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Author Topic: Any ideas to suggest to them?  (Read 19916 times)

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georgep7

« on: September 27, 2019, 00:30 »
+3
This live event is coming.

Instead of calling names, crying over low sales or pricing, perhaps we can squeeze our brains to seek for alternatives. Here are some ideas, any "problem" is also a possible gateway to a new feature:

"Reuters style", perhaps we can ask, suggest, demand to have an option to upload similar, sequences of rough cut clips, kind of series, telling a story with e.g. pricing x the number of individual clips included. It is one think the buyer to search and add to basket five or six clips with same model, subject, mood, coloring, whatever and another to add in basket a series to do the job.

"do me first please!" :P For newsworthy or time sensitive clips a possible check box, kind of "urgent" for both exclusive and non-exclusive contributors. Guess a penalty could be applied if feature is misused.

Add yours if you wish...


Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2019, 05:05 »
+3
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

georgep7

« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2019, 06:19 »
0
Here is another one, showing the option "more form this model" below "similar" and "more from artist" display.

It might be easier or quite predisposing buyer to include some more clips of the model in different action or wear or background or whatever. It actually will work as a collection itself with no extra effort.

StockDaebak

« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2019, 08:31 »
+3
One idea:  How about being honest and cutting the startup speak?. 

If the economy is in recession and sales are down and Pond5 has limited funds or is perhaps losing money like other stellar startups like WeWork and Movie Pass then simply state that give the current economic situation and our limited resources there are some things we can no longer do.

And if they are going in a different direction which it's looking like they are with all these deals with companies like Reuters and others then simply say it.

Reuters is allowed to sell for $1100 per item, I am not allowed to price over $79 and I can only upload one shot at a time with no audio.

They actually are trying to tell us we need to lower our prices and go exclusive all while everyone who's done both has reported over 75% drop in sales and income and btw once you pull thousands of clips from other sites it takes time to re-upload them and years to get your ranking back.

I think the best thing for the upcoming town hall is to demand answers to why they have been avoiding answering questions from contributors and also what's up with them telling us one thing and the exact opposite happening.

It's gotten so bad now that I think that as soon as the town hall is over someone(s) gonna be leaking the entire debacle to the tech press and social media and bringing it all out in public like has happened with startups like WeWork and Movie pass and others.

Really not interested in hearing how their conversions are up and sales are up all while revenue is down 85% and the usual nonsense of "we believe than over the long terms this will be beneficial.......". 

They need to cut the startup speak and cut the dishonesty.

I feel bad for those who bought in to the exclusive program and basically lost their businesses, I came very close to being one of them but then I saw some reg flags and held off and kept holding off but stopped uploading to SS, now I am uploading 24/7 to SS and trying to catch up.

I can't honestly figure out if they are dishonest or simply beyond clueless like many other startup people, I'm thinking they are clueless as I am seeing this trend with other startups who are losing millions and billions, Uber, WeWork, Movie Pass and others, they really think that below cost selling will make more money and I think that's what's happening at pond5 and perhaps other sites as well.

This town hall I want answers and I'd be willing to bet we will get more startup speak and falsehoods like the last time.

I am amazed at how those three where able to sit through the last town hall and pitch the exclusive program and keep from cracking up laughing themselves.















georgep7

« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2019, 09:53 »
0
Quote
I feel bad for those who bought in to the exclusive program

Truth is that I was wondering on that, "Exclusive" is on frontpage slider's third "slide" out of four in total, right after (among others) Hypnotic, Activism and ....Boho.

???

« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2019, 10:46 »
+1
It would be good to get some opinions from those that went exclusive.

Clair Voyant

« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2019, 11:01 »
+1
I'd like to see an easier bulk uploading interface. I personally find it to be confusing. AS, SS, and IS are much easier to bulk edit.

« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2019, 14:32 »
+7
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

actually 4k is 4 times larger than hd ,then storage processing exporting takes much longer than hd,so double price is ok i think...
what's the point of asking to earn less?? i really don't get it...

marthamarks

« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2019, 17:50 »
+4
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

actually 4k is 4 times larger than hd ,then storage processing exporting takes much longer than hd,so double price is ok i think...
what's the point of asking to earn less?? i really don't get it...

I had that same reaction but didn't reply.

Personally, I'm just moving into 4k footage, requiring not only new camera gear but also a much more powerful computer. Why on earth would one go through all the extra expense and learning curve if there's no reasonable payoff for it?

I don't get it either.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2019, 18:53 by marthamarks »

StockDaebak

« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2019, 10:39 »
+1

Personally, I'm just moving into 4k footage, requiring not only new camera gear but also a much more powerful computer. Why on earth would one go through all the extra expense and learning curve if there's no reasonable payoff for it?

I don't get it either.
[/quote]

So hard to even think about upgrading equipment and computers when 2019 has been one of the worst years ever for sales for many producers, that and with so much of the end product being viewed on cell phones it doesn't help the decision making process.

I am 4K now but not that many 4K sales yet but I do mostly editorial, 5G is coming so maybe that will boost the demand for 4K but it all depends on the cost of the data plans for consumers.

With consumer demands changing so far I am nervous about making any more upgrades, kind of in a holding pattern for now.

georgep7

« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2019, 11:28 »
0
Assuming that we entered stock as already relative to photo or video, "I need an upgrade" don't sound as a master argument. Quality of work is better reason I guess...

I have already mentioned in older threads that at home i work on proxies and render 4K in an i5 laptop with 8Gb shared with GPU memory and two first gen SSDs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here is another one: Promotional clips: 4-5-6 clips assembled and described: buy this package.

So:

Better and more complex promos. With some millions of clips available, promo clips seem (apologies for this) poor.
« Last Edit: September 28, 2019, 13:09 by georgep7 »

« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2019, 13:31 »
+1
They don't need to sell anything any cheaper or give discounts and promotions, because they can say with all honesty that they are the cheapest on the market, that's all they need to promote.

« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2019, 15:14 »
+2
They should put on fixed prices at normal value and bring buyers back and give us 50% revenue back  :)

marthamarks

« Reply #13 on: September 28, 2019, 15:38 »
0
They should put on fixed prices at normal value and bring buyers back and give us 50% revenue back  :)

Yep, they should. But they won't. Sad.

georgep7

« Reply #14 on: September 29, 2019, 02:07 »
+1
One possible addition to the "fast curation" option. A checkbox that could indicate that the shot is for currently short term trending or breakign news subject that no other or too low number of other clips or photos exist in current whole library and it might worth to be pushed over clients to partners or directly through email "look! we got it! grab it now!". Everybody says there are "gaps" in stock but by the time this gap is filled with work it is past trend or news...
« Last Edit: September 29, 2019, 03:22 by georgep7 »

StockDaebak

« Reply #15 on: September 29, 2019, 09:08 »
+1
I noticed there are a couple of good and detailed posts in the pond5 forums this morning on the matter as well but I have a feeling they are not listening, it's their way, they do the talking, they know best, they declared themselves stewards of the marketplace, they are leading us in the race to the bottom one way of another and when we offer suggestions they ignore them or deflect them.

I think the reason they have stopped responding in the forums is they got caught with the hidden search price cap, the exclusive program scheme, and all these discounts and forcing our prices lower and lower all while allowing Reuters and other clients to sell for $300 to $1100 per clip.

They are out of lies and they know it.


I think we need to find another agency to sell our commercial and editorial content on. It's just not working, we lost the summer and now here we are in the fall selling season and once again the higher I price the higher they discount so my cut is almost the same now whether I price near the bottom, mid range or sky high.    Last week was a really good week for sales at pond5 but everything discounted so my cut was same or less than what I get at SS.    Good week at SS too but not what it should be for this time of year.

« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2019, 09:15 »
+7
I hope everyone realizes this "live" event is totally one sided as the chat function will be turned off.
They have already made up their mind on what they are going to do. It will be nothing nice for us.

You can make up all the ideas you want, I tried that on the pond5 forum. They don't listen and will continually blame everyone else.
I've been with Pond5 since they started and this is the worst I've seen, totally are not an artists friendly site any more.

georgep7

« Reply #17 on: September 30, 2019, 11:11 »
0
Perhaps you want to correct your signature link, not working.

Actually I read your thread at P5 forum and loved the "enough misery" part, so I copied it here.
I am the guy that need a dumb-bell for pricing low and advertising it :)
(Offtopic, @cathyslife if you read it, people calling names exist everywhere, I don't care if they do not pay my meal)

Perhaps this is different, it is i think the first time that they asked for help,
if we are willing to help promote in Youtube etc. in the questionary.
Perhaps it is a dead end and it is to everyone's interest to help before hitting the wall.
Yes they made errors. Yes they can do better. But still sales do happen.

Hoping for the best.

Edit, being completely honest, since going exclusive this is my only agency of interest, so I have to care or act on what will happen next...
« Last Edit: September 30, 2019, 11:30 by georgep7 »

StockDaebak

« Reply #18 on: September 30, 2019, 12:46 »
+1
I would upload every frame of video you have and tag it on pond5 now, literally go 24/7, they didn't delay the town hall because sellers contacted them and told them they are busy in their production cycles and can't watch for an hour; not buying that anymore than I bought their line about buyers calling them and telling them they want exclusive footage (that everyone else can buy) only on pond5.

I think it's more a case of in their race to the bottom plus the economic resession that the higher ups are in a position where they need to make even more drastic changes in order for the company to keep going.

This could mean applying the brakes on new or similar uploads, who knows. Pretty sure people didn't call them and ask them to delay the town hall.

So don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today or tonight as we have no idea if the town hall will being massive changes or be a mild one but given the rough year everyone including the agencies have had I would be worried .


georgep7

« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2019, 13:08 »
0
Quote
I would upload every frame of video you have and tag it on pond5 now, literally go 24/7,

Funny to mention that, today it was one of the rare times that current ftp succesful uploads were in "processing" stage for more that one hour maybe two. Guess everyone uploads like crazy?

???

StockDaebak

« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2019, 20:27 »
+1


Funny to mention that, today it was one of the rare times that current ftp succesful uploads were in "processing" stage for more that one hour maybe two. Guess everyone uploads like crazy?

???
[/quote]

Interesting, I never noticed how long the files stay in processing as usually I upload all night long and tag in the morning but I have noticed that if it's 24fps it goes faster and 60fps take longer but I guess if there is a higher volume of uploads then it would slow down as well.

I just think it's a good idea to literally get it all up and in there just in case they close the barn door or make some other changes regarding similars like SS did.  It's always a good idea to do that anyways but as you know we sometimes get busy shooting or tired and put things off for a bit.

September turned out to be a better sales month for me on both Pond5 and SS, nothing to get excited about but it ended up being a tie almost to the dollar and the best month for me in 2019, here's hoping our buyers keep on buying!

georgep7

« Reply #21 on: October 04, 2019, 05:39 »
0
Give us your social handlers and we might shout you out!
And only Youtube option included?
Thanks a lot! I am banned for life from YT! Hahahah!

Jokes aside, no Vimeo? It is the Mecca of showreels i think.

???

« Reply #22 on: October 05, 2019, 08:12 »
+1
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

You can set your 4k, HD, Web price to whatever you want.  It's up to you, not Pond5.  Just go to "Account" and "Preference" and set your percentage.

« Reply #23 on: October 05, 2019, 09:21 »
+2
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

No way, and that shouldn't be up to Pond5 to decide.

Ontopic: It's futile to suggest ideas. Their ""townhall meeting"" is not a town hall meeting where people can shout suggestions. It's just a livestream with announcements, nothing more.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2019, 09:24 by Noedelhap »

« Reply #24 on: October 06, 2019, 08:22 »
+1
4K clips shouldn't cost buyers double that of HD....I would suggest only a 20% premium max.

You can set your 4k, HD, Web price to whatever you want.  It's up to you, not Pond5.  Just go to "Account" and "Preference" and set your percentage.

What he is saying is to have a price cap forced on us.  That kind of thinking is what destroys industries. I have 4k 5 second clips that sell for over $400. What nut is saying is to cap that at $95.  P5 should hire him.


 

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