Can't get the iStock website to show (UK, Chrome). Just gives me a message:

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Reference #97.eb9a1645.1393950739.314eeeb

Anybody else?

Continuing the abandoned ship metaphor, are we thinking more the Marie Celeste or the Titanic? Both seem to be appropriate metaphors to me.

My small portfolio is running at less than 50% of what I was expecting so far this month. I have assumed up to now that the steady decline was simply chickens coming home to roost following the relentless increasing in prices/unnecessary complexity in collections/general mis-management/low contributor and buyer morale. Howwever, this month feels far more like falling off the edge of a cliff, so I too echo the OP's question What is really going on?? Is there any chance at all somebody will tell us?

Quote from: JoeClemson on November 23, 2011, 19:05

I've just uploaded my first set of pictures for assessment by 123RF. Three of them have been rejected for lacking a property release. Two were architectural photos of terraced houses (multiple houses, multiple owners, cloned out house numbers and other ID and copyright marks). The third was of a single bow window with no identification as to the property to which it belonged (it could be almost anywhere in the world). All the images were taken from public roads.

I was astonished that 123RF regards these as requiring a property release at all.

I was more perturbed to find that multitudes of  similar phtos already in the library had no property release anyway.

I'm now deeply worried about submitting to an agency which imposes a draconian policy which goes far beyond the policies  of almost all other, presumably responsible and well advised, agencies. It even goes beyond 123RF's own stated policy.  If this is what I encounter on the first go What other surprises await when I submit in future?

Perhaps more to the point, do I want to submit to a site where I am not competing on a level playing field? If new submissions are being rejected under this draconian policy, they must surely delete exisitng non-compliant images too in the interest of both fairness and avoiding potential legal pitfalls.

I'm waiting for an official response to my query to Support on this matter but I suspect it's just a matter of time before I delete my few submissions and leave 123RF to whatever fate has in store

Hey JoeClemson,

Our reviewer has re-evaluated the rejected images. It's advisable to attach a Property Release on the rejected images. Based on our New Property Release Guidelines, a Property Release is required if any building exterior is the "Main Focus" of the Image.

We have made our Policy more stringent to avoid any legal issue that may arise in the future to safeguard our contributors. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for your understanding.


Cheers,
Anglee  

Hello Anglee,

Sorry but you needn't thank me for my understanding as you don't have it.

Taking just one example I still can't see how a row of stone cottages (each individually owned) in Yorkshire comes under any ofthe categories you have linked to. Yourpolicy is going beyond your guidelines. This is your perogative but if I am to join you as a contributor I need to know that I can rely on the submission guidelines I see before me.

Also, you haven't addressed at all the issue of the level playing field, given that you have numerous images already which contravne your new policy.

I also find myself puzzled by how you can routinely offer failed RF submissions a movement to Editorial. The two types of image require completely different approaches to processing with minimal editing allowed to Editorial images, compared with images prepared for RF which are often edited to remove copyright and identifying marks of all kinds, as well as allowing more leeway on adjustments to lighting etc., thus disqualifying them as Editoral images.


Regards.

Joe

I've just uploaded my first set of pictures for assessment by 123RF. Three of them have been rejected for lacking a property release. Two were architectural photos of terraced houses (multiple houses, multiple owners, cloned out house numbers and other ID and copyright marks). The third was of a single bow window with no identification as to the property to which it belonged (it could be almost anywhere in the world). All the images were taken from public roads.

I was astonished that 123RF regards these as requiring a property release at all.

I was more perturbed to find that multitudes of  similar phtos already in the library had no property release anyway.

I'm now deeply worried about submitting to an agency which imposes a draconian policy which goes far beyond the policies  of almost all other, presumably responsible and well advised, agencies. It even goes beyond 123RF's own stated policy.  If this is what I encounter on the first go What other surprises await when I submit in future?

Perhaps more to the point, do I want to submit to a site where I am not competing on a level playing field? If new submissions are being rejected under this draconian policy, they must surely delete exisitng non-compliant images too in the interest of both fairness and avoiding potential legal pitfalls.

I'm waiting for an official response to my query to Support on this matter but I suspect it's just a matter of time before I delete my few submissions and leave 123RF to whatever fate has in store

Quote from: JoeClemson on November 17, 2011, 07:23

I'm wondering if I'm just suffering  the effects of 'sales having tanked big time' or if there is something else going on. Are iStock telling me to pack my bags and go?

I am exclusive to iStock but not very prolific with 2679 photo and video downloads over some 5 years as a contributor. However the income I receive is very important and more than just a bonus to me.

I would normally expect to earn around $50 to $100 in a week on 10 to 15 downloads. In the past eight days I have had just one download worth a pitiful 72 cents.  No amount of sales variation due to ebb and flow, satistical anomaly or even a world-wide economic crisis is going to cause such a massive, sudden  change in sales pattern over such a short period (by comparison the first week in November was normal for me and typical of recent times at IS).

Someone, somewhere seems to have pressed a button turning off my sales and presumably, for others like me.

Discussion on the iStock forums seems very muted overall and I know this topic would be killed immediqately, but  I really would like to know if I am alone in this experience.

I would have posted a new thread rather than digress on this one, but I have to  make a posting somewhere before I'm allowed to start a new thread and this one seemed the most relevant.

Joe: Not sure the hate-istock thread/forum is the best place for this. But perhaps if you added a portfolio link to your profile you could get some constructive criticism. Without seeing it, my guess is that your portfolio is pretty small and depends a lot on the sales of a few older photos. Also normal fluctuations in sales happen all the time, a lot of Christmas purchasing is going on right now and maybe you don't have any Christmas images? I can only speculate. I can speak for me though that my sales are way up right now. In fact Tuesday was my highest download day ever, so there are plenty of buyers out there. I do have a large portfolio though. Hope that helps.

Many thanks f or your reply. You can see my iStock port easily by visiting the site as my member name is the same as the name I use here.  There are 940 videos and 740  photos with a wide range of topics so I'm used to a steady trickle of sales with little seasonal variation. I have only one image that has ever sold in any quantity so the effect if that slowing down is modest. The 8 day (getting on towards 9 days) drought is unprecedented for me since I had a very small portfolio in 2007.