Agency Based Discussion > StockFresh

StockFresh - Is the opportunity passing?

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helix7:
I was singing the praises of StockFresh from early on. We first heard about the new company from the former StockXpert folks in June 2010, and it was made clear that the launch was a "soft" launch and no marketing would be done just yet. The goal was to build the collection and hit the market with a sizable enough portfolio to really pose a challenge to the well-established agencies. They offered an impressive site design, simple yet fair pricing, 50% royalties, $0.35 subs on medium and smaller images, and a no-BS credit system where a credit does really equal $1 or less.

A year and a half later, SF has surpassed 1 million images, a collection size that I suspect would be worthy enough to hit the market with, and yet there is little activity on the site and virtually no buyer activity for most people. In all this time I've personally collected just $30 in my account, more than half of which is from referrals.

I still have high hopes for Peter and the team, and SF in general. All of the building blocks of a badass agency are there. I'm just starting to wonder if the opportunity to take a chunk of the market is passing everyone by.

A few months ago SF could have distinguished themselves as a real alternative to istock. And to some extent they still can. But the distinguishing factors are diminishing. I think the opportunity for all agencies to blast istock on their lack of EPS10 compatibility for vector files could have been a huge selling point. istock has since finally caught up with the rest of the industry and adopted the EPS10 standard. I view it as a missed opportunity for SF and others.

This year, some new and exciting companies have emerged as serious players in microstock. PhotoDune/GraphicRiver (Envato) being at the top of my list. Veer seems to be picking up steam. And from the old guard, SS is still killing it as always and for many people (myself included) are growing steadily. It's a popular theory around here that SS is picking up many former istock customers.

I think those customers could have become SF customers if SF were more known several months back. istock took on many former StockXpert customers in the Jupiter acquisition, some of whom I'm sure would have rather remained StockXpert customers, and who might be very receptive to knowing that a new site was around that feels very much like the old StockXpert. As more customers potentially look for alternatives to istock, SF remains largely unknown to the buying population.

As I already mentioned, I'm optimistic for SF. Almost hopelessly optimistic, because the more realistic side of my brain tells me that this company is letting opportunities slip by and they may never come to market with the aggressiveness that will be necessary to not only take a shot at the big guys, but to also stand a chance against some promising up-and-comers.

Peter, I hope that you can tell me I'm wrong. I really hope that you can give us an update soon on the aggressive marketing plan being formulated, the sales push your team will be doing, something like that. But right now I'm finding it hard to stay optimistic, and I'm not sure it's worth my time to even continue uploading.

luissantos84:
sight

cthoman:
Agencies rise up from being low selling sites all the time. 123RF did it recently and Fotolia did it in the past. Maybe, it will happen with SF. Maybe, it won't. All you can do is support them if you like their site, and hope the rest happens.

StockCube:
Yep, I agree.  I remember them saying they wanted a million images before they started marketing properly, but that was achieved a while ago now and I haven't seen any sign that a big ad campaign is coming.  With 123RF sticking it to us and cutting commissions lately I would love to see the likes of StockFresh and Veer doing well, but my sales and views don't give me much hope.  I am sitting on $5 at StockFresh and it is starting to feel like one of those sites I won't ever be able to claim a payment from.

Jo Ann Snover:
I'm going to leave what I have there as I can't see it doing much harm, but I've been very discouraged with StockFresh performance. I've had a decent chunk of my portfolio (nearly 1,500 images) up there since June and the total thus far is $11.50. PhotoDune has surpassed that with 300 images in one month (less than a month and for most of that time less than 300 images). WarmPicture (the artist collective/agency/?) has surpassed that and they have done no advertising at all and don't have close to a million images. Veer only has 300 of my images online (glacial reviewing and upload limits) and I've recently passed my first payout.

Unless I see some sort of uptick in activity, if I were asked if it's worth uploading there, I think I'd say don't bother for now. It's a shame as I think they've got a lot going for them.

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