Did subs just start?

[BigBubba]

My balance is growing by .20 every couple of minutes....can't trace where it's coming from, nothing shows under "image subs" or "credit subs". 
Any thought?

[Julied83]

Got an amount of 17$ been added to april PP stat? Is that Sub ? Don't know what is sold or what it is. Unclear

[ShadySue]

Could it be Getty360?

[Julied83]

How could I know ?

[Jo Ann Snover]

I found one new sale for April 30 added to the partner program for $5.19 - it wasn't there a day or two ago. I don't see anything in the royalty schedule that is for that amount

http://www.istockphoto.com/help/sell-stock/rate-schedule

[CraigMiller]

Look at your stats for April. I am seeing some olive green, which is for partner program according to the stats key. I am not opted into the partner program though as far as I know so I am assuming this is payment for last month's subs? If that is the case though then I have no payment yet for this month's subs. I was expecting the payment though for subs this month to bring us up to date on subs payouts from when subs started and up until the middle of this month. To be honest though it is very confusing since the olive green bars only land on a couple different days of the month for me. One would expect to get small subs earnings throughout the month on more than just a couple of days. So maybe none of the above is correct except for the fact the olive green is appearing in the stats for April.

[ehrlif]

I just had one pop up for 46.17 on the 22nd under PP. Doing the happy dance, that is astronomical for my humble little port However, I am curious where it came from. Is it IS subs or Getty? I do not know....

[ShadySue]

If you are not in the PP and have an olive cap on a bar, that's Getty360 (until iS subs, which 'according to Lobo' will come in as PP ¹).
There are hugely varying amounts to be gained from Getty360. I've only had one, $50, the very first month they were out. I did identify the file, so that I could contact CR, but I can't remember how.
There has been no notification that iS subs have started, and I don't remember seeing any indication of any higher than stated payments on iS subs.

¹ But 'they' didn't bother telling Lobo that 'they' had decided to put G360 as olive with the PP. He had previously indicated otherwise.

More info: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=352445&page=1

[CraigMiller]

If you are not in the PP and have an olive cap on a bar, that's Getty360. There are hugely varying amounts to be gained from Getty360. I've only had one, $50, the very first month they were out. I did identify the file, so that I could contact CR, but I can't remember how.
There has been no notification that iS subs have started, and I don't remember seeing any indication of any higher than stated payments on iS subs.

So I guess we are still waiting for subs payment for the last 2 or so months since they started selling subs and a payment for the balance of the earnings for the 100% royalty day this month for those that are exclusive. 

[ehrlif]

If you are not in the PP and have an olive cap on a bar, that's Getty360. There are hugely varying amounts to be gained from Getty360. I've only had one, $50, the very first month they were out. I did identify the file, so that I could contact CR, but I can't remember how.
There has been no notification that iS subs have started, and I don't remember seeing any indication of any higher than stated payments on iS subs.

I am non-exclusive, so I am in the PP. As far as I can tell the PP payouts ended a few days ago. It showed I have 8 DL's for April 22nd in the PP. Today is when the 46.17 showed up under the green bar earnings for April 22nd. However, the number of downloads did not increase only the earnings.  It is a mystery to me. I just hope it is not an error!

[BigBubba]

Keeps growing, started with .20 and now a few dollars each bounce, same here, number of downloads did not change...no olive green bar, just plain pp green bar. Strange. 

[Goofy]

made over $50 today on subs! thus a BME for me 

[spike]

It looks like this to me:



So all subs are credited on April 30th? Ugh?

[Maximilian]

i see green, orange and regular blue sales.  see attached image.
olive green? lol i dont understand this.

[spike]

I just checked the .csv file... still 0 for subscription royalties and downloads (columns D and E), this huge boost is just added to partner program royalties (column L). So I have no idea if these are the subs.. they certainly aren't regarded as such in the csv file.

[heywoody]

Could it be Getty360?

had a late pp and a getty today

[ShadySue]

Oh, no Getty for me in April. 
Mind you, I'd rather have none than the silly little cents value ones. I like the bigger ones, though.

[Goofy]

It looks like this to me:



So all subs are credited on April 30th? Ugh?

Funny, your graph matches your name - Spike!

[Julied83]

another 28 cent mystery sale !

[Fairplay]

I see 16 Image subscription sales

[Reckless]

My subs are showing as a gray color in the bars

[Anyka]

Yes light gray, not olive green, and it's just a tiny amount, BELOW the olive green bars.

[ShadySue]

No green tops for me, but suddenly a 98c purple regular Getty sale.

Oh, and now two four (all on the 9th) Subs sales, which are showing as grey at the very bottom of columns (under the blue).

Poor old Lobo, they did it to him again: "I will update everyone as soon as we have the Image Subscription data queued up." (presumably they didn't update him)
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&messageid=7015106

[loop]

It seems it has just started. The bar for subs is gray.

[ShadySue]

The reporting is inaccurate (are we surprised?)
My first four sub dls all show for 9th April, but the subs page shows four different dates:


So much for "We want to ensure everything is working as intended" (unless that was what they intended) http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&messageid=7015108 (same link as above).

However, they have a team looking into the discrepancy: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&messageid=7015714

[Noedelhap]

I had a Getty360 sale, which appeared as a green bar. Looking at my PP stats, I noticed a sale of $28 for one file on the 24th. It said "(Getty Images)" instead of "(Partner Program)".

For me, subs have not yet begun.

[Julied83]

here's my sub stat for april , and I think it is already over now.   

[Sedge]

I think they've only done one day so far (the 9th).

[Julied83]

I think they've only done one day so far (the 9th).

Look on your my upload page on Images subscriptions ... I think the stats bar is not correct but in your images sub sale page it's right.

[spike]

Got the grey bar, saw the details of the sales. If this is it (and it looks like it), it's miserable.

[brm1949]

Got one on the 17th for .28 sub.

[asiseeit]

Looks to me like they're done.

[Julied83]

they seems done, and I had a bit 3,08 for Sub ! Wow !

[Reckless]

Thinking they are just throwing a bone to the dogs while they finish trying figure out this mess.

[ShadySue]

$3.68 for me. 
Still, my subs beat Getty. 

[BaldricksTrousers]

I've got 15 subscription sales credited for the 5th, but when I look at the new Image Subscriptions tab I have 15 sales for the month scattered across various days.  It looks as if they have totted up the total and shoved the whole month's sales in under one day, regardless of the actual sale date.

[PixelBytes]

Same here.  All my subs are showing on the 7th.  Not a lot of them for a whole month, and terrible money.  Doesn't help improve the PP numbers by much at all. 

[Ron]

Reading this its like IS created a colouring picture to keep you guys busy. Or a paint by numbers page. IS sure are professionals in the reporting department. To me its like IS is heading for a Darwin Award. Calling them fecktards is flattering. I am so glad I got out but I am sorry you guys have to deal with the crap every month.

[Snowblood]

some sub sales on the 16th. Thats all.

[r2d2]

some sub sales on the 16th. Thats all.

same here!

[cobalt]

9 sub sales. On the the image subscription page the individual dates are listed,but not sorted according to date, on the stats graph all subs are lumped into a grey bar on the 10th of April.

All other sites have live reporting and SS even gives you a world map to see your last sales in real time.

It is amazing how unprofessional and far behind the place has become. Must be very frustrating for the admins and the exclusive contributors.

Again, makes me glad I moved. Now I don�t have to stress about this.

[bunhill]

It is amazing how unprofessional and far behind the place has become. Must be very frustrating for the admins and the exclusive contributors.

As an exclusive I find the place to be run more professionally than it was during an earlier epoch. I do not miss that wooyay era. Communications have, on balance, improved IMO. There certainly used to be lots more talk - but often in strange insider speak which was difficult to comprehend and often added up to very little of substance.

Yes there are sometimes frustrations. But ultimately it comes down to just two things: Whether income meets or exceeds realistic expectations and whether the positives outweigh any negatives.

[ShadySue]

I thought woo-way and F5 were annoying and childish, but see no more professionalism nowadays. In fact, I see no evidence of vision or even them 'having a clue' where to go. As I have said manys the time and oft, it just seems like any random person is forced, out of the blue, to make a suggestion, which gets acted on without proper consideration or market research and which the poor techies have to implement in unreasonable rush, and the new thing goes out untested.

Sales reporting is abysmal. The only way I can tell what GI sales I have is either to use a script, which I don't do, having had collateral damage from such scripts in the past, or comparing a screenshot with last month's, which would be tedious for those with many GI sales.
For ELs, you have to sort through a random list and match up the sales amount. Again, that must be tedious for people with hundreds of ELs.
To see what has sold on other than iS, you have to go through a plethora of clicks, and the UI isn't obvious. In the old days, sales, which were much more numerous (though lower value) were reported on your chart in real time. And you could see your file while describing and keywording if you chose to upload via the site (when it works), which should in any case be the default. It's not very professional where many people choose to upload via an external uploader because they can't be bothered to make their own upload system more user-friendly. (That's not my personal opinion, I upload directly when it works, but I'm in the minority on this.)

Communications? They can't even be bothered to tell their forum moderator (or whatever his fancy title is) that subs sales are about to be reported, so that he can make good on his promise to tell us. CR tickets can go two months without reply, and can be dropped off the 'open' list unanswered.

They have a long list of bugs, some serious, which they don't seem to have the interest or staffing, in sorting. And a relatively recent policy where inspectors other than Keywordzilla do not review keywords on acceptance, making searching by newest a joke, at best.

And just look at the problems some people are having if they want to leave exclusivity, e.g. this recent thread:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/how-to-get-off-from-istock-exclusivity

[PZF]

One. 28c. On the 19th.
Oh joy......!

[bunhill]

Communications? They can't even be bothered to tell their forum moderator (or whatever his fancy title is) that subs sales are about to be reported, so that he can make good on his promise to tell us. CR tickets can go two months without reply, and can be dropped off the 'open' list unanswered.

Is it actually important whether or not a forum is immediately notified that sub sales are about to be reported ? I doubt that most members have the time to be constantly looking for the latest notice and are happy provided that the data ends up on the spreadsheet at the end of every reporting period.

I agree with you to some extent about the CR process being very slow. But imagine how much confused chaff they must have to deal with. And all ticketing based contact systems are incredibly frustrating from a user perspective in my experience. It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which it would ever be easy to communicate in a cost effective and useful manner with potentially thousands of contributors given the impossibility of quickly sifting between important and meaningless contact.

I had a communication with Getty Images last year which took the best part of a year to get sorted out. But it did get sorted out - and in a meticulous, professional and ultimately satisfactory manner. It was a complicated issue which took a certain amount of careful back and forth over the detail. One of the admins at iStock also kindly helped the process along after I asked a question on their forum.

[ShadySue]

I agree with you to some extent about the CR process being very slow. But imagine how much confused chaff they must have to deal with. And all ticketing based contact systems are incredibly frustrating from a user perspective in my experience.

AFAICR, I've always had a reply from Alamy's support within 48 hours, usually 24, even if it wasn't the answer I hoped to hear. Looks like they have cut CR staff down to a skeleton, as it looks like they have done with the site's technical staff.

A lot of the 'confusion' people have on iS is because their communication, probably deliberately, is often very unclear and can be variously interpreted.

[cobalt]

Is it actually important whether or not a forum is immediately notified that sub sales are about to be reported ?

It is vitally important if it is a new system and people are obviously waiting for news and keep asking for it.

If it is a routine 3 year old monthly event,then no, it is not that important.

But here people have been waiting for news and expecting sales data much earlier. And then the news that comes in is presented with flaws (wrong dates etc). Considering istock�s bad track records, clawbacks and unreliable reporting it is just another thing that makes contributors feel unheard and ignored.

Overall it just reinforces the impression that there is no central manager who really looks at the whole system (sales,tech,customers,contributors,marketing). Just different departments working unconnected.

[dpimborough]

Yup no iStock sub sales here though I did get two Getty sales which made up for the loss 

[Shelma1]

I got $1.96. Woo hoo.

I think the true test will come this month, since my sales have plunged due to subscriptions, which are advertised on every image page. I'm curious to see whether subs sales will make up for the loss. But we won't know for another month.

[ShadySue]

Communications? They can't even be bothered to tell their forum moderator (or whatever his fancy title is) that subs sales are about to be reported, so that he can make good on his promise to tell us.

Is it actually important whether or not a forum is immediately notified that sub sales are about to be reported ?

My point was about communications and broken promises, not about the relevant importance of that specific.

[bunhill]

my sales have plunged due to subscriptions

How do you know this ?

But here people have been waiting for news and expecting sales data much earlier. And then the news that comes in is presented with flaws (wrong dates etc).

I think it is possible that some people here might have got themselves a little over-focused on this.

[cobalt]

But here people have been waiting for news and expecting sales data much earlier. And then the news that comes in is presented with flaws (wrong dates etc).

I think it is possible that some people here might have got themselves a little over-focused on this.

Hm, did you ever even look at the thread on istock?

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&page=46#post7016108

Or do you believe that all the people that are not posting are all happy with the way things are going and just a minority of "complainers" are the ones posting on istock these days?

[bunhill]

Hm, did you ever even look at the thread on istock?

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&page=46#post7016108

Or do you believe that all the people that are not posting are all happy with the way things are going and just a minority of "complainers" are the ones posting on istock these days?

That's not an OR - these are not mutually exclusive scenarios. It's two questions:

1. Yes I have looked at that thread. I have not read all 46 pages. In general I can nearly always fairly accurately predict the typical shape of any long iStock thread. But a year later I won't care - which makes over involvement seem rather pointless

2. I would not expect everybody to always be completely happy. I would expect less cheerful people to be more likely to post in general. Out of thousands of contributors there are always likely to be a proportion at any time who are less content than others. Some will post about that either on the forums or on MyFace etc.

As I said above, I believe that ultimately it comes down to just two things: Whether income meets or exceeds realistic expectations and whether the positives outweigh any negatives for the individual. I do not believe that there are any other conclusions to draw. It's not a club or a community or even a democracy.

[loop]

Very poor sub sales. In some way, is logical, because of the monthly limit. With a monthly limit, buyers don't buy as easily as with a daily one; they don't know what they are going to need three weeks from today, and so, they tend to reserve downloads.A rush just can be waited for when the end of the monthly limit is near. But aniway, results are no good. I wish they forget subs and concentrate in ppd sales.

[Mantis]

Communications? They can't even be bothered to tell their forum moderator (or whatever his fancy title is) that subs sales are about to be reported, so that he can make good on his promise to tell us.

Is it actually important whether or not a forum is immediately notified that sub sales are about to be reported ?

My point was about communications and broken promises, not about the relevant importance of that specific.

If they can't follow through with what they said in the forums, then they shouldn't say it at all, especially if your assertion (Bunhill's) that a forum isn't the place for such an important issue.  I assume that it was either Lobo or Kelvin, but whoever posted at IS was informed to do so (1/2 of the communication) but hadn't reported the second half. That's just continued incompetence. However, not every contributor uses the forums, so a more formal means is probably appropriate.

[bunhill]

My point was about communications and broken promises, not about the relevant importance of that specific.

If they can't follow through with what they said in the forums, then they shouldn't say it at all, especially if your assertion (Bunhill's) that a forum isn't the place for such an important issue.

I don't think that I have said (or asserted) that it either is or isn't a place for an important issue. I don't particularly have an opinion about that. What I am saying is that the fact that subs are about to be reported is not something which demands an up-to-the-minute newsflash. The same as we do not expect an announcement every time that the GI sales are reported. It's just part of the monthly accounting.

I think that some people get way over focused on the minutiae and nuance of everything. Don't we all often casually say that we will do something and then forget or something else comes along. That does not constitute breaking a solemn promise.

[Shelma1]

my sales have plunged due to subscriptions

How do you know this ?

But here people have been waiting for news and expecting sales data much earlier. And then the news that comes in is presented with flaws (wrong dates etc).

I think it is possible that some people here might have got themselves a little over-focused on this.

I haven't had a weekday with zero sales in many months, but this month I already have several. My sales were on a upward trend until the middle of last month, when they started to drop. And when I click on one of my images, the site loudly advertises that this image is available through subscription. My guess is that last month was relatively "normal" as people used up their credits, and as this month wears on more and more people who finally expended their credits are switching to subscriptions. How that will shake out in terms of overall earnings is yet to be determined.

[Karen]

Posted By dcdp on iStock forum: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&page=47

Let's take a step back and think about this for a second. If you are a subscription type buyer, chances are you are already locked into a existing subscription either here on iStock or someone else. It's somewhat unlikely you're going to buy into a new one until the other one is finished. As such anyone buying into the first month of subs is going to be someone who is already spending more than $250 (or whatever the minimum subscription was) a month.

Those two conditions rule out a lot of buyers already.

Then there are those that have to weigh things up or seek approval from accountants at their company or some such thing which will also take time, maybe even a few weeks or months or perhaps they have to wait until the start of a new financial year.

There is no point throwing a hissy fit after the first half a month of subs sales on the new plans or because the sales aren't showing up in the right place in the graphs.

What you really need to be worrying about, and this is much worse for Exclusives, is when the numbers of people start using subs grows. As an indie I average about $0.80c per sale for credit sales, so I only need a subs buyer to replace that one credit sale with 3 subs sales. As an exclusive how much do you average per sale? $5? $10? That means buyers have to make a lot of subs sales for you to replace even one credit sale that is lost to a subs buyer.

Indies also have the experience of being involved in selling through subs at various other sites, they're used to it.

[bunhill]

There is no point throwing a hissy fit after the first half a month of subs sales on the new plans or because the sales aren't showing up in the right place in the graphs.

^ I agree with this.

What you really need to be worrying about, and this is much worse for Exclusives, is when the numbers of people start using subs grows. As an indie I average about $0.80c per sale for credit sales, so I only need a subs buyer to replace that one credit sale with 3 subs sales. As an exclusive how much do you average per sale? $5? $10? That means buyers have to make a lot of subs sales for you to replace even one credit sale that is lost to a subs buyer.

^ this seems rather Chicken Little to me.

[cobalt]

Exclusive artists need 15 - 30 subs sales (at 34 cents) to replace one normal 5-10 dollar exclusive download.

How long will it take to reach that goal? And how much money will they lose until then?

I think those are realistic concerns if a major part of your income comes from exclusive photo sales.

Did anyone report a 2,50 subs sales? The higher price option is being offered now, right?

[ShadySue]

What you really need to be worrying about, and this is much worse for Exclusives, is when the numbers of people start using subs grows. As an indie I average about $0.80c per sale for credit sales, so I only need a subs buyer to replace that one credit sale with 3 subs sales. As an exclusive how much do you average per sale? $5? $10? That means buyers have to make a lot of subs sales for you to replace even one credit sale that is lost to a subs buyer.

^ this seems rather Chicken Little to me.

What does that mean? I just read the plot on Wikipedia and I'm none the wiser.

[loop]

Exclusive artists need 15 - 30 subs sales (at 34 cents) to replace one normal 5-10 dollar exclusive download.

How long will it take to reach that goal? And how much money will they lose until then?

I think those are realistic concerns if a major part of your income comes from exclusive photo sales.

Did anyone report a 2,50 subs sales? The higher price option is being offered now, right?

Yes, I got four of those. That's about 25% of my sub sales.

[bunhill]

What does that mean? I just read the plot on Wikipedia and I'm none the wiser.

As in the sky is falling. It never is.

[bunhill]

I think those are realistic concerns if a major part of your income comes from exclusive photo sales.

It would certainly be a concern if all of the customers including those who currently use Getty Images suddenly switched to subscriptions and no new business was simultaneously generated. However it seems most likely to me that the hope would be to attract customers who currently use subscription services elsewhere.

[Noedelhap]

No subs sales whatsoever. What a joke.

[Shelma1]

I think those are realistic concerns if a major part of your income comes from exclusive photo sales.

It would certainly be a concern if all of the customers including those who currently use Getty Images suddenly switched to subscriptions and no new business was simultaneously generated. However it seems most likely to me that the hope would be to attract customers who currently use subscription services elsewhere.

I think that's the hope, but it doesn't seem to be shaking out that way, at least for me. My iStock sales are waaaaay down and getting lower as the month goes on. I think they'll mostly cannibalize their own sales. Whether that will translate to more $ remains to be seen.

[KB]

I think those are realistic concerns if a major part of your income comes from exclusive photo sales.

It would certainly be a concern if all of the customers including those who currently use Getty Images suddenly switched to subscriptions and no new business was simultaneously generated. However it seems most likely to me that the hope would be to attract customers who currently use subscription services elsewhere.

And my hope is that my credit sales will suddenly (or even gradually) reverse course and start increasing again. But my guess is, the chances of that hope coming true are about equal with hoping that IS will attract customers who currently use subs elsewhere. What might the attraction be? They could save $50/month, but it means they could get 2/3 fewer files than on SS. Perhaps there are some buyers who will fit that profile (fewer files, but save $50). Unfortunately, that won't help exclusives, since most exclusive files are, well, excluded, from those buyers. I guess that's the new meaning of "exclusive". 

I really don't see many buyers leaving SS in order to pay double the price, still be able to DL only 1/3 as many files, but have the grand privilege of buying exclusive files as well. Will not happen much at all.

So even assuming that IS can convert some SS buyers, exclusives are not likely to see a benefit. That's just my opinion; we'll see how it shakes out.

[ShadySue]

Relevant to the 'more professional/better communication' discussion above, but OT to the subject, iS/Getty can't even manage to send out emails informing people when Getty refunds have taken place. Started with November reports, and the promise that this would be fixed for any February refunds hasn't happened.
So, how is it 'professional' to claw back money without even the courtesy of an explanation?
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=361212&page=1
and from the OP in the thread linked to from there:

Lobo
Mask of the Diablo Azul - Member has won between 1 and 3 Steel Cage matches
This user has the power to wield the BanHammer, a weapon forged in the fires of hell for that get-off-my-planet quality you can't get anywhere else.
You betta reckonize.
Forum Moderator
Posted Tue Mar 11 8:46AM
Quote   
"On Monday we processed the refunds for December 2013 and January 2014. These refunds would normally be followed closely with an email notification. Unfortunately these emails did not go out. You might recall we had a similar issue with email notifications in December 2013 with the November 2013 GI refunds. This issue has been prioritized so that we will once again have email notifications in place for the February 2014 refunds.

So the balance amounts you are seeing removed from your accounts is a culmination of two months worth of refunds. This clearly isn't ideal. Going forward we will have a monthly schedule in place, much as we did in the past. We understand that this is inconvenient and we apologize for the frustration."

[asiseeit]

Did anyone report a 2,50 subs sales? The higher price option is being offered now, right?

Yes, nearly half of mine were... and most of my sub income was from 2.50 sales.

[goober]

I just checked on one of my files that sold under subs. In November I got just over $4 for one normal sale. Under subs I got .34cents. It was a vector so file size is not a issue.

Get out your bugle!

[dingles]

no sub sales for me at all it seems...but had some great Getty sales

[goober]

File 1: Sold previous $9, sold subs for $0.75 - need 13 subs sales to get same income.
File 2: Sold previous $5+, sold for $0.75 - need 7 sales to get same income.
File 3: Sold previous $9+, sold subs for $0.75 - need 13 subs sales to get same income.

Subs aren't so bad when comparing PP sales for photos but for vector sales on IS they are terrible.

[goober]

I'm confused.

On Getty my vector images can sell for $700. The same image on IS is around $34. Using subscription service it's about $1.70