MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: Jo Ann Snover on November 02, 2010, 09:37

Title: Accurate account of sales
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on November 02, 2010, 09:37
It may just get locked, but if you get a chance to go and post in this thread (http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=270252&page=1) on IS, I think it'd be worth it to hear from contributors that we are not happy about two recent cases where we were underpaid by IS.

In both cases, a contributor noticed and kept badgering support until they got an answer. It shouldn't be this loosey-goosey given the amount of our money being funneled through the site.

I also posted a suggestio (http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=270162&page=1)n yesterday about getting downloadable detailed sales data - something that can be put in a spreadsheet and that will make these kinds of mistakes much easier to track and spot.

The phrase "trust, but verify" comes to mind when dealing with large sums of money on an e-commerce site. As I posted elsewhere about the EL underpayment issue, it's unfathomable that they don't have procedures that would catch these sorts of mistakes. But if they don't, we can't have it be so hard for us to track what they're doing.
Title: Re: Accurate account of sales
Post by: cathyslife on November 02, 2010, 09:59
I added a post. But I believe the questions and complaints are falling on desperate, deaf ears.
Title: Re: Accurate account of sales
Post by: thesentinel on November 02, 2010, 10:02
Then there's the XXXL file issue when older files that size were not fully upgraded to the new size when it came into being.

As someone who is currently projecting to miss or just stay in 40% band by the equivalent of a very few days sales I'm keeping an eye on all such errors in their favour.

(eta it's in their favour for me to loose thousands of dollars though not so for them to undercharge)
Title: Re: Accurate account of sales
Post by: madelaide on November 02, 2010, 20:10
I know about the EL problem, but what is the other problem?
Title: Re: Accurate account of sales
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on November 02, 2010, 20:44
Once upon a time there was not an XXXL size on IS. After it was introduced they promised they'd go and resize (and thus reprice) existing files whose size met the requirements for XXXL. That work hasn't been completed.

I have XXXL files, but as they were all uploaded after the size came into being, I'm not personally affected by this bug.

The other problem is the rounding error on subscription sales - they're rounding 28.5 cents down to 28 cents instead of up to 29 cents. They're blaming it on a technical flaw in floating point calculations - ignoring the fact that they shouldn't be using floats to do currency computations in the first place.
Title: Re: Accurate account of sales
Post by: madelaide on November 02, 2010, 21:25
DT also rounds off 24.5c to 24c (that's the 35c subs minus 30% tax). I've complained in the forum but I saw no change. That's further 2% less in my pocket.