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Topic: For Indies who pulled ports from Istock...  

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velocicarpo



« Reply #25 on: January 06, 2012, 10:54 »

The advantage, for me at least, is peace of mind.  I can't in good conscience support a company that refuses to support its contributors.

+1. Moral has value, not only profit.


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DepositPhotos.com
fotografer
« Reply #26 on: January 06, 2012, 11:35 »

I'm a diamond indie.  In the good old days I was selling 60 -70 images a day.  So far this year I have sold a total of 14 images.!!!...

This is a weird sort of reverse bragging, but my total (another diamond indie) in 2012 is 28 images - it really is a very sad thing to measure just how down things are
LOL at least that made me laugh


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Lagereek


« Reply #27 on: January 06, 2012, 11:52 »

I'm a diamond indie.  In the good old days I was selling 60 -70 images a day.  So far this year I have sold a total of 14 images.!!! Like jsnover I only have 15 images at the partner sites but if this continues I will seriously consider pulling my port once my images are all transferred.


Same here!  Diamond indie with at least 70-80, sales per day. Nowdays, more like 6-7, sales per day. So, is this the result of indies being pushed way down?  no, hardly. Its tough for any business if the customer isnt around and the revenue coming in is then going to the fully employed and debts, loans, etc. Nothing lefte for the staff on the floor.


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luissantos84

Dreamstime GaugeiStock Gauge
« Reply #28 on: January 06, 2012, 12:05 »

seriously.. the more pro you are the more liar you are right?

70-80 sales... make it 75
365 days... make it 260 (average week days in a year)

1 year = 75 x 260 = 19500
2 years = 39k sales

right Cheesy

(sorry but I cannot hold myself)


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fotografer
« Reply #29 on: January 06, 2012, 12:10 »

seriously.. the more pro you are the more liar you are right?

70-80 sales... make it 75
365 days... make it 260 (average week days in a year)

1 year = 75 x 260 = 19500
2 years = 39k sales

right Cheesy

(sorry but I cannot hold myself)
I know you are quoting Lagereek's figures and not mine but mine were similar.   I didn't mean that I had those figures for years but there was certainly at least a year when I did those sort of numbers just about every week day.   Sad to see how bad things have gone.


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Lagereek


« Reply #30 on: January 06, 2012, 12:53 »

Luis!  jealous? are we?  we are talking averages Luis, on an average, right, or are you being stupid on purpose. Boing!, boing!  or do I have to expalin the maths formula for working out the average, boing!


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CarlssonInc. Stock Imagery Production

iStock Gauge
« Reply #31 on: January 06, 2012, 12:58 »

Luis!  jealous? are we?  we are talking averages Luis, on an average, right, or are you being stupid on purpose. Boing!, boing!  or do I have to expalin the maths formula for working out the average, boing!

I think he is missing the obvious in what you were saying. That you had managed to get to a level where 70-80 perweekday was the norm, just for it to catastrophically be reduced to 6-7 sales a weekday now. Obviously you didn't start out with 70-80 per day in the from the moment you signed with iStock, but that is probably what he thought you meant. Always nice when someone calls you a liar eh! Don't expect an apology, we don't do them around here I learnt hahaha!
« Last Edit: January 06, 2012, 13:00 by CarlssonInc. Stock Imagery Production »

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Lagereek


« Reply #32 on: January 06, 2012, 13:02 »

seriously.. the more pro you are the more liar you are right?

70-80 sales... make it 75
365 days... make it 260 (average week days in a year)

1 year = 75 x 260 = 19500
2 years = 39k sales

right Cheesy

(sorry but I cannot hold myself)
I know you are quoting Lagereek's figures and not mine but mine were similar.   I didn't mean that I had those figures for years but there was certainly at least a year when I did those sort of numbers just about every week day.   Sad to see how bad things have gone.

Dont worry about this kid,  he automatically dislikes anybody doing well. He would even call Yuri a lier if he wasnt scared of him.

Anyway one can work it out, Ive had for the last three years ( when it really took off) had 43000 dls, divide that by 3 and its pretty close. Must be the same for you?


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Artemis


« Reply #33 on: January 06, 2012, 13:02 »

The advantage, for me at least, is peace of mind.  I can't in good conscience support a company that refuses to support its contributors.

+1. Moral has value, not only profit.
Apart from that my main reason for pulling most of my port is that i'm very convinced sales are not reported accurately there (no hard proof, but 1+1=2), istock to me these days feels more like a scam than a MS agency.


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Lagereek


« Reply #34 on: January 06, 2012, 13:03 »

Luis!  jealous? are we?  we are talking averages Luis, on an average, right, or are you being stupid on purpose. Boing!, boing!  or do I have to expalin the maths formula for working out the average, boing!

I think he is missing the obvious in what you were saying. That you had managed to get to a level where 70-80 perweekday was the norm, just for it to catastrophically be reduced to 6-7 sales a weekday now. Obviously you didn't start out with 70-80 per day in the from the moment you signed with iStock, but that is probably what he thought you meant. Always nice when someone calls you a liar eh! Don't expect an apology, we don't do them around here I learnt hahaha!

Hi Martin!  yep!  Luis is well known for ALWAYS thinking to much or rather too little Cheesy


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CarlssonInc. Stock Imagery Production

iStock Gauge
« Reply #35 on: January 06, 2012, 13:08 »

Luis!  jealous? are we?  we are talking averages Luis, on an average, right, or are you being stupid on purpose. Boing!, boing!  or do I have to expalin the maths formula for working out the average, boing!

I think he is missing the obvious in what you were saying. That you had managed to get to a level where 70-80 perweekday was the norm, just for it to catastrophically be reduced to 6-7 sales a weekday now. Obviously you didn't start out with 70-80 per day in the from the moment you signed with iStock, but that is probably what he thought you meant. Always nice when someone calls you a liar eh! Don't expect an apology, we don't do them around here I learnt hahaha!

Hi Martin!  yep!  Luis is well known for ALWAYS thinking to much or rather too little Cheesy

Again I'm surprised by the lack of manners and courtesy, people seem to act so differently behind a keyboard then in real life.


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luissantos84

Dreamstime GaugeiStock Gauge
« Reply #36 on: January 06, 2012, 13:27 »

Again I'm surprised by the lack of manners and courtesy, people seem to act so differently behind a keyboard then in real life.

can you please tell me where was I lacking manners? please go over my posts and quote me

I am not even going to talk about what lagereek said


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CarlssonInc. Stock Imagery Production

iStock Gauge
« Reply #37 on: January 06, 2012, 13:53 »

seriously.. the more pro you are the more liar you are right?

70-80 sales... make it 75
365 days... make it 260 (average week days in a year)

1 year = 75 x 260 = 19500
2 years = 39k sales

right Cheesy

(sorry but I cannot hold myself)

I bet you are going to back-track somehow, but you are in a not a very round-about way calling Christian a liar - uncalled for and rude.


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wut


« Reply #38 on: January 06, 2012, 14:02 »

This brilliant Einstein's quote often comes to my mind (and it doesn't matter if the situation is real life or happening on the internet):

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.”


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cclapper
« Reply #39 on: January 06, 2012, 15:21 »

The advantage, for me at least, is peace of mind.  I can't in good conscience support a company that refuses to support its contributors.

+1. Moral has value, not only profit.
Apart from that my main reason for pulling most of my port is that i'm very convinced sales are not reported accurately there (no hard proof, but 1+1=2), istock to me these days feels more like a scam than a MS agency.

That's an excellent point, also.


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luissantos84

Dreamstime GaugeiStock Gauge
« Reply #40 on: January 06, 2012, 16:00 »

I bet you are going to back-track somehow, but you are in a not a very round-about way calling Christian a liar - uncalled for and rude.

I belive you don´t know well lagereek and worst "our talk" in this forum, I could actually apologise but after what he said I believe we are more than even


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lisafx
« Reply #41 on: January 06, 2012, 16:09 »

Thanks a lot to everyone who has posted useful info in this thread.  Cathy, JoAnn, and Christian, I know we have talked privately about this but I also appreciate your participating in a public discussion about it. 

I just requested my Friday weekly payout from IS and it was literally 1/4 of what it had been from 2008 through the first part of 2011.   I will admit that when folks like David Gilder and Cathy pulled their ports, I admired them, but could never see myself doing the same.  Of course I could also never see myself sinking from 150 sales/weekday to 20 or 30, with a portfolio of nearly 7k images. 

Looks like so far there has been some increase in sales elsewhere for most individuals who deleted all or most of their ports from Istock, but it isn't enough to conclude that buyers followed you to other sites. 

I think at the very least I will not be uploading to Istock until/unless sales improve.  I'll join JoAnn on that fence about whether to start deleting.  JoAnn, I'll bring the tea if you bring the cookies Smiley


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jsnover
« Reply #42 on: January 06, 2012, 16:20 »

Thanks a lot to everyone who has posted useful info in this thread.  Cathy, JoAnn, and Christian, I know we have talked privately about this but I also appreciate your participating in a public discussion about it. 
...  JoAnn, I'll bring the tea if you bring the cookies Smiley

I'm up for cookies any time, but I don't know about you bringing the tea Smiley I drink masses of it, and buy British tea bags - nearly as much caffeine as coffee!

Although if sales keep plummeting, I think it should be something much stronger to drink...


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Karimala



« Reply #43 on: January 06, 2012, 16:35 »

The advantage, for me at least, is peace of mind.  I can't in good conscience support a company that refuses to support its contributors.

+1. Moral has value, not only profit.
Apart from that my main reason for pulling most of my port is that i'm very convinced sales are not reported accurately there (no hard proof, but 1+1=2), istock to me these days feels more like a scam than a MS agency.

That's an excellent point, also.

+1  It's beginning to look like 1984 where 1+1 doesn't =2.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2012, 16:37 by Karimala »

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gostwyck

Dreamstime GaugeiStock Gauge
« Reply #44 on: January 06, 2012, 16:46 »

The advantage, for me at least, is peace of mind.  I can't in good conscience support a company that refuses to support its contributors.

+1. Moral has value, not only profit.
Apart from that my main reason for pulling most of my port is that i'm very convinced sales are not reported accurately there (no hard proof, but 1+1=2), istock to me these days feels more like a scam than a MS agency.

That's an excellent point, also.

+1  It's beginning to look like 1984 where 1+1 doesn't =2.

True __ and there's been plenty of 'doublespeak' from TPTB there too.


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StockCube



« Reply #45 on: January 06, 2012, 18:03 »

Hi Lisa, as you may remember I went indie in October of 2010.  I left all my portfolio there until a few weeks ago, when I deleted my nine best sellers.  I feel very unhappy to be getting only 16% of revenue for these files and so deleted the ones that I felt had fared well on other sites and had found a worthwhile 'new home'.  Some of my other images that have done well at iStock have not been accepted on other sites (DT and SS in particular) and so I just left them there.  In time I would like to delete all of the images that I have on iStock that have found a good home elsewhere.  While I agree with Lagereek that I don't for a second think buyers will search all over the net to find my images for sale, I also can't stomach supporting the bunch of greedy *insult removed* that iStock have become to the tune of 84% of revenue.

When I went indie I remember posting on a forum site on iS that I expected my iStock income to drop from about $350 a month to around $50.  I wasn't far off - I was earning around $70 a month for most of last year.  I also said that in that case it would not be a huge deal for me to drop iStock altogether and delete my images there.  I hope to soon have my other agencies built up to the level where that will be financially possible.  I have learnt a lot in my first year+ as an indie - knowledge and skill which I will be putting into creating images for the likes of SS, DT, Veer etc in the future.  I haven't uploaded to iS since I left exclusivity as to do so feels like cutting my own throat - if I allow them to profit from my new work at vastly reduced commission then they will have won, and if they win then others will follow suit.  I don't think it is an overly dramatic statement to make that I feel that iStock must now fail in order for the rest of the industry to survive.

If you want to check out my income figures then the link is in my sig line below,
Cheers,
Bridget


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Lagereek


« Reply #46 on: January 06, 2012, 18:28 »

Thanks a lot to everyone who has posted useful info in this thread.  Cathy, JoAnn, and Christian, I know we have talked privately about this but I also appreciate your participating in a public discussion about it. 

I just requested my Friday weekly payout from IS and it was literally 1/4 of what it had been from 2008 through the first part of 2011.   I will admit that when folks like David Gilder and Cathy pulled their ports, I admired them, but could never see myself doing the same.  Of course I could also never see myself sinking from 150 sales/weekday to 20 or 30, with a portfolio of nearly 7k images. 

Looks like so far there has been some increase in sales elsewhere for most individuals who deleted all or most of their ports from Istock, but it isn't enough to conclude that buyers followed you to other sites. 

I think at the very least I will not be uploading to Istock until/unless sales improve.  I'll join JoAnn on that fence about whether to start deleting.  JoAnn, I'll bring the tea if you bring the cookies Smiley

Hi Lisa! how goes?

Yep!  its nothing to hang in a x-mas tree, is it?  Although I agree, with the size of your port, its a very difficult call. To confirm your thoughts, I think you are probably doing the right thing in holding on a bit.
Remember, I only deactivated my best sellers, the rest, some 1600 files are still there and the reason for deactivating these images, I explained to you privately.

speak to you soon, best. Christian


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Lagereek


« Reply #47 on: January 06, 2012, 18:30 »

seriously.. the more pro you are the more liar you are right?

70-80 sales... make it 75
365 days... make it 260 (average week days in a year)

1 year = 75 x 260 = 19500
2 years = 39k sales

right Cheesy

(sorry but I cannot hold myself)

I bet you are going to back-track somehow, but you are in a not a very round-about way calling Christian a liar - uncalled for and rude.

Hi Martin!  One thing is for sure,  we do come across some funny dudes in this place, dont we. Smiley

best.


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mynameis


New Member


« Reply #48 on: January 06, 2012, 19:36 »

seriously.. the more pro you are the more liar you are right?

70-80 sales... make it 75
365 days... make it 260 (average week days in a year)

1 year = 75 x 260 = 19500
2 years = 39k sales

right Cheesy

(sorry but I cannot hold myself)
what's your point?
That was stupid comment (math) you made!


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cthoman



« Reply #49 on: January 06, 2012, 19:55 »

Personally, I don't see why it would be of any advantage to delete images from iStock.

It was the math that drove me insane. Little hypothetical gems like this:

Let's say you bring in 100K in sales and make 18% of that, it's 18K a year ($1500 a month). Although you are a fairly successful contributor, your 18K (pre-tax/pre-expenses) income isn't going to get you very far in the US. How did 100K turn into 18K? That's when it hits you that IS is taking 82K of your 100K booty...

82K? Seriously? What are they doing with all that? Advertising?

If that's the case, then shouldn't there be a billboard somewhere with you sitting atop a throned pyramid in golden sun god robes with some sort of tagline extolling your photography or illustrative godliness? (I want chiseled abs on my billboard. Maybe a panther or a dragon. There has to be some scantily clad women as well. Definitely some lightning bolts too as I call the thunder for my throng of adoring worshipers below.)

By this time, my brain has gone from simmering to boiling and I'm wondering why anybody is there as an independent. Doesn't Yuri have a calculator? Doesn't he want an awesome billboard too? He could buy a lot of billboards.  Wink
« Last Edit: January 06, 2012, 19:56 by cthoman »

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