Wilm, having read your sales posts since I joined the Sstock forum in 2019, it is sad to read this one

It will be interesting to see how Sstock itself is doing.  I believe they are reporting this month.

I hope that February is a good month for all of us.

January was also my worst month ever on Shutterstock, a long list of 10 cent sales.
Adobe Stock is the only decent site now.

SS DLs about normal, 800+. $ pants... 0.44 RPD.

AS was good. Increase in DLs (+35%) and �s (10%+) compared to last Jan. �s comfortably in the ����. Even iS was up 30% compared to last Dec. Just SS going down the pan!

I still upload t them. Volume of sales is the same for me.... it's just that they took more of what should have been my money due to the reset.

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on February 01, 2022, 07:25

I find it remarkable that Shutterstock runs so differently individually.
I upload regularly myself and Shutter is still in first place despite the reset.
I would be interested to know if those who have a bad Shutterstock experience still upload material at all?
Some have probably deactivated a certain time their portfolio, perhaps that also plays a role.

If you upload a lot of new photos, which are easy to find, a buyer can also see some older photos of you (listed there), which are in the same category. As a result, they may be bought more often and therefore sink less quickly.
Or is this a wrong theory? 

I had one really good-selling shot of old books and I later uploaded more shots of the same (but sufficiently different to pass the 'similars' rejection). The newer shots did tend to piggy-back on the original one but the big problem with SS compared to AS is that when you get a dl at SS, you'll see that a number of alternatives are proposed. These alternatives seem chosen by some similar visual only algorithm without heed to keywords or subject matter and there's often not one of your own 'similars' there. In this case there is one of my similars there but the other 6 are not. AS on the other hand does show your shots from the same series which, I think, gives you more chance.

January 2022. WME at SS by a long chalk. Came $5 short of minimum payout ($35) at SS with 132 dls (usually 160-200) and a totally pathetic $0.24 RPD. AS 52 dls and $0.69 RDP for Jan 2022. Still OK for no effort and no worries cuz January is commissioned work month...ka-ching, ka-ching! 

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on February 01, 2022, 07:25

I find it remarkable that Shutterstock runs so differently individually.
I upload regularly myself and Shutter is still in first place despite the reset.
I would be interested to know if those who have a bad Shutterstock experience still upload material at all?
Some have probably deactivated a certain time their portfolio, perhaps that also plays a role.

If you upload a lot of new photos, which are easy to find, a buyer can also see some older photos of you (listed there), which are in the same category. As a result, they may be bought more often and therefore sink less quickly.
Or is this a wrong theory? 

Thijs, I have no idea.

But reading the posts here, Shutterstock seems to be only a matter of sink or swim and little in between.

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on February 01, 2022, 09:25

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on February 01, 2022, 07:25

I find it remarkable that Shutterstock runs so differently individually.
I upload regularly myself and Shutter is still in first place despite the reset.
I would be interested to know if those who have a bad Shutterstock experience still upload material at all?
Some have probably deactivated a certain time their portfolio, perhaps that also plays a role.

If you upload a lot of new photos, which are easy to find, a buyer can also see some older photos of you (listed there), which are in the same category. As a result, they may be bought more often and therefore sink less quickly.
Or is this a wrong theory? 

I had one really good-selling shot of old books and I later uploaded more shots of the same (but sufficiently different to pass the 'similars' rejection). The newer shots did tend to piggy-back on the original one but the big problem with SS compared to AS is that when you get a dl at SS, you'll see that a number of alternatives are proposed. These alternatives seem chosen by some similar visual only algorithm without heed to keywords or subject matter and there's often not one of your own 'similars' there. In this case there is one of my similars there but the other 6 are not. AS on the other hand does show your shots from the same series which, I think, gives you more chance.

Thanks for the explanation, I hadn't noticed that before.
Despite this fact, I have on average about 4- 5 times as many downloads on Shutterstock compared to Adobe for the same portfolio. That makes up for the worse RPD in terms of final revenue.

By the way, I like your book shots 

In spite of AS not taking any editorial shots of mine, giving a portfolio 3500 image short of other sites, my earnings there were the best this month: $162.  Alamy was $136 and SS was rubbish ($70).

AS is consistently about 1/2 of SS income, (except for last month where AS & SS were about the same, due to an SS drop)

For me SS was still better than Adobe, as always, despite the level reset.

SS pushes for subscription packs because their earning is higher due to unsold photos in packages.

This could be a reasonable explanation indeed.

Quote from: Bauman on February 02, 2022, 05:11

SS pushes for subscription packs because their earning is higher due to unsold photos in packages.

This could be a reasonable explanation indeed.

Canva has improved to my 2nd best earner due to their subscription sharing - netting double AS each month and approaching SS

Nice to see you here Sheila.

There is also a Hummer Thread here which is, sadly, Sari & Wendy-less, but good for talking about wildlife.

Thanks. I'll have to look that up. Love wildlife photography when I can get a chance to do it. I have contact with Sari and Wendy off forums so I still keep up with them

Jan 2022 income up 8% compared to January 2021. 

(USD comparison, not including exchange rate)

Similar here: SS earnings for Jan were 10.7% better than last year, and the total MS income for Jan was 12.3% better (and second-best January ever).