Imagekind: pay to play?

[stockastic]

I just found out about another POD, Imagekind.   Does anyone here have experience to share?

First of all I need to find out if they read IPTC; if not, forget it.

But the thing I saw right away is that if you pay a monthly fee you get "highlighted search placement" and even, apparently, become a "featured artist".  This is the first time I've actually seen this offered and I'm trying to decide if I think it's evil, or not.   

[stockastic]

Never mind.

I created an account, uploaded a photo and I see that they don't read any IPTC data.  So, forget it.

Can't comprehend why some agencies can't be bothered to incorporate the small amount of code necessary to read name, description and keywords.   But the site looks dead anyway; their forum shows no recent activity.

[Steveball]

I uploaded 59 pics a few weeks ago (took a while!) then realised the life support had been turned off! Wont be uploading any more.

[SpaceStockFootage]

Not sure if it's 'evil' but I think it's a bad idea from a longevity of the site point of view. Everywhere else features files because they're of a high quality and useful to buyers. If anyone can feature their own items, then I'm sure you'll get a lower caliber of content being presented to potential buyers. And if they're featured files are rubbish, then that's not really going to impress buyers. Bad idea in my opinion. 

[stockastic]

I keep hoping to find a POD that really competes with FAA but as of today there doesn't seem to be one.  And I'm getting worried about the direction at FAA.   

[CJH Photography]

I uploaded 59 pics a few weeks ago (took a while!) then realised the life support had been turned off! Wont be uploading any more.

Maybe this explains why my mark-up always returns to 0%, no matter how many ways I change and save it.   

[stockastic]

It seems there's a growing number of 'zombie' sites:  no action, no site development, no forum activity, no one reporting any sales, no advertising or promotion.  They stay up, so they must be bringing in a bit of money, but they're not going anywhere. 

When I hear about a new POD site these days, of course the first question is, what's the percentage split on sales.  If it's reasonable, and I can set my own markup, I check it out further.

First I try to find out if it has a pulse. Is there forum activity? Do they post on FB more than once every 3 months?  Does the stuff on the main page change? 

Then I check the submission process.  Is it dated and clunky, or does it read all the metadata, so I could actually put up a couple hundred in a reasonable time?   

Most of these sites are just sitting there, dead in the water, producing a little income for someone by selling stuff that was uploaded long ago.

[CJH Photography]

I'm a bit more cynical.  I suspect they are making money by selling "premium" upgrades to contributors with little or no concern as to whether anything on the site actually sells.

[HappyBunny]

I agree with you.

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[stockastic]

I'm a bit more cynical.  I suspect they are making money by selling "premium" upgrades to contributors with little or no concern as to whether anything on the site actually sells.

Yes, and if you think about, that's very close to being an outright scam.   

[HappyBunny]

I checked today and my mark ups are also all 0% again.

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[HappyBunny]

A British landscape photographer with more than 400 images on Photo4me told me that nothing is going on there. I have not sold one image on there yet but I don't have 400 images on that website. Does anyone have sales on that site?

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[HappyBunny]

Is it worth it paying the membership fee on FAA and getting a website from them?

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[stockastic]

Is it worth it paying the membership fee on FAA and getting a website from them?

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If you have no marketing of your own, sales are going to be few.   Unless you have a unique niche which is reflected in your keywords, you'll be so far back in the FAA search you'll never be seen. 

[stockastic]

A British landscape photographer with more than 400 images on Photo4me told me that nothing is going on there. I have not sold one image on there yet but I don't have 400 images on that website. Does anyone have sales on that site?

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I hadn't heard of Photo4me so I just checked it out.  It seems to be 'alive', but barely.  They list their top sellers, and #2 has sold 4 in the last 30 days - which would be a big number for me, but is pretty low for a site overall.   It seems like there used to be a forum, but it's now "under construction".  The link to Facebook goes to a missing page.   I like the look of the site, and the freedom to control your pricing, and the fact that submissions are inspected.  But is it a ghost town?

[ShadySue]

A British landscape photographer with more than 400 images on Photo4me told me that nothing is going on there. I have not sold one image on there yet but I don't have 400 images on that website. Does anyone have sales on that site?

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I hadn't heard of Photo4me so I just checked it out.  It seems to be 'alive', but barely.  They list their top sellers, and #2 has sold 4 in the last 30 days - which would be a big number for me, but is pretty low for a site overall.   It seems like there used to be a forum, but it's now "under construction".  The link to Facebook goes to a missing page.   I like the look of the site, and the freedom to control your pricing, and the fact that submissions are inspected.  But is it a ghost town?

Are images inspected there?
I put one image up there (didn't notice anything about inspection) and got a barrage of likes and positive comments, presumably selected from a list of possible comments. It seems that that's a way to get ranking of some sort, but I was totally put off by that, as I can't be bothered playing that kind of game, far too time consuming.
I know someone who has sold a few there. He's been there for over a year. It's targetted mainly at the UK market, which I was keen on as FAA targets and is priced for the US market. Some of the Photos4Me sales (I have no idea what proportion) are people using it for fulfilment for pics for family members or personal clients.

[stockastic]

A British landscape photographer with more than 400 images on Photo4me told me that nothing is going on there. I have not sold one image on there yet but I don't have 400 images on that website. Does anyone have sales on that site?

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I hadn't heard of Photo4me so I just checked it out.  It seems to be 'alive', but barely.  They list their top sellers, and #2 has sold 4 in the last 30 days - which would be a big number for me, but is pretty low for a site overall.   It seems like there used to be a forum, but it's now "under construction".  The link to Facebook goes to a missing page.   I like the look of the site, and the freedom to control your pricing, and the fact that submissions are inspected.  But is it a ghost town?

Are images inspected there?
I put one image up there (didn't notice anything about inspection) and got a barrage of likes and positive comments, presumably selected from a list of possible comments. It seems that that's a way to get ranking of some sort, but I was totally put off by that, as I can't be bothered playing that kind of game, far too time consuming.
I know someone who has sold a few there. He's been there for over a year. It's targetted mainly at the UK market, which I was keen on as FAA targets and is priced for the US market. Some of the Photos4Me sales (I have no idea what proportion) are people using it for fulfilment for pics for family members or personal clients.

I did the free signup and one of the terms you must agree to is that you understand your uploads will be inspected and may not be approved.   

[HappyBunny]

Yes, photos need to be approved. If they don't get enough likes from other members they won't go on the site. The British member I mentioned is a professional photographer with more than 400 landscape images and since months he had no sales. The aircraft photos always sell. Flowers and cats don't sell I was told.

[HappyBunny]

They don't like Abstract and nothing apart from typical British seems to sell. Travel photos don't sell. Don't they like the Amalfi Coast? I am not Italian but I love photos of the Amalfi Coast. I have one in my home on  canvas and I didn't take that photo.  No chance for my modern images. I put some abstract flower photos up but was told they prefer natural. Which other websites are there apart from Imagekind and FAA ?  If you want to buy your own image you have to go to the Photo4me website and buy it like other customers. They then will pay you your mark up. That way it counts as sale for them. I often wonder how many of the sold images actually bought by their artists. I bought one of my images but not on Photo4me because I wanted it printed on thin acrylic glass.

[HappyBunny]

I just read that FAA gives us the option to sell art RF and RM. I have never put my art on a microstock website. I didn't even know that you can. Art should be paid properly. Is there a macrostock agency for art?

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[stockastic]

Which other websites are there apart from Imagekind and FAA ?

That's what I want to know, too.   There is Crated.com, but all I hear over there are crickets chirping.  I did sell one small print in about 6 months.

I actually think it's ok if Photo4Me is selective and has a focus in terms of subject matter.   We just need more sites like that, with different orientations. 

[HappyBunny]

Can I use the FTP uploader for Crated? Copying and pasting is soooo frustrating. Photo4me can't read keywords. Are Crated and Zazzle free? I am not paying FAA!

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[stockastic]

Can I use the FTP uploader for Crated? Copying and pasting is soooo frustrating. Photo4me can't read keywords. Are Crated and Zazzle free? I am not paying FAA!

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Crated doesn't have FTP, but they do read the IPTC data.   Crated is also free, for any number of images. You won't show up in search unless you get 'curated', i.e. someone at their end looks at your work and decides they like it.  However, as far as I can see, just about everyone who signs up is now getting 'curated' because there's a lot of utterly boring, repetitious stuff showing up.

 Zazzle is such a total waste of time I won't even comment on it.   

If Photo4me doesn't read IPTC data, I'll forget about them, just like I wrote off Imagekind for the same reason.  These companies just don't get it.  To make any sales at all, you'd have to upload hundreds of photos - and no serious contributor is going to do that if the upload code doesn't read the IPTC.   
 

[HappyBunny]

Hello Stockastic, I don't know anything about Zazzle. I don't want to waste my time. Could you let me know please why it isn't good? I make images for people to hang up on their walls. If I do go on holidays I also take travel photos. But I don't want to make designs for clothes on the computer.

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[stockastic]

Hello Stockastic, I don't know anything about Zazzle. I don't want to waste my time. Could you let me know please why it isn't good? I make images for people to hang up on their walls. If I do go on holidays I also take travel photos. But I don't want to make designs for clothes on the computer.

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It's been a long time but what I remember is this: the process of uploading, creating 'products', organizing your 'store' was enormously tedious and confusing; many people spent a lot of time creating customized store pages, and one day Zazzle just ended it and made all the pages look the same; they tried to force contributors to lower their commissions by pushing you back in the search if you charged more than some very low number, don't remember what it was exactly.  Others here will know more.