Author Topic: iStock's new referral program (Read 3351 times)

StockCube · « **on:** December 06, 2011, 12:51 »

Hi, the other day I had a look at my iStock account and clicked on the referrals tab. There is now a higher commission for referrals of $20, but there are now two other options of 20% of the value of the sale or 20 credits.

iStock, being the lovely people that they are, have set this to 20 credits by default. Just a heads up that if these are not any use to you (as they are not to me) then you should change it to something else soon.

Cheers

helix7 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2011, 13:02 »

Are you exclusive at istock? Unless you are, I don't see why you'd want to refer buyers to istock.

antistock · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2011, 13:37 »

to me it clearly shows IS is desperate to lure new buyers and photographers in.

at least they're recognizing they have a problem.
no wonder they sacked their former CEO.

StockCube · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2011, 13:41 »

Quote from: helix7 on December 06, 2011, 13:02

Are you exclusive at istock? Unless you are, I don't see why you'd want to refer buyers to istock.

No, I am independent and I wouldn't dream of referring a buyer there, but you can sometimes get an 'accidental' referral via a google search. ie if a buyer does a search for a specific subject and it shows them one of my images on iStock, then if they click through and buy credits I would get the referral cash. I have had two that way in the past.

KB · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2011, 14:47 »

Quote from: StockCube on December 06, 2011, 13:41

ie if a buyer does a search for a specific subject and it shows them one of my images on iStock, then if they click through and buy credits I would get the referral cash. I have had two that way in the past.

From the new referral FAQ page: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=337411&page=1

Q. I haven't seen an answer for this yet: will we continue to get passive referrals? I never gave out cards or referral links and still had about 10 referrals, will these still happen?

A. At this time, we can't guarantee that you'll earn the same number of passive referrals as you did last time since the tracking and underlying technology has completely changed. You are better off pro-actively creating referral links, banners and sending emails to increase your potential to earn money from the referral program.

IOW, they'll probably stop giving out so-called "passive" referral commissions. I'm shocked.