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Author Topic: Why you should never ever work with Wirestock  (Read 19175 times)

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ribtoks

  • Founder of Xpiks
« on: June 30, 2022, 11:46 »
+3
Hello

A little rant from me for hearing too much about Wirestock: https://xpiksapp.com/blog/never-use-wirestock/

Let me know what are you thoughts! Do you think this is all wrong and actually WS is a good time investment?


« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2022, 15:09 »
+1
If you are a pro stocker and make a fulltime income from it, then it is better to upload to your own ports.

But for stock newbies and everyone struggling with english, this is a very fair offer.

Other agencies take 50% for distribution and dont do your keywording for you.

I think they have etsablished a useful service. Nobody is forced to use them.

I see you are from xpics :)

I havent tried your service or stock submitter yet. Maybe I should.

I have 22 files on wirestock and two sales. too little to really have an opinion, but I like their workspace.

Unfortunately they are not connected to stockperformer. So it is better to supply agencies directly.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2022, 15:15 by cobalt »

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2022, 15:09 »
+1
Some really excellent points. I always thought it was a bad idea. More so after the premium upgrade was introduced. Finding out about the absurd tie in time is just the nail in the coffin.

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2022, 15:10 »
0
If you are a pro stocker and make a fulltime income from it, then it is better to upload to your own ports.

But for stock newbies and everyone struggling with english, this is a very fair offer.

Other agencies take 50% for distribution and dont do your keywording for you.

I think they have etsablished a useful service. Nobody is forced to use them.
It's an extra fee on top though. The agencies will still be taking the same cuts on top.

« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2022, 15:21 »
0
For people who can barely speak or write English, the keywording and description service is really worth it. Plus you reach a higher level much earlier together.

I send half my videos to Blackboxglobal and they also take 15%. But I get better results in how the files are ranked and better royalties, especially on SS with their crazy yearly system.

The higher ranking probably comes from being part of a large port with high volume uploads.

So yes, 15% is a cut, but the royalties are higher, at least on a few agencies.

Then there is the question of ranking in search, again not all agencies will prefer files from highly active uploaders, but some do.

It is simple, easy and frees up time to shoot more.

If you are a pro stocker, you dont need it, but I know a few people who seem very happy with wirestock, just like I am pleased with BB.

Chinni

« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2022, 03:46 »
+1
Anyone noticed they are not uploading files to microstock sites from last few days/weeks. Even on many mails, there is no proper answer/ explanation for this. I am getting some same useless answer everytime.

If you notice their portfolios on microstock sites, not a single file is increasing.

« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2022, 09:03 »
+2
Anyone noticed they are not uploading files to microstock sites from last few days/weeks. Even on many mails, there is no proper answer/ explanation for this. I am getting some same useless answer everytime.

If you notice their portfolios on microstock sites, not a single file is increasing.

It's a long-running issue since beginning this year, or even last year. Anyhow, since they upgraded their website.

I noticed not a single file of my uploads was submitted to Alamy or Dreamstime for instance, and reached out to their support.
They told me they were gonna fix it 'soon' and that all pending files would be submitted, and that submissions to Shutterstock and Adobe are running fine.

To be honest, I'm not surprised that also Shutterstock's and Adobe's interfaces are broken again. Wirestock suffers, from the beginning, from sloppy programming and intermittent functionality issues. Sometimes the problem is fixed immediately, but some issues linger around and are never fixed. Or fixed and then kaputt again.

Apart from the reasons mentioned by the OP, it's another reason to not put all your eggs in the Wirestock basket.
Sooner or later, you'll find yourself in a checkmate position, and regret you migrated or uploaded everything to Wirestock. Use it wiseley! 

ribtoks

  • Founder of Xpiks
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2022, 09:14 »
+1
If you are a pro stocker and make a fulltime income from it, then it is better to upload to your own ports.

But for stock newbies and everyone struggling with english, this is a very fair offer.

I agree and I come to the similar conclusions in the blogpost. The only point is if you are newbie, being in the higher royalty rate will hardly make a huge difference for you financially (think you will earn $10/month instead of $4 per month). But if you have larger portfolio then you also do not need Wirestock.

« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2022, 12:08 »
0
Wirestock, has undergone some serious changes in the past year.
As far as I'm concerned they are about as good and as bad as the rest of the agencies.
I use Wirestock but don't allow them to upload to Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Adobe.
I do those myself. Since I put the title and keywords into the meta data, this is a very simple
operation for me. Basically all I have to do is upload.
I let Wirestock handle the rest, which means I don't get paid a whole lot but let no dime go unearned.
They now also act as a normal photo agency, but I think this will take some time to show results.
Wirestock is also extremely slow in reviews. For me this is only a slight irritation since I upload to the
big sellers myself.
Since I already took and edited the picture, added title and keywording I see no reason not to upload
to Wirestock.

farbled

« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2022, 14:12 »
+4
WS takes all the stress from me for uploading. I make more with them than I did as a solo submitter. I read the TOS beforehand (as I do for every agency I sign up with), so I knew what I was getting into and therefore most of the points in the blog article don't apply to me. Its not for everyone, but it is for me. :)

ribtoks

  • Founder of Xpiks
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2022, 02:20 »
+1
all the stress from me for uploading

Honestly would be much interested to hear more about it! What stress do you have with uploading? If you do not want to share here, please DM me. Thanks!

« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2022, 10:53 »
+1
all the stress from me for uploading

Honestly would be much interested to hear more about it! What stress do you have with uploading? If you do not want to share here, please DM me. Thanks!

i have no stress -- but captioning, tagging is most time consuming part of stock for me, so my main reason to use WS is because they do the work.

farbled

« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2022, 11:02 »
+1
all the stress from me for uploading

Honestly would be much interested to hear more about it! What stress do you have with uploading? If you do not want to share here, please DM me. Thanks!

For me, I have traditionally had some agencies take forever to hit payout, if they ever did. The uploading, tagging, everything became cumbersome, which files went where and when, all of it. I know there are tools but still... Anyway, with SS's cuts, I took a long look at everything and decided to simplify the whole thing. Wirestock did that for me. I haven't obsessed over stats and sales and stuff in over a year and I feel much better. Plus I get accumulated payouts, so if I make only a few bucks at DT or Pond5, they all get added together. Plus the SS earnings are more and better for me.
Are there cons to using them? Absolutely, so people should do their due diligence before going in. They may fail, or become unsustainable, and that is a risk same as any other new place to upload. But for now it works for me.

edited to add: this is new: techcrunch.com/2022/07/01/wirestock-getty/
« Last Edit: July 04, 2022, 11:26 by farbled »

« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2022, 12:01 »
0
edited to add: this is new: techcrunch.com/2022/07/01/wirestock-getty/
So again? Wasn't iStock one of the first partners of Wirestock in the beginning?
I remember it was, but they were dropped pretty soon (think because of the complex keywording system iStock uses, might be wrong here)

farbled

« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2022, 12:09 »
0
edited to add: this is new: techcrunch.com/2022/07/01/wirestock-getty/
So again? Wasn't iStock one of the first partners of Wirestock in the beginning?
I remember it was, but they were dropped pretty soon (think because of the complex keywording system iStock uses, might be wrong here)

Looks like they figured something out. I havent seen any other info yet.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #15 on: July 04, 2022, 12:14 »
0
edited to add: this is new: techcrunch.com/2022/07/01/wirestock-getty/
So again? Wasn't iStock one of the first partners of Wirestock in the beginning?
I remember it was, but they were dropped pretty soon (think because of the complex keywording system iStock uses, might be wrong here)

Looks like they figured something out. I havent seen any other info yet.

Yeah, they were originally one of the agencies, then not and now?

Dear Peter,

We've got some special news for you!

Wirestock is happy to announce the start of our collaboration with Getty Imagesa huge marketplace you can now sell on.
Please note that we will now be submitting all your content to iStock and Getty Images. If you would not like your portfolio to be submitted to iStock or Getty Images or you already have images that are published there, please let us know by replying to this email before July 12th.

We are happy to have you as a Wirestock creator.

Sincerely yours,
Team Wirestock


Is special anywhere as good as exciting?

Meanwhile, no more ESP no more complicated uploading, I'm putting everything IS in from WS from now on.

And for you, I suppose this will just be automatic added income, if you closed all your "other" and personal accounts?

farbled

« Reply #16 on: July 04, 2022, 12:27 »
0
edited to add: this is new: techcrunch.com/2022/07/01/wirestock-getty/
So again? Wasn't iStock one of the first partners of Wirestock in the beginning?
I remember it was, but they were dropped pretty soon (think because of the complex keywording system iStock uses, might be wrong here)

Looks like they figured something out. I havent seen any other info yet.

Yeah, they were originally one of the agencies, then not and now?

Dear Peter,

We've got some special news for you!

Wirestock is happy to announce the start of our collaboration with Getty Imagesa huge marketplace you can now sell on.
Please note that we will now be submitting all your content to iStock and Getty Images. If you would not like your portfolio to be submitted to iStock or Getty Images or you already have images that are published there, please let us know by replying to this email before July 12th.

We are happy to have you as a Wirestock creator.

Sincerely yours,
Team Wirestock


Is special anywhere as good as exciting?

Meanwhile, no more ESP no more complicated uploading, I'm putting everything IS in from WS from now on.

And for you, I suppose this will just be automatic added income, if you closed all your "other" and personal accounts?
Yup. I am not on istock but was once upon a time, my files are still on some of their affiliates (looking at you canva!) but I cant be bothered chasing or submitting to them. If ws is going to do it, why not? My stuff is older, and I made my pile from them already. Now I am scraping up whats left for my old stuff. :)


SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #17 on: July 04, 2022, 16:08 »
+2
Quote
Wirestock is a US-based venture-capital business

They're an Armenian-based business... just so you know.

f8

« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2022, 16:33 »
0
I did a test run of 10 images with Wirestock. The keywording was horrible. I will give them a big miss.

« Reply #19 on: July 05, 2022, 06:24 »
+1
Quote
Wirestock is a US-based venture-capital business

They're an Armenian-based business... just so you know.
They run their business from Armenia, but the legal HQ, just a mailbox I assume, is located in San Jose.
Funding by venture capital companies like 2048 Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Angelsdeck or S7V (and others)

« Reply #20 on: July 05, 2022, 08:04 »
+3
To me, the Wirestock concept seemed great, so I started uploading to them.

But soon, long review times started to annoy me, and also that I didn't know if my images were accepted or rejected by the different agencies. There were also some strange rejections by Wirestock. And it could take weeks from an image was accepted by Wirestock, till it showed up at for example Shutterstock.

Then I had five images that I wanted removed again, because they were more artistic than my usual stock photos, and I wanted them to be accociated with my own name. I wrote Wirestock, and they agreed to remove them.
But after the 90 days + 30 days for each 100 items in my portfolio that are stated in "Terms of Use", 3 out of the 5 images were still online.

I wrote Wirestock that they had not lived up to their own "Terms of Use" and that I now wanted to terminate my account, which they agreed to to do.

So, now I just hope that they will live up to the 120 days that they need according to their "Terms of Use" when it comes to termination of an account.

But I have tried Wirestock now, and it's not for me. Guess I prefer to be more in control at each agency.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2022, 10:40 »
+1
Quote
Wirestock is a US-based venture-capital business

They're an Armenian-based business... just so you know.
They run their business from Armenia, but the legal HQ, just a mailbox I assume, is located in San Jose.
Funding by venture capital companies like 2048 Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Angelsdeck or S7V (and others)

Interesting because of the past interview, I thought they were actually where they are. No wonder the TOS say laws of California


But soon, long review times started to annoy me, and also that I didn't know if my images were accepted or rejected by the different agencies. There were also some strange rejections by Wirestock. And it could take weeks from an image was accepted by Wirestock, till it showed up at for example Shutterstock.

I agree

I wrote Wirestock that they had not lived up to their own "Terms of Use" and that I now wanted to terminate my account, which they agreed to to do.

So, now I just hope that they will live up to the 120 days that they need according to their "Terms of Use" when it comes to termination of an account.

Why would they not? Did you read the TOS when you joined?

But I have tried Wirestock now, and it's not for me. Guess I prefer to be more in control at each agency.

True and more control is better sometimes for some people


This is supposed to be a business and all of us need to read the TOS and contracts that we sign, before we join a site. Those Instant Pay files are forever. That's one time, one pay, the people who paid for that, have the rights FOREVER. Be careful what you select for that program, or opt in.

You may request that Wirestock remove Content that you have previously uploaded to Wirestock. You must make this request in writing to the following email address: [email protected]. Once Wirestock receives your request in accordance with this provision, Wirestock shall have 90 days to remove all your Content hosted by content marketplaces so long as you have uploaded to Wirestock no more than 100 items of Content. For each additional 100 items of Content, Wirestock shall have an additional 30 days to remove all your Content. For example, if you have uploaded 350 items of Content to Wirestock, then Wirestock shall have 150 days to remove all your Content.

The same applies to termination.

From the OP: (as long as I'm going on and on)

Quote
Wirestock is a US-based venture-capital business currently having only seed investments. By definition, they were not founded to help contributors, but to increase investors returns. Wirestock cannot change the buyer interaction, as its the job of the agencies themselves. The only revenue leverage they have is via the sellers.

Founded to help contributors? What in this business does that? Of course, they are what you called an ideal name, umbrella distributor, and no they can't change anything, "buyer interaction", but neither can we? What's wrong with someone having investors and running a business, when the end result is to make my work and life easier?

The pay program isn't for me, I'm doing this for easy uploading, and they can have the 15% for better ranking, better commissions and taking care of uploading. I still do my own keywording

"Wirestock does not promise that they will accept to their account all of your uploads" nope and neither does any other agency that we upload to ourselves? So what?

"Wirestock claims you get paid more because their account is in the higher rate level." Do they make that claim, or is that us. No matter, you are still wrong:
https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/royalty-details.html
Adobe has levels.
Lifetime Licenses (free downloads don't count)
Minimum Royalty Amount
0-999 $0.33
1,000-9,999 $0.36
10,000 and above $0.38

Your argument that the gain is minimal would seem to be ignoring that the minimal gain pays back for using WS.

IS no levels, but it will sure save me time.
SS has levels and that darn reset.
DT has levels, 123RF has Levels, I don't know Pond5, Deposit has levels - lifetime, based on downloads, 30% up to 38%. I'd think that the gain there would be much more than if I contribute myself. (2nd level is 5,000 downloads)
Alamy has levels, 20% which becomes 40%.

There is a good amount to be gained that will offset the 15% fee.

I don't know about Wirestock direct, I never had anything. And Extra channels is a mystery?

Risk vs rewards? I think Wirestock is a winner. But like some others I'll upload to AS and SS myself and for some, DT or Alamy, I upload my own, but others go along with WS. All the rest, I don't have account so I wouldn't be uploading to them. I advocate that plan. USe the WS service for places to gain extra income, where someone wouldn't want to spend the time with a personal account or waiting forever to get paid.

OK but after all that, no complications and especially now for IS. Just upload and forget about them. We can't upload the same to the same agencies. Anything rejected we can, so go for it? Be careful about what goes into Extra Channels or Instant Pay! BE CAREFUL.

I think their 85% artist percentage, for the work they do, is just fine. Not like someone slipped in some new fees or a cut, like...  ::)

Biggest benefit for me and why I use WS. I get paid as soon as I meet the payout. I don't have to wait years, or possibly a lifetime, to get a payout from 123RF or a DT sale. All sales are accumulated and we get paid, the month after the total reaches $30.

Let's call this "why you might want to work with Wirestock" ?  :) And why the blog post is biased towards the negative, unfair and ignores or distorts the facts.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #22 on: July 05, 2022, 10:54 »
0
Hello

A little rant from me for hearing too much about Wirestock: https://xpiksapp.com/blog/never-use-wirestock/

Let me know what are you thoughts! Do you think this is all wrong and actually WS is a good time investment?

Aside from all that above, I think it's a fair system and a choice that each person needs to decide on their own. Some won't use the service and don't like the way it works, or has worked. Others are in the middle and use parts, mixed with their own. (that's good enough for me) And some other people are all in with Wirestock.

Free Choice.

« Reply #23 on: July 05, 2022, 13:04 »
+2

Aside from all that above, I think it's a fair system and a choice that each person needs to decide on their own. Some won't use the service and don't like the way it works, or has worked. Others are in the middle and use parts, mixed with their own. (that's good enough for me) And some other people are all in with Wirestock.

Free Choice.

Correct. I fully understand the ones who go full in after evaluating the pro's and the cons. They make a well educated decision that suits their situation best.
I also fully understand the ones who avoid services like Wirestock, because, yeah, there are some potential painful disadvantages to it.

It's a free, personal choice, but before making a the decision, read topics like this and decide what's best for you.

I'm more in the middle, and use parts of them, or use them for certain content.
But honestly, the more I use them, the more I'm leaning towards cutting them out of future uploads.

Chinni

« Reply #24 on: July 06, 2022, 08:45 »
0
https://xpiksapp.com/blog/never-use-wirestock/

in this link, they mentioned that they keep our total earnings for 90 days+ 30 days for each 100 files when we request for content /account deletion.
But where in the TOS mentioned that they keep 100% earnings in that period? They don't motioned that they keep all earnings in that time. They have to pay us our 85% even after we request to delete our files for that period.


 

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