I am as small potato as you get at this game.  But to me, I would think that this forum would be a really good place for a power shift to begin.  Organize a walk-out.  As long as the agencies have the free inventory which we provide, then they have the power.  Imagine if thousands of contributors pulled the plug on their portfolios, all over the world.  In a viral world, it can be done. 

This has been coming on for a few years now. I think I've had it with stock altogether. The relationships with these agencies is abysmal. In the last 2 years I have had my commissions cut by iStock twice, and now with the new pricing program I barely make 50 cents per download. Bigstock turned most of my on demand sales into very low paying subs, and 123RF made a similar move. Fotolia made so many anti-contributor moves that I removed my portfolio 18 months ago and haven't considered ever doing business with them again.

Who's next? SS? DT? Should I even care?

On one hand I could keep my ports up and let the money continue to flow in at a reduced rate every month as commissions keep getting slashed. But I'm pretty much getting raped every month. I don't see the agencies I supply images to working hard enough on my behalf to justify keeping 70%, 80% or more of the profit.

Sure this is just a rant, but I'm pretty serious about it. My heart isn't in it. I feel like I'm getting swindled. I certainly can't say I enjoy "shooting stock." So maybe it is time to just be done with it and let somebody else take the abuse.

A lot of people told me a few years ago, "Just walk away from it for a while." Well I did. From January until April of this year, I barely ever checked my sales. Stopped shooting stock altogether. Only made a few posts here. Then I came back after spring and made one last go of it, and I realize now that I simply detest most of these agencies and don't find anything about stock to be interesting or enjoyable. And the commission cuts just keep coming, and coming.

Thoughts? Anyone feel the same?

What is the white reflective material which so often appears in stock images, and where can it be purchased? 

Thanks,
Steve

Hi,
I'm a relative newcomer to micro.  Still trying to figure out the best workflow.  I'm on about 11 sites and I feel like learning how to keyword and upload more efficiently. 

For the life of me, I can't find a way to upload more than 1 file at a time to iStock.  I found some FTP documentation but it seems to be only for video.  Is there a solution other than the Aperture plug-in?

Thanks,
Steve

Greetings.  I'm new to microstock.  I'm not trying to change the world, get rich, or quit my day job.  I just want to earn a little extra dough doing what I love to do. 

I've been shooting images for stock and uploading them for only about a month at this point, so I don't know much about the current market.  I'll just say that it's a bit overwhelming seeing page after page after page images similar to those you've just uploaded, and realizing that you're at the end of the line waiting to get on the ride.

I'm just wondering if there's any space left for even a modicum of success. 

Thanks for your thoughts and knowledge.
Steve