Pond5 Asks Contributors to Lower their Prices, See how Contributors React

prices competition microstock pond5

If you have content on Pond5 that is priced lower on competitor sites, please adjust your pricing to be no higher than the competitor price. Giving Artists the ability to set their own prices is one of our most important founding principles, but we also have to protect the integrity of our marketplace. (Of course, we always welcome higher-priced exclusive content.)

The above message is from Pond5 asking their contributors not to charge more than competitor sites. This request has surprised some of their contributors.

This is the pot calling the kettle black. I will decide when to adjust my pricing and what to do with my work. Click To Tweet

In a thread in the Microstock Group on the subject, one contributor had this to say.

Dear Pond5, you’re receiving this message because there are other sites that are selling my photos thousands of times each month while I only have a sale every few months with you.
Please, adjust your number of sales to match them and I will lower my prices a bit.

Another contributor replies…

This is the pot calling the kettle black. I will decide when to adjust my pricing and what to do with my work. Thank-you.

For one contributor Pond5’s message had the opposite affect..

I’m going to raise my prices in response. Sales at Pond5 are not that frequent, so I might as well try it.

Pond5 says that one of its founding principles is allowing Artists to set their own prices, ignoring the elephant in the room when this principle was founded, which is what if Pond5 Artists price their images, footage etc. higher than on other sites that they’re with. Most other sites set the prices themselves, this may not be as attractive for contributors but consistent pricing will likely be more appealing to buyers. It seems like one day Pond5 could have a serious rethink of this principle, if they aren’t already..

Read Also  Contributors are Furious with Shutterstock but will they Delete their Images?

Related Posts

One thought on “Pond5 Asks Contributors to Lower their Prices, See how Contributors React

  1. That first comment is gold! I think I’ve had two payouts from them in all the years I’ve been there.

    1

Leave a Reply to Leslie Moak Murray Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let me know of follow up comments..