I removed all my best selling images years ago, now my video portfolio has gone.  I'm still convinced that the best way for a site to make money is by giving us a chance to increase earnings every year.  Istock made that impossible for me and I have gone from doing everything I can to increase my earnings there to cutting them to very little.  As they were making 4x more money from my sales than I was, I just can't see how that has helped them.  There might be plenty of people that will supply them for almost nothing but will they produce what the buyers want?  I very much doubt it.

If they had gone the other way and increased commissions, going exclusive would of been a viable option for almost everyone and they would have no real rivals now.  Why didn't they think of that?

This is a very interesting suggestion.  A simple cost to acquire the best talent, which would really hurt the competition, much more than lowering price.  With the current strategy. if IS is successful in this price cut, SS can simply respond with a price cut of their own.  Right now it does not seem like SS needs to but who knows what the future holds. 

Hey guys - given the pricing changes that have occurred at iStock, I was curious if this is forcing you to move away from the platform and focus more of your attention elsewhere?