thought it was practical.

DT have always tried to be as fair as possible to their contributors but even so they have finally had to concede that they must play on a level field and have therefore reduced commissions accordingly.

In my view 5% is ridiculously high for a referral __ especially if it is 'for life'.

SS pays 3 cents. I believe their percentage is even higher compared to what contributors get.

SS pays 3 cents. I believe their percentage is even higher compared to what contributors get.

Not the way they've written it "�you get 5% of their sales for life."

They appear to be saying that the referral is 5% of the gross sale price __ not the photographer's commissions.

SS pay 7.8% referral on my commissions for 25-per-day sales but by the time you've taken PPD's and EL's into account it is barely more than 5% of commissions. That's likely to be about 2% of total sales.

Just so everyone understands the 5% program, you are getting that 5% from the cut that The3dStudio.com gets.

For example, our most popular photo size (large) is usually $12 (though you can set that higher). So, on that $12 sale the contributor/seller gets $7.20 in all cases. The3dStudio.com would get $4.80 as our "take".

If there is an affiliate customer referral on that order for 20%, that 20% comes out of our "take" and if there is a 5% referral few then that 5% comes out of our take as well. Meaning, the actual contributor/seller always gets their 60% all the time. I didn't want anyone to think that our program ever reduces what the seller gets.

There are many reasons we can do this, and one of them is just that we are talking about higher priced sales vs "credit" based sites that are more like micro transactions. Now, if one of our $4 photos sells (small size) the profit margin is much smaller than a $12 photo (or a $100 model) but you have to take the good with bad (so to speak) and let it average out over all sales over time.

On top of that, our customer base is made up of huge numbers of repeat customers. So, maybe it costs us $25 to $100 to get that customer to try us but once they do they likely come back and the next time our overall profit margins increase. For us, it's more about getting good and loyal customers (they are out there) and once we do that and show them our service they reward u with continued business and that's when we can start to profit.

Add all of these things up and we are able to offer higher royalty rates, avoid the credit systems and minimum purchases, offer generous affiliate referrals, and so on. The way I see it, there is no right or wrong on this stuff but simply different markets, different customers, and different ways of doing things. We've chosen a different path than what is considered normal in stock and it is (as some suggested) based on our 13+ year experience in stock 3D (which includes stock textures which are essentially stock images for a different market).

We are confident that this will be successful in the long run and also know that we have a huge uphill battle ahead of us. We're not in this to make every rich overnight, this is a long term plan that requires us to really get a lot of contributors at this early stage and then to really go after more and more customers as time goes on.

I think it will be interesting to look back next year at this time and see how it worked out because I really do believe we are going to change the industry. Of course, I know sjlocke will be ready for that comment 

^^^ Thanks very much for the comprehensive clarification. I hope your business model works as intended & I'll be uploading to find out for myself.

Your average Large image price at $12 is still only about the same as IS and there's little to suggest that their customers are price-concious at this level.

Ok, since you asked ...  How are you going to "change the industry"? 

I'd say having price levels similar to IS and paying 65% in commission/referrals for non-exclusive images qualifies as 'industry changing' ... if they can generate the volume of sales.

Isn't that what Photographer's Direct and Alamy and MyLoupe and whoever else does?  That's not particularly industry changing.  Or is the 'industry changing' part that somehow they are going to garner the sales that none of these existing sites have done?  Alamy gets a lot of sales already.  Didn't they change the industry already?

Well Alamy, etc aren't at microstock price levels (at least not yet!). I wouldn't say "Alamy gets a lot of sales" either. The last time I saw their figures they licensed about 20K images per month __ compared to IS who license 4x that every weekday or about 2M per month. SS is probably licensing about 3M per month and FT about 1M.

Hi Matt,
I like you, I like the site and I want to join.
But I'm from Ireland!
I can give you all the legal info you need, Social Security number (called PPS number in Ireland), passport scan, Paypal, etc but that ITIN number seems like hard work. A lot of running around.
Any updates for contributors outside the USA?
Many thanks,
 

sjlocke: We plan to start changing the industry we lots of big promises and talk...oh, wait, that's not right. Well, I think our system of dropping the credit based system is a big first step and that's a benefit to the customer. Second, I think we are paying the contributors/sellers a much better royalty (with no min payout each month with PayPal), and our third move is our 5% for life referral program. We're doing this all on a system where the contributor sets their price at the same time. We've got some other fun stuff cooked up as well as we go but we do this in phases. I figure that at this right we should have world peace figured out in no time...well, that's my goal at least. After that happens (the world peace) I will set my sites on getting you to sell with us as well! I won't make the argument that we are the best for everyone out there, but I think we have a place in this industry and I know we will change it.

I can appreciate you're trying to make the best image marketplace you can that benefits your bottom line.  Right now I see you combining bits and pieces from other sites, but as you said, maybe you've got some magical something up your sleeve that we've never seen before.

You're obviously passionate about your project, so I wish you the best of luck in building it up.

Thank you both!

Funny how many people are finding ways to pick at this "new" agency which has been around for many years, but when the new wannabee comes along, people jump on the wagon to destruction and defend them? It just seems odd?

Oh yes, I signed up, so at least I have an account and affiliate link. (spam alert) If you don't use mine, at least find someone else from the forum and trade referrals.

3D Studio Affiliate Link