Quote from: Annie on February 02, 2022, 15:08

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).

Well done.

Somebody said recently on one of these threads (think it was 'DavidK') that the difference between 10c and 38c is not really that big, the real money to be made in microstock nowadays is from large SODs. [ and video EL sales ]

Just thought I would add that here, because I was thinking the same myself at the time.  And they are still there on SS, if not more so.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 02, 2022, 17:43

Quote from: Wilm on February 02, 2022, 16:09

The largest contributor - Africa Studio - did it. I have a lot of respect for that, because some employees have to be paid. I am sure that the decision was very difficult for them.

Africa Studio did what?

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/africa+studio   1,306,255 stock photos
New Africa https://www.shutterstock.com/g/newafrica  825,023 stock photos

Some people are doing better, but I'd agree, most are not. How can anyone replace 38 cents a download with 10 cents and make the same? The only saving part is, we are paid an increasing percentage for the sales. There's nothing about the reset that doesn't suck for everyone!

Hmmm, I was absolutely sure that they were no longer there. And when they didn't show up in riptok's analysis either, I saw that confirmed.
But you are absolutely right, I can definitely find them.

https://petapixel.com/2021/07/23/how-to-rank-on-the-first-page-of-top-queries-on-stock-photo-sites/

Their port was actually gone for a while. Everyone was rooting for them, thinking they had pulled the plug because of the new level structure, but it was back shortly after. Why it was gone we will never know. Maybe someone falsely reported some photos as stolen and SS took down the port - It has happened before - and then restored it when they saw the mistake. Maybe they negotiated a special deal with SS.

 But, to be honest, I do not think the new level structure works in their disadvantage.
If I can make it to level 4 on the first month, I am sure they, with their port, with the qualitry of mages and quantity, will probably make it to level 6 within a month and whatever losses they might make in that first weeks they will surely make up with the 5% extra on level 6 for the rest of the year. They are probably making more money now than before.

Quote from: Wilm on February 03, 2022, 03:00

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 02, 2022, 17:43

Quote from: Wilm on February 02, 2022, 16:09

The largest contributor - Africa Studio - did it. I have a lot of respect for that, because some employees have to be paid. I am sure that the decision was very difficult for them.

Africa Studio did what?

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/africa+studio   1,306,255 stock photos
New Africa https://www.shutterstock.com/g/newafrica  825,023 stock photos

Some people are doing better, but I'd agree, most are not. How can anyone replace 38 cents a download with 10 cents and make the same? The only saving part is, we are paid an increasing percentage for the sales. There's nothing about the reset that doesn't suck for everyone!

Hmmm, I was absolutely sure that they were no longer there. And when they didn't show up in riptok's analysis either, I saw that confirmed.
But you are absolutely right, I can definitely find them.

https://petapixel.com/2021/07/23/how-to-rank-on-the-first-page-of-top-queries-on-stock-photo-sites/

Their port was actually gone for a while. Everyone was rooting for them, thinking they had pulled the plug because of the new level structure, but it was back shortly after. Why it was gone we will never know. Maybe someone falsely reported some photos as stolen and SS took down the port - It has happened before - and then restored it when they saw the mistake. Maybe they negotiated a special deal with SS.

 But, to be honest, I do not think the nerw level structure works in their disadvantage. If I can make it to level 4 on the first month, I am sure they, with their port, with the qualitry of mages and quantity, will probably make it to level 6 within a month and whatever losses they might make in that first weeks they will surely make up with the 5% extra on level 6 for the rest of the year. They are probably making more money now than before.

Thanks for the explanation, Firn!

Quote from: Annie on February 02, 2022, 18:28

Quote from: Zero Talent on February 02, 2022, 17:39

Quote from: Annie on February 02, 2022, 15:08

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).

Well done.

Somebody said recently on one of these threads (think it was 'DavidK') that the difference between 10c and 38c is not really that big, the real money to be made in microstock nowadays is from large SODs. [ and video EL sales ]

Just thought I would add that here, because I was thinking the same myself at the time.  And they are still there on SS, if not more so.

The difference may not seem much when looking at one sale but, over the course of a day 50 x $0.1 = $5 where as 50x $0.38 = $19. If this consistently happens over 20 days over a month then your down $280. But yes, the bigger sales do make a bigger impact... just becoming less common on SS of late with the push to subscription models!

I sell up to 1000 DLs a month on SS, at times more, and I dont have that problem. There are quite a few people here that make over 500 DLs/month as well. By the end of January we are all on at least L4, and thats not counting the Wirestock people. At these levels, one starts to see a lot more higher subs prices up to $1/sub. I am also finding I can get much higher SODs than before. Overall my RPD for Jan was higher than the previous year.

But the point is, and the reason why I liked what DavidK said, and it was my observation as well, was that we shouldn't just focus on the 10c part - or it will drive us crazy. I doubt very much if there is anyone here with an RPD of 10c. But once again, it all depends on your own individual port.

Quote from: Annie on February 03, 2022, 05:09

Quote from: HalfFull on February 03, 2022, 04:28

Quote from: Annie on February 02, 2022, 18:28

Quote from: Zero Talent on February 02, 2022, 17:39

Quote from: Annie on February 02, 2022, 15:08

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).

Well done.

Somebody said recently on one of these threads (think it was 'DavidK') that the difference between 10c and 38c is not really that big, the real money to be made in microstock nowadays is from large SODs. [ and video EL sales ]

Just thought I would add that here, because I was thinking the same myself at the time.  And they are still there on SS, if not more so.

The difference may not seem much when looking at one sale but, over the course of a day 50 x $0.1 = $5 where as 50x $0.38 = $19. If this consistently happens over 20 days over a month then your down $280. But yes, the bigger sales do make a bigger impact... just becoming less common on SS of late with the push to subscription models!

I sell up to 1000 DLs a month on SS, at times more, and I dont have that problem. There are quite a few people here that make over 500 DLs/month as well. By the end of January we are all on at least L4, and thats not counting the Wirestock people. At these levels, one starts to see a lot more higher subs prices up to $1/sub. I am also finding I can get much higher SODs than before. Overall my RPD for Jan was higher than the previous year.

But the point is, and the reason why I liked what DavidK said, and it was my observation as well, was that we shouldn't just focus on the 10c part - or it will drive us crazy. I doubt very much if there is anyone here with an RPD of 10c. But once again, it all depends on your own individual port.

Yeah I know. I'm also a level 4 after 2nd week in Jan. I was just making the point that with SS pushing for large subs packages (as per their own minutes), we'll see a creep towards more and more $0.10 and over time this will impact on our net take from the agency

There you go, focusing on the downside - which hasn't even happened yet.

My main issue is why people keep complaining about the 10c's. Its been what? A year and a half now, and there are still those who want to keep talking about it - or worse say how its going to get worse!

I will never in a million years understand that. To me, its simple, you make a decision and you make the most of it. You leave SS or you stay. If you cant leave then you still try and make the most if it. But constantly focusing on the negatives & complaining never helps, and in fact prevents one finding a more proactive approach and better solutions.

Quote from: Wilm on February 03, 2022, 03:00

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 02, 2022, 17:43

Quote from: Wilm on February 02, 2022, 16:09

The largest contributor - Africa Studio - did it. I have a lot of respect for that, because some employees have to be paid. I am sure that the decision was very difficult for them.

Africa Studio did what?

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/africa+studio   1,306,255 stock photos
New Africa https://www.shutterstock.com/g/newafrica  825,023 stock photos

Some people are doing better, but I'd agree, most are not. How can anyone replace 38 cents a download with 10 cents and make the same? The only saving part is, we are paid an increasing percentage for the sales. There's nothing about the reset that doesn't suck for everyone!

Hmmm, I was absolutely sure that they were no longer there. And when they didn't show up in riptok's analysis either, I saw that confirmed.
But you are absolutely right, I can definitely find them.

https://petapixel.com/2021/07/23/how-to-rank-on-the-first-page-of-top-queries-on-stock-photo-sites/

Their port was actually gone for a while. Everyone was rooting for them, thinking they had pulled the plug because of the new level structure, but it was back shortly after. Why it was gone we will never know. Maybe someone falsely reported some photos as stolen and SS took down the port - It has happened before - and then restored it when they saw the mistake. Maybe they negotiated a special deal with SS.

 But, to be honest, I do not think the new level structure works in their disadvantage.
If I can make it to level 4 on the first month, I am sure they, with their port, with the qualitry of mages and quantity, will probably make it to level 6 within a month and whatever losses they might make in that first weeks they will surely make up with the 5% extra on level 6 for the rest of the year. They are probably making more money now than before.

They will make more because of the levels and better % now. You're right, high volume makes more. They were gone less than a month disabled and restored.

Something interesting in that article (but not really relevant to this discussion for which I apologize!).
....."A notable user account is �Designs Stock,� which has only 3,300 images in their portfolio but has as much traffic as account �wavebreakmedia� with 570,000 images. Also, the �betto rodrigues� account has the most traffic in the list of all 14,000 authors that we analyzed."

Betto Rodrigues account has the most amount of traffic but seems to have no or very few sales on their first page of 'top images'. Bizarre!
[/quote]
Probably people searching for particular models of cars, just to have a look.  Not buyers.

UNCLE PETE:

Some people are doing better, but I'd agree, most are not. How can anyone replace 38 cents a download with 10 cents and make the same? The only saving part is, we are paid an increasing percentage for the sales. There's nothing about the reset that doesn't suck for everyone!

ANNIE:

My main issue is why people keep complaining about the 10c's. Its been what? A year and a half now, and there are still those who want to keep talking about it - or worse say how its going to get worse!

I will never in a million years understand that. To me, its simple, you make a decision and you make the most of it. You leave SS or you stay. If you cant leave then you still try and make the most if it. But constantly focusing on the negatives & complaining never helps, and in fact prevents one finding a more proactive approach and better solutions.


I think that if you read the 2 quotes above it becomes a bit clearer with regard to who is complaining (or just commenting?) still (after 1.5 years) and who isn't.

When the 'new' payment schedule was invented by Sstock I thought at the time that it's aimed at the 'high fliers' and it is, of course, (some of?) the high fliers who are benefitting.

I think that the fewer downloads you get, then probably the more noticeable the dimes become.

It hardly matters to me because I am a little baby minnow in the ocean of stock, but some other sized fish are evidently still feeling the pain.

Apologies for the mixed metaphors 🤔

UNCLE PETE:

Some people are doing better, but I'd agree, most are not. How can anyone replace 38 cents a download with 10 cents and make the same? The only saving part is, we are paid an increasing percentage for the sales. There's nothing about the reset that doesn't suck for everyone!

ANNIE:

My main issue is why people keep complaining about the 10c's. Its been what? A year and a half now, and there are still those who want to keep talking about it - or worse say how its going to get worse!

I will never in a million years understand that. To me, its simple, you make a decision and you make the most of it. You leave SS or you stay. If you cant leave then you still try and make the most if it. But constantly focusing on the negatives & complaining never helps, and in fact prevents one finding a more proactive approach and better solutions.


I think that if you read the 2 quotes above it becomes a bit clearer with regard to who is complaining (or just commenting?) still (after 1.5 years) and who isn't.

When the 'new' payment schedule was invented by Sstock I thought at the time that it's aimed at the 'high fliers' and it is, of course, (some of?) the high fliers who are benefitting.

I think that the fewer downloads you get, then probably the more noticeable the dimes become.

It hardly matters to me because I am a little baby minnow in the ocean of stock, but some other sized fish are evidently still feeling the pain.

I'm complaining, or at the very least, observing what I think is true, but I'm staying. I made a choice for myself how I wanted to do this, continue or not. Everyone is free to do what they think is best. I've learned to ignore the people who have nothing to talk about except, why everyone else should quit SSTK. The most amusing is anyone who stays with their own SSTK account open and spends most of their time here, telling us why we should leave?

If I read your post right, yes, the people who sell the most and have a higher volume, are going to benefit or at worst, earn the same as before. Someone like myself, who doesn't get many downloads a month, will drop about 60%. There's no way that 10c instead of 38c is making more money.  And I mean, based on downloads staying the same. In fact not only do I make less per DL, but I'm getting less than I used to as the times change and the competition grows.

Mostly what this change has done to my minimal efforts is, I upload more to other sites now and concentrate on images that might do better on other places. When SS earned the most, they were the place I worked at supplying. Now they don't so I'm concentrating more on others.

I can't sit around waiting for the OD, EL and Singles, "big sales" Etc., to make up for the tiny, minimum dime payments. I'll take those dimes and I'll work on finding other ways to make more money. Adobe passed SSTK last year and keeps on making me more, every month. They get the images and new ideas, created for what they sell.



I am working on what to shoot this Summer, for other sites. Easy enough? Instead of quitting, I'm adapting.

Stats after the first half of the month.

shutterstock

February 01-14, 2022 vs. 2021
DLs minus 5%
Revenues plus 31.4%

AS

February 01 to 14, 2022 vs. 2021
DLs minus 28%
Revenues minus 66.4%

February 2021 at AS was very good, March even better. I hope that this will also go up significantly this year.


AS vs. SS revenues, February 01 to 14, 2022 vs. 2021: +7.5%

SS Jan 2022 Photos : RPD 0,41 $
SS Feb 2022 Photos : RPD 0,20 $

SS Jan 2022 Videos : RPD 6,54 $
SS Feb 2022 Videos : RPD 6,86 $

Over 60 picture DL's at SS in february and only 12 picture DL's at AS.
Over 20 video DL's at SS in february and only 1 video DL at AS.

AS has been selling very little of my media since the beginning of the year.
It seems like there is an unofficial reset there similar to SS where the reset is official.

Shutterstock
downloads minus 21.1%
income minus 2.2%

I'd be happy with these numbers
Shutterstock:
dowload plus 5.4%
income minus 37%
 

Adobe has been doing well though, my best earner this month, which hasn't happened in over 1,5 years. Not anywhere as good as Shutterstock or iStock during a good month, but since my Adobe income has been either stagnating or declining for months, I won't complain about a positive development, no matter how small.