My advice to online store owners who sell cosmetics
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 11:26AM I spend serious time taking product photos that I even have it down to a science. So understandably I'm not happy whenever an online store filches my photos to earn money. I mean, how hard is it to take your own product photos or even just ask permission from the owners?
Those are my Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter photos. Do not approve ಠ_ಠ
Not meaning to be a bitch here, actually. I'm not mad, just baffled. All my photos are under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0) license. It means that:
I think that the Internet should be a free place to share our ideas and output, and to police it by banning people from using your photos is just pointless. All that watermarking? Pointless. The only thing I want from people who want to use my work is for them to ask permission and to credit me. I will most likely give it, as long as it is for decent and legal purposes.
So if you're an online store owner who needs photos to sell your stuff, please, ask the bloggers for permission to use their photos. It's polite at the very least.
However, the best thing you can do as a business owner is to take your own photos. Invest in a photographer if you have to (offer x-deals). It will make your store look more professional, plus people will trust you more since you have proof that you actually have the products on hand. More professional look = More trust = More sales.
Set yourself a step above other similar pre-order stores - take your business seriously. You have no excuse not to.
Reader Comments (12)
Yup! They don't know what 'PERMISSION' and 'CREDIT' means. :(((
Good point, Liz! Did they give credit to you sa site kung san nila ginamit photos mo? :(
i totally agree. business ethics must be followed even virtually.
This is true. Most people think that just because it's out there they can just copy&paste without realizing that there was actually a real live person who uploaded it there. Sure some things made public are free for all but at least to give credit to the one who made it is not asking too much. At least acknowledge the people who you got it from. It kinda kills one's enthusiasm to share on the net if people will just take it without crediting you.
@.@
I'd agree. Some people just don't know how to work hard for some things... =(
i also blog and it's so easy to take pictures. what's a few minutes to do your own photos?! i agree with you. and especially for online stores, they should at least invest in good pictures.
it's shows what kind of business ethics they have.
Another blogger whose pics are all over the shops is shimmerkisser.blogspot.com.. Her NYX lip swatches can be seen everywhere. I emailed her asking if I can use her pictures since I want to sell NYX lippes. But she didn't reply. I guess I have to find another person who'll allow me to copy their swatches.
It'll be a lot easier if I just copied her pictures, nakakalat na rin naman sa net e. But still, I wouldn't. I know how it would feel if my pictures would be taken like that so I respect her.
For me, it's okay to borrow pictures, but at least wait for the owners to grant permission. Besides, they were the ones who allotted time, shelled out money and exerted effort for those product pictures.
I understand where you are coming from and I am against those who steal photos online but please be careful in referring to photographers being a dime a dozen.
I'm ok with folks taking my photos and uploading it on their blogs. If they claim it as their own, I wouldn't care. Bahala na sa kanila ang universe.
But I'm concerned kapag sellers na ang kumuha. Kahit pa they ask my permission. I think, if you're going to open an online store, invest in a camera, even cheap non-SLR ones are good enough. Kung wala talagang money, borrow one, and take photos of items that you actually have.
Agreed Liz! As a customer, I'd feel wary to buy when I browse an online store and see the same pictures that I see in other websites. It's a invaluable factor to me, makes me think they're really serious about their business to take time posting their own swatches and taking their own pictures.
hindi naman masama ang magpaalam para humiram ng gawa ng iba pero di nila magawa.. =(
Hi, Liz.
Does this lisence works well????
I'm a blogger also. I do copy pictures from Google Image search due to my camera pictures are not clear. So I have to embed the product picture from Image search and I credit the owner.
Some pictures are my own pictures. Does this license works so that I can apply it to my blog