MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: Graffoto on October 31, 2008, 18:17
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Starting to feel unloved :-\
Seriously though, even though I usually have only a download or two every other day or so, this seems an abnormally long time for no DLs at all.
Also, maybe it is just my perception, as I am loath to do any sort of real analitical study, but to me it seems that there are always more downloads in the begining of the week and Thurs/Fri are the worst days.
Anyone actually do a study on this yet?
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Check out all the threads on the best match (best match), if you aren't exclusive you are nobody.
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The funny thing is.... I went exclusive a couple of weeks ago :-[
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Oh that sucks then. I'm sure it will get better for you.
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Check out all the threads on the best match (best match), if you aren't exclusive you are nobody.
ALL vectors and video with a few tiny exceptions (red flames and up) have been relegated to the very back of the best match search results. This is ALL of them, NOT just non-exclusive. They have also removed the boost for new files. So, if you are fairly new, and especially if you are fairly new and a vector artist, you are temporarily virtually invisible as far as best match results go.
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ALL vectors and video with a few tiny exceptions (red flames and up) have been relegated to the very back of the best match search results. This is ALL of them, NOT just non-exclusive. They have also removed the boost for new files. So, if you are fairly new, and especially if you are fairly new and a vector artist, you are temporarily virtually invisible as far as best match results go.
No vectors or video and I have been there for several years now. I do have a smallish portfolio. I uploaded a few shots last week which got a couple of "Whoa. beautiful bride" comments.
But when I actually did a search for the shots using several of the keywords that I knew to be in those photographs, I could not find them AT ALL.
Only 'one' significant keyword pulled them up. But that word is unlikly to be used by the average designer looking for bridal shots.
I guess I just have to wait for the next MB change, eh?
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I was wondering what was happening. I used to have stedy sales, but in last 7 days, almost none! 123rf is doing better than IS. I wonder is it worth to upload any more. Non-exlusive.
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When you only get one download every other day or so, that's pretty close to no downloads at all, so there really isn't any conspiracy. Just the way things move in the great macro world of sales.
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I've got about 100 ready to upload there, with only 15 slots a week I am just uploading the ones with the least potential now. I'd rather not waste shots that I think are better because they get totally buried, my views on new images is down from averaging 40 to 5 after a week. I may stop uploading there completely until the best match is changed, I keep hearing all the big guys say it changes all the time but I haven't noticed it in my two years until now.
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When you only get one download every other day or so, that's pretty close to no downloads at all, so there really isn't any conspiracy. Just the way things move in the great macro world of sales.
Hey Sean,
Are videos getting any better placement than when this monster was first unveiled? I'm seeing a smattering of vectors in the results, but they are all red and blue flames, and if what got them those slots doesn't change, it doesn't look like there will be any other vectors showing up before the middle of the pack. I didn't really compare video at first, so I am curious how things are progressing on that front.
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I was wondering what was happening. I used to have stedy sales, but in last 7 days, almost none! 123rf is doing better than IS. I wonder is it worth to upload any more. Non-exlusive.
It sounds like ... slowly but surely ... iStock is tightening the screws on non-exclusives.
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When you only get one download every other day or so, that's pretty close to no downloads at all, so there really isn't any conspiracy. Just the way things move in the great macro world of sales.
Hey Sean,
Are videos getting any better placement than when this monster was first unveiled? I'm seeing a smattering of vectors in the results, but they are all red and blue flames, and if what got them those slots doesn't change, it doesn't look like there will be any other vectors showing up before the middle of the pack. I didn't really compare video at first, so I am curious how things are progressing on that front.
I don't know - I don't really pay too much attention to where my videos come up in searches, especially a mixed best match sort. I figure someone who's going to pay $100 for a video is smart enough to click off the photo, vector and flash buttons :)
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When you only get one download every other day or so, that's pretty close to no downloads at all, so there really isn't any conspiracy. Just the way things move in the great macro world of sales.
I may only have 1 to 5 dl a day but 5 days without any ( which also happened to me last week) is the first time since I joined 2 years ago...
So it must say something, but what?
Claude
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I don't know - I don't really pay too much attention to where my videos come up in searches, especially a mixed best match sort. I figure someone who's going to pay $100 for a video is smart enough to click off the photo, vector and flash buttons :)
You are right, of course. ;) I guess what I really should have asked is whether sales are being affected (as I saw some video people post) as severely as they are for vectors. It doesn't sound like that's the case, so that's a good thing. It's obviously less likely that someone will be searching for video and still at the same time, so the checkboxes probably get used a lot more.
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Do you guys and gals recommend holding off on uploading new images to IS because of the way things are after this latest best match change? Or should I continue with my weekly upload allotment? :-\
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I'm only uploading marginal files now, not the ones I think have the most potential.
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no sales in five days??....I haven't had a sale there in almost a month...it's my fifth site by earing, behind SS, StockXpert, FT and DT, in that order. this search engine is a killer.
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I've got about 100 ready to upload there, with only 15 slots a week I am just uploading the ones with the least potential now. I'd rather not waste shots that I think are better because they get totally buried, my views on new images is down from averaging 40 to 5 after a week. I may stop uploading there completely until the best match is changed, I keep hearing all the big guys say it changes all the time but I haven't noticed it in my two years until now.
Doh! Upload your good stuff - you have more chance of selling it - and therefore more chance of selling more stuff in general.
Move your marginal stuff to trash can on your desktop.
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no sales in five days??....I haven't had a sale there in almost a month...it's my fifth site by earing, behind SS, StockXpert, FT and DT, in that order. this search engine is a killer.
Atherial, you only have 68 files on IS.
Its little wonder to me that you are getting lost in the best match.
By the way, nice work!
PS- I had a sale this morning, so my dry spell now stands at five days.
Hope it is not another five before the next download!
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I'm only uploading marginal files now, not the ones I think have the most potential.
So lets see if I understand this correctly. Your sales are down which you're not happy about. To fix that you're going to upload your marginal files. ??? Let us know how that works for you.
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I'm only uploading marginal files now, not the ones I think have the most potential.
So lets see if I understand this correctly. Your sales are down which you're not happy about. To fix that you're going to upload your marginal files. ??? Let us know how that works for you.
Sounds like a great plan, eh? :D
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My feeling is that it is best not to focus too negatively on this recent best match change. I will view it as temporary and continue to upload my best work to IS and the other sites. I think things will improve soon. :)
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Since the new best match I haven't sold one newly uploaded file, the views have gone from about 40 after the first week down to 5, these files get buried 9 days behind exclusives by age and 50 pages back by the best match. I feel like I need to upload something since we only get a few slots a week but I dont want to waste my best stuff now. I don't expect this to help sales now but if the best match ever changes I will have more good stuff then that will sell, it's my longer term strategy there.
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Sounds like a great plan, eh? :D
I'm all for everyone else uploading their marginal files. Hope they follow through on that one... ;)
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SJlocke, haven't you been saying the best match will change and does change often? It hasn't really been my experience in the last 2 years but I'll think positive and when it changes I will have all those files that would have been lost to compete on a more level playing field. I think you exclusives are doing pretty well right now regardless of what most of us nonexclusives do, its so tilted now.
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I think you exclusives are doing pretty well right now regardless of what most of us nonexclusives do, its so tilted now.
Oh yes, us exclusives are just doing dynamite. My weekly sales are up a gazatrillion along with all other exclusives.
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SJlocke, haven't you been saying the best match will change and does change often? It hasn't really been my experience in the last 2 years but I'll think positive and when it changes I will have all those files that would have been lost to compete on a more level playing field. I think you exclusives are doing pretty well right now regardless of what most of us nonexclusives do, its so tilted now.
Eh?
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SJlocke, haven't you been saying the best match will change and does change often? It hasn't really been my experience in the last 2 years but I'll think positive and when it changes I will have all those files that would have been lost to compete on a more level playing field. I think you exclusives are doing pretty well right now regardless of what most of us nonexclusives do, its so tilted now.
I guess I'm thinking which is the bigger waste: uploading marginal files which increases the likelihood of using up rare upload slots for files that will be rejected, or uploading your best work increasing the chance of approval and increasing the chance of standing out amongst others in the search results (albeit, other non-exclusives)? They've done away with the boost for new files in the best match sort, but a lot of designers have stated that they are more likely to use the age sort (myself included) and who's to say that boost is going to come back later?
But if your plan makes sense to you, then by all mean, stick to it.
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No movement for me at IS for the last 10 days...
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2 sales on 30 and 31, after that nothing...
Even on other sites have bad start for this month...
I'm afraid that the economic crisis will slow the sale this month.
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I can't say no sales, but sales are literally half what they were the beginning of October and end of September and getting worse every day.
This is normally the busiest time of the year but my sales are below "summer slump" levels. Only on istock, though. Everywhere else is doing well.
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Same here. :(
I can't say no sales, but sales are literally half what they were the beginning of October and end of September and getting worse every day.
This is normally the busiest time of the year but my sales are below "summer slump" levels. Only on istock, though. Everywhere else is doing well.
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Same here, Sales down 50% to 60%. >:( they are killing non exclusives member!!
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I can say no sales. None, zero, zilch. For weeks in fact.
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Was doing well till the last week of Nov. then sales fell off a cliff and have been at 00 since! I only have a 100 or so images there but generally have 3 or 4 DLs a week and have seen nothing in the last two.
fred
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Wow no dls for nearly a year ;)
Was doing well till the last week of Nov. then sales fell off a cliff and have been at 00 since! I only have a 100 or so images there but generally have 3 or 4 DLs a week and have seen nothing in the last two.
fred
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Same here... my images are going down every day at best match
only exlusives in front????
THEY CAN TELL US THAT THEY DON'T WANT ANY NEW IMAGES THEN
and we will see how is going to be their sales after a few months
i guess we all want some answers here.
and FAST
EXCLUSIVES GET
- More money = ok
- More uploads = ok
- Less rejections = ok
-MORE VIEWS OVER THE REST OF US = NO WAY
get serius
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sales are there but at 40-50% of September's level. After the first week of October IS went down, and doesn't seem to be improving at all. Other agencies are doing very well.
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Since rogermexico is on this forum, I would suggest he speak up because there are a lot of people who are getting very pissed off.
This is nuts. I used to get $150-$200 a month on iStock now I'm not even seeing a dollar a day.
Not very good. Not at all.
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I had more or less the same number of downloads and same earnings in October compared to September. Slower this months, but still about the same, given the two first days were weekends. I observed a slow performance decay from early this year, but it's basically stable now.
My overall numbers are however very small, with monthly downloads ranging from 30 to 40 in the past months, so I don't know if my figures means anything.
Regards,
Adelaide
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Wow no dls for nearly a year ;)
Cīmon, let us see your portolio and than we can talk about more. ;D
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October was good (1 EL and good DLs). These few days in November iīve got 47% more than in October. For me itīs no problem.
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Still nothing from IS this month...
Even views less...
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very slow for me too
but 10 days to exclusivity
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EXCLUSIVES GET
- More money = ok
- More uploads = ok
- Less rejections = ok
-MORE VIEWS OVER THE REST OF US = NO WAY
get serius
Or become exclusive ;D
Serius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.47, almost twice as bright as Dreamstime, the next brightest star. The name Serius is derived from the Ancient Greek Σεριος. What the naked eye perceives as a single star is actually a binary star system, consisting of a white main sequence star of spectral type A1V, termed Serius Exclusives, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Serius Serfs. ::)
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iStock has been my worst performing site since.. umm.. ever. That hasn't changed since the latest best match change. I'm guessing that's sort of a positive thing ;D
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I can say no sales. None, zero, zilch. For weeks in fact.
Didn't notice anything special. My real knock came in June 2006 when they introduced the controlled vocabulary - and they probably started with their emphasis on exclusives or tweaking the search engine. Since then my portfolio doubled but sales staid low. Mostly my old crap sells now (3, 8MP, DSC), not my newer less-crap (D200). I upload now and then when idle, but my weekly upload limit went down to 15 (huge numbers of rejects for "artifacts") so I mostly forget. Not that it matters much since they are only my 5-th earner, but anyways for your (and everybody else's) info:
(http://cjoint.com/data/leshMwUIFn_istksales.jpg)
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U mean Sirius right ? ;D
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best match changed again. The well selling vectors are a bit more to the front, others still at the back. It's better, but still not good enough :D
Royalties at IS have been increasing for me nicely, as you can see from my stats:
(http://www4.slikomat.com/08/1104/mlp-stat.jpg)
At the beginning of the month (october) it seemed like it might be the first time that IS will be infront of SS. However the best match changed and vectors sales dropped trough the floor. And this is what really worries me:
(http://www4.slikomat.com/08/1104/lba-stats-.jpg)
Stopped uploading vectors atm. I know that won't help my vector sales, but I think that's the best thing to do atm. Some of the files that might bring good sales can just get burried because of the current best match. They are still changing the best match and hopefully it will give new files a better chance soon. Don't want my files to sink into oblivion.
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U mean Sirius right ? ;D
Seriously? :P
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Siriously ;)
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Serius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.47, almost twice as bright as Dreamstime, the next brightest star. The name Serius is derived from the Ancient Greek Σεριος. What the naked eye perceives as a single star is actually a binary star system, consisting of a white main sequence star of spectral type A1V, termed Serius Exclusives, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Serius Serfs. ::)
Who are you and what did you do with Flemish?
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I guess I'm thinking which is the bigger waste: uploading marginal files which increases the likelihood of using up rare upload slots for files that will be rejected, or uploading your best work increasing the chance of approval and increasing the chance of standing out amongst others in the search results (albeit, other non-exclusives)? They've done away with the boost for new files in the best match sort, but a lot of designers have stated that they are more likely to use the age sort (myself included) and who's to say that boost is going to come back later?
But if your plan makes sense to you, then by all mean, stick to it.
I think I may need to rethink uploading anything here now, two weeks to get files reviewed!! This site is just getting worse and worse every week.
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I know I might be biting myself in the foot, but here is the graph from an exclusive that doesn't have a big porfolio and doesn't upload much. In August I uploaded a few photos and it helped because of the bias toward new photos. I already had a record BME in Sept. before the newest change in the best match.
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z293/yingyang0/stats.jpg)
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It's obviously great for exclusives, you do have a small portfolio so it's pretty hard to tell too much from it though I doubt going exclusive would make sales go up 5x for me. And even if they did I would just break even and be very vulnerable to the next best match change. Good luck though.
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It's obviously great for exclusives, you do have a small portfolio so it's pretty hard to tell too much from it though I doubt going exclusive would make sales go up 5x for me. And even if they did I would just break even and be very vulnerable to the next best match change. Good luck though.
Well I wasn't trying to convince anyone to go exclusive because I really can't given the constant changing of the best match. I was just trying to give people what little perspective (given my portfolio) I can.
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No sales might the result of economic slowdown. Am experiencing a drastic drop in sales of almost half in comparison with the month of January. Businesses are cutting back or scale down on advertising, promotions and marketing. Image buyers could have switch to cheaper sites for similar photos. Let's hope the economy will recover soon :)
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I can't say no sales, but sales are literally half what they were the beginning of October and end of September and getting worse every day.
This is normally the busiest time of the year but my sales are below "summer slump" levels. Only on istock, though. Everywhere else is doing well.
Hi Lisa! fancy bumping into you here?
Sales down? yep Out of the 5 sites I work with, IStock is now number 3, in earnings that is. It was number 1 for over two years. Site is getting bad, no doubt. I recon it goes deeper than this, theres gotta to be some internal politics problem or something. Hiding behind Getty wont help either. Getty is heavy business, IS are still nursing their newbies.
Lisa! youve got my personal mail, with your kind of imagery there are other avenues then just IS and similar. I love IS as well but really! nowdays its like flogging a dead horse and its not much better for the majority of their exclusives either. Besides theyre gaining a bad rep among certain buyers and thats the beginning of the downhill.
all the best Chris
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October was ok for me but November started off really bad I hope sales will pick up soon in other words I do hope they will switch the best match algorithm back ,it is a shame this is happening in a supposedly busy season.
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Hi Chris! Great to see you here :D
I just dropped you an e-mail.
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Well, I've been selling (non-exclusive) on istock for years, and in the last two years I've just had a super gnawing feeling in my gut that their ultimate goal is to have a completely "exclusive" site. That is, they WANT to one day be able to advertise to clients - "All of our contributors are exclusive to istock only!". The problem is, they're still loading up on money made from nonexc sales to completely igore them (yet). It still wouldn't shock me if within a year they do tell contributors though to, "Go exclusive, or leave". Of course, they'll find that many won't put up with it and they WILL leave, but by then they'll have so many exclusives signed up they won't care. It's just one of those "not if but when" type of scenerios.
I would have gone exclusive with them long ago had it not been for that one tiny little fine print item in their contract that says that even if they reject an image, you can't sell that rejected image elsewhere. I have no problem selling a set of images through them and only through them. But if they reject an image, it should be a free agent and I should then be able to sell that one via other outlets to make revenue off of it if I deem fit to do so. Since I can't - then they will never get my stuff as an exclusive seller. I'd rather have the ability to sell what I want anywhere than have someone tell me I'm not even allowed to use my rejects the way I want.
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They have been sinking steadily since my BME in March - now 1/3d of that.
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My last sale was on 05-11-08!
7 days without sales :(
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yesterday I had a zero downloads day ,which I never expected to happen on IS especially on a business day. :(
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what I don't get is this: They've changed the best match last week of October, and my sales have remained steady, then all of a sudden around November 6th, they dropped to almost nothing, although views are coming in at the same rate as before. Did they remove the "buy" options from my images on that date ?? ;D ;) (non-exclusive here only contributing for the past 8 months)
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Bigger library means more choice for the designers/buyer.More choice means less sales for a few contributors.Try to use the shotgun approach..diversify and build your portfolio.
It's a war zone you no and i was happy at the start to feed of the scraps but now i want more and i will achieve my personnel aims in a couple of years.
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Well, I've been selling (non-exclusive) on istock for years, and in the last two years I've just had a super gnawing feeling in my gut that their ultimate goal is to have a completely "exclusive" site. That is, they WANT to one day be able to advertise to clients - "All of our contributors are exclusive to istock only!". The problem is, they're still loading up on money made from nonexc sales to completely igore them (yet). It still wouldn't shock me if within a year they do tell contributors though to, "Go exclusive, or leave". Of course, they'll find that many won't put up with it and they WILL leave, but by then they'll have so many exclusives signed up they won't care. It's just one of those "not if but when" type of scenerios.
I would have gone exclusive with them long ago had it not been for that one tiny little fine print item in their contract that says that even if they reject an image, you can't sell that rejected image elsewhere. I have no problem selling a set of images through them and only through them. But if they reject an image, it should be a free agent and I should then be able to sell that one via other outlets to make revenue off of it if I deem fit to do so. Since I can't - then they will never get my stuff as an exclusive seller. I'd rather have the ability to sell what I want anywhere than have someone tell me I'm not even allowed to use my rejects the way I want.
I think you're wrong about the exact meaning of this "fine-print". I remember reading in the IS forums that the meaning is tht "you can't sell rejected files at other RF venues", but that you could do it RM. But I'm talking by heart, best way to know is to ask support through Contributor Relations.
About this "Go exclusive or leave", I think that will not happen, at least in the near future. It's just my opinion.
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About this "Go exclusive or leave", I think that will not happen, at least in the near future. It's just my opinion.
I agree. I don't see that as a practical stance for them to take. Maybe years ago when they were super dominant in the industry, but over the last year istock has fallen steadily as a proportion of most non-exclusive's incomes.
If istock had laid out an ultimatum two years ago when they were nearly 50% of my sales, I would have had to seriously consider it. Now with them at 34% and steadily dropping I would not even consider such a move.
But then, as the old saying goes, "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", and vinegar seems to be what they are offering lately.
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But then, as the old saying goes, "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", and vinegar seems to be what they are offering lately.
Yes, a very apt homily. IS is leaving a bitter taste in many mouths. I wonder what has gotten into them. Non-exclusives feel that IS hates them, exclusives with small portfolios feel that IS hates them, vector illustrators feel that IS hates them... Threads with honest complaints are locked with little explanation except, "This is the way it is, accept it. Nothing is wrong and maybe we will fix it someday, or not."
I stopped uploading vectors to IS a couple weeks ago. I won't go into why. My complaints only echo those posted by scores of illustrators, before the complaint thread was locked. I tried submitting some as raster illstrations, which is technically allowed. One was rejected because it was "an overfiltered photo". Although it is clearly an illustration, with 'vector' and 'clip art' in the keywords. Appealing to scout is a joke.
Oh well, I will try not to think about my lost IS revenues, and stick with those sites still offering honey.
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My last sale was on 05-11-08!
7 days without sales :(
Wow! Looking at your portfolio I can say that 7 days is very long. How it goes since your post???
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Yes, my impression is that Istock wants to get rid of non-exclusives. Waiting time for acceptance are dreadful - and then they manage to reject 70% of submitted images. Initially I tried to be more careful with focus/sharpening/postprocessing (because they used to have a point in most rejection cases, and I admit that I was at fault) - but not any more. Makes no point - as they manage to reject images which sell well anywhere else (and they are not "overfiltered" or "oversharpened" - simply because in most cases nothing had been done except converting from RAW with default settings). So, I do not worry excessively about IStock. If they accept some images - fine, if some of them sell - fine. There are other sites which sell better and are willing to take my pics.
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IS is a shadow of its former self as far as my images are concerned. Since the disambu thing, what, nearly two years ago?....my sales there have dropped way down there and have yet to come up to even 50% of what they were. As I recall that was also when they were really pushing for exclusive status. I posted to all the blogs then that I believed that the end game was "Totally Exclusive" images. I still think that way. I believe that there is an internal bias toward exclusives in some way, beyond the approval advantage and the commission rates. If I were them I'd do the same thing in order to offer AND PRICE the images as exclusive.
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Hi All,
This subject just keeps coming up here and it still seems to have not been made clear to some. Istocks Exclusive contract will not allow you to distribute ANY other RF work through ANY other distributor but Getty. Not the similars, not even entirely new shoots. You could fly to Egypt and shoot a camel drinking from a water cooler in the middle of the desert and if you wanted to put that image into Corbis RF you cannot do so. Even if you never gave a single Camel photo to Istock or Getty.
Before Istocks building of this new contract photographers could sell their work ( as long as it was a different shoot and theme ) with any RF company they wanted giving them more strength in their own companies diversity. Now with the Istock contract you have to put all your work under one roof making it more limiting than ever before for photographers security.
This keeps the older RF people out of signing an exclusive contract for Istock. if you were one of the many that built the RF industry in the first place. The people that actually built your RF model and created it with their own investment and hard work these are the ones that have been pushed out of the exclusive picture by Istock. Think about that people. Do you really believe that will never occur again when it already has occurred with the people that own Istock.
Just something to think about,
AVAVA
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When an employer wants to fire employees, the best solution is to play with their nerves to force them to quit... :-\
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Chart says it all:
(http://i34.tinypic.com/epputt.png)
IS is dead cow this month since they changed something...
123rf and StockXpert are doing better than IS.
I stopped uploading any more, until I see some improvements.
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Before Istocks building of this new contract photographers could sell their work ( as long as it was a different shoot and theme ) with any RF company they wanted giving them more strength in their own companies diversity. Now with the Istock contract you have to put all your work under one roof making it more limiting than ever before for photographers security.
There is no "new" contract. Exclusivity has been the same since it was introduced in 2005.
You can still sell your work with any RF company you want to get all the strength you want in your own company. You just can't be exclusive. No one is making anyone be exclusive.
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This devastating drop in sales gives me a sick feeling in my stomach. :-[
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Here's mine... The same drop at the same place
(http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1prmudt6tCbFtAQgPydnVvr0l_xz9oWzIBJ5OA0e215Mczu1V0AbxIzl5g1zA8pt4y)
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Hi SJ,
Sorry for any confusion. I'll try to be a bit more specific.
Before Istock built their exclusive RF contract there was never an exclusive for stock by photographer. The exclusivity was based on the images. Istock changed that with their new contract and based it off of photographers not the work itself. That limited photographers to their promoting their work at other RF agencies. That is the change I am referring to Istocks Exclusive contract compared to what used to exist.
Even in RM I can shoot for Corbis or Getty or anyone I want as long as I am doing different work, but I don't need to tell you that you are very savvy to the industry.
I will say the best part of the contract at Istock is you can pull out at any time and move your work on. I hope they don't change it down the road and add a 2 year or 7 year exclusive contract that would really lock you guys in.
Does that make more sense or am I still talking in circles. Let me know I really want to try and clear up that there is a difference to Istocks contract that did not use to be part of the industry. I didn't mean to infer that they had changed their contract if I did that was my bad. I was referring to the change in the industry.
Best,
J
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My number of downloads at IS is only about 4% lower this month than it was in October.
However, $/download dropped from 1.01 to 0.89 -> 11% drop. Much more XS ans S downloads!
Perhaps, the economy is more important here than the IS search algorithm ...
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IS is getting sad :'(
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The argument has always been that its impossible to "police" image exclusivity ( as opposed to person exclusivity), this is ofcourse total rubbish.
How then did yesterdays large libraries such as Image-Bank, Stones, Getty, etc manage to keep full control? and thats BEFORE the computer era.
Nowdays with all the programs, softwares and what-nots it should be dead easy.
I know many photographers supplying different images to differant RM agencies, including Getty and Corbis. So whats the big deal?
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Perhaps, the economy is more important here than the IS search algorithm ...
It could be only that IS is less popular. Because I get mostly the same earning than before elsewhere
Remember the Alexa graphic. Google trend see the same as Alexa. Maybe a less drastical drop but a drop anyway
(http://www.google.com/trends/viz?q=istockphoto.com&graph=weekly_img&sa=N)
That's 30% less traffic than a year ago
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The argument has always been that its impossible to "police" image exclusivity ( as opposed to person exclusivity), this is ofcourse total rubbish.
How then did yesterdays large libraries such as Image-Bank, Stones, Getty, etc manage to keep full control? and thats BEFORE the computer era.
Nowdays with all the programs, softwares and what-nots it should be dead easy.
And yet Alamy can't seem to figure out they've got 10,000 RF images listed under RM as well, eh ;)
You're dealing with 50,000 contributors from all walks of like, not a couple of hundred full time photographers. I think it's a bit different to keep an eye on everyone with that sort of contributor base, wouldn't you?
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Gotta Back SJ on this one,
It is a very difficult job tracking these kind of huge collections. There can often times be numerous resellers that the original distributor or photographer has zero control over. The best thing is to politely bring it to their attention ( weekly if you must ) until their is resolve.
Best,
AVAVA
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Well, yet another thread that strayed into discussing the best match has just been locked. (October stats thread)
Not that I especially blame them. Those threads just go on and on and on. I have never seen so many people upset about their sales for such an extended period of time.
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Well, I've been selling (non-exclusive) on istock for years, and in the last two years I've just had a super gnawing feeling in my gut that their ultimate goal is to have a completely "exclusive" site. That is, they WANT to one day be able to advertise to clients - "All of our contributors are exclusive to istock only!". The problem is, they're still loading up on money made from nonexc sales to completely igore them (yet). It still wouldn't shock me if within a year they do tell contributors though to, "Go exclusive, or leave". Of course, they'll find that many won't put up with it and they WILL leave, but by then they'll have so many exclusives signed up they won't care. It's just one of those "not if but when" type of scenerios.
I would have gone exclusive with them long ago had it not been for that one tiny little fine print item in their contract that says that even if they reject an image, you can't sell that rejected image elsewhere. I have no problem selling a set of images through them and only through them. But if they reject an image, it should be a free agent and I should then be able to sell that one via other outlets to make revenue off of it if I deem fit to do so. Since I can't - then they will never get my stuff as an exclusive seller. I'd rather have the ability to sell what I want anywhere than have someone tell me I'm not even allowed to use my rejects the way I want.
I would more expect to see that all new contributors after a certain date must be exclusive and exiting non-exclusive are ok.
However now that I say that, there are a lot of well established stock professionals locked into image exclusivity contracts for long periods (ie 5yrs), even for those are not, you are asking them to remove all other collections to join istock, also many people are also very seriously put off by that exclusivity contract as no other agency has anything like it. I would think (and it is only my guess as I dont know) istock would always want to be trying to attract a number of already professional photogs, and being exclusive only would wipe much chance of this.
Phil
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I would think (and it is only my guess as I dont know) istock would always want to be trying to attract a number of already professional photogs, and being exclusive only would wipe much chance of this.
Phil
^^ Well stated Phil. This is exactly why istock would be crazy to insist on exclusivity. I can't think of a faster way for them to lose market share.
They would be shutting themselves off completely from many of the top sellers. Not only Yuri, but Andres, Ron Chapple, Monkey Business, etc, not to mention the pros that are likely to be trying out microstock in the future.
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The worry about IS forcing everyone to be exclusive first surfaced around the time they introduced exclusivity; it has reared its head several times since and each time - in the IS forums - various admins (including Bitter more than once) have said that they have no intention of doing this.
I think it'll be interesting to see how they integrate Jupiter's offerings into Getty's mix, especially StockXpert and its sales through photos.com and JI unlimited. I cannot imagine that IS would walk away from the huge business that their independent content represents. What would they gain over their current position where they can say you should buy at IS because they have all the independent stuff plus their exclusive content?
Once you incorporate StockXpert, they'll have a lot more of the independent content IS currently doesn't have - either because of upload restrictions or the types of raster illustrations IS currently rejects, but SS, StockXpert and others thrive on.
Clearly the best match changes have been a very big deal - although my vector sales are still AWOL, the last shift did something to let new images see the light of day again. I'm happy as otherwise this year's Christmas collection (of mine) would have just vanished. If you don't have Christmas images, you might also count that among the reasons that sales are down. Over the last ~2 weeks, it's been almost entirely Christmas images, and a nice mix of old and new ones.
On the best match bias for exclusives, I would point out that (a) I know nothing about the rules for best match and (b) when I did a search for senior couple, although Lisa's stuff was much further back than I'd have expected, the first three images were by monkeybusinessimages, an independent. Yes they were all in blue flames, so I'm sure that helped :)
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On the best match bias for exclusives, I would point out that (a) I know nothing about the rules for best match and (b) when I did a search for senior couple, although Lisa's stuff was much further back than I'd have expected, the first three images were by monkeybusinessimages, an independent. Yes they were all in blue flames, so I'm sure that helped :)
Thanks for confirming what I have been saying for weeks. I'm not kidding about how badly this best match has ruined my sales on istock. It's really beyond depressing.
Guess I will have to comfort myself that people are finding my pictures elsewhere. Had BME's on quite a few sites in October.
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I don't pretend to understand the new best match at all. Its sad to hear all the non-exclusives suffering, myself included. Especially with Istock generally being one of the top 2 earners for most.
I uploaded a couple of very similar Christmas files recently, both started getting regular sales and were on my first page of best match. Then one of the images got about 5 downloads in one day. In the past this would have bumped that image up in best match. Instead, the exact opposite happened and it dropped back to page 4 under best match in my port. The other similar file is still on page one with half the downloads. Huh????
I'm confused, shouldn't files move up for selling?
I also wonder if this change is benefitting Istock or is it just a failed best match experiment. Maybe will never know.
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It is very very bizarre. They do keep tweaking it, but new images I upload are showing up on the second to last pages of my portfolio. Oldish files are selling though, and this is the only thing keeping me from going down overall.
I just really haven't uploaded much b/c it just ends up at the bottom of the pile for whatever reason. ???
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There has been a lot of arguing here and on IS as to whether sales are down and whether best match is at fault. This is my IS sales graph for 32 months. The big spike was a flurry of ELs. As you can see, I am pretty much back to where I started.
(http://darrylbrooks.smugmug.com/photos/423992086_i8bgq-L.jpg)
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I uploaded a couple of very similar Christmas files recently, both started getting regular sales and were on my first page of best match. Then one of the images got about 5 downloads in one day. In the past this would have bumped that image up in best match. Instead, the exact opposite happened and it dropped back to page 4 under best match in my port.
It is bizarre, but that's not what I've been seeing with one of my new Christmas files that's sold more than the others - it's still #6 in my portfolio by best match in spite of having sold 19 times in about 2 weeks. It hasn't sold any more than 3 times in one day - perhaps there's some threshhold I haven't hit, and over that you get bumped back?
But overall, 14 of the first 20 files in my portfolio (by best match) are from the last 3 months. The first 60 images all have downloads (when the massive emphasis on newness was in place, there were lots of new 0 download images up front). I still have the collection of flaming images and vectors at the very back - can't explain those other than best match weirdness.
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I don't pretend to understand the new best match at all. Its sad to hear all the non-exclusives suffering, myself included. Especially with Istock generally being one of the top 2 earners for most.
I uploaded a couple of very similar Christmas files recently, both started getting regular sales and were on my first page of best match. Then one of the images got about 5 downloads in one day. In the past this would have bumped that image up in best match. Instead, the exact opposite happened and it dropped back to page 4 under best match in my port. The other similar file is still on page one with half the downloads. Huh????
I'm confused, shouldn't files move up for selling?
I also wonder if this change is benefitting Istock or is it just a failed best match experiment. Maybe will never know.
Files that have too many downloads to views get pushed back. The dead last image in your port has 282 views and 39 downloads which is around 1 download per 7 views. Any files that cross the 1:7 or 1:8 line get banished to the back of your port and get spanked in best match search results.
No idea what they're trying to do here but I'm not overly thrilled that I'm starting to get a collection of formerly good selling images at the back of my port.
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I can see how tilting the table towards their exclusives, especially their top contributing exclusives, and away from new contributors and newer images might really help them - in the short to medium term. But there will still be a certain turnover rate of these top, favorite contributors no matter what they do. They will have to find new, top contributors somewhere.
I wonder how they will manage to recruit these new contributors. I've read quite a few messages from non-exclusives saying they're tired of uploading then finding their pics are so buried in the search results that they are now un-motivated to continue uploading. These people sound like they're turning away from IS and writing it off.
Maybe IS believe that a small pool of talented and extremely dedicated bunch of lowly non-exclusives will persevere and will keep on plugging away at IS, carrying a mop and pail as it were, until they qualify for and then decide to go exclusive. Serve an apprenticeship in other words.
Or maybe it's they're way of saying that crowdsourcing is done, and what the business really needs is fewer, better contributors selling a lot more pix per contributor, who are recruited more carefully. In other words, it needs only a handful of dedicated professionals and they can be recruited by some other means, such as being lured away from other stock sites or by recommendation of an existing, top contributor (e.g. a former assistant). As opposed to running a constant, open, 24x7 audition at their shareholders' expense.
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(http://www1.istockphoto.com/generic_image_view/83628/83628)
Oh well, I can't figure out how to make it bigger, but you get the idea. :)
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It is bizarre, but that's not what I've been seeing with one of my new Christmas files that's sold more than the others - it's still #6 in my portfolio by best match in spite of having sold 19 times in about 2 weeks...
Lending credence to the theory that says low views to sales ratio hurts best match placement. I checked this morning's display of the first 20 of my portfolio by best match. The file I mentioned above has moved back 9 places since yesterday after getting 2 sales and 5 more views. Another file that was #3 yesterday got no sales, but 3 more views and is now in 2nd place; the previous #2 also had no sales but added only 1 view.
Nuts.
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HI All,
For me it's like trying to figure out a Rubics Cube. I can get one side the right color but when I try to start on the next side the first side gets all screwed up. I thought the cube was out of my life years ago but my sons just bought one. Dreaded thing still the same results for me 20 years later. I just stare at it on the table with mixed feelings of defeat, the desire to beat it, or just throw it out the window. ;)
Best,
AVAVA
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I hate those things, but my hubby is a master at the Rubik's Cube.
Maybe I should ask him to try and figure what's going an at Istock ;)
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I hate those things, but my hubby is a master at the Rubik's Cube.
Maybe I should ask him to try and figure what's going an at Istock ;)
LOL Lisa, I always think of your hubby as some kind of superhero. I think it's all those characters you have him playing. I bet things are fun at your house. ;D