Do your uploads need edits or have they been returned?
If you previously uploaded files to your Pond5 account that are not showing up online, there’s a good chance they need edits.
When an item is in Needs Edits or Returned status, it means one of three things:
- Your files are already uploaded and processed by our system, but you still need to add metadata to each item (title, description, and keywords) and submit your work to our curation team.
- You’ve already added metadata to your items in the past, but you haven’t yet sent them to our team of curators.
- You’ve sent it to curation but it was returned to you for further edits.
If your files are Returned by our curators, that means that we’re almost ready to approve your files but there is something missing. Common reasons items are returned:
- Missing a title, keywords, or description
- Have a title or keywords in a language other than English
- Missing a necessary attachment, like signed model or property releases (Make sure to check out our requirements for Model and Property Releases here.)
- You can find the specific reason in your return note from the curator.
Below you’ll find step-by-step instructions on how to edit your metadata, send your media to our team of curators, and start earning on Pond5.
How do I know which items need edits?
- Navigate to your My Uploads section by clicking on your avatar and selecting Uploads from the dropdown menu.
- In the Status dropdown menu, select Needs Edits or Returned.
- In the Type dropdown menu, change the media type to All.
- Voilà—Here’s the list of your items that need edits!
- PRO TIP: Navigate to your Tech Data tab and click Date Uploaded to filter your results from oldest to newest.
- Navigate to your My Uploads section by clicking on your avatar and selecting Uploads from the dropdown menu.
Let’s add metadata to your items!
The more thorough your description, the better your chances of appearing on customers’ screens! All metadata should be in English. Avoid keyword stuffing (adding irrelevant keywords or an excess of keywords), and remember not to add any special characters or symbols.
- Title – Nothing fancy. Should convey exactly what is depicted in your work. Character limit: 80.
- Description – Be as informative as possible. Wherever you can, include the date, time, and location, event name, and overview of the scene. Character limit: 2000.
- Suggested format: PLACE, CITY, COUNTRY, (MONTH, DAY, YEAR)
- Use English names for months, use words in place of numbers
- Example: Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom (August 15, 1985)
- Keywords – These are words that are used as identifiers or labels for your media files.
- Please note that you should always include 40-50 keywords for each item. Ask yourself, “What will a buyer have to search to find my clip?” Relevant keywords play the most important role in our search algorithm.
You can add all of this information on the Item Detail Page for each of your items.
Shortcut: You can click Save and Submit for Review at the bottom of each Edit Item page and skip the steps below.
PRO TIP: Do you have a lot of items in Needs Edits or Returned status?
If you have a lot of items in Needs Edits or Returned status, it may be easier for you to bulk add metadata using a CSV file with multiple items rather than adding the information for one item at a time. To do this:
- Navigate to Uploads>Apply CSV>Video (or other media type)
- Click Download CSV. This will download a CSV file with your entire portfolio. It will contain columns for both mandatory and optional information. Mandatory fields are Originalfilename, Title, and Keywords. All other fields are optional. Any information you previously added will be displayed.
- Add or modify metadata for the items in the CSV that you want to change.
- Once your metadata CSV is ready, you can re-upload it via the APPLY CSV page. (See step by step instructions for bulk applying here)
Last step: Submit your work to our curators!
You’re in the home stretch! Once you’ve added metadata to your file, you can send it to our curators to review.
- Start by selecting the files you want to submit for review.
- Then, scroll to the bottom of the page. In the Actions dropdown menu, select Submit and click Execute.
- Note: If you do not see the Submit option in the Actions, it means you have not yet verified your account. To learn more about our ID requirements, please, click here.
- Note: If you do not see the Submit option in the Actions, it means you have not yet verified your account. To learn more about our ID requirements, please, click here.
- The status of your selected uploads will change to Pending for Review.
- Start by selecting the files you want to submit for review.
When will my work be online?
Our curation team is one of the fastest in the industry. Your items will generally be reviewed within 1 to 10 days depending on volume.
When our curators review your items, they will be marked (1) Online, (2) Rejected, or (3) Returned.
If you’ve opted into email notifications, you’ll receive an email letting you know when your item changes status.
- Online: This status indicates that your files have already been reviewed and approved by a curator. Congratulations! It may take up to a few hours, and in some cases up to a week, for them to appear online while the site indexes.
- Rejected: If your files are rejected by our curation team for any reason, they’ll include a note in their email to you explaining why. They’ll often ask you to re-upload the file due to glitches, unsupported formats or codecs, etc. (See our spec requirements here).
- Returned: Your files may be returned by the curation team again if there is something missing.