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Author Topic: October earnings  (Read 18268 times)

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« Reply #25 on: November 01, 2011, 19:13 »
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this post went to another htread
« Last Edit: November 01, 2011, 19:16 by loop »


« Reply #26 on: November 01, 2011, 19:18 »
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They went down just a little bit, instead of 40k rc, didnt people need 39000 to keep their level? or something like that? I think they did this for every level, sometime in january.

i dont know if they are planning to do it this time, but with the terrible drop in traffic it should be the least they could do.

Slovenian

« Reply #27 on: November 01, 2011, 19:54 »
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They went down just a little bit, instead of 40k rc, didnt people need 39000 to keep their level? or something like that? I think they did this for every level, sometime in january.

i dont know if they are planning to do it this time, but with the terrible drop in traffic it should be the least they could do.

Indeed, but they should lower it for 50%, not 5.

« Reply #28 on: November 02, 2011, 06:17 »
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What worries me about all that traffic that seems to be flowing away from istock onto ss or the others - at the moment istocks USP seems to be the high quality overall and their very high quality, tightly edited V/A collections.

Customers who have the budget love these collections, because it saves them a lot of time.

However...all the other agencies also have millions of files.

What if they start marketing tightly edited collections of the best they have - WITHOUT RAISING THE PRICE? (Or just adding 5 dollars)

Purely as a service to the customer?

ss could have a huge library plus collections and everything at a very similar price point, so there is no customer confusion.

Am I the only exclusive who is concerned about this? Is this a potential iceberg we could hit?

Or is it the high price of V/A that is attracting unique artists that the other sites dont have? Is istock really successfully locking down the top talent in the market?

I just wish those traffic stats were not so depressing. It makes me think too much.

CD123

« Reply #29 on: November 02, 2011, 06:35 »
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Bottom feeder feedback (someone has to represent us here :):

Canstock saved the month for me big time - not high number of sales but high value (my first payout in one month site), making it overall BME on combined sales (all sites).
123RF down drastically.

8 Sites down on sales 4 up from September.

PS Had my first sale on Alamy after 10 months.. ;D
« Last Edit: November 02, 2011, 06:39 by CD123 »

« Reply #30 on: November 02, 2011, 10:03 »
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3rd month in a row over 1k $ (started in March 2009)

1003$, 1062$, around 1020$

this month top5 % (previous month)

SS 47% (40%)
IS 14% (16%)
123RF 11% (9%)
FT 7% (8%)
DT 4% (7%)

17% across other agencies, more relevant Zazzle (4%), DepositPhotos (3%) and PhotoDune (2%)

Veer from 17.5$ (11 sales) to 2.45$ (2 sales)

Excellent Louis!

I am overall still under 1000$ without Evanto's bundle earnings...

helix7

« Reply #31 on: November 02, 2011, 10:30 »
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...Am I the only exclusive who is concerned about this? Is this a potential iceberg we could hit?...

You mean you didn't already hit it? Judging by most comments, it seems like the good ship iTanic already has a gaping hole and is taking on water fast.

...Is istock really successfully locking down the top talent in the market?...

Speaking strictly from the vector side of things, no, they're not. There are some fantastic illustrators exclusive to istock. Jamie, Tom, and Aleksandar to name a few. But by and large, I think the independent agencies have the advantage with top talent. Especially since the EPS10 standard was adopted by pretty much every agency except istock, which opened the door to many more extremely talented folks who otherwise wouldn't have been able to work in microstock. The nature of their work was just too advanced for EPS8 formatting.  

« Reply #32 on: November 02, 2011, 10:51 »
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It was a pretty disappointing October for me. Overall I was up 7% on last month and 6% on last year.  3 out of 4 top sites all posted losses.  Fortunately the day was spectacularly saved by a big BME at Shutterstock!  Funny thing is when I added up my % losses from IS, SS, and DT, over the past year, they totaled the exact % SS was up (51%).

Istock continues to sink into the void.  Sales more pathetic each month, and sank to levels not seen since April of 2006!!  :o

FT actually rebounded a bit, showing a 10% gain over last month, but is still well down on last year.

Below is the market share of each of the sites for me, along with the % gain or loss from October 2010.

ISP   30%  (-23%)
SS   28%  (+51%)
DT   13%  (-9%)
Fot   15%  (-19%)
BigStock   4%  

   This is what I do not understand.  Your numbers say even today a majority of your $$ comes from IS.  How did you do the math not to be exclusive with istock especially in 2005 did they not have 70% market share.   With the bad best match placement, loss of commissions of 20%, and the loss of $$ from the higher collections I just wonder how much independents have lost by not putting all your eggs in one basket.

« Reply #33 on: November 02, 2011, 11:09 »
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This is what I do not understand.  Your numbers say even today a majority of your $$ comes from IS.  How did you do the math not to be exclusive with istock especially in 2005 did they not have 70% market share.   With the bad best match placement, loss of commissions of 20%, and the loss of $$ from the higher collections I just wonder how much independents have lost by not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Istock peaked for most independents at about 40% 'market share' so even at 40% commission going exclusive would most likely have lost significant income. In addition to that 'all your eggs in one basket' is a pretty risky strategy if you rely on that income. With the loss of trust at Istock, falling sales and the apparent movement of customers to other agencies ... it's a no-brainer to remain independent. For those with many TAC/Vetta images I'm sure it is still worthwhile to remain exclusive but I do wonder for how much longer.

« Reply #34 on: November 02, 2011, 11:14 »
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This is what I do not understand.  Your numbers say even today a majority of your $$ comes from IS.  How did you do the math not to be exclusive with istock especially in 2005 did they not have 70% market share.   With the bad best match placement, loss of commissions of 20%, and the loss of $$ from the higher collections I just wonder how much independents have lost by not putting all your eggs in one basket.

I can't speak for Lisa, but I think most us independents are glad we didn't take the plunge in hindsight. They've made it fairly tempting in the past, but the future there seems so unstable now.

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #35 on: November 02, 2011, 11:27 »
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For some of us being independent is a way of life, and the main reason we chose microstock in first place. So exclusivity has never been tempting for me, not even when Istock was on top of the list.

CCK

« Reply #36 on: November 02, 2011, 11:32 »
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I feel a little bad reading this tread. This October has been my worst month ever with SS and DT, with the exception of my first two months at DT. The only site that didn't show a plunge is Depositphotos.

« Reply #37 on: November 02, 2011, 12:58 »
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My October finished 4% above both September and Oct 2010. Earnings at each agency as follows with the gain/loss compared to Oct 2010;

SS   39%  +21%
IS    25%  -17%
FT   14%  -33%
DT   13%  +31%
BS    5%   +63%

On Istock actual downloads were 38% down on Oct 2010 but fortunately P+ made up most of the difference.

lisafx

« Reply #38 on: November 02, 2011, 13:36 »
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This is what I do not understand.  Your numbers say even today a majority of your $$ comes from IS.  How did you do the math not to be exclusive with istock especially in 2005 did they not have 70% market share.   With the bad best match placement, loss of commissions of 20%, and the loss of $$ from the higher collections I just wonder how much independents have lost by not putting all your eggs in one basket.

I can't speak for Lisa, but I think most us independents are glad we didn't take the plunge in hindsight. They've made it fairly tempting in the past, but the future there seems so unstable now.

At this point in Istock's implosion, I am surprised to still be getting the "why aren't you exclusive" question.  Isn't it obvious? Pro@ must have missed the part of my post where I said sales are down to early 2006 levels.  ::)

Cory and Gostwyck both hit the nail on the head.  At one time Istock exclusivity seemed very appealing.  I almost was snared in the "canister grandfathering" scam.  But now I am SOOOO GLAD I didn't go exclusive at IS. 

A read through the monthly stats threads on IS (particularly from diamonds and above) is like going to a funeral...   From what I can see the momentum among top artists is leaning toward dropping exclusivity, not going exclusive.

« Reply #39 on: November 02, 2011, 13:45 »
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For a long time I think a lot of us were wondering if we had made a bad mistake by not taking the exclusive route because on top of the higher percentage there were benefits in best match placement and speed of reviewing (which comes back to best match placement). I still wonder if I wouldn't have been better of if I had ridden the gravy train in the early years but I certainly don't think about exclusivity as an appealing option any longer.
Those who were exclusive and then jumped ship may still benefit at iS from the early boost their old files had (since once something starts selling, it tends to keep selling) but, of course, they lose out in other ways, with acceptance problems at other sites and maybe finding it hard to make their mark among established artists there.

« Reply #40 on: November 02, 2011, 14:19 »
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I'm glad I went exclusive. I still am (I could be more, certainly). From the beggining, I saw my earnigs go from scarce, to good, to very good, to very very good, to very very very good. Do I have now a little step back? Yes. But continous everlasting growth is just and illusion, in that business and in others. Eventually, sooner or later, everybody will go back, at every site. it's just a matter of reaching the saturation point, the critical mass. A matter of time. Thinking of throwing the crown? Not now, certainly. But, in the end, this is a just business and numbers matter. An objective and practical decision, not emotional. Should I had to leave exclusivity and flood every site on the face of Earth, I would do it without hesitation. I have no way of knowing if that will happen, of course. 

« Reply #41 on: November 02, 2011, 14:20 »
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I was IS exclusive between 2005 and 2006. I did some research and found out there was many other sites like IS. I thought I didn't want to have all my eggs in one basket so I quit my exclusivity. Never really looked back. Now my IS earnings are 30% of my stock income, I don't think I would make more as an exclusive, and I'm enjoying having my risk spread over many sites. I would not like to have sleepless nights every time my one-and-only site tweaks their search algorithms.


« Reply #42 on: November 02, 2011, 14:38 »
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istock for me has been 5th - 8th for more than a year; just became not worth the time for their silly submission process

otherwise last 2 months have been steadily increasing  with following proportions on total of $435

ss   56.68%
dream   12.67%
foto   8.99%
123   6.68%
big   5.99%
pond video   3.46%
yay   2.30%
istock   1.84%
feature   1.38%

DT was down this month after 2 BME in previous months

the month to month graph doesnt make much sense for me since it's very spiky, so i follow 3 & 6 mo averages and the results for these are

 6 mo avg  +14% over last year
 3 mo avg  +19%

except for SS & DT i no longer submit to any site that requires more than a click to submit an image

« Reply #43 on: November 02, 2011, 14:54 »
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This is what I do not understand.  Your numbers say even today a majority of your $$ comes from IS.  How did you do the math not to be exclusive with istock especially in 2005 did they not have 70% market share.   With the bad best match placement, loss of commissions of 20%, and the loss of $$ from the higher collections I just wonder how much independents have lost by not putting all your eggs in one basket.

I can't speak for Lisa, but I think most us independents are glad we didn't take the plunge in hindsight. They've made it fairly tempting in the past, but the future there seems so unstable now
At this point in Istock's implosion, I am surprised to still be getting the "why aren't you exclusive" question.  Isn't it obvious? Pro@ must have missed the part of my post where I said sales are down to early 2006 levels.  ::)

Cory and Gostwyck both hit the nail on the head.  At one time Istock exclusivity seemed very appealing.  I almost was snared in the "canister grandfathering" scam.  But now I am SOOOO GLAD I didn't go exclusive at IS. 

A read through the monthly stats threads on IS (particularly from diamonds and above) is like going to a funeral...   From what I can see the momentum among top artists is leaning toward dropping exclusivity, not going exclusive.

Was Istock exclusivity appealing when it was mathematically impossible to make up the losses by not taking the double commission rate on a site that controlled more than 50% of the market share?  I can see why people were asking about the logic of not going only with istock.  It is just now that the mistakes of istock are causing a loss of market share, but the higher collections are making up the difference. When a top 5 exclusive reports $$$ within 5% from highs of 2010, I would not say the income of istock exclusives are back at 2006 levels.  At least not for those who have taken advantage of the higher pricing structure.  

ayzek

« Reply #44 on: November 02, 2011, 15:03 »
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i left my exclusivity six month ago. i was getting 50% more RPD when i was exclusive (thinking that exclusives hasn't got boost on best match). So we can say that if your istock earning below than half of your total earning you are doing good job.
if istock is 30% of your total earning. You are getting 66% more than if you were exclusive.
 
 

lagereek

« Reply #45 on: November 02, 2011, 15:28 »
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For a long time I think a lot of us were wondering if we had made a bad mistake by not taking the exclusive route because on top of the higher percentage there were benefits in best match placement and speed of reviewing (which comes back to best match placement). I still wonder if I wouldn't have been better of if I had ridden the gravy train in the early years but I certainly don't think about exclusivity as an appealing option any longer.
Those who were exclusive and then jumped ship may still benefit at iS from the early boost their old files had (since once something starts selling, it tends to keep selling) but, of course, they lose out in other ways, with acceptance problems at other sites and maybe finding it hard to make their mark among established artists there.

Sometimes you come out with a gem of a thought and this is one of them! I have been thinking in exactly the same terms. I mean in the film days there was no option but exclusivity, ofcourse it was differant, basically it was a matter of belonging to Stones, Image-Bank or Pictor, still though. I was exclusive for years with Stones and it was fantastic! in RM, Im still exclusive to Getty who took over Stones in 93, we were earning fortunes in them days, things were great and the thought of non-exclusivity never even entered our heads. Exclusivity in them days was a NICE word.

Yes, I would say we should have jumped on the gravy train about 4-5 years back, saving lots of work and troubles not to speak of hassles but we didnt and here we are, uploading to many differant sites and now, its way, way too late to even think of exclusivity, plus the fact that somehow Getty/IS, have through extremley unethical ways managed to turn the very word exclusivity into something nasty.

I do agree with you though, the actual thought is somehow always there.

best.

« Reply #46 on: November 02, 2011, 20:35 »
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To get back on subject,

another BME for me, thanks to mainly to great performance at SS (5 ELS makes a nice bump), Alamy (my first triple digit sale), and Veer. The smaller sites were all in the average range. IS was pathetic, but that is to be expected w/ most of my images disabled - I did get a decent RPD since they are all + images though.

« Reply #47 on: November 02, 2011, 22:50 »
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Excellent Louis!
I am overall still under 1000$ without Evanto's bundle earnings...

kind of you thanks, I do enjoy your conceptual portfolilo, really cool stuff  :)

« Reply #48 on: November 03, 2011, 05:22 »
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i left my exclusivity six month ago. i was getting 50% more RPD when i was exclusive (thinking that exclusives hasn't got boost on best match). So we can say that if your istock earning below than half of your total earning you are doing good job.
if istock is 30% of your total earning. You are getting 66% more than if you were exclusive.
 
 

Not sure how you're doing your maths, but on my numbers having gone the other way, my monthly RPD has never dropped below 3 times my previous best RPD as a non-exclusive - usually its more like 4 times.

Obviously everyone's results will be different, but my numbers still support exclusivity, particularly if you're on the 35-40% commission rates.

ayzek

« Reply #49 on: November 03, 2011, 08:06 »
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i left my exclusivity six month ago. i was getting 50% more RPD when i was exclusive (thinking that exclusives hasn't got boost on best match). So we can say that if your istock earning below than half of your total earning you are doing good job.
if istock is 30% of your total earning. You are getting 66% more than if you were exclusive.
 
 

Not sure how you're doing your maths, but on my numbers having gone the other way, my monthly RPD has never dropped below 3 times my previous best RPD as a non-exclusive - usually its more like 4 times.

Obviously everyone's results will be different, but my numbers still support exclusivity, particularly if you're on the 35-40% commission rates.

Just check your numbers again. i just count average commission rates for new system.


 

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