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Messages - sipaphoto

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1
General Stock Discussion / Pixmac question
« on: January 20, 2012, 14:14 »
I'm a little confused here and hoping someone here can clear me up...
When I do a Google search of my account (sipaphoto) on Pixmac and view my profile, it says I've sold 6 photos so far (don't laugh, it's a new account). However, when I view my sales record after logging into Pixmac, my account shows only one photo sold, and even shows me which photo was sold, but definitely only shows one. Even my balance shows that only one photo was sold, not six. What gives? Anyone know why the discrepancy?

2
I'm sorry, but unless you're receiving regular paycheck-sized revenue on a weekly basis from your microstock sales, your being a contributor doesn't mean you actually have an interest large enough in the company to defend them this passionately. That would be like owning a single share in Microsoft and actually thinking your voice should be influential in any Microsoft-related debate.

3
Sorry, if you have this much innate mistrust for stock sites...you should probably find a different line of work.

I suspect you lost more in future revenue by blowing those 400 images away in a rash decision, then was forfeited to Canstock.

 
Probably, but I retained my integrity, self respect, and rights to sell my photos at fair rates, all of which are much more important to me than lost future revenue through microstock.

4
Companies we have no interest in...... :D - We are contributors to these sites.  ::)

Personally I think you are an impostor who represents (owner or rep) another site and are having a swing at CanStock because they are better than your site. Please stop bashing the competition. Go home, you do not belong here you under cover infiltrator......  >:(

 ;D :D

Wow, that was mature.

5
I could easily create such accounts myself, then log in and out and post supporting responses to my own comments all day long.

You wouldn't be the first one to try.  :) There have been members who opened multiple accounts and had conversations with themselves... such accounts are pretty easy to spot and the accounts are simply removed.
I disagree.. tell the whole truth please. These types of accounts are actually very hard to spot, especially when they don't hint at any affiliation to the company, but rather defend the company as if they're contributors having great experiences with them all the time. People who have only good things and absolutely nothing negative to say about a company they only interact with on such an impersonal level as the Internet are suspicious. I'm sorry, but there is no company in existence that can only make people happy, and so happy that people are willing to jump on here, defend a company they have no interest in, and rip on fellow photographers for voicing their bad experience. Companies like that just don't exist, so I'm sorry, but if you're not suspicious of these people and their motives then you're hiding your head in the sand.

6
I didn't make an accusation against any specific person here, so maybe it's you who should get better informed.
hmmm?
You're right, I did actually single someone out in response to their post at one point. My bad. Apologies.

7
I could easily create such accounts myself, then log in and out and post supporting responses to my own comments all day long.

You wouldn't be the first one to try.  :) There have been members who opened multiple accounts and had conversations with themselves... such accounts are pretty easy to spot and the accounts are simply removed.
Wich proves my point...

8
I am sure there are site owners, site reps and other co-conspirators crawling this site, waiting to pound on innocent complainants, but if you visit more frequently you will, in time, see who are actual co-artists (keep an eye out for the guys with the sunglasses.......).

In any case, if you have the right to voice your opinion (especially in such harsh terms), every one else here have the same right (even the ones that disagree with you).

CD, I don't think I ever said people don't have the right to disagree with what I'm saying. They absolutely do! Even the companies themselves have the right to disagree, and even support their policies if they choose to do so. My hope isn't to take anyone's rights away. It's actually in the hopes of changing the way these companies conduct themselves with regard to these policies, which aren't laws by the way, only company policies and subject to change. But these companies act as if these are laws written in stone, only changeable by an act of God. I'm naively hoping that enough people will read these posts to care about how these companies treat contributors.

I'm glad to hear about photographers who are very happy with CanStockPhoto. I have no doubt they're happy. I was happy too for two years, up until I tried closing my account and found out that in closing my account is where I opened a can of rotten worms. I have a fundamental problem with the policy section dealing with the company keeping my portion of earnings if I decide to close my account. This is tantamount to a company keeping my final paycheck if I decide to quit a job. It's not legal in any other industry I can think of except here...

9
Quote
I'm not sure about anyone's hidden agendas, but there are a lot of agency representatives that pop into the forums here. They are usually clearly labeled or identify themselves though and not being covert about it.
As I responded to another user a few minutes ago, having a company badge doesn't mean all that much to be honest. Anyone can create multiple user accounts here and log out of their company account, log in with a personal one and post responses that don't display a company badge all day long. Saying that they are always labeled and always identify themselves isn't really accurate or realistic is it?

10
Quote
There aren't many good microstock forums, this is probably the one most people use.  So it's highly likely that the head of a site that likes to keep an eye on what contributors are up to will be looking here.  Duncan often replies to posts, as do several other site owners and employees.  Most of them have an official badge, so we know they are involved with the site.
Thank you for that information. However, I looked up Duncan's posts and he's got a total of 54 posts. I probably have more by now and I only joined yesterday. Additionally, while the employees of companies may have an official badge, anyone can start multiple accounts using personal email addresses which would not have badges associated with them. I could easily create such accounts myself, then log in and out and post supporting responses to my own comments all day long.

11
Do you realize that OP means original poster don't you??? Not an insult.
Yes, thank you. I was merely pointing out that I quickly went from SipaPhoto (my actual handle) to a generic OP designation. I was being ironic.

12
Quote: I guess if you close your bank account you also tell them how their contract should have looked and what their rights in respect of fees, etc. are (according to your norms, because you did not read the contract, as it is long)? End quote::::

@CD123: if I close my bank account I don't have to worry about cashing it out first. The bank rep will curteously place my remaining balance in a nice envelope and refund me all my money. That's ethical. Don't use bad examples mate..

13
Wow... A blind elephant can see that so many of you have an agenda in defending microstock companies like CanStock. I mean, even Duncan of CanStock replied to the post within hours. What are the odds of that? That in an Internet world of infinite blog postings, my miniscule and insignificant post would have been found by a leading head of the company and even replied to... The odds of that are simply astronomical. Now, maybe Duncan is a regular on this blog, in which case, wow what are the odds that I myself would stumble upon a website he frequents?? Wait... Unless this whole thing is just a nice front for microstock companies to ridicule and humiliate photographers who complain about these companies unfairness. In that case, Bravo! You had me fooled.

I mean, all I did was offer my honest experience with the company, and immediately I was ridiculed, called stupid, ignorant, a poor photographer, low earner, and now an OP. :) I don't even know when I went from sipaphoto to just an OP, but here I am.

I don't know you people from Adam and after your generous "sympathy" I really don't want to either, but two people emailed me privately through my website to tell me to be cautious because many contributors here are not contributing photographers but rather microstock company reps here to make people like me look stupid through ridicule. After reading many of your comments I don't see much that refutes their email warning. Now, I'm brand new to this forum. I only joined yesterday, and yes, I joined to voice my complaint. The members who warned me though are long-standing members, unlike me, and the fact that you ripped into me for daring to voice my complaint only adds fuel to these members' and my accusation.

14
Quote: I find it incredibly unbelievable and somewhat stupid that someone wouldn't read the terms before signing up.  I've never signed up to a site before reading the terms... and not just skimming through them but carefully reading them. End quote...

If this is true then you're one of the few who do read them. I'm not saying that there aren't odd cases out there who actually digest every sentence, and I admit, it probably is stupid to trust enough to agree to a silly online agreement without having an attorney read it first nowadays, so I guess I'm naive in my belief that there are still people out there still capable of doing the right thing. My bad...

15
I'm not sure who you think are company employees here, but some of the people you have rudely lashed out at on this thread have been extremely successful stock photographers, and one even the owner of this forum.
Maybe you should be a bit better informed before you start mud slinging?

In my experience, those who defend themselves the hardest turn out to be guilty themselves... I didn't make an accusation against any specific person here, so maybe it's you who should get better informed.

16
I'm another who likes canstock (but not the $0.25), for me they are definitely worth the time to upload to, but I do think all sites should payout when you close the account but do any of them payout you if you are under their amount when you close?

Some do and some don't. In other words, some do the right thing and some decide to stiff photographers of their shared earnings.

17
Quote: I agree that quality not quantity matter but if that was your case you would only have had to wait a week or two more at most to reach payout before closing. End quote...

That's a complete assumption. The website doesn't have enough clientele, as evidenced by their own visitor logs, and thus doesn't produce enough sales for their contributors. Look it up yourself..

18
It's come to my attention that a few people on here aren't contributing photographers, but rather microstock company employees defending their industry's business practices under the disguise of average contributors. I had no idea. I have to say that this shows a lack of integrity since it really isn't a fair debate when one side is loaded with infiltrators with a corporate agenda.

19
They might be slow but heck!  I rather have Duncan and his crew then others who rip you to bits.
So what you're saying is that they may suck, but they're the lesser of two evils, so that makes them ok?

20
Remember, this is only my "share"! The website already made it's share which I might add is a much larger portion of profit than what's given the photographer as his share.

CanStockPhoto is 50/50, so we get the same as they do from each sale. Obviously, you didn't get your share from your closed account sales, and I feel for you. But, I still think CanStockPhoto is a good company and not worth your ire. It's a tough world out there. I learn so much from each deal I've been cheated on over the years. I'd like to think that they've never happened, but each one makes me wiser.  ;D
That sort of makes it even worse in my eyes, because it means that they're behaving like a business partner who decides to take off with your share of the business profits when you decide to go separate ways. There are laws protecting against that in business law, but there are no laws protecting photographers from these unfair business practices.

21
You did read the contributor agreement when you joined Canstock didn't you?
Let's just say that I don't believe for a second that you yourself read the Member Agreements of all the stock websites you have listed below every one of your messages, or that you remember what those agreements actually stated. I further challenge that the Member Agreements are intentionally written in paragraphs that only Attorneys understand, and the general person such as myself does not.

22
Most if not all sites have a minimum payout and if you cancel before you reach it you should expect to lose the money in your account. Seeing how low the minimum is is one of the details you have to read and decide on before you join and start submitting. Most people who are planning on leaving a site wait 'til they hit the minimum before leaving or keep a balance above the minimum for the last chunk of time so they can empty out their account as the last step.

I haven't tried to leave Canstock, so I can't say if the process is a pain or not, but if I had a heap of images I wanted removed I'd definitely be writing them with a request rather than doing it one at a time.

I am ready to jump all over a site when they lower commissions or otherwise screw the artists, but the minimum payout is something we all joined with full knowledge of (or should have if we read the fine print).
The problem with deleting photos is that you're directed to delete each photo yourself when you click Cancel Account. There's no indication about contacting staff or that any other option is available. Only people who chose to complain about the process would actually contact staff and be told about other options, but the vast majority of people will just go through the process as directed.

23
One small question - forgive me if this has already been mentioned but I have a link in my account settings that says "Cancel Account".

That should have done it.  :-\

As soon as you click that, a message comes up that tells you that YOU must delete all your photos before cancelling the account. No choices for "select all" for a faster process, no message telling you that you have the option to email staff to do it for you in mass, nothing. The message also tells you that by cancelling your account you forfeit your balance, whatever that balance may be.

24
The most you should ever lose in closing a Canstock account is the minimum payout...I take that back...you'll lose all the revenue you would have gained if you just left the images there and forgotten about them for a few years.  Why anyone goes through the extra effort of removing their files (verifiable fraud and abuse by the agency aside) is beyond me. You are only hurting yourself.
I agree, but the photographer's rights are trumped time and time again in the legal system, and companies rarely pay for any of their fraudulent and abusive activities. I'd rather close my account and negate the whole issue altogether.

25
Harsh words for small issues. Why so emotional?
Canstock is a slow seller, true, but beyond that one of the best and fairest sites out there. I totally trust duncan (owner) and his crew and it is one of the few sites which ahven`t betrayed their Contributors and pay a fair royalty.

I couldn't agree more! Sales have steadily increased for the last year.
One of the easiest sites to upload to with fast review times.  I have to agree a portfolio of 400 images is really hard to judge success of sales at any stock site.
Really? Because I was under the impression that it's not quantity but quality that matters. Boy was I misguided.

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