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Author Topic: Sales have tanked big time  (Read 180442 times)

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SNP

  • Canadian Photographer
« Reply #450 on: October 28, 2011, 11:25 »
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I agree. but legally I don't think they'd have any problem with it. anyways, we agree that it was unethical and it has clearly signaled the direction they're willing to go in. and the price they are paying for it is distrust, and in some cases contributors pulling their assets. it's about reaching targets and the best way to reach their targets is reducing payouts to contributors. until a good number of major contributors balk at these actions, nothing will change.

back on topic...sales are up and down, but more up than down. last week was fantastic. this week started off slow, but by Tuesday night was chugging away. Today is very good, well above average for this time of day.


« Reply #451 on: October 28, 2011, 11:44 »
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I've sold one so far today, my week days are slower than weekends used to be, now I've got the Morrissey song "Everyday Is Like Sunday" on my mind :)

Slovenian

« Reply #452 on: October 28, 2011, 11:47 »
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I've sold one so far today, my week days are slower than weekends used to be, now I've got the Morrissey song "Everyday Is Like Sunday" on my mind :)

My sales have been pathetic all the time, what I don't like is the fact they're stagnating most of the months, instead of raising like on most sites (unfortunately it's the same story with SS).

lthn

    This user is banned.
« Reply #453 on: October 28, 2011, 13:35 »
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...In this economy who can really blame any of them for following the corporate road map. In the end its every man/woman for himself in this business.  ...

I don't think a poor economy is an excuse for lapses in ethics...


Actually the lapses in ethic are the reason for the poor economy.

lthn

    This user is banned.
« Reply #454 on: October 28, 2011, 13:36 »
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In the last couple of days I don't get any download during European working hours. All the downloads happen when Americas start to work and stops on European morning hours. Does anybody else experiencing this pattern?

I'm having most of my sales from Europe, but then again I don't offer fake looking models (absurdly white teeth, tons of silicone etc). Of course it may be something completely different in your case, but it's obviously you don't offer what European buyers need.

you mean you shoot ugly ppl with bad teeth, is that what you'r trying to say? : ))

« Reply #455 on: October 28, 2011, 13:57 »
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you mean you shoot ugly ppl with bad teeth, is that what you'r trying to say? : ))

That's what I do at Christmas with the relatives.

Slovenian

« Reply #456 on: October 28, 2011, 14:24 »
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In the last couple of days I don't get any download during European working hours. All the downloads happen when Americas start to work and stops on European morning hours. Does anybody else experiencing this pattern?

I'm having most of my sales from Europe, but then again I don't offer fake looking models (absurdly white teeth, tons of silicone etc). Of course it may be something completely different in your case, but it's obviously you don't offer what European buyers need.

you mean you shoot ugly ppl with bad teeth, is that what you'r trying to say? : ))

You see, that's what I'm talking about lol. What's american perception of beauty is clearly visible not only in show business, but also if you watch miss world etc; miss america usually is the most artificial, doll looking woman there. Not that it's anything wrong with that, it's just how it is and what the rest of the world considers fake and is not buying.

« Reply #457 on: October 28, 2011, 14:53 »
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what the rest of the world considers fake and is not buying.

I'm not sure they aren't buying it. I saw a poster from a european perfume company the other day where the model's features were so smoothed over that her hand actually looked like a prosthetic limb. Either that or they are using war victims to promote perfume these days but I rather doubt it.

Seriously, though, different "looks" will appeal to different markets. Some populations have strong national characteristics so the melting-pot American advertising ideal won't fit.

« Reply #458 on: October 28, 2011, 15:46 »
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Sorry SNP. I cannot quote and reply to you as I'm one of the 32 that have you on ignore. Had to log out to see your comment and then log back in again.

No need to log out, just press the 'show' button on the right hand side above the post.

SNP

  • Canadian Photographer
« Reply #459 on: October 28, 2011, 16:34 »
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I saw a poster from a european perfume company the other day where the model's features were so smoothed over that her hand actually looked like a prosthetic limb. Either that or they are using war victims to promote perfume these days but I rather doubt it.

that's exactly what super-skin-smoothed models look like in cosmetics ads...perfect analogy....

« Reply #460 on: October 28, 2011, 20:46 »
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sorry folks....but what happened tonight (european night) on istock ? my sales overnight are tanked ! about 80% less than a regular night

Not quite sure but I had a lot more sales for a Friday than normal. I think there is probably some localised best match testing going on - I had a similar experience on Monday night where sales just stopped for 8 hours durring part of the US daytime, but I couldn't see any change in the best match here.

« Reply #461 on: October 28, 2011, 23:35 »
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each week keeps getting worse and worse for me... i'm now down about 40% in weekly $ earnings from 'normal'.

« Reply #462 on: October 29, 2011, 01:49 »
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each week keeps getting worse and worse for me... i'm now down about 40% in weekly $ earnings from 'normal'.

Yeah, I'm roughly down about that amount .... from 'the good times'. I imagine there will be an Oct results thread on the Illustration forum on Tuesday since a premature one has already been locked.  It'll be interesting to hear what the damage is.

lagereek

« Reply #463 on: October 29, 2011, 02:17 »
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Yeah but they are all down, exclusives as well, the four Diamond exclusives I know and chat with are all down between 30-40% and all their friends are down.
Its been a downhill trend for over two years, so whats the surprise? and a quick look at the best match and interface and how the buyers are forced to search, well?  its easy to see why its down.
Thats the way they want it?  let them have it.

« Reply #464 on: October 29, 2011, 02:34 »
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1 post (and a few replies to that post) was removed from this thread for unnecessary (rude / racist / crude) content and the original poster temporarily banned.

Slovenian

« Reply #465 on: October 29, 2011, 04:15 »
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each week keeps getting worse and worse for me... i'm now down about 40% in weekly $ earnings from 'normal'.

Do you think IS has become so greedy, that is keeping everyone, besides a small number of carefully handpicked and those who made deals, from getting 40%? Because a lot of top contributors are reporting similar slumps

« Reply #466 on: October 29, 2011, 04:54 »
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each week keeps getting worse and worse for me... i'm now down about 40% in weekly $ earnings from 'normal'.
Same here. This is my fourth really bad week now. The last three have been rescued at least to some extent by ELs and the PP. This week has been bad though.

« Reply #467 on: October 29, 2011, 06:03 »
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Sorry SNP. I cannot quote and reply to you as I'm one of the 32 that have you on ignore.
Why would anybody ignore SNP? As a rule I don't ignore women since even when they're singing like the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Enchanted Flute, they still have something interesting to say. Apart from that and contrary to gossip, I like women in general. ;-)
By the way, you don't have to log out to read the posts of a blocked poster. Just hit the show button.

« Reply #468 on: October 29, 2011, 06:06 »
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each week keeps getting worse and worse for me... i'm now down about 40% in weekly $ earnings from 'normal'.
Me thinks this is very significant. Nico_blue is one of the most flabbergasting artists on iStock.

« Reply #469 on: October 29, 2011, 07:17 »
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As its going to be really hard for exclusives to drop the crown and get their portfolios on the other sites, I wonder if a bunch of them will eventually decide to get together and start their own site?  If they want to remain exclusive to one site but their earnings are tanking with istock, that seems like a possible option.

Just imaging the top 100 istock exclusives working together on this, I'm sure they could do really well quite quickly.  If the istock ship is sinking, why stay on it?  The top exclusives might of been treated better by istock but they are still going to struggle if more and more buyers leave.

It would be really hard to start a new site but the benefits of not having to pay investors a huge amount of the profits, being able to control prices and where images are sold might outweigh the difficulties.  I really wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

The other option would be for one of the other current big sites to come up with a good exclusive deal but I would of thought that might of happened by now, if they were interested.

« Reply #470 on: October 29, 2011, 07:31 »
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This Friday was really terrible. Thursday was ok. The previous Friday was surprisingly good. They must be tweaking the best match.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2011, 08:25 by Freedom »

« Reply #471 on: October 29, 2011, 07:48 »
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I am reasonably convinced the current Best Match has some sort of daily change to the algorithm.  That change is intended to stir up images that got buried by the old best match.  Some days I see a few images sold that haven't sold in years.  Other days I see extremely low sales (perhaps for years I didn't contribute much).  So this best match may be "set" but it includes auto changing components on a day by day basis.  My opinion.

« Reply #472 on: October 29, 2011, 08:42 »
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I am reasonably convinced the current Best Match has some sort of daily change to the algorithm.  That change is intended to stir up images that got buried by the old best match.  Some days I see a few images sold that haven't sold in years.  Other days I see extremely low sales (perhaps for years I didn't contribute much).  So this best match may be "set" but it includes auto changing components on a day by day basis.  My opinion.
I think you're right. the order of my own PF was quite different the other morning to later in the afternoon when it looked more "normal". When the best match was changed less often, my sales normally used to take a day or two to get back to normal afterwards. I don't have any idea why, but I saw it happen lots of times. With these rapid changes now, nothing has a chance to settle down. I wouldn't mind quite as much if the best match was giving the occasional really good day, but that hasn't been happening recently.

« Reply #473 on: October 29, 2011, 12:01 »
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Same thing here, sales down about 40-50%. September was okay, but October hasn't been great, and I'm on a downward trend since May, which was a great month. Shutterstock seems to be catching up in terms of traffic, which might be why istock is looking for ways to increase profits. Time to form a union? ;)

« Reply #474 on: October 29, 2011, 16:19 »
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This Friday was really terrible. Thursday was ok. The previous Friday was surprisingly good. They must be tweaking the best match.

In the US, world series game 7 was Friday night. Things like that affect sales too :)


 

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