probably could also argue you don't need a 5d to shoot what ever he was shooting. A 6mp canon 300D probably would be good enough.

I assume that you can still use paypal for no fee ??

Doesnt seem like a huge issue.


Have you tried to buy a plane ticket off some airlines. There's a fee for using a credit card even though there is no other way pay.

If its so pathetic why participate ?? just close your account and find small change on the street

I wouldn't mind veer putting them on alamy if
 
1) no duplication of existing content
2) we got the % royality of the sale price not normal veer royality
3) option for opt out if you wanted

Dreamstime consistently for me goes in cycles no or low downloads for a couple of days then a couple of days of good sales. Seems like they cycle the best match positions around.

This month is lower than last few but within the limit of what I was consider normal

With all the partner programs Veer seems to be involved with I'd expect more sales.

http://www.imagedirekt.com    watermarks show veer

I hadn't looked at spiderpic since the "beta launch",  must have been a couple of years ago. Yes it hopeless.

Of course I can find my own images in google if I look for them, doesn't mean that buyers are going to find them before they find someone elses.

People are forever complaining and best match sorts, my files at the back of the search, my hottest file just died, etc.

Do you think it will be better with 300 million in the mixer ?

Some images will be at the front some not.

Personally I can't see the big benefits for buyers

I wouldn't go exclusive with SS. They normally account for 25% of my monthly earnings. I doubt that I would earn 4 times as much with any exclusivity deal.

Not to mention the all the eggs in one basket problem.

I don't trust anybody in this game enough to go exclusive.

corn flower blue

I had to look it up

"Cornflower blue, a shade of azure, is a shade of light blue with relatively little green compared to blue. This color was one of the favorites of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, the other being yellow."

Sounds like you should get a to english dictionary. I'm sure there's plenty of website versions too.

I've got images pinned without any watermark from commercial websites (that I assume paid for them).

They're locational / travel shots. I've seen similar things before where people use google images to find a shot and then just paste it into their blog post.

I don't have the time to police this stuff. I'm better off spending my time producing more photos than chasing $1 sales missed.

I'm not saying they should be able to do this or I'm happy. I can see it as another tool to find images and take them/ use them for free.

Quote from: Brian O'Shea on May 18, 2012, 09:19

Hi All �

We are currently working with Alamy to find a solution to this situation.

For more context here, we are regularly seeking ways to increase sales of your images through new agency relationships such as the one we've recently launched with Alamy.
These agencies offer additional exposure and access to different markets beyond that offered thru Veer.com.

Clearly, creating duplicates is not good business for any of us: for you, for us, or for our partners.
We will be providing additional details on this, and other partnerships soon.


 -  Brian

Thanks Brian, glad to hear that something is happening about duplicates. I am sure you'd understand that I'd rather have the images I placed direct on alamy as the one retained.

What hasn't been answered though is what is the commission that we have been receiving on these sales to date? Are these coming through as standard veer sales?

+1

You should be able to tell us the commissions we would get for a sale immediately (or is it we wouldn't like the answer)

It might be good for us if all the sites were owned by greedy investors that kept lowering commissions.  We would eventually have to do something about it.  I'm tired of this long slow death of microstock.  At some point we are going to have to get together and do something or forget about making money from microstock.

I still think if we all withdrew from sites that paid less than 50% commission, everything would change.  Buyers will go to wherever they can find what they need.  We have the lifeblood of the sites and some of them have taken it for granted that we will supply them whatever they do.  Some people have left sites but it would have to be a big coordinated effort to make a real change.  Just imagine how the valuation of sites would change if their suppliers left and buyers moved elsewhere.  It might seem impossible but it could be much easier to do than we think.

If you (or someone else) could organise this then it would make a difference, but its not going to happen. When Istock pulled the RC move most people couldn't even stop uploading let alone delete their ports. I stopped uploading for awhile but resumed when it was obvious that all was happening was I was disadvantaging myself. It isn't like the train company goes on strike and there is an immediate effect.

If you could get people to pull their ports it would make an effect but for some people this is like asking people to resign from their job.

How do you organise a group of people spread across the world you don't even know ? Its not like you've got to cross a picket line. You don't have to work in a crew with the people you didn't back up in the fight for fair pay and conditions.    

My take is that we'll need to carefully keep control of costs for shoots if you want to keep being involved seriously in microstock. The return will be reduced by the agency cuts and competition down to the level where it becomes unprofitable for alot of shoots. The only way to make profit will be to be able to produce the best balance between quality and production cost. Lots of people trying to earn a living will move onto other things as the effective hourly rate for their efforts simply won't be worth it.  (I believe this is already happening). I hope I'm wrong. People who have more talent will be able to make a higher effective hourly rate for their work.

Have we already seen the peak in production costs for shoots ? Is it profitable now for the factories to do those mega team shots with 30-40 models hiring out a whole office building ?

People who microstock is something on the side for them supplying only 10's of percentage of their total income will continue on living the microstock dream.