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Author Topic: Sales dropping. Istock especially.  (Read 78556 times)

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« Reply #275 on: October 31, 2011, 14:12 »
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I'm seeing a typical Monday, maybe even down a bit from the last few Mondays.  The first few weeks in Oct were very strong for me, thanks a great deal to the still-unexplained EL rush at SS.  That has slowed down quite a bit, and I'll probably end October about 5% down from Sept (but still about 100% over Oct 2010).


« Reply #276 on: October 31, 2011, 20:09 »
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This is the first time I haven't reach a monthly payout with iStock since July 2006. My October sales have dropped 68% from my September sales. The last time my iStock monthly sales were that low was February 2006. In 2009 iStock was my number one in sale revenue. In 2010 it felt to number 2. Last September it felt to number 3. Now it is number 6. All other sites above IS, which are Shutterstock, Fotolia, Dreamstime, Bigstock, Canstock have all reached their regular monthly payouts and they all have given me better revenue then iStock. Furthermore, sales at those better sites appear to have increased to compensate  for the lost at IS.


You haven't reach minimum payout on IS ($100) or your usual payout this month?

P.S. I think that Yuri's photos are not so bright any more, like before... ;)


with 20k sales cannot be true or something is pretty wrong..


It is true.....


« Reply #277 on: October 31, 2011, 20:58 »
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« Reply #278 on: October 31, 2011, 22:43 »
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This is the first time I haven't reach a monthly payout with iStock since July 2006. My October sales have dropped 68% from my September sales. The last time my iStock monthly sales were that low was February 2006. In 2009 iStock was my number one in sale revenue. In 2010 it felt to number 2. Last September it felt to number 3. Now it is number 6. All other sites above IS, which are Shutterstock, Fotolia, Dreamstime, Bigstock, Canstock have all reached their regular monthly payouts and they all have given me better revenue then iStock. Furthermore, sales at those better sites appear to have increased to compensate  for the lost at IS.


You haven't reach minimum payout on IS ($100) or your usual payout this month?
P.S. I think that Yuri's photos are not so bright any more, like before... ;)

with 20k sales cannot be true or something is pretty wrong..

It is true.....



It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

« Reply #279 on: November 01, 2011, 01:07 »
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Cybernesco: quite a depressing graph!

« Reply #280 on: November 01, 2011, 02:03 »
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It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

« Reply #281 on: November 01, 2011, 03:46 »
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For me October 2011 at istock was better than July 2007.
I started at istock June 2007.

« Reply #282 on: November 01, 2011, 04:01 »
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October was my worst month since December 2008.

« Reply #283 on: November 01, 2011, 04:23 »
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Lots of people with falling earnings on the October thread.  There's some with BME's but this time of the year, it should be a lot more.

www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=336289

I laughed at the complaint about bad grammar on page 3, easy to guess what member of MSG that is :)

« Reply #284 on: November 01, 2011, 09:03 »
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This is the first time I haven't reach a monthly payout with iStock since July 2006. My October sales have dropped 68% from my September sales. The last time my iStock monthly sales were that low was February 2006. In 2009 iStock was my number one in sale revenue. In 2010 it felt to number 2. Last September it felt to number 3. Now it is number 6. All other sites above IS, which are Shutterstock, Fotolia, Dreamstime, Bigstock, Canstock have all reached their regular monthly payouts and they all have given me better revenue then iStock. Furthermore, sales at those better sites appear to have increased to compensate  for the lost at IS.


You haven't reach minimum payout on IS ($100) or your usual payout this month?
P.S. I think that Yuri's photos are not so bright any more, like before... ;)

with 20k sales cannot be true or something is pretty wrong..

It is true.....



It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.


Considering heavyweight microstockers have reported declining sales despite their heavy uploading. The question should be....should I waste my time submitting more to iStock?

These days, Microstock in general has definetly better vital signs then one of its subpart... iStock, hence why this thread is still going...  don't you agree?

« Reply #285 on: November 01, 2011, 09:07 »
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It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

Our competition is uploading 200-600 high quality images a month. 3 a month just won't compete these days, no matter how good they are.

« Reply #286 on: November 01, 2011, 09:18 »
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It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

Our competition is uploading 200-600 high quality images a month. 3 a month just won't compete these days, no matter how good they are.

At the moment, 3 a month is sufficient for me elsewhere....my total revenue is the same as 2010. Buyers are going elsewhere....

« Reply #287 on: November 01, 2011, 09:34 »
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It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

Our competition is uploading 200-600 high quality images a month. 3 a month just won't compete these days, no matter how good they are.

I realize you're having great sales at the moment, and that's excellent. However there are several major contributors in the stats thread who are reporting small sales growth compared to portfolio growth or sales and download drops in spite of substantial portfolio growth.

I've been around iStock a while and the pattern I've noticed is that when people are having great sales they often try to cast it as a problem with the contributor, their portfolio, their uploads, etc. when others are not having the same experience. If it were one or two complainers, it'd be easy to dismiss, but I think that the stats thread is pretty clearly not so good for the big contributors overall.

So enjoy your good sales, but don't dismiss other people's experiences out of hand.

Slovenian

« Reply #288 on: November 01, 2011, 09:34 »
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If you check the October sales thread and look at the poll results, IS's sales are rising. It's not as bad as it looks in this thread. BTW my sales are down ;)

Slovenian

« Reply #289 on: November 01, 2011, 09:44 »
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However there are several major contributors in the stats thread who are reporting small sales growth compared to portfolio growth or sales and download drops in spite of substantial portfolio growth.

This is not directed at you jsnover, but generally speaking, expecting to see earnings constantly rising, even when you have a huge port and adding hundreds of photos every month is unrealistic. It's the problem of capitalistically orientated way of thinking and greed. I mean how can you not be satisfied earning five figures or at least high four figures every month? If you can't answer to that you're just too greedy for MS and try becoming a big shot photographer doing some of the biggest campaigns. And we all know no one is becoming a billionaire doing photography anyway.

Be happy with the 5+ grand you big timers earn every month. Be happy that you're able to keep it at that level at all, no matter how much you UL or of how high quality your content is. Competitions is growing every day, cuts are happening, I think y'all like a few of the agencies need a wake up call ;)

michealo

« Reply #290 on: November 01, 2011, 09:55 »
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It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

Our competition is uploading 200-600 high quality images a month. 3 a month just won't compete these days, no matter how good they are.

I realize you're having great sales at the moment, and that's excellent. However there are several major contributors in the stats thread who are reporting small sales growth compared to portfolio growth or sales and download drops in spite of substantial portfolio growth.

I've been around iStock a while and the pattern I've noticed is that when people are having great sales they often try to cast it as a problem with the contributor, their portfolio, their uploads, etc. when others are not having the same experience. If it were one or two complainers, it'd be easy to dismiss, but I think that the stats thread is pretty clearly not so good for the big contributors overall.

So enjoy your good sales, but don't dismiss other people's experiences out of hand.

+1

RacePhoto

« Reply #291 on: November 01, 2011, 10:01 »
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It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

Our competition is uploading 200-600 high quality images a month. 3 a month just won't compete these days, no matter how good they are.

I realize you're having great sales at the moment, and that's excellent. However there are several major contributors in the stats thread who are reporting small sales growth compared to portfolio growth or sales and download drops in spite of substantial portfolio growth.

I've been around iStock a while and the pattern I've noticed is that when people are having great sales they often try to cast it as a problem with the contributor, their portfolio, their uploads, etc. when others are not having the same experience. If it were one or two complainers, it'd be easy to dismiss, but I think that the stats thread is pretty clearly not so good for the big contributors overall.

So enjoy your good sales, but don't dismiss other people's experiences out of hand.

I'm just a complainer. Everyone make a note of that...  :) 

I pretty much stopped uploading to IS, so it's my own darn fault.

Soon I'll become a SS exclusive and like the other agencies I dropped, I won't be able to speak about sales or much about the sites. It doesn't make any logical sense to me, to write about a sites sales and reviews or that kind of issues, when I no longer have materials there.


« Reply #292 on: November 01, 2011, 10:55 »
0
It looks like you're not submitting much to iStock. I think that explains it more than anything, especially with the increase in really good competition. imho.

You really believe that? Honestly? That the lack of sales is down simply to that?

Our competition is uploading 200-600 high quality images a month. 3 a month just won't compete these days, no matter how good they are.

I realize you're having great sales at the moment, and that's excellent. However there are several major contributors in the stats thread who are reporting small sales growth compared to portfolio growth or sales and download drops in spite of substantial portfolio growth.

I've been around iStock a while and the pattern I've noticed is that when people are having great sales they often try to cast it as a problem with the contributor, their portfolio, their uploads, etc. when others are not having the same experience. If it were one or two complainers, it'd be easy to dismiss, but I think that the stats thread is pretty clearly not so good for the big contributors overall.

So enjoy your good sales, but don't dismiss other people's experiences out of hand.

I don't mean to dismiss anyone's experience, it is what it is. And I'm not saying that there aren't other factors that effect our sales (like any business), but the biggest factor imo is what we're doing. It does seem appropriate to be honest here, otherwise these conversations turn into huge venting threads with no value to anyone. Jonathan R said on the last page that he hasn't uploaded in 3 years, so of course his sales are way down. All I'm saying is the same thing, if you upload just 40 photos a year, of course your sales will be down. They may level for a little while, but eventually it'll catch up with you, no matter what else is going on at iStock.

« Reply #293 on: November 01, 2011, 11:14 »
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I don't mean to dismiss anyone's experience, it is what it is. And I'm not saying that there aren't other factors that effect our sales (like any business), but the biggest factor imo is what we're doing. It does seem appropriate to be honest here, otherwise these conversations turn into huge venting threads with no value to anyone. Jonathan R said on the last page that he hasn't uploaded in 3 years, so of course his sales are way down. All I'm saying is the same thing, if you upload just 40 photos a year, of course your sales will be down. They may level for a little while, but eventually it'll catch up with you, no matter what else is going on at iStock.

It could very well be an uploading thing for some contributors, but that still doesn't really answer the question of why iStock is dropping so fast. I haven't uploaded to many of the major agencies in a year and they are holding pretty steady in income. iStock seems to be the exception to that, so there is definitely something unique going on there. Maybe, it was dumping all that agency collection stuff in the catalog. Maybe, it's a bad reputation. I don't know, but it doesn't seem to be a simple fix. Unless, you count just dumping them.  ;D

« Reply #294 on: November 01, 2011, 11:26 »
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I don't mean to dismiss anyone's experience, it is what it is. And I'm not saying that there aren't other factors that effect our sales (like any business), but the biggest factor imo is what we're doing. It does seem appropriate to be honest here, otherwise these conversations turn into huge venting threads with no value to anyone. Jonathan R said on the last page that he hasn't uploaded in 3 years, so of course his sales are way down. All I'm saying is the same thing, if you upload just 40 photos a year, of course your sales will be down. They may level for a little while, but eventually it'll catch up with you, no matter what else is going on at iStock.

It could very well be an uploading thing for some contributors, but that still doesn't really answer the question of why iStock is dropping so fast. I haven't uploaded to many of the major agencies in a year and they are holding pretty steady in income. iStock seems to be the exception to that, so there is definitely something unique going on there. Maybe, it was dumping all that agency collection stuff in the catalog. Maybe, it's a bad reputation. I don't know, but it doesn't seem to be a simple fix. Unless, you count just dumping them.  ;D

I do think the average buyer at iStock is becoming more of a higher-priced (midstock) buyer (compared to sub sites buyers especially). So having TAC or Vetta files is more important than it used to be. In my experience, one TAC sale is the equivalent to about 100 SS sales.

« Reply #295 on: November 01, 2011, 11:43 »
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I don't mean to dismiss anyone's experience, it is what it is. And I'm not saying that there aren't other factors that effect our sales (like any business), but the biggest factor imo is what we're doing. It does seem appropriate to be honest here, otherwise these conversations turn into huge venting threads with no value to anyone. Jonathan R said on the last page that he hasn't uploaded in 3 years, so of course his sales are way down. All I'm saying is the same thing, if you upload just 40 photos a year, of course your sales will be down. They may level for a little while, but eventually it'll catch up with you, no matter what else is going on at iStock.


It could very well be an uploading thing for some contributors, but that still doesn't really answer the question of why iStock is dropping so fast. I haven't uploaded to many of the major agencies in a year and they are holding pretty steady in income. iStock seems to be the exception to that, so there is definitely something unique going on there. Maybe, it was dumping all that agency collection stuff in the catalog. Maybe, it's a bad reputation. I don't know, but it doesn't seem to be a simple fix. Unless, you count just dumping them.  ;D


I do think the average buyer at iStock is becoming more of a higher-priced (midstock) buyer (compared to sub sites buyers especially). So having TAC or Vetta files is more important than it used to be. In my experience, one TAC sale is the equivalent to about 100 SS sales.


What do you know about SS?

This is today so far at SS....




This is my entire month of October at IS....




Both sites have the same collection of images...
« Last Edit: November 01, 2011, 11:50 by cybernesco »

« Reply #296 on: November 01, 2011, 11:45 »
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I do think the average buyer at iStock is becoming more of a higher-priced (midstock) buyer (compared to sub sites buyers especially). So having TAC or Vetta files is more important than it used to be. In my experience, one TAC sale is the equivalent to about 100 SS sales.


Tell that to the contributors with dwindling vector sales...

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=336297&page=1

« Reply #297 on: November 01, 2011, 11:48 »
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I've been concentrating on my existing business and have not really uploaded much over the past two years. Despite this, sales in 2010 grew by 24% anyway when compared with 2009.
Even without uploading, the first three months of 2011 went just fine - still better than the same months in previous years despite no new uploads.

After that, maybe a lack of fresh content started to take its toll and sales stayed low until starting to upload content in August this year (about 200 so far). August sales were better than any other August, and September was reasonably close to a high September 2010.

Despite more or less consistent uploads since August, sales this October dropped sharply - due mostly to an epic fail October at IS. I need to go back to August 2006 to find a worse month from IS (down from $219 in October 2010 to $42 in October 2011).

As for reasons why sales seem to be falling at IS, there are probably many.

All I know is that I used to refer my clients to both IS and DT to select their own images for sites, or brochures or magazines. Now I refer DT only.  It used to be easy to refer people and then just buy the images on their behalf. At a dollar, or two, or five - I felt it was a bit of an extra "service" to my clients that they would not get from another provider. Today though, odds are my clients would choose a Vetta or an agency image which could easily cost $100 or more.

The result is that I don't refer anyone to IS anymore for choosing images. For me, it's a simple question of complicated pricing structures. Perhaps other "buyers" are also finding this large variation of image pricing a problem when referring their clients?

To me, IS is simply not a micro anymore. It's not really a traditional agency either. Perhaps it can't figure out what it is, and as a result, neither can their customers.

Perhaps companies made successful on a wave of crowdsourced suppliers should also not underestimate the tremendous amount of goodwill they can lose when ramming new contracts down the throats of their suppliers . . . suppliers who so often also turn out to be their customers!

   

« Reply #298 on: November 01, 2011, 11:52 »
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Hi All,


 Istock keeps dropping and ShutterStock keeps growing. I am glad they are balancing themselves out. As my Istock sales keep dropping the other agencies are picking up the slack and my monthly return is staying the same, within 100 bucks every month. Here is to not losing money over the big picture. :)

Best,
Jonathan

« Reply #299 on: November 01, 2011, 12:02 »
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I don't mean to dismiss anyone's experience, it is what it is. And I'm not saying that there aren't other factors that effect our sales (like any business), but the biggest factor imo is what we're doing. It does seem appropriate to be honest here, otherwise these conversations turn into huge venting threads with no value to anyone. Jonathan R said on the last page that he hasn't uploaded in 3 years, so of course his sales are way down. All I'm saying is the same thing, if you upload just 40 photos a year, of course your sales will be down. They may level for a little while, but eventually it'll catch up with you, no matter what else is going on at iStock.


It could very well be an uploading thing for some contributors, but that still doesn't really answer the question of why iStock is dropping so fast. I haven't uploaded to many of the major agencies in a year and they are holding pretty steady in income. iStock seems to be the exception to that, so there is definitely something unique going on there. Maybe, it was dumping all that agency collection stuff in the catalog. Maybe, it's a bad reputation. I don't know, but it doesn't seem to be a simple fix. Unless, you count just dumping them.  ;D


I do think the average buyer at iStock is becoming more of a higher-priced (midstock) buyer (compared to sub sites buyers especially). So having TAC or Vetta files is more important than it used to be. In my experience, one TAC sale is the equivalent to about 100 SS sales.


What do you know about SS?
This is today so far at SS....

This is my entire month of October at IS....

Both sites have the same collection of images...


I used to submit to SS and all the others. Looks like you're having a great day!


 

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