you should look around to find other outlets.
Its simple, there are too many photos online, and too many who do it.
Also we cannot compete with free pictures from FB and Flickr.
I think this month will prove to be OK but it's only half over.. 2 more weeks to know for sure.
This month has a bit of a disadvantage too however, only 30 days and 5 weekends. Next month is 31 days and only 4 weekends. That makes an extra 3 days of good sales (10%) which is pretty significant. I'm putting my chips in for October being the top month this year.
So far its been a dead loss, IS and 123rf most disappointing. Not even getting any views on IS (what are they up to?).Views is one of the things they broke when they introduced Cash Sales. There seems to be no alacrity in fixing anything there - that's two weeks now.
Now my redeemed credits have gone down, I don't know why, as the money are still the same.You probably got a boost last week but didn't notice.
I finally got a sale at IS. After 6 days. So it's site related, I don't know if it is a bug, but yesterday I've noticed I got some views after many many days without.
IS is getting worse and worse. But I don't give a * since it is a bottom tier for me.+1 IS will soon fall below Vectorstock for me.
This month SS is trouncing IS (SS is 45% more than IS - almost 1.5x even given one EL from IS). But the last two days at IS have been really good - good in comparison to terrible, not all time good.
I noticed there were old files in the mix - looking at my last 20 sales, I have every year from 2004 to 2012 represented in the sales. Perhaps people with only newer files are getting hit by some best match change?
This month SS is trouncing IS (SS is 45% more than IS - almost 1.5x even given one EL from IS). But the last two days at IS have been really good - good in comparison to terrible, not all time good.
I noticed there were old files in the mix - looking at my last 20 sales, I have every year from 2004 to 2012 represented in the sales. Perhaps people with only newer files are getting hit by some best match change?
I'm having an unbelievably bad week at IS. .
projected earnings for September:
SS (down 40%)
IS (down 5%)
FT (down 10%)
123RF (down 37%)
DT (down 38%)
looks like a terrible month, no ELs or big sales so far, August had 23 week days, September only 20
projected earnings for September:
SS (down 40%)
IS (down 5%)
FT (down 10%)
123RF (down 37%)
DT (down 38%)
looks like a terrible month, no ELs or big sales so far, August had 23 week days, September only 20
Do you add EL's when calculating months total? Excluding EL's in your earnings % might give a better picture. At least that's how I keep track of site performances. So far only IS is down for me.
I doubt very much this has got anything to do with recession or the global financial troubles. Its not as if we are selling cars or houses but just pictures that anybody can afford.
Now is the time when corporate designers, advertising agencies, companies in general start planning for profiles, annuals and all sorts of promos.
Right now business should be booming, its not so something is wrong in our gebit.
I'm curious since a lot of people are saying IS is losing sooo many buyers and about to become irrelevant have your sales elsewhere gone up a lot? People still need images even if they don't buy from IS so I would expect to see huge gains on other sites if that was true.Some people in this forum have been wishing the fall of Istock for a long time. Everytime sales are down for some, they start talking about how buyers and suppliers are leaving in droves, and how iStock will fall soon.
I'm curious since a lot of people are saying IS is losing sooo many buyers and about to become irrelevant have your sales elsewhere gone up a lot? People still need images even if they don't buy from IS so I would expect to see huge gains on other sites if that was true.
I'm curious since a lot of people are saying IS is losing sooo many buyers and about to become irrelevant have your sales elsewhere gone up a lot? People still need images even if they don't buy from IS so I would expect to see huge gains on other sites if that was true.
I've seen my sales numbers (downloads) at SS increase in comparison to my sales at iS decrease by a similar amount, which has netted me less money overall because the RPI is higher at iS. I've seen other established contributors mentioning how their overall income is dropping from previous years so I presume this is the cause.
IS always used to be my best earner, then as it dropped Ft took over, then as that dropped DT took over but now for the first time for me SS is consistenly my best earner. I never understood why everybody thought that SS was so good but now I do. The PP is also steadily increasing for me earning me about a third of my total IS earning. Not really happy about it though.I've seen my sales numbers (downloads) at SS increase in comparison to my sales at iS decrease by a similar amount, which has netted me less money overall because the RPI is higher at iS. I've seen other established contributors mentioning how their overall income is dropping from previous years so I presume this is the cause.
It is certainly the case with me. Until this year, IS was always my number 1 site. Now it is SS, and even with the increase in numbers there, and the OD and EL sales, I am still not seeing income like I got at Istock, where my income has literally halved over the course of the past couple of years.
Another place I have seen a steady increase in downloads is the Partner Program. I have only been in it a bit over a year, but in that time I have seen the number of downloads steadily increase. When you consider how many independent images they have been shuttling over there in the past year, to continue to see steadily increasing sales numbers on essentially the same size portfolio is revealing.
I'm curious since a lot of people are saying IS is losing sooo many buyers and about to become irrelevant have your sales elsewhere gone up a lot? People still need images even if they don't buy from IS so I would expect to see huge gains on other sites if that was true.
So what could be the strategy at iStock?
How can you be any worse than abysmal? The only agencies doing worse for me are GL and DP. And IS is giving them a run for their money in the ongoing race to the bottom. Everyone else is doing fine and SS is on track for a BME in both quantity and dollars.There are certainly contributors complaining on SS as well. Chris Lagerek, Mister Elements, Adrian Grosu, loads of others. There are threads started every week on sales dropping on SS. The only thing different is that there is an equal number of people reporting BMEs at SS.
And I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
QuoteAnd I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
Why would that be the best decision? I am curious to know. Surely if you are non-exclusive the best tactic is to have images on every site, or am I missing something?
SS pays between 23% and 27% commission, this was calculated by Leaf and confirmed by someone from SS. I know SS is buggy too, but I am already with them, and the sales are ok for me and increasing. IS would pay me 15% commission. The model release system, where you need to upload a model release per shoot, almost per photo, and for every photo with different people, differently combined releases is just too much for me. I couldnt even upload 30% of my portfolio because I have general MRs not suitable for IS. Overall its just not going to work for me.
Just upload and forget about it except to go in every now and again to request a pay out. That's what I do.QuoteAnd I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
Why would that be the best decision? I am curious to know. Surely if you are non-exclusive the best tactic is to have images on every site, or am I missing something?
John, the bugs, the low commission, the keywording, the release policy, the drop in sales. The iStock forum here is the most active and I think 90% is full with complaints about IS. I dont want to expose myself to IS, I couldnt deal with it. I am having a hard time dealing with FT and DT already. They annoy me to no end. Already cut DT for that reason. As Jens pointed it out, they would annoy me too much. So thats why for me it was a good decision not to join them. The money would not make up for the aggravation. I have read the forums at IS, its full of complaining contributors. I dont want become one of them. And thats not a jab or negative comment towards the contributors, but towards IS.
How can you be any worse than abysmal? The only agencies doing worse for me are GL and DP. And IS is giving them a run for their money in the ongoing race to the bottom. Everyone else is doing fine and SS is on track for a BME in both quantity and dollars.There are certainly contributors complaining on SS as well. Chris Lagerek, Mister Elements, Adrian Grosu, loads of others. There are threads started every week on sales dropping on SS. The only thing different is that there is an equal number of people reporting BMEs at SS.
I am gearing up for a BME at SS, but I only started 6 months ago. DP, CanStockPhoto, FT and 123RF have completely dried up for me on the other hand. I cant put my finger on it. And I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
Just upload and forget about it except to go in every now and again to request a pay out. That's what I do.QuoteAnd I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
Why would that be the best decision? I am curious to know. Surely if you are non-exclusive the best tactic is to have images on every site, or am I missing something?
John, the bugs, the low commission, the keywording, the release policy, the drop in sales. The iStock forum here is the most active and I think 90% is full with complaints about IS. I dont want to expose myself to IS, I couldnt deal with it. I am having a hard time dealing with FT and DT already. They annoy me to no end. Already cut DT for that reason. As Jens pointed it out, they would annoy me too much. So thats why for me it was a good decision not to join them. The money would not make up for the aggravation. I have read the forums at IS, its full of complaining contributors. I dont want become one of them. And thats not a jab or negative comment towards the contributors, but towards IS.
How can you be any worse than abysmal? The only agencies doing worse for me are GL and DP. And IS is giving them a run for their money in the ongoing race to the bottom. Everyone else is doing fine and SS is on track for a BME in both quantity and dollars.There are certainly contributors complaining on SS as well. Chris Lagerek, Mister Elements, Adrian Grosu, loads of others. There are threads started every week on sales dropping on SS. The only thing different is that there is an equal number of people reporting BMEs at SS.
I am gearing up for a BME at SS, but I only started 6 months ago. DP, CanStockPhoto, FT and 123RF have completely dried up for me on the other hand. I cant put my finger on it. And I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
SS pays between 23% and 27% commission,
but you do use DeepMeta don't you? If you don't, you're crazy.
but you do use DeepMeta don't you? If you don't, you're crazy.
Call be crazy then. I tried Deepmeta, after all the rave reviews of it on here. It didn't seem to save me much time. I already have a system at IS and DM just added to the PITA factor, IMO. Maybe it takes getting used to...?
Just upload and forget about it except to go in every now and again to request a pay out. That's what I do.QuoteAnd I do not submit to IS. After reading MSG for a few months, I think thats the best decision to make right now.
Why would that be the best decision? I am curious to know. Surely if you are non-exclusive the best tactic is to have images on every site, or am I missing something?
John, the bugs, the low commission, the keywording, the release policy, the drop in sales. The iStock forum here is the most active and I think 90% is full with complaints about IS. I dont want to expose myself to IS, I couldnt deal with it. I am having a hard time dealing with FT and DT already. They annoy me to no end. Already cut DT for that reason. As Jens pointed it out, they would annoy me too much. So thats why for me it was a good decision not to join them. The money would not make up for the aggravation. I have read the forums at IS, its full of complaining contributors. I dont want become one of them. And thats not a jab or negative comment towards the contributors, but towards IS.
Sage advice
OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.
OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.
What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.
I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.
OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.
What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.
I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.
I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?
My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.
My iStock vs. SS experience seems to be just the opposite of most reporting here. September is my second full month of being exclusive at iStock. If I look at those two months vs. the previous several when I had ports at both sites there's no comparison between the two in terms of income. While I had several more downloads per month at SS since turning exclusive at iStock my income is approaching 5X/month what it was during my peak time at SS.5X/month than your peak time at SS?May i ask how much is your peak earning at SS? :)
I"ll take dollars over downloads. Having said that I must say that I "enjoyed" dealing with SS much more than I do iStock. So many site problems, a lack of communication, etc. If SS ever offers exclusivity with a higher income potential than they have now I'd jump ship in a heartbeat.
OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.
What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.
I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.
I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?
My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.
And your point is? ::) My comment was about how MY sales on SS went up, when MY port on IS went off. My conclusions are based on when I was an active contributor (first hand experience from the not too distant past), like many other contributors commenting here. Chill, dude. Stop trying to be a bully.
but you do use DeepMeta don't you? If you don't, you're crazy.
Call be crazy then. I tried Deepmeta, after all the rave reviews of it on here. It didn't seem to save me much time. I already have a system at IS and DM just added to the PITA factor, IMO. Maybe it takes getting used to...?
OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.
What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.
I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.
I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?
My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.
And your point is? ::) My comment was about how MY sales on SS went up, when MY port on IS went off. My conclusions are based on when I was an active contributor (first hand experience from the not too distant past), like many other contributors commenting here. Chill, dude. Stop trying to be a bully.
My point is, chill, and do not stay angry. Your anger against iS from many months ago may prevent you from offering an objective opinion of today and mislead others. Of course, you don't care because IS is irrelevant to you. Does it make me a bully? I'll let Leaf decide. :o
OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.
What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.
I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.
I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?
My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.
And your point is? ::) My comment was about how MY sales on SS went up, when MY port on IS went off. My conclusions are based on when I was an active contributor (first hand experience from the not too distant past), like many other contributors commenting here. Chill, dude. Stop trying to be a bully.
My point is, chill, and do not stay angry. Your anger against iS from many months ago may prevent you from offering an objective opinion of today and mislead others. Of course, you don't care because IS is irrelevant to you. Does it make me a bully? I'll let Leaf decide. :o
:D You're so funny!
The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)
- model releases
you can just click 3 model releases and they are all attached to the image. This saves you combing releases together in Photoshop and uploading individually. Perhaps not a big deal if you always use the same models in a shot for each shoot but I often have 4 models and vary who is in the shot in each shoot, making 17 combinations of models which makes a LOT of extra work. Have the work simplified to Just having to click on the necessary releases for each image is a life saver in itself.
-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words. I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done. Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio
The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)
- model releases
you can just click 3 model releases and they are all attached to the image. This saves you combing releases together in Photoshop and uploading individually. Perhaps not a big deal if you always use the same models in a shot for each shoot but I often have 4 models and vary who is in the shot in each shoot, making 17 combinations of models which makes a LOT of extra work. Have the work simplified to Just having to click on the necessary releases for each image is a life saver in itself.
-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words. I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done. Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio
Those would be convenient, no doubt about it. I did a school shoot awhile back with 15 models in all sorts of combinations. It was (and continues to be) a nightmare making all the different model release combinations.
Evidently I did not spend enough time with Deepmeta to figure out all the time savers. If I do another big multiperson shoot I may give it another shot.
Duh I'm an idiot for not reading things. I didn't know that any of this was possible!!! I just thought that the only real advantage was the model releases and the fact that once uploaded to the site you don't need to go back and finish things off. This will save me a lot of work. Thankyou.
The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)
-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words. I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done. Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio
Duh I'm an idiot for not reading things. I didn't know that any of this was possible!!! I just thought that the only real advantage was the model releases and the fact that once uploaded to the site you don't need to go back and finish things off. This will save me a lot of work. Thankyou.
The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)
-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words. I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done. Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio
ETA is there anyway of using deepmeta to edit images already uploaded to create the links?
Oh, one caveat to that - ever since iStock screwed up the site with their last update, any changes made in DeepMeta have to be sent back to the site twice before they actually take - they must have messed up something in the API.
Just select all the files changed, send the updates, then send them again. Hopefully this will be fixed sometime "soon"...
Thank you, of course that makes sense. Looks like I am going to be busy.Duh I'm an idiot for not reading things. I didn't know that any of this was possible!!! I just thought that the only real advantage was the model releases and the fact that once uploaded to the site you don't need to go back and finish things off. This will save me a lot of work. Thankyou.
The benefits of using deepmeta (as I seem them are)
-uploading multiple similar images
If I upload 15 images that are of a similar concept, they'll have lots of similar words. I don't keyword specifically for istock so there is always a ton of disambiguation to be done. Being able to disambiguate one image and right click-copy, right click-paste all my disambiguated words is another big time saver
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio
ETA is there anyway of using deepmeta to edit images already uploaded to create the links?
Yes, of course. In fact you can only create the links for images already uploaded and accepted.
I noticed a top ten exclusive contributor complained heavily about sales looking like xmas(and not in a good way) in the latest forum and just like magic they are the new photo of the week. With a image in a series that is a few years old and not the best in the series either. Interesting timing!
I've have just done this and the photos that appear aren't clickable. Is there any easy way of making them clickable as it means that any buyer interested still has to hunt for the image and might not even realize that the images are mine?
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio
They should be clickable are you looking from your IS portfolio?I've have just done this and the photos that appear aren't clickable. Is there any easy way of making them clickable as it means that any buyer interested still has to hunt for the image and might not even realize that the images are mine?
- attaching similar images in the description
This is also very cool. You can select 15 images, right click and say (create thumbnail links).. then the description of all those iamges will automatically have the links to all the other images in them promoting your own portfolio