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Author Topic: Pond5 sales down in January. Shutterstock sales surpassed it for the first time  (Read 100491 times)

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« on: January 16, 2015, 09:01 »
0
My pond5 sales is down in January.  Shutterstock sales finally surpassed for the first time since I joined SS about 2 years ago.  Is this the trend?  Are the buyers switching to SS from Pond5?  Or is it just me?  Anybody seeing the same trend this month?


Me


« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2015, 09:57 »
+4
My pond5 sales is down in January.  Shutterstock sales finally surpassed for the first time since I joined SS about 2 years ago.  Is this the trend?  Are the buyers switching to SS from Pond5?  Or is it just me?  Anybody seeing the same trend this month?

The first time something happens does not make it a trend, hopefully just a blip.

« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2015, 10:36 »
0
My pond5 sales is down in January.  Shutterstock sales finally surpassed for the first time since I joined SS about 2 years ago.  Is this the trend?  Are the buyers switching to SS from Pond5?  Or is it just me?  Anybody seeing the same trend this month?

The first time something happens does not make it a trend, hopefully just a blip.


I hope so.


Me


« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2015, 11:12 »
+7
Just realised.....

Helloitsme is having a conversation with Me!

 :o

KB

« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2015, 11:19 »
+2
^Ha!!

Same here. I can't believe how awful P5 is this month. I sure hope it's temporary.

« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2015, 12:41 »
-1
P5 does not have sales operations at all and by looking at their job board they don't have any intentions to invest in sales and get more buyers for our media files!

All they do is trying to get more contributors and media files sitting on their database to show off and get more funding, while their staff travel around the world.  :o

 

« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2015, 13:27 »
0
Seems normal for me this month and they're still paying 50% royalties so no complaints.

« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2015, 13:30 »
+2
Pond5 is slow for me too.

Does anyone feel it takes longer to get the pending clips reviewed?

« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2015, 15:39 »
-1
P5 does not have sales operations at all and by looking at their job board they don't have any intentions to invest in sales and get more buyers for our media files!

All they do is trying to get more contributors and media files sitting on their database to show off and get more funding, while their staff travel around the world.  :o

That's why for me ,i guess, shutterstock excels at selling mostly my b-rated clips (b-rated according to me of course),and my good ones get regular and decent to high priced commissions over at p5.
Because you know that when you use your own aesthetic criteria to make a company that pushes forward a certain kind of images,there is always a chance that
you will kind of suck at it from another person's perspective.
That's brilliant.
Thanks ss.

Please keep finding buyers for the type of stuff i cringe when i upload to all those other boring sites that dont push their own aesthetic agenda and hunt down buyers to push stuff down their throat.
like they are babies who need to be told what to buy for their own good.
But hey,that's just my experience.

« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2015, 16:26 »
+1
It's not the P5 was down for me, it was that SS was up by so much. I have several high priced sales boosting the month nicely.

« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2015, 19:19 »
+1
My pond5 sales is down in January.  Shutterstock sales finally surpassed for the first time since I joined SS about 2 years ago.  Is this the trend?  Are the buyers switching to SS from Pond5?  Or is it just me?  Anybody seeing the same trend this month?

You make enough from Pond 5 on a monthly basis to make this claim? If so, my congrats. My sales are spotty, 350 vids and 3000 stills.  Some months $5 some $150. So for me way too difficult to assess monthly performance.

« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2015, 08:41 »
+1
Pond5 is slow for me too.

Does anyone feel it takes longer to get the pending clips reviewed?

I don't do video. but I've had 106 photos sitting there since Dec 21, "pending review".    :o

« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2015, 11:54 »
0
Pond5 is slow for me too.

Does anyone feel it takes longer to get the pending clips reviewed?

I don't do video. but I've had 106 photos sitting there since Dec 21, "pending review".    :o

And?

« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2015, 15:38 »
+2
My sales are down too since two months almost 50% less than 2-3 months ago with 1300 clips ss this month is up a lot


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2015, 15:47 »
+1
Given the slow pace in curating, I wonder if it is about to be sold to some bigger players??

« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2015, 18:01 »
0
Given the slow pace in curating, I wonder if it is about to be sold to some bigger players??

Or ready to offer us 60% 70% 80% so we ALL sign up with them and join their life of leisure?  8)

« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2015, 06:40 »
-4
P5 does not have sales operations at all and by looking at their job board they don't have any intentions to invest in sales and get more buyers for our media files!

All they do is trying to get more contributors and media files sitting on their database to show off and get more funding, while their staff travel around the world.  :o


That's why for me ,i guess, shutterstock excels at selling mostly my b-rated clips (b-rated according to me of course),and my good ones get regular and decent to high priced commissions over at p5.
Because you know that when you use your own aesthetic criteria to make a company that pushes forward a certain kind of images,there is always a chance that
you will kind of suck at it from another person's perspective.
That's brilliant.
Thanks ss.

Please keep finding buyers for the type of stuff i cringe when i upload to all those other boring sites that dont push their own aesthetic agenda and hunt down buyers to push stuff down their throat.
like they are babies who need to be told what to buy for their own good.
But hey,that's just my experience.


This is how P5 wows buyers to buy from them. Template email sent on Jan 15th (subject line "Best wishes from Pond5") that I pulled out from my junk folder.  :o


Hello,

It's been a while since we last saw you and we miss you ! Since it's Holiday season we'd like to give you a 10% discount for your future purchases, valid thru end of February.

This year was a very important year for us, our collection of videos reached over 3 million clips and more than 100,000 files in 4K, We were the first to accept native content in Redcode RAW (R3D) and we are very happy to offer the best audiovisual content and in the best possible quality! Our media collection now reaches over 17 million files from more than 35,000 artists from around the world.

How to redeem your discount:

- Sign in on www.pond5.com

- Enter the code "NEWYEAR2015" at checkout before February 28, 2015

Any questions, contact us!

We hope to see you back soon and wish you all the best for a wonderful 2015 full of creative projects !

Cheers

Pond5 Team
« Last Edit: January 18, 2015, 06:52 by SSContributor »

« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2015, 10:48 »
+4
So what?  It's an ad to encourage buyers - almost all the agencies do this from time to time.  What is your point?

Are you even a P5 contributor?  If not, then why are you complaining?  And if you are a contributor there and hate them so much then why not just drop them?

« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2015, 13:39 »
+1
So what?  It's an ad to encourage buyers - almost all the agencies do this from time to time.  What is your point?

Are you even a P5 contributor?  If not, then why are you complaining?  And if you are a contributor there and hate them so much then why not just drop them?

I am just amazed and upset how ALL micro stock companies easily use our files to get investments and earn huge amount of money while not give much in return. That's all.  >:(


KB

« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2015, 14:46 »
+2
So what?  It's an ad to encourage buyers - almost all the agencies do this from time to time.  What is your point?

Are you even a P5 contributor?  If not, then why are you complaining?  And if you are a contributor there and hate them so much then why not just drop them?

I am just amazed and upset how ALL micro stock companies easily use our files to get investments and earn huge amount of money while not give much in return. That's all.  >:(
I can't disagree with that at all (in fact, I pressed the 'Agree' button).

However, I would add that at least P5 takes less than almost any other microstock agency. And it isn't like running massive server arrays is cheap. Not to mention the personnel they have to employee to keep the site running, and whatever advertising they do. 50% the sale is high, but it wouldn't surprise me if their costs were a huge part of their 50% take.

« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2015, 15:44 »
-1
So what?  It's an ad to encourage buyers - almost all the agencies do this from time to time.  What is your point?

Are you even a P5 contributor?  If not, then why are you complaining?  And if you are a contributor there and hate them so much then why not just drop them?

I am just amazed and upset how ALL micro stock companies easily use our files to get investments and earn huge amount of money while not give much in return. That's all.  >:(
I can't disagree with that at all (in fact, I pressed the 'Agree' button).

However, I would add that at least P5 takes less than almost any other microstock agency. And it isn't like running massive server arrays is cheap. Not to mention the personnel they have to employee to keep the site running, and whatever advertising they do. 50% the sale is high, but it wouldn't surprise me if their costs were a huge part of their 50% take.

Yes, but 50% concept where no actual buyers is 0% for us, and by looking at their job board no hope for sales push anytime soon.
These guys had been playing around last 8 years, yet same issues: uploading nightmares, slow reviews, low quality files, keywords disaster, crap amateurish advertising, staff constantly on holiday!!!  >:(
 
My only conclusion is bad management that got to be replaced asap, if any hope for some serious growth in sales.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2015, 13:44 by SSContributor »

« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2015, 10:22 »
+4
I understand your frustration and I wish they had more sales, too, but complaining and calling them names is not very constructive.  It is not easy to set up a successful stock agency and compete in the current market - it takes tons of know-how and cash.  The goal for the owners of the agencies is to make money for themselves, we are just the means for them to achieve their own benefit.  P5 at least is paying us 50% of any sales they make, which is a lot better than almost every other agency, and based on their poll position they are doing fine for many contributors.  We can either contribute to them or not.  If enough contributors decide it is no longer worth it and stop then eventually the agencies will have to pay us more to entice us back.  The problem is that there are always people willing to give their work away for very little or even for free, and the agencies already have so many files that they really don't need to accept any more in the short term (e.g., GL Stock) to survive.  And it may be that the microstock wave has passed and moved on to new ways of selling images - Google, Adobe and facebook may be the marketing giants of the future with very little revenue for us.  Or not.  Who knows?  I will continue to support any agency that makes it easy to upload, has reasonable reviews and 40% or more commissions as long as they have enough sales to get payouts in a reasonable time.  When sales no longer justify the effort then I will stop.

« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2015, 10:43 »
0
So SSContributor (who sound like an SS hired troll, btw) is whining and complaining because his sales are down?> Maybe try and improve your work or try another career if this is not working for you. And, even more amazing, is that SSContributor wants a cut of the financing that a company receives. Explain to us why you feel like you deserve a cut of financing and how how much would be satisfactory for you?

"These guys had been playing around last 8 years, yet same issues: uploading nightmares, slow reviews, low quality files, keywords disaster, crap amateurish advertising, staff constantly on holiday!!! "

So why do you contribute to Pond5? How do you know about their holidays? Doesn;t everyone go on holidays? Or do they need your permission? I smell a troll.

« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2015, 12:11 »
+4
For those of you who's sales are up, at Pond5 or elsewhere, congratulations! Rising sales are always something worth celebrating.

I'm afraid I can't help you with your sales elsewhere, but if they aren't where you'd like them to be at Pond5, I do have some helpful advice to share that I hope will help.

If you have more high-quality media, definitely continue uploading more of your work. Our customers know what's good, and the larger your high-quality collection, the more recognition you can have with our community. Buyers are always hungry for amazing content! Many of the most successful sellers at Pond5 are all users who are consistently uploading new material on a regular basis.

For your clips to be easily found, accurate rich info in titles, descriptions and keywords are helpful. How you title and keyword your work is very important. If you spam your keywords or titles, it will only hurt your visibility. So doing this in more detail, but ACCURATELY, has a significant 60% SEO (search engine optimization) weight on the search results.

We also always recommend that you promote your work to up your exposure. Pond5 can't promote your individual account for you, we have far too many artists for that to be feasible, so we focus on promoting the whole website. But it's always good to market your individual account too. You can create a Collection bin showcasing your footage, and then simply copy the link, to add that to your website or social outlet. Here is a link to our Knowledge Base article explaining this: What are collections? -
http://help.pond5.com/hc/articles/200944893-What-Are-Collections-

Another option is just to simply post links of your clips all over the internet. You can even add some of your clips to our "free clip promotion" and this will also help get your name out there.

You are also welcome to explore our Artist Resources page. - https://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=artist_resources

Here you will find tons of very valuable metric information, such as what kinds of files comprise what percentage of site sales, the most commonly searched keywords, and so much more information that we think are useful for our artists.

And lastly, if you use your Referral Links, you can even make 5% on all purchases or sales made for the first year of people who sign up using the links you give them. That's another way of thanking you, for sharing Pond5 with your friends! - https://www.pond5.com/referral

I work in customer service myself, so if you've ever written in to us then you may have worked with me before. You can always write in to us at [email protected] or call us at +1(646)233-2155. Our phone support hours are 10am to 8pm eastern, and if your call goes to voicemail please do leave a detailed message. There are only one or two people answering phones at any one time, so we make it a priority to return calls with messages left as quickly as possible, typically within three hours. You can also always write to me directly if you like, at [email protected].

« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2015, 13:43 »
-2
For those of you who's sales are up, at Pond5 or elsewhere, congratulations! Rising sales are always something worth celebrating.

I'm afraid I can't help you with your sales elsewhere, but if they aren't where you'd like them to be at Pond5, I do have some helpful advice to share that I hope will help.

If you have more high-quality media, definitely continue uploading more of your work. Our customers know what's good, and the larger your high-quality collection, the more recognition you can have with our community. Buyers are always hungry for amazing content! Many of the most successful sellers at Pond5 are all users who are consistently uploading new material on a regular basis.

For your clips to be easily found, accurate rich info in titles, descriptions and keywords are helpful. How you title and keyword your work is very important. If you spam your keywords or titles, it will only hurt your visibility. So doing this in more detail, but ACCURATELY, has a significant 60% SEO (search engine optimization) weight on the search results.

We also always recommend that you promote your work to up your exposure. Pond5 can't promote your individual account for you, we have far too many artists for that to be feasible, so we focus on promoting the whole website. But it's always good to market your individual account too. You can create a Collection bin showcasing your footage, and then simply copy the link, to add that to your website or social outlet. Here is a link to our Knowledge Base article explaining this: What are collections? - http://help.pond5.com/hc/articles/200944893-What-Are-Collections-

Another option is just to simply post links of your clips all over the internet. You can even add some of your clips to our "free clip promotion" and this will also help get your name out there.

You are also welcome to explore our Artist Resources page. - https://www.pond5.com/index.php?page=artist_resources

Here you will find tons of very valuable metric information, such as what kinds of files comprise what percentage of site sales, the most commonly searched keywords, and so much more information that we think are useful for our artists.

And lastly, if you use your Referral Links, you can even make 5% on all purchases or sales made for the first year of people who sign up using the links you give them. That's another way of thanking you, for sharing Pond5 with your friends! - https://www.pond5.com/referral

I work in customer service myself, so if you've ever written in to us then you may have worked with me before. You can always write in to us at [email protected] or call us at +1(646)233-2155. Our phone support hours are 10am to 8pm eastern, and if your call goes to voicemail please do leave a detailed message. There are only one or two people answering phones at any one time, so we make it a priority to return calls with messages left as quickly as possible, typically within three hours. You can also always write to me directly if you like, at [email protected].


That's great!
Thanks for telling us what we need to do to increase sales.  :o
Could you please tell us how P5 is going to increase our sales, if at all?

You said: "Our phone support hours are 10am to 8pm eastern, and if your call goes to voicemail please do leave a detailed message. There are only one or two people answering phones at any one time, so we make it a priority to return calls with messages left as quickly as possible, typically within three hours."

For European buyer that means from 4pm to 2am exclusive, not to mention Asia.   :o
After 8 years on the scene and after massive $61 million investment received 6 months ago you still have only 1-2 people answering phones from 4pm to 2am CET?   :o

Good luck to all the buyers and our sales too.  :o

But hey, Jonathan... this is not your fault buddy...I trust you work hard for your salary and follow the instructions given. Thank you so much for your shout! I will get in touch soon.






« Last Edit: January 19, 2015, 14:14 by SSContributor »


« Reply #26 on: January 20, 2015, 12:14 »
-2
My pond5 sales is down in January.  Shutterstock sales finally surpassed for the first time since I joined SS about 2 years ago.  Is this the trend?  Are the buyers switching to SS from Pond5?  Or is it just me?  Anybody seeing the same trend this month?

 
"By all accounts, Pond5 has been doing quite well recently. The New York-based company saw revenues of $19 million in 2014, up from $12 million in 2013, and has relocated to 30,000 square feet of swanky new office space in Manhattans posh SoHo neighborhood. Its also been on a bit of a hiring push, adding a VP of finance in October and looking for marketing and operations executives."

I guess we got all our answers today via TechCrunch   ;) http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/20/pond5-issues-80000-free-media-assets-with-the-launch-of-its-public-domain-project/

Oh well...30,000 square feet swanky office in posh NY hood had priority than actually selling our media files. Employing VP executives prior to folks who will actually pick up phones when buyers battle time zone .... hmmmm
  :o
« Last Edit: January 20, 2015, 12:24 by SSContributor »


« Reply #28 on: January 20, 2015, 16:18 »
-2

"Oh well...30,000 square feet swanky office in posh NY hood had priority than actually selling our media files. Employing VP executives prior to folks who will actually pick up phones when buyers battle time zone .... hmmmm"


Maybe this news will make you go away and stay away.
Congrats P5! Keep moving and growing.

« Reply #29 on: January 20, 2015, 16:26 »
-3

"Oh well...30,000 square feet swanky office in posh NY hood had priority than actually selling our media files. Employing VP executives prior to folks who will actually pick up phones when buyers battle time zone .... hmmmm"


Maybe this news will make you go away and stay away.
Congrats P5! Keep moving and growing.

ha ha... thanks!
and you... why not try this position? - https://jobs.lever.co/pond5/36d58e43-a5d7-41ee-aace-56a092e5770c

 :P

« Reply #30 on: January 20, 2015, 18:34 »
+2
For me, Pond5 is on first place for the footage sales. Yes, January is quite slow compared to other months, but this is normal as in any business... I would not bother with what Pond5 or Shutterstock doing (it's up to them), more I want is to be basing what I can offer better. If you think someone of you may be better in this business, and it should work that we all become millionaires, please create such a site, and I'm on your side :) ;)

« Reply #31 on: January 20, 2015, 21:01 »
-1
We owe every once of Pond5's success to our sellers, absolutely. It's thanks to the thousands of artists (and each of you!) who provide our marketplace with fantastic material that we are able to offer what we can today. Please don't think that Pond5 doesn't realize that. Everyone in this company that I've ever talked to feels the same way, "We owe it all to the artists."

That's why be bill ourselves as an artist friendly marketplace.

Pond5 has one of the largest collections of stock media on the Internet. Now, we also hold THE largest collection of easily accessible public domain content as well. Pond5 pays its artists the highest percentage in the industry, no one else has a 50/50 split. (If I'm wrong about that, please do correct me.) If we're doing well, it's because our artists are doing well. It's always been that way, and it always will be.

Yes, I like Pond5 a lot because of 50/50 split.  I want Pond5 to keep up with the Shutterstock because it's good for us contributors.

« Reply #32 on: January 20, 2015, 22:14 »
-2
We owe every once of Pond5's success to our sellers, absolutely. It's thanks to the thousands of artists (and each of you!) who provide our marketplace with fantastic material that we are able to offer what we can today. Please don't think that Pond5 doesn't realize that. Everyone in this company that I've ever talked to feels the same way, "We owe it all to the artists."

That's why be bill ourselves as an artist friendly marketplace.

Pond5 has one of the largest collections of stock media on the Internet. Now, we also hold THE largest collection of easily accessible public domain content as well. Pond5 pays its artists the highest percentage in the industry, no one else has a 50/50 split. (If I'm wrong about that, please do correct me.) If we're doing well, it's because our artists are doing well. It's always been that way, and it always will be.

Yes, I like Pond5 a lot because of 50/50 split.  I want Pond5 to keep up with the Shutterstock because it's good for us contributors.

Keep up the positive vibes and productivity everyone. We all create and are part of the same community. The SS planted troll does not recognize a successful business model and marketplace when it sees one. But I suspect it is just here to ruffle feathers and disturb the peace. Trolls are brave and bold with internet anonymity--no matter how much it cries and complains the fact is that all these marketplaces make us money and showcase our work.

« Reply #33 on: January 21, 2015, 01:42 »
0
We owe every once of Pond5's success to our sellers, absolutely. It's thanks to the thousands of artists (and each of you!) who provide our marketplace with fantastic material that we are able to offer what we can today. Please don't think that Pond5 doesn't realize that. Everyone in this company that I've ever talked to feels the same way, "We owe it all to the artists."

That's why be bill ourselves as an artist friendly marketplace.

Pond5 has one of the largest collections of stock media on the Internet. Now, we also hold THE largest collection of easily accessible public domain content as well. Pond5 pays its artists the highest percentage in the industry, no one else has a 50/50 split. (If I'm wrong about that, please do correct me.) If we're doing well, it's because our artists are doing well. It's always been that way, and it always will be.

Yes, I like Pond5 a lot because of 50/50 split.  I want Pond5 to keep up with the Shutterstock because it's good for us contributors.

Keep up the positive vibes and productivity everyone. We all create and are part of the same community. The SS planted troll does not recognize a successful business model and marketplace when it sees one. But I suspect it is just here to ruffle feathers and disturb the peace. Trolls are brave and bold with internet anonymity--no matter how much it cries and complains the fact is that all these marketplaces make us money and showcase our work.

says who? anonymous mendopato after 3 posts on microstock forum
 ::)
Topic title: Pond5 sales down in January. Shutterstock sales surpassed it for the first time

« Last Edit: January 22, 2015, 05:22 by SSContributor »

« Reply #34 on: January 21, 2015, 10:11 »
-2
We owe every once of Pond5's success to our sellers, absolutely. It's thanks to the thousands of artists (and each of you!) who provide our marketplace with fantastic material that we are able to offer what we can today. Please don't think that Pond5 doesn't realize that. Everyone in this company that I've ever talked to feels the same way, "We owe it all to the artists."

That's why be bill ourselves as an artist friendly marketplace.

Pond5 has one of the largest collections of stock media on the Internet. Now, we also hold THE largest collection of easily accessible public domain content as well. Pond5 pays its artists the highest percentage in the industry, no one else has a 50/50 split. (If I'm wrong about that, please do correct me.) If we're doing well, it's because our artists are doing well. It's always been that way, and it always will be.

Yes, I like Pond5 a lot because of 50/50 split.  I want Pond5 to keep up with the Shutterstock because it's good for us contributors.

Keep up the positive vibes and productivity everyone. We all create and are part of the same community. The SS planted troll does not recognize a successful business model and marketplace when it sees one. But I suspect it is just here to ruffle feathers and disturb the peace. Trolls are brave and bold with internet anonymity--no matter how much it cries and complains the fact is that all these marketplaces make us money and showcase our work.

says who? anonymous mendopato after 3 posts on microstock forum
 ::)

Topic title: Pond5 sales down in January. Shutterstock sales surpassed it for the first time

3 posts means nothing. I am here all the time reading as it is a great resource but was compelled to sign up just to call you out troll.

« Reply #35 on: February 05, 2021, 08:29 »
+3
Many of the most successful sellers at Pond5 are all users who are consistently uploading new material on a regular basis.


Yes. Consistency is the name of the game.

Its a 6 year old thread



 

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