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Messages - Difydave
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276
« on: January 10, 2015, 07:55 »
According to Lobo: "Processing will continue over the weekend through to early next week. It's a little slower this month due to some changes we've made on the back end. So stay patient folks."
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=364825&messageid=7073963
"You'll need to continue to have patience while everything is processed."
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=364825&messageid=7073727
I'm more interested in whether people are getting regular credit sales at anything like 'normal for this time of year' levels.
I don't really know what "normal" is with subs in place. Suffice to say that credit sales are down, and seem to have been replaced by subs sales. The subs sales make about 25% of the money that credit sales do. Subs sales look about equal in number to credit sales for November.
277
« on: January 07, 2015, 12:51 »
3 subs for December here too so far.
PP is extremely low.
DLs total so far this year would have been very bad for one day before the changes.
Unless it picks up a great deal, this January is looking pretty bleak as far as $$ actually paid in the month are concerned.
278
« on: January 07, 2015, 12:31 »
Ah yes! I didn't read it properly!  Bit too convenient the password getting changed like that?
280
« on: January 07, 2015, 10:30 »
I've had the same thing happen with one or two companies here in the uk. They seem to think that having a card number gives them a sort of "direct debit" Yes, I was actually quite shocked when FAA took the money off for the second year. I would have renewed, but I didn't remember giving them any sort of authority to renew automatically. I'm pretty sure I didn't as I was just testing them out in the first year, and didn't have much confidence.
But like you say ...
There's usually something in the small print though about automatically taking payment etc.
Tangentially, I'm about to contact FastHosts. They took the money off for my husband's domain over a month early, and a week later they sent me two emails to tell me payment was due and would be taken within 30 days (which was correct) umless I cancelled.
I'm not that keen on any company having my card details to "keep" in that way for their convenience. I have one small monthly payment that's made that way, and that's fair enough. I know they'll take the amount monthly. I don't like this "we will take the amount when it's due" thing though. Particularly when they don't give prior notice. And through a third party! Great! Card numbers in some other unknown hands! The one company I mentioned above got quite high handed when I told them I wanted to know about any money being taken beforehand. "That's the way we do business" Not with me they don't any more!
281
« on: January 07, 2015, 07:55 »
I've had the same thing happen with one or two companies here in the uk. They seem to think that having a card number gives them a sort of "direct debit" There's usually something in the small print though about automatically taking payment etc.
282
« on: January 03, 2015, 13:49 »
I havent had a download yet this year, so the indies are not being favored.
I've had two downloads so far this year.
Trust is more important than money. If the customers feel the brand cant be trusted, they will go elsewhere. Same for contributors.
Sometimes but I'd disagree. People will put up with a lot of mistrust if the money is right. If a contributor is making $5,000 per month and getting treated like dirt very few people would walk away. And that's what IS used to their advantage and leveraged benefits away from contributors. They knew they could make whatever changes they wanted and their top producers and their great images were locked in. Same for buyers. If they're getting excellent content for good prices they will put up with a lot of mistrust and poor treatment. But when earnings collapse and/or prices massively increase there's no longer a reason to put up with the poor treatment.
I reckon the balance between pain and gain is balanced on a knife edge at the moment for most people.
283
« on: January 03, 2015, 11:39 »
My photo friend is IS exlusive, since 2006.
He used to earn in gold times 3500 - 4500 $/month.
5000+ photos.
Last year was from month to month worse.
November was bad, he earned 860 $,
December was terrible, he earned only 580 $.
That is really bad. I know at least one other contributor of good quality "proper stock" who has seen their income cut in half more or less from the good times. Similar size PF, there a similar time. I have also heard stories of people doing as badly as the one mentioned here. I keep saying this, and I'm sure they don't really care, but they seem to have forgotten that the only reason that WE upload our work there is for THEM to sell it for us. We don't upload there just for the furtherance of their plans and profits. Reading between the lines from various comments over there I would say that they are still doing OK as a business. It's just the suppliers that are seeing less.
284
« on: January 03, 2015, 08:45 »
Slow, but not dead. I've been having a trickle of sales over the holiday, except for a couple of days.
December as a whole was pretty poor for me though, worst month since, like, 2009... not good.
That about says it for me too. Worst year for me since about 2008.
285
« on: January 01, 2015, 08:28 »
The stairs are a weird angle with badly uneven lighting due to the composition. Who do you think will use this shot and for what?
The pattern in the other shot is damaged and cracked, it's not lit evenly, You have also centred over where two of the pattern elements join, rather than being centred on a pattern element.
Stock photography isn't a matter of taking "walking around" shots in what you assume to be an arty manner. Concentrate on making shots that have at least some sort of concept, or are of items or places which designers would find useful.
286
« on: December 29, 2014, 15:10 »
I don't think I've asked for new keywords for ages. Probably not since the "all pulling together" thing got lost in the various happenings. It's a flawed system. Full stop.
And no sales here either since the 23rd.
I reckon the week after next to see any real pick up.
(Old git moan warning!)
Christmas seems to start in October now, and the holidays seem to have stretched out for a week before Christmas, and a week after New Year.
287
« on: December 29, 2014, 11:48 »
They are removing all the important keywords - no sense uploading there anymore.
I don't think they have actually removed important keywords from my uploads more than once or twice. Few times ones that were arguable were removed, and a few times I thought "fair enough" Whether you want to upload there or not though is of course up to you.
288
« on: December 28, 2014, 08:56 »
I agree with Joe that the CV is too limiting to allow accurate keywording.
More than that, it seems to me like an over-ambitious and ultimately inelegant and clunky idea from another era. Over engineered and ultimately neither efficient nor effective. As if all of language could somehow be streamlined and simplified. And it must surely eat resources.
The CV is often rubbish on concepts. Take eg something like 'self service' which is obviously a top 10 hot business trend today. Try finding conceptual images to represent this conceptually on iStock and you are stuck with images of food counters. Because someone has narrowed down the meaning of self-service such that it relates only to food.
This is one simple example of how the CV has over time reduced the value of the iStock collection by reducing the usefulness of the metadata.
I've never been a fan. Anyone who has seen a full set of English dictionaries with it's 20 or so large volumes, would realise that trying to streamline language is a gargantuan task. Once you start bringing in phrases it multiplies that difficulty many times. Worse than making contributors keyword using words and phrases in the cv, it then makes buyers search using the accepted terms. It doesn't really work if you need something specific and technical for example, although at least it does recognise non cv words. Everyone is used to the type of searches used by Google and eBay. Put in a word and narrow the search yourself.
289
« on: December 27, 2014, 10:20 »
I find it hard to take this thread seriously as the original poster seems to sway between serious questioning, repetitive questioning, banal questioning and insincere retorts. The whole thread could be an ongoing joke.
Could be although didn't someone say that the OP had been asking much the same questions on the SS forums? That would tend to validate Liz's point about the Paul Simon lyrics quote. "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest" And of course the same question asked repeatedly may get an acceptable answer eventually. I reckon of all the PF critique requests, and "How much can I make with these" threads I have seen, only around 5% of the OPs actually know what they are doing, and just want confirmation of what they already know. I have asked people in the past to tell us what they think about their PF first. (They never respond) Being self critical of your own work is an important part of this job.
290
« on: December 27, 2014, 10:01 »
I'm not an expert! I may be wrong! I think however that the top ones may be one of the Psilocybin mushrooms. They grow in abundance where I am. There is a link to the various types here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_psilocybin_mushroomsAs Liz says fungi are extremely difficult to identify without a spore print. Even experts get fooled!What shots of fungi I have, I say "I believe them to be" of whatever type.
(Where do all these size and color tags come from?)
291
« on: December 26, 2014, 10:36 »
I agree with ShadySue's post above. You need to look at all the posts and not just the encouraging ones. I don't think anyone here was actually being nasty, but sometimes a jolt of reality can look as if it is less than nice. The truth in this world is often not what we would like to hear.
If you need to make money these days I wouldn't rely solely on microstock to do it. Especially if starting from cold.
I know of at least one photographer who is much better than average, and has been at this for years, who is struggling to make money at this game, and who has a second part time job as part of their income.
Admittedly vectors is a different game, but even so I don't hear of it getting easier. If you look at the successful guys they are accomplished artists and vector drawing is simply the media they use. A lot of them were probably trained long and hard in the old way with pen and ink.
292
« on: December 26, 2014, 08:17 »
Something was really bugging me about this thread. However, it wasn't the original question by salaahkhayr. A week later, I finally got it and decided to post what is bugging me:
Yeah, Salaahkhayr broke some protocols with ALL CAPS and seems a little desperate for money (understandable in today's economy), but some of you all are really cruel. I highly doubt you would project such an attitude to him/her in person, as the internet provides anonymity and a shield of protection from retaliation. The one major reason why adults and children don't seek advice or pursue their goals is because they were humiliated sometime during their life for asking for advice. Salaahkhayr's question posed a great trial for many of us: Do we want to be a voice of calm encouragement or a voice of nasty discouragement?
As an art studentand later, a teacher of children and adultsI learned the importance of accentuating the positive and leaving out the negative when it came to advice and critique. Human beings can be very sensitive and people with hidden treasures of talent can be easily crushed when starting out by careless and crude handling.
Be kind to others and they will retaliate in kindness. Be cruel and they will retaliate in cruelty. It may not be toward you, but it will be directed somewhere. We've got enough strife and fighting in the world today. Let's not add to the madness.
Peace
I didn't think anyone had been particularly cruel here. One or two told it as it is. The OP asked the question, and was answered honestly. I'm not sure that "accentuating the positive and leaving out the negative when it comes to advice and critique" is necessarily either a kindness or a good thing. I'm afraid that I see it as encouraging mediocrity. How are people going to learn if they are told everything they do is great??
293
« on: December 24, 2014, 06:01 »
Definitely no tourist or market vendor or vendor there as far as I can see.
Arguably not so obvious it's a market stall. Likewise street and street food. Could be in a shop. Food obviously should be in.
You are only supposed to keyword what is actually there at iStock. What you can actually see, not what might be implied to be there.
If you put keywords back in that have been removed, you can get in trouble.
294
« on: December 23, 2014, 10:26 »
MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL
While on this thread, I understand that this would only be relevant if one was selling direct to consumer (example, Symbiostock).
But others (either company or individual micro stocker) who was selling ONLY through stock agencies should not be affected? As its the stock agency who would be taking on the sales to consumer accounting and tax. Can anyone guide please? Am I seeing this correctly or is there an impact even if one is selling only through stock agencies??
As a micro stocker with company based in Sweden, I'm wondering how all this will finally affect me
A very merry Christmas to you too. From this link which was posted earlier http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/nov/25/new-eu-vat-regulations-threaten-micro-businessesHMRC (UK tax) says that if you are trading through a third party marketplace it will be the responsibility of the marketplace operator to account for the VAT. I'd assume other countries would take the same view. Apart from anything else we don't have access to where the sales went, or what type of buyer it is. If we sell through agenciesSo it looks as if those of us selling through agencies are safe for the present moment.As always politicians get involved in anything and revolve it in a clockwise manner along a helix. Better to make the EU a tax haven and encourage business by low taxes, rather than these nightmare bureaucratic non-solutions. Oh and sack about 90% of that lot in the European Parliament. Personally I'd see the UK out of the EU like a shot, just because it's another layer of politicians smothering common sense.
295
« on: December 22, 2014, 15:46 »
Yeah it's the worst I've known it for many years. Must be similar for me. I'd have to go back to 2007 ish. I went for several years with sales every day, including holidays. Those days are gone. Mind you I have had one sale today now!
296
« on: December 22, 2014, 13:56 »
Nothing here since last Thursday.
I know it's Christmas, but I think this is the longest time with no credit sales in about 9 years!
297
« on: December 21, 2014, 12:48 »
First off "STOP ******* SHOUTING" people can read your posts fine without the caps lock!
I'd agree with what sketchyt says above, you are asking questions which show that you don't have the experience to make the money you are talking about in a short time.
If you actually read the posts above you will get the advice you need. There's no short cut to money in any of this, not in vector illustration, photography, 3D renders, or raster illustration. They all need a special set of skills, knowledge of art, technique, equipment, software, and what is actually commercial in the sense of what sells. No one can really give you all this knowledge. It's up to you to work at it, do what you enjoy doing and find out for yourself what sells for you. Always remember that the people who give answers here are your competition, and are giving up their time to help by replying.
298
« on: December 21, 2014, 07:19 »
Your caps lock seems to be on.
Nobody can tell you how much you will make without seeing your portfolio. Even then it would be an "educated guess" at best, as nobody really knows exactly what will sell.
If you have the portfolio and you need the money then just start uploading, you'll soon find out for yourself. Look at the poll results on the right of the page here, and have a look at the individual site's forums here to see what is good and bad about them.
299
« on: December 18, 2014, 12:49 »
I expect more exciting news.
300
« on: December 17, 2014, 07:21 »
Posted by mistake.
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