Comments on: iStockphoto sees new rivals everywhere

CEO Bruce Livingstone is bracing for online competitors to do to him what he did to the traditional stock-art market.

[ewelch]

Prices

What's forcing editors like myself to go to iStockphoto is that
with the consolidation of agencies into basically two super
agencies like Getty and Corbis makes it hard to go elsewhere to
find photos when stock is required. Most stock photography is
too generic for my specialized needs. But there are times when
they are handy. And iStockphoto really shines when you need
something simple and generic. Pictures for $50 are much better
than not much better photos for $500 or $700. Stock agencies
only have themselves to blame for not being more flexible for
losing so much business to iStockphoto and whatever
competition it might have.

In fact, I get to travel a lot because stock photos don't fit our
needs or are way too expensive. One year I spent $290,000 for
stock photography. I told my boss that would buy a lot of plane
tickets. Since then I've been to Brazil, Colombia, India and I'm
going to Africa next month! So thanks Getty and Corbis for
being too expensive. My life has become a lot more interesting
because of it!

[LuvThatCO2]

Good company, good product

I've used istock a few times. Highly recommended!

[art334]

more competition

A photographer myself, one website I've been using in conjunction with iStockphoto and flickr is http://www.imagekind.com. They let me upload my photos directly from flickr, which I thought was interesting if flickr is going to announce a way to buy photos on there site as well. Imagekind is worth a look - let me know what you think. I'm always looking for new sites to market myself.

[webdesingz]

I think that iStockphoto.com is a very good company. It's been around for SO long, and it has great customer support (which results in high customer satisfaction). The only down side of this enterprise (IMHO) is that they bring their prices up every quarter (or at least twice a year)...

I'm a web designer, who uses anywhere from 100 to 1000 images per month. And it does make a huge difference if I pay $200-$400 per batch or $1000-$2000 and more... For me Albumo.com is a better choice (cheaper choice I should say). So, while still using iStock for some of the custom work I do, I ofter jump ships to http://www.albumo.com

Does anyone know anymore of these sites where you can buy any image for less than a buck?