MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: JET LI on April 17, 2018, 13:59
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Hi all, im just doing some research. Has anyone considered avoiding the stock sites and solely concentrating on selling printed goods via print on demand sites?
Benefits are, higher payout per sale. Much less of a risk of image theft.
negatives are - have to do own marketing. Drive people to your own website to make sales.
Has anyone done this successfully?
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Sales on POD sites are often far lower than regular stock agencies, in my experience. You could sell your work there for a little extra revenue, but you shouldn't concentrate solely on POD sites.
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Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.
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actually in sites like FAA which is the best for now if you wanna go pod lol you dont have much chances of getting many sales there unless you upload a certain kind of images. pictures for eg that someone would hang on their house wall or bedroom.you have to post artsy images or fine art images.if you put the same images you have in ss for instance ss is the winner in sales
and you have to pay them each year 35 bucks .so what Pod sites want and stock sites want in photography are totally different.
Also i am not sure if POD sites do editorial.
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Very different markets to sell stuff people want to hang on their wall etc you have to be VERY VERY good technically and artistically ...to me Stock you need to be very technically competent but with a good understanding of what the market wants. I've dabbled in Zazzle more for variety but not effective use of my time...I would have to work at it much harder if I were to achieve a sensible return.
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I had my first two sales with them in this month (after 1 year of nothing). To be honest, surprised about those, I thought the buyer(s) would go for something more artistic with dark shadows and grain but oh well..still figuring it all out.
There's a nice community at FAA but at the end of the day it seems like a bunch of other photographers praising each other and nobody buying anything, so I've really toned down on spending too much dabbling there.
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Long story made short - I still sell now and then on FAA but it's heading downhill. A few weeks ago they really, really screwed up the search presentation and as a result I'm expecting even fewer sales in the future. They're slowly turning it into another Zazzle.
If there's a way to market on 'social media' that isn't actually just a waste of time, I have yet to find it. Those channels are beyond saturation. Others still claim success but never seem to say exactly how they do it.
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It's really too bad that FAA is making itself like Zazzle. It worked really well before.
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I quit after one year and three sales there :o
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I quite too after 3 years and no sale.
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I quit after one year and three sales there :o
Not worth the effort then hun? Geez i didnt know it was that bad!
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I quite too after 3 years and no sale.
No sale after 3 years! were you uploading art or random photographs? Personally i think people go there for art...
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Art
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Art
Thats a bummer. Better off having your own website then and driving traffic there.
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Art
Thats a bummer. Better off having your own website then and driving traffic there.
Try saatchiart.com i started uploading some pic (no sales atm)
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Depends on how sellable your images are as art. I make way more selling art and stock photos direct.
I removed all of my travel images and only sell through my own website as RM or prints, and through a couple other places like FAA. Having images on both micro and art sites you're competing against yourself. If a buyer does an internet search and finds your $30 print on FAA and also for a $1 on micro they will buy the micro image and go print it at Walmart for another $1. You make 30 cents instead of $15.
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Depends on how sellable your images are as art. I make way more selling art and stock photos direct.
I removed all of my travel images and only sell through my own website as RM or prints, and through a couple other places like FAA. Having images on both micro and art sites you're competing against yourself. If a buyer does an internet search and finds your $30 print on FAA and also for a $1 on micro they will buy the micro image and go print it at Walmart for another $1. You make 30 cents instead of $15.
Ah-ha very good point! Your own website will pull in casual searches and will avoid the stock groups. Im not overly fussed about microstock anymore. It just seems more work for less money. Heck, you could make more money cleaning windows!
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Heck, you could make more money cleaning windows!
That depends on what you're better at.
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Heck, you could make more money cleaning windows!
That depends on what you're better at.
Thats true. How well do you do with your sales? Are you making decent numbers?
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Thats true. How well do you do with your sales? Are you making decent numbers?
Pretty decent
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For me stocks generate far more income than these print sites.
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For me stocks generate far more income than these print sites.
By what standard is pretty decent? more than $500 per month?
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For me stocks generate far more income than these print sites.
All depends on what type of images you have. I've seen people say they do well on Zazzle, RedBubble on other PODs and my sales there were bad but were great elsewhere. Trying everything and stick with what works.