San Francisco-based Cutcaster has augmented its micro-payment pay-as-you-go system with credits and corporate accounts.
Site credits are a familiar microstock staple, which allows customers to save on individual image costs by purchasing bulk credit packages up-front. Cutcaster packages range between $45 and $425, allowing for savings of up to 20%; each credit equals $1 when using it to purchase images. The company offers royalty-free licenses, generating between $5 and $20, on average, for high-resolution images.
Cutcaster launched a year ago and has since grown its inventory at the rate of 15,000 new image and vector files per week. The site currently displays close to 150,000 images. Company founder John Griffin did not respond to questions regarding revenue or transaction-volume growth. Alexa Internet places Cutcaster site traffic on par with second-tier microstock companies FeaturePics and Can Stock Photo (recently acquired by Fotosearch).
Though the company appears similar to the community-based model pioneered by microstock, Cutcaster bills itself as unique. The company says its main contributor advantages lie in allowing content owners to set their own pricing, respond to buyer bids and participate in freelance opportunities through its ProjectRequest service. The same features are similarly advantageous to buyers, who can negotiate rights and pricing directly with sellers and post content requests.