Talking of inflation, the Zimbabwe situation is why Greenspan has warned this week of possible double digit interest rates in the years ahead.  Currency devaluation risks importing inflation, particularly in a country like the US which has a huge trade imbalance.  Think about it - if the USD drops 10% suddenly all the foreign goods in the shops cost 10% more......and if that gets out of control..........

US friends can expect mortgage rates of 9%, 11% or higher sometime in the next three or four years.  What that will do to the housing market doesn't bear thinking about, given its already fragile state.

Not good.

Something I was told by Hidesy - "NEVER try to guess what the market will buy; just upload pictures and let the market decide....."

For me, iStock generates increasing sales as my portfolio grows.

I blow hot and cold over the exclusive thing - one week I'll be all for it, then something will happen and I'll thank my lucky stars that I don't have all my eggs in one basket.

I've been watching the news back in the UK of the queues and queues of people all lining up round the block and waiting patiently for hours to withdraw their life savings from Northern Rock Bank in case it goes bust.  Eggs and baskets came to mind.

Then I think to myself 'what if IS were to have a V2?' and I recall Phildate's comments about how he though Fotolia 'could do no wrong'.

Depends on price, I suppose.

I don't intend to do anything about SV.  I think marketing and sales are probably months away yet.  I'll consider uploading when and if I see some serious effort at building a business.

BTW, I notice that Iofoto has 1,000 images online, which is a vote of confidence from him.

I've just posted this on the SV blog:

"Unfortunately when I view my portfolio, the watermark doesn�t appear on the small size images. These images can still be stolen. Although the right click �save as� has been disabled, all I have to do is �mail this image� and hey presto.

I�m afraid I shan�t be uploading any pictures to Snapvillage other than my initial �test� images which will now be deleted.

It seems that Snapvillage simply doesn�t understand the need for security - I have invested a considerable amount of time, money and effort in creating my images, and I am not going to trust them to an organisation that doesn�t understand the need to protect them."

Hmmm.... 88.8....... is that some sort of Fibonacci thingy...?

Just trying to be helpful, modellocate, but there is a difference between what gets accepted at iStock and what actually sells.  If you look at TomBoy's portfolio, she's achieved over 3,000 downloads with a tight, clean portfolio with nice crisp white backgrounds.  Your own portfolio has not yet achieved 10% of those downloads.  So by all means submit stuff with coloured backgrounds, but the evidence is that 'white sells'.

I had a quick look at your portfolio.  You're clearly very creative.  I like your 'moody' girls and nudes.  But once again there is a difference between what is pleasing to your eye and what buyers actually want to buy.  Moody nudes in withdrawn light simply don't sell.  They might be great artistic photographs, but they don't sell as stock images.

Girls and nudes do sell of course.  But it's the bright, clean, happy, carefree, lifestyle stuff that sells, not the moody stuff.  You're up against stiff competition from some wonderful photographers.  Perhaps the best of them is dolgachov, whose crisp, striking images I admire very much.  Apparently across multiple agencies he sells 10,000 copies a month.  You can see his stuff here:

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&text=&oldtext=&textDisambiguation=&majorterms=%7B%22csv%22%3A+%22%22%2C+%22conjunction%22%3A+%22AND%22%7D&fileTypeSizePrice=%5B%7B%27type%27%3A%27Image%27%2C%27size%27%3A%27All%27%2C%27priceOption%27%3A%271%27%7D%2C%7B%27type%27%3A%27Illustration+%5BVector%5D%27%2C%27size%27%3A%27Vector+Image%27%2C%27priceOption%27%3A%27All%27%7D%2C%7B%27type%27%3A%27Flash%27%2C%27size%27%3A%27Flash+Document%27%2C%27priceOption%27%3A%27None%27%7D%2C%7B%27type%27%3A%27Video%27%2C%27size%27%3A%27None+4_3%27%2C%27priceOption%27%3A%271%27%7D%2C%7B%27type%27%3A%27Video%27%2C%27size%27%3A%27None+16_9%27%2C%27priceOption%27%3A%271%27%7D%5D&showPeople=false&printAvailable=false&exclusiveArtists=false&extendedLicense=false&illustrationLimit=Exactly&flashLimit=Exactly&showDeactivatedFiles=&membername=dolgachov&userID=&lightboxID=&downloaderID=&approverID=&clearanceBin=&color=&copySpace=%7B%22Tolerance%22%3A+1%2C+%22Matrix%22%3A+%7B%7D%7D&orientation=Vertical%2CHorizontal%2CSquare&minWidth=0&minHeight=0&showTitle=true&showContributor=true&showFileNumber=false&showDownload=true&enableLoupe=true&order=Best+Match&perPage=20&within=4

Leaf, I wonder if future lightboxes should look further forward; I think it's too late in October to be making up Christmas and Halloween lightboxes.  I shot my Christmas stuff in July and last week I was doing Valentine's day.

Also, lightboxes that are not 'seasonal' would attract regular views throughout the year.

Only a couple of weeks into September and it's already a new BME for me at StockXpert.  Sales have taken quite a determined spurt upwards.  StockXpert do seem very serious about promotions and advertising, and building a serious business.  Well done to Steve and his team.

I hope everyone else here is enjoying rapidly increasing sales at StockXpert.

Congrats sharply.  And to you Adelaide.

You are of course quite correct - I don't know you.  Neither do any of the microstock agencies.  You could be the Queen's brother, a Nigerian con-artist or even the mad axe murderer from Tunbridge Wells.

That is why you should WELCOME any requirement from professional stock agencies that applicants provide detailed and sufficient identification.

Your original post made no mention of being concerned about internet or identity theft; it simply asked how you could join some photo agencies without providing any ID.

When people pop up from nowhere asking how to make money without being identified that is highly suspicious.

Had your original post explained that you appreciate the need to be professional when joining an agency, that you understand how they need to be wary, but that you are worried about wiring your personal details over a potentially unsafe medium ...  well that would have been a different kettle of fish.

But your post didn't say that, which is why you got the reaction from me.

I am not elitist; I welcome all to the microstock industry and, as you will see from my many posts here, I try to be helpful to everyone, newbie or oldie.  We are in an exciting club, and there is space for talented and creative people.  But NOT for Nigerians, and not even for the Queen's brother unless he can prove it.

I accept your arguments completely sharpshot.  Perhaps I should have qualified my comments by saying that those are my opinions based only on my own experiences in my first few months of microstock.

Many others, including you, have been around for much longer.

If you took the introductory offer, Karimala, aren't you now stuck with them for 400 days...?

I must say that I am not tempted at all by any of these new agencies.  I simply cannot see how on earth they are going to be able to generate the sales traffic.  Why would a client sign up for Albumo (who have 200,000 images) when they can join another agency with 2 million images?  I'd rather spend my time trying to refine and improve my portfolios at IS, SS, StockXpert etc.

Of the 'smaller' agencies I see StockXpert and 123RF as being an opportunity.  I suspect this is because they are part of larger organisations.

After my forst year in microstock I will 'cull' the worst performer of the six agencies I submit to; at the moment BigStock is the clear front runner for the cull........ Not that they offer bad service or anything, simply that they cannot generate the sales traffic I obtain elsewhere.