MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: wmaireche on February 16, 2018, 14:25
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Hello everyone,
i wanted to start selling my photos on istock but when i try to register it says that it is impossible now , every time i check it is the same thing , they dont give us more information
do you know what is happening ? when they will accept new contributors and open subscriptions ?
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
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They're doing you a favor. Just walk away.
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OP, you make me feel like I'm watching a movie where a beautiful young woman is pounding violently on the door of a serial rapist's house and screaming demanding to be let in.
Just walk away, Renee.
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
We get less than that via Connect.
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
I had dozens of 1 and 2 cent royalties plus the 15% royalties thats why I dropped them
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Then you are a lucky fellow. I have those through the Genny Connect program and although not 0.01 I get 0.06c through the stupid Premium Access program. I am exclusive at 40%. Unfortunatelly being non exclusive is really bad business now as you are basically giving air to an agency that is suffocating other outlets that pay much better for non exclusive contribution.
As exclusive you still get the credit pack sales that can be large sometimes and with a lot E+ content the subscriptions are reasonable. But with the quick advance of PA that gives only 20% to exclusives for really low amounts being exclusive is also loosing appeal month by month.
Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
I had dozens of 1 and 2 cent royalties plus the 15% royalties thats why I dropped them
Dozens. That's a lot. Your pain: I feel it.
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
I had dozens of 1 and 2 cent royalties plus the 15% royalties thats why I dropped them
Dozens. That's a lot. Your pain: I feel it.
If you haven't seen any, either you aren't looking at your Connect sales (different report) or they haven't added up to enough to report yet.
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But have they actually closed iStock to new contributors? Nobody's answered the original question.
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"Thank you for visiting our Work With Us website. We’re currently performing maintenance and our engineers are working hard to get Work With Us back online. Thank you for your patience and please check back soon.
If you have already submitted an application and have any questions please contact us at [email protected]. Please note that we are not accepting new applications at this time."
Sounds like a pause due to their incompetence rather than anything so planned as a policy.
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"Thank you for visiting our Work With Us website. We’re currently performing maintenance and our engineers are working hard to get Work With Us back online. Thank you for your patience and please check back soon.
If you have already submitted an application and have any questions please contact us at [email protected]. Please note that we are not accepting new applications at this time."
Sounds like a pause due to their incompetence rather than anything so planned as a policy.
Sounds like you're right.
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Whow! If this is not temporary but a general pause, this is a very drastic change.
They wrote somewhere that istock accepted only 9.6 million files in all of 2017. Shutterstock gets 1.6 million files a week.
If they are closing applications for new contributors, they will lose even more uploads. And of course this effectively ends their exclusive program as well.
Interesting times.
What are they saying on the istock forums?
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But have they actually closed iStock to new contributors? Nobody's answered the original question.
You know you're at MSG right?
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But have they actually closed iStock to new contributors? Nobody's answered the original question.
You know you're at MSG right?
Didn't know we needed a link to support a direct quote, but you are right. :)
https://contributors.gettyimages.com/Article.aspx?article_id=5763
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Guess they will make one site for new contributors - istock and Getty.
We got the Getty upload procedure EPS, the "wonderful" Getty statistic, the "wonderful" Getty forum,
nest thing maybe will be a "wonderful" new contributor site ::)
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Whow! If this is not temporary but a general pause, this is a very drastic change.
They wrote somewhere that istock accepted only 9.6 million files in all of 2017. Shutterstock gets 1.6 million files a week.
If they are closing applications for new contributors, they will lose even more uploads. And of course this effectively ends their exclusive program as well.
Fewer new contributors and fewer fresh uploads could be better for existing contributors.
That might explain why (and I emphasise "might" as there are many possible influences), for me at least, the rate of downloading increased sharply throughout the second half of last year, and that January was my best month since ESP started.
(Sadly I lost my spreadsheets for before ESP.)
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
I had dozens of 1 and 2 cent royalties plus the 15% royalties thats why I dropped them
Dozens. That's a lot. Your pain: I feel it.
If you haven't seen any, either you aren't looking at your Connect sales (different report) or they haven't added up to enough to report yet.
Thanks. I didn't know about Connect. Apparently I had one 1.7c sale in the first half of last year, and none in the second.
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I have a bunch of Getty Connect "sales" with "Worldwide right to display and use the Metadata in connection with the Pinterest Platform and services."
License Fee USD 0.00502
Royalty Rate 0.15000
Gross Royalty in USD 0.00075.
:(
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Don't worry just count yourself lucky you aren't being ripped off for 1 cent royalties
I've never had a one-cent royalty at iStock. How many have you had?
I had dozens of 1 and 2 cent royalties plus the 15% royalties thats why I dropped them
Dozens. That's a lot. Your pain: I feel it.
If you haven't seen any, either you aren't looking at your Connect sales (different report) or they haven't added up to enough to report yet.
Thanks. I didn't know about Connect. Apparently I had one 1.7c sale in the first half of last year, and none in the second.
That's *very* high for Connect!
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But have they actually closed iStock to new contributors? Nobody's answered the original question.
It's like if a drunk asks you to help him find his car keys. You try to discourage and distract him.
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But have they actually closed iStock to new contributors? Nobody's answered the original question.
It's like if a drunk asks you to help him find his car keys. You try to discourage and distract him.
LOL!! I left before “connect” was a thing, how crappy!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I just got this email from an iStock customer:
Message:
We enjoy your shot of xxxx, and downloaded it a while back from iStock. We are featuring it as our photo-of-the-day if you'd like to see it. It will also be available for six more days by clicking on the left arrow button.
Good job on the beautiful photo.
Sincerely,
Paul yyy, zz
And my answer:
I am honored to be featured on the website, Paul! I am happy you liked my work!
Please allow me to make a small observation: iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies, like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock/Fotolia.
Best Regards,
Me
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
True. But I don't buy into the theory that if you pull your portfolio from Getty, the same buyers would go to other agencies to buy your clips. I believe they'll just buy similar clips from someone else on Getty. I'd rather have my clips on both to get farther reach. If a customer is searching Getty, that most likely means they have an account with Getty and having your clips on other sites won't be seen by them.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
True. But I don't buy into the theory that if you pull your portfolio from Getty, the same buyers would go to other agencies to buy your clips. I believe they'll just buy similar clips from someone else on Getty. I'd rather have my clips on both to get farther reach. If a customer is searching Getty, that most likely means they have an account with Getty and having your clips on other sites won't be seen by them.
True, but you must still "hate on that", because you only get 15%, instead of 30% (or more) from other agencies. Even on regular subs you lose 35%, when your customers buy from IS instead of SS, let alone on those insulting $0.19 (or much less).
Isn't it something to "hate on"?
If only we could find ways to incentivize IS customers to migrate to better paying agencies (e.g. see the email I posted above)!
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
True. But I don't buy into the theory that if you pull your portfolio from Getty, the same buyers would go to other agencies to buy your clips. I believe they'll just buy similar clips from someone else on Getty. I'd rather have my clips on both to get farther reach. If a customer is searching Getty, that most likely means they have an account with Getty and having your clips on other sites won't be seen by them.
True, but you must still "hate on that", because you only get 15%, instead of 30% (or more) from other agencies. Even on regular subs you lose 35% if your customers buy from IS instead of SS, let alone on those insulting $0.19 (or much less).
Isn't it something to "hate on"?
If only we could find ways to incentivize IS customers to migrate to better paying agencies (e.g. see the email I posted above)!
I guess there's plenty of stuff one could find to hate on in this industry. I love Videoblocks, but I earned twice as much with iStock/Getty in January. When it really comes down to it, why care about the other details. And customers aren't buying on IS instead of SS, they're buying on IS as well as SS. Completely different customers.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
True. But I don't buy into the theory that if you pull your portfolio from Getty, the same buyers would go to other agencies to buy your clips. I believe they'll just buy similar clips from someone else on Getty. I'd rather have my clips on both to get farther reach. If a customer is searching Getty, that most likely means they have an account with Getty and having your clips on other sites won't be seen by them.
True, but you must still "hate on that", because you only get 15%, instead of 30% (or more) from other agencies. Even on regular subs you lose 35% if your customers buy from IS instead of SS, let alone on those insulting $0.19 (or much less).
Isn't it something to "hate on"?
If only we could find ways to incentivize IS customers to migrate to better paying agencies (e.g. see the email I posted above)!
I guess there's plenty of stuff one could find to hate on in this industry. I love Videoblocks, but I earned twice as much with iStock/Getty in January. When it really comes down to it, why care about the other details. And customers aren't buying on IS instead of SS, they're buying on IS as well as SS. Completely different customers.
Completely different, indeed.
This is exactly why you will still be significantly better off, if only enough IS customers will migrate to agencies offering better deals to suppliers.
Unfortunately, there is not enough money in this game and not enough unity, to start a campaign targeting such IS customers (most of them oblivious to the disregard IS has for their suppliers)
Instead, please seize all opportunities available to do just that. See the email I posted above ;)
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I just got this email from an iStock customer:
Message:
We enjoy your shot of xxxx, and downloaded it a while back from iStock. We are featuring it as our photo-of-the-day if you'd like to see it. It will also be available for six more days by clicking on the left arrow button.
Good job on the beautiful photo.
Sincerely,
Paul yyy, zz
And my answer:
I am honored to be featured on the website, Paul! I am happy you liked my work!
Please allow me to make a small observation: iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies, like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock/Fotolia.
Best Regards,
Me
Did Paul email back and ask you whether you were still an iStock contributor?
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I just got this email from an iStock customer:
Message:
We enjoy your shot of xxxx, and downloaded it a while back from iStock. We are featuring it as our photo-of-the-day if you'd like to see it. It will also be available for six more days by clicking on the left arrow button.
Good job on the beautiful photo.
Sincerely,
Paul yyy, zz
And my answer:
I am honored to be featured on the website, Paul! I am happy you liked my work!
Please allow me to make a small observation: iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies, like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock/Fotolia.
Best Regards,
Me
Did Paul email back and ask you whether you were still an iStock contributor?
You are welcome!
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Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
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I just got this email from an iStock customer:
Message:
We enjoy your shot of xxxx, and downloaded it a while back from iStock. We are featuring it as our photo-of-the-day if you'd like to see it. It will also be available for six more days by clicking on the left arrow button.
Good job on the beautiful photo.
Sincerely,
Paul yyy, zz
And my answer:
I am honored to be featured on the website, Paul! I am happy you liked my work!
Please allow me to make a small observation: iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies, like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock/Fotolia.
Best Regards,
Me
They must have wondered why you sell at iS when you are slagging them off to their customers.
And it wasn't fully true to say that contributers there get "15% or less", (which implies 'all contributors) as some get up to 45% (less on PA and the 45% is probably only one person) which is more than the other Micros.
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I just got this email from an iStock customer:
Message:
We enjoy your shot of xxxx, and downloaded it a while back from iStock. We are featuring it as our photo-of-the-day if you'd like to see it. It will also be available for six more days by clicking on the left arrow button.
Good job on the beautiful photo.
Sincerely,
Paul yyy, zz
And my answer:
I am honored to be featured on the website, Paul! I am happy you liked my work!
Please allow me to make a small observation: iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies, like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock/Fotolia.
Best Regards,
Me
They must have wondered why you sell at iS when you are snagging them off to their customers.
And it wasn't fully true to say that contributers there get "15% or less", (which implies 'all contributors) as some get up to 45% (less on PA and the 45% is probably only one person) which is more than the other Micros.
Exactly why would they occupy the moral "high ground" when you don't yourself?
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
I'm not claiming I'm occupying a moral ground.
I would love to stop selling through iStock.
But they have too many clients I don't want to lose and they account for a large chunk of my revenue. A large chunk that would be larger if only these customers would choose to buy the same photo from elsewhere.
Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
I'll cross that bridge when time comes, or never.
Chances for this to happen are close to zero.
And it wasn't fully true to say that contributers there get "15% or less", (which implies 'all contributors) as some get up to 45% (less on PA and the 45% is probably only one person) which is more than the other Micros.
45% is only valid for exclusives. Paul would not have been able to get his favorite photo from elsewhere, if 45% would have been applicable.
His favorite photo was available elsewhere, therefore, when customers have the choice to get it elsewhere, "15% or less" is correct.
As far as I remember none of you is exclusive with IS.
If more customers are determined to move away from IS, it will be better for the 3 of you, not just for me, you know?
You're welcome!
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
I'm not claiming I'm occupying a moral ground.
I would love to stop selling through iStock.
But they have to many clients I don't want to lose and they account for a large chunk of my revenue. A large chunk that would be larger if only these customers would choose to buy the same photo from elsewhere.
Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
I'll cross that bridge when time comes, or never.
Chances for this to happen are close to zero.
You certainly sound like you're taking a moral stance.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
I'm not claiming I'm occupying a moral ground.
I would love to stop selling through iStock.
But they have to many clients I don't want to lose and they account for a large chunk of my revenue. A large chunk that would be larger if only these customers would choose to buy the same photo from elsewhere.
Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
I'll cross that bridge when time comes, or never.
Chances for this to happen are close to zero.
You certainly sound like you're taking a moral stance.
It's called pragmatism, not "moral stance"
You're welcome!
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
I'm not claiming I'm occupying a moral ground.
I would love to stop selling through iStock.
But they have to many clients I don't want to lose and they account for a large chunk of my revenue. A large chunk that would be larger if only these customers would choose to buy the same photo from elsewhere.
Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
I'll cross that bridge when time comes, or never.
Chances for this to happen are close to zero.
You certainly sound like you're taking a moral stance.
It's called pragmatism, not "moral stance"
You're welcome!
You sound idealistic rather than pragmatic. The chances of your email being successful are, I think, low.
And this bit sounds particularly like you are appealing to the morals of the recipient by complaining about the ethics of iStock
iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies
-
I just got this email from an iStock customer:
Message:
We enjoy your shot of xxxx, and downloaded it a while back from iStock. We are featuring it as our photo-of-the-day if you'd like to see it. It will also be available for six more days by clicking on the left arrow button.
Good job on the beautiful photo.
Sincerely,
Paul yyy, zz
And my answer:
I am honored to be featured on the website, Paul! I am happy you liked my work!
Please allow me to make a small observation: iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies, like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock/Fotolia.
Best Regards,
Me
This reminds me of the Amatuer Night In Dixie
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tbh I would be a lot less relaxed about Istocks reaction if they found you were approaching one and possibly more of their customers and encouraging them to buy somewhere else.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
I'm not claiming I'm occupying a moral ground.
I would love to stop selling through iStock.
But they have to many clients I don't want to lose and they account for a large chunk of my revenue. A large chunk that would be larger if only these customers would choose to buy the same photo from elsewhere.
Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
I'll cross that bridge when time comes, or never.
Chances for this to happen are close to zero.
You certainly sound like you're taking a moral stance.
It's called pragmatism, not "moral stance"
You're welcome!
You sound idealistic rather than pragmatic. The chances of your email being successful are, I think, low.
And this bit sounds particularly like you are appealing to the morals of the recipient by complaining about the ethics of iStock
iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies
Sure, I don't expect to change iStock's policy with 1 (one) email.
On the other hand, posting it here, costs nothing and might inspire others.
There is power in numbers.
I am indeed appealing to the buyer's moral ground. Nothing wrong with that.
But that is very different than what you said earlier, when you stated that I (ZeroTalent) am taking a "moral stance".
Taken a moral stance would mean not selling through iStock and giving away a large chunck of my revenue. THAT would be idealistic, indeed.
Isn't it exactly what the "fair trade" label is meant for, when put on coffee? Appealing to buyer's "moral ground"?
I bet that, given the choice, for the same quality and price, you will choose the "fair trade" label. You might even be ready to pay more, to help the farmer.
(I'll leave the discussion about how much fairness is in "fair trade" for later.)
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FI, I'm exclusive for RF with iS. I was never with any other micro: I wouldn't have chosen in advance to accept 25c for a sale. These agencies not raising their prices when iS did have made things worse for me. Not that I'm an apologist for iS.
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Sounds like it might just be a temporary thing. Surprisingly, January was my best month ever on Getty. Actually more than double my best month ever. I can't hate on that.
Except if buyers had spent that money on your work anywhere else you would have made more.
And if he hadn't put those pictures on iStock, he would have made nothing at all.
Maybe, maybe not, depending on whether the buyers only buy from iS, how unique the work is and whether the buyers would satisfice with something else.
I know he wouldn't have sold any to my employer, as it only has an account with Getty/iStock.
I'm not claiming I'm occupying a moral ground.
I would love to stop selling through iStock.
But they have to many clients I don't want to lose and they account for a large chunk of my revenue. A large chunk that would be larger if only these customers would choose to buy the same photo from elsewhere.
Zerotalent
What would be your response if iStock's defamation lawyers send you a cease-and-desist letter?
I'll cross that bridge when time comes, or never.
Chances for this to happen are close to zero.
You certainly sound like you're taking a moral stance.
It's called pragmatism, not "moral stance"
You're welcome!
You sound idealistic rather than pragmatic. The chances of your email being successful are, I think, low.
And this bit sounds particularly like you are appealing to the morals of the recipient by complaining about the ethics of iStock
iStock is notorious for mistreating its contributors. Their commision rate is a meager 15% (or less).
You could do our contributor's community a favor, if you could choose to buy your preferred photos from other agencies
Sure, I don't expect to change iStock's policy with 1 (one) email.
On the other hand, posting it here, costs nothing and might inspire others.
There is power in numbers.
I am indeed appealing to the buyer's moral ground. Nothing wrong with that.
But that is very different than what you said earlier, when you stated that I (ZeroTalent) am taking a "moral stance".
Taken a moral stance would mean not selling through iStock and giving away a large chunck of my revenue. THAT would be idealistic, indeed.
Isn't it exactly what the "fair trade" label is meant for, when put on coffee? Appealing to buyer's moral ground?
I bet that, given the choice, for the same quality and price you will choose the "fair trade" label. You might even be ready to pay more, to help the farmer.
(I'll leave the discussion about how much fairness is in "fair trade" for later.)
Perhaps the word is "sanctimonious"?
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Perhaps the word is "sanctimonious"?
Check your dictionary: sanctimonious is no different than what you said earlier about me "taking a moral stance". Repeating it doesn't make it true. I'm pragmatic, because I still sell through iStock, despite disliking them. This is the opposite of "sanctimonious". Even more, some idealist might say that I have no scruples!
FI, I'm exclusive for RF with iS. I was never with any other micro: I wouldn't have chosen in advance to accept 25c for a sale. These agencies not raising their prices when iS did have made things worse for me. Not that I'm an apologist for iS.
Ok, I confused you with someone else, my apologies. I understand why you want to defend your sole provider. It is not up to me to convince you that you can be safer and better off, by spreading your eggs in multiple baskets.
tbh I would be a lot less relaxed about Istocks reaction if they found you were approaching one and possibly more of their customers and encouraging them to buy somewhere else.
Then play safe, by all means. Don't go beyond your comfort zone. You should only do the same if you trust/have a good relation with the buyer.
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I might say it over a drink but I wouldn't put it in writing.
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I might say it over a drink but I wouldn't put it in writing.
Yes, be creative! :D
Maybe we should have an anonymous poll and grant to the qualified agencies the right to use a "fair trade" label.
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Perhaps the word is "sanctimonious"?
Check your dictionary: sanctimonious is no different than what you said earlier about me "taking a moral stance". Repeating it doesn't make it true. I'm pragmatic, because I still sell through iStock, despite disliking them. This is the opposite of "sanctimonious". Even more, some idealist might say that I have no scruples!
Here are some other words that are synonyms.
self-righteous, holier-than-thou, churchy, pious, pietistic, moralizing, unctuous, smug, superior, priggish, mealy-mouthed, hypocritical, insincere, for form's sake, to keep up appearances;
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Maybe we should have an anonymous poll and grant to the qualified agencies the right to use a "fair trade" label.
Exactly my thought after reading this topic. Would be even nicer if this could be done "officially" like setting some terms under which an agency can have this label and they could add this to their website.
I wonder if it is possible.
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Which of the Micros is anywhere near fair trade? Certainly none of the well known ones.
Then some may give contributors a decent percentage, but of hardly any sales - fair, but no trade.
PS, we've had this exact suggestion before.
Maybe we should have an anonymous poll and grant to the qualified agencies the right to use a "fair trade" label.
Exactly my thought after reading this topic. Would be even nicer if this could be done "officially" like setting some terms under which an agency can have this label and they could add this to their website.
I wonder if it is possible.
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Maybe we should have an anonymous poll and grant to the qualified agencies the right to use a "fair trade" label.
Exactly my thought after reading this topic. Would be even nicer if this could be done "officially" like setting some terms under which an agency can have this label and they could add this to their website.
I wonder if it is possible.
its posible. But we are to stupid to unite...
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Which of the Micros is anywhere near fair trade? Certainly none of the well known ones.
Then some may give contributors a decent percentage, but of hardly any sales - fair, but no trade.
PS, we've had this exact suggestion before.
Maybe we should have an anonymous poll and grant to the qualified agencies the right to use a "fair trade" label.
Exactly my thought after reading this topic. Would be even nicer if this could be done "officially" like setting some terms under which an agency can have this label and they could add this to their website.
I wonder if it is possible.
Some are more than the others, not all are equally bad. Very few, if any, are as bad as iStock.
Give the best ones the "fair trade" label.
Maybe this will attract the activist customers.
Sales could go up for them and this could stimulate shameful iStock and other agencies to do better.
I'm aware this far fetched, but in relative terms, I believe it is more realistic, positive and without the financial impact of the boycott, so often called out when it comes to iStock.
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
After providing him all the information he was interested in, I ended up with this email:
No problem, Jo. I'm glad I could help.
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
Here is my gallery:
[link to my SS port]
And here is the photo you liked:
[SS link for the photo he liked]
Cheers,
[Me].
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
Yes its not that simple.....if someone was to go to a site specifically for one image or just a few then I would earn hugely more than a sub package. FWIW my Return per image is overall very similar for SS and IS. It rankles a bit that IS take a higher share....but in the end its cash in my wallet that counts....If IS can persuade someone to pay $200 for a pic and I get $30 thats better that SS selling it for $75 and me getting $25 ;-).
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
Well... it is very true for me, month after month, since many years.
In January, my RPD was a record $0,82 on IS and $1.35 on SS. This means that IS paid me 64% less than SS!
If by a miracle, all IS customers will migrate to SS and buy the same photos, I will be making many hundreds of dollars more, each month!
I'm fairly certain that this is the case for a large majority of non-exclusives.
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
Yes its not that simple.....if someone was to go to a site specifically for one image or just a few then I would earn hugely more than a sub package. FWIW my Return per image is overall very similar for SS and IS. It rankles a bit that IS take a higher share....but in the end its cash in my wallet that counts....If IS can persuade someone to pay $200 for a pic and I get $30 thats better that SS selling it for $75 and me getting $25 ;-).
I'm with you, I don't mind if IS is getting a larger share, if I also get more in absolute numbers. Good for them if they can do a better job in selling!
But, that's only in theory, because in practice, you will get less. See the RPD example I gave above. That's why I want IS customers to migrate to SS.
Do you get a better RPD from IS, than from SS, to justify your example?
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If by a miracle, all IS customers will migrate to SS and buy the same photos, I will be making many hundreds of dollars more, each month!
I'd prefer the miracle that all iS/SS/Ft customers would migrate to Alamy.
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
Well... it is very true for me, month after month, since many years.
In January, my RPD was a record $0,82 on IS and $1.35 on SS. This means that IS paid me 64% less than SS!
If by a miracle, all IS customers will migrate to SS and buy the same photos, I will be making many hundreds of dollars more, each month!
I'm fairly certain that this is the case for a large majority of non-exclusives.
The point your buyer was making was that s/he believed that SS gave better rates to contributors than iS. I was just saying that that isn't always true.
The discussion about whether one would prefer a better rate or a better total is different.
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
Well... it is very true for me, month after month, since many years.
In January, my RPD was a record $0,82 on IS and $1.35 on SS. This means that IS paid me 64% less than SS!
If by a miracle, all IS customers will migrate to SS and buy the same photos, I will be making many hundreds of dollars more, each month!
I'm fairly certain that this is the case for a large majority of non-exclusives.
The point your buyer was making was that s/he believed that SS gave better rates to contributors than iS. I was just saying that that isn't always true.
The discussion about whether one would prefer a better rate or a better total is different.
I think there is a misunderstanding. The buyer only asked for some details for one of the photos he was planing to buy from IS.
I stated that SS has better rates (I know that for a fact, see above), asking him, as a favor, to check if he could get the same photo from SS instead.
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Today, I got contacted again by an IS customer, asking details about one of my photos.
...
On the other hand, if it doesn't make a difference to you, I would prefer if you could get the same photo from other agencies, like Shutterstock, since they have better rates for their contributors:
...
But that's just not always true. Although I'm complaining about an average $1.47 this month from iS (still photos only), I bet not many SS photo-only contributors get that much, and if so, it's only the top ones, not the middlings like me.
Well... it is very true for me, month after month, since many years.
In January, my RPD was a record $0,82 on IS and $1.35 on SS. This means that IS paid me 64% less than SS!
If by a miracle, all IS customers will migrate to SS and buy the same photos, I will be making many hundreds of dollars more, each month!
I'm fairly certain that this is the case for a large majority of non-exclusives.
The point your buyer was making was that s/he believed that SS gave better rates to contributors than iS. I was just saying that that isn't always true.
The discussion about whether one would prefer a better rate or a better total is different.
I think there is a misunderstanding. The buyer only asked for some details for one of the photos he was planing to buy from IS.
I stated that SS has better rates (I know that for a fact, see above), asking him, as a favor, to check if he could get the same photo from SS instead.
Yes it is theoretical but if he already had a subs package with SS and was planning to buy a one off image from IS because the SS search engine didn't find it you could easily find yourself worse off ;-). Largely academic discussion really.....
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Yes it is theoretical but if he already had a subs package with SS and was planning to buy a one off image from IS because the SS search engine didn't find it you could easily find yourself worse off ;-). Largely academic discussion really.....
Yes, this could happen, indeed. But it can only be a remote case. I would expect customers to first try to take advantage of their subscription, before they start googling for alternatives. Don't say that you "can't see the forest for the trees".
The fact is the I will be better off, in average, if my IS customers will migrate to SS.
And I'm fairly certain that I'm not alone. Even more, a large majority of non-exclusive IS contributors would benefit from such hypothetical migration.
I will definitely welcome academic discussions for a change ;)!
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Yes it is theoretical but if he already had a subs package with SS and was planning to buy a one off image from IS because the SS search engine didn't find it you could easily find yourself worse off ;-). Largely academic discussion really.....
Yes, this could happen, indeed. But it can only be a remote case. I would expect customers to first try to take advantage of their subscription, before they start googling for alternatives. Don't say that you "can't see the forest for the trees".
The fact is the I will be better off, in average, if my IS customers will migrate to SS.
And I'm fairly certain that I'm not alone. Even more, a large majority of non-exclusive IS contributors would benefit from such hypothetical migration.
I will definitely welcome academic discussions for a change ;)!
You are probably right and certainly you seem to have a strategy that works for you though I do recall seeing some people report what to me are very high RPDs at Istock last month mine was almost identical to SS.....I just believe RPD generally is a poor and often deceptive measure. I just look at total income.
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I just believe RPD generally is a poor and often deceptive measure. I just look at total income.
Same with me. The total income matters.
That low IS RPD is only telling me that I could earn more, if more customers would migrate from IS to SS.
Or to FT.
Or to DT.
Or to 123.
Or to Alamy.
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So if I want to start video submissions should I start off with Shutterstock? Currently learning how to process videos.
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You are probably right and certainly you seem to have a strategy that works for you though I do recall seeing some people report what to me are very high RPDs at Istock last month mine was almost identical to SS.....I just believe RPD generally is a poor and often deceptive measure. I just look at total income.
Just looked at a whole month of SS, keep in mind we get around 22% at SS, and 15% or less at IS. SS RPD $1.54 last month, IS according to DM .65 that's photo only. Most of the difference that I can see is ODs on SS.
Mostly I agree with your view, that RPD is a poor measure and total income is what makes sense = real income.
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Could someone give me a directions how to check my stats/profile etc. Like where I even log in?
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So if I want to start video submissions should I start off with Shutterstock? Currently learning how to process videos
ProArtWork
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Could someone give me a directions how to check my stats/profile etc. Like where I even log in?
login
https://esp.gettyimages.com/sign-in?returnUrl=/
you can download last month's report from royalties->export->...
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Could someone give me a directions how to check my stats/profile etc. Like where I even log in?
login
https://esp.gettyimages.com/sign-in?returnUrl=/
you can download last month's report from royalties->export->...
And install Deepmeta.
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Could someone give me a directions how to check my stats/profile etc. Like where I even log in?
login
https://esp.gettyimages.com/sign-in?returnUrl=/
you can download last month's report from royalties->export->...
And install Deepmeta.
Thank you so much