MicrostockGroup
Other ways of making money => Print on Demand Forum => Topic started by: litifeta on August 20, 2008, 16:34
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I joined http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Community.php?do=JoiningArtistsCommunity&src=litifeta (http://www.printbusinesscards.com) a while ago. My images sat there for ages without a sale. Now I am getting regular sales.
Because the template is so small, you can cut bits and pieces out of your poorest photos and still have something big enough for a business card.
They pay you $5 each sale, and the payment is to PayPal and is immediate.
Check them out.
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what does regular sales mean?
How many sales from how many images?
thx for the tip
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At least one a week from about 80 online I think.
Remember these are tiny images. Tiny tiny compared to what we do elsewhere. No reviewers to deal with, and they pay you $5 straight into PayPal straight away.
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Tim informed me some of you had joined.
Good little thing for those pics you cannot sell
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Community.php?do=JoiningArtistsCommunity&src=litifeta (http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Community.php?do=JoiningArtistsCommunity&src=litifeta)
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hello! another printbusinesscards.com contributor here.
i have been with printbusinesscards.com a little over a year i believe. i have over 400 cards on line. http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Denise-Beverly-Business-Cards.php if you want to check them out. that is not a referral link, litifeta deserves that but you can see what i have done. you can see i am not very fancy with my cards. simple designs, portions of some of my microstock work, ( i am now exclusive with dreamstime but haven't updated my profile yet), backgrounds, logos etc. and i am not even doing this full time, so you can build your portfolio rather quickly. there are photographers, illustrators, painters, vector artists you name it, they are there.
not only have i had good sales there, i have gotten at least 3 custom freelance orders which gave me the experience i needed to approach possible clients in my home town. i have done custom work ranging from a local candle store, to a cruise line in California (through a greeting card site) - all due to my experience doing custom work on PBC (printbusinesscards). i have now launched out and have an exclusive arrangement with a local store for greeting cards and artwork and it all started with one little custom order on PBC.
the cards themselves are very easy to create, a little adjustment at first converting to CMYK and saving them a certain way, but it is simple to learn and there are people willing to help. the set up for adding text to your blank is excellent, there are multiple variations and you can play around until you get one that suits your card. then you can get an instant preview so that if you have need of adjusting your blank at all, delete, adjust,,upload again all in less than 5 minutes. you title, categorize and keyword through a description much like we do in microstock and that begins your journey as a designer of business cards.
i do have to say this as well. i am on a first name basis with all of the admins. i can call and talk to Gayle in the office, and have on several occasions. i find they are easy to get to know and personable, you feel like you are part of a team that wants to work together. i thoroughly enjoy being part of it. i think the cards are actually fun to make, they are excellent quality and the images that you can glean from your microstock work are so numerous, the issues of noise, OOF, bad composition etc are really not an issue there. not to say the images can be bad quality, because they aren't at all. it is just that the venue of business cards affords you a little more leeway and versatility than microstock might. if an image is wrong for the card or text cannot be seen, they will let you know, but that is a very, very rare occurrence, in my experience with them.
last months sales of 8 cards along with a extra use of one image netted me 60.00 which would have been 240 downloads when i was with shutterstock...think about it! those 5.00 payments per card can really add up. also they give you the option of linking to your stock agency if the image you used on the card is available for instance on SS or IS. if someone wants to match their business card to other advertising they can get the image and license it through your stock agencies. the only caveat there being if it is an exclusive image somewhere that would limit you doing so.
there are all levels of sales there, in that some sell less and some sell a great deal more. i am somewhere in the middle i believe. sales have been growing as the site gets more exposure and they are working all the time on ways to promote and get the word out. they have a blog called the art of business cards http://theartofbusinesscards.blogspot.com/ they introduce the new artists and tell some of the news of the site.
if there is anything else you need to know feel free to ask me, as you can tell i am pretty sold on them.
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yes those $5 sales are adding up.
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yes those $5 sales are adding up.
It is quite believable, but when I click on DT or SS icons below your post they lead to nowhere.
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Litifeta,
Sounds interesting. I've signed up under you.
About our previous "intercourse", sorry if i offended you. Just some good natured ribbing, honestly. I figured if you had no objections to rjmiz calling you a prostitute, you'd be a good sport about me making fun of your math skills.
Peace?
PS. Your math does suck, seriously. If you want, I can PM you a detailed explanation of how your analysis if flawed.
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It wasn't mentioned here, and it is a bit important. They require you to upload at least 25 designs to begin with. ;)
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yes that is right, i let that slip my mind. but it really does not take any time to do that. they go very quickly
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it sounds good and could a be an alternative way to make money out of our images but one thing makes me wonder: how they tackle with dishonest use I mean since the required image size not that high res what could stop image thieves to grab some shots on the net and sell it with them as if they owned the image?
anyway thank you for the heads up I will have another look at the site and if I decide to join I'll make sure using your ref link.
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Thanks for posting this opportunity ... but 5 bucks a pop doesn't sound like an awful lot for the amount of work that appears to be involved.
They don't just take your image. It looks like you have to lay out the card yourself, doing all the graphics. They just add the text in the appropriate place.
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That sounds interesting. I made business cards for one local printing company before. It's pretty simple, and very creative :) I just made an account and I'll give it a try
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Thanks for posting this opportunity ... but 5 bucks a pop doesn't sound like an awful lot for the amount of work that appears to be involved.
Maybe the idea is to sell each design multiple times? Then it would be worth the effort?
I did this type of work for years for freelance income (wasn't much) but with only one or two colors. It really is pretty simple work. May give it a try myself.
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it sounds good and could a be an alternative way to make money out of our images but one thing makes me wonder: how they tackle with dishonest use I mean since the required image size not that high res what could stop image thieves to grab some shots on the net and sell it with them as if they owned the image?
anyway thank you for the heads up I will have another look at the site and if I decide to join I'll make sure using your ref link.
the images are watermarked as well as the fact that the sample text shows up on any image you try to save... i have tested it, believe me. the word proof shows up diagonally across the card about a dozen times i don't think it would be worth anyones time or effort to take that actual image
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Thanks for posting this opportunity ... but 5 bucks a pop doesn't sound like an awful lot for the amount of work that appears to be involved.
They don't just take your image. It looks like you have to lay out the card yourself, doing all the graphics. They just add the text in the appropriate place.
there just isn't that much work involved to be honest. most images come from other projects and new ones are not that involved or complicated. the layout of the text is all ready done you just pick the one you want to use. one can be finished in under 15 minutes from scratch to completed , uploaded ready for review. and that is for a complete newby. experienced artists, graphics people with images to work from could do these in less than 5 minutes easy. also like microstock it can sell multiple times.
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Thanks for posting this opportunity ... but 5 bucks a pop doesn't sound like an
there just isn't that much work involved to be honest. most images come from other projects and new ones are not that involved or complicated. the layout of the text is all ready done you just pick the one you want to use. one can be finished in under 15 minutes from scratch to completed , uploaded ready for review. and that is for a complete newby. experienced artists, graphics people with images to work from could do these in less than 5 minutes easy. also like microstock it can sell multiple times.
That's encouraging. Thanks.
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The only problem I'm having is converting from RGB to CMYK. Never done that before, and most of my images are turning out terrible. Other than that, the process is relatively painless.
Anyone have any tips on how to convert?
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i use cs2 and do the following
create in rgb
go to mode convert to cmyk
save as a tiff as a copy - do not have anything else checked there
next is the most important save with LZW - interleaved and macintosh no matter what computer you use click macintosh
save then upload.
sometimes the color looks a tad off especially greens and some blues. don't worry about that because brian will do some adjustments behind the scenes to convert things back to the rgb (that is the simple explanation) the cards are printed in cmyk and the colors are not off when they are printed. as he has explained to me several times, everyone has different monitor settings anyway and things are not going to look the same for everyone. but i have relaxed about the color shifts i a big way. my own cards were in blues and came out great.
also there are settings on your monitor that will allow you to see it in working cmyk ( i am not very technical on this someone else may be able to fill in better) it is sometimes due to the fact that our monitors see in rgb not cmyk... also do not preview in windows image viewer that will really be off - that was what i was doing and having panic attacks about it.
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Oh, I converted to CMYK, and corrected colors after it. Do you think they will refuse my cards?
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i don't think they will reject it but it would not hurt to leave a note in the forum and ask brian to tell you what to do for certain. he has always advised us to convert to cmyk then save and upload not to worry about the color adjustments once it is in cmyk. i had asked about creating it in cmyk to start with but he advised against it due to the adjustments he makes. he is the color / tech guru so i leave it to him , so far it has all worked out.
if anything at all a slight greying of the tones may happen but i don't worry about it anymore, all of my custom clients have been very happy with the colors, and i am quite picky about color as well
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Thank you :) dbvisualarts
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Thanks Denise! :D Appreciate the help. I was freaking out about how gray all of my blues and purples were looking.
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you are welcome. i am not trying to take over , i just like to help if i can. i hope that litifeta will get lots of referrals for his effort in starting this thread. we are always looking for new faces and ideas on PBC. so try it out, look at the earlier post to get his referral link. :)
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Sounds interesting...
Maybe a stupid question:) Is this Rf cards? Can u sell them multiple times?
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Can u sell them multiple times?
Yes you can. The default setting sells the template as a "public image" but you can also choose "extended use" or "limited distribution".
I signed up last night and was contacted within an hour by the community developer. I sent him some personal information about my experience with print, links to my website and some of my stock work. He said he would work on a portfolio page for me over the weekend. In the meantime, I used existing artwork to produce 9 business card templates where I uploaded the little backgrounds (around 1.6 mb), chose the location of the text, picked an appropriate category (large list of choices) and added a short description. I liked the feature where you could add a link to the original photo on IS or other agency. Creates sort of a "mini gallery" of your stock photos and allows a new audience to become familiar with your work. Looks good so far and this type of work is right down my alley.
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epantha - I thought I had to be prepared to upload 25 templates? Did they let you start out with 9?
I'm not quite sure I understand the mechanics of the site, but it seems that we can only upload one image at a time, and we have to do some work on it wt the site (on line). Do you find uploading is very time consuming?
It does seem interresting - a change from trying out a new MS site! ???
Radrunner
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I also thought I had to have 25 templates but maybe since I have experience designing business cards and worked at a printer, the guy thought it would be OK for me to get started. I should have 25 new templates for the site by the end of the weekend.
Very similar to uploading at IS where you click the button and browse to upload the file and then work with the description and type layout and then it goes into a queue for approval. Somewhat tedious process but the work needs to be done initially so you can get the card the way you want it and the description and category helps in specific searches.
Now I'm wondering if there are more Bus. Card sites like this, or is this one unique with the artists contributing artwork for the printer?
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Hello Folks,
My name is Tim and I'm the Community Development Manager at PrintBusinessCards.com.
I don't want to cause too much of a stir here in your thread litifeta, but I also thought it was prudent to mention a couple of important things. First of all, thank you for starting the thread and recommending our site. Several of you have registered with us and have started uploading some wonderful looking business card templates.
What I would like to do is simply clarify a few things so there isn't any confusion.
Here's how the beginning steps work:
1. Register on our site. Please use the link that litifeta supplied: http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Community.php?do=JoiningArtistsCommunity&src=litifeta. For some reason, the very first link that he posted takes you to the home page. So, please just use the link that is right here. The second link that litifeta supplied is okay too. A couple people signed up as users/customers and started uploading. This only puts those designs into that user's shopping cart...this won't work well for trying to sell cards to other customers. :) You need to register using litifeta's link, which takes you directly to the artist registration area.
2. Check out the design requirements for our templates and start uploading. The minimum is 25 templates, there is no maximum. You may upload all 25 in one hour, day, or take a week. However, your portfolio won't be published until there are 25 available.
3. You will receive an email from me requesting information about yourself, your photography, and links that you would like to include in your portfolio. It is essential to get this info. to me so that I can create your portfolio/landing page on our site. I will send the text back to you for your approval prior to publishing it. Once your page is written and approved by you and I have 25 templates available in your portfolio, I will then publish your work and page on our site.
There are more steps and features, but I don't need to explain all of them here. I can/will communicate them to you outside of this forum.
To answer another question I saw here: yes, you can sell the same card to multiple customers. It functions very much like a stock site, just that the product is a business card template and not simply an image.
For those of you who have signed up, again...thank you! I'm excited about seeing your work on our site. I'd like to encourage you to sign in and visit the artist forum area on our site as well. We have many excellent artists and lots of good information is there that should help and encourage you in this new venture with business cards.
Thanks again. I hope I didn't irritate anyone by posting here. Just thought it might be in the best interest of everyone.
Thanks litifeta and Denise...you're great! :)
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TimMc,
I uploaded 25 a day or two ago and they are all listed as "Needs Approval" on the manage templates page. Am I doing this right or?
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your welcome tim,
kngkyle, they will tell you if there is a problem. sometimes it takes a couple of days for the reviews to go through and especially if there are a group of new artist submitting. if they aren't approved by monday, just contact them, it is probably a busy time.
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KngKyle,
Your templates look good. I haven't reviewed all of them just yet though. In the letter I sent to you, I asked if you would please send me information about you, your photography and artwork, links that you would like to list, etc. I need that information to create your portfolio/landing page for our site. After I have written your page, have it reviewed and approved by you, I will then go through and approve all of your templates and publish your page.
So, the only thing holding up the process is getting your information so I can write your page. If you can send it to me tonight or Sunday morning, I will work on it along with several of the other pages that I need to write Sunday evening.
I "try" not to work much on the weekends. However, most of the time, I fail miserably at it, haha.
Anyhow, I look forward to receiving your information.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Tim ~~
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Where do I have to enter informations about my self, please?
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Where do I have to enter informations about my self, please?
I replied to an email that was sent to me but there is also a place on the "My Account" page, fourth bullet down and it says:
"Work with us to develop the text for your main page by sending us information about you, your work, links to your website and other relevant information related to you which we will place in our Featured Artists Section."
The words "sending us" is a link to a form where you can enter your information.
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Please feel free to simply email your information directly back to me ([email protected]). I can then get to work creating your page on our site.
Thanks! :)
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Ok, thank you!
Tim, I sent you few sentences about my self and my photo. I also submitted 25 templates. I hope I will get in! Regards!
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I've been with them for a few months, I think I'm up to around 50 cards. Not too many sales just yet, but I need to keep on making more. With the text placement on the cards, I think there is a bit of a learning curve remembering how to navigate the text placement categories. You do catch on with practice.
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I'm optimistic about the growth potential of this company. Very curious to see how things go in the next few years.
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What personal information do they require? I am not too happy about having to share any information about myself...
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What personal information do they require? I am not too happy about having to share any information about myself...
They already know everything about you. If you feel behind your left ear there´s a scar from when they put in the chip ;)
If people here that I recognize from a while back is saying they are happy with it, Im feeling safe.
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What personal information do they require? I am not too happy about having to share any information about myself...
Hmm... I am afraid that many people already know almost everything about you, so I don't understand why you are afraid to say some ordinary things about your self. Few people more or less...what makes the difference? Unless you are from other planet and you are really afraid to share any information about your self
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Signed up there over the weekend. Hope it will work out! Looks like fun to create the templates.
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How long is the approval time for a template?
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Thanks again. I hope I didn't irritate anyone by posting here. Just thought it might be in the best interest of everyone.
Thanks litifeta and Denise...you're great! :)
Hi Tim,
Just to let you know, in case you were still wondering, that we get quite a lot of staff on the forums here (from the stock agencies etc.) and I think that no one minds as long as people are honest about who they are. I for one find it a very useful source of info. It's often easier to ask questions "on neutral ground" away from stock site forums.
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How did you find out about this site? Have you heard of others or do you know where to look to find more. They sound interesting. I enjoy doing design as well, so this could be fun too.
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it goes through the word of mouth channels. a friend hears and wants to share with others and so on and so on. i also do greeting cards on greetingcarduniverse.
as for the approval time it varies but is usually only a couple of days. it seems thanks to this post, they are swamped right now, in a good way. so it may take a couple of extra days.
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i also do greeting cards on greetingcarduniverse.
I see that artists get .56¢ per download on this site. Do you get a lot of downloads each month?
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I actually learned about PrintBusinessCards in May 2007. It was hospitalera posting here in this very forum, and I signed in.
This is the old thread:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php/topic,1795.0.html (http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php/topic,1795.0.html)
(Don't know whether her referral link in that old posting is still working.)
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i also do greeting cards on greetingcarduniverse.
I see that artists get .56¢ per download on this site. Do you get a lot of downloads each month?
actually they just changed the fees and such and we get from 21 cents to 56 cents depending on if we are part of a bulk sale or not. sales vary and as the holiday's approach they will pick up. also they are in a push to get more advertising. they are a fairly new company but are powered by 7 of the reminder services that will email you to remind you of birthdays anniversaries etc.
i have had decent sales there and we do get a discount for our own cards to be printed so that is a perk. they also will mail out cards from their site directly and that is a big convenience for busy people.
if you are exclusive anywhere this is not an option for you though.
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Hello Everyone,
Wow! The positive response we have received has been overwhelming! Thank you!
We have over 30 new artist registrations as a result of this thread. I'm really excited about the people who have signed up with us and have started submitting card templates. You all are a very talented group!
Because we are a small company, I need to temporarily curtail working on new registrations. So, for anyone who registers after midnight tonight (Tuesday 8/26/08), I probably won't be able to review/approve your templates and publish your page on our site until after the 5th of September. I apologize if this causes a problem for anyone.
As I mentioned, we are a small (but growing) company. I invest a lot of time into writing and publishing each artist's portfolio. I have enjoyed getting to know the new folks who have signed up and started submitting. I feel very fortunate to have them as a part of our community.
Prior to this influx of new folks, we had around 75 contributing artists on our site. So, as you can see, the addition of 30 new artists is very exciting for us.
We are also in the process of putting together a new, exciting feature for our website that directly impacts our artists (potentially increasing their revenue per sale dramatically). Due to the addition of this new program and all of the new artists, I need to place a temporary hold on processing anymore artists.
Again, this is temporary! :) As soon as I have everyone who registered with us (prior to midnight tonight) set up on our site and we have this new program implemented, I will post here again that we are 'open' again for new artists to join our community.
Litifeta...thank you so much for posting here and recommending us. I am deeply grateful!
Everyone, I will keep you updated on the progress. If I can start accepting new artists earlier than September 5th, I will definitely let you know!
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I am one of your new artists :) And I'm looking forward to upload some new templates :)
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Hello Everyone,
Wow! The positive response we have received has been overwhelming! Thank you!
We have over 30 new artist registrations as a result of this thread.
I am one of them :) I will upload my templates within a few days
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Hi Whitechild and Miklav,
I have your registrations listed already and will work to get your pages published now.
Whitechild, your page should go up live today...just got your email with your approval of the text.
Miklav, I received your email yesterday with your information. I should be able to work on your page's text a little later today.
Thanks guys!
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Hi Tim, I already saw my page and I like it very much. Here it is :)
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Ivan-Paunovic-Business-Cards.php
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You have some great photos Ivan. I am jealous
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And Ivan's a Veterinarian! Do you have a specific area of animal care?
Nice job with the card designs :)
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Woo hoo! I have a page up too now.
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Melinda-Fawver-Business-Cards.php.
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Thank you litifeta. I am sure you have no reason to be jealous. Your photos are really great :)
@epantha, I don't have any specific area of animal care, but I can say I like to work with small animals more than with big ones. :D
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maybe I'm missing something, but...
I registered, uploaded a few tamplates, but then nothing happens, it just brings me back to the upload page, and I can seem to find my uploads anywhere I looked.
how do you get to the page of setting up the templates?
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Lior, you should be able to manage your templates when you click on "My Account" in the upper right.
Did you sign up from this page?
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Community.php?do=JoiningArtistsCommunity
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Woo hoo! I have a page up too now.
[url]http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Melinda-Fawver-Business-Cards.php.[/url]
i read your page.. great templates. i am up the road from you in bristol. hope you enjoy PBC
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I´m also register and upload the 25 templates. Any one have any idea how much time takes to review?
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Lior, you should be able to manage your templates when you click on "My Account" in the upper right.
Did you sign up from this page?
[url]http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Community.php?do=JoiningArtistsCommunity[/url]
I joined from the page Tim posted in his post.
I did try looking in the "My account" page, but nothing is there, and when I click on "Manage templates" it gets me to a search page with no images on it. I tired searching with the filenames I uploaded but it found nothing.
one thing that could be it is when I upload an image, when the upload is done it gets me back to the upload page with a "Only Tif Files Can Be Uploaded Here" message in bold red letters on the top of the screen.
But I did upload tif images with the exact specs they asked to.
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I also registered with the link from this page. Uploaded two templates for a test and they still waiting for approval.
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one thing that could be it is when I upload an image, when the upload is done it gets me back to the upload page with a "Only Tif Files Can Be Uploaded Here" message in bold red letters on the top of the screen.
But I did upload tif images with the exact specs they asked to.
which program do you use? did you follow these steps?
i use cs2 and do the following
create in rgb
go to mode convert to cmyk
save as a tiff as a copy - do not have anything else checked there
next is most important save with LZW - interleaved and macintosh no matter what computer you use click macintosh
save then upload.
missing any of those will get it booted out... i know, i get in a hurry and get booted occasionally ::)
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Okay,
I think I should answer a few of the questions that have come up since my last post.
oboy (Hlernerer): The two templates you uploaded are great. Feel free to continue to upload. No templates will be approved until you have a minimum of 25 uploaded. I also need to have you review the text that I sent to you for your page (sent Tuesday night). Once I have your approval on the text and 25 templates...I'll get your page and templates up on the site asap.
Lior: I just sent you an email concerning your difficulties uploading. If you still cannot figure out what the issue is, please send me one template file via email. I'll forward it to Brian, our site developer and head designer. I'll have him check it out all and see if he can determine what the problem may be. Your registration was after my last post and unfortunately, I won't be able to process it until after Sept. 5th.
PauloResende: I also sent an email to you today. Your registration is after the cutoff too. The templates you uploaded look great. I will not be able to work on the rest of your registration until after Sept. 5th as well.
Lior and Paulo, again, I apologize for the delay in being able to process your registrations. I have to get caught up and also get this major change in place on our system.
Thanks! I'll keep checking in...
Whitechild and epantha...glad you like your pages! I think they turned out nice too. You both have some excellent templates too. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)
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I uploaded more than 25 templates yesterday but they all are waiting for approval... (AT56674 to AT56733)
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MikLav: I am working on the text for your page today. Once I have it written, I'll send it to you for your review and approval. As soon as that happens, I'll get your page up and approved. :) I'm getting it all done as fast as I can. ;)
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Thank you Tim, I send you the approval already, but in case you did not receive it - the text is OK. Did not know that you need 25 templates. Will work on this over the weekend.
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oboy: Thanks for letting me know about the page. For some reason, I can't find your email. Anyhow, thanks for posting it here. I look forward to seeing the rest of your templates. As soon as they're up, I'll get your page posted and templates approved.
Thanks!
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I posted this in our forum at PrintBusinessCards.com (for those of you who have registered on our site, you can view it when you are signed in...it's in the General section of the Artists Forum). However, I thought it would be prudent to post it here too since many of the new artists and pending artists for our site frequently visit here.
The following is some information about business card template design.
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We are all thrilled to have you as part of our growing community here. Many of you have been uploading excellent business card templates.
I do however want to share a few tips with you that will help you increase the ability to sell your cards.
1. I'm seeing a lot of vertical card designs. While these are pleasing to the eye...they don't sell well. Horizontal cards outsell vertical cards 99.99% the time. If it's possible to create a horizontal card, I'd always recommend that you do so. If you cannot create a good horizontal card out of a particular design, feel free to go ahead and upload it. However, the probability of selling it is much, much lower than if it were a horizontal design.
2. Text space on cards. Business card design is a bit different due to the fact that text space has to be maximized. Remember, the customer is purchasing a business card to convey information. Really, the design/image is secondary for them. The picture or design is there to REINFORCE something about their company or product. While the image and design is very important and helps their card get noticed, the most important thing for the customer is the ability to prominently place the name of their company and desire contact information on the card. Cards that don't have ample text space lower their appeal to customers. Please take this into consideration when putting together your templates.
3. Ability to read the text. The background behind the text placement is also important. I have not approved quite a few cards because the background behind the text is both light and dark. It has to be one or the other. If the background is dark, light text will show up. If the background is light, darker text will show up. However, a mixture of the two renders the text unreadable. Please make sure that the area you have for the text allows it to be readable.
I think that's it for now. Again, we are thrilled that you have chosen to join us. I know that you all desire to sell cards and make money! Following the tips listed above will assist you in your efforts! Thanks!
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If interested you can check my page (thanks Tim): http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Mikhail-Lavrenov-Business-Cards.php
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Congrats Miklav, great templates!
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Wow! Very nice job Miklav!
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thank you! :)
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If you want to use the template for more business cards - do you really have to upload it each time again, or is there a shorter way?
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If you want to use the template for more business cards - do you really have to upload it each time again, or is there a shorter way?
I think i don't understand the question. The "template" here is an image, with precise dimensions, nothing more. So, you cannot use one template more than once. I mean, every template is different image, so you have to upload one by one template (image), like in every stock site.
When you upload one template, you make a business card of it, but I think you shouldn't use one template for more business cards, because all text fields you make can be modified by customer. That means, any customer can choose one of your business cards, and change text fields, text color, font etc. and make his own business card the way he likes it. So, basically, the only important thing you give to customers is am image, and they choose text placement and style. There is no point of making more than one template with one single image. That is leaved to customers.
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Thank you very much, WhiteChild. I obviously misunderstood the concept. I thought it was up to me to set the business cards all ready with the text fields. So I tried to save one image (template) with a few different text fields. :-)
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Thank you very much, WhiteChild. I obviously misunderstood the concept. I thought it was up to me to set the business cards all ready with the text fields. So I tried to save one image (template) with a few different text fields. :-)
you welcome ;) it's not that complicated at all, an it's very creative
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Whitechild...your response to that question was perfect.
I came back in this morning to post the following:
Uploading the same image in the same location on a card template multiple times. Please do not do this. There is no reason to upload the same card several times and simply change the text layout around it. The duplicate cards will be disabled. The customer has the ability to change the text layout of a card on their own. The layout that you or I put on the card is really just a representation of where we think the text should go.
Thanks!
Miklav...your page looks fantastic. :) Once you go through and change the ranking on your templates, let me know. I'll refresh your page and you'll have more of a variety of templates that show up. While I like the beer and pocket watch templates, you may want to display some of your other templates on your page as well.
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Once you go through and change the ranking on your templates, let me know. I'll refresh your page and you'll have more of a variety of templates that show up.
Done!
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I'm done too! :)
It looks good. By the way, I like how you were able to get the light from the lighthouses to shine on "Company Name" on those templates. Very cool.
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Thanks! This picture of lighthouse is one of my bestsellers on microstocks. Hopefully business cards buyers will like it too ;)
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I've got my first sale and I am pleasantly surprised - it was sold as a package of business card and graphic image, and therefore the payment is much higher :)
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Great to hear Miklav.
I make more sales there than istockphoto, canstockphot, crestock, 123, bigstockphoto, and heaps others. and i only have 48 files there so Tim tells me.
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I really hope the same for me... No one yet.
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i am ready to upload some designs, but the payment is only through PayPal.
I do not have PayPal as it doesn't recognise my country. Is Moneybooker allowed?
Or is there any alternative? Please advise. Thanks!
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may i know what is additional usage, and is there a need to upload a different template for this?
thanks!
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Hi Everyone,
It's been awhile since I've posted here and I apologize. I've been very busy processing new artist registrations...which is a wonderful thing for us! I am getting caught up.
litifeta: It's true, you only have 48 templates on our site. Your sales are nice and consistent these days. Just imagine though...if you had several hundred templates on our site (hint, hint). :o
Magnum: You have great templates and I'm sure sales will start occurring shortly. Give it some time. I have seen a couple of your cards being played with in customer shopping carts. So, people are starting to discover your templates. It will happen (litifeta can vouch for me on that one).
Miklav: I knew that your lighthouse template would be the first one to sell! Congratulations on selling it as well as the Art File!
khwi: We do make exceptions for people who aren't able to accept PayPal in their country. We can work with you to pay you through Moneybookers. If you are interested in signing up as an artist, please email me (I think my email address is listed in this thread somewhere). I will send you some information about our artist community and the new Additional Use Program as well.
Thanks! I'll check back here shortly!
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I've been focusing on some other things and will have time soon to add the additional graphic format to my existing templates and will make some more graphics to upload. Looking forward to sales too! :)
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epantha: Sounds great!
Also, for those of you who are registered artists on our site, there is a forum thread that is in the artist section which contains all of the categories that are new or still in need of good, relevant templates. I would encourage you to check their often and see if you have images that would do well in one of these categories. These new categories are started based primarily on customers search patterns as well as our own research. So, submitting to categories listed in that forum thread might be a quick way to score a sale! :)
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Forum.php?do=phpbb-viewtopic&t=434 (you need to be signed in to your account to view it).
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Thanks Tim,
Your link was a gold mine of ideas....thanks.
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thanks Tim! i have tried uploading one design, and will upload more.
i have dropped a mail re the MB payment. :)
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do the clients search using the description, and not keywords like microstock sites?
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Hi khwi: I'll be in touch shortly to answer your questions. My son has a soccer game today, so it may be later tonight before I get an email off to you.
***Attention Artists Who are Interested in Joining Our Site***
I am thrilled that we continue to have such a great response to participating in our Featured Artist Community. Right now, the artist registration feature is not currently available on our site...unless you email me. Please don't register on our site from the main page where it says "Create a New Account". This is for customers who want to purchase cards. If you register here, it will not allow you access to our site as a Featured Artist. Actually, if you register there, I'll make you buy a set of business cards...JUST KIDDING. :)
Please just email me at [email protected] for now and I will process your registration as soon as possible.
Thanks!
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Hello,
I'm trying to located the following folks who signed up on our site as a result of this thread. I have emailed them multiple times, but have not received any replies. If you know them or chat with them here in the forum, please ask them to let me know what they want to do with their registration on our site. I would like to finish processing their registrations.
Here are the folks:
1. KngKyle. He has 25 templates uploaded. I have emailed asking for the information needed to complete his portfolio page.
2. Jimi King. He has 10 templates done so far. I have written his page. I just need him to finish uploading the 15 remaining templates needed, get his approval for his page and his portfolio can be published.
3. Noam (only named listed in their registration). This person has uploaded 27 templates. I just need to receive their information so I can write their page.
4. Ramon Grosso. 1 template uploaded so far. But, I have never had a reply to any of my emails. I need his information and I need him to complete 24 more templates.
Any help locating or contacting these folks would be greatly appreciated. If I don't hear from any of them within the next week or so, I will simply delete their work and registration...freeing up a spot for another artist who is interested in joining our community.
Thanks! :)
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I had my first sale yesterday :) And I have some 30 templates there :)
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I had my first sale yesterday :) And I have some 30 templates there :)
hey congrats to u! wishing u for more!
still waiting for mine to come!
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I have had two sales so far. Looks good! One of them was paid for very quickly, the other one is taking its time... It is still grey.
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Hi contributors on Printbusinesscard.com!!!
As you know Moneybookers has no longer payment option for payouts from USA based agencies...
So, as you know PayPal doesn't make payouts for many of us outside of "blessing countries", and if you use Payoneer and you are contributor on Printbusinesscard.com please go to Printbussinescard community forum and give your vote for using Payoneer as an alternative payment option...
Printbusinesscard needs to have minimum 5 Payoneer users to be able to open a business account...
I am first...
Support on PBC is very friendly and they are willing to help us...
Here is link:
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Forum.php?do=phpbb-viewtopic&p=6337#6337 (http://www.printbusinesscards.com/Forum.php?do=phpbb-viewtopic&p=6337#6337)
P.S.
I think that will be good for many of us!
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What!?
Nobody except me on PBC with activated Payoneer card?
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Maybe it would be a good idea to start new thread bout it, so people could see what you want right from the title.
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Yep!
Child I hope you are in... ;)
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Hello Everyone,
I hope you all have enjoyed your summer. It has been beautiful here in the Pacific Northwest of the US.
I have received some renewed interest in our Featured Artist Program from the good folks here at Microstock and wanted to pass on some new information to you that is "hot off the press."
Yesterday, we launched our new website that is dedicated solely to our Featured Artist Community, www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com (http://www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com). This is the main site for all of our artist activity. It is where you can sign up to join our program, manage your portfolio, and engage in our forum.
I wanted to put that information out there because I have recently had several people over the past two days register on our site, PrintBusinessCards.com as customers, not artists. Please refrain from registering at PrintBusinessCards.com.
Again, if you need additional information, please do not hesitate to email me: [email protected].
Thanks!
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I registered today under the new site (actually both the old and the new site oops). Is there some sort of approval time between registering and being able to access the new site, as it says right now that I haven't been approved yet and as such am unable to access anything on the new site.
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There is one big change that we were not clear about; we have moved all your information to the new site. You are no longer able to login on the PBC website. If you refer anyone to our community, please be sure you let them know to register at the new site. We have had a couple of people register at PBC and as a result, they are very confused. The process to become a community member will take a new applicant a couple of days to be approved. First they have to apply and provide some details about their experience and where they have other artwork. Once we are confident they will be a valuable member, we will give them access to the site.
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I'm glad I found this thread, I just signed up yesterday.
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I got approved yesterday and uploaded 28 initial templates.
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Hey Eppic,
I sent your portfolio page copy over to you late last night. As soon as you review it and approve it, I can get your page and templates approved.
Looking forward to seeing your work available to our customers!
Thanks for joining us!!
Tim
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Don't have many templates uploaded, less than 40, and get occasional sales. RPD is very high compared to microstock sites. :)
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I just joined and then found this forum, but it seams dead !? Why ??
U not active here Tim ??
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I just joined and then found this forum, but it seams dead !? Why ??
U not active here Tim ??
Stu
I don't think Tim is active on this forum...he does advertise here but I don't think he is active...you have to go to the business card website to communicate with him.
Oh and buy the way, just so everyone knows, I make more money with the business cards than I do off microstock.. ;D
[/quote]
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Since starting back into vectors... this might be interesting. How many card designs do you need to apply?
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I've been on there for awhile and don't remember exactly how many. You might want to ask Stu...I just directed him to this site recently so he could tell you better than I can. They don't pay for referals so I'm not gaining anything by sending you here, but here is my port on there and will give you a sense of the type of cards that sell.
http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Donna-Beeler-Business-Cards.php (http://www.printbusinesscards.com/ordering/Donna-Beeler-Business-Cards.php)
You have to upload the cards in tiff format.
This is how the file has to be:
This is for uploading Templates for use on our site.
File Format Must be Tiff ( click Here for more information.)
Resolution should be 300 dpi, 3.75x2.25 (1125x675 pixels) inches CMYK color
( With required .125 inch Bleed, only the middle 3.5 x 2 inches will be printed )
LZW compression should be on, with no Colorprofiles, and there should be no layers in the file I enjoy doing it just to pass time. I think it's fun.
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Oh forgot to mention you have to go through a review process to see if they will work...like i said you'll have PM stu to find out how many...then I believe you have to have 21 or 22 before you can have the featured Artist page.
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Cool. Thanks. I have been working on a sheet of 9 various designs for the Micros anyways.
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Good luck... just be conservative in your expectations. I've had about 25 designs there for 6 months or so, and I think I've seen three sales of $5 each.
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The more the better. I got close to 500 desins on there and have regular sales there, but I think the more the better just as with any stock site....it's just a good place to put those images that are good but the stock sites don't except because of "noise" or "We already have to many images that cover this topic"
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Ok... Donna, I have looked at your designs and I got a question. Do you just design the backgrounds and the Formats of Text Layout and "Upload Your Photo" are something you choose after upload the Background? Hope I made sense.
Oh.. the Army Card you have... is that Emblem from Card site? Just wondering because Most Gov. stuff is usually very well kept from Public use.
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Ok... Donna, I have looked at your designs and I got a question. Do you just design the backgrounds and the Formats of Text Layout and "Upload Your Photo" are something you choose after upload the Background? Hope I made sense.
Oh.. the Army Card you have... is that Emblem from Card site? Just wondering because Most Gov. stuff is usually very well kept from Public use.
You design the card according to their specifications...the size, tiff format ect ect. Then when you upload them it takes you to an upload page where you put in the description, catagory and the text design that you think looks best from their list of different ones. You choose the text design and you can play with different ones untill you find the one that is best looking one for your card. The customer can change the text layout however they want..that just gives them an idea how it would look on the business card. You have to be aware of where the text would go while designing so you don't design one that doesn't work. Oh and the Army card is one of my better seller's and it is one of their stock text designs. That one of the tree at the top left corner is my best seller. That's what I was talking about before...it was rejected at all the agencies for poor lighting....but heh I make more off it here than if it was on the stock sites
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Hi Stu and Donna,
Donna, thank you for the kind words and support you give our program here. I really appreciate it. To make you aware, in the coming days (might be a couple of weeks) we will have a referral program that will pay out a bonus through link tracking. We have a couple of other upgrades we're finishing up on some of our websites before that program can be properly implemented. But, it's coming! Thank you for referring people to us without it.
Stu, I don't actively participate here. I 'come by' occasionally and read through various topics (including this one) because I find them informative and helpful. However, I'm not an accomplished photographer (I just finished up my last cartridge of Polaroid film -- just kidding) and I am a horrible artist in any format (although my 4 year old nephew thinks I draw the best planes and trucks...but he lives a very sheltered life, haha). So, I really don't have a great deal to add to most conversations. I'm good at appreciating great photography, graphic design, and art though. I marvel at the talent you all have and really respect and enjoy your creativity immensely. Honestly.
I'm thankful for many of the folks who are active here in the Microstock Community who are also part of our Featured Artist Program. We're a small player (at the moment), but we're growing despite the tough economy and excited about what this year holds for our company. Many folks from here have joined our program, made great suggestions to us, created fantastic business card templates that sell well, and we're looking forward to pushing forward to make this a successful year (and beyond) for everyone involved.
Thanks!
~Tim
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Tim we ought to be thanking you for the great site you've developed and I hope it has the success it deserves.
Thanks
Donna
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Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to let you all know that we are now able to process payments to our Featured Artist Community via Payoneer. Previously we were able to only pay through PayPal.
I know this was an issue for some of our artists and some of you who were interested in joining us.
As I've mentioned before in my posts throughout this thread, I'm very appreciative of the talented folks from MicrostockGroup that have joined our site.
Personally, I think we have a fantastic group of extremely talented people from all over the world represented throughout our various websites...and many of those artists have joined us as a direct result of the great group of people found here at MicrostockGroup. Hopefully with the addition of being able to use Payoneer to process payments, many more of you will give it a go too!
Thanks!
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Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to let you all know that we are now able to process payments to our Featured Artist Community via Payoneer. Previously we were able to only pay through PayPal.
I know this was an issue for some of our artists and some of you who were interested in joining us.
As I've mentioned before in my posts throughout this thread, I'm very appreciative of the talented folks from MicrostockGroup that have joined our site.
Personally, I think we have a fantastic group of extremely talented people from all over the world represented throughout our various websites...and many of those artists have joined us as a direct result of the great group of people found here at MicrostockGroup. Hopefully with the addition of being able to use Payoneer to process payments, many more of you will give it a go too!
Thanks!
If they don't give it a go...they are missing out on some good income. I make more money off your site than I do from any one stock site and don't have to sell nearly as many to do it. Keep up the good work Tim
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I received several payouts over Payoneer from PBC...
Regards!
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Thanks Donna! I appreciate your support immensely!
@Borg - Hopefully you'll be receiving more and more of those payments via Payoneer too! I'll have your most recently submitted templates approved by the end of today I hope. Thanks for continuing to upload new designs! I hope you sell lots of 'em!!! :)
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The business card is still in my list.
So much to do, so little time! :D
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Madelaide...it only takes 25 templates to get your portfolio published (hint hint). :)
We would be thrilled to have your work on our sites! I just finished perusing your website and you've traveled to some fantastic places.
I hope you'll find the time to go ahead and join our community.
Thanks,
Tim
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The business card is still in my list.
So much to do, so little time! :D
Yeah, I have been trying to figure out if it is worth the time. Wasted a lot of effort uploading to a couple of agencies recently. Would like to avoid that in future!
c h e e r s
fred
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I uploaded my 25 images last year and nothing as yet !! :( but who knows maybe wrong material !?
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Hi,
Tim seems very nice, I trust Donna and I think designing business cards can be fun (and rewarding).
I want to join too, if possible :)
Will I be accepted?
What do I have to do?
Just fill the form on the site?
I'm going to give it a try in the next few hours, see if the form works,
best,
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Hi,
Tim seems very nice, I trust Donna and I think designing business cards can be fun (and rewarding).
I want to join too, if possible :)
Will I be accepted?
What do I have to do?
Just fill the form on the site?
I'm going to give it a try in the next few hours, see if the form works,
best,
Go for it... ;D
I just PM you.
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Hi Eireann,
Yes, please fill out the application so I may review it and process it. I'll follow up with an email shortly after to let you know your account has been reviewed. Judging from the links to your stock portfolios, you shouldn't have any issues in getting your application approved. :)
Thanks Donna for your help with this too! Much appreciated!!!
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At the risk of seeming redundant, I'll say it again. I really enjoy working with this site. My sales haven't been huge, but my portfolio is still small. Some artists have over a thousand cards online. Some who signed up at the beginning may be in the thousands, but there is no minimum for payout. You get what you earn every month. Creative bursts hit me, and I design 20 or 30 cards in a week. I don't think that one has ever been rejected. They are an extremely pleasant and easy site to work with.
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Thanks Pat! I appreciate your kind words. You have a great portfolio and I always enjoy seeing more of your designs when you submit them! :)
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I like PBC! Will be uploading some more designs soon.
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Hi,
sorry for the late reply. I've been out and about shooting things, and trees and skies.
Now I'm excited :)
I love happy threads and definitely this is one.
Thank you all for your replies and Donna for her detailed how-to guide.
I'll be jumping on the wagon in the next few hours.
Sales or no sales, I have a good feeling about this, can't wait to get started and that's all that matters.
Thank you!
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I like PBC! Will be uploading some more designs soon.
:'( I hate that acronym PBC!!! I have a rare chronic disease that they abbreviate to PBC because it's too much of a mouthful to say. Can't we call them something else?
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I like PBC! Will be uploading some more designs soon.
:'( I hate that acronym PBC!!! I have a rare chronic disease that they abbreviate to PBC because it's too much of a mouthful to say. Can't we call them something else?
How about "CCA" for Color Card Administrator the actual company or "TAOBC" for TheArtofBusinessCards where you all call home? PrintBusinessCards is just one of over 500 sites your artwork is sold through. EasyCardDesigner provides software to large and small companies that all use your business card templates. Here are a few examples of other sites that offer your artwork:
http://upservices-2164.easycarddesigner.com/ (http://upservices-2164.easycarddesigner.com/)
http://pa-195.easycarddesigner.com (http://pa-195.easycarddesigner.com)
http://sirspeedy-la.easycarddesigner.com (http://sirspeedy-la.easycarddesigner.com)
http://pp-46.easycarddesigner.com/ (http://pp-46.easycarddesigner.com/)
http://pm-762.easycarddesigner.com/ (http://pm-762.easycarddesigner.com/)
http://www.OnlineBusinessCardManager.com (http://www.OnlineBusinessCardManager.com)
http://ecdstore-mujka.easycarddesigner.com (http://ecdstore-mujka.easycarddesigner.com)
http://distributorcentral.com/websites/lucidfiend (http://distributorcentral.com/websites/lucidfiend)
I wish you all the best and thank you for being apart of our community!
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Thanks Keith!
Yes, PBC (PrintBusinessCards.com) is our main, 'flagship' website, but we are CCA (Color Card Administrator).
I've had several new people from here sign up and begin uploading some excellent card designs. THANK YOU! I hope that more of you will follow their lead as well. We're growing and we are eager to have great illustrators, designers, artists, and photographers join our community.
Again, thank you!
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Hi Folks. I hope your summer was a great one...can't believe it's over already!
Anyhow, I just wanted to drop in again and say THANK YOU. Over the summer several folks from MicroStockGroup signed up with us and created some fantastic portfolios. Quite a few of you have already started racking up sales too, which is awesome.
So, just wanted to wish everyone a happy fall and pass on my thanks for a good summer.
Take care!
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I forgot to re-sign up. :-\
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Hi Madelaide,
Just "swing by" www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com (http://www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com) and fill out the quick little registration form. As soon as you're done, it will notify me and I'll get you set up ASAP. It would be great to have you as part of our community there!
Thanks,
Tim
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I will give it a try...
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I had a few sales over the summer from my meager port. Reminds me to submit more again there soon.
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Hey Eppic! Upload away! :) Then that "meager port." will generate even more sales. Seriously, I hope you'll create more templates. Take care!
Xalanx, I'm checking out you application now. Looking through your site and your stock galleries. I'll email soon. Thanks!
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Just "swing by" [url=http://www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com]www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com[/url] ([url]http://www.TheArtofBusinessCards.com[/url]) and fill out the quick little registration form. As soon as you're done, it will notify me and I'll get you set up ASAP. It would be great to have you as part of our community there!
Tim, the form says I have to be proficient in PS, but I don't use PS, I use PSP instead. :-\
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I'm glad I saw this thread. As a rehabbed designer I have a lot already done that were never chosen by clients and now photography. I always loved designing cards, just don't like the customers ;D cant wait to explore this site more.
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Thumbs up from me! The on-site search could do with tweaking, the categories from the customer front-end, don't cover everything, and if you have two single tags (as it's relevant to me) "combine" and "harvester", and someone searches for "combine harvester", it won't find it. The downside is not being able to add tags yourself, but having to let Tim know what tags you want added. Being able to add my own tags would make it perfect, otherwise, it gets a "very good"
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Are all files that are uploaded there to be psd files? If so what version of Photoshop. I ask because my version is way back to PS 7 and may not be what you're after if you need CS or above. I couldn't find an FAQ to view answers to my question.
If anyone that's on the site as a contributor could answer or if Tim's around I would really appreciate it :)
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Tiffs with LZW Compression.
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Tiffs with LZW Compression.
And CMYK colorspace.
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Incidentally, I use a freeware image viewer called "FastStone Image Viewer" which does a really good job of rendering images into CMYK colorspace and LZW compression. I use PSP 12 to have the image ready in RGB colorspace then do the CMYK conversion using FastStone, works like a charm. I never liked how PSP did the CMYK conversion.
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Eppic,
It's good that you've mentioned, I also had problem with PSP's CMYK conversion, especially skin tones. What I do is prepare the image in PSP, then paste it onto a template in AI, and then save it as CMYK TIFF. Apparently it has solved the problems. I will check your solution too.
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Why don't you work in CMYK from the start? That way you know what you are getting.
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PSP doesn't work in CMYK
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Incidentally, I use a freeware image viewer called "FastStone Image Viewer" which does a really good job of rendering images into CMYK colorspace and LZW compression. I use PSP 12 to have the image ready in RGB colorspace then do the CMYK conversion using FastStone, works like a charm. I never liked how PSP did the CMYK conversion.
Thanks for that advice eppic. I always have trouble with the color after saving to CMKY Tiff. Some of the colors are so blown out they look really bad. So those go to the delete bin... :D I'm going to check out that software.
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Are all files that are uploaded there to be psd files? If so what version of Photoshop. I ask because my version is way back to PS 7 and may not be what you're after if you need CS or above. I couldn't find an FAQ to view answers to my question.
If anyone that's on the site as a contributor could answer or if Tim's around I would really appreciate it :)
It's nice to see some folks posting in this thread again.
I wanted to pop in and address Anita's question directly:
Photoshop 7 is fine. I have it on one of my laptops and still use it frequently. We use TIFF files and they can be created in multiple programs and any version of Photoshop, as that is a graphics standard, but it just does not work as well if you don't use photoshop and elements does not have CMYK support. However, it seems that a few people have found excellent ways to workaround that issue - which is great.
Hopefully that sufficiently answers your question.
If anyone else has a question, please feel free to ask!
I hope that more of you will give our program a shot - we are still growing in spite of the lousy economy. We have a great group of talented artists and would welcome your creative abilities as well.
Thanks!
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It's nice to see some folks posting in this thread again.
I wanted to pop in and address Anita's question directly:
Photoshop 7 is fine. I have it on one of my laptops and still use it frequently. We use TIFF files and they can be created in multiple programs and any version of Photoshop, as that is a graphics standard, but it just does not work as well if you don't use photoshop and elements does not have CMYK support. However, it seems that a few people have found excellent ways to workaround that issue - which is great.
Hopefully that sufficiently answers your question.
If anyone else has a question, please feel free to ask!
I hope that more of you will give our program a shot - we are still growing in spite of the lousy economy. We have a great group of talented artists and would welcome your creative abilities as well.
Thanks!
Awesome Tim! I shall now go over and start the application process. :) If I have any other questions I won't hesitate to ask :)
Thanks again,
Anita
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Fantastic!
Thanks Anita! ;D
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I am a Linux user and just started submitting some designs. The GIMP (the PS replacement for Linux) does not do color space conversions, but there is a program called Krita which does a huge list of conversions including CMYK. Another options is the Faststone Viewer mentioned earlier which can be run in Linux under Wine.
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Fantastic!
Thanks Anita! ;D
No, thank you :D Going to work on a few designs tonight got my master template all set up. I'll ask my other questions on your forum :)
Can't wait to get started!
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Hi all,
Please don’t be sucked in by this company. They lure you in by comparing their payouts to microstock payments but they’re not a microstock agent, they are a Print On Demand company and in terms of POD standards, they are ripping you people off, big time!!
When I first read about them on this thread, I thought, hmm, $5 is a little on the cheap side but it’s not too bad so I signed up with them and proceeded to create my business card templates. After creating 21 out of 25 (the minimum you need before your profile is created), I asked myself a question I should have asked from the beginning... how many cards is the customer receiving when I receive my $5? I had just assumed it was 100 cards. I then went into printbusinesscards.com, loaded a card as if to buy it and noticed that the minimum purchase was 500 cards for $65. My jaw dropped when I realised I would only be receiving less than 8% “commission”. I thought that’s pretty bad and it’s the lowest commission I’ve seen so far. Even CafePress, who’s considered the iStock of the POD world pays 10% commission. I then emailed Tim McWhorter to find out a bit more about their payment structure and he pointed me towards the “artist agreement” and things got worse from there on. I realised that we don’t even receive a commission. It’s a measly one-off payment of $5. It doesn’t matter how many cards you sell to that customer, you still only receive $5. To make things worse if the customer is ordering for a company, he/she can order more cards for various people in that company and you still receive nothing more. So after the first initial sale to a customer, printbusinesscards.com keeps selling your design and pocketing $65 each time and you get nothing. That is disgusting!
Now I want to compare them to Zazzle and their business cards. Over at Zazzle I get paid a commission of at least 10%. I can set the commission to whatever I want and believe me, I get paid way more than 10%... way way more! So I receive much more than $5 for 100 (not 500) and a lot of customers keep coming back for more. I sold 15 lots of 100 cards the other day and made $85 on just one sale. I make more (again much more) at Zazzle than I do at all the microstock agents combined. Now get this. Not only do you get paid your commission at Zazzle but you get paid 15% commission on product referrals. You can promote your own and others products and receive 15% for it.
So please don’t let yourselves be ripped off by this company. It’s disgusting how they come here targeting artists and photographers who the majority are not designers and don’t know much about POD sites. They justify themselves by comparing their company with Dreamstime but there’s no comparison. You should be getting paid for your DESIGN, not just for an image. You don’t just slap on an image on a white card and sell it, you design it and that takes time, thought and effort and you should be paid what you deserve to be paid.
Please don’t sell yourselves short, tell this company to go jump and join a proper POD site who pays you fair commissions. Most of them do, not just Zazzle.
This is my store at Zazzle if you want to see who I am. http://www.zazzle.com/sunnymars (http://www.zazzle.com/sunnymars)
I signed up in August and I’m doing fairly well already. If you like have a look at what a couple of other designers said about PBC’s pricing system on my facebook page when I wrote a post about them...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunny-Mars-Designs/150453311638512 (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunny-Mars-Designs/150453311638512)
You can take my advice and ditch these ripoff artists or you can ignore it. Personally I prefer less competition at Zazzle but I hate watching companies like this one take advantage of hard working artists and photographers.
I did my bit, take it easy!
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Before you joined you should off read the artist agreement.
Why are you being so negative about theartofbusinesscards.com if you don't like what you see leave
I like it there I sold some cards with in a short time I have been there.
calling theartofbusinesscards.com a rip-off is a bit harsh.
:-*
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I think it's a bit bad show of you to rip into them this way, I was quite aware of the terms when I joined, and I'm sure everyone else there is too. It's always a good idea to read the terms before you join! I still use the same designs at Zazzle, I don't believe it's taking any of those sales away, and means additional sales on top of the ones I already have. They're brilliant at paying, no minimum to wait for. It may not be the best deal in the world, but it's still extra sales, and far from being a rip off. The point is, it's in the terms, and I believe we all still have free choice.
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pseudonymous....I got one question for you...
I'm a contributor to artofbusinesscards.com and I want to know why you even signed up if you value your illustrations so much? You had the opportunity to read the artist agreement after you signed up and if you didn't, then that is your stupidity not Tim's. No one twisted your arm to continue, so you really have no one to blame but yourself.
If you didn't like it you didn't have to submit. You never even made it live so I don't understand what your problem is. If you read the forum's here you would have known the way they do business. I knew that when I went in and I did it by my own choice, not Tim's. Tim did not twist your arm to join. I have very consistent sales there. Bashing Tim in public forums is a bit slanderous. I personally think you owe him an apology.
Just so everyone knows....you get $5.00 per sale and $20.00 per art sale. Yes it is true you only get $5.00 even if they sale the card multiple times to the "same" customer. You can resale the card to a "new" customer for $5.00 more. I use old rejected microstock or just portions of those shots other wise they would just sit on my hard drive making nothing. It's your choice rather you want to join or not.
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Actually you CANNOT read the terms until AFTER you join. It is a private site. I went by what all that was written in this thread. $5 when you sell your cards. In POD terms that usually means $5 commission EACH time you sell your cards, not just the first time they sell to a client.
My god, if you people still can't see how much of a ripoff this company is, then I can see why they came here looking to recruit you lot. You may as well stay there and allow designers to be paid POD standards. You whinge about what has happened to microstock and how companies like iStock rip you off and now you have branched out and are set to lower commissions of the POD world too. Pathetic really!
I didn't make it to live because I signed up right before Christmas, had a break and came back and then read the terms. I came to the conclusion that they're a ripoff when comparing them to other POD sites, which is what they are, and you're calling me stupid? You on the other hand read the agreement and accepted the terms because you compared them to microstock. Who's stupid?
You get some sales from this company and you're excited? Apart from the crappy low payment of $5 for 500 cards, you're also missing out on potential sales from returning customers. You won't get that there but you would at any other POD site and the beauty of business cards is the sale from returning customers. That's where the money is.
I signed up because I read this misleading thread and don't want any other self-respecting designer to read, sign up only to realise what a huge RIPOFF they are because, let me tell you, just about every DESIGNER who deals on any normal POD site will agree with me. But you stay there. I'm not asking anyone to leave. I'm offering sound advice and giving other people who read this thread a real option to be paid fairly. If you're happy being ripped off, that's fine by me. You sit there pretty on this low paying, degrading site, I couldn't give a rat's posterior. That's you. I don't want any more competition anyway.
But for those with half a brain who read this thread and don't want to be ripped off, you should skip this disgusting site and sign up on any other REAL POD and earn proper commissions.
That's all. I'm not going to argue about this. There's nothing to argue. Printbusinesscards is a POD and in POD standards, they're a ripoff.
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pseudonymous
If you notice Tim DID NOT start this thread...a contributor did. Tim came on here to address the question's the contributors had.
You said:
"You on the other hand read the agreement and accepted the terms because you compared them to microstock."
DO NOT put words in my mouth....I did not compare the them to microstock...I said
"I use old rejected microstock or just portions of those shots other wise they would just sit on my hard drive making nothing"
I DID NOT compare them to microstock.
Another example how you don't read before you speak.
It did not cost you any thing to sign up...none of your design's sold...you had the opportunity to read the Artist Agreement after you signed up and had the opportunity to chose not to participate. Many of us are on Zazzle and it's great that you sell so much on there, but you have no right to come on here and call ABC a ripoff. They don't keep your money, you get paid. Everyone here has a choice to join and contribute. If you don't care then why in the world are you on here bashing them. They ARE NOT a microstock site and no one has compared them to one.
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I don't really know why you're being so aggressive and derogatory about other people's choices. It's all very pointless, and damaging to a company that doesn't deserve it. What has really got up your nose about it so much? The fact that we're not as intelligent as you?
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If you notice Tim DID NOT start this thread...a contributor did. Tim came on here to address the question's the contributors had.
Perhaps you failed to see where Tim openly admitted to sending "Mark" in to start this thread and then apologised for it when people jumped on him.
"You on the other hand read the agreement and accepted the terms because you compared them to microstock."
DO NOT put words in my mouth....I did not compare the them to microstock...I said
"I use old rejected microstock or just portions of those shots other wise they would just sit on my hard drive making nothing"
I DID NOT compare them to microstock.
You seem a little frantic, calm down. I did not put words in your mouth, I'm stating the obvious. Of course you signed up because you compared them to microstock, you sell microstock. If you had compared them to any other fair-paying POD site you would have signed up with them and used your rejects and portions on those sites instead.
Another example how you don't read before you speak.
It did not cost you any thing to sign up...none of your design's sold...you had the opportunity to read the Artist Agreement after you signed up and had the opportunity to chose not to participate. Many of us are on Zazzle and it's great that you sell so much on there, but you have no right to come on here and call ABC a ripoff. They don't keep your money, you get paid. Everyone here has a choice to join and contribute. If you don't care then why in the world are you on here bashing them. They ARE NOT a microstock site and no one has compared them to one.
Look, not everything is about you. Like I said, and I'll repeat this once more hoping it sinks in, I don't care if you stay there being ripped off or if you leave. I wrote this thread to state my opinion because I signed up after reading this thread and don't want anyone else signing up just because most of you, who are obviously clueless about POD sites and their standards, rated this crappy site highly when really, it's the lowest paying POD site on the net. There is arguement here, compared to other POD sites, they're a ripoff. You cannot say that they are not, they are. It's there in black and white and I have every right to say that here. I am not just writing BS, I am comparing apples to apples and you, in you're own deluded head, are comparing apples to oranges because if you weren't you would not have accepted their terms.
As for this rubbish about comparing them to microstock, it is Tim, the manager who does that. In his email to me he wrote...
Well, that wasn't the response I was anticipating.
A huge ripoff? How do you figure?
What's a huge ripoff for you is when a customer goes to your microstock galleries at Dreamstime, CanStock, or 123rf, buys the image for $1, $2, $3, you get a fraction of that and we still print their business cards. That's a rip off for you. Of course, then they use that same image to go print their brochures, put it on their website and wherever else they choose - all for $1.
This is how he brainwashed you all into thinking he'll pay you fairly. The point is, you'regetting paid by microstock standards, not POD standards.
CONCLUSION, they are a ripoff... a HUGE ripoff.
Shhhh :)
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I don't really know why you're being so aggressive and derogatory about other people's choices. It's all very pointless, and damaging to a company that doesn't deserve it. What has really got up your nose about it so much? The fact that we're not as intelligent as you?
No I accepted that you all aren't as intelligent as me a long time ago :)
Nothing is up my nose. Agressive? I don't think so, perhaps you're overly sensitive? I came to write a fair assessment of what I think of this site just like you people have. Is that not my right? I dealt with them and now have an opinion of them and that opinion is that they are fairly disgusting and rip artist off. You can rate it highly and I have rated it accurately. As for damaging the company, I'm sure they will eventually do that on their own. If my opinion about them being a ripoff compared to every other POD site I've come across is invalid then they have nothing to worry about do they? Anyone who reads their terms and bothers to compare them to other sites will come to the same conclusion as I have.
I wrote my opinion and you all jumped down my throat, why? Is it possible that you can't stand anyone having a differing opinion to you.
I'll repeat it once more. If you're happy with this site, ignore my opinion and move on. But if there's someone else who's reading this (which by the way, lots of people who don't post here read the site) then I hope they take my opinion into consideration and compare this site's payment structure to other POD sites. I'm sure they'll come to the same conclusion that printbusinesscards do not pay fairly in terms of POD standards.
I'm done!!
PS, Gill, are you ruralfrance from Zazzle? That's you isn't it?
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No, your opinion was not fair, but you're going to give it anyway, it's all clearly in the terms, you just chose not to read them. If you don't care, why do you continually push the point? You are one of the most derogatory people I've come across. WE read the terms and accepted them, of course we're not all blessed with your intelligence, that's why we need you to save us. Please take my cards off your blogs (Congratulations! You worked out my name), they sell fine on their own, in spite of being (as you're now probably going to tell me) substandard. You're not winning a lot of friends, are you.
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Where you think I compare them to microstock is beyond me. Tell me where I said they are a mcrostock company or they are like a microstock company.
And this is not all about me...you're bashing a company that you never even participated with and Tim never said he sent litifeta in, he thanked him. Look for yourself...
"I don't want to cause too much of a stir here in your thread litifeta, but I also thought it was prudent to mention a couple of important things. First of all, thank you for starting the thread and recommending our site. Several of you have registered with us and have started uploading some wonderful looking business card templates."
Also if you had read this thread you would have noticed this link:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/off-topic/new-way-for-cross-promotion!/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/off-topic/new-way-for-cross-promotion!/)
It was also started by a contribute and explained the pay structure of ABC. That was a link that was put in this thread.
That pretty well makes my point and you are not worth wasting my time on any more. I think everyone can come to their own conclusion by reading this thread then reading your responses.
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"This is how he brainwashed you all into thinking he'll pay you fairly. The point is, you're getting paid by microstock standards, not POD standards."
That statement gets a wee bit under my skin. There's no brainwashing Marina. Also, we set our rates because that's what we could afford - not because we're interested in ripping people off. We pay our artists on time, every time - even when we don't get paid ourselves that week.
I'm not really interested in what other POD sites pay, what their structure is, etc. Do you know why? Because that is THEIR business, THEIR business model, and they have the freedom to set it up however they choose. In our business, this is what we could afford, we're honest about it, and apparently there are enough talented folks (the ones you keep slamming) around who appreciate it and are willing to work with us.
I really don't understand the angst and vitriol you're displaying here. I believe in all of my emails with you, I maintained a respectful tone with you. However, you're really trying to tear into us with name calling and make broad, sweeping allegations and accusations here, on Facebook and on Twitter. In truth, you're really out of line in how you're dealing with this issue.
1. Apparently you didn't research far enough back on this thread. It was actually started by Litifeta back in August 2008, not Mark Javer. Yes, Mark posted in a separate thread and we addressed it - because, in terms of forum behavior and etiquette, his post was ill contrived.
2. You're using my words about how people purchase images off of Microstock sites and then purchase business cards with those images as a comparison. That was not my point when I sent that to you. My point was to emphasize HOW people use Microstock. Being paid $5 for the template and $20 for the Art File sale is better for YOU - the artist. It's not better for us as a business. Heck, we'd be much better off encouraging all of our customers to go buy a cheap image out of a microstock gallery. We'd pocket an additional $5. But, we don't do that.
3. You keep referencing the fact that our terms are "hidden". How can they be hidden when they're posted verbatim in another thread here on Microstock Group? http://www.microstockgroup.com/theartofbusinesscards-com/new-forum-area-for-pod/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/theartofbusinesscards-com/new-forum-area-for-pod/) And while I'm addressing this subject, it's really our choice as to how we display our terms and where they're displayed. Not that you'll believe me, but it's something that has been discussed multiple times and will be discussed again. At some point, we may make our terms visible prior to the application/registration. We'll see...
Zazzle, CafePress, and whatever other POD sites you may find are all free to use their own business model. I don't like them - but I also don't bash them for it. Personally, I find it ridiculous to entertain the thought of charging someone $20+ for 100 business cards. THAT's A RIPOFF to the customer. But, I don't rant and rave about it - it's simply my opinion. I'd never order cards from them - whether I worked in the business card industry or not. In fact, we don't say a word about it because it's a free market and they can do what they want. The beauty of that is - so can we.
We're not some corporate giant or some group that has a whole bunch of VC (Venture Capitalist) money behind us to create some elaborate affinity site that prints on everything under the sun from business cards to baby diapers. We didn't sit around in some smoky back room looking for a way to prey on artists. We didn't sit down and say, "Hmm..let's concoct a way to screw a bunch of folks." Instead, we're a group of six people busting our butts to put something together that works. And, we're learning at the same time. We're open with our artist community - we're willing to make changes (whenever possible and affordable) and we're making some progress.
It's unfortunate that you've burned this bridge and the potential to work with us...because things are changing and the results will be very beneficial to our artist community. Instead, you've chosen a route that's alienating yourself, pitting people against you, and ultimately creating a lot of negativity for yourself.
I haven't spoken to you in a derogatory manner. I have been respectful to you throughout this entire process. I would appreciate the same level of decency from you. You're a talented artist - I appreciate your creativity - I've mentioned that multiple times to you. I would also appreciate it if you'd discontinue your toxic rantings. You're completely free to disagree with our business practices and do your own thing. I'm fine with that - just do it in a civil manner.
Jack, Gill, Donna - thank you.
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Oh, that's only our beloved Sunnymars - don't worry, she is well known around here for her good manners. :P
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Well said Tim, and it's nice to see someone responding with good manners.
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Tim you’re a business. I’m sure the only person you’re looking after is the one I’m responding to right now and the people working with you. Of course you pay your artists on time. You’re only paying them $5 out of the $65 you earn.
I find it difficult to accept that you justify yourself as a POD site by saying you have no interest in what other POD sites pay. I find this statement of yours absolutely ludicrous and even insulting. Yes, you’re right, you can run your business however you choose and rip the artists off, it’s your right. It’s also my right and anyone else's to review your site and to call you up on it if I want to. I find it difficult believing this statement about this being ‘what you can afford’. I’m sure with the margin you’re making you can afford a tad more. I don’t quite believe that people who have joined your site, fully comprehend the magnitude of how much you’re willing to rip them off. I know you don’t like that word, but it’s quicker than typing “taking advantage of them” because that is what you’re doing.
Let me put this down in a hypothetical so that people can see what exactly it is you’re doing....
Let’s say Bob is the manager of a construction company and he orders 500 business cards from you. You get $65 revenue and the artist receives just $5. Bob has 9 employees working for him and he orders business cards for them. So now you’ve made another $585 and the artist made $0. Over the next 5 years, Bob and his company places another 2 orders of 500 per person per year so you’ve made another $6,500 (5 years x 2 orders x 10 people x $65). So all up you’ve made $7150 in revenue and the poor artist/photographer has only made $5. If that’s not ripping them off, I don’t know what is! Now let’s say the same deal happened over at Zazzle and let’s say the artist was paid $5 for 100 cards instead of 500. That means the artist would have earned $2500 over the 5 years from that client (5 years x 10 orders x 10 people x $5). I know you don’t care about comparing your company to Zazzle or anyone else but from the artist’s point of view, the difference between $5 and $2,500 should not be ignored!
Also you justified in your email to me that your rates are far better than microstock sites but you are wrong. A print licence at Dreamstime ranges between $18.75 to $31.25 depending on what level your image is at. Here’s where it gets interesting:
SCENARIO ONE: A designer buys a print licence for an image on a microstock stie and the artist gets paid from about $18 to $31. He designs a business card using this image and sells it on a POD like Zazzle earning a fair amount over and over again to the same client.
SCENARIO TWO: Here you are (PBC) who has effectively bought a print licence from the artist for only $5. You can word it any which way you like but effectively, that is what you have done. You can then sell the image over and over again to the same client and the artist receives nothing more. Worst still, you don’t even have to design the card, the artist has done it for you. You’re pretty clever Tim, I’ll give you that much! Clever yes, fair, NO! Far from it!
SCENARIO THREE: The artist themselves joins a proper POD site, designs their own business card using their own image and sells the image over and over again to the same client earning a fair whack over time!
Which is the better scenario, Tim, from the artists point of view, cause I know you definitely like Scenario Two. How can you sit there and tell me (or anyone) that your company isn’t a rip off?
But you’re right, Tim, it’s your business and you have the right to legally rip off as many artists as you like but I have the right to review and compare your greedy site and their payment structure to both microstock and PODs. I find it absolutely appalling that you have convinced these people that you’re giving them a fair deal. You’ve even tried winning them over with the extra $25 for the artwork so that a client can use it on websites or whatever, but even that’s not anything better than what you get on Microstock because to do that, a client would need to purchase another web usage licence for another cost of between about $18 to $31.
As for name calling, all I’ve said is that compared to other PODs you are ripping people off. I have the right to warn the designers I deal with on daily basis about your company. What I write on my Facebook page to my followers, who are mainly other designers is my business. What I write on my personal FB page, where I have even more designers, is also my business. I am also allowed to type my opinion about your site in here. I understand you don’t like people pointing out how you operate but I, as an artist, don’t like seeing other artists being ripped off. As for the ones in here that are defending you, I don’t know what to say, good luck to them. But as I said, I dealt with you briefly, worked out just how low you value the artist’s work and I wish to share that with people. In your email you wrote that you weren’t worried because I’m just a minority but am I? If that’s the case, continue not worrying.
I was going to write one post here to do my bit and leave it at that but everyone jumped down my throat. As for manners, I don’t believe you acted any more courteously than I did when you accused Microstock companies of ripping people off when you’re much worse. Besides, manners don’t mean too much when you’re taking advantage of people here. I just didn’t believe people here understood exactly what you were doing even after reading your teams. That’s why I came and posted here. Again, I am disgusted with you and your company just like the thousands were disgusted with iStock.
As for you saying that I said your terms are hidden, I was referring to your “Artist Agreement” Yes, that is hidden because no one can access it unless they sign up first. Your terms on this thread, which I read, were misleading. I did not read anywhere here that the $5 payment was a one-off payment and that the client can purchase multiple times for multiple people in their company. Your “legal” terms being hidden is also kind of shifty, I believe anyway.
You said “Personally, I find it ridiculous to entertain the thought of charging someone $20+ for 100 business cards. THAT's A RIPOFF to the customer.”
So it’s okay for you to accuse Microstock of ripping off the artist (when you’re far worse than them) and it’s okay to acuse other PODs of Ripping off the client? Actually I think Zazzle’s cards are fairly priced and the quality of the cards in terms of design are much better than yours overall. Your design platform is very limited and your cards end up looking a little on cheap side anyway.
There were no accusations. I didn’t make up your payment terms. I laid them out and compared them to other companies such as yours on a forum that was set up to do just that. I don’t believe your company is fair. I’ve made other designers aware of your payment terms and they don’t agree to them being fair either. Personally I find it absolutely disgusting that you can live with yourself. I also find it ridiculous when your company is compared to PODs that you say “but we’re different” That’s right, you are, you pay peanuts and the others are fairer. That’s the point. End of!
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Tim, while this pseudonymous person is obviously overreacting and communicating in a very nasty tone (really the best way to make sure no one takes your side!) I would like to examine a few of the facts that were brought up from a non-emotional perspective. I would like to say I chose to upload some designs for the sole reason that Tim actually comes to the forums and interacts, he is very polite and genuinely seems motivated to be successful. That can not be said for some other business owners in this field. I think that any business owner who takes the time to come to respond to forums should get a few extra points. And Tim gets a few extra points for dealing with the nasty tone in such a professional way.
I have to say though I was completely unaware that we only got paid $5 on our first sale (not blaming anyone that is my fault, I know I should have read the fine print closer). Can you address this business decision however Tim and is this something you are willing to bend on in the future? As pointed out it is only 8% of the sale, we really need to be paid per sale not per client tomake this worth our time. I knew all along that it was $5 but I really didn't realize if the same client spends thousands we still only get the original $5. Hmm, I really want this company to succeed and I am even okay with the extremely low 8% commission if some sales do start to happen. But all emotions aside I can't understand why we are not getting compensated for having work that is so good it makes clients want to come back a second/third time, sites like dreamstime raise your commission if your get recurring customers to the same image in order to encourage you to produce similar work, it seems we are penalized for having good work. It's only $5 (8%) why not just keep your contributers happy and pay for every sale, they will be more inclined to refer the site to other stock photography friends, and you will avoid the inevitable negative publicity that rants like pseudonymous' has caused. I understand if you feel that the current business model would not be sustainable if you had to pay contributers for every sale they make, but seriously do consider it for the future as I am certain this issue is going to keep coming back to haunt you, at least now that it has been clarified publicly in this forum....regardless of the inappropriate way it was brought to our attention.
Like I said I only have 30 something templates up with no sales, as I try to decide if it is worth my time to continue to upload templates. These are the issues myself and others will be considering. I understand the competition in the business card world is fierce when you have so many sites giving away 500 free business cards left and right.
I wish your business much success in 2011 and look forward to watching it grow.
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Hello Lightscribe,
Thank you for addressing this in a positive manner. I appreciate it immensely.
The payment structure is something that has been under scrutiny and up for discussion for several months. In my last note here, I alluded to several changes that are getting ready to be implemented. We'll have new information out for everyone very shortly. I hope that you'll be pleased with the outcome.
I apologize - I do not know who you are simply by your screen name. Would it be possible for you to let me know who you are? I would appreciate the opportunity to look over your portfolio and see there are some additional keywording options and other optimization that can possibly done in order to get some sales occurring for you.
Thanks!
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Wow, what a turmoil! :D
I understand pseudonymous arguments, and there are some fair points. I am at a few POD sites, but for business cards only two - Zazzle and ABC (does Cafepress offer BCs, now? I gave up on them long ago).
Indeed, Zazzle's returns has been very encouraging. Because BCs are one of my most successful products there, I'm motivated to produce more. I've read about ABC long ago here at MSG and signed up with them, without actually uploading anything. When I decided BCs would be a goal for me, I thought a good idea to join ABC, so I would have another outlet for them. That was in November, I think, and I can only thank Tim for the patience while I was struggling with the CMYK issue in my first uploads. Communication has been so far excellent. The two sales I've had in such a short time were also encouraging.
I did know from the start that I was going to make just US$5 per order, but I did not know until recently (before this current discussion, though) that further orders by the same client would not get me anything (my fault not checking all the details - I really don't have the patience to read everything!). I hope these future plans Tim is talking about will address this issue.
Trying to look from a buyer's perspective, considering one that is not a computer expert, ABC (actually its client sites) seems easier to enter the card details and customize font size (what is probably the one thing that requires more customization) and type. I use template fields in Zazzle, and I think they work fine, but it is a bit more difficult to change font size/type or add and delete text - again, considering the more basic user. The site approach is also different, dedicated to BCs, while Zazzle is a huge department store. It seems ABC gives a closer attention to clients, while in Zazzle everything is automated. Take the custom requests, for instance (Tim, could we get a higher commission when the request is fulfilled, please? ;D) I like this approach and it certainly captivates many clients, so personally I believe ABC can write its name in this niche market. Also, with a minimum order is 500 cards, it is not totally competing with Zazzle (most of my sales there were just 100 cards, apart from a very nice 5,000 one!).
So, I can and I do get more at Zazzle, and I continue to upload to it, and I plan to continue to invest on ABC as well. Probably I would not be at ABC if it was the only BC site. But since I am already creating BCs for Zazzle, it is not very time-consuming to create them for ABC as well. Maybe in the future, if ABC fails to fulfil my expectations, I will give up on it. By now I can swallow the US$5. Not bad, and as donding said, I also have many images that would not get to the picky micros, but are absolutely ok in the small sizes required by BCs (and other POD items), and hopefully they will sell in any of the two.
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As I mentioned in one of my previous posts here earlier, we've been working to address some of the legitimate concerns. This has been something our team has discussed and been working to establish for awhile. But, in light of certain happenings recently here on MSG and other locations on the Internet, we felt it would be prudent to go ahead and announce this new change.
Below is a copy of emails (copied with permission) between Brian (our programmer) and Keith (our CEO):
Brian,
"Have you been following the debate in the Microstock Group's forum about how we pay as a POD? I am amused by it because when we started there was no “POD” section even in their forum and I had never heard of one. I had not heard of Zazzle until after we created our community and pay structure. We created how artists would get paid all on our own with no standards to go by and felt we were being extremely fair at the time.
In any event, I could care little about this gal and there will always be someone out there like this no matter what we do. The reason for my email is that I would like to consider paying the artists for each new sale from the same customer and posting our agreement where it can be read before signing up. We will most likely never be like any other POD or Stock Photography company because we are a professional business card management company; we simply have a different business model. I am sure in some occasions we will pay more and in others we will pay less but I feel this group has some valid viewpoints in regards to repeat orders and the artist contract.
We will have to adapt as this industry grows and I feel we should always be listening to how we can be better and as fair as possible. The good news is next week we will be offering the ability to order 250 cards at a time and the artists will still get $5 for each sale. In addition to that good news, how long would it take in programming to be able to pay the artists $5 each time a customer returns and reorders business cards. Can we also pay the artist their $20 licensing commission if we switch a customer into a manage contract at BusinessCardManager.com?"
Keith
Brian's response:
Keith,
"Yes, that is just a setting we can set in and is already in use for our store owners at EasyCardDesigner.com. Which is fortunate, that was a lot of work to get it working correctly for the Easy Card Designer stores. Why don’t the artists create a turnkey store with Easy Card Designer and make $10 to $15 a sale? They could sell their templates as well as each other’s templates and everyone would make more money. Yes that second avenue regarding the $20 license payment would have to be a manual process for the near future but should not be an issue. Let me know."
Brian
So, there you have it. This should increase payouts for everyone involved with our community. I will be modifying our terms and agreements shortly.
Would enjoy hearing feedback from you. At this point, I'm pretty "worded out" :)
Adios for now ~
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You’re welcome everyone!
Not a bad outcome so far from the “rantings” of just one “gal”. Let me just add this though. Don’t blame me for going to my FB page and in here to lay down the facts because I was quite willing to talk this issue over with Tim on email but it was clear that he wanted no part of the discussion when he wrote this...
“I'm not going to banter back and forth about the greatness of Zazzle or anyone else's programs. Our program is what it is - people are free to move about where ever they wish. We have an established program, we have designers, illustrators, artists, and photographers (many of whom also choose NOT to be on microstock sites), and in 4 years of building our community, we have never been called cheap by anyone. So, yes I do take issue with that accusation.”
And then who dismissed my next email with “Take care Marina.”
That’s hardly an indication that the company has been in discussion over some time to change their payment structure to make it fairer. I also find it a little difficult to believe that they never heard of Zazzle when it was created. Come on! Lol. I could never trust anyone that has treated an artist and their work with such little respect but if they turn things around, hey, that’s one for the little people and again, you are welcome everyone!!
Seems my work is done here ;D
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Tim,
I'm tired, can I have a summary? ;D We're going to get U$5 for every order now?
I went to EasyCardDesigner.com to see what this was about, it's actually like a mirror of your own selling site, right? And people get a commission with sales originating from it?
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I was hesitant to post this here Marina, SunnyMars, Pseduonymous, and whoever you'll be next when you've inflamed enough people to change your name again - I knew you'd try to spin this in your own toxic way.
I have to say, you're an amazing piece of work. Have you ever considered taking a position on a politician's campaign team? You're an excellent spinster.
That all being said...TAKE CARE MARINA.
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Thanks Tim....that's great news. Really do appreciate it. You always have come on here to address any problems we have and I do appreciate it. Thanks again.. ;D
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I was hesitant to post this here Marina, SunnyMars, Pseduonymous, and whoever you'll be next when you've inflamed enough people to change your name again - I knew you'd try to spin this in your own toxic way.
I have to say, you're an amazing piece of work. Have you ever considered taking a position on a politician's campaign team? You're an excellent spinster.
That all being said...TAKE CARE MARINA.
Tim, what exactly are you trying to say here? Hesitant to post what? That my real first name is Marina and that I 'trade' under sunnymars? My first post when I created this name, I signed off as "sunnymars". It's no secret who I am. I also posted a link to my zazzle store sunnymars and my facebook page, sunnymars designs a few pages up so what exactly is your point? I would tread carefully if I were you, Tim, because you disclosed my first name in here without my permission. You have no right to disclose any personal details of mine that I've left on your site. Are you threatening to do this? What exactly are you saying here Tim?
I'm a management accountant, not a politician. There was no spinning of anything, I laid down facts. I bought attention to your legal agreement to this thread because it's hidden and someone else may sign up reading your 'informal' agreement on here which is misleading, only to be disappointed later when they find out the real deal and spend time loading templates. I think it's clear who's the "spinster" here and it's clear who's here trying to squeeze every penny they can from their supplier. I'd like to think of myself more like Robin Hood who gives a little back :)
And gill, I didn't ask if you're ruralfrance from Zazzle because of the blogs. I asked because I found it incredibly ironic that you sit there spending hours upon hours reporting zazzle members who have infringled copy right laws which I respected you for. I was surprised that you value other people's intellectual property so highly yet you just throw your own away and justify it, which in effect, devalues everyone elses in the long term. I had no intention of removing you from my blogs when I asked the question but your responses to me here after you kiss my backside on forums whenever I'm seeking products to promote is kind of offputting. As for friendships, I've had quite a few people thanking me for bringing this to their attention and I've had quite a few opinions about you people too which I won't share here. I didn't come here looking for friends, I came here to do the right thing, and I have. You may not care about being ripped off and I don't about you if you don't care about yourself, but I care about the ones that do and I care about industry standards.
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I'm going to roll my eyes here and say ENOUGH. Sunnymars, you have made your position ABUNDANTLY clear. Thank you for sharing. What we do with it is our business. That doesn't make us stupid or ignorant.
Tim, thank you as well for coming to the forum and sharing your information.
We will each come to our own decision on whether to upload or not. All of us conduct our business the way we see fit and the way it gels with our lifestyle and whatnot. If I want to accept $5, I will. It is not your place, sunnymars, to call me or anyone else here idiots or whatever term you used. You have shared what you believed was hidden information. Great. As for myself, I find some of the POD sites a PITA for me. I want to upload and be done. That's what fits my life. Maybe that constitutes a low IQ in your eyes, but whatever.
Good luck to you
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As an outsider looking in, what a kerfuffle!
TBH both parties make reasoned arguments, and (by the standards of internet flame wars) it's not too horrific.
The bottom line is the original point raised was valid but the main concern has been addressed by the company (bravo).
The bottom line is artists can vote with their feet and choose to contribute or not. Having considered the pro's and con's I have applied as a contributor, the clincher for me was the announcement re the change in commission structure and repeat business.
Having said all that, given my noobness in the online media world I doubt I'll get in ;)
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Tim thank for taking the time to update us here and being available to answer questions.
Sunnymars btw your first name is listed on your own zazzle site under comments from July of last year, so it's apparently not "secret".
lbarn
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Seems my work is done here Grin
Good!
I like Tim and his business model and have had a number of sales there with a prompt payout. I enjoy making templates as a bit of a change of pace from traditional microstock imagery. Keep up the good work Tim!
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Thanks for the update, Tim! ;D
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WOW that was fun to read! I wish IStock would listen to contributers like Tim and his crew.
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Lifes a Beach. I will have to check out the easycarddesigner thing later. Too much on my plate right now. I will say I like how ABC is running for me. So, just like the decision I made with Istock.. I didn't like the changes and decisions made..so I left. I am staying with ABC for as long as I like how they are running.
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I'm giving them it a try, it is quite fun trying to "use" you're images, 19 templates and counting.
Incidentally the contributor's agreement doesn't refelct the above announcement, I'm sure it will once the webpage is updated.
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I'm giving them it a try, it is quite fun trying to "use" you're images, 19 templates and counting.
Incidentally the contributor's agreement doesn't refelct the above announcement, I'm sure it will once the webpage is updated.
Tim's been working on it.
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Update regarding our new payment policy for our Content Providers (Featured Artist Community)
We are working diligently on the details of our new pay structure for the members of our Featured Artist Community. This is a complicated and unique situation unlike other companies due to the fact CCA does not have just one website. We also license our software to several other large organizations such as Postal Annex who in turn is allowed to license your images using our system for their customers' business cards. It is imperative that we take into consideration and include all of these relationships in our attempts to improve our payment agreement with our community of Content Providers.
We stick by our belief and statements that we can improve the fairness and modify our payment terms for our family of talented artists, increasing their earnings. Please be patient with us as we work out all of the details that will make this beneficial for everyone involved. Multiplying our online business card software stores that sell your images is the most effective way we can make all of our artists more money through sheer sales volume. Currently, we are also only promoting your images in the United States. As we move into other countries with various relationships, your sales will multiply dramatically. We are balancing all of these factors in order to be fair to our Content Providers while not limiting any of our opportunities for overall growth in sales. We look forward to having this new payment structure in place for you very shortly. Thank you for your patience while we sort out all of the details. Our plan is to have a new payment agreement in place for our Content Providers by February 1, 2011.