Author Topic: Really strange stuff selling at the moment. (Read 3383 times)

fotografer · « **on:** January 24, 2013, 05:41 »

Is anybody else getting weird sales at IS? I am selling images that never were good sellers and haven't sold in 4 or 5 years. About a third of my last 20 sales are from very old non sellers. How on earth are the buyers finding them?

sharpshot · « **Reply #1 on:** January 24, 2013, 05:51 »

I've deactivated all my best images, so there's only the other stuff left. Hopefully it's buyers using their last credits on anything they want before moving to another site

lewis larkin · « **Reply #2 on:** January 24, 2013, 05:55 »

I think today was the day they were going to tweak the Best Match algorithm, so that might be it (although it is a bit early in the day in Calgary).

From time to time I do get what seems to be strange patterns of downloads, but I expect it is just me seeing trends in random downloads.

regards

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** January 24, 2013, 06:07 »

Quote from: fotografer on January 24, 2013, 05:41

Is anybody else getting weird sales at IS? I am selling images that never were good sellers and haven't sold in 4 or 5 years. About a third of my last 20 sales are from very old non sellers. How on earth are the buyers finding them?

It shows that just because a file is old and unsold doesn't mean it's bad - it probably just got swamped inthe best match, and if buyers could see it, they'd buy it.
best match at the moment is still an odd mix of some searches throwing up old low-sales files; some only very high sellers; some almost only new files and still some favouring Vetta. (I just tried 'horse' as an example of the latter. In fact, it's a bit different from two weeks ago, in that the Vettas have moved down to the third line, then are by far the most common, rather than from the top line down.
In some searches, geographical bias has almost no effect, others it's enormous.

But I'm sure no-one is in tweaking best match dials in Calgary at 4am, like they might in a 24/7 company.

fotografer · « **Reply #4 on:** January 24, 2013, 06:17 »

It's rather nice to see some of the oldies getting a bit of love before possible deactivation.

aspp · « **Reply #5 on:** January 24, 2013, 07:49 »

If portfolios suddenly start selling really well in the run up to Istock Deactivation Day on Feb 2 will that make people think again about quitting ?

Smithore · « **Reply #6 on:** January 24, 2013, 07:57 »

I was just about to create a thread about this!
I've deactivated my 200 best sellers and also 400 at the queue, and since 2 or 3 days some forgotten stuffs are selling again!

B8 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 24, 2013, 08:03 »

I wouldn't assume all selling trends are always based on best match. Some buyers sort in other ways. Some use light boxes. It is not black and white.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #8 on:** January 24, 2013, 08:08 »

Some of my older stuff is selling again.

Problem is, my newer best sellers are still showing up toward the front of searches. And older best sellers that got buried with the last best match change are also back toward the front again. But sales haven't improved.

sharpshot · « **Reply #9 on:** January 24, 2013, 08:11 »

Quote from: aspp on January 24, 2013, 07:49

If portfolios suddenly start selling really well in the run up to Istock Deactivation Day on Feb 2 will that make people think again about quitting ?

No. Unless they give us an opt out for deals like the Google one, a few extra dollars earned now are likely to be lost in the future. I don't trust them anymore, so it's really too late for me. I'll leave my low selling stuff but the rest is going.

StanRohrer · « **Reply #10 on:** January 24, 2013, 08:28 »

I'm seeing files sell that haven't sold in 5-7 years. It has to be a best match tweak to get them back to the surface IMO.

I suspect some of the contributor charts, from people starting in 2003-4, which show a down sales trend over the past 2 years, squarely approaching zero sales, may have actually caught SearchFairies attention. iStock was headed for losing their diamond and black diamond contributors which got them to be the top microstock site. As I recall, the best match thread a few months ago started out as the "best match is perfect" and, with a lot of forum pushing, went to "oh, maybe there is a problem", and on to "fixes are being implemented". Kudos to SearchFairy for being able to listen and learn from the forums. However, I also suggest the work is far from done.

fotografer · « **Reply #11 on:** January 24, 2013, 08:50 »

I could sort of understand it if they resurrected previous best sellers but I am selling things that never did take off at IS.

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Author Topic: Really strange stuff selling at the moment. (Read 3383 times)

fotografer

sharpshot

lewis larkin

ShadySue

fotografer

aspp

Smithore

B8

PaulieWalnuts

sharpshot

StanRohrer

fotografer

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