I am not even showing a balance now. Nothing for July so far. This never happened in the 8 years I have been there. I have to say I don't put any effort in. It's not worth the effort or expense to shoot microstock anymore. June was very poor and I received no payment from Getty either.

I'm not doing quite as badly as this, but we're already on the 6th of the month.
OK it's been a holiday weekend in the USA we know, but I have what would have been a very poor single day's money at one time so far this month.
If this continues as it's going, and PP and GI payments are as bad as last month then I reckon this will be the worst month for many, many years.
I am, as I write this, uploading some more images. I must admit that I've been finding it increasingly difficult to raise much enthusiasm for uploading lately.
They whys and wherefores have all been said before, but I'm really feeling that uploading images which seem to drop out of sight without generating any income is less than businesslike.
Like many others here, I don't do this as some sort of hobby. 

I don't know how bad things are over in the photos section but in the illustration section over the past couple of months there has been an explosion of spamming by a small minority of contributors, both old and new, who are increasingly dominating the search results for certain keywords and topics. Page after page of very basic or very similar images from the same contributors.
Wrong keywords, zero quality control by iStock, a best match system that reduces relevancy, a bug laden unintuitive user interface, it's all gone to pot.
Any buyer doing a search and seeing the absurd results will probably quickly leave and try another site.
Are things any better on the photo side because it's now a waste of time creating and uploading illustrations?

When I first joined iStock a few years back all the review sites and all the forums held iStock in the highest esteem, with by far the highest standards and reputation for quality. It was with great pride when I got accepted. It's not something I boast about anymore.

According to the poll iStock sales for nonexclusives are up over 50% since last year.

I don't understand what that means.
Up 50% total sales for all non exclusives? Up 50% per image? Royalties or DL numbers?

So I'm missing out on the party then, but the change/trend I'm referring to is quite recent so we'll have to see how sales are affected over the next few months.
I guess I'll have to drop exclusivity and join the spammers uploading thousands of quick doodles each month to get any exposure.
If you can't beat  'em join 'em.

Quote from: tickstock on July 07, 2015, 09:16

According to the poll iStock sales for nonexclusives are up over 50% since last year.

Shocking!  That does not go with my experience at all!  The reverse is true for me and the others I read and talk to. 

According to the Wayback Machine's snapshot of MSG on 3 Jul 2014, istock indies were at 31.6, vs 48.1 now. That is indeed up over 50%, and very difficult to understand.

Similarly, exclusives were at 154.9, vs 217.9 now. Not as large a percentage increase, but equally difficult to understand. My June 2015 was down over 50% from June 2014. That's the only number that's relevant to me, I guess. 

My sales died very suddenly at iStock around June 6th. I emailed asking if anything had been changed on my account, they didnt really answer, and the next day sales seem to have very slowly started to return. Very odd...

If seasonal is a factor, compare with same time last year and year before etc.
Seasonal is one of many various factors, and everyone's experience will be different

Yes, but if you have a large portfolio and your income is 60% lower compared to last year that it means something..
There is no more hope for Istock. Every change what they made in the last three years was against contributors.