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Author Topic: FiveDollarPhotos.com  (Read 26300 times)

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« on: March 07, 2018, 16:28 »
0
Greetings,

First, thanks to all of you participating here. I've learned a lot, even in a short time as a "lurker." I'm glad this kind of place exists for discussion and collaboration.

I wanted to let you know about a site we are creating - newbielink:http://FiveDollarPhotos.com [nonactive].
The name is pretty self-explanatory. Find a photo . Spend $5. Download the image. Simple.

For photographers, we are also starting at a 75% royalty rate.

As a consumer, I found myself frequently frustrated by the subscriptions, credits, pricing tiers, and so on when searching for an occasional photo to use for my projects. I wanted to create a solution that was easy to understand and simple to use. In my opinion, many of the larger stock photo sites make it unnecessarily complicated for individuals to purchase photos.

I do not pretend to be a professional photographer, but I've had an occasion to sell some of my personal work online. I was always frustrated by the low royalty rates offered to artists. In addition to making FiveDollarPhotos easy for consumers, I wanted to make it profitable for artists.

Obviously, any stock photo site's success depends upon a large collection of high quality photos for sale and we hope that you will consider being a part of that. To help make that happen, we are offering an incentive to photographers willing to join us early during this development phase.
Currently, we are building our database of high quality stock photos and developing the shopping cart and artist payment systems. While we work on those phases and prior to our public launch, any contributor that signs up and uploads photos for sale will have a royalty rate of 75% on all of their photos. Forever. Every photo that sells at $5, the contributor will receive $3.75.
After we launch to the public for sales, the standard rate will go to 50% (which is still a great deal).

My vision for FiveDollarPhotos is simple - make an easy marketplace for buyers that pays a great commission to contributors. I hope that you will share that same vision and join us for this journey. If you do, please go to newbielink:http://FiveDollarPhotos.com [nonactive] and register as a contributor.

Obviously, we are working to make this the best website possible. If you see things that are not working properly or would like to make suggestions on how to make it better, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Jay Lynn, President
FiveDollarPhotos.com


« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2018, 16:35 »
0
Well... hem...
« Last Edit: March 07, 2018, 16:41 by Oligo »

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2018, 16:44 »
+2
Prepare to be eviscerated. Lol.

« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2018, 16:45 »
+21
Take a look at GL Stock Images.  They are dead simple to use, lots of images, but unfortunately zero sales.  Figure out where they went wrong and then fix those issues.

You need to provide the licensing terms before many will join.

We don't really know who you are.  There's no info on the site.

The name kind of ties you in forever to that price point.  Maybe not a good idea.

Just a few thoughts...

THP Creative

  • THP Creative

« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2018, 17:18 »
+2
Your viewport is unnecessarily small for a site being built in 2018. I have loads of unused space on my 21" 4k iMac, can only image a 27".

Also no https...doesn't inspire confidence in security practises.

Plus all of what Sean said...

Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2018, 17:58 »
+9
Wait until someone comes up with "FourDollarPhotos"...

Reminds me of the classic scene from There's Something About Mary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2di69FmhE

« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2018, 19:51 »
+2
You boast of a high royalty percentage but, in all honesty, 75% of $5 isn't much.  If you want serious consideration, particularly if you are touting high quality imagery, I would set your selling price considerably higher. 

I wish you luck but it will be a tough sell.

« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2018, 20:34 »
+1
Wait until someone comes up with "FourDollarPhotos"...

Reminds me of the classic scene from There's Something About Mary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2di69FmhE

Good one!  ;D

« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2018, 23:47 »
+3
You lost me at five dollars. My advise would be to figure out how to make money marketing a small group of contributors, then move on from there. Right now, we are all being under-represented. A couple five dollar sales isn't going to change that for anybody.

« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2018, 00:29 »
0
Hi,

Took a look at the site. It may work.

But the site needs some work. It looks like something you whipped up in about 3-4 hours. I know it probably took much longer to do than that - but I am just saying.

What are your plans for marketing though? I'd be interested in that... and if you have some good marketing to generate sales, could submit something there.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2018, 01:25 »
+1
Curious about the comments on the price. I thought Shutterstock's payout per sale was 35 cents or something like that... are they the exception and not the norm? Is the average higher than $3.75? I don't sell any still images, so I've no idea!

« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2018, 01:42 »
+3
Curious about the comments on the price. I thought Shutterstock's payout per sale was 35 cents or something like that... are they the exception and not the norm? Is the average higher than $3.75? I don't sell any still images, so I've no idea!
An average RPD of $3.75 would be good for me as its at about 67c on SS. I like the idea of the simple concept but I just think the market is saturated...if the upload process is very simple I might give it a go.

Chichikov

« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2018, 02:36 »
+1
Wait until someone comes up with "FourDollarPhotos"...

Reminds me of the classic scene from There's Something About Mary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2di69FmhE

I propose $3.99

« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2018, 03:30 »
+2
Nobody competes with fiverr with less than $5 per work, so it's a good chance that $5 photos stays unique. Sounds catchy, it offers simplicity, so with a good marketing it can be OK.

The keyword is a good marketing, this is what made the difference between successful sites and the rest. This is why from the new sites only Canva succeeded while the others failed, and this is why from the little older sites Depositphotos is in the middle tier, while others are pretty much nowhere. Even with the coolest site in the world and excellent content, you will hardly go anywhere without a good marketing.

And by good marketing, I don't mean ads on Google and Facebook, not many will click on that, by good marketing I mean right people who know the right people and who really know how to attract buyers and spread the word. Which is easier said than done. That's why there is a difference between successful sites and the others.

« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2018, 03:39 »
0
Nobody competes with fiverr with less than $5 per work

??? ?

« Reply #15 on: March 08, 2018, 03:53 »
0
Nobody competes with fiverr with less than $5 per work

??? ?
If I'm not mistaken, on fiverr the minimum pay per work done is $5. And I don't know for any similar site on which you can offer less than that per work, despite the fact that there are people, especially from India, who would offer their work for cents if they could.

Similar is with stock, I don't think that there will be sites which will offer less than $5 per image, unless there are subscription plans, or smaller prices for smaller sizes, or different licensing, like Canva's $1 per 1 usage. I think that so called race to bottom in microstock stops here.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2018, 04:16 by stockman11 »

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #16 on: March 08, 2018, 05:22 »
+1
Take a look at GL Stock Images.  They are dead simple to use, lots of images, but unfortunately zero sales.  Figure out where they went wrong and then fix those issues.

You need to provide the licensing terms before many will join.

We don't really know who you are.  There's no info on the site.

The name kind of ties you in forever to that price point.  Maybe not a good idea.

Just a few thoughts...
The new owners screwed the site.
I used to get a nice (for a small site) three figure monthly return prior to the new ownership.

namussi

« Reply #17 on: March 08, 2018, 06:11 »
0
Nobody competes with fiverr with less than $5 per work, so it's a good chance that $5 photos stays unique. Sounds catchy, it offers simplicity, so with a good marketing it can be OK.

The keyword is a good marketing, this is what made the difference between successful sites and the rest. This is why from the new sites only Canva succeeded while the others failed, and this is why from the little older sites Depositphotos is in the middle tier, while others are pretty much nowhere. Even with the coolest site in the world and excellent content, you will hardly go anywhere without a good marketing.

And by good marketing, I don't mean ads on Google and Facebook, not many will click on that, by good marketing I mean right people who know the right people and who really know how to attract buyers and spread the word. Which is easier said than done. That's why there is a difference between successful sites and the others.

So all you have to do is get the right people. It's that simple.

I wonder if that strategy has ever been tried before in other industries.


« Last Edit: March 08, 2018, 06:22 by namussi »

« Reply #18 on: March 08, 2018, 07:07 »
+2
Nobody competes with fiverr with less than $5 per work, so it's a good chance that $5 photos stays unique. Sounds catchy, it offers simplicity, so with a good marketing it can be OK.

The keyword is a good marketing, this is what made the difference between successful sites and the rest. This is why from the new sites only Canva succeeded while the others failed, and this is why from the little older sites Depositphotos is in the middle tier, while others are pretty much nowhere. Even with the coolest site in the world and excellent content, you will hardly go anywhere without a good marketing.

And by good marketing, I don't mean ads on Google and Facebook, not many will click on that, by good marketing I mean right people who know the right people and who really know how to attract buyers and spread the word. Which is easier said than done. That's why there is a difference between successful sites and the others.

So all you have to do is get the right people. It's that simple.

I wonder if that strategy has ever been tried before in other industries.
Obviously but although its blindingly obvious not as often as you might think.....hence the number of new agencies who come here and talk about commission and have nothing to say about marketing.

« Reply #19 on: March 08, 2018, 09:37 »
+5
You are starting by giving 75% to contributors. Once you have a nice library, that will disintegrate to 10%, because 75% wont be sustainable. Thats how it usually goes.

« Reply #20 on: March 08, 2018, 10:42 »
0
I wouldn't say its not 'sustainable'... I'd say sites just tend to get greedy, and think 'wow! look at all the money we are making! if we take a higher %, we'll make even more!', not thinking that then contributors think, maybe they should stop submitting, and go find somewhere else to submit to...

« Reply #21 on: March 08, 2018, 11:30 »
+2
...You need to provide the licensing terms before many will join.

You have the terms and conditions for the site up now, but not the license you plan to offer buyers, and as Sean indicates, anyone who's been selling for more than 5 minutes will want to see the license - if you're offering the equivalent of extended licenses for a $5 price, it's a non-starter regardless of royalty rate. If you offer the content to partner sites, do we have the ability to opt out of those (which typically are a crappy deal for contributors as there are three mouths to feed instead of two).

Another red flag for me (from the terms and conditions) is the 90 day delay in removing content, especially for a new site with an unknown owner. I can appreciate you don't want to spend all the money to review content only to have contributors delete it on a whim, but look at it from the contributor side. Submitting valuable content to a brand new site is a risk - you could be the next big success as a stock agency or be bundling our files up to sell behind our backs and  until there's a track record for your agency, we won't know which it is. Even if we want to leave as a result of a change in the terms you impose a 30 day wait.

As others have noted above, you need to talk about how you're planning to market the site. Uploading images to a new site is work - no marketing means no return for our work.

Why will anyone buy from you when they can buy $5 images from Shutterstock's huge collection? Yes, they have to pay $49 for 10 images, but there's no commitment beyond that. Dreamstime has a one month "subscription" of 5 images for $25 (smaller collection than SS, but still a decent size). 123rf has a one month "subscription" of 10 images for $39. I don't think you can make price and a single item purchase much of a differentiator, especially when you're just starting out with a small collection.

« Reply #22 on: March 08, 2018, 11:46 »
0
Thanks, everyone, for the great discussion and comments. And, thanks for not "eviscerating" me. :)

In particular, a special thanks to those of you that did venture over to the site and sign up.

A few responses and comments on the issues raised -

The site is definitely a work in progress. While it did take considerably more than a few hours to construct, we're taking a very hands-on approach to developing it just the way we want it to work, not relying on third-party plugins to get where we want to go. It's still early in the process and recruiting some initial contributors is essential to really putting the site through its paces before launch. As our lead developer says, "No site survives first contact with the customer."
As for some specific concerns:
https - Obviously, this is a big deal. At this point, the site should be completely secure. If you encounter something specific where it doesn't seem to be working, don't hesitate to let us know.
Site Info - Good point. We want to be as transparent as possible. We'll work on that.
The Terms of Service are linked from several pages, but we'll take a look at making them even more obvious.

Regarding the price point, there's not much to say. Obviously, the entire site is locked into the fivedollarphoto price point "gimmick." That's been a given from inception. We think there is a market for that price point, but you should of course follow your instincts. As artists, you should certainly value your work where you feel it deserves.

Honestly, the royalty payout for early adopters at 75% is about as high as you can go at a $5 price point and still pay for hosting and development. As the site owner, I will not be moving below 50% after launch. We are a small team and intend to keep it that way, allowing us to maintain those levels of payment. Also, I should clarify that those royalty rates are not assigned to the images, but to the contributor. No matter when you upload a photo, your royalty rate remains the same as when you first signed up.

Great comments regarding marketing. Any venture lives or dies by its marketing efforts and we recognize that. Approaching all of you here in this forum is a first step towards fostering good relationships as the site grows and laying the foundation for good marketing. We want to connect with contributors as a part of a community. We hope that you will come to feel like collaborators in that process and not just faceless contributors.

Thanks again for all of the comments and great discussion.

« Reply #23 on: March 08, 2018, 12:01 »
0
Thank you for not coming out with all the corporate buzzword crap we usually get, except for your lead developers contribution, you can sack him or her.

« Reply #24 on: March 08, 2018, 12:15 »
+3
Your watermarks have to be better than this: https://www.fivedollarphotos.com/product.php?id=131

especially when you offer a full size preview...


 

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