Thanks, All.

Sorry for the delay in responding. Lots of stuff going on. Also, SuperPhoto, sorry for not responding you your PM right away. I will try and address what I can here and now.

I think stockman11's assumption is astute - perhaps we came looking for content too soon. As I mentioned, the site is a work in progress. The cart, search, and payment features are not completed. We had no idea if it would take days or months to build a catalog of sufficient size prior to launch, so recruiting photographers willing to be a part of this process was one of the reasons for reaching out here on this forum. If a "work in progress" or a new, unproven business makes you nervous, then by all means take a step back and check us out later.

As for some of the specific and relevant concerns,
Maui's comment showing the database errors was mostly bad timing. In moving the server to a more robust and secure setup, the database migration barfed and started giving those errors. It's fixed now,

however...

I'll say it again, the search function is still a little wonky and the database is mostly empty of images - that's why I came here. We're looking for photos and relationships with contributors and have most of those functions up and running. If you're approaching the site as a customer, then you'll have trouble "finding a girl" :-).

The watermark is a genuine concern. Unfortunately, the image you referenced is just a small placeholder image used for testing. Subsequent uploads display the watermark appropriately.

Keywords are as good as the uploader. We won't be modifying anyone's keywords.

As for the "who are you" question, no, I don't have another profile here and don't make my living as a photographer. Personally, I'm an entrepreneur who has started several profitable online businesses and this is my latest project. While I have sold a (very) few stock images from design work done years ago, my inspiration for this site comes from the position of the individual consumer. Since I have an infrequent need for quality images, a subscription or credit pack is not a value to me.The idea for a quick and simple process for single purchases was the seed idea for this site.

The need for clearer licensing is well noted. We'll make sure that's taken care of. The Terms of Service have been available from the start.

We will give some thought as to what would be useful information to share regarding marketing. I won't bombard you with useless marketing-speak.

I appreciate all of the comments regarding pricing. Obviously the site title alone sets some of the parameters. Our focus remains on a simple, single transaction model for one-time and and repeat customers. We are happy to collaborate with anyone willing to join us in this. However, if your photography portfolio is worth a million dollars, then maybe FiveDollarPhotos is not the right fit. You should certainly get the value you want for your creative work.

Thanks again for all of the constructive comments AND a special thanks to those of you who have already signed up.

Greetings,

First, thanks to all of you participating here. I've learned a lot, even in a short time as a "lurker." I'm glad this kind of place exists for discussion and collaboration.

I wanted to let you know about a site we are creating - FiveDollarPhotos.com.
The name is pretty self-explanatory. Find a photo . Spend $5. Download the image. Simple.

For photographers, we are also starting at a 75% royalty rate.

As a consumer, I found myself frequently frustrated by the subscriptions, credits, pricing tiers, and so on when searching for an occasional photo to use for my projects. I wanted to create a solution that was easy to understand and simple to use. In my opinion, many of the larger stock photo sites make it unnecessarily complicated for individuals to purchase photos.

I do not pretend to be a professional photographer, but I've had an occasion to sell some of my personal work online. I was always frustrated by the low royalty rates offered to artists. In addition to making FiveDollarPhotos easy for consumers, I wanted to make it profitable for artists.

Obviously, any stock photo site's success depends upon a large collection of high quality photos for sale and we hope that you will consider being a part of that. To help make that happen, we are offering an incentive to photographers willing to join us early during this development phase.
Currently, we are building our database of high quality stock photos and developing the shopping cart and artist payment systems. While we work on those phases and prior to our public launch, any contributor that signs up and uploads photos for sale will have a royalty rate of 75% on all of their photos. Forever. Every photo that sells at $5, the contributor will receive $3.75.
After we launch to the public for sales, the standard rate will go to 50% (which is still a great deal).

My vision for FiveDollarPhotos is simple - make an easy marketplace for buyers that pays a great commission to contributors. I hope that you will share that same vision and join us for this journey. If you do, please go to FiveDollarPhotos.com and register as a contributor.

Obviously, we are working to make this the best website possible. If you see things that are not working properly or would like to make suggestions on how to make it better, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Jay Lynn, President
FiveDollarPhotos.com