Author Topic: How bad is it for the rest of you? (Read 13724 times)

thirdbornentertainment · « **on:** January 21, 2021, 17:09 »

I'm down to 3 agencies, pond5 adobe and dissolve. Earnings last December for my 1500 clip portfolio were over 1k usd. This year I barely cracked 300. I'm getting fewer sales no matter how much I add (quality clips). If you thought 2020 sucked just wait....

alexandersr · « **Reply #1 on:** January 21, 2021, 19:05 »

Quote from: thirdbornentertainment on January 21, 2021, 17:09

I'm down to 3 agencies, pond5 adobe and dissolve. Earnings last December for my 1500 clip portfolio were over 1k usd. This year I barely cracked 300. I'm getting fewer sales no matter how much I add (quality clips). If you thought 2020 sucked just wait....

Woow that's a lot of money considering microstock nowadays. Your work must be outstanding! I only have still images, photos, renders and vectors. I barely made less than $60 last month (december). I have my work in five microstock sites, around 3000 images in each one. Maybe my work is a crap.

StockGuy101 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 21, 2021, 20:03 »

December 2020 was only about $800 less than December 2019. Overall, my 2020 year ended up about 11% less than 2019.

January 2021, however, won't come close to January 2020. Although we still have 10 more days, I predict January 2021 will be about $4,500 less than January 2020.

SS really is tanking. While my number of downloads are not too far off the usual, the income per download really is lacking. It seems as of January 1, 2021, I've had a bunch of low-earning sales. I don't think it's all due to the new commission structure. I feel like some deal SS implemented with buyers went into effect this year. A deal we're not privy to.

cascoly · « **Reply #3 on:** January 21, 2021, 21:48 »

2020 was about 5% better than 2019.

SS down about 20% from 2019; non-canva others about the same

SS share of total went from 45% to 35% mostly due to canva subscriptions

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #4 on:** January 21, 2021, 22:33 »

My micro earnings used to be in the thousands of dollars per month. Now I earn enough for a family of four dinner at McDonalds. And I'm not talking the fancy stuff. Dollar menu.

Horizon · « **Reply #5 on:** January 22, 2021, 03:50 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 21, 2021, 22:33

My micro earnings used to be in the thousands of dollars per month. Now I earn enough for a family of four dinner at McDonalds. And I'm not talking the fancy stuff. Dollar menu.

Same here thousands per month and now peanuts. Unbelievable change!

vectorsforall · « **Reply #6 on:** January 22, 2021, 04:32 »

Jan 2020 : $1893
Jan 2021 22th : $373

Thank you mister piece of crap Oringer. And don't tell me about Covid19. My earnings at AS and Vecteezy are still good ans steady

Jens G · « **Reply #7 on:** January 22, 2021, 05:47 »

My december 2020 total was 10% lower than 2019 total.

For SS so far, january 2021 is 65% lower than it would have been with the old earnings structure. And it's 85% lower than january 2020. But the month isn't over yet, so it will probably end at about 80% lower than january 2020.

It is going to be the first month ever, where I make less on SS than on AS.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #8 on:** January 22, 2021, 11:05 »

Quote from: Horizon on January 22, 2021, 03:50

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 21, 2021, 22:33
My micro earnings used to be in the thousands of dollars per month. Now I earn enough for a family of four dinner at McDonalds. And I'm not talking the fancy stuff. Dollar menu.

Same here thousands per month and now peanuts. Unbelievable change!

To be fair, I cut my portfolio down to about a third in 2015 and moved the other two thirds out of micro. However, my return per image per month used to be about $2. That was consistent for years until it started dropping in 2012 and continued trending downward over the next few years. My micro RPIPM is now at about 15 cents and still trending down. So I'd need to have a 25,000 image portfolio just to break even with what I was earning almost ten years ago with 2,000 images.

So I'm leaving my reduced port in micro but not adding anything new. Investing in adding new images would be a complete waste of time for me. Maybe other people aren't experiencing the downward trend.

alexandersr · « **Reply #9 on:** January 22, 2021, 11:54 »

I wonder how people make thousands of $ per month, when microstock is supossed to downhill.

Horizon · « **Reply #10 on:** January 22, 2021, 13:30 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 22, 2021, 11:05

Quote from: Horizon on January 22, 2021, 03:50
Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 21, 2021, 22:33
My micro earnings used to be in the thousands of dollars per month. Now I earn enough for a family of four dinner at McDonalds. And I'm not talking the fancy stuff. Dollar menu.

Same here thousands per month and now peanuts. Unbelievable change!
[/

To be fair, I cut my portfolio down to about a third in 2015 and moved the other two thirds out of micro. However, my return per image per month used to be about $2. That was consistent for years until it started dropping in 2012 and continued trending downward over the next few years. My micro RPIPM is now at about 15 cents and still trending down. So I'd need to have a 25,000 image portfolio just to break even with what I was earning almost ten years ago with 2,000 images.

So I'm leaving my reduced port in micro but not adding anything new. Investing in adding new images would be a complete waste of time for me. Maybe other people aren't experiencing the downward trend.

Exactly the same here! took away about 50% of my port and leaving the rest here but no more uploading! still it should generate much more!

pancaketom · « **Reply #11 on:** January 22, 2021, 19:43 »

Quote from: StockGuy101 on January 21, 2021, 20:03

December 2020 was only about $800 less than December 2019. Overall, my 2020 year ended up about 11% less than 2019.

January 2021, however, won't come close to January 2020. Although we still have 10 more days, I predict January 2021 will be about $4,500 less than January 2020.

SS really is tanking. While my number of downloads are not too far off the usual, the income per download really is lacking. It seems as of January 1, 2021, I've had a bunch of low-earning sales. I don't think it's all due to the new commission structure. I feel like some deal SS implemented with buyers went into effect this year. A deal we're not privy to.

I think part of the new earnings was just to take more per sale, the other part was to enable them to make sales for much much less but still make money. Before they had to average over at least .25 per image sold and really more likely closer to .38 to make any money for themselves (it was probably closer to over $1 per sale before) , now if they just need to be above .10 - so they can cut their prices over 50% and still make money - now they probably need to make the sale for over about .30 on average. Remember they also get to keep all the unused portion of the subs packs too. Wait until they do the same for video - get ready for your ultra sub .10 video sales.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #12 on:** January 22, 2021, 23:31 »

Quote from: alexandersr on January 22, 2021, 11:54

I wonder how people make thousands of $ per month, when microstock is supossed to downhill.

I'm sure there quite a few. But they're probably shooting topics that are an expensive investment and have tens of thousands of files. The return on investment used to be easy to justify. These days it must take a long time to break even on a shoot if at all.

fotoVoyager · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2021, 03:42 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 22, 2021, 23:31

Quote from: alexandersr on January 22, 2021, 11:54
I wonder how people make thousands of $ per month, when microstock is supossed to downhill.

I'm sure there quite a few. But they're probably shooting topics that are an expensive investment and have tens of thousands of files. The return on investment used to be easy to justify. These days it must take a long time to break even on a shoot if at all.

This is the crux of the problem for photographers and agencies alike. If it’s not worth investing because the return on the shoot takes too long the images that are needed will not be there.

There’s only so many pictures of random stuff that are needed.

In the long term I think we’ll see the rebirth of more expensive collections with images that take investment to produce. Of course by that time, we’ll all have gone out of business and it’ll be the next generation that benefits.

I’ve reached the point where it’s no longer financially sensible to invest to produce images and the lifestyle photographers who are the last to be affected will get there soon.

Graiki · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2021, 06:15 »

Really complicated.
Investing in new images is perhaps unfeasible.
In 2018 and 2019 they were excellent for me, with approximately 3000 images and videos
Today I have more than 10,000 images and videos, a lot of lifestyle, easy to photograph on a daily basis and with friends.
My sales fell 35% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Whoever made a lot of covid images / videos must have balanced, I think.
Anyway, every day the RPD down there.
We live in crazy and unstable times, difficult to predict.

Hannafate · « **Reply #15 on:** January 23, 2021, 09:11 »

I just dropped Bigstock, leaving me only five agencies for now. (one of which is Canstock, which hardly counts) I'm currently making more from POD than from microstock.

I'll keep making and uploading new work because... well... it's what I do.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #16 on:** January 23, 2021, 11:11 »

Quote from: pancaketom on January 22, 2021, 19:43

Quote from: StockGuy101 on January 21, 2021, 20:03
December 2020 was only about $800 less than December 2019. Overall, my 2020 year ended up about 11% less than 2019.

January 2021, however, won't come close to January 2020. Although we still have 10 more days, I predict January 2021 will be about $4,500 less than January 2020.

SS really is tanking. While my number of downloads are not too far off the usual, the income per download really is lacking. It seems as of January 1, 2021, I've had a bunch of low-earning sales. I don't think it's all due to the new commission structure. I feel like some deal SS implemented with buyers went into effect this year. A deal we're not privy to.

I think part of the new earnings was just to take more per sale, the other part was to enable them to make sales for much much less but still make money. Before they had to average over at least .25 per image sold and really more likely closer to .38 to make any money for themselves (it was probably closer to over $1 per sale before) , now if they just need to be above .10 - so they can cut their prices over 50% and still make money - now they probably need to make the sale for over about .30 on average. Remember they also get to keep all the unused portion of the subs packs too. Wait until they do the same for video - get ready for your ultra sub .10 video sales.

Did they cut prices? How much did a 750 sub pack cost in 2019, 2018, 2017? I think that some of these places just cut commissions. Since you refer to 10c commissions, that's actually more then they charge for a download.

Example 2014 -
Subscribe and Save
Try our most popular plan and get 25 images a day, every day
1 Year SAVE 20% $199/month

750 images a month, (monthly billing contract) $199 which is .2653 collected per image. They were paying us up to 38¢ per download. That means, a loss of $0.11 for every download. Now they pay us a real 15%, 20% Etc. with a 10c minimum. The monthly is still the same. They did add an annual paid in advance, for a year, which IS less.

Now - still the same as 2014
$199
/month
$0.27/image — Requires annual commitment

New discount and I didn't go back to what year this started

$1,999
/year
$0.22/image — Requires annual commitment

No I don't like it, but I'm trying to deal with facts and real numbers. They charged 27c and image and paid us 38c an image. If I was running a business, not a charity, I'd want to make money on every sale, not lose money.

Now someone else will say raise the prices, which I've pointed out, the competition is charging even less as it is. Do you want to drive away most of the customers?

Highly competitive market, over supply of images, that's our real problem.

Ukko · « **Reply #17 on:** January 23, 2021, 16:37 »

Quote from: Hannafate on January 23, 2021, 09:11

I'm currently making more from POD than from microstock.

Any good POD sites to recommend in particular?

MS generates a decent income for me, but nothing to write home about. It helps to buy some kick ass new camera gear every year and pay some bills. I'm a hobbyist-level stock photographer (portfolio size is currently under 3,000 photos).

alexandersr · « **Reply #18 on:** January 23, 2021, 18:04 »

Quote from: Ukko on January 23, 2021, 16:37

Quote from: Hannafate on January 23, 2021, 09:11
I'm currently making more from POD than from microstock.

Any good POD sites to recommend in particular?

MS generates a decent income for me, but nothing to write home about. It helps to buy some kick ass new camera gear every year and pay some bills. I'm a hobbyist-level stock photographer (portfolio size is currently under 3,000 photos).

Buy a new camera with microstock income for me, that impossible. My newer camera is a Canon 60D, the other a Canon XT. And i'm ok with those old cameras, because if i try to do some photos in the street some thief is probably would robbed to me. In some places police could take my camera and take it. In Caracas, Venezuela people with cameras have to be very alert, or go in big groups. When i go to street i use Canon XT. In my house for making some studio photos i use Canon 60D.

marthamarks · « **Reply #19 on:** January 23, 2021, 18:09 »

Quote from: alexandersr on January 23, 2021, 18:04

Buy a new camera with microstock income for me, that impossible. My newer camera is a Canon 60D, the other a Canon XT. And i'm ok with those old cameras, because if i try to do some photos in the street some thief is probably would robbed to me. In some places police could take my camera and take it. In Caracas, Venezuela people with cameras have to be very alert, or go in big groups. When i go to street i use Canon XT. In my house for making some studio photos i use Canon 60D.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. That's really sad.

alexandersr · « **Reply #20 on:** January 23, 2021, 18:26 »

Quote from: marthamarks on January 23, 2021, 18:09

Quote from: alexandersr on January 23, 2021, 18:04

Buy a new camera with microstock income for me, that impossible. My newer camera is a Canon 60D, the other a Canon XT. And i'm ok with those old cameras, because if i try to do some photos in the street some thief is probably would robbed to me. In some places police could take my camera and take it. In Caracas, Venezuela people with cameras have to be very alert, or go in big groups. When i go to street i use Canon XT. In my house for making some studio photos i use Canon 60D.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. That's really sad.

Yes, it is a very unfortunate situation, however despite everything, with my old Canon XT camera, I have taken very nice photos, which have been sold. But you know it is very few prices in microstock.

cascoly · « **Reply #21 on:** January 23, 2021, 18:45 »

POD tends more towards 'art' than 'stock', so it's a good addition. in theory. the artist is responsible for marketing.

i'm on FAA now and sell a few prints, merchandise/month - a bit better than lower tier agencies.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #22 on:** January 24, 2021, 08:45 »

Quote from: alexandersr on January 23, 2021, 18:04

Quote from: Ukko on January 23, 2021, 16:37
Quote from: Hannafate on January 23, 2021, 09:11
I'm currently making more from POD than from microstock.

Any good POD sites to recommend in particular?

MS generates a decent income for me, but nothing to write home about. It helps to buy some kick ass new camera gear every year and pay some bills. I'm a hobbyist-level stock photographer (portfolio size is currently under 3,000 photos).
Buy a new camera with microstock income for me, that impossible. My newer camera is a Canon 60D, the other a Canon XT. And i'm ok with those old cameras, because if i try to do some photos in the street some thief is probably would robbed to me. In some places police could take my camera and take it. In Caracas, Venezuela people with cameras have to be very alert, or go in big groups. When i go to street i use Canon XT. In my house for making some studio photos i use Canon 60D.

Between the declining income and the fact that micro sites have lowered submission quality standards, I don't think it's worth upgrading. Anyone who has a DSLR from the past 15 years should be fine.

That's unfortunate you have to work in fear. I travel for photography and have run into these situations here in the USA. Mostly in major cities in areas that are known for higher crime. And with all of the 2020 problems I now carry pepper spray and a heavy monopod. I'm now focusing more on beaches than cities. Usually more happy people there who don't want to rob or harm me. :-)

If you do want to get a new camera you may want to consider small mirrorless like a Sony a6600. DSLR quality images and the body and lenses are very compact. When walking with a DSLR and large backpack, I've found it draws a lot of attention. When using my Sony a6300 I can use a tiny bag and it draws almost no attention.

alexandersr · « **Reply #23 on:** January 24, 2021, 10:33 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 24, 2021, 08:45

Quote from: alexandersr on January 23, 2021, 18:04
Quote from: Ukko on January 23, 2021, 16:37
Quote from: Hannafate on January 23, 2021, 09:11
I'm currently making more from POD than from microstock.

Any good POD sites to recommend in particular?

MS generates a decent income for me, but nothing to write home about. It helps to buy some kick ass new camera gear every year and pay some bills. I'm a hobbyist-level stock photographer (portfolio size is currently under 3,000 photos).
Buy a new camera with microstock income for me, that impossible. My newer camera is a Canon 60D, the other a Canon XT. And i'm ok with those old cameras, because if i try to do some photos in the street some thief is probably would robbed to me. In some places police could take my camera and take it. In Caracas, Venezuela people with cameras have to be very alert, or go in big groups. When i go to street i use Canon XT. In my house for making some studio photos i use Canon 60D.

Between the declining income and the fact that micro sites have lowered submission quality standards, I don't think it's worth upgrading. Anyone who has a DSLR from the past 15 years should be fine.

That's unfortunate you have to work in fear. I travel for photography and have run into these situations here in the USA. Mostly in major cities in areas that are known for higher crime. And with all of the 2020 problems I now carry pepper spray and a heavy monopod. I'm now focusing more on beaches than cities. Usually more happy people there who don't want to rob or harm me. :-)

If you do want to get a new camera you may want to consider small mirrorless like a Sony a6600. DSLR quality images and the body and lenses are very compact. When walking with a DSLR and large backpack, I've found it draws a lot of attention. When using my Sony a6300 I can use a tiny bag and it draws almost no attention.

Caracas, is the capital of Venezuela, is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Here we have a lot of crime, robberies, murders and all kind of crime you could think. I don't know much about the USA, but my brother live in Houston Texas and there according that told me, it's a quite, the county where he lives.
When i go to the downtown where some risk zones, i use a point and shot camera, Canon Power Shot A810, it's a $50 camera you can find used for sell on ebay. Sometimes police and militar forces when they look at you with a camera, they ask you what you are doing, and if you are lucky the don't take you your camera, this situation happened to me in 2012, i was taking some photos alone and two polices in a motorcicle ask me what i was doing, and have to show my camera (Canon XT), they look and go. Now i use my Canon XT in the street but in safe zones. Maybe i'm a very affortunate person, because i can eat three meals times a day, and can pay for medicines. But a lot of people here can't. I have some money help from my brother, also i sell things on Internet, photography accessories, cheap things like, lens hoods, filters and lens caps, and some old lens i don't use, and anothers things. Also i have some sporadics jobs. Well, this the third world

Here i let you a link, where you can see Caracas as the second most dangerous city in the world.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/243797/ranking-of-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-by-murder-rate-per-capita/

Ukko · « **Reply #24 on:** January 25, 2021, 04:58 »

Quote from: alexandersr on January 24, 2021, 10:33

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 24, 2021, 08:45
Quote from: alexandersr on January 23, 2021, 18:04
Quote from: Ukko on January 23, 2021, 16:37
Quote from: Hannafate on January 23, 2021, 09:11
I'm currently making more from POD than from microstock.

Any good POD sites to recommend in particular?

MS generates a decent income for me, but nothing to write home about. It helps to buy some kick ass new camera gear every year and pay some bills. I'm a hobbyist-level stock photographer (portfolio size is currently under 3,000 photos).
Buy a new camera with microstock income for me, that impossible. My newer camera is a Canon 60D, the other a Canon XT. And i'm ok with those old cameras, because if i try to do some photos in the street some thief is probably would robbed to me. In some places police could take my camera and take it. In Caracas, Venezuela people with cameras have to be very alert, or go in big groups. When i go to street i use Canon XT. In my house for making some studio photos i use Canon 60D.

Between the declining income and the fact that micro sites have lowered submission quality standards, I don't think it's worth upgrading. Anyone who has a DSLR from the past 15 years should be fine.

That's unfortunate you have to work in fear. I travel for photography and have run into these situations here in the USA. Mostly in major cities in areas that are known for higher crime. And with all of the 2020 problems I now carry pepper spray and a heavy monopod. I'm now focusing more on beaches than cities. Usually more happy people there who don't want to rob or harm me. :-)

If you do want to get a new camera you may want to consider small mirrorless like a Sony a6600. DSLR quality images and the body and lenses are very compact. When walking with a DSLR and large backpack, I've found it draws a lot of attention. When using my Sony a6300 I can use a tiny bag and it draws almost no attention.

Caracas, is the capital of Venezuela, is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Here we have a lot of crime, robberies, murders and all kind of crime you could think. I don't know much about the USA, but my brother live in Houston Texas and there according that told me, it's a quite, the county where he lives.
When i go to the downtown where some risk zones, i use a point and shot camera, Canon Power Shot A810, it's a $50 camera you can find used for sell on ebay. Sometimes police and militar forces when they look at you with a camera, they ask you what you are doing, and if you are lucky the don't take you your camera, this situation happened to me in 2012, i was taking some photos alone and two polices in a motorcicle ask me what i was doing, and have to show my camera (Canon XT), they look and go. Now i use my Canon XT in the street but in safe zones. Maybe i'm a very affortunate person, because i can eat three meals times a day, and can pay for medicines. But a lot of people here can't. I have some money help from my brother, also i sell things on Internet, photography accessories, cheap things like, lens hoods, filters and lens caps, and some old lens i don't use, and anothers things. Also i have some sporadics jobs. Well, this the third world
Here i let you a link, where you can see Caracas as the second most dangerous city in the world.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/243797/ranking-of-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-by-murder-rate-per-capita/

D*mn buddy, that's a tough place to live and do business. You are almost like a war photographer, the danger is always present and you need to be careful at all times when leaving your home. Keep up the good spirit and I hope you get some great images that sell well on stock sites!

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Author Topic: How bad is it for the rest of you? (Read 13724 times)

thirdbornentertainment

alexandersr

StockGuy101

cascoly

PaulieWalnuts

Horizon

vectorsforall

Jens G

PaulieWalnuts

alexandersr

Horizon

pancaketom

PaulieWalnuts

fotoVoyager

Graiki

Hannafate

Uncle Pete

Ukko

alexandersr

marthamarks

alexandersr

cascoly

PaulieWalnuts

alexandersr

Ukko

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