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Author Topic: Are things going well in microstock?  (Read 117540 times)

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« Reply #325 on: January 30, 2008, 11:01 »
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Andres, thank you for the analysis.  Coming from someone of your calibre, your insights can help us see our way a little more clearly.  With greater knowledge we can all make informed choices that will possibly influence the market in positive ways.


« Reply #326 on: January 30, 2008, 13:21 »
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I've been reading this thread really carefully... and one thing is extremely surprising for me!!! How come there is nobody from the agencies talking to us here... They are reading, that's for sure. But - what - don't they have anything to say?

...it looks like there is a labor union of sorts forming here, and photogs can, if united, influence the course of stock ... as far as I understand, a relatively small % of microstockers have over 400-500 images in their ports, and usually these photogs are on average better in everything, and if this relatively small % pools resources - then wow!

« Reply #327 on: January 30, 2008, 13:34 »
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Just to follow up...

If thinking from this thread catches on, what will happen is not that microstock sites will improve in price structure for photogs, but that all the photogs will stop putting their best stuff for micros and thus several things will happen: sub micros will be slowly but surely going down unless they innovate drastically as quality of their top contributors will decrease, top contributors will be putting their top work to more mid-stock-ish agencies and some work to macros...

this is somewhat based on my own thinking: from now on (makes no sense to do all the work on the existing port online) - i will separate out everything i shoot into RF for subs, RF for mid-stock and RM for bigger fish and submit accordingly....

« Reply #328 on: January 30, 2008, 14:27 »
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It would be interesting to hear from Yuri.
He started this thread, but last couple of times I have checked, he was opted back into subs on StockXpert.
Can you tell us what action you plan to take, Yuri?

Linda

« Reply #329 on: January 30, 2008, 14:53 »
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he was opted back into subs on StockXpert.

Reaaaaly?

« Reply #330 on: January 30, 2008, 15:15 »
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See Yuris second post on page 5:

"I will be opting out and in over the next few days to see if there is a difference in income. So fare none. Andreas will be doing this too"

« Reply #331 on: January 30, 2008, 17:55 »
+1
Very interesting analysis Andresr:) I think at one stage the only way to increase $ is to gradually move pictures from microstock (avoiding sites with purely  sub sales) to midstock. Quite a lot of agencies are present on this market now and they pay  in Euros : I am thinking about  mostphotos, zoonar,panthermedia......
L

I think too that moving to midstock sites makes sense. Let sites with subs envy midstock growth. Should we have a  section devoted to midstock only discussion ?


« Reply #332 on: January 31, 2008, 03:26 »
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Things are going well again for me.  It looks like the slower sales in December and the first weeks of January was just a seasonal thing.  The last 10 days have been great.

« Reply #333 on: January 31, 2008, 04:21 »
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Same thing here as with sharpshot. First two weeks of this year were horrible and the december was very bad, but now things are going same level as in septemper last year .

br, MJP

« Reply #334 on: January 31, 2008, 07:26 »
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That's what I figured, and the OP is probably experiencing the same, thus the lack of concern for still supporting the effort to get rid of subscription sites, or for posting.

« Reply #335 on: January 31, 2008, 07:32 »
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Very interesting analysis Andresr:) I think at one stage the only way to increase $ is to gradually move pictures from microstock (avoiding sites with purely  sub sales) to midstock. Quite a lot of agencies are present on this market now and they pay  in Euros : I am thinking about  mostphotos, zoonar,panthermedia......
L

I think too that moving to midstock sites makes sense. Let sites with subs envy midstock growth. Should we have a  section devoted to midstock only discussion ?



Yes I think a midstock would make sense, someone suggested this earlier this month. Who do I have to pm for that ?
L

« Reply #336 on: January 31, 2008, 13:01 »
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he was opted back into subs on StockXpert.

Reaaaaly?
Yes. Yuri's images are available for subscription. They have the orange "sub" button next to it on the thumbnail page. That's life. People saying one think and doing another.
Here's new liste opt-OUT:
rene (about 600 images at StockXpert)

« Reply #337 on: January 31, 2008, 14:40 »
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Here's new liste opt-OUT:
rene (about 600 images at StockXpert)

So is this an opt out of the opt out?  I was a bit quick opting in and I might experiment with subscriptions, so I will opt out.

rene (about 600 images at StockXpert)
sharpshot (about 2700 images at StockXpert

« Reply #338 on: January 31, 2008, 14:52 »
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Can anyone answer, is there any benefit to opting-in to subs at StockXpert?  Do increased downloads give a photo more momentum (and possibly more regular sales)?  Is it a payoff that should be measured?  I haven't been on StockXpert that long so I don't have much of a history to make predictions. 

I know this much for certain, 30 cents isn't enough.

« Reply #339 on: January 31, 2008, 15:06 »
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Can anyone answer, is there any benefit to opting-in to subs at StockXpert?  Do increased downloads give a photo more momentum (and possibly more regular sales)?  Is it a payoff that should be measured?  I haven't been on StockXpert that long so I don't have much of a history to make predictions. 

I know this much for certain, 30 cents isn't enough.

I don't have the answer for that but since the beginning my biggest concern has been that sub system will eventually turn ppd buyers into sub buyers.if I was a buyer I'd definetely subscribe and got 750 XL images for the price of 40XL ppd  it seems so clear to me but I do hope that I am wrong.to my point of view  introducing and supporting such a system would have a significant impact on our overall income

lately  people complaining about getting more and more sub sales on DT aswell is is suprising,I don't think so!
« Last Edit: January 31, 2008, 15:10 by stokfoto »

« Reply #340 on: January 31, 2008, 15:33 »
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Before subs I got around 80 sales / month at StockXpert. When they introduced subs I noticed that next few months the combined sales volume was same (around 80-90 images), but my income dropped to 2/3. I opted out early in this month and my sales level is same as last three months but the income went back to same level before subs...My portfolio is small (around 1000 images) and mainly focused on food and still life images so no huge sales there anyway.

Can anybody confirm similar behaviour? I'm afraid that stokfoto's concerns are quite correct. I do not get why they give money away by allowing XL size subs, because it seems that users buy images even if they are not awailable in subs sales.

I will continue to opt out crusade to get more data about it:).

br, MJP


« Reply #341 on: January 31, 2008, 16:38 »
+1
What hurts me when selling subs images in StockXpert or DT (where they are few compared to regular sales) is when the subscriber gets a very good-selling image.  I wouldn't mind much if they get an old unsuccessful image, but when they get one that is one of my prides...  Even if they mean just one sale in dozens, it feels bad.

Regards,
Adelaide


« Reply #342 on: January 31, 2008, 16:50 »
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We opted out of subs at StockXpert from the beginning. We have also stopped uploading to DT.

This month we have seen many, many more large sales on IS than we have previously.

We have had our BME on IS in $$ and DL.

Is there a connection? I don't know.

However, we have decided to upload only to IS for a few months, and watch what happens.

Linda

« Reply #343 on: January 31, 2008, 18:27 »
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Before subs I got around 80 sales / month at StockXpert. When they introduced subs I noticed that next few months the combined sales volume was same (around 80-90 images), but my income dropped to 2/3. I opted out early in this month and my sales level is same as last three months but the income went back to same level before subs...My portfolio is small (around 1000 images) and mainly focused on food and still life images so no huge sales there anyway.

Can anybody confirm similar behaviour? I'm afraid that stokfoto's concerns are quite correct. I do not get why they give money away by allowing XL size subs, because it seems that users buy images even if they are not awailable in subs sales.

I will continue to opt out crusade to get more data about it:).

br, MJP



I'm going to have to watch my numbers for a couple more months before a clear trend can be determined, because January sucked on both levels.  It is interesting to note that December, in the subscription service's second full month, stayed in line with September - November in terms of volume.  The only difference is that credit sales dropped and subscription sales increased...not a good sign. 

September:  102 credit sales  subscription not yet implemented  102 total sales
October:  111 credit sales  2 subscription sales  113 total sales
November:  108 credit sales  14 subscription sales  122 total sales
December: 80 credit sales  35 subscription sales  115 total sales
January: 74 credit sales  12 subscription sales  86 total sales (yuck)

« Reply #344 on: February 01, 2008, 00:33 »
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Some interesting figures, comparing my Jan 07 sales with the Jan 08 sales:

SS has increased by 15% from 07 to 08

The total of all agencies, except SS, have increased by 116% from 07 to 08

The SS part of my earnings have gone down from 47% in Jan 07 to 32% in Jan 08. I have not added any agencies with significant earnings the last 12 months.

This is in my view a rather dramatic development, and there's another side to it as well: as much as 36% of my sales at SS are vectors, something I sell very little of at other agencies. If I deduct the vectors, SS represents only 22% of my total sales, at least, that is the situation for for January 2008.

Are things going well in microstock? Yes, they are for me, but I'm not so sure about SS.

« Reply #345 on: February 01, 2008, 01:09 »
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.........
We have had our BME on IS in $$ and DL.

Is there a connection? I don't know.

However, we have decided to upload only to IS for a few months, and watch what happens.

Linda
Same here.

I will upload only to iStock and German mid-stock sites for some time and see what happens. And try to get accepted at alamy/photoshelter.

BTW, is istock still microstock or rather moving to midstock?

« Reply #346 on: February 01, 2008, 03:12 »
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@faber, what the customers have to pay is getting closer to midstock, but still a bit away, especially the small sizes. What the contributer gets is definately microstock :).
But Snapvillage is closer to midstock if you choose the right prices, as well as featurepics.

« Reply #347 on: February 19, 2008, 19:19 »
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Yuri -

Your thread has ended up on John Harrington's Blog.  He isn't a big fan of microstock or the people who market in that arena.  On the post he referenced Lee Torrens specifically discussing this thread.

Duane


had a look at his blog, one whinge and complaint and negative comment after another.  God the guy needs to find some joy in his life.  It's not microstock he hates, he complains and takes delight in everyone and everythings failures. What a sad individual.

PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #348 on: February 19, 2008, 20:27 »
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Some interesting figures, comparing my Jan 07 sales with the Jan 08 sales:

SS has increased by 15% from 07 to 08

The total of all agencies, except SS, have increased by 116% from 07 to 08

The SS part of my earnings have gone down from 47% in Jan 07 to 32% in Jan 08. I have not added any agencies with significant earnings the last 12 months.

This is in my view a rather dramatic development, and there's another side to it as well: as much as 36% of my sales at SS are vectors, something I sell very little of at other agencies. If I deduct the vectors, SS represents only 22% of my total sales, at least, that is the situation for for January 2008.

Are things going well in microstock? Yes, they are for me, but I'm not so sure about SS.

With SS, I've already run into what I've been hearing all along. SS needs to be fed regularly.

I noticed that I upload more and more but get the same monthly earnings (minus an EL). This past month I didn;t upload much because of my day job. In Nov SS was 44% of my earnings. So far this month it's in 3rd place at 9%. For my images, SS doesn't appear to be a good prospect for building portfolio earnings growth. Seems like a transaction... if upload images, they sell. No uploads = substantial sales decrease. 

« Reply #349 on: February 19, 2008, 21:21 »
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I love to hear people crack on microstock. What micro did was open photography to everybody. I love taking pictures but I have day job and never would have thought about selling pictures without micro.

Micro lets me have some fun and buy new equipment every now then. That said, there are too many sites and I suspect that we will see some contraction in the future. The list on the right has to many players.


 

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