Author Topic: Problems signing up as contributor but is it worth it (Read 2790 times)

CaptureLightUK · « **on:** May 17, 2015, 03:19 »

Hi all. This is my first post so, please, be gently.
I am pretty new to the whole stock photography scene having only been a contributor for a week or so.
In the time I have signed up for most of the top sites SS, Alamy, DT, Bigstock, 123rf, FT and DepositPhotos. I have even made my first 75c worth of sales (woohoo $:-\$ ).
I have tried to sign up at IStock but each time I click on the 'Continue to application' button it redirects me back to the beginning of the training material

.
I sent an email to the contact address two days ago but have no response (except the automated acknowledgement).

However I have read through some of the threads on this board and I'm beginning to wonder if its worth bothering. I appreciate that forums often reflect the negatives rather than the positives but there does seem to be a LOT of negative recently about iStock.
They are still shown as the second highest earner on the right. Is this the case?
Should I persevere?

Cheers
Ralph

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** May 17, 2015, 06:08 »

Contributor support can take weeks, often over a month. You might be luckier or less lucky. What most established contributors are finding is that newer files get little traction. In my own case my old scanned slides uploaded in 2007 are far more likely to sell than anything uploaded since Sept 2012, especially as credit sales. Newer files sell sometimes as subs. Others may be able to say whether new files fare well in the PP.

You could only rely on your own experience of wheher it would be worth it for you (you're late to the party everywhere), so either wait for a CR reply (no use sending another ticket), or keep trying. This week I couldn't make an Amazon order for three days despite fairly fast replies from support; then on the fourth day, without me doing anything new, it 'just worked'.

cobalt · « **Reply #2 on:** May 17, 2015, 08:14 »

istock is still one of the big three agencies, so I would at least join, upload 100 files and see what your results are. And if Getty gets a new CEO with ideas, maybe they will get some traction again.

I wouldn´t expect miracles, but if you are starting out, I´d include them for the first year and see what returns you get.

Stock Wife · « **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2015, 14:16 »

I have been contributing to stock for just about a year. iStock is usually my number 3 earner (behind SS and Fotolia). So it might not be quite as good of an earner for newbies, but it is still worth it. My months tend to fluctuate a good bit there; the good months make it seem particularly nice and the bad ones still aren't as bad (for me) as DT, 123, and the others.

pancaketom · « **Reply #4 on:** May 18, 2015, 14:42 »

Part of it is how do you feel about getting 15% of a sale and .27 (or whatever it is there) for sub sales and supporting the company that treats contributors that way. Unless you get lots and lots of sales at IS which seems unlikely these days you will probably never move out of the bottom tier.

As far as short term $ goes, they probably are in the upper tier (top 3 or 4 at least), but they are also a pain to deal with - both for uploading and just about everything else.

CaptureLightUK · « **Reply #5 on:** May 18, 2015, 15:54 »

Thanks for all the comments.
I can't do anything until the glitch in their system is sorted but once I hear from them I shall give it a go.
Reading the various forum posts it would seem that all the agencies have there turn at being the bad boy, best earner, or waste of time at some point or other.

The main thing I need to do is get some images uploaded to each of them so that I can make a judgement myself.

Fortunately I'm not looking to retire on my earnings

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Author Topic: Problems signing up as contributor but is it worth it (Read 2790 times)

CaptureLightUK

ShadySue

cobalt

Stock Wife

pancaketom

CaptureLightUK

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