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Author Topic: Buyers Bailing on Istock  (Read 387815 times)

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« Reply #1500 on: December 10, 2011, 08:47 »
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If the system is inflexible they should have edited the collection manually. Pick the best files for Vetta...and the others will have to wait until a new system is ready. Or put them in the main collection in the meantime. Under no circumstance would I dilute the quality of the Vetta brand. That is very damaging for us all.

I'm not arguing with you.  

I know, sorry if it came across that way. The site bugs and other issues are straining my patience. I hope 2012 will be a better year. It would be nice to have just one year of focussing on work without drama. But then - it is istock...

   This is the annoying part I see.  Istock best exclusives were supposed to migrate better "agency" type shoots up to getty.  Or at least that is what was said after the sale.  The whole "quit your day job" was geared toward the wonderful opportunities on getty.   Now the microstock site is being farmed for cash like this "drawing dump" and the rubberball dude whose work is just good microstock being sold at agency prices on a microstock site.  It makes me think that getty could have never competed against istock if it had stayed owned by the founders with moves like these. 


« Reply #1501 on: December 10, 2011, 08:49 »
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^ yes, because as Sean states moving the slider all the way done eliminates the large and xl sizes that we generally buy as we are mainly print.

If it's too hard for you to click a dot to get what you want, I'm not sure checkboxes or anything else would help you.

Yep, that's me.. Lazy and stoopid. I guess I will be shopping elsewhere. Doh'

Not lazy, not stupid, but not in the target market. People without computers aren't lazy or stupid, but not in the target market.
My husband is computer phobic and can't use Amazon (or any other online store). Either I order it for him or he gets what he wants in physical shops.
Should Amazon change?

Here we go again. Buyers have stated their dissatisfaction with istock and the slider, and now it's THEIR fault because their stupid, lazy, or not in the target market. If they were a buyer, they WERE the target market, no? Buyers' dissatisfaction comes because of istock's actions, not because the buyer all of a sudden can't use a computer to shop.

I'll bet most of you have shopped online at B&H. You can sort your results by price. So you can buy cheap, or you can buy expensive. What's so difficult about that? It's not difficult at all. It just doesn't fall into the istock bull$hit way of scamming buyers. As was mentioned earlier, it's not just that the slider has meaningless dots, it's that the UI could be SO much simpler for any buyer to understand, and yet it's not being implemented because of greed.

Give me a reason why all of the collections at istock can't be listed, with a checkbox in front of them, with the title, "check the collections you would like to search in". This is what would be helpful to buyers. Then they could eliminate all of the high priced collections that they KNOW they can't afford. What's so difficult about that? The answer is NOTHING. But you see, this isn't the istock way. There's no room for games in that method. There's no way to trick the customer in that method.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #1502 on: December 10, 2011, 09:07 »
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Give me a reason why all of the collections at istock can't be listed, with a checkbox in front of them, with the title, "check the collections you would like to search in". This is what would be helpful to buyers. Then they could eliminate all of the high priced collections that they KNOW they can't afford. What's so difficult about that? The answer is NOTHING. But you see, this isn't the istock way. There's no room for games in that method. There's no way to trick the customer in that method.
That would become clumsy, as neither 'Vetta' nor 'Agency' as names gives the remotest indication of what it means, so they'd need to have a pop-up to explain that Vetta means 'more expensive' and Agency means 'most expensive', so why not just sort by price, given that neither collection has any sort of cohesion (Just imagine the fun they'd have trying to word the popup: "The Vetta collection consists of some originally ingested material, a curated group of dark, sepia, vignetted work, some random stuff we really like, a load of badly-keyworded stuff by Edstock and some simple or elaborate cartoons by a faux-exclusive").
There are very few customers who would be able to cope more easily with working out what the collections stand for than just a simple sort by price.
How would you describe what the Vetta collection is to help a buyer decide whether or not they want to choose it?

And Agency? I understood Agency was for lifestyle, but I see by searching on animal nobody with the price set to only Agency there are some oddly cropped animals that I'd have had rejected for 'flat lighting'. So how to describe Agency? "Bright lifestyle, some with loads of lensflare, some crossprocessed, with a lot of animal illustrations from DK and random stuff from faux-exclusives that we could only ingest if we promised Agency pricing"

And goodness knows how much else is in the Vetta and Agency collections that I don't know about.

Far simpler to stick with price IMO, but if you can think of better ways of describing each incohesive collection, go ahead.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2011, 09:35 by ShadySue »

SNP

  • Canadian Photographer
« Reply #1503 on: December 10, 2011, 12:27 »
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I know, sorry if it came across that way. The site bugs and other issues are straining my patience. I hope 2012 will be a better year. It would be nice to have just one year of focussing on work without drama. But then - it is istock...

echo that....this comment is bang on. my guess is that it is a consensus throughout the serious contributor base. the cheesy, emotional drama was always a little irritating about iStock, but it was sometimes fun to get drawn into.

over the last two years, they've eliminated much of the fun, and they've increased the drama. in another thread, there is a discussion about sodafish, a longtime exclusive going indie. someone commented (Sean maybe?) that iStock are losing the loyalty of exclusives. personally speaking, that loyalty was neutralized a long time ago. now it's dollars keeping me exclusive, the decision is about where I can make the most as what type of contributor. I am proud being an iStock contributor, because I still believe it is the leader and I believe it is still a brand that garners respect. but exclusivity isn't an emotional decision.

I like the community thing, but the community of the industry. social media has enabled us to form a community outside the iStock parameters. it's no longer an iStock asset. I'd love a year without vague announcements, major site outages, 'projects that are good for the company and not for us but about which we're supposed to do back flips'.....just make the site work, let us do our work, with the bar set firmly in a fair position. lose the drama. I know how much the term F5 irritates me now. a week or so ago, a friend told me to F5 to refresh my screen and I cringed, lol, immediately realizing what an honest reaction it was.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2011, 12:43 by SNP »

« Reply #1504 on: December 10, 2011, 13:37 »
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 I'd love a year without vague announcements, major site outages, 'projects that are good for the company and not for us but about which we're supposed to do back flips'.....just make the site work, let us do our work, with the bar set firmly in a fair position. lose the drama.

Lets hope so. Istock can command higher prices than competition....because of "some" exclusives. When those are throwing away the ring that binds them, that reasoning is over. The trust seems so deteriorated for many that a bone is not going to recover it. If they don't start to improve relations with contributors and attain a reliable site 2012 might be a "complicate" year.

« Reply #1505 on: December 10, 2011, 19:53 »
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Sodafish is thinking of leaving?

How will he recoup the loss from istock? I thought for illustrators istock/getty was by far the best choice?

I understand that many high ranking exclusives are thinking about independence, but the money has to come from somewhere. istock has been very successful at raising prices and those who benefit strongly from that - where can they go?

And building a customer base for your own webshop takes work and about 2 years.

ETA: just saw he broke photo exclusivity to have a look around. Smart decision. Yes, many mixed media contributors will probably give up the subject they have less time for because the RC system does not allow you to move up to an interesting level unless you focus on it.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2011, 19:56 by cobalt »

« Reply #1506 on: December 10, 2011, 20:10 »
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^^^ It all comes down to a total lack of confidence in Istockphoto's management. On recent track record such concern is entirely understandable and warranted. I'm sure Sodafish's assessment of the situation will prove to be correct in the longer term too.

« Reply #1507 on: December 10, 2011, 20:37 »
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I am not denying the problems and the abysmal communication, believe me. I just hope that somewhere at HQ/Getty the awareness grows that good quality talent is very hard to replace.

For all the talk of "crowd sourcing" the microstock market is more a talent scout - an open plattform that draws in as many artists as possible and allows the talent to flourish into roses and diamonds.

But you cant easily replace top level talent with 100 mediocre ones. If you rely on exclusive content as USP you need people who produce steadily and reliably in their given niche.

It will be really interesting to see what the next RC targets will be like for 2012 and if they can get the site to work reliably for that year.

And of course how much effort the competition puts into attracting and taking care of the exclusive talent.  Although we are not as spoiled as we used to be...;)

« Reply #1508 on: December 11, 2011, 08:39 »
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 I'd love a year without vague announcements, major site outages, 'projects that are good for the company and not for us but about which we're supposed to do back flips'.....just make the site work, let us do our work, with the bar set firmly in a fair position. lose the drama.

Lets hope so. Istock can command higher prices than competition....because of "some" exclusives. When those are throwing away the ring that binds them, that reasoning is over. The trust seems so deteriorated for many that a bone is not going to recover it. If they don't start to improve relations with contributors and attain a reliable site 2012 might be a "complicate" year.
,,
remember that the most of the earnings are made with the non-exclusives....for example : Lisafx, Monkeybusinessimage, yuriarcurs, andresr...
I should not wonder if istock will push in front of research material from which they can earn more..and the price filter is another method to earn more

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #1509 on: December 11, 2011, 09:00 »
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remember that the most of the earnings are made with the non-exclusives....for example : Lisafx, Monkeybusinessimage, yuriarcurs, andresr...
I should not wonder if istock will push in front of research material from which they can earn more..and the price filter is another method to earn more

They seem to be experimenting with best match. For example a search on 'businessman' has a wide range of options in the top 20, including indies like Anders and Yuri.
However, 'monkey' has 17 Vettas in the top 20 (and only three files in the top 20 are actual monkeys, chimps and gorillas are apes and a bloke in a monkey suit is, well, a 'man' in a 'monkey suit'. We are dooooooomed.)

« Reply #1510 on: May 01, 2012, 10:42 »
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Here's another unhappy customer. They bought some credits to buy images for a specific project ... then the site went down ... and when the site came back ... the image prices had increased.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=343279&page=1

You couldn't make this stuff up. After all it's only the second price increase for Exc & Exc+ images in the last 3 months so why are customers complaining? Some of these customers just don't understand how jolly lucky they are.

RacePhoto

« Reply #1511 on: May 01, 2012, 10:53 »
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Here's another unhappy customer. They bought some credits to buy images for a specific project ... then the site went down ... and when the site came back ... the image prices had increased.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=343279&page=1

You couldn't make this stuff up. After all it's only the second price increase for Exc & Exc+ images in the last 3 months so why are customers complaining? Some of these customers just don't understand how jolly lucky they are.


Maybe the conspiracy people were right back when they said, Getty bought IS to kill it. LOL 

Price changes without notice, Best Match fiddling, throwing everything into ThinkStock subscriptions... Unsustainable I tell you! :P

Although P+ seems to work, so it's not all bad?

« Reply #1512 on: May 01, 2012, 10:59 »
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I'm happy to see they left Photo+ prices alone - it'll make those files more appealing for any cost-conscious buyers who don't walk :)

I don't know why they don't give buyers a newsletter with a week or two's warning about coming price hikes - that would then perhaps get them a little boost in business of people shopping to beat the price increase (and they don't have to put things on sale). Little bit of good customer relations and a little bit of self interest...

« Reply #1513 on: May 01, 2012, 11:19 »
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I had no idea the price for an XS was 10 credits!!

I can't find a way to take an image out of E+ ?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #1514 on: May 01, 2012, 11:21 »
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I had no idea the price for an XS was 10 credits!!

I can't find a way to take an image out of E+ ?

They're locked for 6 months, so if promoted within that timescale, you can't.

« Reply #1515 on: May 01, 2012, 11:23 »
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I had no idea the price for an XS was 10 credits!!

I can't find a way to take an image out of E+ ?

They're locked for 6 months, so if promoted within that timescale, you can't.
Argh. I think it's been almost 6 months - will it be apparent when I can change it? I've looked at the file info page and the My Uploads page and can't figure it out.

« Reply #1516 on: May 01, 2012, 11:37 »
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For Photo+ if there's no date you can pull it; if it's still locked it says when the end of the lock will be - that's  looking at the Photos+ page in my_uploads

lisafx

« Reply #1517 on: May 01, 2012, 11:48 »
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For Photo+ if there's no date you can pull it; if it's still locked it says when the end of the lock will be - that's  looking at the Photos+ page in my_uploads

Agreed.  Also, the little check box will be black and you can uncheck it, instead of grayed out and inaccessible like it is when the image is still locked in.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #1518 on: May 01, 2012, 11:58 »
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I had no idea the price for an XS was 10 credits!!

I can't find a way to take an image out of E+ ?

They're locked for 6 months, so if promoted within that timescale, you can't.
Argh. I think it's been almost 6 months - will it be apparent when I can change it? I've looked at the file info page and the My Uploads page and can't figure it out.

Click on MyUploads.
Go to the left-hand column, and if necessary, click the button next to My Uploads, to get a list of topics, the bottom of which is ExclusivePlus.
Click on ExclusivePlus Royalty, to bring your E+ with sales to the top, then you can untick the boxes.

lisafx

« Reply #1519 on: May 01, 2012, 12:04 »
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Here's another unhappy customer. They bought some credits to buy images for a specific project ... then the site went down ... and when the site came back ... the image prices had increased.

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=343279&page=1

You couldn't make this stuff up. After all it's only the second price increase for Exc & Exc+ images in the last 3 months so why are customers complaining? Some of these customers just don't understand how jolly lucky they are.


Whoa! To borrow from Sean Locke's post in that thread, the *unannounced* price changes are:

Old E: 3|5|10|15|20|25|28 (last change 3/14/2012)
New E: 4|6|10|15|20|25
Old E+: 8|15|28|38|40|50|55
New E+: 10|20|30|40|45|50|60

And they just upped exclusive files to a base of 3 credits in mid March?  Now they are upping them again two six weeks later?!!  That's obscene.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2012, 17:03 by lisafx »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #1520 on: May 01, 2012, 12:12 »
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Maybe they're trying to encourage exclusives to leave without officially closing the program.
Who knows what they're thinking.

KB

« Reply #1521 on: May 01, 2012, 12:20 »
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And they just upped exclusive files to a base of 3 credits in mid March?  Now they are upping them again two weeks later?!!  That's obscene.

It's six weeks later, so no problems there.  ;D (Oddly, I made the same mistake at first. Time flies!)

I wonder if this is a way to encourage sales of independent files?

« Reply #1522 on: May 01, 2012, 12:23 »
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I have lost track of lots of details with IS, but is it a change that indie files are 4 credits for small and Photo+ is 5 for small?

1-4-07-10-15-20-23 for indie files and
2-5-10-15-20-25-28 for Photo+

« Reply #1523 on: May 01, 2012, 16:24 »
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I have lost track of lots of details with IS, but is it a change that indie files are 4 credits for small and Photo+ is 5 for small?

1-4-07-10-15-20-23 for indie files and
2-5-10-15-20-25-28 for Photo+

I'm pretty sure that is a price increase as well. I think the M went up 2 credits too. I'm pretty sure it was 1-3-5 last time I had to check on something there for a client. Thank goodness for the other sites!

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #1524 on: May 01, 2012, 16:25 »
0
And they just upped exclusive files to a base of 3 credits in mid March?  Now they are upping them again two weeks later?!!  That's obscene.

It's six weeks later, so no problems there.  ;D (Oddly, I made the same mistake at first. Time flies!)

I wonder if this is a way to encourage sales of independent files?
That and heavily promoting indie files in certain areas (all my usual  searches have an indie file in the first place, and five or six of the ten top places in the best match, though I know other geographic areas have very different best match results, not 'pushing' indie files).


 

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