MicrostockGroup
Microstock Footage Forum => General - Stock Video => Topic started by: helloitsme on February 29, 2016, 08:20
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I had the best sales ever in this February. I don't know what they did, but it's great. How's everybody?
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Delete. My comment was about images and I see this is about video.
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Delete. My comment was about images and I see this is about video.
Do you ever sell photos at Pond5?
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Delete. My comment was about images and I see this is about video.
Do you ever sell photos at Pond5?
I was on pixmac, and when p5 bought them, my portfolio sold thru p5 for over a year and did real good sales. But they shut down pixmac months ago and never did transfer the images to p5, even though they offered the service and I signed up for it.
So unless I want to start from the beginning uploading over 6k images to p5, I am SOL. I am not motivated when they could do it easily (my images were showing there before, why'd they take them off in the first place?) and I can't be bothered.
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I sold 4 video clips and 2 stills in February. Would be good if they sold more stills but the 50% and being able to set my own prices keeps me uploading. 4 video clips is good for me, I don't have a huge collection of commercial clips.
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I NEVER sell video on Pond5 but at least 1 a month on SS.
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I NEVER sell video on Pond5 but at least 1 a month on SS.
I have the opposite experience, always sold much more with P5 than SS.
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I had the best sales ever in this February. I don't know what they did, but it's great. How's everybody?
Congrats!
We are yet to see how new web site, memberships and new management will perform in coming months.
As somebody said, it's make it or brake it for P5 this year, otherwise no IPO anytime soon, which is investors ultimate goal.
I do support re-branding. Old logo looked rather cheap and childish.
New site looks very pro. Hope new recruits there will also be pros, because without professionalism, they won't go far.
Time will tell... 8)
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About a 35% drop from January to February for me. Although my sales are usually slightly erratic, so it's far from a cause for concern for me. Not been on SS for long, but I'd say my P5 sales are usually about two to three time more on P5 than on SS. Have a bigger port on P5 though.
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About a 35% drop from January to February for me.
A 50 % drop here, and yes it's completely random, this month may be my BME, no one knows..
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Perhaps my footage on Pond5 is priced too high at $59 ?
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Perhaps my footage on Pond5 is priced too high at $59 ?
No way! Probably too low. My sales tend to increase when I raise the price at p5. Why sell below the industry standard of $79? I've tried lowering prices at P5 trying to increase the number of sales and it hasn't ever worked. Sales increase when I raise my prices back up.
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I will try it and report back after some time although when uploading footage the Pond5 average guide is telling me the trend is for around the $59 mark.
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I will try it and report back after some time although when uploading footage the Pond5 average guide is telling me the trend is for around the $59 mark.
If it helps, I ignore the P5 average price guide completely. Personally, I think their guide does a disservice to their contributors by encouraging contributors to price their work too low.
Their are many contributors who price their work higher on P5 than it is priced elsewhere and do quite well.
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I have less sale since 2016. but I like pond5. The only thing is I don't much like their new logo but it doesn't matter much.
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I think nobody should sell a 1080P HD clip for less than $50 unless it's unusable total crap. You'll make more money pricing somewhere between $60-$90 and Pond5 may promote you more because they'll make more money too.
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I have less sale since 2016. but I like pond5. The only thing is I don't much like their new logo but it doesn't matter much.
AND sloooow review times? 8)
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Delete. My comment was about images and I see this is about video.
Do you ever sell photos at Pond5?
I was on pixmac, and when p5 bought them, my portfolio sold thru p5 for over a year and did real good sales. But they shut down pixmac months ago and never did transfer the images to p5, even though they offered the service and I signed up for it.
So unless I want to start from the beginning uploading over 6k images to p5, I am SOL. I am not motivated when they could do it easily (my images were showing there before, why'd they take them off in the first place?) and I can't be bothered.
What's P5's photo sales license term equivalent to like Shutterstock's? Enhanced license?
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I had the best sales ever in this February. I don't know what they did, but it's great. How's everybody?
Congrats!
We are yet to see how new web site, memberships and new management will perform in coming months.
As somebody said, it's make it or brake it for P5 this year, otherwise no IPO anytime soon, which is investors ultimate goal.
I do support re-branding. Old logo looked rather cheap and childish.
New site looks very pro. Hope new recruits there will also be pros, because without professionalism, they won't go far.
Time will tell... 8)
Thank you!!
I like their new website layout. It's more up to date and sharp looking.
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Perhaps my footage on Pond5 is priced too high at $59 ?
Majority of my clips are between 50-78$, also I have many other clips priced between 200-500$
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Is Pond5 not only for Video? Sorry for my lack of knowledge.
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Is Pond5 not only for Video? Sorry for my lack of knowledge.
No, but a simple visit to the website would have told you that..
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I hardly sell images either, once a blue moon. I had them priced at $24.99 top but now brought them down to $14. Will wait and see. I am still wondering if my footage should be reduced to around $30-40 because they just don't sell.
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Is Pond5 not only for Video? Sorry for my lack of knowledge.
No, but a simple visit to the website would have told you that..
Not straight forward. Front page is all about footage.
Even the first line says: "Find inspiration by searching the largest library of royalty-free HD and 4k stock video"
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I will try it and report back after some time although when uploading footage the Pond5 average guide is telling me the trend is for around the $59 mark.
If it helps, I ignore the P5 average price guide completely. Personally, I think their guide does a disservice to their contributors by encouraging contributors to price their work too low.
Their are many contributors who price their work higher on P5 than it is priced elsewhere and do quite well.
I could not agree more.
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Well since I increased my video prices to $79 as advised, not one single sale :-\
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Well since I increased my video prices to $79 as advised, not one single sale :-\
Just try to check videos similar to yours and think like buyer. The most likely thing is there are too many cheaper ones. 'BEST THIS WEEK' often seems quite inspiring though :)
https://www.pond5.com/artist-resources#1/bestWeekRevenueTab (https://www.pond5.com/artist-resources#1/bestWeekRevenueTab)
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Thanks Irina, that is helpful :)
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Well since I increased my video prices to $79 as advised, not one single sale :-\
You increased your prices sometime on March 1st......today's the 4th! Perhaps some patience.
At your lower prices were you selling video everyday at P5?
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In addition to few sales all goes to the fact that this will be the lowest payout since 2010. for me.
I hope things have come into regular soon...
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Well since I increased my video prices to $79 as advised, not one single sale :-\
Just try to check videos similar to yours and think like buyer. The most likely thing is there are too many cheaper ones. 'BEST THIS WEEK' often seems quite inspiring though :)
https://www.pond5.com/artist-resources#1/bestWeekRevenueTab (https://www.pond5.com/artist-resources#1/bestWeekRevenueTab)
I think the message we can take from that page is that we should all buy ourselves a helicopter! Or go swimming with sharks.
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Well since I increased my video prices to $79 as advised, not one single sale :-\
You increased your prices sometime on March 1st......today's the 4th! Perhaps some patience.
At your lower prices were you selling video everyday at P5?
No, as I siad in my earlier post I hardly ever sell any footage. Once in a blue moon but more successful on SS
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Mmmm. Still no sales for footage despite putting my prices up to $79. Perhaps pricing low is the only answer :-\
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Mmmm. Still no sales for footage despite putting my prices up to $79. Perhaps pricing low is the only answer :-\
No.. those Feb and March are my worst months ever, and I didn't change any prices
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Mmmm. Still no sales for footage despite putting my prices up to $79. Perhaps pricing low is the only answer :-\
It's the factor of demand, quality, quantity, subjects, season, competition will determine the sales. regardless of the price level, 1$ or even 500$ you'll have the sales if you grasp those factors.
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Mmmm. Still no sales for footage despite putting my prices up to $79. Perhaps pricing low is the only answer :-\
Have a bit of patience. Give it 6 months, not a few days.
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Still happy? P5 really sucks for me this month. Feb was great.
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Still happy? P5 really sucks for me this month. Feb was great.
I have $250 this month (1-18th) versus $180 in February on Pond5. Some big bunch (more than 500) of clips was approved in the beginning of the March though. Total portfolio is about 2k clips.
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A little pick up for me in March but * I have 140 videos and pictures waiting for review from NOVEMBER!!
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$155 in January, $115 in February and $110 so far in March. So in theory, that should work out to about $175 by the end of the month. I doubled all my prices this month as well, which doesn't seem to have hurt me.
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A little pick up for me in March but * I have 140 videos and pictures waiting for review from NOVEMBER!!
That's some kind of a site bug. You definitly have to contact them on live chat here: https://help.pond5.com/hc/en-us/categories/200073773-Buyer-FAQ
Lower right corner.
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$155 in January, $115 in February and $110 so far in March. So in theory, that should work out to about $175 by the end of the month. I doubled all my prices this month as well, which doesn't seem to have hurt me.
Good going; I wish all the lower-priced producers would follow your lead.
I wish I could say P5 was doing well for me in March, but it's a disaster. $472 in Jan, $248 in Feb, and $67 so far this month. :o :(
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I am deeply frustrated with pond5, first the endless wait to have content reviewed, then all those crazy rejections as "not stock footage".
This whole micromanaging of the artist portfolio is just destructive for any entrepreneurial spirit and creativity.
The whole beauty of pond5 was that it was a real marketplace - high quality clip - expensive price, simple clip or test shots - 10 dollars for bloggers or people who need cheap stuff to experiment with. Not every buyer is a multi million dollar cooperation. There are lots of normal people, small companies that need affordable content.
The management is free to create as many stunning galleries or lightboxes as they want and pitch them to the customers.
But please stop micromanaging, it is extremly frustrating, especially if the rejected files then sell elsewhere.
Pond5 was my favorite agency and I always hoped they would become successful with photos as well.
Now I dread uploading there and like many others will place more focus on Adobe, Videoblocks and Shutterstock.
If the management wanted a new company, why didnīt they open up a different place in addition to pond5, instead of changing a beautiful system that worked really well.
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Well since I increased my video prices to $79 as advised, not one single sale :-\
It's hardly going to happen overnight, plus it depends on how many videos you have live, the quality and subject matter. Give it three months and then report back.
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I am deeply frustrated with pond5, first the endless wait to have content reviewed, then all those crazy rejections as "not stock footage".
I guess in order to 'shorten review time' they desperately placed a bunch of monkeys with three key keyboards: big OK with depicted banana and two smaller 'The highlights in this clip are blown out and overexposed which lacks selling potential' and 'The clip does not look very interesting'. I have to notice that second upload of the rejected content was ALWAYS successful.
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I am deeply frustrated with pond5, first the endless wait to have content reviewed, then all those crazy rejections as "not stock footage".
This whole micromanaging of the artist portfolio is just destructive for any entrepreneurial spirit and creativity.
The whole beauty of pond5 was that it was a real marketplace - high quality clip - expensive price, simple clip or test shots - 10 dollars for bloggers or people who need cheap stuff to experiment with. Not every buyer is a multi million dollar cooperation. There are lots of normal people, small companies that need affordable content.
The management is free to create as many stunning galleries or lightboxes as they want and pitch them to the customers.
But please stop micromanaging, it is extremly frustrating, especially if the rejected files then sell elsewhere.
Pond5 was my favorite agency and I always hoped they would become successful with photos as well.
Now I dread uploading there and like many others will place more focus on Adobe, Videoblocks and Shutterstock.
If the management wanted a new company, why didnīt they open up a different place in addition to pond5, instead of changing a beautiful system that worked really well.
Old management wanted more $$$ and didn't know how to get that, so they opted for huge investment in hope to help them grow.
"Beautiful system that worked well" is not bringing enough $$$$ for the new management.
It's simple...you can't employ all these VPs, Cxx, Directors, Ivy league ppl and give them peanuts to work for... like kids under old management did for years. PLUS new swanky offices, endless travels and vacations...that ALL costs.
But old management got rich and they are happy now... It's time for the new management to get rich. Help them do it! :P
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The new management would of got rich with the old site. I don't see how increasing review times to months and letting inexperienced reviewers reject a high percentage of new uploads makes them more money?
Now I think it is likely that the 50% commission will go at some point and Pond5 will of lost another of the things that were making it so successful. Just look how badly DT messed up and that all started with letting inexperienced reviewers reject much more new content than is sensible.
The new Pond5 management need to wake up to reality, the site was only doing so well because contributors and buyers liked it more than other sites. If they destroy all that was good about it, they will of killed the golden goose.
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Adobe inspects videos in one day, sometimes in 24h. They donīt have the sales yet, but they have enough money to invest.
We donīt get 50%, but giving me a good service and putting me in control over the portfolio, by only rejecting for technical reasons, is a HUGE bonus.
Pond5 used to be a real partner, now they are as cold and distant as many other places.
They could have opened their own OFFSET kind of boutique agency in addition to pond5, to learn about the high price market and have something really new.
No need to destroy the spirit of the old place. All it needed was a visual overhaul and better sales team.
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Do you guys really think they really care what we shout about here or on their forum? :)
They entered corporate world and there is no way back to charming little P5 who once claimed to be "the most friendly marketplace"! ::)
They wanted BIG, they will get there for sure. AND please, don't blame this new management, blame the old one who didn't know how to manage/keep/lead the idea and called for help, obviously wrong ppl for us....but great ppl for them, cos of $$$$$$$$$$$.
And us?... ah ... same old good story. We help them grow and get bitten in the end. 8)
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It certainly feels istock 2.0. We all know how that ended, from over 80% marketshare to a fraction of what it had before.
Pond5 and Shutterstock basically split the market between them. I didnīt really bother looking or uploading anywhere else. It simply wasnīt necessary.
This is a really small industry, video is even smaller than photos. The new managers donīt understand how crowd dynamics work.
It is also an opportunity for someone new to step in. A marketplace where we can set our own prices is extremely valuable. Somebody who sets up a photoshelter for video. Basically this is what pond5 was before. Very longterm vision and reliable.
If pond5 doesnīt want us, someone else will come along that does.
Moving our content elsewhere, or simply preferring other places can shift trends pretty fast. I just never thought pond5 would self destruct themselves, it was such a really well built marketplace.
ETA: I havenīt had a single sale this month and I am not surprised. When you go to my portfolio it is nearly impossible to see my files. They just show you a tiny fraction and everytime you click "more" it just gives you ten more files (or5?). Nobody is going to waste his time clicking themselves through an artist portfolio like this.
Who on earth designed this nonsense?
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I still hope that one day we will have a site majority owned by contributors and buyers. Until that happens, how can we stop sites getting greedy or becoming incompetent and making things worse for us? Symbiostock was one solution but I think having lots of sites wont work. Surely there will come a time when someone has a serious attempt at making a site that wont get in to the wrong hands?
Alamy is the last site left that I have some confidence in but they don't take video seriously. Every other site I have used has made changes that have made it harder for us to make money. I'm sure if we were given the chance to grow our earnings, we would put much more in to our work and it would make much more money for the site. Unfortunately, none of the sites have fully grasped that.
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I initially hoped that stocksy could be scaled up to size, to include many more artists. But it is very niche and too specialized for that. They do what they do exceptionally well, but the very close knit, family like structure and care of artists, i donīt see how it can be translated into a platform for thousands of people.
But somewhere between the old pond5, the photoshelter approach and stocksy lies a business model that somebody who is very clever can develop and make a lot of money with.
It does need quite a large team and millions of dollars in funding to get it off the ground.
But it is possible, this is such a tiny industry, it is so easy to connect with all the players. Friendly people too.
But you need someone with the skills of Bruce Livingstone or Jon Oringer to make it work and people like that are very hard to find.
The entrepreneur and his vision are the soul of any company. You need people with passion and also excellent business instincts to make it work.
And you canīt buy vision with money. That is why so many investor projects fail.
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So after a few weeks of trialling $79 prices for all clips it hasn't worked. Not a single sale. Time to lower the prices reluctantly :-\
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So after a few weeks of trialling $79 prices for all clips it hasn't worked. Not a single sale. Time to lower the prices reluctantly :-\
If you have less than 1000 clips I'd say give it a lot more time than a few weeks.
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So after a few weeks of trialling $79 prices for all clips it hasn't worked. Not a single sale. Time to lower the prices reluctantly :-\
Do you really think that few weeks test can give you an answer??you need months to say the least...
Btw what makes you sell is content not low prices...
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Maybe you should raise your prices even more, to 300 or 500 dollars.
There are artists on pond5 who have been there forever and say high prices are the best way to make money on pond5.
They have those prices on extremly simple clips, not just files with high production costs.
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I think a fair price could be the standard price of other agencies where you sell...so probably 79-199...low price doesn't help your income since volume of sales is not enough..video stock is different from photo stock..