Quote from: Freepik on February 12, 2016, 15:42

Quote from: Shelma1 on February 12, 2016, 15:03

Quote from: Freepik on February 12, 2016, 08:28
We are trying to explain things with transparency and sincerity, but some words are misinterpreted. The phrase about lawyers referred to specific allegations that a user of the forum has made ​​falsely (we have been accused of copies even in cases where the authors had uploaded them to Freepik).

But we are here to talk with you. We just wanted to personally respond to comments, to meet you, to know how could we collaborate. We have addressed all claims of this user, we have offered her to talk via Hangout or Skype, etc.

Yes, and you sent me a PM requesting I go through your entire website and send you an email detailing all the work of mine you copied. When I told you how much I'd charge for my time to do that you didn't respond. Quelle surprise.

Shelma, we are waiting for your email. We are putting all our resources at your disposal. Please, send us an email with all cases of plagiarism of your work that you saw in Freepik.

We are ensuring you that we will take action, we will investigate everything and we will do whatever it takes. But we need your collaboration.

"Whatever it takes" means deleting the entire portfolios of every contributor that is found to be plagiarising other people's work. Make a start with that, yes..?

Most agencies start out with at least a veneer of respectability and honesty about them before they start to rip us off. Freepik decided to cut out that first phase..

Quote from: 4seasons on February 09, 2016, 18:01
@Freepik, do you accept photos, icons or psd, png files from contributors also?
Thank you.

You actually want to send your work to these people...??!!!!

it's not worth it. Truly, it's not worth it.

Quote from: Freepik on February 05, 2016, 18:18

Quote from: cathyslife on February 05, 2016, 17:44

QuoteThe users can download your resources free, but you will earn a lot of money. And this is the novelty.

I must be really dense, because this statement seems to contradict itself. If users can download my resources for free, how do I earn a lot of money? $5 per 1000 downloads is not a lot of money, for one thing, and I don't get what you mean with that "free" word.

Doesn't really matter, I am not an illustrator and wouldn't upload here anyway. I'm just trying to get what is going on.

First of all, sorry for my english. I know it isn't perfect    :-)

I will try to explain it better. The users can download your resources for free, but you earn a lot of money because we will pay to you per downloads.

For example, this illustration was uploaded 4 days ago and it has +9000 downloads. (it's an exclusive resource designed by freepik, but imagine that is yours).

http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/hand-drawn-roses-and-leaves-pattern_836794.htm

You would have won $ 45 in 4 days, and this amount continues growing, of course. And, also, you could to have the illustration in other banks, because it's a non-exclusive agreement.

How about it? Here you have more info: http://www.freepik.com/become-a-contributor

Which all begs the question: how is Freepix making money?

Duncan opted me out - no problem. I really think there should be an opt-out button - or even and opt-in button so that it's not a default situation. I sell my work on Fine Art America so I don't want to compete with myself on 10% commission.

Where's the opt-out button? If there isn't one, I'm closing my account. There is simply no compelling case to stay.

Iphone 6. Delay / freeze with all actions

You can message Leaf and he will change it.

Quote from: jarih on January 10, 2016, 20:41

Quote from: Monty-m-gue on January 10, 2016, 20:36
Had you reached payout threshold? Or did they agree to payout regardless..?

It's under but they promised to payout.

Thanks, I'll send another request to them by email and report back here....

Quote from: jarih on January 10, 2016, 20:23

Quote from: Monty-m-gue on January 10, 2016, 20:03
Yeah? Fascinating. Thanks for your contribution.

Yeah, about year ago I deleted my images and week ago I requested to close my account and payout. And they promised to pay at the next payout.

Had you reached payout threshold? Or did they agree to payout regardless..?

Quote from: jarih on January 10, 2016, 15:22

Quote from: Monty-m-gue on January 10, 2016, 11:05
Did you ever receive a reply to your 'cash-out' request..?

I got mine.

Yeah? Fascinating. Thanks for your contribution.

Quote from: emjaysmith on January 07, 2016, 18:08
Jan did eventually reply to my original email but it was more a case of trying to sell me on the 'benefits' of the new  program. There was no response to my question about being paid out if I wanted to close my account.
I am now waiting for a response to my second email.

Did you ever receive a reply to your 'cash-out' request..?

I've sent emails in the past requesting payout and close of account. Those emails have been ignored. I'm posting here to make other contributors know about their behaviour and attitudes.

Quote from: cathyslife on January 07, 2016, 16:09

Quote from: Monty-m-gue on January 07, 2016, 14:38

Quote from: Mantis on January 07, 2016, 14:05
Very hard to make it these days and I would say that the angle to have any degree of reasonable success beyond just quality (sharpness, noise, etc) is commercial viability with differentiation.  You have to supply work that is commercially in demand, unique and hard to copy.  There are some really good artists in this forum and not who are simply amazing at what they do. Many are Photoshop experts who can effectively combine imagery with PS manipulation, some like Sandralaise who is quite amazing at her light from a window shots.

Do not think you can get into stock by shooting snappies around town and make any money. I also believe you need to establish what financial goals are acceptable to you. $250 a month? $500 a month? Set your expectations low, but your goals high. There's a balance there.
[/quote

Sandra is doing less and less work for Microstock these days - she's producing more for Stocksy and RM outlets. If people with the quality of Sandra are moving away from Microstock you can be sure the business model is failing...

I don't think it is the business model that is failing. Microstock was started to fulfill the market of people who can't afford to pay $100+ for a stock image. Contributors were supposed to be people who loved photography, weren't necessarily pros, and wanted to make some money off of their images. Anyone who is a pro or expert who wants to make more than pennies or dollars for an image absolutely should move on to higher grounds, and they absolutely do deserve to make more money.

But there are still lots of companies/individuals who can't afford to pay macrostock prices or hire a photographer for their stock photo needs. I think microstock is still a viable business model, I just think those who are producing excellent work will move away from microstock, and leave the "hobby" or part-time photographers to contribute to microstock, as was its intention. The goal of microstock hasn't changed, but the expectations of contributors have.

]

The business model *did* work well for high-end, individual producers. It doesn't anymore. The Micro aesthetic is dated and the market is saturated - both high-end buyers and sensible producers have migrated elsewhere. What remains is a pond being ever diluted by the same old, same old cliches thousands upon thousands every day.

Quote from: Mantis on January 07, 2016, 14:05
Very hard to make it these days and I would say that the angle to have any degree of reasonable success beyond just quality (sharpness, noise, etc) is commercial viability with differentiation.  You have to supply work that is commercially in demand, unique and hard to copy.  There are some really good artists in this forum and not who are simply amazing at what they do. Many are Photoshop experts who can effectively combine imagery with PS manipulation, some like Sandralaise who is quite amazing at her light from a window shots.

Do not think you can get into stock by shooting snappies around town and make any money. I also believe you need to establish what financial goals are acceptable to you. $250 a month? $500 a month? Set your expectations low, but your goals high. There's a balance there.

Sandra is doing less and less work for Microstock these days - she's producing more for Stocksy and RM outlets. If people with the quality of Sandra are moving away from Microstock you can be sure the business model is failing...

Dear Yay, did you lose your way back to this thread at the same time you lost your common decency?

Come on, Jan. We're still waiting for an answer from Yay....

Quote from: Jan on January 03, 2016, 16:10
Hi guys,

The streaming option is, as I mentioned, a great way for bloggers and small businesses to get into image licensing. Most of our customers who use this option are not professional image users. These are people who have never before licensed an image, and their budgets are very limited. There are absolutely no customers who sign up for the streaming plan and use thousands of images. We also have an active program to get streaming customers to upgrade to our other plans. These plans also pay 50 % commission to contributors, which means that earnings for these sales can reach up to $49.50 for a single image. 50 % commission is fair, and we aim to among the agencies that pay a fair commission.

We will look into getting more editorial content onto YAY Images as well. So far editorial has not been in big demand, so it hasn't had priority. In addition our editorial collection must be curated better in order to be it's own category of images.

You can still keep your images even though you are opted-out of YAY Images / streaming. Your images will still be available on our partner sites. We will not automatically opt you in if you are opted-out.

If you are having trouble getting an answer from us, please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected] and I'll look into what has happend. We are not ignoring any requests, but we do have quite a lot to do with too few resources, so sometimes we might need some time to get back to you.

You have absolutely ignored the several requests in this thread from contributors who do not wish to join a streaming service and instead would like to close their accounts with Yay and cash out. Please would you let the contributor community know if this is possible?

Come on, Yay. Please come here and tell me I can cash out the $11 you have made me in the last three years before I close my account on your sorry excuse for an agency. You know it's the decent thing to do...

I also would like to close my account with Yay. I don't want to contribute to your subscription model. Please advise if I can cash out my earnings despite never making the threshold in several years as a Yay contributor.

I have requested many times that Yay pay me my balance and close my account. They simply ignore my messages. Yay are, in my view, untrustworthy and their streaming model unsustainable for contributors.

Quote from: stuttershock on December 02, 2015, 15:51

Quote from: MisterElements on December 02, 2015, 00:33
Shutterstock and Offset SUCK!

you're spot on! I was trying to say something along the same lines -- in this case limited to Offset only, I know , strange for me on the background of some of my other posts here --, giving some reasons the moderators of this oh-so "politically correct" group here apparently didn't like. Apparently, one must not have any opinion of one's own, and one most not think at all, else...

So my post was removed without giving any reason nor communication about it. Silently at that, as if nobody noticed, what a bunch of cowards. Very "nice" and also telling as to some people's political culture, thank-you-very-much. So again, I fully agree with your opinion, @MisterElemnts. Trying to voice my support for your point of view again here.

If your deleted post was as incomprehensible as this one, it won't be much missed.

Quote from: onepointfour on December 02, 2015, 02:10

Quote from: Monty-m-gue on December 02, 2015, 00:26

Quote from: cobalt on November 30, 2015, 22:32
Well, there are enough artists with sales there, so they seem to be working.

Hi Jasmin, I was invited some while ago to contribute to OFFSET. I haven't sent them anything yet - mainly because I haven't heard of anyone selling anything there. Can you say a little more about what you know of sales potential on OFFSET? Thanks

Thank you

I know several offset photographers. They do sell, but I'm not sure how well. Most of them don't submit to microstock, so that explains why they are not here.

Quote from: cobalt on November 30, 2015, 22:32
Well, there are enough artists with sales there, so they seem to be working.

Hi Jasmin, I was invited some while ago to contribute to OFFSET. I haven't sent them anything yet - mainly because I haven't heard of anyone selling anything there. Can you say a little more about what you know of sales potential on OFFSET? Thanks