MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: wds on September 21, 2014, 08:37
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Okay, clearly it's way too early for meaningful trends, but just curious how folks are doing after the first week of the new iStock?
For me, it's been about a wash in terms of downloads and $$$. Downloads a little higher, $$$ a little less. A bit disappointed in $$$/download. I am iS exclusive.
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Downloads rose slightly, earnings dropped substantially. I'm only interested in $$$$$$$. Therefor the changes svck for me.
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with what little I am seeing so far, the amount paid per DL is up, but customer is getting XXXL file sizes. These major changes to squeeze more juice from the orange, including changes at IS, intro of DPC (BY FOTOLIA) & Deposit Photos cut throat commissions, are killing agencies like Dreamstime. They "haven't adapted" so to speak, meaning that haven't really made any tactical response. Accordingly, for me anyway, they are almost worthless in terms of revenue. Over the last few months when all these agency changes have happened, I've gone from $250 a month on DT, to $200, then $175, $150 and today I am at $80 for September. It's my opinion that DT is collateral damage from all these cut throat strategies.
My apologies....not my intent to hijack this thread.
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I was having a pretty good month before the changes.
The week following the changes was really slow and was lowlighted by an XXXLarge for a 30 cent commission.
I guess it isn't a big deal for me though, "good" on iStock doesn't really mean much since the vast majority of my earnings there come from PP anyways.
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Okay, clearly it's way too early for meaningful trends […]
So, why do you ask?
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Okay, clearly it's way too early for meaningful trends […]
So, why do you ask?
I've actually had the slowest week for downloads for more than 10 years (I'm not kidding), down 70% on the previous week, so I think it might be meaningful.
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Okay, clearly it's way too early for meaningful trends […]
So, why do you ask?
Trends are trends, a week is not too early to see them.
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I've actually had the slowest week for downloads for more than 10 years (I'm not kidding), down 70% on the previous week, so I think it might be meaningful.
Trends are trends, a week is not too early to see them.
I am not sure that you can define a trend if the elements/variables that you have are not stabilized yet.
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Oh was there a week after the iStock change?
Because it seemed to me that all my istuck sales just stopped.
Prior to that things were rolling along quite nicely :(
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I've actually had the slowest week for downloads for more than 10 years (I'm not kidding), down 70% on the previous week, so I think it might be meaningful.
Trends are trends, a week is not too early to see them.
I am not sure that you can define a trend if the elements/variables that you have are not stabilized yet.
trend |trend|
noun
a general direction in which something is developing or changing:
Stability is a trend in stasis.
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DLs are better than July and August. Earning is slightly better but not as good as it should be in a September month.
There is still one more week, we shall see.
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Trends are trends, a week is not too early to see them.
I am not sure that you can define a trend if the elements/variables that you have are not stabilized yet.
trend |trend|
noun
a general direction in which something is developing or changing:
Stability is a trend in stasis.
You have too much undefined elements (not stabilized) to define a trend, a general direction:
- All the usual customers do not know about the new situation.
- All those knowing about the new situation have not begun to buy something on the site.
- iStock has always a lot of problems before "new things" are really working well……
So, till the new situation has not became known and stable for everybody (or a relatively appreciable number of people) we cannot speak about a trend, because the actual situation does not correspond yet to "a general direction in which something is developing or changing", but it is only a temporary direction and it can change.
This is my point of view.
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Fewer DLs, less money per DL. So far not working for me or iS.
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It's ok.
My portfolio is generally crap so people downloaded only small sizes. Now I get loads more for that.
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I'm having my WME on iStock - only one download all month for a whopping $1 (from before the big change) - I've never had a month this bad despite having a tiny portfolio there. At this rate I won't even make enough to cover their monthly "clawback" until the PP comes in. :(
Meanwhile, SS is way up - and DT is up considerably as well.
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Nobody will know whats happening for at least a couple of months until the subs are reported. There will be a fair amount of clients switching from credits to subs, we'll have to wait and see if the designers start downloading with the subs packages at the rate they do in SS.
I can't help thinking iS have shot themselves in the foot by not having the signature collection as Vetta and S+ exclusively, which is what I assumed they were going to do. There's no real way to filter out the crap images anymore.
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Ever since they stopped letting nonexclusives nominate files for the + collection (Can't recall if it was E+ or what) I've seen the number of views my files get plunge along with my sales. I can't help thinking that some of the people who used iStock did so because they could more easily find some of the "better" microstock images there and were willing to pay a small premium for them - a low cost image is not a bargain if it takes hours to find - IMHO, trying to copy their competitors rather than playing to their own strengths is a mistake they keep making. What distresses me is seeing how many of my files that sell well on SS and DT have never even had a view on iStock. That's one of the reasons I'll leave what I have there (and collect a few payouts a year) but haven't bothered adding anything new in ages. My experience certainly isn't sufficient to show a "trend" but it does seem to mirror what others have seen. I'd be happy to see them do better but I'm not optimistic - the opposite in fact.
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First week, slightly more dl's and more $$ than I would've gotten for these dl's, but for how long...?
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Haven't sold a sausage with them since the changes. IS normally makes me about 50% of what I do with SS, but I haven't had a single IS sale while SS has carried on as before...
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Sales almost stopped since the changes.
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bad....two sales in one week >:( :-\...normally i have 1-2 downloads day
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Unfortunately my sales have disappeared. 2011 I was making 100+ sales per day. Now 15-20 on weekdays and 0-3 on weekends. How about that. Since the changes the collapsing has accelerated. I am a diamond exclusive contributor
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I'm happy to report that I have the same lousy sales I had before! Been down so long it looks like up to me.
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Day 7 without a sale :(
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So is nobody doing well? Have Getty finally wiped out the site that founded the industry? (Talk about making things bloomin' unsustainable!)
Here, for old times' sake, is the post where we first discovered that istock is unsustainable http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=252322&page=1 (http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=252322&page=1)
Jeez! It was only 4 effing years ago! I was making some decent money from iS before that post popped up. How fast things change!
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I'm not seeing any real pickup in sales. I thought it was a bit better later on last week, "a bit" being all it was. This week has started off very slowly again though.
If we're getting fewer $$ per sale we need more sales. . .
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Haven't had a single sale over the weekend - hasn't happened for several years now. Usually there were 2-10 DLs even on saturdays and sundays.
Guess it's all those bloggers that downloaded on weekends but now can no longer afford istock.
Overall the decline in revenue since April continues steadily
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Okay, clearly it's way too early for meaningful trends […]
So, why do you ask?
Trends are trends, a week is not too early to see them.
The credits I'm getting appear to be lower than the prices listed on the site. I don't know if this will fade as old credits get used and new ones are bought. I guess customers could leave as well. So, I think it may take time for things to settle into the new reality at IS.
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One positive thing I have seen is a vector uploaded one day last week, gained 6 views and sold a day later. This is pretty unusual these days so hopefully a good sign. Sales aren't too bad today either.
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I'm definitely on someone's sh*t list - sales have completely collapsed for me over the past week.
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no sales here
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Total of 5 sales since friday, port size 3000, not looking good.
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no sales here
I could't agree more. It is total nightmare. What . happened? Did all the buyers get scared away? I hope it will pick up soon. Barely any sales for me since the change.
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I'm a VERY small fish in the IS sea, non excl, and things are looking a bit better. Plus nice to see better commission again. So at least for now I'm fairly happy.....
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Considering only IS sales, money is surprisingly up without any uploads in a while.
Unfortunately I make 85% on the PP which fell off a cliff since IS subscription was introduced.
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Looks like the bottom feeders got the gold mine and most everyone else got the shaft. And that's not directed at you, but myself.
My sales commissions have returned to the pre-Thinkstock levels, for the first time since that site opened it's sub-basement pricing that stole from all of us. Also the regular sales on IS for me, are at 2011 levels, not the bargain values I've had for a few years.
I know it's too early to see the whole picture, but so far, my sales are up and increasing in value on IS.
I'm a VERY small fish in the IS sea, non excl, and things are looking a bit better. Plus nice to see better commission again. So at least for now I'm fairly happy.....
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being new and a small port of around 350 images sales are not good for me.
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For me it like the good old days. The difference is very noticeable with multiple dls every day where as earlier in the year I was having record dry spells. Last week may have been an all time record for regular dls. Royalties near record. Today was good so the week is off to a good start. All my sales have been from the signature collection. 7-9 dollars a dl is fine if here are enough of them.
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Only 2 sales in the 10 days since the change occurred.
The new "random" method of sorting for the "new" files that started at the end of August is killing me too.
Everytime my sales improve even the slightest and I even remotely consider going exclusive they do something to remind me why I'm NOT. Plummeting sales after every change they make pretty much guarantees that I'll never have enough trust in them to go exclusive.
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Haven't posted here in a long time, but I'm having more downloads & money this week than I've had in months and months! Even having downloads overnight so they are there when I wake up!
Sorry its not working for everyone, but I'm lovin it! Hope it lasts.
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http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/gettys-new-stream-app-lets-browse-vast-image-library-share-content/ (http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/gettys-new-stream-app-lets-browse-vast-image-library-share-content/)
"The free app – its first aimed at consumers – lets you easily explore the firm’s massive image library and comes with functionality allowing you to embed selected photos in a blog or some such website, or post them to various social media services.
Getty brought the same functionality to its iStock photo app in July after a move four months earlier that made its database of millions of images freely available for non-commercial use."
Is there an iStock app that lets consumers embed our images for free?
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Looking at iTunes, Getty's stream is for IOS8 only (I am still at IOS7 for a bit so won't be trying this right away).
the iStock app hasn't been updated since July and the sharing it talks about is, I think, sharing a link to the image detail page, not sharing images in blogs. Most of the reviews are very negative - slow, crashes, images don't load, can't buy images or figure out how much they cost, etc.
I'm guessing the person writing the article doesn't actually know what any of these things do but is massaging a press release.
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Looking at iTunes, Getty's stream is for IOS8 only (I am still at IOS7 for a bit so won't be trying this right away).
the iStock app hasn't been updated since July and the sharing it talks about is, I think, sharing a link to the image detail page, not sharing images in blogs. Most of the reviews are very negative - slow, crashes, images don't load, can't buy images or figure out how much they cost, etc.
I'm guessing the person writing the article doesn't actually know what any of these things do but is massaging a press release.
Thanks! That makes sense.
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Still zero sales since the change with a port of 1200 images :(
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24/9/2014
Vector Image: $0.67
How can a 1 credit vector image net me only $0.67?? That must mean the buyer got a credit for $3,35. I thought the minimum price was around $8???
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Wow! That's crap :(
My average has been only $1.50 had only one at $3
I've sold 1 exclusive raster in all this time net was $5.+
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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RPD not so great, around $8. I guess it will go up some after the old credits are all used up.
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Oh I was wondering, so the deal w/old credits is $8 for each old one?
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Oh I was wondering, so the deal w/old credits is $8 for each old one?
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
No, the old ones are calculated at the price the buyer bought them. If they had 5 credits left and they spent $2 on each of those then the new credit would be worth $10. The problem comes when someone had 1 credit that they paid $2 for then that becomes a new credit worth $2. That's my understanding at least.
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http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=362716&messageid=7049907 (http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=362716&messageid=7049907)
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RPD not so great, around $8. I guess it will go up some after the old credits are all used up.
RPD will maybe improve, but volume of downloads is beyond terrible. I never had weeks this bad since I started over 5 years ago.
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Just Read that thanks shadysue... Gee, so my $8 vector could sell for $ 1.50 price for 1 old credit give or take ?!
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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My video sales are really strong this week and my photo sales are on par or a little higher then last month. Still to early to tell and I have my fingers crossed!
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My video sales are really strong this week and my photo sales are on par or a little higher then last month. Still to early to tell and I have my fingers crossed!
Cool, congrats! May I ask if you are exclusive?
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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My video sales are really strong this week and my photo sales are on par or a little higher then last month. Still to early to tell and I have my fingers crossed!
Ya getta be kidding...
Yes sales are up but royalty for full HD now are in a range of Big Web video before new robbery.
Who said that Fotolia, Dream, and Evanto has lowest prices for video?
Grrrrrrrrr >:(
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Meanwhile, at Shutterstock...
(http://i59.tinypic.com/4ujp6s.jpg)
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Yes I am exclusive
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Meanwhile, at Shutterstock...
([url]http://i59.tinypic.com/4ujp6s.jpg[/url])
How many sales for that amount do you average per month?
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I am not trying to brag just saying it is to early to tell how this is going to shake out for video exclusives. I am not happy with how iStock is treating non-exclusives and I hope they change that as I feel it will harm long term growth. I have my fingers crossed for all of us as we are all trying to make money at this!
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:( Going from 11.55$ for a Medium to 5.91$ for a XXXL... And they are all maximum size download!
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I'd say the train is running out of steam and the tumbleweeds are blowing through.
I used to get 20+ downloads a day. That recently dropped to around 10. I had three today. Two yesterday. And XXXL E+ files that used to get over $30 are now $5-$9.
Yes it's only the first week but sure ain't a good one. Finger is on the Plan B button.
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I am not trying to brag just saying it is to early to tell how this is going to shake out for video exclusives. I am not happy with how iStock is treating non-exclusives and I hope they change that as I feel it will harm long term growth. I have my fingers crossed for all of us as we are all trying to make money at this!
Well said, I also feel they are unfair to non exc. I am both and I'm taking a hit on both sides one side not paying enough the other less than few downloads.
The $$ for excl looks good if sales increase but subs and their desire to be more of a sub site keeps me playing both sides of the fence.
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Site's as slow as it's ever been, inspections are taking a week. Waited a year and a half to log in, only to be asked to log in again when I hit the "submit" button. Yay!
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Downloads are up 20% in Week 1 from previous week, $ is about the same. DExc.
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So far I have been disappointed with the average return per download.
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Meanwhile, at Shutterstock...
([url]http://i59.tinypic.com/4ujp6s.jpg[/url])
How many sales for that amount do you average per month?
That's private.
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Meanwhile, at Shutterstock...
([url]http://i59.tinypic.com/4ujp6s.jpg[/url])
How many sales for that amount do you average per month?
That's private.
Oh ok. ::)
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Oh ok. ::)
What's your problem?
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You brought it into the discussion that SS was selling high royalty licenses, I just asked how often you get them. If you get one a year and your RPD is less than $1 it doesn't seem to mean much but if you are getting 10 or 20 a month then that really says something.
BTW SS isn't the only place selling $100+ licenses, GI sales just came in and I'm sure I'm not alone in getting them.
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You brought it into the discussion that SS was selling high royalty licenses, I just asked how often you get them. If you get one a year and your RPD is less than $1 it doesn't seem to mean much but if you are getting 10 or 20 a month then that really says something.
BTW SS isn't the only place selling $100+ licenses, GI sales just came in and I'm sure I'm not alone in getting them.
I just don't wish to disclose too much information about my stock income. Besides, this was just meant as a funny contrast, not to start an iStock vs. Shutterstock debate.
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I just deactivate video bestsellers. It was very unsustainable for me.
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Sales? What sales? Nothing since September 12 except possibly Thinkstock, but I don't know how to check on them.
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Getty sales came in for video in August! Great boost to income and it is going higher all the time!
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After a week of no sales whatsoever, I've had a few good - for me - days... if anything, better than before because I'm not getting any $0.25 sales now - everything is in the $1-2 range for me so far. Maybe the bloggers who only wanted XS are just * it up after sulking for a few days, and realising that iStock is still orders of magnitude cheaper than hiring a tog to get their shots...
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Okay, clearly it's way too early for meaningful trends […]
So, why do you ask?
I've actually had the slowest week for downloads for more than 10 years (I'm not kidding), down 70% on the previous week, so I think it might be meaningful.
This
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It's been slow sales-wise. I was hoping to make up some difference in higher RPD since I seem to get a lot of XS sales. Unfortunately, I had a XXL sale that got me $0.29 so there goes the RPD down the tubes.
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Have to wait to see how PP pays out, but right now, worst month since August 2006
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last sale on the 17th
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WME worst month in 10 years, for the 1st time summer beat September !
$63. From a port that used to net me $1500 In the good ol days.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
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WME worst month in 10 years, for the 1st time summer beat September !
$63. From a port that used to net me $1500 In the good ol days.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
It looks like you are selling exclusive raster versions of nonexclusive vectors. It seems unlikely that you will get many sales of your exclusive rasters if you are selling the nonexclusive vectors at 1/3 the price.
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WME worst month in 10 years, for the 1st time summer beat September !
$63. From a port that used to net me $1500 In the good ol days.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
It looks like you are selling exclusive raster versions of nonexclusive vectors. It seems unlikely that you will get many sales of your exclusive rasters if you are selling the nonexclusive vectors at 1/3 the price.
Good point, just deactivated some, however they are 5 files out of 400+ tot that had any real downloads counts.
Most vectors for indi got a 40-50 and in some cases 60+% for more complex, pay cut.
I actually like the 1 price for all sizes and exclusives actually get quit a raise with /if more sales... The subscription part (even worse than my duplicates) of the biz keeps me from going all in... I wish iStock would stay out of subs, just because everyone else is doing it.
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Sales still at Summer levels here. At least as far as the $$ go, and the bottom line is what it's all about as far as I'm concerned.
Disappointing changes yet again.
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since a month no sales.
but nowhere.
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since a month no sales.
but nowhere.
Sorry to say but you need better technique and better content if you want to make any money at this.
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It's worse than summer here - it's like a permanent weekend.
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It's worse than summer here - it's like a permanent weekend.
LOL
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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WME worst month in 10 years, for the 1st time summer beat September !
$63. From a port that used to net me $1500 In the good ol days.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
It looks like you are selling exclusive raster versions of nonexclusive vectors. It seems unlikely that you will get many sales of your exclusive rasters if you are selling the nonexclusive vectors at 1/3 the price.
How can you be exclusive for rasters at IS when SS offers raster versions of vectors?
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I actually asked and was told that I can sell vectors on other sites even if they offer different size rasters along with the vector .
Edited to make sense
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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So, you're an exclusive raster artist on iStock who can sell rasters on other sites?
How does that not conflict with the raster exclusivity agreement?
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Was my thought when I first when're on this adventure, I take following the rules serious and made sure I checked.
A raster of a vector is ok
A raster of a raster not ok
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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iStockLogic 101
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Odd, since the agreement makes no distinction between a raster created from a vector or any other raster: "Because iStockphoto offers different categories of content, this agreement may differentiate among categories of content that you produce, such as still photography, which includes all raster files"
Well, whatever.
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I think I talked with someone on the phone at the time....it's important to me to do the right thing, called, checked, I hope all this time I've been ok, it's not for lack of trying though :)
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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I think I talked with someone on the phone at the time....it's important to me to do the right thing, called, checked, I hope all this time I've been ok, it's not for lack of trying though :)
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
I've had totally different responses from different support staff to the same question [1] (on different occasions) by email. I keep them so that I'm covered; but the bottom line is if they want to get rid of someone, they will, without recourse to a defence (it's in the ASA).
Added: [1] Sorry, what I wrote above wasn't clear. I didn't mean the same question as you asked, I meant that I've had occasion to check a different issue that I had with them on several occasions and have had totally different, even opposite, answers from different CR reps.
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I will double check with them to be sure, thanks
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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It's official: I now make more money on a small jpg on Dreamstime than I do on a complicated vector on iStock.
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I think I talked with someone on the phone at the time....it's important to me to do the right thing, called, checked, I hope all this time I've been ok, it's not for lack of trying though :)
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
I've had totally different responses from different support staff to the same question [1] (on different occasions) by email. I keep them so that I'm covered; but the bottom line is if they want to get rid of someone, they will, without recourse to a defence (it's in the ASA).
Added: [1] Sorry, what I wrote above wasn't clear. I didn't mean the same question as you asked, I meant that I've had occasion to check a different issue that I had with them on several occasions and have had totally different, even opposite, answers from different CR reps.
Shadysue I did understand and wondered with that in mind with any issue including mine ;)
To be honest, I'm contemplating going back to exclusive, I'm doing so so to not so good on the other sites that maybe $6 min per download with .75 subs isn't so bad, most of the other sites it takes 20 DL to make $6
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Well, I have plenty of time to think about things as dreams time keeps file locked for 6mo!
So I'm looking at dec/jan.
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Really slow on iStock here.
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Is there a set date for the pp payout? Kind of annoying that it turned up so close to the big change over.
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Is there a set date for the pp payout? Kind of annoying that it turned up so close to the big change over.
No set date. Should be 'by the end of the following month'.
Most people (involved in the PP) who commented, seemed happy that the payout was early this month.
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I sold a photo under the new system (Xlarge) and out of roughly $16 I got $1. How about I get $15 and you take the $1?
They've topped and tailed the collection and made the whole collection very expensive. Maybe the secret plan is to target corporates and sent the cheapo's to use PP sites.
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I sold a photo under the new system (Xlarge) and out of roughly $16 I got $1. How about I get $15 and you take the $1?
Sorry, what kind of sale was this?
How do you know the buyer paid $16?
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I sold a photo under the new system (Xlarge) and out of roughly $16 I got $1. How about I get $15 and you take the $1?
Sorry, what kind of sale was this?
How do you know the buyer paid $16?
photo, only 1 sale. regular sale. the price for new credits is between $15 - $16. It might be with old credits. Who knows?
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Old credits most likely, however, if someone buys a lot of credits the per credit price can be as low as $8
My Very Best :)
KimsCreativeHub.com
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Kim's right. We can expect old credits to be flying around for a while left.
You can easily work out what the buyer paid as you know your own percentage.
Bear in mind also the "Need larger credit packs? Contact us." from the Plans and Pricing page (Click 'View all credit packs') whereby huge buyers get much bigger discounts.
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the price for new credits is between $15 - $16. It might be with old credits. Who knows?
The price for new credits is $8 - $15, and the $15 is only when you buy a single credit. If you buy 3 credits the per credit price already drops to $12. I wouldn't expect to get many (or any!) $15 credit sales.
But most of the sales I've been having have been with credits that were well below $8, so still mostly old credits being used up.
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We can expect old credits to be flying around for a while left
In my case I think those old credits are gone- First weekday in many years without a single download.
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10,000 images and it's D-E-A-D.
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My IS sales have doubled, and RPD have gone up too. All my files are from this year and most of them are small size. I'll have to wait for the PP to see if the change was really positive or not. Last month's PP was weak so let's see.
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Bit better, but far from Istock what used to be!
To be honest for me IS is doing much better than all sites(together) except SS. I see no bright future there but....
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the price for new credits is between $15 - $16. It might be with old credits. Who knows?
The price for new credits is $8 - $15, and the $15 is only when you buy a single credit. If you buy 3 credits the per credit price already drops to $12. I wouldn't expect to get many (or any!) $15 credit sales.
But most of the sales I've been having have been with credits that were well below $8, so still mostly old credits being used up.
In Aussie land 3 credits is $44.75 each credit being $14.92 AUD. Oi, oi, oi!
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the price for new credits is between $15 - $16. It might be with old credits. Who knows?
The price for new credits is $8 - $15, and the $15 is only when you buy a single credit. If you buy 3 credits the per credit price already drops to $12. I wouldn't expect to get many (or any!) $15 credit sales.
But most of the sales I've been having have been with credits that were well below $8, so still mostly old credits being used up.
In Aussie land 3 credits is $44.75 each credit being $14.92 AUD. Oi, oi, oi!
Everything is more expensive down under. ;)
Sorry, I assumed we were talking USDs, obviously.
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So far the changes seem to be working for my exclusive photo PF. Max RPD has gone down drastically for some images, as expected, but I'm fine with that because I'm pretty sure that the high price - and the ease with which all those very expensive files could be filtered out with the price slider - was a major factor in the decline I've seen.
But while max RPD has gone down, minimum RPD has gone up. And suddenly I have multiple daily downloads of certain images again, which hasn't happened for a long time. I'm much happier with the reassurance of a greater number of downloads at a price point I feel is competitive and fair, vs a smaller number of downloads at a price point I've often felt uncomfortable with. And I'm talking about my own low production value images here.
Equally encouraging is that some newer images thought lost for good now have been found and downloaded. But most importantly perhaps, since iStock is my main source of income and also a place I've invested a lot of work and dedication in, after months of decline and despair, I'm cautiously optimistic again.
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So far the changes seem to be working for my exclusive photo PF. Max RPD has gone down drastically for some images, as expected, but I'm fine with that because I'm pretty sure that the high price - and the ease with which all those very expensive files could be filtered out with the price slider - was a major factor in the decline I've seen.
But while max RPD has gone down, minimum RPD has gone up. And suddenly I have multiple daily downloads of certain images again, which hasn't happened for a long time. I'm much happier with the reassurance of a greater number of downloads at a price point I feel is competitive and fair, vs a smaller number of downloads at a price point I've often felt uncomfortable with. And I'm talking about my own low production value images here.
Equally encouraging is that some newer images thought lost for good now have been found and downloaded. But most importantly perhaps, since iStock is my main source of income and also a place I've invested a lot of work and dedication in, after months of decline and despair, I'm cautiously optimistic again.
Interesting to see a positive report on sales since the changes. My own experience is anything but positive. This week in particular is absolutely dire. One day's expected "take" so far.
Would it be too nosy to ask what percentage rate you are on there?
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Interesting to see a positive report on sales since the changes. My own experience is anything but positive. This week in particular is absolutely dire. One day's expected "take" so far.
Would it be too nosy to ask what percentage rate you are on there?
Sorry to hear that, my week has so far been very strong, with yesterday reminding me of happier times. Anyway, I'm at a middling exclusive percentage rate, with a small to medium-sized PF. Not that precise perhaps but will hopefully give you an idea.
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That's private.
he's not paying taxes ;D ;D
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Interesting to see a positive report on sales since the changes. My own experience is anything but positive. This week in particular is absolutely dire. One day's expected "take" so far.
Would it be too nosy to ask what percentage rate you are on there?
Sorry to hear that, my week has so far been very strong, with yesterday reminding me of happier times. Anyway, I'm at a middling exclusive percentage rate, with a small to medium-sized PF. Not that precise perhaps but will hopefully give you an idea.
Thanks. Good to hear someone is doing OK there.
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That's private.
he's not paying taxes ;D ;D
Taxes, what's that? ;)
So far, sales seem to have increased, and the RPD is roughly the same as before (I had a good balance of 1-credit, 5-credit and 12-credit files, so the lower RPD for 12-credit files is compensated by the higher RPD for 1-credit files). Nothing spectacular, though, but at least I'm not losing out.
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Downloads look to me like they are coming back. Since the change I'm getting about what I got last year. If that keeps up then income will probably be close to last year as well. I like that S+ files are easier to get too.
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Downloads look to me like they are coming back. Since the change I'm getting about what I got last year. If that keeps up then income will probably be close to last year as well. I like that S+ files are easier to get too.
I hope they do get the download numbers back up, if the numbers stack up I'd return as an exclusive, their subs royalties would be much better than SS if they ever get the volume.
I've given up hope of SS attempting mid stock pricing.
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How does this change affect RCs?
Before the change I was averaging about 4.3 redeemed credits per download and was on pace to reach the next level. Now that each indie file only costs 1 credit does that mean that I would need to quadruple my sales just to continue at the same pace as before?
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How does this change affect RCs?
Before the change I was averaging about 4.3 redeemed credits per download and was on pace to reach the next level. Now that each indie file only costs 1 credit does that mean that I would need to quadruple my sales just to continue at the same pace as before?
No, we will all keep our percentage next year, except those few who manage to reach their next target, who will go up.
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How does this change affect RCs?
Before the change I was averaging about 4.3 redeemed credits per download and was on pace to reach the next level. Now that each indie file only costs 1 credit does that mean that I would need to quadruple my sales just to continue at the same pace as before?
You average 5 redeemed credits now.
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It seems that credit downloads has stayed pretty much the same and earnings are -33%. I make about few hundreds a month with some lousy illustrations.
This story was told you by the non-exclusive vector artist.
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I'm fairly pessimistic about all facets of iStock. Credit earnings have been cut substantially for me because my vectors now sell for less. PP numbers have been dropping, I guess because they're not marketing that as much and because they're steering people towards iS subs. And so far iS subs have just eaten into my regular sales. So I took a hit when they introduced subs and another last month when they lowered my prices. Lose, lose lose for me at iStock.
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my downloads have disappeared....
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Not a single sale since they changed over. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch.... you get the idea. I am not sure if it is the new prices but their changes certainly didn't help me any.
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My sense so far is no major change up or down for photos.
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In September I was up somewhat in DLs and $$s, but I suspect this was just buyers using up credits.
October so far is about par for DLs, but the reduced RPD is hurting my $$s; last week was the first week this year when I didn't make enough for a payout. On a positive note though, I am seeing more of my newer (less than 1 year) files being downloaded; perhaps a best match change?
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Before and after the recent credit changes, my RPD stayed more or less the same. But my income dropped. On average about 30%. I don't keep track of downloads on a day to day basis, so I can only imagine that is what happened. I think the problem it seems is that I no longer get the big sales of XXXL images, at the same time I can only imagine some of the small size buyers have disappeared. So I'm guessing I've lost income on both ends of the sales spectrum. I used to sell a meaningful amount of XXXL images, so the changes in credits are noticeable.
Being an iStock exclusive, it is quite demotivating to see sales month after month get smaller and smaller. I'm definitely now wondering why Yuri and Andres went exclusive with iStock. The grass does not seem greener on this side of the fence, especially after reading other posts about what people's RPI on shutterstock.
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I have to say that both downloads and revenue have absolutely plummeted at Istock for me since the changes. I'm seeing the fewest sales numbers on weekdays that I have for nearly 10 years (since I first began uploading). So far this month I have yet to make double figures on any day. A few years ago, even as an independent, I was selling 50-60 licenses per weekday.
On the other hand sales at SS have gone ballistic and if it keeps up then I'm on target for a massive BME. In particular sales of On-Demand-Downloads have increased hugely.
Can I be alone in wondering whether the two events could possibly be connected?
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I have to say that both downloads and revenue have absolutely plummeted at Istock for me since the changes. I'm seeing the fewest sales numbers on weekdays that I have for nearly 10 years (since I first began uploading). So far this month I have yet to make double figures on any day. A few years ago, even as an independent, I was selling 50-60 licenses per weekday.
On the other hand sales at SS have gone ballistic and if it keeps up then I'm on target for a massive BME. In particular sales of On-Demand-Downloads have increased hugely.
Can I be alone in wondering whether the two events could possibly be connected?
I think that almost everyone (apart from Tickstock obviously) will now agree that you were right all along with respect to that thing about eggs and baskets.
Oh well.
:-)
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I have to say that both downloads and revenue have absolutely plummeted at Istock for me since the changes. I'm seeing the fewest sales numbers on weekdays that I have for nearly 10 years (since I first began uploading). So far this month I have yet to make double figures on any day. A few years ago, even as an independent, I was selling 50-60 licenses per weekday.
On the other hand sales at SS have gone ballistic and if it keeps up then I'm on target for a massive BME. In particular sales of On-Demand-Downloads have increased hugely.
Can I be alone in wondering whether the two events could possibly be connected?
I think that almost everyone (apart from Tickstock obviously) will now agree that you were right all along with respect to that thing about eggs and baskets.
Oh well.
:-)
I'm not sure almost everyone will now agree, almost everyone has not quit exclusivity have they? Have you?
I haven't run the numbers too extensively yet but it looks to me like the number of essentials downloads has gone way down, at least 50% if not more for my portfolio while signature and + downloads are up on the last 4 months significantly.
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I have to say that both downloads and revenue have absolutely plummeted at Istock for me since the changes. I'm seeing the fewest sales numbers on weekdays that I have for nearly 10 years (since I first began uploading). So far this month I have yet to make double figures on any day. A few years ago, even as an independent, I was selling 50-60 licenses per weekday.
On the other hand sales at SS have gone ballistic and if it keeps up then I'm on target for a massive BME. In particular sales of On-Demand-Downloads have increased hugely.
Can I be alone in wondering whether the two events could possibly be connected?
I think that almost everyone (apart from Tickstock obviously) will now agree that you were right all along with respect to that thing about eggs and baskets.
Oh well.
:-)
I think you've just invented a new acronym ... AFTO. It's much quicker than having to write "apart from Tickstock obviously" all the time.
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I have to say that both downloads and revenue have absolutely plummeted at Istock for me since the changes. I'm seeing the fewest sales numbers on weekdays that I have for nearly 10 years (since I first began uploading). So far this month I have yet to make double figures on any day. A few years ago, even as an independent, I was selling 50-60 licenses per weekday.
On the other hand sales at SS have gone ballistic and if it keeps up then I'm on target for a massive BME. In particular sales of On-Demand-Downloads have increased hugely.
Can I be alone in wondering whether the two events could possibly be connected?
I think that almost everyone (apart from Tickstock obviously) will now agree that you were right all along with respect to that thing about eggs and baskets.
Oh well.
:-)
I was also a keen basket case-maker right from the start, but looking back I think I was wrong . The most profitable course would almost certainly have been to be exclusive from 2006 to 2012 or 2013 and then to switch to independence. I thought it would be too difficult to build portfolios on all the other sites with a huge portfolio to upload but people seem to have been able to manage that. Oh, well, spilt milk....
PS - I agree with Gostwyck and I think that a 50% drop in "essentials" dls is a significant under-statement, 75-80% looks more like it, and that, of course, is more than enough to deliver another hit to independents' earnings (and, presumably, iStock's earnings, too -- the latest "improvement" looks like another grand disaster from the iStock management).
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My sales have upticked slightly since the change, however no more (probably less) than what would normally be expected when transitioning from the slow Summer to the more active Autumn season.
My RPD, OTOH, has dropped significantly, since a large portion of my earnings had been attributable to Sig+ sales and L and larger sales.
I was down nearly 50% in revenue in Sep compared with last year, and I expect Oct will be similar. The very definition of 'unsustainable'. >:(
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I have to say that both downloads and revenue have absolutely plummeted at Istock for me since the changes. I'm seeing the fewest sales numbers on weekdays that I have for nearly 10 years (since I first began uploading). So far this month I have yet to make double figures on any day. A few years ago, even as an independent, I was selling 50-60 licenses per weekday.
On the other hand sales at SS have gone ballistic and if it keeps up then I'm on target for a massive BME. In particular sales of On-Demand-Downloads have increased hugely.
Can I be alone in wondering whether the two events could possibly be connected?
I think that almost everyone (apart from Tickstock obviously) will now agree that you were right all along with respect to that thing about eggs and baskets.
Oh well.
:-)
I'm not sure almost everyone will now agree, almost everyone has not quit exclusivity have they? Have you?
I haven't run the numbers too extensively yet but it looks to me like the number of essentials downloads has gone way down, at least 50% if not more for my portfolio while signature and + downloads are up on the last 4 months significantly.
I thought exclusives were only supposed to have Signature files? At least that's what Bortomia's saying on the iS forums. Essentials files in an exclusives port are a mistake.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=362716&page=86 (http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=362716&page=86)
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I am exclusive. I have both Essential and Signature files. It is mostly Signature though. I read previously on iStock's forum that exclusive have some Essential files so that they can access a part of the market they wouldn't be able to access otherwise. The files that I have in Essential are mostly just files that don't sell well. I didn't put any of them in there, iStock did it, probably with an algorithm.
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Newly uploaded files from Exclusives going into Essentials are most likely a mistake, but in times past Exclusives were able to nominate at least a limited number of poor sellers for the old Dollar Bin, and when that was scrapped all the files in it were reactivated and placed in the Main (now Essentials) collection. There were also files, both Exclusive and Indie, moved to the Bin by iStock during various purges on old non-selling images.
Consequently, most of the Exclusive files now in the Essentials collection most probably arrived there via that route, in addition to any which have been moved there by iStock during and after the initial shakeout.
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Sales are holding steady for me so far in Oct. with a slight increase. My RPD has gone up, keep in mind I a video artist.
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My sales goes up. Now I sell every day something from my small portfolio and income looks much better after their changes. I feel more satified. ;)
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The only thing that has changed for me until now is that I have to login every time I access to the site…
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the more interesting question would be... are indies making more $ with IS these days... since the change.
i do not see a connection between increase in sales at ss with IS change... because ss images by tradition have always been rejected by IStock reviewers, and vice versa...esp in terms of over-saturation and over post-processing. IStock have always preferred little or no post-processing. for this reason, i cannot see clients suddenly wanting ss images which are more post-processed.
maybe they go to fotolia...as their preference to less processing is similar to IStock.
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i do not see a connection between increase in sales at ss with IS change... because ss images by tradition have always been rejected by IStock reviewers, and vice versa...esp in terms of over-saturation and over post-processing. IStock have always preferred little or no post-processing. for this reason, i cannot see clients suddenly wanting ss images which are more post-processed.
What utter nonsense. Rejections are a relatively rare event for any half-decent independent contributor at either IS or SS and have been for years. There's precious little difference in what sells at each agency too.
It's a fact that until a few years ago IS were the market-leader, by a country mile, in microstock. Since then sales and revenue have collapsed. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, growth at SS has been explosive and now they are now market-leader. But you don't see any likelihood of a connection between those events for the reasons you have given. Really.
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IS used to reject things that SS took. SS formerly took things from me, that IS refused. That's no longer true. Example would be a top ten image on SS that IS rejected, no matter what I tried to do to edit it to their satisfaction. With the new lower standards, it was accepted and now sells. :)
I don't have identical files on SS and IS because the two of them didn't take the same things. That's no longer true for newest files. But my sales are different on the two because of what each will accept or reject. Also because of what buyers want, of what I offer.
Someone producing good consistent quality, standard Microstock concept and styles, wouldn't have the same situation.
Now that the PP, subs and Month of Sept. is pretty much reported. BME - EVER - for me on IS. Subs and PP still stink, but commissions on standard DLs have gone back to 2009 levels. RPD is back up over a dollar like it used to be.
Yes people could have been using up credits. I'll hope that Oct. keeps going in the same positive direction.
"It's a fact that until a few years ago IS were the market-leader, by a country mile, in microstock."
100% fact and amazing how changing strategy, disenfranchising contributors, pissing off customers with confusing levels and prices, and basically, fooling with success has make them what they are today. Second best.
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the more interesting question would be... are indies making more $ with IS these days... since the change.
i do not see a connection between increase in sales at ss with IS change... because ss images by tradition have always been rejected by IStock reviewers, and vice versa...esp in terms of over-saturation and over post-processing. IStock have always preferred little or no post-processing. for this reason, i cannot see clients suddenly wanting ss images which are more post-processed.
maybe they go to fotolia...as their preference to less processing is similar to IStock.
I have not seen an increase at SS but a big decrease at IS. Mostly exactly the same pictures on both.
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Number of DLs at IS have gone up slightly, however more $$ per DL - so I am up by about 50% in $$s (that's not difficult as a non-exclusive IS, sales were never very high there). SS doesn't seem to have changed, but a lot more DLs suddenly from FT, DP and 123RF. Maybe the web-size former IS buyers have now gone to these agencies??
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After a slight uptick in the last fortnight of September, I've had 13dls in 11 days. I'm pretty sure only my very first fortnight on iS had fewer dls, and that was the last two weeks in December 2006.
I surely hope it's true that we're going to keep the 'adjustment', which for me is more than I've earned this month so far.
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After a slight uptick in the last fortnight of September, I've had 13dls in 11 days. I'm pretty sure only my very first fortnight on iS had fewer dls, and that was the last fornight in December.
I surely hope it's true that we're going to keep the 'adjustment', which for me is more than I've earned this month so far.
Yes, it's awful. This month the PP will become my main source of income from the iStock stable, while iS may well sink below DT (which is also doing badly) in my earnings.
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For me as indie IS is finally looking up. But SS is feeble.
Eggs and baskets....!
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After a slight uptick in the last fortnight of September, I've had 13dls in 11 days. I'm pretty sure only my very first fortnight on iS had fewer dls, and that was the last two weeks in December 2006.
I surely hope it's true that we're going to keep the 'adjustment', which for me is more than I've earned this month so far.
I had a dreadful start to the month too. Average one DL a day up until last Monday. It's picked up a bit for me since then. Although a couple of days in the middle of the week was back to ones and twos. It's looking way down on Oct 2013. Of course the RPD is down too.
DL numbers have become low enough to hit 0 or 1 on a bad weekday. Just on credit sales I'm well under half of the "old expected" so far this month. Subs don't look as if they're going to take up the slack.
All eggs in one basket. . .
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After a slight uptick in the last fortnight of September, I've had 13dls in 11 days. I'm pretty sure only my very first fortnight on iS had fewer dls, and that was the last fornight in December.
I surely hope it's true that we're going to keep the 'adjustment', which for me is more than I've earned this month so far.
Yes, it's awful. This month the PP will become my main source of income from the iStock stable, while iS may well sink below DT (which is also doing badly) in my earnings.
I am at 50/50. I've said this before but if they kill off Thinkstock that will drop Istock into a middle or lower tier on the polls. Effectively cuts my commissions in half.
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I have seen a few more downloads this week but nothing groundbreaking. What I am seeing though, the images that used to net me .28 for a sub are now netting me $1.00 or more per sale. Is this about the new pricing on IS? I am not sure but I am okay with the higher royalties.
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I have seen a few more downloads this week but nothing groundbreaking. What I am seeing though, the images that used to net me .28 for a sub are now netting me $1.00 or more per sale. Is this about the new pricing on IS? I am not sure but I am okay with the higher royalties.
Not for subs, which are still the same, but all the independent suppliers' standard credit sale photos are now one new credit, roughly equal to five old credits.
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Odd that you see it that way. When they opened TS that's when my regular IS downloads hit the skids, dropped off, went down and died. For me if they closed TS it would be an improvement in income.
I wonder why we are so different? How did your IS sales look before TS opened? Like returns and value of a DL? But now getting a flat 28 cents at TS instead of $1.60 average RPD is better? That's for myself, I don't know how your numbers changed.
After a slight uptick in the last fortnight of September, I've had 13dls in 11 days. I'm pretty sure only my very first fortnight on iS had fewer dls, and that was the last fornight in December.
I surely hope it's true that we're going to keep the 'adjustment', which for me is more than I've earned this month so far.
Yes, it's awful. This month the PP will become my main source of income from the iStock stable, while iS may well sink below DT (which is also doing badly) in my earnings.
I am at 50/50. I've said this before but if they kill off Thinkstock that will drop Istock into a middle or lower tier on the polls. Effectively cuts my commissions in half.
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I was saying about days with one or two sales. . .
None so far today.
I really don't know what they've done there, but from my POV it's become totally unsustainable.
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3 downloads in 15 days with 1100 pics...defitively bad....in july i had 30 downloads
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4 downloads = $25 on 450 images..
Sorry to say this but- Istock is dying....
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No sales since 11/10. Completly dead for me.
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Sales are so bad now. I've lost the motivation to submit anymore. My income has probably plunged another 30% since the pricing change. About 60-70% down from their peak a couple of years ago.
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I think we are not seeing most of the sales in our daily stats. So many sales shifted to PP or subs that I really don't have any idea how things are going until the PP and subs get reported.
My daily stats are terrible tho, for sure.
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After over a month now, I'm not seeing any real change...disappointing
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After over a month now, I'm not seeing any real change...disappointing
I am seeing a change -- fewer $s.
I thought there was a pickup in DLs, but that appears now to have been an aberration. The last few weeks have been very Summer-like (2014 Summer-like, not previous years) in the number of DLs, with the RPD down about 25%.
iStock in its death throes -- slow and painful.
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Sorry to say this but- Istock is dying....
We all know this ... AFTO.
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What happens when the bean counters and MBA twits take over from real entrepreneurs.
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It's really not getting any better. One sale so far this week. It just keeps getting worse and worse.
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The money are better with the new system, but the sales happen way too infrequently. Another pain are the slow stats update times.
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I don't know what to say: January 2014 - 643 dl October so far - 170 dl. :(
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The money are better with the new system, but the sales happen way too infrequently. Another pain are the slow stats update times.
You've sold 40+ files in 7 years at IS, I would have thought that sales always happen infrequently? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I do like to get an idea of peoples sales when they comment about them.
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I am doing fantastic, because I closed my account long ago. Best decision ever. Why people keep bending over for this criminally retorded outfit is a riddle to me.
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The money are better with the new system, but the sales happen way too infrequently. Another pain are the slow stats update times.
You've sold 40+ files in 7 years at IS, I would have thought that sales always happen infrequently? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I do like to get an idea of peoples sales when they comment about them.
True. I am not hiding it, that's why I have linked it. Same portfolio sales frequently on Fotolia, for example.
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The new trend seems to be an increasingly large portion of revenue is coming from G.I., PP and subscription sales for me (an exclusive).
My total revenue in 2014 has been slightly higher than that of 2013, FWIW.
Too bad we have no idea what are selling due to the lack of transparency. The small comfort is the uptick in revenue.
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Well blow me down with a feather another raft of sales just turned up for September a bunch Getty sales and subs ;D
And there was I thinking September was all over ::)
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Today one or more pp sales arrived.. today. $48.
Why so late? New istock is workig well for me.
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Today one or more pp sales arrived.. today. $48.
Why so late? New istock is workig well for me.
That's Getty360.
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After Sue's reply I had to go look for what is this, Getty 360?
http://istockfaq.gettyimages.com/what-is-getty-360/ (http://istockfaq.gettyimages.com/what-is-getty-360/)
Getty Images 360 allows specific high-value customers to access the full breadth of our Royalty-Free content – nearly all content on iStock, both Exclusive and Non-Exclusive – in a single search on gettyimages.com, via a unique log-in made available only to them.
Today one or more pp sales arrived.. today. $48.
Why so late? New istock is workig well for me.
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Today one or more pp sales arrived.. today. $48.
Why so late? New istock is workig well for me.
Thanks for the heads-up __ I just found nearly $100 extra in my September sales!