MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: morning.light on February 20, 2013, 09:02
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So I was happy that the holidays finally passed and my files began selling again. I had constant sales from the middle of January to last week. Last week was even the best week ever, I made more money in one week than in the last 2 months. And then, last Wednesday, everything died, and my sales were 0 until today.
I understand having weird fluctuations with a small portfolio, but having constant sales on ALL websites and then everything going to 0 on the same day on ALL websites? Isn't that too much of a coincidence? Is something special happening in Europe and US during this period? As far as I know there's no big holiday besides Valentine's Day, but people don't stop working during it, at least in my country.
Sorry if the question seems stupid but stuff like this really makes me lose my confidence. It's too weird that sales stopped on the same day everywhere, after weeks of daily sales.
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I made more money in one week than in the last 2 months
if you are talking about a few ELs on that week I might understand, if not you are just too small to predict sales, that said the first 2 weeks of February were very strong, this week is like half power (comparing to those)
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Yes I know my portfolio is too small to predict sales. The only thing that confuses me is how can this happen at the same time at several websites.
And no, I made a bit more money during those weeks on individual sales. I would sell at least 10 pictures a day. Lots of downloads everyday at SS, Dreamstime, Deposit, Envato, etc, and then BAM 0 downloads no matter where I look. That's why I'm shocked. I would understand this happening to a few websites or I would understand a decrease in sales, but everything went from more than 10 sales a day to 0 everywhere at the same time. I thought something special is happing during this period and I might not be aware of it.
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The short answer is no, I can't explain sales :)
The longer answer: In addition to the difficulties of seeing trends with smaller portfolios, you need to look at workweek, major holidays, seasonal items in your portfolio, and time zones around the world. There are also shifts in search result order at various sites (which shouldn't be coordinated but are one source of things changing).
So last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday and in some countries you might have seen a drop off because of that? Late Friday and Saturday (US West Coast) are the slowest times of the week because Asia's already having their weekend. Sunday is slower than weekdays but picks up in the evening as Asia's at work on Monday. Monday was a holiday for some people in the US and the US is a big market. It's school half term in the UK this week and so some people are away.
Seasonal things - tropical beaches selling during winter, Christmas stuff in the late autumn, Easter stuff early in the year - also make a difference. I would often notice lots more large sizes selling early in the week and Friday seemed to be XS day :)
10-20 sales a day across several sites is still very small numbers (not trying to be rude, but it makes a difference). You can't see trends on a daily or even weekly basis.
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If you're talking about DT, I'm convinced there's some sort of rotation in placement. I'll have a couple of weeks where I make a lot of sales, followed by a long period of nothing.
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It's school half term in the UK this week and so some people are away.
<pedantic mode> Not 'in the UK', in England and Wales only. Scotland had last Mon-Weds off (Weds pupils only)[at least in my authority, I'm not sure it's the same everywhere] and NI had this Mon-Tues off.</pedant>
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It's school half term in the UK this week and so some people are away.
<pedantic mode> Not 'in the UK', in England and Wales only. Scotland had last Mon-Weds off (Weds pupils only)[at least in my authority, I'm not sure it's the same everywhere] and NI had this Mon-Tues off.</pedant>
I actually only checked the greater London area (where most of my family lives) , so I was worse than you thought!
And apparently the Scots don't buy the OP's images much as things were going great until last Wednesday :)
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On iS, I'm getting virtually no sales in European working hours, and not many at other times. Oddly today I had two sales, almost certainly different buyers, in European working hours, of old files taken in then US. ::) (Yeah, back to pedant mode, the Eastern Seaboard would be working by the time these sold.)
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Things have ground to halt for me too - I have a fairly small port - I put it down to statistical aberration - see numerous posts on the forum about sales crashing or skyrocketing :D
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Monday was Presidents Day so most schools and government organizations were closed.
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In Canada, most provinces had some sort of February long weekend this past Monday. In Ontario, it was Family Day, for example.