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Author Topic: Can Stock Blowing Up!  (Read 21243 times)

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« Reply #25 on: February 11, 2011, 12:17 »
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You mean flooding the market, right, so if you upload to every single one of them, every little bit, exploring every avenue?  when do you work? I mean surely you have to eat same as everybody else here or do you live in  a country where you can survive on 3 sales/month,  come on do me a favour, will ya?

I work a full time job and then spend about 2 hours on microstock a night.  Uploading to CanStock takes about 30 seconds of those two hours.  So far in the first 10 days of Feb, they earned me $143, or about 6.5% of my total microstock revenue for the past ten days.  Yes, it's a small percent, but it's not chump change for spending an extra 30 seconds uploading each night.  Oh, and now we're talking about flooding the market?  Then we should all give up microstock completely if that's the overriding concern.

Its exactly this attitude which have rendered agencies into having 10 million shots, totally clogged up wit say 80% of totally mediocre material, leaving a measly 20% worthwhile, its this attitude which makes us even read and write threads like this. To flood a market is the quickest way to destruction, didnt you know?

I've countered with this argument before... do you buy anything from Amazon?  Why would you?  They have too much stuff!  99% of it is crap you don't want.  Dumb argument, right?  The fact is that Amazon is so successful BECAUSE they have SO MUCH STUFF.  It helps that their prices are right and their search engine works well.  Likewise, the ms agencies that are priced right and have good search engines will continue to do well no matter how much stuff they have to sell.

Still, read my above post, from a business perspective, for people who are trying to turn this into some sort of a living ( me? Im a fulltime freelance anyway), TIME, is money, big money and every business law in the world will tell you this and time well spent, is even better.

Again, see above... 30 seconds of extra uploading each night, which for me is feeding a daily sales rate of about $14 per day from CanStockPhoto.  From a business perspective, would you say that is time well spent?  Of course, many contributors don't see results like this... everyone's mileage will vary.  But I'll go back to my argument from the other post... if you're seeing NO sales from CanStockPhoto, you're probably seeing LITTLE sales from the biggest agencies, and you should be questioning whether you should be doing microstock at all... again, from a business perspective.


gbcimages

« Reply #26 on: February 11, 2011, 12:25 »
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I think you have a valid point here,were only hurting ourselves. I've  slowed down
uploading,and have stopped  on some totally. My revenue is not where I was hoping .I've been with it for around five years with photos and graphics and it's evident  my style of images are not popular. By flooding the sites with average images doesn't help our cause.

WarrenPrice

« Reply #27 on: February 11, 2011, 12:26 »
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lagareek seems to be very active in the forum lately.  Time might be better spent uploading to CanStock.   ;D

lagereek

« Reply #28 on: February 11, 2011, 12:37 »
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You mean flooding the market, right, so if you upload to every single one of them, every little bit, exploring every avenue?  when do you work? I mean surely you have to eat same as everybody else here or do you live in  a country where you can survive on 3 sales/month,  come on do me a favour, will ya?

I work a full time job and then spend about 2 hours on microstock a night.  Uploading to CanStock takes about 30 seconds of those two hours.  So far in the first 10 days of Feb, they earned me $143, or about 6.5% of my total microstock revenue for the past ten days.  Yes, it's a small percent, but it's not chump change for spending an extra 30 seconds uploading each night.  Oh, and now we're talking about flooding the market?  Then we should all give up microstock completely if that's the overriding concern.

Its exactly this attitude which have rendered agencies into having 10 million shots, totally clogged up wit say 80% of totally mediocre material, leaving a measly 20% worthwhile, its this attitude which makes us even read and write threads like this. To flood a market is the quickest way to destruction, didnt you know?

I've countered with this argument before... do you buy anything from Amazon?  Why would you?  They have too much stuff!  99% of it is crap you don't want.  Dumb argument, right?  The fact is that Amazon is so successful BECAUSE they have SO MUCH STUFF.  It helps that their prices are right and their search engine works well.  Likewise, the ms agencies that are priced right and have good search engines will continue to do well no matter how much stuff they have to sell.

Still, read my above post, from a business perspective, for people who are trying to turn this into some sort of a living ( me? Im a fulltime freelance anyway), TIME, is money, big money and every business law in the world will tell you this and time well spent, is even better.

Again, see above... 30 seconds of extra uploading each night, which for me is feeding a daily sales rate of about $14 per day from CanStockPhoto.  From a business perspective, would you say that is time well spent?  Of course, many contributors don't see results like this... everyone's mileage will vary.  But I'll go back to my argument from the other post... if you're seeing NO sales from CanStockPhoto, you're probably seeing LITTLE sales from the biggest agencies, and you should be questioning whether you should be doing microstock at all... again, from a business perspective.

Hey! I like it!  youre having jokes, arent you?  well for starters I been with Getty-RM, since 93. Im an Istock-Diamond with 40000 sales and just as many at SS and close even with FT. My DAILY quota of sales is somewhere around 250-300/ per DAY, that is.
Yep!  I think I know the Micro, RM and RF.

Im not telling you this out of boast or anything but perhaps now you understand why Im questioning the formula of uploading to every tom,dick,harry available?

best. Christian

« Reply #29 on: February 11, 2011, 12:39 »
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I think you have a valid point here,were only hurting ourselves. I've  slowed down
uploading,and have stopped  on some totally. My revenue is not where I was hoping .I've been with it for around five years with photos and graphics and it's evident  my style of images are not popular. By flooding the sites with average images doesn't help our cause.

The whole "flooding the market" issue is masking a bigger problem.  I think by "flooding the market" people generally mean, "uploading more of the same stuff that's already out there."  If that's really what we're talking about then, YES, BY ALL MEANS, EVERYONE PLEASE STOP DOING THE SAME OLD STUFF!

My argument is that if we're all truly generating unique, original work... covering subject matter that has not been done to death a million times over... then, the more the better.  But if you're just adding unneeded images on top of mountains of other unneeded images, then no one will benefit from that.

Everyone should take a breather, look at what's in your upload folders today, and stop and ask yourself... "Does this stand out?  Is it depticting underrepresented subject matter?  Does it have a unique style?  Why would a buyer choose this over millions of others out there?"  If you don't have quick, confident answers to these questions, you're doing something wrong.


« Reply #31 on: February 11, 2011, 12:53 »
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Hey! I like it!  youre having jokes, arent you?  well for starters I been with Getty-RM, since 93. Im an Istock-Diamond with 40000 sales and just as many at SS and close even with FT. My DAILY quota of sales is somewhere around 250-300/ per DAY, that is.
Yep!  I think I know the Micro, RM and RF.

Im not telling you this out of boast or anything but perhaps now you understand why Im questioning the formula of uploading to every tom,dick,harry available?

best. Christian

Clearly you know your way around this business, but since you're completely anonymous on the forum, that's been impossible to tell until now.  (Of course, I maintain anonymity as well, so I can't fault you there.)

Ultimately I agree that it makes sense not to upload to every Tom, Dick and Harry.  For instance, I no longer send to Crestock and Veer, because for me the sales are too small and sporadic to justify.  But I'm always quick to defend CanStock because I see them as on the same level as BigStock and 123.  Not huge sales but quick and easy uploads with moderate payoffs... more than enough sales to justify a few extra minutes of uploading each night.

« Reply #32 on: February 11, 2011, 12:59 »
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Hey! I like it!  youre having jokes, arent you?  well for starters I been with Getty-RM, since 93. Im an Istock-Diamond with 40000 sales and just as many at SS and close even with FT. My DAILY quota of sales is somewhere around 250-300/ per DAY, that is.
Yep!  I think I know the Micro, RM and RF.

Im not telling you this out of boast or anything but perhaps now you understand why Im questioning the formula of uploading to every tom,dick,harry available?

best. Christian

Your post still doesn't make much sense to me. If you do well at all those, then you will probably do well at CanStockPhoto. And CanStockPhoto probably pays better than those three agencies.

lagereek

« Reply #33 on: February 11, 2011, 13:01 »
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Well good then we agree on a few points, Im signed up with CS myself and I will plod on there ofcourse but you know, when Ive reached lets say around 300 uploads and I know that the images in question are bona-fide good sellers, well?  then I also want to see a return accordingly.

best. Christian

lagereek

« Reply #34 on: February 11, 2011, 13:03 »
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Hey! I like it!  youre having jokes, arent you?  well for starters I been with Getty-RM, since 93. Im an Istock-Diamond with 40000 sales and just as many at SS and close even with FT. My DAILY quota of sales is somewhere around 250-300/ per DAY, that is.
Yep!  I think I know the Micro, RM and RF.

Im not telling you this out of boast or anything but perhaps now you understand why Im questioning the formula of uploading to every tom,dick,harry available?

best. Christian

Your post still doesn't make much sense to me. If you do well at all those, then you will probably do well at CanStockPhoto. And CanStockPhoto probably pays better than those three agencies.
'
yes well, that remians to be seen doesnt it.

lisafx

« Reply #35 on: February 11, 2011, 13:16 »
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Ultimately I agree that it makes sense not to upload to every Tom, Dick and Harry.  For instance, I no longer send to Crestock and Veer, because for me the sales are too small and sporadic to justify.  But I'm always quick to defend CanStock because I see them as on the same level as BigStock and 123.  Not huge sales but quick and easy uploads with moderate payoffs... more than enough sales to justify a few extra minutes of uploading each night.

Completely agree.  Canstock is not "every Tom, Dick, and Harry".  They have been in the microstock business since, I believe, 2004.  One of the first sites. 

Sales there had stagnated a couple of years ago, and I almost dropped them, but stuck around because of the easy upload and great customer service.  Now I am extremely glad I did.  Sales have increased a lot since bought by Fotosearch, and many of those sales are in the $20 range.   I make as much there as 123RF and Alamy, and close to what I make at Bigstock. 

 

lagereek

« Reply #36 on: February 11, 2011, 13:21 »
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Ultimately I agree that it makes sense not to upload to every Tom, Dick and Harry.  For instance, I no longer send to Crestock and Veer, because for me the sales are too small and sporadic to justify.  But I'm always quick to defend CanStock because I see them as on the same level as BigStock and 123.  Not huge sales but quick and easy uploads with moderate payoffs... more than enough sales to justify a few extra minutes of uploading each night.

Completely agree.  Canstock is not "every Tom, Dick, and Harry".  They have been in the microstock business since, I believe, 2004.  One of the first sites. 

Sales there had stagnated a couple of years ago, and I almost dropped them, but stuck around because of the easy upload and great customer service.  Now I am extremely glad I did.  Sales have increased a lot since bought by Fotosearch, and many of those sales are in the $20 range.   I make as much there as 123RF and Alamy, and close to what I make at Bigstock. 

 

I know Lisa! CS, is not anyone and they have been around for some time but I was sort of talking in general, not really having anyone in the middle tier in mind but in general.

lisafx

« Reply #37 on: February 11, 2011, 13:26 »
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Well good then we agree on a few points, Im signed up with CS myself and I will plod on there ofcourse but you know, when Ive reached lets say around 300 uploads and I know that the images in question are bona-fide good sellers, well?  then I also want to see a return accordingly.

Glad to hear you are going to hang in there.  I know the type of images you do, and you have some of the best, and often only, images of the type of industrial niches that you cover.  What may be happening is that, since Canstock didn't HAVE that type of subject matter before, buyers weren't conditioned to shop for it there. 

Now that your images are available there, I think you will see the market for your niches grow on Canstock.  It may just take awhile for buyers to realize they are there.  :)

gbcimages

« Reply #38 on: February 11, 2011, 13:27 »
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I've been with CS the last time since 7/10,almost 1000 images and one pay out . I'm going to stay with them  and see if it does pick up as the economy get better.

lagereek

« Reply #39 on: February 11, 2011, 13:40 »
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Well good then we agree on a few points, Im signed up with CS myself and I will plod on there ofcourse but you know, when Ive reached lets say around 300 uploads and I know that the images in question are bona-fide good sellers, well?  then I also want to see a return accordingly.

Glad to hear you are going to hang in there.  I know the type of images you do, and you have some of the best, and often only, images of the type of industrial niches that you cover.  What may be happening is that, since Canstock didn't HAVE that type of subject matter before, buyers weren't conditioned to shop for it there. 

Now that your images are available there, I think you will see the market for your niches grow on Canstock.  It may just take awhile for buyers to realize they are there.  :)

Well if you say so Lisa!  then I trust its a great place or else you would never say it. Oh well, thats exactly what we need here, some other places climbing the ladder, makes a hell of a change to the same old ones.

all the best.

lagereek

« Reply #40 on: February 11, 2011, 13:48 »
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Christian (lagereek),

While I am sorry to hear you have not been seeking the ROI that youre expecting, it is important to keep in mind that you only have 180 images on our site, which have only been uploaded over the last few months. This of course is a relatively small and young portfolio, which traditionally makes the prospect of instant and high returns unlikely. The most successful users are ones who are continually adding fresh images to their portfolios which is true for all agencies.

As others have attested in this thread, we have an extremely fast submission and approval system, to make uploading as painless and efficient as possible. While you are unlikely to make the same returns with us as with some in the Top 4, you will also spend much less time submitting to us than with others. We recently had an ex-iStock exclusive who uploaded and submitted her entire portfolio to us of 3,500 images and had everything submitted AND approved within an afternoon. 

Ultimately of course you have to make your own decisions. Submitting with us is fast and efficient, with our sales growing very strongly (as many have noted). But ultimately if you require immediate Top 4 returns, then you should stick to them. Others have determined it makes easy business sense for them to submit with us, but you have to make your own decisions for whats right for you.

Regards,
Duncan

Hi Duncan!

Oh I will carry on uploading, dont worry, Im not quitting. Just want to say that Im actually talking in general here, not really aiming this towards any agency in the middle-tier, might be because the OP mentioned CS, thats probably why?
Your editing of shots is astounding, couldnt be better, fast efficient, simply the easiest around. Your reviewers also know their stuff, I can tell by the few rejects coming back and let me tell you: good reviewing is like a fresh breath around here.

Might also be what Lisa said, takes a while before people realize that my kind of stuff is available at CS,  never thought abot that actually but they will in time.

take care  Christian

« Reply #41 on: February 11, 2011, 18:08 »
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Must say, I really dont get it???? why?, how?  can you supply, upload, etc, month after month after month, spend all this time that could easily be time generating much more with the big ones and the end result is: 3 sales per month ???
I know everyone here hungers for money but this is ridiculous, its like being greedy for pennies, Scrooge business.
I mean its quite obvious the middle-tier aint ever, never gonna see themselves in the top-tier, its wishful thinking. The only one that can somehow come close is Bigstock, if they play their cards right, they have a much more professional approach and now with the partnership SS, they have a good chance.

Im sorry guys we are already shoting for peanuts but I mean theres got to be a limit, surely?

That's not all of us make 3 download per month there. That's not my case with the same portfolio over there, and it sure is worth my time. You must not know Canstock if you talk this way. Uploading to them is the EASIEST submission site. You upload via FTP, go to their submit area, check select all, submit all (unless you didn't get the keywords and descriptions in your files... which that would be waste of time).

In 5 minutes after upload, I have all my 340 image portfolion on their site, with a nice welcome of 15 downloads and 50$ in month. Of course that's 1/3 or 1/4 of what Shutterstock generates for me, but still is better than some Dreamstime or Fotolia months for me.

Don't miss the big 4, but don't spit on the new one who is coming to the market, that will be your loss. 5 minutes for 50$? That's well paid for me. In a year it will be 10 minutes worth of submission time for 1000$.

« Reply #42 on: February 11, 2011, 18:28 »
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Well good then we agree on a few points, Im signed up with CS myself and I will plod on there ofcourse but you know, when Ive reached lets say around 300 uploads and I know that the images in question are bona-fide good sellers, well?  then I also want to see a return accordingly.

Glad to hear you are going to hang in there.  I know the type of images you do, and you have some of the best, and often only, images of the type of industrial niches that you cover.  What may be happening is that, since Canstock didn't HAVE that type of subject matter before, buyers weren't conditioned to shop for it there. 

Now that your images are available there, I think you will see the market for your niches grow on Canstock.  It may just take awhile for buyers to realize they are there.  :)


I agree with Lisa, I have had some good sized sales there trhough fotosearch and they are getting more active on regular sales as well.. Upload is one of the better systems I have dealt with as well, and is quick.. Other sites could learn from their upload process to make contributors more willing to suply them with pics..

lagereek

« Reply #43 on: February 11, 2011, 18:44 »
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As I explained to Duncan, my postings was not aimed at any agency in the middle tier but just in general, it just so happend that the OPs headline included CS. Youre right ofcourse, their editing and speed is amazing.

« Reply #44 on: February 11, 2011, 18:53 »
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I work a full time job and then spend about 2 hours on microstock a night.  Uploading to CanStock takes about 30 seconds of those two hours.  So far in the first 10 days of Feb, they earned me $143, or about 6.5% of my total microstock revenue for the past ten days.  Yes, it's a small percent, but it's not chump change for spending an extra 30 seconds uploading each night.  Oh, and now we're talking about flooding the market?  Then we should all give up microstock completely if that's the overriding concern.

Wow, you must be the CEO there ;)

Carl

  • Carl Stewart, CS Productions
« Reply #45 on: February 12, 2011, 07:39 »
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I joined CanStockPhoto on August 12, 2009, and I now have 748 files in my portfolio.  To date, I've had file sales - two video clips and three photos.  Certainly nothing to write home about, but I plan to stay with them because I see potential there.  Also because uploading is so easy and fast (time is money) and because they seem to be photographer-friendly (low rejection rate).  The only issue I have is that the last batch of video clips I submitted simply disappeared.  They're not in the pending que, nor do they show up as rejected.  They're just gone.  If they show up, I'll submit more.  Meanwhile, I'll upload more photos.

« Reply #46 on: February 12, 2011, 11:13 »
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The only issue I have is that the last batch of video clips I submitted simply disappeared.  They're not in the pending que, nor do they show up as rejected.

Hmm that's strange - I checked your account and didn't see any video uploads since Jan 3rd. Could you kindly open a support ticket so we can get some more information from you?

Thanks,
Duncan
« Last Edit: February 12, 2011, 11:17 by Duncan_CSP »

« Reply #47 on: February 12, 2011, 11:30 »
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this site sounds like good as every said it.but i dont like my files will be locked for a period like some agency did,so if the canstock lock files ?and how to upload vector to tere? thanKs^^


« Reply #49 on: February 12, 2011, 13:14 »
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Christian, are you seriously complaining about people uploading to Canstock when you only have 180 images there?  How can possibly base an opinion on their performance with that small of an exposure?


 

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