Author Topic: Extended Licenses on Subs at iStock? (Read 4812 times)

Linda - YayMicro · « **on:** August 29, 2010, 11:49 »

We've been contacted buy a potential client, and he claims they can buy EL at iStock for less than a dollar, -if they maximize the subscription plan they have.

I find it hard to believe that iStock would sell their EL for so little money, and unable to find any information to support this claim I'm wondering: Do any of you know the price for EL when you buy them in bulk/subscribe, for use on a print-on-demand site? All I can find is that EL don't grant you the right to use images on print-on-demand sites, making this even more odd. I do suspect the client is using the wrong license from iStock.

There is no way we'll reduce our EL price to a dollar, but it would be interesting to know how low other agencies are willing to go on these licenses.

Do you have any experience with price and commission on EL?

Thanks,

Linda (from yaymicro.com)

(Yes, we're a competitor to iStock, but I hope this don't exclude us from discussing prices & licenses. If you feel we shouldn't discuss this here, we'll refrain from it in the future).

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** August 29, 2010, 12:43 »

Quote from: Linda - YayMicro on August 29, 2010, 11:49

We've been contacted buy a potential client, and he claims they can buy EL at iStock for less than a dollar, -if they maximize the subscription plan they have.

I find it hard to believe that iStock would sell their EL for so little money, and unable to find any information to support this claim I'm wondering: Do any of you know the price for EL when you buy them in bulk/subscribe, for use on a print-on-demand site? All I can find is that EL don't grant you the right to use images on print-on-demand sites, making this even more odd. I do suspect the client is using the wrong license from iStock.

There is no way we'll reduce our EL price to a dollar, but it would be interesting to know how low other agencies are willing to go on these licenses.

Do you have any experience with price and commission on EL?

Thanks,

Linda (from yaymicro.com)

(Yes, we're a competitor to iStock, but I hope this don't exclude us from discussing prices & licenses. If you feel we shouldn't discuss this here, we'll refrain from it in the future).

Your ~~'client'~~ chancer is lying.
It's easy to check out iStock's rates, both for buying credits and for how many credits are needed for each type of EL.
Just click on 'how to buy credits'
http://www.istockphoto.com/buy-stock-photos.php
Cheapest subscription you can buy [1] is 480 downloads a day for $46,146 per year.
I haven't worked it out, but the front page says, 'as little as 24c per credit', so we'll assume that that's the deal.
[1] Allegedly. if you want to buy more than that, you can negotiate with support, but that's lot of credits.
So we'll say 24c per credit.
Cheapest extended licence is 75 credits, for multi-seat use.
So that's $18.
http://www.istockphoto.com/license_comparison.php

Snufkin · « **Reply #2 on:** August 29, 2010, 12:47 »

My commissions for ELs on IS:

$39.90
$36.65
$28.82
$27.67

A dollar? Hard to believe.

Orchidpoet · « **Reply #3 on:** August 29, 2010, 14:53 »

The one Sub EL I sold, before I became exclusive, was 19.95.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2010, 19:10 »

Yep, you're being scammed.

Dreamframer · « **Reply #5 on:** August 29, 2010, 19:28 »

I got 2 Pay-as-you-go EL for $11,7 each. That's the lowest EL I got.
I don't count one audio EL where I earned $0.74 because buyer bought a wrong license for the file. IS wrote me later to apologize because they had to deduct that EL from my account. So I was left with only $0,74 shown in EL earnings, although I suppose this money should be placed in regular earnings.

jbarber873 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 29, 2010, 19:43 »

If this person wants to pay a dollar for an EL, why is it even worth your time time ask about this?
I would tell him to go ahead and get it for a dollar at istock.

Linda - YayMicro · « **Reply #7 on:** August 30, 2010, 07:25 »

Thank you all for your feedback!

This only proves that the client either got the wrong license, or is trying to "scam" the prices down. I didn't think iStock would sell them this cheap, but in the stock world you'll never know for sure what happens. I do think both agencies and photographers, and many customers as well, agrees on keeping EL at a somewhat decent level.

Linda