Hi folks,
Now a days I'm uploading to 8 agencies and I was wondering how is it going for you guys too. Let me share my data and it would be cool to have yours. ;0)

Assuming that iStock would be my 100% income (my 1st Top  tier), see the other agencies percentage compared to iStock income:

Data based on JUN/2014:
Agency (#files) - Percentage:
iStock (7545) - 100%
Shutter (4895) - 63%
Fotolia (5347) - 13%
Photodune (6213) - 6%
Dreamstime (4150) - 5%
123RF (6522) - 4%
Depositphotos (6345) - 4%
BigStock (4840) - 4%
GLStock (2446) - 0% (Canceled/quit)
Alamy (0) - 0% (Canceled/quit)

Data based on MAR/15
Agency (#files) - Percentage:
iStock (7763) - 100% Still 1st top tier.
Shutter (5287) - 72% ^
Fotolia (5565) - 15% ^
Photodune (6377) - 6% =
Dreamstime (5182) - 7% ^
123RF (6731) - 6% ^
Depositphotos (6575) - 8% ^
BigStock (5234) - 4% =

For those that uses the other method for calculation, the percentages related of total income, the percentages are:

Data based on MAR/15
Agency (#files) - Percentage:
iStock (7763) - 45%.
Shutter (5287) - 33%
Fotolia (5565) - 7%
Depositphotos (6575) - 4%
Photodune (6377) - 3%
Dreamstime (5182) - 3%
123RF (6731) - 3%
BigStock (5234) - 2%

So, as you can see, the really worth agencies are iStock and Shutter, not sure if all others worth the time and effort for uploading, categorizing and so on instead of using the time for taking shots, treating images and so on for the 2 first top tiers.

I still keep uploading to mid/low earnings because we have two common phrases in my country:
1. "The hope is the last one to die".
2. "Seed corn by seed corn, the hen fills its craw".

Here is a online calculator to help you calculate yours. ;0)

Have a nice day.

Istock has gone from being my outright winner several years back to about 6th or 7th place in earnings.   I rarely bother uploading there nowadays.  It doesn't seem worth all the effort when places like 123rf with an easy upload perform better.

@Lucato: How are your more recent uploads to iS selling, say from the last couple of years?

... I haven't uploaded anything there for several months.  Also, you have to remember that the upload process for istock is incredibly tedious and time-consuming...

Maybe you have forgotten or don't know yet the DeepMeta Free software for uploading to iStock.
 

That's interesting Lucato. I am still too young to post such numbers as it has been only 1 month that I am independent. But on this first month Shutterstock and Fotolia take the lead by far. I don't upload to Dreamstime yet as I want to have my options open in case I don't see that independence is working for me. The 6 month lock and deactivation of files one by one make stay away for the moment. With Deposit I didn't like at all the 3% matter so I will wait with this agency too and see in the next months what people say about it.

 Bigstock is selling ok but the revenue is very low as there are very few credit sales and the subscription rate is very low, 123 RF is ok, Envato is Ok, Canstock only have few images up as the review seems stucked at the moment, Pond 5 I like their upload system and prices a lot but no sales so far. Veer the upload limits and keyword striping makes this the weakes option at the moment.The first month at Shutter I have sold over 1000 files and have arrived to the 0.33 $/download although the numbers don't seem proportional by portfolio growth so I am worried about it. Fotolia has started more gradually but the growth in earning is equivalent to port growth.

And Istock....well I remember when I got exclusive my earnings jumped 8x (I could not believe it at the beggining). Making now the opposite way on the first month my earnings have fallen about 60%. I hope that in 6 month the picture will get clearer and I will take a decision if I stay independent in micro, go back to exclusivity or just dump the whole micro adventure all together. The last year I haven't produced anything for micro and have concentrated on macro RM although revenues are low too. The market is really oversaturated now......

@Lucato: How are your more recent uploads to iS selling, say from the last couple of years?

Hi ShadySue, I'm sorry, but I do not keep tracking how the latest uploads are selling. I focus on the whole portfolio and keep uploading when possible. ;0) But in general the BME in Shutter was Mar/14 and the other best match was on Nov/14, and from Mar/14 started to goes down until Ago/14  (Down from the average income 25%), after that it started to rise a little and kept on the same level until now a days.

That's interesting Lucato. I am still too young to post such numbers as it has been only 1 month that I am independent.

Welcome to the hard independence word. :0)

But on this first month Shutterstock and Fotolia take the lead by far. I don't upload to Dreamstime yet as I want to have my options open in case I don't see that independence is working for me.  The 6 month lock and deactivation of files one by one make stay away for the moment. With Deposit I didn't like at all the 3% matter so I will wait with this agency too and see in the next months what people say about it.

Yes, Shutter is a good income place. Where did you have to deactivate exclusivity file by file? Was it at iStock? That is crazy. When I left exclusivity was 90 days advice and the whole portfolio was non-exclusive.

Bigstock is selling ok but the revenue is very low as there are very few credit sales and the subscription rate is very low, 123 RF is ok, Envato is Ok, Canstock only have few images up as the review seems stucked at the moment, Pond 5 I like their upload system and prices a lot but no sales so far. Veer the upload limits and keyword striping makes this the weakes option at the moment.

Thanks for sharing the report. ;0)

The first month at Shutter I have sold over 1000 files and have arrived to the 0.33 $/download although the numbers don't seem proportional by portfolio growth so I am worried about it. Fotolia has started more gradually but the growth in earning is equivalent to port growth.

Maybe you should keep uploading in little lots and not all at once. So, IMHO the keep uploading is a good thing. Well, my 2c.

And Istock....well I remember when I got exclusive my earnings jumped 8x (I could not believe it at the beggining). Making now the opposite way on the first month my earnings have fallen about 60%. I hope that in 6 month the picture will get clearer and I will take a decision if I stay independent in micro, go back to exclusivity or just dump the whole micro adventure all together. The last year I haven't produced anything for micro and have concentrated on macro RM although revenues are low too. The market is really oversaturated now......

Yes, in my case, the exclusive income started to drop like a crazy starting on Mar/11 (35%+). I quit the exclusivity on 04/12. Since then I didn't get to make even the income as non-exclusive based on the latest income as exclusive, but the times were other and the income was better in that time for exclusives. The things has changed a lot since then and as you said, the market is really oversaturated now. So in sum, after 3 years as non-exclusive, summing up all agencies income/month, the actual income as non-exclusive, represents 52% of the income I was receiving as exclusive at iStock in 2012 average month. By reading that you assume that non-exclusive doesn't worth, but it is hard to say, once I have my doubts if I was exclusive today it would be the same average income as I was receiving on 2012.

Yes, Shutter is a good income place. Where did you have to deactivate exclusivity file by file? Was it at iStock? That is crazy. When I left exclusivity was 90 days advice and the whole portfolio was non-exclusive.

No. I am sorry if I was not clear enough. It is Dreamstime I am not uploading because if I ever want to deactivate files I will have to do 1 by 1 as there is no batch option

Maybe you should keep uploading in little lots and not all at once. So, IMHO the keep uploading is a good thing. Well, my 2c.

Yes I am doing this now as I was going too fast and too many files were buried quickly

And Istock....well I remember when I got exclusive my earnings jumped 8x (I could not believe it at the beginning). Making now the opposite way on the first month my earnings have fallen about 60%. I hope that in 6 month the picture will get clearer and I will take a decision if I stay independent in micro, go back to exclusivity or just dump the whole micro adventure all together. The last year I haven't produced anything for micro and have concentrated on macro RM although revenues are low too. The market is really oversaturated now......

Yes, in my case, the exclusive income started to drop like a crazy starting on Mar/11 (35%+). I quit the exclusivity on 04/12. Since then I didn't get to make even the income as non-exclusive based on the latest income as exclusive, but the times were other and the income was better in that time for exclusives. The things has changed a lot since then and as you said, the market is really oversaturated now. So in sum, after 3 years as non-exclusive, summing up all agencies income/month, the actual income as non-exclusive, represents 52% of the income I was receiving as exclusive at iStock in 2012 average month. By reading that you assume that non-exclusive doesn't worth, but it is hard to say, once I have my doubts if I was exclusive today it would be the same average income as I was receiving on 2012.
[/quote]

I think you are right. In 2012 money but pouring in like crazy ( as expected with doubling prices every 6 months.......). I was making 6-8  times per file in 2012 than I was making on my last month as an exclusive so you can see that probably you are doing much better as an independent now.

Again thank you for your numbers. You being an ex-exclusive gives me a better perspective were I am and what to expect. I wish you all the best for the coming years.

Well, I am not a whiz with numbers, so I just post my actual percentages.  If you want to put them in some other format, go for it. 

SS 26%
IS + PP(march) 25%
FT 14%
DT 9%
123 8%
DP 6%
Big 4%
PDune 3%
Can 2%
P5 1%

I submit to a few others but they were only 0%, so not worth uploading to.  Maybe on the chopping block soon.  Except for Alamy which I will make great money one month and practically nothing the next. 

Quote from: PixelBytes on May 01, 2015, 15:28

Well, I am not a whiz with numbers, so I just post my actual percentages.  If you want to put them in some other format, go for it. 

SS 26%
IS + PP(march) 25%
FT 14%
DT 9%
123 8%
DP 6%
Big 4%
PDune 3%
Can 2%
P5 1%

I submit to a few others but they were only 0%, so not worth uploading to.  Maybe on the chopping block soon.  Except for Alamy which I will make great money one month and practically nothing the next.

Thanks for sharing, but I wonder how did you get that SS is 26%? I mean 26% of what?

26% of total income, presumably.
That's how these stats are usually reported.

Quote from: fotografer on May 01, 2015, 06:44

Istock has gone from being my outright winner several years back to about 6th or 7th place in earnings.   I rarely bother uploading there nowadays.  It doesn't seem worth all the effort when places like 123rf with an easy upload perform better.

Wow, 6th/7th place. Who is in your 1st and 2nd place?
IMHO who has the better management for uploading is Photodune also Shutter with drag&drop and indexing link.

Shutterstock
Fotolia
Dreamstime
123rf
Then depending on the month IS, Big Stock, Photodune, Deposit all fighting for 5th place.
Back in 2009 I used to have over 1000 dls a month at Istock, last month I had 50 credit dls.

Quote from: ShadySue

How strange. You'd think you'd like to know whether it's worth the effort.
And it's really, really easy to do. Just sort your portfolio by age, 200 images per page, and see how many of your most recent files have sold.
Most people who report are finding that over the last few years, in many cases the cut off date was September 2012, uploads have hardly been selling, across a wide range of genres and experience, even among the highest sellers.

I'm sorry for the silly doubt, but I wonder how do you get to sort by age and 200 images per page at Shutter and also get to see the sells, downloads or any other infor in the portfolio view.

I have no idea about SS, but my original question was specifically about iStock, as that's the one where most people report new files getting few/no sales, yet you report it's your best-earning agency/distributor.

Quote from: lucato on May 01, 2015, 17:12

Quote from: ShadySue

How strange. You'd think you'd like to know whether it's worth the effort.
And it's really, really easy to do. Just sort your portfolio by age, 200 images per page, and see how many of your most recent files have sold.
Most people who report are finding that over the last few years, in many cases the cut off date was September 2012, uploads have hardly been selling, across a wide range of genres and experience, even among the highest sellers.

I'm sorry for the silly doubt, but I wonder how do you get to sort by age and 200 images per page at Shutter and also get to see the sells, downloads or any other infor in the portfolio view.

I have no idea about SS, but my original question was specifically about iStock, as that's the one where most people report new files getting few/no sales, yet you report it's your best-earning agency/distributor.

Hi good morning. I see, I had read it wrong as SS instead of "iS", I'm sorry about that. My fault. Well, talking about IS, this kind of checking how the new uploads sells doesn't work so well once they do those secret adjustments once a week that reflects on the search results. Anyway, answering you doubt, I did in another way. In the details page, sorted by latest downloads (Lasd DL) which shows 20 per page, then checked their uploaded date. The more recent uploaded data that was downloaded was 2011, the rest are from 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. So, none from less than 2004, none from 2009 or higher than 2011. So, maybe their adjustments this week has some old years settings. :0)

By using your method, filtered 200 per page as "New", I had 10 images of 200 with 1 download each. By checking the details the download was on Feb/2015.

Maybe this script from Theasis can be interesting for you just in case you don't know yet.

Have a nice weekend