I, too, am very interested to know if this feature is being implemented soon. It would be huge for the site in terms of revenue generation and for reaching a whole new audience. And as a photographer, I really appreciate that Zooomr (according to the FAQ) intends to give a much better cut for my work.

But I would also like to know if this feature has been stricken in favor of going the mobile/social direction. Even though other sites give much lower cuts, it's better than waiting around here getting nothing at all.

My guess is that it has taken a back seat to the mobile and social features. Kris & Thomas indicated a while back that they were important to obtaining funding and generating revenue. I'm not sure how the will generate revenue with their current functionality, maybe the revenue generating features will come later or they have some partnering deal with the Japanese phone carriers.

Implementing a marketplace is not a trivial undertaking. There are many issues that will need to be carefully thought out if it is to be both successful from the photographers perspective as well as a significant revenue generator for Zooomr. I really hope the when it is implemented, that it is done correctly and not half way.

i would still like groups to be overhauled, posting to groups direct from the photos

Actually doing out Marketplace will also allow Zooomr to generate revenue by drawing some fees during the transaction.

Market place is one of the reasons I joined Zooomr - and I am still waiting.

It seems to be on the backburner in comparison to the mobile/social features. Weird since I would have though a stock agency would bring in more money.

I still hope it happens but I am not holding my breath!

During the last upgrade Kris mentioned (on ZooomrTV) that the big issue with the Marketplace is revenue splitting, how to technically divide the revenue between Zooomr and the photographer (not the proportions). Apparently, it's much easier to build something where 100% goes either way. He mentioned that he might just do that initally - let the photographer get 100%. However, depending on how little we've heard and read about the Marketplace lately, I would not count on it.

I don't see why revenue splitting is that difficult. If Kris wanted to continue using PayPal the payment could go into the Zooomr PayPal account (similar to how you pay for Pro membership) and the system could automatically transfer the photographer's cut from the Zooomr account to the photographer's account. This would result in two lots of PayPal fees, but it's better than nothing.

During the last upgrade Kris mentioned (on ZooomrTV) that the big issue with the Marketplace is revenue splitting, how to technically divide the revenue between Zooomr and the photographer (not the proportions). Apparently, it's much easier to build something where 100% goes either way. He mentioned that he might just do that initally - let the photographer get 100%. However, depending on how little we've heard and read about the Marketplace lately, I would not count on it.

I dont really see why this is an issue. shutterstock , dreamtime , Fotolia , istockphoto , bigstockphoto , 123RF , StockXpert , Featurepics , LuckyOliver and many others dont seem to have a problem splitting income.

this is totally outside my knowledge and i'm only guessing, but...

i suspect this may come down to the size of Zooomr (both financially and in physical form) and accounting issues. it's not as simple as "one for you. one for me".

Zooomr has users from Austria to Australia and just about everywhere else, while it's physical presence is in Japan. each one of these locations has their own set of accounting rules and regulations, not to mention those on international commerce and copyright laws. accounting liability has to be addressed from a business standpoint. this takes time and cost money.

even when all of that is figured out, it may still be a while before the marketplace is self supporting, from a cost standpoint. until then, Zooomr would have to eat any costs until enough paying-users are selling enough images to cover the cost. i have no way of knowing but would hazard a guess that Zooomr doesn't have fat-stacks of cash lying around.

Once they have all the legals and backoffice programing sorted, there would be very little additional cost to what they already have already (servers and bandwidth).

And regarding multiple countries, the sites I mentioned above all source and sell to multiple countries - the only problem is when the photographer is from a country which doesn't allow paypal or moneybookers for payment.

Henrikj is correct. Marketplace is probably going to become more of a place for photographers to connect with potential clients.

The idea is that marketplace becomes more of a forum for people who need photo-specific jobs done in their area. They post what price-range and locations they need, and a local photographer can jump in and help them in these tasks -- very cool.

During the Mark III days, Marketplace was proposed mostly to help us pay for the day-to-day costs it takes to run a site like Zooomr. By going to Japan, I've been able to clear-up some of the costs, so we're going to hopefully launch Marketplace eventually (more like the above).

Also, lots of people don't have Paypal (and Paypal takes a pretty good chunk of the overall funds), so we wanted to also have a by-cheque
method, but we don't have the staff currently to do such a thing.

I would really like to brainstorm more on this and hopefully we can come-up with something cool. Sure there's stock groups, but Marketplace should be more of a real place to connect.

kristopher

Kristopher,

I may be on the outside looking in - since I've not uploaded anything for a while until recently.

Yes, it would be nice to provide an area for clients and photographers to connect within Zooomr itself. I know there are sites specifically geared for models and photographers to display work, or portfolios, in hopes of vetting a client through those venues.

Yet, on the other hand, I kind of hope this doesn't totally discount the idea of allowing folks being able to put a price on photos they have also uploaded to Zooomr. {Especially since the option remains open for people to do so, if they wish, after uploading a photo.)

If Zooomr marketplace launched as initially proposed with photog pricing they would be the only photo stock site to do this and capture alot of new market share. I think Kris' idea to launch it as a place to meet local photogs is not a unique one, there are plenty of places to do this now, but no photog priced stock photo site anywhere. I think Kris would be stunned at the amount they could make with this, I also think investors would be more interested in a UNIQUE site. Marketplace is the only reason I'm sticking around, if there is not going to be a marketplace I'd like to know now so I can investigate moving to another stock site or even starting my own, because the marketplace was a great idea!

Prophead,

I am the middle of the road kind of gal as I think there may be room for both ideas under one roof, or heading, of a marketplace, just with two venues available to potential clients on what one they will/could take. Not many portfolio or stock photo sites offer that angle to its users.

The photo sharing side of Zooomr, which in some, or many, ways would remain separate from the marketplace, helps meets the needs of both of those sides (connecting and selling) while also satisfying the needs of folks who simply want to share photos (not for revenue and/or seeking clients but for fun, self-pleasure, or to work on improving their skills).

I am not discounting marketplace, as originally proposed, on my side from being a possibility just yet. One reason, and probably the largest, is that I still see the option listed allowing one to put a price on a photo. Second is my personal opinions based from past discussions in/around Zooomr when the idea was first shared.

I have been impressed with some of the users' uploaded sharings here that I have been happily looking through over the past several days. I go back and look at their older offerings and smile as I work my way forward seeing how they improved or got more gutsy/creative with their ideas. There's a lot of creative and talented folks on Zooomr - of all skill levels.

But I am starting to ramble a bit there.
I think there is room for more than one idea, or revenue aspect for Zooomr, under marketplace's roof.

my two cents:
i too really got behind zooomr when i heard Hawk & Kris talking up the marketplace ideas... i personally think that's why Hawk has been sorta quite on the zooomr tip lately, because for a little while there he was yacking it up and taking shots at the whole stock photography industry {which, by the way does totally suck and Hawk was right in his appraisal}
http://thomashawk.com/2007/03/getty-images-vs-flickr.html
- and then EVERYTHING changed for ZMR.
anyway.
i agree with prophead above.
Kris, you have the potential to totally change the game by giving control to the photographer. even beyond stock photography, just having a brilliant system for photographers to sell and licence their high res images how ever they please for how ever much they want, WOW.
this whole marketplace idea for clients and photographers to meet; BLECH. never gonna happen. especially world wide. you might get a couple of hip "clients" in san fran willing to give it a shot, but we all know that's a fizzer of an idea.
seriously, if you could get the original market place ideas that Hawky boy was evangelising about going... zooomr will actually be a history maker.

just my 2 cents

I note that a new photo sharing site is starting up (still in beta) which is planing to have their own version of a marketplace.

It is a shame that Zooomr hasn't gone in this direction but I think they are improving.

Hopefully if another player goes in this direction, Zooomr might restart its original plan.

Between Flickr's recent partnership with Getty Images and new sites like phototrade popping up the other sites are going to eat Zooomr's lunch. Marketplace is really important to me and a great idea. I really wish Kris would develop this or even sell the rights to a third party. I have about 200 more images to reach 10,000 images in my library, and I'm about ready to leave here in search of a stock site. Zooomr had a really great vision, I'm saddened by Kris' recent post which said he was not going to develop that property. The first site to do stock right gets my business. It's tragic that not one site has it right yet.