Pond5 Seller Frequently Asked Questions
| Take me to the Buyer FAQ. |
General Questions
How Do I Sell My Footage, Audio or Photos on Pond5?
Who Can Sell Footage, Audio or Photos on Pond5?
How Much Will I Earn?
How and When Will I Get Paid?
What is Paypal? How Can I Receive My Earnings Electronically?
Can I Upload Sequences or "Packages" of Footage?
Uploading Footage
What are the Technical Specifications for Uploading Video and Audio?
What About Clips with Alpha Channels?
How Do I Upload My Clips?
How Long Will It Take to Upload My Footage? Do I Need a Broadband Internet Connection?
What Can I Do if I Don’t Have DSL or Have Too Much Footage to Upload Manually?
Tagging and Curating
How Do I Prepare My Clips for the Curator?
What is Tagging?
What is the Keyword Assistant?
What are Tag Templates?
What are CSV's?
How Do I Set the Thumbnail Image for my File?
How Do I Decide How Much to Price My Clips?
When is a Model/Property Release Required?
Where Can I Download Model and Property Releases?
How do I Upload and Attach a Model or Property Release?
How do I Remove a Model or Property Release I Already Attached to One of My Clips?
I Uploaded My Clips, Why Can't I Find Them Using The Search Box?
What's Taking The Curator So Long To Review My Clips?
How Do I Remove A Release Agreement From The List?
Photo Uploads and Sales
I’m Trying to Upload Vectors to Your Site and Cannot Find Them on My Upload Page.
I am Trying to Upload Photos to Your Site and Cannot Find Them on My Upload Page.
What Do I Do If I Have a Large (5k+) Collection of Stock Images?
Is The Payment System for Image Sales Any Different From the Sales on the Rest of the Site?
Other Questions
Will I Retain Copyright of My Work?
What Else Can I Do With My Footage?
How Do I Remove My Footage From the Site?
I Have 2K/4K/3D Footage, Can I Sell It On Your Site?
How Does the Free Clip of the Week Work?
Do You Offer Rights-Managed Sales?
My Question Wasn’t Answered Here, Where Can I Go?
How Do I Sell My Footage on Pond5?
It’s easy. After registering for an account with us you can begin to upload your clips. Once a clip is uploaded, you will need to “tag” it with some basic information (name, description, keywords, etc.) and set a price; then you submit your clip for curator review. A curator will take a look at your footage, and if it meets our technical and quality standards it will be approved for sale on the system. Buyers will then be able to search for, preview, purchase and download your clips. Click here to find out more about selling footage on Pond5.
| Back |
Who Can Sell Footage on Pond5?
Any copyright-holder of high-quality footage, including individuals, companies, and organizations, or their authorized representatives. If you are unsure about whether you are legally allowed to upload content to Pond5, do not upload.
| Back |
How Much Will I Earn?
Artists earn 50% royalties on all clip sales. Payments are made monthly, either by check or directly into your Paypal or Moneybookers account.
| Back |
How and When Will I Get Paid?
Payments go out on the 15th of each month, for sales during the previous month (so your earnings from clip sales in June will be credited to you on July 15). There is a $25 minimum payout amount. You can track your sales on the financials page.
| Back |
What is Paypal? How Can I Receive My Earnings Electronically?
PayPal is a web-based service that allows you to send and receive monetary payments securely and instantly over the internet. It is our preferred method of making payments to artists. Please note that Paypal charges a 2-percent fee, up to a maximum of $1, on each payment made. This will be deducted from the total. So, if your earnings for March are $200 and you choose to receive payment through Paypal, you will receive $199. To manage your paypal or other payment settings, click here.
We also can send payouts out via Moneybookers, which is available for many countries that PayPal is not. You can find out more about Moneybookers at www.moneybookers.com
| Back |
Can I Submit Sequences or "Packages" of Footage?
No. We do not accept footage clips that have been edited together. Please submit each of your clips individually.
| Back |
What are the Technical Specifications for Uploading Video and Audio?
Our video specifications are here, our audio specifications are here.
| Back |
What About Clips with Alpha Channels?
We prefer clips with alpha (transparency) channels to be uploaded using an embedded alpha channel in the Animation or PNG codecs. Alternately, you can create a matte and either a) attach it to your clip as a separate file on the My Uploads page using the checkbox next to each clip; or b) add it to the "tail" of your clip in a single file. Please be sure to test your alpha channel clip and verify that the alpha channel is intact before uploading.
 |
| Back |
How Do I Upload My Clips?
You upload both video and audio clips from the MyPond or My Uploads page by clicking on the "New Upload" button.
You have two choices to upload your clips: the Java uploader, or FTP. The Java uploader works from within your browser, so no extra software is needed. You simply select the clips you would like to upload (you can batch upload multiple clips at the same time), and press "upload".
Another option is to upload your clips using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). If your internet connection is not reliable, or your browser doesn't support Java technology, FTP is the way to go. You can get the FTP login details and set your FTP password here.
If you forget your FTP Password, you can always reset it on the New Upload page, even if you can't remember your old one. |
| Back |
How Long Will It Take to Upload My Footage? Do I Need a Broadband Internet Connection?
The amount of time it takes to upload your clips depends on the size of the files and the speed of your connection. Remember that broadcast-quality video files are very large, and may take a long time to upload. For instance, with a connection that has an upload speed of 100kb/s (or 12.5 KB/s), it will take around 43 minutes to upload a 10-second DV or HDV clip, with a file size of 32MB. You can test the speed of your connection here. Remember that you are interested in the upload speed of your connection, which is often slower than the download speed.
| Back |
What Can I Do if I Don’t Have Fast Internet or Have Too Much Footage to Upload Manually?
We also accept footage sent to us by postal mail. Footage should be in the form of .MOV files on a hard drive or not more than 6 data DVDs/CDs. If you have more footage than fits onto 6 DVDs you must submit them on an external hard drive. Footage submissions can be sent to us by post at this address:
Pond5 Inc.
Attn: Submissions
155 Water Street, 6th floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
USA
• Footage, Audio and/or Imagery should be properly prepared according to our Audio, Video and Photo specifications and send in on external hard drive or data DVD.
• Your name, Pond5 username, and email address should be clearly indicated on the hard drive or DVDs themselves (not just on the packaging).
• Make sure to properly package any DVD submissions. Do not send loose DVDs, as they will get scratched and not be readable. Also, do not use sticker labels on the face of DVDs. We strongly suggest submitting your clips on a hard drive, since disc submissions are often too scratched to read.
• We do not accept submissions on tape or on playable DVD.
• In general, we do not return DVDs. We do return hard drives, and can return DVDs if you like. Let us know beforehand if you'd like your material returned, and make sure to include a return address.
Usually, your files will be placed on the server within a month reaching us, though it can sometimes be more depending on our volume of submissions. We'll contact you by email when this happens. You will then need to tag them and submit them to a curator before they will be made available to buyers.
| Back |
How Do I Prepare My Media Files for the Curator?
Once your files show up on the My Pond>Upload page, then you can begin to add information to your clips by choosing the "edit" button next to each clip. The only information we absolutely require is keywords, a primary category, a title, description, and price. Once you've added all the information you'd like to add, choose either "Save" to keep it in the "Needs Edits" stage or "send to curator" to put your clips in the curator queue for review.
| Back |
What is Tagging?
Tagging is the process of adding information such as name, description, and keywords to your clips. The better you tag your clips with useful information, the easier is for buyers to find and buy them. To tag your clips, select the “edit” option next to each clip on the My Uploads page. To help you with the tagging process, we’ve created two tools: the keyword assistant and tag templates.
| Back |
What is the Keyword Assistant?
Keywords can be added to a clip in two ways: by writing them into the keyword field, or by using the Keyword Assistant. The Assistant is simply a series of checkboxes for commonly used keywords. By checking on the appropriate box, you can quickly add these keywords to your clip.
| Back |
What are Tag Templates?
Tag Templates allow you to tag multiple clips simultaneously. This is useful when you have common information shared across multiple clips (for instance location, camera data, or keywords). To create a template, use the “new template” link from the MyPond page and enter in all the shared information. Then, select clips by clicking the checkbox next to each one, and choose “apply template” from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page. All fields that have been filled in on the template will be written to the selected clips. Fields that have been left empty on the template (or where the option "ignore" has been selected) will not get overwritten, and any existing information will be left intact.
You can effect multiple clips by clicking the box next to them and choosing something from this dropdown menu, including applying tag templates. |
Note: for keywords, you can choose to either add template keywords (including those added with the Keyword Assistant), or to overwrite them. If you choose ‘overwrite’, it will replace all keywords on the clip with those on the template; if you choose ‘add’, the template keywords will be added to those currently on the clip.
| Back |
What are CSV's?
A CSV is a Comma Separated Value file, and is a spreadsheet file you can use to add info to a large number of files at once. For more detailed information on formatting a CSV for your files, please click here.
| Back |
How Do I Set the Thumbnail Image for my File?
To set the thumbnail for your file, select the clip(s) to modify on your Uploads page, and choose "still frame offset" from the dropdown at the bottom. You can also change the thumbnail from the top of the "edit info" page.
| Back |
How Do I Decide How Much to Price My Media Files?
The minimum price for broadcast-quality SD and HD clips is $10; multimedia clips (640X480 or lower resolution) have a minimum price of $5. Audio clips start at $2. There is no maximum price. This question is a source of lively debate in our forums, since many of our users have differing philosophies on how to price their clips, so if you'd like some insight on how our power users price their work, we'd suggest doing a forum search. If you'd like us to price it for you, click on the "set the price for me" checkbox, and the curator will set a price that they think is likely to maximize revenues on the clip.
| Back |
When is a model/property release required?
If your clip is meant to be used for commercial purposes, we require a model release for each recognizable individual depicted. For editorial footage (that is, footage which is newsworthy or has documentary value), model releases are not usually required.
There should be no copyrighted music or sound on the audio track without an accompanying property release, and no recognizable voices without a model release. Likewise, there can't be any trademarks, logos or brands depicted in the footage without a release.
| Back |
Where Can I Download Model and Property Releases?
Downloadable release agreements are available here. We also accept other standard model and property release agreements as long as the language is similar; using Pond5's version is not required.
| Back |
How do I Upload and Attach a Model or Property Release?
Signed releases should be scanned and uploaded as jpg or pdf files. The upload location is slightly different from the upload of media files. This is done in MyPond > Uploads > RELEASES > + Upload New Release Agreements. You can then attach the release file on the Uploads page > Tech Data tab by checking the box next to each clip in the Attachments column, or by checking multiple boxes of multiple clips and selecting “attach release” from the Actions dropdown menu at the bottom of the page.
|
| Back |
How do I Remove a Model or Property Release I Already Attached to One of My Clips?
• Go to MyPond > Uploads page
• Locate the clip in question by either browsing or searching for the clip
• Switch to Tech Data tab
• Mouse over the number of attachments e.g. (1) and a list of attachments will show up in a floating window
• Click on the attachment's filename which will take you to Edit Attach page for the specific clip
• Click on delete-it button at the bottom of the page
• When prompted "Are you sure you want to delete the attachment?" hit Ok
| Back |
I Uploaded My Clips, Why Can't I Find Them Using The Search Box?
Your clips are not live on the site, and until they've been reviewed by our curator they will not be accessible from public areas of the site. Your clips may be offline for one of three reasons, all of which can be checked from the My Pond>Upload page. When you view all of your footage, look in the "status" column. If your files have a status of "Needs Edits", you must add more information and submit them to the curator for review. If your files have a status of "pending review", that means your files are in the curator queue and are awaiting his review. If your clips have a status of "Rejected", then that means the curator has decided your clips are not suitable for our collection and have been taken offline indefinitely. If you submitted clips to the curator and you find your clips in the "write info" stage, check your sitemail for a note from the curator as to what he wants you to add. If you feel your clips have been unfairly rejected, for a more thorough explanation. Your clips will only be live on the site if your clips have a status of "Online".
| Back |
What's Taking The Curator So Long To Review My Clips?
Clips are generally reviewed within 7-10 business days, but it sometimes takes longer, usually due to the volume of submissions we receive. We're moving as fast as we can.
| Back |
How Do I Remove A Release Agreement From The List?
If you upload files to a release/ subdirectory in the root on the ftp server these files are assumed to be release agreements. On the Uploads page at the bottom you have a "for all clips" dropdown where you can select "Attach release" which is populated by these files. You can see an overview or remove clips here.
| Back |
I’m Trying to Upload Vectors to Your Site and Cannot Find Them on My Upload Page.
We are not currently accepting general photo submissions, and any photos you try to upload will be rejected by our preprocessing system.
| Back |
I am Trying to Upload Photos to Your Site and Cannot Find Them on My Upload Page.
It is possible you have uploaded the files in different format then JPG. Please take a look at our Photo Requirements to see our photo specifications. At the moment we only accept JPG files however we are working on accepting other imagery file formats.
| Back |
What Do I Do If I Have a Large (5k+) Collection of Stock Images?
If you have a large (5k+) collection of stock images, the best option is to mail-in your library. It is recommended that you send us an email at , with "curated collection" in the subject line mentioning you will be sending us a drive with your collection so we are expecting it.
| Back |
Will The Payment System for Image Sales Be Any Different From the Sales on the Rest of the Site?
No. We are working under the same model we do for the rest of our media submissions - you'll set your own price, and make 50% every time it sells.
| Back |
Will I Retain Copyright of My Work?
Yes. You will simply be using Pond5.com as a marketplace through which you license the use of your footage to other media producers under our royalty-free License Agreement.
| Back |
What Else Can I Do With My Footage?
Our Contributor Agreement is non-exclusive, which means that you can do what you like with your footage, including sell it elsewhere.
| Back |
How Do I Remove My Footage From the Site?
You can remove individual clips from the Uploads page. If you want to remove a large number of clips at once, please the clipID's and we can remove them for you.
| Back |
I Have 2K/4K/3D Footage, Can I Sell It On Your Site?
We are always adding new formats to our collection, and are interested in any broadcast-quality content you may have. If you've got a collection of 2K/4K/3D footage you'd like to upload to our collection, please to discuss.
| Back |
How Does the Free Clip of the Week Work?
When you edit your clips on the My Pond>Uploads page, you have the option of checking a box in the "free" column next to each clip. By checking that box, you're entering your clip into the running to be the "Free Clip of the Week", which is a great way to promote your work. Along with the weekly promo, your clip may also be used in other promotions Pond5 may run from time to time. Please Note: If you do not check the "free" box next to your clip, your clip will never be offered for free on the site, and will always be listed at the price you pick. It's run on a 100% opt-in basis.
| Back |
Do You Offer Rights-Managed Sales?
Not at the moment, but we’re considering it. If you’re interested in selling footage under a rights-managed license, .
| Back |
My Question Wasn’t Answered Here, Where Can I Go?
You can always reach us using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of every page, or by clicking here. If you're looking for questions about buying media on Pond5, click here.
| Back |
