Author Topic: 9 months since Getty bought StockXpert... (Read 6703 times)

Gizeh · « **on:** August 21, 2009, 09:21 »

... and still the future seems to be quite nebulous. What are your guesses for the future?

Will StockXpert be closed after the JIU/Photos.com deal moves to iStock in 1-2 months?

Or is there a chance of Getty reactivating StockXpert after finding out that iStock cannot deliver enough volume to JIU/Photos.com because more contributors than expected have opted out of the el cheapo distribution scheme?

sharpshot · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2009, 09:45 »

I hope not many will opt in for the $0.25 commissions and istock will soon raise that to at least $0.30. The other big sites pay us more and photos.com/JIU doesn't have the sales volume to justify a lower commission.

I have no idea what they will do with StockXpert but they did spend time going through the entire collection looking for images with possible trademark/property release problems. That indicates to me that StockXpert might be around for a while longer.

KB · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2009, 10:21 »

Quote from: sharpshot on August 21, 2009, 09:45

I hope not many will opt in for the $0.25 commissions and istock will soon raise that to at least $0.30. The other big sites pay us more and photos.com/JIU doesn't have the sales volume to justify a lower commission.

I have no idea what they will do with StockXpert but they did spend time going through the entire collection looking for images with possible trademark/property release problems. That indicates to me that StockXpert might be around for a while longer.

That's a very good point about looking for TM / PR problems. I had more than 2 dozen images de-activated (most of which are still on IS!), so I should have thought of that myself. It seems to be an indication that they intend to keep it going for at least a while.

There's more to the StockXpert --> IS photos.com/JIU changeover than the > 15% commission reduction. JIU sub sales are only up to around 8MP in size. Anything larger results in a very nice PPD (I had my first this month, and it was more than I get for ELs at many places). I agree that $0.05 commission difference is important (I'm not opting in for the IS transfer because of it), but that PPD was the equivalent of 600 nickels, so it's pretty important, too.

lisafx · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2009, 11:33 »

I had a few deactivated too. Mostly to do with cars. That is a good sign it will stay around awhile (hopefully).

My sales at StockXpert, both sub and credit, are almost nonexistent anymore, though. The bulk of my sales are coming from JIU and Photos.com now. If Getty pulls my images from those sites there won't be much point in staying with StockXpert.

Keep hoping they will rethink it and leave StockXpert images on those sites. Especially since most will not opt in through istock.

PowerDroid · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2009, 12:13 »

I'm praying StockXpert is allowed to just keep chugging. It's consistently been my 2nd best performing agency, even through all the recent changes. August has been no different, and fortunately the bulk of my sales are from StockXpert itself and not through JI or Photos.com, so if and when those go away, I won't be hit too hard.

My August totals so far (based on portfolio of around 530 images):

(Stockxpert pay-per-download)      100      $122.50

(Stockxpert subscription)      35      $10.50

(Photos.com subscription)      32      $9.60

(Jupiterimages Unlimited subscription)      113      $33.90

TOTAL       280       $176.50

gostwyck · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2009, 12:26 »

^^^ Those are good figures. Your 500 images are earning more than my 2500 images.

I think they'll pretty much have to leave it 'chugging on'. It's probably quite profitable, they can't sell it and if they shut it down then StockXpert's existing customers would probably just migrate to IS's competition. The trouble is they're unlikely to invest in it either so sales will probably dwindle over time.

fotografer · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2009, 14:35 »

I'm also seeing a lot more of my earnings coming from StockXpert than Photos.com or Jupiter.

Quote from: PowerDroid on August 21, 2009, 12:13

I'm praying StockXpert is allowed to just keep chugging. It's consistently been my 2nd best performing agency, even through all the recent changes. August has been no different, and fortunately the bulk of my sales are from StockXpert itself and not through JI or Photos.com, so if and when those go away, I won't be hit too hard.

My August totals so far (based on portfolio of around 530 images):

(Stockxpert pay-per-download)      100      $122.50

(Stockxpert subscription)      35      $10.50

(Photos.com subscription)      32      $9.60

(Jupiterimages Unlimited subscription)      113      $33.90

TOTAL       280       $176.50

Phil · « **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2009, 15:37 »

Quote from: KB on August 21, 2009, 10:21

Quote from: sharpshot on August 21, 2009, 09:45
I hope not many will opt in for the $0.25 commissions and istock will soon raise that to at least $0.30. The other big sites pay us more and photos.com/JIU doesn't have the sales volume to justify a lower commission.

I have no idea what they will do with StockXpert but they did spend time going through the entire collection looking for images with possible trademark/property release problems. That indicates to me that StockXpert might be around for a while longer.
That's a very good point about looking for TM / PR problems. I had more than 2 dozen images de-activated (most of which are still on IS!), so I should have thought of that myself. It seems to be an indication that they intend to keep it going for at least a while.

There's more to the StockXpert --> IS photos.com/JIU changeover than the > 15% commission reduction. JIU sub sales are only up to around 8MP in size. Anything larger results in a very nice PPD (I had my first this month, and it was more than I get for ELs at many places). I agree that $0.05 commission difference is important (I'm not opting in for the IS transfer because of it), but that PPD was the equivalent of 600 nickels, so it's pretty important, too.

photos.com has a size limit on subs and it is ppd for xlarge.
Jui size is up to 75mp for subs, ppd is only for el licences. (I think part of the reason jui is about 3x the sales of photos.com)
istock said that the ppd price on photos.com will change (I read that to mean lowered)

goldenangel · « **Reply #8 on:** August 21, 2009, 15:42 »

For me, the earnings are currently about the same from both StockXpert and JIU/Photos.com. I hope StockXpert will be allowed to continue as it is usually number 3 or 4 site for me, together with FT.

KB · « **Reply #9 on:** August 21, 2009, 15:50 »

Quote from: Phil on August 21, 2009, 15:37

photos.com has a size limit on subs and it is ppd for xlarge.
Jui size is up to 75mp for subs, ppd is only for el licences. (I think part of the reason jui is about 3x the sales of photos.com)
istock said that the ppd price on photos.com will change (I read that to mean lowered)

Oh, but they will still keep a size limit? That might be good news ... though I still won't be opting in at $0.25/sub.

I was afraid I might have mixed up photos.com & JUI (I assume that means sub sales on StockXpert are for maximum size, IIRC).

When I looked up the sale on JUI it was listed simply as "SUPER". I assumed that applied to image size; it certainly didn't sound like any kind of EL to me. Shows what I know!

Thanks for the info, Phil.

ETA: Why do I keep typing "JUI" instead of "JIU"? Jupiter Unlimited Images doesn't make sense, yet I persist in doing so!

Phil · « **Reply #10 on:** August 21, 2009, 16:13 »

yep met too, jui

quote
For me, the earnings are currently about the same from both StockXpert and JIU/Photos.com. I hope StockXpert will be allowed to continue as it is usually number 3 or 4 site for me, together with FT.

I saw powerdroids figures and mine are about the same in proportion, so assumed as that was 2 of us, everyone else would be the same

I actually on a run of BME's on StockXpert, each month slighlty better than last (not by a lot) maybe I shouldnt complain they are on autopilot

about 40% of earnings from photos.com & jui (used to about 10-20% before they announced the change)

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Author Topic: 9 months since Getty bought StockXpert... (Read 6703 times)

Gizeh

sharpshot

KB

lisafx

PowerDroid

gostwyck

fotografer

Phil

goldenangel

KB

Phil

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