Acceptance Criteria and Wait Times

A couple of months ago I uploaded a batch of photos. I liked the interface and the ability to set my own process and receive 50% royalty is brilliant. I already upload and sell stock photos at other stock photography web sites so didn't think it was that big deal that I am new to Pond5. However out of the 33 images I uploaded, files that have already sold licences on other well known web sites, 28 out of 33 were rejected under one ambiguous heading that they were "out of focus" or "poor quality". Some were iPhone photos that were not the best quality (they were ok) and I took responsibility for them, and some were my best sharpest clearest night photography shots ever! Of the five that were accepted I have not made one sale in three months. I continued uploading more images after lengthy discussions with support who were very good to be fare, hoping that it was just a misunderstanding or the curator was having a bad day, but now over a month has passed and no more images have even been reviewed.

My issue is, if 85% of my images are being rejected (but sold on other stock web sites) and new images are taking months to be reviewed, the the Pond5 sales model clearly is not working. My experience in stock is that, unless you have a handful of images that are selling very well or are selling photos for hundreds of dollars each, you need to expand your portfolio in order to increase your visibility and make your portfolio look at least semi-professional. With only five images on my portfolio in as many months really my sales are not going anywhere.

I wasn't going to post in here hoping that when they web site improvements came out things would improve? Does anyone else have a better experience of Pond5 that will inspire me to continue uploading? Really, I have bills to pay and uploading images takes time and with a 85% rejection criteria my portfolio isn't looking very good at the moment.

Here is my portfolio: https://www.pond5.com/artist/innervisionproductions

And my humble portfolio on iStock (ahem) not for spam but to show the kind of images I am selling already.
http://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/istock_vision


Any support greatly appreciated :/




Matt Blythe
InnerVisionProductions.

Pretty poor taste to post another sites link here.
I'm sure if you did that on Isuck they would have already deleted it and maybe banned you from the forums.
But at least you're happy with the 16% they give you.

As far as rejections here and not elsewhere. That has been the all time complaint on every site.
The thing is what one site wants because it sells there another dosen't because they either have a ton of that subject or it just doesn't sell.
But for your rejections being out of focus, if that's the issue then that is the issue.
Uploading Iphone photos that you yourself say are "OK" is a bad business practice to upload any place.

Next time, post your complaint in the artist only area.

Jake

Who are you? And why are you telling me what to do? Did I ask for your rudeness or did I ask for inspiration?

I posted it here and don't even pretend iStock doesn't exist. I happen to think that 15% (not 16% as you incorrectly stated) is unfair to give the artist so little when they do most of the work, but then it also goes out to iStock partners and Getty (in the case of exclusive iStockers). iStock sells photos FACT. Anyway I wasn't discussing iStock YOU were and if anyone should be banned from the forums it is YOU for your uncouth and unnecessary defensiveness towards new members. Next time be polite and post the link to the "Artist Area" and I will meet you there. And stop being overly officious like it is going to make you any more sales anyway! I didn't read anywhere in the rules that we should not upload iPhone pictures and if that is the case it is "bad practice" not to make members aware of this (if it is even true).

Have a good day!



Matt Blythe.

Matt,

May be Jake is a bit hard or honest to you, or he has a bad day, but this subject we have been talking many many many times, and this should not be in the general discussion. 85% rejection is normal in Photo, I have 95% rejection before, don't get angry, it is so like this. You can't do anything, accepting this and move on.
Remember you are just a drop in the ocean/pond. :)

95% rejection? And you have 21,000+ files uploaded.... Really? It takes time to upload, tag, price and describe every image and then to wait two months to have practically ALL your images rejected? Do the curators think we have nothing better to do? Lol. I wouldn't mind if the ones that got accepted actually sold. It just seems to me that someone else is having an opinion of our photography that might not be the best opinion. Thank you for your honest reply... I have no problem with honesty when it isn't being used as a weapon against me! Do you sell many images at your prices, do you mind me asking? I have been setting mine quite low in the $5 to $10 range. Am I correct in thinking it would be better to licence one image at $500 than 100 at $5.... What are the chances of that happening?

Cheers,


Matt :)

I am discussing Pond5 generally, maybe it isn't a very big pond? Or I am just a big fish that cannot be caught ;-)

When you put a drop in the ocean, you shouldn't lose the drop! You should gain the whole ocean...

Have a great day!

Matt,

I understand your frustration as a photographer. One thing you are wrong, stock photography has changed completely in the digital era. There are millions photo available for free or dirt cheap in the market. Yours has no weight in any market nowadays. The Hey days of stock photography has long gone..
I was rejected 95% of my photos, not video. It is true. It don't hurt me, just reality. Move on.

you came here in a bad period for p5. they used to accept more until this year, but you happened to come in exactly when they "raised the standards". personally i would recommend concentrate on other sites too... indeed there is a high rejection rate on p5 nowadays, and i don't think it's going to change. maybe you're at the right place but wrong time. continue uploading, but know that everybody gets a lot of rejections lately (as opposed to almost none before 2016) and i feel that indeed for newcomers it's gonna be pretttyyyyy hard now..... but as i said, continue uploading and do not stop concentrating on the other sites too.. (other than p5).

Matt-
On behalf of P5, I apologize for some of the rude comments made to you here. P5 is primarily a stock video content site, that has grown to cover photography and music as well. The upload/curator times have become rediculously long, and frustrating over the years, especially when it comes to photos here on P5. Everyone complains about the high rejection rate here (photos), that's why I stick to video content only. Patuwe97 is wrong that stock photo images have gone by the wayside, graphic artists everywhere still use stock photos, So keep shooting!! Truthfully I do NOT use P5 for my stock photos, and there is nothing wrong with mentioning another site here regarding a comparison, that is just childish. Sales take time here, took me 3 yrs. I wish you success!!