That is unfortunate, but I don't get that arbitrary limit of $5. Since there is a lot of accounts there, this seems to a way for them to get hundreds of thousand of dollars for free (From their about page: "Today we are home to over 118,362 contributors, and over 1,182,315 members from around the world"). I understand that PayPal transfers costs something, but it's certainly much less than this amount.

BTW I guess some customers might be going to spend remaining money by buying images, so we may see an increase in sales

Yes, I meant Microstockr, but haven't tried it yet. I see that it is not I great way too

Then there is Stock Performer, but that's even more expensive or you can pay the cheaper subscription and live without collections... tough choice :/ but I have not tested that one either.

Oh, I see. It is a pity, I will miss it too, but will probably have to move to another service like this one ... though they are more expensive and I don't need it daily, so maybe I will subscribe just for two months in a year or so

Hi, I use MicrostockAnalytics from time to time and there have always been glitches.

But currently there are three agencies not working and no update for a while, so I am wondering if it is still being updated? (Details below if you are curious or have similar issues)

What is your recent experience?

Thank you!


-----

Some details about non-working agencies:

iStock - logged in and then... nothing I can navigate around the site and my account, but the app is not reacting

Dreamstime - Press & Hold to confirm you are a human - success, but then the page is reloaded and I need to confirm again and again...

Bigstock - Login button moves you to the home page, but doesn't actually login

I have to turn these three off to at least gather data from the remaining agencies.

Quote from: Pixart on January 02, 2019, 16:58
Isn't the license for one end user?  Is it different than making a commissioned print for a client?  Couldn't he sell it and then purchase all the photos again if he finds a second user and still be legal?

This is what suggested in the last paragraph of the original post. But sadly, Depositphotos website doesn't allow purchasing the same item twice. The "Buy" button simply change to "Download".

However, it is possible that the Envato marketplace (i.e. Photodune for photos) might expect this pattern, so might be actually usable in this case. (Not 100 % sure yet, though)

To let you know the reply of the Depositphotos:

QuoteThis usage requires the Extended license.
If you're on a tight budget, we are ready to provide a good discount based on your needs.

Interesting. So it is as we expected, but doesn't completely rule out cases which would get ridiculously expensive with plenty of Extended licences.

Just a side note: I found a weird situation with a photo found three times: On Pixabay and TWICE on Adobe Stock under two different accounts. Not sure what is the origin, but seems that at least one of the Adobe accounts stole it from Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/en/bird-wings-fluttering-nature-1045954/

https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/id/224445377

https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/id/237579501

Quote from: angelawaye on December 30, 2018, 15:14
Just a warning, Pixabay has some stolen images on their site. Even if you think they are creative commons, they could have been stolen. A lot of my work is given away for free on those shady websites. It makes me so mad because people get the impression because it's free, they are free to use it however they want (Taking into no account they could be stolen).

Great point and sorry to hear you are able to find a lot of your images on those sites. I encountered a few of my images on some Russian websites (free to use cliparts! etc.), so I understand your frustration.

Thank you, Jo Ann! Yes, this is what I feared. I realize this is a weird/gray area, whih is probably leaning towards the Extended licence, but is not very clearly described in the licensing conditions, that is why I was asking.

In this case it is just one agency (Depositphotos) from which I would need two photos (the dunes and the camels). The rest is from Pixabay with a CC0 licence or is so small or is distorted heavily that it really plays a very minor role.

But still it seems that this is still two images too much. I will try to contact Depositphotos to hear their opinion on this and maybe also Adobe Stock to see if there there is a different approach. Thank you for the tip! I will post the answer(s) here.

Hi, I am mostly a contributor to microstock agencies, but I started using other's photos too. Hopefully this question is not too of topic here.

I have a photo-manipulation, composed of multiple other photos:


Most notably there are photos of camels+person, manta, luggages and the desert landscape. There are also about 10 other images, but practically unrecognizable.

I made it as a training, so for the photos I bought are using the Standard licence - so far so good I hope.

But what if I present it on my web and someone would contact me to buy a print or something (for their personal purpose). Not that it is a probable situation, but one can dream And I am also asking for possible similar cases in the future.

In the case of printing for someone else, is it suddenly an "Item for Resale"? And if it is, does these images "play major role in it"? There are the two conditions that would require to have an Extended licence.

The Extended licence is so expensive though, that a single prints would be unlikely to return the investment (or even a handful of prints).

So there is another question: If the Standard licence wouldn't be enough to print it twice and Extended licence is overkill, it is possible to meet the requirements by buying the Standard licence twice? However, there might be a technical issue, that an agency interface generally doesn't let a customer to buy the image twice.

Thanks for any reactions!

Cool, that's what I thought. Thanks to everyone for your answers! I'll let that agencies cope with my files

Hello everyone, I read somewhere a long time ago that it is a good idea to prune own portfolio and get rid of photos that no one needs.

I am now thinking about making this step, but it is even necessary? I mean - most of the buyers probably search by keywords and if they get to one's portfolio, I guess it is sorted by selling rate so the not needed files are piled at the bottom and no one cares.

So, do YOU delete your unsuccessful files? Or what do you think about it?

Thank you!

Quote from: Microbius on February 07, 2013, 09:39
Honestly I don't think they will be making any more money because of these changes, I think it is to maintain their current profitability in light of the many Ex-Exclusives getting referred quicker than they can bring in new sales to compensate.

Sorry, but I don't think this is correct. For profitability it doesn't matter if the new guys are selling anything or not, the referral payments are paid just from the actual sales. No sales, no payments to referrals.

With 200,000 downloads/day ( http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/post-2423551.html ), this will bring SS some nice money,... which will be lost for plenty of people. I don't think this will be only a few isolated cases. I too will miss the old referral program and I just recommended a few people (but one of them is a really good one).

The problem is when people start with microstock, they do not have big portfolio, and after the time they will reach good sales - cut! No more referred downloads. So you won't get the share at times when it matters most.

Of course, I don't like these photos to be used on porn site at all too. Though the question is: It is even possible to protect such images without hiding them in the basement for the rest of our lives?

As a side note: Porn site wouldn't probably want truly artistic nudes

That's a very good point, thank you Sean. I will try to keep that in mind and shoot as many headless or otherwise anonymous shots as possible.

Hi everyone,

I am going to test whether it is possible to make some money by selling more-or-less artistic nudes and I have made some pre-analysis of the legal documents by the Big 6. If you want to know which sites are accepting nudes and what kind of nudes, go to the link below. I have also took a look on the rules under which can the images be used by buyers.

All relevant excerpts from the licenses, FAQs, guidelines etc. are included.

http://www.pastel.cz/articles/nudity-on-microstock-sites

I have also uploaded and got accepted first batch to confirm my findings, so it should be correct, but I would be happy to hear any corrections, comments and/or you experiences with nude photos on microstock (I still don't know whether it will sell at all).

Vit