Crestock
Posted by Lee TorrensIn recent correspondence with one of the top microstock contributors, he queried why I wasn’t using Crestock. He said he was generating double the amount of revenue with them than with some of the other microstock agencies I was using. A referral from one of the industries top performers carries a lot of weight so I took a closer look.
Crestock is a website I’d heard about in my online travels, but I had assumed they were in the third-tier trying to break into the second. With this recommendation and direct favorable comparison to some of my second-tier microstock agencies, I’ve adjusted my perception. Let’s take a look:
Crestock Details
| Web Address | www.crestock.com |
| Google Pagerank | 5 |
| Google Backlinks | 8,960 |
| Alexa Rank | 21,267 |
| Image Stats | Not found |
| Minimum Image Size | 2400 x 1600 |
| Vectors | Yes: EPS, AI & Flash |
| Footage | No |
| Licenses | Standard Royalty Free |
| Compensation | 20% for credit sales (rises to 30% after 100 sales), or $0.25 for subscription sales |
| Pricing | Single images (from $5), subscriptions, and credits |
| Payment Methods | PayPal, Moneybookers & Check |
| Payment Delay | Information unavailable |
| Referral Program | None |
| Application Process | None. Just start contributing. |
| Exclusivity | Not offered |
| Upload Methods | HTML, Flash and FTP |
| IPTC Data | Yes |
| Currencies | US Dollars |
| Languages | English |
| Headquarters | Norway |
My Comments on Crestock
Crestock have a nice website. All of the usual features are there in a clear and clean layout. Their upload process is great. I was able to upload 23 images in no time and was always clear of where I was in the process and what was next. There are no upload limits.
I’m keen on referral programs and Crestock don’t have one.
Conclusion
It’s a forgone conclusion as I’ve already signed up. I uploaded 23 of my best images using their very impressive upload process. 22 were rejected. By their own admission Crestock reject a lot of photos that other microstock agencies don’t, and they weren’t kidding. Not being a highly skilled photographer I can take the rejection for what it is and use it as motivation to improve my skills and knowledge. For microstockers with good portfolios, Crestock is a good option. This is still largely based on the recommendation I mentioned above in terms of earnings performance. In terms of their website and processes, they’ve done some excellent work. In terms of their profile and exposure online, they’re still second tier. Let’s watch and see if they can climb.
Posted May 29th, 2007 by Lee Torrens
I’m going to try out here, if…. I can get something accepted! (I’m still waiting)
ImageVortex is another site I’m going to test the water with but so far they have rejected images that everywhere else has accepted.
So thats going to be kinda ‘watch this space’
pdtnc
I uploaded 20 vectors and accompanying jpegs to Crestock over three weeks ago. They accepted the jpegs and they’re now for sale; however, the vectors are not available. Last week I wrote to them asking why my vectors haven’t been approved and I’ve yet to receive a reply. Also, their forum has been down since February 2008. I give up.
I submitted about 400 pictures (the best part of my portfolio in my opinion) and only 48 were accepted – that’s 12%. While it makes sense to have strict rules for sites that really sell such as istock, I think I will not waste my bandwidth and time anymore on crestock.
I just submitted four images – 100% rejected. All have been accepted by other agencies.
I’ve been pretty lucky on acceptance rate – about 90% for 70 images. But inspection is very slow, and sales are disappointing – less than $10 in 7 months and the lowest revenue per image of any site. Based on these figures, I should reach the $50 minimum payout in about 2 years.
Forum hasn’t worked since February 08, and promises to reintroduce it by August have not been met. It’s a shame, it’s a good looking site but seems to have the activity of a back waters morgue. Don’t think I will waste anymore time uploading.
3 out of 5 images rejected … 2 of those images have sold over 500 times between them on Shutterstock. Bye bye Crestock – waste of time.
90% unpleasant experiences with crestock. Poor service and untrustworthy.They don’t respond to emails, the forum is deserted etc. I don’t know why I even wasted any time with them. VERY DISAPPOINTING! Do yourself a favor and choose any other stock site over them.
I second that. I think they are completely up their own a**es. Overly judgemental, ie, “Are you sure you want to upload, we are more picky than other agencies”. They pay the least royalty, accept the lowest number of images and have the least sales. All in all, there is not much incentive to upload to them.
I joined Crestock in January 2009 and have uploaded 300 image illustrations to them so far. They have accepted 227 of them. They have sold just 12 images so far and I have made $6.25 from these sales. It is a far cry from what I am making at Shutterstock or Stockexpert every month. But I look at it this way, every dollar I make with my art is worth the effort, and a dollar more that I will have in my pocket. If you join a lot of these microstock agencies that aren’t doing as well as others, eventually the tally adds up. All these agencies are new businesses since the Internet is new in itself. The better companies will shake out down the road and all must be given a chance.
As a BUYER of images, I have a hard job finding anything worth buying on crestock.
So I don’t know what their “criteia” is but I susepct it is tehcncial, rather than emotional.
I don’t necessarily want ot buy a perfectly lit photo, I want one that moves my clients emotionally.
I don’t want to be regionalist, but I wonder if the photos they accept are more suitbale for a norwegian audience. Maybe there are cultural differences in what people regard as beautiful.
For instance, if you skim their collection, I don’t get an overall impressiof “sunny” and maybe ttaht’s because they don’t think of the sun as beautiful, as they may not have much of it. I obviosuly know nothing about Norway, but as a westerner, I find their images all quite gloomy. Not dark, or porrly lit, I mean emotionally gloomy.
Crestock are still on my list, but the last place I visit. Even over (sorry) free site sxchu.
Everything else about them is great. Technically and business wise it all slick. I just think they may need to emply (extra) photo editors with a bit more “fun” in them.
I don’t think you guys should diss them just because YOU got rejected. If their editorial policies menat they had a hot library, I would applaud them for that. It saves the buyer time looking through average dross. What some of us seem to agree on though, is what they do accept, isn’t often up to the bar that other libraries set. They be very snobby about their standards, but the poof is in the pudding. And it’s a pudding, I for one, am not that fond of. Their galery pick is ok, but still pretty weak compared to the glean of teir 1 or 2 libraries.
Their editorial tendancies appears to be affecting their business adversely. I found this negativity on the top 6 on Google search about them. Maybe they shoud let the buyers decide a bit more
Now let’s go be creative.
Peter
I recently submitted a number of photos to Crestock. They were all rejected for exactly the same reasons irrespective of the photos. All were high quality 8MP photos. All were checked for clarity and could be enlarged with good detail. They said every photo was out of focus. Since the photos were razor sharp, they obviously didn’t look at them. The also said every photo had artifacts. I actually had a couple I missed that had artifcts, but not close every photo (maybe only 2 or 3). Lastly they said a number had dull colors. Some, such as those taken in storms had dull colors, but that is the way they were supposed to look. The light was muted and beautiful. Others were very bright and colorful. Again, it appears like no ne looked at the photos. It looks as if a computer spit out all of theirt comments without no humans looking at them.
I looked art Crestocks photos in a number of areas where I was submitting photos. Based on their criteria, many of the photos they are selling would fail. Many could not compare to the ones I have taken. Some were just a good and some were better.
I do not know why they were all rejected. I had emailed Crestock earlier in te day to ask when they would evaluate my photos. They had been there a number of days without any word. Maybe my emailing them for information was their reason for rejection. In short dealing with them was not a good experfience.
I’ve had similar experiences as Jerry with Crestock. I now have 33 images approved and a grand total of 11 downloads for an incredibly impressive total sales of $2.75…*sic
It’s taken me since December 2008 to get to this (tongue in cheek) impressive total. Crestock does turn down incredible amounts of submissions and I don’t know why. I do have some suspicions though.
First, I don’t believe that they have a large enough staff to manually review every submitted photo.
Second, I believe they use computerized processes to review photos, and these processes are designed to look for any slight imperfection and decline the submission if found.
I’ve had similar comments returned with all the rejected images as if they’d been ‘cut and pasted’, and many times they didn’t apply. Words such as “blurry” when applied to a pin-sharp photo, and “motion” when it was obvious that the camera was panned intentionally, such as with a bicycle race. It just seems like a computer wouldn’t know the difference and would reject the photo by default.
I’d love to hear from a Crestock reviewer so we could get an insight into what their criteria is for photographs really. I know what’s started, but what is it really?
I think there is someting going on at CreStock. I normally get rejected with in a few days and so far all 7 batches from this month are stil sitting in the queue. I agree with the others on the review process starting with the buyer. They seem to take images that honestly don’t sell well at other sites and they reject the best sellers.
I joined in Dec 08 and have a whopping 78 photos that have netted $2.50 so far. I make twice that a day at shutterstock!! Since I use FTP and their submition process is quick I still upload there but I’m starting to think they are done.
If you are going to call your site “Creative Stock” please have creative images. I look at some of the newest images and wonder how they make it through the process when they are dull and lifeless looking. I would think they would research other sites link SS, IS, DT and FO and strive to be in the same league but they choose to remain in the minor league.
If I had it to do over again I would skip this agency… they just lower your RPI and acceptance rates
I submitted to crestock around 600 images of which 430 were accepted
these have sold 140 times for the past year which isnt alot for me to be honest but what bothers me most is I requested payout some time ago and still havent received it a month later. Upon reading the forums at crestock I see that this is NOT uncommon and some there are waiting 3-4 month before getting paid. SO do not under any circumstance submit to crestock, they will sell your photos but you will have a hard time claiming that money they owe you. Also I have asked for my portfolio there to be removed, since I cant do it myself and no response from admins there nor have my images been deleted.
Therefore crestock is untrustworthy and people should think several times about it before submitting to it.
Note to self (and others): always read multiple microstock forums before opening an account! Just downloaded 100 of my photos on crestock, would not have done it if I had read this here (and other places) first! Man, I wish I could delete them now! Grrr!
I don’t usually delete portfolios – just stopped submitting there long ago. But now – after an announcement about a new owner and promises to cut the queue and pay timely – it’s possibly time to reconsider Crestock.