Hi,

Ive only been with IS for a few months. And Im just noticing with the PP sales that one of my images that has had no sales at all in IS has had 27 sales with Thinkstock (am I allowed to write that or should it be TS?) in the partner program. This is happening with all of my images. My best sellers in IS are the worst sellers in TS. Its really difficult to work out what I should be shooting when there seems to be such a variation in what is selling.

Could it be something as simple as the way the keywords order themselves from one site to another? Or is it just a different kind of market?

Any enlightenment would be enlightening.

Thanks

How can you see the umber of downloads on Thinkstock?

Since last September, new files have been severely disadvantaged on iStock's Best Match, even more so recently.
Also, buyers might go there because it's cheaper, or have been persuaded to move there from iS.

Hi,

Ive only been with IS for a few months. And Im just noticing with the PP sales that one of my images that has had no sales at all in IS has had 27 sales with Thinkstock (am I allowed to write that or should it be TS?) in the partner program. This is happening with all of my images. My best sellers in IS are the worst sellers in TS. Its really difficult to work out what I should be shooting when there seems to be such a variation in what is selling.

Could it be something as simple as the way the keywords order themselves from one site to another? Or is it just a different kind of market?

Any enlightenment would be enlightening.

Thanks

It is, or will be very soon, the new norm for independents.  I had a pitiful Istock month in aug (and sept so far) Aug: $163 but had $300ish in TS sales.  As I predicted a year ago, IS sales will slowly decline and TS increase until IS either goes away or is leveraged for some special collection" so their lies become truths.

I'm slightly worried about this due to the lack of editorial control of my images on the PP sites (unless I'm missing something). I like tweaking the order of my keywords to push pictures into different searches, aligning them with more popular images etc. I don't think I can do that on the PP sites and they dont even show my name when you click on the image details. I hope its not a subtle way of us losing all control over our images...

You can't do it on iStock either. A buyer or CN friend clicking on or buying your image can mess up the keywords no end, if they chose an unusual keyword or combination.

@Mantis: not just indies.

Subscription buyers jump on new images just to have them. After a while the sales drop off. On istock it is hard to get a file to take. Some times it takes months to get enough sales to take off, if ever. The new fresh match may address this somewhat as it may get some additional exposure for newer files.

Quote from: landbysea on September 26, 2013, 09:35

The new fresh match may address this somewhat as it may get some additional exposure for newer files.

Nope, it isn't designed for that, unless your 'newer' files manage to acquire keyword relevency, which is usually after ten sales. Fresh Match is only to make newer files which have had ten sales get more views. In smaller searches, that won't seem so bad. Also note that Fresh Match is designed for single keyword searches.

I just did my default search using the fresh match and I don't see what you are saying at all.  It looks different from yesterday too.  The keyword I searched has well over 1000 results and out of the first 10 results only 1 has more than 10 dls, out of the first 20 results only 3 have more than 10 dls and out of the first 50 only 10 have more than 10 dls.  There was even a file with 0 DLs in the top 40.

Ive only been with IS for a few months. And Im just noticing with the PP sales that one of my images that has had no sales at all in IS has had 27 sales with Thinkstock (am I allowed to write that or should it be TS?) in the partner program. This is happening with all of my images. My best sellers in IS are the worst sellers in TS. Its really difficult to work out what I should be shooting when there seems to be such a variation in what is selling.

Could it be something as simple as the way the keywords order themselves from one site to another? Or is it just a different kind of market?

In my recent experience there is a lot of luck involved in what images sell or not on each site. More or less on all sites, different images are attracting sales, be it IS, Thinkstock, Shutterstock or Fotolia. There is an overall trend in topics but the images themselves vary a lot. Those images that made the most money in my career as an iStock exclusive make almost no money at all these days at other agencies.

And IS and TS are technically totally different on different systems with different imagery (and different clients probably). So it's no surprise the best sellers on both differ as well.

If you opened your own account, bought your own image ten times using the exact keywords, It will only cost you a few dollars but you would now have an image that turned up nicely in searches. You would make your money back in a few months if it was a good shot. Wouldn't you?

I dont see why it should bother them. A sale is a sale isnt it? What if my Mum wants to buy my pics to put on her wall?...

What? You think my Mum gets free Xmas cards!? This is a business, not a charity! 

Yes. It wasn't actually a real suggestion. Im just joking. But its interesting to see how complex these things are. My mum always gets a free Xmas card, we are close like that.

I can beat the original poster: I have one file that has 166 sales on TS and none on iS.  It just shows how important search placement luck is, even for files that are very sellable.

have one that has 85 downloads at TS ($24.42) and 0 at iStock, my highest at TS has 247 ($87.93) and 14 at iStock ($28.19)

This thread http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=356534&page=1#post6941992 implies that the photographer has nearly 250 PP sales but only 12 iS sales.

no, that is the other guy that became video exclusive (over 100 downloads at iStock)

Quote from: luissantos84 on September 27, 2013, 08:45

Quote from: ShadySue on September 27, 2013, 08:34

This thread http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=356534&page=1#post6941992 implies that the photographer has nearly 250 PP sales but only 12 iS sales.

no, that is the other guy that became video exclusive (over 100 downloads at iStock)

Has he got a photographer's account and a separate video account? From this thread, his port is only showing photos and 12 dls. He only mentions photos in his OP.

the guy with 12 downloads haven't said he had nearly 250 PP sales, the guy who said that is video exclusive with over 100 downloads at iStock

Quote from: ShadySue on September 27, 2013, 09:08

Quote from: luissantos84 on September 27, 2013, 08:45

Quote from: ShadySue on September 27, 2013, 08:34

This thread http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=356534&page=1#post6941992 implies that the photographer has nearly 250 PP sales but only 12 iS sales.

no, that is the other guy that became video exclusive (over 100 downloads at iStock)

Has he got a photographer's account and a separate video account? From this thread, his port is only showing photos and 12 dls. He only mentions photos in his OP.

the guy with 12 downloads haven't said he had nearly 250 PP sales, the guy who said that is video exclusive with over 100 downloads at iStock

The OP said, "...I'd like to become an exclusive contributor here when I meet the needed requirements (like in 2 weeks or so ) ..."
And the moderater gently pointed out, "Just to make sure you understand the requirements, you need 250 downloads on iStock (ie Partner Program downloads don't count) in order to become exclusive."

Quote from: ShadySue on September 27, 2013, 09:32

Quote from: luissantos84 on September 27, 2013, 09:17

Quote from: ShadySue on September 27, 2013, 09:08

Quote from: luissantos84 on September 27, 2013, 08:45

Quote from: ShadySue on September 27, 2013, 08:34

This thread http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=356534&page=1#post6941992 implies that the photographer has nearly 250 PP sales but only 12 iS sales.

no, that is the other guy that became video exclusive (over 100 downloads at iStock)

Has he got a photographer's account and a separate video account? From this thread, his port is only showing photos and 12 dls. He only mentions photos in his OP.

the guy with 12 downloads haven't said he had nearly 250 PP sales, the guy who said that is video exclusive with over 100 downloads at iStock

The OP said, "...I'd like to become an exclusive contributor here when I meet the needed requirements (like in 2 weeks or so ) ..."
And the moderater gently pointed out, "Just to make sure you understand the requirements, you need 250 downloads on iStock (ie Partner Program downloads don't count) in order to become exclusive."

yes but where are you seeing that he has 250 PP sales?

From the fact that he thinks he will make the requirements for iS exclusivity in about two weeks, and from Rob pointing out that PP sales don't count.

Its true though, in 5 months, with 33 files, I had 29 DLs on IS and 126 via PP

I do believe if I get my 1000 files on IS or PP, I would make payout every month or more. I surely can use 100 dollar per month extra, or more. Problem is my conscious would be eating my soul away.

I wish I could upload directly to Thinkstock with the uploading system of Graphic Leftovers.