Not a day over $10 this month.  Pathetic.

My April RPD so far (Apr 6) on SS is, believe or not, 0.144, with 0 DLs last 2 days, which never happened before in midweek even with only tiny tiny port

I have written them off, but it does make me sad as I still remember getting excited about first couple of downloads, then ELs (Samsung high-res monitors), etc. Alamy fire continuing from March into April & I feel much more positive about them on all fronts. It usually works that way

Gee so all agencies purchase their algorithms from Walmart. Last month, dopamine hits left and right. This month, only rising cortisol and blood pressure.   

I was very excited to start uploading my art to stock website, reading this thread was very depressing lol.
Did I arrive too late to the party?

Quote from: zeljkok on April 07, 2022, 06:07
My April RPD so far (Apr 6) on SS is, believe or not, 0.144, with 0 DLs last 2 days, which never happened before in midweek even with only tiny tiny port

I have written them off, but it does make me sad as I still remember getting excited about first couple of downloads, then ELs (Samsung high-res monitors), etc. Alamy fire continuing from March into April & I feel much more positive about them on all fronts. It usually works that way

SS is looking pretty slim so far this month . Seems they have a long term downtrend which is not the case for all agencies.

Quote from: Myster123 on April 09, 2022, 10:41
I was very excited to start uploading my art to stock website, reading this thread was very depressing lol.
Did I arrive too late to the party?

Unfortunately, 15+ years too late. But you can still make money if you have a good port and good, sellable images/illustrations. You just have to give it a try. I started in 2004, and once I had a couple hundred images online, I started making money. And my stuff isn't that good. I uploaded to several sites. I haven't uploaded for years now, and I only have images at Adobe. I can still cash out every couple of months, but it's not retirement income, which is what my plan was. When Sean Locke complains, you know things are bad. 😔

Quote from: Myster123 on April 09, 2022, 10:41
I was very excited to start uploading my art to stock website, reading this thread was very depressing lol.
Did I arrive too late to the party?

Well you can see what @cathyslife wrote plus the fact that others who started later, in 2008, like myself, saw good and happy times, until at least 2012 at the latest. Yes, if someone at the top of the game as Sean, has his sales dropping, you can be sure, the market is over saturated and depressed. I don't mean psychology I mean business and returns for work, income is terrible.

Not for everyone, but relative to what things were, many more are seeing drops. A small group of talented people are still holding on very well. I'm just happy that I didn't count on residual income, as that plan has become unrealistic. Most of us have watched commissions, agencies, and prices spiraling into into the sewer. We could make something from volume and many "good enough" images.

Now you have to be the best of the best and often only get peanuts for pay. The days of fair and good prices and value seem to be dwindling. If you can make attractive, in demand products, you can still make some money.

While there's a slight variance in the when, my personal experience was 2012 as pretty much the turning point. Where Microstock as a good side income, skidded out of control and hit the wall.

What Uncle Pete said.

I was late to the party,  started in 2016 & keep hearing these tales about "good old times".  It makes sense, as smartphone/low cost camera revolution changed the market & caused saturation.   Top it with wrong strategy micros addressed the issue (just look what SS did last yr) and this is why situation is the way it is.

There is still $$ that can be made in photography. Demand has not dropped, if anything increased.  But expecting "sales" from SS or Getty IMHO means devaluing your work & can only bring frustration.  There are other ways.  It really starts though with quality and then ability to market your own work.  And first and foremost you must enjoy photography, not just do it monetization purposes. 

Just my 5 cents

Sales are a shocker so far this month and when I compare to the same time period in 2021 and 2020, it's actually worse than what I thought.

So looking at Shutterstock for the same period in April (to date) comparing current earnings in 2022:

2021 : 5% 

2020 : 4.5% 

I would have to multiply current earnings x 20+ times to be at levels in 2021 and 2020 when I had smaller ports (much smaller in 2020). 

Sales total of 1 DL on SS so far this month. Only good thing is the photo sold is my joint best seller with 16 DLs. but sales usualy pick up later in month.
I'm Also with adobe, DT, pond5 (for video only) & Alamy & 0 sales on those. Loads of zooms on alamy but sales don't show for months on there.

Same here. Really, really quiet, on Adobe, Shutterstock and Istock. But I have a small portfolio so my numbers are insignificant but still. Very strange.

sales steady across all agencies for last 12 mo, including MTD. normal # of sales on SS & AS.  RPD steady also

Past couple of weeks have taken a nosedive for me, few sales at not so great prices.  Maybe buyers are cutting back on budgets - high inflation? 

Quote from: SVH on April 12, 2022, 15:03
Same here. Really, really quiet, on Adobe, Shutterstock and Istock. But I have a small portfolio so my numbers are insignificant but still. Very strange.

I've said the same about myself. When I had 1,000 images, it wasn't enough to say anything reliable. The fluctuations were unpredictable and there would be big swings. Small portfolio, and that's true. One EL changed the whole month.

Now with over 5,000 on SS, I still have ups and downs and there's nothing to say, it's not just random. Of course my view is the random part is based on what people want and need, but still, there's nothing consistent about my sales. Nothing on IS or AS either.

I think people with more variety could see better even downloads, I don't have that. And yes AS I do better over the holidays in the Fall because I have more of that there. I do some good in the Spring on SS for other reasons.

Well maybe Saturday is predictable, when nothing happens anywhere? But that's not downloads or sales.

SS about average, maybe a little less and AS performing well. IS ok, maybe a little better than average and the rest just bouncing around as they normally do

In general, Adobe Stock has been doing well for me, but I have been keeping an eye on the values of custom sales. Initially I was on the lookout for sub-38¢ amounts - and there have only been a tiny handful at 33¢.

What I have noticed is the steady downward trend in the last couple of months of the over $1 custom sales. This composite screenshot is of each "first of its value" royalty - in other words there have been many more at each value, but looking at the dates and amounts over just the last two months shows the trend. From $1.36 down to $1.25

Edited May 10 to note that the custom sales have been inching back upwards in the last month. Today saw a couple at $1.34; last week some at $1.33 & $1.32; the week before that $1.31, and before that $1.28. To top it off there was only one at 33¢ in the last month.

Nice to see a positive (for the contributor) trend!

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on April 14, 2022, 20:25
In general, Adobe Stock has been doing well for me, but I have been keeping an eye on the values of custom sales. Initially I was on the lookout for sub-38¢ amounts - and there have only been a tiny handful at 33¢.

What I have noticed is the steady downward trend in the last couple of months of the over $1 custom sales. This composite screenshot is of each "first of its value" royalty - in other words there have been many more at each value, but looking at the dates and amounts over just the last two months shows the trend. From $1.36 down to $1.25

I think Adobe is aiming at subscription only. So you only get 0.33, 0.66 or 0.99. I don't believe Adobe is aiming at doing EL's or OD's unless somebody here says they get them frequently. But that is just my two cents. So great they pay 3.3 times SS minimum but I don't expect never more then 0.99 from them. Except for the private person that pays a little more but always under the $5 mark. Anyone got a $100 plus commission?

Quote from: SVH on April 14, 2022, 20:39

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on April 14, 2022, 20:25
In general, Adobe Stock has been doing well for me, but I have been keeping an eye on the values of custom sales. Initially I was on the lookout for sub-38¢ amounts - and there have only been a tiny handful at 33¢.

What I have noticed is the steady downward trend in the last couple of months of the over $1 custom sales. This composite screenshot is of each "first of its value" royalty - in other words there have been many more at each value, but looking at the dates and amounts over just the last two months shows the trend. From $1.36 down to $1.25

I think Adobe is aiming at subscription only. So you only get 0.33, 0.66 or 0.99. I don't believe Adobe is aiming at doing EL's or OD's unless somebody here says they get them frequently. But that is just my two cents. So great they pay 3.3 times SS minimum but I don't expect never more then 0.99 from them. Except for the private person that pays a little more but always under the $5 mark. Anyone got a $100 plus commission?

I got one on Adobe for $26.40 today - not close to $100 but better than the usual 99 cents to a few dollars per download. It doubled my earnings there for the month so far since I have a small portfolio (633 files). Not statistically significant, but there are still some okay custom sales.

Quote from: wordplanet on April 15, 2022, 00:54

...I got one on Adobe for $26.40 today - not close to $100 but better than the usual 99 cents to a few dollars per download....

I think that's the royalty on a full price extended license.

They are good to get, absolutely, but in a different category from standard licenses. It's unfortunate that the labels on royalties are so vague.

Earlier this month I received two $13.20 custom royalties - I suspect those were for extended licenses at a very cut rate. Extended license sales are less frequent as the license terms for standard have become more generous. In March there was a royalty of $21.12 which I think was a reduced price extended license.

Had it not been for a $25 SOD on April 1st, I think I would be struggling to make minimum payout this month. Since April 1st, all other sales have only amounted to $13 at SS. Sales at AS amount to $20 so far and I don't have to swear at the screen as I do when seeing all the 10 cents at SS!

April was my fourth worst month ever. I have not managed to reach four-digit download numbers.

At shutterstock ist was my second worst month ever - only a bit better than January 2022. RPD $0,44. Compared to $0,93 at AS.
Dreamstime and 123rf almost dead - $50 together.

Bad times! 

April was okay although the week after Easter was very soft. Not great but not terrible either.

At SS I didn't quite hit my target and RPD was down compared to February and March. However, overall, SS is tracking at about the same levels as 2021.

At AS I had a good number of downloads but RPD was also down. So far this year, RPD at AS is down 22% compared to 2021. However, more downloads than in 2021 means that revenue is at about the same level.

Quote from: SVH on April 14, 2022, 20:39
Anyone got a $100 plus commission?

I received a straight $70 commission for a clip sale on Adobe the other day. That was always their full 4k commission before subs came in. It was for one of my clips that often sell as establishing shots (for movies, documentaries, tv shows, etc) that are outside the standard subscription models on SS and now I suspect on AS too.

The $100+ commissions are typically for these type of clips sales with extra seats. 

You are probably talking just photos, but with the value of video sales falling on AS, I thought it is worth noting.

Alamy started strong with several $$ sales 1st half of April, but then it all stopped like someone turned off the pipe.  Adobe strong # of DLs but lots of 0.36, DT in double digits (barely) and SS in freefall without parachute, like with most everyone else. IS plenty of DLs but this is never accurate so I don't hold my breath.

First 4 months of '22 I made more than in entire '21, helped by some direct sales for the book made through personal website.   We'll see what happens next

Quote from: Annie on May 01, 2022, 16:09

Quote from: SVH on April 14, 2022, 20:39
Anyone got a $100 plus commission?

I received a straight $70 commission for a clip sale on Adobe the other day. That was always their full 4k commission before subs came in. It was for one of my clips that often sell as establishing shots (for movies, documentaries, tv shows, etc) that are outside the standard subscription models on SS and now I suspect on AS too.

The $100+ commissions are typically for these type of clips sales with extra seats. 

You are probably talking just photos, but with the value of video sales falling on AS, I thought it is worth noting.

Good one, Annie!

I also got a $70 sale, but this one was the best of April on AS.