So sad to see LO leaving us


So who`s next in line that will soon leave us?

I predict Canstockphoto...

Quote from: Velvia on April 17, 2008, 04:31I predict Canstockphoto...

+1

No reviews for me in almost 2 weeks either.

Vectorstock and Photostorage get my vote. Those two seem to be doing very little, if anything, to grow their companies.

I think Albumo is next in line.

Quote from: Velvia on April 17, 2008, 04:31
So sad to see LO leaving us


So who`s next in line that will soon leave us?

I predict Canstockphoto...

next are:
SnapVillage   
LuckyOliver
Canstockphoto   
MostPhotos   
Albumo   
Zymmetrical
PantherMedia
ScanStockPhoto
YayMicro
VectorStock
MicrostockPhoto
Fotomind
ImageCatalogue
StockPhotoMedia
Geckostock
ImageVortex
USphotoStock
Regimages
Thephotostorage
Paxxion
Photola
moodboard

I think Albumo just has to be next. I shoot a lot of food, so I so some looking around in those categories to see what the competition is like. A search there just now of the "most popular by download" image for search on "food" has 53 DLs. It also had 53 DLs in January, and 53 DLs in October when I joined.

So their most popular food image has sold zilch in 6 months. Not a good indicator of sales or growth. I am glad I bailed out in February.

a few posts from this thread were removed due to black humour - sorry for being a stick in the mud.

Yes I realize it was a joke, and that it was towards an entity and not an individual person, but still, I don't think there is a need for it.

Quote from: Velvia on April 17, 2008, 04:31
So sad to see LO leaving us


So who`s next in line that will soon leave us?

I predict Canstockphoto...

Are you only referring to Microstock sites? If not, my sales are so bad this month, I think I may the next one to go bancrupt!

The next company that will go under is one that is spending money but not growing. Companies like StockXpert, SV, 123rf that are backed by bigger companies aren't going anywhere soon. DT and FT have sales volume. Of the top sites I would say BigStock seems to be in a downward trend with traffic and earnings so they may be suspect but not quite there yet.

I would say of the more well known companies, Featurepics is next. They don't seem to have a sustainable business model, have low sales volume, low profit margins, don't appear to do any marketing, and seem to only invest in the technology infrastructure. How long can they keep paying the bills with this model?

It's rather unpredictable. Agencies like Canstock can survive a long time if they have low costs. I guess some of those with eastern European roots do their programming and web-design there, at much lower cost than in the west.

Server capacity is cheap, and software/design competence can be cheap. What does cost money is marketing, but if you don't do much of that, costs can be held at a very reasonable level.

A cool concept, like LO, doesn't sell photos. Lots of images online, reasonable prices and a functional search engine does. There have always been lots of small macro stock agencies. I don't think that will change much in the micro world.

whether the microstock stops operation or not depends on how it is funded. While LO was driven by investor' money, some of the other (small) stocks are run by 1-2 people in their spare time. If they generate enough money to cover the expenses (which aren't very high for such type of business) they continue operating for quite a while. Until the owners loose their enthusiasm.

Geckostock has never been high above the horizon and is run by one guy. Not sure if it will survive.

Scanstock is run by two enthusiasts at their spare time, and they indeed don't have much money for advertising and for site development.

I am not so sure Canstock will stop soon. Although it isn't doing good it is there for quite a while - so I would guess they manage to bring the ends together.

I am not sure about Crestock future. They were relying on investor's money in the beginning, and they don't seem to sell very well...

I think crestock is actually starting to perfrom.  I finally have my whole portfolio there and am getting (starting this month) a payout every month.  Not super, but on par with bigstock and 123RF (actually better than 123RF for me)

They also started a referral program.. which perhaps might spark a little more interest in link dropping for the average microstocker on the average forum

errr uhh... need a link???
crestock

Of the sites I'm contributing to, my guess would be Albumo. 

snapvillage.

Quote from: louoates on April 17, 2008, 17:21
snapvillage.

you really think corbis is going to leave the microstock market without a fight and let getty roll in the $$.  Istock seems to be making a healthy profit so there is money to be made.

Canstockphoto
MostPhotos
Albumo
Zymmetrical
PantherMedia
ScanStockPhoto
YayMicro
VectorStock
MicrostockPhoto
Fotomind
ImageCatalogue
StockPhotoMedia
Geckostock
ImageVortex
USphotoStock
Regimages
Thephotostorage
Paxxion
Photola
moodboard


Order is irrelevant.  Only 20% will survive (at most) - I pick YAYMICRO because its got the dumbest name

scanstock....   I've got a very small folio there and I'll probably pull it in the next few days.   In fact, it took so long to get my first batch approved (over 2 months),  I haven't uploaded there since.   =tom

bailed out of scanstock last night.....  once i saw my views, it was a no brainer.... pathetic.  I'm outta there..............gone, history, past tense...    =tom