MicrostockGroup

good point .
other factors not mentioned are such things as
- keywording style with IS is different with say DT
- IS preference for less" saturation" less "overprocessed" work to use their own words
that seems to plague SS regulars and vice versa

not to mention the images IS takes are most times quite distinct from the other Big 6.
iow, you have to reinvent your wheel all over again which will be more like a newbie.

just my own observations, as always... nothing to confirm i am a "stock-xpert" (argghh bad pun).

One exclusive reported a Medium sale for $5.50. That's over 3x what an independent contributor would receive for a similar sale __ and that's before the Exclusive+ collection comes in. I'm expecting mainly jubilant reports from exclusives in the end-of-month forum thread.

Time will tell...   Some will be happy ,  some will be angry   ,  others will cry , and  others won't not know what to do   
[/quote]

Exclusive members will be happy , Designers  will be angry   ,  Clients will cry , and Non-exclusive won't not know what to do   

 

Perhaps a lot of buyers will see the new prices and wont be able to find non-exclusive images so easy, so they will go elsewhere and a lot of non-exclusives will be   There has been so much speculation about what will happen.  I expect to see my istock earning slump and have become used to that happening with best match changes.  If the slump isn't too big and I can make up for it with the other sites, I will be pleased.

For the sake of comparison,
I just sold a Medium for 1.50$ royalty. * that's almost 4 times less.

for the sake of comparision too,
i just had 5 combined sales of one image at IS totalling $5 odd,
and the same image also got a single dl at 3 d studio totalling $5 odd.
hmm, i wonder if the same buyer went to IS first or 3 d studio.

oh well, some of us paid more at the shopping centre while others pick up the same good at the dollar store. i guess more ppl visited the dollar store in micro stock 

I sold a medium today for $1.74. Doesn't the difference come from what kind of package the buyer purchased?  Your buyer must have bought a larger package with a volume discount (or has older credits).

Based on a gross credit value of $1.50 USD, IS royalties are now the following (according to my calculations):
                     
Image Size              xs            s           m          l          xl         xxl        xxxl
Non-exclusive        0,30      0,90      1,80      3,00      4,50      6,00      7,50
Bronze Exclusive    0,75      1,88      3,75      5,63      7,50      9,38      11,25
Silver Exclusive      0,90      2,25      4,50      6,75      9,00      11,25   13,50
Gold Exclusive        1,05      2,63      5,25      7,88      10,50   13,13   15,75
Diamond Exclus      1,20      3,00      6,00      9,00      12,00   15,00   18,00
                     
It's clear that the difference between exclusives' and non-exclusives' earnings are bigger now.

The most important thing to study now (for me at least) are  the effects on the number of downlods for exclusives and non exclusives.   Will exclusives keep selling as they have so far? Will they sell more? Or less?   Will non exclusives have more sales now that their images are cheaper?

As for me, I have decided to wait and see before making any decision about becoming IS exclusive...

LOL!  Great mixed metaphor

I think when looking at 50 - 100 thumbnails on a page it is a bit of work to pick out the crownless images. 

If I go exclusive I hope there is no sort by price.  If I stay independent I hope there is. 

Unfortunately what I hope means absolutely nothing to anyone be me...  We will just have to wait and see what pans out.

Most of designers don't care about prices. The difficulty to find the perfect image is more important than finding lower prices. They always have to deal with deadlines, limited budget is second in the priority order.

You can look at how the Vetta collection is successful, as an example of that.

To be honest the volume, variety (and the quality too) can actually be much higher on microstock than most trad agencies especially with niche subjects. Try a search for 'bacon sandwich' for example (or virtually any food subject) on Getty/Corbis/etc against a similar search on Istock. Trust me, IS wins hands down almost every time.

This is on page 2 of Alamy for "sandwich"... It's worth 365$ at full size (RF) and the image is upsized

Edited: This is why they buy at microstock

Seems like it is just a matter of time before it becomes financially smart to go exclusive for me. Once iStock accounts for 40-50% of my earnings it will be worth it. It was 36% last month.