Quote from: zorki on December 14, 2007, 15:54
What's going on this month at IS? We've barely half way into the month and I'm closing in on the amount I earned in all of November. I'm getting downloads from all over my portfolio like people are discovering some of my slackers... anyone else noticing this? Did they change best match again?

Ditto for me.  Great rise in sales this month after a slightly down November.  But Christmas and New Year are right around the corner, and then will come the dreaded holiday silence.........

Steve-oh,

I was planning to request a check.  Are your checks also tied in to your Paypal accounts and will they be delayed as long as Paypal is delayed, or will they be issued for sure even though somewhat slowly?  I'm really not interested in opening another gateway into my bank through Moneybookers right now.  I don't mind waiting the extra time for a check----Paypal might take a lot longer than anyone thought.

Anyone heard anything about StockXpert being able to use Paypal yet?

I had a gradual climb up at DT for the last year, then a steep upward spike in October, nearly doubling my income there, then November took a steep dive, cutting my income in half, and December has nearly ground to a halt.  I've been adding files slowly but very regularly, and my acceptance rate has increased greatly, but sales are way way down.  I wonder if they fiddle with their search engine like IS does?

I tried to sell a few things there a while ago, but had some really bad experiences as a seller (mostly with non-payers), so I don't sell anymore.  However, as a buyer my experience has been good.  But I only buy from people with at least 99% positive feedback.  A lot of good photo equipment can be had at decent prices if you know how to search.

Steve-oh,

PLEASE let us know here when everything is back up to speed with Paypal.  Thanks!!!

Quote from: hatman12 on December 04, 2007, 01:40

Having said that, I have spent some time looking at the collections offered by Getty, Corbis and Jupiter, and I must say that I am surprised by the high percentage of poor quality snapshots.  For years, these macro houses appear to have been 'clubs' where one can get a 'seat' through the 'who you know' route, or by having enough money to be able to buy a few Hasselblads or Bronicas.  I'm afraid that 80% of those photographers simply won't make the grade in the microstock world.

Very true but very sad.  If they complain about it, it's probably them that dug their own graves through their own complacency.  SS and IS simply helped to open the gates of something that was technologically destined to come crashing through eventually anyway---the free market flood which was being held back by elite attitudes of the big stock houses.  I admit that micro prices have never impressed me, but the volume has usually made up for the low $.  Hopefully midstock will become a viable wave of the future.  It seems to have a lot of promise, if done correctly.

Here's a game---how many nicknames can you come up with?

SnafuVillage;
Slap-and-Pillage;
SnuffVillage;
Stuff-and-NonsenseVillage.

I don't really think microstock has destroyed anything at all.  It just exposed a formerly huge weakness in traditional stock---the extreme difficulty of photographers without inside contacts getting into high-paying stock, no matter how hard they tried.  I believe both the founders of IS and SS were in that category.  They basically invented micro as an answer to that huge entry barrier of traditional stock, which they tried to get into but weren't allowed to (and they're called "failed photographers" by the traditionals; I wish I could be a failure like them    ).  Now we're just seeing the results of that wall coming down.  I think if anything is destroying the traditionals, it's the market itself.  They blame micro, but it's the market that decides.  Macro is trying to fight micro, but rather than doing that they need to reinvent themselves in order to survive; the old ways aren't going to cut it anymore.  High-paying commercial photography will be around for a long time, but it's going to be even harder to break into.  Thus, microstock will have to suffice for us lesser mortals.

As far as an Istockphoto price increase, I'm surely hoping for one.  However, I hope it's a true increase and not just another redesign of sizes (what...xxxsmall for 5 cents?)

My fifth one...

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=3035776

This was a majorly bad decision on the part of Istockphoto , at least from the point of view of many contributors (guaranteed fewer downloads ).  I hope they modify it soon!!  So sad that they feel they have to make such a negatively influential change just because of some former members' shady dealings.

One more nail in the coffin of exclusivity, for me.

Excellent idea!!  Here are mine:

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4672157
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4664364
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4561711
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4651520

I've been considering joining Alamy.  However, I found this thread on their forum:

http://www.alamy.com/forums/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=939

Very interesting that some of their payments seem to be decreasing fairly rapidly, and also I read that they have regular trouble getting paid by some big purchasers, which means the photog gets zero until the purchaser actually pays alamy.   Perhaps it's not all it's cracked up to be for the trouble and work you have to put into it, in spite of some good payouts.  Any thoughts on alamy's future??
(PS- I like the way they refer to MS submitters as the "microstock Taliban," and try to blame MS for alamy's falling prices !!!    )

Quote from: sharply_done on November 17, 2007, 02:02
This is a typical reject from IS for me: "over filtered".
Sure it's a bit saturated, and there's added whitespace, but is it really under IS standards?

It's ridiculous for them to reject a perfect stock picture like that!  It has probably a hundred or more potential uses.  Istock is by far my #1 seller, but sometimes their rejections totally mystify me (and sometimes I can understand them).   Well, reviewers are only human (I think), and their eyes and minds must go buggy after looking at thousands of submissions back to back for hours.  What a job!  Not for me, thanks!

We hear a lot about IS exclusivity.  Anyone know of great success stories from exclusives on the other sites, the ones that don't require member exclusivity but have the per-picture exclusivity option? (e.g., DT & FT)  Does anyone know of any great earners in that situation, I mean submitters who are "self-imposed" exclusives even though they're not prohibited from being on other RF sites?   Just curious....

Do they get paid for the images they reject as well as approve?  If so, then it would be awfully tempting to reject a large batch just to get paid for them quickly, especially if it's near the end of the month and/or you have a quota to fulfill.   Just a thought.

(BTW, it's interesting to watch which threads go the longest here---tells you something about microstockers' real concerns)

I think sharply_done mentioned that Ron Chapple (iofoto) had been with SS for a while and then closed his account.  Anyone know why?  Was it for unreasonable rejections like Elena's?  It's absolutely senseless for a microsite, who's lifeblood is pictures that sell, to reject pro-level work like theirs, absolutely financially stupid!

I recently submitted a batch of 16.  I think about 70% were accepted, one rejection ("focus") I didn't agree with at all, but the others I could understand.  However, without realizing it at the time I had resubmitted a file that was formerly rejected about a year ago.  It was accepted this time.  Then I recalled what had happened and looked up the former submission.  It was originally rejected for "limited commercial value."  Now after acceptance it is selling multiple times every day, even though it had "limited commercial value."  Yeesh!

Quote from: pr2is on November 02, 2007, 00:47
Elena... I looked at your portfolio and I am sure I know the reason. Reviwers looked at your work and said "you know what, this gal is too goods, she must be stopped or at least slowed down, lest she instills inferiority complex in most of contributors"...

Well, perhaps that is said in sarcasm, but consider this possibility:  an SS reviewer who is also a submitter decides after seeing Elena's 50 submissions that he (the reviewer) has the same ideas as many of Elena's latest batch but knows that her images are far superior to his, and so rather than letting hers go through, he just hits the "reject" button for various reasons thus eliminating some of his own competition.  Wild idea??  Maybe not---who is actually supervising all these reviewers???

Haven't gotten very many, but this is the latest, from just 2 days ago.  It is a nice feeling to see your daily stats spike when one of those sells!

Same problems here.  Uploaded on Thursday, no thumbnails since then and no way to attach a model release after uploading.

Where can I find the copper hill method?

Same with me, Pixart.  I've been trying to log-in all morning and it just keeps bouncing me back to the log-in page, no error messages or anything.  Frustrating!

And I thought riding on a shrimping boat was fun

Quote from: hatman12 on October 14, 2007, 00:15

This shows what happens as a result of INVESTMENT and MARKETING.

You mean like Lucky Oliver?  (Ha ha, couldn't resist!  )

Anyway....yeah, I agree totally.

Ah, yes...such fond sweet memories of that thread  .  Well, in fairness to them, they seem to be actually putting some serious work into their site, even though they still somewhat lack contributors.  Everyone has to start somewhere.  Perhaps their concept may be worth checking out.  Although I think at this point it's a gamble.  I believe it does say something for microstock that they're actually back here soliciting once again.  Maybe the quality of our work actually makes us worth courting??  Imagine that!