Quote from: cidepix on May 10, 2009, 10:11

There is no point in talking about IS or SS, but there is certainly point in talking about veer because they are new and if we don't support them they will never make it. I will repeat: THEY WILL NEVER MAKE IT WITHOUT US. So they are new enough to discuss and ask for more.


I am not voicing an opinion for myself. I am voicing an opinion for contributors and THANK YOU for being so supportive by saying maybe this business is not for me. I appreciate that.

I'm not sure you know who Veer are do you, they're not new and they've already made it in a big way. Whether you like their commission structure is up to you and you have the ultimate choice in deciding if you sell via them.

Just one other thing, you are voicing an opinion for yourself, you're not speaking for any other contributors.

Sure, I am not talking for you (instead of you) , but I am talking for you (goodness of you) since %50 unquestionably would be good for you. Or would you say %20 is better

For my veer knowledge, have a look at my previous post. They are owned by corbis, and that is why I bother to discuss it. Why would I waste my time for a discussion on mostphotos for example. I don't care if they pay %10 or %90.

But I care when it comes to veer because I will definitely make good money once I place my images on there and I would rather make %50 than %35. I guess you wouldn't, so let's not take it further.

Quote from: cidepix on May 08, 2009, 13:22

...No matter what the competition does, I honestly believe the image creator deserves at least %50...

If that's how you feel, then most microstock sites shouldn't be to your liking. Aside from a small handful (StockXpert, FP, etc), how many pay 50% or more? None besides StockXpert in the roster of agencies I work with. Why do you work with istock or shutterstock if low percentages are such a problem? SS especially, which most estimates put their percentage of payout compared to total image sale value at less than 20%.

It's the nature of the business. If 35% is insulting to you, then maybe this business isn't for you.

I am not voicing an opinion for myself. I am voicing an opinion for contributors and THANK YOU for being so supportive by saying maybe this business is not for me. I appreciate that.

There is no point in talking about IS or SS, but there is certainly point in talking about veer because they are new and if we don't support them they will never make it. I will repeat: THEY WILL NEVER MAKE IT WITHOUT US. So they are new enough to discuss and ask for more.

If it was for people like me They would have absolutely no chance of making it to the top without paying me a good commission. But since It is for people like you they will definitely get away with %35.

And btw, %35 with current conditions can be acceptable if we have some kind of a warranty that it won't be reduced to %25 some day. Or the terms & conditions will not be changed twice a week like fotolia does.

Currently I have no reason to unquestioningly trust veer. I am not convinced about veer! What difference they can bring and what they can add to microstock world is a mistery.

Judging from their commissions (as they accept being in line with current models) apparently the difference they can bring is NOTHING!

If veer is going to bring something new for the buyers as they claim, they have to start with contributors commissions, by not being in line with current models and their commissions.

If you claim to be the NEXT BIG THING as a micro website, but you are OK with being in line with current models when it comes to our commissions, then you are not really the next big thing.

Well I found out today that they will accept non-vector illustrations. That is a plus for me, so I will upload and see how it goes...

  How do you think it will go 

These guys are a real joke. The more I read, the more I laugh! You must be one of them to say you are going to submit and expect any real results!

I am sure fotomina has a grand total of 3 visitors a day!

Why don't you hire a native English writer? English is my 3d language but I do have a spellchecker. 

He doesn't have money to hire a writer. It doesn't cost any real money to start a joke website. Anybody can start one, them having a website means nothing. 

I can come up with a micro site in a week with my developer friend working with me. It would look as good as any of the top players. But the difficult thing is to run the website, not to come up with it.

If I do create a website would you then instantly take it serious and advertise it on this forum as a newcomer? It is that easy really 

Quote from: cidepix on May 07, 2009, 10:25

Let's just discuss.. Just do some brainstorming on why many of you so eagerly want to help veer become a success despite %35 commission and being nothing special..

Let's give the reasons to why support a new website that comes with an exciting %35  commission.

Since Brian loves to answer questions here and be friendly but he doesn't seem to notice my questions about commissions I thought we would just brainstorm..

I am sure Brian is aware that I wanted to help him to get an idea about vectors by starting a pole on reliability of rivals. And I am again sure Brian is aware that it is very natural that I am asking for %50 commission on the content I DID CREATE.. (not veer, me)

I don't know why are you people so loving to help veer despite they are getting your content for FREE and paying you %35.. I would like and extra website to sell my images as well (like all of you) so that's why convince me about %35 please.

Stand now! Do not submit! and they will have to come begging you with probably even more than %50 which you deserve. Why do you think they are here trying to market veer so desperately.

Veer needs you! You don't need veer at this point!

Hi Cidepix:


I don't mind talking about the Veer Marketplace royalty structure. Apologies if I missed your questions in other threads.

 
Now - about Veer: 

We disagree - we do think Veer is pretty special.

Veer.com has been recognized by buyers as one of the most user-friendly and well-designed sites in the industry.  Veer has been successful because it has always focused on the customer, on every level - from an inspiring brand, to design savvy marketing, plus good website UI, and superior customer service.

While Veer Marketplace is a new part of Veer, Veer isn't new at all. Veer has a passionate following among designers, photographers and illustrators - and has been around for 7 years now. Veer is actually a pretty big player - probably one of the larger stock sites around after Corbis.com and Getty/Jupiter.

We've created a royalty structure for Veer Marketplace that will help us build a long-term sustainable business, which in turn will help push more sales and more royalties your way. From our research, based upon not only royalty percentages and per credit royalties - but also image prices and subscription download rates - we're roughly on par with most of the biggest guns in microstock, as well on par with royalties paid out on the traditional RF or RM side of the industry.

We're going to be backing Veer Marketplace with high quality marketing efforts, great web design, high-performance servers and storage units. That doesn't come for free --- distributors like Veer or iStock or incur big costs to market content and create and support a loyal customer base.

As you have all seen with the ups and downs of this industry and with individual agencies themselves  - building a successful stock site is really hard work - it costs lots of $$, and takes time - some luck too! 

Of course - we'll need to build a passionate and supportive contributor community for this to work at all.... and as you all know - that will take time and lots of hard work too.

[ It's certainly not as simple as responding to a few question on this forum by any means. It will take patience and some trust from all sides. ]


As others have said about Veer Marketplace already - "the proof is in the pudding".
We're a month away from launching the contributor side of Marketplace, and a few months away from launching the buyer side. I'd ask that before you decide you don't want to be part of Marketplace, consider waiting and checking things out yourself.

 

 - Brian

Hello Brian,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I will be watching veer's progress but; had you said the commissions will be %50, I wouldn't have waited to see the progress.

No matter what the competition does, I honestly believe the image creator deserves at least %50 since the business would not have existed without us. You guys are making money on someone else's talent, and yet %50 is not enough for you! That is how I see it.

But thanks anyway, nice reply, in fact couldn't have been better considering your situation, being on veer's side.

Good luck!

Now I would be happy if it was even %35 

So you are saying that they do not pay you 35% of the actual sale price; they pay you a percentage of what the sales price would be if the customer lived in the U.S.?

Are you sure about that? (This is a serious question; I have not read the FAQ. Please provide a link and I will do just that.)

thanks!

http://www.veer.com/download/pdf/vmp_faq.pdf the link to contributor FAQ

They charge UK customers �1 for XS and pay contributors 0.35 cents which is about %20 of the sale price �1

I was just looking at veer website and noticed that prices translate to pounds (�) over here. And If I am paid in dollars ($) than it means I am getting even less than %35 on UK sales.

1$ - 20$ price range = �1 - �20 in the UK


Edit: Just checked again and although when I do a search it says �1 - �20 range, when you click on an image the range becomes �1 - �14

Still, they make "istock commissions" on extra small size from UK sales.

You know, I understand your desire to get 50% royalty, but it is really hard to take your argument seriously when it is so glaringly obvious that you have done absolutely ZERO research on Veer. They are hardly a start-up site. As a designer, I have been purchasing macro from them for years. They have a very tight community of loyal designer customers, few of whom hang out there because they are also contributors. I have also been purchasing marketplace images from them since they first became available. They sent promos out to every single one of their customers, via email AND direct mail, giving us $10 toward our first (no minimum) purchase from the Marketplace. That is huge.

They are doing all the right things, in my opinion, in order to make this work. You are free to not participate, of course. I really don't think it is necessary to rant and lob insults at someone who I believe is doing his best to be helpful and straightforward as much as is possible. If you expected an easy "answer" to your multi-paragraph "question"/rant about why you deserve 50%, I think you might be disappointed, as you would be asking the same question of any of the other many sites who do not pay 50%.

You are %100 wrong sir that I did ZERO research on veer. I know they are not a start up, and I also know they are new at microstock. So you may need to re-phrase your argument since it started from a wrong point of view claiming I know NOTHING about veer.

Tell me what makes veer so powerful if we don't submit any images? If we don't submit images, they have nothing achieved in "microstock" yet.

and please see, that they are giving $10 towards the content they get for FREE.

And Oh god! Where on earth did you see that I insulted Brian. He is eager to help. I like his attitude. He seems a nice guy, but %35 commission bothers me for a new "microstock" company, and there is no reason to show bad examples as if they are the ones to follow.

Let's just discuss.. Just do some brainstorming on why many of you so eagerly want to help veer become a success despite %35 commission and being nothing special..

Let's give the reasons to why support a new website that comes with an exciting %35  commission.

Since Brian loves to answer questions here and be friendly but he doesn't seem to notice my questions about commissions I thought we would just brainstorm..

I am sure Brian is aware that I wanted to help him to get an idea about vectors by starting a pole on reliability of rivals. And I am again sure Brian is aware that it is very natural that I am asking for %50 commission on the content I DID CREATE.. (not veer, me)

I don't know why are you people so loving to help veer despite they are getting your content for FREE and paying you %35.. I would like and extra website to sell my images as well (like all of you) so that's why convince me about %35 please.

Stand now! Do not submit! and they will have to come begging you with probably even more than %50 which you deserve. Why do you think they are here trying to market veer so desperately.

Veer needs you! You don't need veer at this point!

I also need to add that this forum needs a different kind of ranking. Keep this one on the right column but also add another one that reflects the reliability and honesty of the agencies  as an auto-warning.

It would be good not to advertise any sites that offer less than %50 commission on the right hand side column. (Starting with veer for example. Do not advertise them unless they are willing to pay %50)

That is a start. They better be not known. Keep the top 8 or 9 agencies but only add the new ones if they have decent offerings.