MicrostockGroup

Hi,
Several months ago i started uploading vector images to vectorstock.com. The beggining was slow. But now it is getting better and better with earnings there. The commisions at first were 0,25 dollar for one image sale. But when i reached 500 downloads mark (bronze level) - commisions became 0,30. Sales aren't big, but stable and growing up steadily. i guess soon i will reach 50 usd/month mark there.
In this blog i see mostly negative comments about this site because of small vector price, small sales... But anyway i guess it is not so bad there because i see a lot of new vector artists in vectorstock. I even noticed one of the best microstock illustrators Anja Kaiser there.
How is Your experience with vectorstock.com? Are You happy with Your earnings?

Vectorstock is slowly improving on some of the things that bothered me about the site a while back. Pricing is still on the low end, but they are receptive to requests to change prices that you feel are too low. It's also not hard to move up the levels pretty quickly, getting you past that introductory 25% level and into some more respectable percentages in not much time.

They're still the only site that I really limit my uploads at, at least until I hit that 40% level. Even that that level, $3 is still going to be a bit too low for some stuff. I'd be more inclined to upload everything if I saw some images hit the 5 credit level. And really I don't see why they don't do that. At that pricing level, they're still cheaper than most places.

I'd suggest that everyone contact them to discuss pricing on your 1 credit files. Vectorstock could become a good mid-tier site for illustrators if they can fix some of the pricing issues. And I think the best way to encourage them to keep pushing prices into an area that more fairly prices our work while remaining competitive for buyers is to reach out to them, ask for price changes, and explain why you're asking.

I agree with Cory. If they get any more of my images (I only have 12 there right now) it will be the ones that don't sell hardly at all on the higher paying sites. Even then I'll wait six months to a year.

However, those images I do have there sell fairly well considering the port size. If they were to raise their prices or let me choose the pricing I would definitely consider them as a worthwhile site to upload to. Until that point there are quite a few other sites that I would rather spend my time on.

@Helix- Do you know if are they receptive to setting a minimum price for a particular artists portfolio and then have all future uploads start at that price?

Don't like them at all, they price pretty much everything at the lowest $1 level.

I think contributors should make rational decisions as to where they upload images. If you're not happy with the site - don't upload there. If you do vectors, naturally Vectorstock seems like the logical place to go, but even a site like Fotolia, that has been criticised for lowering prices, is paying four times more for a vector image than Vectorstock. I guess you can always give the stuff away, but your also warping the business for the rest of us.

If they improved the pricing policies I would tempted to upload some images.

I don't think they'll dilute sales anywhere else since they're vector-only. Most of the competition is photos and vectors at the very least, many also offering video, some audio, etc. I don't see many SS subscribers jumping ship to a vector-only site. I'm guessing that most SS buyers are there for photos, vectors, video, some for all three, but most for at least photos and vectors.


The funny thing is that they seem very receptive to price changes on a case-by-case basis. Every image I've asked them to change the price on, they've done it, no questions asked. And my sales haven't suffered there a bit. In fact, January was my BME there by a lot.

I think at this point their default minimum price should be 3 credits. Everyone would benefit, including them.

I agree. I shop there. I do hope they reward the artists more, but still keep the prices somewhat reasonable for the small buyers. While the prices are low, I am more comfortable buying something for mock-up purposes, even if I might not end up using it. Similar to what I used to do at iStock before they increased the credits value of the images and the price of credits. The prices may be low, but I think the volume purchased is often higher when that is the case.

Vectorstock is rubbish..

Only way I would upload my port there is if they were pricing the vectors at $10..

I asked them that: If they would consider pricing my vectors at $10 so I can upload them.. Apparently it is not in their interest.. It is obvious to me that they want suckers.. I am not one of them..