1. Would anyone (buyers or contributors) use it as decision making criteria?
2. Would the agencies consider the postings (feedback, experience, etc) vital enough to listen and react?

I would also think that there should be a buyer section where they can post their experiences around service levels, pricing, etc.

Yes they would.  A purchase is an emotional decision - and the overall impression that we hold about a company always plays a significant role.
And yes they would. Because they could ignore it only at their own peril once there is enough circulation or readership of content.

Yes absolutely. A buyer section can even be in the same string as contributor section in my opinion.  Its simply anyone or public at large, that can post or respond there.  And the company itself would also have the opportunity to comment or respond - just as they can do on TripAdvisor.

Ariene, have you clicked on the photo to see if you can go through with purchase - in many cases it is just a placeholder and the real photo is not available for download.  Hopefully this is the case!

@ Pixart, you're right, can't do purchase, but it shouldn't be there at all.

This Polish site is very, very slow to load, but has a few of my images from Veer (I have never been on Deposit Photos and it does mention Veer's name in the image description). Unless their search is broken I apparently have only 8 images from the 800+ I have on Veer. The images aren't best sellers or even high traffic subjects, so I have a hard time imagining they were picked out on purpose

Oh my, looks like entire ports from DP and Veer.  Why do they charge more for Veer Images?  Do we make more?  They do also appear to give Veer better position in the search.

http://photogenica.pl/zoom/PHX12370421/    49 zt Large
http://photogenica.pl/zoom/VMP3241314/      79 zt Large

Does anyone know what a zt is worth U.S.?
ANSWERED EDIT:  49 Zloty is almost $U.S.16

Quote from: sdeva on March 02, 2014, 22:48

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on March 01, 2014, 13:29

I don't know how many of you use TripAdvisor, but it seems like we want a type of TripAdvisor site for stock agencies (and possibly other businesses too). That isn't as easy as one might like - fighting off fake entries for example - but it's a great way for people to see what hotels/restaurants stock agencies/services are like.

You can sort things by date so that old/bad behavior can be over time ameliorated by improvements, but history is never erased (unlike the BBB and Angie's List)

I regularly use TripAdvisor and find it an excellent source of information for travel planning. And this is a brilliant idea particularly as it could serve the public at large, contributors and buyers alike.

Consumers or buyers are frequently as concerned about the ethical standards of a business, as much as we as contributors are, when we find ourselves exposed to malicious or unfair trade practices.

A public forum can therefore help to keep the whole supply chain 'cleaner' by forcing everyone to be more actively concerned about their total business image.

I also use Trip Advisor.  In fact I actually signed up to become a member because that way I am allowed to contact "individuals" who post.  I do this especially when I am traveling to new, third world locations.  If they post negative or positive feedback you can contact them directly to get further clarification.  The real questions is....

1. Would anyone (buyers or contributors) use it as decision making criteria?
2. Would the agencies consider the postings (feedback, experience, etc) vital enough to listen and react?

I would also think that there should be a buyer section where they can post their experiences around service levels, pricing, etc.

It would effect my decisions. It would need to be in many different languages though (perhaps translated?). It seems to me one of the problems with connecting contributors is they are from all over and speak many different languages.

It looks like most of my portfolio is on the Polish site, too. I don't have anything on Veer, but I do have my port with DP and 123. Where are they getting my images from? Are they a partner with DP?

... Where are they getting my images from? Are they a partner with DP?

DP:
"Yes, Photogenica.pl is our partner.
Should you have any further questions feel free to contact us."

I do not see my 123rf images at Photogenica - just 8 of my Veer images. Are they hand picking what they want versus taking everything?  I did opt out of 123rf partner sales over the weekend, but I checked before that.

Photogenica is showing the portfolio names I only use (or used) at Veer, 123.  They are also showing the name I use at DP and others...   

I have asked Photogenica where they got my images, because some are still available when I deactivated them on DP. They said their partner was 123RF.

When and how did you contact them?
I've sent email (in polish lang.) at [email protected] March 03 and still waiting for replay...

Photogenica has my images using my DP username. It's a username I only use at DP, completely different from my 123RF username.

They also use my DP ID number in the profile URL at Photogenica.

Looks to me like Photogenica images come from DP, not 123RF.

They could be getting images from both places. But they're definitely not getting images only from 123RF. DP is supplying some of them for sure. Even the images numbers at Photogenica match DP image numbers.