I'm not exclusive and my sales are totally normal so far. I have a baby picture on the first and fourth page when searching for "baby"

Sorry, almost BME for me - one more sale and I'll tie my BME. 38 DLs so far this month with 275 total pics. With 4 days to go hopefully a few more sales will sneak through.  The last 3 months are hovering at right about the same level. So for me BigStock is very consistent now - and I haven't uploaded anything in 2-3 months.

What's there not to believe? He said he's an experienced illustrator that does vectors. Sounds like the perfect recipe for making lots of money at iStock. I too only have 65 images (only photos) and at my high point was making $200 a month with only 40 images up.  If you have very high quality vectors (which is what it sounds like he is producing) then the money is there to be made.

Not linking your portfolio doesn't mean you're trying to hide anything, it means he doesn't want copycats taking his ideas.

Quote from: kgtoh on August 08, 2008, 15:35
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call shenanigans.
You're in no way obligated to respond, but I simply don't believe you.

Quote from: ironarrow on August 08, 2008, 15:12

Quote from: kgtoh on August 08, 2008, 14:54

Quote from: ironarrow on August 08, 2008, 12:17
well, on BigStock I make a payout almost every month with 230 images..

on IS, I have only got 65 images and make about 1000 dollars a month..

Those are very impressive ratios.  Do you do mostly vectors or photos?
Do you mind linking to your port, so I could take a look?  Thanks!

It is all vectors.. I don't like to publish my port..

But I was a professional illustrator before I discovered stock..

I had my comics published, also had done illustrations for few children's books.. Some of the published works were classic style Hand-drawn art..

So I didn't become an illustrator because of Adobe illustrator.. That is the secret if you are wondering..

YES - please allow us to sort by column headers. As of now the display is completely useless

Thanks - it looks good and will be awesome if columns are click-sortable

I've got you all beat - I requested a $300 payment on June 16th - still no payout yet. I've contacted support by email, I've called their customer service, I've sent at least 3 support tickets and nothing has come about yet. They're only response has been either, "give us more time" or "your email has been forwarded to our payment department"

Quote from: mattb on July 25, 2008, 13:25
I'm having the same problem, I also requested payout on June 16 and still nothing. I wonder if they had some sort of glitch that day. Support isn't much help at all either, after contacting them a couple of times all they said was to give them more time.  I also did submit a scan of an ID.

They told me the same thing and I also submitted an ID as well. hopefully they'll straighten this out soon.

I requested a payout on June 16th - It is now 5 weeks later and still no payment. I've contacted support twice by phone and twice by message to support and nothing is happening. Does anyone know of any issues at Fotolia like an overwhelming amount of payout processing or some other issue that would be causing this delay? I've been with them for two years and have had numerous payouts with no problem...

Close-up of a snail on the grass - rejected by FOTOLIA for not having a model release

Here's some info on the Alexa rankings:

http://www.alexa.com/site/help/traffic_learn_more

That I don't know - I would imagine their rankings are picked up as soon as people start going to their site.

Periodically I'll get on there and type a bunch of emerging micros to see if their rankings have improved. Snapvillage - 117,000, Mostphotos - 421,000, Featurepics - 35,000. Pretty dismal traffic ratings if you ask me and I won't waste my time uploading to them until they improve.

The only criteria I use whether to get on a new site or not is their Alexa.com traffic ranking. Bigstock and 123RF have ranks of ~8,000 and ~7,000 respectively. I get a decent income from Bigstock and 123RF is right at my threshold for a decent income. So if another site has a ranking worse than these two I won't join them (Crestock for instance is has a ranking of 31,000).

However, the size of your portfolio plays a part too. I only have 65-290 images in each site. If you have a huge portfolio then the smaller sites might give you a better return.

luckily I didn't go through all that nonsense... I am with the top 7 sites and Alamy. I have a simple criteria for joining a lesser known site - their Alexa traffic rating has to be equal or better than BigStock or 123RF (I forget which has the lower rating), both of which I am making a respectable income on. I don't understand people spending all their time uploading to those weak sites - does early adaption give you special privileges? Just wait until one of them breaks free from the low-earning pack (that's a big IF and WHEN) and gets a reputation for making money and then start uploading to it.

Quote

$5.00 on Alamy. 

? - Is that what RF prices are down to at Alamy? I sold one a year ago for $109

Exactly why I don't waste my time with them. I only consider a site that has a ranking on Alexa equal or higher than BigStock. I always wondered why people here waste time on sites such as Featurepics, etc. I get a nice healthy monthly income with only up to 276 images on my 7 sites... what's an additional $3 (or worse) per month from LO?

So, the big unknown for me is after becoming exclusive do your images come up higher in the search results thereby leading to more sales?

No difference for me. I am getting a mix of xs s m and L downloads and have been ever since I started in July. The price change hasn't affected my downloads at all other than me being happy at seeing $2.30 for a large or $1.20 for a medium Volume is exactly the same for me, just now I am making more moolah.

Thanks Steve for the quick response... I'm not happy with the response but I guess I'll wait and see. BTW, who is supposed to sign a minor's release, if not the parent?

Hi Steve,

Knowing that you are kind enough to interact in these forums, I thought I'd post here because I've sent 2 notes to support over the past month with no response. I've had a number of baby images rejected for the following reason: "Signing guardian cannot be the photographer"   I've been submitting photos for over two years now to multiple sites and not one has ever given me that reason for a rejection of a baby image. My releases are signed by me for my kids and I also am the photographer. Why is that an issue with Stockxpert?

Images in question are the baby images in the briefcase #073636.


Thanks!

Woohoo! finally got a download today! it's been 3 weeks...

Still not one download at BigStock since December 10. It's now been almost 3 weeks. I've been with them for about 6-7 months and prior to that the longest I had gone without a download was 3-4 days. I was getting a download every other day or sometimes a streak with downloads every day for awhile. Does this sound normal? I really shouldn't care because BigStock makes up only about 2-3% of my total earnings, it just bugs me that this is happening!

Yeah, it's always been slow a low earner for me too but enough to make it slightly worthwhile to keep it around.

I wonder if they've done something to change the search? but I guess if it's just me then I am just unlucky right now.

It's been 10 days for me without a DL on BigStock. I've been there for about 6 months and the longest I went without a DL was previously 3-4 days. I had been averaging about 20 DLs per month until now. Anyone else experiencing this slowdown? My other sites are chugging along as normal.

it's possible. I have over 900 DLs on iStock with only 50 images since starting to upload in July. The bulk of those downloads are within the first 23 images I uploaded. Remember, they have to be very generic stock-oriented images to have the most appeal to the widest variety of people.

Yep, I have a witness...

Who here takes pictures of there own children and signs the model release themselves?

Is there something illegal about the photographer signing his/her own child's model release? According to Stockxpert the "guardian cannot sign the model release as the photographer" I had a bunch of baby pictures rejected because of that. It sounds like pure BS and I've sent a note to support. I've been uploading images for two years to all the major agencies and I've never had something like that.

Simple - I am the photographer...My child is the subject of the model release. Me, being the parent, has signed the release...

Is there some obscure law that no other stock agency knows about that says a photographer cannot sign his/her own child's model release?