Hi FreeTransform,
I haven't asked Mike either, but I'm pretty sure RetroRocket is right.
The illustrator's name is Anja Kaiser, and that indeed is the file.
Just to clarify - one thing thing Mike is probably not aware of yet.
A few days back the 'Menu' illustration became the best selling file on SS. Period.
It is topping up not only all other vectors, but everything else as well.
Impressive acchievement I would say.
Congratulations to Anja, wonderful work
PS
Anja deleted her port on IS soon after the September 2010 announcement was made. She didn't agree with the commission cuts for independents, stood by her word and left.
I don't think she regrets her decision much these days. She's a top artist on all the sites, except of course IStock, where her work cannot be found.
They, IStock, lost a lot more than she did.

And the news keeps on getting better and better!
I'm sorry, I really don't feel much for either of them (Kelly or JJ).
I remember, not so long ago, both continuously singing somewhat emotional praises to Getty and Getty employees - how intelligent they are, how wonderful it is to be working with them and what a blessing to be part of such a great company.
They might not feel the same today, but it's too late. The harm has already been done and there's no going back.

Kelly needs to spend more time with his family. Right.
I agree with Jsnover.
Whatever you do, Kelly, cooking classes or ballroom dance, please stay away from any decision making positions at SS or DT. Come to think of it, or any other agency too.
I like them, and my commissions, just as they are.

Meanwhile you go ahead and sink away IStock, sink away ...
From where I stand it's only what you deserve.

Hi Lisa,
you already know my story, but just in case here we go again :
- stopped uploading in Sept. 2010
- deleted 90 per cent of the port in Jan. 2011 (took great care to leave only images with zero, or very few sales)

Reasons:
- anything below 20% commission is an insult to me. I'm sorry, but I do care about the artists commission  rate, I believe that there must be a limit and this is mine. Regardless of sales. 
- I cannot handle their attitude, the way they treat us, contributors and buyers alike.
- I absolutely do NOT want a single cent of my money to go towards paying people like Lobo. 
On the other hand, I do not ever want him to leave. Single handed, he lost IStock thousands and thousands of dollars in business. This is a fact.
Way to go Lobo, you're doing great, get them all out of there! You're my hero
- I do not want to support sites like ThinkStock and I don't want any of my images there.
- last, but not least, I have lived all my life (40 +) with no financial help from IStock. Something told me I would do just fine, with or without their payments.
Ah!
And one more reason!
Deleting my port from IStock felt great! Absolutely wonderful feeling, priceless
I wish I could do it all again, just for the rush


But did sales at other sites increase?
Yes, absolutely. Of course they did. A lot, infact. 
But unfortunately I don't think this increase had anything to do with my deleting my port from IStock. I kept on uploading to the other sites, more and more images naturally resulting in more and more sales.

Having said all that my port is tiny. 550 - 600 images, and I might not be relevant at all.
There you go Lisa, that's my story
all the best,

Hi Sue,
I submit from Ireland. Same goes for UK.

I'm sure Carlsson is well intended and wants to help, but this time he/she is wrong.
You don't touch your passport, you don't send it anyhwere, you don't even need it.

This is what you do:
1. Go to the Tax Center
2. Choose W8 form.
3. They give you a link. Click on it, there is a PDF form.
4. Most of the options are already ticked for you.
5. You only need to tick or select a couple (country, type your name)
6. It takes 2-5 min at max
You're done.
And you only need to do it once. Not every year.

Whenever you're ready to submit (if ever), just remember - it's easy.

Good luck

Alright, so having been confused at the beginning, I am now in the clear (hopefully).
This is what happened:
Fotolia is losing sales and going down the ranks.
Deposit Photos is a relatively new agency, it is aggressive, it is successful and it's climbing up.
It also pays and treats contributors in a much fairer way than Fotolia.
Fotolia feels threatened.
And they find no other solution to the problem but to employ the tactics of bullies.
All that jazz about 'saving the industry, for the good of contributors and agencies alike' is nothing but smoke.
Shame on you Fotolia! Shame on you!

It doesn't apply to me, (at my bronze level Deposit Photos pays me more), but in any case, I like doing business with Deposit Photos a lot better than with Fotolia and I will never drop them.
Now or ever.
I like them.

The question of the poll is :
- 'Would you find this community more valuable if everyone shared their identity?'
My answer, (and vote), is 'yes, yes I would'.

However, if revealing identities becomes mandatory I'm afraid many artists will shy away from posting here.
And I don't want that to happen.
I want everyone to be able to post. I don't want people to leave, I want them stay here and keep on posting. Good or bad, I'm old enough to make up my own mind.

It's a tough one, Leaf ...

Congratulations to Veer!
Indeed.
I'm back in love with them (and in subscriptions).

But also, congratulations to you people!
Congratulations to all of you, photographers who for once stood united and acted in unison for the good of all of us (including the agency).
This didn't happen out of the blue and goodness of Veer. It happened because of you.
It shows how it should be done and that it is possible.
Thank you contributors and thank you Veer.
Good luck, hopefully, it will work.

PS I would still love to see that 100 dollars payment limit lowered at least to half.
I don't sell much (at all) and I'm not very well, but hey, I understand
Just a suggestion

+ 1 Pancaketom,
I agree.
This is about finding a way to send certain files straight to 'Key Regions', possibly by-passing IStock's collection altogether.
Independents only? Exclusives too?
We'll see.

But just like Artemis, in this case, I too have the luxury. I couldn't care less.

Aha Antonio!
I get it now, mille grazie
He changed it quickly, didn't he?

Oh, so this is not about ThinkStock/Istock?
I was wrong all the time!
This is about selling images at lower prices than Fotolia, right?
Deposit Photos is cheaper (to designers) than Fotolia, right?
Fotolia feels threatened by Deposit Photos's success, right?

Well, I don't like lowering prices, that's for sure.
But my question is how is DepositPhotos, a new agency compared to Fotolia, able to sell files at lower prices AND pay photographers a higher royality at the same time?
If they can do it, (and they certainly can), why can't you, Fotolia?
Chin up, Fotolia!
No need to lower the prices and definitely no need to cut artists' commissions (yet, again!). You're one of the best agencies in the world, offices all over the place, plenty of profits, you'll survive this fine-and-dandy, I'm sure!
Instead of lowering our payments, what about raising them up, to at least match Deposit Photos? It's an incentive for us and it shows good will from you. It works

Until that day don't ask us to choose between you and Deposit Photos. It's stabbing us in the back and not a good thing to do.
I like Deposit Photos a lot. And they have never treated me in any other way but fair. Not the same can be said about you.
This move, being the latest example of your unfairness and corporate greed.
Not recommended.

Deposit Photos?
Why would they be targeting Deposit Photos?
It makes no sense whatsoever, sorry.

Deposit Photos pays a higher commission and their subscription payment is higher than Fotolia's, (at least at my level, it is). How can they target Deposit Photos, an agency that pays more?

(Can we have the link in Italian please? Not that I don't believe you, but I just want to read it myself ).

Well, I don't know, but I'm still firmly convinced Fotolia's new rules, specially at this time, are a direct response to last month's IStock's decision to force independents to contribute to ThinkStock.
I might be wrong, of course, but it makes a lot more sense to me.
Time will tell, meanwhile good luck everyone

@Aaron,
thank you for taking the time to reply to us. Much appreciated
I understand that you cannot change the plan and I respect that.
But I cannot accept it, so I will have to opt out.
I'm sorry.

Also, is there a chance that you could ask them to change the payout limit?
100 dollars in sales at Veer is way too much for someone like me.
I barely have a sale, a dollar so, every few months.
For me it's not happening Aaron, do you think they would agree to lower that limit?
Many thanks, and looking forward

So disappointed.
I had such high, high hopes for Veer and liked them so much.
In the end it all comes to this - a sale every 4 months and a new subscription plan for 0.10 cent.

Sorry Veer, but this won't work for me. I can't speak for the others, but in my case a minimum of 0.30 for subs would be acceptable.
Leave EL's out of this.


For those who don't know how the downloading process work, this is what happens in our printing house: my boss tells me, 'today you'll be downloading images'. Fine, I start up the computer, login to the site, and download the whole of my allowed quota. The whole, not just half. All the 25 - 30 images in one go.
We don't do that every day, but when we download, we do it in full.
I assume other designers have similar downloading tactics.
And I do not want to get paid 0.10 cent for an image.
Sorry, Veer.

I too, will be opting out.

Yay!
We're back!
Great

@Luis, others
let's make something clear. For the 3-rd and last time.
This is not about 'other' sites. Fotolia's move is obviously in response to IStock's decision to force independents to upload to ThinkStock. This is about ThinkStock, not other, unkown sites.

But alright.
I've only been doing this for over 2 years. You're a pro, I'm a hobbist and I shouldn't be posting here.
You're right.
Enough.
Have it your way, happy uploading

@Nruboc
I agree.

@Cthoman
But of course I speak for myself. And I'm fully aware that some of the photographers have left some of the lower paying sites. I did it too. But the numbers are insignificant, and I'm talking about the vast majority here.

@Mellimages,
I agree.
Problem with an agency giving incentives is that the plan doesn't really work in real life. While happily taking bonuses / incentives from more generous sites, photographers do not stop uploading to the lower paying ones. They want it all. Every single cent, from every single site.
It's not about money, or necessity. This is about greed.

@Everyone else,
I agree that the way Fotolia is implementing their new rule is brutal and not fair.
However, in my opinion that's the only way to at least try to stop the sorry bunch at IStock/ThinkStock and Getty from spreading like a plague.
Problem is, for the plan to work, Fotolia needs back up from Shutterstock and Dreamstime.
Do it SS and DT!
Go ahead and do it!
Let's try to stop ThinkStock dead in its tracks.
And don't wait for (the vast majority of) photographers to take action themselves, and stop uploading to ThinkStock. Unless you, the agency, steps in and imposes restrictions, they never will. No matter how low the commission or how measly the 10 cent sales, they will keep on uploading, more and more, feeding ThinkStock and dragging the whole industry closer and closer to the bottom (see Fotolia)

Sorry guys, but this is what I learned from past experiences and this how I feel about it.
No offence though, keep on uploading, it's your business

8 pages of countless posts and I am going to be the only one who actually agrees with this new policy from Fotolia.
Not only that I agree, but I would also love, love Shutterstock and Dreamstime to follow suit.

In my opinion this is not about some unknown 'offending' agencies out there.
This is clearly about IStock (driving everyone down, again!) and forcing independents to submit to ThinkStock.

The only way to stop ThinkStock and Getty from completely taking over the industry is for the other agencies themselves to take a stand. If we leave it to photographers, the battle is lost.
Photographers, newbies or professionals the same, will never, ever stop uploading.
No matter how low the Getty commission, no matter how measly IStock's 0.7 cent payments.
They will not do it.
They will never delete their ports and they will keep on uploading to ThinkStock, image after image, more and more, all the while hiding behind flimsy logics and sorry excuses.
This is not simply about money.
This is about pure greed.  
Not money, or necessity, or the sad stories about, 'I can't afford to leave IStock because my 5 children are so sick and in hospitals', and not even the newer ThinkSock theory, -'It's OK to submit to ThinkStock because ThinkStock cannot hurt SS' holds any water or substance.
These are nothing but excuses.
Excuses to fuel photographers' greed.

I have been secretly hoping for such a statement from an agency for a long time.
And I hope that Shutterstock and Dreamstime follow suit soon.
Go on SS and DT, do it!
And don't worry about photographers deleting their ports.
They never will.

Thank you Lisa for adding an extra option and allowing me to vote

I have now done so and I can see the results.
They are very much what I expected.

33 people 'will' be pulling their ports. The keyword here is 'sometime', in the future...

75 people remain with IStock.

26 people are not sure right now.
My bet is that 99% of the 'undecided right now' will stay where they are. And keep on contributing - to Istock and ThinkStock and Clip.Art alike.

I do not believe in the 'I will be monitoring my sales' theory. Neither do I believe that (most) contributors will stop uploading their best work to IStock.
Nope, with very few exceptions, that's not going to happen either.

I seem to remember, a few months back, a discussion about ThinkStock. It happened here, on this forum. People were talking about the possibility that IS will, one day, force independents to contribute to their crappy site.
Photographers were outraged. 'When this happens I will be pulling my port immediately!' - some of them promised.
But of course, today, they're not doing it.
Because 10 dollars or a 1000 dollars a week, it's all the same.
For some strange reason nobody can afford to leave IStock.

Take good note, Getty!
Go as low as you want, we're here to take it all in.

I have already left back in January.
I didn't vote (no option for me), and can't see the results but I'm pretty sure I know them already.  

No, the vast majority of Independents will not leave IStock. 19% commission, 15, 10 or 5 it's all the same. Independents will stay put.
A sale is a sale and 0.7 cent is better than nothing. No matter the consequences.

What's interesting is that for some strange reason nobody can afford to leave IStock.
10 dollars a week or 1000, it's all the same. They can't afford it.

@XST, Red Dove
monitoring sales?
So you're saying that you will be carefully keeping an eye on your sales.
The day your sales at SS/DT start going down - ThinkStock goes up, is the day you will be deleting your port at IStock?
Is that what you mean?
It's just that it seems strange.
You can't afford to leave IStock today, while SS is still going strong, how will you afford to leave them then, with SS taken over by ThinkStock's crappy sales?
Nope.
That's not going to happen.
You will not be able to afford it
Now, or ever.

And I tend to agree with Slovenian. Go on Getty, give us 5% commission and 0.5 cent sales. No matter how low, we will take it all in.

Oh no! I worry now.
Deposit Photos is one of my best sites.
I like everything about that agency - 44% artist commission, upload system super easy, inspections fast and fair, payments never take longer than 3-4 days.
Not to mention the growth in sales. Rising month after month, always on the up.
No question about it, Deposit Photos is one of my best sites.
And now I worry that they will cut commissions soon.
Will they do it?
Ah, but what's to stop them from following in the steps of sites like IStock?
Deposit Photos, if you're reading this, please don't do it
Stay true to yourself and keep on doing whatever you've been doing. At least in my case, it's working

@Pseudo,
Ah! Thank you for the info!
I think I know who Dan is ... I remember something going on a few months ago, but at the time I was too ill to even turn on the computer.
OK.
'Warmpictures' sounds like a nice project, I know and respect Dan, and I would love to be allowed to participate.
Let's find out more about it and try to join

Helix,
you're right, of course.
But why only Yuri?
What would happen if Yuri, plus 20-30 big names Emeralds and 30 successful Golds would threaten to suddenly pull out their ports in protest?
That's a lot of wonderful images and a big loss.
I'm almost sure any agency would then back up and reconsider.
Those are the photographers with the power, they can do it.
But I'm just wasting time. 
Such a thing will never happen. I have never seen Yuri protesting or trying to change the industry for the better, (he could, if he wanted to), and I highly doubt big names will ever unite and act in unison.
Lisa Young is our only voice and the only independent BD who is aware of her power and tries to use it for the good of all of us. She needs back up from the others though, and she's probably never going to get it.
I already deleted my port at IStock.
I won't do it again unless I'm following in the steps of powerful artists who can make a difference.

PS
What's 'Warmpicture'?
If it's a fair agency and one that we should support, I want to go there too

Well, last year in September I stopped uploading to IStock.
Come January of this year I deleted my port.
Meanwhile, the big names, photographers with real power, kept on uploading.
I made absolutely no difference and nobody at IStock cared about my protest and my images.
In the end I felt like a fool.
Should I now delete my port at Fotolia?
Yes, I should.
But this time I will not do it unless powerful ports of Emeralds and Golds do it first.
They have the power, they have to decide.
I will follow in their steps.

Velocicarpo and Dirkr,
Great ideas both, let's put them in practice!

CClapper,
right.
No point in going further. I shall leave it at that.

Sorry, CClapper.
I don't know much about IStock's forum. I barely visit that site.
Whether Shank is banned there or not, I don't know and it makes no difference to me.
That was not my point.
I was talking about here, about this forum.
I don't want him banned from here.
That's a -1 from me.
I like him. And I don't want him to go anywhere. Stay here Shank, you've got a supporter in me

And by the way, any news about your wonderful sales on Thinkstock?
Hahaha, it's time to start that one again

- 1.
I like Shank. I have always liked him. And I don't want him banned.

And I love the way he likes to stir things up And the furious replies he never fails to get. Hahaha! I bet he's having a lot of fun
A while ago someone here called him the absolute Mr. Baiter.
I agree
He does that to perfection.

Don't go anywhere Shank, life is a lot more boring without you

PS On Topic
Unless Rebbeca decides to give back independent artists the 20% commission I signed for, there is no future for me at IStock.
Unfortunately.