I'm a gold exclusive. Like the OP i feel the same. A few years ago I tried out being independent and 6 months later was exclusive again. It was alot of extra work I wasn't accustom to doing and my returns were about half (my situation at least). Returns have been diminishing, but I have been trying to focus on other freelance areas.

Quote from: jamirae on February 07, 2011, 14:18

But I'm thinking, again, "What Would Amazon Do?"  seriously, they have tons of servers and I can't remember the last time I went there and there was a technical glitch with the site.  And I am an Amazon regular.  A multi-million dollar company like iStock certainly should have backups and rollovers so that anytime something happens a backup server can quickly take over.  I sure wish they would use that 85% they are collecting off most sales and invest in TECHNICIANS who are experienced and knowledgeable in these things.

Do Istockphoto ever, ever, ever think "What Would Amazon Do?"? The way they operate their website I'm not even sure that they've heard of Amazon let alone actually used them. I might send them an Amazon gift voucher for a copy of "Websites for Dummies" to confuse their 'development team' That's a bit of a misnomer as development usually refers to things getting better rather than continuously worse.

I know someone in a similar position, she gave up exclusivity ( medium to high ranking seller), she's now back as an exclusive. 'Nuff said, although I'm sure you'll find different experiences as well, in fact I'd be interested to hear more positive experiences.

Quote from: LSD72 on February 04, 2011, 14:57

Whats fun is that the US Contribs... who might have already had to do taxes with the money included that was yanked. How do you go about correcting that.. wait till next tax time? Would be interesting to see I.R.S. jump on and have a look at IS.

It really wouldn't change much. You report what is paid out, so you will just have less to report next payout because you already reported it.

Fred,

I always hear people say "If you don't like it you can just leave.." and i have to slightly disagree with that.

The thing is that you start out on a site like iStock which has certain values, a good commission and what seems like a good set of opportunities for the future.
After a few years of investing your time and effort into iStock (making them loads of money along the way) you have built a substantial portfolio which should yield a good return over lets say the next 5 to 10 years.

Then, out of the blue they decide they have the 'power' to change everything they want. Lowering your commission, your income and taking whatever cut they seem fit for themselves (no more EL bonus, less %,etc..) because they say paying you less than a fair % already has become quite 'unsustainable' (because they need the money to complete the construction of their 'Death Star�').

At that point yes.. you have the free choice to abandon your investment.. but you really can't can you.
They know you have invested into every upload, the file management, getting your work accepted, getting exclusive, having vettas and agency files... And so on and so on..

Not really a valid or even sane choice is it.. unless you are willing to wipe away everything you have achieved and have put your valuable time into.
They on the other hand a fully aware of this and don't try to hide their intent because why should they..
It's like renting a farm, fertilising the fields making it healthy and then hear you have to pay triple rent.

It is taking advantage of you because they can.
It's pushing you around because you're meek, weak and scared.
It's a choice to stand up and get banned or accept your faith and keep shoveling crap like a good little lemming.
'That' choice, is entirely yours...

Quote from: jsnover on February 02, 2011, 14:59

I don't have any information on why he left Nielsen 3 years ago, but combine a step-down job with a long gap, and rightly or wrongly, I draw conclusions from that.

You mean that he has been making a living from microstock?

Quote from: Gannet77 on February 02, 2011, 10:07

Are you using a shortcut in the quick launch bar, created for the previous version?

I've always found that I have to delete such shortcuts and recreate to stop that error.  No idea why...

Tx.
I've never had to do that before, for any program. In the past, I've downloaded new versions of DM when opening it told me there was one, I've never gone to the site to find an update before. There was at least one previous update there that I didn't have. Anyway, it says it's "migrating thumbnail assets" ATM, which will be impressive, as it's a download/install as from new, and I haven't told it where my thumbnails or anything else are.
Oooh, well, it has. Wonder how it managed. How bewildering it is to be a total non-techie.
Now to experiment with it. I've never used DM for uploading before.