MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => CanStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: 7Horses on October 16, 2011, 08:11
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As newbie I've started submitting to canstockphoto and 123rf about the same time. On Canstock I've 59 pictures in portfolio on 123rf 48. Sales on CS just around 0 ???. Sales on 123rf 9 :D. Does any newbie had some sales on CS ???
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I can only confirm that the sales over there are pathetic. I earned approx 6x more at 123RF in the first month and a half and I've started 123RF during the summer slump, unlike I started at CS in the best time of the year, at the end of August. So the sales are really at least 10x worse. Not a site that's worth contributing to, I've uploaded just over 150 photos there and I'm just sticking around 'till the first payout. There were also lots of bugs and glitches on the site when I started, lots of errors (image too small etc, while I uploaded 21 mpix photos) and the list just goes on and on. Definitely the worst MS site I've contributed to.
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As newbie I've started submitting to canstockphoto and 123rf about the same time. On Canstock I've 59 pictures in portfolio on 123rf 48. Sales on CS just around 0 ???. Sales on 123rf 9 :D. Does any newbie had some sales on CS ???
To make money in microstock you have to meet several criteria:
1. Usable concepts
2. Quality
3. Quantity
4. Upload to multiple sites (unless you want to go exclusive somewhere)
I think you would need 500-1000 images to start seeing any repeatable monthly income. One of the most frequent mistakes new contributors to microstock make is the expectation of rolling in the income with only a handful of images. Plus you've chosen to upload to middle tier sites. Why not try to upload to Istock or Shutterstock?
Keep shooting, keep uploading. If your stuff cuts the muster you'll start to see the counter move in the right direction.
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As newbie I've started submitting to canstockphoto and 123rf about the same time. On Canstock I've 59 pictures in portfolio on 123rf 48. Sales on CS just around 0 ???. Sales on 123rf 9 :D. Does any newbie had some sales on CS ???
To make money in microstock you have to meet several criteria:
1. Usable concepts
2. Quality
3. Quantity
4. Upload to multiple sites (unless you want to go exclusive somewhere)
I'm also uploading to Dreamstime and Fotolia with sales one both sites. Depositphotos was one of my very first sites i was uploading to, just to get the feeling of stock. 60 pics in portfolio and 3 subs sales but stopped uploading there for now. Last week added Alamy to my agencies (also submitting there some RM pics) just to give it a try.
It just a pity CS sales doesn't start off and it makes me wonder. The site seems ok after the recent update its even better. Support is extremely good, after posting any issue an immediate answer and if possible solution is given. Sales can be made without subscription which is a good thing to start promoting sales from my personal site.
I know that its difficult with a small starting portfolio it's hard to tell which agency will be the best in the long run.
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you need to be at the top 5 agencies, if not, you better do other thing beside stock, look at the Poll Results here at the right below CanStockPhoto ad
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59 pictures? I'm with 355 and have 3 sales ( year no completed yet ). Even PM sells better than CS ( for me ). Hmm PM have something interesting.. Almost each view give me a sale.
As said, keep uploading, work with multiple agencies, and give my example. If in SS with 250 images i start see some regular sales, in low earners in need 5x more images to hit same volume of sales.
I will keep CS because it's easier submitting and good support. Probally, photos on hard disk will sell less...
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A lot of people were raving about can stock a few months back so I signed up. Made $2 since. Total waste of time in my opinion.
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It seemed to pick up a few months ago, then it faded again. Pity.
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Sales are slow for me but I usually get something each month and the upload process is easy so I've continued to upload. I only have about 200 images so I know I need to greatly increase my portfolio before I see more. I also do a lot of food shots and when I look at the Recently Sold photo stream I can see that the buyers at CanStockPhoto are leaning towards more business and lifestyle shots so I know that my downloads will be lower until I expand to additional niches beyond food.
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I had about 350 sales this year with a portfolio of 1090 images (all illustrations). About $800 so far - not too bad.
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I have 1276 photos there and 366$ of earnings overall... Bad enough... :(
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I have 1276 photos there and 366$ of earnings overall... Bad enough... :(
I have a lot lower RPD, only two big sales..
since April 2009
Uploads: 4,611
Sales: 217
Earnings: $220.24
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1310 images since July 2010, 39 sales, $45. Hopefully I'll reach my first payout this year.
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I've been there for ages, my portfolio is small as in all agencies, and sales are very slow for me. Sometimes I have a gap of over a month between sales. Yesterday I had my first sale this month.
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Sales are slow but I think its worth using them. I didn't upload until I had over 1,000 images. Anything less than 500 and I'm not sure its worth the effort. The upload is extremely easy, reviews are quick and they don't reject much. They have sold several of my photos that were recently rejected by SS. There were a few EL size sales with fotosearch that gave my earnings a nice boost but I haven't had one of those for a while. I think they were swamped with new images and that's diluted earnings a bit but I still upload all my new stuff to them.
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I am new and 23 sales so far and each month is getting better and better so stick with them...
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I get at least one payout every month
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Member since February. Portfolio of 122 images. 88 Sales.
If you have images that are successful at other sites, it is worth your time to upload to CS.
For me, CS is doing about the same as Dreamstime as far as revenue is concerned. Less sales, but a much higher RPD.
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If you have images that are successful at other sites, it is worth your time to upload to CS.
For me its far from true. Have some images that sells in Top Tier 4, middle, lower... and none sale at CanStockPhoto. More: These images are the least seen my portfolio ( less views ).
So, it depends too, on which type of subjects You work.
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I am pretty satisfied with my sales at Canstockphoto. I am member since mart, have 193 illustrations, and usually have payout one in a month. The problem is I didn't receive my money almost 12 days. I made payment request on October 7th, and usually get money on 2nd and 17th in the month, but nothing is appeared on my MB account so far. They don't even responding to my e-mail about this issue. I really don't know what to think anymore. :-\
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xalex,
Our Moneybookers payments normally go out around the 1st and the 15th of the month, although our last batch has been delayed. We expect Moneybookers to send the batch today or tomorrow. I'll check our records to see if I can find your original support ticket, as it's unusual that we didn't respond within a few hours.
Thanks,
Duncan
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Thank you for your response Duncan. I already feel better. :)
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They're advertising current review times as 33 minutes (i think it was 12 minutes just the other day), which of course never happens, they're not FT, but what is worse they're processing my last batch for over 2 days. Unbelievable! And I said I wasn't going to post anything more on top of the initial 150 photos, but I just had to UL my latest series to get that lousy 50$ ASAP and get . outta there
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My last review took minutes. I have had some stick occasionally but they're usually the best site for review times. I really don't understand the logic in uploading and then leaving a site like CanStockPhoto. If I left sites like CanStockPhoto, I would go exclusive with istock. It's the long term earnings from lots of sites that attract me to being non-exclusive. CanStockPhoto takes a long time to get earnings going, especially if you're building up from a small portfolio. When sales do pick up, they're very consistent and they pay some nice royalties. I sold a small size for $9.80 this week.
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I also had a 9.80 small sale at CS in August.
Big surprise yesterday, a first time sale for an image - 5 dollar eps with an added 25 dollar EL.
Nice to balance out the subscription sales.
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My last review took minutes. I have had some stick occasionally but they're usually the best site for review times. I really don't understand the logic in uploading and then leaving a site like CanStockPhoto. If I left sites like CanStockPhoto, I would go exclusive with istock. It's the long term earnings from lots of sites that attract me to being non-exclusive. CanStockPhoto takes a long time to get earnings going, especially if you're building up from a small portfolio. When sales do pick up, they're very consistent and they pay some nice royalties. I sold a small size for $9.80 this week.
Yeah but how long does it take to process them (i.e. before they show up in your port and in search)? The logic is that after uploading 150 photos and getting a pathetic 10$ return in over month and a half, it doesn't show any promise for decent earnings and the site is just getting on my nerves to a degree I won't let 'em keep my 10$ and for that reason I decided to UL a series that has the selling potential, to get up to 50$ as quick as possible and get rid of them. It has no attraction/appeal for me whatsoever. It's not a nice, relatively good earning site like 123RF. I won't upload to a site for 10-20$/month, that's getting me less/hour than flipping burgers. It's insane, we're artists, not some loser high school dropouts who just don't have any other options
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I don't spend hours working on the site. It probably takes less than 1 minute a month. I don't know any burger places that pay 10-20$/month for one minutes work. I can also not do anything with the site for a year and it still earns me money.
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I don't spend hours working on the site. It probably takes less than 1 minute a month. I don't know any burger places that pay 10-20$/month for one minutes work. I can also not do anything with the site for a year and it still earns me money.
Well then I'd like to know the secret of uploading for instance 30 files/month (which is really not a lot, but my average lately), attaching various releases and completing the upload process after that. And of course I never do it all at once, it's a batch a week. It sure doesn't take an hour or more, but it does at least 5 minutes each time. Earning as it is now, 5$/month with the prospect of earning 10-20$ is really not what I signed up for. And all the bugs and glitches, leading to reuploding easily makes it an hour or two, especially if you have to ask questions about it in the forum, like I had to. As many glithces as at IS at its worst, but for a fraction of return.
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Canstock is and always has been one of the best programmed sites around, and often they were the first to implement a new feature. They even beat 123RF with their Model Releases module and I never - in more than 6 years there - encountered a glitch.
Most of all, Duncan has always been a heck of a guy and very responsive to remarks. Although he has never been one of those slick slimy corporate i-Guys that scr*w you when you're not looking, he is a man out of one piece. I didn't upload there in more than half a year but I'll upload my 200 latest right away.
As to Slovenian burgers, the first and definitely the last time I passed there in Cevapcici county they tasted like would-be western crap and I bet the poor dudes flipping it (they actually didn't flip but they charcoaled them on 1 side while the other side was still raw with pieces of ice in it) won't get 8 euro/hr, so thanks to Marshal Tito for the ignore button :D (I still love Suljo!)
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As to Slovenian burgers, the first and definitely the last time I passed there in Cevapcici county they tasted like would-be western crap and I bet the poor dudes flipping it (they actually didn't flip but they charcoaled them on 1 side while the other side was still raw with pieces of ice in it) won't get 8 euro/hr, so thanks to Marshal Tito for the ignore button :D (I still love Suljo!)
Wow even Google can't lower your incredible level of ignorance :o . Getting just everything so wrong...
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AttilaTheNun,
Thanks for the kind words! It's so great to hear when our hard work is noticed & appreciated.
Slovenian,
We are presently working through an unusual backlog of images, so files are waiting to be processed after approval for longer than normal. Usually this process takes less than a minute. Our review times are the real actual average time that images wait to be approved, at that point in time - there's absolutely no marketing or trickery to it.
We're a fair agency that from day 1 has always been focused on treating photographers right. That's how the agency was started - out of frustration with the options available. It's true that we don't sell as many images as the biggest sites, although we're working hard and growing every month. Of course we can only do that with the support of our contributors. While some people's mileage will naturally vary, we are proud to say that our monthly payments to contributors have increased every month for the past several years straight.
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If it was not for sites like CanStock and 123RF I would not have been able to start a constant income flow. Last month I had a BME for all my sites on 123RF and this month CanStock has surpassed it by far.
Sales on these sites seem to vary based much on luck of the draw some months. Some people complaining of little sales this month while others make it big. The next month it is just reversed.
CanStock is one of the most reliable and value for effort sites I submit to.
You guys still rock big time for me Duncan - keep it up! ;)
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Oh yes Slovenian, this from one of your previous threads you started about CanStock titled "EDIT: the site that drives you crazy like no other!":
"I already walked away, just finished the unfinished files, waiting to clear 50$ and delete the whole port. And I really don't know why I should say negative things about an agency, that's what the forums are for, giving ppl info, negative or positive. So don't expect me to stop spitting on pathetic little agencies like this ;)"
Can not wait for you to earn that $50 so you can finally delete your port and get off the CanStock forum, this (your constant "spitting an whining") is just getting annoying. Maybe the satisfied contributors can all contribute a bit to help you along to the magical target so that you can keep on walking........ ;)
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I don't spend hours working on the site. It probably takes less than 1 minute a month. I don't know any burger places that pay 10-20$/month for one minutes work. I can also not do anything with the site for a year and it still earns me money.
Well then I'd like to know the secret of uploading for instance 30 files/month (which is really not a lot, but my average lately), attaching various releases and completing the upload process after that. And of course I never do it all at once, it's a batch a week. It sure doesn't take an hour or more, but it does at least 5 minutes each time. Earning as it is now, 5$/month with the prospect of earning 10-20$ is really not what I signed up for. And all the bugs and glitches, leading to reuploding easily makes it an hour or two, especially if you have to ask questions about it in the forum, like I had to. As many glithces as at IS at its worst, but for a fraction of return.
I disagree with you. I have no problem with CanStock. Few sales ... ok. But the site is nice, easy and quick review, high acceptance of photos, fair commissions, and surprise with sales.
But very few 150 photos ...
Forget the web. Let it rest a few months. Do not think, do not look, do not open it. And in the spring look ... What is the problem?
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I don't spend hours working on the site. It probably takes less than 1 minute a month. I don't know any burger places that pay 10-20$/month for one minutes work. I can also not do anything with the site for a year and it still earns me money.
Well then I'd like to know the secret of uploading for instance 30 files/month (which is really not a lot, but my average lately), attaching various releases and completing the upload process after that. And of course I never do it all at once, it's a batch a week. It sure doesn't take an hour or more, but it does at least 5 minutes each time. Earning as it is now, 5$/month with the prospect of earning 10-20$ is really not what I signed up for. And all the bugs and glitches, leading to reuploding easily makes it an hour or two, especially if you have to ask questions about it in the forum, like I had to. As many glithces as at IS at its worst, but for a fraction of return.
never had a glitch or bug at CanStockPhoto, one of the best agency regarding fast submission, great support also, they are my 9th $$ agency with 1.8% of my total earnings, if they had glitches I wouldn´t submit
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I'm still without possibility to edit, delete or even choose simple things as number pages... with any browser, in different pc's ;D
I have more site bugs than sales, but still uploading to CanStockPhoto by the reasons posted on first page.
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My fav MS site is down for hours, what's going on ?!? I'm in shock, experiencing shaking, becoming worried sick. After all hundreds of cents are at stake. For every week that it's down :D
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CanStock is a solid agency. Right up there with 123RF and BigStock, solidly in Middle Tier. If you're not selling there, you should check your port against what is popular there and see if you're on target with buyers' needs, because there is a lot of activity there... far from "no salses" as the OP suggests.
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For me Canstockphoto is my second best seller (On comparison with Shutterstock (1st), Fotolia, 123rf, Deposit and a few others which I have the same size portfolio on).
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Just not today ;) .
I was actually just trying to get the info wether the rest of you also have a problem accessing the site and hoped to see Duncan drop a line ;)
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I was actually just trying to get the info wether the rest of you also have a problem accessing the site and hoped to see Duncan drop a line ;)
No problems accessing at all ( portugal )... all day.
But they are making some "corrections" over my ( and others ) problem: Unable to edit files, etc.
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Slovenian,
We haven't had any unplanned outages for quite a while. What specifically happens when you try to visit the site?
Could you do a "raceroute (http://kb.iu.edu/data/aihy.html)" and let us know when it says? I would expect that it's probably a local DNS problem - or in other words, your local service provider is having a network connection problem which impacts the route needed to get to us. This would show up in a traceroute as a time-out before reaching it's final destination (us).
Duncan
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It works now, but it was something like "redirection problem" (not 404). Funnily every other site worked (or else I would also be able to post here).
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Oh okay, yeah the update page was doing circles at one point this afternoon - that's all fixed now.
Feel free to send us a support message as well if you ever come across something unusual - I pop in here fairly frequently, but we always have people staying on top of the support tickets.
Thanks,
Duncan
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Ahhh... problem solved. ;D Now I can edit and delete files. Thanks Duncan!
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My video sales have appear to dropped in the last month and show no signs of getting better.
I became a video contributor about 5 months ago, in the 1st two months i had no sales then it started to trickle in, and then each week sales were increasing to the point where i was getting excited (around the time when the site had a face lift) and then about a month after that it all stopped and has slowed down to a crawl again.
Were videos given a higher priority in the search engine as a test and then that was taken away again? If so its certainly starting to show which is a shame because royalties for both contributor and agency are much higher than for photos. Despite this i shall continue to upload for the time being.
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On what should have been one of the best months for sales I'm afraid to say Canstockphoto was the lowest of all sites I upload to, and lower from previous months there. Disappointed.
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Had a BME for all my sites at Canstock in October (even surpassing my BME set by 123RF the month before). The number of sales were less but value per image was much higher. Hope I can hit another one like that, it saved a rather disappointing month for me at most of my other sites! ;D
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I had quite a good month, better than 123RF.
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I had quite a good month, better than 123RF.
Quite opposite at me!
:o
Probably 123RF is 30 times better than Canstock last month...
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I also had a 9.80 small sale at CS in August.
Big surprise yesterday, a first time sale for an image - 5 dollar eps with an added 25 dollar EL.
Nice to balance out the subscription sales.
You Can Share My Experience As A Beginner To?
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I applaud how easy it is to get ur photos approved however, 70 photos later, none of them have been viewed. I don't think the search give much weight to new uploads? If this continues then it's a complete waste of time no matter how many photos gets approved...
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I applaud how easy it is to get ur photos approved however, 70 photos later, none of them have been viewed. I don't think my photos are being indexed by the search. If this continues then it's a complete waste of time no matter how many photos gets approved...
It's normal, I get roughly 1% of SS's sales on CS. By far the worst earner for me, actually next to BS (but I really just started at BS, so the comparison isn't really fair). I stopped uploading to both.
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I applaud how easy it is to get ur photos approved however, 70 photos later, none of them have been viewed. I don't think my photos are being indexed by the search. If this continues then it's a complete waste of time no matter how many photos gets approved...
It's normal, I get roughly 1% of SS's sales on CS. By far the worst earner for me, actually next to BS (but I really just started at BS, so the comparison isn't really fair). I stopped uploading to both.
Stopping to upload to CanStock is a bad idea if you ask me. It's one of the most easy website to upload to... For my part it gives me a good 230$ per month, twice as much as Fotolia.
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I would not recommend people not to leave or to leave a specific site. Sales at specific sites can be very dependent on your portfolio makeup (type of pictures/images). What work for you at one site and brings adequate income, will not necessarily work for someone else at all and might be a total waste of their time.
If your own experience is no or little sales, your port is probably not that suitable for the specific site's customer base or (if many other contributors report the same) the site just does not have enough buyers. Move on and try another site, but I will not easily withdraw form any site unless I have given them at least a 6 month's try.
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I would not recommend people not to leave or to leave a specific site. Sales at specific sites can be very dependent on your portfolio makeup (type of pictures/images). What work for you at one site and brings adequate income, will not necessarily work for someone else at all and might be a total waste of their time.
If your own experience is no or little sales, your port is probably not that suitable for the specific site's customer base or (if many other contributors report the same) the site just does not have enough buyers. Move on and try another site, but I will not easily withdraw form any site unless I have given them at least a 6 month's try.
It also depends on the size of the portfolio. If you are crying that you have no sales with a 50 images portfolio, it's a different story if you have no sales with a 500 images portfolio.
On small sites, size does matter, but like you say, maybe there is a different niche for different types of images.
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I'm at 1,180 files and very low sales. Very few views, even. Perhaps it's the site; perhaps it's my portfolio. I get daily sales on SS, though, so I think I'll continue in the direction I'm going. I'll keep uploading to CanStockPhoto because it's so easy and user-friendly, in the hopes that one day it will begin to generate some activity.
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I'm at 1,180 files and very low sales. Very few views, even. Perhaps it's the site; perhaps it's my portfolio. I get daily sales on SS, though, so I think I'll continue in the direction I'm going. I'll keep uploading to CanStockPhoto because it's so easy and user-friendly, in the hopes that one day it will begin to generate some activity.
Absolute proof in point Carl. Our ports are about same size at Canstock, but I am not on SS as my type of images are not suitable for them. I only started this year with stock so I can not talk of big sales, but I had a $56 income in October (payout in one month ever for me) and are already on $10.25 for this month (must add I do have a lot of vectors, which can make a large difference at Canstock, as they still pay proper prices for Vectors).
So, as the point above goes, even same port sizes, but due to the difference in makeup of it, I can not give you advice on leaving or staying. Your impression also of "low sales" can be my "great sales". Your own experience will determine. All I can confirm is that the site is very much alive and does have sales activity, port dependent.
Charl
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I'm at 1,180 files and very low sales. Very few views, even. Perhaps it's the site; perhaps it's my portfolio. I get daily sales on SS, though, so I think I'll continue in the direction I'm going. I'll keep uploading to CanStockPhoto because it's so easy and user-friendly, in the hopes that one day it will begin to generate some activity.
Absolute proof in point Carl. Our ports are about same size at Canstock, but I am not on SS as my type of images are not suitable for them. I only started this year with stock so I can not talk of big sales, but I had a $56 income in October (payout in one month ever for me) and are already on $10.25 for this month (must add I do have a lot of vectors, which can make a large difference at Canstock, as they still pay proper prices for Vectors).
So, as the point above goes, even same port sizes, but due to the difference in makeup of it, I can not give you advice on leaving or staying. Your impression also of "low sales" can be my "great sales". Your own experience will determine. All I can confirm is that the site is very much alive and does have sales activity, port dependent.
Charl
Yes pointing out a Vector portfolio might do a difference. I sometime forget that I have about 95% vector in my port, and EPS and Vector format sales surely must add up compared to image JPG sales.
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I would not recommend people not to leave or to leave a specific site. Sales at specific sites can be very dependent on your portfolio makeup (type of pictures/images). What work for you at one site and brings adequate income, will not necessarily work for someone else at all and might be a total waste of their time.
If your own experience is no or little sales, your port is probably not that suitable for the specific site's customer base or (if many other contributors report the same) the site just does not have enough buyers. Move on and try another site, but I will not easily withdraw form any site unless I have given them at least a 6 month's try.
It also depends on the size of the portfolio. If you are crying that you have no sales with a 50 images portfolio, it's a different story if you have no sales with a 500 images portfolio.
On small sites, size does matter, but like you say, maybe there is a different niche for different types of images.
It's closer to 500 and it's lifestyle, which sells everywhere. Perhaps it's the models in case the buyers want more American looking ppl (better said what Americans idealise, not look like ;D )
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I do very poorly at CanStockPhoto, tens of dollars a month, not hundreds. What really surprises me is that I have excellent search engine placement on Fotosearch for the categories I provide - about 10 "christmas turkey" hits in the first 100 results, for example, and I pretty much own the search for Qatar - but it doesn't seem to translate into sales.
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I think there is no arguement canstock are selling, just look at the recently purchased items on the first page, there are familiar contributors name are on the pages all the time, and usually are with few purchase.
i feel vectors sell much better than average non studio shots in canstock, check the recently purchased so u know there a lot of sales.
so..here is my referral link..
http://www.canstockphoto.com/mtkang?r=52473 (http://www.canstockphoto.com/mtkang?r=52473)
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Got surprised today :
1 Sale - Distribution - Regular -> 20$
Image views = 0
:D
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Yeah these distribution sales can bring some nice sales, site itself is a joke, I'm only getting 0,25-1$ sales. And I get then rarely, I wouldn't complain if was getting them hourly, but I don't even get them every day...
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Got surprised today :
1 Sale - Distribution - Regular -> 20$
Image views = 0
:D
Hi .........
Congratulations to you, may I also experienced it.
Horeeeeeeeeee .........
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Yeah these distribution sales can bring some nice sales, site itself is a joke, I'm only getting 0,25-1$ sales. And I get then rarely, I wouldn't complain if was getting them hourly, but I don't even get them every day...
In my particular case ( tiny portfolio, specific subjects, beginner, etc ) and looking to the few sales so far, is a question of "numbers". The files sold so far on CanStockPhoto have "enough" sales on top tier agencies.
Now, or i work on same "series" and try got 10x more images there, or work until find a "niche".
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It's very slow there. With around 1300 files I only just reached the Green Camera level - which is only a measly 50 sales!
I must admit I had greater hopes for this site, but after nearly 2 years there, I'm pretty disappointed with the sales.
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It's very slow there. With around 1300 files I only just reached the Green Camera level - which is only a measly 50 sales!
I must admit I had greater hopes for this site, but after nearly 2 years there, I'm pretty disappointed with the sales.
Where do you see your level?
I am now doing stock for just over a year, so I started with then from zero to current 1200 images, made 68 sales for $158. This = 3 payouts in my first year and more than $2 per image sold (mixture vector and photos). They still pay decent commission (which is also more than can be said of most, even the bottom tier). They might not be rocketing, but has proven to me as being a constant, stable seller with decent commission, proper support and helpful staff.
More sales will obviously always be welcome, but it will take a lot to get me to drop them for one of the feeble excuses for RF sites currently on the list!
Charl
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Go My Account, Edit Account, then View Profile and you will see a little camera next to your name. If you click on it you will see what they mean. :)
Sounds like your content is doing better there than mine. Didn't mean I was going to drop them, just that they don't perform as strongly as I would have thought (with my content)
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It's very slow there. With around 1300 files I only just reached the Green Camera level - which is only a measly 50 sales!
I must admit I had greater hopes for this site, but after nearly 2 years there, I'm pretty disappointed with the sales.
Where do you see your level?
I am now doing stock for just over a year, so I started with then from zero to current 1200 images, made 68 sales for $158. This = 3 payouts in my first year and more than $2 per image sold (mixture vector and photos). They still pay decent commission (which is also more than can be said of most, even the bottom tier). They might not be rocketing, but has proven to me as being a constant, stable seller with decent commission, proper support and helpful staff.
More sales will obviously always be welcome, but it will take a lot to get me to drop them for one of the feeble excuses for RF sites currently on the list!
Charl
And you're satisfied with that? You'd make that kind of money at SS in a few days with 1200 (decent) images ;)
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^^^CanStockPhoto buyers don't use SS. For the few seconds a week it takes me to upload, I'm satisfied with the earnings. I also don't want to rely too much on one site, spreading the portfolio around to all sites that make a payout every now and then seems like a sensible strategy to me.
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Canstock was an also-ran for me for a lot of years. Lately it's pickup up in a major way, with sales up 175% year over year and a particularly impressive performance this month. I'm selling a lot of images from series, which suits my approach to submissions.
In summary,they're low effort, and if the results are inconsistent month to month, they still justify a little additional time to upload.
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And you're satisfied with that? You'd make that kind of money at SS in a few days with 1200 (decent) images ;)
I am extremely satisfied to have them in my list of sites to upload to. I have quite a number of sites which take a lot more effort to upload to and perform much worse (just look to the list on your right here and you will find ample examples of worse performers).
As disorderly pointed out, they have been improving quite a lot and is it not a nice feeling to contribute to an improving site lately!!! ;)
Like our other wise friend, sharpshot mentioned, I also do not go for the one basket approach (and frankly, I am not in the $1000 a month league, so every bit helps). ;) ;)
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I have a small port of 350 images (raster illustrations) and it seems to be hitting its stride and making monthly payouts now. I haven't made a payout at any of the other agencies yet. I really like CanStock ... I consider them the 'minimal crap' agency and the fast reviews tell me that they actually want files. 90% of my sales there are files that would be -- or have been -- rejected at DT. And it's true that every contributor is different: on 123 I've only had 8 sales on a port of 175 so far.
My only complaint there is that they should have come up with a more minimalist site redesign to emphasize the fact that they are a simple, easy, no-nonsense site and change the name to C-Stock or something like that because CanStock sounds a bit awkward. ;)
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It's very slow there. With around 1300 files I only just reached the Green Camera level - which is only a measly 50 sales!
I must admit I had greater hopes for this site, but after nearly 2 years there, I'm pretty disappointed with the sales.
Am I the only one being a happy camper at Canstock? For my part they do VERY well, being my second best agency after Shutterstock and giving me payouts twice as big as Fotolia and 123rf. I have a large vector or Illustrations portfolio which might help my case (I start noticing that Illustrations seems to sell better there than photos).
Also when mostly selling vectors we get 2.50$ (sub) or 5.00$ per image download, which adds up quickly. I have 721 sales since I joined in January 2011.
So my guess would be, for Illustrations Canstock seems to have a nice market there, but for photography, from what I hear from most photographer, they just don't sell enough?
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721 sales in a year = well done ! :-)
I don't have much sales there since (41 since beginning of september 2011 - ~400 images port) but I always wonder if it's not only because i don't put my illustrations in vector format (only jpegs)...
Maybe I should delete all jpegs and re-upload...?
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Defintely.
Canstock automatically converts your EPS (vector) to JPG, and offer both to users.
Of my 700 sales, 300 of those are EPS format. Commission on EPS is great (2.50$ to 5.00$) so it adds up quickly. If you have the EPS version of you illulstrations, I would recommend removing the port and re-uploading as EPS (with meta data in it), you might be losing some sales there.
I have a fairly large portfolio now (3500 images), I started with 400 at the beginning of the year.
At 400 images (vector) I had around 20 sales per month, and right now I have around 100 per month.
Hope a bit of stats help you, but considering 300 EPS out of 720 sales, it means 41% (more or less) of my sales are EPS, so that is a lot.
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Thanks a lot for the advice Morphart. That helps me a lot !
your stats are very significant
Fortunately I put IPTC data in my images each time i upload so it won't be very painful
I'll probably remove most of my images, but slowly and smoothly (just to be sure i don't bother the CS inspector team ;-)
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Apparently you're right, Morphart. I'm a photographer, and prior to this past December, I'd average about half a dozen sales per month. Had twelve sales in June, one sale in July. Had six sales in November and then... nothing. One sale a couple of days ago. I like CanStockPhoto, and I really hope it does well, but so far that's not the case for me. (My portfolio there is 1,313 files.)
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The only thing about uploading vectors on CanStockP is that the jpeg preview images generated automatically aren't very clean and well rendered
That's what made me prefer to upload only jpegs at the beginning
Another thing i'm wondering is if you always feed the category fields after your files are accepted ?
Probably useful if CS buyers uses oftenly the 'browse' menu...
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Apparently you're right, Morphart. I'm a photographer, and prior to this past December, I'd average about half a dozen sales per month. Had twelve sales in June, one sale in July. Had six sales in November and then... nothing. One sale a couple of days ago. I like CanStockPhoto, and I really hope it does well, but so far that's not the case for me. (My portfolio there is 1,313 files.)
Yes I do feel after reading a lot of threads on Canstock that illustrations does better there then photography.
This thread here is another example of it:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/canstockphoto-com/can-stock-blowing-up!/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/canstockphoto-com/can-stock-blowing-up!/)
@Pixmicro
Check with their support, I don't seem to have that issue with my Illustration. The preview looks like the my illustration even when I zoom in.
I had issues before with Bigstock because my illustrations EPS were set to CMYK instead of RGB, so the color got distorted, maybe you can check this too just in case.
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Total newbie, uploaded about 40 images from my fledgling portfolio (total 70 to date). After a few days of nothing I got one view and one sale. Best Graph Ever. It can only go downhill from this glorious statistical moment.
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I read all the letters of an existing, canstock actually very good in sales. just does not easily get all the sales. So in my opinion, better keep uploading and patiently hoping to get a sale.
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As newbie I've started submitting to canstockphoto and 123rf about the same time. On Canstock I've 59 pictures in portfolio on 123rf 48. Sales on CS just around 0 ???. Sales on 123rf 9 :D. Does any newbie had some sales on CS ???
NO
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When I used to have less than 50% images at CS, I already had sales. But the downloads are concentrated on particular category, the photos were about floods.
Probably, depends on the category. So I'm good sales at CS than 123RF.
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Four year old thread.
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As newbie I've started submitting to canstockphoto and 123rf about the same time. On Canstock I've 59 pictures in portfolio on 123rf 48. Sales on CS just around 0 ???. Sales on 123rf 9 :D. Does any newbie had some sales on CS ???
I had only good things to say about CS when I started out: I even had my very first sale ever through that agency -- surely something to remember ;)
That was back in 2014. Since then, I have kept uploading. Very few consecutive sales since, so I can confirm it seems very slow on CS now.
CanStockPhoto might want to actually get in more buyers, pitch the agency and artists' work to editors, bloggers, newspapers etc to increase actual sales. Basically, that's the same thing every single one of us needs to do, ideally when selling independently -- unless, of course, we're work-shy or freeloaders or wimps, and for that very reasons stay in this microstock business and with these microstock "agencies" who, more often than not, take 70% as a "commission" (it should be the other way round): the agent is supposed to have 30%, else it's not a commission.
(Similarly, a 120% interest rate -- or tax, as the Swedish used to have earlier -- would not be an interest rate (or tax) but a rip-off or plain theft. Everyone outside those "agencies" -- or European governments of various flavours -- knows that.)
On that note, i e commission levels, CanStockPhoto seems to be one of the better agencies taking "only" 50%.
They ought to work at their overall performance though and actually be able to make sales happen! An agent not selling is not actually an agent either...
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I have few sales with canstock every month. Some small sales .25 and vector 5$ sales :) not bad. Almost like bigstockphoto.
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Didn't even know they were still around. Is Duncan still running the joint?
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Funny enough, but I saw this thread update right when I was deleting, one by one, all the pictures from my portfolio at CS in order to be able to delete/cancel my account there (seriously, this is just a disgrace from their side by not allowing closing account in a more humane way). Why? Not a single (!) sale after almost a year with few hundred photos in port. Ok, this could be fine for places like Alamy, but not at 100% microstock agency paying you 25-30 cents per download...
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They have really crapped out as a ms site - from inane rejections, to almost zero sales, this site has fallen by the wayside.
The only change ive seen is on the homepage now you can opt in to give them an image to give away for free, and links to promote their site.
How contributer friendly!
(Pls dont chime back with 'this benefits contributers by promoting their ports blah blah)
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
Agree. CanStockPhoto is still a steady, if not big, earner. I get a payout every month and no drama or BS. And yes, Duncan is there even tho he sold to another company a few years back. I don't remember what company bought them.
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I get a pay out every month. It doesn't seem to have the dramas that most sites have from time to time and is easy to upload to.
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Never had single sale on CanStock.
I'm in from august 2015, now I have like 400 images in sale on CanStock...
I sell the same pictures on others low earners too like Deposit of BigStock.. and I have sales...
I'm still uploading to CanStock cause their indexing system is fast and painless...otherwise I would have already drop it.
if you want to accept advice from another noob: try SH, Fotolia, iStock first of all..
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Didn't even know they were still around. Is Duncan still running the joint?
I think that Duncan is now smoking the joint…
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Yeah sales wise as bad as Alamy and Zoonar for me. The only three where I have not sold a single image.
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My sales stop for a long time every time when it is close to payout
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
Agree. CanStockPhoto is still a steady, if not big, earner. I get a payout every month and no drama or BS. And yes, Duncan is there even tho he sold to another company a few years back. I don't remember what company bought them.
Same here, I'm very happy with CanStock.
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I have monthly sales at CS, my portfolio has less than 200 images and videos
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it was a slow start to the year for me there, but the sales have picked up in recent weeks.
in my eyes, they're doing just fine. easy uploads is one of my favourite qualities in a stock site.
Also, take a look at their license, they protect our work better than SS's newest change to the standard license.
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Photographer Statistics
Approved Files: 13,622
Approval Rating: 94.3%
Total Views: 225,488
Total Sales: 3,862
Member Since:July 27, 2011
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
Agree. CanStockPhoto is still a steady, if not big, earner. I get a payout every month and no drama or BS. And yes, Duncan is there even tho he sold to another company a few years back. I don't remember what company bought them.
Fotosearch
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Photographer Statistics
Approved Files: 13,622
Approval Rating: 94.3%
Total Views: 225,488
Total Sales: 3,862
Member Since:July 27, 2011
I'm impressed!
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
Agree. CanStockPhoto is still a steady, if not big, earner. I get a payout every month and no drama or BS. And yes, Duncan is there even tho he sold to another company a few years back. I don't remember what company bought them.
Fotosearch
Ah. Thanks.
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
Agree. CanStockPhoto is still a steady, if not big, earner. I get a payout every month and no drama or BS. And yes, Duncan is there even tho he sold to another company a few years back. I don't remember what company bought them.
Fotosearch
Apparently not Fotofind…
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Last 2 batches 100% accepted and while sales have never been the best there, they are steady. Funny how we all perceive sites differently, I much prefer CanStockPhoto to some of the more shady sites that have cut commissions and keep changing things that make it harder for us to make money.
Agree. CanStockPhoto is still a steady, if not big, earner. I get a payout every month and no drama or BS. And yes, Duncan is there even tho he sold to another company a few years back. I don't remember what company bought them.
Reviews and moderate sales seem stable as usual. No complaints. Beats those outfits that promise you 80% of nothing.
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May 2017 update: Has Canstock gone autopilot? No reviews for about a month, folks on the forum complain about not getting paid and Duncan stays silent. What's your recent experience?
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May 2017 update: Has Canstock gone autopilot? No reviews for about a month, folks on the forum complain about not getting paid and Duncan stays silent. What's your recent experience?
I did get a payout recently but they have gone from being one of the fastest places to get reviews to slow and stuff getting stuck in the queue. Not optimistic for their future
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May 2017 update: Has Canstock gone autopilot? No reviews for about a month, folks on the forum complain about not getting paid and Duncan stays silent. What's your recent experience?
I did get a payout recently but they have gone from being one of the fastest places to get reviews to slow and stuff getting stuck in the queue. Not optimistic for their future
Well, that's good to know that you got your payout. Where there's life there's hope.
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Sales have always been slow there. They are a rather quiet company but I will say that Duncan has always responded to my emails and been fairly realistic. I really wish him and Peter were able to team up and have the cash to go head to head with the other micros. They are two pretty honest and fair people when comparing them to the bigger players. So I stuck with CanStockPhoto even though I only make $20 to $60 a month there. They pay 50% (as far as I can tell) but they do sort of hide their sales schemes as pointed out in another thread here on MSG. I know in that case Duncan said they have always done that and it is nothing new....someone just pointed it out and we discussed it here.
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I have been with Canstock for 6 years and never had a payout as my account is still only $27. Absolutely pathetic agency.
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Not the best paying site, but I've been there for 11 years. Get a payout every month or two.
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Used to be a reliable but low paying site but not sure the management is really paying much attention of late. weird rejections, flaky It and declining sales
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I haven't had salsa in a while.
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Wrote to canstock asking to close my account, withdraw my images and small earnings I made but I never heard back.
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Who's the donkey here?
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I have been with Canstock for 6 years and never had a payout as my account is still only $27. Absolutely pathetic agency.
Right CS is tiny and slow, but with your 750 pictures of birds, flowers and buildings what did you expect from a small agency?
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Wrote to canstock asking to close my account, withdraw my images and small earnings I made but I never heard back.
funny story, i found some images of mine on another "stock site" and wrote to them asking about it, response back said they were an affiliate of Canstock. I swear I closed that account 3 years ago! So i go and check and sure, it's still live, and I've got $100 in my account. I removed all the images that shouldn't be there due to exclusivity elsewhere, requested payout, and have now just left it with a few bits and bobs of junk. once I get my payout I'll try again to shut it down.
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I closed my account because of the lack of sales, and they wouldn't payout my earning as they were below threshold. So petty, but it did make me extra confident that it was the right decision to leave.
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Stopped uploading them. Seems pointless, even too lazy to recover my password after they asked me to confirm my account upon going to another country.
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Can stock - Can't sell. They should have used that title. Utter garbage.
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Will the website will close. what happen. How can they survive. I dont understand what they change to have this kind of sale drop