Author Topic: Custom License as low as $0.29 now? (Read 2176 times)

bpawesome · « **on:** April 22, 2024, 03:54 »

A month ago or so, I started to see a lot of $0.30 downloads,

I was told "taxes are being withheld on your sales", my tax info is unchanged for the last year+ and I never had those sells before.

Today I suddenly see $0.29 sales, we Shutterstock now?

Injustice for all · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2024, 04:25 »

Quote from: bpawesome on April 22, 2024, 03:54

A month ago or so, I started to see a lot of $0.30 downloads,

I was told "taxes are being withheld on your sales", my tax info is unchanged for the last year+ and I never had those sells before.

Today I suddenly see $0.29 sales, we Shutterstock now?

Out of curiosity,do these lower than usual sales,come from content that has already sold enough,or from content that has made few sales in years?

Are these 0.30 or 0.29 sales coming from content you sell regularly?

bpawesome · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2024, 04:28 »

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 22, 2024, 04:25

Out of curiosity,do these lower than usual sales,come from content that has already sold enough,or from content that has made few sales in years?

Are these 0.30 or 0.29 sales coming from content you sell regularly?

No, it's my regular, mid-selling content, nothing special about it, definitely not my low selling images

mike123 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2024, 04:33 »

Got two 0.32$ sales today - that's a new low for me (also without tax withholding).
Now that I see people even get 0.29$ sales, that's really discouraging

. Hopefully Adobe doesn't go the way of Shutter.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2024, 05:23 »

I was thinking that it could be content that has temporarily become part of packages offered at special prices,perhaps content that hasn't been sold for a while,or not a lot in general.

Unfortunately there is a lot of competition,there are many microstock agencies,which is also why in my opinion it is important to contribute only to the best,as long as customers know they can find anything at any agency,Adobe Stock must remain competitive with the prices charged by other agencies.

I still have a couple of active ports in other agencies,but for almost a year I have only contributed to Adobe,also for this reason.

basically,I become Adobe Stock exclusive,if someone wants my contents they have to download on Adobe.

mike123 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2024, 05:32 »

No, it's regular photo content, which is selling regularly.
Since 2020 I also basically only upload to Adobe, and only lower quality content. If Adobe follows Shutter, it will be the end of microstock for me. I guess it's time to move on

.

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 22, 2024, 05:23

I was thinking that it could be content that has temporarily become part of packages offered at special prices,perhaps content that hasn't been sold for a while,or not a lot in general.

Unfortunately there is a lot of competition,there are many microstock agencies,which is also why in my opinion it is important to contribute only to the best,as long as customers know they can find anything at any agency,Adobe Stock must remain competitive with the prices charged by other agencies.

I still have a couple of active ports in other agencies,but for almost a year I have only contributed to Adobe,also for this reason.

basically,I become Adobe Stock exclusive,if someone wants my contents they have to download on Adobe.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #6 on:** April 22, 2024, 07:40 »

Quote from: mike123 on April 22, 2024, 05:32

No, it's regular photo content, which is selling regularly.
Since 2020 I also basically only upload to Adobe, and only lower quality content. If Adobe follows Shutter, it will be the end of microstock for me. I guess it's time to move on .

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 22, 2024, 05:23
I was thinking that it could be content that has temporarily become part of packages offered at special prices,perhaps content that hasn't been sold for a while,or not a lot in general.

Unfortunately there is a lot of competition,there are many microstock agencies,which is also why in my opinion it is important to contribute only to the best,as long as customers know they can find anything at any agency,Adobe Stock must remain competitive with the prices charged by other agencies.

I still have a couple of active ports in other agencies,but for almost a year I have only contributed to Adobe,also for this reason.

basically,I become Adobe Stock exclusive,if someone wants my contents they have to download on Adobe.

yep!if Adobe follow shutter is the end,but I don't think it will happen.

for me today another strong day,good sales at good usd.

I produce content every day,I'm happy to see that my efforts are rewarded.

AnS · « **Reply #7 on:** April 22, 2024, 09:08 »

Quote from: bpawesome on April 22, 2024, 03:54

I was told "taxes are being withheld on your sales", my tax info is unchanged for the last year+ and I never had those sells before.

Are you by any chance based in Hungary? Since the start of 2024 the tax treaty between the USA and Hungary got cancelled, meaning every sale from a USA-based client automatically gets 30% withheld tax. It's so lame and unfair...

bpawesome · « **Reply #8 on:** April 22, 2024, 09:30 »

Quote from: AnS on April 22, 2024, 09:08

Are you by any chance based in Hungary? Since the start of 2024 the tax treaty between the USA and Hungary got cancelled, meaning every sale from a USA-based client automatically gets 30% withheld tax. It's so lame and unfair...

No, I'm not

pancaketom · « **Reply #9 on:** April 22, 2024, 09:43 »

I also just had 2 .32 custom sales. a new low for me (I think), no tax withholding. it is a worrying trend if it becomes common.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #10 on:** April 22, 2024, 10:23 »

I've been tracking royalty changes at Adobe Stock for a while - started because of the "unlimited" packages where there is no floor on our royalties; we get 33% of the customers' calculated price-equivalent.

This month I saw a $0.32 royalty for the first time - previous low was $0.33 and those had been rare (March 2024 there were just 3)

April has seen custom royalties all over the place (although I haven't seen any $0.29 cent ones yet) but some of that has been good news as the higher end of custom royalties has gone up from the $0.90-0.99 range to $1.00-1.05.

In March there were zero royalties in the $1-$2 range and 35% of my month's total was from the $0.90-$0.99 range (average $0.97)

In April so far, 28% of my total has been from the $1-$2 range (average $1.04) and there's still 20% of the month's total in the $0.90-0.99 (average $0.99)

Overall RPD for April is $0.74 versus $0.65 for March

I don't see any reason for long-term optimism about income from Adobe Stock - they will discount "assets" to keep their creative product subscriptions competitive and Canva is clearly gunning for that business too (purchasing Affinity's software is exhibit A). Contributors have no meaningful protection from aggressive discounting and we don't benefit from increased usage by unlimited customers.

However, at the moment there are still enough higher end custom royalties to make April decent.

bpawesome · « **Reply #11 on:** April 22, 2024, 11:26 »

I've been selling stock images for about 2 years now, the real issue for me is I can clearly see it's slowing down a lot...

Last year I had half the images I have now, and I earned twice as much (at least).

After seeing the thread with ranks and earnings (and wishful thinking of many contributors), it's obvious there is no real future in stock.

Probably will have to let it be as it is, small passive income, and use my time for other ventures,

I really enjoyed the freedom and creative aspect of selling stock images, but it's clearly a dead end.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #12 on:** April 22, 2024, 12:08 »

And what about the number of sales?

you have a lower RPD,some sales below the normal threshold,but what about the total profit at least month by month if not year by year?

as far as I'm concerned,so far every month of this year I have earned more than all the months of 2023,this month too I have already exceeded both the number of sales and earnings of April 2023.

For me it's all uphill and I've been doing microstock for 6 years,and for 6 years everything has continued to rise,sometimes very slowly but it continues to rise.

obviously in my opinion everything is strictly linked to what and how much you produce,the time of sleeping on big,fluffy portfolios is over!

I can't afford to think that things are going badly!

yuriy · « **Reply #13 on:** April 22, 2024, 12:12 »

a year ago the min price was .25 on adobe. the min on ss is and has been for a while .10. most sales that i'm seeing are at that .10 amount. min at istock is .01 and it's not uncommon to get sales below .10. adobe is the only agency that raised the floor in recent memory. i haven't seen sales below .33 and even if there is the odd one at .29 or .32 or whatever the RPD on adobe is considerably higher (for me at least) than any other agency. make of that what you will.

bpawesome · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2024, 12:16 »

Sales as well, it's not just the royalty share that is goin down (it will never go up again)
It's not just adobe, I'm selling on 12 stock sites, it's going down all over the place, sites are closing, sales dropping all over

I now have enough sales data to see a clear picture (at least for my portfolio), it's just not going to get better, so only worse unfortunately.

RalfLiebhold · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2024, 12:31 »

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 22, 2024, 12:08

And what about the number of sales?

you have a lower RPD,some sales below the normal threshold,but what about the total profit at least month by month if not year by year?

as far as I'm concerned,so far every month of this year I have earned more than all the months of 2023,this month too I have already exceeded both the number of sales and earnings of April 2023.

For me it's all uphill and I've been doing microstock for 6 years,and for 6 years everything has continued to rise,sometimes very slowly but it continues to rise.

obviously in my opinion everything is strictly linked to what and how much you produce,the time of sleeping on big,fluffy portfolios is over!

I can't afford to think that things are going badly!

Looks the same for me.
I've been around for about 7 years, since then there's been a slow but steady upward trend in downloads and revenue for all agencies.
However, I also upload regularly, try to cover current topics and find new niches, especially in the editorial area.
And my port is AI-free.

bpawesome · « **Reply #16 on:** April 22, 2024, 12:37 »

Quote from: yuriy on April 22, 2024, 12:12

a year ago the min price was .25 on adobe. the min on ss is and has been for a while .10. most sales that i'm seeing are at that .10 amount. min at istock is .01 and it's not uncommon to get sales below .10. adobe is the only agency that raised the floor in recent memory. i haven't seen sales below .33 and even if there is the odd one at .29 or .32 or whatever the RPD on adobe is considerably higher (for me at least) than any other agency. make of that what you will.

Never had a $0.25 on adobe, $0.29 is lowest ever and it started today,
Shutterstock $0.10 is most common - yes, but I have $10-$50 sales and over time there is a balance

I have extended license sales on adobe, and I make OK monthly income on all sites, don't get me wrong...

But, I have set a portfolio size target with data I had and I've reached it, but earnings result is not even close,
I don't see it getting better at this point, so my time will get a better return in other fields...

I'm an experienced web developer (20+ years), and a relaxed day of freelance development is the same as a week of stock sales at this point,

I did stock because I always loved design and 3D (and yes, even AI which is still magic to me) and took a few years to try it out,

but I have to be realistic when I see that top 1000 rank on adobe makes what I made a year ago as 2000 rank, and you can't argue with that

Injustice for all · « **Reply #17 on:** April 22, 2024, 14:15 »

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on April 22, 2024, 12:31

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 22, 2024, 12:08
And what about the number of sales?

you have a lower RPD,some sales below the normal threshold,but what about the total profit at least month by month if not year by year?

as far as I'm concerned,so far every month of this year I have earned more than all the months of 2023,this month too I have already exceeded both the number of sales and earnings of April 2023.

For me it's all uphill and I've been doing microstock for 6 years,and for 6 years everything has continued to rise,sometimes very slowly but it continues to rise.

obviously in my opinion everything is strictly linked to what and how much you produce,the time of sleeping on big,fluffy portfolios is over!

I can't afford to think that things are going badly!

Looks the same for me.
I've been around for about 7 years, since then there's been a slow but steady upward trend in downloads and revenue for all agencies.
However, I also upload regularly, try to cover current topics and find new niches, especially in the editorial area.
And my port is AI-free.

Finally a bit of optimism!A breath of fresh air, thanks!

yuriy · « **Reply #18 on:** April 22, 2024, 15:31 »

Quote from: bpawesome on April 22, 2024, 12:37

Quote from: yuriy on April 22, 2024, 12:12
but I have to be realistic when I see that top 1000 rank on adobe makes what I made a year ago as 2000 rank, and you can't argue with that

how do you know what top 1000 makes? i can be ranked #1 when the rankings reset on monday with maybe 40 sales and earnings of $25. if i'm number 1 on sunday night that could be in the $1000s w/ a lot more downloads. people have been posting more/less random download and rankings screenshots from throughout the week, not comprehensive weekly earnings. not sure how much data you can get from that.

zeljkok · « **Reply #19 on:** April 22, 2024, 19:16 »

I had two custom 0.32 sandwiched between whole bunch of custom 1.05; haven't seen anything below 30 cents yet

kubeslaw · « **Reply #20 on:** April 22, 2024, 19:18 »

I confirm $0.29 custom sales too, sadly got one of these 2 days ago.

bpawesome · « **Reply #21 on:** April 23, 2024, 01:01 »

Quote from: yuriy on April 22, 2024, 15:31

how do you know what top 1000 makes? i can be ranked #1 when the rankings reset on monday with maybe 40 sales and earnings of $25. if i'm number 1 on sunday night that could be in the $1000s w/ a lot more downloads. people have been posting more/less random download and rankings screenshots from throughout the week, not comprehensive weekly earnings. not sure how much data you can get from that.

People were sharing weekly income and rankings,
also I like tracking my sales and earnings, you can see a pattern of sales and can predict how the week will go after a while, it's not that complicated, there are no huge surprises, it's only a week... if you sell 50 on Monday, you will not get $1000 by the end of a week...

Injustice for all · « **Reply #22 on:** April 24, 2024, 10:24 »

Don't be surprised if you see 0.29 or 0.32 on Adobe Stock,we have a large responsibility for this,it's your fault and mine too,because I still have other active ports,even if I no longer upload to any other agency except Adobe.

the race to the bottom is our responsibility.

every time you or I submit a photo for review on Istock,we agree to only get 15% of the sale,and we also agree that the content can be sold for 0,01

every time we send a video to SS for review we accept that it can be sold for 0.25

Adobe tries to do the best it can,find the right balance,and pay fair compensation to contributors,but there are limits,it must at the same time remain competitive with other large agencies.

think about this, the next time you submit content for review to SS or Istock,think that in that moment,when you press "submit" you are encouraging the race to the bottom!

bpawesome · « **Reply #23 on:** April 24, 2024, 10:47 »

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 24, 2024, 10:24

Don't be surprised if you see 0.29 or 0.32 on Adobe Stock,we have a large responsibility for this,it's your fault and mine too,because I still have other active ports,even if I no longer upload to any other agency except Adobe.

the race to the bottom is our responsibility.

every time you or I submit a photo for review on Istock,we agree to only get 15% of the sale,and we also agree that the content can be sold for 0,01

every time we send a video to SS for review we accept that it can be sold for 0.25

Adobe tries to do the best it can,find the right balance,and pay fair compensation to contributors,but there are limits,it must at the same time remain competitive with other large agencies.

think about this, the next time you submit content for review to SS or Istock,think that in that moment,when you press "submit" you are encouraging the race to the bottom!

I agree, that's why I said it can only get worse, and it's time for me to do something else...

I just don't understand how can it be that stock sites don't have any regulation?
These are huge sites that sell a lot, and pay % to contributors, nobody is looking if there are issues in between?

I had issues with few large stock sites over the last year (I won't name them here yet),
For example:
I caught one large site adjusting my earnings, removing half of the sum without any explanation, and when I confront them, they just stop replying...
Another just removing sales, they can do anything, you won't sue them, it's not worth it...

I don't have a problem with Adobe, I can see a lot of effort from them, very professional in all aspects, but sales and earnings are going down fast on Adobe as well...

Injustice for all · « **Reply #24 on:** April 24, 2024, 11:57 »

Quote from: bpawesome on April 24, 2024, 10:47

Quote from: Injustice for all on April 24, 2024, 10:24
Don't be surprised if you see 0.29 or 0.32 on Adobe Stock,we have a large responsibility for this,it's your fault and mine too,because I still have other active ports,even if I no longer upload to any other agency except Adobe.

the race to the bottom is our responsibility.

every time you or I submit a photo for review on Istock,we agree to only get 15% of the sale,and we also agree that the content can be sold for 0,01

every time we send a video to SS for review we accept that it can be sold for 0.25

Adobe tries to do the best it can,find the right balance,and pay fair compensation to contributors,but there are limits,it must at the same time remain competitive with other large agencies.

think about this, the next time you submit content for review to SS or Istock,think that in that moment,when you press "submit" you are encouraging the race to the bottom!

I agree, that's why I said it can only get worse, and it's time for me to do something else...

I just don't understand how can it be that stock sites don't have any regulation?
These are huge sites that sell a lot, and pay % to contributors, nobody is looking if there are issues in between?

I had issues with few large stock sites over the last year (I won't name them here yet),
For example:
I caught one large site adjusting my earnings, removing half of the sum without any explanation, and when I confront them, they just stop replying...
Another just removing sales, they can do anything, you won't sue them, it's not worth it...

I don't have a problem with Adobe, I can see a lot of effort from them, very professional in all aspects, but sales and earnings are going down fast on Adobe as well...

if your sales on Adobe are going down,and continue to go down for at least 2-3 months,then there are only 2 possible things you can do in my opinion:

1-give up.

2-radically change what you are doing,if you see that what you produce doesn't sell,change,not necessarily what was selling before,can continue to sell today or tomorrow.

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Author Topic: Custom License as low as $0.29 now? (Read 2176 times)

bpawesome

Injustice for all

bpawesome

mike123

Injustice for all

mike123

Injustice for all

AnS

bpawesome

pancaketom

Jo Ann Snover

bpawesome

Injustice for all

yuriy

bpawesome

RalfLiebhold

bpawesome

Injustice for all

yuriy

zeljkok

kubeslaw

bpawesome

Injustice for all

bpawesome

Injustice for all

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