Even worse for me this time - $75.39 (last time was $46.34). Words can't describe how pissed off I am right now.

I had my best month ever in June 2010 and since then my downloads and earnings have been in free fall.

I'll give them until the end of April to see some improvements otherwise I'm dropping exclusivity for certain.

Quote from: stockastic on February 03, 2011, 16:27
So if the thief worked his way down to my level, this had to be a massive operation.

Could it not have been a script or automated piece of software that chooses files at random? Considering the number of files affected I'd be amazed if this was someone manually downloading them one at a time?

Quote from: Chico on November 22, 2010, 21:02
It's just me or view and vote process via Stockys site is a pain experience?

In fact, entire site is useless.

It's painfully slow at the moment. I've given up trying to view the nominated files.

Quote from: lisafx on October 12, 2010, 23:49
Snip...
Just this year I was almost one of the many people snared in Istock's push to get independents to go exclusive so they could "preserve their canister level".  Fortunately for me Istock made some very worrying moves in that six month period of time and I decided to stay independent.  I am so glad I did.  Seeing how many people were taken in by that deal and are now losing income because of it is very, very sobering.

Just to clarify - are you referring to people that may lose income in Jan '11 due to the recent announcements, or do you know for certain that some people have lost income since going exclusive at the beginning of 2010 when iStock did their 'canister preserve' push?

I would be genuinely interested to hear if anyone has lost income so far this year due to becoming exclusive. On the contrary, exclusivity has been very good for me through 2010 and I will end up making more than I did as an independent in either 2008 or 2009.

Thanks for the heads up jsnover. I've been sat here this evening wondering why my payment hasn't come through yet..... 

@ nruboc & disorderly

thanks guys, those were brilliant. The logo one had me in tears 

Quote from: gostwyck on July 06, 2010, 11:14

Quote from: designalldone on July 06, 2010, 10:53
Please can you post a link to this info? I've just looked in the forums and can't see it mentioned anywhere.

If you're right, that really sucks!! - I've been looking forward to the 100% royalty day since becoming exclusive in January.

Here you go __ it was squeezed towards the end of the first post;

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=228211&page=1

Thanks very much for that. Very disappointing to say the least.... will go and read the entire thread to see what others think.

Quote from: holgs on July 02, 2010, 08:28
I see that they've just canceled the 100% royalty day in August... typical...

Please can you post a link to this info? I've just looked in the forums and can't see it mentioned anywhere.

If you're right, that really sucks!! - I've been looking forward to the 100% royalty day since becoming exclusive in January.

Recently my uploads take about 2 days for inspection, although (as far as I know) iStock has different inspectors for vectors and photos and I'd imagine the vector queue is generally a lot shorter.

Quote from: zai2010 on April 28, 2010, 00:33
I was accused of using another artist artwork (photo) to create my illustration. I submitted my own source photos with my reply.

I do feel sorry for you, as it's a horrible situation to be in where you can't get a reply. However, I was just wondering why you didn't supply your source photos when you uploaded the original vector?

As iStock points out in their upload guidelines, it's really important to upload any source photos/sketches when submitting a vector, to prove that the work is yours.

Regardless, I hope you manage to get it all sorted out ASAP.

Well done Whitechild. You've given out some great advice on this site, so you really deserve it.

I recently went from a 1st gen iPod Touch to an iPhone 3GS - just sync it with your computer and all the apps will be moved across.

Also the speed increase (when browsing the web, opening new pages, loading apps) is really amazing - you won't be disappointed 

Quote from: mustbejoking on January 19, 2010, 14:48
If you choose to go exclusive be extremely careful deleting your files.  Partner sites like pixmac are slow to remove files.  I deleted my files from fotolia two weeks ago and had my istock application rejected because pixmac still had them  I'd never even heard of them.

Am now stuck waiting for the 90 day rule.  Hope there is a way around it.

It would be good to have a list of these partner sites so we can check them.

Pixmac are actually pretty quick to remove any thumbnails from their site if you contact them directly - they removed mine within 24hrs. (Incidentally, if I remember correctly from what I read on their site, they don't actually host the full size files, only the thumbnails - any sales you make at Pixmac go directly onto your Fotolia balance).

I was in the same boat as you (rejected for exclusivity because of thumbnails on Pixmac) and the 90 day waiting period was reset on iStock - my heart sank, thinking I'd have to wait the whole 90 days, but it's only a temporary reset until iStock can see the thumbnails have been removed. It only took a day for iStock to see that my thumbnails had gone from Pixmac and my exclusivity application was then approved. 

Thanks for posting Mocker, thats good to hear.

Quote from: xposurepro on January 13, 2010, 18:30
yeah and I got the payout same as always.

So when exactly did you put a payment request in? I was under the impression that nobody was being paid (through Paypal) at the moment  

The most annoying thing is that, yet again, contributors are left in the dark with zero communication and no idea when we'll receive our money.

Quote from: sjlocke on January 09, 2010, 00:40
What timing!

http://www.microstockdiaries.com/what-works-and-what-doesnt-work-with-microstock-affiliate-programs.html

Interesting stuff, thanks for the link.

Quote from: Allsa on January 07, 2010, 21:55

Quote from: NYTumbleweeds on January 07, 2010, 21:07
It has been too long since I've been here! As usual I find my "issues" being discussed by none other than Ms. LisaFX

I've been waiting for a StockXpert payout since 1/1...via PP. Did you ever get yours??

Thanks!

I've also been waiting for a payout from StockXpert since Jan 1st, via PayPal.

Same here, cashed out on the 1st by Paypal but I'm still waiting - I knew something must be wrong as they've always paid within 2 days in the past.

I thought it may be something personal (due to me removing my images and going exclusive) but I'm glad to see others are in the same boat lol! 

Well done. Does that mean the beers are on you? 

Quote from: dgilder on January 03, 2010, 18:39
iStock is coming in at just a hair under 45% of my microstock volume at the moment.  Because of the changes in credit prices and best match favoring exclusives, it makes sense to become exclusive with iStock.  Yes, it is all eggs in one basket, but a very lucrative basket.  If iStock were to fail or severely drop off, then I can always go back to spreading things around among the sites.  iStock is letting independents lock in their next canister levels as well, which means I will be able to obtain a diamond canister in the near future rather than the far.  That extra 5% will be nice, and I can only lock that in if I go exclusive as soon as possible.  I have more to gain monetarily (possibly significantly) by going exclusive, and stand to potentially lose much of my income from iStock if their best match pushes the independents further down the rankings.   So I'm putting my eggs in the basket that is most important to me financially in the microstock world.

These are exactly the same reasons I decided to go exclusive. If I had stayed non-exclusive and my earnings at istock had started to fall (due to the changes) I would have been extremely disappointed. Granted, having to make the decision so quickly (before 12th Jan) wasn't great as I would have preferred more time to think about it but I'm really hoping this move will give me a boost in both moral and earnings, almost like starting completely fresh for 2010.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all get lots of nice pressies.

@Qiun - great illustration! 

iStock are currently accepting logos from contributors, but they won't be available for people to purchase until some time in the new year (sorry, not sure of the exact date).

The other site I think you are referring to is Brandstack:
http://brandstack.com/ 

*double post*

Quote from: KonaHawaii on December 22, 2009, 18:54
I"m over it, no biggie.   Yesterday I was pretty upset on the matter because I got one of those canned pre-written responses on the matter. I'll be curious to see how this plays out.

I got a polite, but completely standard reply yesterday after enquiring about the possibility of a small extension period. Unfortunately, it didn't address the questions I had asked. From what was being said on the iStock forum I was under the impression they wanted to work with non-exclusives in reaching an agreement and to get them on board, but the reply I got made it seem like they really weren't interested.

Shame really, considering the huge leap of faith required in going exclusive - you'd think there would be a little bit of give and take. At least there's no rush now for me to make a decision - I shall see what my canister level is in Feb and make a decision then.

Thanks ShadySue and Gostwyck for the replies. I really hope you are both right - I'll certainly be following the thread closely over the next few days before making an informed decision 

While I'm definitely considering exclusivity, two points about the new announcements really concern me (specifically for vector files):

1. The vast majority of my illustrations are currently in the 'detailed: 10 credit' price range. If I choose exclusivity, these will become '14 credit files' - which in itself seems quite a significant price increase to expect buyers to pay (?).

2. Even worse, the smallest pay-as-you-go credit pack is 12 credits, meaning anyone that wants to purchase just one exclusive 'detailed' vector at 14 credits, will be forced to buy the larger 26 credit pack - personally I think this is terrible news. I wonder if a lot of buyers will simply purchase non-exclusive 'detailed' vectors at 10 credits, rather than being forced to spend all that extra money on 26 credits that they may not require?

Surely the simple answer would be for istock to increase the minimum credit pack to 14 credits - which would allow buyers to get at least one exclusive 'detailed' vector. Are any other illustrators [that are considering exclusivity] concerned about this?