Polylooks, a photo service launched in June 2009 by Deutsche Telekom, Germany’s leading provider of communications services, has announced that it will close operations on December 31, 2010.
The microstock priced service was designed to market the images of both amateur and professional photographers. Polylooks has both somewhat lower pricing and fewer restrictions on use than many of its competitors. It was hoped this would help in building a customer base. However, observers say that heavy investment by Deutsch Tetekom and the cheap prices were not enough to overcome the general poor quality of the imagery.
Any credit balances not fully used by the closing date will be paid out to customers automatically. As of now the site will no longer accept new images. Royalties will be paid out to suppliers through PayPal even if they failed to reach the 25 EUR credit limit.
“The decision to shut down Polylooks was a difficult one but the right thing to do as the site has not met expectations,” said Norbert Weber, head of Polylooks. “We would like to thank all our customers for their loyalty, and for providing high quality photography and artwork online.”