Photrade: Strike 2! What is going on???
Written by 
timsdd on November 11th, 2008 in Photrade.
It pains me to have to write a post like this but it has to be said.
I think anyone will tell you that I am a huge proponent of the Photrade site, have been ever since I joined last November when they were in private Beta. Now I realize that they are still in Beta….
BUT, ever since they opened membership to the public the site has been like a ghost town.
ISSUES:
- Site Outages (strike 1) – This to me is inevitable based on the dynamic and heavy load running an image web site must put on servers. I accept this but what I do not accept is that they’ve only made 1 blog post about it and nothing in the time since to update their users. I realize they may not want to air the specifics of their dirty laundry but some reassurance that they are top of it would be nice.
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- Since that original blog post on 10/23, there has been another major outage (like 18 hours +) and several small ones. It would be nice if they kept everyone in the loop. The last major outage was so long that some were fearing that the site had closed entirely! (myself included). In fact the only way I found out what was going on was that someone made a post in a Flickr group and Scott B. said that they were just having server issues again…things were being worked on…
- To compound matters, the blog is on the same server that the main site is so even if they did make a post and the site was down you would be able to see it.
- Customer Service (emails) – Prior to going public, 9/10 someone from customer service (or even Krista herself) would have emailed me back to address an issue or a suggestion within one day. Even if the issue wasn’t something they could resolve immediately they would at least let you know that they were aware of the issue and that someone will take a look at it.
- Since going public I have yet to receive a reply of any kind in an email I have sent to them. I’ve made about 12 of them so far about various issues and never got a reply from them….no acknowledgment of any kind. In fact, I even had to resort to making a blog post about a problem I had before I heard back from them about a payment issue. Even then it took over a week to resolve but in the end I was taken care of.
- Again, I realize that they must be busy and all of that but not to even respond with an acknowledgment is not a good sign in my opinion. How do we know if they are just busy or if the ship is sinking?
- Ghost Town
- Getting back to my original ghost town comment. I figure they are slammed working on other stuff? but nothing on the site has changed in over a month. I mean they even stopped updating the featured photos section. The same featured photo has been on the splash page now since 10/2. That might seem small and insignificant but it was one of my favorite things to check! To me it shows that the site is alive and interested in what is going on with it’s members.
- Regardless of what they are or are not working on, it would be nice for some noticeable sign that the site is still alive and kicking…a list of things they are working on (fixing issues, new features – even if they never come to fruition). Just some sort of communication…even a simple “It’s been a crazy few months, yada, yada, yada”.
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Customer Service – (ORDERS) STRIKE 2!))
- This one is huge and the main reason for my post today. I consider this one by far a greater sin compared to anything I have mentioned thus far.
- The Story – A friend of mine ordered a print and a key chain from me last month but never got her merchandise or the print. She let me know about the problem and I emailed customer service…even CC’d Andrew and Krista and of course they never got back to me. Someone did contact my friend and apologized and said it would be taken care of but guess what…here we are a week later and still nothing! They never got back to her after the initial apology and promise of is being addressed.
- My friend:
I just emailed them again as they lied to me on the 5th and said an Andrew somebody would be responding that day with more information and still nothing.
My order was now placed over a month ago and I got nothing.
Did they ever answer you? I was really looking forward to this stuff, especially the keychain but I am now afraid to ever order from them again, I hope you understand, if there’s somewhere else I can get your pictures on stuff, let me know.
That to me is completely unexcused. They should have sent her stuff out the next day using over night delivery @ their expense. Meanwhile, was this yet another isolated incident or a sign of things to come?
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| 3.2 (2 people) |
November 11th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Tim,
I’m glad you posted this. I’m having all of the same problems as above. Prior to October, Krista and I would email back and forth about various things about every 2 weeks. Since October, it’s just silence. I’ve not, as yet, had a customer report a problem, thank God, but they have owed me a decent amount of money for almost two months now. I’ve gotten no response from them about it.
I’m really disappointed b/c I had very high hopes for this site and their business model, and initially, was very impressed by the staffs’ actively and aggressively addressing problems. But now, the site is unreliable, they owe me money, and hearing the above, I’m afraid they’re not even servicing their customers. There is no excuse, at all, for running a business like that. I sincerely hope this is nothing more than a (big) bump in the road on the way to a successful site.
Bradley Miller, (former?) Photrade/Hyperfocal contributor
November 12th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I wrote one blog for hyperPhocal and never heard from them again. The site seems really weird now, almost neglected. I just have a gut feeling they’re closing shop. I checked all the blogs of people who run the site and none of them mention photrade, almost like they’re doing different work now. Oh well, the majority of start-ups fail I guess, I’m glad I joined smugmug.
Jason Hatfields last blog post..Autumn in Coloroado
November 12th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Thanks for the comments guys. It’s good to hear from others on the issue although I am none to happy with what I am hearing thus far!
Ever since they went ‘public’ it seems like they are either in a PHOcave or packing up their desks, you know what I mean?
Last time I talked to Krista was like 9/24. She was actually supposed to call me and chat about the site, what I liked about it, suggestions for improvements, etc. In fact she also told me that one of their potential investors was interested in talking with me.,..see how viable I thought the site was…help them in their decision to invest or not….that call never came!
I don’t want to speculate b/c I don’t know anything for sure but from the feel ‘WE’ are getting right now, it does not look to good!
November 12th, 2008 at 8:41 am
@ Bradley – It’s just strange right…consistent communication and then nothing.
I too would be greatly disappointed as well if they closed up shop. Heck, 88% of my blog here is based on photos hosted there!! Every time the site goes down it looks like my blog took a big dump! I think the longer we go without hearing anything the more bleak it will look.
Furthermore, I know they see my blog, Krista is subscribed to the same “Photrade” google alert. Every time someone posts a blog about Photrade (or one with pics from photrade) we are notified!
@Jason – You’re not the only one with that gut feeling (unfortunately!!). I would not put a lot of stock into their blogs, they weren’t exactly updating them regularly IMO, I suppose I could be wrong.
I also have a Smug account: http://timsdigitaldarkroom.com/ , I am this much closer now to getting back to it, dusting off the cob webs and hitting the ground running with it instead of Photrade.
If I/we don’t hear a peep from them in the next week or so I might jump ship
HEY! What are the chances we see a ad payout for this month (yeah right…they are at least a week overdue with that now)
November 12th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
If i had a penny for every site that didn’t deliver what it promised! [Or even for those that didn't deliver anything at all]
November 12th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
That’s probably true BUT I thought they had a really good thing going. I envisioned it to eventually be my main source of showcasing my portfolio online….to be continued I guess?
The site crapped out again, get one of these: http://www.photrade.com/index.php?error=1
Brutal!
November 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
The CEO of Photrade up and laid everyone off the beginning of October. He’s the only employee now, and really has no clue what he’s doing. Not that he had clue to begin with.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I don’t suppose you’d be willing to divulge how you obtained such information? Unless of course you’re on of the former employees!
I wonder what “up and laid” entailed…ran out of $? Something else?
Well no wonder it feels empty and the servers are funky if he’s the only one there. I’m sure he’s doing the best he can? Hard to expect one guy to run a site like that by himself is it not?
November 12th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Hey everyone, I am the friend Tim has spoken of in this blog entry. I still have not received the photo of Tim’s that I ordered via Photrade nor the keychain which was to have one of his prints on it, I really looked forward to that.
I have received 2 responses from them early last week then nothing, yesterday I emailed them again asking for more information, or an update, anything, I then went to PayPal and filed 2 separate disputes, one for each order…. I have not heard back from them nor have they responded to my PayPal dispute. Right now in my eyes, they are thieves.
November 12th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
THIEVES and LIARS!
(It is a lyric from a Ministry song).
I still have a glimmer of hope that this is just some sort of giant hiccup but it’s looking more and more like that is not the case. Especially if the “Anonymous” user is correct.
The ironic thing was that I was considering a large order myself…pawn off all my photo merchandise to friends and family for Christmas presents
However, until I hear something one way or the other I will most certainly not order anything AND it’s entirely possible I might not upload any more photos. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time uploading and tagging photos…hate to see all of that go down the e-drain!!
Not to mention the who knows how many hundreds or thousand of PHOpics I have posted…
November 12th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Ok, after receiving some other info I have decided to pull all of my pictures off of photrade.
Jason Hatfields last blog post..Autumn in Coloroado
November 13th, 2008 at 12:09 am
DUDE! leave us hanging why don’t you!!
You’re scaring me Jason!
November 13th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hey guys. I set up the Photrade site on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/photrade/ I was really worried myself as to what happened. krista used to respond to me also and now it has been over 2 months and no replies to any of my emails.. Does not look good for Photrade..
November 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Hey Pacdog, It’s not looking good that’s for sure. I emailed Andrew…I highly doubt I’ll hear back from him regarding the current state of flux.
Speaking of Flickr, twice now I have received alerts to a post there, http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.flickr.com/groups/twip/discuss/72157608993798606/&ct=ga&cd=PvKgHJpbMLA&usg=AFQjCNG1L4v7s9f4c839f238IsFTD1u1VQ
BOTH times the thread has been deleted!
By nobody@flickr.com (darkbond13)
darkbond13 posted a new topic:. Anyone know what is going on with Photrade? They’ve been having lots of outages and it seems the staff is gone (or at least not responding).
This Week in Photography – http://www.flickr.com/groups/twip/
Looks like Scott B. is in on the cover up as well.
The truth may be out there but NO ONE is supposed to talk about it? What is the deal with that? Did the site run out of money? Is it facing a lawsuit? Is it going to be sold? I have no idea but I am uneasy that’s all I know.
Here is what I do know, I want to be informed if the site is going to close for whatever reason. I don’t want to spend any more time uploading photos if my efforts will ultimately be wasted!
November 13th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Well thankfully Andrew got back to me…he explained the situation and while I cannot divulge the specifics, what he said made perfect sense and b/c of that my faith has been restored!
So I am not jumping ship by any means – and in retrospect I probably over reacted …which of course for those of you who know me well, knows that that rarely is ever happens!
November 13th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Good luck with that. I’ve jumped to smugmug.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I hear you! I’ve actually had one for a couple of years but for whatever reason, I have not cultivated it nearly enough.
http://timsdigitaldarkroom.com/
But getting back to my point, I think:
1) It’s a process 2) Nothing is guaranteed 3) A wise person would CTB (cover their butt)…a good analogy that specifically applies to photographers is making back-ups of their work…you’d be crazy not to do it.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
BUT, let us also not forget, that my friend’s issue with her order that never was has yet to be resolved and she is quite livid about it.
She got a couple of emails from PHO…was ignored.
Filed a PayPal dispute…is still being ignored.
So…still issues that will hopefully be resolved!
November 14th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Interesting, I just wish Andrew would let everyone else know what is going on.
Jason Hatfields last blog post..Autumn in Coloroado
November 14th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I agree Jason. I would have to think that an announcement would be forthcoming at some point. Maybe he and the board thought it best to keep everything under wraps as not to cause undue fear of the future of the site.
You’ve got to admit, it bought them several weeks before myself and several others began to wonder what the heck was going on!
The ironic thing is that had it not been for my friends botched order I would have never made this blog entry.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Andrew finally put a post on the Photrade blog about what is going on [url=http://blog.photrade.com/?p=216]http://blog.photrade.com/?p=216[/url]. Glad to know they plan to keep trying.
Jason Hatfields last blog post..Autumn in Coloroado
November 14th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Andrew finally put a post on the Photrade blog about what is going on http://blog.photrade.com/?p=216. Glad to know they plan to keep trying.
Jason Hatfields last blog post..Autumn in Coloroado
November 14th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
@timsdd if you can not divulge specifics can you divulge general details about what Andrew told you? I am still faithless… and any info would help.
November 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@ Jason, sorry – your cmts got stuck in Akismet (spam filter). Thanks for the news.
________________
@ Anon…well Jason tipped me off to the blog @ PHO, http://blog.photrade.com/?p=216
Which is almost exactly what Andrew told me….might have copy & pasted most of it actually
—
NOW…I suppose that all sounds well and good BUT for all we know the site could crash and burn like the year long head shaving cootch flashing episode that Britney Spears just went through.
I mean the former employees (from what I have gathered) cannot talk about the conditions of their release or the site’s health. That still seems particularly fishy. Maybe we just got lip service?
SO I don’t know, maybe until we are given specific assurances about the site, it might be a good idea for me to hit my SmugMug
November 14th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Check out http://www.timsdd.com/breaking-photrade-news-alert-changes-at-photrade/182 for an update
November 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
@timsdd It’s lip service. Enjoy it while it lasts.
November 15th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Sad, but I figured as much. Don’t worry, I’ve already moved on!
I don’t suppose I’ll ever see the $6.20 I still have in my account
Thanks for the truth and not blowing smoke up my ass like you know who!
November 16th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
[...] November 11, Tim’s Digital Darkroom posted a similar post as I did, stating where Photrade has gone wrong lately. Strike One – site outages; Strike Two – lack of [...]
December 10th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
[...] Digital Darkroom has a good blog post about what has been going on lately http://www.timsdd.com/photrade-strike-2-what-is-going-on/165. Someone anonymously posted on Timsdd that the CEO laid everyone off in the beginning of October [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Well that was in November and I can still say the service sucks. No-one is answering emails and I am concerned because many of the photos on my blogs are only displaying the link and no photo. What’s the point of that? Also tried to upload photos today and it wouldn’t work. I reckon I may just as well move over to flickr.
Sires last blog post..Googles Interest-Based Advertising Sucks
April 7th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Good call on the move, I think that is your safest bet ATM. No telling what will happen to Photrade.com but at this point, all signs point to “not good” :/