although I catch what you're saying, I still have to laugh and hope you're right

Or you can get Livestock 2 for your mobile phone...
It shows you your grand total and lets you see your PP downloads for the dates the individual files were downloaded.  Once the PP for the month previous starts.

Joy

I decided to take the plunge,
I asked my question on the forums and did not get a really responsive answer, so decided to ask it here. "they" did say it could take several weeks...why so long? are they checking to verify removal of content from other sites? Or truly deciding if they want my port as exclusive? both?

Joy

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful replies.  Mantis, I am looking to supplement my income in retirement. If there's anything as shaky as microstock right now, it's gotta be the US social security system, which I am sorry to say I will be relying on in about 11 years.  Luis, thank you for the mathematics - 8x, huh? I'll take it.  Sue, you're very right that I don't have much to lose and can change my mind. Joann, Shutterstock is a mystery to me, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but doing as well as I am at iStock (not big yet, but I'm pleased) leaves me not very enthusiastic about trying to figure it out. Cobalt, I like your suggestion, but am a little reluctant.  After I posted my observation about Yuri's photo having sold 4.2 Billion times in just 3 days, one person replied to me and then the thread was locked.  The person who replied was a moderator. 
 
Joy istockphoto.com/joyfnp

Out of curiosity, why are you asking this:



Is it worth it?  Will I reach a payout per month+ in the foreseeable future?  The enticement page says that I will see a difference in the number of downloads...Did those of you who are now exclusive / went exclusive with a similar size portfolio see a jump?

If you have decided on this:

I am definitely going to give iStock exclusiveness a try

You will likely get "no" answers to "is it worth it". If you does that change your mind in any way?
[/quote]

You're right, Mantis, wrong question, I guess.  Forget I asked that particular question and skip to the rest.  Merely uploading as an independent at iStock has already been worth it, since they are my best agency.

 I know, I know, it's really up to me, everyone's portfolio is different, but maybe my situation has a slight twist to it...even though my situation is small potatoes...I hope to be a bigger spud someday! 
I have about 450 pics up on iStock, 241 downloads.  I suspect I will be eligible by the end of June, the way things are going.  Despite all the negatives voiced on this site, iStock is easily my best agency; 4 payouts in 2.5 years.
451 pics on Dreamstime about 260 downloads.  I tried exclusivity on Dreamstime for a bit but then the downloads dried up and went back to Indie.  Haven't uploaded anything in a year so that I could deactivate my portfolio when the time came. 3 payouts in 4 years.  I only had 3 downloads in May so am definitely not holding my breath on Dreamstime
218 pics on Shutterstock and have only made a payout once in 3 years, ~$65 in the bank after a large sale in last year of $14. And it's not for lack of trying to upload more, just kept getting the rejections.

I am definitely going to give iStock exclusiveness a try but I wonder about the timing of it.  Should I wait until I reach a payout on Shutterstock?
Another question I have always had: Is it worth it?  Will I reach a payout per month+ in the foreseeable future?  The enticement page says that I will see a difference in the number of downloads...Did those of you who are now exclusive / went exclusive with a similar size portfolio see a jump?

Check out the most downloaded people image on iStock: a photo of a beautiful slender woman on the beach in a bikini throwing her arms straight behind her back.  Supposedly uploaded 3 days ago by Yuri Arcurs and has already received a purple flame and 4.2 Trillion downloads....

Joy

I don't have Sean's script, but I use Livestock for my android smart phone.  I still have the same # of downloads since 10/25, but both Livestock and the istock website agree on the finances

Quote from: brm1949 on November 17, 2013, 22:18
Both shutterstock and bigstock are down here. Is it just my end?

I just tried, too.  No luck.

I am having the same problem.  I asked the question in the help forum but I think my question was deleted.  My old questions are still on my landing page under forum topics, but not this latest one.  My earnings are updating, the RC are updating, just not the number of downloads I have.  I still have less than 200 downloads so they are very precious to me.  Maybe they will roll over when I go over 170?  Right now, I'm stuck at 160.

I changed mine to read: "...will be governed by applicable local laws."

Not all models are American.

Quote from: Anyka on August 19, 2013, 11:00

Quote from: joyfnp on August 19, 2013, 03:27

Quote from: jsmithzz on August 17, 2013, 07:14


I should add that I keyword in lightroom not DeepMeta.

  I thought Lightroom always put the keywords in alphabetical order, automatically?  That's the only reason I do NOT use Lightroom for keywording ...

You're right, Anyka, all of the jpegs exported from Lightroom have alphabetical keywords...I will have to see if we can do keywords sorted by relevancy from within LR.  But someone or something is rearranging keywords by the time the pics get to iStock.

So if you use the same model frequently, make a master copy of the release and then individualize the shoot info, date, and the model signature.  This can likely be done on EasyRelease as well, although I don't do electronic releases.

Before I started uploading people photos to istock, I knew the rules.
If you don't want to abide by the rules, good, don't upload or keep getting rejected.  Less competition.

Quote from: jsmithzz on August 17, 2013, 07:14

...For the large amount I upload, I depend on Deepmeta heavily for keywording, and it alphabetizes everything, so that would certainly explain a lot.

I double checked several of my recent photos uploaded with DeepMeta and none of the keyword sets are alphabetized.

I should add that I keyword in lightroom not DeepMeta.

I couldn't believe it, but I went from ~$69 in the "bank" at IS to $95 overnight thanks to PP sales...Now if I had an easy way to discover which files were selling like this.  It is so cumbersome to try to figure out which of your files just sold.
As to getting your images in the PP, I opted all the way in and now everything goes there except editorial.

Joy

Jani Bryson, used to be exclusive on iStock, is located in Kansas City. Her port is still on iStock.

don't forget that you can click on the sold image, scroll down to administrative, and then see exactly how many times that particular file has been downloaded and what the license and amount is for.  that particular page also combines earnings from PP as well as istock.

I also shoot with a D800 and although the file size is big and available for more money, most of my sales have been in lower, less expensive sizes.
Joy

to get back to the original thoughts...I've had several 10 cent downloads on IS and I chalk it up to "counts as another download" and not any real money.  I do much better on the partner program where I have many more downloads and made more money.  the lowest price download on the partner program has been $0.28; I don't believe they go as low as .10. 

It took me SEVEN tries...

Joy