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Messages - Monkeyman
76
« on: September 01, 2014, 18:22 »
I agree with the previous poster.
Why don't they just build a new site based on a new modern system that is actually made to handle a site of iStock's size, and migrate all the material? For several years the site has been like an old sinking raft that they're desperatly trying to patch up as it goes down... and they seem to be running out of tape, sticks and strings.
It also surprises me how they never seem to take problems very serious... "Oh well, the site is down for 90% of our buyers, but we'll wait until monday before we take a look at what's going on". I would be in constant panic mode if I were in charge of iStock at the moment. And what happened to all those exciting changes that Yuri mentioned a while back? Was it just the new front page design?
77
« on: August 17, 2014, 13:07 »
4 (!!!) downloads yesterday with over 9,000 images in my portfolio... This is an all time low - never happened before. Makes me wonder if their sales reporting is broken - in this case one can hope. But if it's just how sales are going to be from now on - scary and sad.
I don't think it's broken... it seems to be the same for quite a few people. I used to get at least 30+ downloads a day but now I'm down to 4-15. The entire business is dying in the gigantic tsunami of content that's drowning us all. If this wasn't my only income I would have left this business a year ago... and in a few months I'll probably be forced to leave it when I can't pay my bills any longer. Depressing.
78
« on: August 16, 2014, 03:45 »
The whole year has been terrible but I've also noticed an extra downturn during August. I thought they've changed the best match to my disadvantage, but apparently I'm not the only one with bad sales... If sales keep going down at this rate I'll have to leave exclusivity this fall.
Maybe the major customers are switching to subscription... that could be the reason for the faster downturn in sales.
79
« on: August 12, 2014, 11:26 »
Is anything working over there any longer? I'm just waiting for the site to actually collapse completely. Which is a pretty sad thing to wait for since I'm exclusive.  And are there any buyers left? My August sales so far are shockingly low. Sales have decreased a little bit every month this year but August will be a disaster if sales don't increase significantly...
80
« on: June 15, 2014, 06:47 »
Extremely slow for me too. But like Shadysue said, it's all normal...  Let's hope that those "core site improvements" that Yuri mentioned will fix the site once and for all.
81
« on: June 11, 2014, 17:48 »
I like this quote from Yuri: "We are working on a set of core site improvements that will dramatically improve user experience and ultimately sales. Only thing that I can say now: Give IS three months and see the changes for yourself."
They should have made these "core site improvements" five years ago, but at least it's something. I hope it means a completely new server platform and I also hope they redesign the site at the same.
But after years of disappointments I'm still not expecting much. Every time they've said that HUGE changes are underway it's usually meant a new logo, a tiny design change, or a few removed features to desperately try and make the site a little faster...
82
« on: May 28, 2014, 06:29 »
My sales are going down the drain. May will be the worst month ever as exclusive, and income-wise I'm back to where I was after about one year in microstock (as independent). Depressing.
And the new subscription program is a joke, as I expected... I made six dollars in April.
83
« on: May 23, 2014, 06:11 »
I can't access it now, and it was down yesterday too.
84
« on: May 23, 2014, 06:06 »
That's great news. I hope they close down Thinkstock and move all subscription customers to iStock.
85
« on: May 20, 2014, 05:47 »
Sales are so bad right now that I'm actually worried (or should I be glad?) that iStock may go bankrupt in a not too distant future. Of course my sales doesn't necessarily say anything about iStock as a whole, but even the top sellers seems to be in a lot of trouble. Too bad there's no way to see iStock's sales figures.
86
« on: May 16, 2014, 05:59 »
My sales are going down month after month. I got more downloads five years ago with a much smaller portfolio...
I'll probably be forced to go independent in 4-5 months.
87
« on: May 08, 2014, 16:07 »
At least this is a sign that they're actually noticing the decline in sales and that exclusives are leaving... but it's not really enough to change anything. Scrapping the RC system and give all exclusives 50% no matter how much or little they sell would probably make a difference.
88
« on: April 04, 2014, 05:59 »
Jesus... will anyone buy the Signature sub with that price difference?? This will probably be the death of all exclusives. We're not gonna get any sub downloads and less and less credit downloads. iStock is really overestimating the quality of the exclusive collections. There are lots of files in the Main collection and at the competitor agencys with the same quality.
89
« on: March 26, 2014, 11:30 »
Thanks for the tips and info!
90
« on: March 24, 2014, 07:33 »
I'm thinking about going independent again after a few years of exclusivity.
Which is the easiest way to upload vectors to all sites nowadays? I've heard of Picworkflow, Stock Uploader and GoStock. Which is better? The perfect solution would an application that automatically uploads the files the right way for each site (creating a zip file etc.). I want to be able to just create a JPG and an EPS file and then upload everywhere with one mouse click.
What method are you vector independents using?
91
« on: December 20, 2013, 08:26 »
It seems to me like we've passed the peak in this business. Yuri wrote a blog post a while back about how much less he makes per image nowadays than during the golden days, and other top sellers (and medium and low sellers too, for that matter) seem to be reporting decreasing sales. I only create vectors and I've noticed that I have to spend a lot more time on a vector nowadays to make it stand out, and yet there's no guarantee that it will sell very well. So I'm slowly getting more and more bored with this business. Why spend ten hours on a vector that hardly sells at all? I don't think the microstock industry will die but I can't see how it would be possible for the contributors to make more money or even stay on the same level, when competition just gets tougher every day. So my resolution for the new year will probably be to find another job.
92
« on: November 04, 2013, 06:39 »
It's depressing to see how the same problems just keep coming back. And that they're trying to improve site speed by removing features... it signals that they're running on the same outdated code and that they're not investing enough in new software, hardware and competence to really fix the site once and for all.
93
« on: November 02, 2013, 11:32 »
I must apologize in advance for breaking the rule against posting a link to another contributor's image. I've never done it before, and I hope I won't do it again.
But I just can't help myself this time. Because this is definitely the best (worst) example I've seen of what the "New" IS has become:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-27857042-the-letter-v.php?st=d354b8c
And if the image itself weren't bad enough, be sure to look at the amazing, incredible, unbelievable list of keywords.
Amazing how that could be accepted with so many faulty keywords... makes you wonder what iStock's plan is.
94
« on: October 30, 2013, 06:18 »
No, please don't upload to Vectorstock and other cheap sites. If you do, you're contributing to the collective suicide of microstock vector artists.
95
« on: October 29, 2013, 10:19 »
There are a few scripts like this available already. One of them (the most common one I think) is Vector Stock Helper 2.0. It checks the file for everything that's not allowed and exports the eps and preview jpg. http://www.mendiobox.com/Resources/Vector-Stock-Helper
96
« on: October 25, 2013, 06:30 »
No wonder we don't get any views or sales then...
97
« on: October 14, 2013, 14:18 »
I'm iStock exclusive and have had a really bad year even though I've uploaded regularly, and my vectors are a lot better now than when I joined this business. But I guess it's not just iStock that is on its way down then. Can't it just be that the golden days are over? There must be a hundred times as many contributors now compared to a few years ago, and millions of similar images. So less and less to each of us. I guess it's time to get back to a real job soon...
98
« on: October 11, 2013, 09:30 »
Yeah, no improvements in speed yet... I'm getting gateway timeout a lot this morning. I wonder how many customers they've lost to other sites the past year... Will they ever get their site back on track or will they be in the "low earner" section of this forum in a year or so? It's nail biting times for us exclusives right now. 
99
« on: October 09, 2013, 17:30 »
Yeah, I don't get it either...
100
« on: October 09, 2013, 17:24 »
I swear they are just looking at the features at ShutterStock and saying, if they don't have them we don't need them either. Probably very true but the 5 min upload delay is just a pain and not a feature at SS. IStock can now say "we offer a five minute delay on uploads to give you time to pick your nose and prepare keywords, no other site dose this for you in the industry!" Just kidding of course but I truly hope real progress is made from this.
But they're not saying there will be a five minute delay between every upload? Just that it will not show up on the My Upload page immediately.
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