MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: cthoman on March 27, 2013, 10:04
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Since Borg posted a Poll about which agencies to promote, I thought it would be a fun thought experiment to see which agencies people thought we shouldn't support or contribute to and see if there is an overlap.
So, have fun voting for the worst or the one that did you wrong!
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Why diss any? It's about which site(s) work best for you.
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What have you got against FeaturPics - listing them twice :o
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What have you got against FeaturPics - listing them twice :o
Whoops. I fixed it. Hopefully, I didn't screw up anybody's votes. I can always reset it.
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Is Vectorstock so bad they don't even make the list?
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Can I suggest a poll for the most pointless poll?
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it is useful for agencies..to know who among them aren't making supplier happy..
Can I suggest a poll for the most pointless poll?
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It's only useful if there is logical reasoning behind the choices...there are many factors that come down to fitting the artist with the right agency...each agency looks for certain types of images. And each contributor expect different things from agencies. So I think this may be too simplistic to really gauge anything useful from...and my guess it will be another "let me bitch about this agency" thread.
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It's only useful if there is logical reasoning behind the choices...there are many factors that come down to fitting the artist with the right agency...each agency looks for certain types of images. And each contributor expect different things from agencies. So I think this may be too simplistic to really gauge anything useful from...and my guess it will be another "let me bitch about this agency" thread.
I was curious if there were polarizing agencies that contributors both loved and hated, so I thought it would be interesting to compare the results with the other poll:
www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/let's-promote-together-'the-best-contributor-friendly-agency (http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/let's-promote-together-'the-best-contributor-friendly-agency)'!-first-time!/
Is Vectorstock so bad they don't even make the list?
LOL. Maybe. I just put the ones in from the other Poll (which I'm guessing were just the ones that had number rankings and Alamy)
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I don't actually support any of them, they're in it to make a buck so it's down to who produces the best return for me. Varying levels of effectiveness in top 4 and the rest simply aren't worth the effort for a small average port.
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I have mixed feelings. I voted for my least favorites, but if I am honest I haven't stopped selling on either site. So it could be argued I am still "supporting" them, albeit reluctantly.
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I have mixed feelings. I voted for my least favorites, but if I am honest I haven't stopped selling on either site. So it could be argued I am still "supporting" them, albeit reluctantly.
I don't see anything wrong with that. I did the same. I doubt many of our ideal situations match up to our actual ones. We still have to make money.
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I have mixed feelings. I voted for my least favorites, but if I am honest I haven't stopped selling on either site. So it could be argued I am still "supporting" them, albeit reluctantly.
Nothing wrong with that at all.
There's a lot of this "don't work with the companies you don't like" mentality around here lately, but that's all B.S. Lots of people work for companies, clients, bosses, etc., that they don't like. Few of us are in the fortunate enough position to decide we will or won't work with someone on the basis of whether or not we like them or how they do business.
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so the 9 who voted for SS, are they iS admins who had to vote to see the results?
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I didn't see my choices up there:
facebook
facebook
facebook
:D
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I think we all could of predicted iStock to be in the lead...in reality we all know iStock makes us the most money...but we sure do love bashing them. ;D
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This reminds me of voting for politicians - no real good choices...
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in reality we all know iStock makes us the most money...
Eh?
Not for me, and not for most of the indies whose votes are counted in the poll on the right.
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I think we all could of predicted iStock to be in the lead...in reality we all know iStock makes us the most money...but we sure do love bashing them. ;D
I'm sorry... what?
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I didn't see my choices up there:
facebook
facebook
facebook
:D
Lol!
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so the 9 who voted for SS, are they iS admins who had to vote to see the results?
Actually you can see the results before voting.
Jesus bless you.
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I don't know, I feel if you aren't make more on iStock than the other sites you are doing something wrong. My iStock income is more than double Shutterstock. IO guess what I said isn't completely fair as iStock proved to be a top earner early on so it does gain more of my focus than the others. I'm sure you could do just as well on Shutterstock if focus was there...not so much Fotolia and Dreamstime..I just don't think they pull in the numbers...well Fotolia does, but I think their low subscription pricing depleats their potential.
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I think we all could of predicted iStock to be in the lead...in reality we all know iStock makes us the most money...but we sure do love bashing them. ;D
Not remotely true for me. Shutterstock passed iStock years ago for me, and 123RF moved past it into #2 (#1 this month) months ago.
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It's still in top earners
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so the 9 who voted for SS, are they iS admins who had to vote to see the results?
Actually you can see the results before voting.
Jesus bless you.
can you?
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Yeah, there's a "View results" button at the bottom of the poll. It's faint, but it's there.
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I think we all could of predicted iStock to be in the lead...in reality we all know iStock makes us the most money...but we sure do love bashing them. ;D
:o
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I don't know, I feel if you aren't make more on iStock than the other sites you are doing something wrong. My iStock income is more than double Shutterstock. IO guess what I said isn't completely fair as iStock proved to be a top earner early on so it does gain more of my focus than the others. I'm sure you could do just as well on Shutterstock if focus was there...not so much Fotolia and Dreamstime..I just don't think they pull in the numbers...well Fotolia does, but I think their low subscription pricing depleats their potential.
Or u can leave open the possibility that maybe,just maybe, they did something right once with that focus ur mentioning...
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Yeah, there's a "View results" button at the bottom of the poll. It's faint, but it's there.
ah, ala Pond5's styling?
i'll look out for it next time, but this "let's play where's wally" on each website gets tiresome.
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I don't know, I feel if you aren't make more on iStock than the other sites you are doing something wrong.
So you feel I am (was - I left Istock after the RC introduction) doing something wrong, when Istock did not sell more of my images than Shutterstock?
I uploaded the same portfolio to different agents, who's job it is to make me money out of it. So if one of these agents does worse than the other, that's my fault?
Strange logic your are applying here... :o
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I don't know, I feel if you aren't make more on iStock than the other sites you are doing something wrong.
So you feel I am (was - I left Istock after the RC introduction) doing something wrong, when Istock did not sell more of my images than Shutterstock?
I uploaded the same portfolio to different agents, who's job it is to make me money out of it. So if one of these agents does worse than the other, that's my fault?
Strange logic your are applying here... :o
When you put it that way than no. I'm saying that if you focus on an agency you get a feel for the type of content they accept as well as what sells. I am looking to make money and the place that I adapted to is iStock as they showed the best return early on. If it was Shutterstock then I'd probably be praising then and adapted to them. Yes, I adapted my work to fit the agency and buyers...your approach is different by finding an Agency that fits your work already. Not a thing wrong with that, but I feel adapting can produce more income. In the end, it is your job to make the most out of any agency.
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When you put it that way than no. I'm saying that if you focus on an agency you get a feel for the type of content they accept as well as what sells. I am looking to make money and the place that I adapted to is iStock as they showed the best return early on. If it was Shutterstock then I'd probably be praising then and adapted to them. Yes, I adapted my work to fit the agency and buyers...your approach is different by finding an Agency that fits your work already. Not a thing wrong with that, but I feel adapting can produce more income. In the end, it is your job to make the most out of any agency.
That does make more sense to me. But as I never had the experience that IStock showed better returns, so it would not have made sense to adapt to their needs.
It just shows (again) that different portfolios perform differently on the various agencies.
And for me that is one reason why I never wanted to be exclusive anywhere - I might be betting on the wrong horse...
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I voted my least favorite 3, but the one that i really dont like is Fotolia for their lowest RPD. Have stopped uploading new content to them, and will slowly remove some unique content from there.
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When you put it that way than no. I'm saying that if you focus on an agency you get a feel for the type of content they accept as well as what sells. I am looking to make money and the place that I adapted to is iStock as they showed the best return early on. If it was Shutterstock then I'd probably be praising then and adapted to them. Yes, I adapted my work to fit the agency and buyers...your approach is different by finding an Agency that fits your work already. Not a thing wrong with that, but I feel adapting can produce more income. In the end, it is your job to make the most out of any agency.
I adapted to istock years ago. I even considered exclusivity at one time. But despite my efforts to create work that I felt would fit the istock collection and buyer demand, my earnings there have steadily slipped. Today, istock represents just 5% of my total microstock income. They ranked 8th overall in earnings for me last month.
That's after doing exactly as you suggested for a few years, focusing on work that I felt would do well at istock. Because in 2007 and 2008, istock was, in fact, my best-selling agency.
That changed through no doing of mine, and there was nothing I could do to stop that downhill slide over the last few years.
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When you put it that way than no. I'm saying that if you focus on an agency you get a feel for the type of content they accept as well as what sells. I am looking to make money and the place that I adapted to is iStock as they showed the best return early on. If it was Shutterstock then I'd probably be praising then and adapted to them. Yes, I adapted my work to fit the agency and buyers...your approach is different by finding an Agency that fits your work already. Not a thing wrong with that, but I feel adapting can produce more income. In the end, it is your job to make the most out of any agency.
I adapted to istock years ago. I even considered exclusivity at one time. But despite my efforts to create work that I felt would fit the istock collection and buyer demand, my earnings there have steadily slipped. Today, istock represents just 5% of my total microstock income. They ranked 8th overall in earnings for me last month.
That's after doing exactly as you suggested for a few years, focusing on work that I felt would do well at istock. Because in 2007 and 2008, istock was, in fact, my best-selling agency.
That changed through no doing of mine, and there was nothing I could do to stop that downhill slide over the last few years.
I guess your work doesn't fit in well with iStock. Too many variables to consider how well you adapted the content. Glad you found other places it does.
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When you put it that way than no. I'm saying that if you focus on an agency you get a feel for the type of content they accept as well as what sells. I am looking to make money and the place that I adapted to is iStock as they showed the best return early on. If it was Shutterstock then I'd probably be praising then and adapted to them. Yes, I adapted my work to fit the agency and buyers...your approach is different by finding an Agency that fits your work already. Not a thing wrong with that, but I feel adapting can produce more income. In the end, it is your job to make the most out of any agency.
I adapted to istock years ago. I even considered exclusivity at one time. But despite my efforts to create work that I felt would fit the istock collection and buyer demand, my earnings there have steadily slipped. Today, istock represents just 5% of my total microstock income. They ranked 8th overall in earnings for me last month.
That's after doing exactly as you suggested for a few years, focusing on work that I felt would do well at istock. Because in 2007 and 2008, istock was, in fact, my best-selling agency.
That changed through no doing of mine, and there was nothing I could do to stop that downhill slide over the last few years.
I guess your work doesn't fit in well with iStock. Too many variables to consider how well you adapted the content. Glad you found other places it does.
doesn't fit anymore you should have added
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doesn't fit anymore you should have added
LOL. Yeah, that was my experience too. Things changed really quickly there. It went from my top agency to expendable in less than a year. I don't think many people adapted.
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doesn't fit anymore you should have added
LOL. Yeah, that was my experience too. Things changed really quickly there. It went from my top agency to expendable in less than a year. I don't think many people adapted.
or they have "disadapted" contributors with so many bright decisions ;D
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My votes go to the sites that pay contributors less than 50% commissions. Also, any site that does not credit the contributor gets my vote as well (iphotos.com ~ new stock photo site, iclipart.com, graphicsfactory.com, ...).
These types of stock sites need to recognize that without the contributor they wouldn't be successful.
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Not be supporting in what way?
Not promoting them to potential clients?
Not uploading there anymore?
Pulling your port?
Even though most of us get screwed in some fashion by most of the agencies, not uploading to them or pulling ports is a big step for many who have a reliance on the income. Now, I dont support Istock, for example, when I recommend agencies to potential buyers, but I wouldn't pull my port (yet) because of a personal situation I am facing.
Theoretically, if money wasn't an issue, I would pull from ........in priority
1. Istock
2. FT
3. BS
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Not be supporting in what way?
Not promoting them to potential clients?
Not uploading there anymore?
Pulling your port?
Even though most of us get screwed in some fashion by most of the agencies, not uploading to them or pulling ports is a big step for many who have a reliance on the income. Now, I dont support Istock, for example, when I recommend agencies to potential buyers, but I wouldn't pull my port (yet) because of a personal situation I am facing.
Theoretically, if money wasn't an issue, I would pull from ........in priority
1. Istock
2. FT
3. BS
It was kind of open to interpretation, but it looks like you have the idea. I definitely wasn't asking anybody to do anything. Just curious.
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Let Me Help! :P
(http://s5.postimg.org/cvqu79nfr/waldo_is_here.jpg) (http://postimage.org/)
See it now? (http://postimage.org/)
Yeah, there's a "View results" button at the bottom of the poll. It's faint, but it's there.
ah, ala Pond5's styling?
i'll look out for it next time, but this "let's play where's wally" on each website gets tiresome.
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so the 9 who voted for SS, are they iS admins who had to vote to see the results?
Actually you can see the results before voting.
Jesus bless you.
can you?
Yep, I did before voting.
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I guess your work doesn't fit in well with iStock. Too many variables to consider how well you adapted the content. Glad you found other places it does.
My work did fit in well with istock. I had a similar experience as you, in the early years I did very well there. istock was the first place I ever made $2k in a single month from one company.
I didn't change much. I just kept doing the type of work that was already selling well. New stuff, but in categories that I've always had success in.
I adapted to istock, and yet nothing I did could stop the decline that came in the more recent years. Whatever changed, it wasn't on my end. If my work fell out of favor with istock and their buyers, it was the result of something that was going on over there that I had no control over. I just don't think it's as simple as maximizing income by adapting to an agency. Especially when that agency is istock, one of the most volatile in the business.
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I don't know, I feel if you aren't make more on iStock than the other sites you are doing something wrong.
Theres a lot of factors involved in how much money you make in one agency vs the other. I think the biggest factor is competition. If your particular style or niche market is suddenly saturated with competition, you will see your download numbers go down unless your already at the top 10% of the shooters/artists... This is especially true of the vector market because i have seen the overall quality rise on both SS and istock dramatically over the last 5 years. Vector artists who did well earlier (i would say 2005-2010) did really well due to almost no competition. Now there is more competition so the share of the pie is getting slimmer.
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iStock is gettin' a whoopin'! :o
However, I did like the payout I got from them this month. 8)