Author Topic: Stock Agencies Reducing Prices During Coronavirus Epidemic (Read 4061 times)

Brasilnut · « **on:** April 05, 2020, 07:26 »

I’ve noticed a trend in the past few weeks where many stock agencies are offering steep discounts to buyers with a kind message that they want to help them get through the current Coronavirus / Covid-19 epidemic.

That’s sweet of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these discounts will come at the expense of contributor earnings (will see in the next months’ earnings reports). The question I ask myself is: aren’t contributors also running a self-employed business that may also be struggling / will struggle?

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2020/04/05/stock-agencies-reducing-prices-during-coronavirus-epidemic/

Alex

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2020, 07:40 »

Yeah, but when did agencies ever think about us?
Still, there could be an argument that something is better than nothing.

Hannafate · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2020, 08:49 »

I don't see how reducing prices on something that's already * cheap can help the situation.

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2020, 09:27 »

Quote from: Hannafate on April 05, 2020, 08:49

I don't see how reducing prices on something that's already * cheap can help the situation.

It's desperation.
The clothing companies I've bought from before are constantly bombarding me with heavily-reduced offers, but what on earth do I need new clothes for, at any price? (I don't have to do working video conferences, meetings etc.)

tupungato · « **Reply #4 on:** April 27, 2020, 03:27 »

How are your earnings during epidemic? Comparable to last year?

Brasilnut · « **Reply #5 on:** April 27, 2020, 04:47 »

Quote from: tupungato on April 27, 2020, 03:27

How are your earnings during epidemic? Comparable to last year?

Still a few days to go until the end of the month but down some 40% overall.

iStock for March came in quite good but April should collapse.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #6 on:** April 27, 2020, 04:51 »

I'm all for discounts on covid-related images and videos that could help the public cause. But giving discounts for the sake of getting business, at the expense of contributors is a no-no.

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #7 on:** April 27, 2020, 06:13 »

Quote from: tupungato on April 27, 2020, 03:27

How are your earnings during epidemic? Comparable to last year?

Yes, on average better than April 2019 with a few days to spare. March was quite good. Some sites a little bit down, others up to 40% up. The strong dollar helps.

I haven't seen a significant slowdown in any of the months of 2020 (yet). The biggest change has been that items that could be related to the current situation have been selling like crazy. I don't have a lot of those items, however, so they only bring up the average a little bit.

I don't think most people are just sitting on a chair staring into an empty wall after all. People need to be creative, make stuff, work, and those who can do that from home might just buy our stock assets more than ever to compensate for slower buying behavior elsewhere.

Anyway, that is my experience across a wide range of different types of stock assets. As always, diversification is very important. When the pretty travel footage stops selling, the ugly disaster footage takes over.

I think that those of us who have built a steady online income over the years are the lucky ones, and quite honestly, the situation this year meant very little change on my life before that. The worst part was the stock market, but that is recovering well it seems.

I know many are not as lucky, losing their jobs and only income, and I feel for them. Maybe that will happen to us one day too, but I haven't experienced it yet. Always make sure you have several streams of income if you can, and a reasonable financial buffer for a rainy day.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #8 on:** April 27, 2020, 13:17 »

Today, for the second time this month, an extended license sale netted me only $14.27. At the beginning of April, there was an EL for $32.19 and mostly they have hovered around $28.

I believe my prior low water mark for an EL sale was $16.50.

If you look at the pricing page, they offer a 2-pack, 5-pack or 25-pack for ELs. At a 30% royalty rate, those come out to $29.85, $26.94 or $20.39. The discounting is pretty big - I assume for a corporate client who they're trying to woo back (that side of the business has been contracting the last two quarters).

Assuming they have not messed with contributor royalties on these sales, it means that EL sold to the customer at $47.57, less than half price (compared to 2-pack).

They post their Q1 earnings tomorrow. Will be interesting to see what they have to say for themselves...

pancaketom · « **Reply #9 on:** April 27, 2020, 13:54 »

I have always thought that if the sites want to lower prices to be kind or to steal market share or as a jubilee bonus or because it is their birthday or any other reason that is fine, but they need to still pay us our full normal sale amount. Of course they don't seem to see things that way. I guess it is "nice" that if Getty sells at 10$ instead of 100$ I only lose $13.50 and they lose $76.50.

Don't even get me started on the "our customers have been asking for more free images" or all of the premium content to be in the all you can eat super discount section or whatever. I wonder if they raise prices they tell the buyers "our producers have been clamoring for higher payment".

I have had more SOD sales at SS - most are still below $1 or at least below the normal OD amount, but I did get my first one over $10 in I think over a year this month. Sadly now that makes a difference in the monthly total. Without those SOD sales this would be a truly horrible month - like I made more with double digit # of images. The total number of sales is very low.

5stock5 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 29, 2020, 06:42 »

These sentiments are everywhere. The number of images/videos sold have increased but the total shared revenue have gone down. In other platform, I run an Astrology channel on Youtube. April month views are higher than any previous months, but the total money earned is lesser. Now, there are lesser number of advertisers than the past on these platforms where the produced content is consumed. Some of this content also uses the stock images and videos. As the lockdown is eased in countries, the advertisers, film-makers will return to work in future, the over-all situation around our earning will also improve.

fotoVoyager · « **Reply #11 on:** April 29, 2020, 07:12 »

Quote from: 08stock08 on April 29, 2020, 06:42

I run an Astrology channel on Youtube. April month views are higher than any previous months, but the total money earned is lesser. Now, there are lesser number of advertisers than the past on these platforms where the produced content is consumed.

I can't believe you didn't see this coming.

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Stock Agencies Reducing Prices During Coronavirus Epidemic (Read 4061 times)

Brasilnut

ShadySue

Hannafate

ShadySue

tupungato

Brasilnut

Noedelhap

increasingdifficulty

Jo Ann Snover

pancaketom

5stock5

fotoVoyager

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors