I woke up this morning to find that Bigstock have a promotion offering 85% off all their plans - or $99 for 1800 downloads! Having done the calculations this means that my images could be sold for less than 1C per image! This is astoundingly low and I certainly don�t feel happy about being sold so cheaply. Shutterstock surely can�t expect us to stay quiet about this?

Nothing on the site about it and no email either ?

The link is being blocked! try this one:

www[DOT]bigstockphoto[DOT]com/promo/supersavings/?utm_campaign=DiscountMB&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=MediaBistro

I don't think them doing discount packages is a huge problem, as long as I'm paid the full subs commission.

Well said Luis

Quote from: sharpshot on October 17, 2013, 07:10

I don't think them doing discount packages is a huge problem, as long as I'm paid the full subs commission.

sorry but I never expected that one from you, do you really believe it isn't a huge problem to sell our pictures for 2 pennies? and happy because you still collect 27 cents, are you feeling alright?

we worry about the other "agency" buying perpetual distribution rights but then we approve this

I get 38 cents.  Don't really have a problem if they're funding the discount.  BigStock is a small site that doesn't have a lot of buyers.  I don't think this will make all subs buyers go to them but if they did get some from sites that pay me a lot less than 38 cents, I don't think it would be bad for me.

For a buyer to get images for 2 pennies, don't they have to download the maximum every day for a year?  That's not what happens, none of the sites would have the subs deals they have now if all buyers downloaded their maximum limit.  If you think about it, as we get paid more when they download more, it would make us a lot more money if they did that.

So when it comes to subs, it seems I do think differently to most people here.  I don't mind buyers getting a discount paid for by the site and downloading more, as that should increase my earnings significantly.

Quote from: sharpshot on October 17, 2013, 07:47

Quote from: luissantos84 on October 17, 2013, 07:17

Quote from: sharpshot on October 17, 2013, 07:10

I don't think them doing discount packages is a huge problem, as long as I'm paid the full subs commission.

sorry but I never expected that one from you, do you really believe it isn't a huge problem to sell our pictures for 2 pennies? and happy because you still collect 27 cents, are you feeling alright?

we worry about the other "agency" buying perpetual distribution rights but then we approve this

I get 38 cents.  Don't really have a problem if they're funding the discount.  BigStock is a small site that doesn't have a lot of buyers.  I don't think this will make all subs buyers go to them but if they did get some from sites that pay me a lot less than 38 cents, I don't think it would be bad for me.

For a buyer to get images for 2 pennies, don't they have to download the maximum every day for a year?  That's not what happens, none of the sites would have the subs deals they have now if all buyers downloaded their maximum limit.  If you think about it, as we get paid more when they download more, it would make us a lot more money if they did that.

So when it comes to subs, it seems I do think differently to most people here.  I don't mind buyers getting a discount paid for by the site and downloading more, as that should increase my earnings significantly.

27 or 38 cents isn't the main concern here, its the value of our work going down without any permission or request or other

statements like yours tell agencies that they can keep digging our pockets in the future and we are happy about it! at this exact moment, where would you license pictures if you were a buyer?

I had the idea that the 38 cents period was gone at BigStock, have you reached their RCs?

They extended it to the end of the year.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I have an impression that things are pretty much b&w. What's good for one agency it's bad for the other.

That's called double standard.

yes that is the trouble and unfortunately we are contributors in the middle of the fire, guess we know what is going to happen, and much worst when some contributors approve their promotions, cuts, this and that

one for all doesn't  apply in stock and because of that we are stuck on the race to the bottom, buckle up!

Quote from: sharpshot on October 17, 2013, 07:47

Quote from: luissantos84 on October 17, 2013, 07:17

Quote from: sharpshot on October 17, 2013, 07:10

I don't think them doing discount packages is a huge problem, as long as I'm paid the full subs commission.

sorry but I never expected that one from you, do you really believe it isn't a huge problem to sell our pictures for 2 pennies? and happy because you still collect 27 cents, are you feeling alright?

we worry about the other "agency" buying perpetual distribution rights but then we approve this

I get 38 cents.  Don't really have a problem if they're funding the discount.  BigStock is a small site that doesn't have a lot of buyers.  I don't think this will make all subs buyers go to them but if they did get some from sites that pay me a lot less than 38 cents, I don't think it would be bad for me.

For a buyer to get images for 2 pennies, don't they have to download the maximum every day for a year?  That's not what happens, none of the sites would have the subs deals they have now if all buyers downloaded their maximum limit.  If you think about it, as we get paid more when they download more, it would make us a lot more money if they did that.

So when it comes to subs, it seems I do think differently to most people here.  I don't mind buyers getting a discount paid for by the site and downloading more, as that should increase my earnings significantly.

27 or 38 cents isn't the main concern here, its the value of our work going down without any permission or request or other

statements like yours tell agencies that they can keep digging our pockets in the future and we are happy about it! at this exact moment, where would you license pictures if you were a buyer?

I had the idea that the 38 cents period was gone at BigStock, have you reached their RCs?

Can you explain to me how they are "digging our pockets" if they're funding this discount and paying us the same commission?  I would be annoyed if the amount they were paying us was reduced but this just looks like a discount for buyers funded by the site.  So buyers pay very little, download more and we should make more money?  That's quite different to sites that have made us pay for the discount they have given buyers.

They should of informed us about this but unfortunately microstock sites don't seem to bother anymore.  For the few people that don't like what they do, there must be thousands that aren't bothered.  On D-day with istock, there were more people uploading images than deactivating them.  So I've given up thinking that anything we say or do here has any influence on the sites.

If you want to limit how low a price your images are being sold for, don't put them on the microstock sites.  I hope Symbiostock is a big success and we wont have to waste time arguing over things like this in the future.

I believe I was clear enough, I am concerned with future diggings and approving this one will open doors for more as you know

I am also worried with the fact that a buyer can get a picture of mine for 2 pennies even if the agency pays me 5$ after, don't you think it is devaluing our work and most certainly spreading our work all around paying pennies, do you think they will come back and buy more if they got everything already due to the 2 pennies?

I don't understand how you don't see or understand what I am talking about, you are doing microstock for longer than me, quite scary actually!

I woke up this morning to find that Bigstock have a promotion offering 85% off all their plans - or $99 for 1800 downloads...

I think this is part of some promotion they have going on with MediaBistro. I got an email promoting a 7-day free trial of Bigstock, but the email came from MediaBistro.



https://www.bigstockphoto.com/free-trial/?utm_campaign=FreeTrial&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=MediaBistro

Active link because Elke is new here, her links are no follow.

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/promo/supersavings/?utm_campaign=DiscountMB&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=MediaBistro

Where is the incentive for buyers now to shop at Shutterstock when a mirror site offers the same image for 26 times cheaper?

26 cent is cheap, 1 cent is fuck all. It sending a completely wrong message to buyers. Why dont these * agencies dont understand they are DEVALUATING THEIR OWN BUSINESS.