MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Pond5 => Topic started by: zager on July 11, 2013, 08:13
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Hello everyone,
As we're speeding up improvements in site performance and user experience (at least we're trying to) I'd like to hear your opinion on 3 most annoying things slowing you down while working with Pond5 website.
I'll keep this thread as a reference, so please mention even those issues, that were not yet resolved, but have been mentioned elsewhere. Later on I'll pick stuff from here and put it to our colaboration tool.
thx Vita
UX & Design
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I do not know why it is necessary to put information about "Camera model and Software used"?
If image has a quality to be approved, why customer need to know that sufficient data!? He is not expert for that, if he is a buyer....
And that is NOT an optional information, site demands that information even it isn't marked with "*"....
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I do not know why it is necessary to put information about "Camera model and Software used"?
If image has a quality to be approved, why customer need to know that sufficient data!? He is not expert for that, if he is a buyer....
And that is NOT an optional information, site demands that information even it isn't marked with "*"....
I also can't imagine why that should matter, but if it does, why isn't it taken from the Exif?
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You need a best match, you have 8 million photos and the first page results of most searches look pretty poor - there must be tons of decent work there never to be found.
Also better batch editing, I abandoned uploading there because it was way too slow to submit any work.
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Did you ever get the vector upload working? The FAQ still says jpegs only.
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I do not know why it is necessary to put information about "Camera model and Software used"?
If image has a quality to be approved, why customer need to know that sufficient data!? He is not expert for that, if he is a buyer....
And that is NOT an optional information, site demands that information even it isn't marked with "*"....
I also can't imagine why that should matter, but if it does, why isn't it taken from the Exif?
There is no EXIF data associated with video files, AFAIK.
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Not being able to edit an existing template and save it as a new one.
Slow reviews (not a big deal, but I just can't think of anything else).
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Hi Vita,
here are my "3 most annoying things"
1. No reply from support (On June 7th I used the contact form on your website and I got a ticket number. But I never got a reply.)
2. Why aren´t all my Pixmac images available at Pond5?
3. Why are my Pixmac images kept under a seperate User-ID (2@abfoto) and cannot be edited (price) on Pond5?
Cheers
Axel
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if you could model the upload processes of GL Stock to include one time uploads of Property/Model releases that would rock!
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Make the CSV upload more intuitive.
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The upload process is too unintuitive. Most tools are there but very hard to find and could really benefit from a redesign. SS has the best system, IMO. The only thing I like is that I can add the mediaboxes on uploading.
I hate visible downloads. there are many files that I will not send to pond5 because I have very bad experiences with people copying my work. especially because we can set our own prices. So I get a file that sells, then somebody copies it and just makes it a little cheaper...so please keep our business results private. The numbers have no value for the customer because we sell our files on many sites, so even a file with zero downloads on pond5 could have a 1000 sales on SS. So the only person benefitting from the numbers are those who like to copy ideas.
Please give us usable business data. Are the views even being counted?
Please get connected with stockperformer. Nearly all of my sites are connected to their system, the only one really missing is pond5.
Thank you for listening.
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Upload interface is complicated - too many steps and not at all intuitive. I agree that Shutterstock is the current best in class
Reviews are very slow. Sales have been so few that I have no idea how the contributor stats work but please don't copy Pixnac's stats which are awful
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I have only two suggestions:
1. Clips should be automatically converted so they could be available in all sizes
2. For some reason, the capital letters from all my titles are displayed as normal letters after uploading. So I have to take each image one by one and rewrite the titles. I suppose the metadata is not being read correctly.
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Sales
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Sales
This.
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+1 on the removal of capital letters. How hard is it to fix that?
The entire uploading process is awkward. It just is. Look over here, click over there, do this pulldown, go to that page, etc.
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I have only two suggestions:
1. Clips should be automatically converted so they could be available in all sizes
2. For some reason, the capital letters from all my titles are displayed as normal letters after uploading. So I have to take each image one by one and rewrite the titles. I suppose the metadata is not being read correctly.
+1
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1. Simplify the upload process.
2. Optimize the search algorithm
3. The last one is a tiny fix: When I go to fetch my sales statistics from the previous month, there is no place that shows total sales/downloads. I can see my total income but not total sales. So I need to count the sales myself. That's a bit annoying.
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Actually, never mind. I waited a good 9 months for a simple photo batch template to be implemented, once the photo template was implemented, it didnt work. After two more months it was finally fixed, and I managed to get a few photos online and picked up 0 views or sales since. So I just asked Pond 5 to delete my account. Too much hassle over basic features; A working editor and sales. Both lacking on P5.
Cheers.
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1. Batch editing. If most people add photos like me, I will sometimes have 10 similar photos I need to use the same keywords, title and description. One of the worse is istock, no ftp that I know of, so no I don't love uploading to them. Shutterstock and Dreamstime have a pretty good system.
2. Advertising. Need to get the word out, Pond5 has so much potential to get to the top tier.
3. Who is in charge? Pond5 or Pixmac?
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Actually, never mind. I waited a good 9 months for a simple photo batch template to be implemented, once the photo template was implemented, it didnt work. After two more months it was finally fixed, and I managed to get a few photos online and picked up 0 views or sales since. So I just asked Pond 5 to delete my account. Too much hassle over basic features; A working editor and sales. Both lacking on P5.
Cheers.
I'm not picking on you, but does anybody expect sales with a few photo test anymore? My test used to be 10 images back in the day, then it bumped up to 100. Now, it probably should be 1000.
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Actually, never mind. I waited a good 9 months for a simple photo batch template to be implemented, once the photo template was implemented, it didnt work. After two more months it was finally fixed, and I managed to get a few photos online and picked up 0 views or sales since. So I just asked Pond 5 to delete my account. Too much hassle over basic features; A working editor and sales. Both lacking on P5.
Cheers.
I'm not picking on you, but does anybody expect sales with a few photo test anymore? My test used to be 10 images back in the day, then it bumped up to 100. Now, it probably should be 1000.
You are right, but if Sean cant pick up decent sales, I have no chance in hell. And the work I had to go through to get 18 files online. It took them months to create the photo template, then it took them months to fix it, and then it took a month to get approvals. And then I heard about Sean's sales, which was the straw for me. Its not worth it. My Symbiostock site outperformed them already. Same goes for CanStockPhoto, DP, PD, etc. Its not worth the work to pick up a few tenners. 1 sale per month on my own site at 100% is enough for me to drop them all.
Sorry to take this off topic. I'll butt out.
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Please have a feature to at least group or sort the model release by alphabets. its annoying to have the MR scrambled all over
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Please show the original file name for audio and video files. Especially for audio is important. Having versions and then shuffled files, one must listen again the audio to find it's pair on the HDD (to complete the not imported description). You may know, audio files aren't so... visual...
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1: Definitely streamline the uploading process.
2: Unclutter the edit page after uploading. I should be given the option to collapse sections I don't need/use and be able to save that as default every time I go in and upload
3: As others said the search.
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I think it would be great if the current predefined template system could be replaced by an opt-in type of system.
Currently, I need to create a template, save it, then go to my uploads, select an array of files, and then apply one of the templates I created in the past. I think it would be a huge improvement, if I could start with selecting the array of uploaded files, then click an "generic metadata" button, land on an opt-in form where I can specify the data I'd like to add to all files, and click apply.
Kudos for Pond5 being the only site (I'm aware of) to read the metadata added in FCP. That saves a lot of time!
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@Download numbers should be invisible
@View numbers shoud be counted
@I wish I could be able to sort my files depending on the file types (photo-footage)
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Thanks for this thread, Pond5 has GREAT potential but needs quite a few improvements. Listening to your contributors will help enormously.
My 3 top things to improve...
1. Allow the ability to set a price for EACH SIZE, not just a top price and let the algorithm do the rest. (e.g: using the current system, some of my tiny blog sizes are going for $10+, allowing us to set a price for each size setting would eliminate that problem)
2. Clean up the interface. Too much clutter.
3. PLEASE improve the preview image for photos/stills. It often has a very poor quality about it, and is relatively small, with no zoom option.
And 4. (sorry, had to add one more) - Please improve default search order. It's quite poor at the moment, often with many similars next to each other. This needs to be addressed asap.
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Indeed, Upload process is painful.
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Pond5 need image buyers, so:
1) marketing
2) better search
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Merge with DT. ;D ;D ;D
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Are you accepting vector uploads yet?
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Clarification on whether or not your main office is in the U.S. so that both U.S. and non-U.S. contributors know how to handle taxes. Are you based out of the U.S.?
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I have only two suggestions:
1. Clips should be automatically converted so they could be available in all sizes
2. For some reason, the capital letters from all my titles are displayed as normal letters after uploading. So I have to take each image one by one and rewrite the titles. I suppose the metadata is not being read correctly.
+1
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1. Set the minimum price for 1080 clips to 20 - 25$
2. Show contributors images before 123rf
3. Don't make us write camera model
4. No categories please...
5. Offer an option to send us those "you have a new sale" upon sale (not daily).
You are the best site out there!!!! Thanks!!!
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I don't understand why others view the upload system as cumbersome. I think it's great! Especially since the photo templates are working. I customise an existing template or create a new one, then apply it to a batch of my uploads, and voila. I can apply a model release to a batch as well, although when working with a batch, it would be nice to see the releases in alphabetical order, just as they appear when managing them. Compared to the upload processes on other sites, I think the P5 system is the best. There's no question that it's the fastest for me, and that's the most important criteria because time is money. Perhaps others might benefit from spending some time with the upload tutorials to familiarize themselves with all of the features of the P5 upload system. 8)
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The more I thought about it, the more I came up with...
- Set a decent MINIMUM price for each size/type (as someone else mentioned. I see high res photos going for $3, why allow that!?)
- Get the Pixmac merge completed properly as you initially stated. Eg: Transfer our pricing to pixmac, get the vectors onto pond5, clean up both websites
Seriously guys, Pond5 has HUGE potential if you can get onto some of these important things that have been mentioned in this thread. Well done for asking the question. Let's hope it leads to some actual changes - it will benefit us all.
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1. Upload system. Bring back FTP.
2. Cluttered interface.
3. keywording, price set, number of views etc are areas.
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Turning the company into a CO-OP with exclusive images would be the best change you could implement.
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Give us a script for setting prices for all of our images if we feel we need to change price points.
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Is there any way of searching still images but returning only photos, not raster graphics?
My usual test for new sites, "blue whale" throws in even more than usual of images which are not of blue whales, but random images of whales and the colour blue.
The normal way of dealing with this is to search "Balaenoptera musculus", but most of your actual photos of Blue Whales don't show up on a search for the scientific name, but that presumably is the fault of your suppliers, not of your system.
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Give us a script for setting prices for all of our images if we feel we need to change price points.
Cant you create a new template and update all image with the new template?
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1. Allow the ability to set a price for EACH SIZE, not just a top price and let the algorithm do the rest. (e.g: using the current system, some of my tiny blog sizes are going for $10+, allowing us to set a price for each size setting would eliminate that problem)
+1 to that. I'd be happy to set the blog size cheap but the only way to do that is to set the mega high price cheap too.
are those dl numbers right? a quick search across a few popular topics reveals that the top sellers have DLs in the single digits, and those top sellers have rock bottom prices. sadly even the contributors are racing themselves to the bottom.
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Give us a script for setting prices for all of our images if we feel we need to change price points.
Cant you create a new template and update all image with the new template?
I have no idea. That is a convoluted way of doing things, although it probably works. Seems to me a simple script to set pricing for all images would be much simpler and more logical.
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1- Faster review time for videos
2- More sales
3- Vector uploading working
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Being able to see which of my pictures/videos have been viewed in sales data, they all show zero. I think this has been going on for a while now for most users without being fixed?
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Hi everyone! Thank you for such an extensive re-assurance that what we're fixing now is the right thing. Even that some of you feel like Pond5 is the best, there's always a space for improvement. And as both Pond5 and Pixmac teams have several years of expereince, it greatly benefits everyone in the family (artists, customers, team).
Camera Model / Software used
Yes, this was a crazy required field. In the next release of Pond5 website, this would be using EXIF data and if that fails, you could enter it manually or simply keep it blank. In last few days I've tested the new upload, so this is now with developers to refine some last bugs I've found.
Also, the amount of input fields to bother with is lower. We agreed that the critical info is Title (3-200 letters), Decription (0-300 letters), Keywords (5-50 phrases)
Capital Letters to Lowercase
This is currently not fiexd, but already being worked on, so before we launch the next release, it would be fixed (or otherwise I'll slap my face).
Search Results Quality & Relevance
There's a lot to do on this front. Thank you for valuable feedback. One task is to finish the merger (in a meaningful way) of the metadata we have on both sites (Pond5 & Pixmac) and the other is really to use it better. We already use the same technology on both sites. And we've done significant improvements in recent months that were "approved" by higher sales.
As travelwitness mentions, there's tone of great work not being found. We'll find it and sell it. It's in ours as well as your interest.
Templates
Small note: You should be able to edit files without using a template.
Editing of existing template and saving it as new one was assigned to developers as well. Thank you KB & corepics & Carl for suggestions. This is something I should study more. Would you guys be willing to do a Skype call around this or a separate email discussion? My email: vita (at) pond5 (dot) com and the most important question is: "How you usually use it?"
The system should also remember your choices for previous file (for price, and elsewhere where it makes sense).
Also, I can see some potential in better navigation of CSV metadata imports. As Zeus mentioned. Such as if you provide a ist of files and metadata in CSV, it would simply ask you which column of that CSV goes to which field of the upload form. But that's not an easy task I believe. There's some CSV capability already, but I have to find out more how advanced it is. So if you have a lot of files to upload and also an Excel Sheet with all the data, a good system could help a lot.
I have to learn more about current capabilities of this for sure. It might be a hidden treasure of Pond5.
Vectors
Thank you cthoman for bringing this up. Vectors are working on Pixmac and I'm now in ping-pong game with developers to make it even better at Pond5. I've seen many systems - so I'll try to make Pond5 the best one. As for specification, it should take either EPS+JPG or ZIP with EPS+JPG+AI or whatever rich data you'll pack into the ZIP (SVG & PDF for example). We would stick to EPS v10 as the industry standard that gives artists enough creative options (transparency for example).
As for the timeline, right now the developers are actively working on it. Using the specification we finalized about 2 weeks ago. Hopefully we'll make you happy in reasonable timeframe.
No reply from support
Sorry to hear this a-b-foto, but if you have any issues with our support, please contact Kennon (head of support) directly at kennon (at) pond5 (dot) com. She's usually fast, but might have missed your email for some reason. If you'd be unable to reach her, ping me email to vita (at) pond5 (dot) com.
Files from Pixmac at Pond5
To be honest, as for your other questions a-b-foto, I'm also a bit unhappy that we're not yet perfectly displaying and selling all files on both sites. There are some technical and legal issues, that we need to fix. So for now, please use Pixmac and Pond5 as separate sites and we'll let you know when the time comes and the uploading/editing platform as well as "single database" will become fully integrated for P5 and PX. We have to do it right and it takes a bit more time than expected.
GL Stock Upload features
Thank you tab62 for suggestion. Can you briefly describe what you love there and what you miss at P5?
Hiding upload numbers
Thank you cobalt for this. We've not discussed this option before, but I'll keep this in mind for future discussions. Would you be ok with the iStock way, where big numbers are rounded? Because even if we hide the actual nubers or round them, you can always sort by downloads or even best match and get inspiration from the results.
More numbers for Artists
Also to cobalt: As for better numbers for artist, we're now working a lot in this area. Part of that would be better stats and more insight into what you should do to max your sales. I've also sent email to Luis and will try to meet with him at Microtock Expo in Berlin this September. It might not be an easy task to implement this, but I'll investigate it. I hope this answers jsnover's & ammentorp's question as well.
Clips automatically converted
As for your question morning.light, this would be possible. But was not yet discussed in terms of how much work it would require and if we have enough resources to do this soon. I've asked devs.
Sales
Thank you Ron & dbvirago for a nice suggestion ;-) I can say that there's noone at Pond5 who would not have the sentence "How we can increase sales quick?" question circulating in our minds. To Ron: The results I see are better and better every month, so consider at least watching our progress if you don't wanna upload now.
Who's in charge?
Thx JohnItalia for questions. The team at P5 and PX merged and it's more Pixmac being part of Pond5 than otherwise. So we basically kept each others responsibilities in the separate brands/products and we also work more closely together on overall improvements of our sites. With the main goal to become "The most artist friendly marketplace in the World". We're far from that in terms of User Experience and Design, so we are simplifying everyhing to make your life at Pond5 a pleasurable experience.
Right now we're US entity for all Pond5 contributors and Swiss entity for all Pixmac contributors. We're going to notify you in case there would be some changes or improvements on the tax front.
I hope this also answers PhotoGirl's question.
Model/Property releases
Thank you yuliang11, this is not perfect now and we'll keep it in mind for future improvements.
Original filename as identificator
You're exactly right icefront that this is crucial. I've already added as one of the requirements for the updated upload system. Not only Audio might get confusing, series of similar photos are sometimes also better to be identified exactly.
Sort my files depending on the file type
This should be part of the redesigned upload system. If not, please let me know ACS and I'll take care of it.
Thumbnail Quality
Thank you Microstock Man for your suggestions. Thumbnails need a lot of improvement overall. Sharpness is the main issue I have in this area. Also picture detail is far behind what it could be in terms of design and performance. It's in TODO screaming at us every day.
Each Size Price
This is also a nice suggestion as well as djpadavona's suggestion for scripts able to batch re-price content. I'll keep that in mind and if we work in that area, I'll use it to tune the system so it offers more flexibility.
FTP
As for your question pro_microstock - I believe FTP is working. Am I wrong? If it wasn't it was probably a temporary issue?
CO-OP
Although we're not going to get directly inspired by the idea Bruce introduced, we're definitely on the same side of the river and I personally like the CO-OP part of the business. In comparison to Symbiostock, where I have some doubts about its large scale success.
As for the content part of Stocksy, I'm not sure, but that's another discussion. Our long term strategy is to make you guys happy in the first place. Probably not overnigh, but we have some pretty surprising approaches to the calm waters of microstock in our heads. Thank you travelwitness for mentioning this.
Searching still images
To ShadySue: Unfortunatelly you're not able to search only for photos excluding JPG graphics. But we'll work on that so that raster graphics and vectors are under illustrations and therefor separate from photos. So you would be able to either pick photos, graphics or vectors.
DL numbers correct?
As for your question gillian, I'm now unable to get you accurate answer, but once we're done with the data merger between P5 and PX, we would definitely correct anything that seems consfusing or is not updated. It's not top priority, but it's good to have this fresh and constantly updated. Also, take in account, that most photos at Pond5 are there for just several months, so they need time to get to higher DL numbers. This is also realted to Wichita's comment so I hope we'll get the numbers right in reasonable time.
Thank you.
I've tried to adress all areas of questions here. In case you have further questions or I've missed answering the one you had, feel free to ask me again. In the meantime, I'll try to help our team to deliver the promises above.
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Thank you for taking me seriously, but unfortunately the rounded numbers don't really help. istock introduced them to prevent the automatic scraping of sales data of the top contributors, not to prevent seeing if a file has sold in general.
I have no problem if people can sort a search by "most popular" which in effect is a sort by downloads, as long as there is no number visible. It makes a big difference for the copy cats to see if a file has sold 10 times or 1000. It makes copying so much more successful when the number is high. And as I have repeatdly suffered from copy cats who would immediatly copy my work every 3 months, of course only the new files with sales, it is very, very frustrating.
So, a general "most popular" is fine, numbers of any kind, fuzzy or not, or flags etc...are not.
However, I don't mind if in my contributor profile you put a total number of files sold. This does help to reassure the customer that my work can be trusted to be bought.
But again, please don't split it up into how many photos or videos have sold, just one total.
To generally browse portfolios and images for inspiration is also not a problem, however there are people who specialize in copying to save on their own market research and although you cannot fully prevent, no numbers would be a major step forward.
I would definetly put more interesting work at higher prices on pond5 and I am sure, so would others.
Thank you for listening.
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Hiding upload numbers
Thank you cobalt for this. We've not discussed this option before, but I'll keep this in mind for future discussions. Would you be ok with the iStock way, where big numbers are rounded? Because even if we hide the actual nubers or round them, you can always sort by downloads or even best match and get inspiration from the results.
Wow, I'm impressed that you guys are really listening.
With showing downloads I would like to see them hidden completely - by all means fold them into a best match algorithm but I very much doubt buyers really care - they just want relevant images.
I don't think contributors should be encouraged to replicate download success - all you end up doing is diluting the library with poor copies of a good image. Getty and Corbis don't show downloads, to me it just seems to be redundant idea from the early Microstock days.
Wish you luck guys, look forward to seeing the changes.
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Vectors
Thank you cthoman for bringing this up. Vectors are working on Pixmac and I'm now in ping-pong game with developers to make it even better at Pond5. I've seen many systems - so I'll try to make Pond5 the best one. As for specification, it should take either EPS+JPG or ZIP with EPS+JPG+AI or whatever rich data you'll pack into the ZIP (SVG & PDF for example). We would stick to EPS v10 as the industry standard that gives artists enough creative options (transparency for example).
As for the timeline, right now the developers are actively working on it. Using the specification we finalized about 2 weeks ago. Hopefully we'll make you happy in reasonable timeframe.
Thanks for the info.
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Thank you Zager. That's a lot of work to undertake, but I'm glad you are looking at making substantial improvements.
Regarding Sales Growth, clearly photo sales for Pond5 can be rising substantially while the individual contributor sees declining results (or no results). This is due to the growth of the image library outpacing the growth in photo buyers. I feel it is important that we as contributors remain patient while Pond5 builds its customer base for images.
I only have a few videos with Pond5, but the sales have always been quite nice. If sales for photos were to be as strong as sales for videos, Pond5 would instantly become a Top Tier agency.
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Not sure if it is bug on my side, but in the new layout, I cannot delete photos in upload section in Chrome. The link under the cogwheel is pointing out to "https://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=my_uploads#" instead of the delete page.
So the page just refreshed and nothing happens .. annoying. In old layout it works fine.
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Not sure if it is bug on my side, but in the new layout, I cannot delete photos in upload section in Chrome. The link under the cogwheel is pointing out to "https://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=my_uploads#" instead of the delete page.
So the page just refreshed and nothing happens .. annoying. In old layout it works fine.
This is a bug that developers are already workin on since Yesterday. Thx for mentioning it.
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Zager thanks for chiming in on this thread again. I really, really hope that you guys can get a lot of these changes and improvements implemented soon.
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BTW Zager, I have pointed it out a number of times over the past 12 months or more, but there is still the problem on Pixmac's site of the vector previews chopping bits off
http://www.pixmac.com/picture/natural+colours+rubber+stamp/000090632378 (http://www.pixmac.com/picture/natural+colours+rubber+stamp/000090632378)
See the link for example, bottom left corner of stamp is gone. Why is anyone going to buy it if it looks half chopped off!?
Hope you can get this fixed up.
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BTW Zager, I have pointed it out a number of times over the past 12 months or more, but there is still the problem on Pixmac's site of the vector previews chopping bits off
[url]http://www.pixmac.com/picture/natural+colours+rubber+stamp/000090632378[/url] ([url]http://www.pixmac.com/picture/natural+colours+rubber+stamp/000090632378[/url])
See the link for example, bottom left corner of stamp is gone. Why is anyone going to buy it if it looks half chopped off!?
Hope you can get this fixed up.
I see, I'll hand it to devs right away. This is a CSS issue, because if you drag the file to desktop, it's complete. So there's just some strange mathematics causing the bug.
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BTW Zager, I have pointed it out a number of times over the past 12 months or more, but there is still the problem on Pixmac's site of the vector previews chopping bits off
[url]http://www.pixmac.com/picture/natural+colours+rubber+stamp/000090632378[/url] ([url]http://www.pixmac.com/picture/natural+colours+rubber+stamp/000090632378[/url])
See the link for example, bottom left corner of stamp is gone. Why is anyone going to buy it if it looks half chopped off!?
Hope you can get this fixed up.
I see, I'll hand it to devs right away. This is a CSS issue, because if you drag the file to desktop, it's complete. So there's just some strange mathematics causing the bug.
Thanks Zager, I have emailed pixmac a number of times about it before with no result, but hopefully you can get it fixed up this time for good. Thanks for being active here in MSG :)
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to Microstock Man: It's fixed. Sorry for those 12months...
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WOW.
Wish that was the usual turn around time for dev fixes.
Nice one Zager, thanks.
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Well, it's not usual for more difficult bugs. But if it's simple, Jakub our (CSS/frontend) superhero can show himself off :-)
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thanks for the detailed response!
i didn't ask a question though, just posed a theory that sales are very low at P5. I really think you need to set a minimum file$, or something.
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At the risk of being crucified, I have to disagree with the minimum pricing idea. If a photographer/videographer wants to price their work low, it should be up to them.
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Hi, zager!
I am amazed by how fiercy requierements are being made by people with little or no files at all on Pond5 or whose most downloaded file has only two downloads. „What we should improve” is a very serious issue and should be discussed only on Pond5 forums. The microstock group ID offers no guarantee at all that the requests are being made by the righteous people.
Some of the previous commenters feel they are genius and everybody is looking to steal their unique, never before seen work of art. Have you invented the rule of thirds or the shallow depth of field?
@ cobalt: What is that unique thing that has been copied from you and has never been seen before, and sold cheaper, could you please make a single example?
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I hate visible downloads. there are many files that I will not send to pond5 because I have very bad experiences with people copying my work. especially because we can set our own prices. So I get a file that sells, then somebody copies it and just makes it a little cheaper...so please keep our business results private. The numbers have no value for the customer because we sell our files on many sites, so even a file with zero downloads on pond5 could have a 1000 sales on SS. So the only person benefitting from the numbers are those who like to copy ideas.
I agree. Having the number of downloads visible only serves to increase competition and lower prices.
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I am amazed by how fiercy requierements are being made by people with little or no files at all on Pond5 or whose most downloaded file has only two downloads. „What we should improve” is a very serious issue and should be discussed only on Pond5 forums.
Some of us have been waiting for the vector uploading before contributing, so it was nice to get an update on that and an opportunity to give some input.
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Hi, zager!
I am amazed by how fiercy requierements are being made by people with little or no files at all on Pond5 or whose most downloaded file has only two downloads. „What we should improve” is a very serious issue and should be discussed only on Pond5 forums. The microstock group ID offers no guarantee at all that the requests are being made by the righteous people.
Some of the previous commenters feel they are genius and everybody is looking to steal their unique, never before seen work of art. Have you invented the rule of thirds or the shallow depth of field?
@ cobalt: What is that unique thing that has been copied from you and has never been seen before, and sold cheaper, could you please make a single example?
Hmmmmm... I don't see any examples for Olga? ???
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Hi, zager!
I am amazed by how fiercy requierements are being made by people with little or no files at all on Pond5 or whose most downloaded file has only two downloads. „What we should improve” is a very serious issue and should be discussed only on Pond5 forums. The microstock group ID offers no guarantee at all that the requests are being made by the righteous people.
Some of the previous commenters feel they are genius and everybody is looking to steal their unique, never before seen work of art. Have you invented the rule of thirds or the shallow depth of field?
....
Maybe, just maybe, those people with few images only have few images because of the tedious editing system and the endless wait to get a review. I speak out of experience, I never uploaded all my images because of the continuous problems I experienced. Hence I deleted my account, twice.
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Hi, zager!
I am amazed by how fiercy requierements are being made by people with little or no files at all on Pond5 or whose most downloaded file has only two downloads. „What we should improve” is a very serious issue and should be discussed only on Pond5 forums. The microstock group ID offers no guarantee at all that the requests are being made by the righteous people.
Some of the previous commenters feel they are genius and everybody is looking to steal their unique, never before seen work of art. Have you invented the rule of thirds or the shallow depth of field?
....
Maybe, just maybe, those people with few images only have few images because of the tedious editing system and the endless wait to get a review. I speak out of experience, I never uploaded all my images because of the continuous problems I experienced. Hence I deleted my account, twice.
I never had anything tedious at pond5, in fact you can submit 800 files with a single click, no categories or other, I do have some files still needing work there but due to some iptc issues, also haven't got any issue with model releases
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...
Hmmmmm... I don't see any examples for Olga? ???
There is no need as I never claimed I have invented the wheel or that someone stole my unique idea of walking down the streets.
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Zager, thank you for clarifying
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Pond5 do a great job selling video clips. So far, there's less success selling stills. Some of the microstock sites have failed to get footage buyers. It will be interesting to see if Pond5 can get enough image sales to keep most of us satisfied. I'm sure it will take some time. I'd be interested to know if footage buyers ever want stills of the same subjects? As a lot of us use DSLR's to do video clips, we can take a few stills at the same time. None of the sites link footage and stills taken at the same time. Perhaps buyers aren't interested?
I do like Pond5 but I am a bit concerned that the site could become a bit too contributor friendly. I'd rather everything was done to make it buyer friendly. As long as Pond5 can sell my video clips and images and keep the 50% commission, I'll be happy.
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None of the sites link footage and stills taken at the same time. Perhaps buyers aren't interested?
On IS, I link relevant photos to video clips, and vice versa, in each file's description. I know of ONE time when a buyer bought both; that's been it.
I wish P5 well in their endeavor into photos, but I hope they don't ruin one of the top video sites by doing it. Perhaps concentrating on their strength and becoming THE site to go to for video would've been a better choice. But we'll never know.
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Once they get the vectors set up for uploading I'll upload those. Might continue to upload my 3d jpgs in August when I can get back online.
The P5 forums are a PITA pressing back doesn't just go back to a previous page goes back to the main forum. So this forum is much easier also not everyone uses the P5 forums.
It would be nice to see this one grow as long as they let us keep making our own pricing decisions. Please don't ever change that.
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None of the sites link footage and stills taken at the same time. Perhaps buyers aren't interested?
On IS, I link relevant photos to video clips, and vice versa, in each file's description. I know of ONE time when a buyer bought both; that's been it.
I wish P5 well in their endeavor into photos, but I hope they don't ruin one of the top video sites by doing it. Perhaps concentrating on their strength and becoming THE site to go to for video would've been a better choice. But we'll never know.
My footage sales have been quite good in recent months. No sign that selling images has been detrimental. Its easy for buyers to search video clips only.
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Hey Toopy - the Delete functionality should be fixed now.
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Thanks Zager ! I had an image that needed to be deleted and I was able to successfully do so now !
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Thank you Pond5, Byba messaged me that a filter has been implemented for me to select the MR with ease. !
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Thanks for coming in here and letting us help you improve the site. I had some trouble with model releases a while back but it all seems to be working now. I think the search results could be improved, and of course more sales would be nice. Mostly I want to just say keep up the good work.
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I'm very new at Pond5 and just had my first sale there today. Shot of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. :-)
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Congrats Martha on your sale :)
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Thanks, Pixsol! Now I'd like, oh, maybe, 1000 more this month. :-)
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1. Allow the ability to set a price for EACH SIZE, not just a top price and let the algorithm do the rest. (e.g: using the current system, some of my tiny blog sizes are going for $10+, allowing us to set a price for each size setting would eliminate that problem)
+1 to that. I'd be happy to set the blog size cheap but the only way to do that is to set the mega high price cheap too.
are those dl numbers right? a quick search across a few popular topics reveals that the top sellers have DLs in the single digits, and those top sellers have rock bottom prices. sadly even the contributors are racing themselves to the bottom.
+1. It is crazy that there is no control. Setting the top price means that bigger images end up too cheap on the smaller sizes and small images end up more expensive.
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Just a note: Video curating queue was eliminated.
Quoting one of the curators: "It's really odd to look at the queue (or that tiny little something what used to be The Mighty Queue)"
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Just a note: Video curating queue was eliminated.
Quoting one of the curators: "It's really odd to look at the queue (or that tiny little something what used to be The Mighty Queue)"
Does this mean videos will no longer be reviewed? Or that the queue is down to virtually empty? I assume (and hope) the latter!
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It means the second (better) thing :-)
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Just a note: Video curating queue was eliminated.
Quoting one of the curators: "It's really odd to look at the queue (or that tiny little something what used to be The Mighty Queue)"
Great news! Just had a batch of videos accepted in very quick time. Thanks!
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Any news on vector upload functionality yet??
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I want to be able to see a running total of images in my portfolio, without having to navigate to the last page of online uploads to work it out. Am I missing something?
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I want to be able to see a running total of images in my portfolio, without having to navigate to the last page of online uploads to work it out. Am I missing something?
you can just open your profile overview
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Thank you Luissantos84 - I missed that!
Another request though - having spent the morning uploading, I think it's a pain to have to keep changing the price from 1. Is there any way to set a user default price?
Thanks
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Thank you Luissantos84 - I missed that!
Another request though - having spent the morning uploading, I think it's a pain to have to keep changing the price from 1. Is there any way to set a user default price?
Thanks
looked once more all around and I believe there isn't, just sent them an email, will keep you posted
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Thank you Luissantos84 - I missed that!
Another request though - having spent the morning uploading, I think it's a pain to have to keep changing the price from 1. Is there any way to set a user default price?
Thanks
looked once more all around and I believe there isn't, just sent them an email, will keep you posted
Luissantos84 - there request was actually for Pond5, but I really do appreciate you taking the trouble to look around and send an email. Thanks!
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Thank you Luissantos84 - I missed that!
Another request though - having spent the morning uploading, I think it's a pain to have to keep changing the price from 1. Is there any way to set a user default price?
Thanks
looked once more all around and I believe there isn't, just sent them an email, will keep you posted
Luissantos84 - there request was actually for Pond5, but I really do appreciate you taking the trouble to look around and send an email. Thanks!
yeah I am talking about pond5 as well
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I meant that the request was posted for Pond5 to respond, but it is very kind of you to try and find an answer for me.
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I meant that the request was posted for Pond5 to respond, but it is very kind of you to try and find an answer for me.
ah yep sorry! will see which way is faster ahah
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Hi Luis!
Thanks for your question - there is no way to set a default price for your account, however you can change the price of multiple files at once after they are uploaded. This may be a good option for you.
Go to My Uploads, and check all files you wish to edit.
Then at the bottom, go to Actions - set price.
Then set the price you'd like for those selected files, and click Execute.
This is an easy way to do bulk edits. Hope this helps! Get in touch if you need anything else.
Thanks!
Lawrence
Pond5 Customer Service
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Hi Luis,
I checked on that, and it looks like it has not been suggested, so I went ahead and submitted it. I think it's a good idea, and would definitely help repetitive uploads. Thanks!
Thanks!
Lawrence
Pond5 Customer Service
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pond5 is not accepting vectors, so I have nothing to complain as I am not uploading.. :D
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I'm pushing, screaming, kicking. Vectors are just around the corner... :)
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I'm pushing, screaming, kicking. Vectors are just around the corner... :)
Thanks for the update Zager. I don't want to be uploading/paid through two different sites, so I'm holding out for vector upload via Pond5
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Vectors are live! Please let me know if anything seems weird or buggy.
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Hi Zager, does the footage inspection have a long queue again?
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Great news!
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Hi Zager, does the footage inspection have a long queue again?
Hi, yes. Current wait time is about 10 business days due to high volume of uploads. That usually happens each September. And we're recruitung more curators to manage that soon.
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Zager, thanks for the response. Hope the queue gets moving soon.
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Vectors are live! Please let me know if anything seems weird or buggy.
Good news Zager! Quick Q though - How should we handle vectors?
For instance, I have raster versions of all of my vectors already at Pond5 - can I attach an EPS to them?
Also, I have all my vectors at Pixmac.
So whats the best way to proceed?
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Vectors are live! Please let me know if anything seems weird or buggy.
Good news Zager! Quick Q though - How should we handle vectors?
For instance, I have raster versions of all of my vectors already at Pond5 - can I attach an EPS to them?
Also, I have all my vectors at Pixmac.
So whats the best way to proceed?
At Pond5 only new sets of EPS+JPG in a ZIP are working now. You would be able to attach files together later on (attach EPS files to existing JPGs).
At Pixmac everything is working correctly and your content should already be mirorred at Pond5.
So my suggestion is to keep it this way and upload new vectors to Pond5 directly.
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Hey Zager,
Pixmac certainly hasn't mirrored all my content to Pond5. My pixmac mirror is here:
http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@MicrostockMan (http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@MicrostockMan)
with only 598 files online (and its been stuck at that for some time) out of a portfolio of over 2500.
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Vectors are live! Please let me know if anything seems weird or buggy.
Great news!
Time to get uploading.....
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At Pond5 only new sets of EPS+JPG in a ZIP are working now. You would be able to attach files together later on (attach EPS files to existing JPGs).
At Pixmac everything is working correctly and your content should already be mirorred at Pond5.
So my suggestion is to keep it this way and upload new vectors to Pond5 directly.
That's kind of a pain. I guess I'll have to find a script to bundle them.
OK. I uploaded a test file. None of my tags imported. Then, I had to swap out my semi colons for commas to paste them in. I also couldn't find any info on what type of file I'd uploaded (other than a zip), so I wasn't sure if I did it right. Finally, I found a lot of the input fields on the site kind of buggy. I needed to click on them several times or they'd freeze up.
It's been a while since I uploaded somewhere new. I forgot what a joy it is. ;D
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Vector uploads:
Did a test, zipped EPS & JPG and uploaded. File arrived OK but no keywords/titles/description extracted. I have about 800 files to upload and, unless this changes, I shan't be uploading them. I simply haven't the time to add all this information to each individual file.
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Yeap..
no IPTC = no uploads
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Hey Zager,
Pixmac certainly hasn't mirrored all my content to Pond5. My pixmac mirror is here:
[url]http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@MicrostockMan[/url] ([url]http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@MicrostockMan[/url])
with only 598 files online (and its been stuck at that for some time) out of a portfolio of over 2500.
Hi Microstock Man,
we are sorry for that, everything should be synced now but obviously there was some problem with your account. Our IT guys are checking what happened, but anyway - your images are set up for sync now, they should be ready in a few days. Sorry again!
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Hi Microstock Man,
we are sorry for that, everything should be synced now but obviously there was some problem with your account. Our IT guys are checking what happened, but anyway - your images are set up for sync now, they should be ready in a few days. Sorry again!
Hi Lucie,
than there must have been a problem with my account as well... Only half of my Pixmac portfolio is shown at http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@abfoto (http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@abfoto).
Could you get the IT guys to have a look at that as well?
Thanks!
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Any comment on IPTC for vector upload?
Is it:
a. Not available
b. In the pipeline
c. Simply not working as it should
d. None of the above
Thanks
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Hi Zager,
You said in your previous reply that the footage inspection queue is about 10 days.
Some of my footages have been waiting for more than 20 days. What should I do?
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Any comment on IPTC for vector upload?
Is it:
a. Not available
b. In the pipeline
c. Simply not working as it should
d. None of the above
Thanks
good question..
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I don't much care for the dark haze on the bottom half of the cover picture. I'd rather just have the picture, although I suppose if it was an exceedingly light picture the text wouldn't show.
oh, and more sales please.
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Hey Zager,
Pixmac certainly hasn't mirrored all my content to Pond5. My pixmac mirror is here:
[url]http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@MicrostockMan[/url] ([url]http://www.pond5.com/artist/2@MicrostockMan[/url])
with only 598 files online (and its been stuck at that for some time) out of a portfolio of over 2500.
Hi Microstock Man,
we are sorry for that, everything should be synced now but obviously there was some problem with your account. Our IT guys are checking what happened, but anyway - your images are set up for sync now, they should be ready in a few days. Sorry again!
Hey Zager,
Thanks for looking into it. I noticed they still haven't synced yet, still at 598.
Can you please give us a bit of a rundown of what is happening with the merge? For example, I think we were told initially that our prices on Pond5 would effect the pricing on Pixmac at some point, yet now Pixmac is mirroring images to Pond5 at lower prices than what I have mine set at on Pond5. Also, what is the benefit of having 2 competing portfolio's on pond5 - why is it happening that way? And what should we expect to happen in the near future as the two companies continue merging into each other?
Just a little info would go a long way. Thanks Zager, appreciate your time in the forums.
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Any comment on IPTC for vector upload?
It is: b. In the pipeline
You said in your previous reply that the footage inspection queue is about 10 days. Some of my footages have been waiting for more than 20 days. What should I do?
It varies as people are uploading more/less and as our crew approves the content. Please be patient, if your files are still there after 30+ days, contact our support directly at: http://help.pond5.com/anonymous_requests/new (http://help.pond5.com/anonymous_requests/new)
I don't much care for the dark haze on the bottom half of the cover picture. I'd rather just have the picture, although I suppose if it was an exceedingly light picture the text wouldn't show. oh, and more sales please.
I've changed the design to a pattern recently and it should be replaced by the dev team soon. Would be similar to our Facebook cover image: https://www.facebook.com/pond5 (https://www.facebook.com/pond5) (but way darker)
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Thanks for looking into it. I noticed they still haven't synced yet, still at 598.
There might be a delay. I'll mention this to Lucy again to look at it. It's strange.
Can you please give us a bit of a rundown of what is happening with the merge? For example, I think we were told initially that our prices on Pond5 would effect the pricing on Pixmac at some point, yet now Pixmac is mirroring images to Pond5 at lower prices than what I have mine set at on Pond5. Also, what is the benefit of having 2 competing portfolio's on pond5 - why is it happening that way? And what should we expect to happen in the near future as the two companies continue merging into each other?
The merge is being mostly completed. We've done a lot of paperwork/billing/accounting stuff and a pile of legal stuff. Right now there's some legal stuff to be done so we can mirror your stuff on Pixmac (we want your approval to do so). As for near and long term future, use your Pond5 account as the main one and the Pixmac account as the one that might be secondary/linked/terminated at some point.
Just a little info would go a long way. Thanks Zager, appreciate your time in the forums.
Thank you. There's a lot going on under the hood and we want you to feel changes and improvements in all aspects of Pond5 so there's a lot of site improvements and fixes, also we grow our approval team in US and Europe to meet your expectations on the speed of approval and also we grow our support team to be in line with the overall growth of the customer base.
There's also a few awesome things that I can't tell you about now. But I can assure you, that we're definitely growing faster than we thought we would - even that there are still major User Experience bugs to fix/improve.
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Thanks for looking into it. I noticed they still haven't synced yet, still at 598.
There might be a delay. I'll mention this to Lucy again to look at it. It's strange.
Can you please give us a bit of a rundown of what is happening with the merge? For example, I think we were told initially that our prices on Pond5 would effect the pricing on Pixmac at some point, yet now Pixmac is mirroring images to Pond5 at lower prices than what I have mine set at on Pond5. Also, what is the benefit of having 2 competing portfolio's on pond5 - why is it happening that way? And what should we expect to happen in the near future as the two companies continue merging into each other?
The merge is being mostly completed. We've done a lot of paperwork/billing/accounting stuff and a pile of legal stuff. Right now there's some legal stuff to be done so we can mirror your stuff on Pixmac (we want your approval to do so). As for near and long term future, use your Pond5 account as the main one and the Pixmac account as the one that might be secondary/linked/terminated at some point.
Just a little info would go a long way. Thanks Zager, appreciate your time in the forums.
Thank you. There's a lot going on under the hood and we want you to feel changes and improvements in all aspects of Pond5 so there's a lot of site improvements and fixes, also we grow our approval team in US and Europe to meet your expectations on the speed of approval and also we grow our support team to be in line with the overall growth of the customer base.
There's also a few awesome things that I can't tell you about now. But I can assure you, that we're definitely growing faster than we thought we would - even that there are still major User Experience bugs to fix/improve.
Thanks for your answers Zager. It is appreciated.
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Any comment on IPTC for vector upload?
It is: b. In the pipeline
Thanks Zager, any idea on the timeframe here?
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Any comment on IPTC for vector upload?
It is: b. In the pipeline
Thanks Zager, any idea on the timeframe here?
Nope. Sorry. My plan now (read in upcoming weeks) is to improve most of the CSV/Templates/MassUpload features of Pond5 so once I have a workflow strategy for all of those features making volume contributors happy, we'll re-work and improve that part of uploading system. That's my plan.
As for today (for example), I'm gonna collect resources and prepare the steps. So thank you for mentioning IPTC reading.
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Thanks for looking into it. I noticed they still haven't synced yet, still at 598.
There might be a delay. I'll mention this to Lucy again to look at it. It's strange.
Can you please give us a bit of a rundown of what is happening with the merge? For example, I think we were told initially that our prices on Pond5 would effect the pricing on Pixmac at some point, yet now Pixmac is mirroring images to Pond5 at lower prices than what I have mine set at on Pond5. Also, what is the benefit of having 2 competing portfolio's on pond5 - why is it happening that way? And what should we expect to happen in the near future as the two companies continue merging into each other?
The merge is being mostly completed. We've done a lot of paperwork/billing/accounting stuff and a pile of legal stuff. Right now there's some legal stuff to be done so we can mirror your stuff on Pixmac (we want your approval to do so). As for near and long term future, use your Pond5 account as the main one and the Pixmac account as the one that might be secondary/linked/terminated at some point.
Just a little info would go a long way. Thanks Zager, appreciate your time in the forums.
Thank you. There's a lot going on under the hood and we want you to feel changes and improvements in all aspects of Pond5 so there's a lot of site improvements and fixes, also we grow our approval team in US and Europe to meet your expectations on the speed of approval and also we grow our support team to be in line with the overall growth of the customer base.
There's also a few awesome things that I can't tell you about now. But I can assure you, that we're definitely growing faster than we thought we would - even that there are still major User Experience bugs to fix/improve.
Thanks for your answers Zager. It is appreciated.
Does this mean that if Pixmac contributors start using Pond5 as main account, the content will not come visible on Pixmac site at all because you are not mirroring Pond5 to Pixmac at the moment? During your launch early last spring you sent out newsletter promising Pond5 video content for sale on Pixmac, as well as you said all Pixmac's local offices will join Pond5, too - what is your current status and plan on these?
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This is a new problem, with firefox when I select the dropdown menu to edit submitted photos if the item is at the bottom of the list like "set image type" instead of selecting the item from the dropdown menu it selects the things from behind it on the page (like "about" "contact" or "jobs").
It worked fine last week, so I guess this really isn't what should we improve, but what you shouldn't have broken.
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What I don't really like is the review per batch, which takes several weeks between each review.
It would be good to have reviews done at shorter intervals and shorter batches.
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Does this mean that if Pixmac contributors start using Pond5 as main account, the content will not come visible on Pixmac site at all because you are not mirroring Pond5 to Pixmac at the moment? During your launch early last spring you sent out newsletter promising Pond5 video content for sale on Pixmac, as well as you said all Pixmac's local offices will join Pond5, too - what is your current status and plan on these?
It's ready technically, we're working on paperwork part of that feature.
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auto resize the videos. the videos should be available in three sizes from web to hd and at three different price points. refer to ss as an example.
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Why, why, why does it still lowercase every title and description?
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Why, why, why does it still lowercase every title and description?
Sorry for this. I've discussed this with developers. It would be fixed soon (next update or so).
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auto resize the videos. the videos should be available in three sizes from web to hd and at three different price points. refer to ss as an example.
Thx for suggestion. I'll have it mind and will consider it if we do changes in that part of Pond5.
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I would love to be able to add releases on the keywording page!
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The current CSV upload for metadata works well enough but could be more intuitive and include all potential fields. It would be nice to be able to single click clips that are editorial therefor have no releases.
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Does this mean that if Pixmac contributors start using Pond5 as main account, the content will not come visible on Pixmac site at all because you are not mirroring Pond5 to Pixmac at the moment? During your launch early last spring you sent out newsletter promising Pond5 video content for sale on Pixmac, as well as you said all Pixmac's local offices will join Pond5, too - what is your current status and plan on these?
It's ready technically, we're working on paperwork part of that feature.
So you asked us to sign new contract which enables you to sell content on 2 sites, now you tell we should use new upload platform, and again sign new contract to get the content visible on the site that we originally have used for uploads. That does not make any sense. We are not only your contributor but your customer, too. We have spent thousands of dollars on Pixmac site, only because of super local service that has been unique in Pixmac, now your actions are limiting the content selection in service where we have our money in credit packs. You answered only first part of our question, that tells more or less your agency is not going to offer the only thing that made it worth of using your service? So far nothing in this merge has made us to feel happy about it.
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Several suggestions/bug reports here.
Although I've contacted p5 via "Contact us" about every topic, I still post these here also, maybe the old ones will get fixed...
1. Show the original filename.
When editing the file, please show the original filename. In the old p5 design this was visible. Why is hidden now???
Please understand, it's more easy to identify a wav file or video after it's filename than listening to/looking at. In the case of similar files of course.
2. Discover and eliminate the missing title/description bug. Some uploads has no title or description, although I use the same software to embed IPTC metadata into files. In the latest times, around 90% of the files had no description after uploading. Manually adding is waste of time when this info is present in the file. A "reload IPTC data" button would be fine for the start...
3. Please stop lowercasing everything. From a coder's or database's point of view it looks the same. But it looks REALLY ugly and unprofessional.
4. Please put back the "show normal textarea" option for the keywords. The new keyword container it's really nice but the entered words cannot be edited (or at least I wasn't able to figure out how)
5. Refresh the list of files when releases has been attached. So the actual MR count will be visible
Thank you
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i am selling footage with shutterstock since they started but never sold a low res, not sur they is a point of proposing other formats than 720 and 1080
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Thank you icefront for a nice summary. Some things are being fixed, others would hopefully be fixed soon. I'll comment each request below.
1. Show the original filename.
When editing the file, please show the original filename. In the old p5 design this was visible. Why is hidden now???
Please understand, it's more easy to identify a wav file or video after it's filename than listening to/looking at. In the case of similar files of course.
Actually it's shown in the list of files and under preview on the editing page. Until you add a title which replaces it. I agree that it should be there even after you add a title.
2. Discover and eliminate the missing title/description bug. Some uploads has no title or description, although I use the same software to embed IPTC metadata into files. In the latest times, around 90% of the files had no description after uploading. Manually adding is waste of time when this info is present in the file. A "reload IPTC data" button would be fine for the start...
I've added this to our bug tracker. Thank you for mentioning this.
3. Please stop lowercasing everything. From a coder's or database's point of view it looks the same. But it looks REALLY ugly and unprofessional.
This was fixed recently and will be published on live server soon.
4. Please put back the "show normal textarea" option for the keywords. The new keyword container it's really nice but the entered words cannot be edited (or at least I wasn't able to figure out how)
This is being fixed now. Nice suggestion to swich to a normal textarea. Thank you.
5. Refresh the list of files when releases has been attached. So the actual MR count will be visible
I've added this to our bug tracker. Thank you for mentioning this.
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Hello Zager and congratulations to pond5 for coming in that way.
A feature should be great is to set favorite files that we want to push up in best match. You now, if we upload a serie of 20 files of the same shooting, they will come all in first result of portfolio page. It should be great to be allowed to set 10% of our portfolio as favorite.
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I have problems in logging in from devices becouse of the pop-up window.
Anybodyelse faces this problem?
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Thank you icefront for a nice summary. Some things are being fixed, others would hopefully be fixed soon. I'll comment each request below.
...
I really appreciate your responses. And I believe many other users here also do so!
Thank you!
I look forward to have the above issues fixed. Regardless of the list of issues, everything else works quite well on the site!
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I have problems in logging in from devices becouse of the pop-up window.
Anybodyelse faces this problem?
Yep, same problem for me and I think for everyone trying to log in with an Iphone, impossible to dezoom the login page to enter login informations.
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I have problems in logging in from devices becouse of the pop-up window.
Anybodyelse faces this problem?
Yep, same problem for me and I think for everyone trying to log in with an Iphone, impossible to dezoom the login page to enter login informations.
In the works from yesterday, hopefully fixed soon. I'll let you guys know.
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zager, I might be slow, but I can't find any info anywhere on pond5 about HOW to upload vectors?
eg: zip EPS and Jpg together? or upload Just EPS? or both EPS and Jpg but not zipped?
And any ETA on IPTC extraction for uploading vectors? This is CRUCIAL. As is the ability to EASILY add vector files to our existing jpg files on pond5
Thanks
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I have some vector files which have been accepted. As far as I see only EPS version is on sale (like SS). But I saw some other vectors in the site with JPEG versions available as option.
I had uploaded via FTP, as EPS plus big JPEG zipped, approx 15 days ago.
So do I have to upload the raster as a seperate file or am I doing sth wrong ?
Thanks in advance.
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I have some vector files which have been accepted. As far as I see only EPS version is on sale (like SS). But I saw some other vectors in the site with JPEG versions available as option.
I had uploaded via FTP, as EPS plus big JPEG zipped, approx 15 days ago.
So do I have to upload the raster as a seperate file or am I doing sth wrong ?
Thanks in advance.
From what I have seen this (bolded part) is from vector files that have been mirrored over from Pixmac. So if they can do it with Pixmac files then surely they can do it with their own files?
Some nice clear, step by step instructions and guide would be most welcome.
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Hi Microstock Man,
The requirements for vectors are close to what other agencies require:
- ZIP containing EPS v10 + hires JPG (min 2000x2000px)
- same filename of ZIP, JPG, EPS
- you can pack AI or SVG source files to the ZIP and we'd deliver them to customer
- I don't think we sell JPG versions of vectors as of now (except files from Pixmac or other agencies)
Sorry, there's no ETA for IPTC and EPS attached to JPEGs now.
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When I search among the illustrations I see 3 different type of results;
- Only EPS
- Only JPEGs
- JPEGs + EPS
And all the images start with the word; "vector image of ..."
This may make the search complicated/long for the customers.
Just my 2 cents..
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When I search among the illustrations I see 3 different type of results;
- Only EPS
- Only JPEGs
- JPEGs + EPS
And all the images start with the word; "vector image of ..."
This may make the search complicated/long for the customers.
Just my 2 cents..
Yep, it's an issue we're gonna solve...
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Hi Zager, the video review is still very slow. My uploads from Sept 24 are still pending. I have lots of seasonal footages, it looks like I will miss the fall sales.
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Video is really slow I am now non-exclusive at iStock and need those clips inspected!
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Hi Zager, the video review is still very slow. My uploads from Sept 24 are still pending. I have lots of seasonal footages, it looks like I will miss the fall sales.
Sorry for that. We're really getting as much quality people as possible to the curator crew, but the growth of content and sales is a bit faster than expected. We're definitely not just siting & watching. But we can't just bring in people with no training.
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Hi Zager,
Any ETA on metadata import for vectors?
Thanks
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Hi, sorry no ETA, but I'm pushing it whenever I can...
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Some of us have a large collection of video clips ready for submission. FTP would take forever to upload them all. Will there be an option available to mail in videos burned to disc?
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It would be better if there was an "editorial" button in the photo submission page.... like the one in the video submission page.
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Dedicated landing page for photo's.
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You can mail your footage already to our New York office. Contact Byba: [email protected]
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Could you consider to remove (or at least make it less prominent) the acustic watermark in your audiofiles??
Last week we had to buy some audios for a client and after a while of listening i had the feeling that my ears start to bleed and so i bought files from somewhere else - although i really like P5 and the fact that contributors earn more than with other agencies.
That watermark is OK for a short impression but if you need to search more intensive you go crazy.
Try it yourself...
regards axel
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Hi Axel,
I can bring this up, but I don't anticipate this is a change that will happen. It's important that we have a strong watermark that is difficult to remove, to keep users from simply altering the preview files and using them rather than licensing the file properly. If there are any alternatives that you think would keep our files secure while being a little less abrasive, I'm certainly open to suggestions. :)
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Glad to see direct vector uploading, but the uploading system has some bugs. Embedded keywords aren't pulled from the JPG previews, and the Image Type selection isn't available until you attempt to submit the image for review. You have to submit, get an error, then the Image Type option appears and you can choose Illustration or Photo.
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Hi Jonathan,
i am not sure if watermarks are an appropriate measurebecause it makes people buy somewhere else more than it protects against licence violations.
We bought 0 files at audiojungle, 1 file on P5 and around 100 at soundtaxi in the last three months -although the portfolio on P5 and envato is bigger than at soundtaxi.
And i know some befriended companies (i run a marketing company as well where we need to buy a lot of images / footage / audio for our clients) feel the same.
I do understand that its more dificult with audio than with images but nevertheless i am convinced that at least this kind of watermark (very loud, very short intervall, very disturbing) does more damage than it provides.
Just a short idea:
Do you know these "photographers" which plaster their images with watermarks?
Or even worse - these people who block the whole context-menu / right-clicks and annoy every serious user with a pop-up, saying "These images are protected".
Am i a potential criminal for this photographers only because i want to use my context-menu?
What i want to say:
This exemplary person sends a clear signal to its users:"I am full of closefistedness, greed and fear".
Wouldnt it be much better if this person would show much more sovereignty, generosity and strenght?
Wouldnt that bring more positive effect than the savings he made by all his gollum-like "MY PRECIoUS!!" / Fort-Knox measures?
People steal a lot from us too.
What to do now??
Put watermarks everywhere , block the context-menu, write in headers and red-flaming letters everywhere that copying is not allowed?
Means: I tell around 500 users every day "We dont trust you, we think youre a criminal and the only reason you are here is because you want to rob us"?
Just because some idiots steal our work?
This is like i would throw my Leica after a running thief who has stolen my lenscap.
We have one line of small text in our footer - recomended by our lawyer - and thats it.
Once a year we hire a company to check for unlicenced material on other websites and when we find them we send the violator a bill.
If they dont pay we send our lawyer. Done
I hope you dont take that personal.
I really like P5 as a contributor.
But i would as well like it very much as a buyer too.
Regards axel
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The world's most difficult issue appears to be finding a solution to not changing every upper case letter to lower case in the meta.
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Hello everyone, we've (hopefully) fixed the IPTC reading for Photos and Ilustrations at Pond5 (Illustrations via the JPG in the ZIP).
Can you guys prove me wrong in case there's still something not working fine? And if there is, please send the file you've used to my email [email protected] and we'll play with that exact file.
(aah, the lowercase is still there - will take care of it asap)
Thank you in advance!
Vita
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Topic: Pond5: What should we improve?
Sales maybe ?
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Sales maybe ?
In progress :-) They grow every month.
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Hey there Zegar, I just added a modest bunch of vectors, nice setup, just got a nitpick thing...
When editing a vector the option to " tic" to choose photo or illustration is not present until you hit save and get an error mess saying you didn't choose one.
Thanks a bunch :)
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Hello everyone, we've (hopefully) fixed the IPTC reading for Photos and Ilustrations at Pond5 (Illustrations via the JPG in the ZIP).
Can you guys prove me wrong in case there's still something not working fine?...
IPTC data in vectors is now working fine for me. But the Photo/Illustration radio button still doesn't appear until after you try to submit the image and get an error.
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Hello everyone, we've (hopefully) fixed the IPTC reading for Photos and Ilustrations at Pond5 (Illustrations via the JPG in the ZIP).
Can you guys prove me wrong in case there's still something not working fine?...
IPTC data in vectors is now working fine for me. But the Photo/Illustration radio button still doesn't appear until after you try to submit the image and get an error.
Same thing for me. The Photo/Illustration radio button problem, (doesn't appear until after you try to submit the image and get an error) is really boring. It slows the process of submitting and multiply the clicks (I have around 1100 files to submit...)
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Take care not to become as inconsistent as Shutterstock:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/uh-oh (http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/uh-oh)!-pond-is-at-it-again-(/
http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/photos-returned-for-camera-information-what-the-f/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/photos-returned-for-camera-information-what-the-f/)
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great to hear that IPTC reading for illustrations is sorted..
I will upload as soon as I have some spare time..
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You have so many contributors who are not native English speaker. Would be nice to have a spell checker in the tabs for description and key wording. It would help selling in my opinion
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With Pond5 I think some improvements I'd like to see are
the videos also available for purchase in smaller sizes. Maybe this would actually increase overall revenue from sales?
I'd like to see keyword spam and irrelevancies cleaned up and not gotten through so much. Makes for a better shopping experience.
It'd be nice if submitting was even easier. Could templates be expanded to include checking Pictures?
Thanks
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+1 on the removal of capital letters. How hard is it to fix that?
The entire uploading process is awkward. It just is. Look over here, click over there, do this pulldown, go to that page, etc.
Still unable to stop the removal of capital letters. Must be the hardest thing evah!
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+1 on the removal of capital letters. How hard is it to fix that?
The entire uploading process is awkward. It just is. Look over here, click over there, do this pulldown, go to that page, etc.
Still unable to stop the removal of capital letters. Must be the hardest thing evah!
Yep! If this and the illustration check box get fixed, uploading will be pretty smooth. It's getting better though.
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Since support do not answer anything intelligible.
Ask here.
What about extended license, how buyer can buy it and how our commission will be calculated, will we receive higher commission for that or what, your support believe that your license is for all purposes and can't tell me the answer, and after 2 reply stop respond at all.
So here the place for improvements.
and make lower sizes of video automatically or at least when upload make thing to connect it without writing a ticket to support.
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Photos: Upload and edit .... is too hard ... i have only 100 images on line.
I have 500 or more waiting and edit the site is slow and it is difficult to do well in batches.
Many fields to fill and should be sufficient to put keywords, MReleases and price.
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I have not been able to get on the site for over a week, is there a problem I'm not aware of? USA state of Massachusetts if that helps.
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I have not been able to get on the site for over a week, is there a problem I'm not aware of? USA state of Massachusetts if that helps.
More details- I am Seattle Washington and no issues...
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I typed in pond5, did google clicked link, in safari ...long wait then no go
Just tied goog Crome same thing ?? Says web page not avail.
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Just clicked goog add for pond5 no go also. I am looking in my settings to see what's up :)
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Turned off firewall no luck... This has never happened to me before! I'm at a loss
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I found their email and will contact them, thanks Goofy :)
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Just I case anyone has been following I was able to get on the site through only a flsh browser on my iPad, I will now try Firefox
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
all i can say is, with all the gnashing of teeth we have been hearing lately here and in all the other forums, it is good to hear someone is making money.
it sends positive energy to all of us, as we rise when u rise , and we sink when u sink !!! (Tagore..my universal teacher )
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
Congrats. So, what is the story with Pixmac? Are they closing it? It seems to still exist, but mostly just redirects to Pond5.
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Since this thread is a little old and some Pond5 has recently released some video promos that show an increased dedication to video licensing above all other content types, I think it may be worth repeating ere that something they can improve upon would be paying more attention to images.
Right now I'm not even sure why Pond5 even bothered bringing vectors into the mix. They hardly sell and from the looks of Pond5 promos they don't really have much interest in marketing them to their customers.
If selling non-video content is really something they want to do in any real way, they really need to improve upon how they present it, promote it, market it, and prioritize it.
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I like pond, hope its going better there some day. i have 0 image sales. only 2 agencys didnt sell for me. Makes me sad. :D Good to hear someone made high income with them. Good luck to pond. We need some fair big players :) Nice too hear they are working at image sale. Never used pixmac, but maybe it will help pond.
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
While I think It's great that you have gotten all this money today - the fact is they screwed up, and in actuality have owed you this money for months (as per your other thread).
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
While I think It's great that you have gotten all this money today - the fact is they screwed up, and in actuality have owed you this money for months (as per your other thread).
While the base rate (financial bank rate) is only ~1%. About 10$ missed? Sorry i am so bad in math :)
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Since this thread is a little old and some Pond5 has recently released some video promos that show an increased dedication to video licensing above all other content types, I think it may be worth repeating ere that something they can improve upon would be paying more attention to images.
Right now I'm not even sure why Pond5 even bothered bringing vectors into the mix. They hardly sell and from the looks of Pond5 promos they don't really have much interest in marketing them to their customers.
If selling non-video content is really something they want to do in any real way, they really need to improve upon how they present it, promote it, market it, and prioritize it.
+1
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I like pond, hope its going better there some day. i have 0 image sales. only 2 agencys didnt sell for me. Makes me sad. :D Good to hear someone made high income with them. Good luck to pond. We need some fair big players :) Nice too hear they are working at image sale. Never used pixmac, but maybe it will help pond.
+1
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
While I think It's great that you have gotten all this money today - the fact is they screwed up, and in actuality have owed you this money for months (as per your other thread).
While the base rate (financial bank rate) is only ~1%. About 10$ missed? Sorry i am so bad in math :)
+1
so long as there is admission they screwed up , it is better than silence like with some other site ( no name mentioned, u know which one).
but the important thing is as max points out... in his one comment before this one,
any one who is doing well as an alternative is always better for all of us.
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
While I think It's great that you have gotten all this money today - the fact is they screwed up, and in actuality have owed you this money for months (as per your other thread).
While the base rate (financial bank rate) is only ~1%. About 10$ missed? Sorry i am so bad in math :)
No, It's 0.1% per year over here, so the loss is a whooping 25 cents!
@PhotoBomb : Please dont turn a good news into a bad one.
Pond5 is the fairest and nicest agency so far and they do great with videos, give them sometime with images, they have limited human resources and that's why they can still afford to pay us a fair %. They need our support more than any others current agencies, IMHO.
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You guys made my day! Thanks to you I have the best week ever in micro stock.
I want to give everyone at P5 a hug!
While I think It's great that you have gotten all this money today - the fact is they screwed up, and in actuality have owed you this money for months (as per your other thread).
While the base rate (financial bank rate) is only ~1%. About 10$ missed? Sorry i am so bad in math :)
No, It's 0.1% per year over here, so the loss is a whooping 25 cents!
@PhotoBomb : Please dont turn a good news into a bad one.
Pond5 is the fairest and nicest agency so far and they do great with videos, give them sometime with images, they have limited human resources and that's why they can still afford to pay us a fair %. They need our support more than any others current agencies, IMHO.
not with P5 yet. but i have to concur with Max. it is good news , let's celebrate it with PB.
one being successful with P5 means other can too.
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It looks like Pond5 has made progress in a lot of the areas discussed here.
I know this thread is old, but in case you're still reading Pond5, here's my top annoyance (which have been mentioned by others):
Having to upload the same video clip in different resolutions, making double or triple the work. Especially troublesome with large 4K files.
Any developments on the auto-convert feature?
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Any movement on stopping the conversion of all capital lowers into lower case?
Ha ha ha.
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http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/hundreds-of-sales-today-on-p5pixmac/msg389076/?topicseen#new (http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/hundreds-of-sales-today-on-p5pixmac/msg389076/?topicseen#new)
this should echo loudly to ur question >:(
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Pond5 50% Royalties... Depositphotos can be 3%...
DepoSHIT have some millions more files... we have what we deserve...
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Uploading images is so unbearably slow and painful that I completely gave up on it. It's a shame but life is way too short.
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So Pond5 is reaching the #6 place this month, I would like to upload there because they seem like a fair agency. For those with only images, how are they performing comparing to BS, DT, CS?
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700 vectors without a sale, about two months, i think what you should improve is SALE!!!! :(
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I'm not sure if anyone from Pond5 is still reading this but I'll add my opinion just in case.
1. Raise the minimum selling price for footage. I'd say a minimum should be $50, maybe after 2 years of no sales allow it to be lowered to $25.
2. Don't allow shaky, poorly exposed, out of focus, or otherwise inferior clips to the collection.
3. Limit similars.
4. Produce your own tutorials and tips for getting better footage. Put out lists of wants from buyers.
5. Edit keywords.
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I'm not sure if anyone from Pond5 is still reading this but I'll add my opinion just in case.
1. Raise the minimum selling price for footage. I'd say a minimum should be $50, maybe after 2 years of no sales allow it to be lowered to $25.
2. Don't allow shaky, poorly exposed, out of focus, or otherwise inferior clips to the collection.
3. Limit similars.
4. Produce your own tutorials and tips for getting better footage. Put out lists of wants from buyers.
5. Edit keywords.
I'd change around the order of importance a bit (#5 to the #3 slot, for example), but otherwise I very much agree with these suggestions.
In particular, contributors selling HD clips at $10 and 4K clips at $15 is simply destructive for everyone and the entire industry. It should not be allowed.
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So Pond5 is reaching the #6 place this month, I would like to upload there because they seem like a fair agency. For those with only images, how are they performing comparing to BS, DT, CS?
Very poor sales for images. Only reason they look good for july is they added unpaid sales for many months at one time. After the one time adding of sales it is back to very slow sales again.
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slow image sales, and footage has drpped to almost nothing, but when sales come they are like 10-20 sales on BS et al. most months pond is my 3rd or 4th, routinely beating BS, FT, DP and recently DT
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What is this??Why??
These pictures have misleading titles. Please correct, re-submit and do not continue using number codes/file extensions/special characters in your titles. It is the most important piece of metadata in search results and the first thing a buyer sees along with a thumbnail.
My titles are translated... !! dont be worried for titles and get my images on line!!
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longest dry spell on pond5 since joining them. Not sure whats happened, but not one sale since mid july - with over 5,000 photos, vectors and videos online.
I really like Pond5, but there is a lot to be improved as well. I hope they take some of the great suggestions in this thread onboard and turn themselves into a really serious player in the entire industry, not just video.
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1 - Improve SALES !!!
2- Raise the lower video price at least 20$
3- The edit process page is not user friendly, too much scroll down to fill the information.
4- Home page design need to be upgrade. The search bar is too pale. No deal for buyer are shown.
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+1 on the removal of capital letters. How hard is it to fix that?
I may be in an assisted living home before this is fixed.
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I am a big fan of P5. Two years uploading and the agency has moved from a "low earner" to currently flirting with "top tier" status. And for good reason. They're the only agency where I feel like a "partner" and not an afterthought. Giving me complete control of my images - allowing me to set a price or letting them decide. If my contributions aren't selling I can easily play with lower pricing and see if that generates success. And still sharing a 50/50 split with the agency....the only drawback with P5 is their reputation as a "video" source but hopefully, in time, that will change when more and more talented contributors come on board and upload their images.
My only qualm with P5 is their slow reaction time and issues to new uploads. It appears they're understaffed but hopefully, as the company grows, so will their staff.
My prediction? Second only to SS by the same time next year.
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this agency and panther i stopped uploading after i think 30% content. 0 sales and 0 money after 6 months = 0 new content (my images)
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1. (Easier) batch upload editing
2. Automatic Video size conversion (why does a buyer has to download a 4K file when he needs a web clip??? Why am I forced to convert Video res myself and upload XY different versions?)
3. Improve site design. This is 2014 and time is moving faster than ever these days.
4. Minimum clip price of $20.
5. Pay me the first 5 beers when I visit you and invite you for the second batch of 5 :D
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Would be nice to see some improvement in photo sales. They are near the bottom of the pile for me as a photo seller. More marketing of the photo side of things might help.
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Are you accepting vector uploads yet?
Yes they take zip archives of EPS/JPG combos like canstock and fotolia.
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1. (Easier) batch upload editing
the batch selections aren't alphabetized, but otherwise it's pretty simple -- set a price, then submit to curator
sales are decent but spotty. average sales are $3-10+ each so doesn't take many to beat most other sites. consistently in my top 4
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My opinion since I upload 4K an also as Tror wrote:
Automatic Video size conversion (why does a buyer has to download a 4K file when he needs a web clip??? Why am I forced to convert Video res myself and upload XY different versions?
Yes, P5 this is a priority, because SS already has automatic conversion...
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Definitely have a minimum price for HD footage of around $40. Anything less is detrimental to contributor, agency and industry. Only amateurs set extreme low prices and P5 contributors needed to be viewed as professionals by the industry.
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Definitely have a minimum price for HD footage of around $40.
And what about 4K footage? SS sells 4K clips at $299. Most 4K clips I've seen on P5 are < $100, with several prolific contributors pricing them at $50, $40, even $30 each! I don't know why the idiots do this, but equally I can't understand why P5 allows it.
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Since Pond5 is my favorite site to submit to, I suggest faster review times would be helpful.
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Definitely have a minimum price for HD footage of around $40.
And what about 4K footage? SS sells 4K clips at $299. Most 4K clips I've seen on P5 are < $100, with several prolific contributors pricing them at $50, $40, even $30 each! I don't know why the idiots do this, but equally I can't understand why P5 allows it.
couldn't agree more, contributors who price at such low levels are idiots and will barely be breaking even.
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Why, why, why does it still lowercase every title and description?
Gold medal for persistence, Sean! It's been a year and a half since you've been asking this legit Q and still no answer. RESPECT!
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Well I could use another middle tier site but my other middle tier sites accept about 90% of what I upload. That makes it a easier to build a portfolio large enough to have some sales.
My first submission to Pond5 was all images that had been accepted and been selling well for some time at my best sites (SS, IS, DT.) When less that 50% were accepted at Pond5 it was clear to me that - for whatever reason - I would not be able to build a portfolio there that would have enough sales to justify the effort.
Slow reviewing is acceptable. Reviewing that is both slow and consistently declines images that sell well elsewhere is not acceptable.
Until I am assured that the reviewing situation has changed I will forgo uploading to Pond5.
fred
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It would be very interesting to hear highlights of their 1-2 year strategic plan. Pond 5 is one of our few lumps of coal that can become a diamond with a good strategy. When I say lump of coal I don't mean to be derogatory. They have potential. And they have potential to be a leading provider of visual content that both buyers and contributors love, AND LOVE TO SUPPORT. For me they are the only fair trade site that actually gets me sales, both in stills and video, but they trickle in unpredictably. One month I make $150 then next $12.
Tickstock and KB brought up very valid points. For me, money is king. Keywords are important and so is fixing cheap seat pricing. I am wondering how many $30-$60 sales have been lost to $5 HD videos. This is destructive to the market, both in terms of long term sustainable commissions and conditioning of buyer behaviors. Buyers who find a $5 or $10 video once will now look for $5 or $10 videos next time because they know they exist. This to me is a killer and should be fixed. The integrity of P5 should be that we have content that meets these XX standards and, consequently, our lowest price is $30 per HD clip. Clean up the keywords to make the buying experience easier. Identify your differentiators and exploit them. If you don't have any, develop some with all those high paid executives you have.
P5, you have potential and we sure could use a great partner to represent us. A world class partner and one who doesn't look at contributors as expendable pawns once your collection becomes so large that you can treat us like sh!t and accept a level of defects from contributors who helped make you what you are.
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Well I could use another middle tier site but my other middle tier sites accept about 90% of what I upload. That makes it a easier to build a portfolio large enough to have some sales.
My first submission to Pond5 was all images that had been accepted and been selling well for some time at my best sites (SS, IS, DT.) When less that 50% were accepted at Pond5 it was clear to me that - for whatever reason - I would not be able to build a portfolio there that would have enough sales to justify the effort.
Slow reviewing is acceptable. Reviewing that is both slow and consistently declines images that sell well elsewhere is not acceptable.
Until I am assured that the reviewing situation has changed I will forgo uploading to Pond5.
fred
That's strange - my acceptance rate there is almost 100% and the few they rejected were reasonable. I would try them again. Slow and consistently rejecting good images is what I see at PhotoDune but not P5.
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And I'm surprised as well as my approval is 100%.
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And I'm surprised as well as my approval is 100%.
Mine used to be 100% when they first started with photos, now it is about 50% and there is no rhyme or reason to the refusals.
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And I'm surprised as well as my approval is 100%.
Mine used to be 100% when they first started with photos, now it is about 50% and there is no rhyme or reason to the refusals.
Welcome to the club. 80% of the latest batch (they were sitting in the que for 2 months), rejected because they were "out of focus". Interesting. The majority of these same images accepted by SS and we all know how hard the SS has clamped down.
I'm beginning to question P5's strategy for the first time since joining. "Let's give our clips away for free and reject every image submitted." Was an IS Exec fired and join P5?
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My informers told me their CEO had been sunning in Brazil for months. It must be nicer there than in NY Soho swanky 30,000 sq ft office. :o
I admit, by reading this looong thread one got to agree with Sean,
we all may be in an assisted living home before things get improved. >:(
btw this free domain gig does have some super cool clips, but we got to pay our bills too. :(
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Pond5, please do this. You created auto down sizing of 4k files. If I can set the HD price of all of my 4k clips at once rather than editing it individually, it'll be very convenient.
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I can't even believe that this thread got revived ...
Mostly right now I feel like Pond 5 needs customers ... I visit daily and have a couple sales there but, I feel like they've ramped up on trying to sell footage (for very little as people have noted)
Also, as others have said, that upload process is a bitch ... Honestly, the only reason I keep many of the middle-lower tier sites is that if I'm already uploading I might as well upload everywhere since my internet will be tied up for a minute ... but, when the process becomes a good 2-3 minute questionnaire for every image? It's quite a bit less worth it. ....
and it's none of your * business what software I use Pond 5, the notion seems fun but, fuck off ...
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I can't even believe that this thread got revived ...
Mostly right now I feel like Pond 5 needs customers ... I visit daily and have a couple sales there but, I feel like they've ramped up on trying to sell footage (for very little as people have noted)
Also, as others have said, that upload process is a bitch ... Honestly, the only reason I keep many of the middle-lower tier sites is that if I'm already uploading I might as well upload everywhere since my internet will be tied up for a minute ... but, when the process becomes a good 2-3 minute questionnaire for every image? It's quite a bit less worth it. ....
and it's none of your * business what software I use Pond 5, the notion seems fun but, * off ...
And I feel like they need a brand new management!!!
They are slowly diving into Low Earners Tier.
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Mine used to be 100% when they first started with photos, now it is about 50% and there is no rhyme or reason to the refusals.
Last files uploaded few days ago, reviewed already, 100% approval of large batch. Nothing wrong in my case again.
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Recently started uploading 1700 pics (what fun!) and so far they've rejected my top 5 sellers from the last 4 years! Other shots from the same session have been accepted. Overall about 85% accepted. All a bit pointless if there's no sales.
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I'm selling every single day min two sound effects $10 a pop. And every week min of 2 videos. $50 per clip. December was awesome, so was January. But this last few days have been quiet. And one more thing, upload process???? Man, when I canceled exclusivity at IS and started doing my metadata in excel and stuff, I was on the verge of madness. Now? I can't live without it. Every single agency (serious ones) accept CSV/XML files. You upload your clips, upload your metadata sheet and you're done. Plus Pond5 READ FOOTAGE IPTC. So you can enter data in bridge or lightroom and just upload. And you're done. Plus you got templates. I tried those too. And they are great. I have several generic ones (swoosh, whoosh, nature, animals etc... same categories, price, and stuff) and I just click a few clicks when I'm uploading one or ten clips or sounds. But I mostly doing large batches and then I'm sending them day by day to review (curators).
I don't know. I wouldn't change anything at P5 right now except the customers :))) I would like more of those. Much, much more. But also, I lowered the prices of my video clips and pumped the ones for sound effects and it makes hell of a difference. For audio that is. For video, not so much, I'm selling almost the same when they were priced $90. There are people that are willing to pay big money (it depends what do guys consider big money). There are photos sold for $500+ last month. Videos for $800!
Pond5, improve you contributors sales and everything will be alright :)
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No idea what "templates" are for there, or why I should worry about them. Editing uploads requires a pop-up window every time that I have to minimize. It's just an awkward process.
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No idea what "templates" are for there, or why I should worry about them. Editing uploads requires a pop-up window every time that I have to minimize. It's just an awkward process.
It is a bit awkward when you do it like that. But you could give those "templates" a test ride. You can pre-fill, if I can write it like that, everything from keywords, description, to camera model, year and all the less relevant stuff and call that template "nature" for example. And every time you upload a photo/video/whatever of nature, just check the photographs and "apply the nature template". And all your photos will have the same info, let's say, generic keywords like green, fresh, foliage, ecology etc... You can do that for the subjects you upload the most. People, landscapes, holidays etc.
It's not much but it beats IS uploading process (excluding deep meta).
Or, how I like to do it, I upload everything I got, I go to P5, I export my CSV with all the names of the clips/sounds I uploaded and I fill them in offline in excel (you get formatted csv file with all the columns of the files you uploaded) and slide it back on the P5 and I'm done. And I get to keep my CSV file with all the keywords, descriptions, original filenames, etc that I can use on other agencies (with some minor modifications).
I think that's really easy. You upload your stuff, Pond5 generate a list of files you've uploaded, you write that data in (I have my main csv file from which I pull the most of my keywords for the similar files so thats neat, you don't have to re-write most of your stuff) and you upload it back on Pond5. Done! Better than doing it one by one.
And you have a list for your new batch that you can use on other agencies (I do mostly sound and footage and 90% of agencies selling those are csv friendly. Dissolve, Dreamstime, 123rf, Pond5, AudioMicro, Productiontrax, MotionElements, Pixta, Shutterstock, Depostiphotos, Revostock).
Also, If you just want to edit something, and you got your metadata on the photos themselves, again, download the csv file, edit the stuff you need, and upload it back to Pond.
Again, those pop-ups are annoying.
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"And every time you upload a photo/video/whatever of nature, just check the photographs and "apply the nature template". And all your photos will have the same info, let's say, generic keywords like green, fresh, foliage, ecology etc."
My series don't really tend to have similar themes, and they're all keyworded anyways...
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"And every time you upload a photo/video/whatever of nature, just check the photographs and "apply the nature template". And all your photos will have the same info, let's say, generic keywords like green, fresh, foliage, ecology etc."
My series don't really tend to have similar themes, and they're all keyworded anyways...
Then, I would use csv. Download it, make the changes, upload it and thats it. If it's worth uploading photos to P5 that is :)
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"And every time you upload a photo/video/whatever of nature, just check the photographs and "apply the nature template". And all your photos will have the same info, let's say, generic keywords like green, fresh, foliage, ecology etc."
My series don't really tend to have similar themes, and they're all keyworded anyways...
I use a template to tell P5 to set the price. I keyword as well, so select all the new uploads, apply the template, and then send to curator.
Saves having to touch each upload to select two options that are the same for every upload.
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Improve this: When you upload videos your system does not recognize the file name I gave the video. Since video metadata isn't read, it is a real pain in the butt to upload, say, 20-30 videos and then have to go find the keywords in my Excel file. Uploading and preparing would go a lot faster if your system read the actual assigned title of the video.
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I add the title, keywords, etc., in Bridge and P5 reads them - it is much easier than having to put them all in manually after uploading. If you have Bridge, try adding the metadata that way.
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I add the title, keywords, etc., in Bridge and P5 reads them - it is much easier than having to put them all in manually after uploading. If you have Bridge, try adding the metadata that way.
Awesome. I will give it a try. Thanks.
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Hope it helps!
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SALES...invest in sales instead of wasting time and $ into this Public Domain project.
SevArt 30 Jan 2015 12:35
The result with blank search box my first clip (sold 76 times) is in the 1587th place.
What can I add more? after I sold thousands of clips on P5.
What is the result of P5 changes?
For the first time EVER (in years), SS take the 1st place in number of sales per month THIS MONTH!!! with only 28% clips compared with P5.
I never believed but this month happened.
http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=629&thread=39986639&lp=1 (http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=629&thread=39986639&lp=1)
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What I like is that I see the name of curator that is reviewing the photos.
So, there is a guy Archana Sharma who reviewed my photos (I've sent 35 just to test how that works) and rejected 2/3 of them. All for a reason "too blurry and noisy".
Interesting is that the one photo he accepted is in the same shooting session as the other that was too blurry and noisy - there is absolutely no any noise on both photos and both of them are tack sharp.
So, all of there photos are accepted everywhere else (SS, FT, ...) and selling good, and here, at pond5, 2/3 of them rejected?
So my question is - Is this site any good for photography or it is all about footage?
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Samards, maybe you'd like to show us some rejected files to see what we are talking about? :)
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What I like is that I see the name of curator that is reviewing the photos.
So, there is a guy Archana Sharma who reviewed my photos (I've sent 35 just to test how that works) and rejected 2/3 of them. All for a reason "too blurry and noisy".
There is no such curator working there - http://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=about_us (http://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=about_us)
btw Archana is an Indian actress and model.
:D
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And I feel like they need a brand new management!!!
They are slowly diving into Low Earners Tier.
How in god's name do you come up with these assumptions?Do you really feel like these are facts or just your own fantasies?
Are we talking about footage or photos anyway?
Do you actually have a footage port at pond5?
Because all you do is troll (not that you dont make good points in some cases) .
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Samards, maybe you'd like to show us some rejected files to see what we are talking about? :)
Ariene, good point ;) Here are the files, you can see them both there, although they are maybe too small there to see the sharpness. Guess which one was rejected? On both of them is selective focus used, so indeed there are areas out of focus :) Maybe the real reason should be too shallow depth of field? But then on both of them.
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?page=2&tracking_id=8Ub6bcZeCYD1YTwo0gNfmQ&country_code=NL&thumb_size=mosaic&submitter_id=2020325&search_type=gallery&search_language=en&safesearch=1&inline=183851189 (http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?page=2&tracking_id=8Ub6bcZeCYD1YTwo0gNfmQ&country_code=NL&thumb_size=mosaic&submitter_id=2020325&search_type=gallery&search_language=en&safesearch=1&inline=183851189)
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What I like is that I see the name of curator that is reviewing the photos.
So, there is a guy Archana Sharma who reviewed my photos (I've sent 35 just to test how that works) and rejected 2/3 of them. All for a reason "too blurry and noisy".
There is no such curator working there - [url]http://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=about_us[/url] ([url]http://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=about_us[/url])
btw Archana is an Indian actress and model.
:D
:D Ah, so, something strange happens there... Because, my first two batches are accepted almost 100%, and at that time curators had a real name and photo that was sent to me, so I liked the idea that I can see who makes you miserable...
But this Indian actress (and pond5 curator, in the free time) doesn't have a photo attached there! Hmmm
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I send you PM so we do not spoil this thred more ;)
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@ samards
Paprike nisu Leskovacke, zato su ti odbili fotke. ;)
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If I set 4k price at $300 then for 1080p automate downsize will be half the price at $150, can I set the price for 1080p manually? $150 is too high for 1080p.
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"We would like to apologize for the inconvenience because our CEO is still sunning in Brazil. We will get back to you shortly when he approves our reply."
;)
p.s. saying this because last time P5 replied to this thread over 1 year ago. :o
http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/pond5-what-should-we-improve/msg360106/#msg360106 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/pond5-what-should-we-improve/msg360106/#msg360106)
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Start accepting B&W versions of color Images. I know most don't do them well But they are my best sellers. OK? Ya probably won't read this but......Whatever. we need some sales.
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Start accepting B&W versions of color Images. I know most don't do them well But they are my best sellers. OK? Ya probably won't read this but......Whatever. we need some sales.
+1
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Start accepting B&W versions of color Images. I know most don't do them well But they are my best sellers. OK? Ya probably won't read this but......Whatever. we need some sales.
You are not the only one who can render a good bw version of an image. If you want some respect you need to respect others first.
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Start accepting B&W versions of color Images. I know most don't do them well But they are my best sellers. OK? Ya probably won't read this but......Whatever. we need some sales.
Funny, I just did some seascape shots and converted to B&W. See below. I just uploaded two batches to DT, maybe 5 B&W in batch one, 5 in batch two. Batch one (25 total) all accepted. Batch two (15 or so) B&W all rejected for "we do not accept B&W conversions". Now, all of these are pending at P5. Let's see how they fare.
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How long is it taking to get photos reviewed here? I've been waiting for weeks now.
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Two batches from 12th and 20th Feb. were reviewed 1st March. 1-2 weeks around.
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How long is it taking to get photos reviewed here? I've been waiting for weeks now.
Before you submit think twice.... photo sales are sinking deep at P5.
They've got into Low Earners now! :-X
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I upload there as I love the fact that you can set your own price. Not so many sales but always good ones.
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Thanks Ariene, Mine have been a couple of weeks now. I thought it was longer but hopefully they will get seen soon.
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If you ever wonder why things are not going so fast at P5, maybe these photos of their attitude towards work will help you understand better. :o
http://www.glassdoor.com/Photos/Pond5-Office-Photos-E926933.htm (http://www.glassdoor.com/Photos/Pond5-Office-Photos-E926933.htm)
"Sales, what sales?....Sorry we are too busy playing cards with our boss, we don't have time to read this thread. 8)
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why not save the already submitted one as template? It's waste lots of time to create new template!!
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Well you did ask, so I suggest you sack Lawrence and Simon because they are useless and in the case of Lawrence obstructive employees who are costing you money, contributors and a whole lot of good-will. Thanks.
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Well you did ask, so I suggest you sack Lawrence and Simon because they are useless and in the case of Lawrence obstructive employees who are costing you money, contributors and a whole lot of good-will. Thanks.
It's not their fault. They were probably just following the instructions given from above, while working at several other jobs to survive, as their P5 salary is most def super low.
“A fish rots from the head down” means that leadership is the root cause of an organizations failure and demise.
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It would be very nice if you returned the mouse over feature to the thumbnails on the contributor's financial page. Why did you remove this?
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Stop traveling, start SELLING !!!!!!!
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Stop traveling, start SELLING !!!!!!!
[url]http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=715&thread=42781229&lp=1[/url] ([url]http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=715&thread=42781229&lp=1[/url])
KnowYourOnions, I get really tired of your well known hate to Pond5. Why don't you improve your life and close your account if P5 makes you feel so bad that you need to show it to us everywhere and every day?
Seriously...
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In the batch editing, can you please an option to mark several photos as editorial in one click?? Could be a good gain of time instead of copy and paste "only editorial" in the reviewer dialog window.
Thanks and congrats to Pond 5.
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Please stop or put up a button to decide or not to have automatic keywords it really is a killer 50% of the keywords are wrong please stop make us loose a lot of time and money
Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk
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I think the automatic keywording is very bad idea. Search is everything in Stock today and the automatic keywording will introduce a lot of bad keywords and that will hurt the search.
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:-X
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Stop traveling, start SELLING !!!!!!!
You seem to be very knowledgeable on how the stock media industry works,how sales happen,how companies micromanage,how investors ceo's and employees behave,you propably even knowwhen and where they take a dump.
When it comes to pond5 and shuterstock you knowledge surpasses our collective knowledge, that's pretty much proven here.You know everything about them yet you love one and hate the other,but nevermind that.You must have your reasons i guess.
So then,why dont you share all this knowledge and enlighten us,as to how one company pushes sales and the other one doesn't since these two are the major video agencies.
I'm really curious to know the inner working of this business.
Please elaborate,from your own experience if you may.
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(I haven't read the whole thread, so don't know if it has been mentioned already.. )
I have a problem that many times a bunch of my photos are put back to editing because title should be longer.
Most agencies want a short, 1-2 words title field and a longer description field. While I really like Pond5, at this rate of sales I'm not sure if it was worth the extra effort to write an extra title for all my files just for Pond5.
Either you should have an option, to mass transfer every file's description to title, or eliminate this policy of having to have long titles.
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Most agencies want a short, 1-2 words title field
Hę? Which are they? As far as I know the best title is around 3-4 words, 5 is max.
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You should improve mobile friendliness...
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=pond5.com (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=pond5.com)
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You should improve mobile friendliness...
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=pond5.com (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=pond5.com)
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=m.pond5.com%2F (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=m.pond5.com%2F)
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You should improve mobile friendliness...
[url]https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=pond5.com[/url] ([url]https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=pond5.com[/url])
[url]https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=m.pond5.com%2F[/url] ([url]https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly&url=m.pond5.com%2F[/url])
Excellent...thanks...
good to know that THIS particular page http://m.pond5.com/ (http://m.pond5.com/) shows well in google test. :-)
But original web site pages showing different score though:
- SS, VideoBlocks, iStock, Dreamstime, DepositPhotos, Alamy are friendly
- Fotolia, 123RF, Pond5, BigStockPhoto are NOT friendly.
Plus it looks like P5 Dev team is well aware of not-friendly status too! - http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=622&thread=43020745&lp=1 (http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=622&thread=43020745&lp=1)
just saying...
p.s. thanks for all the minuses good fellas! ;-)
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someone already said it....improve sales! i have ZERO sales with 100 videos...these video are selling ok in SS and IS
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someone already said it....improve sales! i have ZERO sales with 100 videos...these video are selling ok in SS and IS
I'm wondering if they have a similar cycle as Dreamtime. It seems like one month I have 5-6 video downloads and the next month I nab one. For example, last month I made $300 in video sales and this month I have made $24. I have 500 videos.
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I have 1400 videos last month made 750$ this month I am at 170$ kind of crazy like this doesn't make much sense
Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk
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Earnings dont help this discussion very much though.300usd doesn't tell me much,number of sold clips is more helpful as data.
Pond5 has dropped 20-40 percent for me while i was growing my portfolio, 500 clips end of 2014-900clips now.
I was used to getting 15-20 sales a month near the end of 2014 (it had stabilized pretty much) but february and march was more like 13-15 although this week it looks like it has picked up a bit.
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.
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Earnings dont help this discussion very much though.300usd doesn't tell me much,number of sold clips is more helpful as data.
Pond5 has dropped 20-40 percent for me while i was growing my portfolio, 500 clips end of 2014-900clips now.
I was used to getting 15-20 sales a month near the end of 2014 (it had stabilized pretty much) but february and march was more like 13-15 although this week it looks like it has picked up a bit.
Seems that someone doesn't like me being open with my sales figures.Is it my accountant?Sorry Nick, lol.
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Well I don't really agree because if someone sells his clips at 20$ it makes a really big difference and it destroys the market and our business even selling at 40$ is very bad for us so I would really say that everything depends on the price and not the number of clip sold
Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk
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Well I don't really agree because if someone sells his clips at 20$ it makes a really big difference and it destroys the market and our business even selling at 40$ is very bad for us so I would really say that everything depends on the price and not the number of clip sold
Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk
Yes you are absolutely right,but for the drop in earnings discussion what i meant was that numbers dont mean anything because we dont know for how much everyone sells at p5..
If someone wants to openly discuss numbers there's no point in throwing figures there,he should translate that to number of sales.
Maybe his more expensive ones sold in April or maybe almost the same number of his his cheap ones,that's a variable of no actual meaning since sales stay the same only commission changes but that's not a drop.
But if you sell 50 clips montly and you drop to 30 even if they are the more expensive clips (commercial, talent released etc), earning the same amount of money means there still is a MAJOR drop in sales there.
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Just wanted to welcome some positive changes at P5 that might bring some long waiting professionalism! 8)
CMO, CPO, VP of People, VP of Finance and some other top roles given to Ivy-League educated folks, just been announced. Congrats!
Let's hope VP of Sales will be appointed soon too! :)
p.s. Thanks for all the minuses :o :o It is rather incredible to get them after giving compliments! :-X
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Pond5 The most important question is whether you are paying for licenses MPEG.LA authors DSLR sales movies movies? Are our videos are licensed?
recommend look
http://www.microstockgroup.com/newby-discussion/canon-nikon-sony-you-can-not-sell-movies-without-a-license/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/newby-discussion/canon-nikon-sony-you-can-not-sell-movies-without-a-license/)
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Shutterstock is licensed, is on the list, and the authors do not have to worry.
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/abt149737.html (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/abt149737.html)
http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Licensees.aspx (http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Licensees.aspx)
Pond5, Istock, VideoHive not have a license for the H.264 / AVC, so the authors themselves have to buy licenses MPEG.LA
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I have 1400 videos last month made 750$ this month I am at 170$ kind of crazy like this doesn't make much sense
Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk
I had a good month last month on P5 as well. 500 videos and made over $300. This month I am at $79.
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...and then comes this Job advert for Copywriter! :o
http://www.indeed.com/job/wizard-words-k-copywriter-0d6bbb3051b51712 (http://www.indeed.com/job/wizard-words-k-copywriter-0d6bbb3051b51712)
About us: ... We're an incredibly creative group of film-makers, photographers, musicians, burlesque dancers and circus performers - we bring creativity to work with us and apply it to everything we do. Oh, and we have a strong work ethic. We get sh*t done.
:o :o :o
In a million light years could anyone explain me the connection between circus performer/burlesque dancer with microstock, apart from them being models of course.
Do they have any Programmer, Developer or these guys don't matter at all!!! :o
P5 is really desperate for that "we are so cool, different and creative" bs.
Such a crap PR!
P5 is a great idea but has a bad execution and management.
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The guy who started this topic has left the company!
Vita says: "To me, the changes at The Company got to a point where my strenghts might become weaknesses."
It's worth a read...
https://medium.com/@vitavalka/why-i-left-a-well-paid-gig-b64bc5efae92#.7800csbe7
I would say, consider yourself super lucky to get out from that circus on time, and GOOD LUCK!
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For me review time is very important. Pond5 is one of the most slow of all marketplaces.
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Pond5 is the only site i never sold anything. 2 years ???
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Bring more customer !!! Because I love the site, but I don't sell a lot.
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Bring more customer !!! Because I love the site, but I don't sell a lot.
+ a lot. Do what Julied83 recommends.
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They have a lot of video buyers, not many stills buyers yet. Hopefully they will get more stills buyers. I presume the poll results are mostly from video contributors. Quite impressive to be almost in the big 4. No idea why KnowYourOnions hates them so much, Pond5 are one of the few that have kept 50% commission and decent sales, that's all that matters to me. If you aren't selling stills with them, try video clips. Sales take a while to get going but its worth it.
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They have a lot of video buyers, not many stills buyers yet. Hopefully they will get more stills buyers. I presume the poll results are mostly from video contributors. Quite impressive to be almost in the big 4. No idea why KnowYourOnions hates them so much, Pond5 are one of the few that have kept 50% commission and decent sales, that's all that matters to me. If you aren't selling stills with them, try video clips. Sales take a while to get going but its worth it.
I sell a blend of video and stills and you are right about not selling too many stills. But when I do I make $5-$10 each sales and that is very nice to see. The funny thing is that P5 is not (at this point) playing the price war game, but they do have a lot of cheap ass work on their site. It would be nice if they set minimum prices for video. That part alone is helping to crap on others who want a fair commission for their work.
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I know I am gonna stir the hornets nest up real good with this one but that's the kind of morning it is.
The the title is Pond5 what should we improve?.
I suggest they heavily moderate or nuke their forums. You can't have non-stop complaining and badmouthing and criticizing of the company, it's developers and coders and management in public like this, it will affect the team there, the customers, the contributors, and investors and this stuff is on the internet for life. We all have complaints and run ins at times with curators or whatever but I send those in private emails not in public forums. There are a couple of contributors that spend more time on those forums criticizing every single thing Pond5's developers do then they spend shooting video. I happen to have almost 30,000 clips on Pond5 and NOT ONCE have I had a technical problem uploading or templating a batch of clips, a few questionable rejections like everywhere else that got me going real good but none of the technical problems those armchair quarterbacks keep complaining about everyday.
A lot of the people who complain have never written a line of code nor done any SEO or coded a website.
Any startup, business, etc, you want to display the image that things are awesome and we are growing, you want to generate that feeling to everyone.
An example, I read the negative threads on photo rejections at SS, brutal and it may be true but right now I only do video but if I branched out into still photography again I would not even think of uploading stills there only to have 95% rejected.
Thoughts? do forums hurt a business? I think they do. complaints can always be emailed in, do they have to be aired in public?.
I think it's ok to talk in general terms how sites are performing etc but the other stuff I am not so sure any good can come of it.
I don't know how some of these guys find the time, I have another 50,000 clips to upload and tag to all three sites I shoot for and still like to get out and film new content and I am near collapse some days after 18 hours at the computer and still not getting the sales I need and these guys spend they whole day complaining about coding and SEO.
That's my rant for the day. back to work....
Weathernewsonline.com
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Yes you are propably right.After all it's the old saying. "if you dont have something good to say then say nothing at all".
Forums should be about * up to companies hoping they will promote our stuff better that someone else's,and a way to rant about how our unique once in a lifetime stuff (that sadly everyone else seems to have) sell.
Love your views.
Mail this post to every agency you can think of.
These poor unfrotunate souls need some cheering up from time to time,since we've been so harsh and unfair towards them.
Surrealism reached 11/10 here.
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The guy who used to work for P5 started this thread back in 2013 by asking "what should we improve?" which was legit question.
He got some very good answers and views that can help company, if company is ready to listen.
Nothing wrong with this thread, these guys live on our hard work by keeping 50% for themselves and should be grateful too. 8)
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If clients can't see description any more
why is it still mandatory to fill this on tagging?
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I am not sure if this old thread still being watched by Pond5 staff.
Anyway, I would suggest improving the review times. I am new to Pond5 and uploaded some video/motion graphics and waited for around 2 months and no reaction. I assumed the site was dead but looking at here, surprised to see Pond 5 in the top tier list.
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The waiting approval time is awful ! Here's the message on our acount : Due to upload volume, artists are experiencing unusually long wait times for content approval. Currently our average wait time is over 2 months. We are working on shortening this wait time and we appreciate your patience.
So yes they need to hire more curator !!! If someone at pond5 seeing this message, you can hire me :P
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I am not sure if this old thread still being watched by Pond5 staff.
Anyway, I would suggest improving the review times. I am new to Pond5 and uploaded some video/motion graphics and waited for around 2 months and no reaction. I assumed the site was dead but looking at here, surprised to see Pond 5 in the top tier list.
It's not being watched by P5 staff...they just don't care.
Too busy sunning in Brazil. 8)
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I've seen the message regarding the 2 months wait time for approval in Pond5
At least, seasonal content has no sense to be uploaded.
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Are you guys EVER going to xfer the pixmac portfolios over to P5??? I used to get a decent return there before you shut down pixmac. I am definitely not going to labour away uploading thousands of images to P5 when you already had them there thru pmac. And yes I did make a P5 account and go thru the process to request my images to be xferred months ago and twice since. Whats the holdup?