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Poll

What's the Average Sale Price When You Sell Direct?

$1-$5
14 (15.2%)
$6-$25
43 (46.7%)
$26-$50
11 (12%)
$51-$75
7 (7.6%)
$76-$100
4 (4.3%)
$101-250
4 (4.3%)
$251-$500
2 (2.2%)
$501-1000
2 (2.2%)
$1000+
5 (5.4%)

Total Members Voted: 83

Author Topic: Average Sale Price Selling Direct?  (Read 15863 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

« Reply #25 on: September 21, 2015, 23:04 »
+1
I doubt that you are adressing the same customers.
So your one dollar sale on your own site does not replace a subs sale anywhere, but rather a more expensive on demand sale.

Comparing what you get to subscription royalties only makes sense if you are going after the same customers - and then you need to offer subs (and need to have a very large collection with constant updates, because that is what makes subscription buyers pay a large monthly amount).

That's partially true - however, SS's entire business model is based on the fat retained from the large number of subs most people fail to download. That means, without doubt, that a majority of the profit SS makes comes from all the money these customers are paying and not using. They aren't stupid either - they are aware that all that money is being wasted. Every month an assessment is likely made. This is the first angle where we have room as independents; if enough contributors provided low cost one-time licenses, it would provide an alternative to lots of subscribers that download 100-300 images a month out of the 750 they are allocated. Again, not tomorrow, but over time.

Secondly, I believe there is a large untapped market - I believe this is the same market that Canva is targeting. They are small businesses and individuals. These are organizations that want low cost images, on demand, for one time uses in things such as online ads, blogs, and other primarily electronic uses. Symbiostock is also one of these organizations.

Look at the Symbiostock blog -

http://www.symbiostock.org/blog/

Every 'stock' image there is used from free, public domain sources. However, we would prefer to be able to shop for and use specific images for each entry. But we're not going to pay an agency a monthly or hefty fee to do so, because our needs are sporadic. We're also not going to spend $20 an image because that is too high an opportunity cost for our needs.

To understand how large this potential untapped market is, even a small example gives us large numbers: Like us, there are over 40 thousand other plugins on the WordPress platform. There are over 70 million users of these plugins - that means there are at least 70 million individual organizations or people actively running their own WordPress site. 70 million individuals actively running their own blog CMS. This is where $1 on demand sales for low resolution images has a huge potential market.

Canva is proof of it. Their designs are primarily online based as far as I know - Facebook headers, that sort of stuff. Low res, low cost, on demand. They have increased their user base 10x in the span of two years.

Symbiostock and Symzio are free - we can't make it any easier to get independents online. Install WordPress, download the plugin, upload images. If this solution existed prior to my joining Symbiostock, I'd be all over it. And I have no ulterior motives; if you want to host with us, host with us. If you don't, don't. My goal is to keep swelling our numbers so our combined footprint is larger.


Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #26 on: September 22, 2015, 09:58 »
+1
I thought the same way as Robin, and I'm just breaking even on my site, despite spending $ on marketing. So I just doubled my vector prices and raised my jpg prices even more. I'm curious to see what happens. I figure I have nothng to lose because I'm not making any money on my own site anyway.

I'm doing this because I raised my "real world" freelance writing and illustration rates 50-100% overnight and nobody batted an eye. Now I want to kick myself for undercharging all this time.

If I make the same number of sales on my Symbiostock site I'll raise prices even more.
In advertising we do price tests all the time. Sometimes raising prices makes something seem more desirable, and it sells even better. Sometimes not. So we'll see.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #27 on: September 26, 2015, 06:27 »
0
Just had my first sale at double the price. The price is higher than a single sale at SS. If my sales continue as normal I'll raise prices again. Maybe my site will actually make a little money.


« Reply #29 on: September 26, 2015, 09:12 »
0
You can't possibly police a one time use license though, unlike Canva.

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #30 on: September 26, 2015, 11:17 »
+2
Predictability is key - variance permits purchases here and there that may have nothing to do with the pricing. On the other hand, it may have everything to do with the pricing. Large scale experimentation, exactly like what you are doing, is what we need to contribute to the statistical database we have so we can make more accurate market analysis.

Based on what I've seen, most independents are pricing at over $20 for full size images, and getting few sales. There will, of course, be exceptions to that, but it is that knowledge that drives me to experiment with a new license model (one time use) at a much lower cost ($0.99 for a small, $4.99 for a full size).

This is good to know but do you know why there's a $20 max? Is it the images aren't differentiated enough from micro? Is it lack of traffic? Are they targeting specific buyers or any buyer? Other?

Getting pricing right also depends on traffic and conversion rate. Based on what I've seen so far I don't think I could get enough traffic to make $5-$20 work for me. So while I may get fewer sales, the sales at a higher price more than make up for the volume. I just had a $450 license sale. It would take 90 $5 sales to match that. Are there a decent amount of Symbio people that are getting that level of traffic to get over 90 sales in a month?

I haven't really seen any stats on independent stock sales. If you have any Symbio data you'd be willing to share I think it would be helpful. Like you said, I'm also experimenting to find the sweet spot between price and volume.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #31 on: September 26, 2015, 11:43 »
0
I agree. I don't think any of us will get the volume we need to make decent money independently at low prices. Higher prices might be the way to go. I may raise my prices again before the Xmas season kicks into high gear and see what happens. If I was making a lot of sales I might not risk it, but there's actually no risk for me at this point. So why not?

« Reply #32 on: September 26, 2015, 12:36 »
0
Predictability is key - variance permits purchases here and there that may have nothing to do with the pricing. On the other hand, it may have everything to do with the pricing. Large scale experimentation, exactly like what you are doing, is what we need to contribute to the statistical database we have so we can make more accurate market analysis.

Based on what I've seen, most independents are pricing at over $20 for full size images, and getting few sales. There will, of course, be exceptions to that, but it is that knowledge that drives me to experiment with a new license model (one time use) at a much lower cost ($0.99 for a small, $4.99 for a full size).

This is good to know but do you know why there's a $20 max? Is it the images aren't differentiated enough from micro? Is it lack of traffic? Are they targeting specific buyers or any buyer? Other?

Getting pricing right also depends on traffic and conversion rate. Based on what I've seen so far I don't think I could get enough traffic to make $5-$20 work for me. So while I may get fewer sales, the sales at a higher price more than make up for the volume. I just had a $450 license sale. It would take 90 $5 sales to match that. Are there a decent amount of Symbio people that are getting that level of traffic to get over 90 sales in a month?

I haven't really seen any stats on independent stock sales. If you have any Symbio data you'd be willing to share I think it would be helpful. Like you said, I'm also experimenting to find the sweet spot between price and volume.
PW, I wonder about this too. Based on what I see, especially those new to stock, is the general disbelief that images can be worth more than $10 or $20.

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #33 on: September 26, 2015, 13:18 »
0
Predictability is key - variance permits purchases here and there that may have nothing to do with the pricing. On the other hand, it may have everything to do with the pricing. Large scale experimentation, exactly like what you are doing, is what we need to contribute to the statistical database we have so we can make more accurate market analysis.

Based on what I've seen, most independents are pricing at over $20 for full size images, and getting few sales. There will, of course, be exceptions to that, but it is that knowledge that drives me to experiment with a new license model (one time use) at a much lower cost ($0.99 for a small, $4.99 for a full size).

This is good to know but do you know why there's a $20 max? Is it the images aren't differentiated enough from micro? Is it lack of traffic? Are they targeting specific buyers or any buyer? Other?

Getting pricing right also depends on traffic and conversion rate. Based on what I've seen so far I don't think I could get enough traffic to make $5-$20 work for me. So while I may get fewer sales, the sales at a higher price more than make up for the volume. I just had a $450 license sale. It would take 90 $5 sales to match that. Are there a decent amount of Symbio people that are getting that level of traffic to get over 90 sales in a month?

I haven't really seen any stats on independent stock sales. If you have any Symbio data you'd be willing to share I think it would be helpful. Like you said, I'm also experimenting to find the sweet spot between price and volume.
PW, I wonder about this too. Based on what I see, especially those new to stock, is the general disbelief that images can be worth more than $10 or $20.

Well, some probably wont be worth more than $10 or $20 if there's no reason for them to be worth more.

If you're selling the same images on your site as on micro then you're probably not going to be able to go much higher with price. I've removed most of my images from micro so they're only available on my site. If a buyer really wants my image, they can't get it elsewhere and I control the price.

Whenever I ask a buyer how they found me, almost every time the answer is the same. "We've looked at Getty, Istock, and Shutterstock and haven't found what we needed". So most of the time they couldn't find what they needed and were forced to do a Google search.

For anybody who wants to set up their own website I would ask what's unique about your website that buyers won't be able to get the same thing on micro or elsewhere. Unique images? Unique subject? Unique licensing? If the answer is nothing is unique then I wouldn't expect much or any sales. Some buyers have no problem paying more for the right image and those are the buyers I'm targeting.


 

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