Author Topic: Pixmac reaches 1,000,000 images?! (Read 47918 times)

dirkr · « **Reply #25 on:** October 22, 2008, 04:53 »

I asked them for explanation using their contact form.
And I sent a ticket to FT support.
Let's wait for the answers...

dbvirago · « **Reply #26 on:** October 22, 2008, 06:07 »

Quote from: le_cyclope on October 21, 2008, 16:19

Very strange...

When you clic on one of your pictures, it shows also similar pictures and on the left side «Fresh pictures by...», and these are also my pictures.

but then if you clic on the link «All pictures of this author» , it shows random pictures, NOT by me.

I don't like this...
Claude

Yes, same here.

hali · « **Reply #27 on:** October 22, 2008, 07:40 »

Quote from: RGebbiePhoto on October 22, 2008, 01:29

Holy Hell! at the bottom of http://www.pixmac.com/termsandconditions

This website is owned and operated by Pixmac Ltd., Francouzská 31, Prague , Czech Republic......You can denounce this agreement but only after sending written notice to Pixmac. Pixmac has 30 days from receipt of your written notice to remove your account. However, all uploaded photos will remain available on the Pixmac website for 1 year from when their upload expires.

And does that paragraph mean that even if we petition to be removed, for the entire next year they will be collecting royalties on our images with no compensation to us?

the thing is, none of you made that agreement to put your images with him.
so technically he cannot force you to keep your images for one year.
this abuse of authority is garbage. it protects himself. i think even if it is fotolia,
you can protest the misuse of authority to "hold your images hostage".

you can charge him for copyright infringement, as a group.
find a lawyer.

dbvirago · « **Reply #28 on:** October 22, 2008, 08:10 »

Below is the reply to my note to them this morning. Guess we'll need to dig a bit more to make sure we are getting commissions from sales. Also, if you look at the link to All pictures of this author, there is no author info, so that link is broken.

Hello,
Pixmac is a new microstock agency. Beside our own collection, we also feature on our website the Fotolia collection because we have an affiliation and are Fotolia´s reseller. This is the reason you see your photos on our website, we are another distributing channel. We have no hires of Fotolia´s pictures - you will see all your downloads as well as your commission in your Fotolia account. In case there is any download of pictures you have uploaded on Fotolia, you still will get the same comission and you will be payed by Fotolia, like you would be by downloads through Fotolia directly.

If you have any other questions or need help, don´t hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help you.

Have a nice day

Denisa
Pixmac
www.pixmac.com
[email protected]

Xalanx · « **Reply #29 on:** October 22, 2008, 08:23 »

broken links / anonymous author / only small part of the photos / online since 1970 / etc are errors probably because the site is still under heavy development. However, it is NORMAL to state somewhere on the front page that they are a Fotolia affiliate.

Smithore · « **Reply #30 on:** October 22, 2008, 09:06 »

Ok, so Fotolia must notice us for each download on this site, we must also keep an eye on pixmac about the bugs ( portfolio, online since, author name, links etc.)

Pixart · « **Reply #31 on:** October 22, 2008, 09:53 »

If the image is anonymous, how . are they going to pay us for it?

dirkr · « **Reply #32 on:** October 22, 2008, 10:03 »

I got basically the same answer and replied back with the questions mentioned here (pirctures shown as anonymous, no credit given to the photographer).
Also I believe this is in violation of the ToS of the Fotolia API, as these do explicitely state that, if using the API, you must make it clear that you are doing so and must mention Fotolia.

Quote from these ToS:
"3.3 Additional License Terms for Partner API.

All users of the Partner API also agree as follows:

(a) You shall not sell Works or allow Works to be downloaded from Your Fotolia API Client. You shall solely use the Partner API to redirect End Users to the Fotolia Website for such End User to purchase or download Works. You shall not use the Partner API to illustrate or provide content to Your Fotolia API Client.

(b) You shall only derive revenue from Your use of the Partner API through Your participation in the Fotolia Affiliation Program. You shall not use the Partner API for any other commercial purpose and no fee shall be charged to End Users that use Your Fotolia API Client.

(c) You shall only derive revenue from the Affiliation Program in accordance with its terms and conditions. You shall only receive payments under the Affiliation Program if the link redirecting the End User to the Fotolia Website contains Your Affiliate ID in the manner described in the Fotolia API Specifications.

(d) You shall display on Your Fotolia API Client at all times a link to the homepage of the Fotolia Website.

(e) Your Fotolia API Client shall be publicly available and not require any login or other type of restricted access credentials. "

End Quote

...what as such is already a bit contradictory to Fotolia's own website, where they also talk about a "reseller API" (see here:
http://us.fotolia.com/Services/API/Introduction) which allows to "sell Royalty Free Images without any mention of Fotolia" - but there is nothing in the API ToS for such Reseller API....

strange as always with Fotolia. Let's wait what the response from FT will be. I proposed to them that they should make a list of partners using the API available on their website, but I doubt they will do...

jsolie · « **Reply #33 on:** October 22, 2008, 12:59 »

Quote from: dbvirago on October 22, 2008, 08:10

Below is the reply to my note to them this morning. Guess we'll need to dig a bit more to make sure we are getting commissions from sales. Also, if you look at the link to All pictures of this author, there is no author info, so that link is broken.
...trimmed...

Sounds like Denisa had an interesting morning... I got basically the same email, but with an added sentence (emphasis mine)

Quote

Pixmac is a new microstock agency. Beside our own
collection, we also feature on our website the Fotolia collection because we
have an affiliation and are Fotolia´s reseller. This is the reason you see
your photos on our website, we are another distributing channel. We have no
hires of Fotolia´s pictures - you will see all your downloads as well as
your commission in your Fotolia account. In case there is any download of
pictures you have uploaded on Fotolia, you still will get the same comission
and you will be payed by Fotolia, like you would be by downloads through
Fotolia directly. If you upload any pictures directly on Pixmac, you will
get payed for this images directly by Pixmac. If you don´t want your images being displayed
on our site, please let us know, we will delete them from the portfolio

Quote from: dirkr on October 22, 2008, 10:03

... I proposed to them that they should make a list of partners using the API available on their website, but I doubt they will do...

I was wondering the same thing. It sure would be nice to know who FT is selling through as it would make life easier on just about everyone (no support tickets with FT about it, none with the other agency, and no postings like this on forums where anyone can read).

fotografer · « **Reply #34 on:** October 22, 2008, 13:34 »

My images are all credited with my name and all of them say that they have had 1 dl.

b79 · « **Reply #35 on:** October 22, 2008, 14:05 »

I received almost the same email, but there is one sentence referring to the issue of being anonymous.

(emphasis mine)

Quote

Hello,
Thank you for your email. Pixmac is a new microstock agency. Beside our own collection, we also feature on our website the Fotolia collection because we have an affiliation and are Fotolia´s reseller. This is the reason you see your photos on our website, we are another distributing channel. We have no hires of Fotolia´s pictures - you will see all your downloads as well as your commission in your Fotolia account. In case there is any download of pictures you have uploaded on Fotolia, you still will get the same comission and you will be payed by Fotolia, like you would be by downloads through Fotolia directly. If you upload any pictures directly on Pixmac, you will get payed for this images directly by Pixmac. Unfortunatelly there was a mistake in displaying the names and there appeared pictures as "anonymous". The mistake had been already fixed, but it will be visible on the website tomorrow. By the dynamic preview (appears when you go with the mouse on the picture, without clicking on it) you can see your name as author.

If you have any other questions or need help, don´t hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help you

Have a nice day

Denisa
Pixmac

so, apparently they are faster at fixing broken things than fotolia

Alatriste · « **Reply #36 on:** October 22, 2008, 14:46 »

mmmmmhh and what would happen if you upload to pixmac the same image as you have already online at Fotolia?

jsolie · « **Reply #37 on:** October 22, 2008, 14:50 »

Quote from: Trebuchet on October 22, 2008, 14:46

mmmmmhh and what would happen if you upload to pixmac the same image as you have already online at Fotolia?

A burly arm clenching a large mallet will come bursting out through your monitor and rap you squarely on the forehead leaving the permanent impression saying "Overabundant photo category"

RGebbiePhoto · « **Reply #38 on:** October 22, 2008, 17:30 »

Fotolia is closing all threads relating to this.

I wonder why...?

jsolie · « **Reply #39 on:** October 22, 2008, 19:06 »

I'll be curious to see how Pixmac responds to my request to remove my portfolio from their site.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #40 on:** October 22, 2008, 23:43 »

Quote from: dirkr on October 22, 2008, 03:32

Same for me, I don't have an account at FP and only started very recently on StockXpert, so it must be Fotolia.

Oh it is for sure, I can tell by rolling over one of my photos and the FT account name shows there, even though it doesn't in the portfolio ID. My FT account has a different name than the other photo sites. I'm also a default member since 1970.

A test search for "red pin" showed more pin ups with red hair than pins,

so they have same search problem that some other sites have had with partial words. Searching for the exact title of the FT photo returns no results, so if you are looking, they used the keywords and it doesn't look like they imported the Object Name data.

Looks like they are a reseller and if I read it right, they get a percentage for selling images from FT. If it credits back to my account as a FT sale then this means more exposure, and nothing lost.

When do we start the pool for the closing date, and the closest correct guess wins?

leaf · « **Reply #41 on:** October 23, 2008, 05:47 »

Well they must have an internal deal with fotolia since they are clearly not an API seller. As an API seller they have to state that they are selling fotolia images and they can't sell directly from their own site.

But then why would fotolia close threads on this topic??

dirkr · « **Reply #42 on:** October 23, 2008, 07:08 »

Very simple. Because Fotolia is - as experienced in the past - not consistent in their business practice and their information about that.
If you look at the API section of the Fotolia website, you will find the mention of a Reseller-API, with a nice little picture as example how that works. And that picture shows the words "sell Royalty Free Images without any mention of Fotolia" - I quoted that above in this thread. That indicates, that Fotolia indeed wants to allow exactly the usage Pixmac is now doing. Strange thing now is, if you read the ToS for the API on the Fotolia website, this Reseller-API is not mentioned in there. And all other types of API do require the mentioning of Fotolia and the re-direction on the Fotolia webpage for sale of images - as you pointed out.
Conclusion? I am sure Fotolia has an agreement in place with Pixmac. And Fotolia obviously does not want to discuss this topic. And they don't want to publicly disclose their list of partners. For whatever reason...

One more thing: I read through the contract I have to accept when uploading an image. I am not a legal expert, but it looks as though this usage (Fotolia is giving a sub-license to Pixmac and allows them to sub-license the image in turn to end-users) is not covered by that contract.

What to make out of that? I don't know. First I'll wait for FT's response to my support ticket, though I do not expect that to clarify much...

dirkr · « **Reply #43 on:** October 23, 2008, 07:28 »

At least those guys are responsive and fast with updating their website.
If I click on one of my pictures the author info at the left now shows my FT acronym plus "@ftl" and if I click on "all pictures by this author" it really lists my pictures... At least these problems are getting sorted out.

GeoPappas · « **Reply #44 on:** October 23, 2008, 07:39 »

It seems that Pixmac released a product (a few days ago) that was not fully tested.

It now seems that the images are tagged as coming from Fotolia (although it is abbreviated "ftl") and include the author's username.

All of my images now show "GeoPappas@ftl".

My biggest complaint with the site (at this point), is that the watermark is very weak. It basically only works on dark images, which leaves light images open to theft.

I still have lots of questions in regards to this new site, including:

How much do we get for a sale? The site seems to sell per image sales that range from 1 to 15 credits. What is our cut?

How will we know that we had a sale from Pixmac? Will FT show the sale originating from Pixmac?

Why weren't we notified of this to begin with? It is pretty obvious that contributors are savvy enough to find out about this sort of stuff at some point, so why not notify us from the beginning? It would go a long way towards "customer relations".

hali · « **Reply #45 on:** October 23, 2008, 08:50 »

this is getting more complicated.
does this mean that someone can buy our images and resell them, without our knowledge.
and then what happens if Fotolia closes like PS, LO,etc... ?
how do the contributors know who else is selling our images?

is this only Fotolia? or does the other big 6 do the same thing? this is scary.
we are losing control of our images and money too...

dirkr · « **Reply #46 on:** October 23, 2008, 09:19 »

technically they don't buy and re-sell (as in buy once, re-sell often). My assumption how it works: It is more like a white-labelling solution. They show pictures from FT on their website (with no direct hint that this is FT) and when someone buys, they will forward that requrest to FT, where the sale is recorded as a sale from Pixmac. Their profit is the difference of their sale price and the price they pay at FT (if any) plus they will probably get those sales booked as referred sales from FT.

But I agree, it is somehow scary and I do not understand all the details yet...

Alatriste · « **Reply #47 on:** October 23, 2008, 11:59 »

I have seen all my ftl images at pixmac and 0 sales so I can see if fotolia paid me for a sale.

If any of you had sales at pixmac, you can go to ftl and look for that sale

No Longer Cares · « **Reply #48 on:** October 24, 2008, 06:25 »

Is there a way to opt-out of this type of 3rd party agreement at Fotolia?

leszek · « **Reply #49 on:** October 24, 2008, 08:08 »

Well, my pictures there are not anonymous, but there is only a small fraction of my Fotolia portfolio there.

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Pixmac reaches 1,000,000 images?! (Read 47918 times)

dirkr

dbvirago

hali

dbvirago

Xalanx

Smithore

Pixart

dirkr

jsolie

fotografer

b79

Alatriste

jsolie

RGebbiePhoto

jsolie

RacePhoto

leaf

dirkr

dirkr

GeoPappas

hali

dirkr

Alatriste

No Longer Cares

leszek

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors