I will also say, stop being lazy and submit it yourself and have full control over your own assets.

If you have the time and inclination better to submit yourself, no doubt. More control and you'll know more about the subject to keyword yourself.

I have no more time/patience for microstock so even for reduced 15% earnings that Wirestock earn, it's well worth it. Their keywording has improved but still has some ways to go.

Lastly, since we're part of a large group, they can quickly rise up the Shutterstock tiers which is a big pro.

I prefer submit and keep ,,everything possible,, under my control. I tested, but I am not big fan for this type agencies.

My view is, I'm a member at all the throw away sites that I'm not a contributor at. I still do my own on SS, AS, DT and Alamy. I already have the images keyworded. Allowing WS to do the keywords is a terrible, bad idea. They are just generic descriptions.

No one has mentioned that as soon as I reach accumulated earnings of $30, I get paid. For example, my total on Deposit, where I won't ever have an account, is $10.30 and I've been paid. DT is $16.31 and I've been paid and so on. Places where I might never make payout, or at least it could take years, on my own.

WS is nothing more than an easy outlet for my images that are already on the sites I care about. Extra income, nothing more. If someone is running stocksubmitter or one of those, no need for WS.

Last small side note. I submit rejects from SS to WS and sometimes they pass.  Who knows if that matters, as being accepted means nothing, only sales make money.

WS is working fine for me, the way I use it. For others the results may be better or worse. Over $200 that I wouldn't have had.

I'd rate the keywording as poor rather than 'very bad' I usually submit a short description for info not evident in picture - eg,  location or specific name of a temple, etc

One big advantage is agencies accept from Wirestock images they reject as non-licensable from me - eg, 17th-18th c maps!

but biggest pro, is 'instant pay' which makes them one of my top performers, & this for images I likely wouldn't have submitted (i still have thousands of images to process, mostly from 4 months of travel in late 2019, early 2020)

Thanks all for your insights! Happy New Year to you all!

So I understand that the only actual advantages would be then that you reach your payout level sooner and where commission tiers are in place you'd get a larger commission.

I don't know why anybody would send images to Wirestock without keywords, that's just a bad plan, and we all know that.

I thought that was the whole point of Wirestock? Upload and forget and they would do all the work for you.

They are like a parasite making money from your hard work. I searched an awful lot of different types of images and Wirestock never was one the first 3 pages on SS. I will not use them.

Why would anyone expect WS to have a better rank than any individual? It's just an account, nothing featured or special? Does WS promise better placement and I missed that? They are an easy distribution system, for me, nothing more. A shortcut and resource to connect my images to many outlets. In effect I pay the 15% for that.

I sometimes feel that agencies tweak their search trying to give equal chance to contributors.
Wirestock is no-otter than just a contributor in these agencies, so even if they gain millions of images.. their downloads will be consistent.

They do. Alamy tells us so. Other places have image ranks that are easy to recognize, they might have image and artist diversity.

I'd agree, many pros and cons to using Wirestock, I have mixed use and just use them for minor agencies. Not for Adobe or SS. But WS is just another contributor.

I'd rate the keywording as poor rather than 'very bad' I usually submit a short description for info not evident in picture - eg,  location or specific name of a temple, etc

One big advantage is agencies accept from Wirestock images they reject as non-licensable from me - eg, 17th-18th c maps!

but biggest pro, is 'instant pay' which makes them one of my top performers, & this for images I likely wouldn't have submitted (i still have thousands of images to process, mostly from 4 months of travel in late 2019, early 2020)

OK "Poor".  It's generic when people don't include details or their own keywords. When I do have my data already with the images, WS keywording is as good as anyplace else, at the very least.

True I forgot to remember  they do accept some materials that some agencies do not. Maps for one. I also upload rejects from some, and they got accepted when I added them through WS. Not that it's a plan to skirt rules, or anything good, but just mentioning that last part.

True I have received more income from "Instant Pay" than from any individual agency sales, through WS, in 2021.

Lastly, since we're part of a large group, they can quickly rise up the Shutterstock tiers which is a big pro.

And at any other site that has levels. Like Alamy next year at 40% instead of 20%. That covers the 15% fee, if both those two are considered.

Thanks all for your insights! Happy New Year to you all!

So I understand that the only actual advantages would be then that you reach your payout level sooner and where commission tiers are in place you'd get a larger commission.

Sorry that's just two of the advantages, not "the only". I've listed them before, I don't have an account at a number of agencies that WS distributes to. I like that. They do add keywords to the ones I supply and also, sometimes revise the description. Income and level gains and there are more.

I just thought of another possible disadvantage, if I delete an image, how do I know if the partner agency will respond or how they will be notified. But this is Microstock. We don't control our assets, and once someone uploads to the agencies, kiss your work goodbye and wish it well, there's a big mean world out there looking to use and take advantage of our work.

What would be ideal is even if we have to sell through agencies that there would be a system in which the content stays on our hard drives, on our computers, we stay logged in and when a sale happens and a buyer buys the video or photo it's pulled from our drive not their AWS server.

You're kidding right? Imagine the store, drawing products from everyone's home closets, when someone buys something, instead of having a warehouse. Home systems are slow. Home systems are not reliably connected. Systems vary, the software and capabilities. The whole idea of sales pulled from home computers is insane!

I prefer submit and keep ,,everything possible,, under my control. I tested, but I am not big fan for this type agencies.

See above, once you upload, anything to any agency, the control is over. Hidden partners, shared to other sites, we really don't have much control of our own work, after it's on the Internet, unfortunately.

"How is Wirestock doing for you this year?"

It makes some extra money in different ways than what I earn from others on my own. Pretty simple?

Wirestock is not for everyone.

I thought that was the whole point of Wirestock? Upload and forget and they would do all the work for you.

exactly, if i add description & keywords i've done the hardest part of submission, so no need for wirerstock