500px, is it worth it?

[Msteelio91]

Is it worth anything? I hear it quite rare for anyone to actually purchase things from that site. I am not even sure if people would go there and follow someone's account back to their actual website. So is it worth holding and managing a 500px account if you already have flickr/twitter/instagram + your own website?

Looking for personal thoughts

 

[Overread]

The days are long gone (if indeed they ever were) when you could just put up a gallery online and wait for the money to roll in. 500pix is like any other site - it provides a gallery service for you nothing more. All the advertising - all the clients -all the purchases you've got to go hunt for yourself.

If I recall right the site got some notoriety in being an "elite" site that a large crowed of the "higher skilled" flocked to join when they considered that flickr was getting too "common". However that was generally a reflection of its starting days and a niche community size - now its more mainstream that group is again complaining (though in general they always complain does that group).

 

[tirediron]

I don't think so; I prefer to keep just my own 'site. That way I know what terms of use are, and what the EULA is when I post/link images through it. I can also post as many or as large as I want. Cold sales from any 'site are very, very rare.

 

[fotomonkey]

I'm a member but I don't expect to sell anything. I just find it more intuitive than Flickr. But I also have my own site as well.

 

[jsecordphoto]

I just have a regular account, but a few of my buddies have the "prime" accounts or whatever and usually sell the licence to a few photos a month. Not bad at like $250 per photo

 

[Ian63]

I personally prefer my own site. 500px is just a bunch of hype.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I'd take a look at the Terms & Conditions; I usually watch for terms like redistribute, reproduce, sublicense, etc. that aren't favorable to the photographer. Also I look for a time frame, many of the terms mean that the site can re-sell the photo over and over from now til - well, forever. They can keep making money from it and usually the person who posted the photo gets an undervalued one time payment.

I think many of these sites have an expectation that users won't look at the terms to know what they've agreed to, and that many of the site users may not know anything about licensing. It seems like these so-called photo rights grab sites are just taking advantage of people.

 

[sbr]

I'm not sure how they are for buying selling pics but 500px is a nice site to view great pic and get artist ideas. There are some very talented photographers posting on that site.
I love some recommendations for similar public sites it you know of any?

 

[KmH]

Recently, Google let it be known that a majority of the online advertising advertisers pay for never get seen by a person.
The Scary Truth About Online Ad 'Viewability' - Forbes