MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: Autumnleaves on October 09, 2010, 04:35
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what's upo with them??? I have photos rejected that sells well on other sites (DT) what are they trademark policies?? they ask me property release for indoor pictures, for motorcycle (although I removed all logos and signals), for a glass building of offices... these pics are on DT and sell well!
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what's upo with them??? I have photos rejected that sells well on other sites (DT) what are they trademark policies?? they ask me property release for indoor pictures, for motorcycle (although I removed all logos and signals), for a glass building of offices... these pics are on DT and sell well!
Yap, SS and BigStock changed policies on this.
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If it's a modern building then they want a property release. Any kind of vehicle shot will be rejected. Though I'm not sure if you could submit it as editorial though. I would contact support about that one.
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(http://images.brighthub.com/E7/8/E78D89341933E65F41CFC86D64804E37DDEC4BD2_large.jpg)
Anyone have a text or pdf version? I went to the Getty site and got a dead link. I can't find my IS link to the Property release. All I need is a generic that I can modify and use on SS in the future. Somehow I'm coming up at a loss and I know it's something that should be easy to find. Maybe even here in resources. Here's the IS version, but I want something with just the release. http://www.istockphoto.com/docs/languages/english/propertyrelease.pdf (http://www.istockphoto.com/docs/languages/english/propertyrelease.pdf) (and that I can edit. This is a PDF) Here's the SS version http://submit.shutterstock.com/property_release.pdf (http://submit.shutterstock.com/property_release.pdf)
Then there is this:
ASMP has never seen a statute or a legal case that requires a release for property.
Association. The first theory is that a person’s identity might be connected to the property. Take a picture of a house and use it in an article about drug users, and the owner might get angry enough to sue. Why? because everyone on the block knows whose house it is, and, since the house is not actually connected with drugs, the image was used out of context and paints the owner in a bad light. If the owner sees the use of the image as defamation of character, a lawsuit might be the response.
Conversion. The second theory is that there is an offense called conversion, which means that you used another’s property to your own personal gain without the owner’s permission. It is a bit like copyright infringement, which covers intangible property, except it covers tangible property. If I rent out your house while you are away without your permission, I have converted it to my personal gain. That is conversion. The question is this: Is it conversion if I rent out a picture of your house for an advertisement without your permission? The picture of your house is not your tangible property. Is the photo of the house the equivalent of the house (at least for these purposes)?
We know of no case that has ever settled those kinds of questions. ASMP advises that property releases be acquired whenever possible because we don’t want to see you be the test case.
There's the argument that no one wants to be the test case. :)
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what really pisses me off is the difference between BigStock and SS accepting policy..
BigStock gets almost everything.. SS is pickier! why?
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I've been getting a lot of rejections lately, and SS used to accept darn near everything I submitted. However, maybe it's a coincidence, but on two occasions lately, I submitted on the weekend as apposed to a weekday and both times everything was accepted. Different reviewers who are smarter, I mean more tolerant, working on the weekends?
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I've been getting a lot of rejections lately, and SS used to accept darn near everything I submitted. However, maybe it's a coincidence, but on two occasions lately, I submitted on the weekend as apposed to a weekday and both times everything was accepted. Different reviewers who are smarter, I mean more tolerant, working on the weekends?
A microstocker friend told the the opposite!! She told me that it was better to submit on week days because on weeekend there were awful reviewers!! ??? but
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what really pisses me off is the difference between BigStock and SS accepting policy..
BigStock gets almost everything.. SS is pickier! why?
Because SS will sell your images and you'll collect money on the web, while BigStock will make few or no sales, and they will collect cobwebs. That's why SS is pickier. :D
Having things accepted doesn't equate to having more sales. I sell more on SS in a month that I do on BigStock and StockXpert put together, in a year, and the last two have twice as many "acceptable" images. Oh I feel good that some places will take my photos, but feelings don't put gas in the car or food on the table! ;)
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Having problems with SS rejections also. I used to have quite a good acceptance at SS but now there are days when all my photos in my batches are rejected for reasons I don't understand. The reviewing also takes a lot longer than it used to take. Maybe the reviewers are too busy with the Istock runners and just reject everything they don't fancy in one glimpse?
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Me too. and I really don't understand. I NEVER expected to see an entire batch rejected. I was POSITIVE that the entire batch would be accepted???
Desperate times call for desperate measures ... I just started re-uploading my port to Fotolia ... as much as I hate their arrogant attitude.
Might send the rejects to Thinkstock. :o
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Although I've been selling video clips on SS for some time now, I have yet to be accepted as a still photographer. After four unsuccessful attempts, my fifth attempt included ten photos that had all been approved in one of my previous attempts. (I didn't reach the requisite seven out of ten in my previous attempts, but some of the photos were approved.) Much to my surprise, the photos that were approved previously were disapproved! It even included photos that have sold on other sites! It seems that the initial batch of ten is a moving target. :o
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Although I've been selling video clips on SS for some time now, I have yet to be accepted as a still photographer. After four unsuccessful attempts, my fifth attempt included ten photos that had all been approved in one of my previous attempts. (I didn't reach the requisite seven out of ten in my previous attempts, but some of the photos were approved.) Much to my surprise, the photos that were approved previously were disapproved! It even included photos that have sold on other sites! It seems that the initial batch of ten is a moving target. :o
Keep going with that. If you have 7 or more accepted across all previous batches its working contacting them - they let me upload a batch of my previously accepted images and I was accepted. More here: http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/approval-of-new-photographers-applications/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/approval-of-new-photographers-applications/)
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This is sooooo frustrating! SS rejects nature pics that even Fotolia accepts now :o That says a lot...
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Regarding acceptance ratio, FT used to be one of the most difficult sites for me, and SS one of the easiest.
Now it's the opposite.
They changed attitude, not me. So I don't care at all if they accept or reject my pictures: if they like to waste their time with random 100% acceptance or 100% rejection every other day, it's their business, not mine. After my initial self-assessment on my pictures, I keep on sending everything to everybody, and the only thing that matters to me as an independent is the overall revenue across all agencies.
Random rejections are statistically equal for all contributors: they only damage the agency itself, not us. By the way, SS is still my #1: given their search algorythm if they reject more new pictures older ones keep on selling more. I'm sorry for newbies.
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Huh! And I thought it was just me. At least I am not alone in this boat.
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Sometimes you can take advantage of reviewer inconsistency... I re-submitted some stuff rejected on some sites a few months ago and they were approved... I'm assuming by a different reviewer. Works on most sites. I never re-submit more than twice, however. If I don't get something through, I'll try again in a few months, and once more around a year after it was originally rejected. More than 75% are approved after re-submitting.
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
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Regarding acceptance ratio, FT used to be one of the most difficult sites for me, and SS one of the easiest.
Now it's the opposite.
They changed attitude, not me. So I don't care at all if they accept or reject my pictures: if they like to waste their time with random 100% acceptance or 100% rejection every other day, it's their business, not mine. After my initial self-assessment on my pictures, I keep on sending everything to everybody, and the only thing that matters to me as an independent is the overall revenue across all agencies.
Random rejections are statistically equal for all contributors: they only damage the agency itself, not us. By the way, SS is still my #1: given their search algorythm if they reject more new pictures older ones keep on selling more. I'm sorry for newbies.
I think @microphoto got it right. Unless all agencies uses same reviewers and got exactly same policies there is no way to guarantee that image is going to be accepted across the board. Also agencies sit on millions of images covering almost every possible subject so they do not need images unless something extraordinary shows up. I think in future acceptance will be even lower unless they start pruning their collections.
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
Why? They all invite re-submission.
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My acceptance ratio has been around 75% since I returned to SS. That's about what it was on my last uploads at iStock, so I personally don't see much of a difference.
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
Why? They all invite re-submission.
Not on istock. Some files cant be resubmitted once rejected which i think is absurd. i only know of istock since im exclusive there.
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
Why? They all invite re-submission.
they all invite resubmission after all issues have been fixed, not just waiting some time and retrying
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
Why? They all invite re-submission.
they all invite resubmission after all issues have been fixed, not just waiting some time and retrying
Bad reviewer... Waited a few months, re-submit to different reviewer. Issue fixed. :)
Also, I do change the description and keywords. Semantics, but...
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
Why? They all invite re-submission.
they all invite resubmission after all issues have been fixed, not just waiting some time and retrying
Bad reviewer... Waited a few months, re-submit to different reviewer. Issue fixed. :)
Also, I do change the description and keywords. Semantics, but...
I wait awhile and change the file name...usually ending with a RS...for resubmit.
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^^ couldnt agencies ban you for doing this? I wonder if they give you a warning or not
Why? They all invite re-submission.
Not on istock. Some files cant be resubmitted once rejected which i think is absurd. i only know of istock since im exclusive there.
You can if you change the file name. I use to do this rather than go through the resubmit process. I'm sure you can so the same with the ones they say don't resubmit. How are they going to know the difference.
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what's upo with them??? I have photos rejected that sells well on other sites (DT) what are they trademark policies?? they ask me property release for indoor pictures, for motorcycle (although I removed all logos and signals), for a glass building of offices... these pics are on DT and sell well!
I have had the same experience. My last two 10 photo entries were rejected while the other sites accepted many of the images and are generating sales already. Both were weekend reviews. To be fair these submissions were not my best but I felt that they were good enough.
The other thing I was thinking about is that about 2 weeks ago I passed the $500 sales with them and got the .25 to .33 cent raise in minimum commission. I was wondering if they hold you to a higher standard at the higher rate???
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I was wondering if they hold you to a higher standard at the higher rate???
I think it's just a coincidence. I didn't notice any difference when I passed to a higher rate, and now they are rising standards for everyone.
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I think someone else posted this suggestion.....stay away from weekend reviewers.
So I have tried and it seems to be working....but just one week of trying so far. This will slow down my uploads but its better than 100% rejections that was WAS getting.
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Frankly I've never seen any correlation between the days you upload and reviews. I upload when I have stuff to upload and let the chips fall where they may.
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I used to get better reviews during the week but now review times have increased and my rejection rate has gone up. Doesn't seem to make any difference now.
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I used to get better reviews during the week but now review times have increased and my rejection rate has gone up. Doesn't seem to make any difference now.
yep used to be like 24h now more than 48h
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Hmm, interesting concept. I never noticed a difference between weekend/weekday reviewers (but I only submit 1 to 3 images a week). What I have noticed is that I don't want my clips to be approved on a Friday or Saturday. Buyers seem to take the weekend off and every time I get a new clip approved between monday and thursday I get a big bump in sales. Otherwise, if it's approved over the weekend when buyers come back on Monday my new clips is much faster than the "new items" list and doesn't get noticed as much.
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Their trademark policy is down out destructive. How can an agency expand with just generic everyday crap? impossible. Fair enough if any trademak show but if not ( well known car brands ) let it pass for petes sake. No one is going to sue the pants off anybody.
In that case you cant even shoot an airplane? since the plane model itself is patented. Think about that one.
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Their trademark policy is down out destructive. How can an agency expand with just generic everyday crap? impossible. Fair enough if any trademak show but if not ( well known car brands ) let it pass for petes sake. No one is going to sue the pants off anybody.
In that case you cant even shoot an airplane? since the plane model itself is patented. Think about that one.
Sorry, but we now live in a litigious world... Way too many lawsuits these days.
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Their trademark policy is down out destructive. How can an agency expand with just generic everyday crap? impossible. Fair enough if any trademak show but if not ( well known car brands ) let it pass for petes sake. No one is going to sue the pants off anybody.
In that case you cant even shoot an airplane? since the plane model itself is patented. Think about that one.
I think you've got it. The plane, the paint scheme, the logos, anything made by humans in the background.
If someone can claim a whole friggin mountain in Australia and by the way people here support that, (Ayers Rock) what do you expect.
Everything ever made by man, is copyrighted, protected, trademarked, or somehow up for litigation if used in a photo. And in some minds, the private people onw God's own work like valley's, mountains and trees. It's absurd!
Back to the running scared thread, that agencies are rejecting things that they should not. It's not over. The problem is getting worse because of fractured legal advise.
Might as well get into the day of the week thing. Doesn't anyone remember some people claiming that sending things in for review on certain days at special times, would get them reviewed at the best possible placement for more views and sale. ;D Like someone really knows how the flow and process works and can play it to their advantage for better sales. Is it that complicated? I think it's trite and frivolous.
Rejections are what they are. Sure there's the luck of the draw sometimes, but lets face it. Micro has become an absurd caricature of imaging. They don't want good or artistic photos, they want "stock photos" that means pictures and images that match the general pool of their concept of "suitable for stock". It's like a huge bad joke that will collapse on itself. The collections are too bloated with similar images, copies of the best sellers because of people who just want to steal concepts and get a piece of the pie. It's over! The days of micro and crowdsourcing have died. It's been dead of about a year, but no one will get beyond denial.
Read the messages, read the sales complaints, read the commission changes, drops in income and sales... and everything that has been going one for the last year. Wake UP, it's over!
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What I find weird is my sales are up and so are my rejections. Had a batch of 10 vectors rejected for too many on site which is absurd it's their own fault that there's "too many on site" with over 13 bagillion images.
Definite pruning is in order either done by ourselves or by SS with image that haven't had a sale in a certain amount of time. I'm coming up on the time where that's going to happen to me at FT (next year).
I'll wait a month or so then reupload those 10 with their rasters (which were all rejected on a separate day and all for LCV). Some consistency would be nice as well. Course I'm also not holding my breath they expect us to change without letting us know what they need and they're certainly not going to change for the contributors.
Count me in as one of the frustrated ones.
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I do find it a strange policy to reject images that would make them and us money while keeping millions that are just clogging up the site.
Perhaps they just want the big number of images to attract buyers? Would be so much better for them and us to get rid of lower quality images that have been there for years with no sales and be more lenient with new images.
I shouldn't complain because it makes it very hard for new contributors and that helps me but I am sure what I upload now is much superior to some of what was accepted 4 years ago.