Did subs just start?

[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.