Hi everyone.  I have recently been asked to do a few special request photos where the transaction will be handled privately between me and the customer and not through any microstock agency.  I have done this once before and since it was my first time doing it, I only charged a bit more than what the customer would have paid for an XL size image on IS.  It was nice getting all of the money rather than IS taking their rather large cut.  Now that I have had a couple of more requests I'm curious if I should be charging more. (or less?)  If anyone would be willing to share, what do you charge for special request stock photos where the transaction is being handled privately between you and the customer?  I know discussing money can be a bit taboo when it comes to this sort of thing but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.  Thanks in advance.

Just wanted to share some excitement... I reached gold cannister level at IS today with this image below:



Seems I'm in good company since I saw Sharply_Done reached gold recently as well.  (Congrats Sharply!!) Given my small portfolio I was quite surprised to reach it when I did.  I've been unable to shoot for the last couple of months due to home repairs in preparation to sell our home and move.  We've come a long way and the house is getting close to being done but given the home market in the US right now... it could take a while to actually sell it.  At the rate I'm going I won't be able to take advantage of the increased uploads for another 2 or 3 months!   

Hi everyone.  I need some advice.  I received an email sent through my website contact form asking me if they could buy 3 of my images directly without registering through iStock.  From the email it sounds as though they are trying to avoid buying a bunch of credits they won't use, I guess.  My question is, should I do this?  What are the risks that I might not be thinking of?  He doesn't really state what sizes he'll need or the specifics of what he'll be using them for so that would have to be worked out.  But should I even bother?  My gut tells me I probably shouldn't.  I'll paste the email below to see what you guys think:

"Comments: hi. Im interested in 3 photos i found today on iStockphoto. since I'm not dealing with photos but need some really good one for my starting enterprise in Hungary I would like to know how i could get that 3 really funny ones:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4461404_miniature_dentists_in_large_mouth.php?id=4461404

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4462655

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=4461572

I'd really appreciate if you offered any solution on this, except registering on iphotostock, these are the only pictures we need.
Btw i like your web gallery very much, keep on doing. Thanks, Gabor"

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Thanks in advance.
Pixelbrat

Hey, did you guys see the latest at iStock?  Exclusive video contributers get FTP uploads... but as stated in their postscript - no plans for this same privilege for image contributors.     I just don't get it.

http://istockscoop.com/2007/02/26/istockvideo-gets-ftp/

I finally reached $100 at Fotolia so I decided to request a Paypal payout.  I put my request through on 8-3-06 and it has been showing a status of "Transformation Pending" ever since.  I sent an email to support asking how long it would take to go through but I figured I'd post here too to see what you seasoned veterans thought.  Has anyone received a Paypal payout from Fotolia?  How long did it take to go through?  Thanks in advance.
Pixelbrat

I uploaded about 90 files to them and got all accepted this past Friday morning. (5/19)  Here it is only Monday (5/22) and I've already gotten 8 downloads!  That's pretty darn impressive.  Wish I had uploaded to them earlier.  Live and learn I guess.