Awhile back Istock changed the rules so exclusives cant put their files in PP. Any exclusive files you find there were uploaded before that went into effect.

I was an exclusive at iStock for 3 years and during that time the "Partner Program" was introduced.

My view from the beginning was that this was a drive by Getty to to dilute iStock as a presence and to dilute exclusive contributor earnings so in the end everyone would get 20% royalties and no more. I opted out and was among others advocating for an opt in versus an opt out; as so many initially held out, iStock sweetened the pot and upped the earnings to try and get more content opted in. All moves in the right direction, but there were several major problems, IMO.

The biggie was that sales in the partner program did not count towards your cannister/RC totals which meant that over time, any shift from iStock to partner (and the marketing was all directed to moving business away from iStock to Thinkstock; nothing ever directed buyers back to iStock from Thinkstock) would make it harder to earn the higher royalty percentages.

Based on what we'd seen at other sites, this notion that it was new business and different buyers is largely a crock - people switch, and in this case they're switching to a site that pays you less.

For exclusivity to have any market usefulness, your content can't be spread out all over the place - and Getty has turned "exclusive" into a virtually meaningless term at this point.

Getty strong-armed their contract contributors into accepting forced movement of RM and RF content to RF and Thinkstock - they were furious but had to leave Getty completely if they didn't want this. People have seen how all these moves over time have increased Getty's take from the gross and decreased that of the contributor.

So bottom line for me was that I saw no reason to help Getty undermine my earning power. Events subsequently removed a lot of the choices, including opting in or out.

When I switched back to being indie in the summer of 2011 I was forced to be in the partner

No it's not more money. That's the problem, In the land of smoke and mirrors and twisted facts, hypothetical predicted promises, it's more money. But only for IS.

My average commission per RPD on IS before TS in 2009, was $1.41 - I think you can see how 28 cents is not that much?  Partner program royalty for December 2009 was 25c per DL by the way.

2010 $1.58 vs 28c
2011 $1.34 vs 28c
2012 $1.03 vs 28c

Since then I get many less DLs on IS and of course more 28c DLs on TS. So it's not more money, it's just moving buyers to lower sales plans and we get less money. RPD is now 99c / PP is 28 cents. 2013 earnings total, is still below 2010 earnings total.

Maybe something else is going on, but the way I see the division of DLs and the growth in 28c files and standard has dropped 2/3rds, and at a lower return, it's kind of suspicious.

Two effects the way I see it. Customers have been moved to something that pays us less, which means I make less and unless there are six times more DLs on PP than I had before on file downloads. It was a good plan in theory, but it hasn't paid us more money. IS also dropped the commissions for Independents during this time, so that has an effect on standard DLs.

Bottom line? I'm Not Making More money!

If someone else is doing better, I'd like to see how their 2009 and 2010 figures for standard DLs compare to PP DLs in RPD. I'm only able to look at my own figures and it's been nothing but down since they introduced ThinkStock.

I think Exclusives should be happy to not be included in the cut rate, subscription plan on IS. It's not more money, it's just a theoretical More Volume. At the higher percentages that Exclusives make, someone will have to tell me, but 6-8 DLs per file, to equal what some Exclusive gets on a standard DL?

What's an exclusives average RPD for a standard DL?

hi all, I pass by here to ask you a question about exclusivity with IS. Maybe she has already been answered, but I can not find.

I want to know why exclusive contributors prefer (for the majority apparently) delete their files from Partner Program ?

it is always more money right?
My best seller are not the same at all between IS and PP, so I do not see why.
In addition, it is not the same customers who go on these two sites.

I do not see why the fact of delete a photo of PP, will sell better on the IS website.

Thank you very much for your answers, and your opinion, I have trouble understanding this.

GREG

No it's not more money. That's the problem, In the land of smoke and mirrors and twisted facts, hypothetical predicted promises, it's more money. But only for IS.

My average commission per RPD on IS before TS in 2009, was $1.41 - I think you can see how 28 cents is not that much?  Partner program royalty for December 2009 was 25c per DL by the way.

2010 $1.58 vs 28c
2011 $1.34 vs 28c
2012 $1.03 vs 28c

...

What's an exclusives average RPD for a standard DL?

My RPD, as an Exclusive, has gone up by comparatively by leaps and bounds:
 
2010 $2.92 vs 34c
2011 $4.11 vs 42c
2012 $6.61 vs 44c
2013 $9.51 vs 52c

but my regular downloads have gone down in the same period, of course, by a factor of something like 2.6.

The result, however, is I've made a lot more in 2013 than I did in 2009, so it's worked OK for me.

iStock are raising prices to try and find the sweet spot - maximum DLs is not the same thing as maximum income.  Which makes sense, provided they don't overdo it and lose too many customers.  Time will tell...

I sincerely thank you all for all your comments above, I better understand your point of view now, and I'll think if I go exclusive with IS if i remove or not my old files already there (because there is no new content added from the moment I'm Exclusive)
Indeed I understand that in the end, for some, to remove PP means earning more money through RC for example.

I really appreciate
GREG