17% still isn't 20%. So I don't care.

I think the revised targets are to try and minimise the loss of exclusives and to keep a few at the top around the 1.2 - 1.4 million on board.  I'm sure they don't give a #### about non-exclusives except the top 3 of them.

With no exclusives no vetta which makes them the most money

With no exclusives no vetta which makes them the most money

It makes them most from an individual sale but the non-exclusive bulk of the collection could still generate more income overall than all the Vetta sales.
Vetta pricing seems to be based on the ailing Getty Images model. My understanding is that high-priced sales are going down as people opt for cheaper content. If that is the overall pattern of the industry, then pushing once cheap files into a high price bracket is swimming against the tide.
Istock may have a captive market of buyers who can have expensive content shoved under their noses, perhaps for the first time, and some of them will buy it. But in the long term surely the strategy must backfire as price resistance continues to increase. Yes, it looks UNSUSTAINABLE!
But it may ramp up the returns just long enough to enable the group to be offloaded at an inflated price.

I'm not sure this is the right thread for this comment... but I'm wondering if the lowered levels is due to lower than anticipated sales because customers are leaving as a result of a myriad of missteps and incomptence? 

I'm not sure this is the right thread for this comment... but I'm wondering if the lowered levels is due to lower than anticipated sales because customers are leaving as a result of a myriad of missteps and incomptence? 

It's not just you - Gostwyck has been saying the same thing, and I'm sure many of us see much that theory. 

I'm absolutely positive that after this (dead chicken) announcement the targets will never ever be lowered again. Doing so (for them) would be the same as announcing it was a bad year, something they'll never do because its nothing but growth, more growth, 'we're doing extremely well' and sexiness there in Lalalistockland.
As we all know and witnessed they'll make sure their favourite pets get their new higher goal RC's (whether it be by doubling them for vetta, or setting up a 'scam' to reward them with a bunch of extra credits), and the other 'plebs'  can bend or drop under the higher RC levels. (am i the only one thinking they actually WANT to get rid of all the non-vetta plebs to replace them with the neverending supply of cheap base canisters (who probably whine less too) ?)

No, you aren't the only one thinking this.  I see this happening in regular companies, so it's no surprise to me that IS is doing the same thing. Reminds me of third world countries...you are either in the "club" and reaping all kinds of rewards, or you are dirt poor, and should be happy that you are getting minimum wage or less. There will be no middle class anymore. Sure seems like this country is moving in that direction.

I'm not sure this is the right thread for this comment... but I'm wondering if the lowered levels is due to lower than anticipated sales because customers are leaving as a result of a myriad of missteps and incomptence? 

Haven't they more or less admitted that sales have fallen with this statement?

"As 2010 wound down, our data gave us a more and more complete picture of how the year went. We've now been able to crunch everything down and examine how performance matched up against our predictions.

And I must say, thank you to everyone for helping iStock with an exceptional year. With your hard work, we continue to meet and exceed our goals. We were almost exactly right on our credit burn targets, but the distribution was a little different from what we expected. We�ve adjusted the credit targets to better reflect that. Some targets have stayed the same, some down--none up."

I'm struggling to believe the 'distribution theory'. In fact all the targets for Photos have been revised downwards between 8-25%. If most targets have gone down but none up then where's the 'distribution' issue?

I think we are witnessing a case-perfect example of "the law of unintended consequences" here. I suspect that they began devising the RC plan immediately after they retreated to some degree on the canister changes. At that time everything was rosy in the garden, monthly sales were still growing and no-one considered what would happen if and when they actually started to fall. I also doubt that it occurred to anyone that subsequent 'adjustments' to the RC levels, if done fairly and accurately to maintain the status quo, would effectively be a open window into how well (or otherwise) the business was doing.

Oh dear, oh dear ... if sales continue to fall then what on earth are they going to when they have to announce the RC targets for 2011 within the next quarter? Didn't they originally promise that those would be announced in the New Year? Why the delay?

If sales do fall and they don't keep revising the targets downwards then yes, iStock will make a slightly higher percentage of profit, but then more and more contributors will become dissatisfied as the targets become ever more unattainable and fewer will qualify at each level. Of course microstock sales cannot continue to grow forever and there's certainly no guarantee that iStock will maintain their share whenever the market does mature. This issue was always going rear it's ugly head at some point in time.

Of course if sales are falling ... then so the value of the business will be falling too ... and so H&F will have missed the boat when it comes to selling iStock on. That's a lot of bonus cheques that won't be getting handed out.

It looks to me that in implementing the RC system iStock have inadvertently hoisted themselves by their own petard.

They should because they want to keep me as an exclusive...obviously they don't have to. 

Maybe they should bump me up 300,000 credits, so they can keep me as an independent. 

The whole "fraud" fiasco reminds me of the "ratings rings" that were around a few years ago. Back in the day ratings were a big part of the best match. Then these "rings" started to make deals to rate each others images. Back then getting just a 4 out of 5 on an image could send it to the back of a search so you needed every "5" you could get. Eventually 2 or 3 people were kicked off the site for it but all the ratings they, and the others, made were not changed. Thus, continuing to give certain people an advantage in the searches.

Now we have this "fraudulent" credit card purchase that lasted for over a week, and almost exclusively purchased Vetta images. While the money from the purchases will have to be returned to IS, the RC's will be allowed to stay - giving many of those people the boost they needed to either remain or raise their 2010 royalty rate.

It's being an MO for IS. If the choosen few aren't going to be able to make it then we'll pull something to make sure they do.

Quote from: azurelaroux on January 08, 2011, 12:14

Now we have this "fraudulent" credit card purchase that lasted for over a week, and almost exclusively purchased Vetta images. While the money from the purchases will have to be returned to IS, the RC's will be allowed to stay - giving many of those people the boost they needed to either remain or raise their 2010 royalty rate.

This fraud "conspiracy" theory is ridiculous.  It was not just Vetta and Agency.  I had quite a few regular sales too.  And before someone starts whining it was just exclusives, well, maybe that's because for $250 or whatever, you can get all the independent content you want at SS for your illegal cd collections.  I certainly wouldn't waste my time dl'ing independent content at IS, when I'd have a teeny tiny chance of getting caught at SS.

I don't think the fraud problem is over yet.  I have gotten a LOT of suspicious sales today.  Here's the thread:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/image-thieves-targetting-is-again!!/msg178897/?topicseen#new

This fraud "conspiracy" theory is ridiculous.  It was not just Vetta and Agency.  I had quite a few regular sales too.  And before someone starts whining it was just exclusives, well, maybe that's because for $250 or whatever, you can get all the independent content you want at SS for your illegal cd collections.  I certainly wouldn't waste my time dl'ing independent content at IS, when I'd have a teeny tiny chance of getting caught at SS.

And the amount of RCs kept likely did not affect anyone's transition from one level to the next or their ability to stay anywhere.  If the larger portfolio people got proportionally more fraud dls, an extra 500-100 RCs was less likely to move them anywhere, like an extra 50 wouldn't move a smaller contributor anywhere.  I agree with SNP (shock!) that TPTB decided it wasn't enough trouble to waste development time on figuring how to pull them back as yet another adjustment, and in the current climate, just look at it as a random bonus that doesn't really do anything much.

Makes sense. With all the other problems or things IS has going on, going through and adjusting RC's is probably low on the priority list. I remember when I was new to IS. Someone downloaded all my files which was about 70 at the time. IS said it was fraud, but let me keep the royalties.

Can't remember where, but I read that Yuri did make the top level.  Doubt he is dancing in the streets, though, to just get to keep the 20% he was already making.

I seriously doubt that any other non-exclusives made it, though, and I haven't yet heard of any exclusives who made the 1.2 million to get to 45% either. 

I agree with SNP (shock!) that TPTB decided it wasn't enough trouble to waste development time on figuring how to pull them back as yet another adjustment, and in the current climate, just look at it as a random bonus that doesn't really do anything much.

That is shocking! 

Though, regarding the RCs from the scam as "a random bonus that doesn't really do anything much" - without all the details including a breakdown of numbers before/after how many such credits were racked up for individuals, I'm just not sold on the idea that the bonus didn't do anything much for at least a few people. Because you have to remember the "legit" bonus that was in play for Vetta sale files, too. Those two bonuses together may well have helped a few, and particularly after Kelly's overall adjustment to the RC system.

We can never know for certain. But those, if any, who were boosted by these two bonuses know who they are.