Author Topic: Shutter Stock Sales Drop (Read 18146 times)

pixel8 · « **on:** June 28, 2016, 21:59 »

So I am going to lay it all out since I am experiencing a huge decline in sales. For the last three years I have been making same amount every month on ShutterStock. I hit the last earning tier at the end of year one. Once I made it to the last earning tier I hit a Wall or Ceiling. No matter how many photos I uploaded at that point till the present my earnings did not increase, so for two years I have more than doubled my portfolio but have seen no increase in earnings. In fact for the last several months it was starting to decline slowly but last month and this month I have seen over a third of my earnings drop.

I did not submit as many photos the last few months and I am wondering if that is part of the problem? I am feeling discouraged to take any more photos as it seems pointless to take a ton of photos only to have sales decline.

It would be easy to say that maybe I am taking photos that are not sellers but my new photos sell just like my photos when I first started out and made it to the last earning tier, so it seems like maybe the older photos are just falling off into the abyss with only the most successful ones hanging on.

Any thoughts on this?

Much appreciated!

pixel8 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 28, 2016, 22:06 »

I make my entire living with stock photography so a third in income disappearing in two months is very alarming.

stockmarketer · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2016, 22:16 »

You're probably not doing anything wrong. You just hit the wall. You clearly know what to create... if you hit the top earning tier after one year in microstock, you have an eye for high commercial value images. The problem is, you simply can't increase your port at the rate SS and the other micros are expanding their collections. They're rising exponentially and there's no way to keep up. Your situation sounds the exact same as mine. Very, very discouraging.

angelawaye · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2016, 22:21 »

I'm in the same boat if that makes you feel better but have been doing this since 2008. It is very alarming that no matter how much I upload, I actually make less. No new files selling ...

SS was the only one I uploaded to for the past year but now I am uploading to the others. My new files won't see the light of day at SS with all the new files being flooded into the stream.

ijansempoi · « **Reply #4 on:** June 29, 2016, 00:31 »

Seems like the stock photo trend is over saturated and perhaps many stock photographers will die a slow death. The pool of buyers are the same while there are many more people uploading. Change , innovate or die..

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #5 on:** June 29, 2016, 00:47 »

I'm a small part-time player, but what I see with SS is that the download numbers aren't too bad but it's the money that's decreasing. All those high value SOD sales that used to make a big difference in the earnings. That's a harder problem for a contributor to fix (without branching out to other agencies) than the download numbers tanking.

When I compare a month this year with last year I'm seeing roughly comparable downloads and about $150 less in cash

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #6 on:** June 29, 2016, 00:52 »

$200 less per month, yesterday i had 9 subs and 1 odd out of thousands of images, new images dont sell at all, i see images approved and on page 5 within minutes, adding 1 million images per week. ridiculous. how do these factories stay in business anyway

Ariene · « **Reply #7 on:** June 29, 2016, 01:18 »

In this sad situation it's still good to know it's now only me.
SS was my last micro agency where I had my images to sell (I moved to PODs, self pricing and macros) and in the end of '14 I noticed that it doesn't matter if I upload zero or hundreds new files - income was at the same level and later even falling down month by month. So in '15 I finally stopped uploading there anything. It still did not change anything in income, lol. Slowly going down just like when I was uploading every week or few days. No matter.
SS was my best earner and now it's at the end of list as it gives only some peanuts every month (still get payments but it's 1/5 of what I had a year or two before). Pointless to spend time and hard work on uploading here. In my group of friends the same scene lately - everyone asking what is going on. Is this the end of micros?

Mantis · « **Reply #8 on:** June 29, 2016, 07:58 »

In the last 16 months I've added about 1200 videos to my 3800 image collection. My income in SS is the same now as it was then. So I can conclude one of two things:

1. Without adding those videos (I do have video sales) I would have a significant sales drop (roughly 25%, or $200 a month).

2. As many have speculated, if sales are somehow capped or controlled, that could also explain a lot. Whether this is the case or a simple conspiracy tone (I have zero proof of this other than my sales have capped no matter how many new assets I add) I cannot grow my sales at SS.

I do wonder what my sales would look like if I would have created a new account for my videos and kept them separate from my still account. Would I be at $500 a month with video, $750 or still $200?

Water under the bridge now, but I do reflect on this quite often.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 29, 2016, 08:27 »

Last summer I took the entire summer off—I uploaded nothing for 3 months. My earnings were the same as the summer before. This summer I decided to increase my earnings and have been uploading almost daily...and watching my sales plummet instead of grow. I hit the wall in January, and no matter what I do my sales take hit after hit.

The search for most popular at SS has gotten stranger and stranger. First page 2 became page 1 and got stuck that way. More recently if you go past page 3 in most popular it's just random sets of multiple similar images which cannot possibly be popular. Entire series of photos from the same shoot at slightly different angles, or simple vector icons in different colors. Images of mine that have sold are somehow less popular than more recent images that have never sold.

I don't know what they're doing with the search, but it is not helping my sales, and I don't see how it can be helping their sales overall either.

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #10 on:** June 29, 2016, 08:33 »

morning, well, i think its down to the number of images and ever growing contributor base, more people at the table, same amount of food

Tror · « **Reply #11 on:** June 29, 2016, 08:38 »

Same here. I usually add about 300 images per week and sales are still down. First we contributors get hit, but the Agencies will start struggling as well at some point: too much infrastructure to maintain too much mediocre content. I wonder if they ever thought beyond their crowd sourced content-kamikaze strategy.....

Mr Nobody · « **Reply #12 on:** June 29, 2016, 08:48 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 29, 2016, 00:47

I'm a small part-time player, but what I see with SS is that the download numbers aren't too bad but it's the money that's decreasing. All those high value SOD sales that used to make a big difference in the earnings. That's a harder problem for a contributor to fix (without branching out to other agencies) than the download numbers tanking.

When I compare a month this year with last year I'm seeing roughly comparable downloads and about $150 less in cash

well stated! I am in the same boat! Same amount of downloads (even a little bit more) but less $$$.

LDV81 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 29, 2016, 09:07 »

Yes, uploading doesn't seem to make much difference in my case as well.

Microstock is so 2012, now it is not about having a stock portfolio, but all about having "a feed", please excuse this word. Followers are the new downloads. Reach a million followers and you achieve Nirvana. Then monetize your followers.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #14 on:** June 29, 2016, 12:49 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 29, 2016, 00:47

I'm a small part-time player, but what I see with SS is that the download numbers aren't too bad but it's the money that's decreasing. All those high value SOD sales that used to make a big difference in the earnings. That's a harder problem for a contributor to fix (without branching out to other agencies) than the download numbers tanking.

When I compare a month this year with last year I'm seeing roughly comparable downloads and about $150 less in cash

once again , like a scratched vinyl i agree with you .
i think it was stockastic who also said what i experienced too , ie. for months we had those large single 28 to 102 dollars earnings, but it stangely looked like there was some kind of flipswitch
controlling our earnings.
so that, as soon as i hit xxxx dls average per month, my earning seems to reach a plateau.
or it also works the other way, when i get a large single earning , say 85 dollars,
and it has already pushed me into the mark of my average monthly payout,
i suddenly see the rest of the month with zero dls.

even if i uploaded another thousand new images, this does not change.
it is as if ss places a level across so that everyone makes money,..
depending on some criteria , one may always make 40 dollars or 100 dls ,..
and the other may make 3,000 dollars or 1,500 dls .
and you don't see it moving far from that margin.

Minsc · « **Reply #15 on:** June 29, 2016, 15:07 »

These guys currently occupy a good portion of the most popular images on SS:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2117717p1.html

If your image sales are down, these guys probably have something to do with it. IMO, they have one of the best overall mircostock portfolio on SS and they're targeting some of the most popular categories. Studios like these are one of the reasons why sales are down for many people.

There is no conspiracy. There is escalating competition. I've seen some of my popular images stopped getting downloads because someone has a better image than me. At that point, the only option I have was create something better. My downloads continue increase month over month (Hit a new BME today), so don't see any artificial cap on downloads/earnings per day.

Mr Nobody · « **Reply #16 on:** June 29, 2016, 16:48 »

Quote from: Minsc on June 29, 2016, 15:07

These guys currently occupy a good portion of the most popular images on SS:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2117717p1.html

If your image sales are down, these guys probably have something to do with it. IMO, they have one of the best overall mircostock portfolio on SS and they're targeting some of the most popular categories. Studios like these are one of the reasons why sales are down for many people.

There is no conspiracy. There is escalating competition. I've seen some of my popular images stopped getting downloads because someone has a better image than me. At that point, the only option I have was create something better. My downloads continue increase month over month (Hit a new BME today), so don't see any artificial cap on downloads/earnings per day.

What a factory! I wouldn't be surprised if they have 20 photographers working in that group. Similar to Africa studios. Major machines for sure!

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #17 on:** June 29, 2016, 16:52 »

That lifestyle portfolio is very nice (if a bit repetitive), but that's irrelevant to the point that some of us were making. Downloads are not decreasing - it's the money that is. Money change has nothing to do with increased competition.

On a slight tangent, some contributors are apparently getting desperate to boost sales:

I noticed something today which is either the entrepreneurial spirit in full bloom, or the sad abdication of any long term care over their library by Shutterstock: A vector contributor has started adding "Good Vector", "Best Vector Ever", "Best Seller", and "Exeptional Vector" icons to the uploaded work. And that's the contributor's spelling, not my typo.

It seems to me completely unfair to customers that they have to remove this trash from their vectors prior to using them. It's not much work, admittedly, but it's still rude behavior and I don't think SS should permit this type of stuff.

Not to mention labeling many vectors in your portfolio "Best Vector Ever" suggests you don't really understand what you've written.

I won't post a link, but if you search for "carrot flat organic ripe" in vectors, you'll see one example of a "Best Vector Ever"

And if you do a search for "camera dslr hipster flat icon photographic" in vectors, you'll see two examples of another contributor's work with the text "FREE VECTOR" at the top. In that person's portfolio, there's page after page with that label on them.

This isn't placeholder text and at the very least it's misleading buyers (who might think this vector was part of the weekly giveaway SS does).

It's pretty depressing to see SS just let itself go like that.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #18 on:** June 29, 2016, 17:21 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 29, 2016, 16:52

That lifestyle portfolio is very nice (if a bit repetitive), but that's irrelevant to the point that some of us were making. Downloads are not decreasing - it's the money that is. Money change has nothing to do with increased competition.

+10

it's also a bit contradicting to what ss is messaging us...
eg. on one hand there is a premier that tells us, we want you to be unique and do something different
otoh, there is this factory of repetitive lifestyle port
and on yet another, there is the lowering to removal of 7/10 to qualify as a contributor
to say, send in your junk, we want junk..
and as evident , we see so many new contributors with work that should not have even been
approved, in terms of composition, exposure, lighting, and repetitives of marijuana , flowers,apple,
etc
and again, older contributors getting stranger review rejections with "poor composition,
wrong wb, LCV, OOF,etc.." things that would have been more expected of newbies
who would not have passed the old 7/10.

it's almost as if ss is being run by some rich old controlling shareholders half-wit son
who spend half his time playing video game and the other half letting in all his pot photographing
relatives or just the guy selling pot down the street.

something we would not have expect ss to do before they went public
and before they removed the 7/10
and last to say, the lower of payout to 35 dollars.

that alone says it all, "expect to earn far less for the same amount of dl".

Minsc · « **Reply #19 on:** June 29, 2016, 17:33 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 29, 2016, 16:52

That lifestyle portfolio is very nice (if a bit repetitive), but that's irrelevant to the point that some of us were making. Downloads are not decreasing - it's the money that is. Money change has nothing to do with increased competition.

On a slight tangent, some contributors are apparently getting desperate to boost sales:

I noticed something today which is either the entrepreneurial spirit in full bloom, or the sad abdication of any long term care over their library by Shutterstock: A vector contributor has started adding "Good Vector", "Best Vector Ever", "Best Seller", and "Exeptional Vector" icons to the uploaded work. And that's the contributor's spelling, not my typo.

It seems to me completely unfair to customers that they have to remove this trash from their vectors prior to using them. It's not much work, admittedly, but it's still rude behavior and I don't think SS should permit this type of stuff.

Not to mention labeling many vectors in your portfolio "Best Vector Ever" suggests you don't really understand what you've written.

I won't post a link, but if you search for "carrot flat organic ripe" in vectors, you'll see one example of a "Best Vector Ever"

And if you do a search for "camera dslr hipster flat icon photographic" in vectors, you'll see two examples of another contributor's work with the text "FREE VECTOR" at the top. In that person's portfolio, there's page after page with that label on them.

This isn't placeholder text and at the very least it's misleading buyers (who might think this vector was part of the weekly giveaway SS does).

It's pretty depressing to see SS just let itself go like that.

While the OP wasn't specific, I believe his decline is related to both revenue and download numbers. It seems like there are more and more subscriptions, which leads to lower overall OD/SOD downloads for some contributors. If download numbers are going down, it's likely has to do with competition.

I've seen a lot of those type of vectors you mentioned. I don't believe his "free vectors" are getting much downloads since they're clumped together in his portfolio. SS should enforce them a bit, but at the same time, the contributor is doing a disservice to himself by making his work look cheap.

pixel8 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 29, 2016, 19:41 »

Quote from: Minsc on June 29, 2016, 15:07

These guys currently occupy a good portion of the most popular images on SS:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2117717p1.html

If your image sales are down, these guys probably have something to do with it. IMO, they have one of the best overall mircostock portfolio on SS and they're targeting some of the most popular categories. Studios like these are one of the reasons why sales are down for many people.

There is no conspiracy. There is escalating competition. I've seen some of my popular images stopped getting downloads because someone has a better image than me. At that point, the only option I have was create something better. My downloads continue increase month over month (Hit a new BME today), so don't see any artificial cap on downloads/earnings per day.

That is an insane amount of photos I don't understand why they even submit to SS and not just promote their own site as a stock site in competition with SS and IS. I can't keep up with that machine.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #21 on:** June 29, 2016, 19:57 »

Quote from: pixel8 on June 29, 2016, 19:41

Quote from: Minsc on June 29, 2016, 15:07
These guys currently occupy a good portion of the most popular images on SS:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2117717p1.html

If your image sales are down, these guys probably have something to do with it. IMO, they have one of the best overall mircostock portfolio on SS and they're targeting some of the most popular categories. Studios like these are one of the reasons why sales are down for many people.

There is no conspiracy. There is escalating competition. I've seen some of my popular images stopped getting downloads because someone has a better image than me. At that point, the only option I have was create something better. My downloads continue increase month over month (Hit a new BME today), so don't see any artificial cap on downloads/earnings per day.

That is an insane amount of photos I don't understand why they even submit to SS and not just promote their own site as a stock site in competition with SS and IS. I can't keep up with that machine.

Totally true.

Although, if you sort by newest, you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them.

pixel8 · « **Reply #22 on:** June 29, 2016, 23:15 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on June 29, 2016, 19:57

Totally true.

Although, if you sort by newest, you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them.

Please explain what you mean "you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them."

Michael Lancaster · « **Reply #23 on:** June 30, 2016, 01:37 »

I guess he mean you take your old photos, literally add some "cool/smart" words on them and re-upload them as new images/compositions.
You do the designers work in advance.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #24 on:** June 30, 2016, 07:36 »

Quote from: pixel8 on June 29, 2016, 23:15

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on June 29, 2016, 19:57

Totally true.

Although, if you sort by newest, you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them.

Please explain what you mean "you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them."

Sort that portfolio by newest, and you'll see.

angelawaye · « **Reply #25 on:** June 30, 2016, 09:02 »

It is a * good thing I don't shoot this type of imagery! I would give up with that kind of competition - haha

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #26 on:** June 30, 2016, 09:58 »

Quote from: pixel8 on June 29, 2016, 19:41

Quote from: Minsc on June 29, 2016, 15:07
These guys currently occupy a good portion of the most popular images on SS:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2117717p1.html

If your image sales are down, these guys probably have something to do with it. IMO, they have one of the best overall mircostock portfolio on SS and they're targeting some of the most popular categories. Studios like these are one of the reasons why sales are down for many people.

There is no conspiracy. There is escalating competition. I've seen some of my popular images stopped getting downloads because someone has a better image than me. At that point, the only option I have was create something better. My downloads continue increase month over month (Hit a new BME today), so don't see any artificial cap on downloads/earnings per day.

That is an insane amount of photos I don't understand why they even submit to SS and not just promote their own site as a stock site in competition with SS and IS. I can't keep up with that machine.

good point. if you have enough ppl to produce that many like a factory, you would in fact be better off starting your own agency, giving all your factory products the top ranking and top search
and you can still under ss and still end up being ahead in the books.
plus, you get to deduct all your expenses as be CEO too.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #27 on:** June 30, 2016, 18:07 »

Worst month in more than 3 years, worst June since 2011.

NitorPhoto · « **Reply #28 on:** July 01, 2016, 10:27 »

This is definitely an unfair behavior what should be punished and the images removed by SS. It is 100% clear the contributor tries to fool the customers by this little dirty trick. Disgusting.

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 29, 2016, 16:52

I noticed something today which is either the entrepreneurial spirit in full bloom, or the sad abdication of any long term care over their library by Shutterstock: A vector contributor has started adding "Good Vector", "Best Vector Ever", "Best Seller", and "Exeptional Vector" icons to the uploaded work. And that's the contributor's spelling, not my typo.

It seems to me completely unfair to customers that they have to remove this trash from their vectors prior to using them. It's not much work, admittedly, but it's still rude behavior and I don't think SS should permit this type of stuff.

Not to mention labeling many vectors in your portfolio "Best Vector Ever" suggests you don't really understand what you've written.

everest · « **Reply #29 on:** July 01, 2016, 10:54 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on June 30, 2016, 07:36

Quote from: pixel8 on June 29, 2016, 23:15
Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on June 29, 2016, 19:57

Totally true.

Although, if you sort by newest, you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them.

Please explain what you mean "you can just take your existing images and add words on top of them."

Sort that portfolio by newest, and you'll see.

nice way to self destroy a portfolio.......really weird stuff this mega factories do.....

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #30 on:** July 01, 2016, 11:06 »

Quote from: NitorPhoto on July 01, 2016, 10:27

This is definitely an unfair behavior what should be punished and the images removed by SS. It is 100% clear the contributor tries to fool the customers by this little dirty trick. Disgusting.

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 29, 2016, 16:52

I noticed something today which is either the entrepreneurial spirit in full bloom, or the sad abdication of any long term care over their library by Shutterstock: A vector contributor has started adding "Good Vector", "Best Vector Ever", "Best Seller", and "Exeptional Vector" icons to the uploaded work. And that's the contributor's spelling, not my typo.

It seems to me completely unfair to customers that they have to remove this trash from their vectors prior to using them. It's not much work, admittedly, but it's still rude behavior and I don't think SS should permit this type of stuff.

Not to mention labeling many vectors in your portfolio "Best Vector Ever" suggests you don't really understand what you've written.

alas, ss is too busy penalizing ordinary folks like you and me on spamming words
blaming all of us , even the ones who is not guilty.
even had a reviewer reject me for grammar error which was non-existent
... so where was this diligence-beast of burden when they were really needed?

Astonished · « **Reply #31 on:** July 01, 2016, 13:02 »

June 16 sales is just at 20% of June 15. It's getting ridiculous

pixel8 · « **Reply #32 on:** July 01, 2016, 18:18 »

Today was a bad day, I swear if july is going to be worse than June then it might be time to put my 4000 portfolio of popular images online at full res for free and let Karma take care of the rest! Hopefully it was due to outages at SS today but I am not so sure thats it.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #33 on:** July 01, 2016, 20:26 »

Quote from: pixel8 on July 01, 2016, 18:18

Today was a bad day, I swear if july is going to be worse than June then it might be time to put my 4000 portfolio of popular images online at full res for free and let Karma take care of the rest! Hopefully it was due to outages at SS today but I am not so sure thats it.

Sorry you had a bad day, but it's a holiday in Canada and the lead up to a 3-day holiday weekend in the US on top of Fridays being slow weekdays in general.

Of course I could just be feeling a little less gloomy about SS because they e-mailed me about an EL purchase this morning (I opted out when they cut rates) and as it was for $28 I let them process it.

For June, downloads were up 4% over 2015, but $$ were down 36% - almost all relating to SODs all but vanishing. I can't see how the subscription business can possibly make up for the siphoning off of the SODs to keep the larger contributors happy (which is what I assume they're doing with Premier Select; I have no information whatever to back that guess up).

Minsc · « **Reply #34 on:** July 01, 2016, 22:57 »

Quote from: pixel8 on July 01, 2016, 18:18

Today was a bad day, I swear if july is going to be worse than June then it might be time to put my 4000 portfolio of popular images online at full res for free and let Karma take care of the rest! Hopefully it was due to outages at SS today but I am not so sure thats it.

July 4th weekend. Most people were off today. Personally, sales are down 20%, but that's expected.

If you have 4000 images and sales are declining, consider re-keywording some of your images.

heywoody · « **Reply #35 on:** July 02, 2016, 05:38 »

Statistically my RPI has fallen by 50% over 3 years due to simple supply & demand. From that it's reasonable to infer that, to keep earnings static, it's necessary to double your portfolio every three years. Doubling it quicker results in earning going up but, while doubling port size in the beginning is easy it's gonna become impossible after a few years. The time needed to double port size is also gonna decrease as the choice for buyers is growing so fast.

In the long term, supplying MS sites is really not a viable business

OM · « **Reply #36 on:** July 02, 2016, 06:44 »

Quote from: Minsc on June 29, 2016, 15:07

These guys currently occupy a good portion of the most popular images on SS:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2117717p1.html

If your image sales are down, these guys probably have something to do with it. IMO, they have one of the best overall mircostock portfolio on SS and they're targeting some of the most popular categories. Studios like these are one of the reasons why sales are down for many people.

There is no conspiracy. There is escalating competition. I've seen some of my popular images stopped getting downloads because someone has a better image than me. At that point, the only option I have was create something better. My downloads continue increase month over month (Hit a new BME today), so don't see any artificial cap on downloads/earnings per day.

Interesting thing about that factory (and I've seen others that do it too) if you click on their 'about' on that contributor page, their website is not so much a web site as their own stock agency using their SS page as a link. I didn't look further but I'll bet that their prices for ODDs' packages are better than those of SS. Maybe these guys and others are taking the business in ODDs, SODs and ELs away from SS which could also be a reason for declining earnings for other contributors.

Mantis · « **Reply #37 on:** July 02, 2016, 08:15 »

Quote from: Minsc on July 01, 2016, 22:57

Quote from: pixel8 on July 01, 2016, 18:18
Today was a bad day, I swear if july is going to be worse than June then it might be time to put my 4000 portfolio of popular images online at full res for free and let Karma take care of the rest! Hopefully it was due to outages at SS today but I am not so sure thats it.

July 4th weekend. Most people were off today. Personally, sales are down 20%, but that's expected.

If you have 4000 images and sales are declining, consider re-keywording some of your images.

When the SS email came out I started looking at my accepted images starting in late 2006. I've gotten so much better at key wording today, and am in fact going to go through all of my older images and cleaning the keywords......albeit taking my time and not panicking against a 2-3 week timeline. I've already plowed through 100 images in a few hours.

OM · « **Reply #38 on:** July 02, 2016, 08:38 »

I have to wonder whether re-kewording old images that are so far down the sort order is going to make any difference to their sales. I've done it with a few old and even not-so-old images but it seems to have no effect. Time and number of sales within a short time on the site seem to be the most important factors for a good position in search.

Mantis · « **Reply #39 on:** July 02, 2016, 08:41 »

Quote from: OM on July 02, 2016, 08:38

I have to wonder whether re-kewording old images that are so far down the sort order is going to make any difference to their sales. I've done it with a few old and even not-so-old images but it seems to have no effect. Time and number of sales within a short time on the site seem to be the most important factors for a good position in search.

Totally possible and highly probable. Just gives me something to do this weekend.

Minsc · « **Reply #40 on:** July 02, 2016, 11:30 »

Quote from: Mantis on July 02, 2016, 08:15

Quote from: Minsc on July 01, 2016, 22:57
Quote from: pixel8 on July 01, 2016, 18:18
Today was a bad day, I swear if july is going to be worse than June then it might be time to put my 4000 portfolio of popular images online at full res for free and let Karma take care of the rest! Hopefully it was due to outages at SS today but I am not so sure thats it.

July 4th weekend. Most people were off today. Personally, sales are down 20%, but that's expected.

If you have 4000 images and sales are declining, consider re-keywording some of your images.

When the SS email came out I started looking at my accepted images starting in late 2006. I've gotten so much better at key wording today, and am in fact going to go through all of my older images and cleaning the keywords......albeit taking my time and not panicking against a 2-3 week timeline. I've already plowed through 100 images in a few hours.

That's great. When I first uploaded, I used the shutterstock keywording tool a lot as a clutch. It turned out to be fairly ineffective when competing against established images because there is nothing unique about your keywording.

I went back and re-keyworded my earlier images and sales started trickling in for them.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #41 on:** July 02, 2016, 15:43 »

Quote from: OM on July 02, 2016, 08:38

I have to wonder whether re-kewording old images that are so far down the sort order is going to make any difference to their sales. I've done it with a few old and even not-so-old images but it seems to have no effect. Time and number of sales within a short time on the site seem to be the most important factors for a good position in search.

highly doubtful, as rewording is not going to change your search position.
you are better off submitting new images .
also, if they are older images, you were likely to be in a mindset of what sold at that time,
and times have changed since then, at least for me,
and i see what was selling before is no longer selling today,

except for those that were selling well initially...
as they are still selling daily because of their placement on page 1 first row.

andy_arden · « **Reply #42 on:** July 05, 2016, 05:27 »

anyone having issues? with over 45k files i do good but after the day with the infamous mail from them my sales droped to half. i have also recived the "sorry" e-mail and i don't have a single image that spams their site. so anyone with sudden low sales?

Groman · « **Reply #43 on:** July 05, 2016, 05:35 »

Quote from: andy_arden on July 05, 2016, 05:27

anyone having issues? with over 45k files i do good but after the day with the infamous mail from them my sales droped to half. i have also recived the "sorry" e-mail and i don't have a single image that spams their site. so anyone with sudden low sales?

Yes! me too. Very low sales.

captain · « **Reply #44 on:** July 06, 2016, 01:43 »

bad sales on Shutterstock as well.

I decided to stop uploading new photo there.After this month,my download can reach the top tier level and no interest to upload any more new contents there.

Stockmaan · « **Reply #45 on:** July 06, 2016, 03:56 »

Quote from: Groman on July 05, 2016, 05:35

Quote from: andy_arden on July 05, 2016, 05:27
anyone having issues? with over 45k files i do good but after the day with the infamous mail from them my sales droped to half. i have also recived the "sorry" e-mail and i don't have a single image that spams their site. so anyone with sudden low sales?

Yes! me too. Very low sales.

Last 20 hours no sales.
Yes me too! Over 35 sales every day now only 10-15???

Dirima · « **Reply #46 on:** July 07, 2016, 01:56 »

Hi to all, I can also confirm your claims;
I have been suffering a progresive declination in sales and about a 30% income during last year with an alarmating lack of Ods and Enhance downloads. Since the last SS email the drop is bigger this week, entering in the ridiculous zone.
By other hand Fotolia and 123rf are rising to me.

skyfish · « **Reply #47 on:** July 07, 2016, 02:08 »

Everything is frozen from yesterday.

Chichikov · « **Reply #48 on:** July 07, 2016, 02:29 »

This year I have uploaded a lot of images, almost 35% of my portfolio has been uploaded this last 12 months.

My sales are still growing, very slowly but enough regularly.
The strange thing is that they are not growing because I am selling the new images, they are growing because I am selling more my "old" works…

I can't understand why.

Groman · « **Reply #49 on:** July 07, 2016, 02:33 »

My earning falling like a poisoned fly.

The buyers go to another agency because the shuttetstock portfolio it's bulk of crap.
I make new 50 new vectors, accapted in monday, and i sell nothing from them. I am realy Angry and frustrated
I stopped uploading the new pictures.
We sould boycott, stop the uploading the quality pictures, even the spammers, are there.
I belive the problem is the: tons of crap in the shutterstock.

Stockmaan · « **Reply #50 on:** July 07, 2016, 04:27 »

Quote from: Groman on July 07, 2016, 02:33

My earning falling like a poisoned fly.

The buyers go to another agency because the shuttetstock portfolio it's bulk of crap.
I make new 50 new vectors, accapted in monday, and i sell nothing from them. I am realy Angry and frustrated
I stopped uploading the new pictures.
We sould boycott, stop the uploading the quality pictures, even the spammers, are there.
I belive the problem is the: tons of crap in the shutterstock.

Agree but FT sales drop down too. Holidays I think is better answer.

ShadySue · « **Reply #51 on:** July 07, 2016, 04:33 »

Yet on the poll, SS is higher than it has been for a long time. Does that prove what I've long said about the poll, or are those with increasing sales there not posting for fear of copycats? (Hypothetical question )

Pauws99 · « **Reply #52 on:** July 07, 2016, 05:07 »

Quote from: ShadySue on July 07, 2016, 04:33

Yes on the poll, SS is higher than it has been for a long time. Does that prove what I've long said about the poll, or are those with increasing sales there not posting for fear of copycats? (Hypothetical question )

I think its partly because anyone posting positive growth is considered by many to be a naive newbie or a liar. If you look at Shutterstocks own figures then sales are still growing but not as fast as additions so its a tough market but some must still be doing OK.

ShadySue · « **Reply #53 on:** July 07, 2016, 05:24 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on July 07, 2016, 05:07

Quote from: ShadySue on July 07, 2016, 04:33
Yes on the poll, SS is higher than it has been for a long time. Does that prove what I've long said about the poll, or are those with increasing sales there not posting for fear of copycats? (Hypothetical question )

I think its partly because anyone posting positive growth is considered by many to be a naive newbie or a liar. If you look at Shutterstocks own figures then sales are still growing but not as fast as additions so its a tough market but some must still be doing OK.

Maybe, or maybe the pie is being cut into ever smaller portions.
If the poll is to be believed (?!), those apparently reporting increases must be outnumbering those reporting decreases, by a reasonable proportion, with only 168 votes.

Dumc · « **Reply #54 on:** July 07, 2016, 05:54 »

Forget this stupid poll. It would only be relevant if everybody would take it, and everybody would be honest.

And since not everybody is taking a poll (I for example), and those who do, are not necesarily honest, this poll is totaly irrelevant.
Personally I don't even look at it. All the matters for me are my sales, not someone elses's sales...

Pauws99 · « **Reply #55 on:** July 07, 2016, 06:11 »

Quote from: Dumc on July 07, 2016, 05:54

Forget this stupid poll. It would only be relevant if everybody would take it, and everybody would be honest.

And since not everybody is taking a poll (I for example), and those who do, are not necesarily honest, this poll is totaly irrelevant.
Personally I don't even look at it. All the matters for me are my sales, not someone elses's sales...

Apart from Alamy the order in the poll is pretty accurate I think....useful to use as a guide for where to upload. You are right though personal experience is key

Pauws99 · « **Reply #56 on:** July 07, 2016, 06:14 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on July 07, 2016, 05:07

Quote from: ShadySue on July 07, 2016, 04:33
Yes on the poll, SS is higher than it has been for a long time. Does that prove what I've long said about the poll, or are those with increasing sales there not posting for fear of copycats? (Hypothetical question )

I think its partly because anyone posting positive growth is considered by many to be a naive newbie or a liar. If you look at Shutterstocks own figures then sales are still growing but not as fast as additions so its a tough market but some must still be doing OK.

From whats being said some of those with large slices in the past have seen big reductions and maybe those with small slices have seen benefits I guess we can only speculate. Personally sales are holding up but they seem more variable

Dumc · « **Reply #57 on:** July 07, 2016, 06:28 »

I agree, for most of you (for me FT performs better in $) SS is highest earner. I'm just saying, that you can't say from the polll if sales are rising or droping. Everybody has different experience.
For me, earnings are pretty stable, with May being my by far best month. Though I agree that the new files are hardly selling...

Monty-m-gue · « **Reply #58 on:** July 07, 2016, 06:56 »

Same story here. Shutterstock $$$ falling away. ODS and SODS fewer and farther between.

Groman · « **Reply #59 on:** July 07, 2016, 10:03 »

(I just speak about vectors)
I belive the problem is the shutterstock flooded over with craps. The shutterstock is the playground of flooders and spammers, without qualitiy work.
This is the new acceptted vectors: The screenshots speak:

Flooders working like droids.
And this continued over hundred pages. disappointing.

Minsc · « **Reply #60 on:** July 07, 2016, 13:15 »

SS is still my highest earner, but FT is closing in fast. The gold tier gave a nice little boost to my earnings.

I see a lot of people worrying about things they can't control. Why bother? You can't change what you can't control. You can only change what you can control.

Anyone who deals with search engines will face this problem. Google flooded with deceptive links. App store flooded with low-quality apps. Shutterstock flooded with low-quality work. Everyone complains the same way, but the results are all the same.

It doesn't matter how much you upload, it's what you upload. My small portfolio can outperform other portfolios 10x its size. Don't worry about them...you can't control them. Focus on creating content with commercial value. Understand how search engines work and put some effort into keywording.

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