MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: P+ collection = end of istock  (Read 11894 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: May 13, 2011, 09:25 »
0
Wheres the perks for exclusives anymore? It definitely feels like a trap. Every new collection these greedy mofos fart out, the regular main collection gets stomped further and further into obscurity. Unless you fill the majority of your portfolio as agency and vetta files, theres no longer any point in becoming exclusive imo.
I think this is a last ditch effort to squeeze out the most from buyers as they are exiting. win win for indies and istock while bad for exclusives.


« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2011, 09:39 »
0
Of course the P+ collection is really just a desperate measure to address the embarrassing issue with the 2011 RC targets. It probably means that they will be able to increase RC targets for independents whilst 'generously' lowering them for exclusives. It's little more than a fig leaf to provide cover (and replace profits)for the falling sales. I reckon they'll watch how P+ performs for the rest of May and then announce the 2011 RC targets in early June.

It does all appear to be unravelling for Istock. A mass exodus of exclusives could be just around the corner and if that happens it will be all over. As sales fall futher it won't even be worth independents uploading there for the miserable commissions that they pay.

« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2011, 09:49 »
0
im almost inclined to take half of what istock nominated for the new vector vettas from my portfolio out of the collection. I know these files are unique, but they are not sellable with these new prices.  I feel bad that these new files and many many more just like it will fill up viewing spaces. I created them to showcase my style mainly to get freelance clients.

« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2011, 09:51 »
0
I may be relatively new to stock but I dont agree in what you have said, why are exclusives not worth anymore? because of the photo+? you can tell tons of reasons but that one isnt relevant IMHO

I believe that now buyers that want cheaper files will still go to non-exclusives regular, if not they will pay for exclusives or non-exclusives photo+, e+, agency, vetta, whatever.. have the photo+ increase in searchs? guess not right?

Ok non-exlusives have a lot less "exposure" on searchs etc but I do think that regular non-exclusives sales are prejudicial to exclusives

Istock royalties for exclusives can be low but they are still a big step ahead no?

IMO I think you guys just want us to go down and down..  why cant we both hang out there? (and all be happy with the huge royalties they give us..)

« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2011, 09:53 »
0
...Unless you fill the majority of your portfolio as agency and vetta files, theres no longer any point in becoming exclusive imo....


See Sean's comment here, which is saying that for him, creating more Agency is the way to keep earnings up.

The problem is that on Getty, Agency/Vetta only gets you 20% and no RC for the following year - which over time will I think affect the take from iStock. IOW you'll end up selling for 20% whether at IS or Getty even though the prices will be high.

« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2011, 09:57 »
0
I don't think it's the end of iStock...yet. That will come in January when they announce yet another price increase. My guess is that they are going to raise the price of credits and bump up all the colletions. P+ pricing will then become the lowest regular collection pricing tier and everything will go up from there. They will keep the dollar bin so they can still claim you can get photos for just one credit. OR, they will only keep XS at 1 credit in the main collection and everything else will be bumped up.

« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2011, 10:23 »
0
The problem is that on Getty, Agency/Vetta only gets you 20% and no RC for the following year - which over time will I think affect the take from iStock. IOW you'll end up selling for 20% whether at IS or Getty even though the prices will be high.

I get that feeling too, that IS is trying to push the best exclusives into Getty basically, or into Getty style commission theme. High image prices and 20% commission.

For the rest it will be a huge diluted sea of equally priced P+ and regular exclusive files. No idea how buyers are reacting to that in the long run.

« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2011, 10:30 »
0
I may be relatively new to stock but I dont agree in what you have said, why are exclusives not worth anymore? because of the photo+? you can tell tons of reasons but that one isnt relevant IMHO

This is the only line i understood from your post. Im figuring english isnt your first language.

If you want to become exclusive, you better be able to provide vetta or vetta type files. While price is important, getting views on your file is essential for sales. Most people make most of their money from their best sellers which could be anywhere from 5-15% of their portfolio. maybe 30% of an artists portfolio is average sellers.
Here is where you need to use some brain power. independents outnumber exclusives 3 to 1 or something like that. lets say they fill up their 10% of their portfolios with P+. All of a sudden, exclusives now have so much more competition from independents based on price. Price of a file plays a big part of best match equation.
It all comes down to how much artificial bump exclusives get with their files. Recent actions by istock clearly indicates they only care about more money. I dont have much confidence that istock would favor my files when they make more money off P+ files.
So going forward for all exclusives, the 30% of your portfolios (avg sellers) that get 5-10 downloads a month will probably see significant decrease in money and downloads.
The hows your june thread should be interesting.

« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2011, 10:36 »
0
The problem is that on Getty, Agency/Vetta only gets you 20% and no RC for the following year - which over time will I think affect the take from iStock. IOW you'll end up selling for 20% whether at IS or Getty even though the prices will be high.

I get that feeling too, that IS is trying to push the best exclusives into Getty basically, or into Getty style commission theme. High image prices and 20% commission.

For the rest it will be a huge diluted sea of equally priced P+ and regular exclusive files. No idea how buyers are reacting to that in the long run.

+1

« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2011, 11:16 »
0
P+ is great for exclusives actually !

If I sell an apple for 2$ and you sell the same apple for 1$, then many people are going to buy your apple rather then mine because it is cheaper.  If both of our apples sell for the same price, well then buyers wouldn't really care whos apple they buy.

There is no sign P+ gets a best match boost, just like E+ doesn't.

« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2011, 12:20 »
0
P+ is great for exclusives actually !

If I sell an apple for 2$ and you sell the same apple for 1$, then many people are going to buy your apple rather then mine because it is cheaper.  If both of our apples sell for the same price, well then buyers wouldn't really care whos apple they buy.

There is no sign P+ gets a best match boost, just like E+ doesn't.

I think the best bet would be to put images into the P+ collection that have very low competition just for the reason you mentioned.

Why would I put an image into P+ just so it costs as much as the same 500 images from exclusives? Doesn't make sense to me.

« Reply #11 on: May 13, 2011, 13:12 »
0
Check the starting IS's page, there is no EX/Vetta button (attached to all prices) but a simple Photo+ tab. Does it mean anything?

« Reply #12 on: May 13, 2011, 14:04 »
0
This is the only line i understood from your post. Im figuring english isnt your first language.

sorry but needed to answer this one.. can you tell me what havent you understand?

yes I am RUSSIAN!

« Reply #13 on: May 13, 2011, 14:16 »
0
To be honest, this photo + thing is kind of what I thought they should have done instead of decreasing royalties last fall to increase revenue. Move the better selling files up to higher exclusive prices and maybe even bump up royalties for contributors. That would have put IS in a great position to dominate the micro market, but we all know that's not what happened.  ;)

lisafx

« Reply #14 on: May 13, 2011, 14:33 »
0
independents outnumber exclusives 3 to 1 or something like that. lets say they fill up their 10% of their portfolios with P+. All of a sudden, exclusives now have so much more competition from independents based on price. Price of a file plays a big part of best match equation.
It all comes down to how much artificial bump exclusives get with their files. Recent actions by istock clearly indicates they only care about more money. I dont have much confidence that istock would favor my files when they make more money off P+ files.


Ah.  Okay.  I wasn't following your thinking at first, but this makes it clearer.  

If I am understanding you correctly, it is basically the argument that there is a finite amount of pie (visible best match real estate), and if independents get a bigger slice of that through P+, it leaves a smaller slice for exclusives.  

You may be right.  I have had the feeling for several months now that Istock doesn't really care about retaining low level exclusives.  They are viewed as being more expensive than they're worth.  Istock would probably be perfectly happy to only have the top selling producers - the ones who draw in buyers - as exclusive, and everyone else as non-exclusive, and earning under 20%.  
« Last Edit: May 13, 2011, 14:35 by lisafx »

« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2011, 14:35 »
0
Check the starting IS's page, there is no EX/Vetta button (attached to all prices) but a simple Photo+ tab. Does it mean anything?

There's plenty of Vetta/Ageny promotion on the Photos landing page. I'm assuming on the "front page" they don't want to talk too loudly about high prices, so they're listing the "starting from" prices not the whole range.

As they don't have a tab for everything, I'm somewhat surprised they're listing Photos+ at all, but the whole P+ program was plunked down in a rush, so it may be they didn't really think it all through.

« Reply #16 on: May 13, 2011, 14:55 »
0
independents outnumber exclusives 3 to 1 or something like that. lets say they fill up their 10% of their portfolios with P+. All of a sudden, exclusives now have so much more competition from independents based on price. Price of a file plays a big part of best match equation.
It all comes down to how much artificial bump exclusives get with their files. Recent actions by istock clearly indicates they only care about more money. I dont have much confidence that istock would favor my files when they make more money off P+ files.


Ah.  Okay.  I wasn't following your thinking at first, but this makes it clearer.  

If I am understanding you correctly, it is basically the argument that there is a finite amount of pie (visible best match real estate), and if independents get a bigger slice of that through P+, it leaves a smaller slice for exclusives.  

You may be right.  I have had the feeling for several months now that Istock doesn't really care about retaining low level exclusives.  They are viewed as being more expensive than they're worth.  Istock would probably be perfectly happy to only have the top selling producers - the ones who draw in buyers - as exclusive, and everyone else as non-exclusive, and earning under 20%.  

Speaking as a low level Exclusive, I've had that feeling too!

However, I'm still showing gains year on year, so I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. 

« Reply #17 on: May 13, 2011, 14:56 »
0
Of course the P+ collection is really just a desperate measure to address the embarrassing issue with the 2011 RC targets. It probably means that they will be able to increase RC targets for independents whilst 'generously' lowering them for exclusives. It's little more than a fig leaf to provide cover (and replace profits)for the falling sales. I reckon they'll watch how P+ performs for the rest of May and then announce the 2011 RC targets in early June.

Nice guess. This popped up on the Help forum sticky just 10 minutes ago:

"Redeemed Credit Targets: I know that we promised these awhile ago and we have not lived up to that promise. This time, we will. Redeemed credit targets will be announced in three weeks. "

So your supposition seems to be bang on target. (There is some other stuff in the update, too, but nothing terribly important)

« Reply #18 on: May 13, 2011, 15:35 »
0
Of course the P+ collection is really just a desperate measure to address the embarrassing issue with the 2011 RC targets. It probably means that they will be able to increase RC targets for independents whilst 'generously' lowering them for exclusives. It's little more than a fig leaf to provide cover (and replace profits)for the falling sales. I reckon they'll watch how P+ performs for the rest of May and then announce the 2011 RC targets in early June.

Nice guess. This popped up on the Help forum sticky just 10 minutes ago:

"Redeemed Credit Targets: I know that we promised these awhile ago and we have not lived up to that promise. This time, we will. Redeemed credit targets will be announced in three weeks. "

So your supposition seems to be bang on target. (There is some other stuff in the update, too, but nothing terribly important)

Ugh. That does sound about par for the course they've laid out.

« Reply #19 on: May 13, 2011, 18:51 »
0
I love how once again they completely ignored the V/A filter with yet another "we've been testing this" haha yeah, i bet they have.

« Reply #20 on: May 13, 2011, 18:55 »
0
It's the E+ sales which boost my income in a meaningful way. If I don't get E+ on a particular day, even if I have decent number of downloads, the earning would look pityful.

But, if your E+ images are not unique enough, the sales will sink to the bottom for sure.

lagereek

« Reply #21 on: May 13, 2011, 23:48 »
0
JoAnn, is right, plenty of Vetta/agency on first couple of pages. Must be very expensive slotts for IS, etc. Many of these Vetta files and in many searches just hang-in there because they are vettas, many with just one or even zero dls,  really taking up very valuable spaces that could instead be filled with commercial and highly sellable material.
costs money!

« Reply #22 on: May 13, 2011, 23:53 »
0
This is the only line i understood from your post. Im figuring english isnt your first language.

sorry but needed to answer this one.. can you tell me what havent you understand?

yes I am RUSSIAN!

Don't worry, I understood it all.

lthn

    This user is banned.
« Reply #23 on: May 14, 2011, 04:14 »
0
I guess getty's plan was to try and turn istock into something a bit like them, midstock maybe... they'll experiment with it and if it doesn't work, they'll probably just say just fak it and leave it to die.... so right now Istuck is a microstock site that doesn't want to sell microstock : ))))) What a bunch of dilettant losers....

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #24 on: May 14, 2011, 04:19 »
0
now what matters to us independents is that they find a way to lock exclusives in forever - at least the best of them - so they don't flood our market at other sites  ;D

if they manage to do that, no problem for me if their microstock buyers buy my pictures at shutterstock instead ;D

we're not their nurse, they are free to destroy their own business if they like to
« Last Edit: May 14, 2011, 04:27 by microstockphoto.co.uk »


 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
5 Replies
3952 Views
Last post May 15, 2009, 19:57
by microstockinsider
54 Replies
27242 Views
Last post August 04, 2009, 21:49
by loop
2 Replies
2864 Views
Last post December 23, 2009, 13:57
by Pixart
17 Replies
5914 Views
Last post June 23, 2013, 22:32
by Silken Photography
13 Replies
5771 Views
Last post December 22, 2018, 07:40
by ttart

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors