Author Topic: Latest slap in the face for exclusives (Read 14857 times)

ShadySue · « **on:** January 15, 2013, 07:42 »

I have thought for a while that iStock was trying to get rid of its Exclusives.
The latest nail in the Exclusive coffin is that they have altered the price slider so that at the bottom rung, only dollar bin and indie files show.
I accept that that is totally logical from the price point of view.
But right back when they introduced differential pricing, and I wasn't banned, I asked several times for exclusives to be allowed, at their choice only, to nominate some of their own files to be set at E- price, i.e. the same as indies, and that attracted no support, either from peers or obviously from admin.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350573&page=1
So, another honeyed promise to encourage people to become exclusive, back in the day, has been broken.
In fact, most of the benefits of exclusivity on the earlier 'become an exclusive' page have been removed, but it still says, "Exclusivity brings more attention to your portfolio and makes the most out of all that traffic." (All what traffic?)

Reef · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2013, 08:13 »

It must have been a bug - seems to work ok for me i.e. Exclusives files show when slider at bottom

ShadySue · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2013, 08:20 »

Doesn't work for me - just tried it again, no Exc files on lowest point of slider (one dot). Win7/FF 18.0.

Screenshots sorted by downloads:

I'd love to imagine it's 'just a bug'.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2013, 08:59 »

Reef, do you have anything in the Value Collection?

Those are the only Exclusive files showing with the slider at one dot.

aluxum · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:31 »

Wowww. Indeed exclusivity looks less and less appealing nowadays. I hope it is a bug ....wishful thinking I know......

KB · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2013, 10:49 »

I'm 99% certain this is no bug, and I'm afraid to say, it makes sense. For fun, though, someone should find that post (by KKT?) promising that they would never exclude exclusive files from the search results.

However, along these same lines, IS now needs to allow exclusives to designate files of their choosing to "E-", to be able to show up in the lowest price search. But I doubt they'll bother.

ShadySue · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2013, 11:02 »

Quote from: KB on January 15, 2013, 10:49

I'm 99% certain this is no bug, and I'm afraid to say, it makes sense. For fun, though, someone should find that post (by KKT?) promising that they would never exclude exclusive files from the search results.

However, along these same lines, IS now needs to allow exclusives to designate files of their choosing to "E-", to be able to show up in the lowest price search. But I doubt they'll bother.

That 'promise' (they have refined promise as well as their famous 'new kind of trust') I *think* was by JJRD.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2013, 11:13 »

Sirimo said that most buyers don't use the refinement terms but that this change in the "price" slider is helpful for those who do.

I still think that the dot slider is a bad UI - they need to deal with $$ or credits so a buyer has a way to say that I need a medium size costing less than $50 and they can see all the files that match that.

The existing "More Attributues" "Collections" "Photo & Illustration Filters" and the dot slider are just horrible UI and that's why they don't get used.

I have to hope that they don't get used as the bulk of my $$ comes from my Photo+ files which are excluded from the one dot price point. Given iStock's lack of traffic these days, I'm not expecting much even if the Dollar Bin files get more of an airing than before

KB · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2013, 11:13 »

Quote from: ShadySue on January 15, 2013, 11:02

That 'promise' (they have refined promise as well as their famous 'new kind of trust') I *think* was by JJRD.

Not to mention, 'Changes in the way we communicate'.

EmberMike · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2013, 11:15 »

What? istock told us something and then broke their promise? Impossible...

gostwyck · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2013, 11:27 »

Quote from: jsnover on January 15, 2013, 11:13

I have to hope that they don't get used as the bulk of my $$ comes from my Photo+ files which are excluded from the one dot price point.

So are all exclusive images.

lisafx · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2013, 13:20 »

Quote from: KB on January 15, 2013, 10:49

I'm 99% certain this is no bug, and I'm afraid to say, it makes sense. For fun, though, someone should find that post (by KKT?) promising that they would never exclude exclusive files from the search results.

One thing has become painfully obvious over the past year or so. "Never" doesn't mean never at Istock. "Never" just means, not right now.

ShadySue · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2013, 13:32 »

Update from KingCash (!):
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350573&messageid=6821483

SNP · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2013, 13:32 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 15, 2013, 13:20

Quote from: KB on January 15, 2013, 10:49
I'm 99% certain this is no bug, and I'm afraid to say, it makes sense. For fun, though, someone should find that post (by KKT?) promising that they would never exclude exclusive files from the search results.

One thing has become painfully obvious over the past year or so. "Never" doesn't mean never at Istock. "Never" just means, not right now.

ain't that the truth

SNP · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2013, 13:35 »

the admin post was okay. it isn't meant to do what it's doing apparently

gostwyck · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2013, 13:36 »

Quote from: ShadySue on January 15, 2013, 13:32

Update from KingCash (!) halfway down this page:
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=350573&page=6#post6821501

(Can someone please tell me how to link to a single post? Tx)

I think the easiest thing is to is cut & paste the text here, preferably in a different colour for clarity.

cobalt · « **Reply #16 on:** January 15, 2013, 13:40 »

The admin post is fine and if Simon says that the majority of customers don´t use the slider then I believe him. What i would really want is the possibility to add my own choice of files into the value collection.

I am absolutely for anything that makes the buyers life easier and more transparent.

The real problem was the accidental discovery, without an announcement at a time when everyone is waiting for a statement from HQ about the google/MS disaster.

Again it shows that an overall manager who looks after the business is somehow lacking. There seem to be many disconnected departments from getty all working on their own doing their thing and nobody who aligns and focusses them.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #17 on:** January 15, 2013, 16:35 »

Quote from: ShadySue on January 15, 2013, 13:32

(Can someone please tell me how to link to a single post? Tx)

Use the permalink button - that gives you a post-specific URL

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #18 on:** January 15, 2013, 16:37 »

From KingCash's post: what in the world does he mean they released code by accident? After all the development cock-ups over the last few years are they really not able to control when code goes live on the site:

"First, I want to apologize. We released some partially-finished changes yesterday by accident. It was always my intent to communicate changes with you before they launched, in a spirit of open communication, pre-release feature announcements, and idea sharing."

And to SNP, the essence of what people are objecting to - exclusive content can be filtered out - is how it will be when it goes live; it just won't have exactly the current interface. They seem to think that's a good feature to have and are just quibbling about the interface.

I think Liz had asked ages ago about having Exclusive- to go with Exclusive+. This would go beyond being able to add items to the Value collection (forever the Dollar Bin to me!), but to allow exclusives to have ordinary files - isolated peppers and such - that sell at Main Collection prices. I think that would make plenty of sense and if it were voluntary (as is participating in the PP for exclusives, at least for now) I can't see any harm in it.

ShadySue · « **Reply #19 on:** January 15, 2013, 16:40 »

Quote from: jsnover on January 15, 2013, 16:35

Quote from: ShadySue on January 15, 2013, 13:32

(Can someone please tell me how to link to a single post? Tx)

Use the permalink button - that gives you a post-specific URL

Excellent, thanks.
Will I remember it the next time? Lay your bets now!

fotoVoyager · « **Reply #20 on:** January 16, 2013, 09:27 »

This is really, really bad news for Exclusive contributors. I'm amazed there's not more outrage over this than the Google and MS deals. This will be the thing that finally kills exclusivity for many since sales will be so badly effected.

cobalt · « **Reply #21 on:** January 16, 2013, 10:31 »

the google and ms deal mean your images are being distributed to millions of unregistered users for free or 12 dollars. And you have abolutely no control over which images they are taking. I believe this is a much bigger problem than the price slider.

if the "deals" did not exist, then the slider would be the biggest burning question absolutely.

both are bad in their present form, but I would still have some hope that they come up with an option to mark 10% of your content "downwards" or something like that.

ShadySue · « **Reply #22 on:** January 16, 2013, 14:50 »

Exclusive-normal files are now showing in the bottom sector.

CJ6 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 21, 2013, 11:05 »

It looks like Jon Oringer made a huge impact with his blog posts on Getty as well

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #24 on:** January 21, 2013, 11:09 »

Quote from: CJ6 on January 21, 2013, 11:05

It looks like Jon Oringer made a huge impact with his blog posts on Getty as well

Link?

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Author Topic: Latest slap in the face for exclusives (Read 14857 times)

ShadySue

Reef

ShadySue

Gannet77

aluxum

KB

ShadySue

Jo Ann Snover

KB

EmberMike

gostwyck

lisafx

ShadySue

SNP

SNP

gostwyck

cobalt

Jo Ann Snover

Jo Ann Snover

ShadySue

fotoVoyager

cobalt

ShadySue

CJ6

ruxpriencdiam

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