Discounts gone crazy

Let’s look at that recent email again from the self-appointed ‘stewards of the marketplace’:

“As you know, allowing artists to set their prices is a principle we hold dearly at Pond5. We do this because it attracts a diverse set of artists and content to our community, which in turn brings in more buyers. Ultimately this freedom creates value for everyone.

As stewards of the marketplace, we have an obligation to make sure that no Artist is doing something that will negatively impact other Artists. That is why our Contributor Agreement mandates pricing minimums and also requires that non-exclusive content not be listed for a price higher than on competing websites. When non-exclusive content is priced higher on Pond5 than on competing websites it destroys the integrity of the marketplace and hurts all the other artists on the platform who abide by the community rules. Over time when buyers learn they can find the same clip for less money elsewhere (at lower artist royalties by the way), they stop coming back. We can never allow this to happen.“

So, P5 wants to intervene in the pricing of non-exclusive clips, to ensure a level playing field across agencies, but then feels it’s OK to regularly slash those prices to undercut what competitors are charging. This clearly makes a mockery of P5’s supposed aim to safeguard the integrity of the marketplace.

They are a joke. We need new leadership brought in before the damage is too severe to turn around. At this point, I don't really have any hope of Pond5 surviving the next two years.

And here I am buying more videos from Pond5 then I ever have. All of of Adobe's clips I was looking at purchasing are from Pond5 anyway. I looked at Adobe's terms and they are abhorrent to me as a buyer (transfer contracts to your client? LOL Not happening!) so I will stick to Pond5.

I don't understand why things have gone south for sellers here because when I look out at other video seller sites, it doesn't look better from a buyers perspective or even a sellers perspective at all, from what I have looked at anyway. Interesting discussion.

We don't understand why things have gone south here also, but they have. Pond5 have started to squeeze the contributors here with heavy discounts lower royalty payouts and an exclusive system that has almost destroyed my livelihood, which was really to hide a cost cutting program (usually the first signs of a company in economic distress). I'm currently on $687 earnings at SS and stuck at $62 at P5 this payout term. Surely that should be the other way round? Both portfolios are the same (now) and pricing is the same, in fact for a whole year I priced my portfolio at P5 lower than any where else and they still managed to come last in earnings. I would love for P5 to come and kick ass as I know they are the last true micro stock company out there, well there is Framepool who also do this right. These are all signs of a company that has lost direction and unable to react to a changing market quickly, if you snooze you lose, and yes things are quiet across the board (for me) as I have exclusive clips with Framepool who have a solid exclusive program aimed at broadcast and for me perform excellently, are slow at the moment.

Sept 2018 P5 earnings $498.86
Sept 2018 SS earnings $1047.00

Sept 2019 P5 earnings $168.99 (Sept 15 - Oct15)
Sept 2019 SS earnings $687.41

Also my sales increase exponentially as my portfolio increases at other competing sites where here at P5 sales are just erratic at best.

And don't forget, the royalty payout was 50% at Pond5 last year and 40% now. So for me SS sold far more clips, if anybody can explain why then please explain!

I have been in stock long enough to see trends in sales increase and contract periodically over the years, but the overall trend has been an increase in sales, what is happening at Pond5 today is different, and I have many colleagues who also work in stock who are at the same conclusions, this is happening from a management level, from the top and Pond5 will never admit that they have misjudged the reactions, and I'm sure the next town hall meeting will paint a rosy picture at Pond5, but it has it work cut out if it wants suffering contributors who have their own conflicting results of sales to believe what they say is Gospel.

Yes it is a very interesting discussion indeed that needs addressing HONESTLY and not dubiously by Pond5.