I have averaged about 250 images online at istockphoto for most of this year, and in that time I have put about $2,200 in my pocket from them. I have been contributing to istockphoto since 2002. I have been involved with image inspections there since early 2003. I have found the community of contributors and buyers to be a fantastic resource for all sorts of things. I think it is worth giving it a try.
istock uses a credit system for licensing images. Buyers purchase a block of credits (starting at $1 per credit) and then those credits get applied against each download transaction. Images are available at a range of different pixel dimensions. The larger the image, the more credits required to download. The prices range from 1 credit (about 800x600 pixel image) to 20 credits (over 17MP).
The percentage earned varies due to the price a credit was sold at (most are bulk discounts), whether or not you license RF images through istock alone or multiple agencies, and your total sales volume. So, in my case, because I only license RF through istock, I receive between 35% and 44% of each credit used to download an image. So, if someone downloads one of my images at the 3 credit size I get $1.05 (regardless of the actual price they paid for credits, which ranges from $.80 to $1).
Getting in to Stock Photography
in Business of Photography
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I have averaged about 250 images online at istockphoto for most of this year, and in that time I have put about $2,200 in my pocket from them. I have been contributing to istockphoto since 2002. I have been involved with image inspections there since early 2003. I have found the community of contributors and buyers to be a fantastic resource for all sorts of things. I think it is worth giving it a try.
istock uses a credit system for licensing images. Buyers purchase a block of credits (starting at $1 per credit) and then those credits get applied against each download transaction. Images are available at a range of different pixel dimensions. The larger the image, the more credits required to download. The prices range from 1 credit (about 800x600 pixel image) to 20 credits (over 17MP).
The percentage earned varies due to the price a credit was sold at (most are bulk discounts), whether or not you license RF images through istock alone or multiple agencies, and your total sales volume. So, in my case, because I only license RF through istock, I receive between 35% and 44% of each credit used to download an image. So, if someone downloads one of my images at the 3 credit size I get $1.05 (regardless of the actual price they paid for credits, which ranges from $.80 to $1).
Hope that sheds some more light on it for you.