And here too... Smells funny.

Quote from: KB on December 20, 2018, 04:39

Quote from: ShadySue on December 19, 2018, 17:08

Quote from: StockStudio on December 19, 2018, 17:02

Quote from: ShadySue on December 19, 2018, 14:46
Signature files are provided by iStock exclusive artists.
No more, no less.

OK - Thanks!
Seems kinda stupid to filter results according to the contributor agreement and not the content quality - but it is what it is...

It means that should a customer wish, they can look first at files that aren't available elsewhere.

Which might make sense if their website stated it that way. But instead it's shown as 'Lowest price' vs 'Best quality'. 

Commodities / Exclusive Content would be appropiate.

Quote from: christiano on June 23, 2018, 17:10

Quote from: ShadySue on June 23, 2018, 16:50

Quote from: madman on June 23, 2018, 15:03

Quote from: christiano on June 23, 2018, 14:43
hey guys, i dont know what to think, i started from scratch in june 2017, and it's my best month so far with a 35$ US commission. My port is now around 800 pics (IS SS DT), 500 on alamy (since december), 400  on AS.  I saw a progression in my revenu. Like SS and DT. Is it possible that the photos of new contributors have a better place in their algorithm? I do not know anything about it ... only a thought that I have. I have an average income of about $ 70 / month, income that I did not have before, so for me it's nice. Then when I go out on a mission, it's mainly for the pleasure of taking pictures and improving my techniques. For now, I see only positive ... we will talk about it at the end of my 2nd year!

why are you writing an irrelevant message about the subject? Do not you see the title?

It's not at all irrelevant. However, he's obviously a newbie and doesn't know how much better things were. But things change, and this is the new reality. So long as there is a steady supply of  newbies who are happy with $35 for 800 images,  they don't need to change anything.

As you say, we, the hundreds of thousands of newbies, have not known the era of glory that you have known. And, yes, we are satisfied with $ 35 a month with Istock for the simple reason that 98% of us are just amateurs. $ 35 with IS is still better than $ 0 with photos that sleep in my hard drive. I understand very well the frustration for the pro photographers, it is their bread and butter ... For me and as for several others, it is only a bonus and a hobby. Now, I make about $ 70 a month on stock that I did not do before.

And I think that actually, there is something that happens with algorithms to favor new contributors to motivate them to upload more ...the old ones, demotivated, leave because of the fall of the incomes, the new ones arrive, motivated to make some money. But the fault, do not come back to the newbies, but rather to the companies which have in mind only their net profit.

Don't fool yourself. 35 $ a month ( nowadays I make around 200-250$ for every 800 photos I have in my portfolio) means losing money, almost don't pay the electricity bill for uloading, not to talk about maybe 10 extras miles with the car for doing some phot ofor stock, a piece of quipment, equipment ear and tear, time editing and uploading etc. Actually, you are working for free.

Final client is responsible if doesn't respect what the license says, periode. BTW, I have sold tens of thousand of released photos and never had a single problem. You can't avoid makig normal things out of fear and aprehension, it's like avoiding crossing streets because you could get run over by a car.

I hire the services of a drone operator. It's up to him to decide if a specific shooting can or cannot be done, it's his pesponsability.

Page looks ok. 85% is fair. If that gives signs of real life, I'll be soon there with my best content. Bad content will be left for the ones who sell and pay my work as i it was worthless.

Quote from: PinHead on April 28, 2018, 11:00
SS = exceptional Feb 279, March 643, April 747
Storyblocks = normal
IS = normal
Others = inexistent
The biggest surprise comes from pond5 ... I do not understand what's going on there = worst

How can you, and some other poster,  report April sales on IS if IS sales are not told to us until May 20???

Quote from: Josephine on April 23, 2018, 17:31
old are those, who are in the Microstock business for more than 7 years. They ran out of new ideas. And they remember the golden days.

I've been in ms for more of 10 years and I have not any shortage of ideas. What is also true is that I can't shoot some of these ideas because the returns don't justify the the associated expenses. So, I can only shoot about 30-40% of what I would shoot.

Quote from: Peruphotoart on April 14, 2018, 12:31
Someone had sales this week in Istock or just happened to me, it turns out that the whole month of March was fine but since it started April or after the problem of the page I can not get any sales, something similar happens to you?

Yes. Actually more sales than usual, although after all we are in AApril, a good month.

Four sales in about 4 years with the 25 photos (free plan) . About 200 $, total.

Two many middle men slicing the pie.

Worst ever month. Less percentage, less sales, less money. Time to look elsewhere.

"The exclusives are the only ones feeding them with really good content and as a reward they get punished"

True.

Quote from: Steveball on August 18, 2017, 10:10

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 17, 2017, 09:45
Odd... I don't have that many sales either, but culling your portfolio is just weird. How long have you been a contributor and how many images did you have?

I think it was about 4 years and had close to 2,000 images. I'm not really bothered about getting kicked out as they never sold for me anyway but what I don't like is the way certain agencies expect top quality work but pay bottom dollar. We're all responsible for this situation but the people who worked hard and made them what they are deserve a little more respect (and renumeration!). The industry is changing and, as always, it wont be the contributors who benefit.

True. They ask for gold and pay pennies.

I got a huge jump, about 10% more of what I had.

Well, maybe there are already paying a price.
I've just made some searches there and the results are far poorer than results in other best known sites. Far fewer images, so-so quality for many of them. Not a place where I would buy.

Quote from: stockastic on June 23, 2017, 21:09

Quote from: loop on June 23, 2017, 18:49
One way to improve would be changing the best match in our portfolios. Best Match for my portfolio shows an alarming quantity of old , crappy, outdated files, from 2015 and on. Years ago, following their suggestions then, I deemed them as "non-signature". More than 10% of my portfolio... that NEVER sells (about 0.05% of my sales), although being well positioned in the best match. This is a consequence of giving preference to non-exclusive and cheap stuff. Because, of course, my cheap stuff can't compete with independent stuff. I regret not having deleted these files when I could.

Photos from 2015 are "old" and "outdated"?

Obviously, I meant 2005.

One way to improve would be changing the best match in our portfolios. Best Match for my portfolio shows an alarming quantity of old , crappy, outdated files, from 2005 and on. Years ago, following their suggestions then, I deemed them as "non-signature". More than 10% of my portfolio... that NEVER sells (about 0.05% of my sales), although being well positioned in the best match. This is a consequence of giving preference to non-exclusive and cheap stuff. Because, of course, my cheap stuff can't compete with independent stuff. I regret not having deleted these files when I could.

.. and what about Roxermexico?

Back then the big discussion was "Should I go exclusive with iStock?" Probably the worst thing I could have done would have been to go exclusive, and fortunately I resisted the temptation. But believe me, the temptation was there.

Back in these days I believe it was a wrong decision. I left the other sites and went exclusive with Istock; two monts later I was earning 2X; one year later I was earning 10X. Yes, now is (very, very) different, things began to go down the toilet about 2011-2012, but the ride was incredible. The expensive home I own is a testimony of this.

Yes, I have too sub sales for 8 $, one of 17$ etc. But I don't think they make up for the 1.68 sales for an S+ (that until Dec were 2.50).Or maybe yes. But the only way to have a RPD a bit (just a bit higher) is to be at 40 or 45%%. According to todayis20 my RPD right now is about 3.15.  On the other hand, I see some sales with royalties that seem to be below the minimun guaranteed.

He has many images which look stolen and a bunch of another ones (maybe with himself as a model) which look soo poor and ludicrous that must be his.

They have already payed. Paying in time is one of the few things that they never have messed up.

Quote from: FrankyDM on February 14, 2017, 14:54

Quote from: loop on February 13, 2017, 21:50
Releases problem solved, thanks, not keywording in English but keywording after all... all ready...
Upload!
First I though the fotos had uploaded very fast. Inmediatly:
Error 403-Forbbiden

So, I'm going to watch tv. I will look at Netflix for some war movie with lots of explosions.

The forbiden 403 error is reported a lot. I'm looking into that.
Thanks!

PS.  How was the movie

Soft. I needed more havoc.

Error 403 persists. Uploading through ESP is confusing and zero intuitive. Had to look for the thumbnails like a gold digger. You need at least two clicks to see thumbnails (one by one) on the list page.  Thumbs should ve visible at first sight. I don't like this interface, so I wish you can work out the errors in DeepMeta. What's te use of shooting if you can't upload the images?

Releases problem solved, thanks, not keywording in English but keywording after all... all ready...
Upload!
First I though the fotos had uploaded very fast. Inmediatly:
Error 403-Forbbiden

So, I'm going to watch tv. I will look at Netflix for some war movie with lots of explosions.