The only one I really regret using is albumo.  There are a few I have avoided, as it looks like there are hardly any sales and they have no chance but I am still going to give the more promising sites like yaymicro, cutcaster and zymmetrical a chance.

I can't see any reason to join any new sites until they have proven they can deliver sales. 

And yes, I have heard the argument of "how can they bring in customers if nobody uploads to them", but both Fotolia and Stockxpert managed to accumulate steady sales for people before I joined them and since joining I am satisfied with my sales there. 

In contrast to Crestock which I joined early, pretty much on faith (and Yuri's recommendation) and the sales there have been somewhat disappointing. 

When I was uploading to multiple sites, I had a pretty simple rule:

Don't upload to any site you don't see advertising in the design magazines.

It seems a lot of sites have a couple of tech guys that can throw together a website but no real marketing budget to go out and get buyers.

And since most of the content on these sites is already available on more established sites, luring buyers away can be pretty tough, especially since they are all competing at the pretty much the same price level.

I upload to the top 6 sites except istock as soon as the images have been edited.  I know istock can be really good, but i just can't get it to work for me.  I probably have to many crappy images there and it is hurting my search placement... so my earnings there are somewhat minimal and the uploading process I find very painful.

After that I upload to crestock because i still have hope for them and it is really a 0 effort upload process so my time investment is basically 0

I have most of my portfolio on bigstock but i find myself putting off uploading there because it takes a while putting in all those categories and the sales are minimal

I have a quite a few images on mostphotos (0 effort to upload again) and a few on yaymicro and snapvillage - but will wait for more sales before i spend any more time with them.

And then, once a year or so I send scanstockphoto a DVD of my images which they put online - again 0 effor for uploading which gives me a couple payouts a year - making me think it is worth it.

I upload to the top 6 sites except istock as soon as the images have been edited.  I know istock can be really good, but i just can't get it to work for me.  I probably have to many crappy images there and it is hurting my search placement... so my earnings there are somewhat minimal and the uploading process I find very painful.

You and me both, Leaf.  I still contribute to iStock, but I have no idea why.  I cannot sell anything there except a few images I uploaded 14 months ago. 

I understand the feelings of the OP.  I will soon be pulling back on my uploading to between 4 and 6 sites.  I want to give another month to see if Yaymicro is going to follow through with their advertising.  If not, they get nothing more.  As for SnapVillage, it seems wasted effort so I cannot imagine I'll give them any more uploads after September.  Same with Featurepics, which has the worst conversion rate in microstock.  I have nearly 1000 views there and only 1 sale.  At Dreamstime, I average a sale for every 15 views for my non-editorial performers.

The "midstock business plan" does not have to address why buyers would pay more than bargain-basement prices. A viable chunk of buyers are simply normal clients who will pay a fair price for usage of a photo that earns them X amount of bucks. It's not a difficult thing to follow. We at Zymmetrical see sales daily from mom n' pop businesses to professional art directors- no one in that group is questioning why or where they could find these files cheaper elsewhere - anyone with community college marketing 101 can understand the basics of how these things work.

I am truly sorry LO and others failed but there are absolutely 0 pretensions on our part that that the producers of the content we sell aren't going to get compensated properly.   We are here to to establish a fair pricepoint at all costs and my personal livelihood rides on this. Get on board, or stick with status quo, is my invitation.

After seeing literally years of microstockers expressing a sense of repression (internet time goes by quick doesn't it!), and a desire for more income, I am really surprised at the lack of hope and faith from some. Creatives, to me,  should be open to the unknown, the daring, and the anti-establishment. Yes, everyone is outputting an increasing level of standardized content because a) thats what 'stock' is, and b) every day there are more consumers on this planet that need pretty generic marketing material, and this is what sells, this doesn't mean you have to devalue your content to the level of hoping volume sales will pay for your lunch with the models, your shoot, your camera, your mac.

I personally challenge each person reading this to really communicate with their 'low earners' in a straight-forward way, and see if you are missing that these companies are working hard to help you accomplish your goals. I am not trying to play a single-violin in this message, but seriously, why would anyone be in this business if they didn't love it and believe in what they are doing? If they wanted an easy career they could have picked banking, marrying into money, being a hippy, etc. lol.

If the low-earners wait 2 months to reply, or not at all, or if the response seems to be from a call center, then sure, who wouldn't lose some faith. If they respond to you like a human, who is doing the best they can in the face of an industry in turmoil, then why not give them some support yourself?

I don't think your argument fairly depicted what I wrote.  I never suggested I would pull the plug on Yay after 3 months.  What I said was, since they have been promising a Fall advertising campaign since Spring, that I will hold them to their word.  If they don't advertise, I will cease uploads.

I think that is more than fair. 

As I wrote in a similar thread a few days ago, this is a business partnership.  If the other side fails to deliver on promises, there is no reason for us to continue to support them when our efforts could be focused with agencies who do promote our work. 

Talking about fair compensation is fine.  But what is fair?  Take Featurepics for instance, which allows us to keep 70% of earnings off any price we set.  For most people, this equates to 0 earnings, because they don't seem to advertise.  They could raise their commission to 95% and it wouldn't make much of a difference.  It's my second go around with them, and I still don't understand what their business plan is.

I also like how startups are depicted as "Ma and Pa" companies and visionaries, whereas established companies are depicted as "Corporate" or "Establishment."  Do some research.  Established companies such as Dreamstime, Istock, and Shutterstock were small startups too.  But they advertised and had a coherent plan to become successes.  Some see "anti-establishment" with all of these startups over the last year. Others see 'under-achievement."  Companies such as Stockxpert not only grew their businesses in Year 1, they even became major players in this landscape.  Bigstock is a Ma and Pa which has been firmly in the Top 7 for a few years. 

It's a wild ride with lots of turns....   you know,  every comment above contradictory as some may be...  are correct in some form or another.  You all have valid points.

Isn't the whole thing a crap shoot anyway?  We have some that can't stand SS or IS, they feel like they are floundering there...  while others are making 90% of their income off of the two or even one.  Some DT is tops,  me, DT is one of the lowest.  It all depends on your folio and what the customer base is at the agency.

I first went with  USPS...   for me,  biggest mistake I made since being in the biz.  With them..  what? well over a year,  made a couple bucks that I never got.   Lucky Oliver, I had high hopes, invested a lot of time and effort....   they went belly up.  Incidentally,  my payout from them back the end of June still isn't in my bank account... lost in limbo somewhere between them, paypal and my bank.... so I'm still paying the price for my LO investment.   I'm assured it will be found....we'll see.  I know I've already spent far, far more in my time than the eighty some bucks I have coming....  or not.

I went with  a few others....  didn't see squat in sales....   Read others horror stories with the start-ups  (including so-called name brand associates like snappy).....  and decided no to them.

frankly,  I'm more than gun-shy now.  I have no plans to upload to 123,  been there over a year and haven't hit payout yet. Once I hit payout, I'll be shutting it down.  ...  and a couple more... I'll load to no more.   I'm sticking with IS, SS, StockXpert, DT & BigStock,  that is, they are the only sites  I'm uploading to now.  And of them,  IS & SS  will get first shot... in my spare   time I'll load the other three.  The rest,  soon as I hit next payout,  I'm shutting each of them down.  Some,  my folio is so small and sales so little,  I'll probably just 'eat' the money and pull the plug anyway. It's not worth my time to go checking them.

This is my view.  I'm not fulltime stock shooting.  I'm doing well shooting assignment for mags. Spreading myself over a dozen or more micros,  I just don't have the time and my portfolio just doesn't bring the return.  I'll be sticking with my big five.

On the other hand... I understand the views of those that see potential in the upstarts.   To you guys,  may the force be with you.   I must admit that   IF....   IF  I see all the things in place that I want to see in an upstart.... maybe, perhaps, could be...  I might consider it.

Never say Never.  =tom

I'm hanging in with FT.

Sales are slow enough for me at the moment but recently I hit bronze which as you know means higher commissions.

Good enough reason to stay!

Tom, you don't mention Fotolia.  They are one of my better sellers.

Are you not seeing sales there?  Just curious why they aren't on your list of keepers...

Funny that you should mention this Nativelight.

As I said previously, it's been quiet lately and now I just got 3 on same day.
Like you, I have noticed something like this before.

Quote from: lisafx on August 25, 2008, 18:23

Tom, you don't mention Fotolia.  They are one of my better sellers.

Are you not seeing sales there?  Just curious why they aren't on your list of keepers...

FT is weird for me.  I'll get several downloads in a row and then I'll go weeks with nothing.  I wonder if they change up their search algorithm regularly to keep search results fresh.

Quote from: lisafx on August 25, 2008, 18:23

Tom, you don't mention Fotolia.  They are one of my better sellers.

Are you not seeing sales there?  Just curious why they aren't on your list of keepers...

FT is weird for me.  I'll get several downloads in a row and then I'll go weeks with nothing.  I wonder if they change up their search algorithm regularly to keep search results fresh.

weird sales forme 2 at FT

was going steady fow few months then something hapen to search engine i guess (i can see it in views also) and DOWNnloads went DOWN!!!

Was my number 3 goes to number 5 after their changes.

It would be in the re-evaluation group of sites (if continues drop in sales) for me by the end of the year, maybe sooner.

My decision is to get off me sites that doesn't sell, even if i losse some money.

Yikes!  Pretty scary stuff Tom.  Glad they sorted it out for you eventually, but I can see why you aren't spending any more effort on that account.  Might be worth it closing it and opening a new one, if they allow that.  Sales for most people seem to be pretty good there.

Your point is well taken, lisafx.  Perhaps after all this time I may be acting unreasonable.  Sometimes "stuff" happens.  I should let it go and put it to rest. I   AM  beating a dead horse. 

I'll consider your voice of reason and suggestion. thanks much.  =tom

..... course there's always the possibility that I'll not get accepted this time... ...LOL      I'll let you know how I make out .  thanks again.

As soon as I hit payout (could take a while) my two lowest performers will be dumped.
This will leave me working with only the top 4 sites. Of these IS is the top performer, the other three are ok but do fluctuate over time.
IS is the most consistent, and I may eventually consider going exclusive. (MOM I'M SCARED )