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Messages - Allsa

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226
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia rocks!!!
« on: January 29, 2011, 10:28 »
Really? Well, it's tanked for me. It's the worst month since January 2009, less than half the usual earnings. Perhaps you are the winner in a search shake-up lottery.

Same for me, it's depressing.

227
Adobe Stock / Re: Why I love Fotolia!
« on: January 27, 2011, 11:47 »
I thought about exclusivity with FT, too, but quickly dropped the idea. I just don't trust any of them, not even DT or SS.

228
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Istock F5 epic fail
« on: January 27, 2011, 11:38 »
I just have to wonder how long this mess will go on before iStock implodes or falls apart completely. I can't understand how they've managed to stay in business this long! Getty is taking a serious gamble here. And I hate them.

229
Veer / Re: veer a wasted effort for new contributors?
« on: January 21, 2011, 22:00 »
Do they still have mass rejections and inconsistent  reviews (by that I mean one batch is mostly acceptance, another batch of similar images is mostly rejections). That was why I pulled my portfolio in the beginning, and there's no point in re-applying if if the review process hasn't been improved.

That was one of my big issues with them too, Allsa, but that seems to have been resolved.  One way I resolved it was to group similars and upload them together, that way they can pick and choose what they want and what they don't want.  In 500 submissions so far, I haven't had any rejections this time around.  So I would say the reviews are quite fair and consistent :D

Thanks, Lisa, I'll re-apply and see how it goes.

230
Veer / Re: veer a wasted effort for new contributors?
« on: January 21, 2011, 21:17 »
Do they still have mass rejections and inconsistent  reviews (by that I mean one batch is mostly acceptance, another batch of similar images is mostly rejections). That was why I pulled my portfolio in the beginning, and there's no point in re-applying if if the review process hasn't been improved.

231
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia cuts commissions again
« on: January 21, 2011, 09:27 »
I would feel much better about this if we had some assurance from Fotolia admin that they do not intend to change the number of downloads needed to advance up a level in rank at any time in the foreseeable future. I'm close enough to emerald where I would be (very resentfully) willing put up with the pay cut until I reach emerald and get my old commission rate restored.

232
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia cuts commissions again
« on: January 20, 2011, 14:39 »
Im erasing over 1300 images over the weekend, so is another 5 to 8 Golds in Scandinavia, England and Germany. We will join up with IS.  Why??  well for starters, why set the bar at Emeralds? cheaper then Gold on the stock-market, also, you cant trust the game any more. FT, made that an infamnia, which means an impossibillity to remain.

We had time over for IS, given the fact they were the first ones, this however? no! no way, its upstart mentality.

As a fellow gold I feel the opposite is true - for me, at least. All this commission cutting has shown me just how risky it is to go exclusive with any agency. You can't trust any of them, least of all IS.

233
Adobe Stock / Re: Fotolia cuts commissions again
« on: January 20, 2011, 14:11 »
Great, at 21267 downloads I was close to rising to emerald. The last time I got close they moved the target further away, and now I get shafted once again. I'm considering stopping all uploads to Fotolia, I haven't decided yet. If I didn't need the money I would take down my entire portfolio on both IS and FT. If I find a way to compensate for the potential drop in income, I will leave both sites altogether.

234
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Istock F5 epic fail
« on: January 19, 2011, 11:29 »
had enough of istock and its dictatorial approach.  i spotted the potential for this a long long time ago, but if you post anything even remotely negative on the forums someone kicks you in the teeth. the corporate graveyard is full of companies that stuck their fingers in the air and went 'blah, blah, blah'. you've got to listen to the stuff you don't like guys. perhaps even more so than the arse-licking.....  they are now banning complaints on the forum and want them to be sent as support tickets instead - so they can 'filter out the real issues'. but there's still a guy reading the complaints and deleting them????  has someone pushed the self-destruct button there?

+1

235
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock royalty cut goes live
« on: January 16, 2011, 14:10 »
I suspect they probably fired a lot of workers that they couldn't afford to lose, individuals they really needed to keep the site running properly. After all, if the intent is to rake in as much cash as quickly as possible, and then to dump the business after they've used it up and ruined it, wouldn't it make sense to save money by firing as many workers as possible? Or cut their workers' pay and benefits to the point where they quit in disgust, similar to how they're screwing us. These people are ruthless.

236
StockXpert.com / Re: Thinkstock earnings posted
« on: January 14, 2011, 22:12 »
Thinkstock is an abomination that I hope and pray fails, and fails big time. If Thinkstock succeeds it will be yet another nail in the coffin of microstock. Do yourself and the microstock industry a big favor and delete all of your images from the site. If you continue to tolerate this type of treatment, you send Getty the message that it's OK, and things will just continue to get worse as time goes by.

237
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock royalty cut goes live
« on: January 14, 2011, 19:25 »
The only way to make them go "poof" is if contributors would stop complaining and just pull their portfolios.

True, I've still got my portfolio at IS, but I did stop uploading the day they announced the royalty cut. IS is still my #1 earner (not for much longer, I expect, since my earnings there are steadily declining) if I took everything off the site today, my monthly income would take a big hit. If I thought the majority of IS independents would pull their IS portfolios, then I would join them and pull mine as well. As it is I could take down my whole portfolio, and IS wouldn't even notice or care. I would suffer a big cut in income, and all for an empty gesture that changes nothing.

Perhaps forming a union would be our only hope, but how do you form a union when we have tens of thousands of contributors from all over the world? Is it even possible?

238
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock royalty cut goes live
« on: January 14, 2011, 14:41 »
"And I must say, thank you to everyone for helping iStock with an exceptional year. With your hard work, we continue to meet and exceed our goals."

Has iStock asked you what your goals are? They didn't ask me, but still they say they know my goals (and that I have met and exceeded my goals even if I disagree).

My dream is that iStock would just suddenly vanish from the surface of earth. *POOF*

You know that's my dream too, exactly, even though IS is where I make the most money.    All IS is doing now is grinding this business into dust.  Please die, IS, so we can start over.

+1 (sigh)

239
StockFresh / Re: Rejections in StockFresh
« on: January 10, 2011, 12:53 »
I was recently accepted and have just started uploading, so I can't say anything about sales or rejections. But then I was under the impression that the site hasn't been opened to the public yet. Is that true? Because if it's true, how can we make a judgment on earnings potential when the public hasn't seen it yet? Or am I missing something here?

240
Nothing changes for me, still a 15% drop. Woo Yay

241
I stopped uploading when they announced the commission cut back in Sept, and I won't resume uploading for less than 20%. I hear a lot of complaining about iStock's greed, but think about it, would they be able to get away with the money grab if not for our greed? I can't understand how any self respecting indy would keep uploading after the commission cut! We have several other outlets for our new stuff. Imagine if all indys just stopped uploading right after the announcement...! It might make a difference. But most indys just kept right on uploading, not want to miss out on any additional $$$. We are becoming willing participants in the downfall of microstock.

242
I started uploading to them late in Sept. Considering the fact that it's a middle tier site, and I'm new, I'm very happy with my sales there. The fast review times and acceptance rate are great!

243
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Istock F5 epic fail
« on: December 30, 2010, 13:44 »
I'm beginning to think iStock is the Enron of MicroStock.  It starts with a massive money grab, then they jump ship right before it sinks and leave countless ruined victims in their wake. I have no idea how long it will take, or what the repercussions will be for the microstock industry as a whole.

244
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Istock F5 epic fail
« on: December 16, 2010, 18:21 »
Maybe I've been listening to too many conspiracy theories lately, but I'm beginning to wonder if Getty actually wants iStock to fail.  I find it hard to believe that they're as incompetent and uncaring as they appear to be. Maybe part of their overall business strategy is to sink iStock, perhaps there are tax advantages in it for them. Who knows?

245
Bigstock.com / Re: Is it still alive???
« on: December 01, 2010, 18:37 »
This is so weird that people are reporting such poor sales with BigStock.  Just did my stats there and my $ are up 33% since same time last year.  They have shown some of the best growth of any site I am on.  Wonder if they have been changing up the search order there and I am just on the best side of it?

Same here, my Oct '10 earnings were much better than Oct '09.

246
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Is iStock dead in Europe?
« on: November 29, 2010, 20:15 »
@ Lisa - At that time, he lived in New York State, and they had really bad winters - so he had snow tyres and chains and snow-spades and all sorts in the garage.  In the summer they used to bring out mesh panels they inserted outside the windows to keep the insects at bay while still allowing the windows to open... inwards.  I was stunned by the brilliance of that.  AFAIK, all windows in the UK (apart from sash windows) open outwards, so that's not even an option.  Of course he had air conditioning for the summer too.  I've yet to meet anyone in the UK who has air conditioning at home.

He took me to one of the US's huge outdoor wear shops, and everything seemed so incredibly practical and strong.  Not at all fashionable or stylish, just entirely practical - which is what you need in severe weather.  I wonder if we're a bit too style and fashion-conscious in this part of the world... and maybe practicality suffers as a result.  Having said that, there's more functional clothing available here now than then (in the early 90's), but I still think the US is better equipped.

I'm surprised to hear what you've said - but that's just because I forget how vastly different the climate is across the various States.  The UK is so small in comparison, it's easy to forget how large the North American land mass actually is.  LOL @ heaters when it's 60(F)   :D

@ Shady Sue - so glad to hear your sales have picked up too!  ;D

I've lived in upstate New York my whole  life. Winters can be brutal here, especially with the volume of snow that accumulates. It's especially bad for us because we live near Lake Ontario, so we get tons of lake effect snow. I've had to shovel off the garage roof a few times, to keep it from collapsing under the weight of the snow. You keep shoveling and shoveling, then it reaches the point where there's just no place to put the %$#! snow! Winter lasts 5 months up here, and it gets very cold, too - lows can go down in the single digits (Fahrenheit). I've even seen it below 0, but that's rare.
Summer can be pretty extreme, too. Humidity gets very high sometimes, and we can get temperatures in the high 80's and 90's (Fahrenheit) during heat waves. Combine that with the high humidity and you feel like you're in the tropics. We have central air conditioning, a good furnace, a winter emergency kit in the car, storm windows, snow blower, ect, ect... Oh yeah and the highest property taxes in the US, too. Lucky us ;-)

247
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Buyers Bailing on Istock
« on: November 24, 2010, 16:08 »
A lot of buyers are fed up, but many of them still have credits left they have to use up, so I wouldn't be surprised to see iStock's earnings begin to drop sharply after the first of the year. Plus, many contributors are planning on leaving the site at the end of 2010 - which will decrease the size of the selection and make the competing micros that much more appealing. iStock's biggest advantage has been their huge library of exclusive content, which gave them a much better selection than the competition. They will lose that advantage over time, now that so many contributors are dropping exclusivity, and many independents are planning to stop uploading, or have stopped already. Eventually, the only unique thing about the site will be the fact that the prices are higher there than they are on any other micro. And somehow I doubt that distinction will keep the buyers coming. Eventually it has to reach the point where Getty will be undone by their own arrogance, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

248
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Here we go again!
« on: November 23, 2010, 10:33 »
I think the whole inspector/gatekeeper system is deeply flawed. As it is, we've got the 'pixel police' scrutinizing every pixel and rejecting otherwise strong images for the sake of insignificant flaws that most downloaders wouldn't even see, let alone care about. It doesn't matter how long you've been in microstock or how successful you are, or how much you've learned over the years - everyone, from the greenest newbie to the seasoned professional, all must pass through the same moribund inspection system. Often our best work rejected by tired, overworked inspectors who look at hundreds upon hundreds of images in the course of a week, forcing them to make snap judgments, while marginal content that probably shouldn't have uploaded in the first place gets accepted. This sort of thing happens constantly.

Why not use uploaded limits to filter incoming content instead? As it is, most of the micros, with the exception of iStock, allow everyone to upload huge amounts of imagery, which has necessitated the mass inspection system to begin with. If you are forced to adhere to strict upload limits you will naturally edit your uploads very carefully. Over the course of time, through the process of trail and error, you will learn what does and does not sell within your particular niche. Inspectors would still be needed for quality control, but their role would diminish gradually over time. In this way each individual contributor's learning and experience can be put to work, diversifying the collection and strengthening individual portfolios. Strict upload limits would force us each to be our own inspectors, instead of just uploading everything in the hope of growing a big fat portfolio as quickly as possible. I think this would be more likely to encourage the development of individual style, and help us move away from the endless copying and repetition that has plagued microstock from day one.

249
Adobe Stock / Re: FOTOLIA - NOW PAYING LESS THAN 16% !!!!!!
« on: November 22, 2010, 19:31 »
From Chad, in the FT thread about the Unsold Tab being removed.

Fotolia decided to stop the program to pay members for adding images to the free section. It didn't seem like that big of news to make an announcement. I will circle back with the tech team to make sure they turn off the automated email.

Actually, Im not too bothered, FT, is still among my best earner and they produce consitantly. lets instead pray, they are not getting sucked in to selling out!!! because we all know who the buyer would be. Dont we?

+1

250
iStockPhoto.com / Re: The Stockys Another Fiasco?
« on: November 22, 2010, 19:30 »
It's just me or view and vote process via Stockys site is a pain experience?


I wouldn't have a clue. It is of no interest whatsoever. If it weren't for this place I would not be aware of it at all.

+1

+2

+3

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