Welcome to TalkGraphics.com
Results 1 to 10 of 14

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Skødstrup, Denmark
    Posts
    251

    Default Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    Hi,
    For many years I have done my masking of images manually in Xara. When a friend told me about the prices for getting images masked by online services I decided to try it out. The price is low, the quality is high and the speed is high!

    Read by blog post here: http://www.netsi.dk/wordpress/index....st-experience/ if you want to see what I discovered: It works fine and together with Xara Designer Pro 6 it is a perfect match!

    Happy new year to you all! See you in 2011 here again!
    Cheers,

    Sten
    "Everything has two sides"

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Bracknell, UK
    Posts
    8,659

    Default Re: Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    The service does look good, but I don't think it's a fair test to evaluate a service on the basis of three free samples. I think that any company would know that the first samples are particularly important in securing new customers. I liken it to the product samples supplied to potential buyers - they get the most QC attention possible to make sure the potential client will place orders.

    That said, no company can operate and secure repeat orders (or keep an online reputation) if their product is bad, so there's no reason why the later samples wouldn't be good but if I were boss, I'd make sure those initial samples were good so I could get a return on my effort.

    The other thing I'd say is that commercial companies requiring cut outs may not be quite so exacting for individual product shots as somone wanting a cut-out for an individual picture.

    Thanks for the report though - interesting to know.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Skødstrup, Denmark
    Posts
    251

    Default Re: Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    Hi Pauland,
    I feel sure that my three test images have not recieved special treatment - the clippingimages.com probertly recieve several hundreds images every day from all over the globe, and that would not continue if the service was bad.

    If someone have a webshop and needs to put a lot of masked out images onto the online catalogue you may not have too much time masking out product images. At a price of around $2 to $5 per image I cannot spend much time doing manual masking images before it is a too expensive task. Time is money, and getting a fixed cost on one part of the publish to webshop will make it easier to do calculation on cost benefit on products sold through a webshop.

    My friend have been using other online masking services and gets new images online every week, she have recommended this service to me. It is located here: http://www.designmaid.com/ should you want to check out the quality of the work yourself. Seriously I find it a litle unserious to think that clippingimages.com would try to trick you by doing a better service the first three times, but perhaps its just me.

    Thanks for your reply though - interesting to hear.
    Cheers,

    Sten
    "Everything has two sides"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Tampa Bay, Florida
    Posts
    1,341

    Default Re: Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    Sten

    Very nice examples! Thanks for sharing the link.
    I was born outside the box! - Aridzone
    WebDesignerTemplate

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Bracknell, UK
    Posts
    8,659

    Default Re: Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    Sten, I'm sure you're right, but I'd always advise caution in evaluating a service on such a small sample. If your friend has been using the service with good results, then as you say it must be good. I think the funding level for the service does allow them to do good work if they have enough volume and a low cost base.

    As a student I had a vacation job in a factory making painting sets. There was a specific department that produced customer samples for evaluation, prior to orders being taken and this department made absolutely sure that all samples sent to potential clients were flawless. The same was definitely not true of the main production runs that produced good product but not to the same QC standards as was used for the samples.

    Professionally I have seen companies sell services on the basis of very experienced specialists doing pre-sales work that wowed the potential customer, but execution of the main body of work was frequently delegated to much less experienced staff while some of those specialists contiuned pre-sales work with other potential clients.

    In one case I did an audit of part of a small goverment department that had outsourced it's IT infrastructure to a commercial company, transferring employees into that company and while the majority of the IT staff remained in place, the more able/specialised IT staff were then re-deployed by the IT company in supporting work in other organisations and only returned to their original department when less able staff required assistance.

    I could go on, but I have seen enough "questionable" behaviour by companies to gain clients that I do advise caution generally on the basis of free samples. No consumer organisation would recommend a company on such a basis. Companies naturally try harder to win new customers.

    Since your recommendation is on the basis of your friends experience in addition to your sample, then all looks good and it's good to know that such useful services are out there.

    I'm afraid to say I'll continue to exercise some caution with online companies I'm not well aquainted with - things don't always turn out so well.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Skødstrup, Denmark
    Posts
    251

    Default Re: Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    Hi Pauland,
    I am happy to read Your latest reply here. I see Your point, and for a moment there I perhaps was a litle naive. I know simular stories where companies goes very far to gain orders or new customers, giving away in the expectation to at a later time to regain the extra resurces put into "catching" a new customer. It is a factor which ofcause should be taken into account.
    Cheers,

    Sten
    "Everything has two sides"

  7. #7

    Default Re: Spend too much time doing masking of images?

    The reason clippingimages.com is so cheap is that it is based in Bangladesh, where wages are extremely low. See the ‘About us’ page.

    It does seem like a good service. I sense they would be afraid to receive any bad publicity, so they would probably re-do any images you were not happy with. They have 80 plus staff earning nickels and dimes, so I doubt re-doing work is a problem.

    At these small rates, if you ever did find the service unsatisfactory, it would only cost you pennies to find out, unless you’re doing bulk orders.

    If you found your credit card was abused, the card company will refund, if you persist, but it is doubtful this would happen because a company like that can lose a great deal from bad publicity.
    Visiting/participating in TalkGraphics since i/us (’97).

 

 

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •