MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Pacesetter on June 13, 2025, 04:26
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Welcome back everybody. How's everyone going? How's sales? The world has changed a little more since we were last on the forum. :)
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Yes, the world has changed and the third world war continues. But you can't write about it here, because Russian trolls and German parasites write complaints to the admin, after which any topics on the forum are deleted (or rather moved to the archive section).
So I won't be able to answer your questions.
;D ;D ;D
Glory to Ukraine!
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When searching in Google for the words microstockgroup, Google personally gives me a link to a Russian site with a similar name. I understand that Russians steal even the names of sites, so it is not as easy to access the forum via Google as before.
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@Pacesetter... Sales... are... not quite what I was expecting. Was expecting them to go up significantly with all the work I've done. Perhaps it will still come. How about yourself?
@Stoker2014... Re: Ukraine, lol - obviously assuming you are ukranian (forget if we chatted about this), so I suppose it's only naturally to love to bask in the glory of the mass media (fox, cnn, bloomberg, etc, etc) constantly saying "ukranians are awesome, give money to ukraine" and lap it up. But you have to remember - a lot of Russians are awesome too. As are a lot of Germans. It's the political figureheads (I wouldn't call them "leaders", because most don't "lead", but rather misdirect, pursue self interesting, lie cheat & steal for personal gain, etc - very controllable in fact and for the most part puppets by puppeteers behind the scenes)... But its the political figureheads that cause a lot of angst.
Sure you can write about "the war" - but... because the media & political figureheads lie so much and try and cause problems between races & people in general... why not focus on specifically what you observe? I.e., are you 'personally' writing from a laptop with planes & tanks crushing buildings? Or is that simply what "you heard" on "the news"? Do you personally see "russians" invading, or is it ukranians being paid a lot of money to wear russian uniforms and turning on their own people - becuase of "money" - by puppeteers behind the scenese (as actually happens in not only the ukraine, but a lot of different countries as well to try and cause dissent and strife)?
Now - it's not 'just' you - I do agree that unfortunately there do see a couple people here that seem to be massively brainwashed and if one says ANYTHING against what their television has told them they can talk about, they figuratively (and probably literally) have convulsions and froth at the mouth... kind of zombie like actually...
But anyways. I personally am interested in hearing things you 'personally' witness, and insights you may have into that.
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I have missed this place and all of you. Even those on ignore! ;)
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But anyways. I personally am interested in hearing things you 'personally' witness, and insights you may have into that.
This is a very broad question, I have partially covered it in the transferred topics. I will not be able to answer in this topic, the moderator will delete this topic after my answer.
But I'll answer somehow.
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@Superphotos, sales were going well in the beginning of the month but have fallen on Adobe this week. Overall this month, earnings are higher on Shutterstock than Adobe. IStock seems to be performing well so far this month with 60 videos downloaded as of 13 June. ETA 2 sales on Pond5 for $30 each which is probably not bad... for Pond5.
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hi guys,lockdown is over?Has Leaf paid the rent? :D
sales are going bad, I'm probably having a bug with Adobe,something is happening that has never happened before,6 whole days without even a single sale.
I haven't sold anything since Saturday.
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hi guys,lockdown is over?Has Leaf paid the rent? :D
sales are going bad, I'm probably having a bug with Adobe,something is happening that has never happened before,6 whole days without even a single sale.
I haven't sold anything since Saturday.
My sales on Adobe are as usual, at an average level.
The problems with the forum were caused by the fact that the Siteground hosting service was performing maintenance and an internal error occurred on the MicrostockGroup side ("table marked as crashed").
But maybe everything was not so. ;D
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Welcome back. sorry I needed to kick the server to get it going again...
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I also sold 23 vertical videos on istock in 1 day. I would have been excited if it was before, but now I feel like these sales are from China and I will earn 0.03 per video.
Shutterstock sales are going pretty well in June. RPD was $0.58.
Adobe sales numbers are down but there were a few high-earning sales. I think it will be a better month than the previous months when we get paid for free content towards the end of the month.
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hi guys,lockdown is over?Has Leaf paid the rent? :D
sales are going bad, I'm probably having a bug with Adobe,something is happening that has never happened before,6 whole days without even a single sale.
I haven't sold anything since Saturday.
I have only 3 sales this week! I could buy an ice cream at least!
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Injustice for all: Yeah similar with Adobe, just a few photos all week, today was a little better but just feels unusually slow. Even checked to see if my video port was still there.
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hi guys,lockdown is over?Has Leaf paid the rent? :D
sales are going bad, I'm probably having a bug with Adobe,something is happening that has never happened before,6 whole days without even a single sale.
I haven't sold anything since Saturday.
Niente questa settimana? Cosa è successo amico mio?
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How long was it down? A day or two?
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Any idea why the adobe sales are so low right now? And how to get them back up? Thanks!
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How long was it down? A day or two?
Yes, a day or two. But a day or two is a long time in MSG land. Even 1 minute is a long time if, for example, you challenge yourself to hold your breath for the entire expanse of time. ;D
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Any idea why the adobe sales are so low right now? And how to get them back up? Thanks!
I have a theory but I note from discussions on FB others are reporting slow sales on Adobe with some suggestions of public holidays and special days such as Eid etc happening around the world. We had a public holiday on Monday which definitely affected my sales this week.
My theory is, and I know this is gonna sound bizarre, like I've gone BS crazy even, is Shutterstock are winning back customers from Adobe! :o I'm finding higher commission sales are returning on Shutterstock this past two months while those higher commission sales have fallen on Adobe Stock.
How to get them back up on Adobe Stock is a question I couldn't answer but if there's any truth to my theory I think having strong ports on as many agencies as possible is probably the way to combat slow sales on any one agency. I had three consecutive slow months overall in February, March and April and much better results in May and going well so far in June (overall). So some of this could be algorithm changes or time of year. I often read contributors experience a summer slump in the northern hemisphere if that could also be a contributing factor? But otherwise I am reading contributors posts on FB saying sales are slow on Adobe as well.
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My theory is, and I know this is gonna sound bizarre, like I've gone BS crazy even, is Shutterstock are winning back customers from Adobe!
Uncertainty around the globe is currently historically high. Less people are in the mood to buy than last year.
The last cargos to reach the US before the tariffs takes effect have departed long ago, no more cargo after that.
The companies who sent them are now in wait and see mode. Even Japan still can't reach a deal about the tariffs.
https://unctad.org/news/global-economy-under-pressure-could-slow-23-signals-un-trade-and-development
This leads companies to slow down or pause projects and cut cost. I don't see SS or iS is improving.
But I see acquaintances starts doing Youtube, Tiktok, etc., to earn extra money in addition to microstock.
So no, I don't think AS is losing customers to other agencies.
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How long was it down? A day or two?
it was down since last friday, so around one week
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How long was it down? A day or two?
it was down since last friday, so around one week
Cobalt, glad you were able to count the days. My recollection of time and days is getting increasingly vague for me these days.
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Uncertainty around the globe is currently historically high.
There is a third world war going on on planet Earth, it is not only shots and explosions, but also an economic war. For example, EU countries are now sending more money to the production of weapons, including for Ukraine. The more weapons are produced, the less money is spent on projects that need our content. The same applies to trade tariffs.
But on the other hand, if you create content on the topic of weapons and war, your sales will grow. 8)
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How long was it down? A day or two?
it was down since last friday, so around one week
Cobalt, glad you were able to count the days. My recollection of time and days is getting increasingly vague for me these days.
so true! :D It's already Saturday again, it seemed like Saturday yesterday!
time is really going by so fast!
Anyway yes it was more or less a week,and a much slower than usual start to June.
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Sales were very good at AS this week, it's supppper slow at SS, looks like the new subscription model affected badly my sales.
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Any idea why the adobe sales are so low right now? And how to get them back up? Thanks!
I have a theory but I note from discussions on FB others are reporting slow sales on Adobe with some suggestions of public holidays and special days such as Eid etc happening around the world. We had a public holiday on Monday which definitely affected my sales this week.
My theory is, and I know this is gonna sound bizarre, like I've gone BS crazy even, is Shutterstock are winning back customers from Adobe! :o I'm finding higher commission sales are returning on Shutterstock this past two months while those higher commission sales have fallen on Adobe Stock.
How to get them back up on Adobe Stock is a question I couldn't answer but if there's any truth to my theory I think having strong ports on as many agencies as possible is probably the way to combat slow sales on any one agency. I had three consecutive slow months overall in February, March and April and much better results in May and going well so far in June (overall). So some of this could be algorithm changes or time of year. I often read contributors experience a summer slump in the northern hemisphere if that could also be a contributing factor? But otherwise I am reading contributors posts on FB saying sales are slow on Adobe as well.
I agree, Pace. I just checked and can see very similar to you. With some exceptions on AS but similar increase in SS sales.
Here a few things that come to mind:
1. AS deleted a lot of files recently. Remember what they used to tell us on the old SS forum? 'Never delete any files because you never know what is going to sell'. ???
2. SS merged with Getty.
3. There is a huge swing away from Adobe products to more user-friendly platforms. I must admit the only Adobe product I use now is PS for photo editing. Everything else (in particular, all my design work) I can do on Canva. And I have a background in graphic design and was originally trained on Adobe Indesign - but that is all old hat now. Designer's (buyers) don't want that difficulty anymore. Canva is just growing and growing all the time with new features. And if you have a Pro account, you can download any elements (photos, videos, illustrations, etc, etc) you need from there, which (the non-free stuff) come from Getty contributors - so maybe SS now as well?
4. Social media. Did I read somewhere that you have done well on Youtube? I've been following this new agency on social media out of curiosity. Its following has jumped from 20k+ to now 31k in just a couple of weeks. One thing it does is tell their followers Canva hacks. (I must admit I even learnt a few really good things). This agency is pure Millennial market stuff but it demonstrates a potential buyer trend in these directions.
The exception I mentioned above with regard to AS sales, is that I have quite a few PNGs on AS that I put up a year or so ago, specifically suitable for Adobe Express (Canva clone) users and they are still selling extremely well.
Hope you are well.
Cheers!
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Leaf, thanks for kicking the server and getting things going again.
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Any idea why the adobe sales are so low right now? And how to get them back up? Thanks!
I have a theory but I note from discussions on FB others are reporting slow sales on Adobe with some suggestions of public holidays and special days such as Eid etc happening around the world. We had a public holiday on Monday which definitely affected my sales this week.
My theory is, and I know this is gonna sound bizarre, like I've gone BS crazy even, is Shutterstock are winning back customers from Adobe! :o I'm finding higher commission sales are returning on Shutterstock this past two months while those higher commission sales have fallen on Adobe Stock.
How to get them back up on Adobe Stock is a question I couldn't answer but if there's any truth to my theory I think having strong ports on as many agencies as possible is probably the way to combat slow sales on any one agency. I had three consecutive slow months overall in February, March and April and much better results in May and going well so far in June (overall). So some of this could be algorithm changes or time of year. I often read contributors experience a summer slump in the northern hemisphere if that could also be a contributing factor? But otherwise I am reading contributors posts on FB saying sales are slow on Adobe as well.
I agree, Pace. I just checked and can see very similar to you. With some exceptions on AS but similar increase in SS sales.
Here a few things that come to mind:
1. AS deleted a lot of files recently. Remember what they used to tell us on the old SS forum? 'Never delete any files because you never know what is going to sell'. ???
2. SS merged with Getty.
3. There is a huge swing away from Adobe products to more user-friendly platforms. I must admit the only Adobe product I use now is PS for photo editing. Everything else (in particular, all my design work) I can do on Canva. And I have a background in graphic design and was originally trained on Adobe Indesign - but that is all old hat now. Designer's (buyers) don't want that difficulty anymore. Canva is just growing and growing all the time with new features. And if you have a Pro account, you can download any elements (photos, videos, illustrations, etc, etc) you need from there, which (the non-free stuff) come from Getty contributors - so maybe SS now as well?
4. Social media. Did I read somewhere that you have done well on Youtube? I've been following this new agency on social media out of curiosity. Its following has jumped from 20k+ to now 31k in just a couple of weeks. One thing it does is tell their followers Canva hacks. (I must admit I even learnt a few really good things). This agency is pure Millennial market stuff but it demonstrates a potential buyer trend in these directions.
The exception I mentioned above with regard to AS sales, is that I have quite a few PNGs on AS that I put up a year or so ago, specifically suitable for Adobe Express (Canva clone) users and they are still selling extremely well.
Hope you are well.
Cheers!
I have never had anything to do with Canva. It just wasn't on my radar. Don't even really know much about it. But in the last week I learned two things: 1) there is a fascinating article about how they are wholeheartedly embracing AI and doing anything and everything they can to accelerate what it offers to their users/customers. I have no horse in that race but it sounds like they are really trying (and succeeding) in differentiating themselves in the marketplace. 2) my wife, who works at a school, mentioned off the cuff just the other day that almost all teachers and many students use Canva for all kinds of things from posters/flyers to full fledged completed videos. She said many educators all over the country use it- like it has become a de facto solution. Very interesting stuff. For those that have been around a while, wasn't Canva just kind of a third tier agency with low pricing and generally poor sales? Or am I mistaken?
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Any idea why the adobe sales are so low right now? And how to get them back up? Thanks!
I have a theory but I note from discussions on FB others are reporting slow sales on Adobe with some suggestions of public holidays and special days such as Eid etc happening around the world. We had a public holiday on Monday which definitely affected my sales this week.
My theory is, and I know this is gonna sound bizarre, like I've gone BS crazy even, is Shutterstock are winning back customers from Adobe! :o I'm finding higher commission sales are returning on Shutterstock this past two months while those higher commission sales have fallen on Adobe Stock.
How to get them back up on Adobe Stock is a question I couldn't answer but if there's any truth to my theory I think having strong ports on as many agencies as possible is probably the way to combat slow sales on any one agency. I had three consecutive slow months overall in February, March and April and much better results in May and going well so far in June (overall). So some of this could be algorithm changes or time of year. I often read contributors experience a summer slump in the northern hemisphere if that could also be a contributing factor? But otherwise I am reading contributors posts on FB saying sales are slow on Adobe as well.
I agree, Pace. I just checked and can see very similar to you. With some exceptions on AS but similar increase in SS sales.
Here a few things that come to mind:
1. AS deleted a lot of files recently. Remember what they used to tell us on the old SS forum? 'Never delete any files because you never know what is going to sell'. ???
2. SS merged with Getty.
3. There is a huge swing away from Adobe products to more user-friendly platforms. I must admit the only Adobe product I use now is PS for photo editing. Everything else (in particular, all my design work) I can do on Canva. And I have a background in graphic design and was originally trained on Adobe Indesign - but that is all old hat now. Designer's (buyers) don't want that difficulty anymore. Canva is just growing and growing all the time with new features. And if you have a Pro account, you can download any elements (photos, videos, illustrations, etc, etc) you need from there, which (the non-free stuff) come from Getty contributors - so maybe SS now as well?
4. Social media. Did I read somewhere that you have done well on Youtube? I've been following this new agency on social media out of curiosity. Its following has jumped from 20k+ to now 31k in just a couple of weeks. One thing it does is tell their followers Canva hacks. (I must admit I even learnt a few really good things). This agency is pure Millennial market stuff but it demonstrates a potential buyer trend in these directions.
The exception I mentioned above with regard to AS sales, is that I have quite a few PNGs on AS that I put up a year or so ago, specifically suitable for Adobe Express (Canva clone) users and they are still selling extremely well.
Hope you are well.
Cheers!
I have never had anything to do with Canva. It just wasn't on my radar. Don't even really know much about it. But in the last week I learned two things: 1) there is a fascinating article about how they are wholeheartedly embracing AI and doing anything and everything they can to accelerate what it offers to their users/customers. I have no horse in that race but it sounds like they are really trying (and succeeding) in differentiating themselves in the marketplace. 2) my wife, who works at a school, mentioned off the cuff just the other day that almost all teachers and many students use Canva for all kinds of things from posters/flyers to full fledged completed videos. She said many educators all over the country use it- like it has become a de facto solution. Very interesting stuff. For those that have been around a while, wasn't Canva just kind of a third tier agency with low pricing and generally poor sales? Or am I mistaken?
Thank you for that feedback. Yes, there is so much you can do with it. I have even made a stop motion video with it. And Canva is very innovative and constantly bringing in more and more features.
I've had a quick look at their AI. It was ok, not as good as say, Midjourney or Leonardo, but I can see it developing into something better. But I tend to use my own photography and clips for the products I produce, so it is not so much of a problem for me.
But from a contributor point of view, I think its important to understand how it, and similar platforms like Adobe Express, are changing the marketplace and where the buyers/users/designers are going. They can buy all the photography, clips, audio, and design elements through the platform.
Adobe was getting ahead of the other agencies for a while because it was selling our files directly through their software, but now that market has changed. From a contributor's point of view, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. We just have to wait and see, I guess.
Yes, I believe a lot of contributors were complaining about royalties and payments from Canva. I don't contribute directly to Canva, but my photography is sold on Canva via my assets in iStock/Getty. I have seen people use them for posts they have created on Pinterest. So, if SS is now part of Getty, are they on there too? Does this explain the shift in sales as discussed above?
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yes, canva was originally 3rd tier but they really expanded their internet presence - unfortunately for artists, their 'review' process automatically rejects almost all uploads INSTANTLY but won't respond to emails
however, their monthly share distribution often outpaces AS for me, and i have only about 20% on Canva vs AS
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For those who don't know how these platforms work, this is how the purchasing of assets and elements work from a user point-of-view. Using Canva, as an example, a user can have a free account or a monthly subscription, called the Pro account.
From a user point-of-view, Canva have two types of assets (let's say photography as an example) - those that are free and those that come from iStock/Getty. The latter will cost you $1 each for every photo you use in a design that you download. If you download the design 10 times, you have to pay $10.
If you have a Pro account, you don't pay extra for any of these non-free assets, they are included in the monthly subscription cost. And the contributor is paid a royalty via Canva to the iS/G contributor on these.
So, basically, you don't have to be a Canva contributor to have your assets sell on there. See example below.