Photography as an art form is still in me, and I still do some
Micro... what?
Glad to see old names first time here in months

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone here on MSG

Kone

Thanks to James for responding on the forum about my concern.

It is hard for me say if the image was cleared or not, to be honest, I didn't pay attention to that details.
If the image is not cleared for a certain time, then Alamy should go after the customer or simply cancel the order. A refund that occurs after one year of the purchase is ridiculous. Maybe Alamy should be similar to other agencies and report the sale when they get the funds and not when the bill is generated.

Kone

Hi all, thanks for posting,
Looks like Ariene was right about refund.
For those who are curious what happened, after few emails I got an answer from Member Service:

Hi Kone
We've got an update from our billing team and it seems your image 'XXXXXX'  was purchased in error by the customer and  it was never been used by them.
And so the amount of '$250.00 was refunded from your account.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help
Thanks

Xxxxxxx,
Member Services

This is ridiculous, after one year they are giving a refund to the customer!

Alamy has refunded a sale a few times in the past for me. It's almost always the big purchase that gets refunded. I had one refund last month for about $250 from a sale from more than a year ago. They just took money from my account without any explanation!
This is ridiculous!
I always thought that Alamy was more professional than other agencies, but it looks like all agencies are exactly the same.

Kone

Count me in

Kone

Hi All,
Last week DT sent me an email to inform me that they "removed" earnings from my account due to reasons that are beyond their control. They were very sorry because they had to refund their customer $9.32.
Possible refund reasons of course are (well known to everybody):
- Accidental download;
- Credit card fraud;
- Duplicate download;
- Incorrect size/format/license purchased;
- License update;
- Performance issues (misspellings in texts, quality);

So I went to see the file that is mentioned and to see when it was downloaded and refunded but nothing is there. This file has never been sold for this amount.
Then of course I ask for more details.
Their first email stated: Due to the high volume of daily transactions, we cannot provide additional clarification on the refund performed. Measures are always taken for the licenses to be withdrawn and images deleted. Any subsequent unlicensed usage is liable to legal action and penalties.

Second email:
"Nice" lady (don't want to point any fingers here) said:
"If the refund was requested immediately after the purchase, the system did not have time to update and the sale did not appear in your earnings. What you now see are previous sales, which are still valid in your account.
Once we issue a refund, the sale is immediately deleted from your account so it is very possible you did not even see this sale.
Hope this clarifies."

I don't think she has a clue how computers work, it must be registered somewhere.

My point here is transparency.
Microstock in general receives unreciprocated honesty from us, and we as suppliers have to rely on their good (bad) mood. I just feel like if they need some money they simply could send few hundred emails and bingo the money is there. We, as suppliers take everything they serve to us. Transparency in these cases is very important, I want to know what is going on with my files. We don't have any control over what is sold, and how it is sold. We just have to take it or leave it (by deleting our portfolios "if they allow us"). They should have a system where we can see who the buyer is because they know it but...
These are our files and they are just selling them for us. And in most cases I feel like we are not important in this business.

Kone

Happy New Year everyone!

Quote from: lisafx on October 17, 2013, 04:30
Kone, I have read quite a few people suggesting that Fotolia requires regular uploads or they drop your images even further back.  I don't know if it's true.  I've been uploading around 40/month and my sales are still slipping, but I don't know if it would be even worse if I stopped.

Thanks Lisa, yes I read that too but the last couple of years I've been doing things other than stock and I haven't had the time to produce a lot of images. To be honest, since sales are going down everywhere, that does not encourage me to take new photos and upload them.

Yeah, I can say exactly the same here.
I was never very happy with Fotolia sales but they were ok-ish until December 2010. Sudden drop 30%.
Then March -April 2011 sudden drop another 50%, since then it goes down only and now I am making around 10% of what I made before December 2010.
I am not motivated to upload anymore and last two years I did not upload much.
If we are losing sales on Fotolia and they're losing uploads from us, at the end of the day, I don't even know who is losing more.

My current earnings at DT are not even 25% of what I made in 2009. All the credits that they sell for now are credits from 2010.  For example, one of my last sold images was (16 credits - 2010) level 5, $7.55, medium-size. I don't understand how they can still sell for credits from 2010. If it's not a sale from credits from 2010, it's a subscription - $0.35.
I've been with DT from September 2006, and I think they are putting us down more and more every year. I don't think I will stay with them for much longer.
How about you?

Admin Edit: changed the title to something more 'professional'

Hi, I have been a photographer before Microstock, I am still a photographer, and if Microstock dies soon I will be still photographer. At the beginning I was concerned about Microstock but then later, in 2006, I joined just to try it. I did make money through Microstock, and I am still making money although I am not making as much as I used to.
Cell phone stock, I don't know, too many people have cell phones and too many will get a share. As  an individual I will be making so little that I don't think it is worth joining (my personal opinion), only the agency will make money. Of course if it gets going  and I see I can make money with cell phone stock, I will join.
Somebody said that a 70 % share is good, however 70% of nothing is nothing.

I like this post by:
Gunter Nezhoda
I'm not sure what to think,
There's a guy who made it all the way to the top from scratch, produces the best "Merchandise" in our industry and everybody else is jealous and does not give credit were credit is due. This man became very successful with hard work and great strategies. What are we doing? - Checking his spelling? - very childish of us in my opinion.
I for my part would like to succeed and listen to people who have done it, not judge them.
There is no fairness in business and I don't expect it. I'm not waiting for Yuri to change my diapers.
I'm not hoping that successful people hold back, turn around and offer their hand to me, so I can have a piece of the pie too. That's not how it works.

Great going Yuri, it does suck that you car is nicer than mine, but I know why, and you deserve it. Get it while you can!

All the best
Kone

Hi all,
I just received an email from Depositphoto stating that they sold one of my images. The issue with this is that I no longer have an account with them. I disabled my account over a year ago (October 2011), and I can't log back in. This microstock business is a true mess.
This leaves me wondering if they are still selling my images without my knowledge or consent.
I tried to search for my images on their site and I found three images in my portfolio. My portfolio exists and it has three images. Back in October 2011 they sent me confirmation email that my account is closed.
So be careful with images on Depositphoto, there is some fishy business.

Has anything similar happened to anyone else?

Kone

Quote from: ShadySue on March 12, 2013, 01:28

Quote from: Kone on March 12, 2013, 01:23
Hey tab62

We already discussed this a few years ago. This link might help:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/computer-hardware/looking-for-monitor/

Kone

Have monitors not changed since 2009?

No I still have the same one .
Of course technology is improving, but there are some useful links that are good for research.

Hey tab62

We already discussed this a few years ago. This link might help:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/computer-hardware/looking-for-monitor/

Kone

Hi Warren,
Make sure you bring some warm weather back from your trip! This morning in Toronto,  it was -28°C.
Have a nice trip!

Kone

I like this kind of songs. Are you Austrian or German?

Kone

Deactivated 85 files

1642

Kone

Hi everyone!

This is insane.
I am joining you guys who already start deleting images
Today I deleted 85 images.

Kone

Very sad. My sympathies to his family

Kone

Sony is the first to have managed to pack a full frame sensor (24MP) into a point and shoot body. The camera is equipped with a fixed 35mm f/2.0 Carl Zeiss lens.
With a pixel count of 24 million, the RX1 can shoot RAW along with a burst mode of 5 frames per second. It features pretty much all DSLR functionality.
This is exactly the camera I've wanted for years, if only I could switch the lenses too (or 20 mm fixed).
Biggest downfall for me is the price tag at $2800.
I have Nikon equipment and I will wait and see what Nikon and Canon will say about  this revolutionary decision.

Here is the link:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/09/12/Sony-Cyber-Shot-DSC-RX1-preview-video-full-frame-24MP-35mm-F2-camera-carl-zeiss

Interesting discussion.
Everything was okay-ish until November 2011 (Fotolia never really worked well for me).
After that date, my revenue went down by 40%. Again, in April 2012, it went down by 50%, for no reason.
Now, I am getting around 25% of what I was getting before November, 2011.

I'm just wondering how far we are willing to go.

Kone

I know now, he is getting Canon PowerShot G12

Quote from: lisafx on April 28, 2012, 23:48

Quote from: Kone on April 28, 2012, 23:44
He is getting married

That's great!  Wishing him all the best

Sorry Lisa, i am just kidding.

He is getting married