Unberleivable over there right now....

been days since a single download  pathetic! even for Christmas!

Thank the heavens for Shutterstock ... been a great month for EL's there

Istock has gone from fantastic no one comes close.... to poor, then to embarrassingly bad for me

I keep on saying it cant get worse, and I keep on being wrong and to be honest I do not have much further I can fall

Thank heavens for Shutterstock is all I can say! more than compensates for the loses there 

The rest top tier chug along

Quote from: gostwyck on October 01, 2011, 04:06

Quote from: cobalt on October 01, 2011, 00:20
Extremely bad month. Where are all the customers?

Looking at my data I'd say Shutterstock. Thanks to the crass decisions of other agencies, or 'distributors' as some of them now prefer to define themselves, they are winning. Easily. Other agencies/distributors, with their overt greed, impatience and general incompetence are basically handing it to them on a plate. It would appear that all Shuttterstock have to do to succeed is ... er ... not be Istock or Fotolia.

Yup as fast as my IS earnings backtrack Shutterstocks soar ...... My returns at SS which were solid to start with have been increasing to more than compensate since the Getty involvement, and that is despite not uploading much for some time.

Shutterstock and Veer will be getting my fresh better files from now on.

Quote from: lisafx on September 30, 2011, 19:36
Add me to the chorus of praise.  Thanks very much for being so responsive and open to contributor needs and suggestions.

I just sent my opt-in letter

Lisa I thought you only needed to send an email if you wish to opt out... is there somthing somwhere I have missed?

Thanks

You earned my respect and support!! 

Quote from: thesentinel on September 28, 2011, 12:17
Being in the "In Crowd"

Aint that the truth!!

Yes just been playing around with it and have to say that it is disappointing and anything but a "best match", well for my searches anyway

Unbelievably bad for many I am sure.... know I was wondering why my sales were rock bottom, cannot get my head around how istock which we have all supported over the years has become such a shadow of it's former self for both Customers and Contributers alike in such a short time 

No wonder they introduced the recent competition/referral update in an attempt to draw new customers 

As said many times It all rather smacks of greed, and desperation. Just wish for once they would get something right to give us hope.

Quote from: hofhoek on August 30, 2011, 08:28
I think I'll leave. I will not let hem sell my images for free and therefore not selling at the more expensive agencies. If all these great images of all of us are practically given away for free why would buyers go elsewhere? Delete , delete, delete...
But how to delete? I don't know how to do this anymore. Can anyone give me some information on this?

To Delete go to desired Image page

under "Stock photo details"  you will see "Administration"

from the drop down you have the Deactivation option with a reason Box

That is for individual files of course should you wish to delete entire Portfolio I would assume   you would get in touch directly

Just leaving the dross there removing my better performing files.....

you get what you pay for    

Not being able to upload any new content will not concern me as will be concentrating on making the opposition stronger.

Thats is already happening without any help from little'ol me of course

Quote from: helix7 on August 29, 2011, 22:05
This all puts me in a really difficult position. Inclusion in ThinkStock is no longer optional. So my work has to be included, as do all non-exclusive artists' work, bolstering the TS collection and thus making TS a potentially stronger competitor to Shutterstock. Of course SS is my top earner, and so I'm not in the terrible position of having to decide if I want to possibly cannibalize sales at my top agency for the sake of my steadily decreasing istock sales, or pull the plug on istock for the sake of better supporting SS.

Not sure what to do with this news just yet...

This is why I may have to delete my better performing files and leave the dross okay it will hurt but long term not as much as doing nothing

as already said this smacks of desperation ..... and IS can HUFFF.... AND PUFF... all they like, all they are doing is Blowing their own House down as TS will never get anywhere close to competing with Shutterstock!

Selective Deleting is the name of the Game and from what I can gather that is the only option open to Independents, there is no way I am undercutting or supporting PP and goodness knows who else to undercut Shutterstock.

Think my best sellers will have wave goodbye at IS alas esp as their are hints in there that they can do whatever they like with the Royalty % which incidentally I would be very interested to hear more about?

Interesting..... yet not surprising, and in a sense comforting to know that it's not my Portfolio which is lacking at IS resulting in it going from leader of the pack in earnings to just about bottom of the pile in the top tier Agencies for me.

The old ethos/mantra often used over there "The cream floats to the top" and "Build it and they will come" ?

Well we all know that cream can turn sour very quickly and buildings turn to ruins without the right maintenance !

I still have not totally given up on IS but I'm getting there

 Sad is a word that springs to mind for me regarding Istock   

Do you remember the Mantra over there "The Cream floats to the top" well it's all gone sour  (excuse pun) now it seems simply a case of the expensive/exclusive is forced to the front!

Regardless of what is uploaded it is getting rather embarrassing over there for me with my once healthy income making it my top earner being reduced to a trickle of downloads it really has eventually come down to that!

Thank heavens for Shutterstock it reaches new highs each month for me with phenomenal results from 'On demands'  and EL's last month so not all is gloom and doom

Okay just a follow up for you Guys regarding the web site DesktopNexus a popular Website for free Wallpaper where I found one of my best sellers being flaunted as desktop candy on its welcome page

http://www.desktopnexus.com/

I ended up contacting the offending member direct using the below Shutterstocks DMCA Notice from shutterbuzz and bam! it was removed immediately with an email of apology.

http://buzz.shutterstock.com/tips/protecting-your-content


.... of course the damage has already been done with nearly 2,000 downloads no doubt now in possession of individuals who think they can make the file available elsewhere for free   

 

The Guys a Genus and him walking out of Isock if it ever happened would be the last thing they would need right now.

Nobody does it better ..... a tad Jealously out there perhaps  

Quote from: ShadySue on June 18, 2011, 13:17

Quote from: iclick on June 18, 2011, 13:04
You may want to check this web site       http://www.desktopnexus.com/

That's ironic, they have a DCMA copyright link on the bottom of their home page, which leads you to this:
http://www.desktopnexus.com/dmca
Interested to see how fast they resolve your issue.

Yes thats the link I followed, will keep you posted

BTW if you look under 'Photograpy' there are an awful lot of high Quality Images I recognize and whats more alarming is the amount of DL's, obviously a very opular site 

Sorry Guys have not read this whole thread however have to say that not sure it was a good thing reading istocks Forum this morning about Google Image search lol

Seriously I have spent the best part of the morning requesting the removal of just one of my best selling Images from a selection of websites selling free wallpapers  (groan) one in particular has had the said landscape Image of mine 1600x1200  for a year with Total free Downloads: 1,791 

Have lodged a DMCA Copyright Violation as being Independent doubt IS will get on the case any day soon

You may want to check this web site       http://www.desktopnexus.com/

Not sure if I dare look for my other files with GIS to distressing 

Quote from: lisafx on February 24, 2011, 22:14
My first reaction is happiness that, apparently, the boycott of TS by many of us has been successful in starving it for content.  It is rewarding to have this tangible confirmation that if enough of us band together, we can affect the conditions we work under. 

 I object to helping Getty further undermine the industry where I make my living.  And fortunately, the lowball offer of .28 makes the decision that much easier

+1 

Quote from: Sadstock on February 24, 2011, 01:33
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=307512&page=1

Here are the new Partner Program commissions, (retroactively) effective January 1, 2011:

Non-exclusives will earn 28¢ per download (was 25¢).

Exclusives will earn the following amounts per download, according to their current royalty level here at iStock:
25% at iStock - 38¢ (was 30¢)
30% – 40¢ (was 32¢)
35% – 42¢ (was 34¢)
40% – 44¢ (was 36¢)
45% – 46¢ (was 38¢)

So Istock is seeking to encourage participation at the low end while discouraging it at the mid-level (cutting commissions)

JJRD's comment "Thanks to you for fighting, KK." seems to suggest that KK wanted to raise PP payouts, but somebody above him needed convincing.

Insert jokes about sustainability here

28 cents?? you have to be kidding me, and we are suppoised to be thankful for that? Thanks but no thanks!

This is so transparent...... so now they want our support? IS/Getty may just get a wake up call that support and respect is a two way thing and hard to regain once lost!

So sorry to hear about the size and spread of losses  

What concerns me more than the immediate financial loss is where and how these stolen Images will be used

Can IS really now guarantee that certain Images are Exclusive to them? they could turn up anywhere

Contributers and Customers confidence will both be hit by this

Quote from: sharpshot on January 29, 2011, 12:33
It's been a bad month with istock but I stopped uploading when they announced the commission cuts months ago.  I don't mind seeing lower sales there. if it means people are buying more of my images on the other sites.

I really don't miss their time consuming upload procedure and I still don't like the new site layout, so I visit the site a lot less often than I used to.  It's a real shame, I put up with 20% commission and quite enjoyed working with istock but that all changed and now I don't see me being with them at all in the future, unless there's a big change.

+ 1

Footnote: at least I can say that here.... I mean that rather says it all for me (the assumed overuse and ban of  +1 as agreement in the forum) so essential with all the bugs needing adressing and the knock backs to contributers  

Could it?..... Yes possibly

Will it?..... No I very much doubt it

The market place for contributers is evolving so rapidly anything could happen which is exactly why I will always keep my options open

To each their own,  being Exclusive is not for the faint hearted, especially at IS 

Sorry Mat delighted you are so happy with Fotolia however I am seriously disappointed by there recent antics/cuts in royalties especially how I have defended and recomended them strongly in the past ..... no matter what spin they or you put on it cutting to the chase (and all spin aside) they witnessed istockphoto get away with the savage reductions and followed suit

I say to them what I said to IS my allegiance has been shifted and any further cuts and I am out!

Congrats very nice indeed.....

Must admit I have been thinking more and more about joining Almay of late especially with the ways things have been going with reductions in royalties at IS and Fotolia if ever there was a wake up call for me it's now, really had enough of all this driveing down our wedge what has always put me off with Alamy a little was  was my previous experiences in RM with Acclaim which were not great and also the need to upscale Images at Almay ?

Still tempted