Your worst performer?

[Daneel]

Hi all,

Which of the big 6 is currently your worst performer?

Please only vote if you submit the same photos to all of these agencies, in order to keep it fair.

Thanks,
Michael

[snoozle]

I am fairly new to this, and have only joined most of these sites this year. Stockxpert, I'm still waiting to be reviewed, since the 16th Feb, and not a word yet.

Of the other sites Fotolia and Dreamstime are lagging way behind the others, Big stock is similar in numbers of downloads, but as they pay more they get a big thumbs up from me.

[Kngkyle]

StockXpert is my lowest.

[Vekha]

For me (and for the same pictures) it's 123RF

[Vekha]

Well, perhaps it's normal because not in the big 6 !

[madelaide]

For the six in the poll, my worst is BigStock (and I'm not at SS).

IS and DT are in a curious game this month for me, a head-to-head race.  Right now IS is winning with an advantage of just 1 cent. 

Regards,
Adelaide

[MiguelAngelo]

BigStock is my worst from this list and always have been.
Best of them for me is IS.

[sharpshot]

Dreamstime has been the worst for me so far but that is probably because they rejected a lot of my photos and I am now very selective with my uploads.  I am starting to get more downloads with them.

I am surprised that BigStock is the worst for so many people.  They are now my third best site, behind SS and IS.

[Kngkyle]

Dreamstime has been the worst for me so far but that is probably because they rejected a lot of my photos and I am now very selective with my uploads.  I am starting to get more downloads with them.

I am surprised that BigStock is the worst for so many people.  They are now my third best site, behind SS and IS.

BigStock used to be my worst as well, but just in the past couple days it has gone ahead of StockXpert.

[dbvirago]

StockXpert by far, but they also have my largest rejection rate by far.

[a.k.a.-tom]

Wow, quite a mix....  FT was my worst performer of this group...  I'm currently waitng acceptance to IS.   BigStock surprised me last month by coming in #2 for me, behind only SS.    -tom

[scarlettholly]

istock is my best by far, although they reject more of my photos than anyone else. BS accept more of my photos, and don't sell anything!

[epixx]

BigStock is the lowest for me, even behind 123, at least long term, but StockXpert is lagging behind now.

Crestock is picking up slowly for me now, while Scanstock, where I used to have at least a couple of sales now and then, has been completely quiet for more than a month now.

[hatman12]

I am only at IS, DT and SS.

I closed my accounts with 123 and StockXpert.  Suspended uploads to BigStock a month ago and will close that account once the 90 days have run.

I would rather focus on the best (for me) and devote extra time to dreaming up ideas and creating good photos to submit.

[sim]

I've stopped submitting to StockXpert and 123, since there are no sales there.

Funnily enough BigStock has started to give me consistent sales growth since early Feb; and even LO seems to be getting better.

SS, IS and DT still remain good for me.

Seem to be getting a strong surge on SS, perhaps due to the announcement of their new subscription fee changes; prompting a rush in DLs.

Anyone else notice this?

[Daneel]

Hi all,

my ranking (with everywhere the same photos uploaded - which is why I don't include istock) is:

Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Fotolia
Bigstockphoto
Lucky Oliver
Featurepics
123RF
StockXpert

It's pretty much as expected, except for StockXpert which doesn't perform well at all for me. Only three (!!) downloads in the ~2 months which I'm with them. Half of the other agencies give me a payourt monthly.

All the best,
Michael

[grp_photo]

I've stopped submitting to StockXpert and 123, since there are no sales there.

I'm already over 200,- Dollars at StockXpert this month also i make a constant 100,- Dollars each month at 123rf since an half year so please don't say there are no sales that's BS.

[sim]

I've stopped submitting to StockXpert and 123, since there are no sales there.

I'm already over 200,- Dollars at StockXpert this month also i make a constant 100,- Dollars each month at 123rf since an half year so please don't say there are no sales that's BS.

Perhaps my English wasn't clear enough for you. What I meant was that I have stopped uploading at StockXpert and 123 because there are no sales there for me. That's no BS!!

[sim]

By the way grp_photo, with sales like that you probably have a kick ass portfolio that does well everywhere! 

[litifeta]

Two things:

Big Stock is a Big dissapointment for me.

AND

glad to hear the StockXpert is not that great a performer for others. After 5 knockbacks I can safely say i will not bother to apply again until they get up to the performance of SS or DT.

[madelaide]

BigStock is doing fine this month, almost giving me as much as FT (surprisingly low this month) and one sale to be my best month there ever.

Regards,
Adelaide

[khwi]

BigStock is surprisingly very very slow, almost not moving for me
as compared to others. wonder whats wrong. they all have
basically the same images uploaded.

[CJPhoto]

they all have basically the same images uploaded.

So if they have the same photos, why would people go there as opposed to other sites.  I think this is one issue with the microsites.  They either need good exclusive pics (IS), cheap DL (subscription like SS), good search function (??), nice look and feel (LO??) or good marketing (IS).

BigStock looks old and dated, is same price as other sites and has less photos.l

[sharpshot]

StockXpert was doing well for me but my sales have deteriorated after they changed the default search to most popular.  Hope they fix this soon, as there isn't much motivation to upload new photos when they are not being viewed.

I wonder if BigStock works best with new photos?  I have uploaded over 1,000 photos recently and have had good sales.

[Daneel]

StockXpert was doing well for me but my sales have deteriorated after they changed the default search to most popular.  Hope they fix this soon, as there isn't much motivation to upload new photos when they are not being viewed.

I think this is why StockXpert performs much worse than all of the "up and coming" agencies which I'm with. I think I joined StockXpert at the time when they changed their search order.

Frankly, StockXpert is quite a puzzle for me. The few photos (about 130) which made it through their undeterministic (and unpersonal) review process are not selling at all. The illustrations which I have there have been mostly accepted but are not selling either. All that stuff (in particular the photos) do well at the other agencies (SS, FT, DT, ...) which have much higher acceptance rates as well.

It feels like they are trying to be like IStock (very strict acceptance process) without either having the customer or photographer base to do it.

Oh well ...

All the best,
Michael

[khwi]

they all have basically the same images uploaded.

So if they have the same photos, why would people go there as opposed to other sites.  I think this is one issue with the microsites.  They either need good exclusive pics (IS), cheap DL (subscription like SS), good search function (??), nice look and feel (LO??) or good marketing (IS).

BigStock looks old and dated, is same price as other sites and has less photos.l

yes it puzzles me too, as i read from many that say BigStock is one of their top earner 

[Daneel]

they all have basically the same images uploaded.

So if they have the same photos, why would people go there as opposed to other sites.  I think this is one issue with the microsites.  They either need good exclusive pics (IS), cheap DL (subscription like SS), good search function (??), nice look and feel (LO??) or good marketing (IS).

That's an excellent thought and might explain the poor performance of StockXpert for me! I did a very quick and dirty comparison of some of the big stock sites where I have photos and StockXpert is by far the most expensive! No wonder that my buyers go elsewhere for my photos.

StockXpert asks from 1 USD (for low res) up to 10 USD (for maximum quality) for photos.
Dreamstime asks from 0,7 USD (for low res) up to 2 USD (for maximum quality) for photos.
Fotolia asks from 1 USD (for low res) up to 3 USD (for maximum quality) for photos.
BigStock asks from 1 USD (for low res) up to 2 USD (for maximum quality) for photos.

No wonder that I have almost no sales at StockXpert.

Of course, this is quick and dirty. I did not compare licenses (However, I guess 90% of the buyers won't care about them either) or subscription schemes. But it makes great sense to me.

So - harshely said - if you go with StockXpert you should go with them exclusively or just submit the photos which they reject to other sites (which are many for me ;-)).

Just my thoughts on this,
Michael

[Freezingpictures]

I have less dls, but because of the higher earnigs/dl this month it looks like StockXpert will be on the third place after IS and SS and that is despite that I have on DT (former third place) on of the best month ever.

[grp_photo]

Perhaps my English wasn't clear enough for you. What I meant was that I have stopped uploading at StockXpert and 123 because there are no sales there for me. That's no BS!!

Sorry misunderstood you!

[grp_photo]

By the way grp_photo, with sales like that you probably have a kick ass portfolio that does well everywhere! 

Thanks but i never made over 300,- a month at Fotolia or Dreamstime so i'm clearly doing better at StockXpert.
Now i started to delete my Portfolios at this places.
Regarding Microstock I will concentrate on StockXpert,SS,Featurepics and 123rf because the have the easiest submission process. And give me more time for now so called Macro-Agencies which i currently put the most effort and time and the best pictures in it.

[Daneel]

By the way grp_photo, with sales like that you probably have a kick ass portfolio that does well everywhere! 

Thanks but i never made over 300,- a month at Fotolia or Dreamstime so i'm clearly doing better at StockXpert.
Now i started to delete my Portfolios at this places.
Regarding Microstock I will concentrate on StockXpert,SS,Featurepics and 123rf because the have the easiest submission process.

Check out LuckyOliver then. Great bunch of guys and their submission process is super easy (except for model releases, but they told me that they are working on that). They are also performing better than 123RF and Featurepics for me.

All the best,
Michael

[madelaide]

That's an excellent thought and might explain the poor performance of StockXpert for me! I did a very quick and dirty comparison of some of the big stock sites where I have photos and StockXpert is by far the most expensive! No wonder that my buyers go elsewhere for my photos.

I'm glad they are!  I sell few images but get more for them.  And overall they're 3rd this month for me, just 30% behind IS and DT.

Regards,
Adelaide