MicrostockGroup

This looks accurate to me. I have about two more weeks left of being locked down to DT.

I'm Bronze but should be Silver by the end of the year. I'm strongly considering going exclusive but am going to wait a bit to see how the new IS subscriptions affect income.

I'm on my way of doing the same, stopped uploading to DT about 3 weeks ago.
The main problem for me is Albumo that ignores my resuests to remove my portfolio there, and I have been deleting 1 file a day as they allow, but I still have a little over 200 files there.

Hmmmm ... that would mean moving towards a monopoly, which is never a good thing.

I agree with Rene here- this isnt a straight forward monopoly situation. Right now, istock isnt acting as a monopoly- the others are. Istock is giving more (through things like reasonable subscriptions terms) in order to get more exclusives. Theyre competing, unlike a monopoly. On the other hand, SS and the others are saying "here's a crap deal- whatre you gonna do?" Theyre acting like a monopoly. SS need to feel pain for cutting our pay. IS should be rewarded. That's how I see it. This way, if SS changes it's tone, there wont be a monopoly, and we win.

Just thought of something. Is there anything to consider about payouts? Such as, if a site has a minimum $50 payout, you're at $25, and you cancel your account. Do they pay out when you cancel? Or do they only pay at the payout threshold so that it might make more sense to wait to cancel until you can get your $$$?

Exactly the same here - I stopped uploading 3 weeks ago. I know it's my own fault for not checking closer when I joined, but at the time I had no intention of going exclusive anywhere. Personally I think it's absolutely disgusting they can keep our files for such a long period of time with no good reason. I have no problem with a site requiring one months notice prior to removal, but SIX MONTHS?? absolutely ridiculous....

Regardless, all the other sites will continue to get my new images over the next 5 months apart from Dreamstime, so it's their loss (not that they care, LOL  )

Do you know if there is a way to de-activate your photos on every other site but staying a member?  Is it ok with exclusive TOS of iStock?

That way if for any reason exclusivity with iStock doesn't work, we can reactivate our files without going trough the whole process of getting accepted and re-uploading the files.

Let's remember though that this is the company which keeps 80% of the commission.  I wouldn't exactly name them as a bastion of valor defending the rights of contributors.

IS keeps 80% of our commissions, but 60% of an exclusive diamond's. I don't expect any agency to act against their own interests, but some type of balance between agency and contributor so the business can thrive in the long term seems ideal. I don't know that any of the agencies have grabbed that mantle. FT had looked promising with the option for exclusive files, higher base prices across the board for emeralds and up and flexibility with extended license pricing. I think their plan for low-commission flat rate subscriptions torpedoed that, leaving IS with the multi-tier subscription plan as a real contender.

Someone had pointed out that we actually have no idea what our commission percentage is at SS although we have various indicators that it has been dropping over time as they've put their prices up. CanStock started as the site that was fair to photographers - good percentage commissions and higher prices - but that didn't work out so well in the long run.

It certainly would be appealing to have deactivated portfolios qualify for IS exclusivity. If I were a stock site, I might set a time limit on that - i.e. I don't want that stuff on my servers indefinitely if it isn't going to be generating any revenue. But if it could stay inactive for, let's say, a year, that'd be great.

Does anyone know via experience that IS allows this (deactivated vs. deleted portfolios at other RF sites)?