Author Topic: Top Video Sites (Read 8271 times)

jbarber873 · « **Reply #25 on:** December 07, 2010, 17:01 »

Quote from: sharpshot on December 07, 2010, 16:35

I asked for FTP access to istock and was sent the details but there is a silly procedure, not just uploading like all the other sites I use and lots of problems that are always being mentioned in the forum. I decided it wasn't worth the effort, then they cut my commission to 15% from January, so I will be deleting my clips on 1.1.2011.

Istocks upload process is so awkward it's painful. Very important details are missing from the instructions. It takes forever for review, and then rejections are arbitrary and without consistency. With the cut in commissions, it's hard to justify uploading. The only thing is, they do sell pretty well, and if they ever get around to properly managing the video part of the site, they could open up a whole new market. For that reason, I will stick with them a while longer, but boy is it painful. They really are such hateful people.

Will · « **Reply #26 on:** December 07, 2010, 17:23 »

If you are just beginning to submit video clips I suggest that it might be wise to favor the sites that let you set your own pricing or at least pay a good royalty percentage.
Pond5 and Revostock are both good sellers. SS is OK and sells regularly but is a lower royalty. CC and CD have good royalty rates but so far slow sales. At 15% Istock is an insult and I won't submit to them for that reason and hope others might want to help protect the integrity of the market and do the same.

EditableClips · « **Reply #27 on:** December 16, 2011, 15:37 »

My personal toplist is:
1) shutterstock - for the simplest uploading and stable sales
2) pond5 - for 50% for seller, good interface and as a buyer also I like mov preview for download (great for placeholders in my project) - other sites offers just flv file which I have to convert to mov if I want to use it in my AE project
3) istock - was my number 1 in sales up to the begining of this year but I hate their uploading system, keywording, categories and property release (I sell only motion graphics). Now, sales collapsed and I stopped my upload
4) getty images - I like their prices for customers :-) I don't know who pays so much for files they can buy for 50$ at other sites
4) www.editableclips.com [nofollow] - motion graphics only - interesting place :-)

rinderart · « **Reply #28 on:** December 28, 2011, 17:44 »

Quote from: sharpshot on November 17, 2010, 10:07

^^^You might not like it but other people do. And there's more markets than just the web. Video for stock is alive and kicking.

Totally agree. Biggest Mistake I've made in this business was not getting in when I should have.

WaterView · « **Reply #29 on:** December 28, 2011, 22:21 »

Can only speculate how good 123RF will be for footage sales but, if I based it on how well they sell pictures then it looks encouraging. Commissions look good too.

123RF began accepting videos / footage in December but they have not started making them available to buyers yet. I've read on this site it may be mid January or so before that starts. http://www.microstockgroup.com/123royaltyfree-com/123rf-video-prices-and-commissions/

Uploading the small amount of videos I have has been flawless and easy so far.

Zerkalo · « **Reply #30 on:** April 27, 2012, 03:25 »

Just a quick update for IS. The inspection time for exclusives is under 3 days at the moment on iStock. This is a huge improvement compared with last year. I think it has improved for the non-exclusives as well.

sharpshot · « **Reply #31 on:** April 27, 2012, 03:41 »

^^^Perhaps because we don't bother uploading anymore

I just couldn't do it for 15% commission with sales lower than Pond5.

Zerkalo · « **Reply #32 on:** April 27, 2012, 08:47 »

Maybe you're right. In that case thank you

MaZvone · « **Reply #33 on:** April 28, 2012, 00:17 »

I have very good sales on Istock, but on Pond5 sales are zero.
For the non-exclusives review time is 7-14 days, that is huge improvement !

cobalt · « **Reply #34 on:** April 28, 2012, 03:03 »

I am trying to upload a file to shutter stock with cyberduck, but the file never shows up in the system. If -i hit refresh on cyberduck after a few minutes, the file has disappeared.

What am I doing wrong?

Or is it a bug?

cascoly · « **Reply #35 on:** April 28, 2012, 13:24 »

anyone have footage sales to report from 123?

BlackJack · « **Reply #36 on:** April 29, 2012, 02:35 »

I uploaded 65 videos at 123rf to test the water. So far I got 2 nice sales in early april. After that I uploaded another 50 videos because it could be worth it but after several weeks they are still in the review queue.

cobalt · « **Reply #37 on:** April 29, 2012, 11:41 »

Just wanted to add: apprently Shutterstock has a bug, the ftp upload is broken for many.
Hope they fix it soon.

holgs · « **Reply #38 on:** May 11, 2012, 01:29 »

Quote from: cobalt on April 29, 2012, 11:41

Just wanted to add: apprently Shutterstock has a bug, the ftp upload is broken for many.
Hope they fix it soon.

FTP works fine with Cyberduck, but not with Filezilla.

cobalt · « **Reply #39 on:** May 11, 2012, 01:35 »

I know, they fixed it quite fast.

Happy Uploading!

cobalt · « **Reply #40 on:** August 01, 2012, 20:53 »

just wanted to share my current stats. I haven´t uploaded much in the last 4 months, I have around 40 very simple clips on several sites.

Results so far: istock 9 sales 110 USD, pond5 3 sales 94 dollars, Shutterstock 5 sales 84 dollars, Fotolia 1 sale 2.1 credits?

I would expect istock to sell more files, because I have such a big photo portfolio there with regular customer traffic.

But even with such a small sample it is clear to me that video indepencence will earn me more money. The sites sell different files, too early to see a trend (one site sells more people, the other more xmas etc...)

I like that I can set my own prices on pond5, but I still find their interface and stats page confusing, shutterstock has a very organized dashboard. I still like istock best, but maybe I am just used to it.

For statistics I anyway check my downloads on stockperformer, makes my life a lot easier.

I have only been uploading for a few months, I´ll know more about video when I have 300 clips online.

Just thought I´d share for those interested

leaf · « **Reply #41 on:** August 01, 2012, 22:41 »

Quote from: cobalt on August 01, 2012, 20:53

just wanted to share my current stats. I haven´t uploaded much in the last 4 months, I have around 40 very simple clips on several sites.

Results so far: istock 9 sales 110 USD, pond5 3 sales 94 dollars, Shutterstock 5 sales 84 dollars, Fotolia 1 sale 2.1 credits?

I would expect istock to sell more files, because I have such a big photo portfolio there with regular customer traffic.

But even with such a small sample it is clear to me that video indepencence will earn me more money. The sites sell different files, too early to see a trend (one site sells more people, the other more xmas etc...)

I like that I can set my own prices on pond5, but I still find their interface and stats page confusing, shutterstock has a very organized dashboard. I still like istock best, but maybe I am just used to it.

For statistics I anyway check my downloads on stockperformer, makes my life a lot easier.

I have only been uploading for a few months, I´ll know more about video when I have 300 clips online.

Just thought I´d share for those interested

thanks for the stats. It's interesting to see some hard numbers of how the sites perform.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #42 on:** August 02, 2012, 04:30 »

Quick question - I've been thinking to put some video clips on SS, but like you cobalt, I'm iStock Exclusive for images, though not for video.

If I want to apply to SS for video only, how is it done? Do I upload 10 clips for review?

I looked through the submitter guidelines on the site but it all seemed to refer to just photos in the initial application procedure, I couldn't see anything about video only.

cobalt · « **Reply #43 on:** August 02, 2012, 04:44 »

There is no test for video. You just go ahead and upload and see if they take your files. They take the same file format as istock.

If I was exclusive and got the same rate as I do for photos and with the higher prices of istock exclusive files (even without vetta video) I would be making a lot more money on istock and would have remained exclusive.

But since we have to work ourselves up the RC scale, I see no chance of ever going over a very base level for video, because I will never produce enough video.

On the other hand, I am a video newbie and do not produce the extremly high quality, professional level video that istock is looking for.

I do still wish I could be all exclusive, but it has to make financial sense and for me it just doesn´t.

I cannot upload enough good files in both photo and video to get to the same level of percentage as in photos. So I have to be independent with the weaker medium and spread my files.

But since we all don´t know how the agencies are developing, maybe it is good to spread the risk a little.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #44 on:** August 02, 2012, 05:06 »

You mean you can just sign up and upload video immediately? Wow, I hadn't realised that! Thanks, I will give that a try.

As for your thoughts on exclusivity, that pretty much sums up my feelings too - for photos, it works for me at the moment but I won't know about video until I can see how sales go, and since so far I haven't sold a single one anywhere (I have some on iStock, Pond5 and ClipCanvas) the question is rather academic. Like you, I'm a video newbie and am never likely to produce any volume to speak of. Good fun though...

cobalt · « **Reply #45 on:** August 03, 2012, 13:25 »

Volume of sales is also an important factor, or market share of the agency. If I had 20 sales or more on istock, even with my beginners files, this would make me believe that istock is by far the biggest market leader in video. Then exclusivity would be the only real choice for me - why spread files if there is one dominant agency with say - 70% market share?

Of course the video market is still in its infancy, maybe we will see a dominant site emerge in time.

I wouldn´t be surprised if istock is the market leader in the high end part of the market, but sales volume and a big customer base is the basis for the future.

Anyway, I need to produce more, otherwise it will just be an interesting hobby. Great fun though and a lot more difficult than I thought.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #46 on:** August 03, 2012, 17:19 »

A wooyay is in order - I just sold my first clip on ClipCanvas! And it was one that was rejected by iStock, for what that might be worth!

Onwards and upwards...

cobalt · « **Reply #47 on:** August 04, 2012, 12:59 »

Congrats!

Clipcanvas has a very beautiful interface and great statistics. Unfortunately I haven´t sold anything yet.

StockProducer · « **Reply #48 on:** September 11, 2012, 12:58 »

I have done a Up to Date list of Places to Sell if it helps anybody or if anybody can see shich Stock Sites are missed of the list http://www.stockproducer.com/selling-resources/where-to-sell.html [nofollow]

Amos Struck · « **Reply #49 on:** September 12, 2012, 04:49 »

Quote from: MicrostockExp on November 17, 2010, 01:37

After a good start at Clipcanvas, I did not have any sales for 5 months now with more than 200 clips on line.
Pond5 with 164 is doing much better
Only one sale at Shutterstock so far and revostock
I did not submit to Fotolia because of subs, I have only 5 clips on Istock

Since Isyndica closed down I only send videos to Pond5....
Still waiting for a replacement since PIxamba did not deliver a platform yet:(

Why you are not using PicWorkFlow for Video-Uploads ( http://www.picWorkflow.com/?by=129 *Aff. Link)

I use them all the time and it's very easy and fast to send your videos to all of the big agencies. Even DepositPhotos are accepting videos now and uploads are working too.