Lucky Oliver is shutting down, this is the message they posted on their site.
Closing the Doors
It's with great disappointment that we have decided to shut down LuckyOliver on May 15th. All Olivers who purchased tokens must use them to license images before May 15th, 2008. Please note that the user agreement will continue to be valid. Any Carny images that are waiting in the queue for Bouncers will not be reviewed. Carnies who have reached the minimum payout must request payout by May 15th. Carnies who have not reached the minimum payout can convert their earnings to tokens by contacting support.
Working with the creative minds that make up LuckyOliver has been a rewarding experience- two years went by fast. I want to thank our talented staff for working through long nights, our investors for giving us a shot at growing a business, our legal and business advisers for lending an ear, our customers for their positive encouragement, and our contributors who provided us with a wealth of knowledge and tough criticisms. We really appreciate all the hard work Carnies put into making LuckyOliver a special place for people to find great imagery. On a personal note, I would also like to thank my family for letting me pursue a passion that often went beyond reason.
As a leader and entrepreneur, it's tough to see something you have put so much time into not materialize into a successful business. We spent the last year looking for the funds to grow LuckyOliver because, without the addition of significant capital, the return on investment for LuckyOliver and its contributors would not be satisfactory. After reviewing the options, the investment team decided that it was in the best interest of all stakeholders to shut the company down.
Please email me if you have any comments (..and give me some time to respond). Thanks again for giving LuckyOliver a shot.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Changes at Canstockphoto
Canstock photo are going through some interesting changes,
This is what they posted on their website when I logged in today:
3rd Party Licensing
We are opening up our library to outside authorized agencies. Put quite simply, we will be allowing other stock photography agencies and outside vendors to sell images on our behalf. Using our own API, these agencies will be able to gain full access to our library and search functions, and sell our images as if they were their own.
How it works:
1) All images will automatically be included in this program. However, photographers can choose to opt out completely, or exclude individual images.
2) Photographers will receive half of Can Stock Photo's negotiated commission with the company. So say we negotiate a 75% commission with an agency. If an image sells for $2 through the agency – we will get $0.75 and you will get $0.75. The selling price and negotiated commission will depend on the individual agency.
3) You will retain complete control of your images. If you delete an image here, it will instantly be removed for sale from all distributors. We control all image files. All files are managed and served up directly from the CSP servers.
4) You will be credited with sales instantly, as you are here.
5) All buyers must agree to our current licensing contracts, or equivalent. The same terms as we use here.
I expect this to become live sometime over the next month. We have a large agency onboard that will be carrying our entire library, however for the time being I can not reveal who it is. Other agencies can be added pending negotiations. This is great for photographers, as it allows you to market your images through other agencies – all from one spot. This will greatly increase the reach of your work.
Highly Tightened Submission Standards & Criteria
"Quality Over Quantity"
Starting very shortly we will be drastically changing how many images we accept, and what standards we hold them to. We will be only accepting the best of the best. For comparisons sake, our image standards will similar to some rights-managed agencies. We will be very selective and will only accept the highest quality images. All photos should appear to be shot in a professional environment, with professional equipment.
To allow a fair playing ground, we will be hiding the photographer's name and status from our inspection screens. So image inspectors will be unaware of whose image they are evaluating – this will remove the risk of any accidental bias or favoritism. The images will be judged purely for their own quality.
Upload limits will be changed. Photographers with under a 50% approval rating will not be able to upload images. Other photographers may see large reductions in their upload limits. This is to encourage people to be selective in what they submit, instead of simply "dumping and running".
Library Audit
Nobody likes audits, but sometimes they are necessary. Starting very soon we will be aggressively re-reviewing every image in our active collection. We will be removing all images that do not meet our updated submission standards. Images that have been online for a while and have no downloads and/or little views will be automatically deleted. Images that are of mediocre quality, plain, boring, or not original will all be deleted. We want to prune our library so we are left with only the highest quality images for our buyers.
Some photographers will not be affected, whereas others will see a large decrease in their portfolio. It all depends on the caliber of images you have online, as judged by our team (and software). We expect to remove around 100k images. This is a business decision that will ultimately benefit the community as a whole.
New Keyword Handling
Starting very soon our system will only be ranking images based on the first 15 keywords listed. We have an ongoing problem of people abusing the system with keyword diarrhea. Some images are submitted with 50-75 keywords. This causes a mass dilution of the search results, and hurts everybody involved.
Please note this is not a "limit". You can submit as many keywords as you want and do not have to do any special editing. However, our system will simply ignore every keyword after the 15th one. Although they will all remain in the image details, they will not all actively be used by our search engine.
Site Changes
Over the next little bit we will be making a number of site changes. All changes are designed to create a more buyer-friendly environment.
1) Front Page – we will be removing the statistics, announcements and discussion sections. Our forums will still be accessible from the link at the top of the site, but the main page will be updated to have more focus on the images.
2) Faster Search – we are completely re-tooling our search engine to provide much faster search results. We expect a 2-4x increase in search speed. We will also add more advanced search options.
3) Revised Site – we will be making some longer term changes to the site to further enhance its usability for buyers. This will involve more features in some areas, and redesigns in others.
There was a lot of buzz about this in their forum, they used to be fairly liberal about the photos they accepted, and it will be interesting to see how things change once this is implemented.
This is what they posted on their website when I logged in today:
3rd Party Licensing
We are opening up our library to outside authorized agencies. Put quite simply, we will be allowing other stock photography agencies and outside vendors to sell images on our behalf. Using our own API, these agencies will be able to gain full access to our library and search functions, and sell our images as if they were their own.
How it works:
1) All images will automatically be included in this program. However, photographers can choose to opt out completely, or exclude individual images.
2) Photographers will receive half of Can Stock Photo's negotiated commission with the company. So say we negotiate a 75% commission with an agency. If an image sells for $2 through the agency – we will get $0.75 and you will get $0.75. The selling price and negotiated commission will depend on the individual agency.
3) You will retain complete control of your images. If you delete an image here, it will instantly be removed for sale from all distributors. We control all image files. All files are managed and served up directly from the CSP servers.
4) You will be credited with sales instantly, as you are here.
5) All buyers must agree to our current licensing contracts, or equivalent. The same terms as we use here.
I expect this to become live sometime over the next month. We have a large agency onboard that will be carrying our entire library, however for the time being I can not reveal who it is. Other agencies can be added pending negotiations. This is great for photographers, as it allows you to market your images through other agencies – all from one spot. This will greatly increase the reach of your work.
Highly Tightened Submission Standards & Criteria
"Quality Over Quantity"
Starting very shortly we will be drastically changing how many images we accept, and what standards we hold them to. We will be only accepting the best of the best. For comparisons sake, our image standards will similar to some rights-managed agencies. We will be very selective and will only accept the highest quality images. All photos should appear to be shot in a professional environment, with professional equipment.
To allow a fair playing ground, we will be hiding the photographer's name and status from our inspection screens. So image inspectors will be unaware of whose image they are evaluating – this will remove the risk of any accidental bias or favoritism. The images will be judged purely for their own quality.
Upload limits will be changed. Photographers with under a 50% approval rating will not be able to upload images. Other photographers may see large reductions in their upload limits. This is to encourage people to be selective in what they submit, instead of simply "dumping and running".
Library Audit
Nobody likes audits, but sometimes they are necessary. Starting very soon we will be aggressively re-reviewing every image in our active collection. We will be removing all images that do not meet our updated submission standards. Images that have been online for a while and have no downloads and/or little views will be automatically deleted. Images that are of mediocre quality, plain, boring, or not original will all be deleted. We want to prune our library so we are left with only the highest quality images for our buyers.
Some photographers will not be affected, whereas others will see a large decrease in their portfolio. It all depends on the caliber of images you have online, as judged by our team (and software). We expect to remove around 100k images. This is a business decision that will ultimately benefit the community as a whole.
New Keyword Handling
Starting very soon our system will only be ranking images based on the first 15 keywords listed. We have an ongoing problem of people abusing the system with keyword diarrhea. Some images are submitted with 50-75 keywords. This causes a mass dilution of the search results, and hurts everybody involved.
Please note this is not a "limit". You can submit as many keywords as you want and do not have to do any special editing. However, our system will simply ignore every keyword after the 15th one. Although they will all remain in the image details, they will not all actively be used by our search engine.
Site Changes
Over the next little bit we will be making a number of site changes. All changes are designed to create a more buyer-friendly environment.
1) Front Page – we will be removing the statistics, announcements and discussion sections. Our forums will still be accessible from the link at the top of the site, but the main page will be updated to have more focus on the images.
2) Faster Search – we are completely re-tooling our search engine to provide much faster search results. We expect a 2-4x increase in search speed. We will also add more advanced search options.
3) Revised Site – we will be making some longer term changes to the site to further enhance its usability for buyers. This will involve more features in some areas, and redesigns in others.
There was a lot of buzz about this in their forum, they used to be fairly liberal about the photos they accepted, and it will be interesting to see how things change once this is implemented.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Stockxpert
Stockxpert
http://www.stockxpert.com/?ref=samc352
Rating: 3.6 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness:
Stockxpert is pretty good about how they select photos, they are mostly fair and usually have a good idea about which photos work. the reason they are a 4 and not a 5 is that they are overly strict when it comes to model release requirements and ask for one even if no part of the persons face is showing (like photos from the back).
I rate this site a 4.
Sales:
I rate this site a 5.
Sales are really high so far, I just finished uploading a batch of photos and I'm getting very good sales on those. They also pay well with an average of $0.5 per photo.
Feedback:
I rate this site a 2.
It took me a while to figure out their feedback mechanism. Basically they have this folder system, and in it there are photos from previous upload. Each picture has a dot next to it, and you can see the feedback only if you click on the dot, and then it shows as a pop up menu. Very cumbersome...
The feedback itself is ok, very generic in most cases, but they do let you fix images and re-upload.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
This site had a relatively fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads. Their post upload work is a bit clunky - they put the images in a "briefcase" and then you transfer them to a "folder" in which you can bulk edit them, but not very efficiently.
I rate this site a 3.
Keyword reading:
As said before, photo information entry is a bit tedious. they do read most of the EXIF information and use file names to identify images which is great, but their categories are a bit limited and don't include many popular ones (like "medical" for example).
I rate this site a 4.
Overall Rating is 3.6, this site has great potential!
http://www.stockxpert.com/?ref=samc352
Rating: 3.6 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness:
Stockxpert is pretty good about how they select photos, they are mostly fair and usually have a good idea about which photos work. the reason they are a 4 and not a 5 is that they are overly strict when it comes to model release requirements and ask for one even if no part of the persons face is showing (like photos from the back).
I rate this site a 4.
Sales:
I rate this site a 5.
Sales are really high so far, I just finished uploading a batch of photos and I'm getting very good sales on those. They also pay well with an average of $0.5 per photo.
Feedback:
I rate this site a 2.
It took me a while to figure out their feedback mechanism. Basically they have this folder system, and in it there are photos from previous upload. Each picture has a dot next to it, and you can see the feedback only if you click on the dot, and then it shows as a pop up menu. Very cumbersome...
The feedback itself is ok, very generic in most cases, but they do let you fix images and re-upload.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
This site had a relatively fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads. Their post upload work is a bit clunky - they put the images in a "briefcase" and then you transfer them to a "folder" in which you can bulk edit them, but not very efficiently.
I rate this site a 3.
Keyword reading:
As said before, photo information entry is a bit tedious. they do read most of the EXIF information and use file names to identify images which is great, but their categories are a bit limited and don't include many popular ones (like "medical" for example).
I rate this site a 4.
Overall Rating is 3.6, this site has great potential!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Fotolia
Fotolia
(http://us.fotolia.com/partner/200391120)
Rating: 3 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos.
Fotolia is fairly strict about the photos it accepts, I get enough rejections (some unjustified since the photos are good and sell well on other sites) but they are mostly fair.
I rate this site a 4.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 3.
Sales started off well when I first signed up, but have slowed down to a trickle after a few months. Their pricing structure is fairly easy to follow so that's a plus.
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 3.
They do give some feedback, but it is assigned to the image based on an image number that doesn't link to the image. So if you upload more than a few files, it's a huge pain to try and locate which image was rejected for what reason using their communications since you have to manually seach for the number on the image list.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
This site had a relatively fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads. Their post upload work is a bit tedious, but not too bad, unfortunately, they don't have a mass editing feature and you have to work on each photo separately.
I rate this site a 3.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords and categories easily.
As said before, photo information entry is a bit tedious. They have a weird list of categories and choosing one is not as intuitive as in other sites.
I rate this site a 2.
Overall Rating is 3, this site has potential, and if they get some more traffic and sales go up, it could be a good money earner.
(http://us.fotolia.com/partner/200391120)
Rating: 3 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos.
Fotolia is fairly strict about the photos it accepts, I get enough rejections (some unjustified since the photos are good and sell well on other sites) but they are mostly fair.
I rate this site a 4.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 3.
Sales started off well when I first signed up, but have slowed down to a trickle after a few months. Their pricing structure is fairly easy to follow so that's a plus.
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 3.
They do give some feedback, but it is assigned to the image based on an image number that doesn't link to the image. So if you upload more than a few files, it's a huge pain to try and locate which image was rejected for what reason using their communications since you have to manually seach for the number on the image list.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
This site had a relatively fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads. Their post upload work is a bit tedious, but not too bad, unfortunately, they don't have a mass editing feature and you have to work on each photo separately.
I rate this site a 3.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords and categories easily.
As said before, photo information entry is a bit tedious. They have a weird list of categories and choosing one is not as intuitive as in other sites.
I rate this site a 2.
Overall Rating is 3, this site has potential, and if they get some more traffic and sales go up, it could be a good money earner.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
123RF
123RF is becoming one of the better stock sites for me:
123RF (http://www.123rf.com/src_samc352 )
Rating: 4 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos.
123RF is fairly open about the photos it accepts, I rarely get rejected unless I deserve it and it shows in how many sales I have there.
I rate this site a 4.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 5.
Sales are pretty good on this site, they also have a good pricing structure which allows high payments for photos (I've gotten $4.5 for a single photo once).
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 2. If they do provide feedback, then I haven't seen it.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
This site had a relatively slow FTP connection as well as HTML uploads, it's really not that terrible if you just leave it and go get a cup of coffee or something, but the post upload work is a super easy. I rate this site a 4.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords and categories easily.
Yes, very easy to enter photo information, 123RF doesn't use categories either so that makes things even faster in the post upload process, I rate this site a 5.
Overall Rating is 4, one of the top selling sites for me, and their pricing structure makes them a good money earner.
123RF (http://www.123rf.com/src
Rating: 4 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos.
123RF is fairly open about the photos it accepts, I rarely get rejected unless I deserve it and it shows in how many sales I have there.
I rate this site a 4.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 5.
Sales are pretty good on this site, they also have a good pricing structure which allows high payments for photos (I've gotten $4.5 for a single photo once).
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 2. If they do provide feedback, then I haven't seen it.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
This site had a relatively slow FTP connection as well as HTML uploads, it's really not that terrible if you just leave it and go get a cup of coffee or something, but the post upload work is a super easy. I rate this site a 4.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords and categories easily.
Yes, very easy to enter photo information, 123RF doesn't use categories either so that makes things even faster in the post upload process, I rate this site a 5.
Overall Rating is 4, one of the top selling sites for me, and their pricing structure makes them a good money earner.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Dreamstime photo
Another favorite of mine is Dreamstime:
Dreamstime photo (http://www.dreamstime.com/res309115)
This is another one of my best selling sites.
Rating: 3.8 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos.
Dreamstime photo is fairly strict when it comes to photo quality and type, sometimes a bit too strict as I have photos they rejected that sell very well elsewhere.
I rate this site a 3.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 4. i have less photos on this site (see above) so sales are not as high, but still very good considering the photo to sales ratio.
They are also very favorable for technology related photos so if you have any of those you should do well.
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 3. They do provide some feedback on how to improve future uploads but it is usually vague.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
this site had a fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads, but the post upload work is a bit complicated. I rate this site a 4.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords and categories easily.
Yes, very easy to enter photo information, and it also allows use of previous information and categories, I rate this site a 5.
Overall Rating is 3.8, one of the top selling sites for me, a good user experience but they filtered out a lot of my good photos.
Dreamstime photo (http://www.dreamstime.com/res309115)
This is another one of my best selling sites.
Rating: 3.8 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
How I rated this site:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos.
Dreamstime photo is fairly strict when it comes to photo quality and type, sometimes a bit too strict as I have photos they rejected that sell very well elsewhere.
I rate this site a 3.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 4. i have less photos on this site (see above) so sales are not as high, but still very good considering the photo to sales ratio.
They are also very favorable for technology related photos so if you have any of those you should do well.
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 3. They do provide some feedback on how to improve future uploads but it is usually vague.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
this site had a fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads, but the post upload work is a bit complicated. I rate this site a 4.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords and categories easily.
Yes, very easy to enter photo information, and it also allows use of previous information and categories, I rate this site a 5.
Overall Rating is 3.8, one of the top selling sites for me, a good user experience but they filtered out a lot of my good photos.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Bigstock Photo - Review
I've finally found some time to get my review blog started, so here's the first one:
Bigstock photo (http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=FHvX2CchRs)
this is one of my best selling sites.
Rating: 4.5 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
this is how my rating system works:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos. I've found that most sites are overly strict for no reason. 5 means the site allows most photos of reasonable quality I upload to be posted.
I rate this site a 5.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 5.
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 2.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
this site had a fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads, and the post upload work is fairly easy. I rate this site a 5.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords easily.
Yes, very easy to enter photo information, I rate this site a 5.
Overall Rating is 4.5, one of the top selling sites for me and a good user experience.
Bigstock photo (http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=FHvX2CchRs)
this is one of my best selling sites.
Rating: 4.5 of 5 (5 is high, 1 is low)
this is how my rating system works:
Strictness: This rates how strict the site is on quality and type of photos. I've found that most sites are overly strict for no reason. 5 means the site allows most photos of reasonable quality I upload to be posted.
I rate this site a 5.
Sales: fairly straightforward, how good are sales on this site.
I rate this site a 5.
Feedback: does this site provide a good reason for rejecting photos that can be used as feedback for improvements in the future.
I rate this site a 2.
Ease of upload: How easy is it to upload photos to the site.
this site had a fast FTP connection as well as HTML uploads, and the post upload work is fairly easy. I rate this site a 5.
Keyword reading: Does this site process photo keywords easily.
Yes, very easy to enter photo information, I rate this site a 5.
Overall Rating is 4.5, one of the top selling sites for me and a good user experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
