Where to find pictures for Amazon reviews?

[Ingie]

I'm doing reviews for amazon products on my niche site and having a bit of a hard time find images to use of that product.

 

I've tried going to stores and take pictures of items but very few stores have the products. Any suggestions?

[Blaine]

Maybe this will help. Maybe not. Sometimes I use it though.

 

It's fairly intuitive and doesn't have a lot but sometimes I can find what I need here.

 

http://search.creativecommons.org/

[mki]

If you want 100% legit pictures, I would make a job on a freelancer. It might take awhile to find somebody though.

 

I usually just steal pictures off the manufacturer's website. I suggest you screenshot it and then crop it in photoshop in case there's something encoded in the image.

 

If they care they'll let me know. (Via the contact form because I use private registration.)

 

I just caught Amazon actually doing that... So I wouldn't be too worried. I'm somewhat confident it's considered fair use.

 

It would be worse to use images off Amazon or off somebody else's website.

 

 

Also, if you have photoshop skills, good luck proving it's the same image in the first place.

 

Edit: That really does have to be fair use, think about it. Even if you did take the picture yourself, the box of the product probably has trademarks on it as well, do you think the manufacturer is going to sue you for using their trademarks? You're marketing their product ... You're teaching the customer about the product... So yeah... Fair use...

 

Last Edit: You are permitted to use the images on https://affiliate-program.amazon.com for the purpose of promoting amazon.com products. But not the pictures in the item details.

[yukon]

Why not use the amazon product images, is that against their TOS?

 

I have an amazon aff. account but I don't use it.

[mki]

Why not use the amazon product images, is that against their TOS?

 

I have an amazon aff. account but I don't use it.

 

Cuz they fugly.

[yukon]

Cuz they fugly.

 

They must not be too fugly considering amazon is banking billions($$).

[Jill Carpenter]

See if anyone has any youtube videos on the item - maybe there is a shot in there you can take a still frame from and edit.

[Mike Friedman]

If you are promoting their product, I cannot imagine any product owner being mad about using any image of their product you want.

 

You could easily contact the product owner, tell them what you are doing, and ask if they have any images they would mind supplying. 

[agmccall]

I have always just used the amazon pictures.  But if you really want different pics then I would agree with others to go to the manufacturers website and ask permission.  As long as the pics are used to promote their product then there should be no reason they would refuse.

 

Also, like Jill said, head over to youtube and find some video that you can grab an image from, or even better put the video in your review.

 

 

al

[chrishurcombe]

Amazon allows you use the product images and videos if any relate to the product all within T&C's.

Trouble is they vary in quality as the seller of the product lists the photos and not Amazon direct.

A picture paints a thousand words but some products barely have one decent product photo to use.

Failing that sites that morgue files have free images you can use.

[nettiapina]

 

I just caught Amazon actually doing that... So I wouldn't be too worried. I'm somewhat confident it's considered fair use.

 

 

I'm not a lawyer, but that's probably not fair use. You know, as in the legal term. "Examples of fair use in United States copyright law include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, and scholarship." sez Wikipedia. Although you could argue that the purpose and character of a box shot would make it fair use, but I can't really comment on that.

 

However, it would be silly for the content owner to protest since you're selling their product for them even if you're using their copyrighted images. I'd use vendor's images without asking.

[Mike Friedman]

However, it would be silly for the content owner to protest since you're selling their product for them even if you're using their copyrighted images. I'd use vendor's images without asking.

 

This is my thought exactly.

[mki]

I'm not a lawyer, but that's probably not fair use. You know, as in the legal term. "Examples of fair use in United States copyright law include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, and scholarship." sez Wikipedia. Although you could argue that the purpose and character of a box shot would make it fair use, but I can't really comment on that.

 

However, it would be silly for the content owner to protest since you're selling their product for them even if you're using their copyrighted images. I'd use vendor's images without asking.

It's in the grey area of fair use, as long as the content is informative and educational. If it's defamatory in nature then no.

 

The company can not request a take down unless they can prove that it was not fair use, so if your content is educating a buyer about a product, then that's going to be pretty difficult.

 

Also Amazon.com is provided the images from the manufacturers, so you will not get in trouble with Amazon. But do not use anything with an amazon.com logo it in or anything that appears to have been created by amazon.com

 

This is one of these "it's hard to figure out if it's allowed but everybody is doing it anyways" problems. 

 

After reading the law myself, it really seems like to me, that as long as the manufacturer is benefiting, I don't really see how it's not fair use.

 

The issue might arise if you're swiping the photo and writing an article like "this product is poop, such poop, do not buy this poop." So you took their work without their permission to call it poop.

Or, if you are generating income, but the manufacturer is not. Like you are selling books of product pictures, or tee shirts with the picture on them. I can't really think of anything that isn't ridiculous.

 

Think about it the opposite way, if it is fair use, then think of an example that wouldn't be. It's always something pretty absurd and I wouldn't do that.

 

I did have somebody explain this to me a long time ago and they explained why you can even use their trademarks without permission. I wouldn't go that far, but again, lots of people do it all the time.

 

Just ask yourself "would the manufacturer have a problem with me doing this?" and it should be fine. If you're paranoid then ask for permission. They're not going to say no.

 

Hello, we are setting up a website to market your products through an affiliate program. This helps your company by increasing your product sales and does not cost you anything. We would like to know if we can have permission to use this photo :link to the image: on our website. This would be a great help to us. We really like your {interesting|cost effective|innovative} {approach|concept} and look forward to a healthy relationship.

 

-Name

-CEO of Your Company Name

-Link to your Corporate Website

I'll personally just use private registration and use a contact form. It's a business, if they have an issue, they'll let you know. Via the contact form... Where they get absolutely zero personal details...

 

If you ever get an email, promptly take the entire piece of content down and any other content that may market their products and then do nothing. Do not contact them, don't say anything, it's already been done, so if they want to try to take you to court or threaten you, then you're only going to make it worse on yourself by interacting with them. It's inappropriate to make legal threats online and if somebody ever does, document everything, and then back it up. If they start threatening you and say something like "you must pay money" document that as well and then do nothing. Optionally you could translate "I do not understand" to Chinese (我不明白) and then send that back to them. Or onehourtranslation.com a short 100 word letter explaining that you have no idea what they're talking about, into Korean.

 

There are a lot of legal hurdles they would have to jump over and for what? Less sales and a damaged reputation?

 

Look at Google Images. They don't care. They'll scrape your images right off your site and then throw ads all over them.

[nettiapina]

 

The issue might arise if you're swiping the photo and writing an article like "this product is poop, such poop, do not buy this poop." So you took their work without their permission to call it poop.

Or, if you are generating income, but the manufacturer is not. Like you are selling books of product pictures, or tee shirts with the picture on them. I can't really think of anything that isn't ridiculous.

 

- -

 

Just ask yourself "would the manufacturer have a problem with me doing this?" and it should be fine. If you're paranoid then ask for permission. They're not going to say no.

 

 

Actually criticism is on the list of stuff that's explicitly allowed by this law. If you're posting legitimate criticism you should be in the clear. This is why someone like YourMovieSucks can legally do what he does - criticize a movie with videos that use a lot of footage from that movie. YouTube's DMCA notice policies are FUBAR, and allow blatant illegal behavior from content owners, but that's another story.

 

And if you'd literally call something "poop" you'd be taking Penn & Teller's approach. You know, call someone a quack or fraud and they can sue. Call them an idiot and you're just voicing an opinion. (I had much ruder word here, but you get the picture.)

 

The income from content is not the ultimate deciding factor, it's just one of the considerations. If your use is transformative and/or doesn't hurt the original author you might be ok. The examples you provided, however, are likely not. 

 

Your rule of thumb makes sense in my opinion. These laws and precedents are rather complex, but usually the manufacturer doesn't mind if you're bringing some sort of value to them.

 

 

 

Look at Google Images. They don't care. They'll scrape your images right off your site and then throw ads all over them.

 

Well, Google's seems to be in the "allowed uses" list. It's also possible for you to ask them to not show your pictures, but that'd be just plain stupid in most cases.

[mki]

Well, Google's seems to be in the "allowed uses" list. It's also possible for you to ask them to not show your pictures, but that'd be just plain stupid in most cases.

 

Right but they do it before anybody grants permission. I think there's actually another law and that's what allows them to do it. They still scrape your page and display it in the cache without my permission.