Author Topic: Your recent thoughts About Istock / ESP? (Read 6818 times)

oguzaral · « **on:** March 12, 2018, 07:52 »

Hello,
I am an illustrator and I upload vector art to microstock agencies. I am trying to decide whether to delete or going on with Istock/ESP company. I learned that you cannot delete your own images, or delete your own account. I also learned that istock changes keywords on behalf of contributors, etc. What is going on? What do you think of all this, is istock ok to keep? Any comments and information would be useful.
Thanks.

Clair Voyant · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2018, 11:44 »

Why don't you ask these very questions to Contributor Relations or on the Istock Forum? All you will get on this forum is a lot of hate and misinformation.

tätarätä · « **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2018, 13:38 »

I use DeepMeta and it works very well. But i just upload photos, no illustrations or videos.
I keyword in LR. When i am finished in LR just import the files to DeppMeta and upload it.
Very fast and easy.

derek · « **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2018, 13:47 »

I am an independent! and been with IS since 2006. I dont know anything about deleting images or whatever but moneywise I am doing just fine, on average just under a 4-figure almosr every month!...where some other agencies here are doing bloody terrible!

ShadySue · « **Reply #4 on:** March 12, 2018, 15:08 »

Quote from: Clair Voyant on March 12, 2018, 11:44

Why don't you ask these very questions to Contributor Relations or on the Istock Forum? All you will get on this forum is a lot of hate and misinformation.

That's misinformation: lots of the info here is perfectly true.
And sometimes asking the same question of different iS CR representatives gives two different, non-compatible, answers.

In any case, the OP was asking for opinions, not facts. What would CR be expected to say if s/he asked them whether to delete or stay on?

ShadySue · « **Reply #5 on:** March 12, 2018, 15:13 »

Quote from: oguzaral on March 12, 2018, 07:52

Hello,
I am an illustrator and I upload vector art to microstock agencies. I am trying to decide whether to delete or going on with Istock/ESP company. I learned that you cannot delete your own images, or delete your own account. I also learned that istock changes keywords on behalf of contributors, etc. What is going on? What do you think of all this, is istock ok to keep? Any comments and information would be useful.
Thanks.

All of us have to decide what particular BS we can take, and how much; and from that, we make up our mind about where we upload/don't upload.
You can't delete or close an account without going through CR.
Keywords get disappeared, a lot apparently during the ESP transition. If you jump through their hoops and fill in a form, most of them will be restored, unless it's a keyword with 'few assets and searches'. I'd hope that if that applied to the actual subject name, that would be a reason to be able to delete a file.

Clair Voyant · « **Reply #6 on:** March 12, 2018, 15:40 »

Quote from: ShadySue on March 12, 2018, 15:08

Quote from: Clair Voyant on March 12, 2018, 11:44
Why don't you ask these very questions to Contributor Relations or on the Istock Forum? All you will get on this forum is a lot of hate and misinformation.
That's misinformation: lots of the info here is perfectly true.
And sometimes asking the same question of different iS CR representatives gives two different, non-compatible, answers.

In any case, the OP was asking for opinions, not facts. What would CR be expected to say if s/he asked them whether to delete or stay on?

Yes lot's of the info is true, but most of it is fabricated opinion with a grudge of sorts. My overall observation: anything regarding IS and/or Getty on this forum turns into an "I hate IS/GI contest" faster than the speed of light. And for sure opinions abound on this forum. Making a decision based on opinions or facts, that is up to the OP to decide and I merely tried to steer them in the fact direction. No harm, no foul.

This too is only an opinion, so take it for what it is.

cobalt · « **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2018, 00:56 »

The forums are ghost towns and have zero activity, the istock community is mostly spread around various facebook groups these days. Some are public some are private.

I am sure there is also a group for istock illustrators where you can get feedback from active members.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/istockcreatives/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/iStockphotoOnly/

There are many more, just ask around.

It is sad, but here we are, if you want to experience the istock contributor community you need to ask where they actually "live". Counting tumbleweeds in the hallways won´t help.

BalkanskiMacak · « **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2018, 06:47 »

Hi,

Just my two cents to summarize my experience:

Cons:
-the platform is definitely not flexible: it's impossible to individually remove pictures, nor to modify descriptions or keywords
-the review process is not flexible neither: the duration is flucutating from a few hours to a few weeks (a huge issue for editorial content)
-the rejection reasons are a true lottery (more than most of the main websites)
-the revenue per download can be extremely low
-the earning reports are updated only once per month, on the 20th day after the end of the month (it can be a pain to manage when you need to do a tight accounting)
-the algorithm seems to be focusing too much on interestingness: way more than on other platforms, two or three pictures are generating almost 50% of the income.

Pros:
-the submission interface is pretty clean
-IStock is my second highest earner by total income for last year, and my first if we consider the revenue per image.

Conclusion:
I definitely do not trust them, nor like their methods. However, they are still a big source of income. So, I would advice you to reasonnably give a try: avoid exclusivity (at least for th beginning), and do not put any valuable pictures on the platform (ie pictures you have the feeling they have a high potential and/or pictures you think you could have to withdraw from sales quickly for any reason)

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #9 on:** March 15, 2018, 08:42 »

Quote from: Clair Voyant on March 12, 2018, 11:44

Why don't you ask these very questions to Contributor Relations or on the Istock Forum? All you will get on this forum is a lot of hate and misinformation.

We shouldn't tell the truth when someone asks our recent thoughts? How would contributor relations answer how we feel? The forums are pretty much as always on IS, heavily moderated and lacking when it comes to answers to hard questions.

I find the ESP system difficult, data is short, sales information, editing or deletion nearly impossible. Uploads are complicated, keyword rules and disambiguation confusing, sales are not what they were a couple years ago, but that has nothing to do with ESP or the upload mess. Seems the sales have been flat a few years, before ESP, but that's good news compared to some little sites that are still falling.

Getty is dealing with a massive debt load because of the way iStock ran with investors who took the guts out of IS and sold it back. That hurts the marketing and staffing, and has led to cuts in our commission. I'd give them another year to see how new ideas and ESP are working. Flat is good when I look at the whole Micro system, most are losing and overall sales are dropping.

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Author Topic: Your recent thoughts About Istock / ESP? (Read 6818 times)

oguzaral

Clair Voyant

tätarätä

derek

ShadySue

ShadySue

Clair Voyant

cobalt

BalkanskiMacak

YadaYadaYada

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