F.A.Q
Find answers to the most common questions we receive below.
Last Updated: 28th November 2020
Accounts & Membership Plans
We offer three types of Account at Kiwi Pics: “Customer Accounts”, “Contributor Accounts” and “Affiliate Accounts”.
If you would like to purchase our Membership Plans and Images the Customer Account would be the one you’ll need. But if you would like to sell your images with us you will need a Contributor Account. Our Affiliate Accounts are solely for our Marketing partners to promote our Business.
To Register for a Customer Account, i.e an Individual or Business wishing to purchase our Membership Plans and Images.
You will need to Register and choose a Username, along with your Name and Email Address – that’s all you need for now!
To register for a Contributor Account, i.e an Individual or Business wishing to sell their images with us.
You will need to go through Contributor Registration by completing the online form. Ensure you complete every section with as much information as possible.
Your application will be reviewed by a member of our team and the approval process can take up to 72 hours. Once you have been approved you will automatically have a Customer Account too as the two systems rely upon one another to function. This means you can buy images as a registered customer too!
To register for an Affiliate Account, i.e an Individual or Business wishing to market Kiwi Pics with their Affiliate network.
You will need to go through Affiliate Registration by completing the online form. Ensure you complete every section with as much information as possible.
Your application will be reviewed by a member of our team and the approval process can take up to 72 hours.
Yes you can – if you currently have an existing Customer Account you can apply to become a Contributor via the Contributor Registration form followed by the Affiliate Registration form and, once approved, hold all three accounts simultaneously.
If you have an existing Contributor Account we already created you a Customer Account at the time you were Approved. Our platform requires this as the two systems rely upon one another to function so there is nothing further you need to do but get shopping!
No we don’t – unfortunately Trials are impossible to provide in any useful way when you’re an online digital image resource. Some other Stock Photography websites do offer them but you should know that they heavily restrict what you can and cannot do.
Remember, you will be downloading a Photographers hard work which they deserve the commission/payment for, and one which you may then intend to profit from whether that be directly or indirectly. See the moral and professional conflict?
We simply don’t believe it’s fair to offer a service that isn’t complete whereby all parties are rightfully able to benefit.
No not at this time but we are exploring it. For example, paying a monthly fee for Priority Email Support or Phone Support on a ‘Silver’ Plan. For the time being, you will either need our Black or Gold Plans to fulfil this requirement.
We recommend you use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi or Safari for all interaction with Kiwi Pics. You will enjoy the complete experience, as it was designed.
Due to the depreciated code, we do not support Internet Explorer in any version. Microsoft do not recommend it anymore and even go so far as to avoid even calling it a Web Browser but instead a ‘compatibility solution’.
Microsoft have encouraged users to switch to their Edge Web Browser since 2015 which is included with Windows 10. However, you may experience glitches with Edge as it doesn’t efficiently utilise the latest code and technologies that we use.
No you don’t – we are one of the only Stock Photography Websites that allow images to be purchased by Guests. We don’t force our Customers into registering for an account if they don’t want one.
However, you should know that there are many benefits from creating a Customer Account. Firstly its FREE to Signup with no ongoing fees. You will need one to buy our Membership Plans. In addition to the brilliant advantages of joining in and engaging with our Community in our Forums. You can also speed through the Checkout on your next shop and keep track of all your purchases in one place… to name but a few!
If you’re already logged in, you can change your password via the Customer Account page at the top right of the screen within your Account Menu. If you are not logged in, you can reset the password via the ‘Lost password?’ option on the login page itself beneath where you enter the password.
Always remember to keep your password secure, choose something random that isn’t easily guessable by anyone and make it a minimum of 8 characters long so it’s less likely to be compromised. Remember, no password is 100% secure but the steps above can go a long way to improving your account security.
Yes we do and they are very popular – Please visit our Customer Pricing page for more information. We offer Pre-Paid image Packs with no ongoing commitment along with Monthly Plans for those that rely upon a constant flow of fresh New Zealand imagery at the cheapest price.
If you are planning to be a regular customer or buy multiple images at once, you may find that you save a considerable sum with our Membership Plans compared to buying the images outright.
In the interest of transparency, we also state the average ‘price per image’ to help you calculate how much you are likely to save when choosing a Membership Plan.
You can do this via the Customer Account page at the top right of the screen within your Account Menu.
The Customer Account page also includes other useful information such as your Membership Plans, Logo/Avatar and your Billing information. You can also change your password here.
If you aren’t happy for any reason with your Membership Plan, please Contact us first as we would love the opportunity to discuss it through with you and provide guidance on more suitable options to better cater for your needs.
If you wish to change from one Membership Plan to another, for example from Silver to Gold, you will need to Cancel your existing Silver plan first. This can be done in your Customer Account by simply pressing the Cancel Button next to the Membership Plan. Once you have received confirmation via email of the Cancellation, visit our Customer Pricing page and order the Gold plan (in this example).
Please be aware any remaining time on your previous plan will continue to take effect until its last paid day so you won’t lose out on it’s benefits.
The process is the same for Customer, Contributor and Affiliate Accounts.
Firstly, make sure you remove any Content or personal information you have on your account. Just delete the content and save. But if a field requires content to be present and will not permit it to be left blank, simply replace it with “000000” and save it. This way you are in control of your data and know it has been deleted. Then head over to the Contact us page and email us a request using the subject ‘Remove/Delete my Account’ and we’ll happily do this for you within 72 hours.
Legals & Important
No – You are acquiring the right to use the Image in a certain way, not the property of the Image itself. The Author/Photographer/Photo Agency/Contributor (collectively known as “Suppliers”) who created the Image is still the owner of the Image itself. He/she/they hold the Copyright, being the official term identifying the ownership of the Image.
Please refer to our Customer License Policy for more information on this topic combined with our Terms of Use.
Yes there are and it’s incredibly important that you are aware of them and that you adhere to them at all times.
Please refer to our Customer License Policy for more information on this topic combined with our Terms of Use.
Simply ask yourself… would the model(s) recognise themselves in this photo? If you believe they would, then you do need to complete a Third-Party Consent form. It’s that easy.
The question of ‘Recognition’ is the key here. It can be based on a number of important factors, not just whether the face is visible. Most notably would be the presence of Tattoos or Birthmarks. But you must also remember that people wearing unique clothing, jewellery, near equipment or photographed in a specific location must also be considered.
Here’s an example, picture this: A photo of Uncle Henry on his farm, walking away from the camera towards his Barn with the tractor and sheep visible. Do you think this requires a completed Third-Party Consent form? Yes it does. Why? Because although his face isn’t visible, Uncle Henry’s clothes, the location and his farm are all CLEARLY identifiable. He would recognise himself and so would people who know him.
That is why, as a general rule of thumb, it’s always safer to complete a Third-Party Consent form. Even for a close-up photo of a body part, never-mind a farm as used in the example above. You must also ensure Photo ID is provided on the form to ensure the Third-Party included are an Adult. If they are not, their Parent or Legal Guardian must complete the form on their behalf.
Please be aware that we are constantly reviewing the Images that Contributors upload to Kiwi Pics for legal compliance. Should one be discovered that is not accompanied with a completed Third-Party Consent Form, and we deem it legally required, we may Suspend your account until you confirm that you understand this legal requirement. Consistent breaching of this rule will result in a Permanent Ban and potential legal action.
Given the nature of digital downloads, we are unable to provide a refund if you change your mind. Before you purchased the image(s) you accepted our Terms of Use.
If you are having an issue with your purchase, for example the image you purchased differs from the image you received, please notify us via our Contact Us page and we will put you in touch with the Photographer as soon as possible to correct this.
Yes and we encourage this – click on the thumbnail of the image you would like to test (such as from our home page) and it will take you directly to the page you can buy the image from. This large image at the top is known as the ‘Featured Image’ and will be large enough for most testing needs. Right-click and ‘Save Image as…’ to download it. Once your testing needs have been fulfilled, please ensure the Image is securely deleted from your device.
First of all, it’s worth pointing out that you don’t have to remove the EXIF Data if you don’t wish to.
However, it does contain a wealth information about your images (and potentially you) so removing it from your images prior to uploading them for sale is a wise decision to respect your privacy and to protect your hard work.
So what is EXIF? It stands for ‘Exchangeable Image File Format‘. Every time you take a picture with your digital camera or phone, a file (typically a JPG) is saved to the devices storage. In addition to all the information dedicated to the actual picture, the device also records a large amount of supplemental ‘metadata’ as well. This metadata can include the Date and Time the image was taken, the Camera settings used to take it and possibly copyright information too. You can also add further metadata to EXIF, such as via photo processing software and if your device has GPS Location capabilities it can save that information too.
Hopefully you can now understand why removing the EXIF Data it is ultimately a wise decision. So how do you remove it?
There are a variety of ways, but the quickest and easiest method is to use software dedicated to the task. Luckily there is a Free application that runs on Windows and MacOS called ‘EXIF Purge‘. It’s worth considering as it can remove the EXIF Data from your images with the press of a button. It can also remove it in bulk too which could save you a considerable amount of time if you have 100’s of images! For the record, we have no affiliation with that application and are simply providing it for your convenience as we ourselves use it.
Financial & Payments
We accept 7 of the most popular global currencies to make life easier for you, including our native New Zealand Dollar (NZD). They are the:
- Australian Dollar (AUD)
- Japanese Yen (JPY)
- Euro (EUR)
- US Dollar (USD)
- Great British Pound (GBP)
- Canadian Dollar (CAD).
They are accepted via all major Credit and Debit cards through our payment partner – PayPal.
In addition, we accept the following 5 Cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Dash Coin (DASH)
- Monero (XMR)
They are all accepted via our payment partner – MyCryptoCheckout.
Please be aware we mark up the price by 15% on all Cryptocurrency payments via MyCryptoCheckout. This is to avoid any loss on the conversions (market volatility) and the exchange costs that we incur. This cautious approach aligns us with many other businesses around the world that accept Cryptocurrencies but does not apply to payments made via PayPal.
Contributors will receive the previous months total of commissions via individual payments the following month.
For clarity, refer to your Contributor Dashboard under ‘Earnings‘ for a full list of how the amounts have been earned.
Due to the frequency and fluid nature of the payments, it’s very unlikely they will be impacted due to Unscheduled Maintenance or a Service Outage. However if they are, both of which are out of our control and we would communicate this with you as and when we become aware of it.
Easy – email us via the Contact Us page using the subject ‘Buy-out Request‘.
Please provide as much information as possible regarding the URL of the Image(s) and your intended use of the Image(s). We’ll be in touch as soon as possible!
No unfortunately not at at this time – it currently isn’t possible to do this be we are working on it. For the time being, we only accept payment for our Membership Plans via PayPal
We pay all our Contributors via our payment partner – PayPal. It is therefore essential you have registered for a PayPal account before signing up to become a Contributor with us.
This depends on many factors, but 3 major points to consider are:
1. How much you choose to charge for your images.
2. How popular your images are.
3. Whether the images are sold via a Direct Sale (purchased outright) or via a customer on one of our Membership Plans.
This last point is the only one we can expand on as we are not responsible for the other two. We pay all outright image purchases at a fixed percentage of 60%. So if you choose to charge $60 for the image you will receive $36 over the course of the following month.
If the image was purchased by a customer on one of our Monthly Membership Plans the amount you will receive as payment is more complicated and is instead determined by our custom algorithm. It is calculated on many factors but some are: the value of the Membership Plan used, how many other images the customer downloaded over the course of that month and the combined cost of all those images amongst others. This ‘total pot’ is then shared out to Kiwi Pics and all Contributors the Customer downloaded images from during that period at the time of renewal – in this case monthly.
Due to this fluid approach to payment calculations, you could technically earn more from a customer on a Membership Plan. For example, if a customer purchases a Gold Plan at $349 and by the end of the month they have only purchased one image, your image, you could earn several hundred dollars. Granted this is unlikely as most customers will try and buy their total allotted amount but in the interest of transparency, yes, it absolutely is possible as our custom algorithm permits it.
Firstly, for security reasons we do not save any of your payment information at Kiwi Pics. All of that information is handled by our payment partners. If you have a PayPal account it’s saved with them and we merely link you to them during the Checkout process.
You can save Billing information however and to achieve this you will need to Register by going through our quick and easy Customer Registration form. Once that’s complete, login and at the top right of the menu under Customer Account you will find your Profile. Make sure you complete this with as much information as possible it will then carry through to the Check-out when you make purchases in future.
Company Information
Our Website is capable of answering 99% of the questions we receive – whether that be from this FAQ, our Forums or by simply emailing us using the Contact us page.
We do include Phone Support for customers on our Gold Membership Plan. So if you would prefer this option please visit our Customer Pricing page and purchase accordingly.
We primarily make money in two ways:
1. By selling our Membership Plans, which in turn can save our customers a considerable sum compared to buying the Images outright so this is a ‘win win’.
2. By taking a small percentage (the lowest in the Industry of 40%, whereas others are as high as 85%) as a fee from the sale of each image.
This fee comes out of the ‘Contributors side’ and not from the Customer. For example, if the Contributor chooses to sell their Image for $60 and it’s bought outright by a customer we take $24 and pay them the $36 securely via PayPal. Our pay-runs are monthly and include any commissions the Contributor has earned from customers on our Membership Plans too.
We are based entirely online for the moment with no physical store so unfortunately you are not able to visit us in person at this time. We operate right on the beach of Paraparaumu, a small beach side town 50km’s north of Wellington on the Kāpiti coast.
No and we never will.
Unfortunately, there are many Stock Photography websites that force this dated business model on their Contributors. We feel that it is both dishonest and totally lacks transparency, it’s a form of price gouging which we consider unethical.
An example of this behaviour for those who are not aware:
A Contributor chooses to sell their image for $50 but when the image is submitted for sale it has become $68. This $18 difference is a fee, make no mistake, which they are charging the Customer in addition to the numerous fees they charge the Contributors too. There is nothing the Contributor can do to change this unless they reduce their profit margin. This is why we feel this is a grossly unfair practice and do not employ it at Kiwi Pics. If a Contributor chooses to advertise their Image at $50 it will display on our website at $50… the way it should be.
Affiliate Program
You can register to become an Affiliate by completing the online form on our Affiliate Registration page. Make sure you read through every step carefully and review our Affiliate Terms and Conditions so you understand how the program works.
We pay all our Affiliates via our payment partner PayPal. You will receive the previous calendar months complete total of commissions. They are paid out at the same time and usually in one payment on the same day.
If this was you or anyone on your computer network – no it won’t track and this is intentional. The Affiliate Marketing program is designed for you to market us with your Audience/Affiliate Network and introduce them to us. Please ensure your read our Affiliate Terms and Conditions which explains this.
If however this requirement is met and the 3rd party still clicks your unique link and it doesn’t track this would be due to them having already visited our website and a Cookie is still active on their web browser which was not provided by way of your Unique Link. This will therefore correctly not track as you were not responsible for introducing them to us. A work around would be to ask them to either clear their cache and browsing history, use a different Web Browser or a different device then click the unique link you have provided them prior to making a purchase.
You can access it by visiting our Affiliate Area page.
From here you can see and change your Unique Link, check your Commissions and track your Payout History along with changing your PayPal email address.
We pay all our Affiliates on the 1st day of each and every month. This keeps it simple for everyone.
The only circumstances that may cause this to change would be due to Unscheduled Maintenance or a Service Outage – both of which would be out of our control and we would communicate this with you as and when we become aware of them.
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