MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: cdwheatley on May 30, 2008, 17:22
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I am seriously considering going exclusive with istock. Was wondering if someone can tell me the least painfull way to go about this. I have images on:
IS
DT- 6 month wait?
FT- ?
SS- ?
BS- 3 months?
123- ?
STX- ?
SV- ?
Do I understand correctly that I can still upload to the sites that don't put a hold on images while waiting for the 6 months?
Any advice would be appreciated :) thanks.
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I think you have the two biggies - I don't know of any others with a hold beyond Albumo. If you uploaded and got paid for the uploads, they have a 400 day hold.
I am timed out already at DT, have less than a month to go with BigStock and will be clear of Albumo in August. I haven't decided what to do yet, but am strongly leaning towards going exclusive at IS once I'm free to do so.
I am in the meantime uploading elsewhere where I think it's worth it (i.e. I'm not bothering with 123rf) as there's no point in closing off options I can keep open or (b) foregoing the income in the meantime. I don't upload my vectors (just JPEGs from them) anywhere but IS anway.
Be aware of another poster's note that if you disable and then re-enable any images at DT, the 6 month clock starts over again, even if the image had been up there for years prior to being disabled.
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I think you have the two biggies - I don't know of any others with a hold beyond Albumo. If you uploaded and got paid for the uploads, they have a 400 day hold.
I am timed out already at DT, have less than a month to go with BigStock and will be clear of Albumo in August. I haven't decided what to do yet, but am strongly leaning towards going exclusive at IS once I'm free to do so.
I am in the meantime uploading elsewhere where I think it's worth it (i.e. I'm not bothering with 123rf) as there's no point in closing off options I can keep open or (b) foregoing the income in the meantime. I don't upload my vectors (just JPEGs from them) anywhere but IS anway.
Be aware of another poster's note that if you disable and then re-enable any images at DT, the 6 month clock starts over again, even if the image had been up there for years prior to being disabled.
Thank you.
So basically I don't have to do anything but stop uploading to DT and BS? Its ok to leave everything where it is at until the 6 months is up, and then delete everything all at once? correct? Just want to make sure I don't make any mistakes along the way.
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When I pulled the plug on CanStock a few months back, I site-mailed Duncan and he deleted my portfolio in 24 hours. I thought that I was going to have to leave Fotolia over the uploading ID issue, and Chad had said he could have my portfolio removed if I wanted - again, I assume it would have taken a day or two at most. Another poster here (within the last month or so) said she'd written to SS support to ask how long it'd take for her portfolio to be removed, and it was gone within a day.
Other than those experiences, I don't have anything direct to offer to confirm that not uploading is all you have to do, but perhaps anyone else who's left any of the other sites recently could contribute an annecdote.
I'm certainly working on the assumption that there's nothing else we need to do. You might want to site mail Carole Gomez at iStock as she was independent and went exclusive about 9 months ago. Perhaps she has some wisdom to share.
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I think what you have is accurate. I'm in the same boat but my DT hold is up in a couple of weeks. I'm going to wait a bit longer to see what happens with the subscriptions at IS. Unless IS really screws something up I'm going exclusive. Especially given disappointment after disappointment with just about every other site.
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Thanks for the info guys :) Doesn't look like it will be to painful of a wait, just losing out on new uploads to dreamstime and bigstock.
It looks like the subs at istock are geared towards corporate accounts, according to feedback from designers on the forums.
I get the overall impression Istock is looking out for photographers and the industry better than any of the other micros. They could have easily started a sub plan with a pay structure similar to the other micros, but they didn't. They also want to push the prices which I think is great as well.
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So basically I don't have to do anything but stop uploading to DT and BS? Its ok to leave everything where it is at until the 6 months is up, and then delete everything all at once?
As I get closer to being able to choose exclusivity, one additional thing came to mind. Managing payouts so we don't end up giving any of the sites we're leaving any money.
It's easier at the sites that earn well and let you request payments when you want, but there are some that pay at a fixed time of the month (SS, 123rf). The sites that are slow earners make it a bit harder though. As I come to the next payout point with a slow earner, do I delete right away after getting paid, or start another pay cycle, which, if things are typical, might mean I don't get to collect by the time I'm ready to delete?
And for the sites that pay on fixed dates, can I delete my portfolio on the first of the month and still get paid for the previous month's earnings (all those clauses about forfeiting earnings when accounts are closed make me nervous)? I don't want to go on selling until the 15th (or whatever) of the current month...
BigStock has a 3 day wait after you make a sale before you can collect money. DT has a 7 day wait on any extended licenses, but other money is immediately available.
Any other issues or gotchas anyone can think of?
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This is a very good thread to note, as one day, hopefully, we will all come to want to be exclusive with a choiced site.
From my short (3 months) experience and contacts with other contributors, I find that IS, DT, StockXpert,BigStock,... and esp. for me ...most recently, 123RF (just got accepted this morning... woo hoo !)..
to be very obliging.
I cannot see any of them wanting to hew and haw if we wrote them to explain that we have decided to go exclusive elsewhere.
Surely, from a business standpoint, we always know that a good business person never burn bridges.
So I would be very surprise if anyone going exclusive will get screwed by any one of these aforementioned sites.
Congratulations btw, and then too for both of you to bring up this topic.
;)
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(all those clauses about forfeiting earnings when accounts are closed make me nervous)?
Technically you do not have to close your account(s). As long as you've removed your images for sale, it's perfectly allowed under the exclusive agreement for you to have an account wherever you like.
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SS is easy to time the payout - just raise the payout to an amount that you did not reach that month and once you are exclusive lower it for payout that month to 75.
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Great points jsnover, since I still have a number of months until decision time, I'd not really thought about it in much detail.
There's no doubt about it, making the decision to go exclusive (and everything it entails) is quite a juggling act!
I would almost certainly de-activate my images on the 1st or 2nd of the month and hope that the site pays as normal for the previous months downloads. I'd most likely be willing to forfeit my earnings for the first day of the month (whilst de-activating) if it meant everything else transitioned smoothly.
I think it's key to keep all the accounts open where possible and just de-activate images, as who knows, exclusivity may not work out as planned.