MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: PixelBytes on August 10, 2017, 12:46

Title: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: PixelBytes on August 10, 2017, 12:46
Before anybody says the obvious, yes, I know it is not technically late til the 15th, but I have never been paid out this late in over 8 years doing business with them.  Also, in another thread, some people were already paid days ago. 

SS is a third of my total income.  I have bills waiting to be paid.  So I am trying to figure out if I've been skipped or if others are still waiting too. 

Thanks in advance to those who take the poll. :)
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: Reckless on August 10, 2017, 14:06
Do you possibly have your minimum payout set to a large figure, (from better days at Shutterstock)? 
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: rinderart on August 10, 2017, 14:19
Yes, Payments have  been erratic the past few years. I personally would never or have ever counted on Microstock as a stable Income supplier especially for bills, Even the good Old days were basically mad Money [Anyone remember when 50 DL's a day Along with $108 EL's and SODs?...was Normal]??. I do wonder why these past 10 Days of Aug 2017 have been the Best 10 Days in 5 years!!. I haven't submitted anything Much in 5 Months and don't intend to....WHY, it seems silly because it doesn't matter in My experience ...and I wrote the complete Opposite  8 /9 years ago .

I have one of those Looooong time friends with a 150,000+ Images that used to do amazing Business as he was doing perfect lifestyle and a 100% poster boy about what stock is/was with a perfect work ethic.. Shooting a Lot and Uploading a Lot was his thing and a full time Job with upload/Keyword assistants, he used to say, If ya spend more than 30 seconds trying to fix a stock Image your going Backwards and learn to shoot Like processing wasn't around [Of course he didn't do those overblown Landscapes].  He gave up a year ago but probably still makes more than most so yes....it's relative.. It became completely Not cost effective. He reminded me of early Sean , Yuri and Andres, Forgiss and so many More. Heyday Guys.

The Forums.... No ones Talking Photography/Image making  anymore Just show me's and chit Chat about Nothing. turned into Facebook in a Month.  And The critique forum is a joke and been coming for a year.I see and comment On stuff that is embarrassing to see .And.....gets approved.

So....1.2 Million on average gets approved now a week... I would pay a months commission to know how many are submitted in that Time Range....1.3 Million???LOL
And why is FT/adobe 11th on the List all of a sudden. I asked tyler and he said it was early for the poll. . the month is nearly half over and still at #11.?? whats going On.?? Canstock and Bigstock above FT?? really??

Oh well. Rant time Over.Have fun.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: Bad Company on August 10, 2017, 14:40
Yes, Payments have  been erratic the past few years. I personally would never or have ever counted on Microstock as a stable Income supplier especially for bills, Even the good Old days were basically mad Money [Anyone remember when 50 DL's a day Along with $108 EL's and SODs?...was Normal]??. I do wonder why these past 10 Days of Aug 2017 have been the Best 10 Days in 5 years!!. I haven't submitted anything Much in 5 Months and don't intend to....WHY, it seems silly because it doesn't matter in My experience ...and I wrote the complete Opposite  8 /9 years ago .

I have one of those Looooong time friends with a 150,000+ Images that used to do amazing Business as he was doing perfect lifestyle and a 100% poster boy about what stock is/was with a perfect work ethic.. Shooting a Lot and Uploading a Lot was his thing and a full time Job with upload/Keyword assistants, he used to say, If ya spend more than 30 seconds trying to fix a stock Image your going Backwards and learn to shoot Like processing wasn't around [Of course he didn't do those overblown Landscapes].  He gave up a year ago but probably still makes more than most so yes....it's relative.. It became completely Not cost effective. He reminded me of early Sean , Yuri and Andres, Forgiss and so many More. Heyday Guys.

The Forums.... No ones Talking Photography/Image making  anymore Just show me's and chit Chat about Nothing. turned into Facebook in a Month.  And The critique forum is a joke and been coming for a year.I see and comment On stuff that is embarrassing to see .And.....gets approved.

So....1.2 Million on average gets approved now a week... I would pay a months commission to know how many are submitted in that Time Range....1.3 Million???LOL
And why is FT/adobe 11th on the List all of a sudden. I asked tyler and he said it was early for the poll. . the month is nearly half over and still at #11.?? whats going On.?? Canstock and Bigstock above FT?? really??

Oh well. Rant time Over.Have fun.

The income poll had an error and FT/AS came to $0.00 for most of us. I tried to resubmit but it wouldn't allow me thus totally wrong! Not sure if the income poll works correctly now?
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: PixelBytes on August 10, 2017, 15:28

Thanks for the ones that took the poll so far.  Looks lik only a couple of us still waiting.  Wonder what's up? 

Rinder, I would respond to your post, but I don't really understand it or how it relates to the question.  I do know for sure I'm not the only one who relies on microstock and SS in particular to pay bills. Thanks for taking the poll if you did.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: leaf on August 11, 2017, 01:31
Yes, Payments have  been erratic the past few years. I personally would never or have ever counted on Microstock as a stable Income supplier especially for bills, Even the good Old days were basically mad Money [Anyone remember when 50 DL's a day Along with $108 EL's and SODs?...was Normal]??. I do wonder why these past 10 Days of Aug 2017 have been the Best 10 Days in 5 years!!. I haven't submitted anything Much in 5 Months and don't intend to....WHY, it seems silly because it doesn't matter in My experience ...and I wrote the complete Opposite  8 /9 years ago .

I have one of those Looooong time friends with a 150,000+ Images that used to do amazing Business as he was doing perfect lifestyle and a 100% poster boy about what stock is/was with a perfect work ethic.. Shooting a Lot and Uploading a Lot was his thing and a full time Job with upload/Keyword assistants, he used to say, If ya spend more than 30 seconds trying to fix a stock Image your going Backwards and learn to shoot Like processing wasn't around [Of course he didn't do those overblown Landscapes].  He gave up a year ago but probably still makes more than most so yes....it's relative.. It became completely Not cost effective. He reminded me of early Sean , Yuri and Andres, Forgiss and so many More. Heyday Guys.

The Forums.... No ones Talking Photography/Image making  anymore Just show me's and chit Chat about Nothing. turned into Facebook in a Month.  And The critique forum is a joke and been coming for a year.I see and comment On stuff that is embarrassing to see .And.....gets approved.

So....1.2 Million on average gets approved now a week... I would pay a months commission to know how many are submitted in that Time Range....1.3 Million???LOL
And why is FT/adobe 11th on the List all of a sudden. I asked tyler and he said it was early for the poll. . the month is nearly half over and still at #11.?? whats going On.?? Canstock and Bigstock above FT?? really??

Oh well. Rant time Over.Have fun.

The income poll had an error and FT/AS came to $0.00 for most of us. I tried to resubmit but it wouldn't allow me thus totally wrong! Not sure if the income poll works correctly now?

yep, it works correctly now.  A site needs 50 votes to get into the top area though.  If you hold your mouse over a site (like AdobeStock for example) you can see they would be right after Shutterstock.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: leaf on August 11, 2017, 01:32

Thanks for the ones that took the poll so far.  Looks lik only a couple of us still waiting.  Wonder what's up? 

Rinder, I would respond to your post, but I don't really understand it or how it relates to the question.  I do know for sure I'm not the only one who relies on microstock and SS in particular to pay bills. Thanks for taking the poll if you did.

Same here PixelBytes.  Stock photography has been my only income source for the last 9 years... unfortunately I'm afraid that is soon going to change.  It's been a fun ride.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: derek on August 11, 2017, 10:02

Thanks for the ones that took the poll so far.  Looks lik only a couple of us still waiting.  Wonder what's up? 

Rinder, I would respond to your post, but I don't really understand it or how it relates to the question.  I do know for sure I'm not the only one who relies on microstock and SS in particular to pay bills. Thanks for taking the poll if you did.

Same here PixelBytes.  Stock photography has been my only income source for the last 9 years... unfortunately I'm afraid that is soon going to change.  It's been a fun ride.


Well somebody else in another private forum all professional stock photographers and all relying heavily on stock made a comment or rather an explanation of whats been happening!
Almost all full-time stock photographers are down some 50% and I am talking about some people with ports of 50K images plus!  BUT!  the very second youre a conglomerate of photographers of 150K images plus or a distributor you are not even down 1%  but up!

Might tell you something Tyler!  of course he might be wrong but the way things are going at SS in particular I doubt it.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: angelawaye on August 11, 2017, 10:47
I rely on micro income to pay the bills ... but the ship is sinking. I need to find another source of revenue before the ship sinks and I drown.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: derek on August 11, 2017, 12:24
I rely on micro income to pay the bills ... but the ship is sinking. I need to find another source of revenue before the ship sinks and I drown.

How about joining a ship-rescue team! ;D.   yeah its all over with SS!  now they have cut my remaining 50% into half making it 25%. I'm going all into macro Rm/Rf agencies. Game over!
Next step will be how do I pull almost 7000 images?? pugh!
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: angelawaye on August 11, 2017, 12:58
I'm only with 1 macro agency (arcangel) and it is hard to keep uploading when I haven't see any sales yet. They say to keep uploading ...

Offset didn't want me and I don't really know where else to go.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: wordplanet on August 11, 2017, 13:13
Got paid on the 7th.

Pixelbytes, hope you see it show up for you soon. Tough freelancing - it's often feast or famine, but you should still be able to rely on a reasonable base. Maybe you can change your bill due dates to after the 15th? A lot of credit card companies let you change your dates. Good luck. Hope it keeps being enough to pay the bills for you.
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: Bad Company on August 11, 2017, 13:25
I rely on micro income to pay the bills ... but the ship is sinking. I need to find another source of revenue before the ship sinks and I drown.

How about joining a ship-rescue team! ;D.   yeah its all over with SS!  now they have cut my remaining 50% into half making it 25%. I'm going all into macro Rm/Rf agencies. Game over!
Next step will be how do I pull almost 7000 images?? pugh!

Just watched this video on photographers- it's brutal on the reality of our profession....

https://petapixel.com/2016/06/28/nobody-cares-photography/
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: PixelBytes on August 11, 2017, 23:32
FINALLY GOT PAID!!!  Late today.  Thank for those sharing their situations.  Its really too bad this business isnt working for the independent photographers who built it.  The original ideas came from the one man shops, then the factories mass produced them to the point where they oversaturated the market.  All with the help and encouragement of the big agencies.

Tyler, sorry to hear you are going to have to look for other work soon.  Me too.  I don't make enough to pay all my bills anymore,  but still rely on micro earnings for two weeks a month and other earnings for the alternate two.  Thanks to SS being slow I have to push some credit cards to next week and keep fingers crossed they get paid in time.  Need some Rx's filled and they have to wait too.

This sucks!  5 years ago I was doing great!  Times they are a changin'.

To the others who haven't gotten paid yet, I hope you do real soon.  If not, feel free to post here about it.  May not get you paid, but at least you can get some moral support.

Anyway, thanks for all the great replies and contributions to the discussion.   :)
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: derek on August 12, 2017, 02:42
Pixelbites and Tyler!  I really feel for you guys its not a fun situation and I can imagine is a right downer having to look for other avenues of incomes. I do lots om commissioned work dayrate photography so why dont you try the same a few jobs here and there and it pays handsomely!

If there is any consolation in a few years time when agencies are beginning to lack of high commercial value files etc. There is a vast difference between the everyday part timer and the full time photographer having to and forced to produce good quality material.  They will feel that and the Rm/Rf agencies will by then have taken back what was once their playground. Micro-stock have had a good 12-14 years a good run actually but now its drying up quickly its not even worth uploading anymore just to never ever see the uploads selling! :)
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: Pauws99 on August 12, 2017, 05:04
Although apparently "conglomerates" of photographers are doing very nicely so they are not likely to stop any time soon  :-\
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: derek on August 12, 2017, 07:13
Although apparently "conglomerates" of photographers are doing very nicely so they are not likely to stop any time soon  :-\

Only the giant conglomerates not the smaller factories with around 50,60K images, theyre doing terrible as do the distributors. I know a hole heap of them! dreadful!
Title: Re: Have you received July SS payout yet?
Post by: YadaYadaYada on August 13, 2017, 21:01

Thanks for the ones that took the poll so far.  Looks lik only a couple of us still waiting.  Wonder what's up? 

Rinder, I would respond to your post, but I don't really understand it or how it relates to the question.  I do know for sure I'm not the only one who relies on microstock and SS in particular to pay bills. Thanks for taking the poll if you did.

Doesn't usually relate to anything current anymore except complaining about what used to be. Most of us have moved on and into the changes that the market has caused. Sure I'd like it to be the way it was.

Living in the past is futility, clinging to what was, instead of growing with what is and will be, into the future.

Pay takes until Monday many times, when it's cycled through on a weekend. Some will get money on Monday, it's not like dropping 40,000 payments at once and crashing PayPal.