What conditions does Uber impose? Some fixed working day/time? (I just know almost nothing about their conditions.)

Uber loses right to classify UK drivers as self-employed: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/28/uber-uk-tribunal-self-employed-status

QuoteUber drivers are not self-employed and should be paid the "national living wage", a UK employment court has ruled in a landmark case which could affect tens of thousands of workers in the gig economy.

The ride-hailing app could now be open to claims from all of its 40,000 drivers in the UK, who are currently not entitled to holiday pay, pensions or other workers' rights. Uber immediately said it would appeal against the ruling.

Employment experts said other firms with large self-employed workforces could now face scrutiny of their working practices and the UK's biggest union, Unite, announced it was setting up a new unit to pursue cases of bogus self-employment.

Now, keeping in mind this precedent, what do you think? Is it possible to force Microstock Agencies to consider contributors as employees (using a court, trade union)? And it is good (or bad) for us (contributors) to be considered as employees?

Found these contacts in my Inbox:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Fotolia Twitter:
https://twitter.com/fotolia?lang=en

Fotolia LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fotolia

Adobe Stock Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AdobeStock

Also I am sure your friend or spouse can open a Fotolia account and use his/her Inbox to contact Fotolia via their website and pay attention to your case.

Good luck!

Fotolia phone number: 080 0917 0886
Did you try to phone them?

Fotolia page at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fotolia/
You can send a message (and comment).

Quote from: MatHayward on October 28, 2016, 20:14... We are keeping an eye on currency fluctuations, and if there is a major and sustained trend in currency conversion rates we take action to adjust. ...

Thank you for your answer. Please clarify what does "major and sustained" mean with some specific figures. (Both the words "major" and "sustained" are countable and become useless without digits.)

Is "major" equal to 20%? Or maybe 25%? Is "sustained" equal to 3 months? Or maybe 6 months?

Based on those figures we can make decisions like: "Convert credits and withdraw now.", "Do not convert for 3 months till Adobe fixes the exchange rate" etc.

Justanotherphotographer, I can create a new thread. Or the moderator can do that and move the text to that thread. (The text is here now, because I am sure Mat Hayward reads this thread, but I am not sure he reads all other threads.)

And yes, I'd prefer my bank or Paypal to do the calculations.

Dear Mat Hayward,

(This is a copy of my message from "Adobe Stock Contributor Site now live!", because that thread was closed, but no answer received.)

Currently 1 EUR = 0.9 GBP. But when I convert my credits at Fotolia (Adobe Stock) the rate is 0.75. It means: I earn 100 credits = 100 EUR and should get 90 GBP via Paypal, but Fotolia (Adobe Stock) sends me 75 GBP only.

This way all the UK contributors lose 15 GBP from every 100 credits (90 GBP) earned. It is a hidden 17% fee.

Why so? When are you going to fix the rate? Will you update it weekly to reflect the actual rate?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

Quote from: Dodie on October 27, 2016, 23:01... But I do hate politics. ...

I came to a professional forum and asked a question related to royalty (to an official representative of a microstock agency). And I expected a professional answer from him. But 2 members of this "community of professionals" started to discuss BREXIT, "ignorance" etc. in offensive manner.

And the reason is ... "my attitude":

Quote from: Dodie on October 27, 2016, 23:01... it was your attitude that made me  write to you. ...

What is wrong with my attitude to get paid in a fair manner? I ask a stock agency to use a real world currency exchange rate. Not some artificial one.

Did I ask to pay fair to me but unfair to other contributors? No. I did not. So why the heck do you guys blame me? I just can not understand. Really.

Quote from: Dodie on October 27, 2016, 23:01... I don't mind to ask Lief myself to delete my comments (and yours) if that will bring peace to you. ...

I would like all the Fotolia contributors to be united to ask Adobe to apply a fair currency rate to their "Fotolia credit system". That will benefit all of us. And will bring peace to me.

Unfortunately... (instead of being united) the "professionals" blame one another for no reason.

Quote from: Dodie on October 27, 2016, 17:45
Thanks God, you are not the moderator, I bet you would delete anyone who contradicts you.
First, this is an independent forum

Dodie,

One guy here (don't remember his nickname, it starts with "C") wrote to me here a lot of bull***t, he blamed me for BREXIT and told a lot of inadequate things. His post was removed by the moderators. So, as you see, this is an independent forum, right, but you should not say some things anyway.

And when his post was deleted you wrote a similar text. Yes, your text is much more correct. But still its a reflection of your problems.

Why did you wrote it? Answer honestly. To help me? No way! You wrote it, because you wanted to tell something bad about UK people, BREXIT etc. and finally you found a possibility to say that. Right? Now you feel better. But... only for a short period of time.

Quote from: Dodieand I don't think I said anything unjust.

So, you consider this:

Quote from: DodieYou, UK people don't pay US taxes, don't pay PP fees, you don't pay conversion fees, you BREXIT by ignorance and still you are always the first to complain when you have the impression that you are mistreated.

as fair and correct words. And you think that after those words people will consider you as an adequate person.

1. First of all, you are talking to me, not to some abstract "all the UK people". Maybe you have an impression that all the UK people read this forums. No, they are not. Moreover, microstocks are not popular in the UK at all. So, only a few guys from the UK will potentially read your "devastating speech". You are not at TV, not at the Trafalgar Square. You are talking to me here. And, by the way, I did not ask you for any help or answer in any way. I asked Mat Hayward. So, why do you answer at all?!

But... You answered. Even twice.

2. Think: What do you know about me? Am I British? Irish? Welsh? Or maybe I am from Poland or India, but live somewhere in the UK now? There are 850'000 of Polish people and more than 1'000'000 people from India and Pakistan living in the UK now. And lots of people from other countries.

You tell me: "You, UK people." Why?

And how can you tell some thing like this: "you are always the first to complain" about all the people of some country? Isn't it a sort of a chauvinism, nationalism or racism?

And your: "you BREXIT by ignorance" is absolutely neutral, fair and correct of course. All the UK people are ignorant, aha. Thanks God that we have Dodie on this Earth and he is smart and totally perfect. And from the height of his position he can judge what country is full of ignorant people.

P.S.
If the moderators will leave this text I may comment the rest of your so-called "answer".

Dodie, if for some reason the moderators will leave your post here I will answer you in detail.

In short: I guess your country does not have a 0% "US tax treaty" agreement, but why do you think it is my personal fault? Am I a prime minister, president or king of your country (wherever you live)?

Dear Mat Hayward,

Currently 1 EUR = 0.9 GBP. But when I convert my credits at Fotolia (Adobe Stock) the rate is 0.75. It means: I earn 100 credits = 100 EUR and should get 90 GBP via Paypal, but Fotolia (Adobe Stock) sends me 75 GBP only.

This way all the UK contributors lose 15 GBP from every 100 credits (90 GBP) earned. It is a hidden 17% fee.

Why so? When are you going to fix the rate? Will you update it weekly to reflect the actual rate?

Is Adobe Stock website down now?

Quote from: Shelma1 on September 27, 2016, 19:56I honestly think they're pushing this issue because they're going to lose that billion-dollar lawsuit, ...

What lawsuit?

We (me and my friends) phoned DepositPhotos and told them what we think. But their managers want to see: How many contributors think the same.

So, guys, please email DepositPhotos support and tell them that you do not want to sell your photos and illustrations at this price ("Flexible plan"). Tell them that it is a sh*t like DollarPhotoClub and you are ready to deactivate your account if they do not cancel that "Flexible plan".

Now they tell the same BS like DollarPhotoClub owners used to. Like "You will get your $0.30 from $1 and it is great!" but if they see many contributors angry they may change their plans. (Not the evil plans, of course. Just this particular one.)

Quote from: alex123rf on October 31, 2014, 02:23
...
However, the 123RF Partner Reseller API (the bridge between 123RF and Inmagine) immediately registers a sale whenever Inmagine records an image purchase. 123RF is then committed to pay the commissions to you regardless of the ability of Inmagine to collect payment with credit terms mentioned above.
...

Alex,

I have about 25 years of IT experience. And I can not understand: why can't you update the API of your system to reflect the actual sales?!

If the API shows wrong results - just force your programmers to change the API. It is a matter of several days, including the final tests.

The API is not something given by gods in a form of stone plate with a holy text (when you can not and must not change it). It is your API and you have 100% control over it.

So, please, do not think we are stupid. If API works this way, that it because you developed it this way by your plan.

P.S.

The problem now is the same as with Dollar Photo Club: It is not enough to add an "opt out" button. Because some of photographers do not know about this 123RF scam. Now 123RF must notify all the contributors (via the site and newsletter) about this new "opt out" button (once it is created). Otherwise we again will need to create a boycott site (like that one against fotolia scam), notify the contributors around the World etc., etc., etc.

Quote from: w7lwi on June 01, 2014, 22:32
... DT has made it possible to opt out of this (although they could have done a much better job in this regards) ...

DT has to make it "opt in" deal, not "opt out". And, of course, not "opt out in 5 days"+"opt out from partner sales all together".

"Opt-in" is the only fair way. Fotolia took all our images to DPC and then (as a result of the boycott) offered that hidden and tricky "opt out" link. And we clearly stated to Fotolia that it was a wrong way to do the things. I am surprised that DreamsTime did not learn that lesson.

"Learn from the mistakes of others." (c) Eleanor Roosevelt

Yes, DT sent a notification (unlike Fotolia). But "opt in" would be much better. "Click this link and those images will be added to the experiment." is it so difficult?

Guys,

DreamsTime is not a bad agency. And, as one guy said here, "DT is relatively honest".

(I like this definition ("relatively honest") very much. We are now at the point of time when all the microstocks go to 3 groups: "relatively honest", "dishonest" and "too small to be considered as a serious agency". And there is no "honest" group at all. So, let's be more respectful to DT.)

Now to the point. I do not like this shady deal offered by DreamsTime and I opted out - turned off all the partner sales, because DT does not offer any other way to opt out.

But I can change my decision if DreamsTime will fix the errors they just made. All the errors were mentioned and discussed here at MSG.

First of all, I must say that I contacted DT support and they answered my questions politely. But why do not they send a new corrected newsletter to all the DT contributors?! They answer to personal support emails, trying to fix their mistakes in person-to-person conversation, but why not send a new email to all the photographers?!

Now, after the 1-May boycott, Fotolia sends emails to the contributors several times a week! (Trying to entice the contributors) But DreamsTime sent the only message to us and they understand that they sent a bad invitation. Anyway, they did not send a more polite, correct, informative new message to us. Even the broken links were not fixed. They do not need chisel+stone to make the message, but ...

So, dear DreamsTime, please show us your respect and confirm your reputation: Write a new text and send it to us. You see all the questions here at MSG. Just write some good answers to us - your partners.

P.S.
What especially I do not like in DT offer is: "You have 5 days to decide."
Emm... Excuse me?! Why not 5 hours or 5 minutes? Where did you take this number? We are photographers and designers, our job does not require to be online 24/7/365. And I also do not think that DT makes any business decisions in such a hurry. Why should we?

P.P.S.
Sorry for my bad English.