No Offence taken, but as a noob I can only make decisions based on my small Portfolio, and translate this by a percentage to a "what if" scenario.

David

As a Noob

I started with IS, uploaded to about 8 sites, closed off 5 of these accounts now leaving IS, SS and DT.

With SS and DT I did have "immediate download gratification", but if your uploads stop the downloads stop, and I have found that with IS they slowly trickle with no "fizz and bang", and my images somehow do not get pushed to the last page by the top sellers and new images, due the the weighting of the best match no doubt.

The proposed Subscription Package from IS is a per credit basis which seems to be lost in some threads,  where as SS is a 25c per download payment with no information on the size of the download, the highest percentage of downloads for me on IS are Medium and Large average about 90c a download.

So this subscription package can only be a win win situation for me.

I stopped uploading after January, DT and SS bombed right out but IS has remained constant, making the IS Return Per Image well better.

I have read the argument it is better to have loads of cheap downloads, but I often wonder if I had not uploaded to SS how many of them downloads would have been made at IS instead. 

By the end of June I will only be uploading to IS, and any subscription downloads will count towards the next canister, and later exclusive status!     

David

I think the stray area's can be seen better in this image using the method from the link I posted earlier.

Two with Stray Areas the third Cleaned all zoomed actual Pixels! 

Hi

You say you get most in the camera and it is just the stray area's

I had the same problem and tried everything, this is the method I use and I now have a fair success rate on Isolations, my main stoppers now is "copyright patterns", and "focus not where we think it should be"

Well here is my isolation tutorial of workflow http://www.adeptris.co.uk/PS2Tutorial/tabid/136/Default.aspx

Hope it helps

David

That sucks for many reasons

But lets compare that to any other business. Any huge store that wants to discount a product has to do that paying their share of the cut. What does a milk producer care about a store discount ? He has his price and as he is concerned they can give his milk for free after  they pay him his share.

Not quite right a lot of store promotions are normally at the cost of the vendor, if the store pays 60 for an Item that normally sells at 99, they do not pay the same in the 20% off sale, the vendor reduces the cost.

The milk Vendors contract will be so tight that they have no choice but to supply at the lower cost, and on a sale or return basis, if the want to supply the store, this de-risks the store for losses.

It will be written into the Istock agreement somewhere that Istock set the sales price and you get the percentage of that, and that they have the right to move the price point either way.
 
These are the rules of business and contributors are blinded by the "Member of the Community" on Istock that they forget that they are the vendor and Istock is a merchant / agent that protects its margin, often at the cost of the Vendor.

Stock is a fantastic business model, vendors supply the goods at no cost, you then dictate the sales price, you set and protect your margin and the amount you return to the vendor, based on the number of units sold.

Yippie I want to be a stock merchant!     

Hi I am new to Stock Photography last year but leaning fast, I have learned quite a few tips about isolation, and have settled on a particular work flow.

I have posted a step by step overview on the process to pick up them stray area's, I use it all the time now and have halted the fall in my acceptance rate, as I have received a lot of help, I now hope this will help others, sort of payback.

http://www.adeptris.co.uk/HowtoIsolation/tabid/67/Default.aspx

There are some more examples in my gallery and on Istock (Adeptris)

David