Author Topic: Easter taking its toll (Read 11615 times)

wut · « **on:** April 06, 2012, 05:41 »

Across the board

. IS is the only one doing business as usual. For now...

stockmarketer · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2012, 06:18 »

Yes, I woke up to see about half the sales I saw yesterday morning. Fridays are typically the worst weekday, but yikes.

Of course, today is Good Friday. It is to be expected. I now expect the rest of the month to end up being a huge drop from March. Easter vacations and Spring Break make this one of the worst months of the year. Sales-wise, I dread it more than any other. Historically (for me, anyway) May will climb back a little, but then June, July and August will be flat or decreasing a bit each month. September always comes roaring back, and then Oct and Nov are pretty great right through the beginning of December, then we all know what happens after Dec 15 or so.

ShadySue · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2012, 07:27 »

Quote from: wut on April 06, 2012, 05:41

IS is the only one doing business as usual.

Lucky you!

wut · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2012, 08:24 »

Quote from: stockmarketer on April 06, 2012, 06:18

Yes, I woke up to see about half the sales I saw yesterday morning. Fridays are typically the worst weekday, but yikes.

Of course, today is Good Friday. It is to be expected. I now expect the rest of the month to end up being a huge drop from March. Easter vacations and Spring Break make this one of the worst months of the year. Sales-wise, I dread it more than any other. Historically (for me, anyway) May will climb back a little, but then June, July and August will be flat or decreasing a bit each month. September always comes roaring back, and then Oct and Nov are pretty great right through the beginning of December, then we all know what happens after Dec 15 or so.

For me sales already dropped yesterday. All that after a great Tue (2 ELs at SS, ton of ODs) and Wed. I can't say much about April, it's my second only, last year sales were rising from Jan-May (but Jan was really pathetic, down from Dec).

wut · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2012, 08:26 »

Quote from: ShadySue on April 06, 2012, 07:27

Quote from: wut on April 06, 2012, 05:41
IS is the only one doing business as usual.
Lucky you!

Tough luck Sue (since you can't rely on other agencies), I hope you'll get a nice surprise regarding sales before the day ends

lisafx · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2012, 14:08 »

Yep, poor sales all week, getting progressively worse up to today. Hopefully the last 3 weeks of the month will make up for it. I am optimistic that things are improving overall.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2012, 15:46 »

Quote from: wut on April 06, 2012, 05:41

Across the board . IS is the only one doing business as usual. For now...

Yes, it's Good Friday, Passover started last night at Midnight, so that covers much of the major religions.

Now it's time to say "sales have tanked big time"

Seems like almost every month has some ~~excuse~~ reason why sales are off. Holidays, schools out, vacation time, Agency X is giving away free images, Agency Y dropped commissions, Agency Z added subs... whatever. I'm always hopeful that in the long run, it's makes one consistent line and doesn't have any deep valleys because the market itself is going bad. Leveling off is not a problem. Things can't grow and grow forever.

Quote from: lisafx on April 06, 2012, 14:08

Yep, poor sales all week, getting progressively worse up to today. Hopefully the last 3 weeks of the month will make up for it. I am optimistic that things are improving overall.

Me too, as Jan-Feb-March all increased for me. If April equals March I'll be quite happy.

Here's some good news, the Dark Chocolate goes on sale Monday at most of the stores. I can stock up for the next few months at greatly discounted prices!

sharpshot · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2012, 16:09 »

It's like a weekend day on the big sites but my day was vastly improved by some nice sales with Snapixel. Spreading my portfolio works well for me, I know some people prefer sticking to the big sites but I've never seen the logic in doing that.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2012, 16:27 »

Quote from: sharpshot on April 06, 2012, 16:09

It's like a weekend day on the big sites but my day was vastly improved by some nice sales with Snapixel. Spreading my portfolio works well for me, I know some people prefer sticking to the big sites but I've never seen the logic in doing that.

This probably should be (and has been) subject of another thread. The discussions have nearly convinced me that having the same image on multiple sites (TS in particular) dilutes its value at the better paying sites. Your approach seems to dispute that -- or, perhaps, you're saying that covering all the bases cancels the dilution effect?

I am asking, not offering the argument.

lisafx · « **Reply #9 on:** April 06, 2012, 17:21 »

Quote from: WarrenPrice on April 06, 2012, 16:27

This probably should be (and has been) subject of another thread. The discussions have nearly convinced me that having the same image on multiple sites (TS in particular) dilutes its value at the better paying sites. Your approach seems to dispute that -- or, perhaps, you're saying that covering all the bases cancels the dilution effect?

I am asking, not offering the argument.

I can't speak for Sharpshot, but from my perspective, spreading out to more sites has helped me recover some of the income I lost on Istock and Fotolia. And just to forestall any chicken-or-egg arguments, my sales at IS and FT plummeted FIRST, then I decided to join some other sites. I have been selective and only joined sites that A) other contributors report making money on, and B) offer to get my entire portfolio on their site with a minimum of effort on my part.

Thanks to some of the lower and low-mid tier agencies, I managed to squeak to a $1,000 greater profit in 2011 than 2010, despite roughly 50% drops at IS and FT. Without sites like Depositphotos, Photodune, Graphic Leftovers, and Pixmac I would have suffered a pretty sizeable loss over the previous year.

gillian vann · « **Reply #10 on:** April 06, 2012, 17:59 »

on the plus side, these are great days to get out and photograph with less people around... you could hit the streets and shoot with few interruptions. Yesterday (Good Friday is already over for us) I was driving through what is normally my local bustling cafe precinct and I wouldn't have been surprised to see tumbleweeds rolling down the street lol. Kicked myself that I'd wasted the day lolling about the house. Weather is absolutely perfect here too.

wut · « **Reply #11 on:** April 06, 2012, 19:22 »

That doesn't help us that shoot lifestyle. Quite the opposite, half of the models is out of town

ShadySue · « **Reply #12 on:** April 06, 2012, 20:03 »

Quote from: wut on April 06, 2012, 19:22

That doesn't help us that shoot lifestyle. Quite the opposite, half of the models is out of town

Shoot the other half.
Raining here.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #13 on:** April 07, 2012, 01:29 »

Quote from: sharpshot on April 06, 2012, 16:09

It's like a weekend day on the big sites but my day was vastly improved by some nice sales with Snapixel. Spreading my portfolio works well for me, I know some people prefer sticking to the big sites but I've never seen the logic in doing that.

I know this is disagreeable to people who have diversified and spread their work out to all kinds of places, some with marginal credibility or long term promise.

You are competing with yourself based on price. You aren't making more from other sites, because you are just diverting the same sales and stealing your own downloads. Of course the bigger sites will go down, you just sold something someplace else that charges less and possibly pays less. Greasing the race to the bottom...

sharpshot · « **Reply #14 on:** April 07, 2012, 10:41 »

^^^Sorry but I often sell for much more with the smaller sites. They also usually pay a higher commission. As they sell very little compared to the big sites, they aren't damaging them. I also don't understand how I am competing with myself? I don't think buyers use more than 1 or 2 sites. If I don't have my portfolio on the site they use, I'm losing sales to those that do.

The big sites haven't lowered their prices over the years, they've just lowered their commissions. Most of the smaller sites I used haven't cut commissions as drastically, probably because they know it's easier for contributors to leave.

There's a theory that if there was only one or two sites, they could raise prices and we would make more but I disagree with that. I think if there was less sites, they would cut our commission to almost nothing, as they would know there's nowhere else to sell.

stockmarketer · « **Reply #15 on:** April 08, 2012, 06:30 »

Quote from: RacePhoto on April 07, 2012, 01:29

You are competing with yourself based on price. You aren't making more from other sites, because you are just diverting the same sales and stealing your own downloads.

No, as a general rule and based on today's realities of the ms marketplace, this is untrue. I am certain I would be earning far less if I just had ports at the top two or three sites. If I limited my reach like this, I'd miss the buyers who -- for whatever reason -- choose only to buy from 123, DP, GL, or wherever.

Your theory is like saying that if I sell widgets and get my product into Walmart, then I should NOT attempt to sell through Target, Kmart, Walgreens, etc. because I'd only be stealing sales from myself. As a merchandising practice, this would be pretty backwards thinking.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #16 on:** April 08, 2012, 08:02 »

All those stores tend to sell things at the same relative price point.

Not .10 on SS, $7 on GL, $25 on IS, etc...

gostwyck · « **Reply #17 on:** April 08, 2012, 08:38 »

Quote from: sjlocke on April 08, 2012, 08:02

All those stores tend to sell things at the same relative price point.

Not .10 on SS, $7 on GL, $25 on IS, etc...

I see the point you are trying to make but I never get .10 for a sale on SS ... but I have had a 5c sale on IS in the recent past and regular 24c or less sales. More to the point my port on SS generates about 40% more for me than it does on IS. Sales and revenue are growing at SS and, as we both know, appear to be falling at IS. The market for our work is not static but moving and that may mean we will have to move with it.

cathyslife · « **Reply #18 on:** April 08, 2012, 08:45 »

Quote from: gostwyck on April 08, 2012, 08:38

Quote from: sjlocke on April 08, 2012, 08:02
All those stores tend to sell things at the same relative price point.

Not .10 on SS, $7 on GL, $25 on IS, etc...

I see the point you are trying to make but I never get .10 for a sale on SS ... but I have had a 5c sale on IS in the recent past and regular 24c or less sales. More to the point my port on SS generates about 40% more for me than it does on IS. Sales and revenue are growing at SS and, as we both know, appear to be falling at IS. The market for our work is not static but moving and that may mean we will have to move with it.

+1
I understand Sean's point, too, but I don't get .10 for sales on SS either, and I never got a $25 sale on IS. And even if I were still at IS today, I'd be getting .25 or less for a sale, because all of my stuff would have been dumped into StinkStock.

wut · « **Reply #19 on:** April 08, 2012, 08:47 »

Quote from: cclapper on April 08, 2012, 08:45

Quote from: gostwyck on April 08, 2012, 08:38
Quote from: sjlocke on April 08, 2012, 08:02
All those stores tend to sell things at the same relative price point.

Not .10 on SS, $7 on GL, $25 on IS, etc...

I see the point you are trying to make but I never get .10 for a sale on SS ... but I have had a 5c sale on IS in the recent past and regular 24c or less sales. More to the point my port on SS generates about 40% more for me than it does on IS. Sales and revenue are growing at SS and, as we both know, appear to be falling at IS. The market for our work is not static but moving and that may mean we will have to move with it.

+1
I understand Sean's point, too, but I don't get .10 for sales on SS either, and I never got a $25 sale on IS. And even if I were still at IS today, I'd be getting .25 or less for a sale, because all of my stuff would have been dumped into StinkStock.

Neither does Sean, but he gets 25$ per sale at IS. Or a whole lot more

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #20 on:** April 08, 2012, 08:53 »

I'm talking about price to the buyer, not royalties to you.

Why would someone pay $25 for an image when they can get it for a dime ( or whatever it works out to )? A smart person wouldn't.

wut · « **Reply #21 on:** April 08, 2012, 11:00 »

Quote from: sjlocke on April 08, 2012, 08:53

I'm talking about price to the buyer, not royalties to you.

Why would someone pay $25 for an image when they can get it for a dime ( or whatever it works out to )? A smart person wouldn't.

Ah, OK, but now you've really extended the range way beyond reason

ShadySue · « **Reply #22 on:** April 08, 2012, 11:05 »

Quote from: sjlocke on April 08, 2012, 08:53

I'm talking about price to the buyer, not royalties to you.

Why would someone pay $25 for an image when they can get it for a dime ( or whatever it works out to )? A smart person wouldn't.

Which begs the question as to why iStock/Getty is so keen to duplicate stock on TS, photos.com etc.
And then try to persuade their best customers to switch down.

click_click · « **Reply #23 on:** April 08, 2012, 11:11 »

Quote from: sjlocke on April 08, 2012, 08:53

... Why would someone pay $25 for an image when they can get it for a dime ( or whatever it works out to )? A smart person wouldn't.

That's a great question. My only answer would be that the stupidest buyers are at iStock then (maybe some at Alamy).

However, I'm making good money off of stupid people so I'll take that any day.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #24 on:** April 08, 2012, 13:31 »

Quote from: RacePhoto on April 06, 2012, 15:46

Quote from: wut on April 06, 2012, 05:41
Across the board . IS is the only one doing business as usual. For now...

Yes, it's Good Friday, Passover started last night at Midnight, so that covers much of the major religions.

Now it's time to say "sales have tanked big time"

If only we could abolish religion we could make the designers buy our work at a nice, steady pace all year round.

It might hit the sales of Christmas and Easter images but I'm sure the retailers would find new reasons for things to need promoting.

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Author Topic: Easter taking its toll (Read 11615 times)

wut

stockmarketer

ShadySue

wut

wut

lisafx

RacePhoto

sharpshot

WarrenPrice

lisafx

gillian vann

wut

ShadySue

RacePhoto

sharpshot

stockmarketer

Sean Locke Photography

gostwyck

cathyslife

wut

Sean Locke Photography

wut

ShadySue

click_click

BaldricksTrousers

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