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Author Topic: "You Deserve Exclusivity" email - anyone else got one?  (Read 38791 times)

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« Reply #25 on: May 30, 2008, 08:03 »
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I got it and I must admit, it intrigued me quite a bit.  Since 60% of my income comes from IS, along with me being a gold canister, their new teaser could push me over the edge if they do it right.  Especially after reading about Fotolia's insluting subscription plan.  I'll be eagerly awaiting the outcome of this.


« Reply #26 on: May 30, 2008, 08:09 »
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Did anybody NOT receive the email?
I did not  ;)

neither did i  :o

« Reply #27 on: May 30, 2008, 08:14 »
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me neither... sniff sniff
but do you have to be gold to be exclusive??  because i am only silver still.

I have no intentions of going exclusive though.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2008, 08:16 by leaf »

« Reply #28 on: May 30, 2008, 08:58 »
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I'm silver but I got the mail.
Bad timing though, I made the top 50 on SS this week. Not exactly the right time to go exclusive to IS!

« Reply #29 on: May 30, 2008, 09:08 »
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I didn't get one  :(
I'm gold canister a few months away from being diamond so it's not because I'm a newbie.

Did anybody NOT receive the email?

« Reply #30 on: May 30, 2008, 09:11 »
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me neither... sniff sniff
but do you have to be gold to be exclusive??  because i am only silver still.

I have no intentions of going exclusive though.

Leaf, I got the e-mail and I am only bronze.

« Reply #31 on: May 30, 2008, 09:12 »
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You only need to 250 sales to be exclusive if you have a good acceptance rate and 500 if your acceptance rate isn't so good.  I think it is 50% acceptance rate needed with 250 sales)

me neither... sniff sniff
but do you have to be gold to be exclusive??  because i am only silver still.

I have no intentions of going exclusive though.

RT


« Reply #32 on: May 30, 2008, 09:34 »
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Don't you think there are enough photographers already queuing up to go exclusive there?

Ummm no actually, that's why they've sent the email out.

« Reply #33 on: May 30, 2008, 09:40 »
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But that is one of the most ridiculous microstock pictures I have ever seen...   ::)

To be honest, at first I wondered if it was even a genuine email... considering how slick iStock emails usually are, this one was down right nasty. Why would they choose a vector crown as bad as that?  ???

« Reply #34 on: May 30, 2008, 09:50 »
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I got that email also.  I'll be watching my email to see what their offer is.

« Reply #35 on: May 30, 2008, 09:58 »
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Where did they hide acceptance rate?  I thought it used to be in the "Portfolio" box right under Files, Downloads and Rating, but it's not there any longer.  I didn't get the email and I'm bronze so I'm guessing my acceptance rate is under 50%.

« Reply #36 on: May 30, 2008, 10:04 »
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Where did they hide acceptance rate?  I thought it used to be in the "Portfolio" box right under Files, Downloads and Rating, but it's not there any longer.  I didn't get the email and I'm bronze so I'm guessing my acceptance rate is under 50%.

I had a problem finding it the other day - turns out it was starring me right in the face. Just click the "Upload" button (in the lefthand navigation), then at the centre-top of the page are a load of "Misc stats"  including your acceptance rate.

helix7

« Reply #37 on: May 30, 2008, 10:44 »
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My earnings at IS have increased recently, and while I haven't run this months numbers yet I expect IS to represent about 40% of my total for May. Still far from what would lead me to exclusivity, but still showing potential.

Honestly, whatever they offer as an added incentive will likely fall short of expectations, unless it's a commission raise (which is highly unlikely). The fact of the matter for most people is that going exclusive means taking a pay cut. Look at the monthly earnings breakdowns here and see how many people get 50% or more of their microstock income from istock. Not many, so even if those people were Diamond level, going exclusive would still mean a reduction in overall pay. So short of offering higher percentages for exclusives, I don't see much being announced that will persuade the masses to queue up for exclusivity.



« Reply #38 on: May 30, 2008, 10:53 »
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Where did they hide acceptance rate?  I thought it used to be in the "Portfolio" box right under Files, Downloads and Rating, but it's not there any longer.  I didn't get the email and I'm bronze so I'm guessing my acceptance rate is under 50%.

I had a problem finding it the other day - turns out it was starring me right in the face. Just click the "Upload" button (in the lefthand navigation), then at the centre-top of the page are a load of "Misc stats"  including your acceptance rate.

Ah...that's where I went wrong.  I haven't uploaded in a few weeks so I didn't see it!  Thanks!

« Reply #39 on: May 30, 2008, 11:13 »
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I got the email, yet I only have 34 images up and only 40 sales?

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #40 on: May 30, 2008, 12:21 »
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Hatmann, you're usually dead on but I'm going to disagree with most of your points.

Well IMO it is very unlikely indeed that iStock will ever introduce image exclusivity.

And also very unlikely that they will increase commissions.

They are the leading agency.  Why on earth would they need to pay more or offer more flexibility? 

They don't need to pay more or offer more flexibility. Unlike most other sites, with the 80% they keep and sales volume they have, they can afford to.

Don't you think there are enough photographers already queuing up to go exclusive there?


No I don't think there are enough exclusive photographers there. You yourself have said they have the advantage with exclusive content. Ideally, they would want all good photographers to be exclusive. The more good exclusive content they have, the more they can increase prices, and the more crap images are left for the other sites which will drive down their profibility and eventually drive them out of business. At that point they would own the microstock market.

And that queue will get even longer if Fotolia do indeed introduce subscriptions paying 23c.

Nah.  The risk, if anything, is that so many people decide to go exclusive at iStock that the advantages of being exclusive are diluted.  They HAVE to make it more difficult to be exclusive there, otherwise the word 'exclusive' loses its value.

They need to make it easier and more attractive for good photographers, or even so-so photographers that have saleable images, to become exclusive.  That way they have more good exclusive content while less saleable so-so images are left for the other sites to fight over.

Perhaps this 'special offer' email is an opportunity to go exclusive before they change the rules.

Maybe, but unlikely assuming you mean the rules will change to our disadvantage. I don't think they would send a "you're gonna like this" email and then announce "as of July 1st exclusivity now requires minimum 16MP images, minimum Silver canister , and you can no longer sell RM elsewhere. Ready to go exclusive?".






lisafx

« Reply #41 on: May 30, 2008, 12:28 »
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You are really special PaulieWalnuts, and people love you.   ;D




LOL!  Dan I knew we were kindred spirits!  I LOVE Stuart Smalley :D

« Reply #42 on: May 30, 2008, 13:01 »
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I did not get email. 410 sales and approval 65%

« Reply #43 on: May 30, 2008, 13:17 »
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Maybe it's referring to the new pricing structure?

« Reply #44 on: May 30, 2008, 13:41 »
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Seems to be I don't desserve exclusivity on Istock...   :P

bittersweet

« Reply #45 on: May 30, 2008, 13:59 »
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Seems to be I don't desserve exclusivity on Istock...   :P

Are your preferences set to receive marketing info via email? Check your control panel. It may just be that you are not opted in to their newsletter.

« Reply #46 on: May 30, 2008, 14:12 »
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Did anybody NOT receive the email?

Affirmative--no email received.  I clicked on the "exclusivity guestimator" once.  Did you know that websites can laugh?  ::)

« Reply #47 on: May 30, 2008, 14:32 »
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Are your preferences set to receive marketing info via email? Check your control panel. It may just be that you are not opted in to their newsletter.
Thank you ! You are right, I oupted out for that marketing and newsletter stuff.
Btw, I like Istock very much, but I like to feel free as I am...

« Reply #48 on: May 30, 2008, 14:34 »
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Thanks PW.  I've had a run of 'being right' over the past year; that's probably something to do with old age.

All your observations make sense.  But I stick with my thought that the only way to make exclusive 'exclusive' is to up the barrier.  Customers need to know that exclusive means 'the best' and at the moment anyone with a few holiday snaps who is lucky enough to get 250 downloads can be an 'iStock exclusive photographer'.  That isn't the right way to build a quality brand.

I'll bet that the announcement next week is very tempting but will also include notice that the barrier will be raised perhaps at the end of the year; that will give people six months to make up their mind.

By barrier I mean not just qualification level but also much tougher image inspection.

Anyway, my thoughts are based partly on this sentence included by iStock's CEO in a different announcement a few weeks ago:

"In the future, inspections and the relationships we have with our artists need to exceed the quality that iStock was built on."

Earlier this week a thread was started by an exclusive who'd had 25 out of 30 submissions rejected for 'not stock', 'lighting' etc.  He was clearly shocked.  That tells me the quality requirement is already being raised (rightly so).

Just to be clear:  if becoming exclusive at iStock is made more difficult and the quality requirement raised, that would make it MORE APPEALING for me to be exclusive there, and IMO would also cause many more customers to buy exclusive only.

My main concern about iStock exclusivity is that it is too easy and allows the world to be awash with iStock exclusives.  That needs to change.

w7lwi

  • Those that don't stand up to evil enable evil.
« Reply #49 on: May 30, 2008, 16:04 »
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Just to be clear:  if becoming exclusive at iStock is made more difficult and the quality requirement raised, that would make it MORE APPEALING for me to be exclusive there, and IMO would also cause many more customers to buy exclusive only.

Are you saying the quality requirements would be higher for exclusives than for non-exclusives?  If not and if the quality requirements were raised across the board, for both exclusive and non-exclusive alike, why would the customers want to buy exclusive only when they could get the same quality level from a non-exclusive?


 

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