Crated - Share Links to your gallery and support each others work

[stockastic]

Like many people I assumed that when I was initially granted an account, that meant I was "accepted" - after all, I'd given them the portfolio link they asked for.  I then uploaded about 20 photos that were a cross-section of things I thought might sell as wall art, based on my FAA experience. 

Much later, I realized I wasn't showing up in search, so I emailed support.  Eventually I was told that the 'curator' thought some of my images were too "stocky". The support guy suggested that I change my mix and add more "artistic" stuff.    No other information - i.e. which ones the curator(s) liked, which they didn't, or why, or when I might get a second look, etc.

I deleted all my stuff and forgot about Crated.  If they ever announce a clear and well defined acceptance procedure, I might try again.  But not this weird guessing game.   

I'm wondering what happens if you do get 'curated' with an initial submission, but then upload "stocky" things later.   Would they un-curate you?   

 

[donding]

I didn't know they needed a link to a portfolio. I put no link on there. Did everyone else put a link to their portfolio? Which do you do? Your stock sites or Fine Art America their competitor? Stock sites wouldn't have an artistic portfoilio.

[stockastic]

I didn't know they needed a link to a portfolio. I put no link on there. Did everyone else put a link to their portfolio? Which do you do? Your stock sites or Fine Art America their competitor? Stock sites wouldn't have an artistic portfoilio.

When I initially applied for an account, the form asked for a portfolio link.  I have my own personal web site that has just my best - and hopefully most artistic - stuff, so I gave them that URL.   I don't think they ever looked at it.  They're now saying the initial approval was just to participate in the beta, not to be featured (i.e. appear in search) on the site. 

Who knows.

[donding]

I don't have a personal website. I guess I'll link to Fine Art America.

[marthamarks]

I followed through this week with what I decided last week. My account and small "test" portfolio are now deleted from Crated. Here's my slightly edited (for length) correspondence with Steve Clost, who was very courteous and helpful. Maybe this will help illuminate Crated's policies for others.

Steve, I really like what Crated is doing and am proud of how my 20-image portfolio looks on your website. However, several weeks after I established an account and put those images up, I've heard nothing back from you.

Having had no communication from you, I must assume that my images have failed to be �curated� into your collection. As they are neither �searchable� nor watermarked (and thus vulnerable to theft by bloggers), it seems best to take them down.

Please advise me when you have removed my images and deleted my account. Thanks. Martha Marks

Martha, when we delete your account the email associated with it will become blocked in our system. You would have to use an alternate email to create another account with us.

Since deleting your account is such a final process, we do recommend an alternative of simply deleting or deactivating the images on your account using the edit feature under the 'My Art' tab in your dashboard. Again I do apologize for the lack of communication on our part, we are looking into ways to improve in this area in the future! Steve

Steve, I may want to come back to Crated some day, so I appreciate your directions and will follow them.

Actually, I�d be very happy to keep my portfolio up on Crated now, and even add to it, if only I could hear that the images had been �curated� and were searchable. The lack of communication from Crated about that issue is very unnerving, given that my images are ripe for theft on the site at the same time that it gives me almost no value for being there.

I'm glad that you want to continue updating your portfolio. Our curation process is very fluid, as you upload more pieces that may catch their eye they may view your gallery again. We do appreciate the feedback regarding copyright, we are reviewing if we will offer a site watermark for customers although it is not in the immediate future. At the time we've disabled right clicking and dragging once viewing an image at a resolution that we would like to protect. I will pass along the feedback to our team!

Steve, your answer of having a �fluid� curation process isn�t at all satisfactory. Sounds like you expect an artist to upload and upload till the cows come home, hoping for some ill-defined, magical something-or-other that might (or might not) catch some mysterious curator�s eye and entice him or her to check a portfolio again and say �Voila! These images are fabulous!! I think I�ll curate this portfolio now!!!�

I can�t imagine that kind of �fluidity" is going to appeal to busy people who have better things to do than continuously upload in hopes of a response of some sort, which may never come. A simple statement like �Sorry, your images are not what we�re seeking at this time� would be better.

And for sure, without some way to watermark images on your site, I�m not going to add more for the convenience of blog thieves.

I could deactivate my images now, as you suggest, but if I did that, I can�t imagine myself going back to add any more images to my deactivated portfolio, knowing how the process works. I may as well delete the whole account and be done with it.

So, yes, please go ahead and delete my account now.

Hey Martha, I am sorry that you feel this way. We are still working on ways to be more clear about this to our users and always listen to feedback on how to improve!

I've passed along your request to our development team and your account should be deleted within the next two days.

Great. Thanks!

Just updating you that the account should now be deleted! Steve

[Ariene]

... Much later, I realized I wasn't showing up in search, so I emailed support.  Eventually I was told that the 'curator' thought some of my images were too "stocky"...

Same here.
"I noticed that some of your images are leaning more towards the stock photography category ... and others are more landscape and nature. I would recommend limiting your gallery to only the most artistic shots."

and they are not specially interested in coming here for some time:
"since Crated is now live and we have a support, faq, and forum here on our site, it's difficult to split our time across outside sites discussing Crated. "

I deleted all my stuff and forgot about Crated.  If they ever announce a clear and well defined acceptance procedure, I might try again.  But not this weird guessing game.

Yeah, they are weird. They welcome us but never give 100 % informations (or even 50%). It doesn't look to professional and it's new company. Bad start.

I'm glad that you want to continue updating your portfolio. Our curation process is very fluid, as you upload more pieces that may catch their eye they may view your gallery again. We do appreciate the feedback regarding copyright, we are reviewing if we will offer a site watermark for customers although it is not in the immediate future. At the time we've disabled right clicking and dragging once viewing an image at a resolution that we would like to protect. I will pass along the feedback to our team!

Oh what?!          Is this some kind of game? Huge sad joke guys! 

Steve, your answer of having a �fluid� curation process isn�t at all satisfactory. Sounds like you expect an artist to upload and upload till the cows come home, hoping for some ill-defined, magical something-or-other that might (or might not) catch some mysterious curator�s eye and entice him or her to check a portfolio again and say �Voila! These images are fabulous!! I think I�ll curate this portfolio now!!!�

I can�t imagine that kind of �fluidity" is going to appeal to busy people who have better things to do than continuously upload in hopes of a response of some sort, which may never come. A simple statement like �Sorry, your images are not what we�re seeking at this time� would be better.

Thanks Martha for all informations, very appreciate!
Looks like they are just not ready for this business.
Three days ago I wrote email to them asking what I'm standing on, what should I do - upload more images, wait or what...
"I'll make sure that our curators take a look at your gallery asap and will let you know either way."
It was 3 days ago. I feel befooled.

This is not pro, this is discouraging and I know now it won't work for me. I'm not a child with all days free to make and only upload images just to show them to the world. I have few more authorial sites and not interested in another one. So dear Crated, thank you for trying, but looks like it was short trip. I don't see any sense of uploading even one image more here. One big waste of time. You don't treat us seriously at all.

Good luck!

[marthamarks]

I deleted all my stuff and forgot about Crated.  If they ever announce a clear and well defined acceptance procedure, I might try again.  But not this weird guessing game.

   
Yes, that's the problem exactly.

I'm wondering what happens if you do get 'curated' with an initial submission, but then upload "stocky" things later.   Would they un-curate you?   

My guess is: Yes. If you slip and upload stocky stuff (as opposed to artsy-fartsy stuff), you'll likely be un-curated in an eyeblink.

Or� maybe not. Who knows?

[oxman]

here is a link to their photography sample page
http://crated.com/discover/photography?p=1

it makes me question the curator's artistic eye and marketing intuition. i am not impressed with what they are featuring as fine art -- that people would want to have framed and placed on their walls.

i was hoping to get a sense of what they were seeking... perhaps i have

[stockastic]

They will have to start approving or rejecting individual images - there's no other way 'curation' can make sense.   I don't think they can rely on approving an 'artist' and then trusting him to continue to upload only things they like.



 

[marthamarks]

here is a link to their photography sample page
http://crated.com/discover/photography?p=1

Wow, they are really into cars!

[donding]

Here's the e-mail I sent them

"I've been on here awhile and I was wondering if I was lacking something. Could you let me know if there is something I did wrong or has it not been long enough. "

Here is their response

" Unfortunately with the amount of requests and emails we get on a daily basis, our curators are not able to give specific feedback or explanation on promoted/unpromoted galleries.

I would personally recommend searching our 'curated' art (https://crated.com/search) for similar tags to your those on your art to see examples of art that has been approved and promoted.

I hope this helps clarify a bit, I'm sorry I couldn't offer more input. I'm here if you have any other questions though!"

Well that wasn't much of an answer. Some of the ones I uploaded sell on Fine Art America so I think they are "artsy" not stock. I agree with you Oxman, some of the approved ones I question why they picked them, unless I don't live in the modern age...

[Mantis]

Here's the e-mail I sent them

"I've been on here awhile and I was wondering if I was lacking something. Could you let me know if there is something I did wrong or has it not been long enough. "

Here is their response

" Unfortunately with the amount of requests and emails we get on a daily basis, our curators are not able to give specific feedback or explanation on promoted/unpromoted galleries.

I would personally recommend searching our 'curated' art (https://crated.com/search) for similar tags to your those on your art to see examples of art that has been approved and promoted.

I hope this helps clarify a bit, I'm sorry I couldn't offer more input. I'm here if you have any other questions though!"

Well that wasn't much of an answer. Some of the ones I uploaded sell on Fine Art America so I think they are "artsy" not stock. I agree with you Oxman, some of the approved ones I question why they picked them, unless I don't live in the modern age...

I guess I still don't get it. Is there ONE KIND OF ACCEPTANCE or TIERED ACCEPTANCE? Super duper ones are "curated" and the rest of the accepted ones are in the general collection? And if true how are the weights of the super duper engineered into the search? Or does super duper=all accepted are curated, and therefore super duper?

[donding]

Here's the e-mail I sent them

"I've been on here awhile and I was wondering if I was lacking something. Could you let me know if there is something I did wrong or has it not been long enough. "

Here is their response

" Unfortunately with the amount of requests and emails we get on a daily basis, our curators are not able to give specific feedback or explanation on promoted/unpromoted galleries.

I would personally recommend searching our 'curated' art (https://crated.com/search) for similar tags to your those on your art to see examples of art that has been approved and promoted.

I hope this helps clarify a bit, I'm sorry I couldn't offer more input. I'm here if you have any other questions though!"

Well that wasn't much of an answer. Some of the ones I uploaded sell on Fine Art America so I think they are "artsy" not stock. I agree with you Oxman, some of the approved ones I question why they picked them, unless I don't live in the modern age...

I guess I still don't get it. Is there ONE KIND OF ACCEPTANCE or TIERED ACCEPTANCE? Super duper ones are "curated" and the rest of the accepted ones are in the general collection? And if true how are the weights of the super duper engineered into the search? Or does super duper=all accepted are curated, and therefore super duper?

There are two tiers. When you do a search....at the left there is a "New" and "Curated" link. I don't know if the curated ones are also included in the new search button, but my guess is they are. If you haven't gotten that "crated" or "curated" e-mail your port won't show up in the search.

I don't know if the curated images are by artist or just that image.

[stockastic]

LOL

I totally gave up trying to figure this one out. Life is too short.

If their business actually gets in the air, they'll have to clarify 'acceptance' and come up with a system that makes sense.   

[marthamarks]

If their business actually gets in the air, they'll have to clarify 'acceptance' and come up with a system that makes sense.

They seem to have a remarkable problem with basic communication. I wish them luck but won't hold my breath.

[donding]

Has any one actually had any sales there yet?

[Mantis]

Has any one actually had any sales there yet?

Not me.

[takestock]

No sales either - but my images are not very long up.
Along with 'Newest' and 'Curated' we now have 'Upcoming'

I'm not sure what 'Upcoming' actually means. Anybody have any ideas.
From what I think, when you click on 'Discover' these are works that have sold.
Am I right on this?

[donding]

No sales either - but my images are not very long up.
Along with 'Newest' and 'Curated' we now have 'Upcoming'

I'm not sure what 'Upcoming' actually means. Anybody have any ideas.
From what I think, when you click on 'Discover' these are works that have sold.
Am I right on this?

I thought Discover was being able to look at their whole collection without a search. I haven't a clue what Upcoming is. Them seem to keep their contributors in the dark.

Honestly...if they can't respond to their contributors or give us any feed back I really don't know how well they will do as a whole.

[takestock]

Donding, do you think we should start a Thread here 'Clarify Crated' where all questions could possibly be answered in one place by their support team.
It's frustrating to say the least for those submitting when they don't know exactly the workings of the site are. I feel it is in their own interest to address this pretty quickly by putting things down in black and white!

[donding]

I started a new thread...maybe it will get their attention

[takestock]

Well done!
We sure could do with some Crated Clarification!

[stockastic]

I think they really don't want people who have one foot in stock - they want 'artists'.  It seems like the few of us who got some sort of explanation for rejection were told that some of our stuff was too 'stocky'.   So they may not want to participate in this forum at all.

[Yure]

I don't think they don't want microstockers. They don't want microstock photos.
It's just a different market, requires different products.

[marthamarks]

I don't think they don't want microstockers. They don't want microstock photos.
It's just a different market, requires different products.

How nice if they would just say so.