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Author Topic: NEWS - News from SnapVillage: site improvements and new ads  (Read 20995 times)

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« on: March 14, 2008, 17:45 »
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News from SnapVillage: site improvements and new ads
      


Say Goodbye to  Beta Soon
We’re doing some spring cleaning at  SnapVillage. Our web team has been working hard to fix the last few bugs in the  site so we can get out of beta soon. You should notice an increase in  performance right away as we release these improvements. Many of [...]
         

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SnapVillage/~3/251653689/
      


« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2008, 18:30 »
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Encouraging news. They just uploaded all of the images I sent them on a CD. That was easy enough.

« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2008, 03:38 »
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sent my cd almost a month ago now... still waiting.....

« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2008, 03:42 »
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I'll get my CD in the post this weekend, we'll see how quickly it gets uploaded!

« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2008, 03:42 »
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News from SnapVillage: site improvements and new ads. Say Goodbye to  Beta Soon
Does that mean FTP?

« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2008, 04:51 »
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i checked and saw two sales in march 2 x $3. better than before. may be just a coincidence ....


« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2008, 05:56 »
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It will be interesting to see how big they can grow.  I hope that with lots of money to spend on advertising and their links to Corbis and microsoft they will do well.

« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2008, 07:27 »
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I'll be very interested to see what these 'site improvements' are.

But if I had to place a bet between Slappertown becoming a success, or me having a night of rampant sex with Milla Jovovitch....

...I'd place the bet on Milla.


« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2008, 09:41 »
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I'll be very interested to see what these 'site improvements' are.

But if I had to place a bet between Slappertown becoming a success, or me having a night of rampant sex with Milla Jovovitch....

...I'd place the bet on Milla.



Who is Milla Jovovitch? Your wife?   ;D

lisafx

« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2008, 10:04 »
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Mila Jovovich:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000170/

Good luck with that Hatman - you are quite the optimist :)
« Last Edit: March 15, 2008, 10:05 by lisafx »

« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2008, 12:12 »
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Mila Jovovich:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000170/

Good luck with that Hatman - you are quite the optimist :)


According to the photos in that link, somebody has already ummm..... sorry Hatman, to late already    :D

« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2008, 13:58 »
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For starters, would like to see a faster site - hopefully it's on its way!

lisafx

« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2008, 17:04 »
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Just checked out Snapvillage and from what I can see there are still MAJOR things that need to happen before I would upload there.  They need to be able to read IPTC data. Yeah, I can send them a DVD, but they want the keywords in separate text files along with the images?  And model releases with each image rather than uploaded to the site and linked up later like most other sites?  Sounds hugely time consuming. 

And seriously, they make you wait 45 DAYS to get paid?  That is absolutely insane.  Maybe that flies in the trads where you are making hundreds or thousands of dollars per sale, but in the micro business, where they are talking about $10 payouts, that turnaround is just not acceptable. 

Really guys, there is not need or justification for reinventing the wheel here.  I would love to have you selling my 3,000 plus images, but you are going to have to make it easier to get them to you and faster to get paid. 

« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2008, 17:40 »
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...They need to be able to read IPTC data.
...
And seriously, they make you wait 45 DAYS to get paid?
You may be a bit misinformed about SnapVillage.

They read IPTC data and model releases are attached in the conventional fashion. Because they don't support FTP, uploading is done in batches of five. Yes, it's a hassle, but doable if you schedule in 20 uploads a day into your routine. They'll accept anything and everything you throw at them.

Payment is more like 30 days - I received my January earnings on March 3, I'll get my February payment at the beginning of April, March in May, etc. The minimum payout is $10, which is absurdly easy to reach. My earnings there are less than BigStock, but more than Crestock.

My biggest issue with them has to do with keywords: they typically (though not always) rework keywords, removing "good" ones and adding "bad" ones.

« Reply #14 on: March 15, 2008, 17:56 »
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i checked and saw two sales in march 2 x $3. better than before. may be just a coincidence ....



another $3 earned  ...

« Reply #15 on: March 15, 2008, 18:14 »
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They read IPTC data

More or less.  In my case they read title and description, but only the first keyword.  I have reported this to them, and they said they were looking into it (twice in an interval or one or two months).  They even asked me to email an image so they could look into the IPTC data.  That was late last year, I haven't retried to see they solved the problem, but I would have expected they would have emailed me again to try.

It's slightly better than IS, where only the description is read, and they said they were aware of it, but never cared about correcting it.  I use Exifer.

It can't be something so difficult to fix, as all other sites read the data well.

As for sales, one last month, that's all I got.

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #16 on: March 15, 2008, 18:30 »
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They read the keywords on about 95% of my uploads.

« Reply #17 on: March 15, 2008, 19:21 »
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The one GOOD thing I can think of about Snapvillage is that because they are so incompetent, any money they spend on advertising will drive more and more customers to the OTHER stock agencies......

« Reply #18 on: March 16, 2008, 02:37 »
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The one GOOD thing I can think of about Snapvillage is that because they are so incompetent, any money they spend on advertising will drive more and more customers to the OTHER stock agencies......

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

« Reply #19 on: March 16, 2008, 06:16 »
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The one GOOD thing I can think of about Snapvillage is that because they are so incompetent, any money they spend on advertising will drive more and more customers to the OTHER stock agencies......

Why are you so negative about them when it is still a beta site?  I don't understand your views.  Corbis is a rival to Getty and with the money SV will have to spend on marketing, I see no reason why they shouldn't be a big earning site in the future.  There are sales there already, a lot more than the site that launched at the same time, Albumo.  Who knows what the sales will be like in a years time?  They might fail but I prefer to give them a chance.

« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2008, 06:59 »
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yes, give them one / two years and than we'll see what happens.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2008, 07:07 by drop »

« Reply #21 on: March 16, 2008, 08:15 »
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Sharpshot my comments about Snapvillage should be taken on a relative basis.  As people keep pointing out, this venture is funded by Corbis who (apparently) are the second largest photo agency in the world.  They are (apparently) backed by the unlimited zillions of Bill Gates.

Given this backdrop they have exhibited incompetence, complete lack of understanding, an inability to recognise what the microstock market wants (and needs) and site development which smacks of simply 'couldn't care less'.

Their keywording department is rubbish, their web site operation appears to be one man and his dog, and the beta goes on and on and on because frankly they haven't got the faintest idea.

Yes, they will make sales.  But in my opinion in five years from now they won't be within a hundredth of iStock.

If it was any other start up operation, funded by small capital, I could understand.  But this is meant to be a push into microstock by Corbis, and relative to THAT what we have seen so far is rubbish.

You'll recall Yuri's comment that he had had an hour's conversation with SV's CEO.  His conclusion was 'nice lady, doesn't understand the business'.

Worst of all, Snapvillage is an insult to the amount of work and effort we devote as photographers, and the very name of the place cocks a snook to you, me, and any other photographer that doesn't fit into the Corbis definition of 'professional'.   And that is why I will not have my portfolio there.


« Reply #22 on: March 16, 2008, 09:45 »
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My biggest issue with them has to do with keywords: they typically (though not always) rework keywords, removing "good" ones and adding "bad" ones.

I have had the same problem and contacted support. They agreed that the keywords added by them were poor and apologised.  It's possible to add keywords manually one at a time, but to remove inappropriate ones or change the category then you have to contact support.

« Reply #23 on: March 16, 2008, 11:36 »
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Sharpshot my comments about Snapvillage should be taken on a relative basis.  As people keep pointing out, this venture is funded by Corbis who (apparently) are the second largest photo agency in the world.  They are (apparently) backed by the unlimited zillions of Bill Gates.

Given this backdrop they have exhibited incompetence, complete lack of understanding, an inability to recognise what the microstock market wants (and needs) and site development which smacks of simply 'couldn't care less'.

Their keywording department is rubbish, their web site operation appears to be one man and his dog, and the beta goes on and on and on because frankly they haven't got the faintest idea.

Yes, they will make sales.  But in my opinion in five years from now they won't be within a hundredth of iStock.

If it was any other start up operation, funded by small capital, I could understand.  But this is meant to be a push into microstock by Corbis, and relative to THAT what we have seen so far is rubbish.

You'll recall Yuri's comment that he had had an hour's conversation with SV's CEO.  His conclusion was 'nice lady, doesn't understand the business'.

Worst of all, Snapvillage is an insult to the amount of work and effort we devote as photographers, and the very name of the place cocks a snook to you, me, and any other photographer that doesn't fit into the Corbis definition of 'professional'.   And that is why I will not have my portfolio there.


It might cock a snoot to you but the name really doesn't bother me.  I am a professional but I take snap shots, just like Henri Cartier-Bresson did.  I admit his were a bit better than mine though :)

I wrote a long post but deleted it.  You have made up your mind about them after 8 months and I respect that.  I just want to give them more time and think they have the potential to be a site that is worth using.

« Reply #24 on: March 16, 2008, 12:28 »
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I still believe that SV can become a success, but they need to take care of some major issues. One thing that is extremely irritating, is the way they treat images from a 6MP camera: they are sold as medium sized, 1600 x 1200 pixel photos. That obviously reduces the potential of the photos considerably, particularly when the same photos can be bought at full resolution elsewhere.

I took it up with support, but they said they had no plans changing their routines. That's the way of a real amateur   :(


 

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