$0.08 USD download

Hi there!


One of my files has just been downloaded for $0.08 USD, XSmall Regular!? Am I missing something?! Thanks!

You are not alone with this amount. I saw others lately to report the same, not often but it happens.

This is quite normal, it depends of offers of credits packages purchased by buyers :


"""Posted By kelvinjay:
Strange Royalty Amounts - Find answers here!

Since 2007 the royalties paid to contributors have been based on the original net cost of the credit(s) used.

In effect what that means is that a file may earn a contributor different amounts when it sells, even if it sells at the same size, as the royalty paid depends upon the credit package that the buyer used to purchase the credits that were used to license the content. Larger packages of credits offer larger discounts for buying in bulk.

Since 2005, all credits purchased have had a one year life span, although extensions to this time limit may be granted at the discretion of Customer Support. However, there may still be a tiny amount of pre 2005 10 cent credits floating about that had no set life span.

Our local superhero, member sjlocke, found time in his busy schedule to create a clever little page that can calculate the price paid per credit. But one important factor to keep in mind is that any combination of credits could potentially be used to download a file, and each credit could have a different net value and result in a royalty not shown on the current packages page.

Additionally, it is worth noting that for the very biggest buyers, whose needs exceed even the largest advertised credit bundles, there have apparently been deals that offer larger discounts than those advertised on site.

Another cause of frequent head scratching is seeing you have sold and Extended License but then not appearing to receive any money for it. Or you sold an EL but only got a few dollars for it. If this has happened then the chances are that you have had someone buy an Extended Legal Guarantee. Although it appears in your charts as an EL sale, contributors do not receive any money for it, for reasons laid out in the article above. You do still receive the royalty for the size of file sold though.

Unrelated to the above, but on the theme of odd royalty amounts, if you should stumble upon an instance where you see a royalty of 0.00 it is the result of someone re-downloading the file after having just paid for it. Customers are permitted to re-download files (without additional credit cost). Since all file downloads are tracked and recorded you may see the repeat download as a 0 royalty. If you have previously downloaded your own image for any reason in the past, this file will now show as being free to download to you, but not to others who have not previously licensed it."""

(Edited on 2013-02-11 03:14:19 by Gregory_DUBUS)

Thanks Gregory.

Thank you, guys! This download is not the only one at such a low price...A few other files of mine were downloaded at 0.10$, 0.12$....but 0.08$...!!!? First, I thought it was about a referral percent that, by system mistake, was reported in my regular downloads stats...could this be even possibil!?...it would be a just/fair explanation for me, at this extremely low price...Ok! This is microstock...but, come on!!...0.08$...!?


You could easily say: My photo is free for JUST 0.08$...!

(Edited on 2013-02-11 03:49:16 by mladensky)

Hi @mladensky, I made a similar "noob question" months ago, maybe the explanation could be useful for you too. Here's the post: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=345405&page=1 

Thank you, LeoPatrizi! Let's hope it will not happen too often...! or not at all, in the best case!

(Edited on 2013-02-11 03:57:33 by mladensky)

Hi,

Yes, as explained in the post that Gregory quoted, we reportedly have a very limited number of buyers who bought massive quantities of credits at a more discounted rate than those advertised on site. Obviously, the vast majority of our buyers pay more for their credits and thus more for our files, but from time to time you will see files sold using these heavily discounted credits. It may be a shock to see this for the first time, but such rates make up only a very small proportion of sales.

I'm glad we could help to explain what's happening, but this threads such as this have a history of turning into endless reporting threads of who just sold an 8 cent file or whatever, and so it will be locked. Please site mail me if you do need any further help understanding how royalties and payments work in general at iStock, or open a support ticket if you have any future queries or concerns about any specific sales.