NEW PARADIGM SHIFTS IN STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY - PART II (Continued)

COMPARING FOUR ADDITIONAL ONLINE MARKETPLACES (#3 of 4)
    Background: Alamy currently has about 3 million images online from 4600 photographers and 296 agencies. By comparison, all of the four marketplaces we are comparing in this article currently have less than 100,000 images online. All five online marketplaces (Alamy included) do not require an exclusive agreement, and we've noticed many image suppliers are represented by two or more of these marketplaces (and often with the same images). We'll now attempt to offer some overall comparisons and unique features that these four online marketplaces offer. NOTE: Your editor has placed images with all four online marketplaces, and has interviewed contributors at each marketplace to help with this comparison.
MY LOUPE

Owned by Brian Heston
Located in Chicago, Illinois
Domain first registered: January 14, 2001

My Loupe has about 71,000 images online from over 300 contributors. Contributor application and Agreement info:
http://www.myloupe.com/start/index.php

Any image submitted to the MyLoupe.com site, can also be selected to appear on the TSSphoto.com site (see "The Stock Solution", marketplace #4), giving the photographer two portals and chances to make a sale. Contributors receive 70% of the net sales originating from the MyLoupe.com portal, and 50% of the net sales originating from the TSSphoto.com portal (a 60% average). Photographers can also choose a "MySite" option (see below), but must drive their own Web traffic to that site. My Loupe photographers are paid quarterly. NOTE: Photographers must choose which online marketplace they wish to join first: Once you join My Loupe, you cannot join TSSphoto, and vise versa.

Unique features: My Loupe (and TSSphoto) offer the most control over one's own pricing by being able to choose from different price levels or applying price modifiers. On the buyer side, My Loupe (and TSSphoto) offers lightboxes that can be shared with associates and comp images that help to give clients confidence before making their online purchases.

The following information is from a My Loupe press release:
"Our goal is to be both customer-friendly and contributor-friendly," said Brian Heston, President and Founder of myLoupe.com "Eight years as a creative director provided me with innumerable insights into what picture buyers want, and twenty years as a photographer gave me a perspective that is sympathetic to image creators. To the best of my knowledge, we are leading the industry in percentage of net sales proceeds returned to contributors, as well as in providing options to control and manage their image libraries.'

Professional picture buyers will find myLoupe.com fast and easy to use. Registered users can save images to 'lightboxes' which can then be shared via e-mail. Online licensing through a secure payment gateway makes all of the site's images available for immediate purchase and download.

For customers short on time, My Loupe offers personalized service via e-mail or a toll-free 800 number. In addition, the 'Image Request' feature allows registered users to broadcast a request for a hard-to-find subject matter to My Loupe's network of contributors in 41 countries. Photographers then respond by uploading images that match the request to a 'Request Lightbox' where the user can review the selection, download comp files, and license and download a final selection.

The mySite Program we offer to our contributors is just one example of what sets My Loupe apart in what we provide our contributors. It enables a My Loupe contributor with a Web site to link their Web site to My Loupe almost transparently, so that what their Web visitor sees looks like their Web site. Their mySite has only their images, but has My Loupe's e-commerce features, so that the user can license and download the images they wish to purchase. The contributor earns an 85% royalty on the transaction. The idea is to empower our contributors to leverage their existing client base, and provide another tool they can use to grow their own business."
Features we wish My Loupe had: MyLoupe.com requires contributors to make a high-resolution and a medium-resolution image for their uploads. While this greatly improves server efficiency, it adds another step to the contributor's work flow. MyLoupe.com currently have a maximum resolution limit of 3900 pixels (about 28MB - 44MB, depending on the image's aspect ratio). While this size probably handles 90% of most buyer needs, we wish they had a "super" or "extra large" size option as well (although buyers can request a larger file via email). This is a limitation that MyLoupe.com and TSSphoto.com plan to address in the near future. On the buyer side, we notice that American Express and Discover Card are currently not accepted for payment; however, Heston informs us that they do plan to offer a online "purchase order" option for reputable clients that have registered accounts with My Loupe.

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(Reprinted by permission from the InkjetART.com "Inkjet NEWS & Tips" newsletter, July 5, 2005)