Author Topic: Which agencies do you hate the most and why? (Read 14364 times)

gubh83 · « **on:** May 17, 2010, 08:31 »

I think it would be interesting to know what are the weakness of each agency.

Those that I hate the most are Dreamstime for their arbitrary rejections and Pixmac for their extremely low comissions and for paying us in credits that will expire after one year.

Cheers

gu

http://stockillustrator.blogspot.com/

louoates · « **Reply #1 on:** May 17, 2010, 08:40 »

If rejections of any kind are cause for hatred you won't be in this business long. That simply comes with the territory. If you read this group regularly you will no longer bother with any of the low earners or zero earners.

gostwyck · « **Reply #2 on:** May 17, 2010, 08:56 »

Quote from: louoates on May 17, 2010, 08:40

If rejections of any kind are cause for hatred you won't be in this business long. That simply comes with the territory. If you read this group regularly you will no longer bother with any of the low earners or zero earners.

+1

FD · « **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2010, 09:10 »

Quote from: gubh83 on May 17, 2010, 08:31

Those that I hate the most are Dreamstime for their arbitrary rejections

Rejections on DT are not arbitrary at all. On the contrary, they are very lenient. The only point they are picky about are similars. And Pixmac, well, it was all in the small print. After reading it, I just decided not to upload there.
But I'm just curious. If you hate Dreamstime that much, why is your blog full of hidden referal links, also to Dreamstime?

lisafx · « **Reply #4 on:** May 17, 2010, 09:28 »

Quote from: louoates on May 17, 2010, 08:40

If rejections of any kind are cause for hatred you won't be in this business long. That simply comes with the territory.

Totally agree^^.

All the sites can be frustrating at times (and sometimes its cathartic to vent), but what job doesn't have frustrations?

If I truly hated any of the sites I would not be contributing to them. Life's too short...

rubyroo · « **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2010, 09:54 »

Yes, I think 'hate' is too strong a word. In the early days, I certainly hated Fotolia at times, because I was struggling so hard to get my first acceptance, and then struggling to understand the basis of their rejections. I just wanted to understand what I had to do to achieve consistent acceptance, and there seemed to be nothing to grab on to to help me figure it out. Then I'd get a good sale, and all those feelings would evaporate.

I would agree with Lisa that now it's 'frustrating at times' - but I've whittled my feelings of frustration down to the time it takes to make an 'argh' sound, and then I move on. It's all ups and downs in the end. I try to hold on to the good events for longer than the bad, and try to develop greater patience. It seems easier to stay sane that way.

Artemis · « **Reply #6 on:** May 17, 2010, 10:23 »

I hate FT, for their:
* sketchy top-secret partner programs we can not know about
* sketchy credit values and non-transparent policies
* incredibly rude helpdesk
Even with all the happy sales reports about them i'm still very happy i ditched them.

PeterChigmaroff · « **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2010, 10:27 »

Yeh, FT is the only one I ditched out of pure loathing. The rest are simply decisions because of poor performance.

cdwheatley · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2010, 11:21 »

Agree with the above.
I'm also quite fond of the FT promotions where they ask you to give away the farm for "increased exposure".

They will be missed.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #9 on:** May 17, 2010, 11:23 »

Quote from: gostwyck on May 17, 2010, 08:56

Quote from: louoates on May 17, 2010, 08:40
If rejections of any kind are cause for hatred you won't be in this business long. That simply comes with the territory. If you read this group regularly you will no longer bother with any of the low earners or zero earners.

+1

That and no hate on my part for any of them. I have the free will to stay or leave and they don't own me, I'm an individual. Sales or rejections don't matter, those are a different issue. Some agencies have absurd policies, ridiculous support and strange twists and turns, like changing the rules in the middle of the game. That's life, they are gone. Vote with your feet...

Without hijacking the thread, maybe the better question some day would be which agency has the best people, reviews and policies, which makes them a joy to work with. Nothing to do with sales, just the agency.

Answering the OP question, I don't hate any agency, but I don't respect a few of them for their attitude and rude contributor treatment.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #10 on:** May 17, 2010, 11:32 »

Also think Hate is a bit strong. There are some that I trust less than others ... none that I really trust. Some seem to "spin" the truth to the point of being a lie. Some make "stealing" your images sound like it was your fault.
I guess Race is right, however. We all have the option to "opt out."
So far I have "opted out" only at FT.

lagereek · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2010, 12:03 »

Man! if you hate rejects, etc, you should get . out of this game and start working for Mcdonalds and if you upload crummy shots to FT, damned right, they should throw em in the dustbin.

cathyslife · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2010, 12:11 »

Quote from: WarrenPrice on May 17, 2010, 11:32

...There are some that I trust less than others ... none that I really trust. Some seem to "spin" the truth to the point of being a lie. Some make "stealing" your images sound like it was your fault...

Exactly. In order to play, you have to decide which ones you can semi-trust and go with it. Otherwise, you don't play at all. Thank goodness for free choice.

melastmohican · « **Reply #13 on:** May 17, 2010, 12:31 »

Hate is to big word for this type of relation which should be more like symbiotic but sometimes it is not. If I am tired, better word, of agency I stop uploading for a while then try later to see if anything changed. Currently the only one I do not see future for is Crestock. Veer is getting closer to this status but I am still trying ;-)

Digital66 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 17, 2010, 12:50 »

Thinkstock. I hate Thinkstock. And many of you do too.

Snufkin · « **Reply #15 on:** May 17, 2010, 13:00 »

Quote from: gubh83 on May 17, 2010, 08:31

Pixmac for their extremely low comissions and for paying us in credits that will expire after one year.

credits that will expire after one year... that's a good one LOL
anybody with an IQ over 70 who is a contributor there should visit a psychiatrist

gubh83 · « **Reply #16 on:** May 17, 2010, 13:07 »

Let's not make a whole discussion on the "hate" word... I think everyone understood what I meant. The question is not why I hate and keep uploading or why in my blog there are links to Dreamstime.

What I'd like to know is what you don't like about each agencies and so on... Let's not make a drama on all this...

cathyslife · « **Reply #17 on:** May 17, 2010, 13:20 »

Quote from: gubh83 on May 17, 2010, 13:07

Let's not make a whole discussion on the "hate" word... I think everyone understood what I meant. The question is not why I hate and keep uploading or why in my blog there are links to Dreamstime.

What I'd like to know is what you don't like about each agencies and so on... Let's not make a drama on all this...

If you don't want people pointing out the links in your blog, why post the link to your blog?

chellyar · « **Reply #18 on:** May 17, 2010, 15:04 »

Apart from random rejections we all vent about occasionally, my only consistent peeve in microstock is the acceptance emails from fotolia that just give you the image ID....

I keep a spreadsheet of images, and I have go to to the site an figure out what the ID relates to...

Given that it's a pretty minor issue 'Hate' is way to strong, but if I were to drop a site it'd be Fotolia for that reason, as they are also my lowest earner now that StockXpert is tits-up.

Cheers, Him.

gubh83 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 17, 2010, 15:36 »

Quote from: cclapper on May 17, 2010, 13:20

Quote from: gubh83 on May 17, 2010, 13:07
Let's not make a whole discussion on the "hate" word... I think everyone understood what I meant. The question is not why I hate and keep uploading or why in my blog there are links to Dreamstime.

What I'd like to know is what you don't like about each agencies and so on... Let's not make a drama on all this...

If you don't want people pointing out the links in your blog, why post the link to your blog?

It's not that, the point is that I made a simple question and it becomes a matter of wheter I'm suitable or not to this kind of market. I didn't say I hate rejections, or that I can't handle them, or if this is going to make me give up. Maybe using the word "hate" was a little too hard, but I'm sure that everyone understood what I meant.

Cheers

stockastic · « **Reply #20 on:** May 17, 2010, 15:44 »

I for one am happy to answer the original question. And no I don't actually 'hate' the people running these agencies. This is what forums are for: opinions, positive or negative - right? If you want to join other happy contributors in singing company songs, the agencies have their own forums for that sort of thing.

IStock is the one that bugs me the most, by far: incredibly long review and appeal times, weird and inconsistent rejections. Just too many hoops for not enough money. And even though I understand the reasons for the CV, it's a pain in the rear and so far the implementation has been greatly lacking.

cthoman · « **Reply #21 on:** May 17, 2010, 15:55 »

Yeah, I can't say I hate any one agency. I definitely have frustrations with all of them at times, but nothing serious enough to make me want to leave (yet). I've come to realize that these companies don't necessarily have the same vision of my business that I do, but I also realize that our vision is close enough to make it work.

ap · « **Reply #22 on:** May 17, 2010, 16:18 »

i have to agree with stochostic here. most sites don't really bother me that much, for what i get in return more than justify it.

however, at is it's a combination of different things that makes it an unpleasant process to submit your work. submitting your images one by one is truly time consuming and you have to be so careful about your keywords. i feel like i have to reduce my brain power to it's lowest common denominator (if love can't be associated with a heart shaped thing, then what is? this was Perry's complaint.) due to their weekly quotas, it's really important to have a high acceptance rate. so it's doubly frustrating if they're being declined. then the resubmit process is also annoying. if it's not one thing then it's another and you've wasted your quota. their review period is sooooooooo long. all of this for 15 uploads a week.

their requirements for an el license is much more lax, so making it less likely to have el sales (compared to ss for example, 500,000 vs. 250,000 for print or circulation requirement). it's insulting that independents are getting so much less commission. the list goes on. it's not hate, it's just annoying (if someone asks).

lisafx · « **Reply #23 on:** May 17, 2010, 16:34 »

Quote from: Digital66 on May 17, 2010, 12:50

Thinkstock. I hate Thinkstock. And many of you do too.

Oh yeah, good point. I was only thinking of the agencies I submit to.

As we have already agreed, "hate" is a strong word. But I will admit I definitely wish Thinkstock a speedy demise

rubyroo · « **Reply #24 on:** May 17, 2010, 16:34 »

OK, if you want to know thoughts on agencies, here are mine:

Fotolia - not helpful in terms of rejection reasons. Not enough sales.
DT - Nice agency, but every time my sales start growing well, they change the best match and my sales drop
Shutterstock - Love them. They keep it simple and produce great sales consistently.
iStock - Upload limits and CV are tedious, but sales are great and staff are incredibly helpful and pleasant.
CanStockPhoto - I really like CanStockPhoto, but sales are sporadic. Fotosearch sales are a great bonus though.
BigStock - Nice people.
123RF - I've never really interacted with the staff. Very long pending queue at the moment.
Veer - lovely staff. Little bursts of good sales. I do hope they'll pick up.

My favourite agencies are Shutterstock first and iStock second. Shutterstock make it so easy to generate good sales. iStock is the most challenging, but has been worth the effort. I would say that Fotolia is the one that most often made me wonder whether it was really worth the hassle over the first year.

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Which agencies do you hate the most and why? (Read 14364 times)

gubh83

louoates

gostwyck

FD

lisafx

rubyroo

Artemis

PeterChigmaroff

cdwheatley

RacePhoto

WarrenPrice

lagereek

cathyslife

melastmohican

Digital66

Snufkin

gubh83

cathyslife

chellyar

gubh83

stockastic

cthoman

ap

lisafx

rubyroo

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors