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Messages - Duncan_CSP
51
« on: May 03, 2011, 11:12 »
I thought this thread would be a good one when I saw the title... Leaf, Lisafx, and the others who posted here are all highly respected photographers and forum members, who offered their honest thoughts. Certainly none of them deserved being spoken down to, nor are they employees or affiliated with Can Stock Photo. As I mentioned when you opened your first support ticket with us, we always regret hearing about any confusion or negative feelings. Although in this case the fact remains that our Membership Agreement governs how we operate and the rules that we follow, including regarding the closing of accounts. I would absolutely expect any photographer entering into an agreement with us would read the terms before accepting them, as it would be hard to comprehend blindly accepting a contract otherwise. Our agreement is as concise and easy to understand as possible, including: "10. Cancellation of Service
Company reserves the right to restrict, suspend or cancel your Membership at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability. Company may change or discontinue all or any aspect of the Site at any time, including the availability of any feature, database, or Content, without prior notice or liability. Cancelled accounts forfeit the rights to any accumulated earnings, credits, or subscriptions. No refunds will be made." It is true that to use the automated account closing tool, you must first remove your images. This is to prevent people from accidentally wiping their entire portfolio with the wrong click of a button. In cases where people have a large portfolio, they will usually open a support ticket and we remove everything for them. Regarding why we require a minimum payment amount on account closure, there are several reasons, which others have hit on. In short, there are significant costs involved with submitting images (inspector fees, bandwidth, storage), in addition to regular variable costs (merchant fees), and payments costs (PayPal & administration fees). At the same time we do not require any lockin period for your content, and we provide some of the highest commissions in the industry. We can't do this while also providing $9 cashouts to every individual who may submit hundreds of images, only to decide a few weeks later that stock photography is not for them (example). We certainly do not make a profit on such closures - it is still a financial net loss. This is why many agencies have a minimum lockin period - which again, we don't. I sincerely regret hearing anytime someone has hard feelings towards us, as we work very hard to be as honest and fair as possible. We pride ourselves in operating differently than others in our industry, and am glad to see many here recognize and appreciate this effort. Unfortunately despite our best efforts, we can't always make everyone happy, as seems to be the case. Regards, Duncan
52
« on: April 09, 2011, 18:14 »
One of our datacenter providers is having network trouble tonight. As a result we are down for some users. Needless to say they are working on resolving the trouble as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience.
Duncan
54
« on: March 15, 2011, 09:21 »
It's not just you - we inadvertently broke HTML uploads. We should have it fixed in the next 15 minutes or so.
In the mean time FTP should still work fine.
Thanks,
Duncan
55
« on: March 07, 2011, 08:34 »
Hi All, Nope, it's not a glitch. We occasionally do some market testing; so prices may sometimes vary from one person to another. Our goal is always to maximize your return on investment  Duncan
56
« on: February 12, 2011, 12:10 »
sobm,
We have no lock-in period - you could upload your photos today and then delete them again all tomorrow.
For vectors, simply upload your individual EPS files - they do not need to be zipped or be uploaded with JPG versions. We will automatically generate all thumbnails directly from your EPS, and will offer JPG purchase options that are again generated directly from the original file.
Duncan
57
« on: February 12, 2011, 11:13 »
The only issue I have is that the last batch of video clips I submitted simply disappeared. They're not in the pending que, nor do they show up as rejected.
Hmm that's strange - I checked your account and didn't see any video uploads since Jan 3rd. Could you kindly open a support ticket so we can get some more information from you? Thanks, Duncan
58
« on: February 11, 2011, 12:51 »
Christian (lagereek),
While I am sorry to hear you have not been seeking the ROI that youre expecting, it is important to keep in mind that you only have 180 images on our site, which have only been uploaded over the last few months. This of course is a relatively small and young portfolio, which traditionally makes the prospect of instant and high returns unlikely. The most successful users are ones who are continually adding fresh images to their portfolios which is true for all agencies.
As others have attested in this thread, we have an extremely fast submission and approval system, to make uploading as painless and efficient as possible. While you are unlikely to make the same returns with us as with some in the Top 4, you will also spend much less time submitting to us than with others. We recently had an ex-iStock exclusive who uploaded and submitted her entire portfolio to us of 3,500 images and had everything submitted AND approved within an afternoon.
Ultimately of course you have to make your own decisions. Submitting with us is fast and efficient, with our sales growing very strongly (as many have noted). But ultimately if you require immediate Top 4 returns, then you should stick to them. Others have determined it makes easy business sense for them to submit with us, but you have to make your own decisions for whats right for you.
Regards,
Duncan
59
« on: February 02, 2011, 20:31 »
haha, well we're glad to help!
Duncan
60
« on: February 02, 2011, 11:48 »
dnavarrojr,
I guess the key word in my earlier message is "typically", as sometimes they go out a day before or later. In this month's case the payments went out early this morning, opposed to last night. If you requested your payment by PayPal, it should have been deposited to your account a few hours ago.
Cheers,
Duncan
61
« on: February 01, 2011, 06:50 »
Hey Danicek,
Yes, "Fotosearch" sales are now called "Distribution" sales on your Sales History page. The reason is simply because not all photographers know who Fotosearch is, so we felt that "distribution" was more clear.
The distribution commissions are still the exact same as the previous Fotosearch commissions.
Cheers,
Duncan
62
« on: January 31, 2011, 13:49 »
bobkeenan,
Every submitted image from every photographer is inspected by a human - but as you noticed, we're extremely fast. Sometimes our approvals are 1 minute or less, while other times it may be a few hours.
Cheers,
Duncan
63
« on: January 27, 2011, 12:43 »
Hi Pixart,
It's part of our privacy policy that we never share contributor's names, so you'll notice that even on Can Stock we don't disclose your name to buyers. Displaying your username on a distributor's site would be a little unusual, as it would imply that your account is with them. So as a result, no public credit name appears.
click_click,
If your name appears in their credit line, the image would not have been provided by us.
64
« on: January 26, 2011, 11:04 »
jcpjr, Our payments are typically sent on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so you should receive yours in a little under a week. The address you used was paypal@___ Also, I checked our records and we actually did respond to your support ticket shortly after you posted it - I assume the notification email must have got stuck in a spam filter. Let me know if you want us to forward you the link again. P.S. you forgot us in your referral links http://www.canstockphoto.com?r=59879Cheers, Duncan
65
« on: January 19, 2011, 23:20 »
Hi mike (and others),
The ad on the right is actually live and functional, and is updated every 15 minutes. It shows the average wait time for all of our files at that moment in time. Presently for me I see it's displaying "Under 6 Hours". I wonder if you may have to click the "Refresh" button on your browser, as perhaps your browser is caching an older (and faster) version?
One thing I will mention that sometimes confuses people - is that when you upload a new model release, it must first go through it's own approval process with our legal team. Once the release is approved, then the related images will be released for inspection. So as a result, those first images with a new release may take a little longer to be approved, especially if you upload on a weekend. This is only for new releases. Video files also go through a different process and can take a bit longer.
But nevertheless, the ad on the right shows the average of all of those files. So some will be quicker and some will be slower, but it should give you a pretty good indication. And just for fun, so far this year the total average approval time for all files has been just under 2 hours.
Hope that helps,
Duncan
66
« on: January 18, 2011, 16:39 »
Hi mantonino,
Can you give it a try now? FTP was inaccessible briefly this afternoon.
Sorry for the trouble,
Duncan
67
« on: January 14, 2011, 11:41 »
lagreek, It sounds like some sort of DNS or connection problem between you and our servers. Unfortunately it seems to be only you, as our upload and sales stats indicate a regular day for most of our users. Perhaps you can try one of our foreign sites: http://www.canstockphoto.de/ - if this loads properly for you, just click "International" on the top-right and select English. Otherwise I'd suggest you try another computer or browser, to rule out that possibility. If you would not mind, please (Visa or Windows 7): 1) On your computer, click on the Start menu, in the search field, type "cmd", and then press Enter. 2) In the command prompt, enter "tracert canstockphoto.com" 3) Wait a minute or so for it to finish. Then right-click and select "Select All", then press your Ctrl and "C" keys at the same time. 4) Email the results to us at info[at]canstockphoto.com This won't fix your problem, but at least will give some idea of where the problem is originating. Duncan
68
« on: January 11, 2011, 13:09 »
Well I have approx. 300 sales per/day from 5 other agencies but Canstock? nothing AND they have the same shots. Im terminating my account there actually. However Ive done some research here and my type of heavy industry, engineering and technology, with people, isnt really what Canstock sell, i.e. buyers dont consult CanStockPhoto, for these kind of shots. It seems landscapes, nature and scenics, is the big thing there, so its no reflection on them, theyre probably a very good agency, just maybe pigeonholed.
To be fair, you have 64 images online with us - but 1,650 on SS - 1,585 on IS - 1,185 on DT. I know you of course are aware of this, but it's important to put your experience into context. I'm sure if you also uploaded a similar number of images with us you would have significantly more sales. Instead of closing your account, I hope you'd consider uploading your remaining 1,500 images with us - with our fast approvals and submission system, you could do this with relatively minimal effort. Then I think you would have a much more positive sales experience to report back. Cheers, Duncan
69
« on: January 10, 2011, 16:38 »
Hello luissantos84,
While I answered you privately, I'll also post here to provide any clarification for all the photographers reading here as well.
rubyroo is exactly right with their earlier observation in this thread.
Keywords should describe what is physically and prominently visible in the image. We discourage the use of subjective words unless they are very relevant to the image. When selecting each keyword, you should ask yourself "if a buyer searched this keyword, would they expect to find this image?" - if you answer is no, then don't include that keyword.
Someone searching "woman" will expect to find an actual woman, and not a boot. If you had "woman's" or "womans", then those would be acceptable, as there is a clear difference.
Sometimes people will list all possible names and parts visible in an image. For example, a photo of a cat may contain the keyword "claws". Well, yes, a cat has claws - but that keyword would only be relevant if claws are prominent or central to the image.
As far as subjective words, you could call almost anything a "background, gorgeous, beautiful, etc" - so such descriptive keywords are only allowed if they are closely associated.
Regards,
Duncan
70
« on: December 29, 2010, 19:13 »
somethingpret, Actually, we pay a flat 50% commission for all credit and on-demand downloads - which is one of the highest in the industry. Regarding our subscription payout schedule, 2 of the 4 "Top Tier" agencies also have subscription payouts starting at the same rate. When you consider our total commissions earned on a per-sale basis, you'll find that we have one of the highest averages in the industry. --------- Autumnleaves, As others have suggested, just stay patient and keep uploading - and the sales will follow soon Duncan
71
« on: December 16, 2010, 14:52 »
Hey transl8,
Sorry I only came across your reply now. In terms of Fotosearch's "budget" vs. "professional" images, the budget images are microstock files (CanStockPhoto), while the professional files are from traditional brands (Getty, etc).
Hope that helps!
Duncan
72
« on: December 11, 2010, 19:29 »
Hey mtkang, Not to worry - we automatically generate all needed sizes from the EPS image. So if you upload a single EPS file to us, we will create all the JPG and TIFF images directly. We try to make the process for you as easy as possible Regards, Duncan
73
« on: October 15, 2010, 16:36 »
Koufax73,
If you try now, they should be in order of upload date. Previously they were being ordered a bit differently if doing a photographer only search, organized by newest.
Cheers,
Duncan
74
« on: October 12, 2010, 21:05 »
Hi Koufax73,
I deleted that image for you, as the original file appears to be corrupted. Could you re-upload? It's removed from CanStockPhoto, and should be removed in Fotosearch fairly soon.
Regarding the Fotosearch portfolio count, I can't speak on behalf of exactly how their search engine works - but I believe they are simply double counting your images. Basically all your images show up in both the "Professional" and "Budget" tabs. If you close one of the tabs, you'll see your count appears about accurate.
It usually takes a day or two for your images to show up in our search engine after when they are initially approved. So when ordering by newest, any really recent images may not show up yet. If you find that the photos take more than 2 days, just open a support ticket and we'll give it a kick for you.
Our "relevency" order takes into account a number of factors, although it primarily assumes you're searching via a keyword. If you are not including a keyword, the default will favor images with more activity (sales/views/etc). So in that specific situation you may find it sorts largely from oldest to newest. This of course is a very specific example, as for public image searches a keyword is required, which is what we primarily order by.
Hope that helps!
Duncan
75
« on: October 12, 2010, 10:05 »
MicrostockExp, Ask and you shall receive! Your video files on CanStock are here (went to your profile, clicked "View Portfolio", selected "Stock Footage" in the file type filter) I don't think Fotosearch has the same functionality, but I forwarded on your suggestion to them, so in the future you may see that ability added. Duncan
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