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We are a truly international contingent of photographers (about 120 at last count) who are working together to create, what has become, one of the best independent stock photo and photo print sites on the web today.
World of Stock was founded in 2003 by Steve Smith (see bio). Steve's vision is to provide a fair and transparent environment in which photographers can promote and sell their work. Photo buyers image needs can be met in a user friendly, uncomplicated, fair and secure website. Please e-mail Steve directly if you have any concerns, suggestions or requests. You can also call us toll free, check the contact us section for details.
World of Stock's headquarters and dedicated servers are near Vancouver, in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada, however our contributing photographers join us from all corners of the globe.
Our Primary Mission is to delight our clients by offering big agency quality and selection at small agency prices. While technology has facilitated our online business, and we are constantly leveraging technology to improve, we never want to lose touch with the personal level of service one would expect from a traditional business. Many of our clients are very pleasantly surprised with the level of personal service they receive, time and again.
Almost as importantly, we are strong believers in the practice of Fair Trade Stock Photography. Want to know what this means and why it matters to you, the photo buyer? Read this short writeup.
We firmly believe that happy photographers lead to happy clients and vice versa.
A sampling of Real Customer Comments. Many of our customers really like the personalized attention, flexibility and rapid turnaround they get dealing with a smaller agency.
"I am very impressed with your site and the quality of your pictures. Your prices are excellent and the terms of agreement are easy to follow. I have found the perfect picture for my work and I will definitely be using your site again. Keep up the good work."
"The photos on your website are quite spectacular."
"World of Stock is Awesome. The quality of the photos is great. What makes World of Stock stand out, however, is your incredible (and personal) customer service. As a result of my wonderful experience, both with finding the photo I needed, and with the follow-up support I needed - and received - you have become my first choice provider. Thanks again."
"Genuinely appreciate your personal involvement Steve. Makes this anonymous world seem more palatable."
"I’m impressed by your prompt replies and attention. I will hit your site first for photo needs in the future"
"Thanks - it was a real pleasure dealing with you, and most importantly, my client is happy."
"I have visited many web sites and found yours to be the best I have seen. Thanks for giving the general public a way to purchase pictures of places we might never see in person! Great Job! "
"I received the print I ordered today and I am very happy with it. I can't believe how fast it got here, just wanted to let you know that I am pleased and I look forward ordering from you in the future."
"I have been very impressed with your level of service. When I was having a problem finding a particular image you forwarded me several that ended up being exactly what my client was looking for."
"You have a great website. So easy to use and a great choice of photos. I also appreciated the discount for ordering multiple images."
"Your organization's customer service is top-notch."
What is Fair Trade Stock Photography?
It's a growing movement amongst a few agencies and other services that believe in truly supporting the photographer community. We give a fair deal to photographers because we believe that if photographers don't get a fair deal, eventually this could undermine the industry as a whole. In the last few years many stock photography sites have popped up which offer stock photos at unbelievably low prices. While these prices are very appealing to buyers, these new sites pay the photographers very little of the sale price, many times just pennies per image. In addition to this the overall trend has been that the larger mega-agencies are taking increasingly bigger pieces of the revenue pie, with the net result that the photographers share is shrinking - big time. We believe that Photographers, especially those with original and high quality images deserve a better deal. That's why we pay some of the highest per sale commissions in the industry and that's why we do our best to keep our administrative costs low, without sacrificing service.
Why is this important to you, the photo buyer?
Photographers are the foundation of the stock photo industry. They produce the 'raw materials' for the ads, designs, prints and more. If photographers can no longer economically produce innovative and high quality product with the amount of revenue they earn from their sales, then supply starts to stagnate. Yes, there will still be plenty of images, but they will be of a lower quality, less unique and less likely to have been produced by professionals. It will become harder and harder to find that truly unique image. The proliferation of discount based sites is short term gain for longer term pain.
What, specifically, is World of Stock doing to support Fair Trade?
While we are but a small fish in a very big ocean we believe that the movement has to start somewhere. Recently we imposed a policy that we would only accept new photographers that did not participate in low priced or subscription based sites. We don't think its fair to the buyer to pay more here for the same image available elsewhere for a few dollars. We continue to pay some of the highest sales commissions in the industry. You can rest assured that the majority of your dollar from every sale goes to the photographer, not to the agency, and, our payment record is flawless. In addition, by posting information like this, we are doing our best to educate both photographers and photo buyers about unfair practices and how to support the industry over the long term.
What can you do to help?
Here are a few suggestions;
We feel passionate about this, and our photographers truly appreciate your support.