No need to panic, Yuri.

You only need:

1. Good lawyers. Do you remember someone got away with murder? Counter claim damages, including punitive damages if Danish law allows it.

2. Good publicist. You must know any publicity is good for your business? Try to keep your own mouth shut, as your lawyers will surely tell you.

Which forum? I could not find it.

Local currency.

I tried to withdraw $500 from a bank machine outside the US, and it only allowed me to withdraw $400. I didn't understand because my daily limit was higher than that. Perplexed, I tried to withdraw $500 a few days later, again it only allowed me to take $400. This time, I asked a bank employee, she said it was a limit set by ATM, not because I was over my daily limit. All I needed to do was to withdraw again, as another transaction. Of course, more transactions means multiple ATM charges.

Today, I looked at my Payoneer transactions online. Wow, each time when I tried to withdraw $500, they charge $0.90 for "Fee-ATM Withdrawal International Decline", even though the amount is totally within my daily limit and there was plenty money in the card. I must have tried three times, because it was listed three times. Not the amount was huge, but it is a rip off, I must say.

Did it happen to anyone else? I didn't know any other credit/debit cards do this.

Quote from: Freedom on September 23, 2012, 12:05

Quote from: cclapper on September 23, 2012, 06:44

Quote from: Freedom on September 22, 2012, 19:01

Quote from: cclapper on September 22, 2012, 18:47

Quote from: john_woodcock on September 22, 2012, 05:16

OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.

What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.

I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.

I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?

My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.

And your point is?    My comment was about how MY sales on SS went up, when MY port on IS went off. My conclusions are based on when I was an active contributor (first hand experience from the not too distant past), like many other contributors commenting here. Chill, dude. Stop trying to be a bully.

My point is, chill, and do not stay angry. Your anger against iS from many months ago may prevent you from offering an objective opinion of today and mislead others. Of course, you don't care because IS is irrelevant to you. Does it make me a bully? I'll let Leaf decide. 

  You're so funny!

Thank you! 

Quote from: john_woodcock on September 22, 2012, 05:16

OK, fairy nuff.I personally wouldn't set too much store by some of the whinging here, whilst I agree there is a fair amount to whinge about, some of the complaints here border on the ludicrous IMHO. Low commission, have you seen what SS pay? Bugs exist everywhere ( again, see SS complaints), key wording? I don't see a problem there particularly, the release policy? You need a release for figures, is that a problem? Sales down, a lot of people here say they're down everywhere. I'd actually prefer new people not to sign up as IS, but you have to read between the lines here as far as comments go.

What about the whinging (or whining?) on the istock forum? Sure, there are some problems on every site, but most sites, it's rare and they are fixed in a reasonable amt of time. At istock they are the norm, and sometimes don't ever get fixed, in fact even get worse.

I have also seen an increase in my SS sales, right after I pulled my images from istock. Do my sales at SS go up and down? Of course, but there were months where I didn't even make payout, and since I dropped istock (which coincides with about the time the buyers "left in droves") I have always made payout + more. And I'm not even adding any new images. That tells me something.

I have no doubt it told you something when you were an active contributor. Since then, you have not had any first hand experience about iStock, right?

My September has not been as good as I hoped, due to Labor Day and site issues. But last week was decent. I hope the trend continues.

I am not surprised September is not as good as we hope because IS is tweaking the site. This is not a good time of the year to carry out site improvement.

My September is better than the summer months but it will not reach the level of the spring months.

I rarely uploaded to Alamy in the past three years. Still get sales, but the prices are much much lower, my income is 1/3 of what it was.

Quote from: jsnover on September 11, 2012, 18:42

There are a number of long term contributors, exclusives, independents plus some like me who've done the indie-exclusive-indie shuffle, who are deeply angry with iStock. In my case it's fury at greed throwing away something really great - and some of that anger can spill over into impatience with newer exclusives who haven't yet had anything bad happen. IS's ongoing software incompetence - bungling every software upgrade (and I do mean every single one) and continuing to pick dreadful times to cripple site operations - is a pretty rational rock to throw at them.

 I think there's also a periodic burst of "exclusive content is better than all that rubbish on the other sites" which certainly doesn't sit well with anyone but a subset of exclusives. Probably not reasonable to assume that all exclusives feel that way about indies, but it has certainly primed the pump for some "full and frank exchanges of views" to become dust ups. There's a ton of ill will towards Getty that rubs off on IS more and more as it's absorbed into the parent company.

This is just me, but although I largely ignore what IS is up to these days, if I think about them too much I can get angry again very easily. Hearing all the positive and optimistic chat from current exclusives (who need to believe they've made a wise choice in picking exclusivity) seems to be very dismissive of those who got hurt by the past lies and about faces on a number of business issues. Probably isn't deliberately planned that way, but for anyone without the history, might take them by surprise.

On another forum (no longer around) I was told I was in need of a mental health evaluation for considering exclusivity Some people feel very strongly about spreading the risk and that's not anti IS, but they're the only agency where even considering exclusivity makes any sense.

Very well put JoAnn.  Sums up the situation perfectly, along with some of the history that got us to this point . 

@Reef, I was not being sarcastic or hostile.  My interpretation of "animosity" is personal attacks.  I do see quite a bit of people extremely upset with Istock, but I have not seen a lot of personal attacks on other members, certainly none that I can point to in this thread.  Which is why I was asking for links.

With due respect, JoAnn and Lisa, I think prolonged anger sometimes affects one's judgement and fairness.  A calm and objective voice may deliver better credibility than an angry one.

Does anyone know Starbuck's profit margins?

Does anyone know how much or a percentage a coffee farmer gets from a cup of coffee?

For whatever reason, my E+ images are not selling well anymore. A couple of days ago, one regular XS file only generated less than $1, while other XS regular sales will likely fetch more than twice as much. I have surpassed my current RC target but it will be nearly impossible to reach a higher level unless I have a lot of E+, V&A sales before the end of the year.

September has always been my best month of the year. I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope for a miracle for this year.