A couple of years ago, when we were thinking of leaving IS exclusivity, we decided to try as many different avenues for selling our work as possible, to discover what worked and what didn't. Like you, we had no idea whether or not we would be able to sell direct, but we set up a Photoshelter site and decided we would run it for two years and see what happened.

The first year was poor,  the second year, although not impressive, was better. However, we did discover that there are people out there who are willing to buy direct from us, and pay more than peanuts.

Symbiostock came along in the meantime, and it's much cheaper than Photoshelter, and has actually brought in more sales in its first months than Photoshelter did. We will therefore abandon our Photoshelter site in a couple of months, at the end of its second year, and stick with Symbiostock.

We don't know if your files will sell. If you aren't prepared to risk $75 to find out, you will never know either. Your choice.

Thanks for your input. These are the types of things people want to hear.

$75 might not be much in Dollars but currently (just checked) you can multiply that by 9.81. 750 South African rands is not petty cash. It is also not just that we are trading in Zimbabwe $ It's that we have an idiotic government. So in realistic terms $75 costs us about $200-300! It's great when the sales come in because of the exchange rate but you win and lose.

So I'm investing several hundred $. I'm actually rather glad I decided to make my first post here today. Indirectly I am actually encouraged. I'm going to have a second look at Symbiostock in the near future.

What exactly is that advantage? I'm not looking to fight with you. I'm looking for the positives. How does being part of a large group generate increased traffic for example. That is a common sales pitch but it is never broken down how it ACTUALLY helps a person.

As I have said, maybe we are missing the bigger picture. Currently I am seeing that without having some way to generate sales there is little point in signing up with Symbiostock or anyone for that matter.

Being indexed on Google and using Blogger helps to get you hits through searches. How does being part of Symbiostock help me as a startup store? If it doesn't help me then that is the reason why people are "Oh Hum" about it.

I signed up to Microstock Group a few months ago through research on Google. This my first post I think. I'd like to point out a few things as what can probably be seen as an outsider looking in since I have mostly read, read, and read some more.

Overall, I like the idea of Symbiostock. I don't like to get screwed by the big (and small) Micro's. I've been taking photos from probably an age 9 or 10 and I'm 44 now. Recently I decided to actually try to earn some revenue from photography and creative related fields with vectors and such. I also like to spread my bases.

Now, let me get to it. I'm a creative person. I'm all about writing and creating. I'm not a salesman. I also loath to read through endless red tape/terms and conditions (and I spent days if not weeks doing just that before starting in Micro Stock). My questions are not about the layouts and the design. I've got enough experience to graphically modify an existing theme. That is nothing new to me.

I've been to Symbiostock and done some reading up while there. Correctly or INcorrectly my first impression is that I must invest. Fine, one cannot just take one must give too. So even though my financial status is very shaky, and we have the unfortunate downside of a weakened currency that is around ZAR10 for every $1, I would invest if I could see the potential for sales that would at least pay my monthly outlay. By potential I mean a way to sell photos since as I have stated before, I am not a salesman. I can have an html gallery of photos on a website within days. That is easy!

What I am looking for are clients. So it makes no sense to spend money on something that I don't see providing me with any real clients. Please note I am not being judgemental. I think I express what others feel towards Symbiostock.

So I pay up the fees, I spend time uploading photos, set up the site... then what? I've now spent money on a static corner of the web. My ego is fairly healthy. I don't need an online gallery for people to oooh and ahh. How do I find the clients or how do they find me? The type that are not cheap and buy my next to nothing $ pictures on iStock and everywhere else? It could be I am missing the obvious and maybe we all are but nevertheless, we are either missing the obvious, or we are right in our thinking.

How do we make money to at least pay for our outlay? I know about search engines and optimisation and all the jargon. The question still remains, how does being with Symbiostock help me to sell some images? If you can provide some realistic examples of how this can be achieved a lot of us would get onboard.

The internet is filled with people offering everything from used underwear to false promises. So we are bombarded by the minute by someone trying to sell us something. Why in your words does Symbiostock work and how? Perhaps it isn't working just yet (due to simple numbers of users) and that is ok. How will it work and how does it help us? Why should we sit up and take notice?

We know the sales pitch of setting our prices and not getting paid peanuts. 100% of nothing remains nothing while a very small percentage of something at a MicroStock site gets us some income. Photography has two distinct aspects to it. Art and business. When I sell an image at iStock... it's business. When I work on a composite image or vector (and they don't go to the sales bin) it's art. So I know the art. I want to know how to make money (even modestly) and how Symbiostock helps me.

I know this is long I never apologize for trying to make myself clear.