Leaf, thanks for kicking the server and getting things going again.

Quote from: AM24 on June 14, 2025, 09:56

Quote from: Pacesetter on June 13, 2025, 23:09

Quote from: SuperPhoto on June 13, 2025, 19:28

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! 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?

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.