It’s not with any glee or joy that this is reported, but the microstock community oriented agency Lucky Oliver (LO) has announced this last month that it will be closing its virtual doors and going out of business. OK, I admit, the first thought when I heard this was of Freddy Mercury & Queen singing, “Another one bites the Dust”.
Now, the unlucky members of LO are hard at work on one of the web forums venting their frustrations. I can empathize to a point. If one of my agencies went belly up, and I was owed a good sum of money, I’d be raising my voice too. But LO touted itself as a carnival atmosphere, and attracted photographers with shiny bells, funny whistles, cute slogans, and the smell of cotton candy. Most of these users will be out none to very little money, less than $25.00. Some people are riled up feeling like they’ve been ripped off by LO, yet never felt ripped off when they sold the unlimited commercial use of an image for a few measly dollars. Other photographers are saying, “Oh well”, and moving on.
The one thing I feel is un-sorry for (un)Lucky Oliver. When you build a business and target businesses and suppliers at the bottom end of the barrel, why would anyone be surprised when the results are so un-stellar?
Never heard of Lucky Oliver before seeing it on the business blog, but it is weird that people would be upset over not getting $25 but not over losing out on hundreds if not thousands of dollars per sale.