In my opinion the key to Pond 5's success is linked directly to the contributors and giving each image/clip a true/accurate evaluation of  its' value. How much is it really worth to the average buyer? Is your assessment too high? I think it's a good idea to periodically allow Pond5 staff to set the price for an image/video clip. That'll give you a "second opinion" on your general assessment.

interesting point ATBT. but isn't P5 the site that has a SUGGESTED PRICING? or maybe it's the other newer middle player in the game.  perharps a suggested price could be introduced from the research of sold images. this will give contributors a realistic amt to set for their images...
+ if they feel their images is better  - if they feel it need a bit of discount to encourage the client to choose their image over another of the similar. 

I think P5's stills would sell better if people uploaded different, better quality images there. I think stock needs more quality stratification between 35 cent microstock and really expensive RM.

amen 2 that. u took the words right out of my mouth Ava Glass. only u said it so much better.

still, we have 2 b specific here , as EMike reminds me that P5 is more on vids than photos.
so personally, i would say i like 2 c a site like Canva replace ss 

i think it's time the oldschool get replaced, so they r mostly sleeping.
so perharps Canva replace SS n Stocksy replaces IS.
that leaves 4 empty spots (ft, 123, dt, bt,) for 4 new sites 2 chime-in.  so long as they r not the ones planning to drop prices, i m sure contributors will
like 2 see them succeed. as already seen, Canva (on their thread) is already getting busy,
which is a good sign .

They'll only be the leader if a large amount of talented contributors decide to put their work only on Pond5.  If people continue to put all of their work on all of the sites, the cheapest sites will win out in the long run.  I think it's really that simple.

Audi has a point there, but i wonder.

is there anyone here who has the same portfolio with all of the sites?
if u r, can u provide us with who amongst the list to the right of this page are the
cheapest sites?
and with that, provide the evidence that in fact, the cheapest sites win out.

wow, surprising, you must have been one of their early birds ?

on the other side it means their startup is still so small their CEO has lots of time in his hands for such things and really cares about their first suppliers.

yes, n a good moral to this story is support them to bring them to #1 but..
keep them hungry, so they won't start to be like the "other biggies" who r now $cr@wing
those who made them #1  #2

Thinking about it, the real old-timers like me, who started back in early 2004, were all easily satisfied. Then, after a few years the semi-pros and pros noticed that we were making very good money and jumped into the pool, trying to squeeze us out, now the pros/semi-pros are finding that it's just not worth the effort any more and a new generation of pocket-money hopefuls are popping up - though with far better skills than we had back at the beginning.

Mr. Trouser, do u still believe OP is as good or better than this old-timer when she first started out?
http://www.istockphoto.com/search/portfolio/162596/?facets={%2225%22%3A%226%22}#1a9fde01
The Madame does not seem to be being "squeezed out". She is still very much up there .
(I am bias, because she is my long time favourite from IS).

i agree with those who say to OP, not to celebrate too soon, the first puff of opiate is always free.
but i also agree that  top performers will always do well because they keep ahead of the "better than when we started" newbies.
to cheers too soon is to encourage the sites like IS , SS, Getty,etc to continue to exploit the situation of over-supply and saturation of yoghurts, i mean, photos.

Hey nchants!... wish luck to you!....!

Istock without PP o any Getty Sales is a 5% of my income... but i respect your decision!

looking at it objectively,

during one of my trips, i met a group of ppl from another country who found out what the min. wage is on my side of the pond. they went, "wow... that's like one month income for a doctor or a manager of a big firm where we live".
so really, 5% may be peanuts for us , but to someone else, that could be like the talk of the town
yo, man... global photographer.
looking back, even here on this forum, a decade ago, i remember reading someone saying
after he made $100 a month with IS that he is planning to build a house .
naturally most ppl then, chided him saying even with $1000 a month we don't even talk about planning
to buy a car, never mind build a house.

this could well be the OP situation why champagnes are pouring .

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on August 01, 2014, 22:45

This is a contributor with 385 images and between 300 and 400 sales. If 5 sales a month seems good to you (it isn't) then I guess exclusivity might be for you too

The OP is in the same-ish boat with 1000 images and around 25 sales a month...
http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=2411778

Honestly, just read the July thread and notice the only happy people are the ones who are going from 0 dls a day to 1.

nothing 2 say except to quote the above
 as it is a shame that it takes so little to suddenly think
success !
now let's go exclusive, wow !

something worth repeating
what Jo Ann and JSLocke point out.

speechless, really

hahaha looking this yogurt portfolio i understand why 400.000 images are added per week...

+1
picture this, for the rest of the year, 400,000 new images of yoghurt
 uploaded by those contributors who complained of 100% rejections.
100% approval  per week of 400K multiplied by the number of weeks left in 2014.
will certainly make an impressive number at the next AGM .

Don't know if CM still does this, but when I started with them last year they sent me my first dollar earned in the mail with a note from the the founder.



Might seem like a small gesture to some, but I like companies that take a minute to connect with contributors.

EmberMike, was that taken out of ur earning? or it was a bonus?
seriously, it is indeed a good gesture, especially these days when all u gets is double-talk
from officials. bravo, n let's hope they remain that way
even after they get to the top bracket 

Quote

any ideas how to generate more income?

Selling the photo gear is usually the quickest method.

  sorry 2  but frankly,

the most insightful n realistic of all responses u will ever receive is this one from LesP.
this n flipping burgers will certainly increase ur income with certainty.
anything else, is like all the other "stock" (investment) with their waiver "historical data is no proof of future earnings" etc etc 

@Olliemt
You can see your sales history here: http://500px.com/settings/store/sales (View Transaction History). We're working on some contributor newsletters which should have some interesting data.  If you have a lot to submit, Alex (@500alexs) has mentioned that you can contact us at [email protected] and we may be able to help with large collections such as yours.

@etudiante_rapide
Once you submit your content for licensing it's immediately searchable on 500px Prime, and if I a buyer requests to license it before our reviewers have reviewed the file (usually just under 2 weeks now) we'll by-pass the queue and vet the file immediately. 500px Prime (http://prime.500px.com) is much more focused as a commercial licensing marketplace without the community elements of 500px.com that you mentioned.

thx nuno 4 taking ur time 2 respond .
i checked out your site n truly like the idea, n the earning potentials ie the setting price of framed prints $80-259, and the other 2 options.
most of all, no 35 cents or $1 per dl 

in reading Olliemt 's post, i too wonder how long does it take before an item is "accepted"?
weeks, months, year? or until someone wants to license it?

other point that worries me more too, is the size of unwatermarked images.
right-click warning "this is xxx image " does not curtail a Ctrl C, and this size is pretty much enough
for most "thief" to print a decent 8 by 10, by xxx-mart standard, if  u know what i mean .

the larger 9 by 6 is impressive to look at, on a tablet. when u consider majority of the web users
think their smartphone images look "perfect already better than what your DSLR can take".
this concerns me, as it could put 500 into the same category as Flickr and fbook.
ie. tons of love and affection, not many sales .

as already pointed out by many here, re facebook,etc... tons of love and affection don't pay for
the equipment, expenses to create those images for us to upload to 500, etc.

reiterate, i like to participate with your agency, but the watermark and what Ollient points out
need to be address first.
thx

Quote from: ShadySue on August 12, 2014, 12:21

Quote from: Goofy on August 12, 2014, 11:14

Just got done reading the article from Yuri and his decision to got to Getty/istock from July 2013. 

Do the exclusive folks on iStock feel better now that a year ago especially financially? Has the rest of the MS companies gone south financially?

 Interested in hearing your thoughts on this big moment from last year.

You might like to catch up further by reading at least the first post on this thread:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/can-istock-turn-midstock-sales-around

Thanks! Reading it now.

thx 2, ... better still, i ressurected the thread
and added 2 words.