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Author Topic: Fotolia no sales  (Read 17319 times)

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« on: August 03, 2016, 05:25 »
0
Hi, I started recently, got some 50-80 files on FT, IS and SS. While with IS and SS I started having downloads right after uploading some 20 files, FT has zero movement for me, some views and that's all. While I understand that my portfolio is still tiny, I was expecting at least a fraction of what is happening for me at IS and SS to get me going.

I was wondering if the country selection on FT maybe has any impact? Or FT is simply a lower performer and need bigger amount of files to get thing going?
 


« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2016, 05:40 »
+2
Depends on how good you keyword with them - they claim it is important for the most relevant keywords to come first.
Then the content - it seems to me that Fotolia is more sensitive to certain content than Shutterstock and IS. But I could be wrong.
For instance my guess is they sell models and illustrations better than travel. I do travel and sales are steady (up and down but steady), but still only about +/- 25% of my SS earnings and a bit less than IS too.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 06:01 by Lana »

« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2016, 07:00 »
+3
Hi, I started recently, got some 50-80 files on FT, IS and SS. While with IS and SS I started having downloads right after uploading some 20 files, FT has zero movement for me, some views and that's all. While I understand that my portfolio is still tiny, I was expecting at least a fraction of what is happening for me at IS and SS to get me going.

I was wondering if the country selection on FT maybe has any impact? Or FT is simply a lower performer and need bigger amount of files to get thing going?

Probably you don't have what FT customers need. In my experience, best sellers at FT and SS are different. I don't know much about IS, but I guess IS is closer to SS with compared to FT.

« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2016, 15:55 »
+4
My belief backed up by zero evidence is that Fotolia appeals more to European buyers due to content and a less smiley happy people gloss to images that appeals more to us dour cynical Europeans

gyllens

« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2016, 04:08 »
+1
Absolutely! I find your observation correct. In the beginning of the Adobe partnership sales were great with enhanced and credit sales but that all stopped and now its back to just being a "normal " micro agency unless of course sales are going somewhere else?

« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2016, 05:17 »
+1
My belief backed up by zero evidence is that Fotolia appeals more to European buyers due to content and a less smiley happy people gloss to images that appeals more to us dour cynical Europeans

possibly -- this would explain a lot, including the fact that (for me, too) there are no sales on FT at all: appears to be due to that European market and (a) its, indeed, cynical buyers (or non-buyers), and (b) the overall structure of that "market" (which is not really a market at all) with tax-payer and/or mandatory-usage-fees subsidized broadcasting networks having enormous archives of their own and doing all kinds of sh!t in-house with virtually no need to source externally.

BBC as well as Italian RAI, Austrian ORF, DRS in Switzerland, DR in Denmark, and German ARD member broadcasters are top infamous examples of that (particularly in light of fascist-induced and currently "optimised" laws in Germany extorting mandatory "GEZ" or "Gebyhrenservice" fees you can only avoid by emigration (we have seen that before); most others -- including Britain's "TV licence" rules -- allow some proof of TV non-usage and then leave you alone).

Big-government and silly policies like the above always lead to distorted or wholly dysfunctional markets, coming at exceptional expense to the rest of society come time to ultimately mend and revitalise the mess they left behind.

We as stock photographers are already "bearing that cost" by not being able to sell much to European buyers (because there aren't many, largely due to those big-government broadcasting "offices" or authorities). My own sales (on DT and SS mainly to American buyers, magazines and ad agencies) reflect this in real life.

Fotolia do know this full well: their pricing structure for footage (significantly cheaper for those few European buyers they still hope to attract) very clearly reflects this fact.

« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2016, 06:29 »
0
Fotolia do know this full well: their pricing structure for footage (significantly cheaper for those few European buyers they still hope to attract) very clearly reflects this fact.

Can you explain what you mean by this? Maybe I'm reading it wrong. Fotolia footage prices are slightly higher than Shutterstock for example, no?

I sell footage on Fotolia, comparable to Shutterstock and now more than P5 which has died...

« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2016, 15:31 »
+1
I do only footage and I like Fotolia.
It is definetly a place where european content and look is more appreciated compared to other agencies.
But they have a problem which I hope one day they will be able to solve: They do not accept editorial and also they are totally paranoic about copyright infringements. Like many other agencies they have highly inexperienced reviewers who are probably totally scared by this paranoia for copyright. So often absolutely everything get refused for copyright infringement.
The result is that a lot of areas are not covered and I am sure that this is driving a lot of customers elsewhere

« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2016, 19:09 »
+9
I would LOVE Adobe to change their policy and start accepting editorial images

They are losing out on a ton of sales and so are we

« Reply #9 on: August 05, 2016, 06:33 »
+1
Thank you for responses.
My best sellers so far on other agencies are travel photos, from Europe and I'm Europe based although not EU. Again my port is tiny and I still didn't include any released concepts, so I hope it's take off after including the stock shot stuff.

I admit I skipped the keyword ranking, but my photos do show up in searches.

« Reply #10 on: August 05, 2016, 10:05 »
+1
2k videos and 0 sales in july  >:(

very odd

« Reply #11 on: August 05, 2016, 11:39 »
0
2k videos and 0 sales in july  >:(

very odd
OMG. Sorry to that that. How are the sales in previous months?

« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2016, 12:19 »
0
Hi, I started recently, got some 50-80 files on FT, IS and SS. While with IS and SS I started having downloads right after uploading some 20 files, FT has zero movement for me, some views and that's all. While I understand that my portfolio is still tiny, I was expecting at least a fraction of what is happening for me at IS and SS to get me going.

I was wondering if the country selection on FT maybe has any impact? Or FT is simply a lower performer and need bigger amount of files to get thing going?

Probably you don't have what FT customers need. In my experience, best sellers at FT and SS are different. I don't know much about IS, but I guess IS is closer to SS with compared to FT.

Same here. File types that sell on FT have never had 1 sale on SS or IS. What sells over and over on SS few or none on FT.

IS is so poor and unstable I can't decide what sells and doesn't. With the partners and ts but paid, it means more different buyers might be there. With their confusing pricing, plans, collections, and subs, it drives buyers away. Inconsistent can't make sense of downloads there.

« Reply #13 on: August 06, 2016, 05:59 »
0
hey 60D,

I was selling around 7 to 10 videos/month before july.

cheers

« Reply #14 on: August 06, 2016, 09:28 »
0
My obs based on a small port of less than 300 pics is that there are weeks when there are many sales and then weeks when there are none, it is erratic but the pictures that sell on fotolia from my port are definitely different from those that sell on SS.

« Reply #15 on: August 07, 2016, 17:14 »
0
I have a small port on Fotolia uploading regularly and my earnings was not bad but since two months ago I have no sales only 1-3 per week. :(

fritz

  • I love Tom and Jerry music

« Reply #16 on: August 07, 2016, 18:31 »
0
2k videos and 0 sales in july  >:(

very odd
OMG. Sorry to that that. How are the sales in previous months?

You're not alone! 1,426 videos just 1 sale in July

« Reply #17 on: August 08, 2016, 03:39 »
0
I upload to 4 different agencies P5, SS, VB and FT.

Before this July /august I was selling well in SS and FT but not with P5 an VB.

Now is the contrary. P5 and VB picking up and SS and FT doing very, very bad....


« Reply #18 on: August 08, 2016, 06:29 »
0
I upload to 4 different agencies P5, SS, VB and FT.

Before this July /august I was selling well in SS and FT but not with P5 an VB.

Now is the contrary. P5 and VB picking up and SS and FT doing very, very bad....

Typically I would say ebb and flow. That happened all the time. Now it just seems like a lot of flow.

gyllens

« Reply #19 on: August 09, 2016, 11:19 »
+2
Depends on the type of rank you are. Couple of years back there was a long thread here long before the merger of Adobe and it turned out that once you reach Gold or Emerlad can't exactly remember which you were shunted back  in promotion of files. This became evident when several high ranking members complained about lack of earnings and they were earning more as Silver or Gold while lower ranked members posted about good earnings.

One would have thought a comapny like Adobe wouldnt stoop to that I dont know but I suppose profit is profit and judging by this thread well your guess is as good as mine.

« Reply #20 on: February 02, 2017, 09:32 »
0
I only just started submitting to Fotolia myself. After about a day or so following my initial uploads, I made my first sale there. Since then, sales have been very slow but to be fair, I only have an extremely small portfolio on that site. Ive now accumulated 38 photos in my Fotolia port and made a total of 4 sales. I also submit my work to Shutterstock, iStockphoto and Dreamstime and I currently have over 100 photos on each of those sites (so still a very small amount of images.) Also just started submitting videos to SS.

« Reply #21 on: February 02, 2017, 12:17 »
0
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.

« Reply #22 on: February 02, 2017, 12:34 »
+1
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.
Where are you from I think Fotolia suits the European market more?

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #23 on: February 02, 2017, 12:48 »
0
in the last three days i uploaded more than 500 files to ss and fotolia...ss accepted more than 70 % fotolia similar...in ss i'm selling practically 5 photos per hour...today i'm at 30 files sold at 18,47...fotolia i sold 1 file in three days.
what puzzle die i see many portfolio of basic files or with mostly holiday content like valentine who have green or blue rank...
i shoot mostly generic and travel and i have the impression fotolia sell mostly other kind of files. i'm also based in europe.
well i also have a lot of editorial in my portfolio who fotolia don't have but i really cannot understand why i nor sell in fotolia compared to every other agency.

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #24 on: February 02, 2017, 12:51 »
0
I only just started submitting to Fotolia myself. After about a day or so following my initial uploads, I made my first sale there. Since then, sales have been very slow but to be fair, I only have an extremely small portfolio on that site. Ive now accumulated 38 photos in my Fotolia port and made a total of 4 sales. I also submit my work to Shutterstock, iStockphoto and Dreamstime and I currently have over 100 photos on each of those sites (so still a very small amount of images.) Also just started submitting videos to SS.

u sell like me ..i have 2500 files in fotolia and i sold 4 files in last 3 days....in ss i sold more than 240....fotolia selle mostly pure micro stock a lot of conceptual and illustration. see the photos of the day. very few landscape and travel.

« Reply #25 on: February 02, 2017, 22:36 »
0
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.
Where are you from I think Fotolia suits the European market more?

Serbia, not EU, but surely with aesthetics more in line with Europe than US and I'd say my photos are more organic than the traditional stock look. Strange but still not judging, I'll make a call after I have a 1000 sitting for a few months at least.

« Reply #26 on: February 03, 2017, 00:17 »
0
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.
Where are you from I think Fotolia suits the European market more?

Historically that's true, old FT was more European. Now the Adobe buyers are adding graphics and illustration income in addition.

From the first day the lowest ever commission was 25c, now it's higher. Never 18c ever. 99c, $1.65, $1.38, $2.30, $1.84, others.

« Reply #27 on: February 03, 2017, 02:09 »
0
in last few months 80% of my sales are from usa (tax 30%) and before it was only 10 % of usa sales - and I m on eu fotolia
« Last Edit: February 03, 2017, 02:11 by ferdinand »

« Reply #28 on: February 03, 2017, 04:19 »
0
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.
Where are you from I think Fotolia suits the European market more?

Historically that's true, old FT was more European. Now the Adobe buyers are adding graphics and illustration income in addition.

From the first day the lowest ever commission was 25c, now it's higher. Never 18c ever. 99c, $1.65, $1.38, $2.30, $1.84, others.

Well it says 0.18 credits, I assume it's 1 credit = 1$.
When I go to My credits page there is like:
photo sale +0.25
-0.08 Withholding, image sold with subscription
so it's 0.18 give or take.

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #29 on: February 03, 2017, 05:34 »
+1
For me with a portfolio of just around 3000 files Adobe is way up and it certainly makes up for the big 40% of SS drop in earnings. No complaints.

« Reply #30 on: February 03, 2017, 11:54 »
+1
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.
Where are you from I think Fotolia suits the European market more?

Historically that's true, old FT was more European. Now the Adobe buyers are adding graphics and illustration income in addition.

From the first day the lowest ever commission was 25c, now it's higher. Never 18c ever. 99c, $1.65, $1.38, $2.30, $1.84, others.

Well it says 0.18 credits, I assume it's 1 credit = 1$.
When I go to My credits page there is like:
photo sale +0.25
-0.08 Withholding, image sold with subscription
so it's 0.18 give or take.

Got it, I'm in the US so no withholding or conversion or confusion. You get paid 25c but only get .18, sorry to hear that.

As a matter of detail, once you get 100 sales, you will start getting .33 minus the tax and conversion. That helps take the sting out a little.

But now I understand it that tax and conversion taking out of your pocket.

« Reply #31 on: February 03, 2017, 12:36 »
0
Fotolia is a complete mystery for me, while having daily sales on SS and IS, I maybe have one a month on FT and every second one is 0.18. At least the upload is straightforward enough.
Where are you from I think Fotolia suits the European market more?

Historically that's true, old FT was more European. Now the Adobe buyers are adding graphics and illustration income in addition.

From the first day the lowest ever commission was 25c, now it's higher. Never 18c ever. 99c, $1.65, $1.38, $2.30, $1.84, others.

Well it says 0.18 credits, I assume it's 1 credit = 1$.
When I go to My credits page there is like:
photo sale +0.25
-0.08 Withholding, image sold with subscription
so it's 0.18 give or take.

Maybe Serbia doesn't have any tax treaties with the US but have you checked out the Tax Center and filled out the W-8Ben form?

« Reply #32 on: February 03, 2017, 15:42 »
0
My fotolia sales really suck lately. I't's just dead. I mean, I have daily sales, but not as much as I used to, despite new upload. On the contrary, sales at SS are really good with January beeing my best month with number of sales.

« Reply #33 on: February 03, 2017, 16:45 »
0
My fotolia sales really suck lately. I't's just dead. I mean, I have daily sales, but not as much as I used to, despite new upload. On the contrary, sales at SS are really good with January beeing my best month with number of sales.

Do you bother to order keywords? I did before but since a while I don't order it anymore. The content I've been adding recently seems to have no effect on my sales - same number of downloads and $ give or take as a few months ago. Wondering if it's worth to go back and order the keywords (and die of boredom) ::)

« Reply #34 on: February 03, 2017, 16:56 »
0
My fotolia sales really suck lately. I't's just dead. I mean, I have daily sales, but not as much as I used to, despite new upload. On the contrary, sales at SS are really good with January beeing my best month with number of sales.

Yes that's right, I signed it just like everywhere else but as it seems only Fotolia is reducing it right away, per sale, others do it before they payout.

« Reply #35 on: February 03, 2017, 17:20 »
0
I thought it was just me with so many complaining about SS.....I'm finding FT pretty average of late....though I'm slipping down their "league table" so others must be doing OK.

« Reply #36 on: February 03, 2017, 19:47 »
0
I think FT is the best agency right now. They've become my best earner and I'm very happy with them. There's less competition on there than SS and they've been quietly purging spammers in large numbers. I remember seeing so many spammers (repeating images and vectors like it's on SS) about 2 years ago and now they're all gone.

« Last Edit: February 03, 2017, 19:56 by Minsc »

« Reply #37 on: February 03, 2017, 22:47 »
0
I think FT is the best agency right now. They've become my best earner and I'm very happy with them. There's less competition on there than SS and they've been quietly purging spammers in large numbers. I remember seeing so many spammers (repeating images and vectors like it's on SS) about 2 years ago and now they're all gone.

Nice. Death to spam. One more compliment for Adobe.

What I see is more money for the sales I get on FT. But SS still beats them in total dollars. I'm not balanced with file numbers, so I see where someone else could be making more.

Just like always, it does depend on what files, types and subjects. Both places are the best. Everyplace else is trying to catch up. Not going to happen. I'm not talking special shops, exclusive agencies, top places with only top people. I mean of the general Microstock agencies there are only two now.

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #38 on: February 04, 2017, 03:08 »
0
I think FT is the best agency right now. They've become my best earner and I'm very happy with them. There's less competition on there than SS and they've been quietly purging spammers in large numbers. I remember seeing so many spammers (repeating images and vectors like it's on SS) about 2 years ago and now they're all gone.

Absolutely! but not just for steady sales more so for their trend their future thinking if you want. They actually try and do something!.......SS have gone to sleep in comparison.

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #39 on: February 04, 2017, 10:39 »
0
I think FT is the best agency right now. They've become my best earner and I'm very happy with them. There's less competition on there than SS and they've been quietly purging spammers in large numbers. I remember seeing so many spammers (repeating images and vectors like it's on SS) about 2 years ago and now they're all gone.

Absolutely! but not just for steady sales more so for their trend their future thinking if you want. They actually try and do something!.......SS have gone to sleep in comparison.

well fotolia is 1/80 of my ss....ok i not had editorial in fotolia...but the rest is similar....in ss i upload a batch of 50 i sell at least 10 20 images the day after...some upload in fotolia one upload.in my opinion fotolia is more oriented towards conceptual, top view food and objects, loto of illustrations...if i see the best sale in day and week...i see only this kind of photography. ss sales more photography,landscape travel aerial.

« Reply #40 on: February 04, 2017, 11:21 »
+1
I think FT is the best agency right now. They've become my best earner and I'm very happy with them. There's less competition on there than SS and they've been quietly purging spammers in large numbers. I remember seeing so many spammers (repeating images and vectors like it's on SS) about 2 years ago and now they're all gone.

Absolutely! but not just for steady sales more so for their trend their future thinking if you want. They actually try and do something!.......SS have gone to sleep in comparison.

Adobestock is a sleeping giant who's going to take over some day. Adding editorial will make them a big stick to swat their way to the top.

First pass will be IS indies and then come after SS. If the others keep dropping or fail to improve and add, they will see Adobe passing them.

Not trying to say tomorrow or next month, but in time Adobe is growing and IS is shrinking. SS is holding their spot, not much more.

« Reply #41 on: February 04, 2017, 20:13 »
0
near the adobe-fotolia join my sales in Fotolia dropped and stopped.

I asked if there was something wrong in my concept or quality (the same images sell VERY well in SS and iStock) and they talked about something I had just uploaded.

but my sales of OLD IMAGES that sold very well regularly , dropped. Not the new ones.

I asked simply if my content was undesiderable and if it made a sense continuing upload with them: they joked with this, answering that stopping to send content was not a good move to sell more: sarcasm is never an answer, nor a solution.


 

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