Author Topic: 500px distributors (Read 16553 times)

Zero Talent · « **on:** September 01, 2017, 11:51 »

Last week I got this email:

Hi xxxxx,

I’m writing to notify you that 500px will be processing a sale made by one of our distribution partners through your Marketplace store. In recent months, we’ve received a number of inquiries from our Marketplace photographers about distribution sales, so we want to clarify a few things.

We work with partners around the world to increase exposure of your images to buyers in foreign markets. These sales will show up in your Marketplace Store as License Name - Distributor Sale. To learn more about our distribution network, click the following: https://licensing.500px.com/distribution/

With Distribution sales an additional party is added to the equation, so it’s important to keep in mind the gross sale amount is split 3 ways, as opposed to direct sales through the Marketplace that only involve you, the photographer, and 500px. Because of this, you may notice a variance in royalty amounts if multiple sales have been processed. These varying royalty amounts are affected by the image size purchased, and can also be related to high volume bundles, or volume discounts, by our distribution partner.

Still have questions? We’ve set up a support page with frequently asked questions and answers - https://support.500px.com/hc/en-us/articles/231239347-500px-Marketplace-Distribution-FAQ

If for any reason you’re not interested in harnessing the power of our global distribution network, we do offer the choice to opt-out. Simply head over to your 500px Settings and check the opt-out box under Distribution.

We hope this will help in clarifying distribution sales.

Soon after, more precisely yesterday and today, my inbox got flushed with a flurry of distributor sales ranging from $0.71 to $60. Even if these numbers are lower than usual, I'm fine with that, since the same photos generate a much lower RPD on most microstock sites.

However I am not so happy to see that some of these sales were made even back in November 2016 (!!!) and only reported now.

Anyway, on a positive note, I can cash them out right now, without waiting for the usual 40 days.

Bad Company · « **Reply #1 on:** September 01, 2017, 12:24 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on September 01, 2017, 11:51

Last week I got this email:

Hi xxxxx,

I’m writing to notify you that 500px will be processing a sale made by one of our distribution partners through your Marketplace store. In recent months, we’ve received a number of inquiries from our Marketplace photographers about distribution sales, so we want to clarify a few things.

We work with partners around the world to increase exposure of your images to buyers in foreign markets. These sales will show up in your Marketplace Store as License Name - Distributor Sale. To learn more about our distribution network, click the following: https://licensing.500px.com/distribution/

With Distribution sales an additional party is added to the equation, so it’s important to keep in mind the gross sale amount is split 3 ways, as opposed to direct sales through the Marketplace that only involve you, the photographer, and 500px. Because of this, you may notice a variance in royalty amounts if multiple sales have been processed. These varying royalty amounts are affected by the image size purchased, and can also be related to high volume bundles, or volume discounts, by our distribution partner.

Still have questions? We’ve set up a support page with frequently asked questions and answers - https://support.500px.com/hc/en-us/articles/231239347-500px-Marketplace-Distribution-FAQ

If for any reason you’re not interested in harnessing the power of our global distribution network, we do offer the choice to opt-out. Simply head over to your 500px Settings and check the opt-out box under Distribution.

We hope this will help in clarifying distribution sales.

Soon after, more precisely yesterday and today, my inbox got flushed with a flurry of distributor sales ranging from $0.71 to $60. Even if these numbers are lower than usual, I'm fine with that, since the same photos generate a much lower RPD on most microstock sites.

However I am not so happy to see that some of these sales were made even back in November 2016 (!!!) and only reported now.

Anyway, on a positive note, I can cash them out right now, without waiting for the usual 40 days.

Better late than never for sure!

Zero Talent · « **Reply #2 on:** September 01, 2017, 13:57 »

Quote from: Bad Company on September 01, 2017, 12:24

Better late than never for sure!

Same email, received again, today, but twice(!), followed by another batch (or 2?) of some distributor's sales.
It looks like they send this email ahead of each new distributor batch.

Weird setup, but better late than never, indeed!

Ariene · « **Reply #3 on:** September 02, 2017, 01:11 »

This is extremly weird. I removed all my images looonnnng time ago, maybe two years now. I also opted OUT of partner sales and guess what, I got the same email as you... My account is still open to manage settings but can't find the earnings anywhere.

But forget earnings - how can you sell without images and beeing opted OUT of distribs...?

Steveball · « **Reply #4 on:** September 02, 2017, 04:11 »

I received the same email, next day a massive sale for 35c! That's less than SS. Opted out straight away and had another 35c sale the day after. The cut on these distributor sales is 15% even thought 500px said it would be a 1/3 even split. How things have changed.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #5 on:** September 02, 2017, 10:58 »

Quote from: Steveball on September 02, 2017, 04:11

I received the same email, next day a massive sale for 35c! That's less than SS. Opted out straight away and had another 35c sale the day after. The cut on these distributor sales is 15% even thought 500px said it would be a 1/3 even split. How things have changed.

Then logically, it means you work only with SS and not with IS and their 0.28 or less (!!), not with FT/AS with their ~0.31, etc. Or logic doesn't apply here?

FYI, my 500px RPD is $26.69 (distributor sales included), averaged over a 3 digits number of sales, not far from my Alamy net RPD of $28.38 (distributor sales included), made from a similar number of sales.

I can bet your SS RPD is roughly 30 times lower!
And don't make me start with iStock!

So where is the logic?

And where is that 15% coming from? You know it for a fact or it's only a speculation?

Bottom line, this negativity is not rational.

samards · « **Reply #6 on:** September 02, 2017, 13:06 »

I didn't receive the mentioned e-mail, but still received 45c sale! Shocking, as I was usually getting something between 30 and 75$...

The thing is, I'm using 500px to build my portfolio and not for micro-stock sales, so I'm not sending these photos to other micro-stock agencies and now they appeared to be the same!

So I opted out from distributors network immediately, but don't know if it is enough to get reed of these silly sales??

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2017, 14:57 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on September 02, 2017, 10:58

...So where is the logic?
...

If you work from the assumption that your take is the only criterion to consider, then you could see refusing to support distributors (who do next to nothing for a huge cut of the buyer's purchase price) as illogical.

You are obviously entitled to support whichever agencies you choose, but I'd argue it's entirely logical to opt out of distribution deals everywhere as that encourages these parasite businesses (in the era of slides there was some point to a local distributor; in the age of the internet they have no reason to exist). These deals are bad for buyers as (typically) they inflate prices and bad for contributors as they siphon off more money from the transaction.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #8 on:** September 02, 2017, 15:55 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on September 02, 2017, 14:57

Quote from: Zero Talent on September 02, 2017, 10:58
...So where is the logic?
...

If you work from the assumption that your take is the only criterion to consider, then you could see refusing to support distributors (who do next to nothing for a huge cut of the buyer's purchase price) as illogical.

You are obviously entitled to support whichever agencies you choose, but I'd argue it's entirely logical to opt out of distribution deals everywhere as that encourages these parasite businesses (in the era of slides there was some point to a local distributor; in the age of the internet they have no reason to exist). These deals are bad for buyers as (typically) they inflate prices and bad for contributors as they siphon off more money from the transaction.

I would however argue that the type of position you take here is rather ideological, than logical.

If you consider these distributors (both for Alamy and 500px) as an agency, they do a significantly better job than SS, IS, FT, DP, 123RF, DT etc.
They manage to sell your stuff for a much higher price than all the above. Moreover, your bottom line is much better than what you already accept from these traditional microstock outlets.
In other words, if you accept that shameless RPD from IS and their 15%, what is wrong in getting 10-20 times better RPD from these distributors?

The fact that somebody else is winning besides you, should only bother someone who believes the economy is a always a zero-sum game.

Using the same logic, "in the age of the internet", SS, IS, 123 and all the others have no reason to exist, because you can easily sell directly from your own website
Yet, you accept the middle man, because the end result is much better for you, than if you would struggle alone to reach your customers.

The fact is that in all healthy economies, the middleman is the oil that makes the engine run smooth, not a "parasite"!

On top of that, you don't know what is their business model. I don't believe they duplicate the whole 500px marketplace. It is very likely that they only reflect a curated slice of it. And we don't know what kind of marketing these distributors are using, what kind of additional services they offer, etc in order to convince customers to pay significantly more than on SS & Co, for the same material.

Of course, we are obviously entitled to support whichever agencies and ideologies we like!

I prefer pragmatism.

Steveball · « **Reply #9 on:** September 02, 2017, 19:10 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on September 02, 2017, 10:58

Quote from: Steveball on September 02, 2017, 04:11
I received the same email, next day a massive sale for 35c! That's less than SS. Opted out straight away and had another 35c sale the day after. The cut on these distributor sales is 15% even thought 500px said it would be a 1/3 even split. How things have changed.

Then logically, it means you work only with SS and not with IS and their 0.28 or less (!!), not with FT/AS with their ~0.31, etc. Or logic doesn't apply here?

FYI, my 500px RPD is $26.69 (distributor sales included), averaged over a 3 digits number of sales, not far from my Alamy net RPD of $28.38 (distributor sales included), made from a similar number of sales.

I can bet your SS RPD is roughly 30 times lower!
And don't make me start with iStock!
So where is the logic?

And where is that 15% coming from? You know it for a fact or it's only a speculation?

Bottom line, this negativity is not rational.

FRom 500px site -

If for instance they were to license an image for $250.00 to their client in Japan, the royalty breakout would be:

Initial sale price - $250.00
Amana’s share - $125.00
500px & Photographer share - $125.00

Then, based on the individual photo’s Representation Rights (Exclusive or Non-Exclusive) the Photographer share is either:

Exclusive - $75.00 (60% of $125.00)
Non-exclusive - $37.50 (30% of $125.00)

37.50 is 15% of the original 250

Seller gets 125
500px gets 87.50
We get 37.50

Way of the world.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #10 on:** September 02, 2017, 19:33 »

Quote from: Steveball on September 02, 2017, 19:10

Quote from: Zero Talent on September 02, 2017, 10:58
Quote from: Steveball on September 02, 2017, 04:11
I received the same email, next day a massive sale for 35c! That's less than SS. Opted out straight away and had another 35c sale the day after. The cut on these distributor sales is 15% even thought 500px said it would be a 1/3 even split. How things have changed.

Then logically, it means you work only with SS and not with IS and their 0.28 or less (!!), not with FT/AS with their ~0.31, etc. Or logic doesn't apply here?

FYI, my 500px RPD is $26.69 (distributor sales included), averaged over a 3 digits number of sales, not far from my Alamy net RPD of $28.38 (distributor sales included), made from a similar number of sales.

I can bet your SS RPD is roughly 30 times lower!
And don't make me start with iStock!
So where is the logic?

And where is that 15% coming from? You know it for a fact or it's only a speculation?

Bottom line, this negativity is not rational.

FRom 500px site -

If for instance they were to license an image for $250.00 to their client in Japan, the royalty breakout would be:

Initial sale price - $250.00
Amana’s share - $125.00
500px & Photographer share - $125.00

Then, based on the individual photo’s Representation Rights (Exclusive or Non-Exclusive) the Photographer share is either:

Exclusive - $75.00 (60% of $125.00)
Non-exclusive - $37.50 (30% of $125.00)

37.50 is 15% of the original 250

Seller gets 125
500px gets 87.50
We get 37.50

Way of the world.

Thanks for pointing this out.
This case puts 500px on the same level as iStock (a lot of people seem OK with), except for the significantly higher contributor's RPD.

See my comment above about pragmatism and this win-win-win example.

stockastic · « **Reply #11 on:** September 02, 2017, 19:43 »

This "distributor" thing is just a way for agencies to add marketing people without paying them. They run their own web sites, work on commission, and their commission is entirely paid by the photographer. Meanwhile the "agency" still gets their usual amount on every sale.

And always remember, "it's a sale you would otherwise not have gotten."

Zero Talent · « **Reply #12 on:** September 02, 2017, 20:02 »

Quote from: stockastic on September 02, 2017, 19:43

And always remember, "it's a sale you would otherwise not have gotten."

Even more: in the best case scenario, it is a sale you would otherwise get under a dollar for, in average, from SS & Co, instead of a significantly higher RPD, through these distributors channels.

By all means, if being poor but with solid egalitarian and socialistic principles makes you feel better about yourself, don't hesitate to opt-out.

Lizard · « **Reply #13 on:** September 03, 2017, 21:01 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on September 02, 2017, 20:02

Quote from: stockastic on September 02, 2017, 19:43
And always remember, "it's a sale you would otherwise not have gotten."

Even more: in the best case scenario, it is a sale you would otherwise get under a dollar for, in average, from SS & Co, instead of a significantly higher RPD, through these distributors channels.

By all means, if being poor but with solid egalitarian and socialistic principles makes you feel better about yourself, don't hesitate to opt-out.

Significantly my a.s , just had 2 sales of those where I earned 0.45$ and 0.54$ which is even significantly lower than SS & Co

Good luck with getting rich even without principles

Zero Talent · « **Reply #14 on:** September 03, 2017, 21:31 »

Quote

Good luck with getting rich even without principles

Thanks, but you got it wrong

1. I don't plan to get rich from selling photos, i'm fine with not being poor.
2. not believing in egalitarian and socialistic principles, doesn't exclude the belief in other principles.

Therefore, your statement about me trying to be rich, without having principles contains two errors.

Bottom line, I can only testify that, only in these 2 days, I cashed in multiple hundreds of dollars from these distributors, based on an RPD significantly higher than on any other microstock agency, generated by a port slightly larger than 400 photos.

Good luck to you too!

Ariene · « **Reply #15 on:** October 10, 2017, 01:17 »

I'm back to let you know that 500px decided to cancel my sale from 2016... Yes, they did the refund like it was a physical product that you can send back!
After A YEAR...
That was their reaction on my email asking why I did get a sale (see my post above).

In sum - 500px sold a license to my photo while I was opted out of any sales + partner sales. Next year they let me know about the sale, and after my email asking for explanation they do a refund = I get 0 (zero $), client got my work already (and you can bet it was used so far). Who got the money?

NeonRobot · « **Reply #16 on:** October 10, 2017, 02:50 »

ah 500px, i am going to drop awesome subscription in the next month.
Almost 2 million views, with close to zero sales.
I am not receiving money from them - they receive money from me.
That's definitely weird.

shiyali · « **Reply #17 on:** October 10, 2017, 04:46 »

Quote from: spacedrone808 on October 10, 2017, 02:50

ah 500px, i am going to drop awesome subscription in the next month.
Almost 2 million views, with close to zero sales.
I am not receiving money from them - they receive money from me.
That's definitely weird.

Just drop the subscription and leave the images there. You might still earn some money back.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #18 on:** October 10, 2017, 10:21 »

Quote from: spacedrone808 on October 10, 2017, 02:50

ah 500px, i am going to drop awesome subscription in the next month.
Almost 2 million views, with close to zero sales.
I am not receiving money from them - they receive money from me.
That's definitely weird.

You made me look at my stats: I got an average $1.12/1k views

from a free account. But again, most viewers are not buyers, so these stats don't make too much sense. I'm only staying there for their marketplace, not for views, likes or meaningless "great job" comments.

Why would you pay them? Just to get that "Awesome" or "Pro" badge?

If it is about the unlimited upload option, I doubt many can create more than 7 compelling photos/week, able to standout among so many great photos on that site.
So if you upload more than 7 a week, it could be a good idea to limit yourself to the best 7, in order to keep your port clean and attractive.

NeonRobot · « **Reply #19 on:** October 10, 2017, 13:00 »

Quote from: shiyali on October 10, 2017, 04:46

Quote from: spacedrone808 on October 10, 2017, 02:50
ah 500px, i am going to drop awesome subscription in the next month.
Almost 2 million views, with close to zero sales.
I am not receiving money from them - they receive money from me.
That's definitely weird.
Just drop the subscription and leave the images there. You might still earn some money back.

Thanks for advice, will do just like you said!

NeonRobot · « **Reply #20 on:** October 10, 2017, 13:01 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on October 10, 2017, 10:21

Quote from: spacedrone808 on October 10, 2017, 02:50
ah 500px, i am going to drop awesome subscription in the next month.
Almost 2 million views, with close to zero sales.
I am not receiving money from them - they receive money from me.
That's definitely weird.

You made me look at my stats: I got an average $1.12/1k views from a free account. But again, most viewers are not buyers, so these stats don't make too much sense. I'm only staying there for their marketplace, not for views, likes or meaningless "great job" comments.

Why would you pay them? Just to get that "Awesome" or "Pro" badge?

If it is about the unlimited upload option, I doubt many can create more than 7 compelling photos/week, able to standout among so many great photos on that site.
So if you upload more than 7 a week, it could be a good idea to limit yourself to the best 7, in order to keep your port clean and attractive.

I paid them for website template. Not worth it;)

sarah2 · « **Reply #21 on:** October 11, 2017, 03:03 »

OK, no email from them so probably sold nothing - though a few months back I got a tenner!

However, I can't even FIND the place on the site where it shown sales any more.....

Am I being dozy or is it hidden (I find the whole 500px setup really unintuitive and over complicated, I must say).

Anyway, a shove in the direction of seeing what has (or has not) been sold would be appreciated.

Cheers.

polar · « **Reply #22 on:** October 11, 2017, 11:04 »

I'm debating giving 500px Marketplace a try but have a few questions for those of you who are already selling there.

1) Am I correct that they've addressed the watermark issue by allowing you to upload a low-res watermarked image for public viewing and a high-res unwatermarked image that is not publicly displayed but only used to send to the customer?

2) I have no interest in participating in the social side of the "community." I gave up on comments and "likes" and "most popular" when I quit Flickr years ago. Does a lack of participation in this stuff affect the visibility of your images in the Marketplace search?

3) I'm in Canada, which has a tax treaty with the US. I see that 500px withholds US taxes and does not, like iStock, allow you fill out a form that exempts you from this withholding. Instead they provide a 1042-s form that "you may be able to use...to claim a foreign tax credit for the taxes withheld." I'm checking to see if I can, in fact, get a refund this way but I'd be interested in hearing from any Canadian contributors who have experience with this.

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Author Topic: 500px distributors (Read 16553 times)

Zero Talent

Bad Company

Zero Talent

Ariene

Steveball

Zero Talent

samards

Jo Ann Snover

Zero Talent

Steveball

Zero Talent

stockastic

Zero Talent

Lizard

Zero Talent

Ariene

NeonRobot

shiyali

Zero Talent

NeonRobot

NeonRobot

sarah2

polar

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