Comments on: When Do You Give Up on a Slow Microstock Agency?

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:32:38 +0000

ok, figured it out!! LOL,

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:31:13 +0000

hi, your comment on the microstock agencies, refering to BSP, who are they?
thanks!!

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:33:29 +0000

You’re absolutely correct Rob. At the time of the Fotosearch announcement, CanStockPhoto made significant improvements to their uploading / submission system and the sales with $20 royalties started to flow. I had been tracking their portfolios growth and there is a definite upturn in the growth rate that started the following month – so contributors were obviously encouraged to resume uploading or join if they hadn’t already. It was a great example of re-invigorating a dying agency.

By: Rob McQuinn

Rob McQuinn — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 03:50:24 +0000

I think the comments about Canstockphoto posted here are no longer accurate. Sales activity has improved steadily, especially over the past year and they’ve made uploading and tracking improvements for photographer ease. I attribute the improvement to the Fotosearch affiliation

By: Cath

Cath — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:38:33 +0000

@John Smith
Exactly! My experience with Fotolia is similar. Lack of respect for contributors marks not only Fotolia, but Canstockphoto and Dreamstime as well. Though Canstock is plainly a waste of time for photographers since generates no sales or abysmally low ones, Dreamstime uses and manipulates their contributors (especially non-exclusive ones) with no shame.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:51:01 +0000

“enough is enough” is what i’m thinking about fotolia lately

first, subs – with no actual increase in sales, only reduction in price

then, more downloads needed to change ranking

then, the high rejection rate

then, the exchanging rate issue – those paid in $ or £ are losing about 40% compared to those paid in €; and i guess it’s because they have many best selling photographers in the states and britain (which subscribed in the early days before the other sites where available) and a strong market in europe (thanks to their new european and localized web sites), so they are even profiting on the exchange rate difference

then, the decreased percentage for non-exclusives – they even said that it’s up to us contributors to pay their marketing costs!

and last but not least: no advance communication at all and their forums being hardly censored, posts removed

they show absolutely no respect for contributors; and please don’t say this is normal in microstock: other agencies are way better in this respect

By: KML

KML — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:30:06 +0000

When a company starts making business decisions that hurt the majority of their contributors, that’s when I decide to leave. CSP’s recent announcement about demanding higher quality standards and removing non-selling photos, while not offering any incentives to contributors to help them meet the new standards or marketing strategies that will help sell the non-sellers, is the nail in the coffin. I’ve stood by them for two years, but enough is enough.

By: Photonomikon

Photonomikon — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:51:59 +0000

I don’t know if you’ve seen this discussion on microstockgroup:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=3749.msg35951;topicseen#new

By the looks of it, Canstock are going down and down…

By: Photonomikon

Photonomikon — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:36:53 +0000

For me BSP, altough fairly slow, is a consistent earner and sales are actually increasing at a slow rate. I do have several hundred images uploaded with them. It’s also the 3rd site that I joined since 2005 so I have a soft spot for them. Unlike other slow agencies, I’ve actually seen them advertise in various photography magazines. Oh, and one more thing: they accept 99% of my images

By: Mike McDonald

Mike McDonald — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:40:23 +0000

I don’t contribute to canstock, and obviously won’t based on this review.

I do contribute to BigStockPhoto and 123RF, both of which produce less than $10 a month for me. I have often wondered if it is worth the time. For 123RF, it is worth it because the upload process is so easy. BSP is another story, however. Uploading vector files is less than smooth, and with the fairly regular shutting down of FTP, it is frustrating. I’m giving that one a few more months to show signs of life before I give up on new uploads.