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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Striker77s on March 31, 2006, 11:13

Title: StockXpert
Post by: Striker77s on March 31, 2006, 11:13
Someone suggested StockXpert to me because they require zero effort to submit to.  They have an ftp service and don't require categorization.  So if you have already keyworded your images all you have to is ftp it.  Thats it, unless your image requires a release.  But he said he hadn't sold a thing and not to expect much.  So I've been uploading not expecting much.  Well I checked it today and found I had several downloads in the past week and they are doing better than bigstockphoto for me.  It is still low but for the effort I can't complain.  Anybody else using StockXpert

Mark
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on March 31, 2006, 15:40
not sure if it was me who sudjested to submit to stockxpert or not, but in any case it could be.

I said not to expect much.  By that I meant I get about 1 download a week with around 1000 images.  HOWEVER, the last two days i have had 6 downloads a day, so I think they are drasticaly improving.

And yes, can't complain on the upload system there :)
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on April 04, 2006, 13:50
I signed up on the 28th of March with StockXpert will they send me an e-mail when they have made a decision?

I have  a feeling I am supposed to check the site for messages none yet.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: Striker77s on April 04, 2006, 14:40
I don't remember how long it took, but they sent me an e-mail stating my account has been activated.

Mark
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on April 04, 2006, 14:54
seems like they are doing advertising or something because the trend of dailys sales has kept up for some time now.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on April 05, 2006, 02:46
Yes they sent me an e-mail the same day to activate the account and I sent them some photos to check and I found this message on their site today.

Quote
Your application is pending. It will be reviewed by the site administrators within a few days.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on April 05, 2006, 02:49
I am still waiting as well.  i think it has been about a week.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on April 06, 2006, 02:13
things are looking better there all the time now.  Yesterday I earned as much from stockxpert as I did from shutterstock. obviously or most likely a rare exception, but still very promising and downloads are regularly getting better there
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on April 06, 2006, 13:32
Finally got an answer from them today,

No Send more photos

I'm sure i submitted noiseless photos accepted by other agencies. i will give them another try if they give me the same answer not worth the effort.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on April 07, 2006, 07:16
I got accepted yesterday and upload about 80 overnight using ftp.  Very simple.  They even approved them before I had looked at them.

only problem I had was some of my keywords didn't upload (they got approved without them!!) which is a problem I have with all the sites.  I think it is an isue with Pixvue which randomly doesn't work sometimes.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on April 07, 2006, 07:17
well make sure you post if you get some downloads :)
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: tiramisu on April 07, 2006, 08:16
Well, reading this thread has inspired me to give Stockxpert a try. Thanks for the gentle push in the right direction! I was approved today and have uploaded 10 pictures in no time at all, but the thumbnails aren't showing up.. Is that normal? I've gone to the trouble of categorizing them and that was nice and speedy so hopefully they'll load properly later.
I have to say I've visited the site before and admired it's style, but now that I'm a submitting member, it's even more attractive. Much faster to use than others I won't name and very intuitively designed.
Definitely one to watch! Thanks for the tip!
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on April 07, 2006, 09:20
I had one DL on the very first day when I only had 5 photos on the site (I sumbitted the ones that I got my approval on).  Unfortunately now that I have added 80 more, I have no more DL.  Still in my first 24 hours so hopefully it will be a good site.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: uploaderz on April 20, 2006, 03:17
yeah they are starting to look good for me too.  Getting almost a download a day.  NOt bad since I don't have that many images yet.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: GeoPappas on April 21, 2006, 05:31
Does StockXpert allow you to edit keywords after they have been accepted?
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on April 21, 2006, 05:42
yep, you just have to find the folder where the images are and click on the 'edit' button

you can edit a group at the same time as well (a great idea, I am not sure why more stock agencies haven't used this)
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on April 21, 2006, 14:10
well after having to submit two batches of photos to prove myself worthy and forgetting to move my photos from the briefacse after FTPing. I am quite impressed with this site.

I was having trouble with IPTC tags but even without them their bulk editor allowing you to fill the blanks for multiple files and actually having the photo approved before you have taken the time to fill in the keywords are both big pluses.

Apparently their daily upload limit is 50.

Is their default setting of order of photos newest first??

I was quite surprised to see Budapest listed along with Paris, London,Rome and Berlin as "famous European cities" but then I realized there is a Hungarian connection. Hopefully I will start seeing some of the sales everyone is talking about.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on April 21, 2006, 16:06
As a side note, I would put Budapest as one of my "favourite" Euro cities along with the others you mention.  NOt quite sure about "famous" though.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: uploaderz on April 25, 2006, 05:30
I am almost making more from stockXpert than I am from either bigstock or fotolia in the last week.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on April 25, 2006, 06:11
I would go that far but I have had a few sales.  What interests me though is the number of views.  Most dont get many but I have on that is rated a 10 and it is getting lots of views (much more than any on fotolia), likewise my photo that has 2 DL (rating and DL are different ways to sort searches).  Unfortunately it is not converting into sales.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on April 25, 2006, 06:17
what? stockXpert has a rating system???  i didn't know that.  I'll have to check it out.
They have been really good for me recently as well.  Mostly I like how easy it is to upload though.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on April 25, 2006, 07:31
For share ease, everyone should join ->>  StockXpert (http://www.stockxpert.com/?ref=CJPHoto)
Commissions are ok: 50c-$1 and approvals are up there and quick too.

they have a rating system but out of 100 photos, only one is rated.  On the my galary page you can sort by DL, Views, rating or comments.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on April 27, 2006, 07:47
Full details of Stockxperts prices

what the photographer gets

600 x 800 50c
2 mp      $1
4 mp      $1.50
8 mp      $2

So a nice payout for those with an 8 mp cameras. Unfortunately I uploaded 180 before noticing I could get double what Fotolia were paying for an 8mp photo.

More details in my guide, a pity they don't have a referrals system for photographs yet.

Steve
www.fintastique.com/guide.htm (http://www.fintastique.com/guide.htm)
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: Greg Boiarsky on May 01, 2006, 15:52
Definitely recommend StockXpert.  120 photos online, 2 downloads on third day.  I hope this continues.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: jlye on May 12, 2006, 22:18
Just sign up with stockXpert.. waiting for their approval now.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: admart01 on May 13, 2006, 06:32
I just got approved and uploaded about 60 (FYI - got a message that I should try and keep the number uploaded per day to 50 so approvals for all are fast).  Looks like they've got a great twist on keywording similar files --saves me the cut/paste method that's very tedious.

Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: CJPhoto on May 13, 2006, 07:31
admart01 - if you are keywording by cut and paste, have a search on this forum for a keywording thread.

There are programs avaliable that make it alot easier.  I use pixvue which is free on the internet.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: Greg Boiarsky on May 13, 2006, 09:19
Have you read the EULA?  It's hysterical.


admart01 - if you are keywording by cut and paste, have a search on this forum for a keywording thread.

There are programs avaliable that make it alot easier.  I use pixvue which is free on the internet.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: admart01 on May 13, 2006, 12:19
Have you read the EULA?  It's hysterical.


admart01 - if you are keywording by cut and paste, have a search on this forum for a keywording thread.

There are programs avaliable that make it alot easier.  I use pixvue which is free on the internet.

What's a EULA?  -- BTW thanks for the tip re: keywording.  I saw a thread on this but didn't really understand it.  I'll google pixvue and get smart.   
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: Greg Boiarsky on May 13, 2006, 17:42
The EULA is the "end user license agreement."  It's the legal gibberish you agree to when you install the software.  In this case, it's pretty funny--maybe to get us to read it.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: phildate on May 14, 2006, 09:28
Just decided to upload my portfolio to Stockxpert since they have ftp upload ability. Took me a while to get used to the folders system but I really like the bulk editing feature, especially for attaching MRFs. I hope the sales start for me soon.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: phildate on May 15, 2006, 01:08
Yeah - just had my first sale at StockXpert  ;D didn't take too long so that bodes very well for the future. It was only a 'Small' but size isn't everything. Well, it is but I am not going to complain.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on May 15, 2006, 01:30
they seem very sporatic for me, but good sales on the average. This month they are pulling up to be number 2 or 3 in total earnings.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: jlye on May 15, 2006, 06:50
still waiting for my account for approval .. :-\
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: suwanneeredhead on May 16, 2006, 09:20
I'm still waiting too... this will be my third load of pictures to attempt to get approved... i have a 6MP camera and use neat image and work really hard on purple fringing and other artifacting... I have my pics on 7 other sites... what gives?  I had heard it was pretty easy to get approved...   ???
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: madelaide on May 16, 2006, 17:23
They are very slow at approving new contributors, but then the submissions are very fast.  I had however to upload the sample images twice during the approval process, because they somehow lost them...

Only two sales there, but got US$3.00 from them. 

Regards,
Adelaide
-----------
http://www.geocities.com/photocorner.geo/
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: suwanneeredhead on May 24, 2006, 07:20
They finally accepted me... now I pray they're as good as everyone says (traffic-wise).  Thanks for your encouragement, guys.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on May 24, 2006, 13:33
congrats
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: jlye on May 24, 2006, 18:09
Xpert really good .. at least so far for me ... i have already made 8.50 from it.
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: Quevaal on June 17, 2006, 00:19
Uploading to StockXpert is really easy. I love that aspect, batch uploading, batch renaming, batch keywording...

Unfortunately, for a while, I was more concerned with uploading than keywording/categorizing, and that affected my sales negatively. I have now fixed all the keywords, and noticed that a lot of pics that had zero views in half a year would get views in just a day or two.

Keywords & categorizing is King!
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on June 18, 2006, 03:27
For those that still be waiting for approval from StockXpert remember they don't send you azn e-mail you have to check your StockXpert site internal mail.

Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: madelaide on June 18, 2006, 20:31
Astonishing!  I was going to upload files, and this is what I got:

Quote
Error!

Please hang on while we get more hard disks! :)

What have you guys done?  :)

Regards,
Adelaide
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: jlye on June 19, 2006, 04:39
 :D This is really funny

Astonishing!  I was going to upload files, and this is what I got:

Quote
Error!

Please hang on while we get more hard disks! :)

What have you guys done?  :)

Regards,
Adelaide
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: leaf on June 19, 2006, 04:54
at least they are honest :)
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: GeoPappas on June 19, 2006, 05:26
Not very good capacity planning to say the least.

But then again, now that the heavy-hitters are uploading 10s of thousands of images onto their site, I can understand...
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on June 20, 2006, 06:17
StockXpert got their extra hard drives if you FTPed yesterday you should be able to transfer the files from the briefcase, I managed to do so.

Though I expect with the down time there will be a bit of a backlog for reviews

anyone received any reviews from Bigstock lately still waiting for feedback from uploads from 8th of June but only 50c away from another payout
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: fintastique on June 23, 2006, 00:20
For those of you who keep track of rejected images at StockXpert in a separate folder (and to have an idea of your acceptance rate as there is no written results). I noticed that they deleted a lot of files from my folder obviously they really need the hard disc space. I know most sites will delete rejected files but it was the only record - though how big is a thumbnail.

Well StockXpert rejected all my illustrations "we are not looking for such images right now" their softest rejection. So it does look good for DT or SS. I am sure iStock would probably opt for public humiliation.

FT limbo bug

I remember reading somewhere about missing photos at FT I noticed a bug. There is a lag phase of 24 hours between photos being accepted and on-line. If you choose to show deleted photos you will see all your photos accepted, rejected,limbo and pending but if you don't click on deleted photos sometimes the photos in limbo will disappear as well.

Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: IRCrockett on June 23, 2006, 13:44
For those of you who keep track of rejected images at StockXpert in a separate folder (and to have an idea of your acceptance rate as there is no written results). I noticed that they deleted a lot of files from my folder obviously they really need the hard disc space. I know most sites will delete rejected files but it was the only record - though how big is a thumbnail.

Well StockXpert rejected all my illustrations "we are not looking for such images right now" their softest rejection. So it does look good for DT or SS. I am sure iStock would probably opt for public humiliation.

I think I'm reading this wrong but, you're saying they sometimes delete your images without notice? I have a 100% acceptance rate there. Should I be checking to see if images that I've uploaded and they have accepted start disappearing?
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: Erdosain on June 23, 2006, 13:52
No, they delete only the rejected files
Title: Re: StockXpert
Post by: madelaide on June 23, 2006, 22:24
My rejected files are also not there, though the folder list shows "17 files" in the folder. 

This week I decided to upload an illustration (a letterhead) and they accepted, so I uploaded another one, again accepted.  Well, sometimes they like my graphics, then!

It really strikes me how fast they are in reviewing submissions.

Regards,
Adelaide