MicrostockGroup

This screen just popped up when I logged on a few moments ago. Have not done it yet as it says it will take about ten minutes to complete.

For their last survey I just answered as if they meant selling instead of buying since the wording was a little vague. Mostly I just listed about 5 things they could do at the end when they had a space you could actually type in.

Maybe in a few days they will say "based on buyer feedback we now realize that buyers want more expensive images..."

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If your memory is correct, this would be really bad.  Big risk I see is that if there are universal credits and a universal search, a top down rationalization of pricing and content would be needed.  If one search will show you content from Getty, Istock, Thinkstock, Jupiter, the same content could show up multiple times.  Why would you pay 10 times as much for one version of a file over another?

The solution is that the content can only reside in one of the many Getty name plates and the pricing for those name plates needs to reflect the perceived quality.  Since they just forced all independent content onto Thinkstock, logically independent content would leave Istock entirely...

Universal Getty credits would finish the transition from what is left of Istock into a name plate for Getty since they would no longer need things like an accounting department.

I saw that survey a couple of weeks back, but I figured there was no point in participating. It really is none of my business anymore. They sure do love surveys though.

From a customers persepective to have credits I can use all over the gettyverse is a fantastic idea. So is being able to see results from all agencies.

The different agencies then become more like collections.

As a contributor I will have to learn how to deal with this, but for a customers this would be wonderful. This kind of choice and variety will be hard to meet by all the other single agencies.

This would only work if they can figure out the filters. Many customers left because they were inundated with Agency/Vetta images that were not in their price point. If they do go to this system then it would be interesting to see if they change the RC program again. Right now images sold on TS, Getty et al. are not counted towards RC.

It's a very clever idea.
Why add more collections to IS with all the fuss it creates by review standards not applied no collection special users and all the mess in best match when you can just fill the search engine with everything getty cartel has directly

Then something comes to mind. If they create this global credit thing, will PP sales count as credits? Many times they said that PP didn't count because no credits were used. Just wondering if they ever though of this side effect.

I don't know what they are thinking or if they think at all. There was IS, working and growing and Getty losing ground to sites like IS. And their superb plan is to fill the growing site with loser content. I believe their objective is to try to increase sales of loser content but the result is the death of a growing site.

They can easily raise the RC targets. 

If you do a basic stock image search at Getty, you are already searching 179 separate collections, including "Vetta" and "iStock Vectors".  If you only want to search one of those collections you have to go to advanced search.

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/AdvancedSearch.aspx

Imagine if the only way you could search just for Istock was to start at http://www.gettyimages.com/ then go to advanced search and unselect all but "Istock".  We would have a lot more competition.   

I would't be surprised if they end up putting all Rf content into one global site. The idea of a universal search or universal credits is not about innovation, but to bring together a company that seems to be spread over many different sites.

Of course I can use money to buy from different places, but every time I have to get credits at different price points. I think especially for customers who buy many images it would be useful if they can negotiate a price once for "universal credifs"

As a contributor, bringing all collections together means more competition, but istock already is a site with a huge influx of images, I think it is the Getty photographers who will be more afraid than us. They are not used to competing with 100000 other contributors and their files.

Anyway, nobody knows what thir plans are, maybe this is just an idea that is being floated around the boardroom.

I got a popup for the survey (which is the second in as many weeks). I completed it.

In spite of the bad news for iStock contributors of the idea of global searches and purchase accounts (given forced participation in other Getty sites - Agency/Vetta on the high end and PP for independents on the low), I think it'd be a great idea for customers to have a single login and purchase system.

I did think the silliest notion was the set of questions about having badges for customers for different purchase levels or other activity levels on the site. Just how sophomoric do they think their buyers are?

The overall tone of questions - about what you like/don't about credit systems, what sites you're going to in addition to iStock or instead of - suggests they've got the message that buyers aren't all happy. I wonder how many people of their bread and butter buyers (i.e. not me who just wanted to see what the questionnaire said and acted the way I think buyers would) would spend the time on the survey. I also wonder if they're contacting former buyers who don't go to the site any more (via e-mail perhaps) to ask them to fill it out.

That was my take on it as well. Based on the line of questioning, I got the feeling that they are concerned about buyers leaving, why they might be leaving, and if they should expect more buyers to leave in the future. One of the more interesting questions int he survey was one that went something like, "How difficult of a transition would it be for you to move to another stock website?" Sounds like they're trying to get a feel for how thin that thread is that some buyers are hanging on by.

There were also quite a few questions that asked people to rate their levels of satisfaction (or lack of) with pricing, the credit system, and difficulties figuring out what you're actually paying for an image at istock because of the credit system. I would guess that the credit system and the masked pricing using unequal credit-to-dollar conversions is high on the list of buyer frustrations with istock.

Funny thing is that it almost sounds like they're giving some consideration to a BigStock sort of system, working with real money pricing rather than credits. I'd be really surprised to see istock go that route, but if they did, I think it would be a tad funny that they're sollowing in the footsteps of the competitor who has been taking shots at them with their iStuck ad campaign.

Hmmm. I'm not sure that Istock exclusives will want their images on TS competing with their port on IS. Image packs on TS might be a cheaper option for the customer and the commission percentage lower (?).