IS is a shadow of its former self as far as my images are concerned. Since the disambu thing, what, nearly two years ago?....my sales there have dropped way down there and have yet to come up to even 50% of what they were. As I recall that was also when they were really pushing for exclusive status. I posted to all the blogs then that I believed that the end game was "Totally Exclusive" images. I still think that way. I believe that there is an internal bias toward exclusives in some way, beyond the approval advantage and the commission rates. If I were them I'd do the same thing in order to offer AND PRICE the images as exclusive.

I hadn't heard of that one either. I'm insulted I wasn't asked to upload before they folded! After all, I'm on Yay and Snap -- in my opinion the next two to depart the scene.

I had two suggestions: Dump the cheesy reflections on all the images (on our images! on the new images page) and, dump the reversed type. Anyone reading their gray or white type on black for very long will go nutty.

Why all the angst over FT? I agree acceptance there is flawed badly. That's why I haven't uploaded there in over 6 months. Why bother with them?

I uploaded my 200+ best when they opened for business and have seen a grand total of 2 sales. That performance ranks it far below even Lucky Oliver in their declining months. My expectations now of Jay is hovering around zero. That puts it neck and neck with SnapVillage.

lisafx,
   I checked and I am opted in for affiliates. I think that is the default there unless you check the "opt out" box in the management section.

On the surface, you're right, it would seem to make sense to upload to as many sites as possible. But you'll quickly find that your time is frittered away with lots of sites that simply can't produce. It does take quite a bit of time to upload to several sites and keep track of what images are where and analyze what type of images are successful. Lots of variables are involved to maximize results. So when there are zero or very low sales all that time and effort is just wasted. My best advice is to try to get on all the Big 6 shown on the right of the screen and forget about the rest. I bet you'll find that even those 6 are too many and that the results will show you needn't bother with a few of those. I'm down to only four sites that I care to upload to. I still have hundreds of images on each of the others but all it generates is frustration. So they just sit there. But it's too much work to delete them.

Thanks scrap, I did eventually get in without using my old bookmark.

I get over-filtered a lot too for no apparent reason other than some inspectors have little tolerance for images shot in the bright desert sun. I can't remember filtering ANY stock shot with either my 1Ds or my Mark III ds.

I get a lot of incorrect white point also when it's dead-on correct. That stems from those inspectors who don't like the color values of sunrise and sunset even when it makes the shot.

So we just move on.

Dumbest thing? They've had plenty of images and enough time to see some meaningful uptick in both traffic and sales. I'd say the dumbest thing is to keep uploading into a black hole with the hope that sometime somehow some good would come of it. I'd say that if we haven't seen some realistic improvements by now the chances of a meaningful outcome is close to zero. I'm not betting any more time or effort on this one.

Quote from: sharpshot on October 06, 2008, 18:05

I can't see why they would go any time soon because they are owned by Corbis.  If they were an independent site or a site owned by inpatient shareholders, they would be in serious trouble.  Isn't it up to the owner of Corbis to make these decisions?  He isn't in a rush to see them make a profit is he?
[/quote
And that, surely, is the main point. Am I not right in thinking that even Corbis themselves have never made a profit! Bill is in for the long game I would have thought given his resources. That said I'm surprised at the slow progress of SV given the backing potentially available. I would have expected a lot more marketing by now. Some stats for you: Portfolio size approx 900 . Sales to date (having been with them since launch) 10 30c sub sales. Photo pricing $25 (have now contacted SV and asked them to globally reduce to $5 - I am getting an increasing number of views but no sales so am hoping a more realistic price will lead to a surge in sales). Will update you in due course. Regards, David

Yes, I reduced to $5 months ago and it made zero difference. Not one sales resulted. At least I don't have to check the site much.

Any exec that doesn't see the need for a reasonable profit in a reasonable time is soon looking for work. I stand by my projection precisely because they're owned by Corbis. A company with any status at all will not let something like this wither on the vine for the world to see. The only hope I see for them other then selling it is to get serious in a big way with marketing. That plus a bigger shakeup in the management of Snap. Lots of things were promised by this site and the delivery has been worse than most. Of course, I'm speaking about the non-results I see with just my images. For me Snap is about .0001 % better than Yay.

I've got 8 sales since day one. All but 1 cheap subs.
My views of those 8 range from 225 views to 4 views. No sales last 4 months. New views almost non-existent.
No way to reach payout before this outfit closes up shop. No way I'm uploading any more to this loser.