Quote from: Uncle Pete on August 15, 2022, 16:23
I work for SS? Oh you mean an employee?



Sorry but on their own site, they don't answer, and if you get an answer it's from some external "expert" who is just like one of us, but gets paid for giving stock answers, as they have no better information than anyone here.

SS doesn't monitor this forum.

oh yes, they do (all sites/agencies).

 Can i have someone who works for SS, and have basic understanding of plain English at least ? pm please, it's not for public discussion.

 in my country, we say "poltro(o)n" for that kind of people. we also say they need long shoelaces, so someone can pull them out from... wherever they fall into.
i'm not shure why they are angry with you, i remember even Mr.Oringer somewhere said his images most probably would not pass starting 10 test photos regarding standards at that time (which, in my understanding were raised).
so, in my understanding - he would not be angry at all - but, Kate is. it's strange for me.

the only way to go at this point.

 Final customer really does not care if product was made with hogh-end or lower-end equipment. The only criteria is "does this product fit my needs?" and "can i afford it?". It might sound cruel (and at some points - it is), however, that's how it works.
I myself  bake bread for example. And when i go to store and buy flour, i really do not care if this wheat was grown, cut, and put on the shelf using most sophisticated John Deere agricultural machinery, and Mercedes trucks from fields to stores.
I only care about quality. I guess i tried all of these, and have few favorites. - which fits my needs in quality-price relation.
From the other hand, yes, of course, selling clips at less than a dollar for author is nothing but humiliation and heavy exploitation, and underpaying hard work. However, i'm always trying to see bigger picture - so, for example - these customers which buy clip for peanuts - might be the same customer which paid just one your clip at price point enough for buying one piece of equipment etc.. -so, i look at things from that point of view - total downloads/total $ rate - and i might be o.k. with it, or if in total i was not - i would delete account and save myself from frustration.

If an image taken by anything (smartphone for example), in any form (heavily edited, or not edited at all) fits buyers need i can't see exact problem there?
buyer does not look onto exif. when i go to photographic or art exhibit for example, i never ask which tool was used for creation -  i just look the final work.
for example, i write article for my blog, and need pic 1000pix/longer side just to illustrate something. let's say... i'm writing something related with fishing. fishing lure impression.  and my options are: hundreds of images taken by medium format, showing fishing, or fish, or fishing gear, and just one taken by smartphone, showing exact model i need. - which one will i use? do i really need the very same image taken by medium format?
it's the content that we sell, not background story.

 important thing is:

the fact, that some images are accepted at one, more, or all the agencies, except one - does not mean it should, and/or it will be accepted at that one agency. no matter which agency.

if you had bunch of 300 images sent, and all 300 rejected, it might be your images are really really bad, or do not meet specific criteria at specific website.
however, there are some other reasons which can be in place as well, but i would not write it at public forum, but, without seeing pics, i assume your images might be just random snaps. or you might need property releases. o.k. you don't need pr for stones and rocks however. but i hoep you got my point.
you can ask agency for additional clarification, or you can just move on to your next project.

It can be also bought using card which is absolutelly o.k., than, ask for refund, saying "i'm good kid, i deleted the file from hard drive, and deleted from deleted files, and i'm not going to recover these deleted-deleted files from my hard drive using some file-saving software" - and they got their refound.
and after that, put all the content online at pirate sites.
*i have books at amazon kindle store. i remember when i published one - when it went online, i had one (and only one) purchase instantly, and refund after that.  i had no purchases for that specific book for another two weeks i guess, but second (actually less than one) day after publishing - when i typed "myname/mybookname/torrent" - i had it listed at few pirate sites.
**i even wrote comment where it was possible - steal this book, it's great one - i know it's great -because i'm an author

same here - one after another.
i guess, it's going to be available at pirate sites later this evening, if not already

 If you did not reach even 35$ payout at ss, regarding all the problems related with microstock industry, most probably your portfolio is ether too old, too small, or low/poor quality, or combination of any of these.

every single story is unique

use deep meta software.

 a) you have quite a few files actually, in comparison with all agency's database
b) your images are not commercial.

these two reasons are in my opinion main reasons for low traffic of your images.

 well, i guess someone will win, and someone will loose.
and, maybe, someone will get some money...

but don't bother yourself and be nervous - nor rich/vulture shareholders are going to loose their money. these people will be safe and well (in their expensive apartments/real estates/on their expensive yachts etc...) - somehow - common people will pay all the bills at the end, i am pretty sure about that

Quote from: Dr Bouz on April 08, 2016, 07:57
yesterday i had last 7 clips reviewed - 100% rejected.
b.t.w. all of these were 100% accepted at competitive agencies. 2 dl's so far now.

previous batch (actually few batches) were  23/13 in. also 100% in at other agencies.

good thing regarding last batch: at least review time is shortened

*correction (i just checked messages): it's 23/13, 17/19 and 0/7 in. (with 100% at other sites).

i guess it would be fine to remove some of the old not-ever-selling content. - i would not have problem with that at all.
but, my self-artistic-professional-ego is somewhere close to zero (which i noticed is not so often).

yesterday i had last 7 clips reviewed - 100% rejected.
b.t.w. all of these were 100% accepted at competitive agencies. 2 dl's so far now.

previous batch (actually few batches) were  23/13 in. also 100% in at other agencies.

good thing regarding last batch: at least review time is shortened

here is one good book regarding that matter.
(how i know it's good? - well, i know the guy )

http://www.amazon.com/Microstock-photography-Turn-your-passion-ebook/dp/B01C3FJK8W/ref=la_B00TXC5B6E_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456243715&sr=1-2

if you carry any offensive weapon (which knife is) - you have increased possibility that you will actually use it some day.
which you DO NOT want.
o.k. i live in country where carrying guns and knifes is illegal, and people are not really aggressive in general - so almost no one is stabbed or killed by guns at the streets.
so, from my point of view (i said my - it has not to be someone else's) - it is better for you even to sustain even injuries  rather than to actually kill someone.  but as i said - people do not kill each other at the streets here where i live. fights after sport events, or at late weekend hours - here and there - yes, but stabbing/shooting/gang shooting/firearm victims -no. (it happens, but so rarely that i can say "no")

 for one comment above (supermarket parallel):

if there is no supermarket (which "only" sells farmers product) - yes, you'll have to drive/walk/whatever 100miles to the nearest farm, and trade with farmer directly.

if there is no farmer - anywhere/nowhere - you can go and try to find one in first-class private jet - but, having in mind there is no farmer - you won't eat. - no farmer-no food supply. food/farmer is "older" than supermarket.

i was selling my images before microstock, and i'll sell them after microstock as well - if there is demand for content. somehow, there will be the way from customer  to producer. but, you guess - if there is no images - there is no images.

*for me this image looks as bad executed composite of Cologne dome, Rhine river promenade, lighting equipment for ice skating, with disproportions.
i'm not saying that is the case, image is too small, but i'm saying my impression.

when i was submiting images onto ss, rarely, i sent images twice - with corrections. because, even if really rear for me, their rejection reasons most of the time had sense. except "focus is not ..... where..." (they feel it fits best). actually, that was main reason i stopped upload and sell images at ss.
nowadays i submit clips onto ss. i guess i re-submitted rejected clips (with corrections) only few times (editorial vs regular caption/description). i do not know if their standards regarding stills changed/evaluated, but if they rejected the same image twice, or even three times - it is most likely that something is really wrong with your image.

for me it's  100% x 0 = 0 

however - nice move.

i do not use antivirus program fof pc / win since 1994. 
just reasonable usage of your computer, and you actually do not need any.

if every single person has firearms, there would be lesser fire arms incidents around globe, i am pretty sure about that.
but who would carry 1-2kg of danerous iron - i always rather prefer to carry 2 or 3 beer cans.



there is no simple answer regarding this matter.

bad photo. my first impression is "snapshotish" with no clear context and  concept.
should not earn you a lot of (if any) money, but don't be surprised if you get some high-priced extended download. (i'm speaking from my personal experience, i had number of photos that really were crap - and got extended licenes downloads for these ones).