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Messages - pixelbrat
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176
« on: January 25, 2007, 16:37 »
Hi all just joined up!! I started with microstock a few months ago and have 106 pics with 123rf, 50 with bigstock and a couple with istock and fotolia (more to go up soon!!!!). My question is having only earn $20 so far (all with 123rf) is it possible to earn a living doing this? is there any one out there earning a decent amount ($400 a month or more?) and if so how many sites are you on and with how many shots? I really just want to know is it worth in the long term all the time spent uploading and keywording? or should i just view this as a fun hobby for a little extra cash now and then?
thanks for taking the time to view this,
Andrew 
Hi there, I'm definitely not "making a living" from stock but i do make between $500-$600 a month from 4 sites. This is just a hobby for me for now. Below I have a breakdown of where I submit and how many photos I have there. This is also in order by earnings. Istock is by far my highest earning site, making twice as much there as I do at Shutterstock. That might be because I don't upload very often. iStock - 217 photos Stutterstock - 302 photos Dreamstime - 223 photos Fotolia - 238 photos
177
« on: January 25, 2007, 14:31 »
I might be wrong but didn't they also change the Best Match search within a month or so of implementing the whole DA disaster? Based on that it might be hard to distinguish which had more of an impact on sales. I had record sales in October after one of their many search changes. Then they changed it again and my sales went back down. All of my files have been DA'd and my sales are much better than before, but again, I can't tell if it's due to DA-ing or changes in the Best Match searches. Then again, I suffer from CRS ( can't remember sh*t) so my memory of timings might be off...
178
« on: January 24, 2007, 21:17 »
Hi everyone,
Great idea! I thought I would beef up my CN as well so I have sent most (if not all) of you an invite. If anyone would like to add me my username here is the same as on iStock.
Cheers!
Pixelbrat
179
« on: November 27, 2006, 18:54 »
Thanks!
180
« on: November 27, 2006, 17:21 »
Looks like they've deleted the original post from the community news area too. Geez, what was so wrong with it that made the mods delete all traces of it?
181
« on: November 27, 2006, 16:04 »
Can anyone else access the iStock forum thread for this news story? I was in the middle of reading it and clicked on the page 3 link to continue reading and it suddenly went back to the main forum listing. I noticed the thread was locked so I figured something controversial was brought up but never got the chance to find out. I'm wondering if the mods deleted the entire post or if it's just me.
182
« on: November 22, 2006, 08:49 »
I stopped uploading to BigStock several months ago for various reasons so my portfolio is only 23 images compared to 200-300 elsewhere. When DT came out with the "sell the rights" option I didn't like that BigStock can keep my images held hostage for 90 days after I upload them. After 8 months I've just now reached a $33 payout. Once I cash out I'm pulling my images and closing my account there. Glad to hear others are doing well there.
183
« on: October 30, 2006, 16:22 »
Oops, I'm sorry. Yes, I'm a US citizen. Fortunately or unfortunately, my earnings are over the $600. (in the US I think you have to report anything over $600) I forgot about Getty owning them now. I knew I would have to pay taxes on it, just curious if they sent the 1099. I guess it's a moot point regardless. Thanks for the info.
184
« on: October 30, 2006, 15:20 »
It's getting close to that time of year again and even though I'm happy with my stock earnings, I'm suddenly a bit scared of the taxes I'm going to have to incur due to my new income. I know SS and DT send out 1099's but does anyone know if Istock does? I tried searching their forums but any threads that mentioned taxes quickly got locked.  I thought Istock was a Canadian company so wasn't sure if they had to or not. I'm pretty tax-illiterate so forgive me in advance if these are stupid questions. (which is why my accountant will be consulted this year...)
185
« on: October 18, 2006, 20:25 »
I tried playing with it tonight on my own shots and got too frustrated to keep going. What I really don't understand is seeing photos show up that don't have ANY of the words I searched on listed in the keywords. How in the heck does that work?  I keep telling myself to just stay away from there until they get this whole mess sorted out but it's just so hard to look away from a train wreck.
186
« on: October 18, 2006, 20:11 »
I don't know if you guys saw the post by Bitter tonight about the Best Match changing again - and who could blame you since the thread is 610 posts long - but he gave no indication as to what the new criteria would be. Here's the page, near the middle. http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=40930&page=31Of course, give it a few days and they'll change it again, I'm sure. 
187
« on: October 18, 2006, 20:02 »
Maybe if they put a shadow behind the light text? That way it would show up on light and dark images. Something like this?  Just a thought...
188
« on: October 18, 2006, 19:54 »
As CJPhoto said, nobody really knows what is going on in the search engine there.
And even if you think you have it figured out... wait a day and they'll change something again. I just read a post by Bitter in one of the 600+ threads that they are changing the "Best Match" criteria again. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack... just bitter over this whole thing. (pardon the bitter pun)
189
« on: October 17, 2006, 17:30 »
Does anyone get any acutal sales there?
Yeah, about $40 a month for me. Not much but better than nothing.
190
« on: October 17, 2006, 09:17 »
Sorry to dredge up an old thread but I just got a huge set of photos rejected by Fotolia and went in search to see if anyone else had any similar experiences. They rejected 30 of the 33 images I just submitted which is just unheard of. Don't get me wrong, after playing the microstock game for 8 months I've gotten somewhat used to accepting a certain amount of rejection... but 30 out of 33? Wow, they must have really gotten strict since reaching their million. They were all given either "Your photograph did not reach our desired level of aesthetic quality." or "Fotolia has received an overabundant amount of high quality images similar to this photo and does not have need of more photos like it." I guess I need to toughen my skin if I'm going to continue to submit there. 
191
« on: October 15, 2006, 21:00 »
This could likely be due to ebb and flo but my sales went up remarkably after I finished going through all of my images and changing/adding where appropriate. YMMV. I personally think it would be smart to go through your images if for nothing else than to correct any existing keywords that may have been given the wrong meaning by default. There were quite a few of these on mine. I went ahead and added a ton of phrases while I was in there. I truly feel for the folks who have 1000's of images in there portfolio. Mine only has 174 and it really sucked going through them all but my sales are higher than ever so I can't complain too much.
192
« on: October 10, 2006, 10:23 »
Thanks! I guess I need to visit the forums more often. I kind of wish something like this was sent out to all contributors by email so those that don't frequent the forums would know. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything. Thanks again.
193
« on: October 10, 2006, 09:47 »
2. Your images have been up there for a long time and thus used to show up in the Most Popular searches (which used to really be based on Most Downloads). Since the search changed in the past month, your images are no longer showing up in Most Popular (since it has changed to a sort based upon time AND downloads).
Quick question for you on this... just curious how you knew the sorting had changed? Is this something you just noticed by chance or was there an announcement made somewhere? If so do you have a link? Thanks in advance.
194
« on: October 10, 2006, 08:37 »
Whew, I'm glad it's not just me. I've noticed a sizeable downturn in my downloads at SS as well and I upload fairly regularly. I hadn't realized they changed the sort, which may explain it. I know there's normal ebb and flow but this change is fairly obvious over normal E&F. Me no likey...
195
« on: August 09, 2006, 09:07 »
I just received my payment. Maybe they are running on a bit of a schedule, based on the fact that others seem to have gotten paid as well. If so I wish they would make that public so we aren't waiting around wondering what's up. If I knew I had to wait for a certain date I could certainly be patient but just leaving me dangling doesn't sit well with me. Oh well, I got paid so I'm happy none the less.
196
« on: August 08, 2006, 16:40 »
Well, believe it or not they replied back to me with the following after I set them straight on what I was actually asking about: "Sorry we did not read this correctly. Paypal payments should be made this week." I guess we'll finally see our payments "sometime this week". Hmm, that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. I wonder if they're stuggling to fill their bank account enough to make payments to their photographers...
197
« on: August 08, 2006, 14:45 »
Well, I got a reply from support but it was absolutely no help. Here's their response: "Dont worry about this status. You can download images immediately after purchase." I think they missed the point that I wanted to get paid by Paypal, not download images with those credits. I replied thusly. We'll see what they say. Oh, and CJ, yes I know I can cash out at anytime but I was saving up to $100 intentionally. I needed it for a new windshield for my motorcycle. Kind of a self imposed savings plan. 
198
« on: August 08, 2006, 09:57 »
I finally reached $100 at Fotolia so I decided to request a Paypal payout. I put my request through on 8-3-06 and it has been showing a status of "Transformation Pending" ever since. I sent an email to support asking how long it would take to go through but I figured I'd post here too to see what you seasoned veterans thought. Has anyone received a Paypal payout from Fotolia? How long did it take to go through? Thanks in advance.
Pixelbrat
199
« on: August 02, 2006, 09:08 »
Thank you! I like yours too. Is that you? 
200
« on: May 31, 2006, 17:08 »
Excellent. That's great to know. Thanks.
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