Hi Folks,

With all the strings of how bad iStock is paying you all I am concern that if I apply and get accepted by iStock that the sales on their site will actually hurt my sales say on Shutterstock. For example, say a sale goes for 36c on Shutter could the buyer purchase the same image on iStock and I get paid 10c instead thus losing 26c on that sale. Your thoughts?

Thanks

Tom

I think buyers (by and large) have one or two sites they shop at. You're not going to sway that decision as an individual (Yuri might) so you might as well be where the buyers are

I wouldn't be too worried about the relatively rare XS tiny sales at IS hurting for example SS sub sales. Also, remember even though you only get .15 for a sale, the buyer paid a dollar, so they aren't undercutting on the price, just on what you get paid (it is up to you to decide if you want to support that). I would be more worried about the thinkstock and other PP sales cutting into the better paying (unless you are just starting out) SS subs sales. If you just take IS into account without the PP sales I am guessing that almost everyone has a higher RPD at IS than SS. At least for myself with the PP taken into account it is the other way around.

Really unless you have a massive and unique port, your images aren't going to effect the buyers decision of where to shop, it is more a question of if you are happy supporting certain sites and putting up with their #&%$%.

For on demand sales there are two price tiers, based on size

thank you all - I will soon apply. I course I will have you folks look over say 5 pics and see which ones you feel are best for the application...

Most buyers don't shop around. If they were, less people would buy my stuff (video) on iStock but go to the cheaper sites such as Pond5.

However, sales on P5 is rising and sales on iS is grinding to a halt.

Which might or might not indicate a degree of shopping round.