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Author Topic: Your opinion about the Istock Partner Program  (Read 20554 times)

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« on: January 18, 2011, 14:57 »
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What is your opinion on the Istock partner this year with all the changes?

Is it good?
I opted out last year when I found out that one of the partners were using my real name instead of my pseudonym. I don't use my real name on microstock.
On Istock I have my copyright set to show my "member name.

I'm wondering if they fixed that, and if the copyright will be under the option you set at Istock?


« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2011, 15:15 »
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never opted in.  I did not like it from the beginning so have not bothered with it nor do I plan to. 

« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2011, 15:59 »
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I never opted in as well.  Effectively helps Getty undermine Istock's position as it seeks to sell much of the same content at very low subscription prices.  I did not want to compeat against myself as an exclusive.

« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2011, 16:31 »
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I'm not interested in $0.25 subs with thinkstock.  I don't upload to istock any more.  Such a shame what has happened with microstock, I was optimistic 18 months ago, now I've lost all motivation and I'm looking at other ways to make money.

« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2011, 16:51 »
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As an IS exclusive I think it's not in my best interests to opt in - because I think it's helping Getty undermine iStock exclusivity as noted above. Unfortunately, not all exclusives share that view. OTOH the portal between the sites has been busted for many months, so there is no flow of new material going from IS to the partners.

However as an independent the calculus is a bit different. The payment sucks compared to SS but may end up higher than some payments from IS itself with the new royalty rates as of Jan 11th. The site that has the most to lose from Thinkstock and Photos.com being successful is SS, so you might decide not to help Getty switch users from SS to their sits. Or, you might just take the view that uploading everywhere is the only sane strategy and let the sites sort out the competition and whichever one wins, your portfolio will be there.

lisafx

« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2011, 16:59 »
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I didn't opt in for the partner program for all the reasons listed above.  

But aside from those reasons - undermining Istock and accepting the lowest rates in the industry - consider that nobody has gotten paid for PP sales in several months.  People are still waiting for NOVEMBER royalties.

And the final reason not to opt in to the PP, is that all transfers of files between Istock and TS are suspended indefinitely and have been for quite some months.  So even if you do opt in, your images will not be transferred over and put for sale.

ETA:  JoAnn typed faster and made a more coherent case :)

« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2011, 17:18 »
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The PP is a mess, both software and sub-plan wise.  Everyone is advised to go back in time and not sign up.  That way, you won't start down the spiraling wormhole.

« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2011, 17:42 »
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November royalties were payed.

« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2011, 18:01 »
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I never opted in for all the reasons stated above, and if anyone were asking my advice, I would say to not opt in (again, for the reasons stated above).

lisafx

« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2011, 18:12 »
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November royalties were payed.

Oh, hooray.  When did that finally happen?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2011, 18:13 »
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Plus they told us that the PP subs would be a 'different market' then directly targetted their biggest buyers with adverts for the cut price program.

« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2011, 18:45 »
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November royalties were payed.

FALSE! (only PP were payed, no sales from Hemera (XP))

I can tell sweetgirll that 30% of my income from IS is made there, dont think it is disturbing my regular IS (growing slowly, not this month..).. actually I am with 4 XS for less than 0.25$..
« Last Edit: January 18, 2011, 18:52 by luissantos84 »

« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2011, 18:51 »
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lisafx

« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2011, 18:55 »
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Sorry, I am confused Luis.  Did you get paid for November partner program sales yet?

« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2011, 18:58 »
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Sorry, I am confused Luis.  Did you get paid for November partner program sales yet?

like I said I got from PP but not from XP, which is owned by getty right? :)

actually XP sales (Hemera at thinkstock) were never delayed used to be payed at the first week but they have some kind of problem, like lack of staff and dont care..

SNP

  • Canadian Photographer
« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2011, 18:59 »
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I don't know if royalties have been paid or not. but I have been opted out since the second month. the ROI versus the risk (or perceived risk) just wasn't worth it. Now seeing the PP on steroids in the form of mirroring Agency and Vetta at Getty. Best case scenario=sales start happening elsewhere without a drop at iStock. worst case scenario=sales start splintering all over the place and Getty really pushes sales at sites (PP, Getty etc.) where contributors get paid far less.

it seems TPTB want profits at almost any cost; in the form of any download from any of their sites...and my fear is it will be at the expense of sales at iStock where contributors are more expensive....if that's the case (since I'm purely speculating based on communications and flubs of late), it's a sad and short-sighted business model for all of us. I'm hoping it isn't the case, of course ;-)

lisafx

« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2011, 19:13 »
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Sorry, I am confused Luis.  Did you get paid for November partner program sales yet?

like I said I got from PP but not from XP, which is owned by getty right? :)


Okay, by XP, you mean StockXpert, right?  Haven't seen that abbreviation before.  Thanks for clearing it up. 

Out of curiosity, when did you get paid for PP?  Last I read, payment had still not been made.  Must have happened fairly recently?

« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2011, 19:17 »
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Sorry, I am confused Luis.  Did you get paid for November partner program sales yet?

like I said I got from PP but not from XP, which is owned by getty right? :)


Okay, by XP, you mean StockXpert, right?  Haven't seen that abbreviation before.  Thanks for clearing it up. 

Out of curiosity, when did you get paid for PP?  Last I read, payment had still not been made.  Must have happened fairly recently?

lol dont know why but I called it XP but yeh StockXpert fits better :)

November PP sales were payed on the third week of December like usual (next month and the end..) Like they will this month, perhaps next week (for Dec sales)..

« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2011, 19:18 »
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I'm not interested in $0.25 subs with thinkstock.  I don't upload to istock any more.  Such a shame what has happened with microstock, I was optimistic 18 months ago, now I've lost all motivation and I'm looking at other ways to make money.

+1

« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2011, 19:29 »
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I don't know if royalties have been paid or not. but I have been opted out since the second month. the ROI versus the risk (or perceived risk) just wasn't worth it. Now seeing the PP on steroids in the form of mirroring Agency and Vetta at Getty. Best case scenario=sales start happening elsewhere without a drop at iStock. worst case scenario=sales start splintering all over the place and Getty really pushes sales at sites (PP, Getty etc.) where contributors get paid far less.

it seems TPTB want profits at almost any cost; in the form of any download from any of their sites...and my fear is it will be at the expense of sales at iStock where contributors are more expensive....if that's the case (since I'm purely speculating based on communications and flubs of late), it's a sad and short-sighted business model for all of us. I'm hoping it isn't the case, of course ;-)

Good post.

Getty does appear determined to destroy their chunk of the microstock market as quickly as possible. I don't even see any significant short-term gain to explain their actions. They spent all that time and money marketing Istock as the premier microstock site and then, for the last year, they've been tunneling underneath Istock's foundations promoting their feeble subscription offerings. I doubt that potential customers fork out the sort of money required for a subscription without doing at least some research and, if they do, they they're unlikely to be buying from TS, etc. I reckon they are accidentally promoting SS instead. I'm expecting a really bad year at Istock during 2011 __ and entirely of their own making too.

Back to the OP's question. The PP is rubbish and I'd recommend you avoid it at all costs. You will come to regret it if you participate. It started off really badly and it is now descending into farce.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2011, 19:55 »
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Back to the OP's question. The PP is rubbish and I'd recommend you avoid it at all costs. You will come to regret it if you participate. It started off really badly and it is now descending into farce.
Unfortunately, it's not only the PP which is becoming more and more farcical.  :(

RacePhoto

« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2011, 03:15 »
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November royalties were payed.

I see Nov. PP on IS paid until December. Maybe some people are looking at StockXpert which has not been paid.

And yes, they did screw up and used peoples real names on Thinkstock, which I would assume is offensive to those who would rather stay anonymous and not be outted for being microstock sellers. Some people have friends who would frown on their participation in Micro. Some people would just rather have their artists name and keep their real name private. Whatever the reason, IS never asked when they moved files from StockXpert and used real names. Mark one more for their incompetent programming crew.

I wouldn't know if anything is being ported over, I stopped uploading to IS in May.

No I wouldn't say the partner program pays and it seems all cocked up. Next thing we'll hear they are changing it again and dropping the IS files. Who the heck knows what they will do next, it's like some random acts of an insane person.

traveler1116

« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2011, 04:11 »
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Opted in and the opted out as soon as the royalty cuts were announced although it took a while and some support tickets to get the images off.  I opted in originally because I thought I could trust IS to do what was best for them and us, obviously that changed.  I agree about what people are saying about it hurting SS and as an exclusive that looked like it  could be a promising market to get into for some of my images, for you nonexclusives I would carefully consider  this before opting in.

« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2011, 08:54 »
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This is my experience:

November 2010
Regular downloads -> 134 -> 785$
PP downloads -> 290 -> 98$

which means i had more then twice downloads in PP which resulted in 8 times less earnings compared to regular sales. I had a feeling that I am comepteing against myself. I just didn't like those numbers so i quit PP.

lisafx

« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2011, 13:31 »
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November PP sales were payed on the third week of December like usual (next month and the end..) Like they will this month, perhaps next week (for Dec sales)..

Weird, I seem to remember reading a bunch of people complaining just recently that they still hadn't gotten partner program royalties from november.  I thought it was on Istock's forums.  Maybe it was really StockXpert they were talking about and I am misremembering. 

Anyway, thanks again Luis, for providing clarification.  I don't want to be spreading misinformation... :)

RacePhoto

« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2011, 17:39 »
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November PP sales were payed on the third week of December like usual (next month and the end..) Like they will this month, perhaps next week (for Dec sales)..


Weird, I seem to remember reading a bunch of people complaining just recently that they still hadn't gotten partner program royalties from november.  I thought it was on Istock's forums.  Maybe it was really StockXpert they were talking about and I am misremembering.  

Anyway, thanks again Luis, for providing clarification.  I don't want to be spreading misinformation... :)


It's hard enough to figure out what's what because StockXpert people get paid from StockXpert for what's on ThinkStock. Partner people get paid from IS for what's on Thinkstock and what's PP from IS. (Or did I get confused too?) :) I used to get some Photos.com payments on IS and who knows where else PP sales come from?

But I think part of the confusion is that ThinkStock pays some people, one place and pays other people, another place, and some people have images from two sources on one site.

Now about the delays, jumping up and down and screaming. Did I just read another site just paid their third quarter earnings from 2010. Hmm, where's the angry mob? Can I bring up sales appearing and disappearing on a few sites lately and no way to know what the heck is going on, or why? Vanishing commissions and sale on another site, sometimes sales that were over a year old. Now we discover a partner who was selling images out the back door, without declaring to the agency and also raising prices, but paying minimal commissions to partners. Cue the lynch mob with farm implements and torches.



I'm not going to defend Getty. I don't like what they have done. But I have been asking people to be conscious that they are using double standards and often hypocritical about what they call fair at one place and unfair at another, just because of who it is.

With that I'll try again, according to what I can see, and maybe it's not perfect, but it's all I have. ??? Anyone who wants feel free to correct away.

StockXpert shows earnings for November 16, 2010 (Thinkstock subscription) - my best guess is these are October earnings paid in Nov. Nothing has been posted since then. In plain English the November earnings on StockXpert have not been posted and are a month late.

IS shows Partner Program earnings for November, day by day, Nothing for December. These usually appear around the 15th of the next month. But haven't yet for Dec. The normal time that they would appear, mid-month the month after the sales. Nothing out of the ordinary that I can see?

No I wouldn't suggest the Partner Program to anyone coming from IS. (The ability to get anything in through StockXpert closed in Feb. 2010) Just as people have pointed out, you would be competing against yourself on a cut rate, inexpensive subscription site that's owned and marketed to the same people, by the same people. The partner program is very unclear about where the images are going or how they are being sold. Some things show on Photos.com, some don't. It seems that nothing is moving from IS over to ThinkStock since mid-2010. Last of all, they use your real name not your Member Name, which may be objectionable.

For a small group of people, and I'm one of them, I have a bunch of photos that were never accepted on any site except StockXpert, up for sale on ThinkStock. And by the way, they do sell. Crummy quarter a download, but that's 25c more than I'd get for them sitting on a DVD backup on the shelf? ;) Those images are available nowhere else. I'm not competing with myself. They are one of a kind and frankly perfect examples of "CrapStock" which gets refused by the agencies, but has buyers none-the-less. My best selling (not saying much) StockXpert/ThinkStock picture is one of those refused images.

Someone PayPal me $50 and I'll close the StockXpert account now. Until it reaches the $50 payout, it's staying open.  8)
« Last Edit: January 19, 2011, 17:43 by RacePhoto »

« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2011, 18:24 »
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nice mob above.

I agree that IS gets hammered for stuff that other sites would get a pass for. Frankly, for 80-85%, they should be providing superior service.

As far as content on TS, it sounds like you have the perfect collection there.

« Reply #27 on: January 19, 2011, 18:30 »
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Love the mob pic! Too funny.

« Reply #28 on: January 19, 2011, 19:52 »
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November PP sales were payed on the third week of December like usual (next month and the end..) Like they will this month, perhaps next week (for Dec sales)..

Weird, I seem to remember reading a bunch of people complaining just recently that they still hadn't gotten partner program royalties from november.  I thought it was on Istock's forums.  Maybe it was really StockXpert they were talking about and I am misremembering. 

Anyway, thanks again Luis, for providing clarification.  I don't want to be spreading misinformation... :)

no problem and yes delay is from StockXpert

« Reply #29 on: January 19, 2011, 20:01 »
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Printed and framed!

SNP

  • Canadian Photographer
« Reply #30 on: January 19, 2011, 20:09 »
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I found Homer - is there a prize?

RacePhoto

« Reply #31 on: January 20, 2011, 00:26 »
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nice mob above.

I agree that IS gets hammered for stuff that other sites would get a pass for. Frankly, for 80-85%, they should be providing superior service.

As far as content on TS, it sounds like you have the perfect collection there.

It's been around before, I think it's over a year old now. Sorry if I missed anyone. Maybe I should add more people? By the way, I never gave this away before, but besides all my dumb-ass avatar pictures, I'm actually in there someplace. (and no I'm not Homer, I have double the number of hairs on my head?) It's really all in fun and no disrespect meant towards anyone. I tried to find good or flattering photos of anyone I included.

Here's something else which will drive people crazy. This is a composite, the base picture, from Getty and some studio archive, who had the watermark in different places. It was a very easy cleaning job, combed the two, done. And used without permission sticking to legal grounds... Parody.

Yes as the biggest microstock agency for buyers and sellers, they should be providing superior service to all segments. Instead they are disorganized and remind me of the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers, running an agency. I can't understand why? Mastodons and Neanderthals are extinct, possibly for the same reasons? Biggest and massive isn't a guaranteed success.

Greed is not good and not the answer to prolonged success.

« Reply #32 on: January 20, 2011, 00:35 »
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right next to obama, what a pleasure :)

check this regarding obama speech, nice job by a friend of mine


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #33 on: January 26, 2011, 17:53 »
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As if all the above wasn't enough, PP sales don't count towards your RC total on iStock, "because it's not iStock, so how can it count?", yet, and wait for it, today it transpired that your RC level on iStock affects what you get paid for your PP downloads.
Perfect double whammy, which if it has been announced before, I wasn't the only person not to clock it.
There were two threads in the discussion forum on PP issues, which I can't now find (deleted?)
The only one left appears to be this one in the Help forum:
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=296742&page=1
with the exchange:
Bunhill:
"1. Why are PP royalties now affected by RCs whilst RCs are not affected by PP sales ? That seems to make no logical sense.
2. Was this linking of PP royalties to RCs ever previously announced before today in the forum ?
3. Please give us an update regarding the broken connectivity between here and the PP sites which prevents people from either removing or adding PP content ?"

RogerMexico:
"1 - 3: The Partner Program as it stands has a lot about it that needs fixing. We are working on fixing the connectivity and will have an update about future royalties in the next little while - before the next round of payouts."

So they have four weeks to spin it.

« Reply #34 on: January 26, 2011, 18:31 »
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So they have four weeks to spin it.

@Sue: Since you've quoted my question here, and the response - well that's not my reading of the response.

I read it as a reasonable reply. He did not need to acknowledge that there are problems with the PP as it stands. What he is clearly saying is that there is some stuff which needs to be addressed. It seems to me a fair response given the time scale.

:)

« Reply #35 on: February 04, 2011, 11:03 »
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Signing into PP is the worst thing you can do.
It's like buying your kids those cheap asbestos dolls to keep them happy ...

Slovenian

« Reply #36 on: February 04, 2011, 18:12 »
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My Dec earnigns were split 60 (regular): 40 (PP). So why not? PP revenue is rising from month to month, if this keeps on, I'll be gettin more from PP than form regular Dls in february (unless I have a few ELs).

And yeah I'm just a sucker with almost 400 DLs ;D

« Reply #37 on: February 15, 2011, 07:39 »
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Payments are coming through now.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #38 on: February 15, 2011, 07:45 »
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Payments are coming through now.
More likely the payments are your iStock delayed royalties from last week, which have been dripping in over the past hour or so.


 

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