MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => New Sites - General => Topic started by: Maximilian on August 26, 2014, 12:31
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I saw this ad at bottom of msg site. Whats this? 78%. what?
Site looks so bad (for me)
lol ;D
http://cloud.microstockgroup.com/images/ads/stocktal.png (http://cloud.microstockgroup.com/images/ads/stocktal.png)
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I/ve been making a little change with them for last few weeks. (At least they pay immediately on request) Also I have emailed them two times about fixing the pricing on front page, deaf ears. I like it though, i see it as a spear head forward like stocksy, 78%? sounded sweet to me so why not throw up a few images and see where this goes.
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I joined them and have been accepted as contributor there. The site is still evolving, there are few issues here and there. The limit of MB per image is 10. You can upload image of 10MB each for now. I have written to them to expand the per image limit. Some of the images of 24MP DLSR are above 10MB and that's because images are processed for multiple agencies.
The response of their team is warm and friendly. I am not sure whether they are here on MSG or not.
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Adding -- I noticed they have allowed now image upto 16MB for each. That's a welcome change. Appreciate that.
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From their website:
"A good size is 2000 x 3000px approximately. 1 to 3 megabytes is perfect. We allow up to 10 mb but actively discourage members constantly uploading 8, 9 or 10 mb images. Its not the business niche we are targeting.
If you intend to partner with stocktal, set your camera size to output images around 2000 to 3000 no bigger than 4 or 5 mb. Existing images can easily be transformed."
That's an awful lot to ask of people. If I have a 24MP camera, I am expected to create two file. I am certainly not going to set my camera to a lower output like you suggest, rather I am going to shoot at the max size I can, which means I would have to resize in post. And I have probably 2500 images I'd have to go back and resize. If you have your heart set on this your system should automatically recognize file dimensions and resize automatically.
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From their website:
"A good size is 2000 x 3000px approximately. 1 to 3 megabytes is perfect. We allow up to 10 mb but actively discourage members constantly uploading 8, 9 or 10 mb images. Its not the business niche we are targeting.
If you intend to partner with stocktal, set your camera size to output images around 2000 to 3000 no bigger than 4 or 5 mb. Existing images can easily be transformed."
That's an awful lot to ask of people. If I have a 24MP camera, I am expected to create two file. I am certainly not going to set my camera to a lower output like you suggest, rather I am going to shoot at the max size I can, which means I would have to resize in post. And I have probably 2500 images I'd have to go back and resize. If you have your heart set on this your system should automatically recognize file dimensions and resize automatically.
Have to agree- this is going backwards for us...
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Ah, you dont have a cheerleader :D
I met Abi on facebook she invited me to add my images 3 weeks ago. She is like an assistant, cheerleader, fairy godmother lol. Deal with her or one of the other ones (Talent scouts) and you get all the inside info.
Apparently she gets a cut from all the sales we make but not from our end. She actually uploaded images for me, all i had to do was send her my file. I asked about this when half my images were not accepted, she said its because they are not accepting images over 10 mb till the pre launch is over in october.
They have 4 petabyte storage ready for deployment but not until end of year.
I guess its ok to give her email, very friendly filipina chick from texas abi at stocktal.com (Im sure she would appreciate this)
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We appreciate the discussion here.
I would welcome any other questions, comments or complaints.
I'd like to personally welcome new contributors to stocktal and let's all make some money together.
Jack Reynolds
Co founder Stocktal
Melbourne Australia
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Hi Jack,
why is there no imprint on your website. Where I am from that´s actually a legal requirement for any commercial website! And it´s certainly doesn´t create any trust if contributors and buyers don´t know who they are dealing with. A simple contact phone number and a blank email form is not enough.
You are advertising here in the MicrostockGroup. Are you advertising anywhere else as well? How are you going to attract buyers?
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At first I thought it's another cheap site where pricing starts with less than $2. (Can I set up my own pricing here?)
But I can see it's for the 100px file. What on the earth are that sizes for? :o
Large and HD are almost the same here! HD in 1024px?
Mini Web Thumb 89 x 100 px $1.95
Small Web 179 x 200 px $2.95
Big Web 804 x 900 px $9.95
Large 894 x 1000 px $12.95
High Definition 915 x 1024 px $29.95
How will you compete with other micros? You are cutting away from clients who want large formats. Less clients for you.
And one more question:
"Download 500 Free Images Now- Full size, full licence no cost - start here"
All uploaded images are part of this party? Or free images section somewhere there? What is that?
Some first technical questions.
Do you offer FTP fast upload?
Do you read IPTC?
Do I have to click on categories, countries, camera model ect? (wasting time)
Can I upload oryginal size files?
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Why bother with another start up? Don't we have enough proof and experience by now that these new agencies bring nothing new to the table? Buyers wont switch to new start ups with fair pricing for us, when they can get their images for a dollar or less with better customer service elsewhere? And for this agency you need to jump through hoops to get some images online. The whole project comes across as amateurish, forgive my bluntness.
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Mantis, Sheriff and Ariene,
You bring up valid points, resizing on the fly is something we can technically do. We dont want to become another Alamy, we have our own focus but give me some time to reassess this.
amabu,
You are absolutely correct. Of course we have nothing to hide and our Australia office address is firmly planted on every communication response to a contact form, but obviously not enough. Give room.
Collin Miller handles our marketing arm and is dang good at what he does. We are lucky to have him on board. There is no problem selling on Stocktal.
Ariene,
The sample you found is not typical, but afraid there are some people submitting small images. The buyer pays for original size and whatever that is, shows on the system. Good HD size is 2000 to 4000 px dimensions or higher.
Yes, you can employ your own prices. Just edit the suggested prices in the submission form and they will be your prices for that image. We do not judge nor interfere with your pricing choices, although we encourage feisty pricing.
"How will you compete with other micros? You are cutting away from clients who want large formats. Less clients for you"
We are not going for the "out door advertising" market. Neither are other micros. Our core audience want epic looking images roughly the size of a large laptop screen. (But see above, we may overturn this notion soon)
And one more question:
"Download 500 Free Images Now- Full size, full licence no cost - start here"
Good question, it confuses many people. It is simply a way to retain buyers of images by helping them open their account. A buyer with an account comes back. All images used are inhouse stuff, but some photographers choose to throw in an image or two. Its optional. Just tick the "free" option in the submission form of any individual image. This will allow user to download your image free full size when they open an account. It's an Easter egg hunt for the buyer, they might find some they may not but there's over 700 so far that are free with account.
Some first technical questions.
Do you offer FTP fast upload? Yes
Do you read IPTC? Yes
Do I have to click on categories, countries, camera model ect? (wasting time) No, but being found in categories requires you to be in at least one relevant category. No need.
Can I upload oryginal size files? Yes
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Why bother with another start up? Don't we have enough proof and experience by now that these new agencies bring nothing new to the table? Buyers wont switch to new start ups with fair pricing for us, when they can get their images for a dollar or less with better customer service elsewhere? And for this agency you need to jump through hoops to get some images online. The whole project comes across as amateurish, forgive my bluntness.
Thank you for your frankness.
The weight on Stocktal shoulders is 10 million screaming, angry, creative artists with a rage to sell. The remaining 15 can upload to the redundant agencies.
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I am sorry, but your reply is as amateurish as your site. The best way to get contributors on board is to mock them, surely. If you want to make it in this business, thick skin is a must, as critique and criticism are undoubtedly part of it.
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I doubt it that any of your buyers will ever need more than 500 images in the next 10 years.
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Thanks Jack, love your work, keep up the morality.
Confidence and bravado is not thin skinned. He actually thanked you for your frankness. This agency needs support from every photographer.
Lame website or not, that 78% is justice, heart and vision.
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Don't see any problem with the site. Colorful comments above but its ok.
I joined yesterday with 25 uploads, didnt have any problems. Good easy upload workflow. I have 6 approved so far. Still waiting to upload more.
They have some nice images there, they have some good photographers from what I can see.
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Hi Jack,
I was with Stocktal from the beginning, and I'm not sure about something. Is this 78 EPO account permanent? What happens later? I have already upladed 3000 PLUS images and its got me worried, since last payment, what stops you changing the percentage?
I want to upload more images and this is worrying me so far. Im the bird guy.
thanks
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Once MSG starts buzzing with positive sales reports, I will take notice. Stockbo was the last start up I remember, with support from lots of people on MSG, and it is not generating enough sales either. Graphic Leftovers has been around much longer with fair royalties and an easy uploading system, and they struggle as well. Just sharing my thoughts, you all are free to submit to any agency you like.
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Once MSG starts buzzing with positive sales reports, I will take notice. Stockbo was the last start up I remember, with support from lots of people on MSG, and it is not generating enough sales either. Graphic Leftovers has been around much longer with fair royalties and an easy uploading system, and they struggle as well. Just sharing my thoughts, you all are free to submit to any agency you like.
If we do not support fair newcomers we are creating a monopoly of the abusive, partially existing companies.
If anything to criticize than only that we do not support the newcomers enough and do boycott the abusive sites too little.
In the end, the individual has all the power. Stocksy was partially too successful because of its social gravitiy - people supported them. If we all would pull one string and just ignore the naysayers, sheeps and low self esteem people we could achieve much more than only pushing a new and fair company to a good sales level.
I remind myself on this everytime I switch as a buyer to a new site ;-)
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Once MSG starts buzzing with positive sales reports, I will take notice. Stockbo was the last start up I remember, with support from lots of people on MSG, and it is not generating enough sales either. Graphic Leftovers has been around much longer with fair royalties and an easy uploading system, and they struggle as well. Just sharing my thoughts, you all are free to submit to any agency you like.
If we do not support fair newcomers we are creating a monopoly of the abusive, partially existing companies.
If anything to criticize than only that we do not support the newcomers enough and do boycott the abusive sites too little.
In the end, the individual has all the power. Stocksy was partially (amongst many other factors) successful because of its social gravitiy - people supported them. If we all would pull one string and just ignore the naysayers, sheeps and low self esteem people we could achieve much more than only pushing a new and fair company to a good sales level.
I remind myself on this everytime I switch as a buyer to a new site ;-)
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I hear you, any new site showing potential, like Canva, gets my support. I just will not spend time on a site which offers nothing new, with no potential and no returns. It is common sense. 78% of naught is naught.
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Hi Jack,
I noticed you support Rights Managed images. I assume the image is determined to be Rights Managed or Royalty Free by us when we upload? Are the prices for Rights Managed images adjustable by the submitter?
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Mantis, Sheriff and Ariene,
You bring up valid points, resizing on the fly is something we can technically do. We dont want to become another Alamy, we have our own focus but give me some time to reassess this.
amabu,
You are absolutely correct. Of course we have nothing to hide and our Australia office address is firmly planted on every communication response to a contact form, but obviously not enough. Give room.
Collin Miller handles our marketing arm and is dang good at what he does. We are lucky to have him on board. There is no problem selling on Stocktal.
Ariene,
The sample you found is not typical, but afraid there are some people submitting small images. The buyer pays for original size and whatever that is, shows on the system. Good HD size is 2000 to 4000 px dimensions or higher.
Yes, you can employ your own prices. Just edit the suggested prices in the submission form and they will be your prices for that image. We do not judge nor interfere with your pricing choices, although we encourage feisty pricing.
"How will you compete with other micros? You are cutting away from clients who want large formats. Less clients for you"
We are not going for the "out door advertising" market. Neither are other micros. Our core audience want epic looking images roughly the size of a large laptop screen. (But see above, we may overturn this notion soon)
And one more question:
"Download 500 Free Images Now- Full size, full licence no cost - start here"
Good question, it confuses many people. It is simply a way to retain buyers of images by helping them open their account. A buyer with an account comes back. All images used are inhouse stuff, but some photographers choose to throw in an image or two. Its optional. Just tick the "free" option in the submission form of any individual image. This will allow user to download your image free full size when they open an account. It's an Easter egg hunt for the buyer, they might find some they may not but there's over 700 so far that are free with account.
Some first technical questions.
Do you offer FTP fast upload? Yes
Do you read IPTC? Yes
Do I have to click on categories, countries, camera model ect? (wasting time) No, but being found in categories requires you to be in at least one relevant category. No need.
Can I upload oryginal size files? Yes
Thanks, Jack. I will be one of the first to say that I am ACTIVELY looking to downsize my agency list to "the critical few" and blend those with the "critical few newcomers" in support of fair trade. Several here have asked questions that are important.......how are you going to compete with all these other micros? Most are non performers and how to you avoid becoming one of these? You will certainly need a core differentiator, that's for certain. Looking forward to more dialog.
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Starling,
Your account is for life, nothing can change the percentage. It's 78% flat forever.
fivedmarkthree,
yes rights managed is completely flexible and totally up to the talent how when and where and at what price the item will be sold. You can designate world distro or just USA or Europe. Up to you. It's your work, its your choice, we are privileged to be the one to help you sell it.
Mantis,
thanks for your upfront perspectives. I have been in discussion all afternoon regarding this issue of resizing bitmaps. Its coming to a conclusion. will let you know.
Regarding our USP, we have several, but the main one is that buyers and sellers can talk to each other. Unheard of in the industry. Often buyers are in awe of the talent, and the talent is tremendously curious about the buyer. Stocktal lets you talk to each other. (You have to add them as friend first etc, you can figure the system out on the site)
Also we spend a bomb on advertising. Its not rocket science.
Delighted to continue this dialogue and answer any other questions.
Regards
Jack
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Buyers and Contributors talk to each other on Photodune (Envato) as well.
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Regarding our USP, we have several, but the main one is that buyers and sellers can talk to each other. Unheard of in the industry.
Not historically unheard of. On iS, buyers can and do enter the forums, and previously they could write to each other via the Creative Network system (before they decided that wasted too much bandwidth. ::))
Added: Or, indeed, via old-fashioned email.
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Shutterstock as well, forum and PMs, Canstockphoto too, forum, Fotolia, forum.
Basically, 5 agencies have this feature, not much left of the most important USP. Kind of an indicator that they don't know the market that well, or didn't do their research. Doesn't instil a lot of trust. Sorry.
As for marketing, bring millions, otherwise, not a chance.
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Jack-Stocktal, welcome to msg :D
ur site looks interesting , and as said, something new in-line with Stocksy, in the good sense of aiming away from the status-quo of dropping pennies into photographers while making big bucks for themselves. so that is yet another fresh air like Canva and Stocksy.
just browse your portfolios and notice something i did not quite like
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get 500 px free
can u pls explain this promo. hopefully this is not the direction Stocktal is aiming ..
instead u r projecting a mission to make money 70% to photographer/30% to Stocktal.
i take it , like Stocksy and Canva, u will need an invitation,
or more so, submit the first 10 like SS to be approved.
then on, it's clear - sailing and hoperfully money for everyone.
do u have a marketing mission in just Australia or is this global too?
cheers , hope u succeed, as any site that believes contributors should make money
is always welcome and i hope u will also join Canva and Stocksy in success.
gawd almighty, we really need competition to replace those penny - pinchers in the top tier;)
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I am sorry, but your reply is as amateurish as your site. The best way to get contributors on board is to mock them, surely. If you want to make it in this business, thick skin is a must, as critique and criticism are undoubtedly part of it.
well, personally, i think we had quite enough of "professional(s)" with the gift of political double-speak. ,don't u think? ;)
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Jack, some questions from me:
You said you support FTP, read IPTC, no categories needed... Does this mean uploading will be just sending a whole portfolio via FTP and no further clicks necessary (because that's what would be useful for a new site to attract big portfolios)?
I understand we can set our own prices. Is there a possibility that sets a default price which is then applied to all further uploads?
I don't see anything about ELs on your site. Am I right to assume the standard license covers all possible uses (products for resale, any print run) and thus essentially contains all rights that on other sites require an EL?
Thanks for answering, if the conditions are right I'm all for supporting sites that pay fair percentages...
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Depending on the site's approach, I think supporting a selection of new ones that appear to be (a) serious efforts and (b) reasonably funded is in our best interests. One of the newbies may take off and possibly, even when successful, offer contributors a better deal than the existing agencies.
I'll have to have a more detailed look at the site and license terms, but I did have a couple of questions based on a first quick browse:
In the blurb about applying to be a contributor, you describe the requirements for the 10 images submitted to include "Must be an original inate image directly outputed from your camera." If you mean a RAW file straight from the camera, that's a unique (not in a good way) requirement. Every image I submit has been edited, and I wouldn't consider showing anyone the straight from the camera version.
Did you just mean to say that the work has to be our own from our own equipment? Or an image no greater than the camera's native maximum size? If none of the above, what did you mean?
What is the 10% tax you charge on top of the prices shown? Who is the tax paid to and do all buyers worldwide have to pay it? No other agency I'm aware of adds tax to the image prices.
I'd echo the comments of earlier posters that discouraging people from submitting their files from a camera like mine (21mp Canon 5D Mk II) pretty much rules out submitting anything to StockTal - even though I can create smaller sizes of files with a Photoshop action, I'm just not going to do that without a very good reason - too much complexity to manage for a small new agency - "actively discourage members constantly uploading 8, 9 or 10 mb images. Its not the business niche we are targeting."
I see a few vectors on the site, offered in a ZIP format, but nothing in the contributor quality guidelines about what format/version you accept, if you generate the preview for it. There's also nothing in the description for the buyer of what format the vector is in (it should say, perhaps something like the info shown for video clips).
Photos (top bar) is plural, not possessive; drop the apostrophe :)
I saw a picture that showed the license plate of a car parked on an Azores street - none of the agencies accept identifying information like that unless the shot is sold with an editorial license. Plus, the branding on the red bike and the car in that picture are clearly visible. Are you planning to ensure that your site doesn't have a lot of legally problematic images? Contributors should know better after they've been around the block a time or two, but you (the agency) as well as the photographer have to concern yourself with display of copyrighted and trademarked items.
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What is the 10% tax you charge on top of the prices shown? Who is the tax paid to and do all buyers worldwide have to pay it? No other agency I'm aware of adds tax to the image prices.
They all add VAT to images bought in the EU, but that's a lot more than 10% and wouldn't apply in the US.
The wording is, "PAYPAL Accepted -- Prices below exclude 10% tax" Does that mean a charge for the buyer using PayPal to cover PayPal's cost? Can you call that a 'tax'? Not if Wikipedia has the correct definition: "A tax (from the Latin taxo; "rate") is a financial charge or other levy imposed upon a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay, or evasion of or resistance to collection, is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many administrative divisions. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be paid in money or as its labour equivalent."
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I don't see anything about ELs on your site. Am I right to assume the standard license covers all possible uses (products for resale, any print run) and thus essentially contains all rights that on other sites require an EL?
There is a customer agreement, though the subheadings are a bit odd, e.g.
"1. No Sale
The Member acknowledges and agrees that this Agreement does not effectuate any sale of the Work. Except for the rights specifically sublicensed under this Agreement, the Member shall not have any right, title or interest in or to, in any event shall have no ownership of, the Work, including any copyright and other intellectual property rights.
2. Sublicense
Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, stocktal hereby grants to the Member a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, non-transferable sublicense to use, reproduce or display the Work in an unlimited number of times in the authorized media solely for (a) personal or educational purposes and (b) in connection with the operation of a business. However, the Member shall have no right to sell or otherwise distribute the Work or any reproductions thereof to any third parties, whether alone or incorporated or together with or onto any item of merchandise or other work of authorship, in any media or format now or hereafter known. "
IMO, 'No Sale' as the first subtitle is offputting.
2 should be split, as sublicence only applies to the second half.
There is mention on the customer agreement of a specific licence, e.g.
"3(e) use, reproduce, distribute or display the Work in connection with design template applications intended for resale unless specific license is purchased"
3 (f) use, reproduce, distribute or display the Work in connection with any goods or services intended for resale or distribution which primary value lies in the work itself, including, without limitation, mugs, t-shirts, posters, greeting cards, posters or other merchandise, and any of the foregoing in “print on demand” or tangible or electronic formats, as applicable unless specific license is purchased;
And that will be the extended licence referred to on a file's home page above the prices. Click the button and four categories of extended licence are listed.
(wording should coincide in the buyer conditions and the file page, to avoid confusion. Not everyone speaks English as a first language.)
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+1 in agreement with Jo Ann Snover ( supporting a selection of new ones that appear to be (a) serious efforts and (b) reasonably funded is in our best interests).
Jo Ann, (to answer your last statement... i found the site has both RF ; RM; Editorials; options. )
lastly, yes me too, wonder about the 10% tax. as usual, Ms. Snover hits every detail , bravo !!!
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+1 in agreement with Jo Ann Snover ( supporting a selection of new ones that appear to be (a) serious efforts and (b) reasonably funded is in our best interests).
Jo Ann, (to answer your last statement... i found the site has both RF ; RM; Editorials; options. )
lastly, yes me too, wonder about the 10% tax. as usual, Ms. Snover hits every detail , bravo !!!
I thought the RM option interesting but as far as I can tell RM work must be exclusive. Which rules that out for me.
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I thought the RM option interesting but as far as I can tell RM work must be exclusive. Which rules that out for me.
Rights Managed just means that you are licensing specific uses, often for a specific period. Exclusivity is one of the options, but doesn't have to be there. So I might license RM an image to use in Europe for 12 months for $yy and if I want to extend that to the whole world it would be 2 x $yy. If you want it for another year in Europe, that's another $yy. For a royalty free license, for the rights granted, you have no time or geography limits. Typically exclusivity for a certain period (or even exclusive to one industry segment - so you're the only computer software company with that image) costs a lot more.
The key thing is that you have to know who has had the image and have a history of uses to be able to address future buyer requests for specific licenses. Royalty free doesn't track usages at all (which is why it's so convenient for buyers)
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I thought the RM option interesting but as far as I can tell RM work must be exclusive. Which rules that out for me.
Rights Managed just means that you are licensing specific uses, often for a specific period. Exclusivity is one of the options, but doesn't have to be there. So I might license RM an image to use in Europe for 12 months for $yy and if I want to extend that to the whole world it would be 2 x $yy. If you want it for another year in Europe, that's another $yy. For a royalty free license, for the rights granted, you have no time or geography limits. Typically exclusivity for a certain period (or even exclusive to one industry segment - so you're the only computer software company with that image) costs a lot more.
The key thing is that you have to know who has had the image and have a history of uses to be able to address future buyer requests for specific licenses. Royalty free doesn't track usages at all (which is why it's so convenient for buyers)
Yes, but on Stocktal all RM must be exclusive to them unlike Alamy. At least that is how I read the site. I've sent an email asking for more info.
I had briefly considered uploading my RM portfolio to Stocktal but I cannot if it must be exclusive.
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What's the point of having the clause
Restrictions 3(g) [...shall not ...] use, reproduce, distribute or display the Work (including, without limitation, by itself or in combination with any other work of authorship) in any manner that is libelous or slanderous or otherwise defamatory, obscene or indecent;
in the buyer agreement, if the 'Talent' sign up (where talent means photographer, unusually) says,
"Indemnification BA
The seller agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless stocktal and its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, owners, agents, representatives, licensors and (sub)licensees (collectively, “Indemnitees”) from and against all claims, expenses (including attorney fees) or other liability arising from the Non-Exclusive Downloading Member’s breach of any of his or her representations, warranties or obligations under this Agreement, and from any and all uses of the Work, including, without limitation, any claims or actions based on infringement or violation of intellectual property rights, libel or slander or other defamation, right of privacy or “false light”, right of publicity or blurring or distortion or alteration whether or not intentional. stocktal shall have the right, in its sole discretion, to control the defense of any claim, action or matter subject to indemnification by the Member with counsel of its own choosing. The Member shall fully cooperate with stocktal in the defense of any such claim, action or matter.
BTW, you should decide if you want to be StockTal or stocktal, and stick with one or the other.
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I'm not sure I understand this one:
"Pricing
Seller may price their works at any pricepoint they see fit. Stocktal do not assess nor control the prices you sell at. However the default pricing is there for those that wish to remain within the uniform stocktal pricing model. Be aware, Stocktal may seasonally adjust our standard pricing model to reflect trends. This adjustment may affect all sbmissions, even the ones not following our default guidelines. You may need to individually adjust your prices back to your price point."
I've set up my pricing higher than micro, should I expect changes without my permission?
Btw, thanks for approval :)
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After reading the comments from Jo Ann Snover and ShadySue, I am again convinced that I will not touch this one with a 12ft pole.
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i just came out of checking out the site. they have a nice setup and it looks fast and easy to upload. i like the black design and they do have some impressive work . . .and of course, some tons of similars.
i am tempted to apply with them on my first 10 and see how it works.
i know Jo Ann and Sue have pointed out some concerns. still, let's wait to see what they respond.
on my part, i checked a couple of obvious editorials , but i dont see any note saying those images are editorial only. or perharps the "talent" does not know it's supposed to be editorials, since there is in fact an option of RF, RM, editorials, free.
pricing is appealing . and sure, we all say a big chunk of nothing = nothing. then again, with all the old boys club of top tier agencies so out to f*** us up, we really should give some of these new chaps a try. Or just quit ms, altogether.
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From here, the bottom of the page link 'Talent Information' leads to a nearly blank template page with only
{TITLE}
{CONTENT}
where one might expect the actual information to be.
I clicked 'Rights Managed' and got two images, one a cat, the other the Alexander Palace. Tried again by using the tick box for rights managed and got the same two files. Are there currently only two RM files?
I'd be worried about the agreements. They read as being very amateur (switches from singular to plural and back; switches from third to second person), aren't clear and I doubt if they've been run past any decent legal department. There is no mention of which legislation the agreements are bound under.
How about these:
"The Seller acknowledges that stocktal generally does not asl for releases for the trademarks, logos or other intellectual property of other parties that may be depicted in some Works. The procuring of such releases is the responsibility of the Seller to warrant and make secure.
The Seller acknowledges that stocktal generally does not ask for releases from property owners, manufacturers or designers of commercial products such as (without limitation) automobiles, aircraft, packaged products, designer clothing, etc. that are depicted in some Works. It is generally not possible for any stock image library or artist to get blanket releases for such products, but they can often be obtained on a case-by-case basis. The procuring of such releases is the responsibility of the seller."
Why would trademark, etc owners often make releases available on a case-by-case basis for stock use? Coca cola, Disney, whoever? I don't think so. What difference would case-by-case stock use be from a blanket release? Issues I have with getting releases is precisely because they can't know how the stock will be used. People can be more than willing to give permission if they know and approve how/where the image will end up, not for stock.
(Obviously, those with previous micro experience know all about this)
And, BTW, although pedantically, photos probably should have an apostrophe, it isn't usually used and it jars.
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Apologize for late reply, theres much going on thats not even website related, we have our current objectives, so apart from member support which is handled competently by our VA's theres not much I can do, our priority is selling and the marketing plan is taking shape. The front end is developing but not as quickly as we would like, its currently functional and selling which is all that matters at this stage.
Thank you shadysue and that error has been fixed. Also your legal mind is far better than mine, that stuff makes me blind, not my department. Richard Brennan took this job and it roughly looks ok to me for now. He's doing some stuff on it now after reading this thread.
I have read and understood the feedback above carefully and am surprised by what Im learning here. We seem to be approaching this with a one eyed, inflexible place. The marketing research we did back in February this year was exclusively buyer centric, without completely recognizing sellers needs.
Yes the rights managed stuff is exclusive. Cant sell images with rights managed if they for example may be purchased easily elsewhere as royalty free. Sorry about the confusion.
There is indeed quality work on the site, more than personally proud of the talents work so far.
Although there are many fair and specific questions above theres quite a lot of general comments that seem, with courteous respect, a tiny bit out of place. Will try and answer everything above and below this post in the coming days.
Valo, you're becoming my favorite poster on this thread. we need this injection of reality. But don't write us off quite yet. There's a lot of fight in this dog. :) We may pleasantly surprise.
Bottom line, confidence is high.
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Thank you shadysue and that error has been fixed. Also your legal mind is far better than mine, that stuff makes me blind, not my department. Richard Brennan took this job and it roughly looks ok to me for now. He's doing some stuff on it now after reading this thread.
The words legal and roughly looks ok shouldn't go together. It will be a buyer repellent to have poorly written TOS.
Valo, you're becoming my favorite poster on this thread.
Thank you, I do my best ;)
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Hi Jack,
btw, love the name stocktal, half the reason why i initially took a look. You sound like a corporate conglomerate already. I understand its early days and that explains the many glitches I found when I started uploading myself. Your post clarified the situation.
I got a "speeding ticket" today from the curator team. Is this normal? I used the bulk upload yesterday morning and was just working through the title category keywords stuff, when i noticed a message on my first image. I cannot add more work for 3 days??
There's no set limits mentioned on the guidelines page.
Also I LOVE that you do not do subscriptions. The only people who lose out on that deal is the photographer. Is this policy going to remain true always? Or will you be inclined to introduce subscriptions? Fingers crossed the answer is NO!
Have had nothing but warm friendly contact with your team members/VA's they do good work.
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Also I LOVE that you do not do subscriptions. The only people who lose out on that deal is the photographer. Is this policy going to remain true always? Or will you be inclined to introduce subscriptions? Fingers crossed the answer is NO!
Good question and I always forget to ask that at first. Very important before uploading anything...
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Nice to have a new site that appears to be selling images but I find it almost unbelievable that you aren't accepting the big images. You need to change that policy now. The first rule for any new site should be to cater for all buyers and lots like to crop or do big posters or have other reasons for wanting the highest resolution possible. Even super high definition screens need large mp images now. There's no future in new sites that don't see where the market is heading, even video is going to 4k, 8k and probably beyond in the next decade.
I will upload some images but wont get enthusiastic until you accept high mp images.
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Jack,
You're coming over as really clueless.
Your advert shows up at the bottom of my page here, circumventing AdBlockPlus. That's as bad as cold callers phoning me although I'm in the telephone preference scheme, and as I always tell them, that does not make you seem like a company I'd want to deal with. It may be a problem with the way the forum is set up, but most msg ads are blocked.
I can't believe that people already signed up with you despite 'talent information' being missing at the time.
As Valo said, "legal" and "roughly OK" are incompatible. One thing I've learned through being in stock is how different legislation is in different countries, particularly consumer/advertising regulations in the UK vs the US (I've often been horrifed at what the US allows in advertising). You'd better make sure your legalese stands up in each country you're targetting (that doesn't always mean 'every country in the world, this is the www' as a nice person from the ASA explained.) I'm guessing Richard Brennan isn't qualified in international law.
"I have read and understood the feedback above carefully and am surprised by what Im learning here." ::) At least you're honestly clueless, unlike some agency spokespersons who come on here and dig deeper holes for themselves by trying to seem like they know what they're doing when they don't.
"Yes the rights managed stuff is exclusive. Cant sell images with rights managed if they for example may be purchased easily elsewhere as royalty free. Sorry about the confusion." That's not necessarly a sequitur. Rights managed material can be sold at different RM agencies, provided the supplier keeps tabs on what has sold where and for what and that the agency contacts the contributor before entering into any specific sale. Clearly, that involves admin costs, so fair enough if you don't want to become involved in that, but your answer wasn't really relevant to the question.
Please learn about apostrophes. I realise I'm the Typo Queen, and it's "do as I say, not as I do", but I'm not trying to persuade people to risk their income with me as a professional. Your most recent post has several missing apostrophes and at least one which isn't appropriate. NB, I don't think that getting apostrophes wrong makes you a bad person, but it looks really amateur.
Did you reply to JoAnn's question about the 10% tax?
Conversely, where do you hit EU buyers with the info that VAT (different rates for each country) is added to the visible price?
Have you explained how you're going to market your site (as well as run the business) on (12%) 22%, (sorry) of micro income?
"Although there are many fair and specific questions above theres quite a lot of general comments that seem, with courteous respect, a tiny bit out of place." That again shows your naivety in this business. Have you no idea how contributors have been treated by agencies? Have you really no idea how many new agencies have started up, probably by 'well-meaning innocents' in past few years which have gone to the wall. Usually we can spot them a mile away, and even the one I thought had a good chance of succeeding has changed its focus and modus operandi a couple of times, yet is still not bringing in enough sales to make it worthwhile for contributors. Most of these new starts have either quietly disappeared within a couple of years, or drag on, with people announcing every few months that they've had a sale there. Bear in mind that a cynic is a disappointed optimist, so you need to expect to be severely grilled. If you think questions from potential contributors are 'out of place', it perhaps hints at your attitide towards suppliers. Again, at least you're upfront about that, so kudos on the honesty.
From my pov, all this talk of 'talent' comes over as really pretentious, but that could just be me. (That's not denigrating the talent of your photographers.) Stocktal itself is a good enough name, better as a name than the 'cutsie' one. But as Juliet realised, what's in a name?
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Ubermansh,
No we will not implement subscriptions. We are a lean aggressive company that will not sell out for cents in the dollar. I will leave the smoke and mirrors to the old guard. We want a fair and transparent deal for not only the talent but also for the buyers. Talking buyers into a subscription when all they want is 3 pictures is not aligned with our core mission.
If something is good, you know its good because its good all the way through. That's what we are. Good.
Sharpshot,
Tthat issue is still in motion. I won't make promises until those promises are true.
Shadysue,
The analytical nature of your comments only mark you with respect. Thank you for the indepth reflections and observations.
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Giving 500 images away for free is the worst type of subscription of them all. Someone writing a blog every day, can use the free images for about 19 months. Great deal.
Will you pay out the contributors when a free image is downloaded, or is that taken from the contributor earnings?
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Jack,
You're coming over as really clueless.
Your advert shows up at the bottom of my page here, circumventing AdBlockPlus. That's as bad as cold callers phoning me although I'm in the telephone preference scheme, and as I always tell them, that does not make you seem like a company I'd want to deal with. It may be a problem with the way the forum is set up, but most msg ads are blocked.
I can't believe that people already signed up with you despite 'talent information' being missing at the time.
As Valo said, "legal" and "roughly OK" are incompatible. One thing I've learned through being in stock is how different legislation is in different countries, particularly consumer/advertising regulations in the UK vs the US (I've often been horrifed at what the US allows in advertising). You'd better make sure your legalese stands up in each country you're targetting (that doesn't always mean 'every country in the world, this is the www' as a nice person from the ASA explained.) I'm guessing Richard Brennan isn't qualified in international law.
"I have read and understood the feedback above carefully and am surprised by what Im learning here." ::) At least you're honestly clueless, unlike some agency spokespersons who come on here and dig deeper holes for themselves by trying to seem like they know what they're doing when they don't.
"Yes the rights managed stuff is exclusive. Cant sell images with rights managed if they for example may be purchased easily elsewhere as royalty free. Sorry about the confusion." That's not necessarly a sequitur. Rights managed material can be sold at different RM agencies, provided the supplier keeps tabs on what has sold where and for what and that the agency contacts the contributor before entering into any specific sale. Clearly, that involves admin costs, so fair enough if you don't want to become involved in that, but your answer wasn't really relevant to the question.
Please learn about apostrophes. I realise I'm the Typo Queen, and it's "do as I say, not as I do", but I'm not trying to persuade people to risk their income with me as a professional. Your most recent post has several missing apostrophes and at least one which isn't appropriate. NB, I don't think that getting apostrophes wrong makes you a bad person, but it looks really amateur.
Did you reply to JoAnn's question about the 10% tax?
Conversely, where do you hit EU buyers with the info that VAT (different rates for each country) is added to the visible price?
Have you explained how you're going to market your site (as well as run the business) on 12% of micro income?
"Although there are many fair and specific questions above theres quite a lot of general comments that seem, with courteous respect, a tiny bit out of place." That again shows your naivety in this business. Have you no idea how contributors have been treated by agencies? Have you really no idea how many new agencies have started up, probably by 'well-meaning innocents' in past few years which have gone to the wall. Usually we can spot them a mile away, and even the one I thought had a good chance of succeeding has changed its focus and modus operandi a couple of times, yet is still not bringing in enough sales to make it worthwhile for contributors. Most of these new starts have either quietly disappeared within a couple of years, or drag on, with people announcing every few months that they've had a sale there. Bear in mind that a cynic is a disappointed optimist, so you need to expect to be severely grilled. If you think questions from potential contributors are 'out of place', it perhaps hints at your attitide towards suppliers. Again, at least you're upfront about that, so kudos on the honesty.
From my pov, all this talk of 'talent' comes over as really pretentious, but that could just be me. (That's not denigrating the talent of your photographers.) Stocktal itself is a good enough name, better as a name than the 'cutsie' one. But as Juliet realised, what's in a name?
While the legal angle is indeed ripe for correcting, this one bothers me the most. THAT, I don't believe is SUSTAINABLE unless the site is managed like FAA.....turn the switch on and walk away. If Stockal is successful at attracting buyers and closing a few of the core gaps already mentioned in this thread, I think they'll quickly find that 12% will pay for the pizzas when they are in on the weekend working for free to fix site glitches. Joking aside, this is a BIG RISK because when you find out it isn't sustainable you will have to begin cutting commissions, and that will send the message to contributors that you are just another cut throat micro. Look at Graphic Leftovers, they took a big hit I believe cuz of SEO on Google and they were close to cutting our commissions at 55%, but muscled through and kept commissions where they are. Sotckal must be more 360 degrees and ask a lot more "what ifs" and "what's happened to other micros" and design those solutions into your current model in as much as possible. I mean look at FOTOLIA. They are losing out so badly in micro and what did they do? Created nose bleed seat pricing for micro vis DPC. How are you going to compete with the likes of these sponges?
You really need to step back and look at what's happened at other micros, other than greed, that is driving up costs. Plan ahead for these contingencies, and make sure you have an SEO EXPERT on your team, too.
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Have been selling micro exclusively for 5 years. I make a decent living at it and understand what's involved to keep the money flowing. To me 78% is perfect IF they sell. Realistically, they can't do adwords forever and make a profit. A $9.95 RF image, minus adwords cost would slaughter any company.
It is fairly well known that using adwords increases SE visibility, but you cant count on it.
(Also I have seen the number 12% mentioned twice now, but 78-100 is 22 not 12 am I missing something here?)
For this to work they need support on a grand scale and they need it gradually. But yes, picturing an IS or SS caliber company paying ME 78% would be just marvelous. I'd retire today.
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(Also I have seen the number 12% mentioned twice now, but 78-100 is 22 not 12 am I missing something here?)
Ha - no you're right - I can't count! :-[
So you know not to jump in with me when I announce an agency. ;D
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Shadysue,
The analytical nature of your comments only mark you with respect. Thank you for the indepth reflections and observations.
Any more and I'll need to charge a consultancy fee.
However, you ignored the three crucial questions:
- Did you reply to JoAnn's question about the 10% tax?
- Conversely, where do you hit EU buyers with the info that VAT (different rates for each country) is added to the visible price (as it must be)?
- Have you explained how you're going to market your site (as well as run the business) on 22% of micro income?
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This sounds amateurish to me from their front page.
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright) for life and can use it for commercial use of your own design freely without ever having to worry about royalty fees for one low upfront price."
How can someone own my image? I don't understand this at all.
Thanks for the answer Jack. But how do I know for sure you wont change the percentage later?
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Few things We need as contributors from Stocktal.
1. Put a system in place to address the support tickets opened by Contributors.
2. Your upload system of various options goes all the way uploading and finaly errors out on resize errors etc. 8MB files also fail. Error in post_max_size directive in php.ini. Someone needs to fix that.
3. Give us FTP settings, we can use that and upload the batches without worrying about timeouts etc.
Regards
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This sounds amateurish to me from their front page.
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright) for life and can use it for commercial use of your own design freely without ever having to worry about royalty fees for one low upfront price."
Indeed, the whole paragraph reads badly:
"Royalty-Free Photography
Purchase stock photography with confidence. Most images offered on Stocktal are Royalty free or Royalty free with extended license. The rights managed photograhy is clearly marked. When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright) for life and can use it for commercial use of your own design freely without ever having to worry about royalty fees for one low upfront price. Keeping a copy of your receipt serial number some place on your works files is standard good practice, but we do keep records if there is ever any issues, you can contact us freely."
So you sell RF and RM. You have explained RF, but not RM on the front page.
It's really mixed up.
Your heading is RF, and you mention RM en passant.
But you say, "When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright) for life and can use it for commercial use of your own design freely without ever having to worry about royalty fees for one low upfront price." which doesn't apply to RM.
Also, you don't 'take purchase of' anything, you purchase it. And of course, you don't purchase a file, you purchase a licence to use the file.
Photography, not photograhy.
Also it should be either 'if there are any issues' or 'if you ever have an issue', don't mix a singular verb with plural noun.
You can not imagine how that sort of thing bounces me right off a site. It's really hard to take you seriously when you don't even have your writty proof-read by several people.
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Again from the front page:
"Stocktal is one of the few Royalty Free microstock agencies that deliver full protection for our customers. We vet our stock with great diligence, however if there ever is an issue you can relax in the knowledge that we are there for you and you're not alone. "
When you say "the few RF which deliver full protection": which ones don't?
You "deliver full protection for your customers"? Even if they use a file contrary to the agreement?
You "vet your stock with great diligence", yet you say:
"It is the seller's due responsibility to make sure their work breaches no known copyrights and choose their licencing to reflect any such conflicts."
and
"stocktal generally does not asl for releases for the trademarks, logos or other intellectual property of other parties that may be depicted in some Works.".
(it's ask, not asl)
and
"stocktal generally does not ask for releases from property owners, manufacturers or designers of commercial products such as (without limitation) automobiles, aircraft, packaged products, designer clothing, etc. that are depicted in some Works"
Caveat venditor emptorque. (tx Valo)
Enough, already!
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*Venditor
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*Venditor
Correct. :)
My brain isn't functioning today. Earlier I kept saying 'cyclamen' and couldn't think of the word 'clematis'.
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i have now up to 6000 images. 50% is over 8mb..
Will you have a look at your image preview design. It feels a bit out of date. small preview images and so on. i think the look of other agencys with bigger previews is better
its a little bit too small? (http://www.stocktal.com/static2/preview1/stock-photo-road-in-montana-14440.jpg)
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Jack,
One thing I think you should address quickly is your category system. It is already out of hand and allowing contributors to add their own categories is a recipe for a confusing mess from the buyer side. Of course I do not know how you use categories in the search but without some strict, ordered rules to your system I think you will quickly have a situation where the categories mean nothing.
Personally I think categories a waste of time but if you must have them they should be restricted to major divisions (food, animals,plants,people,objects,landscape,abstract) Anything lower on the chain than that should be found using the keywords. Categories always seem to make sense to new agencies, why I am not sure. But after you have 10 million images what is the point? No one is going to select a category and scroll through 100,000 images.
Another issue is the lack of a batch or bulk editing system. If I have 10 images that need the same category why do I have to select them all then individually change the category? I already selected them, indicating that I was grouping them together, so all changes should be done to all images selected. Or add a batch change function if you want to leave the current one alone.
Many of the people on MSG have been doing this for years, seen it all, seen agencies come and go. If you want to attract 'talent' and their images you need to make things as simple as possible to contribute. Take a look at GL Images. FTP upload, done. Compare that to the somewhat tedious process on your site, the amount of time I have available to spend uploading is finite. Time spent uploading is time not shooting.
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The boys from Stockbo were great at taking advice onboard and making changes on the fly. It seems Stocktal is more about thanks but no thanks.
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Thanks for the answer Jack. But how do I know for sure you wont change the percentage later?
Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question. I think your clue is the EPP account, which stands for "early partners program"
From what I can understand with stocktal, they may or may not change the percentage, but if you have an epp account, the 78% is for life, it wont change...BECAUSE you were an early partner.
Also, you have like 2000 bird images on there, whats with that? Good snaps tho!
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The boys from Stockbo were great at taking advice onboard and making changes on the fly. It seems Stocktal is more about thanks but no thanks.
Stocktal and Stocksy are really the only cutting edge players as far as I can see, also 500px recently announced some 70% offer only if you pay them to upload your own work...pass.
Checked out stockbo months ago and frankly...
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Jack,
One thing I think you should address quickly is your category system. It is already out of hand and allowing contributors to add their own categories is a recipe for a confusing mess from the buyer side. Of course I do not know how you use categories in the search but without some strict, ordered rules to your system I think you will quickly have a situation where the categories mean nothing.
Personally I think categories a waste of time but if you must have them they should be restricted to major divisions (food, animals,plants,people,objects,landscape,abstract) Anything lower on the chain than that should be found using the keywords. Categories always seem to make sense to new agencies, why I am not sure. But after you have 10 million images what is the point? No one is going to select a category and scroll through 100,000 images.
Another issue is the lack of a batch or bulk editing system. If I have 10 images that need the same category why do I have to select them all then individually change the category? I already selected them, indicating that I was grouping them together, so all changes should be done to all images selected. Or add a batch change function if you want to leave the current one alone.
Many of the people on MSG have been doing this for years, seen it all, seen agencies come and go. If you want to attract 'talent' and their images you need to make things as simple as possible to contribute. Take a look at GL Images. FTP upload, done. Compare that to the somewhat tedious process on your site, the amount of time I have available to spend uploading is finite. Time spent uploading is time not shooting.
+1
Also I was advised to keep my uploads under 30 images daily and that together with setting the category image by image will take me forever to upload my portfolio there even if I have strongest will to do so.
I think I will wait and see if things will be smoother in the future because this will consume too much of my time
Im sorry because I would really like to support a site just for not offering subs if for nothing else and build portfolio on such sites so later I can pull it out from sites that are giving away my work for cents when I compensate my loss in income there if ever. :D
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Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question. I think your clue is the EPP account, which stands for "early partners program"
From what I can understand with stocktal, they may or may not change the percentage, but if you have an epp account, the 78% is for life, it wont change...BECAUSE you were an early partner.
Also, you have like 2000 bird images on there, whats with that? Good snaps tho!
Ah! the light comes on!! So epp means early partner program. Thanks Ubermansch!
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Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question. I think your clue is the EPP account, which stands for "early partners program"
From what I can understand with stocktal, they may or may not change the percentage, but if you have an epp account, the 78% is for life, it wont change...BECAUSE you were an early partner.
Also, you have like 2000 bird images on there, whats with that? Good snaps tho!
Ah! the light comes on!! So epp means early partner program. Thanks Ubermansch!
Stock all is there going to be an opt out for partner program? If not you will lose a lot of us.
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Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question. I think your clue is the EPP account, which stands for "early partners program"
From what I can understand with stocktal, they may or may not change the percentage, but if you have an epp account, the 78% is for life, it wont change...BECAUSE you were an early partner.
Also, you have like 2000 bird images on there, whats with that? Good snaps tho!
Ah! the light comes on!! So epp means early partner program. Thanks Ubermansch!
Stock all is there going to be an opt out for partner program? If not you will lose a lot of us.
sorry I dont know what you asked me. epp means early partners program.
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Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question. I think your clue is the EPP account, which stands for "early partners program"
From what I can understand with stocktal, they may or may not change the percentage, but if you have an epp account, the 78% is for life, it wont change...BECAUSE you were an early partner.
Also, you have like 2000 bird images on there, whats with that? Good snaps tho!
Ah! the light comes on!! So epp means early partner program. Thanks Ubermansch!
Stock all is there going to be an opt out for partner program? If not you will lose a lot of us.
sorry I dont know what you asked me. epp means early partners program.
Yes that means you will have a partner program. What I am asking is whether we have the option to OPT OUT of the partner program and not participate in that.
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i have now up to 6000 images. 50% is over 8mb..
That's the triumph of Hope over Experience.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/hints-for-new-sites-to-upload-and-sell/msg389613/#msg389613 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/hints-for-new-sites-to-upload-and-sell/msg389613/#msg389613)
Good luck!
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sorry I dont know what you asked me. epp means early partners program.
Yes that means you will have a partner program. What I am asking is whether we have the option to OPT OUT of the partner program and not participate in that.
I interpreted that (but could be wrong) as meaning that they were referring to contributors as partners (like John Lewis shop assistants are Partners), and the EPP was a special deal for those who sign up first.
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Well, I'm in. I like it for the most part except for the uploading. I find that I cannot leave it to upload more than a few at a time or it will log me out and cancel the upload. So I can't upload while I'm sleeping (which is what I usually do). Otherwise, I have no big issues. I'm willing to take a chance for a real commission rate. Even with the typo's and ambiguity, they still are not nearly as skewed in the agency's favour as some of the big ones. I hope they have a good plan to succeed.
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sorry I dont know what you asked me. epp means early partners program.
Yes that means you will have a partner program. What I am asking is whether we have the option to OPT OUT of the partner program and not participate in that.
I interpreted that (but could be wrong) as meaning that they were referring to contributors as partners (like John Lewis shop assistants are Partners), and the EPP was a special deal for those who sign up first.
Ahhhhhh gotcha. Thanks.
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coupla minor quibbles:
an emphasized message always says:
"You may have a new or updated message from curation team about your recent uploads" -- but there's nothing there
logs me out every 30 min or so
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"You may have a new or updated message from curation team about your recent uploads" -- but there's nothing there
I just got second mail with the same approval message.
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Jack,
Another small issue. I started an upload and got called away. When I came back to finish the upload I have been logged out. Log back in and the upload is gone. Where? Canceled? Held someplace? I cannot find it.
Also, I am seeing folks reporting they are getting requests to upload only 30 a day or so. Please do not do this! If you must restrict uploads do it by week. 30/day = 210/week. I can upload once and stop by again next week. Honest, we are not all sitting at our computers every night waiting for the clock to strike 12 so we can upload 30 more to Stocktal.
You came to this site and asked us to upload. You are talking to some of the best MS producers in the industry (not me but the good ones are here too), with huge portfolios. If you get these folks actually interested you need to expect a lot of uploads. Are you prepared for that?
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"You may have a new or updated message from curation team about your recent uploads" -- but there's nothing there
I just got second mail with the same approval message.
Don't worry it is not finished… I've got it already three times (in two days) ;)
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Thanks for the answer Jack. But how do I know for sure you wont change the percentage later?
Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question.
Not remotely funny.
Most of the agencies have reneged on promises or changed their terms of reference.
Given some of the duplicity on the site I've already noted above, their cluelessness about the business and the refusal to answer important but simple questions I and others have asked, I find it amazing that some here think they might be trustworthy.
Note that in his first post on this thread, Jack said,
"I would welcome any other questions, comments or complaints."
http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg392977/#msg392977 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg392977/#msg392977)
Then said, "Delighted to continue this dialogue and answer any other questions."
but only a page later he said:
"Although there are many fair and specific questions above theres quite a lot of general comments that seem, with courteous respect, a tiny bit out of place. "
http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?action=post;quote=393162;topic=23347.25;last_msg=393281 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?action=post;quote=393162;topic=23347.25;last_msg=393281)
... and has not answerered the most important questions, which must be right to hand, so once can only imagine he's preparing a 'spin' on the answers. There's no reason why they shouldn't have been answered straight away.
You can all laugh at me five years down the line when you're millionaires.
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I saw the StockTal advert a couple weeks ago and wrote to them questioning the fact that they have no contact address, business address or business registration details on the web site. Received an enthusiastic reply from a girl in the Philippines who gave me lots of runaround but didn't supply the information requested except to say that it is being run by some Australians.
Doesn't really interest me because I'm an iStock/Getty exclusive, but I thought I'd write just to see what sort of response I'd get. Interesting that StockBo has straight away put all their company information available for public scrutiny, whereas StockTal still hasn't.
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The search works only in english?
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Not remotely funny.
Most of the agencies have reneged on promises or changed their terms of reference.
Given some of the duplicity on the site I've already noted above, their cluelessness about the business and the refusal to answer important but simple questions I and others have asked, I find it amazing that some here think they might be trustworthy.
I hear you. Micro is quite a shell game. Hoping this mob is different.
To me its quite clear that they "may" up their split. But I googled "stocktal 78 game changer" you get the page that hints at how this will roll out. In fact its blatantly obvious. You are rewarded because you are an early adapter.
Not an uncommon approach. I could be wrong, maybe they will hold it at 78 forever?? But the name early partner program suggests to me that the first batch of members will hold this level of payment for life and the remaining "hoards" will suffer from their inaction.
I got nothing to lose, spent a little time uploading, see what pans out.
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To be honest, whether they'd stick to 78%, how their uploading works or whether they should have categories would be the least of my worries with this lot, at this stage.
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Well, I tried the site to have a say in this from experience, but the editor is horrible, the list of categories is just ridiculous and the majority of my images went awol.
All in all the site is a grammatical, legal and practical mess. I don not understand why some of us think it is all ok. It is far from ok and it is very unprofessional in my honest opinion. If you comment about splashing the cash on marketing, please use some funds and time first on developing a proper working site, easy to use, without silly spelling and grammar mistakes.
I apologise for my ranting.
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http://stocktal.com/pages/customer-agreement.html (http://stocktal.com/pages/customer-agreement.html)
i just looked at the customer's agreement, and here it did not mention anything about transfer of ownership. it looks similar to all the other sites re. the contributor retains the ownership.
Sue, where did u find that section re owning the rights?
re: free images.
all i can find is where u open an application to submit 10 images for approval,
you have the options to choose -
RF, RM,
then at the bottom after keywords,etc..
Free, Editorial.
so i suppose when they offer 500 free images, they r giving the clients the choice of these
images where the contributor selects the FREE option.
i cannot see why anyone would give anything away free,
so i would think they are doing what dreamstime do,
offer to give the rejected images free.
but i like to hear from their official spokesman about this , of course
before submitting anything to them.
hopefully, the delay in coming back to us is to correct what Jo Ann has pointed out
so profoundly , as always.
i would love to have another choice to add here,
viz, Canva, Stocksy, Alamy, Pond 5, 500px,
anyone who is working away from subs is always welcoming. and given that there is
something to amend for new sites.
Jack, pls acknowledge Jo Ann's pointers, as we are all waiting to join if we get the go ahead from her. me at least ;)
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Sue, where did u find that section re owning the rights?
I didn't say 'owning the rights'.
Their front page, pointed out by starling, says:
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
IMO, it would be more helpful for buyers to understand they they are buying a licence to use the image within allowed parameters. They don't 'own' the image in any sense, just have the right to use it as specified.
Someone who 'owns' something can do what they like with it, including give it away. The verbiage should make that absolutely clear.
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Can't help but notice that more than a day later, he hasn't come back with answers to the important questions, nor have the grammatical, spelling and logical flaws on his home page been corrected.
I don't know why I'm dishing out free advice, but 'explore the license options' should be 'licence'. License is the verb.
And - expletive deleted - There is a photo currently on their front page titled, "Birds rare Galapagos finches sea cliff". These birds are Puffins; I can't be 100% sure which species as the preview is blurry, but I can assure you that they are NOT finches, NOT rare, and are NOT found in the Galapagos.
Jack - I have no idea how you reconcile this idiocy (I really mean this - didn't the tog know where they were when they took the photo?) with your statement "We vet our stock with great diligence".
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"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
I took that to mean that the person writing that portion of the website was not familiar with stock photography and how it works. A layperson would say "I own that image I bought", someone in the business would say "I licensed that image".
Verbiage used is unfortunate on a professional stock licensing agency's site. :(
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"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
I took that to mean that the person writing that portion of the website was not familiar with stock photography and how it works. A layperson would say "I own that image I bought", someone in the business would say "I licensed that image".
Verbiage used is unfortunate on a professional stock licensing agency's site. :(
I'm becoming more and more sure that whoever wrote that site is not a native English speaker, nor do they have a clue about the stock business.
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Sue, where did u find that section re owning the rights?
I didn't say 'owning the rights'.
Their front page, pointed out by starling, says:
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
IMO, it would be more helpful for buyers to understand they they are buying a licence to use the image within allowed parameters. They don't 'own' the image in any sense, just have the right to use it as specified.
Someone who 'owns' something can do what they like with it, including give it away. The verbiage should make that absolutely clear.
ah, ok. it was not in the linked page i attached earlier. thx Sue!
yes, i agree, it's much like the problem we have with RF, and many ppl think it means using it for free.
or with the case of certain newbie models who thought that since u asked them to sign an MR it meant that u ask them permission to transfer the ownership of "their" photos to you.
they are supposed to be based in Australia,
Stocktal 15 Winterton St 250 Hallam 3976 Melbourne Victoria AUSTRALIA
so one would assume they speak English.
last time i heard they do down-under ;)
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they are supposed to be based in Australia, so one would assume they speak English.
last time i heard they do down-under ;)
Not even everyone who lives in England is a native English speaker.
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On the Talent Agreement page, it says,
"Non exclusive
Sellers may include non exclusive works without limitation, provided the work is not exclusive with another stock library."
Yet Jack confirmed in a post above that RM images must be exclusive.
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they are supposed to be based in Australia,
Stocktal 15 Winterton St 250 Hallam 3976 Melbourne Victoria AUSTRALIA
so one would assume they speak English.
last time i heard they do down-under ;)
That, we certainly do etudiante_rapide But if I reverted to an Australian accent on this forum, "there'd be not a squeak in the house mate, gobs open, minds ponderin, you get me?" :)
Actually, where do I start, The tax has been removed. Frankly it had me confused too since we are marketing globally. It was simply to be equally shared between talent and StockTal, but we can survive paying taxes from the gross revenue, not a big deal.
Also the free images "hook" has been changed to 10. The idea is that buyers with an account will more likely make a purchase from StockTal. Also our address is now on the footer of every page as suggested.
Now to Miss Snover, flattered that you took an interest in StockTal Jo Ann :)
Yes we are keeping it at 78% no plans to change that at all, but we did segregate the account should something unforeseen occur, which means even if there was a change, all members with epp keep their percentage no questions. Just a systems contingency to give the account a special name.
In the blurb about applying to be a contributor, you describe the requirements for the 10 images submitted to include "Must be an original inate image directly outputed from your camera." If you mean a RAW file straight from the camera, that's a unique (not in a good way) requirement. Every image I submit has been edited, and I wouldn't consider showing anyone the straight from the camera version.
This wording has been edited. Really doesnt make sense.
I see a few vectors on the site, offered in a ZIP format, but nothing in the contributor quality guidelines about what format/version you accept, if you generate the preview for it. There's also nothing in the description for the buyer of what format the vector is in (it should say, perhaps something like the info shown for video clips).
You can upload "any" file to the system as long as its zipped. pdf, sga, whatever is required. Also it is up to the experienced talent who submit such a file, to know to make the file format clear in the description. The main criteria for buying such a file is to know what it is. Those few vectors are eps files, why he wouldnt have disclosed this in description is confusing to me.
Our main interest is photography right now, we are still in pre-launch and its a case of first things first.
Photos (top bar) is plural, not possessive; drop the apostrophe :)
Good spot. Fixed.
I saw a picture that showed the license plate of a car parked on an Azores street
One got through. Have had no luck finding it but thanks for mentioning it. There's an APB out on the image.
Unfortunately we are no closer to resolution with making large images fit our size criteria on the fly. All I can say is that it makes sense and Im fighting for it.
More later, a sincere thanks to all for the kind words and also the criticisms. Our urgency to address these concerns has been stepped up.
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The all points bulletin has been called off, the artist must have read your post and changed it, its marked as editorial.
Shadysue,
We are still working on the wording of the agreement. The main apparatus is in there, mainly limiting liabilities for talent and such, but your posts have been marked for further reference. Thank you for taking such trouble, you should be on our payroll.
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One last comment for today before lunch.
The categories thing was mentioned several times. Somebody made the point that if we had 10 million images, who would rifle through the category to find just the right image.
I agree completely except for one thing. We need you to help us fill out the categories, just choose one category. So far most of the contributors are at least choosing one relevant category and several have already simply made a subcategory for their images. Its simple to do.
The way we are going, from 100k to a million is only a few weeks away. By filling out the category and making it accurate, you give yourself a better chance of selling, for the buyers that do actually like to browse cats. Otherwise its a lucky dip on the on site search, that depends on your titles and keywords.
We are doing our part but we need some cooperation from the founding members of StockTal. We are doing this together.
Having said that, the quality of many of the images is simply stunning, crisp, clear, vivid colors amazing sky's and concept shots. It's a pleasure to browse these beautiful items. My favorites are in the landscapes section, uplifing!
We try and accommodate everything because we really don't know what sells. We are constantly surprised by selling images. Why decline them when the artist had an idea and somebody buying that image understands that idea, even if curators don't like it. We don't judge the image for commercial appeal or utility to the market because its a mistake to do so.
The curators view people who refuse to do a title, keywords etc or add at least one category at this early stage as un cooperative. "They seem to just want to dump a large file on us and run"
We have already closed several accounts without further explanation and hope not to have to do too much more of this.
Thank you for listening to this appeal.
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In the UK Virgin Media has blocked this site...
“This site has been blocked by Web Safe because it's listed as having malicious content. It could put your personal and financial information at risk or cause damage to your files”.
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In the UK Virgin Media has blocked this site...
“This site has been blocked by Web Safe because it's listed as having malicious content. It could put your personal and financial information at risk or cause damage to your files”.
Yes we have already been made aware of the Virgin Media message. Not much we can do to help VM understand the site. Im sure an email to them would be answered with resoundingly loud silence. I have seen warning messages for Amazon pages before, quite surprising, but you don't really know whats going on.
StockTal places a cookie on a users computer to track such things as our remarketing campaign. Could be that. Can't meet every isp's expectations.
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Jack-Stocktal, about categories.
I have worked for years in the press business (weekly and monthly magazines) and I have never seen no photo editor using categories in their search.
People looking for an image know what they are looking for.
If they are looking for a "banana" they will not use the categories food, fruit, fruit and vegetable, etc…
This will give them oranges, beefsteaks, cookies, etc… it is absolutely useless.
They will simply use the keyword "banana"… and they will find images of, try to guess…… bananas!
Cheers!
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Hi Anton,
Yes I agree. WHEN we have 10 million images this makes sense, but many visitors "expect" a categories section and an empty or low accuracy categories section is a liability.
Is a lay-persons money for an image any different to a producer working at FOX network for the same license? They pay the same price either way. This industry is changing and many people don't recognize this..(quite yet)
People make websites and even video for youtube that has NOTHING to do with the professional, clicky world of old media. They need content at a reasonable price and royalty free. The odd RM sale is ok but these people are not the core audience anymore.
Compliments on the work BTW very inspiring imagery!
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Also, everyone just call me Jack, it's absolutely ok.
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We would like to thank Tyler and the team for allowing us to advertise on MicroStock Group and hope our advertising does not annoy people too much.
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We would like to thank Tyler and the team for allowing us to advertise on MicroStock Group and hope our advertising does not annoy people too much.
Advertise as much as you like to those who don't mind, but it shouldn't over-ride my choice to use AdBlock. Not fully sure whether that's your fault or Tyler's, given that the only other ad I see on here is the Expo one, and I think that's sort of tied up with msg in some way. (I know there are plenty more, as I haven't got round to putting an ad blocker on my phone.)
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Hi Jack
About categories...
What you saying makes sense but.... there are more options that can make things easier for contributors from your side...like:
1) Auto categories based on keywords, lot of sites do have that option ...or
2) Batch categorizing images which would also be a huge time saving for most if not all of contributors
Because when you are speaking about cooperative move by contributor and only 1 category click and 10 million potential images you are also taking about 10 million clicks which means thousands clicks plus scrolling for some contributors image after image.
So my question would be...is there a chance you were planning to add such or some other options in that direction in the future because that would really be cooperative from your side and make your contributors life easier and give them more time for producing wonderful stuff ?
Thanks
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OK, so you are now going to absorb the former unexplained "10% tax" from your 22% profit. Wow! You need to give the other agencies lessons in sustainability.
You haven't explained how you are going to aggresively market the site on such a low margin.
You still haven't answered at which point you tell EU buyers about VAT. I went through your system as though I was going to buy a file, and at no time did it mention VAT. If you add it after someone has committed to paying, that's illegal, you need to tell us before we agree to pay. We are used to having prices quoted inclusive of VAT, so it always jars when companies out of the EU add it after we go into the payment system, but of course, most agencies are outwith the EU and it's normally added at the point a file goes into the shopping basket / equivalent.
If you don't know about VAT, you can read the brief Wikipedia summary of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_value_added_tax#VAT_rates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_value_added_tax#VAT_rates)
Every EU country can set its own VAT, which be a flat rate or different across goods and services or can vary according to what's being sold. Also be aware that these rates can and do change at any time, and if you want to sell in the EU you need to collect the VAT and remit it correctly.
Presumably there's some sort of Australian organisation set up to help companies selling to the EU that can help you with this, otherwise you could start by contacting this lot to get pointed in the right direction (they advise UK companies about VAT in the rest of the EU, so they probably can't help directly) http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/index.htm (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/index.htm)
You said, "Is a lay-persons money for an image any different to a producer working at FOX network for the same license? " but at the same time, you show no inclination to fix the problem that causes Virgin Media, a company which apparently provided "around 4.2 million with broadband internet services" in 2012 to block you.
How can we take anyone seriously who said, "The weight on Stocktal shoulders is 10 million screaming, angry, creative artists with a rage to sell. The remaining 15 can upload to the redundant agencies. " http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg392997/#msg392997 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg392997/#msg392997)
And while I'm at it, "there'd be not a squeak in the house mate, gobs open, minds ponderin, you get me?", though colloquial, is actually much clearer than a lot of the wording on your site.
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Hi Jack
About categories...
What you saying makes sense but.... there are more options that can make things easier for contributors from your side...like:
1) Auto categories based on keywords, lot of sites do have that option ...or
2) Batch categorizing images which would also be a huge time saving for most if not all of contributors
Because when you are speaking about cooperative move by contributor and only 1 category click and 10 million potential images you are also taking about 10 million clicks which means thousands clicks plus scrolling for some contributors image after image.
So my question would be...is there a chance you were planning to add such or some other options in that direction in the future because that would really be cooperative from your side and make your contributors life easier and give them more time for producing wonderful stuff ?
Thanks
Hi Lizard, thank you for your question and its a good one.
We are in pre-launch, no apologies there, StockTal is barely beta much less VERSION 1.0
Don't agree with others (not you) that say the upload experience is bad unless you want to upload images the size of the side of a barn - we need some time to coordinate our resources.
StockTal is functional and ready to sell.
Believe it or not, we WANT all the talent in the world. We dont require exclusive images, BUT we do require your genuine title, description and keyword input. Why? Because a search engine has no clue what your image is. They need text. If you are pasting keywords and titles/descriptions from your other submissions in other agencies to StockTal, you may as well spend that time you spent uploading, instead go fishing or shopping or go party at a bar, because that work ...if not original, the text not genuinely created? is just lost and your file on our site? a waste of bytes.
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Shadysue
Hi,
I went through your system as though I was going to buy a file, and at no time did it mention VAT.
You're from the US? wouldn't show up for you even if we did continue with it.
Its gone plain and simple. Nothing to be concerned about about further.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Hi Sean, love Stocksy mate. Above average ethos and good look. Not sure about the question but if you have one I'd be glad to respond.
Thanks.
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Hi Jack,
Is that why I got the speeding ticket? No category choice? Non original titles and keywords?
ok but why do others upload stuff that has no category. You deserve all karma dude, its just right. But please tell me why I got a slow down ticket?
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Shadysue
Hi,
I went through your system as though I was going to buy a file, and at no time did it mention VAT.
You're from the US? wouldn't show up for you even if we did continue with it.
Its gone plain and simple. Nothing to be concerned about about further.
No, I'm from the UK, where you must apply VAT to sales, as in the rest of the EU.
I'm not concerned, it's nothing at all to do with me.
But you should be.
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Hi Jack,
Is that why I got the speeding ticket? No category choice? Non original titles and keywords?
ok but why do others upload stuff that has no category. You deserve all karma dude, its just right. But please tell me why I got a slow down ticket?
Hi Darren, your work is amazing, a little dated. Curator's chose to slow you down for various reasons. No biggie mate, keep your submissions down to 1 gig per day.
Shadysue
Not sure what you're referring to and now reassessing your opinions regarding our TOS. Thanks for your efforts.
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Shadysue
Not sure what you're referring to and now reassessing your opinions regarding our TOS. Thanks for your efforts.
I'm referring to Value Added Tax, which you must know about if you are intending to sell to the EU. Seems I was right about your 'legal eagle' not being qualified in international law.
I've already provided you with two links, so you can begin to educate yourself there.
Reassess / ignore this at your peril.
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Jack - Once images are reviewed and approved, do you allow the approved images to be deleted (physical deletion) or can they only be disabled (to prevent them from being sold going forward).
Thanks.
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Shadysue
Not sure what you're referring to and now reassessing your opinions regarding our TOS. Thanks for your efforts.
I'm referring to Value Added Tax, which you must know about if you are intending to sell to the EU. Seems I was right about your 'legal eagle' not being qualified in international law.
I've already provided you with two links, so you can begin to educate yourself there.
Reassess / ignore this at your peril.
Absolute nonsense. We are inventing the world. Imagine all the shackles that you desire.
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Jack - Once images are reviewed and approved, do you allow the approved images to be deleted (physical deletion) or can they only be disabled (to prevent them from being sold going forward).
Thanks.
pixol,
you can do anything you wish, they are your works. Deleting images requires no review.
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Shadysue
Not sure what you're referring to and now reassessing your opinions regarding our TOS. Thanks for your efforts.
I'm referring to Value Added Tax, which you must know about if you are intending to sell to the EU. Seems I was right about your 'legal eagle' not being qualified in international law.
I've already provided you with two links, so you can begin to educate yourself there.
Reassess / ignore this at your peril.
Absolute nonsense. We are inventing the world. Imagine all the shackles that you desire.
Yaaaay - Anarchy at work.
Whoopee!
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\
Yaaaay - Anarchy at work.
Whoopee!
[/quote]
An Australian company does not collect revenue for England. Scotland can vouch for that.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Hi Sean, love Stocksy mate. Above average ethos and good look. Not sure about the question but if you have one I'd be glad to respond.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
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An Australian company does not collect revenue for England. Scotland can vouch for that.
Also Scotland is having a referendum this month to become independent of the UK, so weird. Jack thanks, no problems have no issue with that.
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Yaaaay - Anarchy at work.
Whoopee!
An Australian company does not collect revenue for England. Scotland can vouch for that.
I'm Scottish, and you clearly know nothing.
Do you think that all the other agencies would tie up administrative resources on this if it wasn't a legal requirement?
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
Hi Sean, such a strange approach. Stocksy is awesome and worthy of full recognition. Why you guys would come here to quibble about nothing is weirder still? Without an actual question? Whats the question?
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Hi Sean, love Stocksy mate. Above average ethos and good look. Not sure about the question but if you have one I'd be glad to respond.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
They over-rode my choice with their advert, and I was hacked off. Plus it's more fun than Candy Crush on a gardening break.
But the garden calls again, so I'll see if I can put a whole thread on 'ignore'. 8)
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omfg...gardening...I dont even know a thing about gardening.
looking for updates on that :)
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My time was allocated for this today, the questions are great. The comments are great. Thank you all.
Jack Reynolds
Co founder
StockTal
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I can see some more problems.. i think there will be no revenue.
For example the bad search engine..
@stocktal
Will it be possible to search with keywords in other languages than english?
I do not think customers always search in international language ;)
And this 2000s look ::) I do not talk about responsive design.
But i like the stocktal idea. Go better stocktal !
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I don't think you have anything to worry about Jack. Keep up the great work. (completely understand the need for quality submissions)
I hope it works out great.
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Jack - Once images are reviewed and approved, do you allow the approved images to be deleted (physical deletion) or can they only be disabled (to prevent them from being sold going forward).
Thanks.
pixol,
you can do anything you wish, they are your works. Deleting images requires no review.
Thanks Jack for your reply.
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78% may be a good reason for me to regist a contributor account.
and i have some question here:
But why 78%? how about 80%?
Is it requaired all files exclusive?
Can I kill my files in a easy way if I have another plan?
Must I have to pay some dollars to delete my own files?
Is it contain a Chinese user interface?
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Shadysue
Not sure what you're referring to and now reassessing your opinions regarding our TOS. Thanks for your efforts.
I'm referring to Value Added Tax, which you must know about if you are intending to sell to the EU. Seems I was right about your 'legal eagle' not being qualified in international law.
I've already provided you with two links, so you can begin to educate yourself there.
Reassess / ignore this at your peril.
Absolute nonsense. We are inventing the world. Imagine all the shackles that you desire.
I sincerely hope you are joking. At this point I am refraining from setting up an account with you folks. Far too many gaps to close. All Liz is trying to do is help you better understand EU law because your attorney hasn't been able to peel that legal onion back.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
Hi Sean, such a strange approach. Stocksy is awesome and worthy of full recognition. Why you guys would come here to quibble about nothing is weirder still? Without an actual question? Whats the question?
Does there need to be a question? Aren't we allowed to state opinions, too?
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
Hi Sean, such a strange approach. Stocksy is awesome and worthy of full recognition. Why you guys would come here to quibble about nothing is weirder still? Without an actual question? Whats the question?
Does there need to be a question? Aren't we allowed to state opinions, too?
You're asking me what? I dont know, if you want people just saying random comments without actually engaging, it looks to me like hazing. I'm married to stocktal psychologically, I want them to succeed.
In fact I'm enthusiastic.
Flatulent opinions going nowhere certainly seem to me like waffle and not on point. Reading that type of stuff is not very helpful to anyone.
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I only speak my personal opinions, as usual.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
Hi Sean, such a strange approach. Stocksy is awesome and worthy of full recognition. Why you guys would come here to quibble about nothing is weirder still? Without an actual question? Whats the question?
Does there need to be a question? Aren't we allowed to state opinions, too?
You're asking me what? I dont know, if you want people just saying random comments without actually engaging, it looks to me like hazing. I'm married to stocktal psychologically, I want them to succeed.
In fact I'm enthusiastic.
Flatulent opinions going nowhere certainly seem to me like waffle and not on point. Reading that type of stuff is not very helpful to anyone.
Then you are in the wrong forum.
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Shadysue
Not sure what you're referring to and now reassessing your opinions regarding our TOS. Thanks for your efforts.
I'm referring to Value Added Tax, which you must know about if you are intending to sell to the EU. Seems I was right about your 'legal eagle' not being qualified in international law.
I've already provided you with two links, so you can begin to educate yourself there.
Reassess / ignore this at your peril.
Absolute nonsense. We are inventing the world. Imagine all the shackles that you desire.
I sincerely hope you are joking. At this point I am refraining from setting up an account with you folks. Far too many gaps to close. All Liz is trying to do is help you better understand EU law because your attorney hasn't been able to peel that legal onion back.
I like his "kick @ss" attitude. Its all in the posts. read between the lines and stop being so gay.
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"I like his "kick @ss" attitude. Its all in the posts. read between the lines and stop being so gay."
Uh-oh.
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This is getting out of hand. Stocktal is good, lets keep the thread relevant.
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"I like his "kick @ss" attitude. Its all in the posts. read between the lines and stop being so gay."
Uh-oh.
Gay is bad now??
ahh...artists are varied. Stocksy is awesome man no doubt about it. wish they'd approve my submissions from 3 months ago. But its ok, stocktal is better...no need.
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Jack, appreciate you taking time out today. Was looking forward to some answers and you delivered.
The file size thing is a bit of a problem. 16 mb is a help but my camera is a Canon 24 mp
I have what it takes to deliver images that sell and also will make the blog entries, but resizing all my collection is not an an option. Do you have any suggestions?
Appreciate what you are trying to do. Thanks.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why you guys are spending so much time on this. The site obviously has lots of issues (and the design is very 2000-ish) - I don't even know what "Stocktal is traction" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound at all like they have it at all together yet.
Thanks.
It was directed to the members who seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time tutoring :)
Hi Sean, such a strange approach. Stocksy is awesome and worthy of full recognition. Why you guys would come here to quibble about nothing is weirder still? Without an actual question? Whats the question?
Does there need to be a question? Aren't we allowed to state opinions, too?
You're asking me what? I dont know, if you want people just saying random comments without actually engaging, it looks to me like hazing. I'm married to stocktal psychologically, I want them to succeed.
In fact I'm enthusiastic.
Flatulent opinions going nowhere certainly seem to me like waffle and not on point. Reading that type of stuff is not very helpful to anyone.
Then you are in the wrong forum.
So flatulent opinions dont bother you?
This thread has an unusual spirit.
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This tangent is cause for concern. Absolutely no need to have any problems here.
Antina,
we are still working on this issue but glad you found the stocktal contributor advice helpful.
pixsol.
you're welcome and sorry for misspelling your name previously.
Mantis'
of course I am joking. Kids need fun and so do adults. I'm a kid at heart.
Sean,
your personal opinion is of course welcome.
shadysue,
I am SURE your sense of humor is as capable as your intellect. Please forgive me if you were offended.
There's nothing to fear, there's nothing to wait for. Lets make stocktal exactly what it should be...great.
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Also Ubermansch, your "go slow" is over.
Thanks.
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what is about search words only available in english?
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Please add "Isolated" to your Category list. Lots of buyers use this filter.
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That's done mate, got the email 10 minutes ago. Good call actually, need more constructive stuff like that. Also found objects is now objects as suggested. They took an hour to decide if they should send it to me...
Keep your particular suggestions coming.
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That's done mate, got the email 10 minutes ago. Good call actually, need more constructive stuff like that. Also found objects is now objects as suggested. They took an hour to decide if they should send it to me...
Keep your particular suggestions coming.
cheers Jack. i like it when a new site is open to improvement, as we all have growing pains
with our maiden voyage. as Jo Ann Snover mentioned at the on-set,
any site that is promoting more earning than pennies and subs is always welcome.
your coming in here at Tyler's site is daring, and as you see here, not everything that is said
is meant to be personal, but more so, in the interest of all contributors here.
of course there are exceptions, but really, the world is big enough for everyone
and we cannot be the flavour of the month for every cousin's cousin's cousin (to quote
another commentor here on msg).
all the best to Stocktal.
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One last comment for today before lunch.
The categories thing was mentioned several times. Somebody made the point that if we had 10 million images, who would rifle through the category to find just the right image.
I agree completely except for one thing. We need you to help us fill out the categories, just choose one category. So far most of the contributors are at least choosing one relevant category and several have already simply made a subcategory for their images. Its simple to do.
The way we are going, from 100k to a million is only a few weeks away. By filling out the category and making it accurate, you give yourself a better chance of selling, for the buyers that do actually like to browse cats. Otherwise its a lucky dip on the on site search, that depends on your titles and keywords.
....
The curators view people who refuse to do a title, keywords etc or add at least one category at this early stage as un cooperative. "They seem to just want to dump a large file on us and run"
We have already closed several accounts without further explanation and hope not to have to do too much more of this.
the curators need to be more understanding -- I have 20,000 images as possible uploads - all have iptc info, but I'm not going to assign categories individually
since you're a new site maybe you could break this whole category-centric craziness -- instead of having categories assigned to each image, just list the categories, and then when the user clicks on 'cats' or 'animals' just do a regular keyword search. the user gets what they want and artists have one less annoying detail to worry about
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Believe it or not, we WANT all the talent in the world. We dont require exclusive images, BUT we do require your genuine title, description and keyword input. Why? Because a search engine has no clue what your image is. They need text. If you are pasting keywords and titles/descriptions from your other submissions in other agencies to StockTal, you may as well spend that time you spent uploading, instead go fishing or shopping or go party at a bar, because that work ...if not original, the text not genuinely created? is just lost and your file on our site? a waste of bytes.
Do I understand that right? You want us to have different titles / descriptions / keywords than on other sites?
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search doesn't work intuitively -- I type 'turkey' in the keyword search box and get the expected pix. then I type in 'map' and get nothing. I try 'maps' and still nothing. then I realize you're ADDING each keyword to the original search, and I figured out I had to delete keywords from the box ABOVE where I was entering my search.
-- login -- the prefill comes up but doesn't stay long enough to click, would be less of a problem if we didn't have to log in so often
--- talent page
- is alphabetized by first names rather than last names
-- click on '2' or 'next' and blank page appears
--- a trivial quibble:
'archeology' is listed as a category -- turns out both spellings are correct,BUT:
"Google says that the spelling of archaeology is found on about 51,400,000 web pages, while archeology is only on 4,480,000 web pages"
http://archaeology.about.com/b/2005/11/29/archeology-v-archaeology-a-poll.htm (http://archaeology.about.com/b/2005/11/29/archeology-v-archaeology-a-poll.htm)
"U.S. National Park Service has archeology programs. But, oddly enough, one of the most important national laws protecting our archaeological heritage is indeed the “Archaeological Resources Protection Act” passed by the U.S. Congress in 1979. Go figure. " http://www.saa.org/ForthePublic/Resources/OtherUsefulResources/Whyaretheretwodifferentspellingsarchaeology/tabid/1078/Default.aspx (http://www.saa.org/ForthePublic/Resources/OtherUsefulResources/Whyaretheretwodifferentspellingsarchaeology/tabid/1078/Default.aspx)
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Believe it or not, we WANT all the talent in the world. We dont require exclusive images, BUT we do require your genuine title, description and keyword input. Why? Because a search engine has no clue what your image is. They need text. If you are pasting keywords and titles/descriptions from your other submissions in other agencies to StockTal, you may as well spend that time you spent uploading, instead go fishing or shopping or go party at a bar, because that work ...if not original, the text not genuinely created? is just lost and your file on our site? a waste of bytes.
Do I understand that right? You want us to have different titles / descriptions / keywords than on other sites?
They want you to improve their SEO (http://i.imgur.com/UjpkrNx.png)
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Believe it or not, we WANT all the talent in the world. We dont require exclusive images, BUT we do require your genuine title, description and keyword input. Why? Because a search engine has no clue what your image is. They need text. If you are pasting keywords and titles/descriptions from your other submissions in other agencies to StockTal, you may as well spend that time you spent uploading, instead go fishing or shopping or go party at a bar, because that work ...if not original, the text not genuinely created? is just lost and your file on our site? a waste of bytes.
Do I understand that right? You want us to have different titles / descriptions / keywords than on other sites?
Bravo Stocktal! This is a unique selling position.
This is clearly the most important thing a contributor can do to break the dominance of the sub sites. Unless you upload to the higher paying sites (RPD) first, you need to differentiate your images from the ones previously indexed by google. The best way to accomplish this is different titles/descriptions for the newer higher commission sites. It is lots of work but without it you are just adding more of the same images for google to ignore.
Unfortunately you are going to eliminate many, many contributors who are not willing to do this. Jack, perhaps you could automated it somehow so it was much more upload friendly.
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...
We dont require exclusive images, BUT we do require your genuine title, description and keyword input. Why? Because a search engine has no clue what your image is. They need text. If you are pasting keywords and titles/descriptions from your other submissions in other agencies to StockTal, you may as well spend that time you spent uploading, instead go fishing or shopping or go party at a bar, because that work ...if not original, the text not genuinely created? is just lost and your file on our site? a waste of bytes.
actually search engines DO find the info embedded in the iptc when you submit an image sitemap -- here's an example generated by the symbiostock image sitemap:
-<url>
<loc>http://cascoly-images.com/pix/image/little-grand-canyon-9/</loc>
-<image:image>
<image:loc>http://cascoly-images.com/pix/wp-content/uploads/symbiostock_rf_content/22991-little-grand-canyon.jpg</image:loc>
-<image:title>
<![CDATA[Little Grand Canyon]]>
</image:title>
-<image:caption>
<![CDATA[Stark dark colors of the rim of the Little Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, Arizona]]>
</image:caption>
<image:license>http://cascoly-images.com/pix/end-user-license- agreement-3/</image:license>
</image:image>
</url>
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just as a FYI as to why the StockTal ad might be showing up in when using and ad-block software. These softwares generally block images from certain domain locations. When the ads are hosted another place (photodune's ad, Canstock, Stocktal) you have to add them manually, in addition to the regular ads.
But... why hide the ads ;)
It decorates the forum and keeps the lights on here
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But... why hide the ads ;)
It decorates the forum and keeps the lights on here
I thought being a premium member covered my share of keeping the lights on, so I have no guilt about blocking ads here.
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featurepics did OK for years giving us a high percentage, was it 70%? And that was with low sales volume compared to the big sites. Alamy used to give us 60%. I think all the sites could make a nice profit paying us 78% if they have high sales volume but they know almost everyone will put up with much less.
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But... why hide the ads ;)
It decorates the forum and keeps the lights on here
I thought being a premium member covered my share of keeping the lights on, so I have no guilt about blocking ads here.
yes, point taken :)
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Cascoly, I dont think stocktal want to give out secure information on an open forum that competitors may use. But this is hardly a secret, "untick" iptc in your submissions. iptc to a regular buyer today is superfluous.
Besides it dates my stock, buyer see's date and is turned off, when a lot of my stuff is evergreen and could potentially look viable for the next 10 years.
haha someone asked if the st can automate genuine, authentic, newly described titles descriptions.
Hilarious.
My guess is what they will probably automate is if the sumbmission text exists elsewhere, and if so, probably cull that guys stuff and ban his ip forever.
Just my understanding of what these guys are about. Hopefully we get to drill Jack some more soon.
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Just my understanding of what these guys are about. Hopefully we get to drill Jack some more soon.
He took it pretty well. Some of the posters dish it out pretty thick, I felt myself constantly wondering why so hostile.
Hope he returns and is not faced with this irrelevant hostility, so he can actually answer our genuine questions. Not the fake ones.
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Hope he returns and is not faced with this irrelevant hostility, so he can actually answer our genuine questions. Not the fake ones.
Where was the 'hostility'?
What was 'irrelevant'?
Which questions do you think were 'fake'?
(What is a 'fake' question anyway?)
A lot of genuine and important very basic questions and points have been raised.
Most of them have not been answered, including your own point about them saying a buyer 'owns' the image.
BTW, I hate that when I click on the &*%*!" advert, and get taken to the site, I can't get back, I seem to be hijacked on that site and the back button only lets me scroll between their two front page images.
Either open in a new window or let me use the back button.
BTW (2) It wasn't me who minussed your post, though I thought about it. I decided to ask for an explanation for what you said instead.
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I just got an email about categories. They will be removed entirely next few days. ;D ;D ;D
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Yes me to
"the category section in your submissions page will be removed including the category instances found on the site. We hope this will ease some of the burden on you and you will continue to submit your wonderful creations on StockTal."
So what happens to my images in the categories? I have 300 images in the birds category.
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Where was the 'hostility'?
What was 'irrelevant'?
Which questions do you think were 'fake'?
(What is a 'fake' question anyway?)
A lot of genuine and important very basic questions and points have been raised.
Most of them have not been answered, including your own point about them saying a buyer 'owns' the image.
Sorry lady sue was not meaning you.
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Where was the 'hostility'?
What was 'irrelevant'?
Which questions do you think were 'fake'?
(What is a 'fake' question anyway?)
A lot of genuine and important very basic questions and points have been raised.
Most of them have not been answered, including your own point about them saying a buyer 'owns' the image.
Sorry lady sue was not meaning you.
I'm not a 'lady'!
I didn't think you meant me, obviously.
But I don't see any hostility or irrelevant questions, other than a few tangents which seems inevitable in any forum.
I'd expect anyone to have a LOT of serious questions to ask any new start before even considering uploading to them.
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Just trying to take advantage of this window of opporunity and being able to ask questions directly on an open forum. Hopefully the stocktal CEO returns and continues the conversation.
If john Klein was here answering questions, Id hope people restrained themselves and made room for the questions to be asked and answered. You repeat yourself a bit shadysue.
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Just trying to take advantage of this window of opporunity and being able to ask questions directly on an open forum. Hopefully the stocktal CEO returns and continues the conversation.
If john Klein was here answering questions, Id hope people restrained themselves and made room for the questions to be asked and answered. You repeat yourself a bit shadysue.
True, but with very simple questions like those I was asking, I'd expect them to be answered right away. It's not like you need to go away and do research, or have a Board Meeting to see how they could be resolved.
Evasiveness, even just to the extent of taking a couple of days to answer very simple questions is really suspicious.
We've all asked questions to agencies here and elsewhere which don't ever get answered.
I wish I hadn't given away my poor arithmetic and forgotten Latin earlier in the thread. It might have been fun to promise people $1000 if they uploaded 1000 images to my new agency, or 85% commission, and waited to see how many people jumped to 'take advantage of the new opportunity'.
But hey, I corrected my arithmetic and Latin immediately and with thanks.
That 'rare Galapagos finch' which is really a group of unrare Puffins somewhere else, is still on their front page.
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huh? Half the time I don't know what you're talking about shadysue.
You seem to be talking to the voices in your head.
I know you'll have another post after this but I have football in 10 minutes. goodluck.
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A prolifically verbose do-gooder? A sticky beak? A mothering swan? An armchair shot caller?
Who knows, she likes gardening and that's a wholesome activity.
I think starling if you search for "bird" your collection will show up. that categories thing was a nightmare.
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I just got an email about categories. They will be removed entirely next few days. ;D ;D ;D
fantastic!
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I just got an email about categories. They will be removed entirely next few days. ;D ;D ;D
fantastic!
I wonder if they are going to change their mind about wanting us to downsize our files to 2 to 3 megabytes.
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I just got an email about categories. They will be removed entirely next few days. ;D ;D ;D
fantastic!
I wonder if they are going to change their mind about wanting us to downsize our files to 2 to 3 megabytes.
Sounds like everything is on the table.
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Sounds like everything is on the table.
I just got an email about categories. They will be removed entirely next few days.
Interesting. Despite Jack's reply about how important they thought categories are they are gone. Hopefully this is true. I was composing in my head all day a long post about why categories are not particularly useful and a waste of time. Kinda disappointed not to have to use it. :)
Glad they are listening, despite Jack's somewhat irreverent and flippant replies it seems he does listen. Let's see if some of the other suggestions, comments are addressed.
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Glad they are listening, despite Jack's somewhat irreverent and flippant replies it seems he does listen. Let's see if some of the other suggestions, comments are addressed.
I think he was just coping jatrax. I doubt he is the type of person that is used to tap dancing. Hardly irreverent, seemed respectful to me.
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Incredible coincidence that three new msg members randomly signed up in the last fortnight, all of whom are very enthusiastic about Stocktal.
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Incredible coincidence that three new msg members randomly signed up in the last fortnight, all of whom are very enthusiastic about Stocktal.
Lol. Busted.
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what are you saying shadysue? that Im a stocktal rep? Im not even 3 weeks on their site.
been reading microstock group 6 months.
you seem to know tyler the owner of msg from your posts above, let her confirm your paranoid delusions.
edited because it got worse.
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Yeah, let Tyler look. She'll know what to do. ;)
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Yeah, let Tyler look. She'll know what to do. ;)
smile, smile . . . . .
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what are you saying shadysue? that Im a stocktal rep?
I said what I said, merely that it was an "incredible coincidence".
Don't put words into my stylus.
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Incredible coincidence that three new msg members randomly signed up in the last fortnight, all of whom are very enthusiastic about Stocktal.
I totally agree.
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Hi Jack,
I have a small size successful vector portfolio and I uploaded 10 vectors (.zips) for 1st evaluation before I realized that you all were holding off on vectors....
What should I do? Leave them, replace with .jpeg versions of them.
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What a sad sad forum this is.
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I think he was just coping jatrax. I doubt he is the type of person that is used to tap dancing. Hardly irreverent, seemed respectful to me.
Coping? Sorry but I found quite a few of Jack's comments to be unprofessional. I mean no disrespect to Jack, I have been guilty quite often of making flippant responses to serious comments. But coming on to a public forum and standing up as the 'face' of Stocktal requires a professional demeanor. This is not amateur hour at the local pub, we are discussing people's livelihoods.
I give jack much credit for spending a little time here and answering questions, I give him even more credit if he actually listens and considers the suggestions here. But I take points away for comments like these:
Absolute nonsense. We are inventing the world. Imagine all the shackles that you desire.
Yaaaay - Anarchy at work.
Whoopee!
An Australian company does not collect revenue for England. Scotland can vouch for that.
I assume those were meant as jokes. When you are hanging out with pals at the pub you can make jokes. When you are the face of a multimillion dollar stock agency you should not be making jokes on an international public forum. Not everyone's sense of humor will match and English is not everyone's native language.
And Jack, if you read this I mean it only as serious advice from someone who has had to transition from worker bee to company face. It takes the fun out of things somewhat, but having a serious professional company face is just as important as encouraging a comradely, energetic and creative work environment. There is a reason company spokespeople are trained to say things like "good thought, we will look into that", "not 100% sure on that, let me get back to you". All you have to do to sell us is show you take us and our work and ideas seriously. We are entrusting you with our intellectual property, the thing we make our money with, pay the mortgage with.
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Dear StockTal Photographer,
We have reassessed the stand on required category selection and the category section in your submissions page will be removed including the category instances found on the site. We hope this will ease some of the burden on you and you will continue to submit your wonderful creations on StockTal.
Best Wishes
StockTal
It speaks well for any company that has the guts to 'reassess' a position. Too often corporate culture or ego or CYA gets in the road of improvements.
Thank you Stocktal for listening and taking things under advisement.
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Dear StockTal Photographer,
We have reassessed the stand on required category selection and the category section in your submissions page will be removed including the category instances found on the site. We hope this will ease some of the burden on you and you will continue to submit your wonderful creations on StockTal.
Best Wishes
StockTal
It speaks well for any company that has the guts to 'reassess' a position. Too often corporate culture or ego or CYA gets in the road of improvements.
Thank you Stocktal for listening and taking things under advisement.
Back when peter started stockfresh he stated that categories were useless and that's why he did not integrate them into stockfresh. He would know since he used to run stockxpert for so long. So I don't think stockal is sacrificing and value whatsoever by killing categories.
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Uploaded 350+ images to the site. Approval rate is good. Views are rising. Let's see how it goes. There are some minor issues which needs to be addressed. My images may not be stellar but I will certainly try StockTal for now. I hear StockTal is in pre-launch mode. Anyone knows when it would be launched fully? Anyone got any sale there yet?
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Back when peter started stockfresh he stated that categories were useless and that's why he did not integrate them into stockfresh. He would know since he used to run stockxpert for so long. So I don't think stockal is sacrificing and value whatsoever by killing categories.
yes, i remember stockxpert . that was one agency that would have succeeded
if it had been left alone. pity! 8)
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I just don't like the categories when editing and image. Hard to find quicky the best one.
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I just don't like the categories when editing and image. Hard to find quicky the best one.
It's surprising that they removed categories so quickly, given that "The marketing research we did back in February this year was exclusively buyer centric, without completely recognizing sellers needs", which implies that they put categories in because buyers had asked for it.
Hmmm.
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I just don't like the categories when editing and image. Hard to find quicky the best one.
It's surprising that they removed categories so quickly, given that "The marketing research we did back in February this year was exclusively buyer centric, without completely recognizing sellers needs", which implies that they put categories in because buyers had asked for it.
Hmmm.
At least they are listening to contributers and willing to change.
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I just don't like the categories when editing and image. Hard to find quicky the best one.
It's surprising that they removed categories so quickly, given that "The marketing research we did back in February this year was exclusively buyer centric, without completely recognizing sellers needs", which implies that they put categories in because buyers had asked for it.
Hmmm.
At least they are listening to contributers and willing to change.
Still, if their research showed that buyers wanted them, that should trump contributors' wishes, or at least send them back to another round of buyer research.
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i was talking bout the categories you have to choses in to upload and image. Food, nature ... I don't like how it is.
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i was talking bout the categories you have to choses in to upload and image. Food, nature ... I don't like how it is.
I knew that.
My point was that they apparently did "exclusively buyer market research".
We already know that they know virtually nothing about this business.
So presumably the research would focus on features in most of the existing sites and see what buyers found useful.
As they added categories to their site, that implies the buyers said they wanted categories.
No matter how surprising I might find that, I'd expect the buyer research to prevail over what contributors find an inconvenience.
So what we have now is either an admission that their buyer research wasn't thorough (i.e. they added categories without consulting buyers about it, whereas you'd expect the research to have been about every feature they were thinking of adding to their site - if so, what else did they omit researching?) or that they are ignoring buyer preferences, and even if categories are a few more clicks, I wouldn't be happy about over-riding what buyers apparently want.
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I get the feeling this is more personal for you then business. We wanted them to listen to us, and they do. They are taking feedback on-board. Give them a break.
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I get the feeling this is more personal for you then business. We wanted them to listen to us, and they do. They are taking feedback on-board. Give them a break.
Your feelings are irrelevant.
Anyone considering partnering with someone or some company should do a Dragon's Den/Shark Attack fine toothcombing of all their claims. That's business.
I'm actually giving them a break. Apart from pointing out the title/keyword errors on one photo on their front page, and the fact that the preview is blurry, I haven't mentioned any of the appalling keywording (mainly total lack of effort leading to only extremely generic keywords) on about half of the files in my area of interest, and the fact that their 'careful vetting' is about the same standard as iS's nowadays (probably a bit higher, to be fair). I'm not going to actually name and shame these, though.
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Sure, no problem. Are you planning on uploadig to them? RM?
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Sure, no problem. Are you planning on uploadig to them? RM?
I was considering it - I'm considering other RM outlets; but I don't like the inconsistencies I've noted above.
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I just don't like the categories when editing and image. Hard to find quicky the best one.
It's surprising that they removed categories so quickly, given that "The marketing research we did back in February this year was exclusively buyer centric, without completely recognizing sellers needs", which implies that they put categories in because buyers had asked for it.
Hmmm.
They seem to be willing to change anything people complain about or point out, which means they really didn't do their research or they just copied the same features as every other site and don't particularly feel strongly about anything they've implemented. Get rid of categories? Ok, sure, whatever. Taxes? What? Ok, we'll just pay that if it's an issue. Etc.
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You do have to wonder how solid the business plan is when they can change so many things on the fly. That said: I'm hoping they make it. It's a pretty tough field to be setting up shop in.
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If they are listening to us, then they will get rid of wanting us to downsize our files to 2 to 3 megabytes. They had better get this right, because once we upload to their small specs, and they decide to start accepting larger files, then the small files we uploaded will be at a disadvantage. That would be a big pain for all involved. It could mean a mass deletion of existing files and re-uploading the same files again at the proper resolution. More work for us, and more work for their reviewers.
The whole small size request is puzzling. Seems shortsighted.
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If they are listening to us, then they will get rid of wanting us to downsize our files to 2 to 3 megabytes. They had better get this right, because once we upload to their small specs, and they decide to start accepting larger files, then the small files we uploaded will be at a disadvantage. That would be a big pain for all involved. It could mean a mass deletion of existing files and re-uploading the same files again at the proper resolution. More work for us, and more work for their reviewers.
The whole small size request is puzzling. Seems shortsighted.
Maybe they just don't have the means, technological wise, financial wise to afford the equipment and software to manage such big files that the solution was to limit sizes just so that they could get started now. Don't know just thinking out loud but it is strange.
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You have to wonder if they'd respond as quickly to the buyers if they demanded subs.
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I am not sure where 2-3mb comes from, but the uploader says 16mb. However when I upload a 15mb file it goes nowhere. I have uploaded 8mb files with no problem. It is all a bit confusing, that I agree with.
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I am not sure where 2-3mb comes from, but the uploader says 16mb. However when I upload a 15mb file it goes nowhere. I have uploaded 8mb files with no problem. It is all a bit confusing, that I agree with.
From the first page of this thread…
From their website:
"A good size is 2000 x 3000px approximately. 1 to 3 megabytes is perfect. We allow up to 10 mb but actively discourage members constantly uploading 8, 9 or 10 mb images. Its not the business niche we are targeting.
If you intend to partner with stocktal, set your camera size to output images around 2000 to 3000 no bigger than 4 or 5 mb. Existing images can easily be transformed."
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posts here had been encouraging but the actual website & support display an appalling ignorance of BASIC business realities
I asked why, after my first 250 images were accepted without question, the next 200+ uploads over the next week just disappeared - NEVER listed in pending & never declined.
first response was that I didn't have proper info -- caption and CATEGORY, eg -- so they haven't gotten the memo that they NO LONGER HAVE CATEGORIES!
my basic question of where my uploads went got this reply:
======We apologize for the difficulties. Curators delete images without notification if they feel the submission is not worth persisting with.
Submissions must be properly titled, description, keywords, category and the text must be original to the submission.
========================
again repeating the nonsense about categories (for the THIRD time), but even worse, completely unprofessional, not even having the basic courtesy of sending a rejection???? even the silly rejections of other agencies are better than this insulting lack of any regard for contributos!
as far as creating completely NEW descriptions and titles INDIVIDUALLY for 10,000 images for an unproven site when other sites are already selling these images??? what a JOKE!!!!!
I was willing to give this startup the benefit of the doubt, but this idiocy is completely unacceptable! they don't have a CLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Please make the category easier to find and select when editing and keywording an image.
Can't wait to know if this new microstock site will succeed. I hope so.
Is anybody had a sale yet ?
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Please make the category easier to find and select when editing and keywording an image.
Can't wait to know if this new microstock site will succeed. I hope so.
Is anybody had a sale yet ?
There's a trick to it. You can select any category (even if it's wrong) Once selected, place your cursor over it and type a letter. For instance, F if you are looking for Food. Keep hitting F over and over, and it will cycle through every word starting with F, listed in the category.
I'll admit that there are way too many categories on this site, but this cycles through the words pretty fast.
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see previous post fro stocktal -- they've eliminated categories altogether....
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see previous post fro stocktal -- they've eliminated categories altogether....
I went through Jack-Stocktal's replies and can't find anything about Category elimination. Some mention of emails from people stating such, but I never got one. Categories are still on the site as of today.
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see previous post fro stocktal -- they've eliminated categories altogether....
I went through Jack-Stocktal's replies and can't find anything about Category elimination. Some mention of emails from people stating such, but I never got one. Categories are still on the site as of today.
I got the email, and posted it above. But I uploaded files today and the category system is still in place. I added the categories, just in case, but this is confusing.
I do not have a big problem with categories if they are easy to do. But their system was already out of hand and with the ability to add your own was going to be a train wreck.
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Well, I got this email this morning:
Hello John, Thank you for taking an assessment at StockTal - Royalty Free Images! Result: Pending Date: 09/06/2014 Comments: Your account has been set to pending. Please contact support to understand how your account can be restored. Thank you. Best regards, StockTal - Royalty Free Images
I have no idea what that means. I took the 'assessment' a while ago and have since uploaded over 800 files. So now I am set to 'pending'? Does not make any sense.
I'm starting to think those who had serious doubts were correct. They do not seem to have a handle on things very well. Maybe this is a glitch, but I'm not permitted to upload anymore despite all of the files except the last 20 being accepted.
I thought it might the 'speeding ticket' others have mentioned but I was careful to keep the upload below 1 gig per day as Jack recommended.
I've emailed support for an answer. Jack if you are still monitoring this thread how about a little help?
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I browsed the site a coupe of weeks ago and there were a few videos there,some of which had sales!...?
No videos now.Anyone has any idea what is going on there?I looks promising for videos,at least to test the waters,but they seem to have eliminated that option.
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Well, I got this email this morning: Hello John, Thank you for taking an assessment at StockTal - Royalty Free Images! Result: Pending Date: 09/06/2014 Comments: Your account has been set to pending. Please contact support to understand how your account can be restored. Thank you. Best regards, StockTal - Royalty Free Images
I have no idea what that means. I took the 'assessment' a while ago and have since uploaded over 800 files. So now I am set to 'pending'? Does not make any sense.
I'm starting to think those who had serious doubts were correct. They do not seem to have a handle on things very well. Maybe this is a glitch, but I'm not permitted to upload anymore despite all of the files except the last 20 being accepted.
I thought it might the 'speeding ticket' others have mentioned but I was careful to keep the upload below 1 gig per day as Jack recommended.
I've emailed support for an answer. Jack if you are still monitoring this thread how about a little help?
My account with 512 approved images, has also been set to Pending like you. I am among the top uploaders there. Is Jack still around? I opened two tickets in the past, nobody answered them and both of them are closed now. I opened a new one for account status now.
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Thank you everyone for the comments.
Please keep in mind this is early days and the results are more than acceptable. The beta version of our (and I mean "OUR" yours and ours) stocktal site is heading to 1.0 but we presently have other priorities that need to fit into place. We are negotiating ad blocks with people like adroll and others, creating quality contacts and reaching out to key people at google, yahoo and bing to realize their requirements for the site.
Time has passed quickly and the launch is approaching and the deadline looms. Thank you for all the private comments, compliments and encouragement, (it does make a difference) With thousands of people now viewing this thread within the space of less than a few weeks, its understandable our support staff are busy. We try to answer every single comment even if its just a compliment. I have read many of the comments myself sent and thank you for the intense support.
To the posters above, I ask you to be patient, support try hard to competently answer all requests as promptly as possible and we will be adding more support staff soon.
If you will think outside of the box and recognize what stocktal is you will realize we are changing the business from the ground up. We are not a start up, we are a new beginning.
Thanks again for the wonderful experience on msg.
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If you will think outside of the box and recognize what stocktal is you will realize we are changing the business from the ground up.
Sorry, how are you thinking "outside the box" and "changing the business from the ground up"? Now, Canva is a good example of thinking outside the box. What you are doing just looks like another microstock site.
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Hello Sean, hope the Stocksy sales are going well!!
Im aware of Lee in Kew which is on the other side of town from us, but he is only a phone call away.
He is doing great with Canva and theres no need to say so. Wish him the best and hope his new Australian home is just what he expected.
How is offering contributors a flat 78% NOT changing the industry or thinking outside the box. Quite confused by your concern there. Hoping to see your work on stocktal, some of it is quite stunning.
cheers.
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jack - what's your response ti the email from support that said when reviewers don't like an image they just delete it with no response to the artist -- that's unacceptable!!!
I haven't been able to upload anything since the first week -- first 261 images accepted, then nothing -- no way to tell what's going on since there is no indication when uploaded items appear - nothing in pending or deleted
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It baffles me people are still uploading to this site. Are we this desperate about Microstock?
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Actually, I've been watching Canva for months and wonder why they are still even in the low earners category on microstockgroup.
Kind of like shutterstock being in this category. weird.
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Valo you are of course now my favorite poster on this thread and I adore your special "take" on things.
Cascoly, Its hard to say what the problem is. We try to understand all submissions. But let me take a look at your account and I will make certain everything is correct. Please stand by mate, we have everything under control.
gcrook? have i got that right? We have capacity for video, but low interest right now, this will be re-implemented soon.
Ubermansch, canva is a stunning success I and wish them well. Such a fast and quick roar into hyper now in under a year shows me what the contributor earning 30 cents can do to help such a fast growing company. Well done to both their contributors and the company itself! They should definitely be in the middle earners thread at "least" on msg.
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Cascoly, Its hard to say what the problem is. We try to understand all submissions. But let me take a look at your account and I will make certain everything is correct. Please stand by mate, we have everything under control.
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thanks - but there are 2 issues here -- first the inability to have any images get uploaded, but more disturbing your support person telling me images can be discarded by reviewers without ever showing up in pending or declined areas....
she also said that all images had to have categories, more than a week after you said they were no longer being used!
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Actually, I've been watching Canva for months and wonder why they are still even in the low earners category on microstockgroup.
Kind of like shutterstock being in this category. weird.
'low earners' just means enough people have listed them to get them in the poll, but not enough to generate a rating -- there are many agencies in that category that will never make it any higher
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she also said that all images had to have categories, more than a week after you said they were no longer being used!
Not sure what the issue is. If you're payng attention to their coms, you will know categories are important to listings. Its how I make MONEY with them. Your account, your choices. Seems clear to me that categories are pretty important. This dude is patient as hell with people lol, so funny
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she also said that all images had to have categories, more than a week after you said they were no longer being used!
Not sure what the issue is. If you're payng attention to their coms, you will know categories are important to listings. Its how I make MONEY with them. Your account, your choices. Seems clear to me that categories are pretty important. This dude is patient as hell with people lol, so funny
if YOU were paying attention you'd have seen the discussion here about categories and jack's (welcomed) statement that they were not going to use categories
you make 'money' with categories -- where? how?
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Well I got a reply from Stocktal. They say my account has been suspended because my titles and descriptions are just copy paste and not unique to Stocktal. Since I do not have the time to re-do 4000 files I guess I am done at Stocktal. I can see why a new site wants this for SEO but no other site demands it.
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Well I got a reply from Stocktal. They say my account has been suspended because my titles and descriptions are just copy paste and not unique to Stocktal. Since I do not have the time to re-do 4000 files I guess I am done at Stocktal. I can see why a new site wants this for SEO but no other site demands it.
my first 200+ submissions were accepted with the same iptc that all the other agencies got -- no way am I ging to redo thousands of descriptons, etc, esp'ly for an unproven site
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Well I got a reply from Stocktal. They say my account has been suspended because my titles and descriptions are just copy paste and not unique to Stocktal. Since I do not have the time to re-do 4000 files I guess I am done at Stocktal. I can see why a new site wants this for SEO but no other site demands it.
I asked before in this thread, if they want us to redo titles and description on our files. Never got an answer.
If this is their official policy and it's important to them, why don't they explicitely ask us to do so and explain why they want it?
But I shouldn't care, I won't do that anyway.
Maybe they should consider paying for uploads. For 5$ per upload I might think about new titles / descriptions.
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jatrax and dirkr,
Im sorry to hear about your intentions. We are trying to help you sell, we are trying to help you be visible. jatracks, your portfiolio is very good with some small duplicate problems that can easily be resolved.
We don't have any business together unless StockTal can perform the function of retailer for you. At 78% we have to sell 100% more to cover our costs than other lower paying agencies. Thats why we are sharp about our research and trying to help members understand whats needed.
This stuff is not for a public forum, but contact me jtrax, lets chat. jack stocktal. com
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Cascoly,
I looked at your account and you have 100 shots of money that do not at all look like they were taken by you. Can you confirm these generic shots of different world currencies are taken by your hand? Contact me as above mate. Without disrespect, we can sort any small problems out.
Ultimately the work submitted so far is amazing. Theres some small problems and Im sorry for any difficulties, but we will go forward together.
Jack
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We are selling NOW, I want everyone interested in StockTal to know that. It's early days but your efforts are absolutely not in vain.
Follow our submission guidelines to the letter and watch what happens.
And no, we don't expect anybody to upload 20,000 images. Make 100 correct submissions and discover the how it works.
Categories has been a cause for confusion and we are sorry for this on this thread. No need to choose 3 categories. BUT choose 1 relevant category. It's crucial. I cant tell you why, but I can tell you it's violently important.
We do not reject submissions without one relevant category chosen (yet) but it will be implemented in the near future.
Thanks again for your kind patience with SockTal.
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jatrax and dirkr,
Im sorry to hear about your intentions. We are trying to help you sell, we are trying to help you be visible. jatracks, your portfiolio is very good with some small duplicate problems that can easily be resolved.
We don't have any business together unless StockTal can perform the function of retailer for you. At 78% we have to sell 100% more to cover our costs than other lower paying agencies. Thats why we are sharp about our research and trying to help members understand whats needed.
This stuff is not for a public forum, but contact me jtrax, lets chat. jack stocktal. com
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Cascoly,
I looked at your account and you have 100 shots of money that do not at all look like they were taken by you. Can you confirm these generic shots of different world currencies are taken by your hand? Contact me as above mate. Without disrespect, we can sort any small problems out.
Ultimately the work submitted so far is amazing. Theres some small problems and Im sorry for any difficulties, but we will go forward together.
Jack
Look at his ports. He is a world traveler, that's what he does. Sorry Jack, but your post sounds accusatory, and without any evidence. Are you going to get knee-jerked every time someone uploads legit images that you feel "just don't feel right to you?"
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Hello Mantis,
Staff approved these images, they are still currently approved.
They have been checked and are probably going to be removed. His/her previous 200 images are wonderful, not sure what this sudden change is about.
He/she can contact me if they need more information.
cheers.
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Hello Mantis,
Staff approved these images, they are still currently approved.
They have been checked and are probably going to be removed. His/her previous 200 images are wonderful, not sure what this sudden change is about.
He/she can contact me if they need more information.
cheers.
This is one of the most illogical comments I've seen in these forums. A contributor is a respected photographer with several thousand photos in their portfolio taken over the years leading international travel tours. In addition to landscapes and cultural images they include detail shots, ie: currency images from the countries they visited, and you are accusing him of uploading images that he didn't take and say you plan remove them because an isolated currency shot looks different than a landscape.
I thought variety was desireable in a portfolio.
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Hello Mantis,
Staff approved these images, they are still currently approved.
They have been checked and are probably going to be removed. His/her previous 200 images are wonderful, not sure what this sudden change is about.
He/she can contact me if they need more information.
cheers.
… just disgusting!
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besides the comments from the folks above (thanks all!), the BIGGER concern is that those images have been listed as approved since the start, and there was never any indication they were being questioned
and Jack STILL hasn't answered the intial 2 questions
1. support said uploaded images could be rejected by 'reviewers' with NO response to uloader! confirm or deny!
2. newly uploaded images just disappear! never show up in pending or rejected
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and now we're told categories ARE going to be required after just a week or so jack told us right here that they were NOT going to use them!
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I have no intention of submitting to a site that appears so random and changeable. If no one submits, perhaps they'll calm down enough to make the process decipherable
What possible reason is there to indulge such madness? Reviewers could, if they wanted to, check out portfolios elsewhere, see that they've been in place for years, at multiple agencies, and avoid putting egg all over their own faces by all but accusing an established photographer of theft
The shoot first ask questions afterwards approach isn't being innovative and shouldn't be confused with such
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An Australian company does not collect revenue for England. Scotland can vouch for that.
You need to charge TVA/VAT if you are selling to EU clients. Even if you are outside the EU. And EU clients will need invoices detailing that when they come to submit their company tax returns.
It does not imply that you are collecting taxes for a foreign govt. That's not how it works. Your lawyers and accounts should be able to explain this to you better. All companies selling digital goods into the EU are required to charge TVA/VAT. Have a look at how the established sites do it.
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Why are we even giving this bunch the benefit of the doubt?
On every possible front, they have shown that they are clueless, and unwilling to learn.
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Why are we even giving this bunch the benefit of the doubt?
Because they are offering 78% return on each sale. If this site actually starts selling stuff, all this vitriol will quickly be forgotten and photographers will flock in droves to be a part of it. It's what we've been asking for all these years. A fair return on our work.
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From their website:
"A good size is 2000 x 3000px approximately. 1 to 3 megabytes is perfect. We allow up to 10 mb but actively discourage members constantly uploading 8, 9 or 10 mb images. Its not the business niche we are targeting.
If you intend to partner with stocktal, set your camera size to output images around 2000 to 3000 no bigger than 4 or 5 mb. Existing images can easily be transformed."
That's an awful lot to ask of people. If I have a 24MP camera, I am expected to create two file. I am certainly not going to set my camera to a lower output like you suggest, rather I am going to shoot at the max size I can, which means I would have to resize in post. And I have probably 2500 images I'd have to go back and resize. If you have your heart set on this your system should automatically recognize file dimensions and resize automatically.
Really how hard would it be to do a bulk edit. If you have your images tagged Vertical and Horizontal, you would only need to do 2 bulk edits, one for each. So maybe 5 minutes work to set that up once and then after it runs another 5 minutes. There are plenty of reasons not to join them but not knowing how to resize a batch of photos which is a very basic skill does not seem to be a good one. And yet the post is voted up.
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From their website:
"A good size is 2000 x 3000px approximately. 1 to 3 megabytes is perfect. We allow up to 10 mb but actively discourage members constantly uploading 8, 9 or 10 mb images. Its not the business niche we are targeting.
If you intend to partner with stocktal, set your camera size to output images around 2000 to 3000 no bigger than 4 or 5 mb. Existing images can easily be transformed."
That's an awful lot to ask of people. If I have a 24MP camera, I am expected to create two file. I am certainly not going to set my camera to a lower output like you suggest, rather I am going to shoot at the max size I can, which means I would have to resize in post. And I have probably 2500 images I'd have to go back and resize. If you have your heart set on this your system should automatically recognize file dimensions and resize automatically.
Really how hard would it be to do a bulk edit. If you have your images tagged Vertical and Horizontal, you would only need to do 2 bulk edits, one for each. So maybe 5 minutes work to set that up once and then after it runs another 5 minutes. There are plenty of reasons not to join them but not knowing how to resize a batch of photos which is a very basic skill does not seem to be a good one. And yet the post is voted up.
If you have time to do that you are free to proceed. I am not going to waste my time, to be honest. If there was a real opportunity with these folks I might think about it. But it would be a complete waste of my time given the questions and responses from this thread. But to turn the tables, shouldn't it be THEM who should adapt? In this day and age, it should be very easy for them to resize our images. Why should hundreds if not thousands of prospective contributors have to size their images back to the dinosaur days? Just saying.
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Why are we even giving this bunch the benefit of the doubt?
Because they are offering 78% return on each sale. If this site actually starts selling stuff, all this vitriol will quickly be forgotten and photographers will flock in droves to be a part of it. It's what we've been asking for all these years. A fair return on our work.
78% isn't a problem, but it isn't a complete list of what defines an ideal (or even good) agency.
Think of all the problems we've had over the last decade with a variety of agencies, the biggest of which is no sales or very low sales, others of which are horrible upload processes, terrible reviews (slow, arbitrary, inconsistent...) and not getting paid (at all, the right amount or on time). And lousy royalty rates.
I never joined Deposit Photos because of the various issues I saw with their business practices. I wouldn't give them my images even if they offered 85% royalties because I think their track record suggests bad things would happen, sooner or later.
Anyone who forgets about all other things beyond a percentage royalty is exercising poor judgment, IMO.
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If you notice, the only 'innovation' and 'thinking out of the box' is a number that is quite 'unsustainable'. A royalty percentage is not all there is, as Joanne says.
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If you notice, the only 'innovation' and 'thinking out of the box' is a number that is quite 'unsustainable'. A royalty percentage is not all there is, as Joanne says.
This site...stocktal...is the justice we need to change everything. It forces other dictators into line and if it doesn't...it makes sense. 78%
You are negative about everything except for stocksy. Don't know why you're here on this thread trying to shut this honest approach down (not that you ever could)
I will keep supporting it.
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This site...stocktal...is the justice we need to change everything. It forces other dictators into line and if it doesn't...it makes sense. 78%
A high royalty percentage is a fine thing, but by itself it's irrelevant. A high percentage of nothing is nothing, and unless there's something that compels buyers as well as suppliers, nothing good will happen. A new agency that brings in few purchases won't force anybody else to do anything. Besides, I fear that such a high royalty is (and here comes that word) unsustainable; it leaves the agency with insufficient revenue to fund development and marketing, both of which are required to create a viable business.
I've thrown a few images at Stocktal; if any of them sell, I'll add more. I've seen too many agencies go nowhere to put in a major effort on mere faith. But go ahead; I was about to say that your mileage may vary, but I don't believe it will.
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So your vote is NO...we dont want 78% We'd like to be ripped off instead. Thats your public stand?
22% of 1 million dollars a day is 220k per day. Don't think its unsustainable. But a dedicated server costs $4500 per month or maybe they will have to write that off on taxes.
What do staff cost per day...look this site needs support.
Im serious here, stop crying about the small details and start supporting this thing.
You are being influenced by people that dont even have an account on stocktal. They are just random drop ins and probably the same person with 10 different accounts.
Mobilize this thing ! IGNORE THE WAFFLERS !
I WANT 78% not 30 cents in dollar
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@Ubermansch
Since you´re so supportive, I´m sure you won´t mind giving us a link to your portfolio at Stocktal, would you?
I was looking for it - out of curiosity - but I couldn´t find it... ;)
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This site...stocktal...is the justice we need to change everything. It forces other dictators into line and if it doesn't...it makes sense. 78%
A high royalty percentage is a fine thing, but by itself it's irrelevant. A high percentage of nothing is nothing, and unless there's something that compels buyers as well as suppliers, nothing good will happen. A new agency that brings in few purchases won't force anybody else to do anything. Besides, I fear that such a high royalty is (and here comes that word) unsustainable; it leaves the agency with insufficient revenue to fund development and marketing, both of which are required to create a viable business.
I've thrown a few images at Stocktal; if any of them sell, I'll add more. I've seen too many agencies go nowhere to put in a major effort on mere faith. But go ahead; I was about to say that your mileage may vary, but I don't believe it will.
I really don`t like ubermansch fanatic stocktal love. :) But i also do not understand many members. I saw a couple of people talking bad / laughing about 50% business concepts. I saw people want to get higher percentage than 50%. This is a over-50-percent-business (stocktal).. guys..?
Now i read agencys with low revenue can`t make marketing concepts ("..to fund development and marketing"). I saw another thread msg members laughing about the agency`s reply "more than 50% isnt possible. It seems that here are several people who dont like both business concepts. That`s really funny to read:)
But sad at the same time. no matter what is published here, it receives no support. :)
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I really don`t like ubermansch fanatic stocktal love. :) But i also do not understand many members. I saw a couple of people talking bad / laughing about 50% business concepts. I saw people want to get higher percentage than 50%. This is a over-50-percent-business (stocktal).. guys..?
Now i read agencys with low revenue can`t make marketing concepts ("..to fund development and marketing"). I saw another thread msg members laughing about the agency`s reply "more than 50% isnt possible. It seems that here are several people who dont like both business concepts. That`s really funny to read:)
But sad at the same time. no matter what is published here, it receives no support. :)
If you read the thread carefully, the concerns over StockTal (or SockTal as Jack called it in his last post) have little, if anything, to do with the percentage rate; though they haven't explained how they are going to market and pay staff on 22%.
There are concerns far more serious than percentage rate.
The kindest 'take' is that they came here at too early a stage in their planning, before they knew anything about the business.
Their less-than-professional replies to some serious questions don't give hope.
Still, as I posted in reply #78, "You can all laugh at me five years down the line when you're millionaires."
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they haven't explained how they are going to market and pay staff on 22%
It's not just that. These things have been modelled over and over by investors: If a website takes off, the costs almost invariably increase out of proportion with the income generated by increased sales. Increased sales = increased costs related to that increased traffic (bandwidth, CDN, infrastructure etc) + increased legal, admin, accounting, transaction processing and support costs.
^ it's partly why small agencies with a carefully limited number of contributors (+ distribution) might potentially likely be a more sustainable proposition than uncontrolled growth.
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So your vote is NO...we dont want 78% We'd like to be ripped off instead. Thats your public stand?
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What do staff cost per day...look this site needs support.
Im serious here, stop crying about the small details and start supporting this thing.
You are being influenced by people that dont even have an account on stocktal. They are just random drop ins and probably the same person with 10 different accounts.
......I WANT 78% not 30 cents in dollar
how can you expect to be taken seriously when you deliberately distort what people have said here?
how many 78% sales have YOU had on stocktal? you blast in here anon and then have the chutzpah to accuse other people of being trolls?
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So your vote is NO...we dont want 78% We'd like to be ripped off instead. Thats your public stand?
.....
What do staff cost per day...look this site needs support.
Im serious here, stop crying about the small details and start supporting this thing.
You are being influenced by people that dont even have an account on stocktal. They are just random drop ins and probably the same person with 10 different accounts.
......I WANT 78% not 30 cents in dollar
how can you expect to be taken seriously when you deliberately distort what people have said here?
how many 78% sales have YOU had on stocktal? you blast in here anon and then have the chutzpah to accuse other people of being trolls?
He just puts his fingers in his ears and shouts 'Lalala', metaphorically.
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When is StockTal's official launch? Someone sees some sale? Anyone saw anything sold so far?
I am also supporting them.
They asked me to resize(diamensions and size MB) my images, which I did using a batch script. It just took few minutes and uploaded them. Next they asked me to take out duplicate images, that also followed. Though my portfolio has shrunk a bit but I would say it is still better there.
Views are rising but waiting to see the real sale.
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When is StockTal's official launch? Someone sees some sale? Anyone saw anything sold so far?
I am also supporting them.
They asked me to resize(diamensions and size MB) my images, which I did using a batch script. It just took few minutes and uploaded them. Next they asked me to take out duplicate images, that also followed. Though my portfolio has shrunk a bit but I would say it is still better there.
Views are rising but waiting to see the real sale.
Did you write new titles and descriptions for all your images?
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@dirkr, I just chose one from each set, that way there are single with unique titles and descriptions.
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I understood Jack that they want titles and description to be unique to Stocktal, i.e. different than on other sites - assuming you are not sending exclusive images. Did you do that? Or maybe I didn't understand it correctly...
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Maybe that's why they have titles like 'big bird, thick branch'; and there was me unkindly thinking the contributor couldn't be bothered looking the species up and putting 'Vernacular name, Latin name' like any normal person would do. Maybe they had 'vernacular name, Latin name' on another site.
Ho-hum ::)
(they seem not to have the species name in the keywords either. Is that also forbidden if you have it elsewhere? Seems pretty pointless if so. While there may indeed be a small number of buyers who might search 'big bird, thick branch', it seems odd to exclude any potential buyers who know which species they want.)
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Maybe that's why they have titles like 'big bird, thick branch'; and there was me unkindly thinking the contributor couldn't be bothered looking the species up and putting 'Vernacular name, Latin name' like any normal person would do. Maybe they had 'vernacular name, Latin name' on another site.
Ho-hum ::)
Yep, that's what's troubling me about that requirement - when you have accurate, fitting titles and descriptions on other sites, making them unique for Stocktal will make the less accurate and fitting...
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But at least you will have a killer SEO. Useless, but killer.
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To a degree... this thread has no real specific direction nor can I answer with effectiveness. It's been quite hard to deal with this thread and noting the large amount of views in less than 3 weeks, I myself have felt some pressure.
We are not "another" start up, we are something else and something else is expected. My staff are gradually trying to acclimatize our early adapters to what we KNOW works, but it takes time and some humbling on our part to get the message across without upsetting the talent involved.
I want people who actually are members of StockTal to understand, we are here to stay. We have money behind this project, and our prime goal is to sell your work and make you money.
Im thankful for all the comments and appreciate all the assistance, but we can handle the StockTal business. What we need is smart, cooperative people getting behind us, so we can actually generate a new paradigm for the industry and disrupt big business that take everything and give nothing.
Im over seas right now and have been advised by my co founders to stop posting here. This is my last post on this thread. I wish you all well.
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To a degree... this thread has no real specific direction nor can I answer with effectiveness. It's been quite hard to deal with this thread and noting the large amount of views in less than 3 weeks, I myself have felt some pressure.
We are not "another" start up, we are something else and something else is expected. My staff are gradually trying to acclimatize our early adapters to what we KNOW works, but it takes time and some humbling on our part to get the message across without upsetting the talent involved.
I want people who actually are members of StockTal to understand, we are here to stay. We have money behind this project, and our prime goal is to sell your work and make you money.
Im thankful for all the comments and appreciate all the assistance, but we can handle the StockTal business. What we need is smart, cooperative people getting behind us, so we can actually generate a new paradigm for the industry and disrupt big business that take everything and give nothing.
Im over seas right now and have been advised by my co founders to stop posting here. This is my last post on this thread. I wish you all well.
sorry, but that doesn't work -- you're NOT any different from all the other fly by nights who show up here with promises, the disappear.
you've demonstrated your IGNORANCE of the microstock business without giving any indication of how you might do something different. if you can't handle the relatively mild reactions here, along with those of us who were willing to give you a try, then you're certainly not ready for prime
please DELETE MY PORTFOLIO immediately
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We are not "another" start up, we are something else and something else is expected.
See, again, the problem is you're not really something else. You're basing the "out of the box" and "something else" and "innovation" just on the royalty percentage of 78%, which anyone can offer. However, you're doing it while fumbling through the basics of starting your basic micro agency. You're completely missing the point.
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This is my last post on this thread. I wish you all well.
Jack Stocktal. the only way 2 give us the middle finger is to have your talents come in here to tell us they made sales. that alone will even make Mr. Locke eat his words 8)
p.s.
Mr. Locke, it's not meant to slight u, but more so 2 let Jack know that we r all interested in any agency that sells. btw, how is Stocksy doing with sales, Mr. Locke ;)
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Check the monthly sales thread :)
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Jack Stocktal. the only way 2 give us the middle finger is to have your talents come in here to tell us they made sales.
Yeah, send us shills; like the little vanguard posse of cheerleaders.
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Here is a real specific question Jack, I hope you can answer with effectiveness: Can customers buy and use our images for resale as products and how will you protect us when that happens? I am already taking down my images from several sites for that reason only. Make me upload to yours. Thank you.
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@lirch,
Read post #256. Elvis has left the building.
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At the begining I uploaded few files to see what it is. Now I see my images in different pricing that I choosed... What did I miss? What's going on here?
I didn't watch this thread carefully, sorry, but this time I'm surprised really...
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At the begining I uploaded few files to see what it is. Now I see my images in different pricing that I choosed... What did I miss? What's going on here?
I didn't watch this thread carefully, sorry, but this time I'm surprised really...
Why are you surprised?
You yourself posted from their T&C "Be aware, Stocktal may seasonally adjust our standard pricing model to reflect trends. This adjustment may affect all sbmissions, even the ones not following our default guidelines. You may need to individually adjust your prices back to your price point."
http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg393084/#msg393084 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg393084/#msg393084)
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Stockal is a PERFECT example of a start up who wasn't ready to start. While there were plenty of mis-messages, the biggest red flag for me was 78% commission. I think Sean said it right.....it's not sustainable. But there were other deterrents for me, too. All of the retitling and re-descriptions, etc. on my 3,000 images. The resizing - yes, no, yes, no, I don't know. The categories - yes, no, yes, no, I don't know....etc. These kinds of responses make my personal comfort level queasy at best and that's why I wasn't about to give it a go. Then Jack said bye bye. That didn't help either. I am ALL FOR NEW, COMPETITIVE sites who have a real differentiator, not just commission. We already have those in P5, GL, SF, etc...50%-55%. Stocksy & Canva come to mind as having more differentiation.
Something just didn't feel right I all I am, saying.
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The legal agreements were littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes, didn't make sense, and there were contradictions within and between pages. Seriously worrying.
Then his alleged USP, that "buyers could talk to sellers", wasn't unique.
Add in his totally unprofessional attitude in this forum.
Total non-starter.
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Why are you surprised?
You yourself posted from their T&C "Be aware, Stocktal may seasonally adjust our standard pricing model to reflect trends. This adjustment may affect all sbmissions, even the ones not following our default guidelines. You may need to individually adjust your prices back to your price point."
It was so unbelievable that I couldn't accept the truth :P Or in other words, wanted to make sure it's not worth or rather I better keep away from that place. Here is reply to my email:
"There "was" a change to remove the $1.95 option based on feedback from members, it was done around a month ago.
Unfortunately, if we make a change like that, it affects all accounts and items, but this is not expected to be a problem as it's intended to stick to the current pricing.
You can go ahead and adjust your pricing again as you wish. Sorry bout that "
I have no more questions ;D
Just amazing...
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Stockal is a PERFECT example of a start up who wasn't ready to start. While there were plenty of mis-messages, the biggest red flag for me was 78% commission. I think Sean said it right.....it's not sustainable. But there were other deterrents for me, too. All of the retitling and re-descriptions, etc. on my 3,000 images. The resizing - yes, no, yes, no, I don't know. The categories - yes, no, yes, no, I don't know....etc. These kinds of responses make my personal comfort level queasy at best and that's why I wasn't about to give it a go. Then Jack said bye bye. That didn't help either. I am ALL FOR NEW, COMPETITIVE sites who have a real differentiator, not just commission. We already have those in P5, GL, SF, etc...50%-55%. Stocksy & Canva come to mind as having more differentiation.
Something just didn't feel right I all I am, saying.
jack whatshisname did an elvis , no doubt , because he got the middle finger from us here...
like so many new sites.
playing devil's advocate, i really don't think we can cheer for his quitting us ...
because even with the new sites u mentioned, mantis,
they r not making anything incredible either
if u look at the right column on this page.
all the aforementioned, all single digit after what? how many years?
i like to wish dt, alamy, big, to at least get into the mid %-age like 50 % after so many years.
as for stocksy canva which i cheer much for their success,
even they too could turn out to be the next veer, if u know what i mean.
still , stocktal is not a dark horse either. without ss we would all be better off flipping burgers, really.
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jack whatshisname did an elvis , no doubt , because he got the middle finger from us here...
Totally disagree.
Many of us asked serious questions, by way of due diligence, which he was disinclined to answer.
(to be fair, he said he "couldn't answer with effectiveness", again showing disarming honestly re. his cluelessness about the business.)
I bet the Dragons (aka Sharks) wouldn't go there.
"Once bitten, twice shy."
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Stockal is a PERFECT example of a start up who wasn't ready to start. While there were plenty of mis-messages, the biggest red flag for me was 78% commission. I think Sean said it right.....it's not sustainable. But there were other deterrents for me, too. All of the retitling and re-descriptions, etc. on my 3,000 images. The resizing - yes, no, yes, no, I don't know. The categories - yes, no, yes, no, I don't know....etc. These kinds of responses make my personal comfort level queasy at best and that's why I wasn't about to give it a go. Then Jack said bye bye. That didn't help either. I am ALL FOR NEW, COMPETITIVE sites who have a real differentiator, not just commission. We already have those in P5, GL, SF, etc...50%-55%. Stocksy & Canva come to mind as having more differentiation.
Something just didn't feel right I all I am, saying.
jack whatshisname did an elvis , no doubt , because he got the middle finger from us here...
like so many new sites.
playing devil's advocate, i really don't think we can cheer for his quitting us ...
because even with the new sites u mentioned, mantis,
they r not making anything incredible either
if u look at the right column on this page.
all the aforementioned, all single digit after what? how many years?
i like to wish dt, alamy, big, to at least get into the mid %-age like 50 % after so many years.
as for stocksy canva which i cheer much for their success,
even they too could turn out to be the next veer, if u know what i mean.
still , stocktal is not a dark horse either. without ss we would all be better off flipping burgers, really.
That's my point. Offering higher commissions isn't worth squat if you don't have the traffic, meaning you need a good marketing hook that sets you apart from other sites and provides buyers with something new or better that they consider value. As far as Stocksy or Canva, their early success is a good indicator of the future. ANY business can tank, no matter what size.....RCA, EF Hutton, JP Morgan, General Motors and the list goes on. Stockfresh is unlike Stocksy or Canva in that they have been around for some time (5-6 years) and haven't produced positive sales. That's how Stockal would have been. And I don't believe that anyone in this forum is/was cheering for his quitting; they are responding to his inability to answer specific questions around the business model, site functionality, site requirements, etc. As I stated I would like for a company like Stockal to succeed, but I would strongly recommend that when they come to MSG they be more prepared to answer cross-experience questions.
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Stockfresh is unlike Stocksy or Canva in that they have been around for some time (5-6 years) and haven't produced positive sales.
And wasn't Stockfresh started by someone who already had experience in stock?
As I stated I would like for a company like Stockal to succeed, but I would strongly recommend that when they come to MSG they be more prepared to answer cross-experience questions.
That has to be a sine qua non. Without more information and particularly willingness to answer questions, you might as well throw your money at a random Nigerian emailler.
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... our prime goal is to sell your work and make you money...
Ah, how nice of you!.. I'm tired from such an unselfish statements... Why 90% of startupers are so synthetic and insincere??? WHY?
Why not to be honest and just say: "Hi all, I would like to earn on your stock images, so I'm inviting you to join my website. If I will sell some photos I will give you 50%, in the beginning, and if we'll be lucky, you'll get more". That's all. Honesty. Bravery. Truth. Then would be respect from me and maybe I would join.
And please, no bull@its about "our team", "big department", "board of art directors" etc, while often behind this stands one person only.
Anyway, good luck for Stocktal.
But all new "agencies" and artists hunters, listen: don't cheat, don't fool and deceive, be honest and brave, tell truth from the very beginning, because here are real people who saw hot and cold through the years, who work hard (sometimes for pennies), who can see your heart and your intentions, can feel and can hear between the lines and have some wise words to correct and to encourage you. And they deserve respect, but not to be cheated in any way.
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... our prime goal is to sell your work and make you money...
Ah, how nice of you!.. I'm tired from such an unselfish statements... Why 90% of startupers are so synthetic and insincere??? WHY?
Why not to be honest and just say: "Hi all, I would like to earn on your stock images, so I'm inviting you to join my website. If I will sell some photos I will give you 50%, in the beginning, and if we'll be lucky, you'll get more". That's all. Honesty. Bravery. Truth. Then would be respect from me and maybe I would join.
And please, no bull@its about "our team", "big department", "board of art directors" etc, while often behind this stands one person only.
Anyway, good luck for Stocktal.
But all new "agencies" and artists hunters, listen: don't cheat, don't fool and deceive, be honest and brave, tell truth from the very beginning, because here are real people who saw hot and cold through the years, who work hard (sometimes for pennies), who can see your heart and your intentions, can feel and can hear between the lines and have some wise words to correct and to encourage you. And they deserve respect, but not to be cheated in any way.
+1
But
An example of agency telling the truth (imo) from the beginning.
https://macrografiks.com/
And if they are not failing they are not so far, and seem to desperately try to find a good solution to satisfy themselves and their contributors, keeping to be honest, gentle and fair.
Unfortunately we live in a world where bigger is the lie bigger is the success…
Basically people like to be telling lies………
If it was not like this there will be a lot of time that we would have fired all our politicians… :D
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Well I got a reply from Stocktal. They say my account has been suspended because my titles and descriptions are just copy paste and not unique to Stocktal. Since I do not have the time to re-do 4000 files I guess I am done at Stocktal. I can see why a new site wants this for SEO but no other site demands it.
my first 200+ submissions were accepted with the same iptc that all the other agencies got -- no way am I ging to redo thousands of descriptons, etc, esp'ly for an unproven site
I wouldn't even redo the titles and descriptions for a proven earner like Dreamstime. For my top site, Shutterstock, I'd consider it, but even then I'd probably procrastinate uploading for a long time.
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... our prime goal is to sell your work and make you money...
Ah, how nice of you!.. I'm tired from such an unselfish statements... Why 90% of startupers are so synthetic and insincere??? WHY?
Why not to be honest and just say: "Hi all, I would like to earn on your stock images, so I'm inviting you to join my website. If I will sell some photos I will give you 50%, in the beginning, and if we'll be lucky, you'll get more". That's all. Honesty. Bravery. Truth. Then would be respect from me and maybe I would join.
And please, no bull@its about "our team", "big department", "board of art directors" etc, while often behind this stands one person only.
Anyway, good luck for Stocktal.
But all new "agencies" and artists hunters, listen: don't cheat, don't fool and deceive, be honest and brave, tell truth from the very beginning, because here are real people who saw hot and cold through the years, who work hard (sometimes for pennies), who can see your heart and your intentions, can feel and can hear between the lines and have some wise words to correct and to encourage you. And they deserve respect, but not to be cheated in any way.
+1
But
An example of agency telling the truth (imo) from the beginning.
https://macrografiks.com/
And if they are not failing they are not so far, and seem to desperately try to find a good solution to satisfy themselves and their contributors, keeping to be honest, gentle and fair.
Unfortunately we live in a world where bigger is the lie bigger is the success…
Basically people like to be telling lies………
If it was not like this there will be a lot of time that we would have fired all our politicians… :D
Yep, as always and everywhere there is another side of the Moon. In general I agree with you, and I think that sometimes we do not need to know "all truth", just for a peace of mind. Wise people know when and how much truth to say. I just want to emphasize one side and extreme approach to future colleagues. Presentation of a new agency and communication should be well and wisely balanced ;)
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Well I got a reply from Stocktal. They say my account has been suspended because my titles and descriptions are just copy paste and not unique to Stocktal. Since I do not have the time to re-do 4000 files I guess I am done at Stocktal. I can see why a new site wants this for SEO but no other site demands it.
my first 200+ submissions were accepted with the same iptc that all the other agencies got -- no way am I ging to redo thousands of descriptons, etc, esp'ly for an unproven site
I wouldn't even redo the titles and descriptions for a proven earner like Dreamstime. For my top site, Shutterstock, I'd consider it, but even then I'd probably procrastinate uploading for a long time.
I just got called out for it and cancelled my account. These guys are VERY short lived. Shouldn't have wasted my time.
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I just got called out for it and cancelled my account. These guys are VERY short lived. Shouldn't have wasted my time.
Same here, deleted files. WoT.
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How much money have you earned at stocktal so far? Someone has already a short review?
Upload only 20 images than stopped. 0 sales.
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The thing is, if/when Stockal resolves all these site issues/limitations and legal unclarities, and then they come back to MSG to promote the "new Stockal, their reputation will have already have been tarnished.
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How much money have you earned at stocktal so far? Someone has already a short review?
Upload only 20 images than stopped. 0 sales.
Nothing So far.
Photos: 354
Viewed: 3112
Downloads: 0
I opened a support ticket on 29 September, asking them when is their official launch date. There is no answer yet. It may not be completely dead yet.
The worrying part is, all communication channels are closed. Jack was here for sometime to interact with us and now he is also gone from here.
The fact is, some agencies work in this mode as well. If they sell my work, I do not care about their attitude. Just bring the sale, rest everything is meta data.
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There is something strange and not proper about this stocktal site. I have up-loaded about 100 images and think I will stop uploading for now. I have sent them two request about what is their physical address in the world. They will not respond to me where or what address they are located. Something smells to me about this site. Red flags are up when a site will not tell you where they are located. As far as I know they may be located in China or Iran..Their category selection on their site is clearly not made by an english speaking person...Just saying they need to be more transparent as a new site . ...............
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There is something strange and not proper about this stocktal site................
Oh! You think? ::)
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There is something strange and not proper about this stocktal site. I have up-loaded about 100 images and think I will stop uploading for now.
Good decision.
Did you read through this thread before you uploaded there?
BTW, have they stopped advertising here or is AdBlock now blocking them successfully?
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Just deleted my images at Stocktal. May be premature but I feel warm and fuzzy about doing so.
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... I upload some file to stokcktal but ... some of them failed to be uploaded because they are too big.
I do not know what to say
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I do not know what to say
"Abandon all Hope, ye who enter here"
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... I upload some file to stokcktal but ... some of them failed to be uploaded because they are too big.
I do not know what to say
so you are submitting?
I dont know what to say,.
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... I upload some file to stokcktal but ... some of them failed to be uploaded because they are too big.
I do not know what to say
so you are submitting?
I dont know what to say,.
I have upload my file to many sites. the number is more than 20.
So I will kill some later which I think is not good.
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Got approved 10/1. First 10 images reviewed on 10/3. Uploaded 2nd set of 10 images on 10/20. Never reviewed. Sent support ticket on 10/31 asking about review times. No response. Sent another support ticket on 11/11. No response. 2nd set of images of 10/20 still not reviewed. Deleted all images and closed account. WASTE. OF. TIME.
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I wrote then some day ago to ask what was the point with them…
No answer.
I will wait another week and if I will not get an answer I delete all my files and "Do Svidanya" !
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Oh my, this has been a fantastic discussion to follow. The absolute lack of professionalism from Jack, who left the most important questions unanswered, even mocked contributors for bringing up valid errors on their site, made lame jokes about conquering the world, accused earnest contributors of not being the copyright holder to their images and then left (!) because his boss/co-founder told him so. Worst spokesperson for a stock site EVER.
Their legal department hasn't got a single clue about licensing or VAT, as ShadySue so smartly pointed out, and their whole site reeks of amateurism. Fooling around with odd categories, having to rewrite your titles/descriptions for the sake of SEO, uploading limits, the list goes on and on...
Then there's a group of nitwit fans who are willing to upload anything to StockTal, simply because they're offering 78%. They deliberately neglect everything that's wrong with StockTal, and if you have any doubt about their trustworthiness or (lack of) business plan, they'll flame you for not supporting newcomers. Ridiculous.
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Oh my,..
agree
By the way, you have santa claus images with beer? It`s a german santa? ;D
Nice designs :D
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I sent them two emails to find out where they were located on this planet earth. Never a response back. All I will say is beware of a site that dose not list physical address or respond with address. Maybe this is a prison work program somewhere in the world ??????
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::) "The biggest thing to happen to microstock has just happened. Lets change it to the way it should be" ;D
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This seems to be over. Site no longer opens. Diappointed the way it turned out to be. I am ready to buy any claims of new sites who may show the signs of revival of our sale patterns. :( :(
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Many new agencies showed up last year and many of them died before opening or very fast after. Why? Are they only dreamers, or get subsidy (free money for new business from government), or didn't prepare proper analysis, business plan, or ...?
And please don't tell me it's photographers fault, that we didn't support newcomer who can't tell us a word about their plan. It's obvious we won't upload whole batches of work to questionable newcomer. Many of the agencies don't even read IPTC, have no FTP, bulk edition system, fast website, etc, etc...
Stocktal, Stockboo, Pixyloo, Ez Medi Art, Ultimatstock, Fox Image, etc...
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NO CLASS, acting like thugs! They should come here and apologise and tell us gee we tried and we will delete any of your images! Not this run out of town crap taking everyone's images!!!
I can't remember if I uploaded any and of course can't find out... STOCKTAL YOU DONOT HAVE PERMISSION TO TRANSFER MY ART.
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I am not bullish on start ups. And Stockai is a PERFECT example as to why.
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Doing a Google search comes up blank?! Just our oats about them?!
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I am not bullish on start ups. And Stockai is a PERFECT example as to why.
I agree, this "disappearing act" happened to me before with another agency before.
I searched my emails and see I did sign up, I sent them an email reminding them they don't "own" my images!
Meanwhile CANVA a new agency is doing fantastic people are happy with early sales and are listened to.
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