MicrostockGroup

Actually Yuri's girlfriend, who started later than him, went straigth to exclusivity.

Ah yes, and is she using by any coincidence the same cam and the same models? 
Great idea. I thought about camera-sharing too.

Having one account independant and one exclusive with diferent images

A great way to explore both sides of the coin!

moved to another thread

iStock is coming in at just a hair under 45% of my microstock volume at the moment.  Because of the changes in credit prices and best match favoring exclusives, it makes sense to become exclusive with iStock.  Yes, it is all eggs in one basket, but a very lucrative basket.  If iStock were to fail or severely drop off, then I can always go back to spreading things around among the sites.  iStock is letting independents lock in their next canister levels as well, which means I will be able to obtain a diamond canister in the near future rather than the far.  That extra 5% will be nice, and I can only lock that in if I go exclusive as soon as possible.  I have more to gain monetarily (possibly significantly) by going exclusive, and stand to potentially lose much of my income from iStock if their best match pushes the independents further down the rankings.   So I'm putting my eggs in the basket that is most important to me financially in the microstock world.

This is not what I got from the letter Cathy posted in her thread.  Looks like the only way of independents getting their next canister levels is to withdraw from all agencies now and lose all that income while  waiting out the Dreamstime commitment.  Fine maybe if this is your hobby, but I certainly can't afford to lose 60% of my income for the better part of the year.

You are right of course, and I was in the unique position of being able to remove all of my Dreamstime images by Feb 4th, since a busy summer put 70% of my images uploaded before August 4th (I used the 30% I was allowed to remove to take down all my most recent photos first).  I would email iStock and verify rather than relying on third party info.  I sent an email earlier today to verify my situation, but from what I can tell I will be able to go exclusive on Feb 5th and still lock in the canister.  If iStock is requiring everyone to remove everything now, then wait six months, then that is unfortunate. 

^^ Well said Cathy.  This sums up my feelings on the subject too.

We still haven't heard from Shutterstock whether or not there will be a raise there this year, either.  Still time for the sites to sweeten the pot for independents....

Even if I were in a position to go exclusive with IS, I don't think I would on the back of a move like this by them.

While I can see the benefits for contributors of higher royalties - the canister shifts are really nothing but a profit share grab by a company that is already the most profitable in the industry. Long term I think that this change, and Fotolia's changes are bad for all contributors.

The only problem is that you would loose your Search Positions from your established files at the other agencies. I doubt I would do so well, if I would delete my portfolio and upload it again.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can simply remove all images and retain your levels both in SS and FT. No luck for DT obviously, but you should retain your search placement (AR).

Do you have to disable each image with DT and then re-enable them if you go back?  It must cost a lot in lost earnings going exclusive and then even more if your earnings fall and you cancel it.  Not something I would consider doing, unless istock start paying us a big lump sum to go exclusive.  That seems about as likely as them raising commissions