LuckyOliver, Snapvillage, Polylooks etc. etc. What will be the next site that will go under? (Let's limit the options to the sites in the right side of the page -> )

Which is the site you wouldn't put your bets on?

Crestock. 6 months

Interesting that you had Polylooks in your list, perry - they are closing at the end of the year. They sent out an email to contributors today (I'm not a contributor, so I can't post the text).

I think the next one might be vivozoom. Never sold anything there and their database is shrinking because many seem to pull their port there (Yuri included, and they advertised big with his name).

I can see Crestock going under soon also.
I am not too optimistic about Panthermedia, I used to good sales there but no more....
Looks like Veer is doing much better than Snapvillage so far which is a good thing:)

Here in a few years Wal-Mart will get into the microstock game and then all of them will die off.

Here in a few years Wal-Mart will get into the microstock game and then all of them will die off.

Walmart? Nah. Maybe Google.

Even though Elena seems to be a very nice person, I am afraid that FeaturePics will be the next to fall.

FeaturePics seems to be run on a very low budget, so I think it will keep going.  I left my portfolio there and get a few sales, nothing to get excited about but I hope they are making more money than they are spending and will be around for a long time.  I didn't think Lucky Oliver or Zymmetrical would go though, so I have a bad track record

Crestock, hopefully (sorry, I don't like them)
YayMicro, unfortunatelly. I like them but I maybe got 2 sales this year.
FeaturePics, which I don't know how they are still open!

I know that Cresock has been bought, but I still don't see a bright future for them.

Crestock, hopefully (sorry, I don't like them)

Crestock improved in public relations and payments after acquisition.

But their random rejections disguised as superior quality are almost as bad as before, and will be their ruin if they don't change. Because contributors are annoyed by too many rejections especially on low earners, and buyers want choice!

Don't people care that crestock only pay $0.25 for subs?  The rest doesn't bother me much, I just don't like $0.25 when other sites pay a lot more.

They're currently 'stealing' about 3 of my sales per month from SS where I would earn $.38 so, yes, I am probably losing about 39 cents each month.
But what if I stop uploading and I lose buyers not finding my pictures there? I could lose a huge $.75  
[/quote]

But money won't make you happy! 

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on September 30, 2010, 14:35

Quote from: sharpshot on September 30, 2010, 10:03

Don't people care that crestock only pay $0.25 for subs?  The rest doesn't bother me much, I just don't like $0.25 when other sites pay a lot more.

They're currently 'stealing' about 3 of my sales per month from SS where I would earn $.38 so, yes, I am probably losing about 39 cents each month.
But what if I stop uploading and I lose buyers not finding my pictures there? I could lose a huge $.75  

That's not the problem.  We lose much more money because the other sites see that people will accept $0.25, so they wont pay more.  Then we end up with thinkstock paying $0.25, I wonder how they came up with that   Shutterstock haven't raised their subs commissions for over 2 years, why would they when people are accepting $0.25?

Ok, it makes sense!

Here in a few years Wal-Mart will get into the microstock game and then all of them will die off.

Only if they can source all their images in China as they do their merchandise.

I�m backing the small firms to survive. Although big firms do dominate I think the smaller ones that keep their costs down and business steady, like Photaki.com , will be a good bet! Although sales may sometimes be low, you can rely on the smaller ones to be competing and innovating constantly-purely because they need to to stay in the game. And we should be supporting that!!
 

New member and pumping photaki every post ? Never heard of them, maybe change your name to photaki.

If you are interested in supporting smaller sites that pay a fair commission, you should look at

Yaymicro
Featurepics
Zoonar
The3dStudio
GraphicLeftovers

But if you are more interested in immediate and better sales, I would try:

Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Fotolia

and in between (lower sales, but better than the ones on the first list)

Bigstock
123RF
Veer
Panthermedia

You've got your referrals nicely hidden :-p

 

I see that someone mentioned yaymirco.  I can kind of see why, I only have small portfolios at the moment but the views for my images have just been non-existant compared to the same portfolio on other sites.

This is a shame, I like the site. Don't really know why, I just do. 

I have decided to have a go at promoting their site to buyers via their affiliate scheme (which is quite good), maybe if we all do that we can increase their sales a bit!

Anyone know if Albumo is still breathing? I dumped out of there a long time ago.

I don't understand those feeling they must "support" non-producing sites.

Because they aren't serious about the business side of photography .. they're just playing pro photographer when there's nothing to watch on TV. So they will waste time "supporting" bad business and allow big business to walk all over them until there is no good business left standing.

Rule #1: No microstock site established after 2005 will ever make it.

Hopefully Veer will be the exception:)

Registration Information:

 Domain Name: VEER.COM
   Creation Date: 09-dec-2001

I don't know if that counts, but at least it's before 2005.

I think FD is correct. There may be an exception some day, but for now, the market is not only full, bloated and dominated, it's contracting. That means that companies that once could flourish, produce a profit and be considered a success, are going under. It's not a good time to enter a market, when it's already on the downside of the boom. 

I know this will come a a shock to some people, but these businesses are not here for us, to be our friends and make us money. They aren't designed solely to provide a product and fill a need. Although they do in many cases. They have one goal in existing. They are here to make money for the owners! They don't owe us anything. They don't really care. It's all about profit and money for investors or owners. Hard facts of life... unless you are Alamy, giving money to charity and still making a business that works, or maybe Goodwill or Salvation Army, business ventures are investments and the people who run them want to make a profit or they want to do something else with their time and money, that doesn't make a profit.

Now before someone jumps on this, turn the whole thing around and ask yourself if you are talking photos and making images, as a charity or hobby or are you trying to earn some income? Kind of like the stock sites isn't it? Bottom line is the same for almost all of us. We invest time and effort and make images. We want to earn more money and make a profit. 

Even though Elena seems to be a very nice person, I am afraid that FeaturePics will be the next to fall.

Check out the incident I had with Elena on my blog:
http://www.station23.com/featurepics-review/

I am not so sure she is such a nice person, only on the outside.
Maybe I am just being picky, but idk it seemed silly to me.

Quote from: jamiet757 on October 09, 2010, 07:36

Quote from: etienjones on September 29, 2010, 14:33

Even though Elena seems to be a very nice person, I am afraid that FeaturePics will be the next to fall.

Check out the incident I had with Elena on my blog:
http://www.station23.com/featurepics-review/I am not so sure she is such a nice person, only on the outside.

Although I don't disagree FeaturePics is a poor earner for most people I don't think she was out of line. If you submitted stuff similar to what's in your Istock portfolio (which is not a poor earner and you have zero sales in 9 months there) I can understand their reaction. They made it clear that:

- The stuff you're submitting is already well covered (and they really don't want or need more of it)
- You closed your account and they don't recreate accounts (they don't take back people who closed their accounts so yours never should have been recreated)
- They don't recreate accounts and you continued on and on asking about why you have upload limits, etc (even though they made it clear your account is closed and never should have been reopened you kept going)

A lot of people assume there is no such thing as a bad customer/partner. This isn't the case. A lot of companies have no problem letting go customers/partners who are unprofitable, indecisive, high maintenance, or are just a PITA. Maybe they feel you fall into this category.

I didn't just keep going even though she said they don't recreate accounts, that is all she kept saying, over and over, they don't recreate accounts. I didn't understand, it let me sign up, upload, and they even approved my first 10 or so images that I uploaded, then suddenly they said something about an upload limit, and I asked about it and she said they don't recreate accounts. Put yourself in that situation and see if you would understand what is happening.

My IS portfolio is only a fraction of my whole portfolio, as I can only upload 18 images every week, it has taken quite a while to get any images at all on the site, so don't base the quality of my work on that.

My point is that I have not been uploading since 2007, I have only started uploading a few months ago, and I don't always have time to di it every week, and I don't understand why you are on your soap box talking down to me, I was just sharing an interaction that I had, which I think was unfair and unjustified, if you disagree, fine, but don't act like your opinion matters more than mine because you have more images on istock.

Sorry but I would have to agree with Paulie.. But honestly FeaturePics isn't worth the effort so why coming back??..

Maybe it is just my crappy portfolio that doesn't fit FP buyers, for sure Paulie I know

Yeah, what is the big deal there? Saw the station23 blog too with all the agency bashing. What's the point.

The chap had 4 sales on DT in 3 years. Paulie gave a good and honest advice. Deleting a port (on FP)  wastes all the reviewer's time and money. Of course you can't come back then as if nothing happened.

Elena is a tough woman since she programs/manages the site virtually alone. I don't think FP will go under soon. I never had any problem with Elena, on the contrary. As long as she carries on, I will leave my port there, just out of respect and support.

Sidenote: I prefer wineblogs over whineblogs. 

Quote from: jamiet757 on October 09, 2010, 07:36

Quote from: etienjones on September 29, 2010, 14:33

Even though Elena seems to be a very nice person, I am afraid that FeaturePics will be the next to fall.

Check out the incident I had with Elena on my blog:
http://www.station23.com/featurepics-review/

I am not so sure she is such a nice person, only on the outside.
Maybe I am just being picky, but idk it seemed silly to me.

I went and read your blog and it seems that you understand the situation completely. "I am now not allowed to have another account." For some reaason you closed your account and now you changed your mind, but once you back out and close the door, you can't come back. It's that easy.

All the complaining about a new account, which was in error and upload limits are irrelevant. Elena got tired of telling you the same things over and over and you kept ignoring her answer.

Once you go, you're gone! And there is an upload limit, yours is ZERO. I'd guess that the site set your limit to none, so you wouldn't take up disk space and waste their time with uploads that you are not allowed to make.

Read this again, since it's your own words quoted: I am now not allowed to have another account. There, isn't that easier than writing a whole long blog page of complaining, that anyone reading will see as you being wishy washy, whining and that you made the decision, which is a done deal, now you want to come back, but it's too late. Stand by you choice to close your account and move on. If you didn't have sales for three years and your images were getting refused currently, why did you think it was a good idea six months later to come back to the same place?

+1