Author Topic: starting the new year by dropping a couple of losers (Read 14693 times)

stockastic · « **on:** December 25, 2016, 11:59 »

I haven't submitted anything to microstock in a long time and will probably never do so again. With about 300 old images online, my expectations are pretty low these days. But I'm thinking about starting the new year by cleaning house.

In the last couple of months DT has completely dried up; I barely made enough in December to pay for a latte. Time to end it.

For SS it's been a year of out-of-control spamming, junk portfolios getting side-loaded without inspection (like those 30,000 photos of pot), crazy rejections wasting everyone's time, and steadily declining sales for individual contributors. I've been waiting for them to make some "exciting announcement" about a new giveaway or royalty cut, but at this point they're in such chaos they probably wouldn't even announce it. So I'll dump them too.

I was ready to give up on Alamy after months without a sale, but got one a few days ago that netted me $10. I really have nothing against them, so I'll leave my stuff there.

The wild card, once again, is GL stock images. I thought the new ownership might take it somewhere, and I got a couple of sales after the transition, but it went cold. Unsure about this one.

Bottom line, I'm dropping SS and DT on New Year's Day.

alno · « **Reply #1 on:** December 25, 2016, 13:30 »

Quote from: stockastic on December 25, 2016, 11:59

I haven't submitted anything to microstock in a long time and will probably never do so again. With about 300 old images online, my expectations are pretty low these days. But I'm thinking about starting the new year by cleaning house.

In the last couple of months DT has completely dried up; I barely made enough in December to pay for a latte. Time to end it.

For SS it's been a year of out-of-control spamming, junk portfolios getting side-loaded without inspection (like those 30,000 photos of pot), crazy rejections wasting everyone's time, and steadily declining sales for individual contributors. I've been waiting for them to make some "exciting announcement" about a new giveaway or royalty cut, but at this point they're in such chaos they probably wouldn't even announce it. So I'll dump them too.

I was ready to give up on Alamy after months without a sale, but got one a few days ago that netted me $10. I really have nothing against them, so I'll leave my stuff there.

The wild card, once again, is GL stock images. I thought the new ownership might take it somewhere, and I got a couple of sales after the transition, but it went cold. Unsure about this one.

Bottom line, I'm dropping SS and DT on New Year's Day.

Ok.
Too many words of frustrated person for 300 images online

WHY anybody wasting their precious time for deleting whole portfolios or images on sites which sell at least once a year?? Are you really trying to penalize Shutterstock or Dreamstime this way?

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #2 on:** December 25, 2016, 16:14 »

If you are dumping SS and DT I hope you've dumped a whole lot of other sites first. They are way way down on the list of worst offenders

stockastic · « **Reply #3 on:** December 25, 2016, 16:38 »

Dropped Fotolia, Photodune and IS long ago. Oh and 500px, of course.

A recent thread here on MSG helped me decide to drop DT and SS. It made me aware that microstocks are licensing photos to people who just resell them as 'art' on Amazon. These days, my efforts go into prints, mainly through FAA. If I lose just one or two print sales to some sleazeball on Amazon, I lose more than I'd make on DT all year. So it's an easy decision at this point.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #4 on:** December 26, 2016, 01:17 »

Fair enough. I wish you every success with your strategy in the year.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #5 on:** December 26, 2016, 02:19 »

Do you feel that by ditching the low selling sites, people will then be queuing up to buy your items at the other sites? If not, then I don't really see much point in deleting them. Still, each to their own.

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #6 on:** December 26, 2016, 03:29 »

It seems most of us rather stay with the microstock agencies and keep moaning about them and when someone has the nerve to leave the agencies we criticize them. we re quite pathetic that way really

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #7 on:** December 26, 2016, 04:31 »

It's very rare I moan about stock agencies, just in case you were referring to me. Probably 75% of the posts on here are critical of agencies... the same agencies that without which, most of us would be considerably worse off.

Sure, they wouldn't exist if it wasn't for us, but still... I guess it's a kind of chicken and the egg situation. I don't think it's that crazy to criticize somebody for making the choice to receive less money every year.

alno · « **Reply #8 on:** December 26, 2016, 05:08 »

Quote from: Microstockphoto on December 26, 2016, 03:29

It seems most of us rather stay with the microstock agencies and keep moaning about them and when someone has the nerve to leave the agencies we criticize them. we re quite pathetic that way really

I think "starting the new year by dropping a couple of losers" is pathetic title itself. If Shutterstock is a loser than who are you, stockastic and me then? Microstock is not about moaning and criticism, it's about work and business approach. 300 photos of medium to high commercial value is only a start and if a person got tired already then it's not Shutterstock spammers or IT issues. It's something else

tätarätä · « **Reply #9 on:** December 26, 2016, 05:38 »

The best idea for you would be to quite micro stock completely. With 300 images and no uploads, it just doesn't work. You will have to upload lots of images regular.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #10 on:** December 26, 2016, 06:30 »

Quote from: Microstockphoto on December 26, 2016, 03:29

It seems most of us rather stay with the microstock agencies and keep moaning about them and when someone has the nerve to leave the agencies we criticize them. we re quite pathetic that way really

I would never criticise someone for quiting iS DP or BS. Was curious as to why someone would ditch ss or DT and not these. Turns out op wasn't doing that.

superdooper · « **Reply #11 on:** December 26, 2016, 06:54 »

good luck

cobalt · « **Reply #12 on:** December 26, 2016, 07:16 »

So you make more money with prints, good for you!

One way around that dilemma is too have different themes for the print market and the stock market.

There are plenty of people making money with both worlds, just depends how you organize yourself.

But if prints work for you, nothing wrong with making it your main focus.

But it is not the fault of the stock agencies that you don´t love the genre. stock is a distinct world of its own.

Art and stock both use cameras as a tool, but they are not the same.

A dentist and a builder both use a drill, but nobody is going to confuse the two.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 26, 2016, 07:24 »

Though not the same drill I hope ;-). Agree if my focus was on quality art type stuff for the wall I don't think i'd be too worried about submitting that to Microstock. You have to be VERY good to be successful at it I think...sounds like you are so good luck!

sharpshot · « **Reply #14 on:** December 26, 2016, 11:27 »

I have no idea why stockastic has spent so much time on this forum with such a small portfolio? The more you upload, the more you make and SS make more than any for most non-exclusives. I don't mind people complaining if they have put a lot of work in to this but if you don't do the work, microstock isn't worth it. A few people can make significant money with a portfolio that small but most of us mere mortals don't get much without submitting thousands of images.

Minsc · « **Reply #15 on:** December 26, 2016, 14:27 »

And what is your alternative, not having your work anywhere?

stockastic · « **Reply #16 on:** December 26, 2016, 15:29 »

I expected maybe a couple of "don't let the door hit you on the way out" posts but really, all these different opinions I'm seeing are fascinating.

ShadySue · « **Reply #17 on:** December 26, 2016, 15:42 »

I still say that unless you're good/bad enough for Stocksy, it's just about whose BS you can or cannot tolerate. Everyone has their line, but it's different for all of us.

Vive la difference!

stockastic · « **Reply #18 on:** January 01, 2017, 13:06 »

It's January 1, and like I said, I'm ending it at DT and SS.

In December, I made much less on both sites than ever before; that's no surprise because I haven't submitted anything in a long time. What's more interesting is that on SS my December sales were 95% subs; and on DT that number was 100%. The few dollars I still make mean nothing compared to the anger I feel every time I think about how these companies are ripping me off. If you disagree, and still feel it's worthwhile, I get that. But personally I no longer want to support what I see as increasingly slimy, deceptive and poorly run businesses.

I just checked the SS and DT sites, and as expected, there's no simple way to just close your account and delete all your work. Instead you get a lot of weasel-words about 'deactivating' images, and at the end, a demand to "contact us" if you really just want to close. So I sent messages to support on both sites, requesting closure. I wonder how long this will end up taking.

umdash9 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 01, 2017, 13:13 »

Quote from: stockastic on December 25, 2016, 11:59

I haven't submitted anything to microstock in a long time and will probably never do so again. With about 300 old images online, my expectations are pretty low these days. But I'm thinking about starting the new year by cleaning house.

In the last couple of months DT has completely dried up; I barely made enough in December to pay for a latte. Time to end it.

For SS it's been a year of out-of-control spamming, junk portfolios getting side-loaded without inspection (like those 30,000 photos of pot), crazy rejections wasting everyone's time, and steadily declining sales for individual contributors. I've been waiting for them to make some "exciting announcement" about a new giveaway or royalty cut, but at this point they're in such chaos they probably wouldn't even announce it. So I'll dump them too.

I was ready to give up on Alamy after months without a sale, but got one a few days ago that netted me $10. I really have nothing against them, so I'll leave my stuff there.

The wild card, once again, is GL stock images. I thought the new ownership might take it somewhere, and I got a couple of sales after the transition, but it went cold. Unsure about this one.

Bottom line, I'm dropping SS and DT on New Year's Day.

PixelBytes · « **Reply #20 on:** January 01, 2017, 13:19 »

GL is on the chopping block for me. The ONLY site where I didn't get a sale in over a month with 6k images. Actually haven't had a sale there in over 3 months. Buh bye!

gyllens · « **Reply #21 on:** January 01, 2017, 13:56 »

stockastic! I am dropping SS as well. Close to 23000 files uploaded but I cant stomach it anymore. Too much spamming and short term sort changes. They accept anything just anything as long as its technically alright. Bugs and glitches everywhere and all the time.

I am in the process of asking them to delete all this in favour of throwing them in to a macro agency. I might lose out a bit the first year but at least I am rid of all this nonsense.
I might also sleep better at nights. haha!

stockastic · « **Reply #22 on:** January 01, 2017, 14:56 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on January 01, 2017, 13:19

GL is on the chopping block for me. The ONLY site where I didn't get a sale in over a month with 6k images. Actually haven't had a sale there in over 3 months. Buh bye!

I last had a sale a few months ago. I'm leaving my (tiny) portfolio there for now because a sale nets a few dollars, and they have new ownership. Maybe something will happen.

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #23 on:** January 02, 2017, 11:40 »

Quote from: gyllens on January 01, 2017, 13:56

stockastic! I am dropping SS as well. Close to 23000 files uploaded but I cant stomach it anymore. Too much spamming and short term sort changes. They accept anything just anything as long as its technically alright. Bugs and glitches everywhere and all the time.

I am in the process of asking them to delete all this in favour of throwing them in to a macro agency. I might lose out a bit the first year but at least I am rid of all this nonsense.
I might also sleep better at nights. haha!

Maybe nature photos just don't do that well on Micro. I hope you find a better home for your work.

Really not worth the time and effort to continue here on the forum.

umdash9 · « **Reply #24 on:** January 02, 2017, 11:56 »

300 images on stock sites is really not enough to expect any sort of income I have 960 and get about 100 downloads per month from SS, Dreamstime comes and goes i'll get nothing for 3 weeks and sell 5 in 3 days I stop uploading to DT a couple of months ago.
The search protocol on SS favors newer content so it is important to upload on a regular basis I operate a system holding back images so I always have something new on my favorite subjects this helps the existing images keep selling. SS represent about 60% of my MS income I also do quite well on IS and Fotolia.

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Author Topic: starting the new year by dropping a couple of losers (Read 14693 times)

stockastic

alno

Justanotherphotographer

stockastic

Justanotherphotographer

SpaceStockFootage

Microstockphoto

SpaceStockFootage

alno

tätarätä

Justanotherphotographer

superdooper

cobalt

Pauws99

sharpshot

Minsc

stockastic

ShadySue

stockastic

umdash9

PixelBytes

gyllens

stockastic

YadaYadaYada

umdash9

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