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51
General Stock Discussion / The end is nigh. What will you do?
« on: November 22, 2012, 10:37 »
OK can we get it out of your system to prophesy the close end of microstock?

After doing this for 8 years now, I had my best one in 2012. What goes up, must come down - I get it but could we concentrate on the acopalyptic downfall of microstck or the stock image industry altogether in this thread instead of derailing and dragging down other threads?

I almost feel like this place has come to some sort of religious sect where we just wait for a guy to show up with a poisoned bowl of cool-aid just to get it over with.

We could make the best of it by supporting each other and discussing things on topic to make this forum even more valuable.

On this note, I wanted to thank Tyler for his tremendous effort to run this place, improve and monitor it which has been working out great!


To get back to the topic, let's hear (if you're willing to share) what your plans are for the future as it sure would be poor preparation talking about the death of this industry without figuring out what to do next.

Or for that matter use this thread to shout out angry expressions if your images got rejected again or some agency paid you late.

52
EDIT: My original question is posted below the line.

I need to know if anyone here exceeds $2,500 a month getting paid to Moneybookers and if so, are you charged any fees?

________________________________________________________________________________________________


I feel like I used up all my focus at the beginning of this year and now just cannot comprehend anything anymore.

As I'm obviously moving my transactions away from Paypal to Moneybookers I was wondering if anyone is using Moneybooker's merchant account?

They list fees for transactions when receiving funds:
https://www.moneybookers.com/ads/merchant-account/us/fees/

I know that the stock agencies pay our fees at Paypal using Masspay so we can get the full amount of our royalties but is this also the case for Moneybookers?

Thanks in advance.

53
I didn't know how to word it anymore precise than that.

Please excuse if I have missed any specific information from our agencies that pay us via Paypal but here is my issue.

According to various sources online including the IRS web site it appears that if I exceed the 200 transactions a year AND receive more than $20,000 a year that Paypal will issue a 1099-K for me.

As far as I understand this means I will be taxed for the amount Paypal sends out on the 1099-K as well as the 1099s I will get from various agencies.

Naturally, I don't want or have to be double taxed BUT how am I supposed to prevent duplicate reporting?

According to this source: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m01/i02/s02

specifically this part:

Quote
... If you issue a 1099-MISC to a vendor or subcontractor, youre supposed to exclude any amounts paid by debit, gift or credit card or PayPal. Thats to avoid duplicate reporting to the IRS. Payments by cash or check, however, still must be included on those 1099s. Thats going to complicate bookkeeping for coffee shops, restaurants and contractors. It could actually lessen paperwork for those who make all vendor payments electronically, Hunsberger said.


I would have to tell SS to send me an updated 1099 stating I made nothing because Paypal's 1099-K will list this income already?

I apologize upfront if I misunderstand something and would greatly appreciate some clarification as I'm sure it affects a few others here who do get paid via Paypal and exceed these above mentioned limits.

I will consult with a tax advisor at some point but I was hoping from some aspiring pros who they handle this situation.

Thanks in advance.

54
I'm getting tired of Paypal's funky practices of threatening to interrupt my account, put money on hold (ebay) etc.

I will keep using them for some stuff but I need to know how well Moneybookers has worked for you in the past.

I'm located in the US and basically just want to get paid from the agencies through them.

Are there limits, crazy tax information procedures or anything else that's annoying?

I'm grateful for short and informational answers.

Thank you!

55
Pond5 / Pond5 review times for illustration?
« on: October 25, 2012, 12:38 »
My photos slip through review pretty quick, no complaints there but my illustrations (raster) are sitting there now for weeks.

How long are the current illustrations review times?

56
Image Sleuth / Which standard RF licences allow reproduction?
« on: October 19, 2012, 13:00 »
Could anyone quickly point out which standard RF (NO EL) does allow print reproduction?

Only Alamy does, correct?

I just found 15 images of mine on a POD web site and want to make sure I'm hitting them the right way.

I also just found out that even though they created thumbnails for their store they forgot to strip my name out of the EXIF info.

I guess I should rather get a lawyer to get this stuff nailed before I mess it up...

57
They plan on getting rid of "bidder" implementing a new feature called "Pocketstock Packages".

Yay or Nay?

58
CanStockPhoto.com / Kind of a redesign?
« on: October 02, 2012, 20:45 »
Interface looks a little bit different. Did this just happen?

59
Alamy.com / Alamy - anyone submitting footage?
« on: September 20, 2012, 07:37 »
I got very excited a year ago when footage was announced but got turned off by seeing large collections and no submission options for "every" contributor.

Checking the blog I saw that Alamy may be contacted via email in order to be considered as a footage contributor but submission have to be made via HDD  :o

Is anyone here already submitting footage? How are you doing?

60
Most of us already know that during the file submission process at Fotolia the EL standard pricing is defaulted to 10 credits for most of contributors.

In order to see how bad this affects everyone (both agency AND contributors) I checked the NEW FILES section at Fotolia and clicked randomly on several files.

A lot of images still have 10 credit EL pricing. I'm sure this is all overlooked by the contributors and it's not in Fotolia's favor either.

I made Fotolia aware of this issue by contacting support. However the issue still persists (at least for me when uploading).

I just want to raise awareness and if anyone didn't contact FT yet - do so now and re-check your recent files to see if the EL pricing is correct.

61
I've been experiencing this now since the beginning of this year that when I upload something it either doesn't show up in the uploads tab (blank thumbnail) or it never gets processed. Some uploads just stay in limbo it seems.

I contacted them a few times and they swiftly pushed some files through but not all of them.

I asked them to delete the files that didn't get pushed through but nothing happened. I can't delete them.

Did anyone else experience this?

62
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/11/google_search_punish_pirates/

Apparently Google will implement an algorithm to ranks pages lower if they have a history of copyright infringements...

Maybe sites like Heroturko and the like might sink to the bottom at least on Google.

One step in the right direction. Right?

63
Are they still in beta?

Just tried the search engine - absolutely useless.

Tried to search for "man" - half of the search results don't even contain a person  :o

64
Dreamstime.com / DT's approval policy - your thoughts
« on: July 25, 2012, 08:22 »
I think most of us do NOT agree with DT's approval policy (similars, series & whatever they call it).

Let's throw our professional expertise into this discussion to try to figure out what DT is on to following this strange and questionable strategy of approving certain images.

My only logic guess is to create a library that sets itself apart from what all other agencies do accept, trying to become a niche or specialty provider. We often see good sellers rejected by DT whilst others make it through. This will technically lead us to believe that it will hurt us and them.

I can't however accept the thought that DT's management is that stupid. They must aim for something else.

What do you think it is?

65
One of the biggest pudding manufacturers in Germany tried to sue a discount store for copying their product design on their store brand pudding. Have  alook:

The pudding manufacturer (image right) tried to have the store brand (image left) taken off the market because of copyright infringement of their design (specifically the cow!!!).

Our (meanwhile) trained eyes clearly see no resemblance between the two designs, well other than using a cow, but this shows to what lengths some companies go to push a competitor out of the market.

And we thought some people here are crazy for complaining about having their concepts "stolen" (finger faces etc.). Anyway, just for the giggles.

German: http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/flecki-vs-paula-aldi-gewinnt-puddingstreit-gegen-dr-oetker-1863634.html
English: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120724-43941.html

66
I'm in for a new monitor now and do some research. After 1 hour of doing it I'm ready to give up.

Reading reviews and tests of various models leave me puzzled which hardware features are better than others.

For example the question if LED back lighting is actually better than LCD?

I don't care too much for the energy "savings" but an optimal performance in terms of back lighting.

Are LED and LCD panels always built differently, depending on model or manufacturer or is it always the same pattern of the light placement?

What's your observation?

I'm not getting anything fancy (below $200).

Thanks in advance.

67
General - Stock Video / 123RF footage - how are sales?
« on: June 29, 2012, 09:18 »
Maybe someone can chime in how sales are going at 123RF for footage clips.

I had a few, even full HD for a whopping $13  :-\

68
Is anyone else having trouble logging into the FTP server at 123RF for footage uploads?

69
I talked to Tyler about this already but he has no other reports about this issue.

We were wondering if there is anyone else out there who doesn't receive notifications anymore (especially after the server migration).

I used to receive notifications just fine.

I haven't changed my email nor do the emails end up in my Junk or Spam folder.

I have triple checked in my notification settings on MSG that I do receive notifications - de-selected - saved - selected again - saved --- did NOT help.

Anyone any ideas or having the same problem?

Thanks in advance.

It's really a bummer and super hard to keep up with subscribed thread without notifications.  :-\

70
Yuri threw this out there and I think it's an interesting and challenging topic:

If SS was to offer exclusivity (full exclusivity in the micro RF market, NO image exclusivity) who would put all their eggs in SS's basket?

I can't and I won't (at this point...)

Here is Yuri's forecast:
Quote
... I predict that if SS opens the opportunity for exclusive content in a premium subscription package they just doubled their revenue in a year or two's time. And further more. I will bet a that this will happen. Anybody want to bet?

71
General - Stock Video / AlwaysHD - 3 years - no sale
« on: May 10, 2012, 13:33 »
Anyone else with me?

AlwaysHd is the only agency I submit to that never sold anything.

The site looks exactly the same like three years ago when I signed up.

Does anyone know any news about their future plans or colaboration?

I'm about to fold.

72
iStockPhoto.com / Fraud again?
« on: May 04, 2012, 15:46 »
I just got hit with two waves of refunds today. All the same size, all the same royalties.

This is not a normal refund I "usually" get. I'm a low volume seller at IS so if I got hit like that I'm sure some other contributors got hit a lot harder.

All downloads except one were Photo+ but for some strange reason the refund amount on the regular file is exactly the same as each Photo+ sale.

Isn't that extremely coincidental?

73
I have an inquiry to shoot some waterfront real estate at night from a boat  :P

Night photography is one of my specialties, however not from a boat for obvious reasons.

As far as I can check the location of the property on Google Maps there is a little island about 600 yards on the opposite side. I doubt though that even with a telephoto with converter I can get a good shot.

Other than that, how would you shoot night images from a boat? Does anyone have experience with larger boats (yachts) that don't wobble around that much where the images stabilizer can compensate the movement? It's in a bay area but still...

Thanks for your help.

74
I've been Emerald for about 2 years now and at some point this rule was enforced that if our images have been set to 2+ credits for the smallest size (which probably every Emerald+ did anyway) but didn't get enough/regular downloads, they will be demoted to 1 credit.

I'm particularly surprised about files that get downloaded fairly regularly but somehow "earned" a 1 credit ranking. I try to monitor them as best as I can to switch them back to 2 asap.

But what I really don't understand is that some of my files that I uploaded 4 or 5 years ago that have only 1 or 2 downloads, still are listed with 2 credits and that can't be right. I mean, I'd contact Fotolia to have it investigated but I'm afraid that it will turn out to be all changed into their favor.

Did anyone else experience something along these lines?

75
Adobe Stock / Some redesign in the contributors area?
« on: April 13, 2012, 11:49 »
I just noticed that the upload list and the sold list have been "redesigned".

The rows are larger and the previews are bigger. The other categories appear to be the same.

Some other things happening there?

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