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Author Topic: Graphic Leftovers - Give me some reasons to continue to upload to them  (Read 22624 times)

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Snow

« Reply #25 on: May 31, 2014, 15:11 »
+9
We keep complaining about unfair treatment yet we do not support those who deserve it. Sure we upload a few and then give up after having no sales. Do you really expect GL to have a chance in the market if we upload the same work to other agencies at a much lower price?
Here is what we should do to give this a proper tryout. For a period of time, one month or more, upload only to GL and promote your latest work in social media as mentioned before, we have to drive customers to GL to make this work. Same as with symbiostock but GL has the advantage being an established agency.
This doesn't mean we should give up on those agencies who currently provide food on our table but we can gradually move into agencies with better conditions making sure the clients will follow by selectively uploading or promoting those who truly deserve it (stocksy is a good example in the midstock market)

For those not familiar with GL here is a quote from their website:

Quote
Fair Trade Contributor Site

Valuing the Work of Others
GL Stock Images understands how much time and dedication our contributors invest into every image, so we feel they should be compensated fairly for their efforts. All GL contributors receive 52% of each sale including extended licenses.

We value the work of our contributors, so we hope youll appreciate our higher earning structure to benefit our contributors, because without their talents and creativity we would cease to exist.

I am not affiliated with GL nor do I make regular sales there but I expect nothing more since I upload the same work elsewhere. We can only make this work if we stick together one more time. A few individuals cannot make a difference. Or we can drop our pants, bend over and go back to what we are accustomed to.
Either way, my respect goes out to each and every one. It is a shame to see so much fighting amongst us contributors while we should in fact be a tight group.
I can only hope that some day Tyler and other talented people here with experience in the field (design, coding, marketing, etc) will transform this forum into a fair trade agency. Now that would be something!


Harvepino

« Reply #26 on: May 31, 2014, 16:01 »
0
I keep uploading. My uploading process is automated, so all it costs me to send images to GL is some bandwidth. Sales are very low, but I want to give them a chance.

The only problem is their daily limit. If I exceed it, all images above the limit are automatically rejected. There's no notification or anything, they just go to rejected and if I want to re-upload them, I would have to find out which images were rejected and upload those again a day later... which is something I can't be bothered to do for almost-zero profit, so they're just losing those images. This upload limit seems completely pointless to me.

« Reply #27 on: May 31, 2014, 16:28 »
0
Upload is easy, they pay fairly well when there's a sale. I trust them so far and as agencies die like I predict FT will, someone will pick up their customers. Maybe GL will snag a few, get some traction and if/when they do my work will be there.  However, my position wouldn't be this if their behaviors were like some other agencies we no longer trust.  I feel the same way about StockFresh and Pond 5.  But if * happens I will pull my port fast.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #28 on: May 31, 2014, 16:28 »
+1
I was unfamiliar with GL, so I took a look. $1-$6 per image means I'd make .50-$3/sale. That's more or less what I make per sale at Shutterstock, and I make a lot of sales there.

I understand about wanting to support sites that pay fairer royalties. But if you need to tweet and Facebook to help sites that give you a fair percentage, why not just start your own Symbiostock or other site and use your twitter and Facebook time promoting that? Then if you get six sales a year you make 97%, and you can charge higher prices if you like.

Right now I see the decision being to go with the big guys and get a smaller percentage, or build my own site and get it all if I'm only gonna make a few sales per year.

I suspect the reason iS and SS are more successful is because they take that extra money and pour it into marketing. Not that I wouldn't mind them giving me more money, of course.

« Reply #29 on: May 31, 2014, 16:41 »
+1
I was unfamiliar with GL, so I took a look. $1-$6 per image means I'd make .50-$3/sale. That's more or less what I make per sale at ...

Same here. I didn't know GL, after all this enthusiasm here I took a look at their prices and... sorry, not interested. I closed my many micro accounts lately (last year) because of that low prices. I'd like to see any reason why should I come back to selling images for so cheap. We talk about RF licese, not one usage of (extra - web) small size, right?

« Reply #30 on: May 31, 2014, 16:44 »
+3
I was unfamiliar with GL, so I took a look. $1-$6 per image means I'd make .50-$3/sale. That's more or less what I make per sale at ...

Same here. I didn't know GL, after all this enthusiasm here I took a look at their prices and... sorry, not interested. I closed my many micro accounts lately (last year) because of that low prices. I'd like to see any reason why should I come back to selling images for so cheap. We talk about RF licese, not one usage of (extra - web) small size, right?
it defaults to $6. You can change that to $15.  All of my images are set at $15.

Snow

« Reply #31 on: June 01, 2014, 04:17 »
+2
I was unfamiliar with GL, so I took a look. $1-$6 per image means I'd make .50-$3/sale. That's more or less what I make per sale at Shutterstock, and I make a lot of sales there.

I understand about wanting to support sites that pay fairer royalties. But if you need to tweet and Facebook to help sites that give you a fair percentage, why not just start your own Symbiostock or other site and use your twitter and Facebook time promoting that? Then if you get six sales a year you make 97%, and you can charge higher prices if you like.

Right now I see the decision being to go with the big guys and get a smaller percentage, or build my own site and get it all if I'm only gonna make a few sales per year.

I suspect the reason iS and SS are more successful is because they take that extra money and pour it into marketing. Not that I wouldn't mind them giving me more money, of course.

Too bad we are not sharing in their success ;)

Here are some details from GL:
Account Settings, each 3 options:

- Portfolio Price: $6 / $10 / $15
- Portfolio License: Standard License only / Standard and Merchandise Licenses / Standard, Merchandise and Ultimate Licenses

As mentioned before we only get a few sales on GL because our work is available elsewhere and much cheaper. GL lacks the promotion which is why we have to help out a little. It is a very small agency compared to SS/IS so I do think the higher royalty rate/price is worth the extra effort here. It's a bit unrealistic to expect SS/IS volume sales right after joining them. This has to be built up, just like Stocksy or Symbio but GL has the advantage of being known already so it can grow at a much faster rate. Other small agencies do not have that advantage.

Well at least we know fair agencies do exist out there but that they don't have to count on our support. We'll keep supporting the top/middle tiers and get back to complaining about the downward trend in microstock, soon to be called freestock.

« Reply #32 on: June 01, 2014, 15:47 »
0
My prediction is that before the year is out, SS will make some sort of 'exciting announcement' that will amount to a significant giveaway scheme, a thinly disguised royalty cut or some other really bad news. It will be a sign that the future at SS means less and less money for more and more photos.   If that happens, I'll pull the plug.  The money I make from microstock is barely enough to be fun, and it no longer motivates me to do new work.  I'll just close my account at SS and forget about them.   

Alamy totally died for me this year so I'll probably close that account too.

That will leave me with just DT and GL.   DT has yet to really p!ss me off, but I'm pretty sure that if SS drops a bomb they'll follow in time.

I think eventually I'll only sell my stock photos through GL.  Maybe, after enough time, this trend will continue and they'll start to get some market presence.   


Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #33 on: June 01, 2014, 16:15 »
0
My prediction is that before the year is out, SS will make some sort of 'exciting announcement' that will amount to a significant giveaway scheme, a thinly disguised royalty cut or some other really bad news. It will be a sign that the future at SS means less and less money for more and more photos.   If that happens, I'll pull the plug.  The money I make from microstock is barely enough to be fun, and it no longer motivates me to do new work.  I'll just close my account at SS and forget about them.   

Alamy totally died for me this year so I'll probably close that account too.

That will leave me with just DT and GL.   DT has yet to really p!ss me off, but I'm pretty sure that if SS drops a bomb they'll follow in time.

I think eventually I'll only sell my stock photos through GL.  Maybe, after enough time, this trend will continue and they'll start to get some market presence.

Perhaps, but it seems unlikely based on their history. They seem to be seeking ways to increase earnings for themselves and their contributors, by introducing options that either pay higher royalties or the same royalties for smaller-sized images (a la the Facebook deal).

« Reply #34 on: June 01, 2014, 17:36 »
0
For all you GL naysayers out there, I made $6.76 in May.  ;D ;D

fritz

  • I love Tom and Jerry music

« Reply #35 on: June 01, 2014, 17:45 »
0
Give me some reasons to continue to upload to them?
Sorry, no reason!


 

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