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Microstock Footage Forum => General - Stock Video => Topic started by: PeterChigmaroff on April 16, 2014, 16:07
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Are people getting paid in a reasonably timely manner from Revostock these days? I have a pending payment going back a couple of months now and still haven't seen anything even though the 15th has passed (again).
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Are people getting paid in a reasonably timely manner from Revostock these days?
No. You may want to read this, if you haven't already:
http://www.revostock.com/Blog/189/Troll-Survival-RevoStocks-Patent-Troll-Lawsuit-Story.htm (http://www.revostock.com/Blog/189/Troll-Survival-RevoStocks-Patent-Troll-Lawsuit-Story.htm)
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I'm bumping this up and asking if anyone has been paid lately. I'm getting a little annoyed. They don't owe me much but getting paid is part of the scheme. I understand they are having a difficult time with lawyers but that only goes so far. If they are that far gone then I should leave before they owe more.
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One last bump on this thread.
Although I have been told I would get paid. I haven't. I asked for my account to be terminated today. For those of you new to video I would go slow with Revo for the time being. Others may be getting paid but I haven't. I hope their problems get resolved but offloading them to their contributors is not the way to go.
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Not getting paid from Revo either.
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I waited about 4 months for about a $190 payment and then sent them an email asking how much longer before I would be paid. They paid the next week. So, I wouldn't give up on them yet.
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I waited about 4 months for about a $190 payment and then sent them an email asking how much longer before I would be paid. They paid the next week. So, I wouldn't give up on them yet.
It's been over two months since I got that email and haven't seen anything yet. I can't recall how long since I made the first request for payment. If you get paid this time, will you get paid next time?
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I requested a payout almost exactly EIGHT months ago; still nada.
I was thinking they'd pay ordered by payment request date, but I guess not.
I really hope(d) Revo would make it, but it doesn't look good.
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I request payout yesterday and today in the morning my money was on Skrill without any problems.
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Depends on the amount you want to withdraw ...If you want to withdraw 100 $ deal is simple, but for more than 100 $ can take a week or even more ;D
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I request payout yesterday and today in the morning my money was on Skrill without any problems.
Have they changed their method of payout?
It used to be that you had to request payout by the 8th of the month in order to get paid on the 15th of the same month.
I'm wondering why you'd get paid immediately but I still haven't been paid after eight months? :o ;D
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I sent the message at help desk, my withdraw was 100$.
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I've summited a ticked and emailed supports two days ago, but no reply and no paid! I just expect some Revostock stuff can explain this problem, but nobody! so now I'm very disappointed! It's so unfair! I'm asking myself if I should leave here, a part of my heart is frozen this moment! :( :( :(
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Hi Friends!
It's Craig, RevoStock Founder/CEO. I apologize that I am just responding to this. Thankfully a couple of our kind Revo producers made me aware of this thread so I could address it.
I have to admit I was a little surprised to see it as I am very serious about communication, and any helpdesk ticket ,especially related to payments, is almost always swiftly answered. I definitely encourage anyone who ever has concerns about any issue related to our site to send us a helpdesk ticket first. You will be answered quickly and graciously. :)
I have been outspoken about our Patent Troll lawsuit and the effect it had on our small self-funded/bootstrapped company. I assure you, Patent Trolls suck and if you aren't aware of the damage they are doing to small businesses like ours, please read my post.
http://www.revostock.com/Blog/189/Troll-Survival-RevoStocks-Patent-Troll-Lawsuit-Story.htm (http://www.revostock.com/Blog/189/Troll-Survival-RevoStocks-Patent-Troll-Lawsuit-Story.htm)
After about 2 years, this lawsuit was finally dismissed. A bittersweet victory for us.
The residual effects of the lawsuit did require us to begin delaying some payments right around the time the lawsuit was dismissed. However, there was full communication via our Producer News and emails/helpdesk. Thankfully we had enormous and heartwarming support from our Producers allowing us to start coming back from the "Patent Troll" years. It has allowed us to re-group and move forward.
In fact, we have a new Revo coming out this very week! New features and innovations I think our producers and customers will love! Get ready!
So, if you ever have any concerns at all about payments or anything else, please check our Producer News or contact us via our helpdesk. I personally would love to help you! :)
Craig
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Thanks for the great communication Craig!
I can confirm that a message to support last week requesting my held money was responded to by Craig himself in a timely matter, included a sincere thank you, and my money was transferred to my Paypal immediately. I'll continue to support Revostock, happily.
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My problem is, I hate to ask for the money, as I don't absolutely need it right now and Revostock does. OTOH, I can't afford to never get it.
But it would be nice if they paid without my asking, so I could feel they're making progress and paying the oldest requests, slowly, but in chronological order.
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I did send a message to Craig around the time I posted the update to this thread. He got back to me quickly and made payment a couple days later. We had a nice offline chat.
He has had a pretty hard time with the patent troll suit and shows a good deal of tenacity by hanging on and continuing with the business. I see no reason to pull my portfolio now. Thanks.
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I think Revostock should email every producer to discribe the issues rather than we ask again and again, that's our rights, which is basic courtesy for all the producers. you're probably happy when you get the payments, but the other guys who didn't get paid only have to wait several months, trust is not you several people get paid but the basic courtesy for all the guys!
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I requested to be paid over a year ago and no response from anyone at revostock. They can give away drones at NAB but can't afford to pay their producers. Ridiculous.
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I have been with them for 6 months. I've had 2 sales, not requested payout. They have been around awhile so I think it's safe to say they are like the MostPhotos of video, very rare sales. I think Revo and Motion Elements are dead.
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Haven't seen a payment since March. Sales continue, actually picking up. Where's the money going? It's ridiculous to have to keep reaching out and hoping for money that they are making off my work!
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I haven't get any payment. I'm still waiting three mounts. I want to close my account.
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In the end, I closed my account. I did get paid out but it seemed a rather drastic measure to have to take just to get what was mine.
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I have similar experience as You guys. Revo delayed my payment so I asked for it and I got it real quick. Now however my payments are overdue again, and my request for payment got no reply for a month or more. Today I send an other one, we will see hoe this one goes.
I have to say I am quite frustrated with a company that can not spare my share of the money they got from the client!
I decided to deactivate my entire portfolio. When they are back on track with a 100% of their payments I will consider doing business with them again.
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I'm waiting for payment from revostock since several months now, four or five - I dont know. They continue to sell my content.... but they event dont bother to answer my emails and questions, completely ignoring them... I'm very disappointed in this agency and I'm also going to delete all my content there..
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What I find so bothersome about all this is the stated reason for protracted and long delays in payment was an unfair lawsuit against Revostock. Now with all that behind them, a nice shiny new website etc. they choose to pay back the people who helped them through their difficult times, by not paying them. For some reason, I thought perhaps my account was the only one being ignored, now I see that is far from the case.
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I' have same problem. I'm vaitinfg for three mounts. And no answer my questions. I've decided and deleting my portfolio.
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I'm also waiting for my payout... But I'm not leaving just yet, I kind of like this company and feel sorry for what they are going through.
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I don't know why, but Revostock makes me really angry. No answer at all, only promises and posts about how Craig loves to answer personally. Seems like a scum.
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Read the "producer news" blog and you'll have answers to your questions.
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Read the "producer news" blog and you'll have answers to your questions.
I don' t see any exact date when they will make a payment. Only promises. They used money that didn't belong to them. I can't respect that.
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It's a difficult situation to be sure. However the option to delayed payments may mean that a good company goes under. I'd rather get my money later than not at all.
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It's a difficult situation to be sure. However the option to delayed payments may mean that a good company goes under. I'd rather get my money later than not at all.
A good company would at least answer the emails of its contributors. I'm going to delete my portfolio at revostock.
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I am owed about $300 since March, I think they need a little more time to get their footing. I keep selling clips which means its alive. Lets hope they can get out of the bind and move forward and eventually finalize payments.
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After few prompts for payment I got my $200. Half of it was owed since December.
Until they are 100% on track with payments I am going to deactivate my portfolio.
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I am tiered from revostock. They dont pay me. I tried to contact them and no sign.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I've sent them several emails regarding my payment which has been pending for several months, and they've never replied my emails :(
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I'm done with them. They owe me over 200 USD. I guess, I'll never see that money. Tried to contact them several times - no answer. So - I've deleted my portfolio there - dont want them to continue to sell my stuff and not paying me...
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I'm deleting all my files from Revostock when I have time. Not worth committing to that site for me. Sales aren't good enough. However, I got paid promptly when I requested payment, I think.
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Same here. Also waiting few months for payment. No response for my emails from their support.
Im pissed off right now.
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Same here. Also waiting few months for payment. No response for my emails from their support.
Im pissed off right now.
I just requested a payout to test the response. They pay on he 15th of each month so I have a month to wait. If I don't get paid I will simply close my account. They owe me a lousy $85.
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I though the minimum payout was $100-
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I though the minimum payout was $100-
It very well may be, i never checked honestly. But it allowed me to get through the process and told me i would have a payment on the 15th of the next month. We will see what happens. If i have to wait until i hit $100 then it could be a couple of months before i can try it again since sales are so very slow there.
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They owe me over $1000 now. Too busy to respond to requests, but not too busy to sell my footage.
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They owe me over $1000 now. Too busy to respond to requests, but not too busy to sell my footage.
When did you request a payout and did you request it through their formal method or just email them?
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I request a payout every month, and have been sending emails about once a month. Sometimes I'll get a small payout, but it doesn't match the rate that I'm selling.
This month no response, I'm feeling like this might be a lost cause. Having a hard time agreeing with their business plan, you cant just keep taking peoples money and hope to someday get on track and pay them back.
Actually as I typed this I did get a reply. They instructed me to read their blog post. Not very encouraging.
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I complained about not getting payed, and I got some sort of automated respons that I should read the * blog post again. That post only mentions problems but nothing on when we get payed. Feeling tempted to just close my account.
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I complained about not getting payed, and I got some sort of automated respons that I should read the * blog post again. That post only mentions problems but nothing on when we get payed. Feeling tempted to just close my account.
This is sounding pretty convincing that they are doing whatever they can to delay payments. I will assess my situation next month after the 15th. No pay no more play. And I mean I will delete my account, not just stop uploading and leave my current content up there. Forget that.
The main reason I am interested in this culling some sites as I have mentioned in previous discussions. REVO is one of the ones I am considering, along with several others: ME, Stock Fresh, MostPhotos, GL.
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Nine months and counting and every time I email its the same old sob story. Business is business and they can't seem to deliver a mutually profitable deal so I'm out. I've got bills to pay and mouths to feed and cannot afford the luxury of being nice at the expense of my time which could otherwise be spent productively elsewhere. I'm sure that they are a good bunch of guys but at this point my patience has run out. Sure, they don't owe me that much but they never were a good performer anyway. Too bad, so sad, moving on...
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Very sad to hear they're not paying you guys. I understand they've had some bad luck with patent trolls, but that's no excuse to not communicate about your payments, especially now that the lawsuit was dropped.
What's their excuse now for not paying?
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Hi everyone,
I just found this forum and wanted to share something as I am extremely frustrated and angry about non-payments too. I'm currently owed thousands of dollars and my emails are not being responded to after a month of trying to get an update on payments. Because of the large amount owed to me I'll be taking legal action soon because I'm tired of this mess.
For US authors I wanted to share this info:
https://www.sba.gov/blogs/getting-stiffed-what-can-you-do (https://www.sba.gov/blogs/getting-stiffed-what-can-you-do)
I see that some of you would rather wash your hands of Revo and move on, not pursuing the money owed you. I totally understand. The article does bring up a (sort of) benefit when it comes to tax time- treat the amount owed to you as a 'bad business debt' so at least you can write off the amount on your taxes.
Thanks and I hope you all have a good day!
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I think for most US contributors, this would be the applicable information:
If you are on the cash method of accounting and are not paid for your services, too bad. Unfortunately, you cant take a tax deduction for your lost time and effect.
I totally understand your frustration and anger over RS. I think the worst part is the lack of response to emails, but my guess is that he (Craig) is so overwhelmed he's unfortunately letting that happen. RS isn't a one-person operation, but my understanding is, Craig has very little help. Still, it would be so much better if he could just have someone reply to emails, to slightly help ease the frustrations.
It's the US legal system that has played a large part in this happening, so I'm sad that you think legal action is the best course of action. However if I were in your position, I'm not sure I wouldn't do much the same thing. Good luck.
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Hi everyone,
I just found this forum and wanted to share something as I am extremely frustrated and angry about non-payments too. I'm currently owed thousands of dollars and my emails are not being responded to after a month of trying to get an update on payments. Because of the large amount owed to me I'll be taking legal action soon because I'm tired of this mess.
For US authors I wanted to share this info:
https://www.sba.gov/blogs/getting-stiffed-what-can-you-do (https://www.sba.gov/blogs/getting-stiffed-what-can-you-do)
I see that some of you would rather wash your hands of Revo and move on, not pursuing the money owed you. I totally understand. The article does bring up a (sort of) benefit when it comes to tax time- treat the amount owed to you as a 'bad business debt' so at least you can write off the amount on your taxes.
Thanks and I hope you all have a good day!
I can't tell you what to do but I can tell you what's happening. Every time one of your clips sells, RS takes the your money and does something with it. Apparently, the legal problems they've had have been cleared up a LONG time ago. SO where' your money? It's used to pay for dinners, and rent/mortgage and cars and everyday living expenses of the owners. The day to day business expenses are taken care of with the percentage they normally keep.
Before I quite, all I asked Craig was to promise me he'd make regular payments to me and I would have no problem staying on -- he closed my account instead. I guess you can say he's honest.
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I've just requested that they close my account.
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Adding myself to the list of the unpaid...
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If it exists I can't find it but does anyone know of a bulk delete in REVO? I only see one at a time delete. Getting pissed and just want my work off that site.
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So I mailed them and got the standard reply. I replied to that and got both excuses and payment.
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So I mailed them and got the standard reply. I replied to that and got both excuses and payment.
Well at least you got paid :)
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I guess everyone has seen the latest blog post about the situation at Revostock but here it is just in case:
http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?ID=256 (http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?ID=256)
Now It does look like there is light at the end of the tunnel and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait a bit more. I appreciate the direct communication and feel more optimistic about the whole thing!
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I guess everyone has seen the latest blog post about the situation at Revostock but here it is just in case:
[url]http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?ID=256[/url] ([url]http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?ID=256[/url])
Now It does look like there is light at the end of the tunnel and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait a bit more. I appreciate the direct communication and feel more optimistic about the whole thing!
To me my decision was based on one thing....did they pay me on the 15th. The answer is no. Therefore i am no longer waiting around for a company that already has a bad track record towards their contributors.
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I have to say that I sent in a request last week to close my account but they never got back to me. I just manually deleted all 600 of my clips.
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Hi Guys! my payment stuck as well , Its been too long I don't remember... is there any place where we can lodge a report for this late/holding our money... Come on... clients pay them money and they take all the portion to take care of their problem!!!??
they shouldn't touch our portion at all!! thats stealing!
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Craig says in the video on his latest blog post that they were also hit by a Google penalty. Does anyone know why? Can't find more info about it.
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Craig says in the video on his latest blog post that they were also hit by a Google penalty. Does anyone know why? Can't find more info about it.
And this is a reason to not pay on a regular basis?
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Hey guys do you remember that dreadful day in the past when the new google algorithm completely ruined the stock industry and brought the doomsday of machines upon us all?
No wait, that was a few months ago.
I dont have my stuff there,but the way this is going the next argument of all agencies will involve aliens.
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Craig says in the video on his latest blog post that they were also hit by a Google penalty. Does anyone know why? Can't find more info about it.
And this is a reason to not pay on a regular basis?
I don't know, he mentioned a patent troll lawsuit and a Google penalty hit, but the latter must have been some time ago. Thing is, it's not clear to me why they were penalized.
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Craig says in the video on his latest blog post that they were also hit by a Google penalty. Does anyone know why? Can't find more info about it.
And this is a reason to not pay on a regular basis?
I don't know, he mentioned a patent troll lawsuit and a Google penalty hit, but the latter must have been some time ago. Thing is, it's not clear to me why they were penalized.
They had a "duplicate content" penalty. Their website was setup in such a way that google kept seeing the same content displayed on different pages of their website. Google does this so that you can't make a website with only 100 pages of unique content into a website with hundreds or even thousands of pages.
This is a difficult area for stock as it makes sense for the same images and video to appear on different areas of the website. For instance, footage of snow falling may appear under the category of "winter" as well as the category "snow". I believe they've fixed the problem but recovering from a google penalty is not generally fast and easy.
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I am pretty hacked off with them now. My sympathy bucket is empty. They owe me $122 that is rightly my money earned from my work. I just get a stock email reply and then no response to the follow up. I now only get sales once every blue moon. I just want to take my money and go.
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They are awefully quiet in the Producer News section.. Sales are pretty mich non existant for me. I wonder how they'll ever earn the money to pay all the producers.
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I am pretty hacked off with them now. My sympathy bucket is empty. They owe me $122 that is rightly my money earned from my work. I just get a stock email reply and then no response to the follow up. I now only get sales once every blue moon. I just want to take my money and go.
Same here. I then asked for them to close my account. Never heard a word back. I then deleted my files one by one.
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I had no response from my last email so am emailing again with a polite reminder. This is so out of order >:(
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Still getting the odd sale but no response to emails.
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Same here, still getting sales but no payouts or responses. I can't think of any good reason why they can't pay contributors. Their legal troubles were over a long time ago!
It's sad, but I'm going to have to remove my work. At this point they are stealing from me.
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Is this "not paid" situation an exception or a common practice? I'm uploading footage there for some months now and I'm wondering if there is any point to continue if I'm probably not going to be paid and have to delete hundreds of files one by one...
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Is this "not paid" situation an exception or a common practice? I'm uploading footage there for some months now and I'm wondering if there is any point to continue if I'm probably not going to be paid and have to delete hundreds of files one by one...
Read back through the posts and tell me what you think?
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Is this "not paid" situation an exception or a common practice? I'm uploading footage there for some months now and I'm wondering if there is any point to continue if I'm probably not going to be paid and have to delete hundreds of files one by one...
It is not worth it when you do not get paid. Nobody is getting paid. They sell and keep the money. I gave them a fair chance, requested a payout, didn't get the payout and kindly requested they close my account. I never heard back from them so I manually deleted my content and left in one video just in case they get bought out or something and uploading again is worth the chance.
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Is this "not paid" situation an exception or a common practice? I'm uploading footage there for some months now and I'm wondering if there is any point to continue if I'm probably not going to be paid and have to delete hundreds of files one by one...
It is not worth it when you do not get paid. Nobody is getting paid. They sell and keep the money. I gave them a fair chance, requested a payout, didn't get the payout and kindly requested they close my account. I never heard back from them so I manually deleted my content and left in one video just in case they get bought out or something and uploading again is worth the chance.
I got out a few months ago as well. Totally not worth my time and effort to upload and tag there. There are only 3 sites worth uploading stock video right now. Shutterstock, Pond5 and VideoBlocks. You'll make less than minimum wage for uploading and tagging at other websites now.
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I specifically emailed an FAO to Craig and yet again got the stock email. They are still selling my work but if I pull it that will put hours of uploading, tagging to waste that I did over the last few years. Thier twitter page is also long inactive.
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There is more - I just saw that they sold my footage on June and July (~42$) and it never appeared on my pending payments page. I checked with my friend and she found that they sold her footage and she even didn't know about it. It could be a website error but the pending payments just take to long (more then a year for me).
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Another payout date was missed. I deleted my clips. One file remains to keep the account debt on the books.
I hope Craig and his staff find success. I'll consider reintroducing my art when their company returns to financial health and their debts are paid.
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We actually should sue that guy. How is it possible that he just not paying us and he is coming away with this!? >:(
Contributors should organize themselfs in a union or so to be able to handle cases like this where some arrogant "agencies" who simply decided not to pay us our royalties for sold and paid work!
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We actually should sue that guy. How is it possible that he just not paying us and he is coming away with this!? >:(
Contributors should organize themselfs in a union or so to be able to handle cases like this where some arrogant "agencies" who simply decided not to pay us our royalties for sold and paid work!
That's why I would never upload there again unless there was new owners. This owner is breaking the law, pretty simple. He/she/them will never see another clip from me unless the company changes hands, and their debt is in check.
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Mantis/philipus (and just about every disgruntled Revostock producer) are right about the legality of what Revostock has done. Contributor monies (the designated percentage of each purchase price) should have been set aside and not used for Revostock's financial funds.
It's an unfortunate situation, with such an established provider of video content, that they cannot seem to keep their hands out of the Producers' pot (essentially, this is what has caused the entire downfall).
Our position, being owed thousands of dollars right now, means we've had to begin debt recovery proceedings in attempt to recover loss of earnings before Revostock simply decides to fold.
If it helps anyone else, we were advised to create a record of payments (monthly) and to send a business invoice for the amount due. This, to begin the process of recovery. Post or send with email tracking.
Debt recovery is not a pretty process and is generally only used as a last resort (you'll lose a percentage) but with no payment since March, no constructive communication from the company (radio silence) and the prospect of a large amount of money disappearing - we've had no choice.
Currently we're looking to recoup overdue earnings, yet we're still having sales on the site (which means nothing if they're not being paid) so, it's a tricky one to assess. Do you delete your portfolio, having spent so much time uploading, and in the knowledge that Revostock still has a good online presence for buyers?
If only they would keep us informed.
Very frustrating.
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Currently we're looking to recoup overdue earnings, yet we're still having sales on the site (which means nothing if they're not being paid) so, it's a tricky one to assess. Do you delete your portfolio, having spent so much time uploading, and in the knowledge that Revostock still has a good online presence for buyers?
It's illogical to leave your art at a agency that clearly lacks the ability to pay their contributors.
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I got payed out after some complaining, but it wasn't thousands of dollars. I don't want to delete my clips there just yet, in the (increasingly unlikely) event that they manage to get this going again. But in the meantime, I don't want them to sell my stuff because I won't get paid. Chicken/egg I know.
So instead of deleting all my clips, I'm considering of pricing all my clips as high as possible. 8)
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Currently we're looking to recoup overdue earnings, yet we're still having sales on the site (which means nothing if they're not being paid) so, it's a tricky one to assess. Do you delete your portfolio, having spent so much time uploading, and in the knowledge that Revostock still has a good online presence for buyers?
It's illogical to leave your art at a agency that clearly lacks the ability to pay their contributors.
Removing our portfolio entirely is an option we've considered, obviously but to what end?
"Cutting off your nose to spite your face" everyone loses, I'd say.
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I got payed out after some complaining, but it wasn't thousands of dollars. I don't want to delete my clips there just yet, in the (increasingly unlikely) event that they manage to get this going again. But in the meantime, I don't want them to sell my stuff because I won't get paid. Chicken/egg I know.
So instead of deleting all my clips, I'm considering of pricing all my clips as high as possible. 8)
I think you're right about not removing clips (yet).
We've recently cleaned up our portfolio by taking out non-sellers, but not without trepidation. Apart from the time it takes to resubmit, the existence of the files has already permeated the internet, and who knows what deeper links we've inadvertently removed.
Our fear is that removing files may damage web search exposure, albeit short-term.
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I got payed out after some complaining, but it wasn't thousands of dollars. I don't want to delete my clips there just yet, in the (increasingly unlikely) event that they manage to get this going again. But in the meantime, I don't want them to sell my stuff because I won't get paid. Chicken/egg I know.
So instead of deleting all my clips, I'm considering of pricing all my clips as high as possible. 8)
I think you're right about not removing clips (yet).
We've recently cleaned up our portfolio by taking out non-sellers, but not without trepidation. Apart from the time it takes to resubmit, the existence of the files has already permeated the internet, and who knows what deeper links we've inadvertently removed.
Our fear is that removing files may damage web search exposure, albeit short-term.
Why on earth would you want to keep your port on REVO when:
1. They CHOOSE to ride the backs of hard working contributors but not give them water
2. They have a proven track record of screwing the contributor for their own inadequacies
3. Their payout system is turned off
2. They do not answer emails requests for an explanation as tho why they aren't paying
And you hanging tight that, while your clips keep selling and they keep 100%, someday they will become honest, ethical business people and all will be rosy after that? Their reputation has already been defined. Seriously, if they walk like a duck, if they quack like a duck............
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I find it interesting the various levels people are willing to get taken and not do anything about it.
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Why on earth would you want to keep your port on REVO when:
1. They CHOOSE to ride the backs of hard working contributors but not give them water
2. They have a proven track record of screwing the contributor for their own inadequacies
3. Their payout system is turned off
2. They do not answer emails requests for an explanation as tho why they aren't paying
And you hanging tight that, while your clips keep selling and they keep 100%, someday they will become honest, ethical business people and all will be rosy after that? Their reputation has already been defined. Seriously, if they walk like a duck, if they quack like a duck............
Our focus right now is to retrieve the substantial monies owed to us.
Despite this lengthy period of unprofessional behaviour, we'd previously enjoyed several years of steady productivity through Revostock.
Whether Revostock can turn itself around and become the marketplace it once was? Only one man has that answer.
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It's sad when businesses fail. I don't believe they will recover. At this point even pondering Revostock is a waste of productivity. Time to move on.
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It's disgraceful conduct and tantamount to theft. It makes me angry that my money is being kept from me. Still no response to emails.
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You really never know what kind of a guy Craig or whoever is in charge of Revostock really is in person. He may be completely honest about everything, or just playing games keeping contributors' money. It's best to leave and forget about that website to avoid further headache.
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Maybe he's actually a standup comedian.
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Why not send a notarized letter from your attorney requesting clarification with when payment can be expected? It wouldn't be very expensive and you may get results.
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I deleted my clips manually back in May and I can't see why anyone would still stick with this crap. Oh and they still owe me $102 thanks for nothing Revo
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I am pretty hacked off with them now. My sympathy bucket is empty. They owe me $122 that is rightly my money earned from my work. I just get a stock email reply and then no response to the follow up. I now only get sales once every blue moon. I just want to take my money and go.
Does google own the internet!!??
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I am pretty hacked off with them now. My sympathy bucket is empty. They owe me $122 that is rightly my money earned from my work. I just get a stock email reply and then no response to the follow up. I now only get sales once every blue moon. I just want to take my money and go.
Does google own the internet!!??
I don't understand what you mean ?
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Look at this, an update from Revostock.. http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?&ID=257 (http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?&ID=257)
Copy paste for those who can't login:
PRODUCER UPDATE FROM CRAIG
By: Craig Lillard 0 0
Hi Revo Producers,
I am late on this payment update and I completely understand any and all frustration due to delayed communication on my part. I have delegated emails to Larry and Laura for the time being as I am working on the bigger picture items I am needing to dedicate my time to. Additionally, I am having to manage some unfortunate family health issues that have made things a bit more challenging than usual. I am hoping I will be able to address any messages I need to as soon as I am able.
As I mentioned in my previous video last month, while Revo was starting to gain some ground the first of 2015, we hit a pretty significant traffic/revenue drop again at the end of Spring and at that point I felt that I needed to jump into fund-raising (trying to raise money via investors, partners, co-founders, etc.) which has led to a lot of meetings, planning, spreadsheets, etc. I also unfortunately had to cut back on some employees that we really needed, but didnt need to be spending money on. Because of this I have had to delegate emails and tickets to Laura and Larry who are working to cover things on the communication side.
If you havent heard from me, it isnt because you are purposefully being ignored. I am just a bit overloaded at the moment and hopefully things will level out soon.
We do have a small amount of funding coming in this month and because of that plus some other expenses I have been able to cut out this month, we should be able to get monthly payments on time starting later this month. However, that doesnt solve any past due amounts.
While I am still talking to investors, I am taking things to another level by also talking to potential acquirers. While the last couple of years have been up and down, the last few months have been more so. In a previous post I mentioned a competitor, ClipCanvas who went through a similar situation. Cato, the CEO worked as hard as I am to solve the problem, but was not able to secure outside funding.
He did an excellent job of finding another company which took over ClipCanvas and took care of the outstanding payments as well as invested funds into ClipCanvas for future growth. While that was a very difficult thing for Cato to do with the company he built and grew from the bottom up, I have a lot of respect for Cato being able to make that transition. While, this is obviously not ideal, it is a solid option if it is needed and I am pursuing it as an option as well. There is a lot of value in RevoStock, our producers and content and while I have loved the journey, I really want to get these outstanding payments resolved. If the way to do that is by partnering or merging, so be it.
Finally, we have, in the past, required you to email us to close your account. This was a security measure to keep someone logging into your account fraudulently and deleting your files.
However, I am going to modify this and allow you to close or pause your account on the Edit Profile page. I will let you know when this feature is up. However, I hope you will hang in there with us, as removing content makes may make it difficult for us to get an investor or acquirer and therefore difficult to get past due payouts resolved (its a bit of a Catch-22), but I totally understand otherwise and appreciate you working with RevoStock.
Thank you so much for your support and patience!
Craig
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Look at this, an update from Revostock.. [url]http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?&ID=257[/url] ([url]http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html?&ID=257[/url])
Copy paste for those who can't login:
PRODUCER UPDATE FROM CRAIG
By: Craig Lillard 0 0
Hi Revo Producers,
I am late on this payment update and I completely understand any and all frustration due to delayed communication on my part. I have delegated emails to Larry and Laura for the time being as I am working on the bigger picture items I am needing to dedicate my time to. Additionally, I am having to manage some unfortunate family health issues that have made things a bit more challenging than usual. I am hoping I will be able to address any messages I need to as soon as I am able.
As I mentioned in my previous video last month, while Revo was starting to gain some ground the first of 2015, we hit a pretty significant traffic/revenue drop again at the end of Spring and at that point I felt that I needed to jump into fund-raising (trying to raise money via investors, partners, co-founders, etc.) which has led to a lot of meetings, planning, spreadsheets, etc. I also unfortunately had to cut back on some employees that we really needed, but didnt need to be spending money on. Because of this I have had to delegate emails and tickets to Laura and Larry who are working to cover things on the communication side.
If you havent heard from me, it isnt because you are purposefully being ignored. I am just a bit overloaded at the moment and hopefully things will level out soon.
We do have a small amount of funding coming in this month and because of that plus some other expenses I have been able to cut out this month, we should be able to get monthly payments on time starting later this month. However, that doesnt solve any past due amounts.
While I am still talking to investors, I am taking things to another level by also talking to potential acquirers. While the last couple of years have been up and down, the last few months have been more so. In a previous post I mentioned a competitor, ClipCanvas who went through a similar situation. Cato, the CEO worked as hard as I am to solve the problem, but was not able to secure outside funding.
He did an excellent job of finding another company which took over ClipCanvas and took care of the outstanding payments as well as invested funds into ClipCanvas for future growth. While that was a very difficult thing for Cato to do with the company he built and grew from the bottom up, I have a lot of respect for Cato being able to make that transition. While, this is obviously not ideal, it is a solid option if it is needed and I am pursuing it as an option as well. There is a lot of value in RevoStock, our producers and content and while I have loved the journey, I really want to get these outstanding payments resolved. If the way to do that is by partnering or merging, so be it.
Finally, we have, in the past, required you to email us to close your account. This was a security measure to keep someone logging into your account fraudulently and deleting your files.
However, I am going to modify this and allow you to close or pause your account on the Edit Profile page. I will let you know when this feature is up. However, I hope you will hang in there with us, as removing content makes may make it difficult for us to get an investor or acquirer and therefore difficult to get past due payouts resolved (its a bit of a Catch-22), but I totally understand otherwise and appreciate you working with RevoStock.
Thank you so much for your support and patience!
Craig
Too bad. I removed all my clips. It should not be the contributors' commissions who have to shore up your financial needs. That's how expendable I believe you believe we are. I do think it is a good idea to allow deactivation of ports, but history is often a good indication of the future and if things do get better then worse again, I know what to expect, so I choose to cut ties altogether.
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It sounds like even more excuses and a lot of financial mismanagement.
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Yeah I also deleted mine. Moving on. He's bassically asking for someone to buy his troubled shop and for us to remain there so it has some value? I wonder how much debt he has, but he probably thinks that debts to his contributors isn't really a debt.
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I contacted him on Facebook and he paid me the amount within the day. It was $122 so not sure if the bigger payments will work as mine is a relatively small sum. I have since found though that I cannot log into my account which is quite worrying.
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The entire Producer News section seems to be gone, including the post I quoted a few days ago. :o
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The entire Producer News section seems to be gone, including the post I quoted a few days ago. :o
Have you deleted your account? Producer News doesn't show up if you're not logged in.
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I asked them to delete it but I can still login. Do you see the Producer News section?
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Yep, can still see it from the Producer Tools dropdown.
http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html (http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html)
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That is strange! I deleted all my clips but can still access my account and all settings. Ah well, it's no big deal, I'm done there.
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Good thing I read all this...I applied but there's no way I'm uploading my clips if there's a chance that the big boss will use my money for his own issues.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Well I can no longer get into my account. It won't accept my username and password anymore. Very worrying as my files are still making the odd sale.
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Looks like it's the end of Revostock. The URL leads you to a message from Graig. But there is no info on outstanding payments or what is happening to our portfolios. I've tried to send them an e-mail, but they're bouncing back. Nice way to deal with the people who have been the heart of your business for many years!
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So what should we do now?
Is this his profile?
https://www.facebook.com/craig.lillard?fref=ts (https://www.facebook.com/craig.lillard?fref=ts)
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That's a shame, I was owed around $120 but was holding out hope that he might find an investor. Revo sales were always very sporadic for me, it's as if it never really took off but i did sell from time to time. I did have a glimmer of hope that he might find an investor as i knew that he had nearly 10 years worth of portfolio and a lot of Microstock companies starting out would love to be an a position to have such a port on their site, which makes me wonder even more how he couldn't make it in the end.
Good luck to the people who are owed much larger amounts, hope it gets sorted in the end.
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about $700 :'(
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Is Craig there ????
What's up with important non paid royalties amounts (revostock authors) ????
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I still hope that "they" pay our money
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I'm owed well over $1,000 and it would be interesting to see if ex-authors can take action? It's likely he owes more than $100,000 so it's likely he won't be able to pay in any near future.
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Nearly $ 300 loss. I think I'll get a lawyer :(
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about $700 :'(
Somewhere between $800-900 here. :'(
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About 750 $. >:( I don't think he will pay us guys.unfortunately :'(
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so, did they kick the bucket for good ? 170$ for me
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$4400
they owe me $4400.
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Around $2K which was requested back in May plus another $1K earnings I hadn't bothered moving into the joke that was the 'withdrawal account'.
Emails are inactive, they've gone into hiding. Does anyone know if they've been declared bankrupt?
Tip for anyone starting up their own marketplace don't spend contributors' money! :P
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They owed me $80. No big deal but you people with these kinds of unpaid revenue my condolences to ALL OF YOU! This is a flippin hard enough industry to make a dime and to see some of these amounts is extremely shameful and illegal.
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I am owed around $400 but hard to tell as they hold all of the stats now. I only have a rough estimate from my spreadsheet that gets near that.
I OCRd the Text Image placeholder at the site:
"Unfortunately, there is never a good time to end a business, especially one that has been around almost 10 years as RevoStock has. I started RevoStock in 2006, excited about bringing the microstock idea to the world of video. Along the way, Revo brought many firsts including the first site to succesfully offer both audio and video, the first site to sell After Effects Templates and the first site to offer FlexFile custom encoding. We stayed a small company but were able to grow fast in spite of the fact that we did not have any outside funding.
However, starting in 2012, our struggle with a Patent Troll (a company that buys or acquires broad patents they can use to sue as many companies as possible) was the beginning of a very difficult period our small company simply was not able to rebound from. While the lawsuit was dismissed after 2 years, the scars left from this struggle made it equally difficult to get the funding we needed to recover and thus continue growing and innovating. If you are not familiar with the unfair damage Patent Trolls are causing to small companies like ours, I encourage you to watch John Oliver's (HBO) recent piece unmasking the ways Patent Trolls kill small businesses and stifle innovation.
I am deeply grateful to our talented producers who, following this suit, gave us a chance at recovery and I am very sorry we were not able to see it through. Thank you so much for your talent. I know how much time, effort and trust you have put into me and RevoStock and while I labored until the end to deliver a solution, I deeply regret that it wasn't possible. I am also thankful to all of the customers who have supported us all these years and come to us for your stock media needs. Thank you so much for choosing us. It has been an honor to serve you and interact with you. The last few months have been rocky for us and I hope our reputation might stand on our previous nine years of service.
We are currently working on securing a partnership for both our RevoStock producers and customers with one of the many other quality media marketplaces that will honor your current relationship with RevoStock in the best way possible. We will be sending out an email to this effect as soon as there are more details to be had.
- Craig Lillard (Founder, RevoStock) "
It will be interesting what that partnership looks like and if we will have access to retroactive payments. Our content has been used and clients were charged for it. They should have never used contributor payment as a means for sustainability. This is a really awful situation and having complete site blackout is unnerving. Maybe Revo will be absorbed by a bigger competitor and have it as a side collection. I highly doubt payments outstanding will be honored now. My guess is that Craig is filing Chapter 11 as so to gain the protections it grants.
Sad state of affairs I feel bad for all involved as no real solution was found to keep it afloat. :'(
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I feel bad for all contributors who are still waiting for their money.
Closing the site is one thing (it's probably for the best), but it's extremely disgraceful to leave contributors in the dark regarding their payments, even without a way to contact them. Also, using contributor's money to keep the company going is simply unethical.
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They owe me $550, requested for payment long long time ago, but never got paid...
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Is it illegal for them to dip into the contributors percentage? Was that money ever legally theirs?
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It will be interesting what that partnership looks like and if we will have access to retroactive payments.
Let me say that anything can happen, but if I were a betting person, I wouldn't put my money that happening.
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They owe me $300,00, maybe more. After all, how do we really know that the last sales were computed?
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What country are they from? Was this a legit business? How can they just close a business and think they can just walk away? Can't their creditors push them into bankruptcy? I mean this guy gets to keep his car and his house when he owes a significant amount of money? I'm not going to go back through this thread and add it up, but a low few K $ has been mentioned already.
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It WAS a very legit business and they are from Texas. I enjoyed some good years with them but I think he panicked these last two years because of a lawsuit and made some very bad decisions. He should never have used our 45% to cover "new marketing methods" or salaries. I can live without my $1,300 but I do feel robbed and it would be nice to get some of it back...
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What country are they from? Was this a legit business? How can they just close a business and think they can just walk away? Can't their creditors push them into bankruptcy? I mean this guy gets to keep his car and his house when he owes a significant amount of money? I'm not going to go back through this thread and add it up, but a low few K $ has been mentioned already.
Well, businesses like that are often set up to prevent personal liability. If I'm correct, Revostock is a corporation so yes, although Revostock may be bankrupted, Craig gets to keep his car, house and other personal belongings. You can't sue the person Craig Lillard, but you can declare his company bankrupt, and whether or not you'll get your money, depends on whether there are enough assets left to sell.
I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I understand it.
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What country are they from? Was this a legit business? How can they just close a business and think they can just walk away? Can't their creditors push them into bankruptcy? I mean this guy gets to keep his car and his house when he owes a significant amount of money? I'm not going to go back through this thread and add it up, but a low few K $ has been mentioned already.
Well, businesses like that are often set up to prevent personal liability. If I'm correct, Revostock is a corporation so yes, although Revostock may be bankrupted, Craig gets to keep his car, house and other personal belongings. You can't sue the person Craig Lillard, but you can declare his company bankrupt, and whether or not you'll get your money, depends on whether there are enough assets left to sell.
I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I understand it.
However, i believe there was a crime. The owner knowlingly ripped off contributors for a year or more. A crime cannot be protected behind the cloak of bankruptcy.
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What country are they from? Was this a legit business? How can they just close a business and think they can just walk away? Can't their creditors push them into bankruptcy? I mean this guy gets to keep his car and his house when he owes a significant amount of money? I'm not going to go back through this thread and add it up, but a low few K $ has been mentioned already.
Well, businesses like that are often set up to prevent personal liability. If I'm correct, Revostock is a corporation so yes, although Revostock may be bankrupted, Craig gets to keep his car, house and other personal belongings. You can't sue the person Craig Lillard, but you can declare his company bankrupt, and whether or not you'll get your money, depends on whether there are enough assets left to sell.
I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I understand it.
However, i believe there was a crime. The owner knowlingly ripped off contributors for a year or more. A crime cannot be protected behind the cloak of bankruptcy.
In that case I advise you consult your lawyer.
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Any business that goes bankrupt ends up with creditors and the bank gets paid first and then the rest of creditors if there is anything left so the contributors will be paid off last if ever. also if they are not bankrupt it is a different situation. however i would suggest everybody who is owned money to put in a claim asap. i cant believe some people here are ok with losng 1300 dollars or whatever the amount
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Does the money owed to people belong to Revostock or the contributors? I presume it isn't Revostocks money. Some sites might get away with not paying out below a payment threshold but how can they do this when its a much larger amount of money? Where have Revostock said that they have spent the money owed to contributors? Aren't their laws against that?
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Well, the owner frequently posted "excuse" posts saying he couldn't pay, because they needed the money for marketing and other costs. So yes, they spent OUR money, which, if not illegal, at least is a breach of contract.
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What country are they from? Was this a legit business? How can they just close a business and think they can just walk away? Can't their creditors push them into bankruptcy? I mean this guy gets to keep his car and his house when he owes a significant amount of money? I'm not going to go back through this thread and add it up, but a low few K $ has been mentioned already.
Well, businesses like that are often set up to prevent personal liability. If I'm correct, Revostock is a corporation so yes, although Revostock may be bankrupted, Craig gets to keep his car, house and other personal belongings. You can't sue the person Craig Lillard, but you can declare his company bankrupt, and whether or not you'll get your money, depends on whether there are enough assets left to sell.
I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I understand it.
However, i believe there was a crime. The owner knowlingly ripped off contributors for a year or more. A crime cannot be protected behind the cloak of bankruptcy.
In that case I advise you consult your lawyer.
I only lost $80. I wasn't stating this to you per se, just saying that the dollar amounts people are claiming they are owed is tantamount to a more purpose driven behavior by the REVO owner. Not worth the hassle for me, but others who lost thousands I certainly would suggest they speak with an attorney.
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Well, the owner frequently posted "excuse" posts saying he couldn't pay, because they needed the money for marketing and other costs. So yes, they spent OUR money, which, if not illegal, at least is a breach of contract.
If they have spent all the money, I'm not sure how they will explain it to the tax man. I'm not a legal expert but I wouldn't like to of spent money that should of had tax paid on it. Hopefully they haven't been that reckless.
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You don't pay tax on business expenses.
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Most contributors would declare and pay tax if they received their earnings, so if they spent that money instead of paying out, isn't the tax man losing out as well?
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Well, that would be the "tax man" for each and every country the authors are from. That's not really the issue here though so let's not get too far off track. :)
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Most contributors would declare and pay tax if they received their earnings, so if they spent that money instead of paying out, isn't the tax man losing out as well?
The tax man isn't someone I hold a great deal of sympathy for.
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Does the money owed to people belong to Revostock or the contributors? I presume it isn't Revostocks money. Some sites might get away with not paying out below a payment threshold but how can they do this when its a much larger amount of money? Where have Revostock said that they have spent the money owed to contributors? Aren't their laws against that?
Of course the money is owed to the contributors. Revostock is selling a property for a contributor and has a fiduciary responsibility to them.
What difference is this to someone knitting hats and having a shop sell them on consignment? You would expect to get paid for every hat that is sold. Think bigger - horses or used cars. Why would digital property be any different?
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Some have said it could be a pyramid, a fraud, a crime, possibly or how about a founder of a startup business who hung on to the bitter end trying to the best of his ability to somehow recover and save the company?, Bankruptcy is a terrible thing with long lasting effects. A lot of businesses would close the doors/site and file bankruptcy upon being served such a lawsuit or at the first instance the company has run out of capital and is not profitable.
To admit there are problems is also a challenge, if you couldn't pay your bills or lost your source of income would you phone the credit card and mortgage company right away and tell them you might be in trouble? no, because they would instantly cancel your credit and call your loans. As soon as you admit there is trouble suppliers, customers and creditors will act so it's a tough balance between telling the truth and not.
Many hang on to the bitter end until they have to walk into the bankruptcy trustees office and surrender. So maybe he should have closed shop much earlier instead of stringing everyone along? Hard to say. That might be his mistake. of course if it was something criminal then a totally different story.
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Hi everyone,
I just find this discussion about Revostock, and this great forum about our living. Thank you for sharing all these informations!
I just want to tell my experience. I always trusted Craig as Revostock is the first marketplace where I sold my items. I also had always a great communication with him.
Like many other producers I was getting paid time to time (some 2K withdraws) from 2014. It didn't covered all my earnings and the royalties dues increased to 10K. I decided to support at 100% Revo and didn't removed my content. When they closed the website the amount due was close to 12K.
So I think it is an inverted pyramid system, as big authors like FluxVFX were funding the other producers ;-) I still can't believe what happened, and I don't understand why the content, the infrastructure does not interest investors. It is a shame to loose years of efforts due to a patent troll.
I am not based in USA and I don't know what rights do we have on this. But if someone is taking action count me in.
- Florian Godard
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Wow, 12k, that's the biggest I've seen so far. This leads me to believe that the total owed is MUCH more than $100,000. I guess it can be as high as $500,000. They must have been making some serious money.
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Does anyone know if they have actually officially gone bankrupt? If so auditors will be looking into all this. Is there a way to check?
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I am missing around 900 Euro payout that I requested in the beginning of 2015... :-(
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does anybody knows what patent problem he had. was it something with his site, or the conervsion tools on the site ?
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The only information I found is here : http://setexasrecord.com/stories/510618089-recent-patent-infringement-cases-filed-in-the-eastern-district-of-texas (http://setexasrecord.com/stories/510618089-recent-patent-infringement-cases-filed-in-the-eastern-district-of-texas)
Uniloc USA Inc. et al v. Inmagine Corp. et al
Uniloc USA Inc. et al v. Revostock Inc. et al
Uniloc USA Inc. is a Texas corporation having a principal place of business in Irvine, Calif. Uniloc Singapore Private Ltd. is a Singapore corporation.
The defendants are Inmagine Corp. LLC d/b/a Inmagine.com d/b/a Photosubscribe.com d/b/a Imagehit.com d/b/a Inspirestock Inc. d/b/a Inspirestock.com and 123RF Ltd. d/b/a 123RF USA Ltd. d/b/a 123RF.com d/b/a 123Royaltyfree.com d/b/a 123RF.net, Revostock Inc. d/b/a Revostock.com and V.R. Media Resources Inc. d/b/a Revolution Stock Media.
The defendants are accused of infringing on U.S. Patent No. 7,099,849 issued Feb. 6, 1996, for Integrated Media Management and Rights Distribution Apparatus.
Uniloc is asking the court to issue an injunction preventing the defendants from further infringing on the '849 patent and for an award of damages, costs, expenses, attorney's fees and interest.
Andrew P. Tower, Michael J. Collins and Johnathan K. Yazdani of Collins, Edmonds, Pogorzelski, Schlather & Tower in Houston; James L. Etheridge of Etheridge Law Group in Southlake; and T. John Ward Jr. and J. Wesley Hill of Ward & Smith Law Firm in Longview are representing the plaintiffs.
A jury trial is requested.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis is assigned to the case.
Case No. 6:12-cv-00093; 6:12-cv-00094
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I lost a business and a huge amount of money to a patent troll once, revostock has my full sympathies. When you are in a patent court case it is often extremely difficult to predict the outcome, I first won the case, then lost one, had to close down the business, but four years later won the original case at a higher court. To late to save the business and unfortunately suing for damages would be extremely difficult and too expensive and also take around 8 years.
I understand everyone is upset they lost their money, no question about that. But for me this is not like they ran off with their money to Hawai and spent their lives on a yacht smoking cigars while robbing you off your money.
Court cases and patent trolls are a very unfortunate part of business life that can hit any company, no matter how good your own patents are and even if you are completely innocent. The costs of these court cases alone can drive you into bankrupcy.
It is a genuine business risk that all companies have to live with and I donīt think we as suppliers can prevent it. Maybe not leave so much money in your account and donīt upload if you donīt get paid on time. Not being paid on time is a clear indicator something is seriously wrong.
I hope you can all get at least part of your money back.
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There are a lot of "If's", "what's" and "when's" being mentioned here and I'm a bystander with no stake. It's difficult for me to watch this happen before our eyes and "I've been there" with a global conglomerate that owed billions. When they filed for chapter 11, my company was very far down the list in a mountain of creditors.
I think it's essential that one of you who are owed money begin an action where the rest can join in like a class action or at least talk to the attorneys who are already mentioned above and have knowledge. The sooner this gets going, the better for the lot. If the business is for sale and many of you are creditors, then a strategy could be that the assets (or company) be turned over to a "coalition" of contributors who take over operations. After all, the company seems to have had a substantial list of customers who were buying up until the last day (and a loyal group of contributors).
Imagine the possibilities.
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Hi Friends!
It's Craig, RevoStock Founder/CEO. I apologize that I am just responding to this. Thankfully a couple of our kind Revo producers made me aware of this thread so I could address it.
I have to admit I was a little surprised to see it as I am very serious about communication, and any helpdesk ticket ,especially related to payments, is almost always swiftly answered. I definitely encourage anyone who ever has concerns about any issue related to our site to send us a helpdesk ticket first. You will be answered quickly and graciously. :)
I have been outspoken about our Patent Troll lawsuit and the effect it had on our small self-funded/bootstrapped company. I assure you, Patent Trolls suck and if you aren't aware of the damage they are doing to small businesses like ours, please read my post.
[url]http://www.revostock.com/Blog/189/Troll-Survival-RevoStocks-Patent-Troll-Lawsuit-Story.htm[/url] ([url]http://www.revostock.com/Blog/189/Troll-Survival-RevoStocks-Patent-Troll-Lawsuit-Story.htm[/url])
After about 2 years, this lawsuit was finally dismissed. A bittersweet victory for us.
The residual effects of the lawsuit did require us to begin delaying some payments right around the time the lawsuit was dismissed. However, there was full communication via our Producer News and emails/helpdesk. Thankfully we had enormous and heartwarming support from our Producers allowing us to start coming back from the "Patent Troll" years. It has allowed us to re-group and move forward.
In fact, we have a new Revo coming out this very week! New features and innovations I think our producers and customers will love! Get ready!
So, if you ever have any concerns at all about payments or anything else, please check our Producer News or contact us via our helpdesk. I personally would love to help you! :)
Craig
Hi Craig,
Could you please provide some informations ?
Non paid amount > 6000$
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I wish I could blame all my problems on patent trolls. Oh can't pay my mortage must be the patent trolls. Geesh where do some of you pinheads come from?
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I see a lot of fairly big numbers. The amount unpaid must be in the many 10s of thousands.
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I wish I could blame all my problems on patent trolls. Oh can't pay my mortage must be the patent trolls. Geesh where do some of you pinheads come from?
Exactly, it's not the patent trolls, it's the mistake (or crime, whatever you want to call it) of using contributors' money to cover the costs of the lawsuit. So those who defend Revostock/Craig, stop feeling sorry for him or his business. Actually, I'm surprised the affected contributors are not taking any action against this.
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Agencies and companies have lawsuits all the time. They sue customers who donīt pay, have court cases with competitors, with disgruntled employees etc...It is a normal part of the business.
Defending themselves against a patent troll is just very extremly more expensive. But if the case was eventually dismissed, then obviously revostock did nothing wrong. But they still have costs. They cannot decide not to defend themselves if they are attacked, you cannot say "not interested in the court case, please sue someone else instead". If you donīt defend yourself, you automatically lose. Which is why patent cases are a popular tool in business wars to destroy small companies or force them to sell cheaply to a rival.
Assuming, the patent troll case really existed, but people report they always felt they could work well with revostock and court results are usually published somewhere.
If there is a legal requirement to handle contributor royalties differently to payment of wages, marketing costs etc...or if there is a special legal preference for money owed contributors, then maybe it should have been handled differently, I donīt know, I am not a lawyer.
But I guess then revostock should have just closed down much sooner.
Maybe the company can be sold to someone else. If so many artists lost so much money, then the business itself must have some value or be interesting for someone.
Perhaps there is somebody reading here who can step in and take over.
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The problem is that Craig has shut down his email and it is impossible to discuss with him right now. I don't think they are looking to sell anything otherwise they should be open to discuss and communicate easily about their company. When Stockeon closed last year, at least I was able to discuss with Szymon about invest in the infrastructure and/or the content. (also Szymon paid everyone before he closed the website, which was very honest and serious)
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The problem is that Craig has shut down his email and it is impossible to discuss with him right now. I don't think they are looking to sell anything otherwise they should be open to discuss and communicate easily about their company. When Stockeon closed last year, at least I was able to discuss with Szymon about invest in the infrastructure and/or the content. (also Szymon paid everyone before he closed the website, which was very honest and serious)
Craig intentionally misled contributors to use their commissions for his own benefit. He knew he would never repay that debt. He has closed any way of contacting him without going through a lawyer to do it for you. I have no compunction for him simply based on the way he chose to use his suppliers to fund his legal woes.
And I want to reiterate, this is a HARD BUSINESS to make a living, let along as a side income. So for those of you who lost so much my sincere condolences. There is one thing I have learned, though, from this REVO experience. I am going to cash out each month on all sites instead of letting some of the money go for a while. It will minimize my losses should that agency stay open but stop paying, or close without a moments notice and not pay their contributors.
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The problem is that Craig has shut down his email and it is impossible to discuss with him right now. I don't think they are looking to sell anything otherwise they should be open to discuss and communicate easily about their company. When Stockeon closed last year, at least I was able to discuss with Szymon about invest in the infrastructure and/or the content. (also Szymon paid everyone before he closed the website, which was very honest and serious)
Yep looks like he shut down everything including facebook, twitter. Although there is still a video of him posted doing stand up comedy which is awful btw. He must think all of this is a big joke. Oh I forgot it's all the patent trolls fault. Now that's comedy. LOL
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The lawsuit happened a long time ago now. He said himself that at least this year OUR money was spent on "new marketing methods", going to forums etc., not covering legal fees. I think he was an honest guy but kind of broke down and panicked. Made some horrible decisions involving stealing other people's money. I think he's going to have a tough time now since he's not really anonymous, anyone can message him on Facebook etc.
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In case anyone wants to comment on this story about how in the end he stole your money.
http://www.redsharknews.com/business/item/1673-opinion-the-worst-email-i-have-ever-recieved-the-perils-of-patent-trolls (http://www.redsharknews.com/business/item/1673-opinion-the-worst-email-i-have-ever-recieved-the-perils-of-patent-trolls)
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That is a very real life experience in how patent troll cases kill companies. Anyone doing even the smallest software or hardware project is vulnerable. It is a legal form of extortion and just sucks all your time, energy and joy out of having your own business.
If he took on loans to defend the business and then had some bad luck afterwards, it can destroy a company very quickly.
Maybe he also made bad business decisions or even commited intentional fraud like some here are suggesting, who knows.
But I wouldn't be surprised if the after effects broke the place. Attorneys cost 600 dollars an hour, it can take many,many years to pay it all back.
Not every company has a million dollars stached in a corner somewhere, just in case a patent troll shows up.
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If we are not getting paid could we at least declare it as a loss in business income as in a tax loss credit? That could work out.
But we would need Revostock to file some forms to us for the IRS so we could use them in case of an audit. A tax credit is a good way to use this unfortunate situation.
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Not every company has a million dollars stached in a corner somewhere, just in case a patent troll shows up.
I'm not sure how every company would have the ability to steal money from hundreds of people and get away with it without going to jail either. He took his rightful 50% he took the artists 50% - because in the Wild West of the Internet, there are no systems in place to protect anyone. Who knows what he really got out of it. It would be very easy to take YOUR money and hide it in motor bikes, yachts and vacation homes before he closed his doors. He should be liable to SOMEONE. It's lovely for him that he can live under the electronic cloak of invisibility. If he owned a brick and mortar store and stole his employee's wages he would be front page news.
I'm human, I feel for this guy. But still, he stole from other people that I feel sorry for too. One person commented they lost $13,000! I could feed my family for 2 years with that amount of money!
Remember Lucky Oliver? They closed up shop and paid us our due. I'm still a friend of Brian's on Facebook. He doesn't have to hide his head in the sand or feel bad because he didn't rip anyone off (that I know of).
"We" should only be doing business with reps who put "our" earnings into a trust account. This is another example of why we really need to become a part of an artists collective and have a Union to tell the agents what they can and can't do.
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Sorry. Just saw info I was going to post already in the thread
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Anyone sue him?
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What about the fact that he has our audio and footage ? Could he set himself up again as an artist with all this work and sell it ?
I am trying to get my head around what a patent troll is. I still don't understand it.
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I can't believe that you can just decide not to pay your suppliers and walk away from a business without being bankrupt. If that was possible couldn't someone just pay themselves a wage equal to all the money owed to the contributors over the last year (or however long it's been since a payout) then call it quits? That could be a million dollars for all we know. There has to be a way to force the company to get in auditors, assess assets and pay what can be paid, surely?
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http://bankruptcy.cooley.com/2012/05/articles/business-bankruptcy-issues/forced-into-bankruptcy-the-involuntary-bankruptcy-process/ (http://bankruptcy.cooley.com/2012/05/articles/business-bankruptcy-issues/forced-into-bankruptcy-the-involuntary-bankruptcy-process/)
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oops the article was from the UK
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What about the fact that he has our audio and footage ? Could he set himself up again as an artist with all this work and sell it ?
Obviously not legally. He doesn't own any of the footage/music.
I am trying to get my head around what a patent troll is. I still don't understand it.
It is simply a borderline criminal who has as their business model to sue other companies for made-up patent issues.
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If anyone want to contact Craig, you can try to contact him using Linkedin and Facebook account ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-lillard-884b3551 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-lillard-884b3551) and https://www.facebook.com/craig.lillard (https://www.facebook.com/craig.lillard) )
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I tried a month ago (via facebook) and so what. He didn't answear.
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RevoStock has closed. No information on payments to contributors. I know for a fact that many contributors are out many thousands of dollars.
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6000$
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you should all group together and get a lawyer, if your earnings mount up to a substantial amount you have a case, alone you wont stand a chance. unfortunately photographers are not known for grouping together and agree on something unanimously, so the chance of anyone getting their money is very slim, which is very very unfortunate. agencies always get away with everything because of this problem, we cant make a stand, most always think about themselves first and never wants to fight for the bigger goal. i am not with revo but i wish everyone good luck and hope you get something back
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There is a company VR Media Resources, Inc. that did patent applications for Revostock. It is ran by "Joseph" Hilliard - middle name "Craig". Revostock is not active. VR Media Resources, Inc. is active.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/Texas/Frisco/joseph-craig-lillard/36786907.aspx
(http://www.corporationwiki.com/Texas/Frisco/joseph-craig-lillard/36786907.aspx)
According to Manta, Joseph Lilliard's VR Media Resources, Inc. does annual business of a half million dollars.
http://www.manta.com/c/mtm1srf/vr-media-resources-inc. (http://www.manta.com/c/mtm1srf/vr-media-resources-inc.) According to this, VR has 3 employees and shows it's website as Revostock.com.
VR Media did trademark work for Revostock http://www.trademarkia.com/revostock-77619087.html (http://www.trademarkia.com/revostock-77619087.html)
A question that should be answered - is VR Media still doing business? We've established they did Trademark work for Revo. The skeptical part of my brain tells me that it is not inconceivable for money to be funnelled from Revo to VR by way of salaries, invoices etc.
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you can like my request on police fb https://www.facebook.com/FriscoPD/posts/1206706592676362 (https://www.facebook.com/FriscoPD/posts/1206706592676362)
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But why? :'(
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>:( I was keep asking Revostock by Email n Facebook since 2015. They keep no reply about my payment. So disappointed he gone now. It makes me think about if a large of video stock for resale to someone. Its such as a time bomb and no protection with us.
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>:( I was keep asking Revostock by Email n Facebook since 2015. They keep no reply about my payment. So disappointed he gone now. It makes me think about if a large of video stock for resale to someone. Its such as a time bomb and no protection with us.
The owner is a crook, thief, liar and scumbag. He owes a lot of money to a lot of people and is essentially daring anyone to come after him legally knowing too well that it is too expensive to do. If I were wealthy I would form the components of a class action law suit and rake his ripoff ass across the coals.
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Add your name!
ammit 170
att 700
BlackJack 140
celalbulus 427
cg3dphoto 550
CreativeMedias 12000
danilo.afx 300
donvladone 4000
dubassy 200
eburlingham 1000
emblem 110
Enchanted Studios 2000
fluxvfx 4400
fotorob 1000
goseeit 103
helloitsme 500
hkmedia 300
increasingdifficulty 1300
jamesbenet 400
kunilanskap 130
Mantis 80
MartinD 300
masterpiece_dt 750
MaZvone 47
milemobile 48
nopow 8000
Paha_L 6000
refresh 2346
Ronib 14
ruchos 155
s9motion 6000
selensergen 108
Sjo 100
Stock_Pro 70
stocker2011 120
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Suliman Razvan 300
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Trek 112
zoommer 1530
Total $57060 between 40 contributors!
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>:(
Motion Array 1500
Vurb 500
Add us to the list!
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DONE....Total is here!!!! - http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-video/so-how-much-money-revostock-owe-you-let's-sum-up-the-total/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-video/so-how-much-money-revostock-owe-you-let's-sum-up-the-total/)
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Here is the twitter account of his new business. >:(
https://twitter.com/dylovemarketing
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plastic3
650$
>:(
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Funny how his first posts are about getting ripped off...
Anyone with a big twitter account who can annoy him?
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Here is the twitter account of his new business. >:(
https://twitter.com/dylovemarketing
In other words, if he's successfully sued, they know where to look for money. So in a way, it's a good sign.
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Here is the twitter account of his new business. >:(
https://twitter.com/dylovemarketing
In other words, if he's successfully sued, they know where to look for money. So in a way, it's a good sign.
Well, not much money there...he has only 40-ish followers. :-/
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So this Craig guy stole $60k of our money and who know what he spent that money for. What a douche bag. What he did should be criminal. If he has a conscience, he will pay us from his future income.