Anybody know anything bad about iStockphoto?

[solarbird]

Anybody know anything bad about working with iStockphoto? They're a stock photography company, I got pointed at this blog article about them, I have a lot of photos, we could use more money.

Comments

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything bad about them so far. I use iStockphoto and Dreamstime for cheap, royalty-free stock photography for work. iStockphoto is owned by Getty Images.

[shadesofmauve]

I've used them frequently through work for over two years now - no troubles on the buying end, ever. Very polite, quick turn around of refunds when files were corrupted or downloads borked (even if the fault was on our end); good customer service.

I've had less experience with them on the seller end, not really being a photographer. No negative experiences, though. I would caution you that with such a huge contributor base it's hard to get noticed, so putting up a lot of material and key-wording well are very important. When I'm buying stock I'm willing to comb through 50 pages of results to get the perfect image, but a lot of people won't, and it's hard to break the front page. I'd say go for it - just don't expect it to be a huge impact on your household budget anytime soon.

[meesto.livejournal.com]

It works, but it is not a "Get Rich Quick Scheme".

About 9 years ago I was approached by Digital Vision, which is now Getty Images, to produce motion graphics titles for them. I worked my butt off to produce two separate titles that were released two years apart.

Unlike the blogger I did not earn thousands of dollars a year doing very little. I did make some decent passive income - eventually, and in aggregate, but up front I had to wait while they made back all their production and advertising costs from sales.

7 years on and the lifespan of the titles has worn thin and they only return maybe a hundred dollars a year now. Also - with the purchase of Digital Vision any acknowledgement of my name is gone from my work and it is all listed as having been created by "Digital Vision".

When it was Digital Vision I had a great representative that I was working with. My new film director with Getty has emailed me once in 2006. I've just sent an email now and it will be interesting to see what they say.

If you feel you have a good rapport with someone there and you have something that fits an upcoming release (meaning you'll get a bit more visibility) then I would say it is very worth while exploring.