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Author Topic: Photo+ - new iStockphoto collection for non exclusives  (Read 56001 times)

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« Reply #175 on: May 10, 2011, 07:56 »
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i thought the best match was skewed towards price. If P+ files are the same price as regular exclusive files, wouldnt it mean that it is essentially on the same best match placement as exclusive files? anyone do some tests on this yet?

I would assume that.  Mine are sure selling like hotcakes today.  Maybe Gostwyck, the testmeister, will come through with some info...? 

I am not the testmeister but I noticed that a couple of my best sellers which were half way in the first page for a certain word, are now in the first line for the same word. Not sure if it's due to Photo+ or other tweaks, but it's nice.


lagereek

« Reply #176 on: May 10, 2011, 09:57 »
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Its too early to tell or judge anything yet. Maybe after a couple of weeks it will give us some guideline. A couple of good days means nothing,  yet.

« Reply #177 on: May 10, 2011, 11:28 »
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So iStock wants contributors that contribute to multiple sites to increase their prices? That seems like a great way to drive off customers.  Sure makes me wonder if the value of Exclusiveness has further decreased as I think this will decrease the number of customers that use iStock, regardless of the types of images they buy.  JMHO

lagereek

« Reply #178 on: May 10, 2011, 12:06 »
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Im already having second thoughts about this, so a couple of good days, so what?  today apart from Photo+,  some 5 buyers bought some of my oldest and in fact what i consider average stuff that hasnt been downloaded for years,  files that I had forgotten about.
I dont think thats a good sign at all.

Im actually beginning to think was once was unthinkable,  that IS, does suffer from lack of serious traffic and thats really the worst that could happen.

« Reply #179 on: May 10, 2011, 12:08 »
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i thought the best match was skewed towards price. If P+ files are the same price as regular exclusive files, wouldnt it mean that it is essentially on the same best match placement as exclusive files? anyone do some tests on this yet?

I would assume that.  Mine are sure selling like hotcakes today.  Maybe Gostwyck, the testmeister, will come through with some info...? 

I am not the testmeister but I noticed that a couple of my best sellers which were half way in the first page for a certain word, are now in the first line for the same word. Not sure if it's due to Photo+ or other tweaks, but it's nice.

---------------------------------------------

Maybe Istock in its rush to get P+ out the door has inadvertantly granted the exclusive best match bonus to P+ files?

« Reply #180 on: May 10, 2011, 12:22 »
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This of course is just my opinion, but I don't find it surprising to hear that people's photo+ files are selling already. istock has proven they can manipulate files any way they want to get any return they want, so if this stands to benefit them, I can totally see them moving things around so that these files appear in front of whatever buyers they have left.

I agree, I think it will take more than a few days or a week to see how it all pans out. They are all about short term results...unfortunately for contributors who are still playing the istock game, I just don't think it is going to be a long term thing that anybody can bank on. Except maybe istock, of course.

lisafx

« Reply #181 on: May 10, 2011, 12:40 »
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So iStock wants contributors that contribute to multiple sites to increase their prices? That seems like a great way to drive off customers.  Sure makes me wonder if the value of Exclusiveness has further decreased as I think this will decrease the number of customers that use iStock, regardless of the types of images they buy.  JMHO

I think what you are missing is that Istock's allowing us to raise the prices of our best sellers is merely bringing them in line with what they cost at the other top PPD sites (DT and FT).  And it is not another price point.  It is just the existing exclusive regular price point. 

A budget conscious PPD buyer who finds one of my P+ images and wants it cheaper would save more money by buying one of my main collection similars linked in the description, than they would by going to another website to download it.

From what I can see, this is one of the FEW changes Istock has implemented lately that isn't likely to drive buyers elsewhere. 

Lisa and Gotswyck!

What would happen in this scenario?  I have 8 blue flames and around 20 dark-red ones at IS, industrials, that is.  Now Dreamstime is the only agency that offers " image-exclusivity" what would happen if I remove these and stick them all into Dreamstime, image-exclusivity?

Lisa is reporting great exclusivity sales at Dreamstime and so are many others. Im curious about this.

Bad, BAD idea Chris! I would not take a blue or red flamed PROVEN SELLER off of Istock and make it exclusive anywhere else.   DT is picking up some of Istock's disaffected buyers, but not enough to compensate for completely removing images from IS. 

I am happy with the sales of the several dozen or so exclusive images I have at DT, but nearly all were uploaded during an Assignment contest, so they have all sorts of benefits, like extra visibility, and automatic Level 5 status.  Just making an existing image exclusive will not be likely to compensate for lost sales of an Istock best seller. 

If you want to try out DT exclusive images, I suggest responding to an upcoming Assignment. 

« Reply #182 on: May 10, 2011, 13:27 »
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My sales over the last 3 days, since I bumped about 500 of my best-selling images to P+, have resulted in an RPD of $1.69. That's almost a 50% increase over my previous RPD which averaged $1.13. Very nice indeed.

That's great. Let's hope it lasts ... until they they inevitably tweak back-end  :)

I've dumped a bunch in as well. I already make so little now from IS, I don't really have anything to lose. Worth the 6-month gamble!

« Reply #183 on: May 10, 2011, 16:21 »
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My guess is that iStock is going to see how this "price increase" of the P+ photos affects sales. If they see minimal to no change, there will be a price increase across the board with the P+ prices being the new base and everything will go up from there.

« Reply #184 on: May 10, 2011, 16:35 »
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My guess is that iStock is going to see how this "price increase" of the P+ photos affects sales. If they see minimal to no change, there will be a price increase across the board with the P+ prices being the new base and everything will go up from there.

Good thinking but I'm not sure they need to. Assuming most independents uprate the best-selling 10% of their portfolios to P+ then those will capture about 60% of sales anyway. Istock will then still have plenty of cheap images to market themselves as a low cost supplier ... but of course those cheap images will be at the back of searches because they're the ones that get largely ingored.

« Reply #185 on: May 10, 2011, 16:45 »
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My guess is that iStock is going to see how this "price increase" of the P+ photos affects sales. If they see minimal to no change, there will be a price increase across the board with the P+ prices being the new base and everything will go up from there.

Good thinking but I'm not sure they need to. Assuming most independents uprate the best-selling 10% of their portfolios to P+ then those will capture about 60% of sales anyway. Istock will then still have plenty of cheap images to market themselves as a low cost supplier ... but of course those cheap images will be at the back of searches because they're the ones that get largely ingored.

Never underestimate their greed.  ;D

« Reply #186 on: May 10, 2011, 21:50 »
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I can't shake off the feeling that this P+ is a sneak preview of how our files could perform if sold exclusively.

I'm positively surprised how P+ is starting off. Apparently the price increase is no issue for the buyers and as cclapper mentioned IS can rig the search results any way they want just to make certain sales happen.

I only have a fraction of files with IS as I joined very late, so I have not much data what this P+ is capable for bigger ports with 5000+ images but we have some contributors like that here that hopefully keep reporting about their experiences. I could imagine they see some nice increase this month (no idea how this will effect/compensate (for) the summer slow-down coming up).

Either way, I think that IS has another agenda behind the P+ thing. It's certainly not to satisfy non-exclusive as everyone knows:
"Money doesn't make us happy". My guess is that they try fishing for new exclusives (also to make up for the loss of those who left).

But what do I know...

« Reply #187 on: May 11, 2011, 00:43 »
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^^^
The only agenda is to make more money for themselves (nothing wrong with that) and on the way, you make some money too.
Since this is not a mandatory program, I don't see any down sides.

« Reply #188 on: May 11, 2011, 02:07 »
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Sure makes me wonder if the value of Exclusiveness has further decreased as I think this will decrease the number of customers that use iStock, regardless of the types of images they buy.  JMHO

It's incredible how quickly people forget. For five years there was no price differential between exclusive and independent files. Sixteen months ago they decided to give a pay hike to exclusives and a cut to independents. Now partial restoration of the status quo ante (i.e. unified pricing) is seen as undermining exclusiveness.

At the same time, even some exclusives admit that the amazing range of price points has become a problem.


 

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