Quote from: tickstock on October 30, 2013, 10:50

Quote from: Ron on October 30, 2013, 10:46

You are now blaming other sites for causing people to drop RC levels on IS. LOL. IS is never ever at fault, are they? Do you actually believe your own BS?

I was talking about declining sales.  I don't like the RC system at all although I'll be comfortably staying at the same level.

IStock's loss of sales is iStock's fault, not other people's. Consider these points:
After setting up TS, Getty decided to advertise it on the iStock homepage as a cheaper option
The iStock website is horribly slow even when it's working, costing customers valuable time
iStock prices were pushed up too far on a significant part of the content, encouraging budget buyers to look elsewhere for content (I think they even made some comment once about wanting corporate budgets, not low-volume buyers).
iStock pricing is extremely confusing and files can change price dramatically at any time, depending on the latest whim
iStock chose to tick-off its suppliers by squeezing them in innumerable ways, ensuring that it got a heap of bad publicity (and probably alerting a lot of customers to cheaper alternatives in the process)
Getty decided to swamp iS with mountains of third-rate material from old collections it had lying about, hoping to rake in a big return, but actually devaluing the collection
Getty decided to slash iStock's profitablity by cutting the cost of half its files by about 60%, thereby pulling some sales off the higher-priced material without - by all accounts - pulling in any extra customers.
Getty/iS decided to wipe out the community spirit that had allowed it to sail on with exclusives and a number of buyers alike viewing the collection through rose-tinted glasses.

Now, how much of that is really Shutterstock's fault?

Merchant account fee is what they cut from the agency's payment to our Skrill account, right?

Used Skrill recently but being transfered to a merchant account it became much more expensive than the ones I use now.

9.2 [�] the Merchant will be charged a monthly inactivity fee of 19.95 EUR (or equivalent), if no funds have been uploaded, withdrawn, sent or received through the Merchant Account(s) within the last six (6) months. This shall however not apply to the extent that the Merchant is subject to the gateway usage fee as set-out on the merchant fees page.

Dont believe what Skrill says, according to Alamy skrill is free. LOL

I'm using same bank and Skrill for 5 years and never ever international bank wire transfer was subject to intermediary bank charges.
Now it's the case. 10 euros per transaction. Why? Because they change the intermediary bank.
So beware when using wire transfer via Skrill!

Interesting that they were headhunted, fast tracked to Vetta yet have only 8 sales ...

Not a good month for me, especially not at Istock, where I was down 80 per cent compared to last April...

Looks like someone "restarted" best match and it probably needs some activity to get going. At least, I hope this is what�s happening. I just don�t understand why they don�t let contributors now "Hey guys, we are pushing some software buttons this week-end". Just so that we know what is going on. For many here istock is a considerable income and with all the issues people are jittery enough already. A little understanding can go a long way.