Overall I like VideoBlocks. The 100% is obviously great, the $49 for HD is ok, and the site is pretty user friendly.

However, there's one thing that I really do hate about VideoBlocks, and that's the way they market their subscriptions. They'll send out non stop emails saying that there's a special offer of $99 (which is 90% off) for a year, and that you need to hurry as this offer will expire in two days or three days or whatever.

The thing is, the offer never expires. It just starts again as soon as the last one ends. I'd be very surprised if anybody has paid the $1000 a year that they're insinuating the subscription should cost. And if it is, always has been, and probably always will be $99, then surely it's not 90% off... as the regular price is $99?

Maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing, but it just feels like some kind of sleazy used car salesman tactic... or those shops that always have closing down sales but they never close down. I'm surprised they're not giving away a set of kitchen knives if you order today!

Although, they do have 'proper sales' form time to time when it's $49 or something. They should keep those, and do away with the constant bombarding of non-existent sale. It sounds cheap and it feels cheap and I'm sure it's not that appealing to professional organisations who could be potential buyers.

Surely presenting it as one, consistent, transparent, low price for a quality offering... is better than using the kind of sales tactics that appeal to customers of late night shopping channels and get rich quick schemes? "But wait! There's more..." 

Anyway, just wanted to get that out of my system. Peace out.

It is probably also illegal, at least in Europe. But who's going to report them?

What really bothers me is this 33% tax on all my sales: US and non US, unlike all other agencies. For me I get more with regular P5 sales (50%=39$) than those from VB (100%=33$), that's the real sadness

Well, to be fair, Pond5 should be doing the tax thing too... Don't know why they aren't forced to already.

Have you not filled out a W8 form?

Have you not filled out a W8 form?

Yes, they don't give payout without that (I think that).. they have to take 33% from my country's residents, but I don't know why they do that with non US sales.. I've e-mailed them long ago and they told me that they don't know how SS and Ft manage taxes this way and that they have to do it this way.. sometimes I feel suspicious about VB, if they take that 33% it would be huge income for them

So yeah, on Envato, if you've filled in the W8 then you won't have tax withheld on non-US sales. Based on the amount of info provided and preparation Envato did to get people ready for it, I'm going to assume that Envato are doing it correctly. Either way, they can't both be right, so one of them is withholding (or not withholding) taxes incorrectly.

Yes, all places I sell on that require W8 forms do it this way.

I pay $0 on VideoBlocks as it should be. By the way, @alijaber, how do you know what countries your VB sales are from?

The business model is to get subscribers not to make video sales. That is where they make money and where they focus their advertising. Look at it as amazon prime for video. I am happy that the pricing is good for the artist and like it or not I think they have the best chance at the fastest growth.

Yes, but I do think the 100% is not really doing us any favors. Why not take 10% and we get 90% so they at least have some reason to promote our clips???

Aside from that, I love them with all my heart.

I've never put too much stock in the map... my last couple of sales must have been from ships captains, pirates or oil rigs, as they're somewhere in the Atlantic.

The business model is to get subscribers not to make video sales. That is where they make money and where they focus their advertising. Look at it as amazon prime for video. I am happy that the pricing is good for the artist and like it or not I think they have the best chance at the fastest growth.

This is spot on. For sales to go up for us, the number of customers have to go up exponentially. The largest the subscription collection gets the less customers will need to go into the big collection to find what they need.  Theoretically, sales should become more scarce over time. VB isn't making customers happy when they pay monthly and then have to pay again for additional content.

I still think they should charge us 10% though to want to market our clips.

They are not selling clips. They are selling subscriptions.

Quote from: stockVid on August 08, 2016, 09:51

They are not selling clips. They are selling subscriptions.

But they sure are paying a lot for hosting and traffic for the marketplace.

That's my point. They SHOULD also be selling clips. I'd be more than happy with 90%. It's nice in the short run to get 100% but in the long run it isn't so sweet... They need to care about the marketplace section for the good of the marketplace contributors.

They do not need to promote clips. The best clips will eventually be 'absorbed' into the marketplace.

Your job as a contributor is to continually produce good original work.

Overall I like VideoBlocks. The 100% is obviously great, the $49 for HD is ok, and the site is pretty user friendly.

However, there's one thing that I really do hate about VideoBlocks, and that's the way they market their subscriptions. They'll send out non stop emails saying that there's a special offer of $99 (which is 90% off) for a year, and that you need to hurry as this offer will expire in two days or three days or whatever.

The thing is, the offer never expires. It just starts again as soon as the last one ends. I'd be very surprised if anybody has paid the $1000 a year that they're insinuating the subscription should cost. And if it is, always has been, and probably always will be $99, then surely it's not 90% off... as the regular price is $99?

Maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing, but it just feels like some kind of sleazy used car salesman tactic... or those shops that always have closing down sales but they never close down. I'm surprised they're not giving away a set of kitchen knives if you order today!

Although, they do have 'proper sales' form time to time when it's $49 or something. They should keep those, and do away with the constant bombarding of non-existent sale. It sounds cheap and it feels cheap and I'm sure it's not that appealing to professional organisations who could be potential buyers.

Surely presenting it as one, consistent, transparent, low price for a quality offering... is better than using the kind of sales tactics that appeal to customers of late night shopping channels and get rich quick schemes? "But wait! There's more..." 

Anyway, just wanted to get that out of my system. Peace out.

They heard you, it's now 84% off and 149$ per year