Author Topic: Anyone cancel exclusive contract yet? (Read 61752 times)

jamirae · « **Reply #25 on:** January 28, 2011, 13:22 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on January 28, 2011, 12:57

Quote from: jsnover on January 28, 2011, 12:47
I think as an independent you need to do IS, FT, SS and probably DT to make it make financial sense.

+1

And anything else that has a really easy upload system (e.g. canstock)

easy upload system but also buyers/sales to go with it. "If you upload, will they come?"

bittersweet · « **Reply #26 on:** January 28, 2011, 13:52 »

dscott · « **Reply #27 on:** January 30, 2011, 14:05 »

I dropped exclusivity shortly after the announcement and have been too busy (or lazy) to upload to other sites. I had around 1000 photos on iStock and as expected my sales are now down next to nothing. Over the last few months my interest in stock photography has waned (actually it's been longer than that). I'm not sure I'll bother continuing since I'm a little tired of lining their pockets while getting such low percentages. The days of big payouts and new gear from stock are gone for me. I'll guess just stick to my paying client contracts.

RayW · « **Reply #28 on:** January 30, 2011, 14:22 »

My sentiments exactly, David. I did upload a few images to DT, but haven't gone any further, due to time constraints and apathy. I never had the sales you did, though, even as an exclusive, mainly because of my port size and that I had very few people shots. I think I was able to buy a couple of filters!

Perry · « **Reply #29 on:** January 30, 2011, 14:24 »

I cancelled my exclusive contract back in 2006. Does that count?

lisafx · « **Reply #30 on:** January 30, 2011, 19:06 »

Quote from: dscott on January 30, 2011, 14:05

I dropped exclusivity shortly after the announcement and have been too busy (or lazy) to upload to other sites. I had around 1000 photos on iStock and as expected my sales are now down next to nothing. Over the last few months my interest in stock photography has waned (actually it's been longer than that). I'm not sure I'll bother continuing since I'm a little tired of lining their pockets while getting such low percentages. The days of big payouts and new gear from stock are gone for me. I'll guess just stick to my paying client contracts.

Sorry to hear it. Another talented exclusive turning in the crown.

I can certainly empathize with your sense of apathy. I have felt the same way for months. Since September, to be exact.

If you have regular paid gigs from clients, that might be the path with the best future at this point. I haven't had a paid gig outside of microstock for over a year. I am sure I am not the only FT photographer who regrets having all my eggs in the microstock basket...

dscott · « **Reply #31 on:** January 31, 2011, 08:01 »

Thanks Lisa. Looking around it's obvious we are not the only ones becoming disillusioned.

tundraphoto · « **Reply #32 on:** January 31, 2011, 13:10 »

Quote from: dscott on January 30, 2011, 14:05

I dropped exclusivity shortly after the announcement and have been too busy (or lazy) to upload to other sites. I had around 1000 photos on iStock and as expected my sales are now down next to nothing.

I'm confused? Why not swallow your pride and go back exclusive with iS. Then, you can forget about that whole aspect of your business. At least the income you do get will be higher and you can go off and do other things. As it sits, you have more potential earnings just sitting there going in someone else's pocket.

dscott · « **Reply #33 on:** February 04, 2011, 09:19 »

And that's a good point, actually where I am sitting right now. I did have every intent to upload to other sites and see how things went, but that didn't happen. I think I have to either pull my entire portfolio and walk away with the intent of not making iStock any more money or just get over it and make as much as I can from each sale. It still bothers me the way they treat contributors, the poor management, inept programming and their one-sided policies but, you're right, leaving my photos there at the lowest possible commission doesn't make a lot of sense.

jamirae · « **Reply #34 on:** February 04, 2011, 12:16 »

anyone see this?
Curt_pickens is leaving IS. wow. is he here? I can't always keep up so sorry if this was already posted.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=299222&messageid=5778432

not sure if he's moving to other sites or just quittin' alltogether.

tundraphoto · « **Reply #35 on:** February 04, 2011, 13:44 »

Quote from: jamirae on February 04, 2011, 12:16

anyone see this?
Curt_pickens is leaving IS. wow. is he here? I can't always keep up so sorry if this was already posted.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=299222&messageid=5778432

not sure if he's moving to other sites or just quittin' alltogether.

There seem to be some other big-guns over there that are pretty irate about this whole deal. I wonder how many birds will fall from the sky after this incident. I suspect many that were on the fence over the royalty structure change just fell off the fence.

vlad_the_imp · « **Reply #36 on:** February 04, 2011, 14:09 »

Quote

not sure if he's moving to other sites or just quittin' alltogether.

He's changed his mind now.

Quote

There seem to be some other big-guns over there

And to be honest, he's hardly a 'big gun'. He's in the forums a lot, that's all.

gostwyck · « **Reply #37 on:** February 04, 2011, 14:18 »

Quote from: vlad_the_imp on February 04, 2011, 14:09

He's changed his mind now.

He hasn't said that. He said he's considering his options. He may not be a 'big gun' in your eyes but at his scale of operation he's probably representative of many more contributors. OOI how do you personally define 'a big gun'?

LSD72 · « **Reply #38 on:** February 04, 2011, 14:57 »

Whats fun is that the US Contribs... who might have already had to do taxes with the money included that was yanked. How do you go about correcting that.. wait till next tax time? Would be interesting to see I.R.S. jump on and have a look at IS.

loop · « **Reply #39 on:** February 04, 2011, 15:01 »

Quote from: LSD72 on February 04, 2011, 14:57

Whats fun is that the US Contribs... who might have already had to do taxes with the money included that was yanked. How do you go about correcting that.. wait till next tax time? Would be interesting to see I.R.S. jump on and have a look at IS.

Almost all this money was payed not in 2010, but on January 2001; there were no payments on Christmas week (actually since December 22, telling by heart). Payments dind't happen until January, 2.

cthoman · « **Reply #40 on:** February 04, 2011, 15:07 »

Quote from: gostwyck on February 04, 2011, 14:18

He hasn't said that. He said he's considering his options. He may not be a 'big gun' in your eyes but at his scale of operation he's probably representative of many more contributors. OOI how do you personally define 'a big gun'?

You mean you don't rank individual contributors? C'mon there's the talent portion, the swimsuit competition...

jamirae · « **Reply #41 on:** February 04, 2011, 15:09 »

Quote from: cthoman on February 04, 2011, 15:07

Quote from: gostwyck on February 04, 2011, 14:18
He hasn't said that. He said he's considering his options. He may not be a 'big gun' in your eyes but at his scale of operation he's probably representative of many more contributors. OOI how do you personally define 'a big gun'?

You mean you don't rank individual contributors? C'mon there's the talent portion, the swimsuit competition...

stop you're scaring me.

cthoman · « **Reply #42 on:** February 04, 2011, 15:10 »

Quote from: LSD72 on February 04, 2011, 14:57

Whats fun is that the US Contribs... who might have already had to do taxes with the money included that was yanked. How do you go about correcting that.. wait till next tax time? Would be interesting to see I.R.S. jump on and have a look at IS.

It really wouldn't change much. You report what is paid out, so you will just have less to report next payout because you already reported it.

jamirae · « **Reply #43 on:** February 04, 2011, 15:18 »

Quote from: cthoman on February 04, 2011, 15:10

Quote from: LSD72 on February 04, 2011, 14:57
Whats fun is that the US Contribs... who might have already had to do taxes with the money included that was yanked. How do you go about correcting that.. wait till next tax time? Would be interesting to see I.R.S. jump on and have a look at IS.

It really wouldn't change much. You report what is paid out, so you will just have less to report next payout because you already reported it.

or you could just file a 1040X.

gostwyck · « **Reply #44 on:** February 04, 2011, 17:01 »

Quote from: cthoman on February 04, 2011, 15:07

You mean you don't rank individual contributors? C'mon there's the talent portion, the swimsuit competition...

I'd have just thought that a contributor who was just below Diamond canister is a 'big enough gun'. He'll have made many $10K's for Istock in the process and is still probably in the top 2% of contributors.

drawntobewild · « **Reply #45 on:** February 14, 2011, 20:39 »

I just dropped my exclusivity. My sales have tanked over the last few months and I just haven't seen the income that I used to on iStock. Plus I don't know if you're following the whole credit card fraud thing but I lost a bit of money from that as well. Then I go on the forums to voice my opinion and try and get some answers to what happened and they ban me from the forums and my sitemails. What a mess, I don't know what's going on over there but it's not the same place it was 3 or 4 years ago.

Phadrea · « **Reply #46 on:** February 15, 2011, 05:24 »

I was seriously thinking of it but I am holding back for now. My sales with IS for images have been going downhill since the middle of last year. This month they seem to be selling again so I am hanging on to see what happens.

visceralimage · « **Reply #47 on:** February 15, 2011, 22:06 »

i know I am beating a drum we have all heard; but if you drop exclusive, be prepared for a ton of work to get your port. on other sites. i just drop excl. at DT and it is a ton of work to get the port. on the other sites. Even with lightburner, it is still a ton of work. Yes, some of the sites are a breeze but most are a royal pain, like BigStock and Panther.

This is my full-time job so must suck it up and work the long hours to get the port developed across the entire system. Excl. is not an option at IS as I am only allowed 18 uploads a week and it would take years to get my port their.

Acceptance is going well, most sites well over 90%

jamirae · « **Reply #48 on:** February 15, 2011, 23:07 »

Quote from: visceralimage on February 15, 2011, 22:06

i know I am beating a drum we have all heard; but if you drop exclusive, be prepared for a ton of work to get your port. on other sites. i just drop excl. at DT and it is a ton of work to get the port. on the other sites. Even with lightburner, it is still a ton of work. Yes, some of the sites are a breeze but most are a royal pain, like BigStock and Panther.

This is my full-time job so must suck it up and work the long hours to get the port developed across the entire system. Excl. is not an option at IS as I am only allowed 18 uploads a week and it would take years to get my port their.

Acceptance is going well, most sites well over 90%

I guess it depends on the sites. I've not had much problem with the ones I'm submitting to - but I'm sticking with the top tier mostly, except for StockFresh, which I am holding out hope for.

I am at IS, DT, SS, FT, Stockfresh, Alamy and am waiting for an acceptance to Veer. I find the process fairly painless as long as my images have the metadata before I upload them with the FTP.

yuliang11 · « **Reply #49 on:** February 16, 2011, 00:56 »

Quote from: hofhoek on January 28, 2011, 05:10

My income at IS (non exclusive) has dropped 30% compared to january last year and almost 50% compared to january 2009. I'm at Istock since 2007. As SS income has increased 30% with last january.

+1. My IS dropped 70% i'm considering whether it's worthwhile to upload there anymore

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Author Topic: Anyone cancel exclusive contract yet? (Read 61752 times)

jamirae

bittersweet

dscott

RayW

Perry

lisafx

dscott

tundraphoto

dscott

jamirae

tundraphoto

vlad_the_imp

gostwyck

LSD72

loop

cthoman

jamirae

cthoman

jamirae

gostwyck

drawntobewild

Phadrea

visceralimage

jamirae

yuliang11

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