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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: oscarcwilliams on February 14, 2017, 14:35

Title: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: oscarcwilliams on February 14, 2017, 14:35
My shutterstock sales are bad since the new dashboard has been put in place.  Anyone else?  Thanks.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Chichikov on February 14, 2017, 15:15
For me they are bad since the beginning of the year… really bad
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Brightontl on February 14, 2017, 15:37
I agree with Chicicoff.
SS went into a deep coma since the beginning of the year.
I do only video and SS was always the number one until last year.
I hope is only due to all the useless changes they did
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: xbrchx on February 14, 2017, 15:49
Big rise for me this month. First half of January was bad, but then it starts to grow and it didn't stop yet fortunately.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Copidosoma on February 14, 2017, 17:40
I like my sales alot. I'd never call them bad.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: littleny on February 14, 2017, 20:30
Sudden decrease by about 30%-40% since December. Shutterstock has obviously changed something. In my opinion it's the 'same artist' display. Used to be that a customer was able to view similar images by the same artist, now only your most popular images get displayed, often irrelevant to the customer search.
I'm in the USA and I find after 4:00 (16:00) sales practically stop for the rest of the day. Awful.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Dreamframer on February 15, 2017, 02:36
I experience more sales since December.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: derek on February 15, 2017, 02:49
Sudden decrease by about 30%-40% since December. Shutterstock has obviously changed something. In my opinion it's the 'same artist' display. Used to be that a customer was able to view similar images by the same artist, now only your most popular images get displayed, often irrelevant to the customer search.
I'm in the USA and I find after 4:00 (16:00) sales practically stop for the rest of the day. Awful.

wrong post.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Justanotherphotographer on February 15, 2017, 03:08
My January is always down a lot on December.  Up to 30% and has been for 10 years. The run up to Christmas is the number one retail marketing time of the year. If you are relatively new your portfolio growth may have masked this in previous years.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: derek on February 15, 2017, 03:13
Spot on! in Europe its the reverse. Could also be losing droves of buyers. Seriously though with 120 million files who wants to sit there looking for a picture.

Uploading new files is also a complete waste. Uploaded 20 studio concepts involving people and everything they were all accepted within hours but they are nowhere to be seen just gone. That was a week back.
Until they have completely changed that was my last upload. No more.

Sadly with their silly search experiments they've managed to  annihilate Bigstock as well.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Thomas from France on February 16, 2017, 02:38
Constant decrease from October 2016 to Mid-february.
This week, downloads and revenues are back.
🤞
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Stockmaan on February 16, 2017, 03:15
Constant decrease from October 2016 to Mid-february.
This week, downloads and revenues are back.
🤞

Yep my decrease was from december, this week is back to normal.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: derek on February 16, 2017, 04:31
I dont know why but something tells me that it will never completely go back to normal. Sure we will have good and bad days but on the broader perspective it looks very much like some sort of an Istock shamble with the exception of their exclusivity. Been with both since 2008

Anyway win some lose some. Good news is that Adobe continues to perform excellent. Fingers crossed. :)
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: mojaric on February 16, 2017, 05:25
same money each month from two years now...vs a lot of uploads = not so good
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Artist on February 16, 2017, 06:55
Spot on! in Europe its the reverse. Could also be losing droves of buyers. Seriously though with 120 million files who wants to sit there looking for a picture.

Uploading new files is also a complete waste. Uploaded 20 studio concepts involving people and everything they were all accepted within hours but they are nowhere to be seen just gone. That was a week back.
Until they have completely changed that was my last upload. No more.

Sadly with their silly search experiments they've managed to  annihilate Bigstock as well.

Why don't you quit, if the situation looks too bad to you?
1 less competitor.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 16, 2017, 07:17
Spot on! in Europe its the reverse. Could also be losing droves of buyers. Seriously though with 120 million files who wants to sit there looking for a picture.

Uploading new files is also a complete waste. Uploaded 20 studio concepts involving people and everything they were all accepted within hours but they are nowhere to be seen just gone. That was a week back.
Until they have completely changed that was my last upload. No more.

Sadly with their silly search experiments they've managed to  annihilate Bigstock as well.

Why don't you quit, if the situation looks too bad to you?
1 less competitor.
Hasn't he/she said they have? But then again I've heard this line for 6 years and people still seem to be hanging round.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: nadalbg on February 16, 2017, 07:21
I was selling some photos in January when I started, now I earn around 100% less in February. Almost no downloads and only the new pics get sold...
I quit uploading new pics, there is no point to continue.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: derek on February 16, 2017, 07:35
Spot on! in Europe its the reverse. Could also be losing droves of buyers. Seriously though with 120 million files who wants to sit there looking for a picture.

Uploading new files is also a complete waste. Uploaded 20 studio concepts involving people and everything they were all accepted within hours but they are nowhere to be seen just gone. That was a week back.
Until they have completely changed that was my last upload. No more.

Sadly with their silly search experiments they've managed to  annihilate Bigstock as well.

Why don't you quit, if the situation looks too bad to you?
1 less competitor.
Hasn't he/she said they have? But then again I've heard this line for 6 years and people still seem to be hanging round.

haha! youre right actually! but sometimes a bit of moaning will help. ita as if the Gods listen sending some fat juicy sales. :)
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: outoftheblue on February 16, 2017, 07:37
I was selling some photos in January when I started, now I earn around 100% less in February. Almost no downloads and only the new pics get sold...
I quit uploading new pics, there is no point to continue.

Great plan
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 16, 2017, 07:48
I was selling some photos in January when I started, now I earn around 100% less in February. Almost no downloads and only the new pics get sold...
I quit uploading new pics, there is no point to continue.
Maybe 5 weeks experience is a little premature  :o
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Lana on February 16, 2017, 12:02
February is not my friend. A year ago it was worse than December and January, this year is the same - slower than Christmas week ;D FT is doing terrible too since the Feb started.. March should be better :)
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pixart on February 16, 2017, 12:20
- SS I passed January already - which wasn't fab yet wasn't terrible
- FT - WTH is going on?  My daily ranking has slid by about 7000 so it is presumably just me.
- The surprise showing this year is DT.  Not back to the good old days, but Jan was as good as best month last year, and Feb has just passed Jan.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 16, 2017, 12:28
- SS I passed January already - which wasn't fab yet wasn't terrible
- FT - WTH is going on?  My daily ranking has slid by about 7000 so it is presumably just me.
- The surprise showing this year is DT.  Not back to the good old days, but Jan was as good as best month last year, and Feb has just passed Jan.
I'm doing poorly on FT too very hit and miss. DT better last month from a VERY low base. Lots of different experiences for people I think.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: JetCityImage on February 16, 2017, 12:39
When microstock companies make changes either to search functions or to the Dashboard, you have to figure it is to help the customer and not the contributors. Whose complaints carry more weight - those who make you money or those who cost you money?
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Microstockphoto on February 16, 2017, 14:14
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Chichikov on February 16, 2017, 15:42
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
It is not because of the new dashboard, it is because of the new earnings pages…
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on February 16, 2017, 15:51
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all

And yet I saw the same thing - maybe it is more than just a new dashboard, maybe there's a change to the search introduced at the same time.

BTW - isn't it weird that the sales are listed numerically according to the first digit in the file number, rather than taking account of the whole number (i.e. file 10,000,000,000 first, followed by file 20, followed by 3,000,000, followed by 456)

Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Minsc on February 16, 2017, 16:07
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all

And yet I saw the same thing - maybe it is more than just a new dashboard, maybe there's a change to the search introduced at the same time.

BTW - isn't it weird that the sales are listed numerically according to the first digit in the file number, rather than taking account of the whole number (i.e. file 10,000,000,000 first, followed by file 20, followed by 3,000,000, followed by 456)

Sales are listed in this order:

Number of sales, followed by newest upload followed by download order for that day. It was by newest upload a few days ago that I remembered, but looks like some thing changed.

There hasn't been any changes to the search that anyone has noticed. If sales are down, it's probably because of increased competition.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: increasingdifficulty on February 16, 2017, 16:20
When microstock companies make changes either to search functions or to the Dashboard, you have to figure it is to help the customer and not the contributors. Whose complaints carry more weight - those who make you money or those who cost you money?

If contributors only cost the companies money it would certainly be a real mystery why they let any in at all!
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: obj owl on February 16, 2017, 16:29
When microstock companies make changes either to search functions or to the Dashboard, you have to figure it is to help the customer and not the contributors. Whose complaints carry more weight - those who make you money or those who cost you money?

If contributors only cost the companies money it would certainly be a real mystery why they let any in at all!

They don't let anybody in, no contributor has any say in any aspect of the workings of Shutterstock. Contributors are very vulnerable to the whims of the agencies.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on February 16, 2017, 16:41
If sales are down, it's probably because of increased competition.

Not overnight, I've been in this lark for 13 years and I've seen the gradual erosion but there was a marked change the day the new sales chart appeared. I've escaped most of the shifts that other people have suffered but something got me this time.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: pkphotos on February 16, 2017, 17:54
Shutterstock have lost their mojo in the last year, that's for sure. Hopefully they can get their act together and rediscover it.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 16, 2017, 18:35
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
The last thing people look at is their own work which is kind of ironic as its the only thing they can change
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on February 17, 2017, 01:35
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
The last thing people look at is their own work which is kind of ironic as its the only thing they can change
But I've got the same 6,000 files today as I had in December. I don't think their quality has changed. Still, I suppose it's just a strange coincidence as I can't see any search change.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 17, 2017, 04:02
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
The last thing people look at is their own work which is kind of ironic as its the only thing they can change
But I've got the same 6,000 files today as I had in December. I don't think their quality has changed. Still, I suppose it's just a strange coincidence as I can't see any search change.
Not added any? We know supply is growing faster than demand not surprising then if sales go down? Maybe the relative quality to the competition has changed with these new files. Maybe the competition has identified best sellers and been er "inspired" by them,
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: derek on February 17, 2017, 04:42
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
The last thing people look at is their own work which is kind of ironic as its the only thing they can change
But I've got the same 6,000 files today as I had in December. I don't think their quality has changed. Still, I suppose it's just a strange coincidence as I can't see any search change.

Looking at your pictures which are superbly executed and considering the pile of rubbish they nowadays accept. I don't think you have to worry about the competition aspect.

just a thought.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 17, 2017, 06:13
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
The last thing people look at is their own work which is kind of ironic as its the only thing they can change
But I've got the same 6,000 files today as I had in December. I don't think their quality has changed. Still, I suppose it's just a strange coincidence as I can't see any search change.

Looking at your pictures which are superbly executed and considering the pile of rubbish they nowadays accept. I don't think you have to worry about the competition aspect.

just a thought.
So is EVERYTHING accepted now rubbish?
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: derek on February 17, 2017, 06:43
Taliking about his food stills and cityscapes! I thought you understood that. ::)
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Pauws99 on February 17, 2017, 06:49
Taliking about his food stills and cityscapes! I thought you understood that. ::)
Indeed he has a very good portfolio and I like it a lot. The general point I'm making is that not everything in any categories now being uploaded is rubbish. I wouldn't discount the possibility that someone has taken a look at the best sellers and produced work to compete with them. Its only a "conspiracy" theory I know but to me is as credible as SS hiding its best images from customers. In any event the point remains you can change where and what you upload but it is very unlikely you will change SS's search engine policy.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: niktol on February 17, 2017, 06:50
blaming low sales on the new dashboard? thought I heard it all
The last thing people look at is their own work which is kind of ironic as its the only thing they can change
But I've got the same 6,000 files today as I had in December. I don't think their quality has changed. Still, I suppose it's just a strange coincidence as I can't see any search change.

For several years now I have seen drops in SS sales in January to completely recover by summer. For me, it's seasonal. For you, I don't know.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Nikovsk on February 17, 2017, 06:52
The new earnings page is horrible to visualize sales.
Very inefficient as you have to click and scroll multiple times just to see what have you sold each day.
And not listed in order of upload, so you can't easily see which new files are selling.
Title: Re: Shutterstock sales are bad.
Post by: Artist on February 17, 2017, 07:14
The new earnings page is horrible to visualize sales.
Very inefficient as you have to click and scroll multiple times just to see what have you sold each day.
And not listed in order of upload, so you can't easily see which new files are selling.

+1, there is nothing so excitement of the new page. I wish they revert back to the original.