Author Topic: StockXpert Images on Photos.com (Read 125161 times)

Karimala · « **Reply #175 on:** August 02, 2008, 10:28 »

Quote from: sharpshot on August 02, 2008, 03:21

A point I made over on their forum. SS pay me 38 cents for subscription downloads, 123rf 36 cents, DT 35 cents and FT 32 cents. istock pay more for subs commissions on average. DT and FT also use subs downloads to increase the amount I make from pay per download sales.

StockXpert now has the lowest subs commission rate of the big sites, just 30 cents. They need to offer us an opt out or increase prices in line with the other top sites.

Perhaps now is a good time to do this, as there is a lot of bad feeling and a nice raise might make people think again about deleting their portfolios.

Joann brought up this point on the conference call.

Paddy's response was that most of the sites with larger commissions have been offering subscriptions much longer, while StockXpert is still fairly new to the game. She also reminded the callers that when they agreed to offer 30 cents, that was still the industry norm. Since then, all of the major sites except 123RF have raised their commissions (FT only did so after we complained, just like StockXpert did). A raise at StockXpert is not out of the question, but she said it isn't likely to happen now, because their program is still so new.

Nothing is set in stone yet though, and we might end up with a nice little surprise, but I think it will happen later rather than sooner. October is the one-year anniversary of their subscription program.

southmind · « **Reply #176 on:** August 02, 2008, 11:36 »

Quote from: gostwyck on August 02, 2008, 08:49

Quote from: vphoto on August 02, 2008, 05:31
deleting my StockXpert portfolio is firmly on my mind.

Same here to be honest __ whatever happens next.

The management team at StockXpert have let us down like a cheap pair of tights.

I removed it yesterday. Enough is enough. Jupiter Image has totally destroyed StockXpert.

vphoto · « **Reply #177 on:** August 02, 2008, 11:40 »

what is the procedure for removing?

southmind · « **Reply #178 on:** August 02, 2008, 11:45 »

Quote from: vphoto on August 02, 2008, 11:40

what is the procedure for removing?

You just have t select your pics an chose the delete button. Page after page.
Photos will continue to appear for a while but download is not allowed.

kgtoh · « **Reply #179 on:** August 02, 2008, 13:48 »

Anybody know if there's a procedure to disable your portfolio?

It seems somehow less emotionally impacting.
"I'm not breaking up with you, it's just that we should maybe start seeing other people."

rene · « **Reply #180 on:** August 02, 2008, 14:28 »

StockXpert is in big trouble. I was asking myself why top contributors are silence. One of them is back (Maxfx) from vacation. He is not happy at all. StockXpert will lose many portfolios. If they lose only 300000 images that it means they have to review more then one million new images to get back the numbers of today (average acceptance is 1 for 3-4 submitions). Reviewers will be rich.
Monday StockXpert plays his future. Hoppeful StockXpert is not like Albumo, I need only 1 hour to delete my all portfolio (about 900 images).

southmind · « **Reply #181 on:** August 02, 2008, 15:05 »

Quote from: kgtoh on August 02, 2008, 13:48

Anybody know if there's a procedure to disable your portfolio?

It seems somehow less emotionally impacting.
"I'm not breaking up with you, it's just that we should maybe start seeing other people."

The problem occured as soon as Jupiter Image owned StockXpert.
StockXpert was a good site before J.I.
J.I changed a lot of things and I am tired by their behavior.
It is why I immediatly deleted my portfolio after the announce of this "marvelous" deal...

DanP68 · « **Reply #182 on:** August 02, 2008, 23:29 »

If you haven't been following the StockXpert forum thread, there are some signs that the big contributors are starting to pressure StockXpert on the EULA. First, here is a quote from MaxFX from message #279:

Dear StockXpert, Ji, Paddy, Steve and all other decision makers:

I just came back from vacation and found myself in this very problematic situation at StockXpert.

I have a portfolio on this site with more than 10.000 images. I have the same portfolio on 4 other microstock agencies.

I have liked StockXpert since the beginning. It has been good to me, steady sales in friendly environment.

I must say that I do understand what Jupiter Images trying to establish. They have a beautiful domain name (photos.com) and trying to bring that site to life. Make it one of the main sites in this business. I understand...

But, you also must understand these:

1) Making sudden decisions for me and other contributors in the middle of Summer (when most of us in vacation) is not fair.
2) I do own my work, nobody else. I do choose companies to sell my work for me. I am not any companies' staff photographer. It is my choice to decide if you are a good company to work for me or not.
3) I do own full copyright for my images, not anybody else. I shall never give this right to anybody or any company via emails or forum messages
4) I did not sign up with photos.com, StockXpert has no right to force me to sell my pictures there unless it gives me what all other sites giving as average (terms and payments).
5) I am not against subscription sales. I understand it is a definite need for today's microstock. But not the way you paint in photos.com terms. You must understand those terms are not acceptable for me (and as I see for many others) and you need to reconstruct all the terms on that site if you want all your contributors to support you. We will support you as long as you do not back stab us.

In stock business, 10% of my income comes from StockXpert. I'd be more than happy to see increase on that number. But again, you MUST understand, I shall NOT kill my other sales on the other sites for 10% I make from StockXpert. I shall not kill my $200 EL sales on other sites for .30 cents. I simply can not do that.

Now, I am going to look at this situation from the bright site, please you try the same for the sake of this site's future and your hard working contributors. You can make this work with minor adjustments. Change the terms at photos.com, change what everyone complains about (EL rights for .30 cents buys, Ji copyright on images, 90 days lock up, etc.). If you'll do this to help us then do this to help us. Give rights to us to choose if we want to be part of this deal or not; keep opt/in - opt/out in StockXpert site... Let people choose freely!

You can make this right guys... You can make it right and increase our sales and have us keep contribute to StockXpert and also photos.com with better content, better images every day. You can make photos.com one of the top microstock sites in this business that way. Otherwise all we contributors become Caesars and Ji/StockXpert becomes Brutus.
And to avoid this happening, I will just cut the hand it gets gangrene to save my life; I shall have no choice besides leaving StockXpert as most others will do.

Thank you.

MaxFX

In message #252, PaulCowan alluded that the possibility of Iophoto pulling his portfolio woke up StockXpert management. I have no idea as to the truth of this. Perhaps it was touched upon in the conference call?

In message #239, Laurin Rinder chimes in that he has been contacted by Paddy who apologized about the way this has been handled.

I have yet to hear that management is considering changing the EULA, which is all that matters to me at this point. But I get the impression that it is going to happen. I don't recall another certain company consulting contributors or apologizing after attempting to pass through 22-23c sub commissions a few month back. I have faith StockXpert will do right by us, as they have in the past. And if they don't, they'll lose a lot more than my portfolio.

hd · « **Reply #183 on:** August 03, 2008, 07:02 »

I'm curious - has anyone else been contacted directly by StockXpert with apologies?

southmind · « **Reply #184 on:** August 03, 2008, 09:33 »

Apologies or not, it will change nothing. I cannot work with somebody who tries to steal me.
I am really sorry for StockXpert , because it was a good site, but Jupiter Image... I prefer not to write what I think of them.

jsnover · « **Reply #185 on:** August 03, 2008, 10:11 »

Quote from: hd on August 03, 2008, 07:02

I'm curious - has anyone else been contacted directly by StockXpert with apologies?

Yes.

I was on the conference call and I'd assumed that Paddy was being very polite and contacting those of us who were. Clearly they're trying to soothe the disruptions they've created; I wouldn't read much more into it than that.

louoates · « **Reply #186 on:** August 03, 2008, 10:33 »

Yes, I got the apology also. Seemed sincere but we'll see if necessary changes will occur. I think I got the apology because I chimed in on the SFX blog with my displeasure.

At this point I'll wait until Monday or so to see what the new intents will be.

vphoto · « **Reply #187 on:** August 03, 2008, 11:09 »

They look at photographers as peons. They forget that it is a costly hobby and most of us are at least literate.

NYTumbleweeds · « **Reply #188 on:** August 03, 2008, 11:23 »

Quote

There could be a mid solution, if they offer an opt-out/in on a per photo base.

I'm not a great photographer, but, like everybody here, I can tell that my *worst* photos are better than most of Photos.com's.

So on a per photo base, I would opt-in with *less* quality, and it would still improve Photos.com collection and in the same time give some more valu to my older photos.

I would agree with this... although it would a cumbersome job I would like the option per image. This yes or no/all or nothing stinks!

I also for one was very happy to see MaxFX chime in over on StockXpert forum!

I'd hate to leave StockXpert but can't afford not to if this goes through. I may be a small ant in this big hill but if a lot of the ants chime in that would be a big empty hole.

brm1949 · « **Reply #189 on:** August 03, 2008, 11:47 »

My portfolio there is not very large but I also expressed my displeasure with this on the StockXpert forums.
If allow EL's for .30 cents, it does not look good for any of us in the micro stock models. They will set a precedent that others will follow. Unless I'm missing something, this could be the end of microstocks.

cphoto · « **Reply #190 on:** August 03, 2008, 11:51 »

Quote from: hd on August 03, 2008, 07:02

I'm curious - has anyone else been contacted directly by StockXpert with apologies?

I did. I was on the call too and I exchanged several emails over the week-end with Paddy to discuss possible changes on the photos.com EULA.

They realized they made a mistake and they are working on fixing it before the official announcement tomorrow.

gostwyck · « **Reply #191 on:** August 03, 2008, 12:13 »

Quote from: cphoto on August 03, 2008, 11:51

They realized they made a mistake and they are working on fixing it before the official announcement tomorrow.

That's good to know but I've a feeling that there will still be a nasty sting in the tail.

I am concerned that Paddy seems desperate to kick-start Photo.com (possibly soon to be followed by further 'partnerships' with other sites she's responsible for) and so far appears to think that commandeering our stuff and giving it away for peanuts is the way to go.

I came across this blog which gives a few pointers to how grim things are at Jupiter. Rumors of mass redundancies are in the offing too;

http://blog.melchersystem.com/2008/07/29/jupiter-is-not-responding/

(you need to scroll down a bit for the text)

My worry is that these moves may be motivated by short-term desperation from a sinking ship rather than genuine business opportunities with a sound future.

NYTumbleweeds · « **Reply #192 on:** August 03, 2008, 14:03 »

Quote from: cphoto on August 03, 2008, 11:51

Quote from: hd on August 03, 2008, 07:02
I'm curious - has anyone else been contacted directly by StockXpert with apologies?

I did. I was on the call too and I exchanged several emails over the week-end with Paddy to discuss possible changes on the photos.com EULA.

They realized they made a mistake and they are working on fixing it before the official announcement tomorrow.

cphoto: Any possible clue as to what time tmo we should expect the clarification or announcement on Monday?

Thanks...

madelaide · « **Reply #193 on:** August 03, 2008, 16:31 »

There is an interesting protest going on in StockXpert Forum.

http://www.stockxpert.com/forum.phtml?f=showtopic&n=15291&p=15

Members are writing this and variations:

Quote

I totally disagree about selling my images with EL for 30 cents royalty on photos.com. Give me the option to opt-out from this or I delete all my photos on stockxpert.

There are already 3 pages of this.

Regards,
Adelaide

hd · « **Reply #194 on:** August 03, 2008, 17:30 »

thanks everyone for clarification on who got the note - and thanks to those of you who were in on the call.

it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out..."should I stay or should I go now"

Karimala · « **Reply #195 on:** August 03, 2008, 23:25 »

Quote from: cphoto on August 03, 2008, 11:51

Quote from: hd on August 03, 2008, 07:02
I'm curious - has anyone else been contacted directly by StockXpert with apologies?

I did. I was on the call too and I exchanged several emails over the week-end with Paddy to discuss possible changes on the photos.com EULA.

They realized they made a mistake and they are working on fixing it before the official announcement tomorrow.

Me, too. Along with apologizing for how StockXpert/JI handled recent communications, Paddy also thanked me for pointing out the page design problem that could be hampering EL sales.

I'm really encouraged by how they are opening up channels of communication, instead of shutting us down like FT did recently.

southmind · « **Reply #196 on:** August 04, 2008, 02:03 »

I wonder how you can still trust Jupiter Image...
They did partial communication (hidding some "details" ) during the summer times with a very short decision time . They threat the entire microstock business in providing our photos for nothing and they don't care of their contributor.
If you find that "encouraging", well we do not share the same position...

ann · « **Reply #197 on:** August 04, 2008, 02:45 »

I really liked Stockexpert's feature that allowed you to switch in improved versions of your photos, so photo didn't lose dl rating, but my very, very small portfolio is now gone - worrying my photos would end up for sale on photos.com was not worth it.

Bettyboop · « **Reply #198 on:** August 04, 2008, 03:04 »

Has any1 els noticed that the big ports are missing from all the shouting happening over on StockXpert and here. Andres, Yuri, iofoto, dolgachov, lumaxart, are very quiet for some strange reason

stokfoto · « **Reply #199 on:** August 04, 2008, 03:43 »

Quote from: Bettyboop on August 04, 2008, 03:04

Has any1 els noticed that the big ports are missing from all the shouting happening over on StockXpert and here. Andres, Yuri, iofoto, dolgachov, lumaxart, are very quiet for some strange reason

yep,I did noticed and mentioned that before.strange isn't it?

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Author Topic: StockXpert Images on Photos.com (Read 125161 times)

Karimala

southmind

vphoto

southmind

kgtoh

rene

southmind

DanP68

hd

southmind

jsnover

louoates

vphoto

NYTumbleweeds

brm1949

cphoto

gostwyck

NYTumbleweeds

madelaide

hd

Karimala

southmind

ann

Bettyboop

stokfoto

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