MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: CD123 on August 22, 2012, 18:50
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Which sites have you gave up on so far (stopped uploading)?
I stopped uploading to:
Crestock (2011)
Panther
Photaki
Photokore
Scanstock (2011)
Zoonar
Even the ones with a few $ return for me is so low, that it is not even worth the time uploading.
Cutcaster was on my list to can, but it is starting to trickle through. Maybe some of that promised marketing of John is starting to pay off at last?
I know, people's ports differ quite a bit, but will be interesting to compare notes.
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Pretty much all of them.
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istock. I couldn't take their treatment anymore.
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1. ImageVortex - very stupid acceptance rules, no sales at all - basically they wanted a good collection instead of a decent stock photo library
2. Crestock - ??? images uploaded after 1 year counted from uploading to regular agencies, were rejected with randomly picked (stupid) reasons. What they want to teach me? BTW no sales, this is the main reason
3. Thinkstock - sales report too symmetrical across months. I strongly had the feeling that the $5-$10 income doesn't make me rich, but something isn't in order...
4. Zoonar - overcomplicated, no sales
5. Panthermedia - overcomplicated upload process, no sales (not true, I have 38 since 2 years, this worth at least 6 beers in better places)
6. FeaturePics - if I upload the other half of my portfolio will I earn an average of $6 instead of $3 monthly?
7. StockPhotoMedia - no changes since 2006. I have a feeling that hotel Master Johan is the main business...
8. MicroStockPhoto - no comment
9. Albumo - I'm too tired to re-upload again
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The only site I've completely stopped uploading to is istock.
As far as sites I have little hope for in terms of earnings going forward, it's istock, cutcaster, and crestock.
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123rf - One sale a month
Creestock - No sales period
Cutcaster - No sales
I ditched those 3 in 2010.
Vector Stock - Too many stupid rejections and took 2 years to get to payout. Ditched them this year.
Waiting in the wings or next on the chopping block:
StockFresh. Not many sales and all they're interested in is touting portfolios with tons of people shots. I'm an illustrator I don't have many people. Definitely not getting the volume I was hoping for.
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9. Albumo - I'm too tired to re-upload again
donīt think you need, Andres Rodriguez has 4 sales (3827 files) from 2007
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yay!
Also I do not bother to upload to IS . Maybe one image in 12 months. Still get sales with old files that have had previous downloads but unless the search is changed to give independent's new images a fair viewing it doesn't seem to make sense to waste effort. Mmm maybe it has changed? Must look.
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3. Thinkstock - sales report too symmetrical across months. I strongly had the feeling that the $5-$10 income doesn't make me rich, but something isn't in order...
are you out of thinkstock? is that possible as an indie?
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Quit:
FT - I actually have doubts that it's a totally honest business.
123RF - very few sales
CC - no sales. Well ok, 1 sale.
FD - prices too low, few sales
Stopped uploading:
IS - too much hassle, sinking commissions
Disclaimer - I'm a very small fish in this pond.
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Crestock - total waste of time
Superhug - cos they don't exist all of a sudden!
And a couple of others that I've totally forgot about by now.
Theres a few scheduled for the chopping block in 12 months time if they don't improve too...
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I stopped uplaoding to:
- istock. I dont do business with liars.
- Featurepics. No sales.
- Scanstock. No sales and strange site problems.
- Bigstock. Too much work to submit for too little return. Incompetent inspectors. Waste of time.
- Luckyoliver :D
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Blast from the past:
Imagevortex wow I completely forgot about them are they still around...
Albumo I did never submit to them just a me-too site which only did compete on prices hope Depositphoto will follow them in the Garbage-can.
Despite the smaller ones I did stop uploading on IS long ago and pretty much on DT too.
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Crestock - slow and inconsistent reviews, very few sales
cutcaster (2010) - no sales, ever
PM - very slow sales, complicated uploads
Veer - very slow and bad reviews, no sales for the past two months
Might start PM again - looks like they now don't require you to prioritize keywords
Would start at the others again if sales pick up
FP would be next on the list, but easy uploads, fast and easy reviews and the 50% commission keep it going even though sales are slow
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All of the micros including some very old ones that were "promising"
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1. Zoonar - no sales for a long time, very ugly relation with the dishonest support team (I assume that's only Michael)
2. Stockfresh - very few sales, got tired of Peter's "nothing happens overnight" line for years. Should be changed to "nothing will ever happen here".
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So far on the chopping block from the feedback above:
Top Tier:
iStock (mainly ethical / commission reasons)
Fotolia (ethical / dropping sales)
Rest mainly due to sales
Middle Tier:
123RF
Bigstock
Veer
Low Earners:
Albumo
Crestock
Cutcaster
FeaturePics
Image Vortex
MicroStockPhoto
ScanStock
StockFresh
StockPhotoMedia
Superhug (RIP)
ThinkStock
Panther
Photaki
Photokore
Vector Stock
Zoonar
Yay
Not all will agree, as some of these do bring in some/adequate income to some. Just interesting to see where poeple got out and where they might still be hanging in.
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FT because I'm sick of them cutting commissions and making it much harder to reach the next level. I did try uploading again recently but my earnings have crashed so much there, I'm definitely forgetting about them now. If they change the search again or by some miracle I reach the next commission level, I might start uploading again but that looks unlikely.
Imagevortex was the first on I stopped uploading to many years ago. Vivozoom because they don't seem to of found a buyer. Pixmac because of the strange things that went on with DT and because it seems that all my images end up there anyway. The3dStudio because they were the only site that couldn't work around the US tax withholding and I think that's not acceptable.
I can get occasional payments from lots of the low earners, like Yaymicro, MostPhotos, Stockfresh and Cutcaster, so I'll carry on uploading to them. I've stopped with Zoonar but might start again if they sell something or perhaps to get in to sites that I'm not using yet.
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I have given up on the following:
Stock expert
Scandinavian Stock
Bigstock
Crestock
yaymicro
zoonar
stockfresh
mostphotos
and probably others.
they could not deliver
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I recently decided to stop uploading to Crestock, a shambles of a company. In last 6 months I have had only 15 images out of 250 accepted whereas they sell well elsewhere, no sensible reason is given for the rejection. Also I still have a few files waiting to be reviewed that I uploaded over 2 months ago. But they would probably get rejected when they finally get around to reviewing them.
Company is a complete waste of space.
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I have quit Yay, Cutcaster and Crestock (of course)
On my list to quit before 2013 if sales do not improve: CS, BS (improving), DP & PM.
Still in: SS, IS, FT, DT(borderline), 123RF, Veer, PD, GL and maybe the new Pond5, we'll see.
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stopped uploading to all micro. Withdrawing images from all. Now i see that sometimes smaller/low earner (etc) agencies are creating much problem in the process. I have mailed to photokore quite many times to different addresses given in their site to close my account but not a single response back to me.
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In case you looking for more reasons ;D
Fotolia - Slow site, Strange Rejection system, Vague reasons for rejections
Dreamstime - CSV upload is extremely annoying, Cannot bulk edit
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stopped uploading to all micro. Withdrawing images from all. Now i see that sometimes smaller/low earner (etc) agencies are creating much problem in the process. I have mailed to photokore quite many times to different addresses given in their site to close my account but not a single response back to me.
Yeah mate, I had a few issues myself, with Yay still selling my work at their partner site, after 6 months. Was very close to hiring a lawyer to straighten it out but in the end their partner site, which I contacted personally and was a lot more helpful, resolved it. Did I receive any money for sales that had been made within all these months? nope.
So keep that in mind guys.
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stopped uploading to all micro. Withdrawing images from all. Now i see that sometimes smaller/low earner (etc) agencies are creating much problem in the process. I have mailed to photokore quite many times to different addresses given in their site to close my account but not a single response back to me.
Yeah mate, I had a few issues myself, with Yay still selling my work at their partner site, after 6 months. Was very close to hiring a lawyer to straighten it out but in the end their partner site, which I contacted personally and was a lot more helpful, resolved it. Did I receive any money for sales that had been made within all these months? nope.
So keep that in mind guys.
Thats not good. I personally dont like the sites/agency that dont give me a delete button for control over my own port. Though i am not with CS but i do appreciate their approach and helps. I had no problem at all to withdraw my port from CS
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DT worries me. If/when I decide to get out, they have my images in a 6-month lock-in.
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out of the big 4 only iStock. Non-exclusive rates are a joke and uploading is a nightmare. Silly rejections for not relevant keywords.
I don't think I'm going to continue uploading to Depositphotos, Veer and Zoonar. Bigstock is another non-seller and unless I get the bridge to big stock (or whatever it's called) you won't see my pictures there.
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too many too count...
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only cutcaster but because I was kicked out after saying they were dead with no sales (I am sure most of you know this but I will keep on saying it)
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Photaki. ScanStock. Photokore.
What about AllYouCanStock? I uploaded there few hundreds of images but it seems it's not worth wasting my time.
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Photaki. ScanStock. Photokore.
What about AllYouCanStock? I uploaded there few hundreds of images but it seems it's not worth wasting my time.
AYCS guys are good in immediate response. Though you have to contact the support to delete any image or for closing account (i have already closed my AYCS acc so not sure about present condition)
Atleast they have no t & c for deleting images like others specially DT. And much better than photokore where support team helpi you when you ask them something related to contribute more images, participating in their activities but are dead silence when want to delete images or close the acc.
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DT worries me. If/when I decide to get out, they have my images in a 6-month lock-in.
in fact 1 year for new images. 6 months for deletion and next 6 months they store them for their reference (as their contributor support says)
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top earners:
SS - you can call this agency '' a really profitable business''
FT - good sales, revenue ( constantly rising)
DT - under average ( but still in one of the top earner) it was a good earner but now is slowly going down.
Middle:
123RF - constant sales ( an agency with huge potential to become a top earner )
Low:
DP - low sales
CanStockPhoto - low sales
Veer- disaster
The one i give up is IS ; for 3 reasons :
1. PARANOIC REVIEW criteria ( rejected files for idiotic reasons , and the same files are starting to sell well a few hours after uploading them on SS)
2. Commissions cuts , and the search engine who favoring only the exclusive.
3. The idiotic upload limit.
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............
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Photokore doesn't work a few days at all. It's impossible to log in, when you click on any image it shows 404 error.
They say "Due to a sudden drastic increase of traffic, our site is not working properly. Our IT team is working urgently to get the site back up as quickly as possible." Maybe there will be drastic increase in sales... :-\
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Photokore doesn't work a few days at all. It's impossible to log in, when you click on any image it shows 404 error.
They say "Due to a sudden drastic increase of traffic, our site is not working properly. Our IT team is working urgently to get the site back up as quickly as possible." Maybe there will be drastic increase in sales... :-\
Holding breath, holding breath, holding breath,.......dead! ;D
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istock, they just make you waste a whole lot of time with their stupid upload limit, disambiguation, never ending review time and stupid rejections (even for keywords).
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istock, they just make you waste a whole lot of time with their stupid upload limit, disambiguation, never ending review time and stupid rejections (even for keywords).
I can't express how annoying iStock is with its upload process. Today i timed myself to see how long it would take me to upload 18 pics (the upload limit). It took me 35min!!!!!
Shutterstock takes me maybe 3min and other sites like canstock even less.
I would like to add, that i was using Deepmeta at my average(comfortable) speed. Wasn't trying set any records or anything!
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I gave up on iStock for ethical reasons. I haven't uploaded there since I dropped exclusivity and have been deleting some so that they don't get sent to Thinkstock against my will.
I recently closed my accounts at 123RF (again for ethical reasons - the way they handled the recent commission cut was appalling), and also Crestock, for the reasons others have said - they seemed to wish to teach me how to be a stock photographer via their inspection process, when I am doing just fine elsewhere thanks very much. And they only made me $6 in two years. Only good thing in fact was that they offered to pay me the $6 when I asked to close the a/c without me having to ask.
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Stopped ULing:
- DT (sales nosedived after search and level changes)
- 123RF (moral reasons)
- CS, DP, BS, Veer,PD (very low sales, peanuts)
- Alamy (low sales and UL process that takes way too much time, too much time spend for relatively small return)
Deleted ports:
- GL, Scanstock, warmpicture, Zoonar (1 sales max at each on average in 3-4 months)
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Just to clarify, I didn't stop uploading to istock because of the low royalty rates. I can take a low rate if the sales are there. I stopped uploading because of plummeting sales, silly policies, unethical practices, and upload hassles.
I'm reconsidering this today, though, because of the change in policy regarding text in illustrations. This opens up the door for me to upload a ton of work from throughout this year that I couldn't get accepted at istock previously. I still hate the royalty rate I get, but it's not far off of what SS probably pays me. Ill probably test the waters with some text-based illustrations and see how things go. If they can get the sales volume back up, I'm fine with resuming regular uploads.
Right now it's just not worth it, though. The money isn't there.
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I quit
Dreamstime, GLStockimages, Zoonar, PantherMedia............
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Meanwhile i must mention that 123RF is my 3rd best earning site after SS,IS so far.
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I think all of us small independents will have to leave IS to escape the doom of ThinkStock.
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I don't get the "moral reasons" - they're in it to make money for them, not us so it's just business. I also don't really get quitting IS even if they only accept 1 in 10 as the 1 will probably earn more than 10 on the low performing sites. I don't think I'd submit to anything below top 6 as it is nice to get the occasional payout.
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I don't get the "moral reasons" - they're in it to make money for them, not us so it's just business. I also don't really get quitting IS even if they only accept 1 in 10 as the 1 will probably earn more than 10 on the low performing sites. I don't think I'd submit to anything below top 6 as it is nice to get the occasional payout.
Canstock gives me a payout nearly every month. Depend on one's port.
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I don't get the "moral reasons" - they're in it to make money for them, not us so it's just business. I also don't really get quitting IS even if they only accept 1 in 10 as the 1 will probably earn more than 10 on the low performing sites. I don't think I'd submit to anything below top 6 as it is nice to get the occasional payout.
I can't speak for everyone, but I didn't leave IS for moral reasons. It was a business decision. I wanted to make more money and that was never going to happen by staying with IS. It also wasn't going to happen by uploading and supporting the same old sites either.
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I'm not saying that the low earners are pointless for everyone - perfectly viable for those with bigger more marketable ports and I'm sure also that there are likely better markets than MS for the more professional producer. However, if submitting to MS, it seems to make no sense to contribute to low volume sites and ignore the sites that produce the best returns per image.
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... However, if submitting to MS, it seems to make no sense to contribute to low volume sites and ignore the sites that produce the best returns per image.
For some of us, istock is one of those low volume low earner sites, and some of those previously low volume sites have become bigger earners than istock.
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only cutcaster but because I was kicked out after saying they were dead with no sales (I am sure most of you know this but I will keep on saying it)
And after such cases, many photographers still licking ass agencies
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only cutcaster but because I was kicked out after saying they were dead with no sales (I am sure most of you know this but I will keep on saying it)
And after such cases, many photographers still licking ass agencies
Unfortunately it seems like bashing the agencies shows some sort of manhood around here (especially if you make sure you are anonymous so you can "freely speak your mind" without being responsible for your statements).
In my opinion, if you actively contribute to an agency, they deserve your full support, as their success is directly linked to yours. So helping them with advice and support wherever one can and praising good service and/or business decisions is the decent and logical thing to do.
PS: If I have a business and a "supplier" bad mouthed my business I will kick him/her so fast out of there, their heads will spin.
Think it is quite arrogant to stand cupped hand to collect money from someone and slap him in the face with the other.
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"He who bites the hand that feeds him will lick the boot that kicks him." Still, "bad mouthing" is one thing, criticising manifestly obvious flaws is another ;)
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only cutcaster but because I was kicked out after saying they were dead with no sales (I am sure most of you know this but I will keep on saying it)
And after such cases, many photographers still licking ass agencies
Unfortunately it seems like bashing the agencies shows some sort of manhood around here (especially if you make sure you are anonymous so you can "freely speak your mind" without being responsible for your statements).
In my opinion, if you actively contribute to an agency, they deserve your full support, as their success is directly linked to yours. So helping them with advice and support wherever one can and praising good service and/or business decisions is the decent and logical thing to do.
Are you kidding me? it's luis? he's not exactly the phantom of stock now is he?
If all agencies would kick people out for what has been said on any forum a lot of the top sellers would be gone already, even Sean, Lisa and a lot of others.
Supporting them in every way? we do that with our work, the support should go both ways, or should we start suing them for not living up to all their promises?
I will support any agency that deserves it. How can one help with advice if support is ignored on most agencies anyway. Decent and logical are not words that come to mind when I think about the micro industry my friend.
John from CC seems like a good guy and when I left his agency for the same reason as Luis he told me I could come back anytime so it's a different experience for everyone, but then, I'm a nice guy ;)
If everyone kept their mouth shut and support agencies in every business decision they make we would probably have to live off 0.1% commissions.
Good weekend all
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only cutcaster but because I was kicked out after saying they were dead with no sales (I am sure most of you know this but I will keep on saying it)
And after such cases, many photographers still licking ass agencies
Unfortunately it seems like bashing the agencies shows some sort of manhood around here (especially if you make sure you are anonymous so you can "freely speak your mind" without being responsible for your statements).
In my opinion, if you actively contribute to an agency, they deserve your full support, as their success is directly linked to yours. So helping them with advice and support wherever one can and praising good service and/or business decisions is the decent and logical thing to do.
PS: If I have a business and a "supplier" bad mouthed my business I will kick him/her so fast out of there, their heads will spin.
Think it is quite arrogant to stand cupped hand to collect money from someone and slap him in the face with the other.
While I agree with you that it is easy to bash an agency (and it does weight heavily on these forums more than praising agencies), I would venture to say that most of the negative posts are warranted. In one of the forum topics of late I recall someone posted a laundry list of legitimate moves agencies make that screw the contributor, broken promises and commission cuts to name a couple. Some people in here, anonymous or not, rely on income from MS to support their families and, frankly, their overall quality of life. 123, for example, plans to use a failed RC system come January, thus squeezing contributors of commissions. Am I supposed to support that? Keep my mouth shut in silent disagreement? No. And when someone starts a topic to discuss it, you can rest assured that most of the posts will be interpreted as bashing when in fact it is very frustrated artists who work hard for their income venting that the value of their work has once again been diminished. This happens with search changes, too, that are tactically set up to maximize income for the agency regardless of the contributor, mostly. Istock is a good example of this. How many people are growing their sales as they upload new content? Not many. Why? It's the unfairness of their search, so we vent (bashing in your words). Very few agencies make decisions that favor contributors. If they did you'd see these forums change, maybe not 100%, but change toward the whooorah tone.
Just my opinion, of course.
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Just my opinion, of course.
And a good one.
A good example of outing our frustrations here with a positive outcome was the Veer/Alamy thread.
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...In my opinion, if you actively contribute to an agency, they deserve your full support, as their success is directly linked to yours. So helping them with advice and support wherever one can and praising good service and/or business decisions is the decent and logical thing to do...
The companies most frequently bad mouthed around here are the recipients of criticism because they aren't always acting decently and logically themselves. I'd be ashamed and embarrassed to openly support a company that operated in a way that was detrimental to the industry or hurt me as an individual contributor.
Companies are deserving of praise based on how they act, and not on the simple fact that we do business with them.
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PS: If I have a business and a "supplier" bad mouthed my business I will kick him/her so fast out of there, their heads will spin.
Yeah, that attitude is why there are so many sweatshops out there, and so many millionaires benefitting from them.
:(
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So helping them with advice and support wherever one can and praising good service and/or business decisions is the decent and logical thing to do.
Do they welcome our 'advice and support'?
Sometimes raising issues does make a difference, but not often enough.
'Praising good business decisions' is all well and good, but as the business matures, we're off the koolaid into the hard world of reality, and know that what might seem good seems to lead to something bad along the way.
e.g. Vettan/Agency/editorial at first seemed like, woo-way, more scope for us, but it was really a way of ingesting a huge pile of sometimes only semi-exclusive stuff, which didn't need to fulfil the normal criteria of IQ or keywording and selling them at a premium, to the confusion of buyers and the detriment of the brand.
So even seemingly good ideas can bite us on the bum later on, and everything is now greeted with a degree of healthy scepicism.
There are similar stories from other agencies, of course.
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if iStock had that business logic, 95% of the contributors would have been kicked out over the last 2 years :D (guess I donīt need to say why and what everybody talks about)
what can you say of an agency having 1500 files of yours during 2 years and have sold you 2 files for 1.17$? they are alive? I believe agencies need to understand what we are saying, not feeling offended, I havent said that John or Cora were dead, I have said that for me they (Cutcaster) were dead, people need to chill out when they see they havenīt progressed much and accept their failures like we do when we work on a concept/picture and it doesnīt sell as we have pictured
how many times have you heard contributors here complaining about DT, FT, IS? yes its a long list and I believe there isnīt a single contributor that havenīt attacked them at least once, havent you CD123?
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So helping them with advice and support wherever one can and praising good service and/or business decisions is the decent and logical thing to do.
Do they welcome our 'advice and support'?
Sometimes raising issues does make a difference, but not often enough.
'Praising good business decisions' is all well and good, but as the business matures, we're off the koolaid into the hard world of reality, and know that what might seem good seems to lead to something bad along the way.
e.g. Vettan/Agency/editorial at first seemed like, woo-way, more scope for us, but it was really a way of ingesting a huge pile of sometimes only semi-exclusive stuff, which didn't need to fulfil the normal criteria of IQ or keywording and selling them at a premium, to the confusion of buyers and the detriment of the brand.
So even seemingly good ideas can bite us on the bum later on, and everything is now greeted with a degree of healthy scepicism.
There are similar stories from other agencies, of course.
I havenīt said that Sue, sorry :)
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delete please
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I havenīt said that Sue, sorry :)
Sorry, I somehow lost the quoting chain.
I've deleted it in my original.
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Unfortunately it seems like bashing the agencies shows some sort of manhood around here (especially if you make sure you are anonymous so you can "freely speak your mind" without being responsible for your statements).
Well, I am one of those anonymous poster. I believe in free speech. If I would be an Agency I would welcome criticism and overlook too hars comments or bashes and would live the concept as free speech - as an agency too. Sadly, the past had shown that many Agencies have a very low self esteem or moral values and even consider constructive criticism as a reason to block accounts etc. This leads for me to the conclusion:
Yeah, you are right. Actually I would prefer to be able to speak with my name since this would give my statements more value. But playing a clean game requires two sides who play under the same rules. As long as Agencies do not show the needed maturity to handle criticism I stay anonymous.
Also, please note that there is the psychological effect of self censorship. This emans that many people will not express their true opinion in order to avoid some potential or estimated consequences. Therefore, even if we talk about insults against myself, I prefer a true statement over a political correct one.
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The point was to give praise where it is due. To assist where assistance is due and required by sites which still upheld some level of ethics. The point was never made not to criticize where it was due. Just think some balance is required.
Those who never has anything good to say about any site, specializes in "spitting" at everything and everyone opposing their opinions and preaches that Microstock has turned evil and has nothing good to offer any longer, should, like some showing some backbone here and are prepared to put their stock where their mouths are, just leave the industry.
That's just my 5 cents worth. ;)
PS: Yes of course I have criticized sites where I felt it due, with my user name known. Criticism can be given in a decent manner. I do not have to hide behind anonymity to cover ill mannered statements. If I get booted for that, it goes, in my opinion, to the bad of the site and am I better of without it. Your choice on how you do it.
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I havenīt said that Sue, sorry :)
Sorry, I somehow lost the quoting chain.
I've deleted it in my original.
the quoting is mess ahah (looks like working now)
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Those who never has anything good to say about any site, specializes in "spitting" at everything and everyone opposing their opinions and preaches that Microstock has turned evil and has nothing good to offer any longer, should, like some showing some backbone here and are prepared to put their stock where their mouths are, just leave the industry.
I agree totally BUT it doesnīt mean we need to eat everything they throw at us, I remember Photodune paying 25% and we got them to pay 33% (not saying it is enough) but as a "community" we made that happen. There are a few examples on Veer too. Agencies need to take criticism like we do here when there are "attacks". Kicking out doesnīt seem correct/ethic and back at that time when they (Cutcaster) kicked me out, I have talked with many contributors and there wasnīt one saying they had the right attitude.
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I really wonder how and why they are a fair stock agency ::) ::) ::)
http://www.fairstockphotoagency.com/
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I left 123RF over disagreement on how my image/revenue was used.
And, Cutcaster after learning how payouts were calculated.
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Cutcaster after learning how payouts were calculated.
please elaborate :)
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Not much to elaborate, Luis. After John had promised me 50% on All Sales to settle an earlier disagreement, I found that all credit card charges were being deducted from MY 50%. :(
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Not much to elaborate, Luis. After John had promised me 50% on All Sales to settle an earlier disagreement, I found that all credit card charges were being deducted from MY 50%. :(
at paypal?
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no.
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PS: If I have a business and a "supplier" bad mouthed my business I will kick him/her so fast out of there, their heads will spin.
Yeah, that attitude is why there are so many sweatshops out there, and so many millionaires benefitting from them.
:(
That's why I won't feed and encourage the parasites that feed off the people who will put up everything they have, anywhere, in hope of making a few dollars more. Some day folks will wake up and see that supporting the low paying and non-paying sites, is a waste of time and effort and that it cuts into sales at the good, working, agencies. It drags down prices and dilutes the industry.
Sweatshops by choice, now there's another good one. :) It's right up there with, make money selling those photos you took with your pocket camera, that are just sitting on your hard drive. Maybe 5-6 years ago, but the requirements, review standards, time investment, equipment investment and dedication have changed. It's not a little entertaining cottage industry marketplace anymore.
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FT - Allows POD's and have cheap EL's
Yaymicro - No sales period
AYCS - Also no sales period not even on the ones for order
Photodune - Waiting for next response from support on uploading procedure! Why compress an already compressed JPEG? And they say my titles have a # sign in them which they dont but the album does because they are all cataloged by catalog #!
Istock - They are a joke.
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Funny how the timing of this thread worked out. I'm taking istock off my "giving up on them" list. For now, anyway. With the new policy allowing text in vectors, which effectively opens the door for most of my 2012 work to now be uploaded to istock, I'm willing to give them another chance.
My fear is that the rumor may be true and new royalty rate cuts may still be on the calendar for some time later this year. Taking the time to upload a bunch of new stuff only to be slapped in the face in a few months if the cuts do happen would be enough for me to stick a nail in that old coffin once and for all. But as it stands now, and despite the already very low rate I'm getting, istock does still manage to convince people that images are worth more there than elsewhere in microstock, and if people want to pay the high price so that I can still get a decent commission (even if it's at a low percentage), then I'm willing to give it one more try.
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Istock - They are a joke.
In what way/s in particular?
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Istock - They are a joke.
In what way/s in particular?
Uploading and preferring exclusives over others.
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But Rux, you fail to recognize, that their upload procedure is a brilliant piece of work.
We contributers, want to think that the agencies appreaciate our pictures.
The agencies on the other hand, have a message to tell us.
And that is, that they do not care about us, and they want us to do all the work, and they show us that every time we upload a file.
Like they say: "Lets see how an annoying process you can deal with".
So Rux, take it for what it is: a user interface, with a purpose.
To humiliate us, to keep those contributers who let themselves become humiliated.
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But Rux, you fail to recognize, that their upload procedure is a brilliant piece of work.
We contributers, want to think that the agencies appreaciate our pictures.
The agencies on the other hand, have a message to tell us.
And that is, that they do not care about us, and they want us to do all the work, and they show us that every time we upload a file.
Like they say: "Lets see how an annoying process you can deal with".
So Rux, take it for what it is: a user interface, with a purpose.
To humiliate us, to keep those contributers who let themselves become humiliated.
Ha! LOL ;D
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Istock - They are a joke.
In what way/s in particular?
Uploading and preferring exclusives over others.
What would the point be of having exclusives if they didn't have privileges?
If it's any consolation, for months there has been an indy iceberg lettuce above all of my exclusive icebergs in a search for iceberg (ice). (On my search, anyway).
If you think iStock's upload is bad, wait until you try Alamy's.
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Istock - They are a joke.
In what way/s in particular?
Uploading and preferring exclusives over others.
What would the point be of having exclusives if they didn't have privileges?
If it's any consolation, for months there has been an indy iceberg lettuce above all of my exclusive icebergs in a search for iceberg (ice). (On my search, anyway).
If you think iStock's upload is bad, wait until you try Alamy's.
Couldn't they have the privilege of higher commissions but compete on keyword quality?
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
seriously? RC's system like iStock, I am sure you have seen that 300 times before introducing the captcha, look below ;D
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
seriously? RC's system like iStock, I am sure you have seen that 300 times before introducing the captcha, look below ;D
What is a RC system?
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
seriously? RC's system like iStock, I am sure you have seen that 300 times before introducing the captcha, look below ;D
What is a RC system?
most supermarkets use that system, are you shopping online?
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
When you log in and go to earnings, you have to enter a captcha. Read the information below the captcha about the new rating system to be introduced.
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
When you log in and go to earnings, you have to enter a captcha. Read the information below the captcha about the new rating system to be introduced.
Holy crap, so I have to get to 5000 dls to get back to the commission I get now. Right, I need to rethink submitting to 123RF then.
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
When you log in and go to earnings, you have to enter a captcha. Read the information below the captcha about the new rating system to be introduced.
Holy crap, so I have to get to 5000 dls to get back to the commission I get now. Right, I need to rethink submitting to 123RF then.
123 is basically screwing every contributor by thinking (and knowing) they will reap huge financial rewards by integrating an RC system. Do they care? Nope. REMEMBER......this all happens come Jan 1, 2013.
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thank god the ignore button is LIVE!
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thank god the ignore button is LIVE!
have at it
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I would suggest for people that dropped 123RF to give them another chance. The uploading system is the fastest of them all and the sales are ok now. They seem to be on the up. They are my second earner.
Can someone tell me what is going to happen in Jan 2013 on 123RF?
When you log in and go to earnings, you have to enter a captcha. Read the information below the captcha about the new rating system to be introduced.
Holy crap, so I have to get to 5000 dls to get back to the commission I get now. Right, I need to rethink submitting to 123RF then.
No, they do not require 5000 dls, they need 5000 credits. You get a certain number of credits associated with every type of DL. I have not worked it out for myself. Sounds very tiresome to do that. So I will just wait till 1 Jan. 2013, see where I ended up, and take it from there.
In the mean time they and SS are both my top earners, so I will be an idiot to stop uploading and making money from them now.
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123 is basically screwing every contributor by thinking (and knowing) they will reap huge financial rewards by integrating an RC system. Do they care? Nope. REMEMBER......this all happens come Jan 1, 2013.
When I'll be long gone...
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You get a certain number of credits associated with every type of DL. I have not worked it out for myself. Sounds very tiresome to do that.
http://davidgilder.com/misc/123RF_credit_calculator.html (http://davidgilder.com/misc/123RF_credit_calculator.html)
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You get a certain number of credits associated with every type of DL. I have not worked it out for myself. Sounds very tiresome to do that.
[url]http://davidgilder.com/misc/123RF_credit_calculator.html[/url] ([url]http://davidgilder.com/misc/123RF_credit_calculator.html[/url])
Interesting find, thank you Luis. Just one problem, I worked it out by hand and no matter how I try to past the columns into this guys sheet, it comes out wrong every time.
123RF live support could not answer me on the calculation of a sub which happens to be an EPS as well (sub=1 EPS=10). Awaiting their email feedback.
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OK. The problem with this guys sheet:
One work from your Total Row, so not month and year. So put in 0 for month and 0 for year and then start with the totals starting at the subs column. If it/you made a mistake, refresh the page, else every time you click calculate it ads the new total to the previous calculation.
Formula error: This guy only give 5 credits for an EPS and it is 10 credits (XXLMH column). Double his quantity he has in there, then you are right.
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Panther Media - no sales
Bigstock - 1 sale
Dreamstime - similar policy drove me nuts
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i'm close to eliminating fotolia - their support ALWAYS replies they're looking into problems & bugs in their system, then closes the support request without bothering to test if the problem is actually solved. they probably claim a 100% success rate since no problem ever is open more than a day
they continue to reset defaults to send rejected files to the free section, despite numerous claims that they have fixed the problem -- their conystant conclusion is to delete all cookies on my computer which would mess up hundreds of LEGITIMATE cookies and defaults on amazon and other reputable vendors
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what happens to your earnings when you close your account? if you're under the payout do you get it, or do they pocket it?
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what happens to your earnings when you close your account? if you're under the payout do you get it, or do they pocket it?
Differ from site to site (mostly have something to do with honesty). Best practice: If you are close to payout, hang in there till you can make it and then bail. ;)
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You get a certain number of credits associated with every type of DL. I have not worked it out for myself. Sounds very tiresome to do that.
[url]http://davidgilder.com/misc/123RF_credit_calculator.html[/url] ([url]http://davidgilder.com/misc/123RF_credit_calculator.html[/url])
Thanks, that's cool. I could never be bothered to do the calculations.
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I am not sure what 123RF means with the statement when you havent been around for a full year. I guess they are going to get an average of your monthly sales and complete the year for you. If thats the case, I will drop from 50% to 40%. If not, I will drop 15% to 35%. The last time I got a 15% cut in commission for giving someone my photos for free was never. Greedy b.....
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If not, I will drop 15% to 35%. The last time I got a 15% cut in commission for giving someone my photos for free was never. Greedy b.....
That's a misconception. Itīs a 30% (!) cut instead of 15%.
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If not, I will drop 15% to 35%. The last time I got a 15% cut in commission for giving someone my photos for free was never. Greedy b.....
That's a misconception. Itīs a 30% (!) cut instead of 15%.
Ok, can you explain that to me? I am quite new in microstock. Cheers.
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If not, I will drop 15% to 35%. The last time I got a 15% cut in commission for giving someone my photos for free was never. Greedy b.....
That's a misconception. Itīs a 30% (!) cut instead of 15%.
Ok, can you explain that to me? I am quite new in microstock. Cheers.
For starters, they will just take all the RC you have from the last 12 months - so a bunch of those months will be 0 if you haven't been there a full year.
30 percent of 50 is 15 - hence going from 50 to 35 is a 30% drop.
I bet that motivates you and makes your income more predictable or whatever BS they spouted in their announcement (in fact I shouldn't even try to explain anything about 123RF to you by their logic).
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right gotcha. I wrote them an email and they confirmed i will have 0 credit months since I started back in march. they also said they are aware of the uproar and that people have stopped uploading, but they consider it a fair deal because now the good portfolios will get the higher commission. they are sticking to their guns. lets see if its IS all over again and if they join the race to the bottom. greedy b....
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just goes to show the free for all image grab of the last decade isnt a proven business model. Its either penalise new submissions, or cull the crap. Ive noticed a trend starting to happen.
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I've dumped Fotolia, because I doubt their honesty, and Featurepix that I never had more than a handful of photos with because they don't sell. I've stopped uploading to Crestock for lack of sales and Panthermedia because they messed me around (they reviewed a huge pile, accepted about 80% then listed all the rejects last and cut my FTP uploading rights to virtually nothing), they also make everything complicated. I'll probably dump Veer because they make it very difficult and time-consuming to upload, sales don't compensate for the upload effort and their payment arrangements for third-party sales are opaque.
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right gotcha. I wrote them an email and they confirmed i will have 0 credit months since I started back in march. they also said they are aware of the uproar and that people have stopped uploading, but they consider it a fair deal because now the good portfolios will get the higher commission. they are sticking to their guns. lets see if its IS all over again and if they join the race to the bottom. greedy b....
There is a big difference in the motivation to submit to IS and 123 in that volumes and prices at IS make it worthwhile and 15% of something is something. 30%, 35%, 40% of very little would not inspire me to submit and the new subs rates are a deal breaker.
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I left PantherMedia right after I joined them. They hadd a strange (old?) upload system. I uploaded about 50 good-sellers to see how they review and they rejected 80%. When I saw the rejections I laughed and closed my account right away.
I left Cutcaster because the site is dead ;)
I left YayMicro because after a 1 EUR sale the first week nothing happened for months. They had an easy upload process though.
I will leave 123RF end of this year because of their new pricing.
I'm thinking about leaving DepositPhotos because I only get sub-sales there. On the other hand it's a new site and they seem to grow fast so I'll probably stick around untill they do something stupid like cutting commissions.
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I left: Yaymicro, Mostphotos, Featurepics & Crestock because I take the attitude that an agency should market our images in return for taking the commission that they do, the sales figures on these sites were pathetic in comparison to others.
I stopped uploading to Stockfresh for the same reason, I do still have some of my stuff there and one day I'll get round to deleting them, but I'm of the opinion they'll go bust soon so don't want to waste my time doing so.
I support many charities both personally and through my business, I don't consider stock agencies/picture libraries as charities, if they can't be bothered to actively work to sell my images I can't be bothered to fund them!!
I left Veer because of the 'Alamy saga' and it appears from a recent thread that they're up to it again.
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veer
featurepics
lucky oliver (before they crashed)
crestock
vivozoom
mystock (before they crashed)
and more, I just cant remember them.
Soon:
Stockfresh (for no sales)
DP (too many subs and lousy EL licenses and poor transparency)
PD (no sales)
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Gave up on Fotolia a long time back and pulled my port. I really wasn't sure I liked their business practices.
Gave up on Stockfresh for lack of sales and was about to pull from Superhug before they saved me the trouble!
I am now giving up, reluctantly, on Dreamstime. I like them as a site but their 'similars' policy is driving me to insanity. I am having a rush on other sites for 2013 calendars but DT turned them all down as they were 'too similar' to the ones I uploaded, (and sold), last year! Go figure? This was the last of numerous ridiculous rejections and my time is best spent uploading to the sites that will accept and regularly sell my work.