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Author Topic: Although I'm making some money, I decided to delete all my photos from iStock  (Read 27508 times)

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ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #25 on: February 27, 2017, 20:44 »
+12
I absolutely don't work for them.
Just ask for your contract to be ended. It'll take some time as per the ASA, and you'll get dribbles of income, but you'll be out. Just asking for your files to be deactivated isn't the same thing.


« Reply #26 on: February 27, 2017, 21:35 »
+6
I got locked up in iStock prison.  I requested them to delete all my photos, but they replied they won't.  It's like once you are in, you are in for life mafia kind of deal.  It's ridiculous.
What? They refused let you cancel your contract, as per their terms?
What exactly did they say?

Did you ask to deactivate all your files, or to end your contract with them?



You don't work for iStock, right?  If you do, they may end my contributor membership if I post something negative.  Wait a minute, that's actually a good thing!!

I requested to delete all my photos and here's their reply.

"We will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license."

You cannot deactivate all of your images, you have to go for the whole tamale and ask to close your account. It's all or nothing.

« Reply #27 on: February 27, 2017, 21:43 »
+9
OK, I'll ask for honorable discharge.  Thanks. ;)

alno

« Reply #28 on: February 28, 2017, 02:32 »
+7

"ethics" and "pride". Someone with both would remove their content from iStock as soon as they understand how awful of a company they are.

I've got a feeling I'm talking to Russian people who pay too much attention to earnings of others :) Please don't monopolize those words, "ethics" and "pride". Funny thing about you and many others on this forum that you turn your helplessness about istock or any other site into some sort of dignity cult. "Cheer me up, I've left!" It's not a slavery, it's a free market. 

« Reply #29 on: February 28, 2017, 02:44 »
0
I got locked up in iStock prison.  I requested them to delete all my photos, but they replied they won't.  It's like once you are in, you are in for life mafia kind of deal.  It's ridiculous.
What? They refused let you cancel your contract, as per their terms?
What exactly did they say?

Did you ask to deactivate all your files, or to end your contract with them?


You don't work for iStock, right?  If you do, they may end my contributor membership if I post something negative.  Wait a minute, that's actually a good thing!!

I requested to delete all my photos and here's their reply.

"We will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license."
You need to close your account I think

« Reply #30 on: February 28, 2017, 03:03 »
+16
Irina, you must be new in the stock industry? I used to think the way you think now... It took years until I opened my eyes.
I also left iS, like every other micros few years ago and so far I had no regrets, my earnings doubled out there with other agencies (there are lots of fair pricing, respecting our work), and from what I can see with my friends the trend is going only in one direction for micros - to the bottom.

Give time to yourself Irina, you will find out why it's not worthwhile to sell for so cheap and undervalue your work. Actually, when I left micros many people here were joking and laughed on me and now, after few years, they do the same - leaving micros one by one...

I remember when I joined SS and other micros almost 10 years ago it was about masses of sales. Maybe it had some sense for photographers to earn loads of $ fast... Well, it's not working this way anymore. Not now, when you have to compete with over 100 mln garbage images.

From SS site: "Over 125 million royalty-free stock images / Over 1,000,000 new stock images added weekly". I mean wow! Should it tell you something?

dpimborough

« Reply #31 on: February 28, 2017, 03:42 »
+14
Irina said earlier she's been contributing for under one year.

She'll learn soon enough

alno

« Reply #32 on: February 28, 2017, 04:19 »
0
Irina, you must be new in the stock industry? I used to think the way you think now... It took years until I opened my eyes.
I also left iS, like every other micros few years ago and so far I had no regrets, my earnings doubled out there with other agencies (there are lots of fair pricing, respecting our work), and from what I can see with my friends the trend is going only in one direction for micros - to the bottom.

Give time to yourself Irina, you will find out why it's not worthwhile to sell for so cheap and undervalue your work. Actually, when I left micros many people here were joking and laughed on me and now, after few years, they do the same - leaving micros one by one...

I remember when I joined SS and other micros almost 10 years ago it was about masses of sales. Maybe it had some sense for photographers to earn loads of $ fast... Well, it's not working this way anymore. Not now, when you have to compete with over 100 mln garbage images.

From SS site: "Over 125 million royalty-free stock images / Over 1,000,000 new stock images added weekly". I mean wow! Should it tell you something?
[/

My portfolio on istock is under one year, my total contributing experience is a little more than 2 years. I don't do photos in first place, my main income goes from videos. I use batch uploading software and upload only screenshots from some videos to multiple sites, including istock, sort of collateral income, about 5% of total. To say the truth I can't imagine somebody starting uploading photos only nowdays. It's really pathetic to watch your precious hours of life being sold for 20 or 30 cents even 30 or 100 times a day. The same thing will surely happen to videos, I guess we have 3-4 years left. I hope to find another sources of income meanwhile. I wish all other members of this forum could do the same, this would prevent them from being old farts full of pride, ethics and old days glory complaining about some new pricing model $1 per 4K on Shutterstock in 2025 :)

« Reply #33 on: February 28, 2017, 07:26 »
+12
Irina, I started 10 years ago and the amount I make per sale with SS has gone up a lot over those years.  This week I sold a photo I took years ago on SS for $60.  That doesn't happen all the time but just shows that there's still money to be made with stills and there's no need for non-exclusives to think that they have to accept pennies for their images.  I understand that getting a few extra dollars a month from istock might seem like a good idea but I think it just gives the other sites an excuse to pay us less.  When there's lots of places to sell, why waste time with a site that isn't as good as the rest?

« Reply #34 on: February 28, 2017, 08:14 »
+20
Maybe microstock has more than "3-4 years left" if new contributors didn't come into the game acting like they know it all, maybe actually listened to those with a few more years under their belt trying to give valuable advice. Maybe they shouldn't be taking a firm, uneducated stand about things they have no historical context of, uploading blindly "to multiple sites, including iStock,". Maybe not undercutting, maybe not perpetrating the continuation of the precedent that companies can pillage our earnings while some of us smile and thank them. Maybe, just maybe, "The same thing will surely not happen to videos", unless of course folks like you continue being mesmerized by trickling pennies, refuse to listen to reason, and continue actively contributing to the demise of this industry.

Maybe it's a language thing, but no one is telling you what to do. It's called advice from people who have been in this long enough to know the difference between sustainability and erosion. The history is there, whether you want to listen or not.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2017, 08:19 by Daryl Ray »

« Reply #35 on: February 28, 2017, 08:46 »
+12
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #36 on: February 28, 2017, 13:46 »
+1
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
You might as well whistle down the wind.
It's the same argument I (and others) made years ago about selling for 25c on SS; and which the old macro shooters made about iS.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #37 on: February 28, 2017, 13:50 »
+1
This week I sold a photo I took years ago on SS for $60.  That doesn't happen all the time but just shows that there's still money to be made with stills and there's no need for non-exclusives to think that they have to accept pennies for their images.
Good that you got $60 for a sale. 8)
But I bet most of the rest of your sales this week were for pennies, and you had to accept that (AFAIK, you can't opt out of subs sales on SS [or any other micros]). or remove your port from SS.

« Reply #38 on: February 28, 2017, 13:54 »
+2
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
So can you name a web based service/industry where the same thing hasn't happened? its just the reality of the market place it doesn't make me like it or think its fair or just.

"From now on I'm thinking only of me. Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way?
Then, said Yossarian, I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?

« Reply #39 on: February 28, 2017, 13:55 »
+4
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
You might as well whistle down the wind.
It's the same argument I (and others) made years ago about selling for 25c on SS; and which the old macro shooters made about iS.

I know it. But I think it bears repeating, maybe not for the stubborn cats I'm wasting time "debating" with, but for the sake of the silent readers of these forums.

« Reply #40 on: February 28, 2017, 13:58 »
0
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
So can you name a web based service/industry where the same thing hasn't happened? its just the reality of the market place it doesn't make me like it or think its fair or just.

"From now on I'm thinking only of me. Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way?
Then, said Yossarian, I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?

Yup, stock video. Although, it inevitably will because of aforementioned reasons.

« Reply #41 on: February 28, 2017, 14:08 »
+2
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
So can you name a web based service/industry where the same thing hasn't happened? its just the reality of the market place it doesn't make me like it or think its fair or just.

"From now on I'm thinking only of me. Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way?
Then, said Yossarian, I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?

Yup, stock video. Although, it inevitably will because of aforementioned reasons.
Its already happening as you have pointed out in other posts its just behind because the barriers of entry are higher.

« Reply #42 on: February 28, 2017, 14:11 »
+4
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
So can you name a web based service/industry where the same thing hasn't happened? its just the reality of the market place it doesn't make me like it or think its fair or just.

"From now on I'm thinking only of me. Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way?
Then, said Yossarian, I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?

Yup, stock video. Although, it inevitably will because of aforementioned reasons.
Its already happening as you have pointed out in other posts its just behind because the barriers of entry are higher.

Fair enough. Doesn't mean we shouldn't keep pushing back as long as possible.

« Reply #43 on: February 28, 2017, 14:16 »
+2
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.
So can you name a web based service/industry where the same thing hasn't happened? its just the reality of the market place it doesn't make me like it or think its fair or just.

"From now on I'm thinking only of me. Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way?
Then, said Yossarian, I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?

Yup, stock video. Although, it inevitably will because of aforementioned reasons.
Its already happening as you have pointed out in other posts its just behind because the barriers of entry are higher.

Fair enough. Doesn't mean we shouldn't keep pushing back as long as possible.
I also believe for the really talented there will always be a premium for the averagely talented like myself it will just get harder and harder. tbh when I see some of the really great work on microstock I do believe some people do undersell themselves particularly the really artistic stuff as I'm not sure it even sells well there.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2017, 14:29 by Pauws99 »

alno

« Reply #44 on: February 28, 2017, 16:58 »
0
People like Irina see microstock as a sinking ship. They have the option, the freedom, to go do something else, but no, they get on, bring a hammer, and smash holes in the boat. All the while ignoring reason and the pleas of fellow shipmates begging them to think about what they are doing. It doesn't occur to them, or enough seasoned contributors for that matter, that if more of us started patching those holes instead of making them bigger, and did what little we can each do individually, that maybe we might come to realize the ship isn't sinking that fast, maybe not at all.

Slowly sinking ship is still way better than ever floating s*it. I guess "fellow shipmates" was a bit sugary for "competitors", no? Some of those shipmates have noticed earlier that they have unique portfolio. What is their concern about then?

memakephoto

« Reply #45 on: February 28, 2017, 18:04 »
+13
Microstock is geared, more and more, toward third world nations. $100 US, in some places, represents a major improvement to one's lifestyle. Even in Russia, $1 US is equal to 58 rubles. Irina seems willfully ignorant that there are places in the world that are not Moscow. In some places $100 US per month is not even worth mentioning but she will chastise anyone not willing to ride the sinking ship with her straight to the bottom.

I wish I lived in a place where the money i make from microstock was worth the effort. I know i will never make enough money from microstock to make any difference in my life, if I didn't have fun, I wouldn't do it at all. I don't think I'll do it with Istock anymore.

« Reply #46 on: February 28, 2017, 18:05 »
+5
This week I sold a photo I took years ago on SS for $60.  That doesn't happen all the time but just shows that there's still money to be made with stills and there's no need for non-exclusives to think that they have to accept pennies for their images.
Good that you got $60 for a sale. 8)
But I bet most of the rest of your sales this week were for pennies, and you had to accept that (AFAIK, you can't opt out of subs sales on SS [or any other micros]). or remove your port from SS.
I don't mind subs when there's high sales volume and a minimum $0.38 is much better than $0.02 with istock.  I average $1.28 per sale with SS this month, so they do have more than the occasional higher priced sale and I get dollars, not pennies.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #47 on: February 28, 2017, 19:13 »
0
This week I sold a photo I took years ago on SS for $60.  That doesn't happen all the time but just shows that there's still money to be made with stills and there's no need for non-exclusives to think that they have to accept pennies for their images.
Good that you got $60 for a sale. 8)
But I bet most of the rest of your sales this week were for pennies, and you had to accept that (AFAIK, you can't opt out of subs sales on SS [or any other micros]). or remove your port from SS.
I don't mind subs when there's high sales volume and a minimum $0.38 is much better than $0.02 with istock.  I average $1.28 per sale with SS this month, so they do have more than the occasional higher priced sale and I get dollars, not pennies.
Not arguing that 38c isn't better than 2c. Just pointing out that people do have to accept pennies for their images in most cases on micros, even if some sales might be better.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #48 on: February 28, 2017, 19:54 »
+4
"We will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license."

If I got that reply, I'd respond with:

Well it's not a legal issue just yet, but as I've revoked my permission for you to host my copyrighted images on your site, it could quickly become one if you don't remove them at your earliest convenience. Hopefully that's justifiable enough for you.

« Reply #49 on: February 28, 2017, 19:59 »
+3
"We will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license."

If I got that reply, I'd respond with:

Well it's not a legal issue just yet, but as I've revoked my permission for you to host my copyrighted images on your site, it could quickly become one if you don't remove them at your earliest convenience. Hopefully that's justifiable enough for you.

You have to remember that they were very clear about their policy for deactivating images prior to going live with that promise.  Helloitsme or anyone else will get the same response unless their request is to close my account with a 30-day notice. But I'm sure you knew that.


 

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