PP May started

[Maximilian]

Are all PP sales displayed at once? So i would have a decrease about 99%

[ShadySue]

No, they drip down over a period of time.
Not necessarily in any logical order.

[Goofy]

Weird- they are going backwards. My chart shows only the last three days of May- maybe they figure going backwards will work better

[lima]

same here... only the last 3 days 

[Goofy]

Don't worry they are just going backwards- we will get all the days...

[Beppe Grillo]

Don't worry they are just going backwards- we will get all the days...

Will we have a chance to get the nights too?

[stealthmode]

Don't worry they are just going backwards

iStock is never boring

[Epsilonth]

Don't worry they are just going backwards

iStock is never boring

+1 always exciting at iS land

[enstoker]

Ju hu
and we have a very constructive topic to debate, again ...
 

[BaldricksTrousers]

And now iStock's server seems to have crashed......
Oh! It's back again!

[Cesar]

24,25,26 may missing sales partner program, anyone the same?

it is not possible there is no sales, average is about 50 a day.

[Nikovsk]

24,25,26 may missing sales partner program, anyone the same?

it is not possible there is no sales, average is about 50 a day.

Same here, this PP is random - it's all part of the fun guessing which day will show up next.

[kaboom]

I have some on the 24th, they appear gradually. Lets just wait until the fun is done

[ShadySue]

24,25,26 may missing sales partner program, anyone the same?

it is not possible there is no sales, average is about 50 a day.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=361562&page=1[/url]

[Goofy]

If going backwards makes me more money I am with that 

[Ploink]

Am I wrong or is this the first time that PP starts on IS before the earnings at StockXPert were displayed?

Also, is it just me, or takes logging in at StockXpert minutes for everyone?

[Goofy]

Not sure but so far my PP is not doing very well- could be the worst month this year. About 50% below the average...

[Shelma1]

So far so bad. PP is almost over and it's a HUGE drop from April for me. I'm hoping subs sales help, but I'm not too optimistic.

[Goofy]

So far so bad. PP is almost over and it's a HUGE drop from April for me. I'm hoping subs sales help, but I'm not too optimistic.

same here- very disappointing to say the least. 

[Noedelhap]

Lobo: "I appreciate it would be better if we started with the 1st of the month and work towards the end of the month but we are bound to the technological constraints that come with making these transfers."

Constraints... A multi-million dollar corporation that can't even be bothered to invest in a technologically sound way to create a real-time PP-reporting system.

[dpimborough]

Well a 20% decline compared to March and February (PP and iS sales combined)

On  an EL sale saved May from being a washout. 

[jefftakespics2]

- 50% from March PP. For me this was the only part of Getty that I made any money from.

[Shelma1]

Is PP over? If so, something seems to be wrong. No sales reported for me at all on the 3rd or 4th, and hardly any on the 31st in comparison to regular sales and the rest of the month.

[Noedelhap]

Lobo also said PP will be going on until Saturday mid-day.

[Goofy]

I believe it's over! Truly sucked for me 

[Maximilian]

same earning than months before. Whats about Subscription-Sales? Last month i only had 1, but maybe this month.

[Nikovsk]

Strong PP month +23% over April and comparable to SS earnings.

[ShadySue]

iStock's mid-day is about 19 hours away - you've got lots of time yet - if Lobo's "probably" turns out to be correct.

[Goofy]

iStock's mid-day is about 19 hours away - you've got lots of time yet - if Lobo's "probably" turns out to be correct.

ShadySue you remind me of my father when our football team was behind by three touchdowns with less than 10 minutes in the game- he would say, "Son don't worry we have plenty of time to win the game".  Sadly, we never ever did come back to win any of those games but my dad never gave up hope. 

[ShadySue]

iStock's mid-day is about 19 hours away - you've got lots of time yet - if Lobo's "probably" turns out to be correct.

ShadySue you remind me of my father when our football team was behind by three touchdowns with less than 10 minutes in the game- he would say, "Son don't worry we have plenty of time to win the game".  Sadly, we never ever did come back to win any of those games but my dad never gave up hope. 

It's a big 'if' (does it usually take that long?) but it is 'according to Lobo'. 

[BaldricksTrousers]

There may be istock subs still to run.

[ShadySue]

There may be istock subs still to run.

Presumably - I haven't seen any report of the subs starting yet. Last month didn't they come in at the same time as Getty? Not that what happened last month necessarily has any bearing on this month.

[Uncle Pete]

You have my vote. Immediate or daily reporting, and delayed reporting. Inverted monthly reporting for some sales, chronological for others and the random, what comes later, whenever it happens? 

PP sales - when random amounts of money are deposited in your account in no particular order for sales of unknown images at unknown sites presumably in the previous month, which may be taken back for some unknown reason at some unknown point in the future.

Who wouldn't like that business model?

[stealthmode]

PP sales - when random amounts of money are deposited in your account in no particular order for sales of unknown images at unknown sites presumably in the previous month, which may be taken back for some unknown reason at some unknown point in the future.

Who wouldn't like that business model?

I have an idea for a formal solution of this issue: let's skip one whole month of reporting, and then use that buffer to report sales one month later day by day as if it was daily reporting.

[Mantis]

There may be istock subs still to run.

Presumably - I haven't seen any report of the subs starting yet. Last month didn't they come in at the same time as Getty? Not that what happened last month necessarily has any bearing on this month.

I sure hope they aren't done.  I am about $100 light from typical PP.  I am expecting this to go to zero, though.  Once TS closes and IStock is the new TS.

[stealthmode]

I sure hope they rent done.  I am about $100 light from typical PP.  I am expecting this to go to zero, though.  Once TS closes and IStock is the new TS.

Do you expect PP sales to go to zero, replaced by new sub sales on IS, or do you just expect PP sales to go to zero, stop? I don't know what to expect actually.

Anyway, why should TS close? What about the other collections on TS? The new IS subs and TS could co-exist.

[Nikovsk]

I sure hope they keep TS up and running. My top selling pictures there would get buried in IS.

[stealthmode]

I sure hope they keep TS up and running. My top selling pictures there would get buried in IS.

Me too. TS is the only profitable part for independents.

[dpimborough]

Well that's it for May PP sales

However as far as iS subscription sales Lobo says "I believe we'll see those processed early next week" in response to a question by Ju-Lee

 

[Mantis]

I sure hope they rent done.  I am about $100 light from typical PP.  I am expecting this to go to zero, though.  Once TS closes and IStock is the new TS.

Do you expect PP sales to go to zero, replaced by new sub sales on IS, or do you just expect PP sales to go to zero, stop? I don't know what to expect actually.

Anyway, why should TS close? What about the other collections on TS? The new IS subs and TS could co-exist.

I do expect TS to dissolve. The reason is that I don't understand why they would compete with themselves and need two disparate sites to drive sub sales. I could be wrong but if TS is so great why dilute it with Istock subs (which were just recently introduced).

[pancaketom]

I sure hope they rent done.  I am about $100 light from typical PP.  I am expecting this to go to zero, though.  Once TS closes and IStock is the new TS.

Do you expect PP sales to go to zero, replaced by new sub sales on IS, or do you just expect PP sales to go to zero, stop? I don't know what to expect actually.

Anyway, why should TS close? What about the other collections on TS? The new IS subs and TS could co-exist.

I do expect TS to dissolve. The reason is that I don't understand why they would compete with themselves and need two disparate sites to drive sub sales. I could be wrong but if TS is so great why dilute it with Istock subs (which were just recently introduced).

so they can pay contributors less of course.

If the PP are done - this is my lowest since Feb 2012

[stealthmode]

I sure hope they rent done.  I am about $100 light from typical PP.  I am expecting this to go to zero, though.  Once TS closes and IStock is the new TS.

Do you expect PP sales to go to zero, replaced by new sub sales on IS, or do you just expect PP sales to go to zero, stop? I don't know what to expect actually.

Anyway, why should TS close? What about the other collections on TS? The new IS subs and TS could co-exist.

I do expect TS to dissolve. The reason is that I don't understand why they would compete with themselves and need two disparate sites to drive sub sales. I could be wrong but if TS is so great why dilute it with Istock subs (which were just recently introduced).

This makes sense of course.

However, TS is a plain simple site where the search engine seems to work without constant tweaking of results. I don't know how the IS subs search works, but if it's the same as for regular sales, it's not very logical. At present, TS could be a better site to compete with SS, since buyers know what to expect to find.

[Sulio]

So PP is maybe finally ended, but when they fabulous subscription earnings graph will start? I only see it in ONE day in April and thats it. Is that result of they "big" marketing campaign against SS subs sales?! Or they just stealing money from us without showing us what they sold?

[ShadySue]

^^
It was only started in April, so hardly likely to be big sales. That does seem like one very good day you had, though!
Lobo believes that subs sales for May will be processed "early next week"

[dbvirago]

PP sales - when random amounts of money are deposited in your account in no particular order for sales of unknown images at unknown sites presumably in the previous month, which may be taken back for some unknown reason at some unknown point in the future.

Who wouldn't like that business model?

I have an idea for a formal solution of this issue: let's skip one whole month of reporting, and then use that buffer to report sales one month later day by day as if it was daily reporting.

There is nothing they can say that would convince me that they aren't tracking these sales real time and could report on it if they wanted to. We are into the 34th year of personal computing. This isn't new technology

[BaldricksTrousers]

Lobo says the reporting is over. However, look at my Credit sub sales in April:
April 5, 14, 16 (x2), 20, 23, 24 (x2), 28, 29 (x3), 30 (x3) = 15 Image sub sales

And compare that with May:
May: Zero.

I wish I were good at statistics because I have a pretty firm idea that the probability of this being true is approximately zero. Probably about the same as the chances of being hit by lightning.

[BaldricksTrousers]

KelvinJay has just deleted my comment on the iS PP forum and posted this:
"For the sake of clarity, and to avoid much duplication, this thread in the PP forum is discussing PP sales only and not the new image subscription sales. Those sales have not yet been processed for May, but when they have been, please feel free to add any relevant comments on that topic to the existing May sales thread in the Discussion forum ..."
So much for "will be posted with the PP sales", or whatever they said a month or two ago.

[ShadySue]

@Baldrick
Credit sub sales are nothing to do with PP or the new subs. That's the 'old' iStock subs (which we get RCs for), which may be reported the day after the sale or may be 'Royalty delayed' for weeks or months.

What Lobo said was that he thought the new 'image subs' (no RCs) would be reported with the PP, in answer to a question about how we'd know our sub sales, meaning he thought they'd be reported with a green line on your stats. That answer wasn't in reply to a question about 'when' they've be reported, rather 'how'.

In fact, as so often, 'they' don't bother telling Lobo everything; and a new category was created for image subscriptions, apart from credit subscriptions, and they show grey on our charts.

It's not just οἱ πολλοί that they keep in the dark and feed sh*t. I notice Lobo is at last prefacing that sort of statement with "I believe..."
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&messageid=7023004

[BaldricksTrousers]

Thanks, Sue. I didn't actually mean credit subs I meant the new "image" ones. There are so many different terms floating about out there it's easy to use the wrong name.

[ShadySue]

Thanks, Sue. I didn't actually mean credit subs I meant the new "image" ones. There are so many different terms floating about out there it's easy to use the wrong name.

Absolutely (I thought that was what you meant, but thought I'd better clarify, as far as I could). If we get mixed up, what must potential buyers think?
The whole system is far too complex.

[ShadySue]

That's image subs started being reported now. Got one on each of 2nd, 6th 7th May, all Main (34c  )

[BaldricksTrousers]

It looks as if there will be about twice as many subs as last month. However, curiously, if you look for the little bar chart in the monthly view it is adding all the subs from May into the April earnings graph, while if you look at the daily view then April and May are recorded separately.

[ShadySue]

10 for May as opposed to 6 in April.
7 x 34c; 2 x 75c and a $2.50 jackpot.
Not exactly compensating for May's regular iS figures. 

[Jo Ann Snover]

I have so few files left at IS that I can't see trends, but I did notice that in my monthly stats for May it shows I have two sub (gray) downloads on May 21st. If I look at my_uploads (and click Image Subscriptions) I see one subs for May 21 and one for May 22.

It seems that something is fundamentally wrong when they can't agree in two parts of the interface on what day something occurred. I realize that it's 56 cents either way, but something's clearly amiss in their reporting software.

[ShadySue]

Happened last month too.
Image subscriptions shows the different dates for each file (but where one file was downloaded twice, I can't now see the individual dates), but they're all showing on the 2nd in my daily chart for May, and like BT said, all are showing in April in the monthly chart.

[pancaketom]

no trends visible here either (other than generally down).

I also have 2 subs sales reported for May on the same day, but when I look at the subs DL page they are the 5th and 19th (both reported for the 5th).

At least they are reported for May in both the daily and monthly reports.

Something about IS does not encourage confidence in their ability to report anything correctly.

[BaldricksTrousers]

It seems that something is fundamentally wrong when they can't agree in two parts of the interface on what day something occurred. I realize that it's 56 cents either way, but something's clearly amiss in their reporting software.

The way it works in the daily stats bar chart is that all the sales are listed as if they all arrived on the first day of the month that any sub sale happened. In the full list the actual day of the sale is recorded.  What's even more bizarre is that in the monthly bar chart, they are all being listed as happening in the first month that you received one, so it shows no sub sales for May, all of them are dumped into April, so the bar for April 2014 is destined to get bigger and bigger and bigger as the years go by.
I had 40 subs in May, compared with 15 in April, assuming it's now finished (my stats are up to May 29 so there may be a couple of days still to come in) and there's clearly a rising trend, even just comparing the first couple of weeks of the month with the second couple of weeks.

@ Pancaketom: Are you switching your bar chart from daily to monthly using the drop-down menu above the bar chart? That's when you see May's report shifted into April. (At least, it's when I do).

[pancaketom]

It seems that something is fundamentally wrong when they can't agree in two parts of the interface on what day something occurred. I realize that it's 56 cents either way, but something's clearly amiss in their reporting software.

The way it works in the daily stats bar chart is that all the sales are listed as if they all arrived on the first day of the month that any sub sale happened. In the full list the actual day of the sale is recorded.  What's even more bizarre is that in the monthly bar chart, they are all being listed as happening in the first month that you received one, so it shows no sub sales for May, all of them are dumped into April, so the bar for April 2014 is destined to get bigger and bigger and bigger as the years go by.
I had 40 subs in May, compared with 15 in April, assuming it's now finished (my stats are up to May 29 so there may be a couple of days still to come in) and there's clearly a rising trend, even just comparing the first couple of weeks of the month with the second couple of weeks.

@ Pancaketom: Are you switching your bar chart from daily to monthly using the drop-down menu above the bar chart? That's when you see May's report shifted into April. (At least, it's when I do).

I had no sub sales in April - so they will probably slowly accumulate in May over time. What a mess.

[Shelma1]

All my subscription sales show up on may 1st, though when I download the csv I see I had them throughout the month.

However, my earnings have dropped substantially in May. It looks like it's probably what I feared...subs sales have cannibalized my regular sales, rather than adding a new income stream. So sales that would have made 3 or 4 bucks now make $.28.

Very sad.

[ShadySue]

I guess it was inevitable.
Despite all the spin about 'new market', TS cannibalised iS regular sales, and now subs are cannibalising what regular sales we had left.

[JKB]

Yep, sounds about right. And add to that an ongoing overall loss of customers and it probably explains why it ain't much fun at the moment.

[spike]

I have around +400% from the new subscription sales!

So, 4 bucks.

[wds]

Interestingly, my subs sales were about the same insignificant amount in both April and May.

[Nikovsk]

I just got a 6 dollar sale with PP for May, isn't it supposed to be over already?

[ShadySue]

I just got a 6 dollar sale with PP for May, isn't it supposed to be over already?

GI360.

[borg]

I am also receiving today some new gray column of "subscription royalties"!

Is it this!?

http://www.michaeljayfoto.com/agency-news/istockphoto-announces-new-subscription-program/

[ShadySue]

Yes

[ultimagina]

Just got surprised by a nice GI sale when I thought all PPs were over