Quote from: mbug on February 01, 2013, 05:18

...Bonobo posted a snarky comment...

While I appreciate the play on words, I think you are giving Bonobos a bad name. They are a gentle, peaceful genus, known for f$cking around solving their problems via sexual activity. I'm not sure the same applies to our hairy friend, nor am I sure I want to know 

I stand corrected, I thought they were unpleasant and aggressive little primates, renowned for almost continual self abuse, as for our bullying friend, I really have no idea 

I have slept on this, and am still angry, but also very upset. I can not believe that after allowing somebody to steal 136 of my files, they close my thread down, ban me from the forums, and accuse me of lying. All I can imagine is they want to keep the scale of their incompetence and lack of security quiet. What a way to treat Clients, shocking.

So, was Lobo lying when he wrote:
Hold on a second. You called and talked to someone(I don't know how)
{@Lobo, it's called a phone}
(Lobo once said that contributors could not ever phone CR, no exceptions, and that was in response to a contributor/buyer apparently trying to ask a question in their buyer capacity. However a different admin [oldladybird?] said we had to phone as soon as we suspected fraudulent activity. But Lobo seems not to know about that.

"and railed on the Contributor Relations rep demanding an apology from someone higher up than her. I'm not sure what you think you will accomplish by not telling the entire story, but I will tell you this I'm not going to let you make a bunch of unfounded statements in here.
It's not going to happen. So please understand your not entirely being truthful in here."
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=351067&messageid=6833227
If there is more to the story, can you share it?
If there isn't, make a screendump very quickly as that could be libel.

No, no more to the story, and yes I did take a screen grab

I'm a she :-). Called this number 44 (0) 203 227 2713 (it is on the website), was a bit surprised to talk to someone, and yes I was  a bit upset, it was obvious someone was stealing my work, and rather than solutions , or apologies, I was receiving patronising platitudes from the people I pay to protect/market my work. Sorry cant really talk right now I am so angry.

As it says on the tin,

Manage to get through to speak to someone in contributor relations, (must of been a bit of a shock for them to actually talk to the lowly contributor that they feed off, but hey ho) she told me that  $1000 fraudulent transactions in an hour, is the risk that I take for selling online, I might have been a bit curt, after all, I am their client, they make money from me. I pay them 65% on every sale to market and protect my work.

posted this in the forums

I am exclusive here for you to protect my work, you make 65% on every sale to protect my work, I had to call you to inform you that $1000 of sales in the past hour might be a tad suspicious, along with giving work away to Google, what exactly do you do to justify your percentage?

One snotty illiterate email from them later, and I am banned from the forums.

I was a loyal exclusive, ( I know, stupid)

(edited to remove some of the rage)

I think the economy is pretty crappy and is seriously stalled with no growth and i think the US is definitely in a double dip recession.

There's more competition and buyers leaving istock due to many reasons. Another factor I believe is playing a part in vectors demise on istock is that the vectors keep losing valuable slots in the first couple of pages to new collections like agency, vetta, exclusive+, photo+, editorial... throw in audio and video... all these new collections are more money for GETTY and is surely best match for GETTY and not to the contributors. my top sellers were consistently on one of the first in 20 slots until the end of 2010. Now they can be found on page 2 or 3 of 200 images per page. My 30+ dls a month files now get me 10-20 dls.

istock clearly treats vector contributors as second class citizens. Take the slider that they introduced. Put that in the lowest/cheapest one dot setting and do a search for anything. no vector files above 8 credits show up in that search which pretty much eliminates 90% of my portfolio. Funny, i spent the last 3 years tailoring my portfolio to files priced at 15 credits and above because that was the only way to maximise earnings. My guess is anywhere from 10-25% of searches on istock are used in those settings now. Everything that has happened within the last 18 months was in no way positive for the vector contributor.

Wow, I can't disagree with any of that, especially the second class citizen bit, It is a feeling I have had for a long time. Do you think there is any light at the end of the tunnel or it is better to cut one's losses?

Some Advice please.

I have been an enthusiastic, loyal and I hate to say it now but cheerleading purchaser  and member of Istock since 2003 and a contributor for 4 years (Vector Illustration only). I am exclusive and have been for 3 1/2 years.

Up until the beginning of this year, I was earning a fairly reasonable amount every month, I am a full time graphic designer/illustrator, so uploaded in my spare time, sort of like moonlighting!.

This past year I have not uploaded much for various reasons, family issues being one, but also a severe lack of motivation/inspiration, a major contributor to this being the change in treatment from the powers that be, for example: Change in royalty from canister to RC, subsequent loss in royalty %, the unfair way illustrators are treated in relation to photographers  to achieve the necessary RC credits, the logo fiasco (what a waste of bloody time, work and effort), the lack of opportunities given to Vector exclusive contributors (no exclusive +, no editorial, the removal of Vetta, the reappearance of Vetta), removal of funds from contributors account due to Fraudulent purchases that Istock allowed to happen,etc, etc.

Recently I pulled myself together, stopped sulking ,stopped looking at the forums (always bad news, always depressing) and started to upload with gusto again.

HOWEVER, This past few months my downloads have dropped off a cliff, my previously best sellers no longer appear on my most popular files list, basically Istock don't want to sell them anymore.

September which used to be the start of the busy download season for me is worse than the Summer months.

As the recently departed K.K.T. once said, "Money won't make you happy", well sorry mate with Istock now, it is no longer about love, woohays, or cuddles it is about cold hard cash and  I am no longer earning any.

SOO, I am thinking the previously unthinkable, jumping ship and becoming independent throwing off the shackles and becoming free. I was previously unwilling to do this, because I did not want to lose a large percentage of my earnings, but, now 50% of nowt is nowt, so I have nothing to lose and my best sellers that are now languishing in the dark will get the chance to sell somewhere else.

I realise that I will be too late to reap the benefit of the busy times anywhere else Sept-Dec this year so am looking to change the beginning of next year.

My portfolio is a mix of backgrounds, chrimbo stuff, cartoons, concept illustrations, arty farty painting effects and and a small amount of quirky unusual illos that don't sell much but are there for vanity really!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, on either what sites are best for Vector only illustrators, or any way to improve my downloads at Istock.

Please help.