If you’ve been wondering what happened to the new website Yuri Arcurs has been mentioning over the past few years, it’s time to stop wondering.  It has finally arrived.

And if you take a good look you’ll see it’s been worth the time it took to build.  It’s anything but a standard photographer’s direct sales website.  Which is no surprise for anyone who knows anything about Yuri.

In addition to direct sales, the site adds after-sales services and a host of new innovations.

And of course it includes Yuri’s entire portfolio, with 6,000 exclusive images, adding up to a whopping 70,000 images!

Let’s take a closer look.

New Innovations

Time Exclusive licenses – cleverly undermining a key benefit of the Rights Managed licensing model, this new license allows customers to purchase exclusive use of new images that haven’t yet been licensed. Customers purchase exclusive use for as many months as they like. After the exclusive license period expires, the image gets distributed throughout the market as normal.

Late Licenses – for customers who are already using images beyond the rights they’ve purchased, or without having purchased any rights, this special license allows them to retrospectively purchase the necessary rights.

Filter by Model and Shoot – attacking a core weakness of most microstock agencies, images on PeopleImages.com are grouped by shoot and model. These functions empower customers to easily find similar images in great quantities and with greater control than at a microstock agency.

Custom Retouching – leveraging Yuri’s established post-production team, PeopleImages.com customers can request custom retouching with their license purchases. Prices are cheap as the new versions become available to other customers, though there’s an option for an exclusive retouch too.  The retouching menu provides some addictive little before/after examples.

Social Media Integration – customers can earn free credits by linking their social media profiles in a variation of the PhotoXpress model. This not only helps Yuri get to know his customers better but also helps make it easier for the customers to help promote the site. Given how much some microstock agencies invest in customer profiling, the extra customer information is likely very valuable. And it’s a smart way to implement social media based promotion.

Selling Copyright (almost) – for customers seeking exclusive rights to an image that has already been distributed (and likely licensed), Yuri has developed a ’99% Buyout License’. Not unlike Dreamstime‘s ‘Sell the Rights’ option, clients get all the rights of the Standard and Extended Licenses and the image will be removed from all agencies to the best of Yuri’s ability.

Contributions by Copyright Buyout – before you get excited about contributing yourself, contributions are invite only; restricted to staff photographers and some freelancers trained by Yuri.  At least for now, contributions are by copyright buyout so PeopleImages.com isn’t deemed an agency. This is important so Yuri doesn’t contradict microstock agency policies which prohibit contributors who own or work for competitor agencies.

User-Driven Similarity Search – called aiBot, the similarity search works by associating images that other customers have viewed when seeking similars, rather than just matching metadata. Implementation is also straight forward from the user perspective – simply add various images to a lightbox and aiBot will find similars.

Some Agencies Could Learn From This

It’s clear that PeopleImages.com has been designed by someone intimately familiar with how to sell stock photography online.  At launch it’s already superior to many of the fully fledged microstock agencies that have arrived in recent years, and well ahead of most photographers’ website services.

The site is super clear.  From the succinct yet comprehensive explanation of how the site works on the home page, through navigation which doesn’t make you think, all the way to advanced search that’s ever-present and dead easy to use.  One of the biggest hurdles for new customer adoption is having them get to know the website, but Yuri has all but removed that hurdle by making the site as intuitive and self-explanatory as possible.

The design is modern and slick – a visual experience that appeals to design-sensitive people like photo buyers.

The interface is well considered.  Lightboxes, called ‘folders’ on the site, are bundled in with the shopping cart – one of those “why didn’t we think of that” kinds of ideas. Images can be added to the cart or lightboxes with drag n’ drop.  Help messages automatically appear when you mouse-over buttons and options, then fade out when you move on. It’s clear a lot of thought has gone into making the site gracefully simple without compromising on functionality.

The search includes all the usual tools photo buyers have come to expect from microstock agencies. They’re well implemented with the search options permanently in the sidebar and applied filters appearing above the thumbnails.

It’s All About Strategy

For those of us not likely to be customers of PeopleImages.com, the most interesting part is the strategy.

And keep in mind that what works for Yuri is not likely to work for too many other stock photographers.  Yuri has the scale and the resources to make things work – things that wouldn’t work for other stock photographers.

First of all, PeopleImages.com is as close to being an agency without actually being one. As we’ve already seen, not being an agency is crucial to his existing relationships with agencies.  But it has all the benefits of an agency such as credits and dedicated support.

Pricing strategy is also interesting.  Yuri has set his prices above average microstock levels.  By combining value-added services and extra licensing options, he’s targeting the high end buyer – the same market iStockphoto is clearly targeting with great success.  These are lucrative buyers; willing to pay higher prices, buy value-added services, and who don’t need a lot of hand-holding.

The distribution strategy is quite clever.  He’s inserted a more lucrative destination at the start of his distribution process. Not only is his new content available on PeopleImages.com first (where prices are higher and royalties are 100%), but it’s also available with the Time Exclusive license and 99% Buyout Licenses.  Yuri can now generate revenue even before his content hits the channels.

As a business producing a large volume of content, Yuri already has a substantial post-production team in place. This makes offering custom retouching services efficient, not to mention the benefit of having access to RAW files and layered post-process files.  Yuri can offer this service with relatively little marginal cost, making it a lucrative revenue stream and attractive value-add as the retouched versions accumulate.

Finally, by redisintermediating, Yuri is regaining the most valuable part of the stock photography business:  the customer relationships.  He’s already been hard at work doing this, with 2,000 active photo buyers already in his records (50 have been beta-testing the site, buying 10 – 30 per day).  Now he has a substantially more lucrative destination to direct his promotional resources and leverage the fame he’s built as the “worlds top selling stock photographer”.

I often hear from photographers who’ve been burned by some microstock agency. I sometimes refer them to my post on evaluating new microstock agencies, but it doesn’t always apply or cover the specifics of their situation. I’ve considered writing a Black List a few times, but the maintenance and legal implications are pretty scarey.

Instead, I figured it would be more useful to make a clear list of what to look out for when considering your microstock distribution. There’s always some tell-tale signs that, when you know what to look for, tell you when when to run away.

So here’s my list of the most obvious 10 ways to identify dubious microstock agencies. If you use any that I haven’t listed, add them in the comments below.

1. Unprofessional Website Design

A serious microstock agency will always have a professional website design. Always.

This is always the quickest and most reliable way to tell a professional microstock agency from a backyard job.

Not everyone can instantly tell what’s professional and what isn’t.  I’ve seen some very successful microstockers compliment the website design of agencies that actually had horrible design.

So look for consistency and clarity in the site design.  If it looks like Facebook in 2004, or gives you that “it’s just so 1980″ feeling, then it’s not professional.

2. They’re Anonymous

I covered this in that other post, but it’s crucial to have it on this list.

It’s so easy to make online businesses anonymous these days. But do you really want to send your photo portfolio to a company where the owner doesn’t want to give you his/her name?

If they don’t name the owner and/or manager on the website and you can’t find any listing for employees on LinkedIn, don’t submit.

Anonymous agencies almost always have something to hide, and they’re probably hiding it from you because you wouldn’t submit if you knew. Until they can be open about who they are, leave them on the dodgy list.

3. Missing or Copied Legal Agreements

Creating proper legal agreements is a boring and expensive part of creating a new microstock agency.

A license agreement and contributor agreement are crucial, and it’s better if they also have separate terms of service and/or general user agreement.

A few agencies have launched without them, saying “we’ll take care of that later”. That’s a sure sign that they’re cutting corners.  So where else are they going to cut corners? Security of your files? Generating sales?

No legals, no submit!

The same goes for those legal agreements that seem oddly familiar, i.e. copied from another agency.

4. Requires Payment to Submit

Some companies require contributors to pay to submit photos. This can work at traditional pricing levels, but not in microstock.

Businesses that charge for submissions often see contributors as customers and so have less need to seek buyers. Yet buyers are the only thing that can make submission profitable for the contributors.

Such agencies are also inclined to accept poor quality photos with little chance of ever selling because that’s how they earn their money. But photos that never sell don’t help the contributor.

If a microstock agency isn’t willing to risk the cost of reviewing and hosting your photos, don’t risk the time to submit to them.

5. Nobody Else is There

Serious microstock agencies directly recruit the top microstockers before they launch, or shortly after.

As top microstockers know what to look for and have the resources to investigate thoroughly, they generally don’t submit to dodgy agencies.

So you can safely assume that agencies who have successfully recruited a few microstock superstars are serious and dependable. They often also promote the famous contributors to attract others.

A quick image search will reveal the quality of content the agency already has and reveal any top microstockers who are already online. If the quality is low and you don’t recognize any contributors, it’s most likely not in your interests to be there either.

6. No Reputation, or Poor Reputation

A professional microstock agency that can generate worthwhile sales will have an established online reputation.

A quick Google search for the name of the company, perhaps with the keyword “review”, will reveal what you need to know.

Getting reviews on microstock blogs isn’t difficult, especially if the agency has an affiliate program (always a good idea anyway).

So if there’s no reviews, or the reviews are negative or only fluff reviews, chances are it’s best to avoid the agency.  At least until their reputation improves, which will happen if they start generating worthwhile sales volume.

7. Poor Responsiveness

Another quick and easy test for a microstock agency is to send them a question. You’ll learn a lot about the agency from whether or not they respond,  how quickly they respond, and what they say in the response.

Naturally if there’s no response, chances are the agency won’t be there to help you if you have problems with their site or your photos.

The quality of the response is also critical. Did you get a canned response, or did they actually read your question and respond appropriately.

No response, or a poor quality one, is a sign that the agency isn’t on top of their business and most likely isn’t in a position to provide you with a profitable contributor relationship.

8. Competing on Price

This one is quite ironic if you know the history of the stock photography market.

The microstock business model itself drastically undercut the existing market when digital photography and Internet distribution made it possible.

But today there’s an established market price in microstock that works for photographers who know how to shoot cost effectively, and works for the many microstock agencies who know how to sell online.

Still, it’s not uncommon for new and small microstock agencies who have nothing new in their business model to try to complete on price, drastically undercutting the market (a slight discount is common and not usually a negative sign)

But continual increases in prices at top microstock agencies over the years have proven that buyers are more interested in the quality of the content and finding photos quickly than they are in price.  A new microstock agency whose only selling proposition is that they’re cheaper clearly doesn’t understand the market.

Until they do, they’re unlikely to generate a level of sales that makes it profitable to contribute.

9. Missing Vital Functionality

Any microstock agency that doesn’t have FTP upload, IPTC data extraction and a release library doesn’t know the market and is unprepared.

And “we’ve only just started” is never an acceptable excuse. It’s code for “we’re working on things that help our profitability before the things that help your profitability.”

For contributors, uploading and submitting is a cost. Agencies which don’t implement basic technical functions to keep that cost to a minimum can’t make submitting profitable for contributors

That is, of course, unless they have the selling power of iStockphoto – the only top microstock agency without FTP and a release library.  But I recommend being especially cautious of any agency that claimed to have that!

10. Won’t Accept Bulk Submissions

Most new and smaller microstock agencies will accept bulk submissions.

This means receiving a portfolio on a hard drive in the post, with a spreadsheet to match the releases.

Today, only the top few agencies remain unwilling to do this.

So any agency which refuses to accept bulk submissions is either uninformed or unprepared.

Those are two characteristics a company needs if they’re going to provide you with a safe and profitable contributing experience.

How do You Spot a Suspect or Doubtful Microstock Agency?

I have some more indicators that mean more to me than others, such as whether they purchased my research report (the price weeds out the less serious) and whether they attended Microstock Expo.

But what about you?  How do you evaluate the legitimacy of a microstock agency?

No microstock agency has come as close to joining the top earning agencies as Depositphotos has done in its mere two years of business.

But this agency is weird.  Very weird!  Here’s why:

They launched into a bloodbath of controversy due to association with a file-sharing network. They copied the best strategies of various top microstock agencies adding almost nothing new. And a policy of strict anonymity for staff and owners compounded suspicion and fed conspiracy theories.

Yet the company has been very successful. The strategies they copied were well chosen. And they spent a lot of money in all the right places. They’ve just passed 5 million files exactly two years after launch. And many serious microstockers report that Depositphotos is among their top 5 – 7 earning agencies.

Let’s take a closer look at this weird but successful microstock agency and see if we can help you make your decision about contributing to Depositphotos.

What’s [NOT] Different about Depositphotos?

There’s not much in the Depositphotos business model that we haven’t already seen in the industry.  Here’s some of the winning strategies that Depositphotos chose:

• Smart search – most new microstock agencies lack variety and sort options when they launch but Depositphotos gave buyers great search results from day 1
• API – realizing just how many sales come via partnerships and system integrations, Depositphotos also had a functional API from day 1
• Lucrative affiliate program – new agencies can’t trade on a reputation for generating sales, so affiliate programs must make up for it which the Depositphotos program does, though a little weird (see below)
• Contributor incentives – boosting submissions with paid uploads got Depositphotos to a record-breaking 5 million files in just two years
• Taking submissions by hard drive – accepting bulk submissions with a release spreadsheets lowers the barrier for big contributors to participate
• Split site – contributors get separate accounts at a separate and familiar sub-domain: submit.depositphotos.com

This lack of originality doesn’t just apply to strategy. Site layout, logo design and terminology are all familiar to anyone in the industry. Even model release structure and wording are plainly derived from another well-known microstock agency.

But copying has its advantages. Their strategy was already proven so they launched with lots of confidence.  And they backed it up with great programming and well targeted marketing. At launch, Depositphotos looked and felt more like the top agencies than a startup.

So what is actually different?

• Payment by SMS – buyers in certain countries can pay for photos through their mobile phone bill, replacing credits with SMS messages. This is an original innovation.
• Free Trial Subscription – buyers get a 7-day subscription for 5 photos per day free of charge, yet contributors still get paid for the sales.
• Credits actually cost $1 – most other agencies have complicated the pricing and pushed them up over time. However, at Depositphotos, 1 credit actually costs $1, and 50 credits costs $50. Discounts are available above 100 credits.
• Exclusivity is full ‘photography’ exclusivity, not just for Royalty Free licenses or image exclusivity. I’m not sure what the strategy behind that is, but Depositphotos isn’t pushing exclusivity at all.

Details

Depositphotos Background

Depositphotos was launched by Dmitry Sergiev, the current CEO, who previously worked with a file sharing site, Depositfiles.com. When Depositphotos launched, forum chat alleged it was possible to download pirated collections of stock photos from Depositfiles.com. Apparently Dmitry left Depositfiles before starting Depositphotos, and that was the extent of the association. Nevertheless, together with the connected names, it has been a constant public relations battle for the company ever since.

It was plainly evident that Depositphotos was launched with massive financial backing. And they used it effectively, building their portfolio with cash incentives, marketing extensively within the industry, and building a solid and functional system.  They also took additional funding recently in the form of $3 million from Jersey-based TMT Investments.

The company now has operational centers in three different continents: Accounting and official headquarters in Fort Lauderdale; programming in Moscow; and, review, sales & marketing teams in London.  And yes, headquarters in the US means we must submit the all-too-familiar tax forms.

Anonymity

Microstock agencies need contributors to trust them with their portfolios and buyers to trust them with their credit card details. Anonymity doesn’t inspire a whole lot of trust, but that apparently didn’t occur to Depositphotos until recently. They’ve been working on their anonymity issues since early after launch, but still haven’t figured it out:

• No staff are ever named on the website
• Email comes from anonymous addresses (service@, support@, marketing@, etc)
• No staff existed on LinkedIn (until recently, see below)
• Even their domain registration details are hidden.

However, we are finally starting to see the Depositphotos staff come out to play:

• Marius Klatt, Sales Manager operating from London, who we met at Microstock Expo
• Olga Kravchenko, currently manager of the partner program, was also at Microstock Expo
• Dmitry Sergiev, Founder and CEO, now finally on LinkedIn
• Elena Flanagan-Eister, head of US Sales & Marketing, attended Visual Connections NY
• Igor Kaliuzhnyi, head of Eastern & Western Europe, quoted in all press releases
• Vadim Nekhai, Marketing Manager
• Jamie Joyce, Marketing & Advertising Manager
• Shawn Rize, SEO Specialist
• Igor Shoifot, Advisor (via TMT Investments), also attended Visual Connections

Split Personality Social Media

It’s taken some time for Depositphotos to get their social media strategy on track, and it’s still not without major issues.

They initially registered their social media presence as a person rather than a company, becoming a Friend on Facebook and a Contact on LinkedIn.

Fortunately someone has woken up to how creepy this is and established a Facebook Page instead, which actually has smart and interesting content behind it.

Yet just when we though they’d figured it out, they start posting contributors’ images at high resolution and without watermark on their Facebook Page.

Contributor Incentives

Depositphotos is currently paying 10 cents per accepted file for the first 500 of new contributors, making a maximum possible upload incentive of $50. Previously the amount was 20 cents making the maximum $100.

But what’s even more appealing is the assistance given to qualifying contributors through their Special Program for Large Contributors. Not only will they negotiate terms, they’ll take your portfolio by hard drive and categorize, attach releases and submit it for you.

Referral Program

While appearing generous on the surface, the Depositphotos referral program reveals more of the weirdness of this agency

• Payment for referring contributors is great, but it only pays for subscription sales, not credit-based sales. Weird, right?
• 15% buyer referrals sounds great, but it’s calculated after subtracting the contributor royalty!
• It doesn’t specify that referrals are paid for the life the referred account, but it doesn’t specify an expiry limit either
• The cookie duration is a mere 3 days while most other microstock agencies set theirs for 30 days

The Verdict

Depositphotos seems to have proven itself trustworthy over the past two years, operating without any major scandals. And that the staff are coming out and attending events provides more comfort.

Their ability to generate sales is also well proven based on public comment from established microstockers.

With a solid submission process and an open invitation for serious contributors to submit in bulk, there’s also little risk of not getting a return on the effort of uploading.

Add all that together and it seems like it’s now both a profitable and safe decision to contribute to Depositphotos.  You can register here.

[This review was originally published June 2, 2007 and updated December 13, 2011]

As the pioneer of the microstock subscription model, Shutterstock still dominates that part of the market, selling more photos than any other microstock agency and earning their place among most microstockers’ top earning agencies.

The nature of the search function means photos sell well when they’re new.  Those that sell particularly well in the early weeks maintain high search positions and continue selling well. Those that don’t fare so well quickly fall to the back of the search results where they generate fewer and fewer sales.

New uploads also boost sales of your entire portfolio, encouraging contributors to upload consistently and creating the situation known in microstock as ‘feeding the beast’.

Shutterstock was the second microstock agency I joined and is consistently the second highest earning agency for me, behind iStockphoto. For many other microstockers, it’s their most lucrative agency.

Shutterstock Background

Shutterstock launched in 2003 but according to Alexa stats didn’t start getting popular until 2005.

Founder, Jon Oringer, in a story very similar to the founding of iStockphoto, launched the site by offering his own photos for sale.  The genius strategy he used to differentiate himself from iStockphoto – already well established in the market by that time – was to combine the crowdsourced microstock business model with the subscription payment method that was available at many non-microstock (traditional) stock photo agencies.

Being the only microstock subscription agency for many years helped propel Shutterstock into the top tier of microstock agencies where it remains a strong performer today.

The company has always maintained a graceful simplicity, outright rejecting exclusivity opportunities, avoiding personalization functionality (member profiles, ratings, etc), and maintaining straight-forward subscription plans.

Shutterstock Details

The Subscription Business Model

From the contributor perspective, the defining factor about Shutterstock is that it highly favors new images. The resulting strategy of contributors is to then continue producing and uploading. This works well for Shutterstock and has resulted in their building the largest collection of content among all microstock agencies.

This strategy also works well for buyers. With the subscription model buyers have already downloaded more of the images they’ll need from the existing portfolio, so they can then concentrate on the fresh images coming through. However, the subscription contract does limit ‘stockpiling’ by prohibiting use of images the buyer hasn’t already used six months after downloading them.

Almost all microstock agencies now offer subscriptions, but none can match the sheer volume of downloads that Shutterstock achieves. An important factor in Shutterstock’s continued subscription dominance – and one that’s not so contributor friendly – is that subscribers can download images at the highest resolution without paying any more. Other microstock subscriptions put limits here to protect the income of both the agency and contributor, but to the disadvantage of the buyer.

Cool Features

• Ultra-convenient stats – Shutterstock provide all sales (photos and footage) and referral earnings on a single convenient page with a row for each day of the month (also see updated keywords tool and lightbox stats)
• Move the Watermark – when the subject of your image is on one site of the frame you can move the watermark position so it better protects the image
• Lucrative referral program – Shutterstock’s referral program performs extremely well when referring contributors and has full data reporting.

Earning Performance

Many contributors cite Shutterstock as their highest earning agency. Others are quick to point out that the per-sale / per-download earnings are very low.  Regardless of how you look at it, Shutterstock is the most consistent earning agency in microstock.

Earnings really kick in after you pass the various pay-rise milestones of earnings, where your per-download royalty rises from 25 cents, to 33 cents with $500 in earnings, to 36 cents with $3000 in earnings, up to 38 cents with $10,000 in earnings. (earnings are calculated on all income, including referrals)

Verdict

Whether or not to contribute to Shutterstock is perhaps the easiest decision for microstock contributors to make.  Shutterstock is a consistent performer with high earnings, particularly for consistent producers.  Their system is straight-forward and the team are smart, friendly, and considerate of the plight of contributors.

What to do Next?

If you want to sell photos at Shutterstock, the first step is to register and then submit your application. I have advice on passing the acceptance test and more general advice on getting started. If you have any questions or problems just shoot me a message through my contact page and I’ll do my best to help you.

The videos from Microstock Expo are now ready! Get full access at videos.microstockexpo.com.

Check out this taster video: (It’s better with the volume up loud!)

Turns out preparing the videos takes almost as much time and effort as the conference itself, which is why it took us so long. There’s 10 hours of finished footage which Amos cut from two HD cameras and multiple audio sources of the mics and presentations.

Finding a suitable place to securely host and serve that amount of footage isn’t straight forward either – the team at Clipsan have been super helpful setting it all up for us. Thanks also to Timelapse Berlin for the awesome timelapses.

You can access all the videos for €99 or individual sessions for €20. Attendees have all been sent discount codes.

Once paid you can watch them as many times as you like.

That link again: videos.microstockexpo.com