The PLUS Coalition. Your thoughts?

I had a conversation last week with Jeff Sedlik from PLUS about using their licensing framework at Cutcaster. How many of you have heard of PLUS?

If you don't know about PLUS it is an international non-profit initiative on a mission to simplify and facilitate the communication and management of image rights. So what does that mean in English...well, PLUS is a system of standards that makes it easier to communicate, understand and manage image rights in all countries.

What are peoples thoughts on using PLUS as an option for licensing images on the site? What do you feel are the pros and cons? I want to open this up to discussion because this site is as much yours as it is ours.

I think some really interesting news for people who are selling their images is that "three major publishers have called for the adoption of the PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System) standards by picture archives, photographers and all other image suppliers. Representatives of McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Pearson each announced that they will adopt the PLUS Picture Licensing Glossary definitions in their contracts, and that they encourage image suppliers to begin embedding PLUS license metadata in all images within one year." Personally I think more will follow and this will be a good opportunity for contributors to Cutcaster but we are all ears here so let us know what you think.

For the latest news on PLUS to see what they are doing check this out.

My Marketplace - Selecting your Price and Negotiating your sales for Content is here!

For the first time in content licensing history, buyers and sellers can negotiate seamlessly over prices on the internet. We have just released into your Studios the My Marketplace (on the left-hand side), which is a section where you can manage any negotiations with buyers or sellers. A buyer of seller can now accept, decline or submit a new price for content they want to buy or sell.

We are really excited about releasing this and can't wait to get our buyers onto the site to test it out. Let us know if you have any questions but here are some Questions and Answers which will help you understand better what the My Marketplace is all about ;-) Please let us know if you have any suggestions or how you like the functionality.


BIDDING FAQ – It’s pretty easy!

1. How does bidding work if you’re a buyer?

If you’re a buyer, search for content you need and click on the thumbnail to preview the media details. On the media details page, where you preview the content, you are given two pricing options as a buyer. The first is you can add the media file to your cart or buy it now if it fits your needs and check out, seamlessly buying the content ala carte and on demand.

If, however, you think the file’s price is above your budget or should be priced lower, you have the option to click on Suggest a Price (bid for the content) to the right and submit a price directly to the seller, who then receives an email notification of the bid you just made (note the price needs to go out to two decimal places if your price is less than one dollar).

Any bids you’ve placed as a buyer can be found in your My Studio page under Content I want to Buy (which is within My Marketplace on the left-hand side). Anytime a seller accepts, declines or re-submits a new price back to you, you will receive an email to the address you provided during the registration detailing the seller’s response and how to proceed.

Finally, any deals that have been accepted or declined can be found under My Marketplace (Accepted Deals and Declined Deals) for your own reference.

Accepted deals will stay in your Cart for 72 hours and after that become void and must be re-done.

2. How does bidding work if you’re a seller?

When a buyer submits a suggested price to you as the seller, you will receive an email from the Cutcaster Community detailing which piece of content has received a new suggested price and what the price was. You can follow the link within the email and go to your My Studio page where you can click on Bids for My Content to review the buyer’s proposal. Under the thumbnail of the media file, you will have the option to Accept, Reject, or submit a counter-offer to the buyer.

Accepting a price will alert the buyer of a completed deal and move the thumbnail to your Accepted Deals window. The buyer will then have 72 hours to buy the file or the deal will be void and must be re-done. The buyer is under no obligation to buy the file. Rejecting a proposal will also send an email alerting the buyer, who could then submit a new price. If, however, you decide to negotiate with the buyer and offer a different price, an email will be sent to the buyer and the thumbnail with the negotiated price will be sent to My Response under Bids for my Content. The entire process can continue from there.

It’s important to note that the whole bidding and negotiating process takes place under the My Marketplace section, but the emails will always be there as alerts.

3. How long do bids and counteroffers last?

Bids and counteroffers are only valid up to 72 hours from the time they’re submitted.

4. Can I change a suggested price or cancel a suggested price as a buyer or seller?

Yes. Go to you’re My Marketplace and find the thumbnail of the file you want to decline and you can delete the deal from there. The seller or buyer will be notified of a declined deal by email and can find that in their Declined Deals page. From there you can re-submit a price if you choose.

5. As a seller, does the price of my content change for good, when I accept a bid from a buyer?

Currently, your content’s price will not change unless you go in and manually change it but if you agree to a price with a buyer they will be able to go in and purchase it within 72 hours at that price. Your starting price or the algorithm price will stay the same on the media details window and no one will know you brought your price down.

6. Can I communicate directly with the seller (or buyer) during a bid or counteroffer?

In the My Marketplace section, you can see how you responded and how the other party has responded. This can be seen above the thumbnails of the associated piece of content in red writing. Cutcaster is currently in the process of rolling out site messaging platform, which would enable buyers and sellers to negotiate more directly over pricing and licensing terms. It will then be possible to negotiate extended licenses with buyers.