Gifts from Fotolia

Happy New Year 2010 to everyone! Wishing you strong health, lots of luck, and success in the Year of the Tiger! And, of course, great success in your work on photobanks, with fewer unpleasant surprises!
Now, onto the gifts from Fotolia, though they aren’t exactly pleasant. The first photobank to “delight” us in the new year is Fotolia. First, Fotolia changed its rates not in favor of microstockers, and second, it started withholding the promised tax on American sales. So, let’s dive into each “gift box” in more detail.

Fotolia Changes Its Prices

Fotolia has altered prices for buyers and commissions for authors. The most intriguing and mysterious thing is that while prices for buyers have risen, the percentage for authors has decreased. Truly, the ways of Fotolia are unfathomable! Or is it just greed above all else?

From now on, the price for all image sizes, except for the smallest size XS, increases by 1-2 credits per file. The XXL and XXXL sizes are also being merged into one. This concerns the buyers on Fotolia.

Now, regarding author payouts. The payout structure on Fotolia has changed. For most beginner microstockers, royalties will decrease, while for professional microstockers with substantial income, they will increase. Fotolia’s management confidently states that most Fotolia authors are seeing increased income. In short, the rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer. Just kidding. This simply means you’ll need to grow your portfolio more actively to reach higher earning levels.

Below, you can see the new payout structure and prices for non-exclusive authors on Fotolia:

For beginner microstockers, income loss on Fotolia will be quite noticeable. 5% is no small amount, especially when considering Fotolia’s second “gift.”

Fotolia Imposes Tax

Yes, what had been talked about a lot at the end of last year has finally happened! Fotolia has started taxing all purchases of your work made by US citizens. The tax rate is 30%. Not bad? The most interesting part is that Fotolia offered everyone to fill out forms to avoid tax on all sales. But it was also written that if the form was filled out correctly and you’re not a US citizen, nothing should be withheld from you. In practice, things turn out differently. The tax is withheld from anyone who doesn’t have an ITIN — essentially an American ID number. You can get an ITIN, but it’s a lengthy process. So, it might make sense to analyze the volume of American sales in your portfolio on Fotolia before worrying about obtaining an ITIN.
Interestingly, Shutterstock simply asked authors to fill out a similar form without withholding anything. A little doubt creeps in: could this be yet another move by Fotolia’s administration to gain additional income? Well, what can you do? Regardless, this won’t reduce the number of authors on Fotolia; there will just be more criticism and discontent. So, dear Fotolia, thank you for securing our future, free from any thoughts of where to spend those extra pennies. Now, those pennies will settle into Fotolia’s pockets.
Nevertheless, for beginner microstockers, there are unfortunately still no worthy alternatives to Fotolia in terms of fast start, ease of work, and income level — even with the New Year “gifts.” So, let’s keep working, working, and working some more!