Again, it's not about value, but limited access to the content - ie only one place to get it, if you want it.

Most buyers I know could care less about that. Like microstock said, if it's been sold 100 times on iStock or across multiple sites, it doesn't mean much to buyers.

Since you are not physically in a foreign county earning foreign income, I'm not sure why you would.

"The foreign earned income exclusion, the foreign housing exclusion, and the foreign housing deduction are based on foreign earned income. For this purpose, foreign earned income is income you receive for services you perform in a foreign country during a period your tax home is in a foreign country and during which you meet either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test."

Thanks for the responses. I'm a U.S. citizen and have moved abroad which is why this topic came up in conversation with another iStocker who's in the same boat. Both of us weren't really sure since we're earning iStock income from a Canadian company but living in another country. Nearly all the photography I'm doing now is outside the U.S.  My day job is exempt from U.S. taxation, and I do pass the above criteria. 

The introduction of P+ images for independent contributors will undoubtedly have a positive effect on their RC totals by the end of the year

You seem a little tooo certain about that. Customers are already upset about having Vetta and Agency files shoved down their throats and yet another increase and price point will only turn them off even more.  As more customers leave my bet is that everyones' total RC's will drop when compared to the prior year.  I don't see anything positive at iStock at the moment.  Any positive effects will be cancelled out by fleeing customers going to other sites.  

Quote from: caspixel on May 08, 2011, 10:07

This is definitely an ongoing epic fail:

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=310482&page=4#post6372250

More than two months and he has not been paid for his high res image downloaded from Getty. And not a single word from admins about it, publicly or privately.

Incredible.
It seems like nobody from IS staff feels concerned by this kind of problems. How many of us haven't been payed without knowing it? Is this another bug or another way to make more profit?

I think the reason that it seems like nobody at IS cares is because at this point they really don't care. I'm sure morale there is extremely low, they get angry calls from customers all day, they get badgered in the forums by contributors. I have to imagine it's not a very pleasant place to work at the moment. And in that kind of environment and with so many fires to tend to and extinguish, everything just falls through the cracks.

Quote from: lisafx on May 06, 2011, 18:48

Snip
In general searches, though, I notice that V/A don't seem, as dominant in the front pages today. 

Or maybe it's all just wishful thinking 

 I would like to think that IS was listening to the complaints of both contribs and buyers. Any other theories? Or am I just deluded?

Listening to complaints? Have you packed your bags? Cuz you're going to fantasy land.

I could've sworn I saw a thread earlier in the day about photographers wanting to try to put together a call.  Did this get deleted or am I just not looking in the right place?

I've seen some posts in the forums about people who've removed all their files from E+ recently and been happy with the decision. It seems that there may never be a best match boost for E+ as hinted at when E+ first rolled out as that question still goes unanswered.  One thing I have noticed though is the files that have lots of Vetta and Agency competition are doing much better now than before the best match shift.

With all that said, it seems that a lot of customers are rejecting Vetta/Agency files in favor of cheaper files.  Was curious as to who has made a conscious decision to remove the E+ designation from their files and what the outcome was? Only about 5% of my files are E+ currently, but I'm thinking of ditching E+ in favor of steadier DL's. 

It's not fair, but it's a heck of a lot less unfair than the earlier deal

As expected, a thread started in the main forum asking where was the photographer's deal. Until they're willing to put their Vetta income on the line, no deal for them. And enough of them won't even consider opting out, so I can't see anything similar happening for photographers.

I saw your post in the main forum about there being no chance for photographers to unite and stand up to all this bullsh*t. Why not?  Why couldn't we?  I know our numbers are much larger, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, and I definitely think there's enough anger brewing on the surface for people to be willing to try. 

While I think this is a good start, I don't think it addresses a lot of the broader issues having to do with search, broken functionality, etc. specifically enough. I also agree that it's a bit wordy and could be shortened a bit.  That said, I also agree with the point that higher ups are often out of touch with what's going on in the trenches. If they're made aware of the day-to-day mess that Kelly and his crew are making of iStock and all the shortcomings that have come to light within the last year or so, hopefully that will do some good. 

Quote from: jamirae on April 14, 2011, 15:20

Quote from: sweetgirll on April 14, 2011, 14:53

I was wondering if Russel illustrations are still available for licensing?
But without the profile I don't know how to find it.

you can try to contact him through his website:

http://www.russelltate.com/

Ah, good idea. I also happened to notice that he still has SOME illustrations at Getty images website. Nowhere near what he had at istock, though. I was surprised to see that actually since Getty and istock are related now.

If you go independent, for example, and have Vetta images over at Getty, it takes a few extra days for them to be removed from the Getty side.

Wouldn't you rather have both though? What if there are Americans who need your photos too?
[/quote]
Yes. I wasn't disagreeing with you. Just pointing out the change in DL patterns. I think regional best match search results are lame too. I mean, what are they basing it on? Contributor's location? What if I'm based in the States and take a bunch of travel shots in Italy? Or heaven help me if I'm in some place no one's heard of like Kazakhstan.  

Quote from: cclapper on April 13, 2011, 14:01

I think that istock is trying to do what a lot of companies are trying to do now...control the buyers. They are trying to custom tailor every freakin search to every region, person, past history, past buying trends, etc. ad nauseum.

The regional thing is really beyond stupid. With things being global like they are, why should they assume that designers don't have clients from all over the world. As for the rest of it, I couldn't agree more with the things that people are saying. How would iStock *possibly* know what projects people are working on? What arrogance.

I'm not a fan of it either, but I definitely see the impact it's had already. I've noticed a very large shift in the time of day the bulk of DL's occur from American business hours to European business hours.