The subject line says it all, but here are the gory details.

I've been planning to go exclusive at IS since the end of last year, when I stopped UL'ing to other sites. I (stupidly, in retrospect) planned exactly when to best remove my portfolio from each site, to maximize my income during the transition. It almost worked out perfectly.

But for the last 10 days or so, my portfolios have been off all other sites, yet I can't apply for exclusivity. Veer has messed me up.

I've always found support there to be very good. Unfortunately this time, when I most needed them, they let me down. It's been 3.5 weeks since I asked them to deactivate my portfolio. Finally, last Saturday, the images were removed from my port, and from the site's search results.

However, the images are all still on their website. They can easily be found via google, and can still be purchased. The last correspondence I had from them said this was "how it's supposed to work". They implied will be that way for SIXTY DAYS! It's in the contributor agreement.

I was very aware of this, and had written to them about that 3 months ago. I was told it was only legalese, and it generally takes only about a week to get the images offline. Unfortunately, I believed this, and now I'm really stuck.

The dangers of going exclusive? My port is gone from everywhere, my income has been cut by at least 60%, and each week that goes by I'm losing much more than I ever made on Veer in over a year.

Let this be a warning to anyone else contemplating going exclusive. Get off of the low earning sites FIRST, WAY in advance. It just isn't worth it -- hoping to squeeze an extra few dollars out can cost you BIG!

From this, to me it could be ok with iStock, I mean if on any site a costumer has one of your photo in his shopping cart, it is not like this photo is still on sale,isn't it?  And as long as you make effort (and prove it to iStock), maybe they could consider giving you the exclusive status?

I wonder because I am planning exclusivity and I am ready (except for this one!).  The only thing that slows me is the very low sales for me at IS since june...
Claude

I agree with you, and that's what I thought when I read the TOS and discussed it with them. However, as I wrote above, the images ARE actually still on sale. If a buyer does a google search of some keywords that match my images, google will return links to those images.  The buyer can click through, and purchase one. There is no way that IS would find that acceptable for exclusivity.

May this help, it's actually how I got my pictures off Alamy before 6 months

http://marketplace.veer.com/about/contributoragreement

A. Contributor may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing Veer with thirty (30) days notice by using the Contact Us page to provide notice to Veer or by following the written notice provision below.

30 days is more like if it was the 3rd world war. At Alamy it took 3 or 4 days. It's just a suggestion though, I don't remember how I get out of Veer exactly. I just know it worked well with Alamy

Sorry to hijack this. just one question regarding Alamy, was that your whole portfolio or just a portion?

Well, good news for me! 

I just heard back from Ryan at support, and he wrote that it actually was an error that the images were still available. It has now been taken care of -- case closed!

See, I told you Veer support was usually very good. 

Quote from: Vonkara on July 06, 2010, 17:28

May this help, it's actually how I got my pictures off Alamy before 6 months

http://marketplace.veer.com/about/contributoragreement

A. Contributor may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing Veer with thirty (30) days notice by using the Contact Us page to provide notice to Veer or by following the written notice provision below.

30 days is more like if it was the 3rd world war. At Alamy it took 3 or 4 days. It's just a suggestion though, I don't remember how I get out of Veer exactly. I just know it worked well with Alamy

Sorry to hijack this. just one question regarding Alamy, was that your whole portfolio or just a portion?

It was my whole portfolio, yes

Well, good news for me! 

I just heard back from Ryan at support, and he wrote that it actually was an error that the images were still available. It has now been taken care of -- case closed!

See, I told you Veer support was usually very good. 

Very nice, sometimes posting on the MSG forum help in a mysterious way