Quote from: sharpshot on April 28, 2015, 04:34

I can't sell direct online until there is a way to deal with the new EU VAT rules, so I'm not even wasting time looking at it until that is sorted out.  All I really want is one site that we own, having tried symbiostock, I still think the concept is flawed because we are all paying out every year for individual sites when that money could be used to market one site.  There's always going to be something extra to pay for and it gets expensive.  Surely we would sell more if buyers only had to register once and they would be more likely to come back to a site that has a big collection and variety of images?

I thought woocommerce does handle the EU VAT rules and is part of the new Symbiostock site. Is it not, now?

I would still have to block some buyers or deal with the extra VAT admin.  Neither option appeals to me at the moment.

The video only has 97 views so far, just shows that few people care about istock now.  They have successfully alienated buyers and contributors and I don't see any way back from that.  If the video contained the word "sorry" about 100 times, it might indicate that they understand what has happened to ruin their reputation over the past many years.

I think the RPD could be as little as 10 cents and there would still be people out there eager to upload like there was no tomorrow.

For the record
MY APRIL 2015

- 0 sales so far (had multiple sales a month for several years now)
- 18 zooms at about 0.40 CTR
- 7000 images
- Page 1 of BHZ
- Recently received the 'you're a top 500' contributor email
- Alamy is by far my worst performing agency in regards 'return per image per year'

I think the problem is Alamy has found a niche, which seems to be editorial. The problem is they have dragged about 30 million non-editorial images along for the ride.

I split my portfolios and the non-editorial microstock portfolio does much better with less images than my editorial portfolio.  They are middle tier here in the poll and i suspect most of the people doing that poll are selling their non-editorial microstock images with alamy.  Like any other site, some people will do better with them than others.  I don't sell much with FT while others say they are one of the best.

I still can't connect, it says user name OK, need password.  I haven't changed any settings since it last worked.

Quote from: PhotoLA on April 14, 2015, 15:18

Quote from: danielsbfoto on April 14, 2015, 12:44

So I started and I'm here again. I made my first ESP submission of a butch of videos. They were accepted and  now (one week passed ) looking for a search (new) the thumbnails and the enlarged view at the file page no working, no view. I mailed reporting but no answer yet. Some experience?

You really should try posting your questions to the actual iStock Forum's Video Page. The people there are really helpful.

totally agree, they are bend over backwards helpful. and you can skip all the negative feedback found only on BitterStockGroup.

The advice here is sensible and unbiased.  I would love to of left my video portfolio on istock but cutting commissions and prices for non-exclusives and low sales volume makes it a complete waste of time.  I can't think why a non-exclusive would want to upload there now?

If we tolerate earning almost nothing with istock, the other sites will probably go the same way.  I'm pleased to see that so many of us have had enough of them and have removed our portfolios.

I can still find what used to be my best selling image on the first page when I search for relevant keywords.  I can't find another one and would like to change the keywords but they don't seem to be editable.  Not sure if it is worth the time deleting and uploading again, as new images don't seem to do well.

They haven't done a good job of tackling keyword spamming.  The search results look horrendous to me, lots of the images have nothing to do with what I am searching for.

The other problem is the copycats.  Any original idea gets copied to death and eventually the original sinks down the search and the copycats get all the sales.

I don't think they could pay less, they would lose most of their content.  The way to make more money is the way Shutterstock do it.  Make it viable for contributors to at least maintain their earnings and the site thrives.  Follow the Getty/istock strategy and profits will soon dry up.

My earnings are still abysmal.

The Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III is tiny and can be used for stock.  If you want interchangeable lenses, the Olympus OM-D range, Panasonic DMC-GX7, Fujifilm X-Pro or Sony NEX or A7 range are worth looking at.

I find it quicker to deactivate images, then buyers aren't going to find them on istock and they are more likely to use a site that pays me a higher %.  Every time istock do something like this, another bit of my portfolio vanishes from their site.

I tried with my own Symbiostock site but I think it's the wrong way to go.  I would rather we all paid a bit to have one site that we all contribute too than all of us paying for individual sites.  And the new EU VAT regulations have stopped me selling direct online.

Full HD starts at $15.30 to the contributor, an insulting amount considering they don't have sales volume.

I did upload a few video clips before seeing how little they sell them for.  Luckily, they haven't sold anything.  They were too late to the party.  I have to agree with Mantis, don't waste time uploading video to DT.