Author Topic: What is up with such low iStock sales? Anybody else? (Read 3338 times)

FloridaPhotos · « **on:** June 05, 2015, 10:12 »

I was exclusive at DT for almost 4 years and have been doing great there. Went non-exclusive with DT and am now on ShutterStock, Fotolia and iStock and have been slowly getting my port up on them. My Fotolia and ShutterStock sales immediately took off and have been fantastic, especially ShutterStock! But iStock sales stink! Maybe a couple a week. Yes, my port on iStock is small with just a couple hundred images, but the same files on ShutterStock are selling 5-10 images A DAY!! What's the deal with iStock? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

tickstock · « **Reply #1 on:** June 05, 2015, 10:18 »

Shutterstock was the cheapest place to get nonexclusive images and buyers go to the cheapest place.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #2 on:** June 05, 2015, 10:22 »

IStock sales have been slipping for many years, so your aren't the only one.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 05, 2015, 10:29 »

My iStock credit sales have dropped substantially over the past couple of weeks, but it's hard to tell how many total sales you're actually getting there until PP and sub sales are reported a month later.

Holmes · « **Reply #4 on:** June 05, 2015, 11:05 »

how is Istock income compared to SS income?

FloridaPhotos · « **Reply #5 on:** June 05, 2015, 11:43 »

On my SS port I'm making about 10 times as much money as I'm making on iStock with roughly the same size portfolio. But I'm just one photographer. Maybe my type of images are simply better suited to people who go to SS. How about everyone else? What is your SS vs. iStock income with similar sized portfolios?

tickstock · « **Reply #6 on:** June 05, 2015, 11:57 »

Look at the poll on the right.

FloridaPhotos · « **Reply #7 on:** June 05, 2015, 12:23 »

Tickstock, I see the poll on the right. Would kinda have to be blind not to! LOL! Hey, if the poll on the right is accurate then I guess my portfolio falls outside of the norm on earnings on SS and iStock. I was just wondering if anyone else was experiencing the same thing as I am in that regard. I'll stop posting now :-)

tickstock · « **Reply #8 on:** June 05, 2015, 12:26 »

With only 10 sales a day especially if most of your files are newer you can't make any meaningful conclusions, not that it would change anything if you could. Wait a few months, upload a few thousand more images and then compare, what you'll do with that info to increase sales is another issue.

lionheart · « **Reply #9 on:** June 05, 2015, 13:48 »

Florida, in my case IS sales have dropped significantly compared to 2006 when i started over there.
Whereas "significantly" is really understated - my earnings collapsed dramatically.
Now and then compared, today i make about a tenth of my 2007, 2008, 2009 ... earnings on IS
although my port is growing.
To be fair - the situation cools down a bit when those PP sales come into consideration.
But nevertheless: My IS earnings (even with PP sales included) are always below SS earnings.
And yes, you are right: My best selling images on SS are no best sellers on IS and vice versa.
My best selling image on Canva does not sell well on other platforms - so there must be kind of buyer's preference.
Concerning the poll on the right: My experience is a totally different one i. e. 123 and DT perform
worse for me than shown here. So does Fotolia.
I wish you all of luck for the future whereas splitting your portfolio over several agencies
was a wise decision and should make sense (hopefully)

ShadySue · « **Reply #10 on:** June 05, 2015, 13:59 »

@FLorida ~ it's just about impossible for new files to gain traction at iStock nowadays. My old scanned slides from way before I was a submitter are more likely to sell than anything I've uploaded in the last couple of years.
If you use the old ADP ('classic view') and sort by 'New', you can check that out in just about every search or just about any portfolio.
It's not you, it's them.
There are some Black Diamonds and high ranking diamonds who haven't uploaded there for a year or more, or you can see they're occasionally uploading a few to see if things are any better.

loop · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2015, 17:26 »

The new IU is a fiasco, it doesn't work (haven't for MONTHS) and searching for images is very difficult, I'm not suprised people look elsewhere. It's a shame. (Not to talk of the SCORES of "gosth" unexplained and unpaid downloads). Yes, at same point they said it was a display issue... but tell me how, please.

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Author Topic: What is up with such low iStock sales? Anybody else? (Read 3338 times)

FloridaPhotos

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Justanotherphotographer

Shelma1

Holmes

FloridaPhotos

tickstock

FloridaPhotos

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lionheart

ShadySue

loop

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