Author Topic: News from Gimmestock (Read 12671 times)

madelaide · « **on:** September 13, 2006, 16:17 »

Promises, promises...

Quote

fredgolstein: I know this is a rough question but is the site dead or should we keep uploading?

reasonate (administrator):

Actually Fred, I'm afraid the news about our death may have been greatly exagerated smile

Nope, we're here to stay.

We are currently working on a web site redesign (web2.0 alike) that will be launched on September 30 and thus file reviews have been a bit delayed.

We're also making some changes on our business model regarding the state of the art on the inexpensive Royatly free market.

It is our strong belief that the changes will be for the best, including a major upgrade on the photographers margin. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

More on 11/30 smile

Thank you all.

Antonio

StockManiac · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2006, 16:45 »

All of the new microsites are beginning to all sound the same.

"Just you wait!"

"We have lots of stuff in the works."

"You wait and see."

"We pinky swear!"

Blah, blah, blah...

As someone once said: "SHOW ME THE MONEY!"

berryspun · « **Reply #2 on:** September 13, 2006, 17:12 »

'Jerry Maguire' movie, Rod Tidwell line!

Thanks StockManiac. I hope that more photographers wouldn't hesitate to express themselves on these sites so that the admin would invest more into a defensive marketing like SS does so well.

I didn't put any comments on the Gimmestock site, I'm not registered there, and probably won't in view of what madelaide mentioned. But here is my small personal contribution today at CanStockPhoto:

http://www.canstockphoto.com/forum_read.php?id=2517
Forums > CanStockPhoto Discussion > Feedback wanted!

Berryspun Photographer with < 50 sales
5 posts
September 13, 2006 (5 hours ago)
Oh, and I forgot... I would like this balance counter to be less static, so... more good exposure, go and reach the designers, which leads to more sales, and you will have plenty of happy photographers! All the rest is secondary.

madelaide · « **Reply #3 on:** September 13, 2006, 17:39 »

I had some flames in CanStockPhoto as well.

Duncan said

Quote

The site is a passion for me, and one that I enjoy doing. I could pay myself, but I want to grow it as much as possible.

I have an outside source of income that covers all my living expenses. So as long as that is taken care of, I'm happy to keep giving back to the site and developing it as much as possible.

I replied

Quote

Photography is a passion for me too, but making images ready for sale is business. So I must say that I am a bit surprised and disappointed to see that you take CanStock as a hobby and not as a business.

and later I added

Quote

I didn't mean to offend you, this was my reading from what you said. Since you don't make profits from the sales and reinvest the profits in the site, I understand they're covering the costs. And since this is not your main source of income but something you do at your free time, isn't that the definition of hobby? Of course a hobby can be something that consumes a lot of our time, money and energy, and hobby is not necessarily entertainment.

Others have expressed their concerns, which I share, about low sales here. Yes, it's worse in other places, but CanStock is not a baby site like many others, given the high amount of images online after its two years of life. But I don't complain about my sales, as my portfolio is still small; what shocks me in fact is the low number of views my images have here compared to the same images in other sites. Some other fellow photographers I know share the same opinion.

So it seems to me that the site needs some redirection in its marketing strategy, because apparently it's not attracting that many buyers - subscribers or not. Once this happens, then maybe prices may be rediscussed, but for now what we need, in my opinion, is to attract more buyers, and I'm not sure that by doing that only in your free hours you will be able to accomplish that.

And then I became an enemy.

Regards,
Adelaide

berryspun · « **Reply #4 on:** September 13, 2006, 18:05 »

Quote from: madelaide on September 13, 2006, 17:39

And then I became an enemy.

Regards,
Adelaide

Very bold and accurate Adelaide, there is no reason to become an enemy if you say things with integrity. I was not aware of what you had written but am happy that you did. I understand your comments as a wish to shake-up the CanStockPhoto leadership so that they realize that in order for them to be succesfull they have to take it wholeheartedly as a business. It's like a store. You get the goods for selling them, not for collecting them. And the photographers expect that from any stock-store. Marketing strategies are very important, and cannot be succesful if they are dealt on a free-time basis. I found your comments very supportive and well-intentioned.

madelaide · « **Reply #5 on:** September 14, 2006, 15:50 »

berryspun,

I was highly attacked by mostly one member. I emailed Duncan when he closed the thread to explain myself. I don't know how he reacted to all this in the end, as he never replied to me though.

I've been always very sincere and straightforward. I'm not new to having such feelings against me.

Regards,
Adelaide

ianhlnd · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2006, 20:34 »

fredgolstein wrote:" I know this is a rough question but is the site dead or should we keep uploading?"

I think it's dead. Are they putting all the sales in their pockets and not paying the photogs? I don't know, but I haven't had a sale there ever. If I had the time, I'd delete all my pics.

Don't get me started on the part time site CanStockPhoto.

pmstephens · « **Reply #7 on:** December 07, 2006, 15:57 »

I think it's dead. If I don't hear otherwise after Christmas, I'm taking my images off.

leaf · « **Reply #8 on:** December 07, 2006, 16:12 »

this site looks nice but that seems to be about it.

I sometime referred someone, and so I have earned 4 pennies from the sale of 4 of their photos.

so my account total is 4 cents.

never had a sale myself.

madelaide · « **Reply #9 on:** December 07, 2006, 16:59 »

I had one sale there in April and that was it. I think I have about 80 images there, some of which vectors. I went there the other day and I noticed the small ammount of images approved and pending and the total quietness in the forum.

Regards,
Adelaide

Karimala · « **Reply #10 on:** December 18, 2006, 09:23 »

I've been wondering about Duncan's claim that CanStockPhoto is a non-profit, so thanks for sharing the dialogue! After reading his claim somewhere, I went to the site to find out more information...if it's truly a non-profit like Big White Box, I really would like to know what I'm supporting. Couldn't find a thing, which has been troubling me. Now I know. A hobbyist running a site for free is far from being a non-profit. Makes me further question the integrity of Duncan and the site.

As for Gimmestock, they were making the same promises long before I asked them to remove my images last summer. To anyone who wants to remove their images, just send them an e-mail and they will remove them for you.

leaf · « **Reply #11 on:** December 18, 2006, 09:32 »

this is getting a bit off topic here, but i haven't seen anywhere where duncan says the site is non-profit, he said the site doesn't pay him a wage, the earnings are invested back into the site.

or have i missed something?

Karimala · « **Reply #12 on:** December 18, 2006, 13:41 »

I can't remember where I read it. It was either on the Yahoogroups microstock list or on CanStockPhoto itself...or both. It's been a few months since I read it. Unfortunately, CanStockPhoto doesn't have search capabilities for its forum yet, so I can't go back and look, and I'm not finding it on Yahoogroups.

madelaide · « **Reply #13 on:** December 18, 2006, 19:18 »

I remember Duncan saying, in a thread I was involved, something that made me understand CanStockPhoto was more like a hobby than a business, something he would work hard on during his free hours.

Regards,
Adelaide

madelaide · « **Reply #14 on:** December 27, 2006, 17:07 »

Just got this email:

Quote

Dear Gimmestock Community,

the kickass redesign of Gimmestock.com is finally happening.

We'll need to shutdown our current server for a few days to make sure all goes
well and right to the other server and things are on the mark with the new
redesign.

The new site will be up and running in the first days of 2007, possibly before.

We're building new features and also we're reshaping the paradigm of royalty
free image selling as since last year a lot has been going on on this market.

We're going to change prices, upload process, approvals, ratings, image tagging,
along with things regarding user centeredness. Above everything else and most
importantly, we are going to increase the gross margin for the photographers.
That's right. We're talking 50%.

We strongly believe that those changes will be better for everyone as we'll
become much more competitive.

Thank you all for your continued support.

The Gimmestock.com team.

nightowlza · « **Reply #15 on:** January 08, 2007, 01:38 »

Any news on when this site will be back up?
I mailed support, but got a error msg back. Undeliverable Mail

madelaide · « **Reply #16 on:** January 08, 2007, 15:10 »

I have just checked it, still the "coming soon" message.

I don't like that.... :/

Regards,
Adelaide

madelaide · « **Reply #17 on:** January 17, 2007, 20:54 »

Have you guys checked the new Gimmestock site?

It doesn't work in Netscape (booo!) so I opened it in IE. I can't see my portfolio anywahere (I can see my old balance of 40c though) and in fact I can't see any image at all.

Regards,
Adelaide

leaf · « **Reply #18 on:** January 18, 2007, 12:27 »

looks like a bit of a mess there. perhaps they are working on improvements, although I'm not going to hold my breath.

luder / Luís Brás · « **Reply #19 on:** January 19, 2007, 07:16 »

It looks good on Firefox now, but they're still working on it:

"We're changing. Some functionalities might not be available yet. "

I guess they will send an email when the site is completely functional. So far, I like the simple design, let's see how it works out.

madelaide · « **Reply #20 on:** January 19, 2007, 18:14 »

If the new site is not ready yet, they should have let the old one on... :/ Well, let's see how it develops.

Regards,
Adelaide

nightowlza · « **Reply #21 on:** January 25, 2007, 04:09 »

This looks like a ONE programmer setup only working on the site over weekends.
I hardly see any movement in development.

madelaide · « **Reply #22 on:** January 25, 2007, 15:05 »

I still can't see my portfolio...

Regards,
Adelaide

nightowlza · « **Reply #23 on:** February 07, 2007, 13:50 »

I can only login, and THATS IT!!!
It's been months now, whats the story with this site?
No development as far as I can see.
Is this another AreaImage or Totallyphotos story???

pmstephens · « **Reply #24 on:** February 08, 2007, 18:14 »

I can't even get to it anymore. I get a "404" page.

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Author Topic: News from Gimmestock (Read 12671 times)

madelaide

StockManiac

berryspun

madelaide

berryspun

madelaide

ianhlnd

pmstephens

leaf

madelaide

Karimala

leaf

Karimala

madelaide

madelaide

nightowlza

madelaide

madelaide

leaf

luder / Luís Brás

madelaide

nightowlza

madelaide

nightowlza

pmstephens

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