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Messages - tee

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51
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 18, 2011, 15:38 »
I've only just realised that there is now a HUGE bias in favour of exclusive images in the best match results. That could certainly explain some of the disparity in the reports from independent and exclusive contributors. I'm guessing it may have more to do with Istock trying to stop exclusives dropping their crowns (by boosting their sales) than getting the customers to buy more expensive content.


This policy has been around a while as a perk for independents to go exclusive ("Exclusivity brings more attention to your portfolio and makes the most out of all that traffic. You will see a difference." (http://www.istockphoto.com/sell-stock-photos-exclusivity.php)) If they've dialed it up in the past few days because of what's going on, it would fly in the face of the conspiracy theory that they want exclusives off the site because we earn too high a percentage.

Exclusive images sell at a higher price point anyway, so while an indy @ 20% will get 1.2 credits worth of $ out of a medium (6 credit) sale, and an exclusive @ 30% will get 3 credits of $ off a medium (10 credit) sale, iStock earns 7 credits with the exclusive and only 4.8 with the independent.

In any case when they don't communicate at all, except for Lobo bans and posts disappearing, we're left to our own assumptions. At this point they should really address people's worries, since a uniquely high number of big selling members have come out and said they've been having terrible sales. iStock seems to have no desire to ever recapture a sense of community there, which is sad, and not good business IMO.

52
Shutterstock.com / Re: I wonder who they're aiming this at
« on: November 16, 2011, 15:36 »
Genius! Reading it right now. Speaking as an exclusive that's getting ready to pack his bags, this kind of hand-holding and guiding will really make my decision easier. It's scary for sheltered noobs like us going into the wild.  ;D

53
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 15, 2011, 14:35 »
Quote from: Freedom
Rebecca seems to be prudent. At least, she has not caused any big drama yet, unless I miss something.

Unless I missed something she hasn't said much of anything yet, even with tanking prices and now the unexpected (untimely?) price increases on buyers. There's drama going on, just none that they're willing to admit. ;)

54
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 14, 2011, 15:05 »
Do they actually benefit greatly from having a lot of exclusive contributors?

They sure don't act like it, do they?

55
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 14, 2011, 14:35 »
I thought things were starting to pick up for me again last Thurs and Friday. I've been out all day today and just had a look - 1 (ONE) sale all day.
Same here! None today, but a decent # Friday, although still slowish, and one small download Sunday. Sheesh.

Quote from: ShadySue
I'd be surprised if they revised the RCs down this year, as that would be a real admission that they're in deep trouble. But I could easily be wrong.
You're probably right. Regardless I'm going to shoot again today, start uploading some more, and see how the rest of the year goes. At the very least I'll have more material to send to other sites down the road. ;D They really need a "Guide for suckers exclusives: How to leave iStock and join the rest of the world." I started there, was happy with the relationship at the beginning and happy to give them exclusivity (that decision being 90% financial, 10% good will), but can only put up with so much.

56
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 14, 2011, 12:40 »
With all this continuing bad news (and it is continuing, just look at the latest posts in the Oct. sales thread on iS), if they don't change the RC targets I'm dropping my crown for sure. And speaking of being "...nuts for becoming a photographer in the first place", I'm feeling a little crazy staying exclusive with iS at this point. ::)

57
iStockPhoto.com / Re: October 2011 Sales
« on: November 05, 2011, 14:06 »
The first step is to determine if you actually have a problem.

You're assuming the 70% drop is a problem for IS. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't.

What happens if they did lose 70% traffic but actually increased revenue and profits? Is it possible the buyers that stayed are buying Vetta and Agency which makes up for what was lost? They may have planned for, and expected, this drop.

It's true that traffic != revenue, but there's a pretty high correlation. When you read the iS Oct. sales thread, many of the top earning artists on the site are reporting drastic losses, so I'd be amazed if somehow that wasn't affecting iS' bottom line in a big way. That being said I'd be amazed if they threw contributors a bone. Morale is so low there that I'm not even sure it would help all that much. My guess is it'll be more cuts or other shafts to contributors, if anything. I can't believe they aren't talking about this with us yet. Probably still working on spin, and we'll hear how it's good for us in the long run.

Even if traffic and sales were to suddenly pick up, lots of people (myself included) are likely going to fall short of the RC goals they set way back before they started the main series of middle fingers to contributors.

58
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 04, 2011, 02:29 »
I'd sort of been ignoring my stats, but checked them out of curiosity because of all these shenanigans. I've been using a third-party site to track views and clicks for my most popular images:



Clicks actually haven't gone down too much (except for October, which saw a big drop), but views show quite a downward trend. Of course this is just for me, but I wonder who else shares similar results.

59
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Sales have tanked big time
« on: November 02, 2011, 16:17 »
Might as well pile on here. October was the worst month in earnings for me since December 2008, and the worst month in number of downloads since April 2007. My first photos were posted in MARCH 2007! People have said it before and now I'll say it - this crown is getting heavy. At this point it's Vetta keeping me around, but that's about it, and I don't know for how much longer.

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