I am staying exclusive at Istockphoto for the foreseeable future because....I lose my crown and lose an instant 14% commission.I also lose best match placement on 1600+ photograpghs.So presume i take that hit and start uploading those 1600 files to another 4/6 microstock sites.How long would that exercise take and is there any real guarantee that my work  would do as well with such a saturated microstock market.
"Better the devil you know...."

+ONE

Quote from: shank_ali_reborn on January 03, 2011, 08:28

I am staying exclusive at Istockphoto for the foreseeable future because....I lose my crown and lose an instant 14% commission.I also lose best match placement on 1600+ photograpghs.So presume i take that hit and start uploading those 1600 files to another 4/6 microstock sites.How long would that exercise take and is there any real guarantee that my work  would do as well with such a saturated microstock market.
"Better the devil you know...."

+ONE

+2

Quote from: jen on January 03, 2011, 13:40

I did the same test when I became exclusive and all of the files I checked moved up in best match placement.  That was only in September.

Wishful thinking, or maybe you just happened to monitor mainly the images you knew were 'on the up' whilst subconciously ignoring your lesser files that were simultaneously on the way down.

Like I said earlier it's not a mystery and, whilst we might not be able to actually write the algorithm for the best match, we can certainly prove the effect (or otherwise) on exclusive images via a few sample searches. Anyone who has the ability to count from 1-50 can see for themselves. It's not Enigma code-breaking stuff.

Funny how exclusives all desperately want to believe they are being helped by the best match despite all the evidence against it.

I'm not "desperate" to believe anything.  I checked some of my random files out of curiosity and that is what I found.  I do not care as long as I am making sales. 

By the way, I did your test with a food item as suggested.  Search for "quiche" (572 results):

Best Match - 36 exclusive (2 Vetta) / 14 non-exclusive
Age - 18 exclusive / 32 non-exclusive
Downloads - 29 exclusive (2 Vetta) / 21 non-exclusive

What does that prove?  Probably nothing, there are too many factors involved in the best match so I don't see how any of us can make conclusive statements after doing a few searches.

When was it that istock announced the changes? I find the traffic statistic for istockphoto compared to shutterstock of the last 12 month interesting.

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/shutterstock.com+istockphoto.com/?metric=uv&months=12

It looks like that starting last June, that there is a movement from istockphoto to shutterstock. Well, maybe it is just a coincidence.

I have to agree with Aeonf on this.  I don't think that data is reliable.  If you add Dreamstime in the third slot you'll see what I mean.  It shows Dreamstime starting off the year WAY ahead of Shutterstock for traffic.  I seriously doubt that DT has ever had nearly 3x the traffic as SS. 

I don't read to much into it either, just thought it was interesting that the start of the up/down movement was at the same time.

It's probably just coincidence too but it also happens to be the point on my stats where IS started to gradually decline, SS started to grow fast and then eventually overtake IS in Oct.

In Dec my sales at SS were 28% higher than in June __ that's not supposed to happen. In contrast my sales at IS declined by over 22% from June to Dec.

It ain't a cut for everyone...
And a personal note: I think the new system is fair for all parties.

In other words you did not take a pay cut, so it is obviously fair for all parties.  We've actually found the first exclusive who believes 15% for independents is a fair deal.  May I sell you a bridge?

Let me take you all back to Nov 2008 where we had the same discussion about best match and the 80/20 theory. Good reading and some good points, but in the end, one of the best ones that I read was that the best match changes. I suspect that IS changes it to give different people the front page. Maybe one week (or hour?) it's exclusive, the next it's Vetta, then it's new files, then best sellers. This is a way to keep the content fresh and rotating in front of the buyers.

Too simple and logical I know, but something to consider. The best match is always changing!

Now please follow the link and read...

http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/the-new-best match-and-the-8020-rule/

From my perspective it hasn't changed much since that 08 best match thread. They added Vetta and Agency weighting but for the rest of us it looks the same. I keep track of a handful of images and they seem to move up and down based on sales. If suddenly there's more than normal sales on a file it moves up a few places.

For the new stuff, from what I can tell it's still the old model. New images get placed about a third to half of the way back for the total amount of images. If buyers find them, they start selling and move up which they then sell more, etc.

That 08 thread has some pretty accurate predictions about performance. Like for people who don't upload much would get penalized. The new RC system does exactly that. I believe they've been tweaking the best match all along toward a performance model.

So this supports what I'm saying about the best match giving preference to top active performers. And maybe that's the 1,000 Golds, Diamonds, and Black Diamonds that probably generate 80-90% of their revenue. To do that they probably measure a combination of canister level, exclusivity, total images, total sales, rate of new images uploaded, image download performance, etc. So even if you're gold but haven't uploaded anything in a year you may start losing best match preference.

Quote from: aeonf on December 31, 2010, 04:27

It ain't a cut for everyone...
And a personal note: I think the new system is fair for all parties.

In other words you did not take a pay cut, so it is obviously fair for all parties.  We've actually found the first exclusive who believes 15% for independents is a fair deal.  May I sell you a bridge?

From a bussiness point of view ? actually it is. IS goal is to give the minimum royalty possible, without decreasing there profits.
And since when life is fair? my GF father died of cancer 3 months ago (her mom did 10 years ago already), is that fair ? not really.
Everyone is way to emotional on this matter. IS is a bussiness and they made a bussiness decision, all you have left is to make yours.
if your boss in would decrease your salery by 25% would you go to a shrink ? no, you would either take the cut or getter another job. As simple as that.
I can bet 90% of contributors won't do a thing.
The solution BTW is simple, not that it will ever happend, but as suggested here before to create a union and organize a strike.

Have stopped uploading and considering deleting my Flames by way of protest/disgust at all of this and more importantly (knowing that some customers shop around) in order not to undercut my royaltiues elsewhere, with the intention of supporting the more deserving  competing Agencies.

Will be leaving my less popular lower quality files there tho, they get what they pay for which will not be allot from now on. IS have made it perfectly clear where they are going with this imo with things only getting worse in the future for the magority of Contributors. It is just down to the indervidual when to decide enough is enough as the more they can get away with......

 

Shocked to see the poll showing 43% (at the time of this writing) saying that they are carrying on as normal.

 

iStock has you all by the you-know-what, and you're delusional if you think it won't get any worse than this. IMHO, iStock now knows that the majority of it's contributors will take whatever they will give them and it won't be long until they trim commissions yet again. I guarantee it.

It makes me wonder what the heads of the other agencies are thinking behind the scenes...

Have some pride in your work and take control of it. Build your own website. Do freelance work (which, by the way, pays a LOT better than microstock). Don't be so dependent on "the man" - because he sure as hell doesn't have your best interest in mind.

I'm actually quite pleased to see only 43% carrying on as normal.  I'm sure some people would carry on with 1% commission but hopefully if enough of us do something about this, istock and the other sites will look for other ways to increase their profits.  I just don't believe taking away the incentive of earnings for some of their most productive contributors will work when they have so many competitors and we also always have the option of starting our own site.

From a bussiness point of view ? actually it is. IS goal is to give the minimum royalty possible, without decreasing there profits.
And since when life is fair? my GF father died of cancer 3 months ago (her mom did 10 years ago already), is that fair ? not really.

Wow, what a compelling argument.  You went to Harvard, didn't you?  BTW...just wanted to point out the difference between there, their, and they're.   And "salery" is spelled "salary."  I lost my father to cancer, and as far as I can tell, it had little to do with iStock.

Quote from: jen on January 03, 2011, 13:40

I did the same test when I became exclusive and all of the files I checked moved up in best match placement.  That was only in September.

Wishful thinking, or maybe you just happened to monitor mainly the images you knew were 'on the up' whilst subconciously ignoring your lesser files that were simultaneously on the way down.

Like I said earlier it's not a mystery and, whilst we might not be able to actually write the algorithm for the best match, we can certainly prove the effect (or otherwise) on exclusive images via a few sample searches. Anyone who has the ability to count from 1-50 can see for themselves. It's not Enigma code-breaking stuff.

Funny how exclusives all desperately want to believe they are being helped by the best match despite all the evidence against it.

You should really do your test over again without the bias of the first (200 images) page on any given best match search. jump to page 3 or 4 for more accurate relevant results of how many are exclusive or not. A great stock image will sell no matter what whether its exclusive or not. I would like to think that more than 80% of peoples portfolio do not show up on the first page of best match search and if it does, well, they are super stars. Excluding the supersellers in your portfolio,  more than 50% of your income would come from the other files which do get a significant bump if your exclusive. Why would anyone go exclusive if it wasnt for this increased exposure? Dont forget price plays into best match and non exclusive files are always cheaper than exclusive files moving them further back. Why do you think agency and vetta is all over the front page?