
February 2014 - Pixmac have anounced their closure following merger with pond5 in 2013 - "pixmac.com will be closing soon"
For historical reference the final pixmac review is as follows:
Pixmac resell images from various microstock sites including Depositphotos and Yaymicro along with a 'premium' macrostock priced collection from imagesource, this in addition to their own collection from contributing (microstock) photographers.
Pixmac currently offers more than 11.5 million images to buyers, most of which are sourced from other microstock sites via reseller agreements. A press release in May 2011 stated that they also have 750,000 of their own images uploaded directly to the site. The site describes itself as a food court of stock images.
In the past Pixmac has received some quite significant criticism from photographers, when launched the site was full of shocking spelling errors (who am I to talk!), including those in the terms and conditions, e.g. "in no case shell be liable for any demages"; at the time this and the fact that photographers were confused when they saw their own fotolia images being resold without explanation lead to a general feeling that pixmac was 'yet another start-up microstock'. Pixmac have worked hard to rid themselves of that label with photographers, but it's important to realise that new buyers don't come with these preconceptions and will buy if they find an image they like and can obtain it conveniently. Pixmac were previously resellers of Fotolia and Dreamstime images, however these two agencies dropped pixmac from their reseller lists or did not renew contracts. Shortly after allegations (which Pixmac strongly denied) of irregularities in sales tracking were made.
Conclusion
My initial review of pixmac (nov 08) was not entirely favorable. I uploaded images only to test the waters, there was a general feeling in the microstock contributor community "why upload here if you are already on fotolia?".
I've seen continued poor sales from pixmac for 5 years. That's is not however my main criticism, many of the low end sites are like that. With me it's three strikes and you're out. At pixmac I have seem too many suspicious irregularities regarding payments, account balances, api and partner payments etc; from what others have said I'm not the only one, I Recommend you DO NOT upload your portfolio to pixmac.
This is a great place for image buyers. Not perhaps so good for selling images
More details on the pixmac website
Clarification of data:
Vitezslav Valka (not verified) on Mon, 2008-11-24 10:27Re Clarification
Steve Gibson on Tue, 2008-11-25 23:33Thanks for your comments, I guess that's what you get for believing wikipedia.
If pixmac is so 'under development' then why has the photographer submission area gone live? Why were there so many, shall we say "promotional comments" about pixmac made on forums and blogs a few months back?
I thought what I had written was a fair view of the site as it stands at present?
Steve
Microstockinsider.com Editor
Trust me
Vitezslav Valka (not verified) on Fri, 2008-11-28 10:07pixmac strategies and results
Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2009-08-17 14:38Quick Update
Steve Gibson on Mon, 2009-08-17 23:45Thanks for the data, it mirrors what I see, I've had at least 5 months with 99 accepted images and earned nothing. (Edit Oct 09 - Had a couple of direct sales in the past few months, but still nothing significant)
Steve, Microstockinsider.com Editor
quotation
Vlczak (not verified) on Mon, 2010-12-06 13:39