Hold on to your wallets! "There are irregularities with October's PP royalties"

[Sedge]

Lobo just started a new thread on iStock's PP forum.  Here's the full quote: 

We've established that there were some irregularities with Oct(Sept) and Nov(Oct) Partner Program royalties. We've been investigating these irregularities and hope to have additional information some time next week. What this means is the royalty payments for September and October are being reviewed at this time.  We will have an update on this issue next week.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

[fritz]

OMG!

[melastmohican]

They are going to take back my $5 

[gostwyck]

Lobo just started a new thread on iStock's PP forum.  Here's the full quote: 

We've established that there were some irregularities with Oct(Sept) and Nov(Oct) Partner Program royalties. We've been investigating these irregularities and hope to have additional information some time next week. What this means is the royalty payments for September and October are being reviewed at this time.  We will have an update on this issue next week.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

I always had. As I said at the time it seemed almost inconceivable that the PP had managed to generate new income, at a rate equivalent to the entire royalties from DT and FT combined ... almost overnight. How could that possibly have happened?

Just how incompetent can IS/Getty really get?

[pancaketom]

They need a lot more light shining into their inner workings - "trust us" just doesn't cut it with them, not even the "new trust".

[Ron]

OMG.... it was too good to be true. So they are going to demand the money back? Its already in my bank. How will they do that, if it is the case? Are they going to lock in my images until I made the money back for them?

[fritz]

Simple! We will be minus $ until they get the money back.

[Ron]

So if I delete all my images, it will be in minus in perpetuity? That would be awesome.

[Curvabezier]

If istock paid one dollar a glitch, I would leave them my royalties.

[mlwinphoto]

So if I delete all my images, it will be in minus in perpetuity? That would be awesome.

I sent in a request to close my account a few days ago.  Hopefully I'll get paid before they figure this all out.  Fat chance I'd send them a check for any clawbacks they may impose.

[Mantis]

My guess is that we got the ENTIRE amount and not our mere peanut percentage.

[Shelma1]

Well, you could see that coming. This should be fun. 

[Sean Locke Photography]

That and the royalty rate drop - it'll all even out.

[lisafx]

What I find odd is that they say there are irregularities with October and November?!

October royalties were exceptionally high and November's were unusually low (for one of the typically highest selling months of the year). 

I suppose it's too much to hope that some of November's sales were attributed to October by mistake? 

[Red Dove]

Talk about a leaky boat. I hope this isn't another fraud.

This stuff gives me the shivers when it affects my livelihood, not to mention my imminent tax declarations. At the very least IS should be contacting contributors with a proper explanation, action plan and time line for their investigations.

...... but I doubt we'll get anything other than a few fatuous remarks from their forum poodle

[THP Creative]

There is no doubt at all, no matter how they spin it, this will only mean bad news for contributors... 

[Ron]

I cant find the thread on IS where this was announced. Anyone?

[Fairplay]

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=358476&page=1

[Ron]

Thank you

[Monty-m-gue]

This is just unbelievable. I'm flabbergasted. Istock are an absolute shambles of an organisation.

[Ariene]

What?! It can't be  iStock? This biggest king in microstock world and that confusing issues again? One by one...

There are two options (?):
1. Sept. and Oct. earnings are to high and iS will take back some money, or...
2. Nov. is to low, iS wasn't going to check it if not people notice, and... I can't trust them anymore? (it could happen before)

So next week I will know if I close my account now or later...

[File Sold]

What I find odd is that they say there are irregularities with October and November?!

I think they ment September and October 

"We've established that there were some irregularities with Oct(Sept) and Nov(Oct) Partner Program royalties."

My september was pretty normal in PP sales. Only October was way better than other months.

[bunhill]

My september was pretty normal in PP sales. Only October was way better than other months.

When you say October, do you mean September or November ?

[heywoody]

So the 2 months that produced much higher than usual individual royalties (which appear consistent with the published rates).  We have no way of really knowing that agencies pay us the correct royalties except that we trust them to do so.  Fundamentally, we can't trust IS to do this whether it's by dishonesty or incompetence - if there are refunds over this I'm gone once I get next payout.

[MichaelJayFoto]

What I find odd is that they say there are irregularities with October and November?!

October royalties were exceptionally high and November's were unusually low (for one of the typically highest selling months of the year). 

I suppose it's too much to hope that some of November's sales were attributed to October by mistake? 

Don't know how your PP reports look like: But for me the number of downloads has been pretty stable from July to November (some +/- 10%), it's only the royalties attributed to the same number of downloads that changed dramatically, almost three times the "usual" amount of money from the same number of downloads.

I was wondering ever since these were added to my account as there only could have been two explanations: 1) They screwed up the reporting; 2) They had some heavy marketing campaign adding more Thinkstock Image Packs to the mix instead of subscriptions.

Given the history, I always thought the first explanation to be far more likely...