After nine months of not uploading, I'm going to start uploading some new images to istock again.  I stopped because of the commission cuts and I'm still annoyed about that but my earnings have fallen so much that I don't think I can keep going with my boycott.  I also feel like the last person standing on the picket line after everyone else has gone back to work.  If I was earning more money, I would stick to my principles but the price of everything I buy has gone up this year and I really need more income.  The Photo+ collection looks like it's going to help and I will fill my remaining quota with new images and then reassess the situation.

Don't blame you. But sales have been tumbling for many of us who didn't boycott the place, too.

Hi Sharpshot,
You're not alone, I was thinking about it too.
And I feel like a fool. It's only a handful of us who have deleted ports / stopped uploading since the changes anyway. Clearly we're too small fish to make any difference.
While back in January I deleted my port, (almost) everyone else kept on filling their weekly quotas like there was no tomorrow. Newbies, golds, diamonds and above, everyone rushed in.  
There was no deleting of images, no slowdown in uploading; there wasn't even a selective upload plan - give your best images to the other sites, let IStock have the rest. Do something.
There 'are' ways to fight Getty without having to sacrifice your first born.
But it never worked.
The reason?
Newbies - well, they're newbies and thrilled with every sale.
Established, important contributors, photographers who have a say and can actually make a difference, are all somehow struggling for survival. Every one of them. They have families. Large families. And mortgages. And taxes. And children. And education fees and expensive medical bills. It's a tough world out there and without IStock they will all be homeless.
Can't bear the thought.

So what are you to do Sharpshot?
Go ahead and start uploading. No two ways about it.
Try Thinkstock as well (I'm serious; apparently people sell hundreds of licences a month on ThinkStock alone), try Photo+ too and take advantage of every opportunity IStock opens to you.
It's only fair, thank you for trying your best to help us all, and good luck

I've been thinking about it too. And I've got a very good reason. It's not an excuse, it's real. I'm very, very ill and I need every cent.
But I can't do it. It's impossible; trust me, I tried.
IStock's BS (and upload page), make me sicker than the medical treatment I have to endure right now.
There's something about that site. I can't even look at it without feeling nauseous.  
On moral grounds, on principles and not for the life of me (literally).
I can't upload to IStock.
But the best of luck to you, thank you for everything you tried to do and get busy selling

I've been thinking about it too. And I've got a very good reason. It's not an excuse, it's real. I'm very, very ill and I need every cent.
But I can't do it. It's impossible; trust me, I tried.
IStock's BS (and upload page), make me sicker than the medical treatment I have to endure right now.
There's something about that site. I can't even look at it without feeling nauseous.  
On moral grounds, on principles and not for the life of me (literally).
I can't upload to IStock.
But the best of luck to you, thank you for everything you tried to do and get busy selling

Yeah Istock's treating of contributors (fraud deductions, commission cuts etc) plus the awful upload page make it hard for me to reconsider my decision for now. Would be more likely to add another agency to my income mix than upload there again at the moment.

BTW - sorry to hear you are sick. I wish you tons of sales on all other agencies you are supplying to. And a lot of healing thoughts and prayers to come your way.

Can't blame you either sharpshot; i also was still not uploading and my commissions have dropped to a fraction of what they were there (-80%), so 2 weeks ago i bended and started uploading again... the vast majority of my uploads came back rejected for keywords only (miss or mister reviewer decided they didnt like 3 keywords and without any other reasons or flaws hit the reject button, while the rejected keywords show on Shutterstock as the top selling keywords for those files..).
I'm really not going to jump through their endless hoops for their miserable commissions, instead i'll just keep  doing my best to spread the word about how they run their business and move customers to better places.

Don't blame you. But sales have been tumbling for many of us who didn't boycott the place, too.

Exactly. Resuming uploading may not have much of an impact on earnings. Earnings at istock are in the toilet for a lot of people, regardless of how much (or little) they've been uploading.

Quote from: sharpshot on June 02, 2011, 07:02

I think the final straw for me has been the big increase in rejections with Shutterstock.  They are rejecting things that I know would make money.

I have some interesting data on that as I've been uploading to Shutterstock a lot in the last few weeks. Most of the files are ones on which I have sales data already (from the last year or two). Shutterstock has rejected several of my best selling images on iStock as having limited commercial value. ex-Vetta images rejected as having poor lighting, images with shallow DOF as improper focus, etc.

They've accepted a ton of things too, but I half thought of challenging the LCV rejections on the basis of the proven sales value of those files. I decided it just isn't worth the time to do as each site will just do it's own thing and my sanity lies in just accepting their foibles if I'm to sell there.

If there's an image I feel very strongly about, that I really want to get into my portfolio, I resubmit with a note to the reviewer. In the note, I point out why I think the image has sales potential, and ask that they reconsider and give it a chance - which is a lot like sending images to Scout on iStock. I only do this with images I feel very strongly about. Also, if there is a technical problem you can correct and resubmit, with a note explaining that this is a corrected file.

I resumed about two month ago for the same reasons like you. Economic pressure. I can tell you that istock slowly is becoming a low seller - income is dropping drastically. I am not even sure if uploading again makes any difference in income, so the last weeks I am kind of lazy with them and don`t upload regulary. Istock lost its importance. The situation in the market is difficult if you upload to them or not. You haven`t been missing anything. Good luck!

But I will never upload to Thinkstock, I think we would all be much better off if The Abomination Known as Thinkstock fails. I would love nothing more than to see that site shut down.

I had a think about Thinkstock (!) as part of my return to independent status - I've opted out of the partner program from day 1.  I decided I'd be better off supporting SS by remaining opted out of the iStock partner program. If at some point they make partner program mandatory, I'll just live with it (i.e. I'm not going to pull my port over it) but otherwise they'll have to up the ante before I'll reconsider.

As Getty has just strong-armed its contributors into a contract permitting them to put anything into their subscription sites, I'm not expecting them to throw in the towel any time soon, even though I think that contract change was a sign that they're getting a bit desperate to keep revenues up.

Quote from: sharpshot on June 02, 2011, 07:02

I think the final straw for me has been the big increase in rejections with Shutterstock.  They are rejecting things that I know would make money.

I have some interesting data on that as I've been uploading to Shutterstock a lot in the last few weeks. Most of the files are ones on which I have sales data already (from the last year or two). Shutterstock has rejected several of my best selling images on iStock as having limited commercial value. ex-Vetta images rejected as having poor lighting, images with shallow DOF as improper focus, etc...

I sympathize with you. From admin comments on threads at SS, it seem that SS does not realize how badly their flawed reviewing system is hurting them. They need to fix it before it does irreparable damage to their business.

As for submitting to IS, personally I have not resumed submitting and will not. Sure my sales there have dropped through the floor since I stopped submitting to IS months ago, but my overall stock sales are way, way up. My experience is that as buyers leave IS in droves, which is obviously happening, those buyers will eventually find your images on other sites.

Kudos to all of you who have kept fighting the good fight for so long.  I only lasted a month or so.  But I agree with Balderick, that uploading isn't preventing my IS sales from tanking.

Eirann, I wish you all the best with your health issues.  As I type this I am in bed recovering from abdominal surgery yesterday.  So I can relate to how a serious health issue will completely take over your life.  You also have my admiration for your consistency and strength of character in the way you have handled this IS situation.

FWIW, l think whether or not we keep uploading to IS, it is obvious this past year's bad business decisions are hurting them.

Quote from: sharpshot on June 02, 2011, 07:02

I think the final straw for me has been the big increase in rejections with Shutterstock.  They are rejecting things that I know would make money.

I have some interesting data on that as I've been uploading to Shutterstock a lot in the last few weeks. Most of the files are ones on which I have sales data already (from the last year or two). Shutterstock has rejected several of my best selling images on iStock as having limited commercial value. ex-Vetta images rejected as having poor lighting, images with shallow DOF as improper focus, etc.

They've accepted a ton of things too, but I half thought of challenging the LCV rejections on the basis of the proven sales value of those files. I decided it just isn't worth the time to do as each site will just do it's own thing and my sanity lies in just accepting their foibles if I'm to sell there.

I think it's worth challenging the reviews every now and then.  They lose a lot of money with bad reviews, one image can make thousands of dollars over the years.  If it only takes a few minutes and it could make a lot of money, I think it's worth doing.  And it might make the reviewers think a bit more before pressing that big red rejection button.

I've only uploaded 21 photos since January 2010, and they have gone on to earn a whoppin' $150 all together ($91 of which was generated by one unique image alone).  Whoop-dee-do!     My earnings are down much further than that, so at this point I'm only wasting valuable time adding new content.  I've removed about 100 images since the first of the year, but I'm suspending that drive for six months until the P+ contract is over.  Eventually IS will be in my rear view mirror and I won't be looking back...my mind is made up.  There's plenty of other things I can be doing that will generate decent income other than contributing to iStock.