11 sales in September, only 1 sale in October, hope it will get better in the rest of month

be happy and smile.
I have never sold a video.

Quote from: helloitsme on October 09, 2015, 21:57

I don't know what happened.

Over the last few months you've started six or seven threads all singing the praises of VideoBlocks, all saying how good your sales are and how much money you are making.  You basically advertised your success and opened the doors for every man and his dog to bombard Videoblocks with submissions, all wanting a piece of the pie.

If your sales are down, it's because sales have been diluted by the wave of new submissions, and for this you have only one person to blame - yourself.

Next time when you discover something good in life, follow a basic simple rule - KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.

I don't think that's the case.  Something is happening at VideoBlocks that we don't know. 

Ain't nothing wrong with sharing information so that my fellow stock video contributors can succeed too and to support an agency that pays us well.

If you are jealous at others' success, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND CRY.

Why are we becoming so bipolar with vb really?
Disregard the fact that they are fairly new (for this current model they started) ,and have a subscription,which means that there should have been a wave of subscriptions during September which explains the sudden boost.
But other than that, what were people expecting from vb anyway?

They resemble motion elements in the way they operate unlike say ss or p5,they're simplt behaving like  traffic wardens of footage.
They curate almost everything,they dont have the means to handle a big boost in incoming traffic, not the means and the willingness to even separate commercial footage from editorial.
Actually i wouldn't be surprised if these returns were editorial footage.

Still by returning the clips and charging the contributor that means that they operate on a very low level as an agency.
Which of course shouldn't make us have very high hopes for them.
Personally i dont,and if i can have some sales just for the effort of uploading there im good.
After all no agency at this point is very lucrative.Quite the opposite.So let them milk your cows while milk is in demand,and im truly sorry that i have to speak in such a cynical manner.

-Refunds have been given to customers for purchased images/clips since I can remember. VB has chosen to adopt this policy. Maybe it's one way of attracting more buyers. Live with it and quite whining.

How exactly can an agency attract buyers since refunds propably mean:
1)Bad video quality and various technical issues that the agency either chose to ignore or has no means to check or simply doesn't care.Would you buy  products from a shop that has no means to verify their quality?
2)Agency is new and being taken advantage of from people who want to download and get a refund."The client is always right" mantra doesn't necessarily inspire confidence.

Am i missing something else?

Quote from: gcrook on October 10, 2015, 11:36

Quote from: Zeus on October 10, 2015, 10:42

-Refunds have been given to customers for purchased images/clips since I can remember. VB has chosen to adopt this policy. Maybe it's one way of attracting more buyers. Live with it and quite whining.

How exactly can an agency attract buyers since refunds propably mean:
1)Bad video quality and various technical issues that the agency either chose to ignore or has no means to check or simply doesn't care.Would you buy  products from a shop that has no means to verify their quality?
2)Agency is new and being taken advantage of from people who want to download and get a refund."The client is always right" mantra doesn't necessarily inspire confidence.

Am i missing something else?

I get occasional refunds from EVERY agency I've ever worked with. As for VB I've had dozens of downloads and maybe three refunds.

Also they do seem to be checking the quality of all incoming videos. While it's true I haven't had many rejected, I have had a few.

I dont think refunds alone is the point of this thread (actually this thread has no point but nevermind) but since we are at it what do you mean every agency?I've never had one from p5 and ss that i know of.Maybe they dont report the sale reversal but other than that how would you know?
I had refunds from dissolve though as well as motionelements.

How certain are you that they curate that good?I've had 3-4 rejections but that doesnt mean that they curate well.What's the reason for them being the only agency where editorial clips are officially accepted but yet aren't tagged as such?
How can a buyer know if some of the people in the background for example are visible if there's no editorial tab?From the horrible low res preview?
And that's one example.
That doesn't prove in your opinion that their curation process is a bit "relaxed" to put it mildly?

Quote from: stockmn on October 10, 2015, 14:21

Quote from: gcrook on October 10, 2015, 11:36

Quote from: Zeus on October 10, 2015, 10:42

-Refunds have been given to customers for purchased images/clips since I can remember. VB has chosen to adopt this policy. Maybe it's one way of attracting more buyers. Live with it and quite whining.

How exactly can an agency attract buyers since refunds propably mean:
1)Bad video quality and various technical issues that the agency either chose to ignore or has no means to check or simply doesn't care.Would you buy  products from a shop that has no means to verify their quality?
2)Agency is new and being taken advantage of from people who want to download and get a refund."The client is always right" mantra doesn't necessarily inspire confidence.

Am i missing something else?

I get occasional refunds from EVERY agency I've ever worked with. As for VB I've had dozens of downloads and maybe three refunds.

Also they do seem to be checking the quality of all incoming videos. While it's true I haven't had many rejected, I have had a few.

I dont think refunds alone is the point of this thread (actually this thread has no point but nevermind) but since we are at it what do you mean every agency?I've never had one from p5 and ss that i know of.Maybe they dont report the sale reversal but other than that how would you know?
I had refunds from dissolve though as well as motionelements.

How certain are you that they curate that good?I've had 3-4 rejections but that doesnt mean that they curate well.What's the reason for them being the only agency where editorial clips are officially accepted but yet aren't tagged as such?
How can a buyer know if some of the people in the background for example are visible if there's no editorial tab?From the horrible low res preview?
And that's one example.
That doesn't prove in your opinion that their curation process is a bit "relaxed" to put it mildly?

Do the math, there isn't time to curate properly in this business.

I contacted them about refund and here is their response: "Taking a look at the history, it appears the customer did not understand the process of purchasing clips, so we felt it was right to refund the purchase. The clip was not downloaded � we track that � and we don�t allow refunds for any clips that have been downloaded. "

Quote

Leaving all other issues aside, I think you are only looking at a very small subsection of all the reasons why a buyer would request a refund. Sometimes there is simply a change of clip needs. They decide they want a different clip and request an "exchange". Too bad for you, good for someone else. I can think of many other reasons but it's not that important. I don't like VB but the idea of refunds only being evil is not correct. With the exception of "All sales final" outlets, refunds and exchanges do bring in customers and are in fact a proper way to do business.

Edit:It looks like an answer from vb has been given.

Still i'd like to embark.
Of course there are more reasons and all of them are valid.The point is that the product itself is of a such a nature that can be more easily returned or "stolen" wouldn't you agree?
We are not selling fruits off a stand after all we are selling digital products that are presented in a poor manner across all agencies,and the agencies should present each and every one in the best way they can.
Curation is the one,and i agree, quality control costs time and money,so it's practically non-existent,but why doesn't anyone answer the editorial question?After all this is a form of curation we can do for ourselves.
Im still buffled as to why vb doesn't allow us to tag our editorial clips,and the official statement regarding this doesn't cover me.But if it's ok for everyone else, what can i say.

I guess if you assume everyone who returns a shirt has likely worn it at least once, then you will adopt a no return policy.

All I know, is that of all the sales I've made over the years, not that many of them have been returned. I can't say it's a fact, but my guess is way more images and clips get stollen outright than get bought, returned and used. You'd need to a bit of a simpleton to buy a clip, return it, and then use it. It does give a rather strong case for copyright infringement. But then stupidity is not in short supply.

Quote from: Zeus on October 10, 2015, 16:18

Quote from: gcrook on October 10, 2015, 15:39

Quote

Leaving all other issues aside, I think you are only looking at a very small subsection of all the reasons why a buyer would request a refund. Sometimes there is simply a change of clip needs. They decide they want a different clip and request an "exchange". Too bad for you, good for someone else. I can think of many other reasons but it's not that important. I don't like VB but the idea of refunds only being evil is not correct. With the exception of "All sales final" outlets, refunds and exchanges do bring in customers and are in fact a proper way to do business.

Edit:It looks like an answer from vb has been given.

Still i'd like to embark.
Of course there are more reasons and all of them are valid.The point is that the product itself is of a such a nature that can be more easily returned or "stolen" wouldn't you agree?
We are not selling fruits off a stand after all we are selling digital products that are presented in a poor manner across all agencies,and the agencies should present each and every one in the best way they can.
Curation is the one,and i agree, quality control costs time and money,so it's practically non-existent,but why doesn't anyone answer the editorial question?After all this is a form of curation we can do for ourselves.
Im still buffled as to why vb doesn't allow us to tag our editorial clips,and the official statement regarding this doesn't cover me.But if it's ok for everyone else, what can i say.

I guess if you assume everyone who returns a shirt has likely worn it at least once, then you will adopt a no return policy.

All I know, is that of all the sales I've made over the years, not that many of them have been returned. I can't say it's a fact, but my guess is way more images and clips get stollen outright than get bought, returned and used. You'd need to a bit of a simpleton to buy a clip, return it, and then use it. It does give a rather strong case for copyright infringement. But then stupidity is not in short supply.

Im not assuming anything.Im just saying that a digital product is not a t-shirt.As long as we understand the huge difference.And this includes agencies as well,which they very well know thats why they benefit so much from it's immaterial nature,and we end up ranting in forums.

I'm not making myself clear then. I don't agree with you.

So, how's your sales in October at VideoBlocks?

So far I had one sale and one refund, net zero.