forum.dolgachov.com - форум о фотобанках, стоках и продаже фотографий / microstock forum

forum => International forum for English speakers => General discussion => : Syates November 27, 2007, 05:40:04 PM

: lucky oliver (international)
: Syates November 27, 2007, 05:40:04 PM
It is much faster for me now and I even had my first side show sale after the upgrade. $3 for a medium size image, not bad, if they only would be more frequently. SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: builttospill November 28, 2007, 09:52:34 PM
Just had my first sale after the upgrade today.  Things are looking up!
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Syates November 28, 2007, 09:56:21 PM
Good to here, I must say compared to some other "upgrades" we lived through on other stock sites, Lucky Oliver's went pretty smooth, not without hiccups, but at least they were not for days off line or so, SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Clivia November 28, 2007, 11:27:13 PM
I have not had a sale since October 10th. This on a portfolio of 562 pictures, selling really well on most other sites. Lucky Oliver are all talk and no action as far as I am concerned.
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Elnur November 29, 2007, 12:35:27 AM
I have 130% increase in November. That's 5-6 dollars more !!!  ;D 
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: rosta November 29, 2007, 10:11:41 PM
Sorry, I just left there.  I had all of five sales since I joined (among the first ones there).  They were all in the early days. I stopped uploading after fifty and started to get very concerned when some of my best selling images on other sites had no sales on LO but had over a thousand views on each one.  Maybe I'm just paranoid, but either way, as of this week I am no longer on there.
Rosta
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: khz December 01, 2007, 12:44:29 PM
i ul'ded like 500 images there but it is annoying for me that some of my designs are rejected for `not including some keywords`, or something,
it really de-motivate me to ul to such a new site after getting rejected because of keywords, since i use the same sets for all sites including istock, to bigstock, and they are all accepted there
and about sales,
not mcuh, 16 sales last month, with 10 usd income for about 500 images,
so if i can ul like 50.000 images, it will start to make some difference :)
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Syates December 01, 2007, 01:39:31 PM
i ul'ded like 500 images there but it is annoying for me that some of my designs are rejected for `not including some keywords`, or something,
it really de-motivate me to ul to such a new site after getting rejected because of keywords, since i use the same sets for all sites including istock, to bigstock, and they are all accepted there
and about sales,
not mcuh, 16 sales last month, with 10 usd income for about 500 images,
so if i can ul like 50.000 images, it will start to make some difference :)

Let me explain the key word thing: Lucky Oliver uses the key word "illustration" to distinguish between jpg photos and illustrations in the search, so that somebody that searches for "cat" can decide if they want to  see photos or illustrations or both of a cat. Btw, they don't get rejected, they just get send back to your submission area to add the missing word, so that you don't have to upload them again. Hope that helps, SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: khz December 01, 2007, 01:53:06 PM
but they images send back to me are photos, which are composed with ornaments and paper backgrounds.
they are jpg's in the end, not eps
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Syates December 01, 2007, 02:11:28 PM
but they images send back to me are photos, which are composed with ornaments and paper backgrounds.
they are jpg's in the end, not eps


That is the point, "illustration" helps to distinguish between jpg photos and jpg illustrations, as Lucky Oliver doesn't accept any other format at the moment then jpg. The other thing is that sometimes it is very borderline if you call it a photo or an illustration because often it is a mix of the both and very difficult to decide. SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: sshaw75 December 03, 2007, 06:00:23 AM
the site is a bit quicker, still experiencing some bugs when trying to send files in for submission.  Other than that the usual, lots of views and hardly any downloads.
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: shadow216 December 09, 2007, 05:45:53 PM
same here, also getting error when sending file...
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: sshaw75 December 10, 2007, 08:01:52 AM
grrrrrrr....

Just had another one bounced back for no description.  Seriously this is becoming a pain in the butt.  The descriptions are there, but then for some reason they dissappear when they get sent in.  Been happening almost every batch I have submitted in the past month.  Worst yet though was 3 files that were sent back out of 1 batch, when I checked the files in the submit area, they all had descriptions, so I resubmitted.  They were accepted but they somehow got submitted two times each.  3 of the 6 were rejected as duplicates.. lol that was the best one yet.

So things are running quicker, but not smoother.  Really starting to thinnk twice about this one.  Have over 13000 views and a grand total of 11 sales adding up to $10 since June or July.  I keep hearing it is because the site is so new, but that's starting to get a bit old.
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Dash December 10, 2007, 04:49:05 PM
I think that LO made mistake with their upgrade in november/december. Those are most valuable and downloadable months in year but their site is only in part functional. Everybody knows how long fotolia was down after their upgrade. They didnt learn from fotolias mistakes.
: FTP- Upload is working again!
: Syates December 22, 2007, 04:58:35 AM
Lucky Oliver has just enabled FTP upload again! SY
: Re: FTP- Upload is working again!
: DNF-Style December 22, 2007, 02:14:05 PM
They missed out bigtime
: content filter bug
: dolgachov December 26, 2007, 09:29:24 PM
you go to one's portfolio
uncheck "no nudes" checkbox
then go to second page - box is checked again
uncheck the box - you'll go back to the first page.

it's impossible to get to content filtered images by browsing portfolio. only first page is awailable. once you go to other page it's filtered back. once you uncheck filter - system returns you to first page. no way to get other page with no filtering other than manually entering long-long address with page numbers and filter disabling in address bar wich no buyer will really do.
: Re: content filter bug
: khz December 28, 2007, 11:35:52 AM
this content filter problems in other sites are really a pain,
:(
i hope they will fix it soon,
but nowadays things doesnt seem to work well in lucky imo,
there are lots of downtimes, ftp ul havent been working for a time, (i didnt check for the last 2-3 days)
and site is very slow, i stopped ul'ing for a time :S
: Re: content filter bug
: Syates December 29, 2007, 10:12:14 PM
Seems to be sorted now  :D SY
: Re: content filter bug
: domencolja December 29, 2007, 10:44:30 PM
Don't know exactly why the sales are so low on LO. Well, to me they compare to BSP somehow, at least regarding the sales stats. But their community is awesome, the site admins (and the bouncers) are friendlier than anybody, love the design and their uniqueness as well. The uploading system is great too (much, much better than on iStock, for example).

The major reason is probably their age, but there has to be something wrong on the buyer side as well. Marketing primarily and maybe an unlucky search engine. The free images section or something like that would certainly build up it's popularity. They have to come up with an idea to bring in more buyers.

p.s.: I was wondering a couple of days ago how much does offering different content formats (bitmaps and vector, for example) contribute to the popularity of these microstock agencies. And it is certainly one of the top reasons why buyers choose them. The market has diversified and designers are well versed in rasterized AND vector content. And they choose those that offer both (look at SS and iS).

Anyways. I wish all the best to LO, they sure are working hard.
: Entering Info Bugs
: sshaw75 December 31, 2007, 10:25:48 PM
This bug is really starting to get to me on LO.  The one where you enter a title hit OK, description hit OK, and sticky words and hit ok then hit save and the file is not ready to be submitted and either or both the title and description is missing.  Not a biggie, but I hate doing things twice.  Also with this bug sometimes the file shows ready to submit, then the files get bounced back for missing information.  Wouldn't be bad but it has been going on for months now.  I like LO, sales suck, but there seems to be lot's of technical issues.
: Re: Entering Info Bugs
: Syates January 08, 2008, 03:01:04 AM
Seems the bug is disappeared now  ;) SY
: Re: content filter bug
: Syates January 08, 2008, 03:21:29 AM
Lucky Oliver has now a designer/ buyer blogging for them, check out Here (http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/293/why_running_a_start-up_is_like_having_a_b/?loaf=hospitalera)  and Here (http://www.luckyoliver.com/odditorium/post/1291/your_blog_fodder_wanted_top_popcorn_paid/?loaf=hospitalera). That should have some input how the site works, give some incentive to contributors (as Sabrina Dent posts freely her image requests and subsequent image usages on the odditorium (http://www.luckyoliver.com/odditorium/post/1287/bring_me_your_boobies/?loaf=hospitalera) and here odditorium (http://www.luckyoliver.com/odditorium/post/1277/this_weeks_images/?loaf=hospitalera)). That seems to be the right step in the right direction, involving not only the community of contributors but also the community of buyers in the site communication  ;D SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Syates January 08, 2008, 03:24:11 AM
I think the problem was that the site got so dead slow with the increasing traffic that there was no other possibility then doing it then. At least now it is fast and pretty bug free and, seriously compared to, for example the fotolia update it went pretty smoothly! SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: domencolja January 08, 2008, 12:41:57 PM
I think the site runs very smoothly now. The only problems I see (technically) are the thumbnails of uploaded files not displaying sometimes. But they "catch up" after a while.

p.s.: And there's the two dead thumbnails in the approval queue of files nobody sees that just sit there;) Sybille, I contacted Jill and she immediatelly replied, so I reuploaded the two files, but the old thumbnails are still there;/
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: domencolja January 08, 2008, 12:59:45 PM
In this very moment I am doing "woohoohoooo";)) Bryan just mentioned my portfolio in his "Stunning new images" blog post: http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/294/stunning_new_images#Comments (http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/294/stunning_new_images#Comments).

And I'm shaking to see one of mine between all those masterpieces. Damn me, bring me a glass of water, please!;))

p.s.: Sybille, say "thank you" to Bryan in my name!;)
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: Syates January 08, 2008, 01:10:40 PM
p.s.: Sybille, say "thank you" to Bryan in my name!;)

I can do but why can't you do it ?  ;D SY
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: domencolja January 08, 2008, 04:07:54 PM
;)) I did;) But since you're a "team", this was intended to touch everyone at LO. THANKS!;)
: Re: How is everybody doing after the upgrade?
: DNF-Style January 08, 2008, 09:36:17 PM
mwah still about 5 sales a month
still have to mail jill more times before receiving answerers a week later
I is stilll a nice place with very nice people.

Nope nothing much changed for us at LO
: Re: Entering Info Bugs
: sshaw75 January 09, 2008, 01:31:23 AM
As of Saturday night, I was still getting it. I am holding off on uploading images until it get's sorted out.  I know that I am only hurting myself doing so, but I get so frustrated when I have to enter the same information more than once.  When uploading to multiple sites, that waste of time is too much of an inconvenience for now
: Re: Entering Info Bugs
: sshaw75 January 09, 2008, 06:09:43 AM
Thanks for the review Sybille.
As you can see the bug is still there haha
: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 19, 2008, 01:26:33 AM
Has the Que been full lately?  Review times seemed to have really slowed down again.  What is the avg time now Sybille? I 've had a few in for almost a week now
: Re: Review Time
: Syates January 19, 2008, 03:30:19 AM
Have a look in your portfolio, some people remarked in the oddi that they didn't get notifications. Over a week doesn't sound right better drop a note to support. Average review time is 48-72h at the moment. SY
: Re: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 19, 2008, 04:40:15 AM
They are still in the waiting section.  Really weird.  I am positive it is about a week, but it is definately over 72 hours
: Re: Review Time
: Syates January 19, 2008, 04:44:32 AM
Write an email to support@luckyoliver.com might be that they got stuck somewhere ;-) SY
: Re: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 19, 2008, 05:00:48 AM
Thanks Sybille,
I just blasted off an email.  With the way things have been working for me with my submissions there lately, no doubt they are lost and I have to resubmit them again lol I think someone is playing games with me  ;D
: Re: Review Time
: Syates January 19, 2008, 05:11:07 AM
I don't think they are lost, I think they are stuck between reviewed and review processed ;-) SY
: Re: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 19, 2008, 06:28:16 AM
haha yup, just got the reply:

It looks like the submission was actually reviewed on the 13th, but it's
still in processing mode.  I'm forwarding the submission on to our tech
team so it can get pushed through for you and you should see the review
shortly


I could have swore that I had 27 in there, and 1 had gone through, or the beer had been playing tricks on me again  ::)
: Lucky Oliver - Carnies 1st page
: nicemonkey January 19, 2008, 01:31:56 PM
I am not sure if I am the only one but I seem to have got caught in a loop. On Lucky Oliver under the "Browse" heading you can see where you appear in the amount of images you have online. For the last 3 months I have been in a unofficial (I haven't told the other people) struggle to keep on the first page.

I am currently 2nd bottom but just when I seem to be making a gap, somebody uploads a large batch and I get dumped back down onto the 2nd page. I am sure where you appear in the list makes no difference to your sales but still I check where I am after I get a batch approved....how sad am I!
: Re: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 24, 2008, 01:24:20 AM
hmmm things overloaded Sybille?  I still haven't seen any change in the status, and sent support another email a few days ago with no response.
: Re: Review Time
: Syates January 24, 2008, 02:58:51 AM
Try Bryans email z@luckyoliver.com
SY
: Re: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 24, 2008, 05:39:23 AM
Thanks once again Sybille.  Just sent one off to Bryan.  Man I am starting to feel like that kid on Charlie Brown that always has that cloud over his head when it comes to LO lately
: Re: Review Time
: sshaw75 January 25, 2008, 07:43:32 AM
Well finally gotthe situation straightened out tonight.  Bryan was great with comunication.  But had a few bounced back yet again for no description......... sigh :p
: Support/answers getting lax
: sshaw75 January 27, 2008, 09:52:06 AM
Ok LO is starting to piss me off.  I finally got the lost in space batch and another passed a few days ago, on homebase they are showing 364 files in port but when I click on my port It shows only 317.  So batches aren't showing. Wait a few days, post a question in the forum with no response and still not showing up in my port.

Fastforward to today.  Had a number of files waiting for review.. had 4 less in review, click on bouncer feedback, nothing new.  Tried figuringout what was going on, clicked on submit and there the 4 files are in the ready to submit section again.  All green checkmarks, check each one and all have file names, descriptions, and sticky words.  These 4 files had been bounced back for lack of file name and or dexcription before.  Send them off again, post a different message inthe odditorium, no responses.

I will not be surpised if the 4 get rejected for multiple submissions/duplicates, it has happened before.
I like the atmosphere at LO but they really have to get their shit together. It is getting down right pathetic when trying to upload new files.  The last ones that got lost in space I was told there is a delay so they can fix it right. I wrote Bryan back and his response was "Jill is handling it now"

Was getting insane views at one point from google, then it stopped, few veiws and fewer DL's now (been a month or 2 since last one)  Thinking this place is falling fast. 
: Re: Review Time
: DNF-Style January 27, 2008, 04:09:01 PM
Here it is slow to... 5 days waiting now...
: Re: Support/answers getting lax
: Syates January 28, 2008, 11:17:59 PM
Any news on this? SY
: Re: Support/answers getting lax
: sshaw75 January 28, 2008, 11:44:27 PM
Finally got straightened out today.  Seems like they are having some major issues with the site again, slowing down and lot's of little bugs.

Of course when having a few beverages and facing these issues, the lips become a bit looser  >:D
: Re: Review Time
: DNF-Style January 31, 2008, 08:22:58 PM
still waiting !!9!! days now.
They tell me (Frenk) they don't need any inspectors but the reality seems otherwise.

Anyone knows what is going on?

Also LO is starting to fall down hard in our sales list. Even slower then they were before. In numbers Crestock has passed LO already. In financials we are waiting for CS to pass LO.
: Re: Review Time
: domencolja January 31, 2008, 09:52:59 PM
Same here, all sites have surpasses LO (and I've been there the longest). Still hoping they'll recover.

p.s.: The review times are very slow, true. On top of that some nasty slow downs occur (sometimes I just give up uploading and try another time - editing submitted images is a pita) and errors are present (like "phantom images" in the submitted and waiting area that noone sees and I can't delete).
: LO Down?
: sshaw75 February 03, 2008, 07:44:50 PM
Is anyone else having difficulty getting on LO?
: Re: LO Down?
: nicemonkey February 03, 2008, 08:09:30 PM
Yes it seems to be, I cant get on either. Its a shame I really like LO but recently the sales have really fallen off and the site has been very slow to load. Also images are taking such a long time to me reviewed.
: Re: LO Down?
: sshaw75 February 03, 2008, 09:15:24 PM
Hopefully they are working on getting the bugs out.  I have a bunch in the ready to edit section, but even yesterday I could get maybe 2 - 3 done before it started slowing down so much saving the inputed data, I just gave up
: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: Syates February 12, 2008, 11:07:21 PM


From the Lucky Oliver Blog (http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/?loaf=hospitalera):
After some consideration and dialog with some of our loyal Carnies, we're pleased to announce LuckyOliver's new payout structure.
To kick things off, we're giving everyone a chance to cash in on Valentines Day. Carnies with at least $1 in their account can have a payouts sent to them via Paypal or moneybookers!
Starting in March we'll also be lowering the payout to $25. Payouts will continue to be processed at the end of every month.
 Read more here (http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/?loaf=hospitalera)


*****************

Great News that means I get my second pay-out there earlier then expected!
SY *Glad she sticked with Lucky Oliver*
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: Sundance February 12, 2008, 11:31:10 PM
Well I will try again registering on LO via your referral link Sybille. Last 6 attempts were in vain. But the guys in our slavic corner say LO is having bad days in terms of sales...  :-\
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: Syates February 12, 2008, 11:48:27 PM
In February I had 3 sales so far, but all were sideshow sales with an average commission of $3/dl for me  ;D Outperforms a few other sites I submit to. SY
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: sshaw75 February 13, 2008, 12:42:47 AM
Good to hear.  Playing Devil's Advocate here... I wonder if this is to try and keep people, and keep them happy?  With all of the issues they are having with the site, uploads and so forth, and the recent departure of Jill.  Anyway, I think it's a good idea for them to reduce the payout levels 
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: Syates February 13, 2008, 12:54:23 AM
The lower pay-out limit also proves that there is enough money in and behind LuckyOliver and disperses some gossip regarding that point  ;) SY
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: domencolja February 13, 2008, 12:55:28 AM
Sounds strategic, yeah.

p.s.: Even if honestly doesn't make that much of a difference getting 25 or a 100 dollars. But it does mean I won't have to wait four years to achieve the later, that's true;)
p.p.s.: In three months there I earned 10 bucks. That divided by the time spent "uploading/waiting for system slowdowns while entering desc/keywords" equals surely the lowest income per hour on earth, literally. Not even enough to buy one pizza here (I'd have to beg for a glass of water);)
p.p.p.s.: They should really rethink the whole site "personality". It sounds different, but I'm pretty much certain this isn't working the way it should as things stand right now.
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: domencolja February 13, 2008, 12:57:06 AM
Btw: if it wasn't for the "friendliness" emanating from LO, it's admins and especially the inspectors, I'd quit uploading after one month.
: Re: Lucky Oliver lowers pay-out to $1 respective $25
: nicemonkey February 13, 2008, 01:21:01 AM
Btw: if it wasn't for the "friendliness" emanating from LO, it's admins and especially the inspectors, I'd quit uploading after one month.

I totally agree, sales have really slowed for me lately and reviewing of images has stopped. If it wasn't for the friendliness of the people and reviews I would have left along time ago. shame
: ftp ul problem
: khz February 19, 2008, 11:23:45 PM
can anyone here ul via ftp to LO?
i couldnt ul with ftp there for a time now, and considering low sales, should i stop checking if ftp is fixed?
what do you think?
: Re: ftp ul problem
: Syates February 20, 2008, 03:16:13 AM
I uploaded this month a couple of 50+ batches to LO without any problems, perhaps you should contact Bryan at z@luckyoliver.com Hope that helps, SY
: lucky oliver
: dolgachov March 02, 2008, 05:36:46 PM
everything about LO goes here