Author Topic: I QUIT iSTOCK (Read 57128 times)

BaldricksTrousers · « **on:** September 20, 2019, 03:42 »

I've done it. After 15 years and six months I finally gave them the boot.

I hung in there so long because they were my first agency and taught me a lot, so I didn't like to part from them. Also, I felt that having put the effort into uploading the files, I might as well let them earn as much as possible. However, all the bizarre deals they have that seem to let my files go for fractions of a cent etc etc, and now the backdated refunds, leave me wondering whether I'm not giving away some stuff that people would pay for at other sites. Some of my work is sufficiently different for it not to be easily substituted by somebody else's - not a lot of it, maybe, but some.

With the latest earnings down to less than $30 this month (for about 6,000 files, I made more than $10 in my first month with just a few dozen shots) it's not a major loss. Maybe it will lead to an uptick in sales as Shutterstock to compensate.

For those wondering what happens to the balance of earnings that iStock holds, it seems they will be paid eventually. The form for terminating the agreement states:
I confirm that I want to have any outstanding royalties issued on the time specified by my Agreement (most standard agreements specify any outstanding balance is to be issued within 90 days of your request to close your account)

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2019, 03:52 »

Their automated reply:
Thank you for contacting Getty Images. Your Contributor Services Ticket CS0335417 has been opened on 09-20-2019 01:21 PDT. We are dealing with a high volume of queries at the moment, so appreciate your patience. Tickets are prioritized according to urgency and we will respond as soon as possible. Remember, you can resolve many queries yourself using Account Management and find answers to common questions in our new FAQs. Just click on the “Need Help?” link in the top right corner of ESP: https://esp.gettyimages.com. If you do find the answer to your issue, please close your ticket by logging into ESP and visiting https://contributorsystems.gettyimages.com/Help/Tickets so we can move on to help someone else. Thank you again for your patience.

Stockmaan · « **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2019, 04:44 »

Istock is for naive contributors only.

rene · « **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2019, 05:15 »

Today, for the first time since I started microstock, I consider to quit Istock photo ( I stopped IS video few years before). Slow sales, low percentage, fraction of cents deals and now this Australian refunds scandal. It's too much.

t.tomsickova · « **Reply #4 on:** September 20, 2019, 05:41 »

Can someone give me some more info about this australian refund? Why is it?

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #5 on:** September 20, 2019, 05:48 »

Quote from: t.tomsickova on September 20, 2019, 05:41

Can someone give me some more info about this australian refund? Why is it?

According to another thread Getty negotiated a new (worse for us) deal with Canva and then agreed to have it backdated for years, so sales that had been the right price when they were made suddenly became overpriced months or years later and Canva got a refund.
I don't know what the source of that information is, though - so I can't guarantee that it's right. It does sound crazy enough to be a Getty deal, though (and personally, I wouldn't trust them not to dump the entire cost of the refund on contributors through some shady but technically legal loophole).

There's an official explanation now involving a history of accounting errors.

Julied83 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 20, 2019, 06:00 »

I quit too ! Today ! I'm done with this not transparency agency that hold our money, no live stat, low % for unexclusive. I had more sale than other month but lowest earning. There's a probleme here. Stop beeing naive.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2019, 06:02 »

Quote from: Julied83 on September 20, 2019, 06:00

I quit too ! Today ! I'm done with this not transparency agency that hold our money, no live stat, low % for unexclusive. I had more sale than other month but lowest earning. There's a probleme here. Stop beeing naive.

We are FREEEEE Julie D, we're FREE!

Julied83 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 20, 2019, 06:18 »

Yess !BYEBYE Istock ! I don't know how long it will take to be close. But I'm Glad I finally quit. And I regret I haven't did this before.

Jens G · « **Reply #9 on:** September 20, 2019, 06:43 »

I have also just opened a support ticket to close my account.
I have hesitated to do it for a long time, but all these refunds was the last drop.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #10 on:** September 20, 2019, 07:03 »

In case anyone is looking for the way to close your account, it's this:
In esp go to Account Management and select the "contact us" tab.
When it asks you to select category. choose Agreement. Click on "next" and select close account.

mj007 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 20, 2019, 09:28 »

Good. More for me to sell...

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #12 on:** September 20, 2019, 10:14 »

Quote from: mj007 on September 20, 2019, 09:28

Good. More for me to sell...

frankly, chum, if you split my earnings between 5 million istock submitters you'll probably be looking at picking up one of those 0.000000001c sales.
But whatever makes you happy...

pancaketom · « **Reply #13 on:** September 20, 2019, 13:46 »

Quote from: mj007 on September 20, 2019, 09:28

Good. More for me to sell...

You can get all the refunds

Stockmaan · « **Reply #14 on:** September 20, 2019, 13:53 »

I stock but not Istock!

DigitalPro · « **Reply #15 on:** September 20, 2019, 15:37 »

I am happy I stopped feeding them (iStock) two years ago. I did not regret it. I am a lifetime professional, now retired, and the last eight years I am doing stock for the fun of it. I enjoy the process. All my life so far I have learned to create high quality photo works that stands up in both commercial photography business and microstock markets. My Work is worth more than the pennies this shady iStock agency decides to pay. So in respect of the efforts I put to create my photos, I decided that iStock IS NOT QUALIFIED TO HAVE MY PHOTO WORKS ANY MORE. Further I would like to encourage all stock photo contributors who feel they are being "used" by agencies like iStock, to consider submitting their work to agencies that give Value to the Works they produce. I believe we all should keep in mind that Respecting Our Efforts translates to respecting ourselves.

flywing · « **Reply #16 on:** September 20, 2019, 16:21 »

I'm considering that, not mainly because I want to express my frustration or resentment. But I'm worried about the same contents I have at better paying agencies getting cannibalized by this.

tätarätä · « **Reply #17 on:** September 21, 2019, 02:57 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on September 20, 2019, 03:42

I've done it. After 15 years and six months I finally gave them the boot.

With the latest earnings down to less than $30 this month (for about 6,000 files, I made more than $10 in my first month with just a few dozen shots) it's not a major loss. Maybe it will lead to an uptick in sales as Shutterstock to compensate.

Its not about the portfolio. Its all about your time invested. 6000 files in 15 Years is about 400 files a Year, or 33 files a month.
I am shooting mostly food. For 33 files a month i invest about 3 hours work. For 3 hours work you get $30 at istock and maybe $ 100 from the others. Meaning you get $130 at month for only 3 hours work. Or $43 for one hours work.
This isn't bad if you are doing stock beside a full-time job.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #18 on:** September 21, 2019, 05:31 »

Quote from: tätarätä on September 21, 2019, 02:57

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on September 20, 2019, 03:42
I've done it. After 15 years and six months I finally gave them the boot.

With the latest earnings down to less than $30 this month (for about 6,000 files, I made more than $10 in my first month with just a few dozen shots) it's not a major loss. Maybe it will lead to an uptick in sales as Shutterstock to compensate.

Its not about the portfolio. Its all about your time invested. 6000 files in 15 Years is about 400 files a Year, or 33 files a month.
I am shooting mostly food. For 33 files a month i invest about 3 hours work. For 3 hours work you get $30 at istock and maybe $ 100 from the others. Meaning you get $130 at month for only 3 hours work. Or $43 for one hours work.
This isn't bad if you are doing stock beside a full-time job.

That's a fair point as far as it goes (though my food shots took much longer than that as it invariably involved planning, purchasing and cooking as well as shooting and processing, usually to get half-a-dozen shots) and you're ignoring investment in equipment etc. However, my issue is not the money, if it was I wouldn't be on Canstock for example, it's the way iStock treats its submitters.

Incidentally, if you look at your calculation from the perspective of a beginner it looks rather different: to build up to a monthly income of $30 involves shooting and uploading 6,000 files (assuming no rejections), or about 600 hours work - 20 weeks of 30 hours each, and only at the end of that do you get up to $30, on average it is $15 per month for the first five months, so you're working full time for almost half a year to earn $90. And that's without counting a thousand or two spent on equipment and props.

Julied83 · « **Reply #19 on:** September 21, 2019, 06:51 »

Question here : when closing the account, Am I gonna be paid for september sales on october ? I ask because I don't trust them at all.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #20 on:** September 21, 2019, 10:06 »

the closure agreement seems to make clear that you do get your cash.
While I hate the games they play, I've never seen any sign that they don't pay out cash that they owe. They keep on the right side of the law.

Julied83 · « **Reply #21 on:** September 22, 2019, 15:25 »

Thank you for your answer ! I'm officially out !

HughStoneIan · « **Reply #22 on:** September 22, 2019, 21:08 »

In 12 years I never had a single refund from shutterstock (...yet). What are they doing that istuck can't?

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #23 on:** September 23, 2019, 11:30 »

i left istock a while back too, it was right in the middle of one of their accounting errors, a lot of copntributors had extra cash in their accounts. as it turns out this was also an accounting error and they istock were going to correct the error and lots of accounts were put in red. i also had like $100 extra in my account, but i closed my account and requested pay out. i got the money and my accont was closed. they never recouped their money from me, i must have been in a rare category to be able to take money from istock instead of the other way around lol,

pancaketom · « **Reply #24 on:** September 23, 2019, 14:36 »

Quote from: Microstockphoto on September 23, 2019, 11:30

i left istock a while back too, it was right in the middle of one of their accounting errors, a lot of copntributors had extra cash in their accounts. as it turns out this was also an accounting error and they istock were going to correct the error and lots of accounts were put in red. i also had like $100 extra in my account, but i closed my account and requested pay out. i got the money and my accont was closed. they never recouped their money from me, i must have been in a rare category to be able to take money from istock instead of the other way around lol,

or maybe they kept selling stuff until they evened out.

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Author Topic: I QUIT iSTOCK (Read 57128 times)

BaldricksTrousers

BaldricksTrousers

Stockmaan

rene

t.tomsickova

BaldricksTrousers

Julied83

BaldricksTrousers

Julied83

Jens G

BaldricksTrousers

mj007

BaldricksTrousers

pancaketom

Stockmaan

DigitalPro

flywing

tätarätä

BaldricksTrousers

Julied83

BaldricksTrousers

Julied83

HughStoneIan

Microstockphoto

pancaketom

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