Hi,

I haven't uploaded to Veer for about 2 years. Is it worth to upload again ? How are your sales there as compared to other agencies ?

Thanks!

I reach payout ($100) every two months so worth uploading in my eyes and wallet...

I get payout every couple months too.  For me this makes it one of my lowest performers.  If I did not already have my whole port there I would not bother getting it on the site.  I do upload the few new images I do per week there cuz the upload is easy.  Lots of .25 subs lately tho which I don't like.

They blow stockfresh out of the water, but still aren't very good for me unless I get an EL - which is becoming very rare.

Sales there have become very slow lately - almost nothing all year.  OTOH, uploading is easy and reviews now are fast and reasonable.  IMO they are worth the small amount of additional time required for uploading, but keep your expectations low.

Sales there have become very slow lately - almost nothing all year.  OTOH, uploading is easy and reviews now are fast and reasonable.  IMO they are worth the small amount of additional time required for uploading, but keep your expectations low.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree on the upload process it is hit and miss either failing or only part of the file queue uploading often. 

Then unlike other agencies I have to spend time re-adjusting the keywords to fit in to their clunky keyword system.  Not to mention making sure I don't have more than 25 keywords as they tend to throw the image out if they are more than 25 (I was advised by Veer to do this about a year ago).

And if you have more unusual subjects there is no point uploading as their keyword system doesn't allow for odd or unusual keywords.

I just checked and found out some of the most important keywords are missing!
Usually my images have 50 keywords. That's OK with all other agencies except "the most special" - Veer!?
No more uploads from me!!!

I never heard about the 25 keyword thing.  Almost all my images have more than 25.  Do they just toss out the extra words?  I try to mostlybput the most important words first, so I don't know how much this affects me.  Do they penalize images with more keywords in the search?

I never heard about the 25 keyword thing.  Almost all my images have more than 25.  Do they just toss out the extra words?  I try to mostlybput the most important words first, so I don't know how much this affects me.  Do they penalize images with more keywords in the search?

I had a batch rejected and this is what they said "Unfortunately, we cannot accept this image as it is the second time it has been submitted with poor keywords. "

It was the first and only time it was submitted and the images had 48 keywords and the keywords were relevant.

Veer advised not to exceed 25 keywords as rejection would be the outcome

They have some sort of computer program that changes the keywords for there keywords and there keywords are generally very odd -- this could be why they have been held back as a site as it must make there clients task of searching the data base difficult.

They rejected a whole load of my images with place names in, I could not figure this as these words where used on other sites to find my images.

Basically I think there search might be dated and have problem with new terminology.

I have given up on them. I have not removed portfolio but I will not upload more pictures (due to "big" sales) !

Just discovered the keyword stripping. Seems really random   Someone talking about shooting themself in the foot..........

So glad I saw this thread. I found over 100 of my files with the main keyword missing. Have no idea why they would remove the main keyword and in some instances create their own substitution! I emailed them the complete list.
 
Here is the worst offender, with none of these keywords included in the uploaded meta data:

Quote from: everest on April 29, 2015, 10:11

Just discovered the keyword stripping. Seems really random   Someone talking about shooting themself in the foot..........

So glad I saw this thread. I found over 100 of my files with the main keyword missing. Have no idea why they would remove the main keyword and in some instances create their own substitution! I emailed them the complete list.
 
Here is the worst offender, with none of these keywords included in the uploaded meta data:

That is beyond pathetic.  My guess they are farming out re-keywording to none English speakers in India or South East Asia to keep it cheap as you like.

Getty have the same problems with re-keywording

I raised the subject on this site a few months ago. 

http://www.microstockgroup.com/veer-marketplace/isn%27t-time-for-a-new-keyword-strategy/msg404573/#msg404573

Wow, I've just checked mine and they have done the same thing - stripped out all of the most important keywords and put in very general ones or completely wrong ones instead.  They have removed all of the scientific names of plants and animals even though those provide the most efficient way to search for something specific.  That explains why sales essentially stopped a few months ago.  Not worth bothering to submit there anymore.  Whoever came up with the idea to do that should be fired - it must be killing their business if nobody can find what they want.

Did anyone ask them why they do that?

Of course not - this is MSG, all we do is complain!

Actually in response to your question I did ask them and will let you know how they respond.

Had situation with removed essential keywords often at IS too. Cannot believe that it is random. It is work for hire

Quote from: everest on April 29, 2015, 10:11

Just discovered the keyword stripping. Seems really random   Someone talking about shooting themself in the foot..........

So glad I saw this thread. I found over 100 of my files with the main keyword missing. Have no idea why they would remove the main keyword and in some instances create their own substitution! I emailed them the complete list.
 
Here is the worst offender, with none of these keywords included in the uploaded meta data:

Hi Rimglow,

I want to first apologize to you, and to the rest of the contributors on this thread about this "keyword issue". I think there are a few factors at play re: this issue. I am working with the keyword team now to see if we can get all of you some actual feedback about this problem.

In the meantime, Rimglow, I would like to know if you can send me a list of the original keywords you submitted with the image you linked to. I pulled what looks to be your original set from when you submitted. From what I can tell they are exactly what you took a screenshot of.

Grant
- Attachments and other options

If its true that the original keywords got replaced/switched on the meta data somewhere along the process, then Veer has a massive issue on their hands.

Your keyword issues are more serious than this. When I search for "Northern Lights" on Veer (I happen to have lots of northern lights shots) I get results that more than 50% don't show something even closely related to the search term. Many of my northern lights images don't show at all.
That's no wonder, I know it now thanks to this forum thread, because the keyword "northern lights" has been stripped. I feel like having wasted a lot of time uploading to Veer.

Pixel - I know it isn't personal and I completely understand the frustration that something like this causes. Trust me, I am also frustrated. I wish I could do more to simplify this. As you can probably imagine, it's not as simple as removing the CV, especially when a search experience is built around that.

FWIW, I am compiling this feedback and sending it up the ladder. Hopefully, it will give others here a feeling of what the contributor experience is like.

As always, don't hesitate to shoot me an email. My (digital) door is always open.

Grant

Thanks for being here, not taking the criticism personally, and for conveying our issues to the decision makers.

What should we do if your CV does not include the meaning of the keyword for our image?

What should we do if your CV does not include the meaning of the keyword for our image?

Feel free to email me with the image that you are concerned about. I would be happy to take a look at it. I would also suggest taking time to review the keywords prior to submitting them. There may be things that aren't matching up in that portion of the process. I understand, you probably embed your KW's and you don't think you should have to review them prior to submission but it may be worth the extra effort.

Quote from: GrantP on May 11, 2015, 16:31

This is where the disconnect is coming in. The excerpt from the email I received from the keywording team explained it best:

 "But again, I get that some of the mapping options are funky looking, but they don�t impact search negatively. In fact, we put their content in front of way more searches for free".I

That is the best way we can explain it. We are not stripping or spamming images with keywords.

but you are. A barrel is not a basement even if the word storage was used.

You are correct, a barrel is not a basement. However, the term cellar, which was submitted with the image, could be rolled into the term basement, which is probably what happened in that instance. It can be found in search by either term.

nobody, but nobody is going to take the time to review keywords of uploaded images at Veer given the return there.

Pretty slow. I might get a payout once a year.
It's too bad, sales used to be pretty strong at Veer and I still like company.
I buy stock from them because the quality of the images and the search engine is better than a lot of sites.
More consistantly creative/artisitic.

I am proud to announce, I've made my first sale at Veer.

It was this file: http://marketplace.veer.com/products/9390596

And it earned me 2.10$

Very nice image. Congratulations!

You're welcome.

"But again, I get that some of the mapping options are funky looking, but they don�t impact search negatively. In fact, we put their content in front of way more searches for free".

That is the best way we can explain it. We are not stripping or spamming images with keywords.

Actually, the flunky mapping options putting content in front of more searches IS in fact sort of spamming. Because these images will appear in irrelevant searches.

Let's take an example from one of my images:


Very realistic shiny chrome ball. Gradient mesh used.

Veer keywords:

balls, reflections, shiny, spheres, drawings, shadows, silver color, nobody, white background, three dimensional

My original keywords:

chrome, ball, bullet, metallic, metal, silver, gray, steel, blurry, reflective, reflection, shiny, realistic, photorealistic, realism, clean, sphere, spherical, vector, illustration, drawing, white, shadow, light, shape, object, gradient mesh

(In bold are the (completely) missing ones.)

When I search for "chrome ball", my image doesn't come up, but colored web 2.0 buttons, rugby balls, soccer balls, stairs and chrome pens do.

Veer has very low sales and serious keyword issues. Instead of arguing with us why don't you fix things? Time better spent, IMO.

Shelma,

I am not arguing with any of you. I am trying to help explain how the Veer keywording system works. Granted, it isn't perfect (far from it), but I don't find it fair for someone to post accusations regarding their images not being able to be found on the site, or "missing" keywords. If/when that happens it seems appropriate to investigate and respond to their post. I would encourage you to read my responses and try to understand what I am sharing.

I have passed this thread on to many others at Veer. I have done my part. For now, I will keep answering questions the best I can.

Quote from: Noedelhap on May 14, 2015, 08:42

Quote

"But again, I get that some of the mapping options are funky looking, but they don�t impact search negatively. In fact, we put their content in front of way more searches for free".

That is the best way we can explain it. We are not stripping or spamming images with keywords.

Actually, the flunky mapping options putting content in front of more searches IS in fact sort of spamming. Because these images will appear in irrelevant searches.

Let's take an example from one of my images:

-image-

Veer keywords:

balls, reflections, shiny, spheres, drawings, shadows, silver color, nobody, white background, three dimensional

My original keywords:

chrome, ball, bullet, metallic, metal, silver, gray, steel, blurry, reflective, reflection, shiny, realistic, photorealistic, realism, clean, sphere, spherical, vector, illustration, drawing, white, shadow, light, shape, object, gradient mesh

(In bold are the (completely) missing ones.)

When I search for "chrome ball", my image doesn't come up, but colored web 2.0 buttons, rugby balls, soccer balls, stairs and chrome pens do.

Hi Noedelhap,

Your image appears for me in search and the keywords you listed are completely incorrect.

They weren't incorrect, I copied them directly from the keywords list. So they must have been added later...? Very strange. 

It's getting totally ridiculous. Is it some kind of obscure strategy to hide the content from buyers?

They certainly have no desire to hide content from buyers - I assume it was a misguided attempt to make things better.  I can think of no reason to strip out scientific names - my guess is that they automatically remove or remap any word that is not in their controlled vocabulary.  I have no idea how they are doing as an agency, but for me sales have pretty much dried up - this year they are averaging about a third of what it was last year, which was less than half  the year before, which was only 75% of what it was in 2012.  So far my monthly average sales in 2015 are about 12% of what they were in 2012.  It is not a fair comparison because I had ELs that year but none so far this year but it is still a huge drop.  It is too bad because Veer used to have good sales per image online but now it has dropped to next to nothing.  Of course I am small potatoes so my stats don't say anything about their overall health but I can't imagine that messing with keywords is helping sales or drawing in customers.  You would think with the iS CV nonsense that agencies would realize that an efficient search algorithm is the way to do it - that is why SS is tops right now.  I hope Veer can bring back customers as they were good in the past.  They did make reviewing faster so fixed one problem from the contributor side at least, and they do read and respond in these forums which is better than almost every other agency these days.  I'll keep hoping for better sales but won't be holding my breath.

I can think of no reason to strip out scientific names - my guess is that they automatically remove or remap any word that is not in their controlled vocabulary.

If scientific (Latin) names are stripped from keywords, for any reason, then it's the kiss of death for a wildife/nature photographer.

Given that individual species of plants and animals can have many "common names" all over the globe, and also given that sub-species usually have a second Latin name that distinguishes them from other varieties of their general species� it's essential to provide the one thing that everybody can agree on: the official scientific (Latin) name.

If stripping those names out has been Veer's policy all along, it's no wonder that my specialty, birds and other wildlife, never seemed to have a chance of selling there. Makes me even happier that I dumped Veer a good while ago.

My last sale there was in March - it's been all downhill since 2012.  It's really too bad they are sticking with this CV nonsense - you'd think iStock would have proven beyond a doubt that it doesn't work, it is just not possible to make a new language.  SS has shown that an efficient search algorithm is the road to success.  I hope Veer can turn things around because RPDL is usually very good there but will not be holding my breath.

All kinds of problems with the search and site plus terrible sales. I only still upload there because I have fond memories of their old rep!

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on May 22, 2015, 16:57

I can think of no reason to strip out scientific names - my guess is that they automatically remove or remap any word that is not in their controlled vocabulary.

If scientific (Latin) names are stripped from keywords, for any reason, then it's the kiss of death for a wildife/nature photographer.

Given that individual species of plants and animals can have many "common names" all over the globe, and also given that sub-species usually have a second Latin name that distinguishes them from other varieties of their general species� it's essential to provide the one thing that everybody can agree on: the official scientific (Latin) name.

If stripping those names out has been Veer's policy all along, it's no wonder that my specialty, birds and other wildlife, never seemed to have a chance of selling there. Makes me even happier that I dumped Veer a good while ago.

Fully agree, that's what's making me so mad.

And they do the same to travel images, they strip out the exact location names if it is not something super-well known.

Completely absurd.