john griffin (not verified) on Thu, 2008-07-31 03:15
Steven, great writeup on Cutcaster and happy to hear you have tried out the service. I am excited to hear your thoughts on the site after joining a few months back and wonder if you have had any sales or bids. I'd especially like to know if any bids have come your way and what you did if you got any. Cutcaster is really trying to be the first dynamic marketplace and the bidding is a big part of it. Thanks for any help and suggestions you can give us. I am always open to hearing good ideas and it looks like you have more than a few. John
Hey Steven - as a budding stock photographer, your blog has been a great reference for me. I noticed this Cutcaster writeup was done a while ago, but I recently started uploading to Cutcaster and a few other major photo sites and have already seen some bids come through for my work. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on if you think the marketplace they offer really helps you not miss sales, and if it's still worth uploading an entire portfolio. Thanks! Jake
That date was when I first wrote the review, sometimes I update the date to reflect the new review if there is a significant rewrite, normally not, so that date is not the last time it was edited. I try to keep all the reviews up-to-date with the latest stats and make sure my opinions are still valid.
I've been uploading to custacster, mostly because it has a very easy submission process (currently 280 images)/ Like you I had had a few bids early on, but nothing for almost 12 months. I think the bid concept may be flawed in some ways (most people want instant access or sales are lost) but it is also a relatively unique concept that some buyers may prefer - it's a satisfying feeling for some people to knock a price down and then buy, but you must consider if it's worth the time for microstock prices and in time in dealing with the bidding requests.
do let me(us all) know how you get on with cutcaster
Hey Steve - Jake again, thanks for your response. I noticed on the homepage you mentioned YayMicro had siged up Yuri Arcurs, which I guess is a big deal. So I was going through Cutcaster's library and noticed he was there as well (looks like 14k photos). Just a heads up, b/c I wonder where else he's joined?? -- Jake.
Yuri Arcurs thinks all mickrostock sites were designed for him and his photo shooting team. Why this guy can't open his own site and negotiate sales there? Plus the photos are not even taken by him, he just put his name on other people's work.
Probably because despite what people think after paying all the bills microstock sites do not make huge profits on each sale. Yuri could cut out the middleman and make a LITTLE bit more money, but all that would create is yet another microstock site with acurs images and no buyers.
Microstock works because of the diversity of images available on each site contributed by many different photographers. "yuri stock" would cater for those people wanting to buy high key images of people shot in "ikea land" but leave others with limited choice. For many buyers a large microstock site is a one-stop solution to obtaining not just the main photo for a project, but also backdrop, vector graphics and supplementary images to use in a design, no single photographer can specialise in such a spread of illustration and photographic genres.
Rss
Updates via Email
Twitter
Facebook
Subscribe to Microstock Insider by Mailchimp
Printer Version
PDF version
Thanks for the write-up
john griffin (not verified) on Thu, 2008-07-31 03:15Just joined
Jake (not verified) on Wed, 2009-07-01 02:26Cutcaster Sales
Steve Gibson on Thu, 2009-07-02 00:57That date was when I first wrote the review, sometimes I update the date to reflect the new review if there is a significant rewrite, normally not, so that date is not the last time it was edited. I try to keep all the reviews up-to-date with the latest stats and make sure my opinions are still valid.
I've been uploading to custacster, mostly because it has a very easy submission process (currently 280 images)/ Like you I had had a few bids early on, but nothing for almost 12 months. I think the bid concept may be flawed in some ways (most people want instant access or sales are lost) but it is also a relatively unique concept that some buyers may prefer - it's a satisfying feeling for some people to knock a price down and then buy, but you must consider if it's worth the time for microstock prices and in time in dealing with the bidding requests.
do let me(us all) know how you get on with cutcaster
Steve
Hey Steve - Jake again,
Jake (not verified) on Thu, 2009-07-23 01:06Yuri Arcurus "work"
Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2009-09-12 14:19Financial Sense
Steve Gibson on Tue, 2009-09-15 23:03Probably because despite what people think after paying all the bills microstock sites do not make huge profits on each sale. Yuri could cut out the middleman and make a LITTLE bit more money, but all that would create is yet another microstock site with acurs images and no buyers.
Microstock works because of the diversity of images available on each site contributed by many different photographers. "yuri stock" would cater for those people wanting to buy high key images of people shot in "ikea land" but leave others with limited choice. For many buyers a large microstock site is a one-stop solution to obtaining not just the main photo for a project, but also backdrop, vector graphics and supplementary images to use in a design, no single photographer can specialise in such a spread of illustration and photographic genres.
Yuri is a photographer, photographers usually don't make good websites – it would be expensive to pay to develop one. And while I wrote about setting up your own site http://microstockinsider.com/guides/web-business-stock-photographers and http://microstockinsider.com/guides/photo-cms-content-management-systems (it can be done relatively easily) it’s an uphill struggle to get traffic and sales, and manage the myriad of problems that running a website entails - better to concentrate on the business you know best (i.e. taking photos)