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?

They did not precise if positive or negative record�

yes, and what competition they are gaining on LOL

...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.

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.

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.

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   

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.

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. 

I hear you Carl!

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.

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.

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.

I remember one day as I was uploading to Fotolia when I notice what they charge for "extended license" almost fell off my chair!