I have also just received a PayPal payment from StockXpert that I submitted on 12/07

At LO, I've made almost 5x's as much in 16 months. 

I'm sure that being an LO reviewer has nothing to do with that. 

Customer Base

I know that this will probably receive a lot of disagreement, but I believe that the whole "customer base" issue is, for the most part, an unsound rumor.  People claim that some of their images sell like hotcakes on one site, while they sit idle on other sites and they chalk it up to a different "customer base".  I don't believe that sites have different types of customers at all, but rather would put forth that they have very similar if not the same customer base.  The reason that some images sell on one site and not on another all comes down to placement in the Best Match algorithm.  That is what will make an image or break an image.

But there are some small differences between the sites.  For example, SS probably has more corporate customers than most (since most individuals can't afford to purchase a subscription).  Fotolia probably has more European customers than most, but the U.S. is still the predominant buyer for almost all of the sites.

Personalities

The only thing that I can say in this regard is that some sites reject certain types of images.

For example, IS doesn't like to take images that are "cooked", but would rather have a "raw" image.  What I mean is that they rarely take an image that is obviously edited, such as a photo montage.  They also don't accept fractals and many other types of computer generated images.

SS is known for rejecting noisy images.

Other than that, it all depends on who you get as a reviewer.

Some lone gunman polluting the keywords shouldn't be the basis for an uprising..

I don't think that the problem is with one person polluting the keywords, but the fact that StockXpert still hasn't done anything about this in over two months.  Many other people on this board have reported getting images rejected for borderline keyword problems, but here is an obvious case of spamming and nothing is being done.  What type of message does that give to the rest of us?

Image Quality is

25% camera
75% lens

so in essence spend more on a lens

I think that it is more of 50/50.  A Canon EOS 1DS Mk III takes MUCH better images than a Canon EOS 10D (because it has a better sensor).

The main difference to me between camera bodies and lenses is that lenses are more permanent.  Bodies come and go every few years, but lenses last much longer.  So you will probably end up keeping your lenses longer than your bodies.

They look like they are working fine to me.

oh..that means 400D price will come down....is  it good??...perhaps i can buy a 400D.....

400D is already down to $550.  How much lower do you think it's going to go?

Any rumours on possible 450D comming?

Yes.  Canon 450D is supposed to be released in February along with a possible replacement for 5D.

This wouldn't be fair for Istock. That guy found your images through Istock, Istock did all the marketing, and now you are going to make the sale without Istock?
Seems wrong to me!

There are plenty of buyers that see an image on one site, and then buy it on another.  It might not be fair, but it is a normal part of business.

In a similar light, I'm sure that many of us go to brick-and-mortar stores to check out an item, and then purchase the item online.

Advertising doesn't guarantee a sale.  It just improves the odds of one.

A prime indicator of how productive a site is the ratio of downloads to uploads. A good site, for me, is one where I can achieve more downloads than uploads (i.e. DLs/ULs > 1.0).

I would agree with this, except for one thing - subscriptions.  Subscriptions tend to increase downloads dramatically (because that is their nature).  So I think that comparisons between all of the sites (except for SS) are alright.  DT, 123, and StockXpert might be skewed a little (since they offer subscriptions), but the amount of subscription downloads will vary from one person to the next.

I have already added mine. 

Isn't that a conflict of interest?

  (Just kidding of course)

Was this there before?  I looked at one of my own files and it showed similars... then immediately following it showed "More images from Pixart's portfolio".  It only showed my most recent, most popular would be nice  still nice to see though.

I think that the "More images from..." area is new.  I like it as well but would rather have it show my similar images, instead of my most recent.