MicrostockGroup

I think that is true to an extent - of course there are many examples of people who began as hobbyists and had enough time, passion, skill etc to turn into professionals, now making a full time living off microstock - I respect them immensely. But many of us have neither the time nor inclination nor - to be brutally honest - the necessary skill (and alas that would me) to make any kind of a living out of it. Yet (1) I still care enough to keep contributing; (2) I still make a few hundred dollars a month which pays for equipment and even helps fund some of my travels; (3) People still buy my images, albeit in smaller amounts by far than the pros - but I am still "golden" at istock so there is some kind of a market for my images; (4) My downloads have neverthless been going down consistently over the past year and a half because the quality on the micros has gotten better and better and I simply cannot compete against that.

So when the prices start to rise to, say, the vetta level - all the pros will be selling their images at $50 a pop - but nobody is going to buy my images at that price (or at least only very rarely) - so yeah ... the blunt truth is my images are only worth hobby prices ...

hoi ha, your posts reflect my sentiments exactly.

And stockastic, I agree. If I am not willing to invest a lot more money and make the leap to professional, I shouldn't expect professionals commissions. BUT, my skills have improved, and my photos are selling. I do constantly upload and try to bring fresh and new ideas to the stock photo market.

Therefore, I think that as pros commissions rise, so should the small players' commissions. Hopefully they will continue to do so, and istock won't give all the small players the boot.

I also think there will always be a market for lower-priced stock photos. Not every company can afford 4 stock photos in their monthy newsletter at $100 a pop.

It does get better if you stick with them and build a bigger portfolio.  I have had more EL's with SS than any other site and just their pay per download sales have made more for me this month than BS and 123rf combined.  They also pay more for subs when you reach their higher levels.  $0.38 is one of the highest subs commissions with the micros.  My average commission there this month is $0.57.

It does get better if you stick with them and build a bigger portfolio.  I have had more EL's with SS than any other site and just their pay per download sales have made more for me this month than BS and 123rf combined.  They also pay more for subs when you reach their higher levels.  $0.38 is one of the highest subs commissions with the micros.  My average commission there this month is $0.57.
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All good points Sharpshot. 

Stocktastic, if you stick with Shutterstock you shouldn't be making .25 for long.  My average is there is .73/DL because of the EL's and the on-demand sales.

Remember that, at some point, the number of files you have online becomes a bit secondary to the quality of your images, their uniqueness, the demand on what you are shooting, variety, being a top player o a specific niche...  All those issues become important, sometimes more than the simple number of pics.  How many "girl with headset" images are out there?  How many handshakes?  Many people still shoot these and other usual subjects and expect to have lots of sales.  Innovate and execute and sales will come.  Take this from a guy that did everything wrong the first time around and, after researching, has found out the hard way...

Shocking Jonathan.  There is no way I would believe any of your submitted images are out of focus, much less such a large number of them in one batch.

Definitely sounds like you got a rogue reviewer.  Probably if you wait a couple of weeks and try again they would be accepted.

I doubt IS would have accepted them if they were out of focus.

I don't know if this is what your submitting, but I know istock doesn't really want raster illustrations that look like they could have been created in a vector program (which makes sense). Shutterstock doesn't care because everyone submits raster versions of their vectors as well.

Yeah I have to say the entire subscription option ticks me off .. it's stupid. What will complaining about it get us? Absolutely nothing !!!!! Not without massive organization that is. Let's say that all the agencies sat down at the table and said .. ok we are going to drop subscriptions completely but you have to drop them and you have to drop them ... everyone drops them at the same time. What would buyers do? They would cry about it. The real question is how would it affect the industry? It would make it better for us and they agencies because those buyers are purchasing a need not a want. They don't want to pay for images. They NEED to pay for images. Dropping subscriptions worldwide would not have a negative affect. Do you think a designer is going to huff and puff and say "Well if I cant get images for .25 I'm just going to shut my business down and get a job at McDonalds flipping burgers !!!" Heck no !!! They will pay for it and go about their business.
We will make more money .. the agencies will make more money .. and you know what .. the designers buying the images will make more money because if they have any business education whatsoever they know that you adjust your price for an increase in expense. Will the CEOs get together and do this? LOL probably not. Not without force and guess what .... we don't have an active union in place to force it. So, we just have to deal with it or get out.

2 reasons I guess:
  1. I feel like I'm helping SS undercut my own sales at other sites that pay more.
  2. The 25 cent sales tick me off.     

Yep, I gave up undercutting my own images too. In my opinion the best way to do business, is to set your own price, and never go below a level that is lower than that price. That's why I think the sites where you do set your own price are the best ones at the mo, that, and they don't do subs

You and me both.  When I look at my sales breakdown each month, other than istock all the top earners contain subscription plans. 

Not saying I like subs.  I don't.  But not going to throw my monthly income out the window in protest either.