MicrostockGroup
Illustrators Corner - Microstock Illustrators Forum => Illustration - General => Topic started by: madsigncreator on August 09, 2013, 15:06
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Dear colleagues,
just wanted to bring to your attention a very interesting dialog that I had with Fotolia the other day.
Some days ago I uploaded a small batch of simple vector designs to Fotolia that has been previously accepted on SS and IS. These 2 big agencies at one time made their requirements more strict, especially IS, but now they have changed their policy and now they do accept simple vector designs that sell real good. Fotolia rejected the whole batch for "Originality & Quality" reason = "Too Simple", what made me write them this Email:
"Hello,
Fotolia has just rejected a small batch of my simple vector illustrations - File ID: 54774***, 54774***, 54774***, 54774***, 54774*** for the reason "Originality & Quality " which must be means "Too simple vectors" in this case.
Also you mentioned: "Image buyers typically require images that have intricate details that they cannot create on their own" - that's not true. My 6 year microstock experience shows different picture - simple designs and design elements are required.
By the way, if you don't know yet, Shutterstock and even iStock (!) have changed their acceptance policy and now accept such simple vectors like these ones.
You may check on SS, for example:
Image ID: 148202***
Image ID: 148223***
Image ID: 148223***
Image ID: 148223***
Image ID: 148223***
Sorry to say that, but I don't think Fotolia can afford such kind of policy. FL doesn't seem to be doing very well.
Please don't do the same mistakes as your competitors did. iStock once pushed this too far and still can't recover. Now they accept everything - simple vectors, simple vectors with text etc., just to motivate people uploading, because at some point they just stopped doing that.
Best Regards,
your contributor since 2006"
And here is the answer I got from their support:
"Hello,
We appreciate your feedback but your perception that Fotolia is not doing well is simply misinformed. In fact we are on track for a record year in sales and we are gaining on our competition. As a result we feel it is best to keep our standards high with vector submissions. We wish you the best at the other agencies but Fotolia standards will not be changing.
Sincerely,
Fotolia employee since 2005"
LOOOOL
So... They wish me the best at the other agencies and kindly inform they are doing fine.
I am happy to hear they are "on track for a record year in sales", but as for me I don't feel like I am on this track myself. My sales on FL decreased dramatically over the past few months.
What about you guys?
Are you doing that well in sales on this website as Fotolia does itself selling your images at a low price?
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I am happy to hear they are "on track for a record year in sales",
They did not precise if positive or negative record…
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They did not precise if positive or negative record…
yes, and what competition they are gaining on LOL
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What about you guys?
Are you doing that well in sales on this website as Fotolia does itself selling your images at a low price?
I'm doing great! I deleted my portfolio about 3 years ago, and I've never been happier.
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...we are on track for a record year in sales and we are gaining on our competition....
That should at least rule out more commission cuts but perhaps it will just mean they need to get creative with their new excuse :)
I can't help feeling that if they were really on track for a record year and gaining on their competition, they wouldn't of cut credits on images that haven't sold for 6 months.
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Yeah, their new 6 month thing has me really irritated since I've been trying to focus on seasonal stuff. :/
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Yeah, their new 6 month thing has me really irritated since I've been trying to focus on seasonal stuff. :/
Is that what that is? I never got that email.
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"I'm doing great! I deleted my portfolio about 3 years ago, and I've never been happier."
Thanks! I just spilled my coffee on myself laughing so hard! ;D
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Since I took down my images on istock, my Fotolia sales have gone up.
They now yield the same number of payout requests per month as istock once did.
Just that Fot payouts comes in 50ies and istock came in 100dreds.
The conclusion to this is: Be certain that you actually earn something from the agencies whereto your images are spread.
Else delete them.
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"I'm doing great! I deleted my portfolio about 3 years ago, and I've never been happier."
Thanks! I just spilled my coffee on myself laughing so hard! ;D
Yeah, I must have deleted the e-mail. Something like, if the file doesn't have sales for 6 months it drops in price, and then if it gets 3 sales you have the option of repricing it.
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As a summary:
Looks like Fotolia is on the same path as iStock before, repeating the same mistakes iStock made.
Ok, let's see how fast they burn their fingers.
Meanwhile I guess I just stop submitting files to Fotolia. It maybe worthed that 2 years ago, when I had 10% of my overall earnings with FL, but certainly it's not worth the effort now, when I earn with them just 1% of the amount I earn at SS.
Even such "Low Earner" as 123rf brings me 2-3 times more money, than FL does, despite the fact that at 123rf I have 2 times less files uploaded.
Bye Bye Fotolia ;D
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my sales are dead this month! WME for sure....
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Looks like Fotolia is on the same path as iStock before, repeating the same mistakes iStock made.
I think Fotolia has been on that path longer. It seems people just don't care as much.
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I had my work on their site but left as $0 .20 per small image is not enough for me, never mind, its 0.20 for images/vectors any size!
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I stopped uploading to FT a while back for two reasons: (1) I got tired of seeing sales of XL images for 27 cents, and (2) their keywording and categorization system is very time-consuming. If they're doing well, they're obviously selling someone else's material, because they certainly aren't selling much of mine. ::)
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Was doing fine till this month when they've nose dived!
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I hear you Carl!
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The only one making money on these ridiculously cheap subscriptions is the agency's.
That's why I went back to istock exclusive today I've already made $17.00 on 2 images,
to make the same $$ at fotia = 85 sales
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The only one making money on these ridiculously cheap subscriptions is the agency's.
That's why I went back to istock exclusive today I've already made $17.00 on 2 images,
to make the same $$ at fotia = 85 sales
Thats not the complete picture. I made 17 dollar on FT with 31 downloads. Of course there is a difference, but you forget that you need to add up the earnings of all agencies compared to exclusivity at IS.
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Actually I did this past year, after the royalty debacle I sulked for a year or so and then decided to go non exclusive and uploaded my best work from my portfolio to all the top tier and most of the middle tier and I did not see enough sales.
My IS went from $300 to $150 a month to the others all total making me 200yr
I still have my vectors as non exclusive so maybe I will give it a shot again with a few select... Folks keep talking about SS. took me almost a year to have enough to cash out with 80+ of my "best seller on IS" files.
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Every agency is different, a rejected image on IS could be a best seller on SS and vice versa. 80 files is not enough to test the waters elsewhere.
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You got me thinking
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You got me thinking
Unless things are going really bad at IS, I might stay exclusive if I were you. You seemed to have done well with your small portfolio there. I'm not sure you'll get the same traction at other places. That's just my guess though. You know your situation better than any of us.
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You got me thinking
Unless things are going really bad at IS, I might stay exclusive if I were you. You seemed to have done well with your small portfolio there. I'm not sure you'll get the same traction at other places. That's just my guess though. You know your situation better than any of us.
Thanks for your input :)
Here is my situation, I have all my rasters exclusive on IS, currently my vectors are not... Been waiting to make another $0.80 on 123RF to cash out $50 so I've been tempted to continue to sell vectors else ware...
You may be right as it paid off handsomely to make my rasters exclusive.
I will say I have been treated well and welcomed kindly by the other sites staff, Fotolia allowed me to pay a small fee to cash out.
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I remember one day as I was uploading to Fotolia when I notice what they charge for "extended license" almost fell off my chair! :)
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My take $2.00
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My take $2.00
Then you had it set for 10 credits. You can ask 50 credits and get 11.25 dollar. If you go to the 3rd level you can ask 100 credits. I get the idea you havent really thought everything trough, and are missing some facts. You really need to have the full picture when making business decisions.
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It wouldn't let me put it higher, might be because I was new
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then you can disable selling extended licenses...
aand back to original topic: Looks like WME.