Author Topic: To pull the plug at BigStock or not...? (Read 8100 times)

louoates · « **on:** October 14, 2011, 21:23 »

I'm determined to stay with a site only if it is worth continuing with my current level (very low) of uploads. So far I've deleted all but IS, SS, DT, and Veer accounts. If Veer was older I would have pulled that plug a year ago but I've stayed with them longer due to some occasional hot streaks that, hopefully will continue.

Big Stock is just not selling for me and shows no improvement I can see.

Anyone here have any reason I don't know about that BS will suddenly improve?

disorderly · « **Reply #1 on:** October 14, 2011, 21:31 »

I get a payout every month at BigStock. They do about the same as Veer, so if you want to reduce your workload, I can see not uploading any more. But why remove the images you have up? I only do that when a site takes advantage of me. And BigStock has never done that.

ibogdan · « **Reply #2 on:** October 15, 2011, 02:21 »

I stopped uploading at BigStock many months ago because I didn't see any improvement in my sales despite adding at least 100 new images monthly. Their sales are very low, I get a payout every 7-9 months and that's bad.

sharpshot · « **Reply #3 on:** October 15, 2011, 02:33 »

I think the main reason not to leave BigStock is because they are owned by Shutterstock. Shutterstock are doing great for me, even with not many uploads this year. They must be making lots of money and they could invest some of that in to BigStock. As some of the other big sites are in decline, I'm not going to leave BigStock because they might get some of the buyers that are changing sites. There's always the chance that Shutterstock could decide that they don't need BigStock but I'm not losing anything by having my portfolio there, so I'll stick with them for now.

qwerty · « **Reply #4 on:** October 15, 2011, 05:33 »

maybe contact them and ask if you can be included in the direct transfer program from shutterstock. I know some large contributors get that option.

Paulo M. F. Pires · « **Reply #5 on:** October 15, 2011, 05:41 »

Quote from: qwerty on October 15, 2011, 05:33

maybe contact them and ask if you can be included in the direct transfer program from shutterstock. I know some large contributors get that option.

So far only best sellers get that "invitation": Possibility to upload do SS and be automatically on BS. As i said in earlier post somewhere, they will do it for all contributors. I still uploading for BS because believe that in future will have some kind of boost...

lisafx · « **Reply #6 on:** October 15, 2011, 08:36 »

Quote from: disorderly on October 14, 2011, 21:31

I get a payout every month at BigStock. They do about the same as Veer, so if you want to reduce your workload, I can see not uploading any more. But why remove the images you have up? I only do that when a site takes advantage of me. And BigStock has never done that.

+1

Bigstock is consistently 4-5% of my monthly income. That's higher than any other mid tier site, and puts them in 5th place in my earnings. I guess everyone's experience is different, but I won't be leaving BigStock as long as Ss keeps them open.

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #7 on:** October 15, 2011, 09:26 »

Quote from: lisafx on October 15, 2011, 08:36

Quote from: disorderly on October 14, 2011, 21:31
I get a payout every month at BigStock. They do about the same as Veer, so if you want to reduce your workload, I can see not uploading any more. But why remove the images you have up? I only do that when a site takes advantage of me. And BigStock has never done that.

+1

Bigstock is consistently 4-5% of my monthly income. That's higher than any other mid tier site, and puts them in 5th place in my earnings. I guess everyone's experience is different, but I won't be leaving BigStock as long as Ss keeps them open.

+2
A check every month with very few exceptions for the last six or so years. Plus I have not uploaded a single image to any site for over a year and the checks still keep comming from BS and DT. I'll stick around. -Larry

louoates · « **Reply #8 on:** October 15, 2011, 09:31 »

Thank you all for the input. I've decided to stay put there for now.

lisafx · « **Reply #9 on:** October 15, 2011, 09:42 »

Quote from: louoates on October 15, 2011, 09:31

Thank you all for the input. I've decided to stay put there for now.

Sounds like a good decision. Hope sales pick up for you - especially over the holiday season

Larry, I am curious - you have stopped uploading for over a year and the checks keep coming from DT and BigStock. What about other sites? Are you only on those two, or have the royalties from sites like IS, SS,and FT just petered out?

luissantos84 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 15, 2011, 10:08 »

Quote from: ibogdan on October 15, 2011, 02:21

I stopped uploading at BigStock many months ago because I didn't see any improvement in my sales despite adding at least 100 new images monthly. Their sales are very low, I get a payout every 7-9 months and that's bad.

I haven´t stopped uploading but I am in the same "foot" only had 5 months over 10$ (since April 2009) I do enjoy the late change regarding min payout for 30$ instead of the 50$'s but yes sales are very disappointing

191 sales for $175.50 (2 years and half, over 4k files)

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #11 on:** October 15, 2011, 15:10 »

Quote from: lisafx on October 15, 2011, 09:42

Quote from: louoates on October 15, 2011, 09:31
Thank you all for the input. I've decided to stay put there for now.

Sounds like a good decision. Hope sales pick up for you - especially over the holiday season

Larry, I am curious - you have stopped uploading for over a year and the checks keep coming from DT and BigStock. What about other sites? Are you only on those two, or have the royalties from sites like IS, SS,and FT just petered out?

I am only BigStock and DT I quit all other site I was on over a year ago. (Yay, Feture Pix, and Cutcaster.) Reason I quit them is I figured I might not live long enough to cash out. I was able to cash out on Feature Pix but it took over two years with 2600+ images on site.

I might start uploading again after Christmas this year. The best to ya!

-Larry

click_click · « **Reply #12 on:** October 15, 2011, 16:39 »

I wish Veer would perform as well as Bigstock does for me...

lisafx · « **Reply #13 on:** October 15, 2011, 18:33 »

Thanks for the info Larry. I haven't been able to get any uploading done in about 6 weeks, so I was curious about which sites continue to sell after a year of dormancy.

louoates · « **Reply #14 on:** October 15, 2011, 18:49 »

About dormancy: In the last two years I've uploaded at most 2 or 3 images per month per site. That's mostly due to my resistance to do work for a dwindling reward schedule. What really surprised me was seeing fewer than expected reductions in total downloads. I've concluded, at least with my images, that the searches aren't skewed all that much toward recent work. Maybe its just me.

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #15 on:** October 15, 2011, 18:52 »

Quote from: louoates on October 15, 2011, 18:49

About dormancy: In the last two years I've uploaded at most 2 or 3 images per month per site. That's mostly due to my resistance to do work for a dwindling reward schedule. What really surprised me was seeing fewer than expected reductions in total downloads. I've concluded, at least with my images, that the searches aren't skewed all that much toward recent work. Maybe its just me.

I think that recent or old does not matter ..... if it's good it will sell today and tomorrow. Time means nothing to a good image. Me 2 cents

-Larry

lisafx · « **Reply #16 on:** October 15, 2011, 19:06 »

Quote from: louoates on October 15, 2011, 18:49

About dormancy: In the last two years I've uploaded at most 2 or 3 images per month per site. That's mostly due to my resistance to do work for a dwindling reward schedule. What really surprised me was seeing fewer than expected reductions in total downloads. I've concluded, at least with my images, that the searches aren't skewed all that much toward recent work. Maybe its just me.

Very interesting. You may be onto something there. I have noticed that uploading constantly stopped having any effect on downloads, so maybe stopping doesn't do much either, at least for awhile. I have to assume eventually sales will peter out, but if it takes a couple of years, that would be nice

Not that I'm intending to stop working yet. Just thinking about if that time ever comes. Thanks to both of you ( Lou and Larry) for the info.

louoates · « **Reply #17 on:** October 15, 2011, 19:33 »

I actually did some calculations a year or so ago in answer to someone here who was complaining about the rip-off nature of micro-stock. I knew that most folks were neglecting the accumulating value of past work, especially those with portfolios containing a decent percentage of images that sold five times or more per month.

I never posted those projections but it entailed calculating an hourly wage based upon sales per image over time. The numbers were nearly astronomical if I assumed that I quit uploading entirely yet continued to receive income from images uploaded when I started at micro about 7 years ago. I was seeing returns on time of hundreds of dollars per hour. That was why I never posted the results. They were such high hourly rates that I was certain no one would have believed the numbers.

After the last two years of few uploads I'm still seeing thousands of dollars per year of income with near zero working time. And I see little reason why those dollars won't continue into the foreseeable future.

pancaketom · « **Reply #18 on:** October 15, 2011, 20:55 »

I see no reason to pull a port merely because sales are slow, especially if the minimum payout is also fairly small. It doesn't take much work to request a payout once a year. Then if things pick up you can upload the backlog or maybe you can get onto the bridge to bigstock and have your stuff from SS moved there for no extra effort on your part. Now if the site is doing unsavory things that is a different story.

For me BS is slow but pretty steady. I made more on Veer in one day this month than many months on BS. Even without the Veer Dash for cash I make more than double the BS earnings on Veer.

As far as sales if you stop uploading I think that SS has switched their matches a bit so that it doesn't favor new files quite as much. That means if you have steady sellers there, they will probably continue to sell for a while. How well sales would continue if you stopped uploading has always been a bit of a wildcard for microstock. It is heartening to think that they might continue for some time. Many of my older images that I doubt would be accepted now continue to sell.

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Author Topic: To pull the plug at BigStock or not...? (Read 8100 times)

louoates

disorderly

ibogdan

sharpshot

qwerty

Paulo M. F. Pires

lisafx

Lcjtripod

louoates

lisafx

luissantos84

Lcjtripod

click_click

lisafx

louoates

Lcjtripod

lisafx

louoates

pancaketom

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