Author Topic: What SS Tier Are You In? (Read 15328 times)

StockManiac · « **on:** May 13, 2008, 13:41 »

Since the new SS raise is based off of your tier, I was wondering how many of us are actually in the upper tiers.

maco0708 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 13, 2008, 13:48 »

Between $500 and $3000.

iStock exclusivity is looking better every day! If I was diamond level I would make the stitch now.

Peter · « **Reply #2 on:** May 13, 2008, 13:56 »

2000$. it would take me 2-3 months to reach 3000$

Contakt · « **Reply #3 on:** May 13, 2008, 13:57 »

I'd be ever so slightly past the $10,000 mark unfortunately.

CofkoCof · « **Reply #4 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:18 »

500-3000, with current pace I'll get another raise in about 4 months.

leaf · « **Reply #5 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:19 »

i am really surprised that $10,000 is the upper tier.

Contakt · « **Reply #6 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:24 »

Quote from: leaf on May 13, 2008, 14:19

i am really surprised that $10,000 is the upper tier.

Why does that surprise you?

Clivia · « **Reply #7 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:25 »

I am in the 3000 - 10000 tier. It will be a long time until I reach the 10000!

Mellimage · « **Reply #8 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:28 »

500-3000$ - and I just had the first 33c sale.

Inger Anne Hulbækdal · « **Reply #9 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:32 »

Between 500 and 3000

melastmohican · « **Reply #10 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:36 »

Just started, I am still under 100

sharpshot · « **Reply #11 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:40 »

I am surprised $10, 000 is the top tier too because I am in it. I thought they would put a tier in to keep Yuri and the other big earners happy, perhaps $100,000.

chellyar · « **Reply #12 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:41 »

500-3000.

Average salary raises here are in the order of 3%-5% over the last couple of years, so it seems reasonable to me, although the folks under $500 have reason to be unhappy given the 50% hike in fees to the buyers.

sharpshot · « **Reply #13 on:** May 13, 2008, 14:50 »

But are we getting a wage rise when they put the buyers costs up 50%? If buyers don't continue paying the higher prices, we need a higher percentage just to break even. The last two years it has felt more like a pay cut than a raise.

leaf · « **Reply #14 on:** May 13, 2008, 15:02 »

Quote from: Contakt on May 13, 2008, 14:24

Quote from: leaf on May 13, 2008, 14:19
i am really surprised that $10,000 is the upper tier.

Why does that surprise you?

because all the other sites have tiers that are very high and can be used as a goals and also give bonuses to those people who work hard.

The tier at $10,000 is very low and is probably what the top photographers earn in a month. If there was a tier at $50,000 and $100,000 they could give more incremental raises keeping the big producers happy and giving the little guys things to work towards.

At fotolia´s top tier there is currently 0 photographers. at the 2nd top tier there is 2 photographers. Istock is similar.

thesentinel · « **Reply #15 on:** May 13, 2008, 15:13 »

Quote from: sharpshot on May 13, 2008, 14:50

But are we getting a wage rise when they put the buyers costs up 50%? If buyers don't continue paying the higher prices, we need a higher percentage just to break even. The last two years it has felt more like a pay cut than a raise.

Wage rise? We are not employees of the agencies we select to represent us.

CofkoCof · « **Reply #16 on:** May 13, 2008, 15:21 »

I'll try to analyze this, hope you can understand it

Shutterstock first decided to raise the prices of their images. This was due to:
- submitters wanting a raise, they (or should I say we) wouldn't wanna sell our images ofr 0.25/0.3 for ever
- their profit was becoming smaller due to the costs they have or they weren't on their projected plan for 2008 because of the costs(servers, reviewers, people reading forums, bandwidth all cost money). The costs are bigger and bigger as the number of photographers increases. It is true that more photographers bring more money but they will only cover the costs if the demad rises acordingly. Which in my opinion isn't true, that's why SS (and other agencies) take bigger and bigger piece of the pie and that's why (well add oversaturated market) the future may not be so bright for MS.
- because they could. Increasing prices means more money

So they increased prices. The waited a few months before doing a raise for submitters. Reasons for doing that:
- to see how the new prices will go with the buyers. After they saw how many they lost they could set the raise for us
- get a boost in their money
- so that the buyers wouldnt buy subs with the old price and buy images that need to be paid with the new price (this still happens though, because o the yearly and half yearly subscriptions, thats why they needed the money from the previous point)

So they analyzed the sales and set up a raise that is best for covering costs, paying us and also increasing their earnings. It probably is best what they could do (well of course they probably got more from it that us, they also need to cover increasing cost for the whole year ahead of us). Increasing the prices of images even further and giving us a bigger raise would make many buyers go away and we would be earning the same or even less, we would just get more for a download.

sharply_done · « **Reply #17 on:** May 13, 2008, 20:56 »

*bump*

RacePhoto · « **Reply #18 on:** May 13, 2008, 23:18 »

Quote from: melastmohican on May 13, 2008, 14:36

Just started, I am still under 100

Then you get the biggest raise of all, 32% when you reach $500. Same as me. Suddenly it doesn't look so bad when the percentage of increase is that high for the second level, does it?

redfig · « **Reply #19 on:** May 13, 2008, 23:54 »

Hi
Between 500 and 3000
I am 700 long way to go with no 33c yet

al the very best

Jasenka · « **Reply #20 on:** May 14, 2008, 02:39 »

500-3000

460 $ until next 0.03 raise... hopefully in 2 months

Adeptris · « **Reply #21 on:** May 14, 2008, 02:44 »

I am in three tears, tears of laughter with the raise, tears of dispair for the <$500 contributors, and lastly tears of joy as I am out of there after getting a payment, and leaving $0.00 in my account there.

designalldone · « **Reply #22 on:** May 14, 2008, 04:30 »

Quote from: Clivia on May 13, 2008, 14:25

I am in the 3000 - 10000 tier. It will be a long time until I reach the 10000!

Same here, I just sailed past 3,000 five days ago - based on my current sales it will now be years rather than months until I hit 10,000 so there's very little incentive to go all out and get to the next payment increase. Next years raise will have come and gone before I get anywhere close

travelstock · « **Reply #23 on:** May 14, 2008, 05:18 »

Quote from: leaf on May 13, 2008, 14:19

i am really surprised that $10,000 is the upper tier.

Actually I'm not that surprised. The way I see it, the big players that are well above $10K are already locked into a strategy that involves more than one site, or they are already exclusive on IS. Some of the other smaller sites FL and DT in particular give the top submitters a higher profile already by having direct links as to who they are, and that's on top of the higer % on fotolia.

Its people in the $3-15K band that are probably contributing the bulk of useful material and also still in a position to make a switch to go exclusive on IS. Its from that band that the next wave of big players will also come from. Whether the increase is enough remains to be seen though. Interesting times ahead.

Contakt · « **Reply #24 on:** May 14, 2008, 05:33 »

There is no compelling reason to go exclusive with IS and any knee-jerk reactions to the SS raise are going to be hasty ones IMO.

IStock simply cannot match the earnings from the top 6 combined so none of these arguments for exclusivity make any financial sense.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #25 on:** May 14, 2008, 05:40 »

Correction. IStock simply cannot match the earnings from the top 6 combined... for you.

melking · « **Reply #26 on:** May 14, 2008, 05:42 »

I am in top level...over $10,000

hofhoek · « **Reply #27 on:** May 14, 2008, 05:56 »

I am about 750 from the 3000 and it should take me about three to four months to reach 3000, when everything was as it used to be. With the current downloads I'm afraid it takes twice as long. This month is my Worst Month Ever. Half the downloads of last month so far. I'd rather have no raise and the same downloads as I used to have. I guess the buyers must have run away very quickly with the new prices. Hope this will not stay this way..

Contakt · « **Reply #28 on:** May 14, 2008, 06:02 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on May 14, 2008, 05:40

Correction. IStock simply cannot match the earnings from the top 6 combined... for you.

No it's not just me! It's basic mathematics!

If, say for argument sake, you've got 500 decent shots in your portfolio and submit those to the 6 top sites; if those shots are good enough to do well on istock they're good enough to do well elsewhere and that's where the figures don't add up.

Say I was getting on average $1.00 per sale for going exclusive on istock and all the others $.30 cents. Now multiply that .30c x 5 and you'll see where I'm coming from.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #29 on:** May 14, 2008, 06:22 »

Everybody has different performance accross the sites. And it's not the average amount per sale that needs to be calculated but the total earnings breakdown.

Assuming all things being equal (you have the same 500 decent shots accross all sites), when IS becomes at least 60% of your earnings, the exclusive raise you get will make up for the remaining 40%. This doesn't even take into account the supposed sales boost you're supposed to get from other factors.

For almost the past 6 months, IS has consistently been in the 60-70% range for me which is why I'm waiting to see what happens with this subscription deal. My lockdown to other sites also ends in June so exclusivity makes absolute sense for me (as of today). If I went exclusive today, I could be earning the same or more as what I do now and not need to deal with all of the BS of all of these other sites.

Now back to our program already in progress...

nativelight · « **Reply #30 on:** May 15, 2008, 10:39 »

Still in the < 500 tier, but less than $40 to go! I'm looking forward to the 8 cent bump in the next 30 days.

Elnur · « **Reply #31 on:** May 15, 2008, 10:53 »

I reached top tier within 1 year.... they need to add new levels beyond $10000 which they will probably do at some point.

jsolie · « **Reply #32 on:** May 15, 2008, 12:23 »

Bottom rung of the ladder and struggling to climb.

Sandralise · « **Reply #33 on:** May 15, 2008, 19:25 »

I'm in the top level....over $10,000

lisafx · « **Reply #34 on:** May 15, 2008, 19:29 »

I agree with the others who feel there should be another level above 10K. Maybe 20K or 25K?

To the OP, it might be interesting to add a 25K level to the poll and see how many of the 21 (and counting) responders who are over 10K would fall in that category.

(not me unfortunately...)

StockManiac · « **Reply #35 on:** May 15, 2008, 19:57 »

Quote from: lisafx on May 15, 2008, 19:29

To the OP, it might be interesting to add a 25K level to the poll and see how many of the 21 (and counting) responders who are over 10K would fall in that category.

This is the second request that I have had for this. I wasn't sure if it would work, since people have already voted, but I decided to give it a try anyway.

For anyone that originally stated that they are in the >= $10,000 bracket, you can now change your vote and choose the appropriate bracket.

Microbius · « **Reply #36 on:** May 16, 2008, 14:16 »

I am in the top tier, happy with the raise.
Very unhappy with SS's attitude towards it's contributors, it's running of it's forums, it's business plan (or lack thereof), it's marketing etc. etc. but at the end of the day, no skin off my nose, if they lose customers we'll make the lost income back on the sites they lose them to!

lisafx · « **Reply #37 on:** May 16, 2008, 15:48 »

Quote from: StockManiac on May 15, 2008, 19:57

Quote from: lisafx on May 15, 2008, 19:29
To the OP, it might be interesting to add a 25K level to the poll and see how many of the 21 (and counting) responders who are over 10K would fall in that category.

This is the second request that I have had for this. I wasn't sure if it would work, since people have already voted, but I decided to give it a try anyway.

For anyone that originally stated that they are in the >= $10,000 bracket, you can now change your vote and choose the appropriate bracket.

Thanks for updating the poll

Wish I could change my vote, but not there yet......

mwp1969 · « **Reply #38 on:** June 03, 2008, 17:03 »

I just got approved there so I'm just happy to finally be "in the race" at this point

Mark

snoozle · « **Reply #39 on:** June 03, 2008, 18:41 »

Over a year in, and only half way to the $500 mark. Looks like I'm gonna have to try harder.

grandaded · « **Reply #40 on:** June 04, 2008, 03:29 »

Passed the $500.00 barrier at the end of May! Been with SS since July last year.

Ed ...

oboy · « **Reply #41 on:** June 04, 2008, 09:54 »

Not even anywhere close to the first $500. I started uploading photo to IS in March this year.

riffmax · « **Reply #42 on:** June 05, 2008, 08:23 »

Quote from: designalldone on May 14, 2008, 04:30

Quote from: Clivia on May 13, 2008, 14:25
I am in the 3000 - 10000 tier. It will be a long time until I reach the 10000!

Same here, I just sailed past 3,000 five days ago - based on my current sales it will now be years rather than months until I hit 10,000 so there's very little incentive to go all out and get to the next payment increase. Next years raise will have come and gone before I get anywhere close

I'm a recent newbie to the $3k tier, and am having some difficulty getting stuff accepted right now (acceptance rate of only 28% in May, I think), but that swings back and forth and I will just keep uploading as I am able to.

I disagree with the incentive comment, tho. When I started out with this 3 1/2 years ago, I had no hope that I would ever see a single payout - yes, I thought it would be just another photo portal with no sale, or even a scam. I would have never dreamed that I would reach $3K in revenue already (most of which has come in the last 2 years)! Had I even had a CLUE that would be feasible, I would have uploaded much more earlier on....but I digress.

The increase for EL's has been my prime motivating factor. The way I see it, if I can improve my images to the point where I am getting more consistent EL's (I average about one/month - sometimes more, occasionally none), then that next tier will be achievable fairly quickly!

Of course, everyone wants to make more money, and I am no different - and of course, we try to micro-analyze the natural fluctations in the industry, but I'm on this ride to stay!