It�s a small increase, they probably hope that most people don�t notice and it can certainly help someone reach their targets for the quarter. But would this be necessary if the last quarter was rocking with sales and customer traffic steadily increasing after the summer slump? Probably not.

I always welcome more money, I just hope this doesn�t upset the customers. It�s a very odd time for a price increase. But if it works out, I suppose I should be grateful.

Then why are you submitting your art to microstock? You can always send your files to higher priced agencies and ignore the micros. There are plenty of photographers out there who don�t submit to ms and  are doing fine.

Then why are you submitting your art to microstock? You can always send your files to higher priced agencies and ignore the micros. There are plenty of photographers out there who don�t submit to ms and  are doing fine.

My photos aren't good enough and my stuff isn't nearly high budget enough. I'm being realistic about myself, but also about MS. It's time MS matures, days of getting everything almost for free should be long over.

BTW Mantis, this should be good for you since you're independent, buyers will now more likely buy P+ rather than E+

It�s good to be realistic, but the prices have been going for a long, long time. When I started submitting to istock it was all for 50 cents. Things definetely have changed.

But if you work on the quality of your files you can get into the higher priced libraries if you really want to. Personally I prefer high volume sales, I don�t like to be dependent on a small number of clients. That business model is just too vulnerable and easy to exploit by the competition.

Quote from: jsnover on November 15, 2011, 10:51

I'm assuming they're more worried about their own numbers than contributors' RC numbers and that they have some data that leads them to think there's the best chance of a boost from upping the prices on these sizes, but soaking more cash out of the buyers you have - versus getting more buyers or more volume from the same buyers - seems strange to me.

Me too. It's been a long time since they 'worried' about their contributors ... if indeed they ever did. Nowadays it's all about making those targets and huge profits for H&F.

Me three.   I don't for a moment imagine this has anything to do with helping contributors.  It's about padding the bottom line in a much slower than expected holiday season. 

But as usual, it is completely misguided.  When I read the title of this thread I almost couldn't believe it.  Positively insane to be raising prices in the midst of massive buyer exodus to other sites.   

Maybe it was the tea lady's day for making a suggestion.
(Sorry, tea lady, I was being facetious. I didn't intend to impugn your reputation)

If you compare the traffic stats of istock and shutterstock on compete, you see that istock so far does not show a significant upswing after the summer slump:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/istockphoto.com/

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/shutterstock.com/

Shutterstock however is going through the roof.

istock, what are you going to do about this? :-(

Those stats should put a chill in everyone involved with running Istock. Their traffic is less than 1/3 of what it was one year ago.

If you compare the traffic stats of istock and shutterstock on compete, you see that istock so far does not show a significant upswing after the summer slump:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/istockphoto.com/

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/shutterstock.com/

Shutterstock however is going through the roof.

istock, what are you going to do about this? :-(

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
 

I�ve quit video exclusivity. Today is my last day as a video exclusive. I only have 12 files and no sales, so this is nothing heroic.

For two reasons:

it takes them ages to accept video files, even for exclusives it can take several months. I am a total video newbie and I simply cannot learn about video this way. It is not just the technical side of video that I have to learn, but I also have to understand the video market, which usually means I have to have several hundred files online for around 18 months.

I do believe that istock has the best video library with an extremely high quality of files. istock also has files with over 1000 downloads at their high prices, which I haven�t seen anywhere else.

But as a photographer I can never create enough videos to compete with the quality of the pros or upload enough to move up in rank.

However, I believe the video market has tremendous growth potential and I hope it will bring balance to my photo portfolio.

So - even without the traffic stats I felt I had no choice. It was a very painful and difficult decision, but stock is the biggest part of my income, in business you have to be practical. I did wait to see what the big plans were that JJ kept hinting at, but so far...

Video is a completely new market, there is no market saturation, so there should be tremendous growth on istock video. However, even in the video threads people are reporting slow sales.

I will spend the next year focussing on Getty and video. Of course I will still upload to istock, but it is obvious I need to diversify.

It was a painful decision, because I�ve met the video team and they are all hard working, totally devoted people. This is not their fault. And I truly need to learn about video, istock seems to be site that has more pro videographers.

I sincerly hope istock turns things around in 2012. They still can IMO, it is a huge site and even with fewer customers I wouldn�t be surprised if they are making more money than all the other sites.

I have never heard Shutterstock or anyone announcing that they pay out 1.9 million USD A WEEK to their contributors.

I am also not ruling out that I will return as a video exclusive to istock if my video sales there are good.

This is my 7th year in stock. It is time to look around and learn about the wider industry. From what I read here on msg the other sites are no angels and istock has for many years been an extremely reliable business partner.

2012 will be an interesting year.

Quote from: cobalt on November 15, 2011, 16:38

If you compare the traffic stats of istock and shutterstock on compete, you see that istock so far does not show a significant upswing after the summer slump:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/istockphoto.com/

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/shutterstock.com/

Shutterstock however is going through the roof.

istock, what are you going to do about this? :-(

Those stats should put a chill in everyone involved with running Istock. Their traffic is less than 1/3 of what it was one year ago.

Yesterday I subscribed to 'follow' Istock on compete.com. They've just sent me an email saying that with 447K UV's recorded it represents a change in the last month of -5.72% and a yearly change of ... wait for it ... -71.8%. Me thinks that Rebbecca has a job on her hands.

"Shutterstock however is going through the roof."

They smell blood. I just received this email from them seconds ago:

Break Free From Exclusivity: We Make It Easy
Expand your horizons. If you're submitting exclusively to a different stock site, learn how to move your images to Shutterstock without interrupting your sales.

Wow! AFAIK this is a first.

Smart move on Shutterstock's part.  Apparently they feel Istock is vulnerable to harvest its exclusives. 

Wonder how widespread this e-mail is - whether it is going to all exclusives or targeted to certain canister levels, or people who have expressed dissatisfaction. 

"Shutterstock however is going through the roof."

They smell blood. I just received this email from them seconds ago:

Break Free From Exclusivity: We Make It Easy
Expand your horizons. If you're submitting exclusively to a different stock site, learn how to move your images to Shutterstock without interrupting your sales.

Read all about it here;

http://www.shutterstock.com/buzz/control-your-portfolio-opt-in-or-opt-out?sid=NOVNLS&utm_source=article2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NOVNLS