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absolut_thomas

Posts 24
Hi all,

after having been a MCB member pretty much from the start I kind of mentally went back to early 2008 and thought about the back then prices for different things. They have all been cheaper. My rent has been raised by 8.5% between then and now, petrol has gone up from $1.539 to $2.229 (44%!), groceries have gotten more expensive, as has public transport (about 12% on average in Auckland). And the list goes on and on...

The only prices I can think of which have not increased in the last 4.5 years - correct me if I'm wrong - are the prices here on our highly appreciated MCB website .

I am curious to learn other MCB photographers' thoughts on 'adjusting' the prices a wee bit and have come up with the model of simply turning the now GST inclusive pricing into a net price model and adding the GST on the existing prices.
This would cost our mutual clients a bit more then what they're paying now (a large image would net be $10.00 more) - and would bring some extra $$$ into all our pockets, also into MCB's...

What do you guys reckon, is it time for a pay rise - or is the current economical climate not one to do so?

David, Barbie - sorry for not getting in touch with you guys first, but I was interested in our fellow photographers opinions in the first place, the decision on this will be your's anyway...

Cheers,
Thomas

Canon_S.I.

Posts 283
Well done Thomas on putting in a lot of homework into your thread.Obviously i and most members will agree with your comments...But...like all good management, MCB will argue against any raises due to competition,market conditions,designers demands,slim profit margins ect,ect,but basically i agree that a small increase that you have tabled would help everyone concerned,and since there has been no increase since 2008 perhaps it is time for a payrise since everything we use to supply images has gone up quite substantially,good luck Thomas

mychillybin team

Posts 637
Thanks for doing this work, its a good start.

For customers buying images price is important too (its about money for them too).

Will take a look pre Christmas at current competitor pricing, by image size, and services provided, to see if our overall position (coming from price and volume) is likely to benefit from pricing adjustments.

cheers for now
the Chillys
edited by mychillybin team on 14/09/2012
edited by mychillybin team on 15/09/2012

Mark Roberts

Posts 37
I suspect the current market can't stand too much in the way of an increase, much as I'd like to have one.

As an example, a graphic artist found this pic on my Flickr photostream and asked if he could use it to make a poster. His client was The Barn Company, which I hadn't heard of. I Googled that and found they were a franchise outfit owned by ITM. Marc Ellis was doing promotional work for them, so I figured a three-figure price wouldn't faze them, although I didn't suggest a price at this stage. The graphic artist came back to me with an apologetic response along the lines that he could only offer me $50 because iStockphoto only charged about $30 but they didn't have an image of a man holding a New Zealand snapper. Well, they wouldn't would they.

I then realised I wasn't dealing with the head office in Auckland, but someone further down the food chain who'd bought a franchise. Even so, it staggered me they wouldn't pay more. It's not a great image technically, but it's reasonably unique and should have a model release. The model is well known in fishing circles, having appeared on TV fishing shows etc. So, I refused to sell.

When I run into someone less known with a similar fish, I'll submit an image to mychillybin. Finding someone to catch the fish is the hard part.

Mark_Ewington

Posts 12
Geeze, there's something fishy about that above photo ;-)

fatsprat

Posts 135
You know Mark R, I think you've made a very good point which is that MyChillyBin can offer images that iStock etc can't. Those international companies don't have a New Zealand flavour to their libraries, which makes Chilly widely more accessible and useful to the NZ market and therefore has the edge. Good on you for sticking to your guns over the sale of this image.

For $50 you couldn't even buy a snapper that size and take your own photo of it!

Karen

eyeball

Posts 34
amazing how photoshop can turn a 500 gram tidler into a 20kg lunker - (just joking)

Nice fish

absolut_thomas

Posts 24
I was actually interested in seeing some opinions from other photographers re increasing the prices - but maybe we should change the title of this thread to "Check out this Snapper!" or something more suitable now?

fatsprat

Posts 135
Yes we did go a bit off track. Sorry about that!

You asked a valid question, I guess I'm still thinking over my answer. My first response is that compared to iStock, which I do sell non-NZ images on, I get significantly more dollar for my photos on Chillybin. So I've always been pretty happy with my sales. However, this is pocket money for me, I'm not trying to make a living out of it, so I can see that those who depend a bit more on the income might need to see a price hike.

I'm interested to see how this discussion goes.
Karen

photohunter

Posts 69
I agree wholeheartedly that our prices should increase. Maybe not to the customer but certainly for the phootgraphers. I think the percentage we get paid is a bit low. In the days of film the libraries had to store negatives and transparencies in temperature and humidity controlled premises and had large filing cabinets. Digital images are stored on servers which take up less space. When MCB first started there was much discussion as to the percentages paid to photographers. I think photographers should get at least 50% of the sale price.

absolut_thomas

Posts 24
photohunter wrote:

I agree wholeheartedly that our prices should increase. Maybe not to the customer but certainly for the phootgraphers. I think the percentage we get paid is a bit low. I think photographers should get at least 50% of the sale price.


I have discuss this with the previous MCB owners already right after I joined, as a percentage of around 50% (or even more!) is quite common in stock photography. Especially as MCB wants the images to be with them exclusively I think 38% is not really enough - but on the other hand then NZ is a small market and if MCB can't survive on their percentage we all will no longer to be able to distribute our images through them.

It's not easy to find a solution which suits both sides, therefore I'd rather see the prices being raised - and I doubt that for a $5,000(or more) pitch a designer would not buy the image he wants because it's 10 bucks more than what it used to be...

kathleen

Posts 221
Just a correction there Thomas, its not 38%, its 35% to the photographer and 40% on enhanced licence, on price before gst is added, so less than you thought.
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