This is just weird

marcopolo · #1 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 08:21 PM

I am having my worst day at iStock since I started, in December I was doing $15-20 days, with a few days well over $20 in a day, this month has run about half until a couple of days ago, when yesterday I made a whopping $2.00 there. I figured it was just a fluke as that is bad even for a horrible day there. Today I just logged on and I have made a whopping $.20, a 99% drop from December. Does anyone else experience this serious of an "ebb and flow" with over 900 files in their portfolio? I am not blaming iStock or anyone else, I just don't get it, it is plain weird to have that horrible of day and I cannot figure out what is going on. As far as I can tell my stuff still shows up in searches, so this is weird. I expected somewhat of a drop in sales because my Chrismas illustrations would quit selling, but I figured it would be more like a 20-30% drop in sales, not like this. Guess I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon.

Karimala · #2 (**permalink**) 01-19-2007, 01:06 PM

It's so strange how some IS contributors are experiencing record decreases in sales, while others like myself are experiencing record increases. On Wednesday the 17th, I hit the amount of my previous record high month at IS, and am on target to surpass my record high for any site (SS) this month...and that's with less than half the portfolio of any other site! If that happens, then I will have experienced a 100% increase in earnings.

The only thing I can think of is that vectorists are getting hit with a decrease in royalties. From what I understand, the royalty rate decreased significantly. But that still doesn't explain why some contributors are experiencing such hard hits in regard to the number of sales.

Gregor909 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-19-2007, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karimala

The only thing I can think of is that vectorists are getting hit with a decrease in royalties.

Why is that?

sharpshot · #4 (**permalink**) 01-19-2007, 04:20 PM

I am going to smash my record month with istock this month but I am selling a lot less than previous months with shutterstock. Probably need a few years sales to work out reasons why. I am just concentrating on uploading as many as I can.

thesupe87 · #5 (**permalink**) 01-19-2007, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharpshot

I am going to smash my record month with istock this month but I am selling a lot less than previous months with shutterstock. Probably need a few years sales to work out reasons why. I am just concentrating on uploading as many as I can.

Smart man. That's one way to guarantee at least some kind of increase in income. I wish I had more time to do the same!

marcopolo · #6 (**permalink**) 01-19-2007, 10:09 PM

Quote:

The only thing I can think of is that vectorists are getting hit with a decrease in royalties.

Why is that?

I hope they are not getting a decrease in royalties. The only change from last year is that the payout is based on what the buyer paid for the credits, what I am seeing is mostly the same, a few 1.15 and 1.20 credits, and so far only one .75 credit, so it is presently about even for me in the royalties payout, perhaps alot of other vector artists are getting hit with those .75 credits, but I do not know for sure.

My sales are presently all over the place, I wish I knew how to take a screenshot of my earnings to illustrate the point, but I was back up to somewhere near 'normal' on wednesday with 15.00 in sales, down again yesterday and so far 10.00 today, not great but at least not as horrible as last week and the first part of this week. I am just going to upload a bunch of stuff and hope that by the end of this month my earnings will be back up again to what they were before. I can't complaing too much though, I had a couple of extended license sales yesterday, one at SS and one at Dt, which really boosted my sales yesterday, now if only I could get a couple of those everyday!

rinderart · #7 (**permalink**) 01-20-2007, 05:54 PM

Personally, I cant stand that site, it's painful to work with. Been with them for 2.5 years only 300 or so images, but I do get paid every month.so If numbers were the game, It's probably my best selling site, with that few images.I firmly believe that if your not exclusive with them, they could care less about you.

patrick1958 · #8 (**permalink**) 01-20-2007, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rinderart

Personally, I cant stand that site, it's painful to work with. Been with them for 2.5 years only 300 or so images, but I do get paid every month.so If numbers were the game, It's probably my best selling site, with that few images.I firmly believe that if your not exclusive with them, they could care less about you.

Hi,

They asked me to go exclusive with them on the anatomy illustrations series i'm having over there, but also on all sites... and yes, got a personal message about that, a pop up ... not a mail, so i can not confirm authenticity it came from Istock.. but still...?...
This would be very stupid for me businesslike.

Patrick.

Peiling · #9 (**permalink**) 01-21-2007, 07:08 AM

yah its never wise to go exclusive with anyone, not even istock. You never know what is going to happen in a fast moving industry like stock....

sharpshot · #10 (**permalink**) 01-21-2007, 10:50 AM

Other than being able to upload more photos and a faster queue, what advantages do the exclusives have? They get more commmission but that is fair, as they can't sell on other sites. istock has been great for me, second only to shutterstock and far ahead of the rest of the sites. It takes a little bit of time to upload but that is the same for everyone.

The site has more features than other sites. I like to see how many of my photos are in lightboxes and I can start my own lightboxes. This is a good way to get more views for my photos. They have the Steel Cage, even though I don't quite understand what is going on there

There are lots of free tools in the forums, like a stats spreadsheet and a site where people suggest keywords.

The only feature I don't like is the ratings system but it is the same for everyone.