You got me thinking

Unless things are going really bad at IS, I might stay exclusive if I were you. You seemed to have done well with your small portfolio there. I'm not sure you'll get the same traction at other places. That's just my guess though. You know your situation better than any of us.

If I delete my images on iStock or close my account

- Will I create some damage to iStock?          No
- Will I make more money with iStock?         No
- Will I make more money with other sites?  No

So what?

Three is hard to determine. My earnings jumped at some other places after I left IS. Maybe, it was coincidence. Maybe, it wasn't.

Regarding vectors. I think they were much easier to leave or ignor because there are a number of better options, not just shutterstock.

That could be it. I just think it is interesting that iStock seems to be courting the vector side a little bit more lately.

and once the system gets going, site owners aren't going to want to keep track of payments to dozens of different paypal accounts;  also, while there are global search engines for symbio, it's never been the intent for these to police the network

I have an affiliate program for my site. I was worried about having to pay a bunch of affiliates or record taxes for them, but I always thought of it as a good problem to have. Unfortunately, I don't have that problem because my affiliates aren't generating sales.

If anybody wants 20%, feel free to sign up. I still want that problem. 

So who won?

Quote from: cthoman on August 20, 2013, 16:25

Back to the original theme of what's holding me back... I've been thinking about it more, and it really doesn't make a lot of sense to start a whole new site just to experiment with. It's just a waste of time to commit to something that I'm really not going to commit to. It doesn't make much sense to convert my current site to a Symbio site. It doesn't look like much of a functional upgrade from what I have. And if I was going to put in that effort, I'd probably spend money/time on a custom built site that does everything I want. That seems to be the most logical 2.0 MyStockVectors (or is it 3.0?).

The only thing I really see as missing would be the community and networking. That seems to be the real value. So, I guess my question would be, what about a Symbio plugin for us outsiders? I'm not sure how that would work, but I figured it would be worth bringing up.

I can see the sense in keeping an existing site that is working well for you.  But what is stopping you from creating a Symbiostock site that would function as just a portal to bring more views and hopefully buyers to your existing site?  You can set it up without the purchase option and just have each image link to the same image on your current site for purchases.  That would give you the advantage of the linked network while retaining your current site functionality and SEO status.

That's a decent idea. It still would be a huge undertaking to link every image. I'm not sure how I feel about creating an entire site full of links either.

Back to the original theme of what's holding me back... I've been thinking about it more, and it really doesn't make a lot of sense to start a whole new site just to experiment with. It's just a waste of time to commit to something that I'm really not going to commit to. It doesn't make much sense to convert my current site to a Symbio site. It doesn't look like much of a functional upgrade from what I have. And if I was going to put in that effort, I'd probably spend money/time on a custom built site that does everything I want. That seems to be the most logical 2.0 MyStockVectors (or is it 3.0?).

The only thing I really see as missing would be the community and networking. That seems to be the real value. So, I guess my question would be, what about a Symbio plugin for us outsiders? I'm not sure how that would work, but I figured it would be worth bringing up.

Bridge.

Quote from: Ron on August 19, 2013, 05:43

Quote from: cthoman on August 18, 2013, 19:51

Quote from: Travelling-light on August 18, 2013, 19:36

And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.

I stopped uploading to SS for 6 weeks and had a BME. I guess its all different for each person. I know someone on SS hasnt uploaded for 2 years and says that his earnings are still steady.

and there is one contributor that haven't uploaded for 3 years and his earnings went to the floor like his first month

Mine have been more of a steady decline, so not much happened the first year. But, it slowly got chipped away at. On the flip side, DT has barely changed without uploading.

And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.

I actually think an image will be purchased because the buyer likes/needs it. The price is not the main criteria.
And you can't really compare images since every one is unique. I also believe starting to price products aggressively will create a race to the bottom. We should instead price our products the way that both parties, artist and customer, get something with a certain value. With full sized images at 20 bucks or less the customer will probably pay more for the shipping of his products than for the image that has been printed a thousand times. How can he value what he purchased from you?

I have bundled images that cost $80. They do sell, but fairly infrequently compared to my normal images (especially considering their value). I have to assume that some of that is budget/cost related. I was actaully thinking of opening a Symbio site with just those bundled images, but I wasn't sure if the site would pay for itself.

For serious image buyers the actual image price is only a part of their overall cost.  They are investing time and money in searching and obtaining the exact image they need or want.  Whether they pay $10 or $100 is not a deal breaker if they get the image they need/want.    If they find the right image for $100 why would they reject it on the basis that it cost $100 and throw away their time already invested to go look for a $10 image that might not be really what they need/want?

$10 to $100 is a pretty big range. I think that would be a deal breaker in a lot of cases. I'm all for higher prices, but it definitely has to be something that makes sense too.