^^ which conversely means that there will also be a lot more good quality images at Main prices on iStock, competing with their own images elsewhere. This of course was inevitable once buyers could filter out most exclusive content with the price slider.

Good point.

The massive collections growth at istock,  why?  Was there even one reason for it.    Has it had a benefit??  The massive black hole as it is known seems to have damaged istock,  both  for contributors and customers,, I wonder how it has been for istock profit.  It seems all of this could have been forseen by anyone, everyone.  It is however still occurring right,  why?

This move from quality to quantity is a part
Of their new plan how to compate against SS.
As Yuri said there will a big changes in upcoming months.
Others parts of this plan are
Adding chip subscription plans to iStock.
Closing Thinkstock and concentrating all the forces in one place.
Trying to keep exclusives by throwing 100% royalties day etc.

Anybody else seen their sales plummet drastically the last 6 weeks or so?
Really down here..........

My sales plummet like a stone

Compared to Apr 14:
Very good month on SS
Very bad month on iStock

Quote from: Ron on May 29, 2014, 12:33

I think its a combination of things, I was a gnat in their fur annoying them and they squashed me.


I have been in Matts hair for a while, he probably had enough of me
I have contacted these guys http://wallsheaven.de asking them where they got my images from
I have been actively fighting DPC by sending letters to the EU and other parties
I have been tweeting about boycotting Fotolia


I would ban myself too.

I think that humanly you were in your right to do it Ron.
If we let these companies sit on our heads it is the end of everything.

And you can continue the fight, they cannot ban you another time!

you can continue the fight, they cannot ban you another time!
+1

Posted By dcdp on iStock forum: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=359606&page=47

Let's take a step back and think about this for a second. If you are a subscription type buyer, chances are you are already locked into a existing subscription either here on iStock or someone else. It's somewhat unlikely you're going to buy into a new one until the other one is finished. As such anyone buying into the first month of subs is going to be someone who is already spending more than $250 (or whatever the minimum subscription was) a month.

Those two conditions rule out a lot of buyers already.

Then there are those that have to weigh things up or seek approval from accountants at their company or some such thing which will also take time, maybe even a few weeks or months or perhaps they have to wait until the start of a new financial year.

There is no point throwing a hissy fit after the first half a month of subs sales on the new plans or because the sales aren't showing up in the right place in the graphs.

What you really need to be worrying about, and this is much worse for Exclusives, is when the numbers of people start using subs grows. As an indie I average about $0.80c per sale for credit sales, so I only need a subs buyer to replace that one credit sale with 3 subs sales. As an exclusive how much do you average per sale? $5? $10? That means buyers have to make a lot of subs sales for you to replace even one credit sale that is lost to a subs buyer.

Indies also have the experience of being involved in selling through subs at various other sites, they're used to it.

Getty's new strategy is to boost competition with SS,
to keep exclusives on board and to minimize operation costs.
In addition to Thinkstock closure, I guess they will mirror all exclusive content on Getty site and will bring the old canister system.

Looks like low-price iStock subs failed to attract even one single new buyer,
Though they made a huge drop in credit sales (-50% in my case).

This is the beginning of exclusives mass exodus from iStock.
Let the fun begin!!!

You're forgetting that TS contains a pile of non-iS material, some of it wholly owned by Getty Images.

Didn't they already dump it to iStock?

I am sure Getty is pushing iStock subscriptions right now and most likely will shift focus from Thinkstock to iStock over time.

A few years back it would have been long term process but not in current market conditions.
Getty have no time to waste - they are loosing buyers to SS everyday.

With introduction of subs on iStock the majority of buyers soon will switch to subs making the whole idea of RC system irrelevant.
Getty will bring the old canister levels back as the next try to keep exclusives on board.

Thinkstock ads disappeared from Getty
Now it's only Getty, iStock and Photos.com

Also stuck on the 3rd April with measly 28 DLs so far (with some 240 images). No miracle 

Almost same numbers here