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.

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?

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.

That's a pain - perhaps you should put your royalties up to compensate. I'm sure your business cards would sell well there, mine do and I have royalties between 25-40% depending on the card. I've got 172 and they make up most of my sales.

I forget if you're in the USA or not, madelaide, but if not, you need to send a w-8BEN form to show you don't pay US tax.

Yes, some are from pdphotos, but I also found
http://www.zazzle.com/salmon_salad_poster-228877910261222382
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-3058581-who-ordered-salad-.php
http://www.zazzle.com/rack_of_lamb_poster-228509954502270102
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-3031298-rack-of-lamb.php
http://www.zazzle.com/peppers_family_poster-228577535633372483
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1267766-mixed-peppers.php
http://www.zazzle.com/thai_crab_cakes_poster-228687150879400228
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2955027/stock-photo-spicy-crab-cakes-with-spinach-and-artichoke-dip.html
http://www.zazzle.com/watermelon_white_poster-228817177966158673
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1476417-watermelon-wedge.php
http://www.zazzle.com/blackberries_white_poster-228603135015536459
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-4119426-blackberries.php
http://www.zazzle.com/white_wine_card-137904152280944839
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/08/2385254.htm © AFP: Greg Wood
and this
http://www.zazzle.com/lobster_salad_restaurant_poster-228224986553244839
is the bar of the Majestic Hotel, Barcelona, from their website. After that I ran out of tineye time.
I've reported those but others are harder to track down, and from past experience, just because it's on a stock site doesn't mean they're the author - I go by date of upload in that case.

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"

There's a 19 page thread at Zazzle for people who've left CP - that probably says it all. I haven't even looked at them, but Zazzle and printbusinesscards are the best for me. I just quit GCU as well - low royalties and the organisation leaves a lot to be desired.
My mark-up at Zazzle is 20-30% or 30-40% for business cards, and I still generally earn more per sale for business cards at printbusinesscards (but sell more at zazzle).
I wish there were more to choose from, but on principal, I really don't feel like going with someone who chooses my royalties for me.
I tried a French one - mydesign.com. You can set your own royalties, but their communication is terrible, which doesn't inspire me with confidence.

There seem to be an awful lot of istock and other images here if any food photographers want to check it out.


In answer to Carl on my last thread, yes, you can make money but you need a lot more than 49 products! I'm up to 1200+

Thanks pseudo

Quote from: click_click on September 22, 2010, 17:55
I get the feeling that not a lot of people on Zazzle understand the principle of copyright and/or public domain. I think it's time for Zazzle to step up and take an educating role for its members to make them aware without judging people.

Isn't there a stock site that does some sort of questionnaire before you join? I can't remember now, but something like that could work, if they had to know about copyrights, licenses, trademarks etc to get the answers right before they could join. It still wouldn't stop the determined, but at least the ignorant would be educated. I can't see Zazzle implementing it though.

Just an update  - Zazzle have taken down the whole lot now (15000+), so none of my links will work.

I wish I had your faith - it won't stop it happening at all. Call me cynical, but they'll just think "yeah, right", tick "yes, it's mine" - and possibly they even think it is since they downloaded it. What it needs is more court cases to force the web site owners to police themselves, but most of them don't have the resources to do that anyway, or more court cases against individuals - but one individual is the tip of the iceberg. It would be an immense job to check every upload, that's why it has to rely on people checking for their own work. Even the stock sites can't check ownership that thoroughly.

IF there could be a stiff penalty attached, AND carried out, maybe it would be more effective, but they know the worst that's going to happen is that the item will be removed, only in rare cases the account shut down. So, I agree, Zazzle should be tougher, but a warning message will do nothing, except for the rare few who really don't know they're breaking the law. (Ignorance is no defence!)

Zillions of Zazzle users don't know or care the difference between copyright and trademark, or royalty free and public domain, the majority don't visit the forum where they can read about it if they want to. Personally, I think Deviant art is even worse - I was just looking for an image, two deviants (nice term!) have it, it's a wallpaper image with no exif data. One of them was asked - beautiful photo, did you take it yourself? And of course replied "yes!".
I don't know what the answer is, but I don't think that's it. It needs to start higher up - if Zazzle were worried about their situation when illegal use images were found, they'd do more about it. If someone had found the answer, we wouldn't be here, now, discussing it

And - a lot of them know they're doing illegal stuff, I had quite a few threatening messages when I challenged another Zazzle user, who was claiming other work as his own.

Just to show you what we're up against, this is a post from a new user, telling the rest of Zazzle how to do it:

QuoteOriginal ideas. If you copy other people you'll all have the same sometimes-people-will-buy business. But, if you have items that you can ONLY find at your Zazzle store, people will spread the word and your business will be spectacular! Even if someone copies your ideas, you'll still have more buisness because you had it first and more people still come in and out of your store.

This same person had copyrighted items in their store, and still has wallpaper images.

And, yes, I find it all extremely frustrating!
If Zazzle would say a definite No wallpaper images! that would be a start, at least I wouldn't have to track down the original author.

I doubt that would make much difference - most people have never read the terms - even if it was in red bold letters right in front of them when they uploaded an image, they still wouldn't read it and just tick the box.

Quote from: FD-regular on September 22, 2010, 13:46

Quote from: gill on September 21, 2010, 11:06According to rules for posting, I shouldn't name names.

Where? Here? You can put up a link to one of the offending products.

There are lots of links above, there's no one link to all of them, except www.zazzle.com/artgallery1
The good news is, the account's under investigation now. (What more investigation does it need!!?)

I'm glad/sorry you found one of yours there Renee. It looks like the store hasn't been used for a year, though that's no consolation, though I notice it was given "Top 10 Skateboards September 21, 2010" - probably because so many clicked on the link!

The majority that use these images just haven't got a clue or don't care about copyright, a few do it wilfully. Most of these particular images have come from wallpaper sites or scattered around the web, though some were directly off artists or photographers websites. I'm not going to defend or condemn Zazzle - they don't police the site so it's up to the rest of us. It's not just Zazzle though - I reported two copies of the same image to IS some time ago that had two different copyright holders.

I've just had a reply from Carl Brenders agent, so he's got a list too. We'll nail this one yet
He's dropped from 15,629 products to 15,628. If I didn't think it was worth it, I'd give up! The agent replied that they were trying to call, but on hold. Come on Zazzle, it's not hard - close the store!

Thankyou! In some respects I can understand the apathy, but it's apathy that allows people to get away with this. Zazzle is my my main income, so I'm probably not doing myself any favours by posting elsewhere, but these thefts are containable, certainly within Zazzle iteself. Unfortunately, since his discovery, he posted another couple of hundred items for sale. I'd like to say I'm sure Zazzle are investigating, but their communication is abysmal. Just for info, these are the ones I've reported or contacted owners so far:
world in hands
http://www.zazzle.com/violin_music_flowers_piano_mousepad-144792051456571056
http://www.zazzle.com/violin_music_flowers_piano_magnet-147951104446626608
http://www.zazzle.com/violin_music_flowers_piano_tshirt-235726272938079540
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1409221-earth-in-my-hands-east-view.php


http://www.fernandofalcone.com.ar/obras/tea_party.html (contacted)
http://www.zazzle.com/alice_in_wonderland_magnet-147799801390997390
http://www.zazzle.com/alice_in_wonderland_characters_card-137434932909330201
http://www.zazzle.com/alice_in_wonderland_gifts_t_shirts_stickers-235971534559441059
http://www.zazzle.com/alice_in_wonderland_sticker-217854331190235134

http://www.prints.com/prints.php/Carl_Brenders/Rocky_Camp_Cougar_Family/?artist_id=7&print_id=7029
Limited edition
http://www.zazzle.com/animals_card-137682307413750006
http://www.prints.com/prints.php/Carl_Brenders/Silent_Passage/?artist_id=7&print_id=6309
http://www.zazzle.com/animals_card-137669525195466881
http://www.zazzle.com/tiger_cat_rooster_chicken_dogs_cockatiel_burds_card-137792411127305579
http://www.prints.com/prints.php/Carl_Brenders/Ghostly_Quiet_Lynx/?artist_id=7&print_id=3172# (and a lot of other Carl Brenders as well)

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Grandi-Bianchi-Italiani-Posters_i825939_.htm
Someone still to contact

geofftristram.co.uk
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_postcard-239708629977646302
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_card-137711983912472778
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_card-137710679604484704
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_postcard-239540968495264815
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_sticker-217714406198270683
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_card-137157989963538750
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_sticker-217163207195491046
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_sticker-217160784909227480
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_card-137159294271526824
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_postcard-239155940336700348
http://www.zazzle.com/cats_music_cat_music_postcard-239172784542717761

http://www.photos.com/search/royaltyfree/87711610
http://www.zazzle.com/jazz_saxophones_card-137206440709104545

http://www.zazzle.com/violin_music_flowers_piano_tshirt-235726272938079540
http://www.zazzle.com/violin_music_flowers_piano_magnet-147951104446626608
http://www.zazzle.com/violin_music_flowers_piano_mousepad-144792051456571056


[email protected]
http://www.ericchristensenart.com/  "High Marks"
Sorry no links, I haven't worked on this one much



http://www.threadless.com/product/1955/Hoot_Night_Owl?from=ivejustquitsmoking

http://www.zazzle.com/coffee_shop_magnets_coffee_shop_fridge_magnet_mousepad-144924545387249117

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-54245377/stock-photo-bottle-of-wine-in-the-vine-on-a-white-background.html
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2419553/stock-photo-blue-zodiac-clock-with-gold-deatail-and-decoration.html
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2664160-zodiac.php
http://www.zazzle.com/horoscope_signs_time_space_clocks_cards_mugs-137391540216636683

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10175268-still-life-with-glass-of-wine.php
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_mousepad-144084408475524120
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-5881813-classic-martini-most-popular-cocktails-series.php
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_liquors_mousepad-144061206705673874
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10267168-olive-and-martini.php
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_liquors_mousepad-144679124670918571
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2578881-whiskey.php
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_mousepad-144784031847441343
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_postcard-239210651053735045
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10175268-still-life-with-glass-of-wine.php
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_drinks_postcard-239215742276808238
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10211593-wine-and-grapevine-on-white-background.php
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10808155-melted-chocolate-with-ripples.php

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2433910-cheese-and-wine.php
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_mugs_gifts_bag-149423634745465915
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6730402-red-wine-pour.php
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_mugs_gifts_tshirt-235686848639885661
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-8677532-wine.php 02-27-09 © Gennady Kravetsky
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_juice_cocktail_cards-137305724354411884

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-734247-red-wine-in-glass.php
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_mugs_gifts-137348856874222166

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/details/2016/old_park_bench.html (+ deviantart)
http://www.zazzle.com/sunset_cards_mugs_stickers_postcard-239587796706379388

http://www.jupiterimages.com/Image/royaltyFree/76952734
http://www.zazzle.com/saxaphone_mousepad-144311511428204184

http://de.123rf.com/photo_2522448_silberne-champagnerpartei-mit-dem-shimmering-beleuchtet-im-hintergrund.html
http://api.fotolia.com/id/5323405
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-7428808/stock-photo-silver-champagne-party-with-shimmering-lights-in-background.html
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_bottle_grapes_best_card-137728873397066696
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-24831322/stock-photo-coffee-cup-with-burlap-sack-of-roasted-beans-on-rustic-table.html
http://www.zazzle.com/coffee_mugs_ceramic_coffee_mugs_mousepad-144453247264335697

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/80468255
http://www.zazzle.com/sunset_cards_mugs_stickers_postcard-239290992754230059

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/skd190394sdc
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_greeting_cards_note_cards_and_wine_greeting_postcard-239191079906775742

http://www.pixelfly.net/photography/fotok1_001.jpg
http://www.zazzle.com/sunset_cards_mugs_stickers_postcard-239737853967538021
http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/details/2171/romantic_cottage.html

http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#p=1&q=CB005634&cat=20&mt=2&cf=1
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_mugs_gifts_mousepad-144083892790496171
# Copyright Notice = © Corbis.  All Rights Reserved.
# Credit = © Royalty-Free/CORBIS
# Caption/Abstract = Wine in Glasses
# Headline = Wine in Glasses
# Image Orientation = P
# Object Name = CB005634
# Original Transmission Reference = 11439690
# Keywords = Alcoholic beverages / Beverages / Color photography / Drinking glasses / Food and drink / Nobody / Photography / Wine glasses / Wines

http://www.zazzle.com/wine_grapes_drinks_mousepad-144371414432180997
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.free-lance.ru%2Fusers%2Fi_volga%2Fviewproj.php%3Fprjid%3D587637


http://www.behance.net/gallery/alice/456301
Creative Antonia Yordanova, Niki Phoenix, Momchil hristov
Style Antonia Yordanova
Hair Dani @ Arlet
Make up Vencislava Koicheva
Model Elizabeth@Ivet Fashion
Post production DEMO+TONO

http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_liquor_card-137471913809246569
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_liquor_card-137345880391656104
A work by living artist Kal Gajoum
http://www.plazagalleries.com/search/search.php?pid=1525&nav=search&action=3

http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_liquor_card-137711111082985655
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_liquor_card-137713719698496142
A work by living artist Kal Gajoum
http://www.plazagalleries.com/search/search.php?pid=834&nav=search&action=3

AGphotographer - contacted
http://de.fotolia.com/id/553515
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_juice_cocktail_cards_postcard-239191510263928033

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-3174673-wine.html
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-3375487-wine-and-grapes.php 05-12-07 © Denis Aglichev

Michaela Stejskalova
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-4741375/stock-photo-wine-composition.html
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-34595683/stock-photo-white-wine-and-grapevine-on-white-background.html
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_drinks_postcard-239215742276808238

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-21378793/stock-photo-still-life-with-wines-and-trumpet.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_white_wine_card-137059676019704434

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-27035056/stock-photo-red-wine-with-fresh-grapevine-and-cask.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_red_wine-137798439454163812
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_red_wine-137925605982159374
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_drinks_keychain-146256359521767785
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_drinks_apron-154772087093066590

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-44662141/stock-photo-wine-grapes-and-grapevine-composition-in-vineyard.html
http://www.zazzle.com/drinks_red_wine_gifts_card-137645849516058028

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-36129388/stock-photo-wine-and-vineyard-in-sunset.html
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_drinks_mousepad-144773354135112148
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_bottle_grapes_best_apron-154303933153762498
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_drinks_sticker-217123844462562796

JirkaBursik
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-24009139/stock-photo-the-bottle-of-red-wine-and-glass-and-wine-cask.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_red_wine-137981178675978936

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-25233925/stock-photo-the-still-life-with-glass-of-wine.html
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_mousepad-144084408475524120

OlgaLis
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-4821253/stock-photo-cluster-of-red-grapes-glass-and-bottle-isolated-on-a-white-background.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_red_wine-137631589958429652
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_cards_red_wine-137842079100799365


RDTMOR
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-1016254/stock-photo-whisky-glass.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_card-137885669615511154
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_card-137886563998131548

Stephen Mcsweeny
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2892341/stock-photo-alcohol-being-poured-from-a-blue-bottle-high-key.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_card-137916685671851088
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_card-137929356092306664

Sandra Cunningham
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-7428814/stock-photo-glasses-of-champagne-with-gold-ribbon-gifts.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_white_wine_card-137379412027638413
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_drinks_white_wine_card-137370952658687191

Elena Elisseeva
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2598370/stock-photo-glass-of-white-wine-and-assorted-cheeses-for-wine-tasting.html
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_tshirt-235968652923916415

ABBYDOG
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-51300910/stock-photo-white-and-red-wine.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_red_wine_magnet-147793247870835920
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_red_wine_postcard-239264512413871768
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_red_wine_sticker-217065851963523074

Mars Evis
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-24942883/stock-photo-still-life-with-red-wine-and-bunch-of-grapes.html
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_champagne_mousepad-144527431321736420
http://www.zazzle.com/wine_champagne_button-145295675674130535

Olga Vasilkova
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-785532/stock-photo-two-wine-glasses-in-backlight-on-the-black-and-white-contrast-background.html
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_bottle_grapes_best_card-137660247384405730
http://www.zazzle.com/red_wine_bottle_grapes_best_bag-149307983883669196

According to rules for posting, I shouldn't name names. There's a thread on the Zazzle forum in "Everything else" titled "is this a new problem?" which names the account (I think you may have to be registered to see that), but it's quite easy to find using the search terms above in the Zazzle marketplace, but he hid his store after he was found out.
Here's a link to get you started though:
http://www.zazzle.com/tiger+cat+rooster+gifts
Then you can just put the account name in the search and get the whole lot.

Yes, there are dozens of different photographers works, as well as paintings by living artists that are selling limited editions elsewhere for $100's, so I doubt if they would give permission for use in POD. I've already had a reply from a photographer and an artist who hadn't given permission.

Updated to say they've all been taken down now.

Someone is selling photos that I've found on stock sites. As I'm not allowed to name names, you'll need to search the zazzle.com site, particularly if you have wine and drink photos. If you search for: red wine drinks  (as a phrase) - the majority of photos on the first page will be from the person involved.
I've been trying to track people down since Friday, but there are just too many! I've sent a list to IS and am just sending one to SS, contacted a few individuals, and reported dozens to Zazzle, but I really can't spend too much more time on this.
Other search terms (as a phrase) are:
violin music flowers

You may want to check there if you have photos of wine bottles and glasses, vineyards, cocktails, musical instruments, clocks, coffee, roses, alice in wonderland illustrations. There are photos from Flickr and Deviantart as well.

Who knows?! Since my first six acceptances (which were pretty miserable low-res things), everything else I submitted was rejected, so I've taken a step back to "analyze". So, having a total of six images accepted anywhere, maybe others can give a better insight, but it seems a bit like choosing wallpaper really - everyone has their own ideas.
I'm just trying to get as many "weapons" under my belt as I can before I do battle again
Edited to add. I only have an old version of ps, so this is the bees knees to me!

An update. I've been looking at ways to combat the problem, and for those of you that haven't discovered it yet (sorry if millions of you already know) I discovered neatimage (as chasmcn mentioned earlier but I overlooked), and even though I don't get any commission, I'm impressed at what it can do - and so easily!


(Sorry if the images are a bit big)

The noise reduced image looks slightly lighter, but that may be as it was made from the first jpg example and not the original - i.e. opened, cropped and saved as first example, noise reduced and saved as example 2.

Just an update...

I bought 12 images from IS. It took me days to find the images I wanted, and still I have some blank spaces. I don't know if I'm allowed to post a URL but given the amount of time spent looking for stock, I think I'm entitled to not spend extra time reading posting rules Anyway, www.frenchgardenworld.com

I've sent mails to some of the owners apologising for the smallness of images bought.

Just to reiterate, my point is – not everyone has time to look. How many people like me give up at the first hurdle? It's all about maximising your sales. Find out what it is that you've photographed and add it to your keywords, you just might get some extra sales because of that.

Luckily I can recognise a lot of plants without names, but that still means I have to wade through 20000 tulips to find one that someone hasn't identified.
Yes, I could go to a plant-specific stock site, but not having any spare arms and legs to give away, that's not an option.

Bon courage!

Well, thanks for everyone's input. Just to clear the point, I was referring to the paid images being a problem for searchers. As for stock sites just being for human-related subjects, that's down to the sites themselves and what they want to be commercially viable, but there's no reason why they couldn't have a broader spectrum of buyers if they were to whittle away some of the commercially nonviable stock they have.

I'm not being critical for they sake of it, I hoped some people might find it useful, and perhaps I don't word things in the best way.

Let me put it this way - Dreamstime has 16,401 generic tulip photos, if you search for a specific variety, say tulip gavota, you get two results (both of which have had downloads), now for the amount of work adding the variety name, isn't it worth it for narrowing down the opposition and a possible extra sale, just on the off chance that someone may be looking for that variety, even if only one?

On the other hand, maybe it's better income-wise for nature photographers to stick with the macro sites. They're just out of reach for people like me (to buy). I did have a specific variety of honeysuckle rejected by one micro site as they've "got too many already" - they didn't have that variety, but that's up to them. I just think it's a bit short-sighted of them, not meaning my photo, but different varieties/species in general.

As ShadySue said

QuoteHowever it's the first time it's been downloaded in almost two years

Perhaps buyers from other areas are tightening their belts and looking to microstock.

I do get your point ShadySue, but if they were also labelled correctly, they'd probably have the additional sales that the named butterflies got instead, and perhaps if there were more images correctly keyworded, more people would start looking there for them?

Regarding correct keywording, I meant the accuracy of describing what something is. For example, I just did a search on BigStock for 'blue butterfly' to show what I mean. On the first page there are a couple of shots of a 'Painted Lady' butterfly, but it's unnamed. It's not blue but has blue sky. If I was looking for a painted lady butterfly in particular, I wouldn't find it as I wouldn't be searching 'blue'.

Even worse, on the first page of 'blue butterfly', there's a black and white tiger moth on a grey wall with the keywords "black, blue, butterflies, butterfly, close, grass, green, insect, peacock, red" - only three correct but not very useful words - black, close and insect. I realise that's an extreme example!

Not only does it make really hard to find what you want, it pushes more suitable images further down the pack. Not to mention wrongly-named butterflies. With 23,062 butterflies, a butterfly needs all the help it can get.

So - the first blue butterfly wins (even though it's not on a yellow dandelion as the keywords say)

Can you feel a buyer's frustration here?

Some of the problem is down to contributors without native English, but it doesn't take too much research (preferably not on stock sites) to find out what it is that's been photographed.

@Pixart, the keywording applies more to RF/RM images. I imagine some of the freebies were RF at one time, and therefore have keywords.

Incidentally, I just did the same search on the big 6 - the results: fotolia and 123 were pretty bad and stockxpert was appalling. SS and dreamstime are the places to go for blue butterflies.

I accept the criticism about freebies, but I'm a once-in-a-lifetime buyer, with no money - not the market you're aiming at, hopefully, but blame the sites for offering them as well. I'd love to be able to buy more, better, images, but I can't.

I guess that boils down to the market you're aiming at. I see two different markets   - having been on the pre-press side, with a wider (anything goes) market view, you're right, but in a limited (specialised) market you're wrong.
At the end of the day your image has to be the right image for the job, sometimes diversity works, sometimes it doesn't, in any case, correct keywording will double an image's capabilities.