16 Aug 2008 StockXpert Responds

Rising star microstock agency StockXpert have responded to contributor concerns and adjusted the End User License Agreement (EULA) that caused so much controversy around the Photos.com deal.

The primary concern of contributors was the product resale rights which were available to Photos.com subscribers for which contributors only received a 30 cent commission. A sale of these rights on StockXpert or any other microstock agency earns a much higher commission. These rights will be removed from the EULA prior to StockXpert content being made available to Photos.com subscribers.

Additionally, the opt-out facility for subscription and extended license sales will no longer be removed, though StockXpert contributors will need to be opted in to both in order to make their photos available on Photos.com.

In the announcement, StockXpert also promised to address the outstanding issue of images being labeled “property of photos.com” and not bearing any identification of the copyright owner. The explanation for this strategy has been that it stops subscribers from searching for the same image at other agencies with lower service and lower prices.

This policy turnaround has been met with jubilant praise from the majority of the contributor community, many acknowledging StockXpert and Jupiter Images management for responding to the concerns of their content contributors.

The final hurdle for StockXpert in the connection is aligning the different size classifications. Some extra large (XL) photos at StockXpert only equal the large (L) size on Photos.com and subsequently don’t qualify for the lucrative Pay Per Download sales.