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Poll

iStock sales VOLUME since the start of Jy?

Independent - Significantly up
Independent - About the same
Independent - Significantly down
Exclusive - Significantly up
Exclusive - About the same
Exclusive - Significantly down

Author Topic: Istock sales since price changes  (Read 35271 times)

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PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #25 on: July 08, 2013, 19:28 »
0
And in addition to the price changes they seem to have done a massive best match change that favors older highly download files.  Good times.
This has been the case for a few months now. In fact, new files have been doa since September.
Also remember that you're not always actually being shown the Best Match sort even if you wanted it and it says Best Match as the sort at the top of the page.

I monitor my files pretty closely and I haven't seen any significant change in months. Today when I checked it was completely different. I haven't seen this big of a change in probably over a year. Before it seemed to give preference to performance. Now it's downloads.


THP Creative

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« Reply #26 on: July 08, 2013, 19:45 »
0
I seem to be noticing quite a few more sales happening since this change, but it's certainly not in my favour - the sales amounts are tiny compared to my P+ sales before (majority of my sales were from P+). So now although volume is up, I doubt by the end of the month that $$ will be up as well.

Bring back P+

shudderstok

« Reply #27 on: July 08, 2013, 20:38 »
0
i think results will vary according to what you shoot.
i found my sales volume is roughly about the same, but it's also a tricky one to sort as well because july is not really a great barometer of sales, especially the first week of july, especially with a few holidays thrown into the mix in the usa and canada, plus weekends.
from what i am seeing is that my sales volume is roughly the same give or take, but revenue per download is way way up, surpassing what i would have made without the changes.

« Reply #28 on: July 08, 2013, 20:59 »
+1
Is anyone planning to delete their portfolio or deactivate files because of this? I'm considering deactivating some of my best sellers in response to this, but I'm wondering what others doing, if anything.

I've deleted about another 150.  Not big sellers, but ones I've noticed people are prepared to pay a few dollars for.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2013, 21:03 by Travelling-light »

mlwinphoto

« Reply #29 on: July 08, 2013, 23:54 »
+2
Is anyone planning to delete their portfolio or deactivate files because of this? I'm considering deactivating some of my best sellers in response to this, but I'm wondering what others doing, if anything.

With the best match and the recent collection change iStock has essentially deleted my port for me.

« Reply #30 on: July 09, 2013, 01:55 »
0
My sales are down infinitely - from something to nothing.

I do not consider this a statistically valid result.

Of course until we see the PP results we won't actually know how IS images are performing as and Indy.

« Reply #31 on: July 09, 2013, 02:15 »
0
*moved to the right thread*
« Last Edit: July 09, 2013, 03:33 by Ploink »

« Reply #32 on: July 09, 2013, 03:38 »
+7
About the same for me. My port has always been "main" collection anyway because I was too idle to take advantage of P+

It seems a bit premature to gauge impact, particularly as there are other factors; the fabled summer slow period for example where those of us without images of elfin girls prancing through the buttercups tend to suffer. I'm certainly down on last year but that's due to IS relegating all my best sellers to the wilderness and their foot in mouth management style, coupled with their arrogant treatment of customers and a porcine business strategy concerned only with getting their snout in the trough and keeping it there at all costs.

Edit. Apologies for the rant but every time I think about IS these days it induces a fizzing sense of indignation and betrayal.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2013, 03:59 by Red Dove »

wds

« Reply #33 on: July 09, 2013, 06:45 »
0
i think results will vary according to what you shoot.
i found my sales volume is roughly about the same, but it's also a tricky one to sort as well because july is not really a great barometer of sales, especially the first week of july, especially with a few holidays thrown into the mix in the usa and canada, plus weekends.
from what i am seeing is that my sales volume is roughly the same give or take, but revenue per download is way way up, surpassing what i would have made without the changes.

Out of curiosity, do you attribute your increase in revenue due to iS making a bunch of your files S+? Did you not use your full E+ allotment previously?

ShadySue

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« Reply #34 on: July 09, 2013, 06:53 »
0
i think results will vary according to what you shoot.
In comparison to other people, yes; but not so much when comparing your sales to similar periods in previous years.

Reef

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« Reply #35 on: July 09, 2013, 08:52 »
0
Exclusive - with only Sig or Sig+    Purchases are significantly down but I'm earning about the same. New uploads are a complete waste of time!

shudderstok

« Reply #36 on: July 09, 2013, 09:18 »
0
i think results will vary according to what you shoot.
i found my sales volume is roughly about the same, but it's also a tricky one to sort as well because july is not really a great barometer of sales, especially the first week of july, especially with a few holidays thrown into the mix in the usa and canada, plus weekends.
from what i am seeing is that my sales volume is roughly the same give or take, but revenue per download is way way up, surpassing what i would have made without the changes.

Out of curiosity, do you attribute your increase in revenue due to iS making a bunch of your files S+? Did you not use your full E+ allotment previously?

yes, revenue per download appears to be up due to IS making a bunch of my files S+ (ones that I would have never thunk), and no I did not use any of my allotment for E+ apart from what they gave me initially. I did at one point put several images into E+ (ones that i really thought would take off) and noticed that my sales on my choices totally tanked, so I pulled them and put them back into the normal collection. That said, the original choices they made for me did do well.

I still think it's a bit early to notice a pattern, however I will give it a few months before I conclude if they are doing the right thing or not. Thus far however, I do remain optimistic.


shudderstok

« Reply #37 on: July 09, 2013, 09:21 »
0
i think results will vary according to what you shoot.
In comparison to other people, yes; but not so much when comparing your sales to similar periods in previous years.

I think industry wide comparing sales to similar periods in previous years most people are down, the market is saturated with images, and the subscription sites are killing us all.

KB

« Reply #38 on: July 09, 2013, 09:30 »
0
Exclusive - with only Sig or Sig+    Purchases are significantly down but I'm earning about the same. New uploads are a complete waste of time!
You have NO Main collection files? How did you accomplish that? You actually didn't have any files in your port with 0 (or in some cases of forced demotion to Main, 1 or 2) DLs? Or did you deactivate all of your demoted files?

KB

« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2013, 09:40 »
0
yes, revenue per download appears to be up due to IS making a bunch of my files S+ (ones that I would have never thunk), and no I did not use any of my allotment for E+ apart from what they gave me initially.

I still think it's a bit early to notice a pattern, however I will give it a few months before I conclude if they are doing the right thing or not. Thus far however, I do remain optimistic.

SO not true for me. I did make use of my E+ allotment, carefully promoting those that I felt would be well served as E+. I think I did a pretty decent job, especially compared to the random job that IS did in auto-promoting to S+.

As an example, I had a file that was #1 by best match in a crowded search (almost 400,000 results). It's since fallen to #14, but that's still pretty good.  It had been selling pretty steadily at 6-7 per month. Not a huge seller, but decent enough. It has sold ONE time in the almost 4 weeks since the collection changes.

Multiply that times the dozens of my best selling files that were promoted to S+ that haven't sold even once since the change, and you can see that for some, the changes have been devasting.

Ron

« Reply #40 on: July 09, 2013, 09:42 »
0
93.1% has the same volume or down. Only 6.9% see an improvement. I think the picture is starting to form.

« Reply #41 on: July 09, 2013, 09:48 »
0
/
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 12:04 by Audi 5000 »

Ron

« Reply #42 on: July 09, 2013, 11:14 »
0
93.1% has the same volume or down. Only 6.9% see an improvement. I think the picture is starting to form.
So the only thing that changed for independents was that the price was reduced, why would that cause less sales?  I'm a little skeptical that buyers are buying less files now that they cost less.
The lowering of pricing didnt cause a massive increase of sales. Buyers havent come back in drones yet. If the pricing is lowered but the volume is not making up for it, everybody loses money.

« Reply #43 on: July 09, 2013, 11:24 »
0
/
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 12:04 by Audi 5000 »

KB

« Reply #44 on: July 09, 2013, 11:39 »
0
The lowering of pricing didnt cause a massive increase of sales. Buyers havent come back in drones yet. If the pricing is lowered but the volume is not making up for it, everybody loses money.
Buyers needn't have come back to cause an increase in sales to independents, they just needed to shift their buying from what are now very expensive images (S+) to those similars that are far less expensive ones (M). Based on my sales, they do seem to have shifted, but perhaps they are shifting from S+ to S, rather than to M?

Ron

« Reply #45 on: July 09, 2013, 11:43 »
0
93.1% has the same volume or down. Only 6.9% see an improvement. I think the picture is starting to form.
So the only thing that changed for independents was that the price was reduced, why would that cause less sales?  I'm a little skeptical that buyers are buying less files now that they cost less.
The lowering of pricing didnt cause a massive increase of sales. Buyers havent come back in drones yet. If the pricing is lowered but the volume is not making up for it, everybody loses money.
Significant and massive mean different things, you can have a significant rise without it being massive.  The poll is not about money it's about downloads, it's irrelevant to this thread whether or not anyone is losing money or not, the question was about downloads and specifically excluded money.
I know its about downloads, thats what I am saying. Read my first sentence. I am also mentioning volume.

 Massive - significant, tomato, you know what I mean. Lets not go into a language discussion again.

I am not trying to convince you by the way, thats impossible.

« Reply #46 on: July 09, 2013, 12:15 »
+1
Volume: down
Value: waaaaaay down

Partner sales: Does IS have partner sales. Yes, probably.
Partner sales payout is of a different kind. Still haven''t seen a penny for may and june

Will I be uploading new pictures: NO

Will I stay with IS: Probably not, I only upload to the top 6

SS is stronger than ever both in volume and value.

iS tumbled down from a 4th place (behind SS, Beeldbank (local player) and FT)

To a 10th place

« Reply #47 on: July 09, 2013, 12:23 »
0
So far a narrow majority of indes are saying they have the same or more sales than before, whereas a majority of exclusives are saying their sales are down and none are saying their sales are up.

An awful lot of indes are saying their sales are lower than expected, which is a bit of a surprise though it may just be because of the summer and the holidays.

To me it suggests weak evidence of a shift of sales towards indes in the main collection. Whether the exclusive files have been allocated to higher priced collections than before in large enough numbers to have increased the overall spend (and commission payments) on exclusive files is something that would need a separate survey.


« Reply #48 on: July 09, 2013, 12:29 »
-2
'
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 12:04 by Audi 5000 »

« Reply #49 on: July 09, 2013, 13:09 »
0
So far a narrow majority of indes are saying they have the same or more sales than before, whereas a majority of exclusives are saying their sales are down and none are saying their sales are up.

An awful lot of indes are saying their sales are lower than expected, which is a bit of a surprise though it may just be because of the summer and the holidays.

To me it suggests weak evidence of a shift of sales towards indes in the main collection. Whether the exclusive files have been allocated to higher priced collections than before in large enough numbers to have increased the overall spend (and commission payments) on exclusive files is something that would need a separate survey.
That's one way of looking at it.  A narrow majority of indies are at the same or more while a massively overwhelming majority of indies are at the same or lower.  I think people are reporting on sales figures rather than downloads (that's my generous view, although I suspect a lot of people just like to say Istock is losing sales at any opportunity whether or not they are contributing there and irregardless of what the statistics say).

The summerdays are the best months for me. and IS is down, down, deeper than down. SS is up, up, upper than up. so is FT


 

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