MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - zsooofija

Pages: 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 7 8 9 10 ... 14
101
Canva / Re: Canva announcement
« on: June 23, 2020, 13:58 »
The payment page is totally confusing, I wish they'd fix it.
Regular sales are much lower for me too, subscription sales are much higher, overall revenue is quite similar to previous months.

102
Sure Jo Ann, thr only problem was that this discussion was getting lost there in all the deactivation updates

The urgency is that while most will deactivate for a week or two what happens if SS does not respond at all. Some next steps are critical and need to be thought of and discussed. Else this will become one more slight that will get forgotten



Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

The forum on the Coalition's website will be functional very soon, it's a much better place to have organized discussions. https://stockcoalition.org/

103
Anyone with an Unsplash account here?
I thought it'd be nice to let this person know about his image being sold by an other "contributor"

The author of the image: https://unsplash.com/@petewright
The other contributor's image, accepted by SS:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pete-wright-zeyma01zsvc-unsplash-jpg-1617540907

You can contact him on his website.
https://www.rashpixel.photo/
The contact link is on the footer.

Thanks, I just did.

104
Anyone with an Unsplash account here?
I thought it'd be nice to let this person know about his image being sold by an other "contributor"

The author of the image: https://unsplash.com/@petewright
The other contributor's image, accepted by SS:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pete-wright-zeyma01zsvc-unsplash-jpg-1617540907

105
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0
« on: June 11, 2020, 11:12 »
Hi fellow contributors!
Please join Stock Submitter Coalition (if you haven't already).
There are many things we can do and together we are stronger.
www.facebook.com/groups/261369748434285/

106
I have no idea. And I don't know anyone that did that. Doesn't make any sense.

107
Just to update on the actual topic. My current RPD is 0.736, excluding video which is not bad as I had some SODs that brought the average up.

I still hate the new earnings system and consider this an anomaly. I didnt jump ship so far as I wanted to gather enough data beforehand. I still resent the idea of selling subs for 10 cents. If it was possible I would opt out of selling subs to those buyers with large package deals, I surely would. Even if it meant a lot less money for me.

BUT I have to say that I am very honored to be in the company of some courageous people who disabled their portfolios straight away. If a change is goingto happen, it will be because of them and THEM only. My attitude in this matter is not fruitful BUT I gave myself 2 weeks to see where I stand. Even if I stay and my earnings dont change I will feel like a traitor.

I will decide together with the Russians 8)


Thank you :) You are welcome to join, together with the Russians! I know they are many :)
Also, you can join Stock Submitter Coalition on FB, together we can do more!
www.facebook.com/groups/261369748434285/

108
It's the second time I've  got a vector download and then modify a little bit and uploaded by another contributor. I contact Shutterstock infrigment department and even with proof, then don't take it seriously. I got that answer :

As you may know, ideas cannot be protected by copyright, only the expression of the ideas may be protected by copyright. Upon reviewing these images, it appears that while the ideas between your images and the other contributor's images are similar, the expressions of the ideas are sufficiently different.

 >:(

As anyone else had this issue and this disapointed shutterstock answer ?

They never solve this problem for you. Just edit or add something, it will be someone else's.

I had the exact same issues with my vectors. And got the same answer.
I also reported to Adobe, Dreamstime and others, and they all deleted the image, except SS.
One time I even contacted the contributor and she also replied with "ideas can not be protected by copyright."

109
I still don't understand why none of the agencies don't charge more for images that sell well. If an image sells well, it is more desirable by definition. If it's more desirable, charge more for it, like every other product on the planet.
Doesn't DT do this with levels
Yes they do exactly that, images have different levels. It sounds fair to me.

110
But Im done now. Jakes on his own with 2,500 people who complain endlessly and attack other people but wont lend him a hand. Go scratch.

Please don't leave. You are doing a great job, and at least you volunteered to help,while noone else did in a group of 2500 (I was thinking about it, but I think you need a better English than mine for this kind of task).

I am thankful for what you are doing if that counts.  :)

111
24h after I disabled the account, my images are still online.

They will be gone soon (for me it took about 2 days).

112
we should organise us in teams with special tasks.

For Example:

Twitter Team
Facebook Team
Google Ads Team
Trustpilot Team
Customer Phone Team

We should give SS the best service that we can provide! :-*

You can add Linkedin


The best way is not for contributors to leave, Shutterstock doesn't care about losing even 10,000 contributors.
The best way is to "force" customers to go elsewhere.

and the best way to get customers to go elsewhere is to leave.

This is going to go on well into 2021, move on.

Exactly!

113
Okay, everyone knows shutterstock gave the middle finger to the majority of its contributors, knowing full well most individual contributors would be scared to leave, thinking 'something' is better than 'nothing'. Problem with that thinking is you continue to get screwed, until you actually get nothing, and it's too late to do anything.

Money, or what affects their income source/money is pretty much the only thing that a company like shutterstock will listen to.

So. Here's some specific things that can be done.

1. How to effectively reach & band contributors together.
2. Effective negative publicity
3. Promote other 'good' sites (i.e., dreamstime right now), moving customers to better paying sites

1. How to effectively reach & band contributors together.

a) https://microstockrank.com/shutterstock/videos-rank is a fantastic resource to get the list of contributors that you can contact one by one.
If you could get the top 100 contributors (which is about 10% of the total assets on shutterstock) to agree to do something (i.e., turn portfolio off), that would send a very strong message. Chances are though - they benefit from the new scheme, so may or may not be willing to participate. You'd need to use a different approach (i.e., they'd like the idea of bargaining power to INCREASE revenue further).
b) You simply look @ the contributor name, go to google, type "contributor name + shutterstock" look @ their about tab, and some have contact information. Not everyone does. But this is one way of getting individual contact information. (They may also have contact info on another site, as most ppl have more than one agency they submit to).
c) (While I don't care for google's lack of privacy protection in general) - at the moment - google docs can be useful for people sharing/updating who has been contacted/agrees/etc. Alternatively, if someone wanted to use their website, or be a bookkeeper, could do that too.

Not sure how many ppl it would take turning off their portfolio, whether its 10, 100, or 1000, but at some point, shuttertstock would pay attention.

2. Negative publicity

a) Review sites. Posting negative reviews does to some degree have an effect (tends to be the #, the site posted on, and so forth). Be truthful (don't just bash/namecall, but specific about what wrong they are doing).
b) Contacting actual print publications. I.e., https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/153708/the-100-most-important-online-publishers.html
Journalists love a good story. Basically you find a journalist who would be sympathetic to what you have to say. So you might google something like "publication name + rotten companies" or "publication name + companies abusing power", etc, etc.

One possible approach would be something like "In the midst of a crisis for the general population, when most businesses are bending over backwards to provide better service and help people, not only does shutterstock - a 654 MILLION revenue a year company not do that -  but they decide to shave more money off the top from 95% of struggling contributors that their business is based on". (The 95% is a guess, but probably accurate - as I am guessing it would only be the top 5%, or less, that have the bulk of assets & subsequent sales that would see either the same or an increased commission).

If enough people contact enough journalists, there are likely to be stories to be printed.

Print publications are also good. Just google something like 'top print publications'.

3. Promote other 'good' sites, moving customers to better paying sites

Dreamstime (long time ago) was upset because they losrt google rank (and actually I think I remeber reading google struck a deal with shutterstock, to promote their assets over sites like dreamstime).

Companies need good publicity/advertising, and people love "causes". (I.e., look at "hashtag" anything, and you'll find "hashtag-movement" "hashtag-stop-the-opression", etc, etc).

So companies that are doing right by people (i.e., at the moment dreamstime seems to be one of them) - promote them. Help drive sales to sites that are doing RIGHT by contributors (i.e., right now dreamstime).

Consumers do tend to "stick" with something when they are used to it, but - they still do read twitter, facebook posts, etc - and if "everyone" is saying "go check out this site" - they'll most likely follow their peers, and check out that site.

Don't underestimate just how powerful, effective, & quick this can be. (I read somewhere someone said 161 people responded to the poll - if 161 people ALL posted on facebook/twitter/etc to say go to dreamstime), you'd be surprised how fast that can catch on with a good hashtag name, cause & powerful reason.

These are some very specific, effective strategies you can employ today.

Once shutterstock starts seeing a difference (whether its customers migrating to other platforms, or contributors stop uploading/cancelling their accounts), they will be more inclined to listen.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but a lot of people are already doing what you are saying here: we disabled our port before the changes, we are posting bad reviews, and comments on social media letting customers know about the situation, there are several articles about this in the media etc. It just sounds like you are saying everything as you are not involved (you should do this, you should do that, instead of WE should do it) and that's not very convincing.

Did you disabled your portfolio BTW?

As for top contributors: they have a special deal, so not much chances in convincing them.

114
I think my hair went gray because of this, but I don't regret it.

LOL!

As one whose hair went gray long before SS made this stupid/greedy move and also as one who shut off my images over the weekend I can tell you this:

There's life after both GRAY HAIR and SHITTERSTOCK!

:D  :D  :D  :D  :D

Yes it was a greedy move. Noone should support something like this.
Thank you for the kind words, and for taking action.

115
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0
« on: June 02, 2020, 11:31 »
I don't understand people who disable their port at SS because they don't accept to get 10 for a sale while they have a port at IS where they can get as few as 2 for a sale :o
When IS lowered to 2 cent a couple of years ago, I deleted my best selling images there, and stopped uploading. Then in september last year, they paid a decent royalty by mistake for some sales, and when they took back the money, I finally terminated my account.
I also stopped uploading to IS when they did that, but as far as I remember there was no possibility to delete just some images, you could delete all images, or none. How was it possible to delete just the best sellers? I'd like to do that too.

116
I also deactivated my sales on the last day of May, and I am really happy I didn't have to see my work being sold for 0.1$. It was a tough decision, after 11 years of SS being my top earner, I think my hair went gray because of this, but I don't regret it.

117
Shutterstock.com / Re: June so far
« on: June 01, 2020, 08:54 »
People here waiting for the new scheme to take effect... why? Why haven't you disabled your portfolio alredy, nothing good will follow of this.

Do you know how much time does it take them to turn off my images after disabling them? I disabled everything, and since then I don't have sales, but my port is still online. I wouldn't want to think they are fine with selling a couple of more and keeping it for themselves...

118
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0
« on: June 01, 2020, 02:23 »
This though looks depressing, but I am sure this was no blind decision.
There must be a plan for expansion. Yes, you do get lower price, but I think you will also get higher one in enhanced and single other.
All you need to achieve the higher level.

I think we'll need to wait and watch it. I am not removing any portfolio right now.

Yes, there is an expansion... of the managers' pockets. Just make a buyer account and see the prices for yourself. You will get 15% of that price, or maybe a bit more if you work you ass off. The plan is there, it's not a secret.

119
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0
« on: May 31, 2020, 12:54 »
Anyone knows if I still get my payout for May if I disable my images? (I reached the payout limit). I really depend on this, but also I can not stand aside and do nothing.

I appreciate if anyone knows the answer and sorry if it was already posted, I might have missed some comments (there are so many).

PS: I am pissed af

To my knowledge you will only lose your payout if you are below the $35 dollar threshold or below your payout setting and have disabled your images and/or video portfolio so in your case you should have nothing to worry about.

Thank you. I decided to take the risk. Let's hope for the best.

120
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0
« on: May 31, 2020, 09:21 »
Anyone knows if I still get my payout for May if I disable my images? (I reached the payout limit). I really depend on this, but also I can not stand aside and do nothing.

I appreciate if anyone knows the answer and sorry if it was already posted, I might have missed some comments (there are so many).

PS: I am pissed af


121
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0
« on: May 29, 2020, 15:22 »
So now Im getting this on forum.

Your account has been suspended and you therefore do not have permission to access this site.
Your suspension will be lifted on June 30, 2020.

Does this stand for forum only or the site and forum are connected ?

How pathetic, also the blurred name. It's crazy.
Can you still access the contributor homepage?
I think this looks like they are not going to change their minds, they don't care about the bad PR.
Regardless I am going to deactivate on june 1st.

122
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/100168-why-deactivating-is-a-mistake-at-least-for-me/

These groupies sure are something else. What on earth makes them think they will get more sales if someone with a 10k food, concept or fashion portfolio leaves?
Do they fill all the gaps with their subject matter, concepts, quality?

They lack self respect and do not value their own work, that we already get but at least they can show some respect for those who work their butt off to survive in this market.

Shame on you!
That guy starting the thread has 4 pages of mediocre images after "years of uploading". Who cares about him anyway. Don't take him too seriously. Besides, as political parties do, he could be sent by SS to send their voice, I'm surprised they haven't done that earlier.

Im afraid I couldn't help responding to him. Asshat.

Of course he doesn't mind the change, he'll be probably making $15 instead of $20 a month or something. Especially funny the part about the time and energy he put in his port LOL

123
Canva / Re: Canva announcement
« on: May 26, 2020, 14:51 »
Has someone else suddenly a negative account balance ? (for me since last night, close to the extra double payment)

Me too, on the payments page, and yes it's about the amount they payed extra.

124
Cutcaster / Re: Cutcaster Closing, Sat. April 25, 2020.
« on: May 25, 2020, 05:37 »
I think it is a real sign of an ethical person to allow us to ask for any remaining balance before it finally closes. I had about $9 over there - so thanks John for this. After losing $80 or so with Crestock (yes, my own fault for never going to the site), it is refreshing to see a different approach.

Steve

Would have been even more ethical to send a notification to contributors. I guess it's too late for me. Yes I know, it's my fault that I did not check so often.

125
123RF / Re: Is it the end of 123rf
« on: May 22, 2020, 16:15 »
Communist Chinese Virus

seriously?

Pages: 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 7 8 9 10 ... 14

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors