Sales on ss for me were normal until september where they've suddenly stopped at only 2 DLs so far this month - way below normal & if that's stays the total for the month it will be the lowers monthly total for over 5 years not long after I started contributing there

Yes, it fell off a cliff for me earlier this month, for both earnings and downloads.

It will probably end up around 40% down on September last year, and currently only at 10% of what I was earning in September 10 years ago.

We all know that sales are dropping, but this felt like a sudden, overnight change. I can only assume that the search algorithm has been altered, and means that my portfolio is currently out of favour.

For two consecutive months, I've seen a 70% drop in my regular sales... The other agencies are ok.

Sales on SS are extremely poor for me too.

I had sudden drop in august. Had this bad month 5 years ago. September does not seem better. Looks like my port is less visible in America. I am from Europe.

For me, overall, sales have been slower this year than last year but only by around 5%. However, September has been very poor so far and, right now, I'm looking at 30% - 40% less than last year.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2025/09/14/switched-off-my-september-stock-sales-have-collapsed-at-shutterstock-pond5/

Quote from: TonyD on September 21, 2025, 10:41
Sales on ss for me were normal until september where they've suddenly stopped at only 2 DLs so far this month - way below normal & if that's stays the total for the month it will be the lowers monthly total for over 5 years not long after I started contributing there

No so bad this month and last month.

For the execs at SS it's really simple, compensate the artist and they will feel motivated to upload more.

For me personally I can't see the point anymore.

I'm having a normal month on SS neither exceptional nor bad. July was one of my best months ever. I have daily sales on SS with some high value sales.

I believe many contributors have seen a decrease in daily sales due to the increasing adoption of the unlimited plan which is heavily pushed on customers. The sales for that plan are known at the first day of each month for the previous month.

Sales numbers have been slowly declining for years, but so has my uploads.

This month something unusually has happened: I have had two large(more than 20$) SOD's and one large EL.

Normally there is 3-4 months between one of those. Of course it's a coincidence, but still feels good.

Even though I've seen a decrease in downloads and my earnings are lower than during the same period last year, I can't really complain given the current state of the market. SS is still double than AS on income for me.

SS revenue is cut in half. Also, I had a big sale yesterday, I was happy with that, and now it diseapear -_-

I think I got in 2019 or 2020, right after apparently shutterstock became shitterstock.

Videos right now "go for" $0.25, images sometimes $0.10. So - for thousands of assets, not worth the time. Last few months I think I've 'maybe' gotten like $3-$4 TOTAL a month. Every now and then might make $50 in a month, but not worth uploading there. Especially after they did the bait/switch of feeding other people's (plus assuming their own) 'AI' machine with people's assets - THEN 'letting' them 'opt-out' AFTER they stole the data...

Am I the only one who doubting on shutterstock, about if they are stealing sales and revenue?

With uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they introduced subscription plans for videos

with uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they chanrged royalties to level system...

But what happened in last 1-2 years... without any major changes my sales and earnings in Shutterstock decreased by 50-60%...

Previously I don't have any weekdays without sales...But now I am getting many blank weekdays, and these reduction in sales and earnings increasing my doubt on shutterstock, if they are stealing/not reporting all sales...to cover their losses

Quote from: Graphic_Designer on September 25, 2025, 13:29
Am I the only one who doubting on shutterstock, about if they are stealing sales and revenue?

With uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they introduced subscription plans for videos

with uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they chanrged royalties to level system...

But what happened in last 1-2 years... without any major changes my sales and earnings in Shutterstock decreased by 50-60%...

Previously I don't have any weekdays without sales...But now I am getting many blank weekdays, and these reduction in sales and earnings increasing my doubt on shutterstock, if they are stealing/not reporting all sales...to cover their losses

It's possible, but I don't know. There are other potential factors at play (i.e., they are promoting their "ai" tool over your assets, some corporate (moron) decided that "advertising expenses" were "too high" (not realizing if you don't advertise, it affects your sales), resulting in less sales, they are favoring certain portfolios (whether an algorithm change, or something else), etc, etc.

The easiest way to 'test' this is to get a friend/business associate/etc to sign up/purchase one of your assets. If you do not see the sale credited within a reasonable timeframe (say 30 days), then you can most likely conclude that shitterstock is not accuratley reporting or crediting sales. Some companies may have a '30-day' period before they credit sales (i.e., to protect against refunds/chargebacks/etc) - so give it a reasonable amount of time. But I would run a few tests to ensure it wasn't a 'fluke', etc, etc.

Also here a sharp decline in sales in August and September.

My July at SS was very bad, August a bit better but still bad... and then came September and I hit my best month ever not only at SS, but also at AS, getting over 200 dollars per month for the first time ever at each agency. Perhaps not that surprising at Adobe, where 31 dollars Firefly bonus helped me to get over that 200 mark, but I didnt really expect shutterstock to bring a bunch of such a decent sales. I can only hope that I stay on the same good wave also in October.

Quote from: SuperPhoto on September 25, 2025, 15:20

Quote from: Graphic_Designer on September 25, 2025, 13:29
Am I the only one who doubting on shutterstock, about if they are stealing sales and revenue?

With uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they introduced subscription plans for videos

with uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they chanrged royalties to level system...

But what happened in last 1-2 years... without any major changes my sales and earnings in Shutterstock decreased by 50-60%...

Previously I don't have any weekdays without sales...But now I am getting many blank weekdays, and these reduction in sales and earnings increasing my doubt on shutterstock, if they are stealing/not reporting all sales...to cover their losses

It's possible, but I don't know. There are other potential factors at play (i.e., they are promoting their "ai" tool over your assets, some corporate (moron) decided that "advertising expenses" were "too high" (not realizing if you don't advertise, it affects your sales), resulting in less sales, they are favoring certain portfolios (whether an algorithm change, or something else), etc, etc.

The easiest way to 'test' this is to get a friend/business associate/etc to sign up/purchase one of your assets. If you do not see the sale credited within a reasonable timeframe (say 30 days), then you can most likely conclude that shitterstock is not accuratley reporting or crediting sales. Some companies may have a '30-day' period before they credit sales (i.e., to protect against refunds/chargebacks/etc) - so give it a reasonable amount of time. But I would run a few tests to ensure it wasn't a 'fluke', etc, etc.

This is a great way to get yourself banned as contributor. But please do test and report the results here.
On topic - SS image sales are already an afterthought. Videos sales still keep things afloat but my guess is this won't last very long either

Quote from: thx9000 on October 01, 2025, 14:23

Quote from: SuperPhoto on September 25, 2025, 15:20

Quote from: Graphic_Designer on September 25, 2025, 13:29
Am I the only one who doubting on shutterstock, about if they are stealing sales and revenue?

With uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they introduced subscription plans for videos

with uploading files regularly, my earnings increased even after they chanrged royalties to level system...

But what happened in last 1-2 years... without any major changes my sales and earnings in Shutterstock decreased by 50-60%...

Previously I don't have any weekdays without sales...But now I am getting many blank weekdays, and these reduction in sales and earnings increasing my doubt on shutterstock, if they are stealing/not reporting all sales...to cover their losses

It's possible, but I don't know. There are other potential factors at play (i.e., they are promoting their "ai" tool over your assets, some corporate (moron) decided that "advertising expenses" were "too high" (not realizing if you don't advertise, it affects your sales), resulting in less sales, they are favoring certain portfolios (whether an algorithm change, or something else), etc, etc.

The easiest way to 'test' this is to get a friend/business associate/etc to sign up/purchase one of your assets. If you do not see the sale credited within a reasonable timeframe (say 30 days), then you can most likely conclude that shitterstock is not accuratley reporting or crediting sales. Some companies may have a '30-day' period before they credit sales (i.e., to protect against refunds/chargebacks/etc) - so give it a reasonable amount of time. But I would run a few tests to ensure it wasn't a 'fluke', etc, etc.

This is a great way to get yourself banned as contributor. But please do test and report the results here.
On topic - SS image sales are already an afterthought. Videos sales still keep things afloat but my guess is this won't last very long either

It's interesting - you have to access yourself - why would one get 'banned' if they tested, and found out they weren't being attributed with sales? ... hmm...

I have poor shutterstock sales generally

September was 2nd best month ever from the income point of view, not downloads.

Sales are 80% less than 2015.. when I had far fewer photos and videos. 

I had my best month of the year, both income and downloads. But in general, I see and feel the decline too.
Growing portfolio, but less download volume, less income (contributor fund and unlimited subscriptions don't compensate for losses elsewhere on Shutterstock)

Quote from: Roscoe on October 02, 2025, 13:48
I had my best month of the year, both income and downloads. But in general, I see and feel the decline too.
Growing portfolio, but less download volume, less income (contributor fund and unlimited subscriptions don't compensate for losses elsewhere on Shutterstock)

Little strange, are you in 3 fig. or 4?