Author Topic: Canva July sales are in, and it's not good (Read 11253 times)

Justanotherphotographer · « **on:** August 12, 2023, 09:59 »

Massive drop for me. Lots of people on FB reporting the same.

leremy · « **Reply #1 on:** August 12, 2023, 10:05 »

Yep, around 40% drop

Which group at FB you check?

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #2 on:** August 12, 2023, 10:12 »

Quote from: leremy on August 12, 2023, 10:05

Yep, around 40% drop
Which group at FB you check?

Not sure, I don't use facebook much. I signed up to a few SS ones a while ago, it was one of those. Came across my feed when I logged in for another reason today. Don't have time to double check now. Someone said the results are in, and there was loads of comments saying 40-60% down and Canva had cut payment per dl (stats take a bit of working out for Canva so haven't double checked). Someone else said it was because they had deleted images (this one probably just a theif as there's loads on the SS FB groups).

kuriouskat · « **Reply #3 on:** August 12, 2023, 10:47 »

Dreadful month for me too. Way down on the last few months, which were also poor.

I just checked back, and it's the lowest month since February 2014, (and I started there in January 2014).

It's about 15% of my monthly average for 2021-2022.

amabu · « **Reply #4 on:** August 12, 2023, 11:27 »

Also a 40% drop for me. And I "lost" around 200 images as well... Anybody else had images deleted (without being told) ?

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #5 on:** August 12, 2023, 11:37 »

Quote from: amabu on August 12, 2023, 11:27

Also a 40% drop for me. And I "lost" around 200 images as well... Anybody else had images deleted (without being told) ?

How do you see what they have deleted?

amabu · « **Reply #6 on:** August 12, 2023, 11:47 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on August 12, 2023, 11:37

Quote from: amabu on August 12, 2023, 11:27
Also a 40% drop for me. And I "lost" around 200 images as well... Anybody else had images deleted (without being told) ?
How do you see what they have deleted?

You can only see the total number at canva.com/p/yourusername. I can´t see what the deleted.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2023, 11:52 »

Quote from: amabu on August 12, 2023, 11:47

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on August 12, 2023, 11:37
Quote from: amabu on August 12, 2023, 11:27
Also a 40% drop for me. And I "lost" around 200 images as well... Anybody else had images deleted (without being told) ?
How do you see what they have deleted?

You can only see the total number at canva.com/p/yourusername. I can´t see what the deleted.

That's annoying, I don't know how many I had before.

kuriouskat · « **Reply #8 on:** August 12, 2023, 12:22 »

Hmm, I look to be down a couple of hundred images as well.

It would be nice if Canva would tell us what is going on.

stockman11 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2023, 12:58 »

It was very nice while good earnings lasted. Now they are killing us. I think I'll definitely stop uploading there. Seems like only Adobe Stock has left as a decent site, for now.

cascoly · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2023, 13:06 »

down 40% also. about 3% of my images have been deleted, so unlikely that's the cause of the sudden drop - more likely the total amt for distribution dropped. and canva income continues to be greater than AS in most months

recently submissions tho have been getting many fewer accepted even tho content & quality havent changed

ramo · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2023, 19:34 »

the same problem here !! $:-\$

cristianstorto · « **Reply #12 on:** August 13, 2023, 00:13 »

Same here

chris___ · « **Reply #13 on:** August 13, 2023, 00:26 »

Same here. 40% down compared to previous months.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2023, 03:58 »

Quote from: KuriousKat on August 12, 2023, 12:22

Hmm, I look to be down a couple of hundred images as well.

It would be nice if Canva would tell us what is going on.

Would also be nice if they didn't continuously keep cutting out payments per sale by massive amounts just because they can.

With this latest move I am guessing they will either be putting the company up for sale soon, or they are doing away with us altogether (relying on AI or something). On some level they must know this is unsustainable.

kuriouskat · « **Reply #15 on:** August 13, 2023, 04:45 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on August 13, 2023, 03:58

Quote from: KuriousKat on August 12, 2023, 12:22
Hmm, I look to be down a couple of hundred images as well.

It would be nice if Canva would tell us what is going on.

Would also be nice if they didn't continuously keep cutting out payments per sale by massive amounts just because they can.

With this latest move I am guessing they will either be putting the company up for sale soon, or they are doing away with us altogether (relying on AI or something). On some level they must know this is unsustainable.

When they literally put their money where their mouth was, and guaranteed increased earnings by doubling payouts for a period, I was very hopeful. A shame that promise was so short-lived.

As one of the most valuable brands on the planet, it is sad to see that they reached this status by shafting us. Another example of corporate greed gone to far.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #16 on:** August 13, 2023, 04:52 »

Quote from: KuriousKat on August 13, 2023, 04:45

When they literally put their money where their mouth was, and guaranteed increased earnings by doubling payouts for a period, I was very hopeful. A shame that promise was so short-lived.

As one of the most valuable brands on the planet, it is sad to see that they reached this status by shafting us. Another example of corporate greed gone to far.

Well said

Noedelhap · « **Reply #17 on:** August 13, 2023, 05:22 »

This cannot be a coincidence, they probably massively diluted our share by paying everyone royalties from the same dwindling pool, a 40% drop across the board is not a normal summer dip. They should really become more transparent in their payouts because this makes no sense.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #18 on:** August 13, 2023, 07:48 »

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 13, 2023, 05:22

This cannot be a coincidence, they probably massively diluted our share by paying everyone royalties from the same dwindling pool, a 40% drop across the board is not a normal summer dip. They should really become more transparent in their payouts because this makes no sense.

I believe they have bee doing that for a long time, hence the near 10X decrease in pay per use prior to this. I am wondering if they have just also massively cut the payment pool despite their promises when the scheme was put in place.

FHphotography · « **Reply #19 on:** August 13, 2023, 08:46 »

I have also 40% down

.

lima · « **Reply #20 on:** August 13, 2023, 09:52 »

Same here 40% down $:-\$

rushay · « **Reply #21 on:** August 13, 2023, 10:39 »

Also 40% down

Mir · « **Reply #22 on:** August 13, 2023, 13:00 »

Massive drop here too...

[email protected] · « **Reply #23 on:** August 13, 2023, 14:21 »

same here

cascoly · « **Reply #24 on:** August 13, 2023, 14:45 »

Quote from: Noedelhap on August 13, 2023, 05:22

This cannot be a coincidence, they probably massively diluted our share by paying everyone royalties from the same dwindling pool, a 40% drop across the board is not a normal summer dip. They should really become more transparent in their payouts because this makes no sense.

OR, their sales this month dropped substantially - no need for conspiracy theories.

as for the price per download, that's been miniscule compared to monthly payout, but has been steady for many months.
even with 40% dip, that still is 20x the download income.

hatman12 · « **Reply #25 on:** August 13, 2023, 19:56 »

Same here. Down 40% or so from previous month. Looks like we got screwed. Very disappointing.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #26 on:** August 14, 2023, 03:07 »

Looking at the "performance" page it doesn't seem like my "applies" or "exports" are down at all. If anything maybe up? So IMHO this is just a straight up cut. I mean it's pretty obvious anyway as everyone is reporting the same thing, just another bit of evidence.

I wonder if there was an actual meeting about this before they did the pay bonus at the start of the scheme. Like "It's fine to give a double bonus now, we can cut their pay twenty fold down the line" kind of thing. I mean it's a very common tech strategy, run at a loss till you have them by the b*lls then you can tighten the screws.

FHphotography · « **Reply #27 on:** August 14, 2023, 13:00 »

Okay, something has happened. My July earnings have gone up within today.

lima · « **Reply #28 on:** August 14, 2023, 13:12 »

mine too!

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #29 on:** August 14, 2023, 13:51 »

LOL, yeah me too. Still down a lot on last year, but not the 40% anymore. Hope they will add more!

cascoly · « **Reply #30 on:** August 14, 2023, 14:39 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on August 14, 2023, 13:51

LOL, yeah me too. Still down a lot on last year, but not the 40% anymore. Hope they will add more!

same here - now down about 10% which is within the variability over the last few years.

likely late reporting of sales - Canva used to say reports would be issued on the 15th, so the earlier reporting (9-10th) likely misses late sales

again no need for conspiracy theories about canva misbehavior - they're still usually my highest earner after SS

hatman12 · « **Reply #31 on:** August 14, 2023, 20:54 »

Yep my income number has also been revised upwards, now roughly in line with the sales numbers.

It remains to be seen whether this was just an error, or whether we were being screwed and Canva reversed that decision in response to all the backlash.

leremy · « **Reply #32 on:** August 14, 2023, 22:19 »

This "40% sudden drop" reminds me of how fragile my career is. I am glad it is "fixed", but the PTSD I had from that "40% drop" will linger within me for a very long time to come.

I think I need to change my career.

cascoly · « **Reply #33 on:** August 15, 2023, 16:56 »

Quote from: hatman12 on August 14, 2023, 20:54

Yep my income number has also been revised upwards, now roughly in line with the sales numbers.

It remains to be seen whether this was just an error, or whether we were being screwed and Canva reversed that decision in response to all the backlash.

assuming your conspiracy theory, you overestimate the influence of a handful of protests compared to the thousands of contributors

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #34 on:** August 16, 2023, 00:56 »

Quote from: leremy on August 14, 2023, 22:19

This "40% sudden drop" reminds me of how fragile my career is. I am glad it is "fixed", but the PTSD I had from that "40% drop" will linger within me for a very long time to come.

I think I need to change my career.

They have been steadily dropping the amount they pay for a while. If the trend continues we'll probably be down the 40% anyway.

chris___ · « **Reply #35 on:** September 11, 2023, 23:44 »

So for me August looks even worse than July initially did ...

pancaketom · « **Reply #36 on:** September 12, 2023, 00:02 »

August is a big drop for me despite applies being up 18% and exports up 20% in August - whatever that might mean.

The worst month in the last few years at least.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #37 on:** September 12, 2023, 01:11 »

After last month I refuse to look until at least the 15th! My nerves couldn't take it.

lowbouncerate · « **Reply #38 on:** September 12, 2023, 03:15 »

I guess canva decline started - Reach down at least 20%

kuriouskat · « **Reply #39 on:** September 12, 2023, 04:11 »

Dreadful numbers, and down to just above 20% of my monthly average in 2022.

Is AI now just making us totally expendable, or is this just another example of corporate greed? All these companies got rich off the back of us, and now just throw us peanuts.

Meanwhile, Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva is estimated to be worth $3.6 billion, and Canva has a value of $40 billion.

https://www.forbes.com/profile/melanie-perkins/

I have no issue with people getting rich from a good idea, and she and her co-founder have pledged a large chunk of their Canva share to charitable causes, which is commendable, but what about us??

Don't we deserve to be paid a living wage for our contribution? Don't we need help during a global economic crisis, or do we have to wait until we've bankrupted ourselves and become homeless to maybe get assistance from 'charitable causes'?

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #40 on:** September 12, 2023, 04:30 »

Quote from: KuriousKat on September 12, 2023, 04:11

Dreadful numbers, and down to just above 20% of my monthly average in 2022.

Is AI now just making us totally expendable, or is this just another example of corporate greed? ...

Honestly in Canva's case I think it is greed pure and simple. Going by their charts it seems there are lots of people making more sales and getting much less per sale. They have steadily been cutting our payout per sale for months/ years now. It's the exact same template all these tech companies go with.

Mir · « **Reply #41 on:** September 12, 2023, 06:40 »

Not good here too and I am worried as Canva was my number one earner from the stock sites I contribute to.

Morphart · « **Reply #42 on:** September 12, 2023, 14:03 »

August sales in... worst than July... Canva was my top earner and revenue dropped 60%ééé ouch

hatman12 · « **Reply #43 on:** September 12, 2023, 20:35 »

Same here, but I'm not surprised - the writing has been on the wall for a while. On the other hand August is usually not a good month for me - so many people around the world on holiday. For me sales usually rebound in September and rise towards the end of the year.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #44 on:** September 14, 2023, 03:06 »

Quote from: Morphart on September 12, 2023, 14:03

August sales in... worst than July... Canva was my top earner and revenue dropped 60%ééé ouch

Wow, again I am also mystified by how bad the drop is. I put in place holder figure at the start of the month I see as worse case scenario based on last year and how Canva has been dropping. No matter how pessimistic I try to be it comes in worse than that worst case scenario.

leremy · « **Reply #45 on:** September 14, 2023, 03:45 »

The drop is so drastic

Mir · « **Reply #46 on:** September 14, 2023, 07:00 »

I checked two other forums/groups and it’s the same everywhere.

Mir · « **Reply #47 on:** September 15, 2023, 14:26 »

New message on Canva:
On October 1, we will start paying for template "usages" instead of "exports". This improvement means you earn royalties each time your design is downloaded, printed, OR presented.

I suppose this is for template creators.

Also here are parts of two answers from Canva to emails from contributors regarding the low earnings from another forum.( Editing for clarity)
If I understand it right it seems that the low earnings are due to two main factors, one is that template creators are now a priority and they receive more money and the second part is that it doesn't matter whether you sell more, if others sell more too, you receive less.

Here are those parts of the answers:

"Adjustment to the Royalty Pool: To enhance the sustainability and consistency of Creator earnings in the long term, there has been a recalibration in the royalty pool. Initially, the pool was linked to a fraction of pro subscriptions, causing considerable fluctuations in earnings as subscriptions can vary each season. The purpose of this adjustment is to stabilize these inconsistencies.
Boosted Category Opportunities: Our recent focus has been on Pro templates which are now receiving boosted payments. However, categories like Presentations, Resumes and Infographics are no longer benefiting from boosted earnings. This could lead to decreased earnings for those who primarily created free templates or focused on the aforementioned categories when boosted earnings were in effect.
Boosted Locale Opportunities: We have been promoting local content creation, making it increasingly lucrative. If your locale currently doesn't have boosted payments, this might affect your earnings."

And another one:
"...an increase in exports doesn't always correspond to more earnings. The share that each creator earns is influenced by a number of varying factors including the total exports by other creators and opportunities for boosted earnings.

Perhaps, you've observed a situation where your exports increased in a certain month, but your earnings remained the same or reduced. This is usually an indication that other creators have also experienced an uptick in exports and thus received a larger share of the total earnings pool.

There's a high tendency for this scenario to occur during peak months like the end of the summer holiday season or during major local or religious events such as Christmas, Ramadan, or as students prepare to return to school. Users tend to use Canva more during these periods, resulting in more exports for most creators.

To this end, although it may seem that your exports have significantly increased during high-active months, it's essential to understand that your earnings still correspond to your relative share of the earnings pool."

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #48 on:** September 15, 2023, 15:08 »

Quote from: Mir on September 15, 2023, 14:26

...If I understand it right it seems that the low earnings are due to two main factors, one is that template creators are now a priority and they receive more money and the second part is that it doesn't matter whether you sell more, if others sell more too, you receive less.

I'm not with Canva any more, but the explanations you quoted highlight just what a Canva-favorable contributor-hostile system they have created.

Their system allows them to control their royalty costs so that Canva gets a predictable (and I assume large) share of whatever subscription revenue comes in and avoid heavy customer usage of Canva's services causing a drop in earnings - for Canva. With somewhere like Shutterstock, the more a subscriber downloads, the less profit SS earns. SS contributors earn more as their download count goes up.

With Canva, contributors don't see a linear relationship between the number of downloads/uses of their work and their earnings. Short of banishing all the other contributors to Mars so one contributor sweeps the whole pool, you can't grow your income predictably by growing your downloads. You're in competition with other contributors and the boosted earnings arrangement at any given time.

In addition to the overall number of downloads going up in a given month's pool, Canva can change the weighting for any type of content at any time and that can reduce your payments even if your work is heavily downloaded - infographics are no longer getting a boost; certain areas of the world may not be getting a boost and so on.

I'm sure Canva's investors love this scheme.

If Canva had used this payout model when starting out, they'd have had no content. 123rf did start out with this setup (a pool scheme with no minimum, but no boosted categories). It very quickly changed to include a minimum payout on subscription downloads because the royalties were so much lower than SS's and contributors weren't happy.

Mir · « **Reply #49 on:** September 15, 2023, 15:46 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on September 15, 2023, 15:08

If Canva had used this payout model when starting out, they'd have had no content. 123rf did start out with this setup (a pool scheme with no minimum, but no boosted categories). It very quickly changed to include a minimum payout on subscription downloads because the royalties were so much lower than SS's and contributors weren't happy.

In addition to this they promised a guaranteed amount of income for a period of time otherwise many people would had left.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #50 on:** September 15, 2023, 17:57 »

Quote from: Mir on September 15, 2023, 15:46

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on September 15, 2023, 15:08
If Canva had used this payout model when starting out, they'd have had no content. 123rf did start out with this setup (a pool scheme with no minimum, but no boosted categories). It very quickly changed to include a minimum payout on subscription downloads because the royalties were so much lower than SS's and contributors weren't happy.

In addition to this they promised a guaranteed amount of income for a period of time otherwise many people would had left.

I know - I assumed at the time this would not end well Sometimes it really stinks that one's most cynical instincts are accurate.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #51 on:** September 16, 2023, 00:44 »

A core selling point to contributors was the promise that they would be increasing the pool they pay from in line with their customer base growing. It's clear that hasn't happened. Sounds like they've actually done the opposite, reduced the pool for for image contributors by giving template designers a slice of the same money. Honestly I am disgusted.

“The current royalty pool is $9.5 million USD on an annualised basis and importantly, it will continue to grow proportionally as Canva’s subscription revenue grows.”

If we were customers this would be against consumer protection law as mis-selling or fraudulent inducement or whatever. They even emphasise the proportionality as the “important” part. So * gross.

Which other forum are they posting on? Haven't seen them show their face here for a while.

stockman11 · « **Reply #52 on:** September 16, 2023, 02:16 »

Basically, essentially, Canva can do whatever they want now, and we can kiss their a**. And they do exactly that, because they can and they don't know any better.

I saw in a video or two how they say that at Canva they value human values very much, and in order to work for them you not only have to be a good worker but also a good human.

Is this what Canva is doing to it's contributors last year and a half something what would a good, or at least a fair human do?

I guess we can congratulate Canva for ruining good source of income for many people and ruining their own image and reputation as well.

Mir · « **Reply #53 on:** September 16, 2023, 04:25 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on September 16, 2023, 00:44

Which other forum are they posting on? Haven't seen them show their face here for a while.

These were not posted by Canva in forums, I guess I wasn’t clear, sorry.
Just people writing to Canva and receiving these answers, then posting them, I excluded the names etc.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #54 on:** September 16, 2023, 06:27 »

Thanks

Mir · « **Reply #55 on:** September 16, 2023, 14:40 »

It seems their royalty pool has grown a lot. There's this info on their site where they explain how royalties work. I can't see info for 2022 though. Not that it matters.

"The size of our Royalty Pool grows with Canva’s subscription revenues and is calculated every month. The exact numbers month-per-month is confidential business information. However, we provide public updates on the size of our total Royalty Pool about once per year:"

June 2021: $27.6 million USD annualized

My earnings in 2022 were about 70% of those in 2021 and my earnings this year as of now are not even half of last year, there are a few more months but seeing how it is going I doubt it will get much better.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #56 on:** September 17, 2023, 02:47 »

Quote from: Mir on September 16, 2023, 14:40

It seems their royalty pool has grown a lot. There's this info on their site where they explain how royalties work. I can't see info for 2022 though. Not that it matters.

"The size of our Royalty Pool grows with Canva’s subscription revenues and is calculated every month. The exact numbers month-per-month is confidential business information. However, we provide public updates on the size of our total Royalty Pool about once per year:"

June 2021: $27.6 million USD annualized

My earnings in 2022 were about 70% of those in 2021 and my earnings this year as of now are not even half of last year, there are a few more months but seeing how it is going I doubt it will get much better.

Assuming there isn't any other creative accounting behind the scenes (a huge assumption) from your quote they seem to have dropped any "in proportion" language. Theoretically sub income could have gone up many times more than their Pool. As long as they are both growing they can still claim they are growing "with" each other.

But the main point is that the original "Royalty Pool" was a pool for image contributors. We don't know whether this section of this new "Royalty Pool" has grown or by how much as they have now started paying other people from the same "Pool".

stoker2014 · « **Reply #57 on:** September 17, 2023, 03:21 »

What % of revenue does Canva generate from the total revenue from selling stock photos?

Mir · « **Reply #58 on:** September 17, 2023, 04:56 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on September 17, 2023, 03:21

What % of revenue does Canva generate from the total revenue from selling stock photos?

Editing as I misunderstood the question.

stoker2014 · « **Reply #59 on:** September 17, 2023, 09:22 »

Quote from: Mir on September 17, 2023, 04:56

Quote from: stoker2014 on September 17, 2023, 03:21
What % of revenue does Canva generate from the total revenue from selling stock photos?
Editing as I misunderstood the question.

What percentage does Canva contribute to total revenue?

ADH · « **Reply #60 on:** September 17, 2023, 09:29 »

All these small agencies will eventually go out of business because greed and AI

kuriouskat · « **Reply #61 on:** September 17, 2023, 16:45 »

Quote from: ADH on September 17, 2023, 09:29

All these small agencies will eventually go out of business because greed and AI

Canva is a very long way from being a 'small agency'.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #62 on:** September 18, 2023, 01:46 »

Yes, Canva gets several times the web traffic of Shutterstock. 5x as much according to sites like "similarweb".

Her Ugliness · « **Reply #63 on:** September 18, 2023, 02:43 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on September 18, 2023, 01:46

Yes, Canva gets several times the web traffic of Shutterstock. 5x as much according to sites like "similarweb".

I am not sure whether web traffic is what you can compare to each other, because Shutterstock is only a microstock agency, while Canva is also a graphic design tool, so part of the traffic is not generated by customers buying images, but using the tools.

I know there are some people who say Canva was their best earner, but if you look at the poll, Canva does not even make it into the top 10 in terms of revenue. I know if you have the right graphics you can probably make a lot of money.
When I signed up with Canva, they told me that they would not accept my images on white background, but that I should make them transparent pngs, because these were the images that would get sold the most on Canva. So, for example, if you have a lot of transparent pngs you will probably do much better there than someone doing travel photos. That's why I think Canva is one of the top earners for some contributors, but not for most. It's just not your typical microstock agency.

kuriouskat · « **Reply #64 on:** September 18, 2023, 05:47 »

Quote from: Her Ugliness on September 18, 2023, 02:43

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on September 18, 2023, 01:46
Yes, Canva gets several times the web traffic of Shutterstock. 5x as much according to sites like "similarweb".

I am not sure whether web traffic is what you can compare to each other, because Shutterstock is only a microstock agency, while Canva is also a graphic design tool, so part of the traffic is not generated by customers buying images, but using the tools.

I know there are some people who say Canva was their best earner, but if you look at the poll, Canva does not even make it into the top 10 in terms of revenue. I know if you have the right graphics you can probably make a lot of money.
When I signed up with Canva, they told me that they would not accept my images on white background, but that I should make them transparent pngs, because these were the images that would get sold the most on Canva. So, for example, if you have a lot of transparent pngs you will probably do much better there than someone doing travel photos. That's why I think Canva is one of the top earners for some contributors, but not for most. It's just not your typical microstock agency.

I agree that it's not your typical agency, but the design tool drives traffic that requires images/graphics, and these are almost all licensed from the images available in the database. The tool has proved to be so successful, that Shutterstock and other agencies now have similar integrated tools, because the model works.

I don't have any images on white and I've been with Canva since day one. At the beginning, you could submit such images and they had staff who were cutting them out from the background before publishing them. The reality was that such submission sat in the review queue for months on end, so it quickly became clear that you either needed to submit ready prepared png cutouts or not bother, (but I don't even think png submissions were even an option at the start). I had very few images on white, so I didn't bother to submit those, and just uploaded my standard stock images - a mixture of food and drink, backgrounds, travel, wildlife, and a very small collections of people and lifestyle.

However, from an earnings point of view, I've always done pretty well, with Canva being somewhere in my top 4 each month since 2014 - they've never topped Shutterstock, but often beat Istock or Adobe, and were way higher than other mid-tear sites, such as Dreamstime, 123RF, Depositphotos, etc.

Now my year to date earnings for this year are only 25% of the same period last year.

That's a huge drop.

Her Ugliness · « **Reply #65 on:** September 18, 2023, 06:47 »

Quote from: KuriousKat on September 18, 2023, 05:47

I agree that it's not your typical agency, but the design tool drives traffic that requires images/graphics, and these are almost all licensed from the images available in the database.

Yes, but the traffic you want to compare to traditional microstock agencies is the one people create by searching and buying images. The traffic they create by using the tools is extra traffic that does not 'translate' into sales.
Web traffic is the data sent and received by visitors to a website. Each time someone clicks a button on Canva, that's "traffic". I can get an image on Canva and then spend 3 hours doing a template with it. Creates a lot of traffic, doesn't mean anyone gets extra sales. So that Canva has more traffic than Shutterstock does really not say much about how sucessfull it is for contributors comapare dto other agencies.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #66 on:** September 18, 2023, 07:18 »

Quote from: Her Ugliness on September 18, 2023, 06:47

... The traffic they create by using the tools is extra traffic that does not 'translate' into sales...

It really, really does when it comes to volume at least. I mentioned in another thread but my volume of sales on Canva every month rivals my total sales on SS over my whole career. Much more than 5X.

Of course they only pay the tiniest fraction of a fraction of a cent per sale, but in volume they are huge.

kuriouskat · « **Reply #67 on:** September 18, 2023, 09:56 »

Quote from: Her Ugliness on September 18, 2023, 06:47

I can get an image on Canva and then spend 3 hours doing a template with it. Creates a lot of traffic, doesn't mean anyone gets extra sales. So that Canva has more traffic than Shutterstock does really not say much about how sucessfull it is for contributors comapare dto other agencies.

You can do the same on Shutterstock these days, but I appreciate your point about them being essentially different entities.

My point is that earnings are suddenly dropping like a stone.

I don't fully understand how pay is calculated for 'applies' and 'exports' but, looking at the exports for last month, and dividing the earnings I received by the number of times an image was exported, I earned 0.5c per image. When I started with them, I earned 35c per image.

The company is valued at $46 billion, which is hardly surprising if they are giving away our assets for less than a cent.

Lina · « **Reply #68 on:** September 18, 2023, 13:30 »

First time I went to read Canva's license and wow, that Pro license is so unfair to contributors, no wonder sales are crashing: "As a Pro subscriber, you will simply be issued with a new One Design Use License for the second, third and fourth designs (and so on). You do not need to pay for these individual licenses, they are included in your subscription. Free users need to pay for a new license for each subsequent design."

Plus, they allow selling on POD and similar, buyers obviously need just slap text over image and that's their "new" design: "All of our photos, fonts and graphics can be used to create designs for printing on products for sale (like t-shirts, mugs, books and other merchandise). Please note, you can’t sell standalone prints of Canva content, such as a printout of a stock photo (without any other design elements) on a t-shirt."

I'm not on Canva (luckily), I was just curious because some discussion from people who are heavily using Canva content for reselling on various designs. Sometimes is hard to read and I was convinced it is not allowed but I was wrong, obviously.

cascoly · « **Reply #69 on:** September 18, 2023, 13:59 »

my canva income was down 10-15% from the last 2 years thru June. it's now down 20-30%. still, canva's almost always my 2nd largest earner (after SS)

re the pool - many are ignoring the fact that the total # of images is not static - so, if you're not keeping pace w new uploads, your monthly payment will continue to decrease. combine that w the fact that their rejection rate has gotten much higher. we know canva's income has tripled, but we don't know how much their overall portfolio has increased. they had stopped accepting new contributors for awhile, but now they do accept newbies

JDub12 · « **Reply #70 on:** September 18, 2023, 18:50 »

The least they could do is give us Canva Pro for being a contributor. At least Adobe has enough respect to offer contributors their software.

pancaketom · « **Reply #71 on:** October 13, 2023, 14:14 »

September earnings are posted

applies up 38%, exports up 25%, income up 3.3%

I guess it is good it didn't go down again, but they are getting a lot of use for not much $ for me.

Mir · « **Reply #72 on:** October 13, 2023, 15:00 »

September is worse than August for me. It seems I would be able to say this each new month.
Applies and exports are up.

JustAnImage · « **Reply #73 on:** October 13, 2023, 15:25 »

I am sure I have seen it over, but where do I see the applies and exports?

Mir · « **Reply #74 on:** October 13, 2023, 15:31 »

https://www.canva.com/creators/element

Select dashboard, it's in the upper left.

JustAnImage · « **Reply #75 on:** October 13, 2023, 15:56 »

Quote from: Mir on October 13, 2023, 15:31

https://www.canva.com/creators/element

Select dashboard, it's in the upper left.

Thank you for the quick answer - I was just blind again :-) Sorry!

Applies +38%, Exports +21%, Earnings -3%

ramo · « **Reply #76 on:** October 13, 2023, 19:30 »

same problem here... Applies and exports are up but earnings going down every month !!

lima · « **Reply #77 on:** October 14, 2023, 07:30 »

Same here! applies and Exports UP but earning down down down

hatman12 · « **Reply #78 on:** October 14, 2023, 20:38 »

Quote from: lima on October 14, 2023, 07:30

Same here! applies and Exports UP but earning down down down

Yep, same here. Very disappointing.

leremy · « **Reply #79 on:** October 14, 2023, 21:22 »

Feels like there is no stopping this trend

Peruphotoart · « **Reply #80 on:** October 17, 2023, 08:44 »

Has anyone already received their payment?

JustAnImage · « **Reply #81 on:** October 17, 2023, 09:03 »

Quote from: Peruphotoart on October 17, 2023, 08:44

Has anyone already received their payment?

They have a statement about a delayed payment this month on their page
(see image)

cascoly · « **Reply #82 on:** October 17, 2023, 13:12 »

Quote from: Peruphotoart on October 17, 2023, 08:44

Has anyone already received their payment?

i received the payment at the same level as previous months recently and a day or 2 before the stated 15th - the later payment will be for dataset usage

JustAnImage · « **Reply #83 on:** December 12, 2023, 10:55 »

November numbers are in:
-> Exports +15%, Earnings -2%

And an unbelievable $0,24 for Magic Creator Payment
(see image)

If it wasn't so absurd, you'd actually have to laugh about it ;-)

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