Author Topic: iStock sales (Read 13712 times)

fotoVoyager · « **on:** July 11, 2012, 16:09 »

My iStock sales have crashed catastrophically in the last few days, down to a third of usual levels.

Is anyone else experiencing this kind of dramatic downfall or is it just me?

I seem to be only occassionally selling older images, even right back to 2005, at the moment. What a waste of time the last 4000 uploads were for me if this continues.

sharpshot · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2012, 16:16 »

I don't think my sales are enough to have a crash anymore

Perhaps they've persuaded more buyers to use Thinkstock?

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2012, 16:49 »

It's been a week or so, rather than the last couple of days, but sales volume is down and there are many more older files in the mix. As an example, of my last 20 sales, 13 of them are images uploaded prior to 2010 with 4 of those from 2005!

Some of the slowdown is the 4th July holiday and aftermath, but I think all these old files selling says there's been some sort of best match shift (again).

fotoVoyager · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2012, 17:09 »

Funny how best match shifts never, ever go in my favour.

You'd think that with a big body of work covering the last seven years it wouldn't matter whether the best match favours older files but it doesn't seem to work that way.

Brings the time when I have to stop doing iStock full time depressingly closer.

lisafx · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2012, 17:09 »

Quote from: sharpshot on July 11, 2012, 16:16

I don't think my sales are enough to have a crash anymore

That sums up my sales there too. Bad has deteriorated to really, desperately bad. Been uploading, but very little of my new stuff is selling. And not that much of the old stuff either. Not really enough sales to gauge what they are doing.

I agree with JoAnn that 4th of July week was low, as expected, but I had hoped for some sort of rebound this week and it isn't happening.

Karimala · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2012, 17:50 »

iStock without Thinkstock has become a speck of dust in my earnings this month. I'm finally at the point where I have more non-selling days than days with sales. Used to be I'd average about 20 per day.

wut · « **Reply #6 on:** July 11, 2012, 18:09 »

My sales are great

stockmarketer · « **Reply #7 on:** July 11, 2012, 18:30 »

My ISP sales for July 1 - 10 are almost exactly what they were for same period in 2011. Last few days nothing unusual... pretty decent actually.

Freedom · « **Reply #8 on:** July 11, 2012, 18:31 »

My sales have been very bad last week, too. It's even worse this week.

Graffoto · « **Reply #9 on:** July 11, 2012, 18:50 »

One sale so far this month. This from a port that used to generate from one to three payouts a month. Not huge I know, but seriously this is just a tremendous falloff.
Also the summer months used to be my best ones with August always the top producing month.
I have dropped exclusivity, so that I can try to make a bit more on my existing images elsewhere.

I just cannot any longer muster any sort of enthusiasm to shoot for stock.

THP Creative · « **Reply #10 on:** July 11, 2012, 18:52 »

yep, slow month this month, after a couple of BME's. Hope its just the summer slump (wishful thinking..?)

whimsikewl · « **Reply #11 on:** July 11, 2012, 21:15 »

Quote from: fotoVoyager on July 11, 2012, 16:09

My iStock sales have crashed catastrophically in the last few days, down to a third of usual levels.

Yes, same for me only its been since the last week of June. Now I am routinely getting single digit download days on most weekdays, and that takes me back to 2008 since it was that bad, even though I have 2000 more files now.

Also, this may sound like paranoia, but I think Getty has found a way to turn off or completely depress the portfolios of segments of the contributor base in order to promote their chosen elite. For example, yesterday my last sale was around 2 in the afternoon and I didnt get another one till about noon today. Then I had about 8 in a three hour period. I am experiencing this type of activity quite often where its like my portfolio is turned off for big chunks of time and then the flood gate will open for a few hours and then get turned off again. I used to get downloads spread over the weekdays from about 10 in the morning till 10 at night. No more. I will get most of my downloads over a two or three hour chunk of time with big gaps in between.

Another thing, ever since they started experimenting with the so called "regional searches" about a year ago, I used to get a nice percentage of my sales overnight. Now those are almost non existent.

click_click · « **Reply #12 on:** July 11, 2012, 21:38 »

Quote from: wut on July 11, 2012, 18:09

My sales are great

As usual, wut's portfolio is exempt from any seasonal or any other fluctuations.

Can we finally say that summer has arrived now? I was waiting for a thread to announce it finally happened but for me this is the time now.

antistock · « **Reply #13 on:** July 11, 2012, 23:55 »

why blaming algo and ranking changes ?

to me it's obvious that buyers are simply buying elsewhere and istock losing marketshare.

maybe it's also the last straw for some buyers who still had some credits left to spend, now they finished the credits and bye bye istock.

Lagereek · « **Reply #14 on:** July 12, 2012, 01:35 »

Quote from: lisafx on July 11, 2012, 17:09

Quote from: sharpshot on July 11, 2012, 16:16
I don't think my sales are enough to have a crash anymore

That sums up my sales there too. Bad has deteriorated to really, desperately bad. Been uploading, but very little of my new stuff is selling. And not that much of the old stuff either. Not really enough sales to gauge what they are doing.

I agree with JoAnn that 4th of July week was low, as expected, but I had hoped for some sort of rebound this week and it isn't happening.

Their search engine, is geared towards exclusives/vettas, etc. They have to, or they lose even more exclusives. In fact, the entire , IS, best match, their CV, etc, etc, is the worst and most naive search among all the agencies. A computer kid, in grammer school could have constructed something better.
Further more, TS, is their new dumping ground for independants and low cannister exclusives. Seems as if Getty really is toying around with IS.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #15 on:** July 12, 2012, 01:51 »

IS has now moved into third position, behind DT, for me. That's a first.

contrastaddict · « **Reply #16 on:** July 12, 2012, 01:51 »

Hoping its summer slow down to blame, we'll see what happens in Sept.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #17 on:** July 12, 2012, 01:57 »

Quote from: contrastaddict on July 12, 2012, 01:51

Hoping its summer slow down to blame, we'll see what happens in Sept.

There does seem to be a slight slowdown elsewhere but that should not cause iStock to lose its position in the rankings. It's probably the fault of the search.

THP Creative · « **Reply #18 on:** July 12, 2012, 02:01 »

according to alexa...

1 month 0.245% -2.9% Change in Reach % over the trailing 1 month period
3 month 0.2564% -11.4% Change in Reach % over the trailing 3 month period

if you look at the graph on alexa, they seem to have hit their lowest point in two years (the only other point that comes close is the 2011 end of December period, which is usually terrible all round)

THP Creative · « **Reply #19 on:** July 12, 2012, 02:04 »

also, not that this may mean much, but the last 5 reviews on alexa for IS (since sept 12 2010) are all 1 star, angry and wouldn't recommend to their friends.

You really hope IS takes some notice of these things, otherwise I can only see them dropping more positions like has happened for BaldricksTrousers.

Lagereek · « **Reply #20 on:** July 12, 2012, 02:25 »

Quote from: Microstock Man on July 12, 2012, 02:04

also, not that this may mean much, but the last 5 reviews on alexa for IS (since sept 12 2010) are all 1 star, angry and wouldn't recommend to their friends.

You really hope IS takes some notice of these things, otherwise I can only see them dropping more positions like has happened for BaldricksTrousers.

Ofcourse they wont take any notice, they dont have to, they just fall back on Getty, its NOT, IS anymore, its Getty and Getty I recon have got far more important things to sort out then a side-kick called IS, full of microstockers. They dont give a sh#t, lets face it.

fotografer · « **Reply #21 on:** July 12, 2012, 03:49 »

It has been a terrible month for me until yesterday when I got one of my best days for ages.

wut · « **Reply #22 on:** July 12, 2012, 05:06 »

Quote from: click_click on July 11, 2012, 21:38

Quote from: wut on July 11, 2012, 18:09
My sales are great
As usual, wut's portfolio is exempt from any seasonal or any other fluctuations.

I'm pissing against the wind, without getting piss on myself

Lagereek · « **Reply #23 on:** July 12, 2012, 05:48 »

Quote from: wut on July 12, 2012, 05:06

Quote from: click_click on July 11, 2012, 21:38
Quote from: wut on July 11, 2012, 18:09
My sales are great
As usual, wut's portfolio is exempt from any seasonal or any other fluctuations.

I'm pissing against the wind, without getting piss on myself

Thats because your pissing WITH the wind, not against it. Try the port side of the ship and see what happens.

aeonf · « **Reply #24 on:** July 12, 2012, 05:54 »

The whole month is a complete catastrophe.

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Author Topic: iStock sales (Read 13712 times)

fotoVoyager

sharpshot

Jo Ann Snover

fotoVoyager

lisafx

Karimala

wut

stockmarketer

Freedom

Graffoto

THP Creative

whimsikewl

click_click

antistock

Lagereek

BaldricksTrousers

contrastaddict

BaldricksTrousers

THP Creative

THP Creative

Lagereek

fotografer

wut

Lagereek

aeonf

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