No More Fixed Prices For Royalty Free

Posted on 8/23/2012 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (2)

Pocketstock has created a new pricing strategy call Bidder that enables each customer to establish the price he or she is willing to pay for a royalty free image.
 
After choosing an image the customer is shown the list prices for various file sizes and given the choice of purchasing the image instantly at that price or bidding a lower price that the customer finds more satisfactory. Customers are  asked to explain why their lower price should be accepted.

When a customer offers a bid Pocketstock promises to review it and make a decision as to whether or not to accept it within 24 hours. It appears that any bid that is at least 60% of the quoted list price has a “possible” chance of acceptance. Bids that are less than 60% are listed as having a “minimal” chance of acceptance, but presumably might also be accepted under certain conditions. Virtually all Pockstock prices (except for a few for the smallest uses) are negotiable.



Pocketstock offers images from microstock producers as well as from many of the major royalty free production companies that price their images at traditional levels. High level professionals and production companies have a say in the level at which  their work will be priced. Currently, prices on the site seem to range from $3.75 to $659.00.

One of Bidder’s big advantages for customers compared to the credit systems used on existing microstock sites is that customers only pay for what they use when they use it and don’t end up with a number of credits on account that they may never use.
 


Photographers interested in contributing to Pocketstock can get more information at http://www.pocketstock.com/become-a-contributor. The company also provided a series of instructional videos that many photographers will find useful.

Pocketstock was launched in 2012 by Russell Glenister former image100 CEO. It is headquartered in London, UK, and has offices in New York City.


Copyright © 2012 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: jim@scphotos.com

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

Comments

  • Bill Bachmann Posted Aug 25, 2012
    Buyers...name your own price? What is next?

    The photography industry really seems to want to self destruct itself. Wish I could go in and buy a TV for what price I want.

    Wake up, photographers! Without our approval these stupid gimmicks would not be allowed!

    www.billbachmann.com


  • Tibor Bognar Posted Aug 25, 2012
    I can only agree with Bill. Why are we doing this? How long can you sell a product below cost and what do you hope to accomplish doing it? It's suicidal!

    www.tiborbognar.com

Post Comment

Please log in or create an account to post comments.

Stay Connected

Sign up to receive email notification when new stories are posted.

Follow Us

Free Stuff

Stock Photo Pricing: The Future
In the last two years I have written a lot about stock photo pricing and its downward slide. If you have time over the holidays you may want to review some of these stories as you plan your strategy ...
Read More
Future Of Stock Photography
If you’re a photographer that counts on the licensing of stock images to provide a portion of your annual income the following are a few stories you should read. In the past decade stock photography ...
Read More
Blockchain Stories
The opening session at this year’s CEPIC Congress in Berlin on May 30, 2018 is entitled “Can Blockchain be applied to the Photo Industry?” For those who would like to know more about the existing blo...
Read More
2017 Stories Worth Reviewing
The following are links to some 2017 and early 2018 stories that might be worth reviewing as we move into the new year.
Read More
Stories Related To Stock Photo Pricing
The following are links to stories that deal with stock photo pricing trends. Probably the biggest problem the industry has faced in recent years has been the steady decline in prices for the use of ...
Read More
Stock Photo Prices: The Future
This story is FREE. Feel free to pass it along to anyone interested in licensing their work as stock photography. On October 23rd at the DMLA 2017 Conference in New York there will be a panel discuss...
Read More
Important Stock Photo Industry Issues
Here are links to recent stories that deal with three major issues for the stock photo industry – Revenue Growth Potential, Setting Bottom Line On Pricing and Future Production Sources.
Read More
Recent Stories – Summer 2016
If you’ve been shooting all summer and haven’t had time to keep up with your reading here are links to a few stories you might want to check out as we move into the fall. To begin, be sure to complet...
Read More
Corbis Acquisition by VCG/Getty Images
This story provides links to several stories that relate to the Visual China Group (VCG) acquisition of Corbis and the role Getty Images has been assigned in the transfer of Corbis assets to the Gett...
Read More
Finding The Right Image
Many think search will be solved with better Metadata. While metadata is important, there are limits to how far it can take the customer toward finding the right piece of content. This story provides...
Read More

More from Free Stuff