I'm honestly pretty gutted about the canister changes. I've been working hard to reach gold (currently at 8412) and was all set to hit 10k around March-April next year.

For a long time I'd been thinking about the real possibility of going exclusive once I was gold due to the royalty increase, but the new canister levels will mean it's now going to be years until I reach a gold canister. iStock have pretty much guaranteed I won't be going exclusive as a result.

If they'd given a 6 month notice period for the changes, it would have given those close to the next canister a real opportunity to work hard and reach it 

Now looks like his entire portfolio has been pulled - when I click the link no images are showing. Result! 

Quote from: b79 on December 04, 2009, 15:57
from the Fotolia newsletter:

QuoteHOW MUCH TIME DO I HAVE TO COMPLY?

We encourage you to complete this procedure as soon as possible. However, in order to allow enough time to our contributors, withholding will be activated on January 1, 2010. After this date, withholding will be applicable on all payments.

Thanks for that

Thanks guys for keeping this thread updated. I haven't submitted the form yet - seems little point now. Like Sharpshot, I don't think I'd bother applying for an ITIN number just for Fotolia.

Since Fotolia is usually my 4th earner, I can't imagine the money being withheld will be anything to lose sleep over (would be a different matter altogether if Fotolia was one of your top earners). I'd just like to know exactly when they will start withholding the money?....

Best of luck getting it sorted - it's sickening when you find someone else making money off your files.

You can take some consolation that (when looking at the stats at the top) his entire portfolio has only had 2 downloads!

His site is working fine for me:

http://www.arcurs.com/

Quote from: lisafx on November 24, 2009, 23:17

Quote from: leaf on November 24, 2009, 21:55
and here I thought shutterstock was coming out with a raise.  

Big congrats though.  An exciting milestone to reach!

Me too.  Darn!

Congrats on your success Mark

Me three, I got all excited for a minute there, lol 

Anyway, well done on the milestone Mark

Quote from: cidepix on November 26, 2009, 14:06
But if it is submitted without the ITIN then %30 of your US income will be withheld anyway.

If this is the case, then there's not much point in even going to the trouble of filling out the form is there? (I'm based in the UK)

I don't understand how Shutterstock are happy without the ITIN, but Fotolia require it?

Quote from: cidepix on November 26, 2009, 14:09
There is no announcement anyway. So don't worry. This thread is the only announcement. It makes me sick that I or someone else have to discover things like this. They just screw you quietly so you don't realize you are screwed.

That's how they operate!

I agree, they've handled it pretty poorly. What is it about sites that find it so hard to communicate with contributors? I only happened to find out about it thanks to this thread.

Looks like they are pulling pretty much anything with a car in it! 

Just had these illustrations removed:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-6490792-cars-hatchback-saloon-convertible.php
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-6490812-cars-people-carrier-and-suv.php

Quote from: leszek on October 28, 2009, 13:24
But seriously - I couldn't care less.

So why bother posting? 

Browsing mevans portfolio, his work really is incredible - it blows my mind that his renders aren't actual photos. I can't even imagine how much time and effort he must put in to them.

The guy definitely deserves his black diamond status!

Quote from: LSD72 on October 25, 2009, 18:45

Quote from: cclapper on October 25, 2009, 16:23
That doesn't excuse bad spelling and grammar for those born, raised and educated in the US. I forgive the rest of the world, you all have made an outstanding effort to learn English.

So you forgive the British? 

That was exactly what I was thinking   

Interesting piece in the Times yesterday - an interview with Getty founder Jonathan Klein (article scanned below).

It also mentions iStocks huge increase in revenue since first being bought by Getty:
"In December 2005, before we bought the company behind it, the site did $600,000 of business. Yesterday it did $850,000 in one day."

Quote from: KB on October 14, 2009, 03:20It hurts, though, since StockXpert ranged from 8%-13% of my monthly income. That's going to be a big cut, since about 75% or so of sales were via JIU and photos.com. 

StockXpert typically accounts for around 13% of my monthly earnings, so it would mean a big cut for me as well 

Looking at previous payments, I've always received mine on either the 14th or 15th so I'm really hoping it turns up tomorrow!  

Edited to add: As expected, just got paid this morning 

Personally I think Veer has the worst watermark - the only purpose it serves is to advertise their site rather than offer any sort of protection to the image.

The standard preview/watermarked image on Veer is about 400px, which is pretty much the same dimensions as a 1 credit file (Xsmall) on iStock - so what's to stop someone downloading it free on veer rather than purchasing it legitimately? It would only take a couple of seconds to crop/clone the corner.

Thanks for the bump, hadn't seen this before. Looks like quite a good little tool, thanks Yuri!

Quote from: massman on September 23, 2009, 14:40

Quote from: designalldone on September 23, 2009, 14:01
Wow, with all these announcements, this is a great time to be an independent microstocker.

Just out of interest (having never signed up to bigstock), do they have a tie-in period for contributors images?

Yes, 90 days.

Thanks for that, shame they have a tie-in (that was the only reason I left dreamstime).
Regardless, it will still be very interesting to see if people on BigStock report increasing sales over the next few months.

Wow, with all these announcements, this is a great time to be an independent microstocker.

Just out of interest (having never signed up to bigstock), do they have a tie-in period for contributors images?

Fascinating video, thanks leaf.

The problem is, Jamie is still absolutely swamped with images in the queue - she's doing a great job, but since she reviews them all herself, it takes forever to get images online.

I suggested they restrict the number of images each contributor could submit (say on a weekly basis) but they didn't want to.

I sent a fairly small batch of illustrations in late May and they have just been put online in early August. Right around the time I submitted my illustrations, someone else had just FTP'd their entire collection of 10,000 files, which caused the huge backlog.

Even now it seems there is still a 1 - 2 month backlog, and they have also stopped accepting new contributors for the time being. Unless they put some restrictions in place, I can't see the queue clearing anytime soon 

IS: 52%
SS: 24%
StockXpert: 15%
FT: 6%
123: 3%

Overall quite a good month, but shame the exchange rate isn't anywhere near as favorable as it was back in January.
Means I've got to work considerably harder now, just to maintain the same level of pay... grrrr!

Recently I've had:
2 x credit card deductions in May
2 x credit card deductions in June
and so far in July I have had 1 x "Credit cancellation" but it doesn't give me any more info than that, so i have no idea what that means.

Prior to these it was Oct '08 when I had the last credit card deduction, so I have definitely seen an influx recently.

Just doing a search for 'car' means going through 20 pages of images before getting to a regularly priced file - quite unbelievable to say the least. Plus the fact that I can't see any of the 'Gold Camera Icons' (Safari 4.0 on a Mac) so I have no way of telling that the file is part of a premium collection (well, other than the huge price increase).

Were buyers told about this at all? I don't remember seeing anything mentioned in their newsletter, so I bet it's come as quite a shock to a lot of buyers.

Quote from: whatalife on June 14, 2009, 18:37
I agree that what started out as a seemingly well-intentioned effort to spread the word to artists about this site has turned into somewhat of a crusade that in all honesty is turning people off of the site, rather than the opposite. Someone has crowned himself company spokesperson, and then begins attacking other members of this forum? How does that reflect on the site you are promoting?

So true. I don't think Dennis realises how much damage he's doing to clipartof's reputation. 

Quote from: kaycee on June 14, 2009, 11:23
I'm thinking if it's all worth .......sofar no sales for me, new uploads are still pending,I see a lot of new artists with a empty portfolio......
I know it's hard work for Jamie and crew I was glad that they accept me in to the agency but now it makes me wonder if it was the best step to make ......

+1
Exactly the same boat for me. Jamie has been really great, and it's not fair to judge the site until my entire portfolio is online, but I've got to admit I'm a little disappointed with zero sales.