Author Topic: Are some sites worth the hassle? (Read 2711 times)

josephjacobs · « **on:** January 08, 2017, 20:23 »

I've been uploading stock for a half a year now. It started as a hobby and it mainly still is, but I'm making a little from it- I made one big sale on Alamy and I just hit the $50 mark on fotolia (woot!) My two other sites, Dreamstime and iStock, have yielded next to nothing. I'm making some sales with the IS partner program but all of those sales are well under a dollar each.

The tipping point for me was then I realized my account balance on the bottom bar was gone after the new year - I understand this is a common problem and maybe a change in the IS site, but it seems to me like if I can't even see the little amount of money I'm making maybe it's not worth the hours I spend uploading. I'm more inclined to stick around with DT too, even though i've made the least amount of money there (only 3 sales), just because they have a site layout that really works for me and friendly support.

My question is, at what point is uploading to a site pointless? Should I stick with IS and DT and hope for the best or just stop uploading there?

AlessandraRC · « **Reply #1 on:** January 08, 2017, 20:29 »

I have been uploading to those sites for a little over one year. Dreamstime takes a while to pick up but still it is slow. Istock also takes a while but I have reached the payout within one year and with less than 500 picture in it. I would wait at least a year to make a decision, although there is great outrage over istock's latest changes. One thing about that site though is that I never made less than .28c on a sale, more than on SS where the minimum sale has been .25c. So I have not given it up on istock yet, it is my second best earner and it is only 20 bucks behind SS in earnings for me over one year. Hope that helps.

josephjacobs · « **Reply #2 on:** January 08, 2017, 20:43 »

Okay, that's really good to know. I'm actually under 18 so I'm chomping at the bit to get my photos onto shutterstock

How do I see my account balance? I see it on deepmeta, is that the only way?

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #3 on:** January 09, 2017, 02:30 »

I'm furiously uploading to DT and 123RF. Purely because I've been on them for nearly a year and I haven't hit the payout yet... so I want to get my $100 from those guys and then I won;t bother uploading to them again! I'll keep my stuff there, but they don't seem to be worth the effort to keep uploading. Same with DepositPhotos, only been there for six months but I've not made a penny yet. Have given up on uploading there.

Been on iStock and SS for about the same time and I make about $100 a month on iStock and about $125 to $150 a month with SS. VideoBlocks is doing well for me... was getting about $100 a month for the first fe months, then it started gradually increasing. Have got over $400 a month for the past couple of months.

alexzappa · « **Reply #4 on:** January 09, 2017, 08:43 »

Started 6 months ago with 12 agencies, and now I'm reaching 1000 images spread among them and about 50 clips. mainly travel and nature

SS : payout every other month. worth it
IS : 26$...still far from payout, I stopped uploading in November, waiting to see how things go after the unification with Getty
FT : payout after 6 months, but growing . worth it
DT/123RF/BS : slow but steady and growing, but still far from payout. probably worth.
PHOTODUNE: low acceptance rate (20%), few downloads but best RPD. if they let me I'll upload more
DP: few dls. not worth.
Alamy/CS/P5/VB: no signs of life

My 2017 good will is to try some other agency:
MostPhotos,
Zoonar,
Photocase,
Pixta,
PicFair

Is any of them worth the hassle?