Due to consistently dismal sales, I haven't uploaded to a particular site for a number of months now.
This site is outside the "Big 6" and also "Up & Coming".
Since stopping, my sales have ceased also.
The thing is, I'm not too far off my first payout.
If I decide to close my account of course I will forfeit my current balance.

Is that what they are waiting for? - Yes - it's one way of making money for them. Get fed up, stop uploading and quit.

The integrity of sites was recently touched on here at MSG and I feel it's something we all should keep an eye on.

After all, we upload with blind faith and hope and trust we will get a fair deal.

Have you a similar experience of this? or what are your views.

If I were you, I'd either let it continue to sit there until you reach a payout or upload just a few images to spur some sales.  I did that with StockXpert and BigStock.  Once I reached a payout, I deleted my images and cancelled my accounts.  I also cancelled 123RF and lost the money I had accrued there, but it was less than $10.

If you're near a payout, don't give up and let them keep the money.

Just my 2 cents.

I dont think any of the big 6 are likely to be slowing down your sales so that they can keep you from reaching $100 or whatever. i did notice that after an upload holiday of 6 months that istock sales dropped noticeably, and picked back up after i started to upload again

why delete your accounts? unless you are going for exclusivity somewhere else why not just leave them online even if they only trickle a few dollars a month? once keyworded most of the work involved was in the uploading to the various sites.