As per today, 8 days after I requested payment from StockXpert, there's a new message on my account page, saying "Next Moneybookers payment: March 8". That means at least 10 days to get paid from StockXpert.

On their FAQ page, it says: "We try to do our best to process payment requests within 3 workdays, but sometimes when there's a surge of requests this may take longer. Payments via Paypal, Moneybookers and such should arrive instantly."

While they take only a couple of hours to approve or reject photos, paying photographers is apparently not nearly as much fun. This sucks big time if you ask me 

The result is quite obviously that those who sold well there before, will get more sales. For me, StockXpert is going in the wrong direction. DT on the other hand, is rocketing. 55% increase from December to January and 38% from January to February   

A diamond exclusive would receive twice as much commssion as a newbie, making their take double at $1.44 per sale.  Their best photographers sell 50,000 - 100,000 images per annum at this level or higher.

I don't think that can be achieved elsewhere.

I was accepted at IS and at SS at the end of March last year. Since then, I've had more than seven times as many downloads at SS and nearly four times as much earnings. I don't think being exclusive at IS would beat that. The last three months, sales at DT has been better for me than IS as well, not by numbers but by amount.

Their exclusivity deal is much better for IS than it is for contributors, except those who don't want the extra work by uploading to multiple agencies.

I've waited one week so far for a Monebookers payment. Considering that the message that came up on my monitor when I requested the payment said that it would be paid in three days, I think even that is too much.

Although it's not a major amount, I had a purpose for requesting payment, combining it with other payouts, but now I have no idea when the money will arrive. It just says "You have a pending payment request for $86.50 sent on February 26, 2007.".

Does anyone know how long time it takes to get paid at StockXpert? I requested payment to my Moneybookers account early Monday morning this week (26th), and got a message on my monitor that it would take 3 days, but so far no money   

Images uploaded on Feb 19th were reviewed today.

Regards,
Adelaide

No such luck for me. I still have images back from the 15th waiting. Apparently, their system is somewhat random.

So far, my sales in dollars are three times as high in dollars on SS as on DT. If subscribtion sales can help closing that gap, my income will obviously increase. The market is far from saturated yet, so I don't worry   

I tried uploading my vectors at StockXpert a couple of months ago, most of which are selling in volume at SS and quite well at DT. All of them were rejected, and I must admit, I couldn't care less. They seem to believe that they know the market well enough to reject whatever, also the ones selling like hotcakes at other agencies.

I wonder who are right: the agencies that accept most technically and creatively good photos and sell a lot, or those who reject everything that "they are not looking for", but don't really sell what they are looking for either 

The success criteria for this business have been rather well defined by agencies such as SS, IS and DT. Still, others seem to struggle, figuring out how it works 

A little OT:
When I requested a payout from StockXpert a couple of days ago, the feedback I got was that they would transfer the money in three days. I requested money from DT the same day, and money was in my Moneybookers account within 24 hours. I guess that's what is called different attitudes 

It looks like the guys at StockXpert have a few things  to learn, but they are not alone.

It's number six so far this year for me, which I consider rather bad. What is positive though, is that during the two first months this year, I've sold more there than the last six months last year.

I still expect them to take on the medium formats in a 35mm camera.  The rumour was a 22mp sensor which would do it.

They will probably do that. While the 1D3 and the 5D (or the 5D2?) are taking over much of the traditional 1Ds sales, a new 1Ds will have to compete with MF cameras anyway. That will probably mean new lenses and a lot of other stuff. Maybe even a different sensor size again, not necessarily much bigger, but a 4:3 instead of a 3:2 format. A changed format can even be done without new lenses, at least with regards to most of them.

Interesting times this   

I think we can leave the definitions to the customers.  As was mentioned above: the borders are very difficult to define.

Living in one of the biggest tourist destination in Asia, Thailand, I often get the question if it's possible to make a living from shooting temples. Fact of life is: with regards to photo opportunities, most countries are very similar to most other countries, and I have very few temple photos in my portfolio. That is obviously a limited market.

The nice thing about stock photography becoming global, is that there are "non-travel" photos from all over the world, with all kinds of people and all kinds of environments. If I put my pink glasses on, I can even see it increases understanding between different cultures   

Now, that was the optimistic statement of the day, wasn't it?

   

                 But when is an amatuer no longer an amatuer?  When do you get your nametag?  I figure, you have to start somewhere....    -tom

There isn't any absolute answers to that. I'm a 70% photographer and 30% designer. Three years ago, it was the other way around. Am I a pro? Probably. Still, there are lots of dentists and bus-drivers who take better photos than me, and many full time pro's who take photos that don't measure up at all.

It's a question of being available and delivering what the client wants. An amateur has to take care of his day-job. This is my day-job, so I can go on a five day assignment to Whatever-City in Nowhere-Land any time.

How does this relate to microstock? It doesn't really. Microstock of the future will be for all those who are willing  to invest enough time, and able to deliver good enough quality. Many pro's will whine about cheap amateurs taking over their job. Fact is, that some of those amateurs are mostly lots better stock photographers than most of the whiners.

A couple of weeks ago, I read the following in a newspaper: if you make a living from trading gold, and your neighbours find a way to make gold in their bathtubs, from stuff bought at the local supermarket, chances are that the price of your gold will drop. Adapt or die, it's that simple.

For stock photography, that is most definitely the case.

When I search my brain, I seem to remember that it happened the last time as well. I guess I'm just getting old