I would say that the drop in forum traffic IS a sign of the drop in sales.  Not all of them, but certainly an indication.  Many of the contributors (myself included) who now less frequent the forums also stopped purchasing, or significantly scaled back, from iStock.  I used to purchase exclusively from iStock and now I can't think of the last time I bought an image there.  One factor that keeps slipping here is the large amount of contributors who are also buyers. 

Where did you source that data? It's a guess? Yes, we know some contributors are buyers as well , yes, but... Have they a real significance in sales volume? I doubt it, but I don't know. Nor anybody else knows... except istock management. They have the data, they know exactly how much of the business comes from the "contributor-buyer". If this percentage was really significant, probably they would be more careful to not dissapoint contributors.

ok, sorry, you are right, I had it sorted by downloads and I didn't notice it.

If exclusives were paying attention at the time, it should have been pretty easy for most of them to work out what they would be owed. Because the difference in commission between 15% and 17% is less than the range of discounts they offer, I wasn't even sure whether my commission was being underpaid or not until this mail arrived.

I was paying attention and yes, the adjustment is almost exactly what I had calculated.

Came home and logged into all the sites, great!  all in all, today haqs brought me in, 424 bucks, cant be too bad can it?  the only ones here with more I guess would be Lisa and fotovoyager.

Thanks for the information, that for me is an argument for staying at IS exclusive... although is true that sales are being very volatile for me this month, great days, bad days...

Quote from: loop on December 07, 2011, 16:34

Regarding what we were talkin about, what Iknow as a fact is that,without being my photos nothing very special, I sell E+ Vetta, Agency on a daily basis. That's a fact, for me. If I would make more selling elsewhere is just guess work.

Check out this thread in it's entirety, the traffic stat's and the IS sales threads. Truth is Istock's policies are losing them buyers by the bus load and no-one knows if and when that trend may stop. That's 'a fact' for me. You can shut your eyes and hide under the duvet clutching your little crown tightly to your bosom but it won't change the reality of the situation.

I see you seem to fancy crowns, but that's not my case. That's not about little crowns (why some independents are so obsseded with crowns?? It's just a silly graphic!) , that's about business and money. And nothing that you don't know for sure  can never be a fact, obviously. I know how much money comes every week to bank account (another fact) I know what is my RPI and I have compared it with RPIs published here by independents. I haven't blind faith in anything, istock included, and if some day I have to change I would do it. Not yet, for sure, that's what my most important facts say to me rigth now.

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on December 07, 2011, 14:55

Quote from: loop on December 07, 2011, 14:44

SOME buyers are saying that. Others don't say anything and buy E+ Vetta and Agency and base files.

As in, it doesn't matter to a company if it loses some customers, as long as there are other customers that it doesn't lose?

That's would be an interesting theory to research for an MBA thesis.

It is a fairly well-established business practice, to concentrate on a particular segment of the market, especially with higher priced goods or services. Trouble is that's unlikely to work in 'microstock' as there are already higher priced options at the traditional agencies. I'd have thought most microstock buyers are there because they want cheap images. I'm staggered at just how far Getty have dragged Istock away from their roots __ with fairly obvious consequences.

It depends. You earn ten times more selling 10 at 100 than 100 at 1.

That's not the point, the point is that I can't understand someone having difficulties understanding how the slider works. Is graphic, intuitive and very simple.

Istock can be better or worse, they can pay more, less or the same percentage than sub-sites, where percentages have to be guessed but, at less, it has the ability to sell our files for fair prices, both for buyers and sellers, that are not near to nothing.For me, that's the best part. One good exemple, today, my three last sales add up to 26 dollars, and they doesn't include any Vetta or Agency and just one E+.

I fear we may have woken the trolls in the form of Gostwyck and Loop, although many miss their contributions as their on ignore. For the uninitiated, these are the spineless members who prefer to keep their identity private, but still feel qualified to masquerade as 'real contributors'. aka TROLLS.

Hmm, let's play like kids: you double my ignores. And I'm not ignoring you, you and your young intern are entertaining enough.

Quote from: Cogent Marketing on November 29, 2011, 04:54

Thanks for your message. Although I do admit I could have written the comment myself I did not. Sara, our 21 YO intern (female) designer sent it as I was late into the office today. So where does that put your theory - wiki fan? And another point, there was no necessity for her original (snide - your description) comment. I have always believed that one that throws first gets in back with interest. Simply don't post snide comments in the first place -someone of her obvious years should know better. It's also interesting to note she has a much sweeter tone on the ISP forums crowing over her Diamond status, she seems to only show her sour and bitter persona on this forum. Wiki that.

I would suggest not letting 21 YO interns write under your name as you accept full responsibility for their postings.

I doubt it was this intern. OMG, old people playing this kind of games. It is childlish.

Quote from: loop on November 19, 2011, 16:57

It's a glitch. It should have been reparired asap no matter if Saturday or Christmas Day, true. That said, if Monday works again and what is due is payed, I don't see this big epic Drama that some prophetes see.

It's a drama, because it's happened dozens of times in the last 18 months. Not once has it happened anywhere else, at least to me, save a few minor glitches lasting a day at most like new photos not showing up at SS. No actually that was the only glitch that I can remember on any of the top 5 sites. I don't care for loosing a few cents on the low earners, it's just not worth it. But IS...I'm just so fed up with it

Sorry, this particular glitch is first time ever. Don't add up things. Don't fantasize.

Not necessarily flirck or just personal use... at sxh bestsellers are in the 200.000 + more dl's. Legal for commercial use, medium quality to say the best...

Comparing sales at differents sites with different porfolios sizes (for independents, IS almost always the smaller because of upload limits) makes little sense. For me, the only figure that makes sense is Return Per Upload (Return for time and money invested would make sense too, but that's not easy to calculate). Now and then, some independents have published here these RPU figures for their portfolios, and to be true I've never seen none highest than mine's as an IS average exclusive  --not a super-star, not even near-- at 40%. Maybe they exist, it's possible, but I haven't seen them.