Come on, people, she just showed what she thought was a great collection, it is her personal choice, your choice may differ understandably. She is not an agency and takes no commission.

Do we have to trash everything in front of us?

Quote from: sjlocke on May 20, 2013, 15:18

Honestly, "offset" doesn't look like any images that "micro" artists, Y and myself included, would be able shoot.  The mentions of Nat'l Geo and others, just by means of their access to unique venues, locations, people, etc., would set it apart.  I wouldn't take it as an insult that I wasn't invited.

A list of the people involved with Offset:

Maura McEvoy
Glasshouse Images
National Geographic
Martin Bailey
fStop Images
John�r
Huber Images

Leaving out the exclusive locations of NatGeo, many of the images in the galleries on these photographers/collectives/ existing stock agencies could have been shot (and often done better) by competent microstock photographers working on low overheads but wouldn't have been submitted to SS for fear of rejections on mixed lighting, focus not where we would like to see it, composition and general LCV!

Interesting to note that MS contributors appear to have been trained by their distributors (not true in all cases but valid for many).

That is so true. A heart for ya.

Does anyone know what happens to the third party plug-ins such as Nik software when PS is subscribed?

Alamy DLs are three times more this year than a couple of years ago, but the earnings are more than three times less. I have not been uploading to Alamy on a consistent basis and only slightly increased my port over the past two years.

It makes sense that Alamy has to stay competitive. I am glad it sells more. The problem is, three times more DLs does not compensate for more than three times loss of revenue. It simply does not sell enough images.

How do you feel?

I was visiting and posting in the past two days, haven't had any problems.

Good topic.   I have mine set at 15% so that my products are included in their promotions.  (They recently changed the rules so that if you have a % higher than 15, your products won't be included in some of their promotions)

Kind of low % stock-wise, but I see zazzle as a different model since you/they are selling physical goods (instead of licenses) 

It is a lot of effort to make products, but I feel its worth it.  I have made just over $320 since I started Jan 2012 which is better than I did at 123RF, Dreamstime, Fotolia and iStock for the same period (I have a small portfolio).

Great to know, thanks for sharing this info! My heart!!

Nobody has been talking much about Zazzle lately. I opened a store a few years ago and forgot about it. I am surprised that I have actually reached a payout with my pitiful small amount of products. Maybe I should give it more credits and have another try.

What should be considered a fair or reasonable percentage for a seller?

Quote from: Freedom on March 26, 2013, 11:20

FWIW, I have had GI sales in the range of a couple of dollars, but I also had others in the equivalent of ELs.

It's not all one dollar sales, I had a few $100+ and a lot of $ 50+ ones.  The overall RPD is higher from Getty by 2x than IStock at about $20.

That was exactly what I said.

I have mixed feelings about GI sales. The extra money is good, however, it is highly likely a part of Getty's plot to pay all exclusives 20%.

FWIW, I have had GI sales in the range of a couple of dollars, but I also had others in the equivalent of ELs.

Quote from: Freedom on March 12, 2013, 15:38

With Sean's talents and abilities, I have no doubt he is going to do very well regardless if his status is exclusive or indie. With his sense and sensibility, lol, you never know what comes the next. Maybe after all, he will still be an exclusive?

By the way, I am never clear whether or not he was going to be terminated as an exclusive or as a contributor. At first, I thought, from the title of the thread, he was "booted", which means his account is going to be deleted. It does not look like to be the case now.

As of now, they are going to close my portfolio, just a few weeks later than originally stated, due to a technical issue.

Sean, I am really sorry to hear that. Hopefully a middle ground can be reached through your on-going communication with them. I wish you all the best!

, no, nothing like that...

Sounds like you reached a settlement with iStock? 

I am sorry, jsnover, but I owe no apology to Lisa, because I was not speaking for my self interest. The whole point of this thread is to comment on a new web design. Some like and some don't. That is totally fine, I just voice my opinion which echos with Sean's.

It is unfortunate that I have witnessed this anti anything iStock choir for sometimes now. I feel it is totally unfair that the target of this negativity is not only directed at the iStock owners and management, but at our own peers, the contributors and web designers, a.ka. the commoners of iStock. I didn't direct all my comments at Lisa, but I do feel she could have done better. I don't think it's necessary to give out any examples, since we have all read the forum over a period of time and know what position we each take.

I stand by what I said.

Quote from: Freedom on December 15, 2012, 15:33

According to your logic, Lisafx, may we come to the conclusion that if you ever complain that sales are not satisfactory at iStock, they must be self-inflicted?

I don't think you're following my logic.   

I see few to no parallels between the way most contributors have conducted our businesses the last few years and the way Getty/Istock have conducted theirs. 

Personally, if I make as many boneheaded and greedy mistakes as they did, then yes, I would expect my sales to suffer, and I would also expect that drop would be equally evident across all sites, rather than isolated to one or two who have clearly lost the plot.

No Lisa, if I follow your logic, I will make myself very unhappy.

Seriously, being one of the most successful stock photographers as you are, I expect you show more class, generosity, open-mindedness and positivity. When you use words like death warrant and such, it somehow reminds me of jihad. What is wrong if someone praises the new design of a webpage? I don't like every elements about the new design, but I have no issue if others like it. I distinguish the efforts of iStock employees and contributors from those who only want to profit as much as possible from other people's labor. I also feel uncomfortable when more seasoned and successful contributors show excessive jealousy, prejudice and self-righteousness to their peers.