Author Topic: istock exlusivity increases sales? (Read 5048 times)

yuliang11 · « **on:** May 28, 2009, 22:37 »

hi,
For those has gone exclusive , i'm interested to know if your sales goes up on IS if u go exclusive? thanks

michealo · « **Reply #1 on:** May 29, 2009, 04:13 »

No, we go exclusive becasuse we are making too much money and we want to give up the revenue on other sites to make it easy for other photographers to make a living

pixdeluxe · « **Reply #2 on:** May 29, 2009, 04:19 »

Yes, amongst other factors, exclusivity definitely helps your sales.

sharpshot · « **Reply #3 on:** May 29, 2009, 04:32 »

I have read lots of posts from people that have gone exclusive and overall it does look like sales increase. That makes sense because files are reviewed quicker and can get a better placement in the best match search. I am sure there are buyers that prefer using exclusive artists, if they can find what they want. What puts me off going exclusive is that I have also read lots of posts from exclusives that have seen a big reduction in sales when the best match search has been changed. I have seen some say their sales have fallen below the level before they went exclusive.

As I rely on my income from microstock sites at the moment, I couldn't take these big swings. Perhaps one day when sales from RM have improved I might reconsider but for now going exclusive doesn't appeal to me.

crazychristina · « **Reply #4 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:12 »

What I'm looking forward to when I go exclusive is the larger upload allowance. This should allow me to grow my portfolio more quickly, encourage me to shoot more and hopefully improve more quickly, and also to experiment with other media (vectors, 3D) so that I should find what suits me best. Quite apart from any other factors, these ones should lead to more sales.

MichaelJay · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2009, 06:07 »

I wouldn't base my decision on the question if exclusive images get better placement in searches or not. This has been discussed but only the involved admins actually knows and it might change over time.

You can certainly expect the royalty change. The higher upload limits could be an asset if you are able to produce more than 15 good images per week.

What I think is an underestimated advantage: Inspection standards are easier to consider in your process if you can focus on one site. Keywording is a bit different on IS as well compared to other sites, so you can spend more time on optimization. And you might find that on all sites different types of images sell a bit better or worse.

So in effect going exclusive allows you to optimize your work flows which might help for your individual success on that one side. But you're the only one who can judge if this is a viable path for you.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 29, 2009, 07:09 »

Certainly I never noticed any obvious bump in sales upon going exclusive - as you can upload more you may increase downloads as a result of building your portfolio faster, but just for being exclusive, I don't think you should expect that. Over time it may be so, as iStock do say they will promote exclusives, but as an immediate increase, no. Maybe others have different experiences though.

As for best match placement, as Michael says, you shouldn't consider that as a reason, it may be so sometimes but it can change.

Nor am I convinced by the faster inspection = better placement argument; I think the age factor in the best match is based on the inspection date/time, not the upload date. I think that because, when I had two images uploaded at the same time, one went to "Pending Executive" and was thus delayed before being accepted, but when it did appear it was positioned well ahead of the other, which had been accepted a week or more earlier. But I don't know that for sure, it's just supposition.

antoniodalbore · « **Reply #7 on:** May 29, 2009, 12:48 »

Hi YuLiang,

yes, going exclusive to IS might help for sure to increase your Sales.
Two factors here to consider: 50 images to be uploaded weekly, faster approval times.

In my specific case I decided to go exclusive since the first day with IS: I do already shoot RM for other agencies and need only another place where to promote my RF imagery.

Please do your own judgment on the matter and don't forget that as already pointed out, there are many people here making good business being NOT EXCLUSIVE and submitting good RF Stock images to many Agencies.

Hope will help.

Bye!

Quote from: yuliang11 on May 28, 2009, 22:37

hi,
For those has gone exclusive , i'm interested to know if your sales goes up on IS if u go exclusive? thanks

yuliang11 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 31, 2009, 01:16 »

thank you all for the helpful replies.

PeterChigmaroff · « **Reply #9 on:** May 31, 2009, 09:26 »

I think the most obvious reason, to me anyway, not to go exclusive is the inability to submit RF to other agencies, especially in the macro market. True enough that you get access to Getty RF, which it itself is a good thing but the overall disadvantages outweigh the advantages. I think that in the short term it has more advantages but as your career progresses it will bog you down, leaving is hard because of the sudden loss of income.

ShadySue · « **Reply #10 on:** May 31, 2009, 09:38 »

Note that you don't automatically bet access to Getty RF(Photodisc), you have to be at least an iStock Silver, then Getty has to accept you. Not everyone is accepted in their first few attempts.
As to the original question: it's hard to say. You get more upload slots; it depends how well you use them.
Yuri seems to do OK though not exclusive!

NancyCWalker · « **Reply #11 on:** June 01, 2009, 10:46 »

You won't know if it works for you or not until you try. When I went exclusive on IS my sales tanked. There were months where I made less then I had as a non-exclusive only uploading to IS in preparation for exclusivity. My sales never recovered and I eventually left.

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Author Topic: istock exlusivity increases sales? (Read 5048 times)

yuliang11

michealo

pixdeluxe

sharpshot

crazychristina

MichaelJay

Gannet77

antoniodalbore

yuliang11

PeterChigmaroff

ShadySue

NancyCWalker

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