Quote from: RT on September 28, 2011, 23:46

Quote from: Perry on September 28, 2011, 23:18
The Royalties could be better, but 30% is MUCH more than 17% I get at IS

Percentages mean nothing, what you should be looking at is the actual $ amount you receive on a like for like basis, as happy as I am that Shutterstock are offering this, for the same size image download I personally would still get more in commission at iS for the same size image download than I would under this new SS scheme. Obviously it's going to be different on a per contributor basis.

Too many people on this forum fall into the naive "percentages" trap, you're licensing your images on these agencies for a financial return.

Isn't portfolio-income-per-month the only real measure? 'Like for like' does not take account of volume. Too many people fall into the naive "like for like" trap.

Quote from: SNP on September 28, 2011, 20:36
interesting, fairly low royalties though

Yeah, it could be better. 40-50% would have been nice. Hopefully, they can increase it in the future. It is good to see them offering individual sales though. The On Demand part of SS seems to be the biggest growth part, so this seems like the next logical step.

I can't see prices of images for this offer....?

Here's an image of what it's supposed to look like on the homepage.

The price for a single image download is $19.

This is the tier and based on your all time revenue:

<$500 - 20% - $3.80
$500-$3000 - 25% - $4.75
$3000-$10,000 - 28% - $5.32
>$10,000 - 30% - $5.70

From what I understand is that they're just testing the waters to see how it goes.

Quote from: RT on September 28, 2011, 23:46

Quote from: Perry on September 28, 2011, 23:18
The Royalties could be better, but 30% is MUCH more than 17% I get at IS

Percentages mean nothing, what you should be looking at is the actual $ amount you receive on a like for like basis, as happy as I am that Shutterstock are offering this, for the same size image download I personally would still get more in commission at iS for the same size image download than I would under this new SS scheme. Obviously it's going to be different on a per contributor basis.

I'm not sure how you work that out. It is almost $4 per sale minimum for SS, I seem to get between 8c and about $3.20 on iStock, averaging something like $1.50. $4 looks bigger to me.

Quote from: Perry on September 28, 2011, 23:50
RT, I'm sure some agency soon discovers a way to sell images for $1000 a pop. And then they could give 1% = $10 to you and you would be happy because "it's more than I get at IS" and not at all bothered that you have financed the CEO's new Mercedes?

Well now you're being silly but in answer to your question yes and no - No if it's to fund the Mercedes. Yes if they spent over $900 of that commission in marketing every picture buyer in the world.
But on the same note I presume you'd be happy getting 50% commission on a site that sells your images at 5c each?

Quote from: gostwyck on September 29, 2011, 00:23
Isn't portfolio-income-per-month the only real measure? 'Like for like' does not take account of volume. Too many people fall into the naive "like for like" trap.

I was comparing SS and iS both of which have the volume, therefore I took that "as read", but given a choice I'd take the volume of sales I get on SS each day with the commission rates I get at iS.

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on September 29, 2011, 08:57
I'm not sure how you work that out. It is almost $4 per sale minimum for SS, I seem to get between 8c and about $3.20 on iStock, averaging something like $1.50. $4 looks bigger to me.

You've made the mistake of taking all image sizes into account for your 8c - $3.20 (although that's strange because I get $4.80-$5.20 for an XL on iS). This new scheme at SS is for 'high-res' images,by which I presume they mean at least XL, if it's XXL they it's even less. Oh and by the figures they've shown so far if a buyer takes up the 25 for $229 deal then your 30% commission equates to $2.75. (Edited to add - for many it will be less than $2.75 because it's a sliding scale from 20%-30% based on lifetime earnings.)


People have and will 'wooyay' about this latest deal from Shutterstock, no doubt the same people will be moaning like hell when iStock drop our commissions even further to match it. I don't pay my bills with percentages I pay them with money, and the actual monetary figure is the only thing that interests me.

A request to Shutterstock (if others share my opinion):

Could the single download entries move upwards and switch places with 'Images Printed on a Backup CD' section on our daily downloads page?

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't get 'backup CD' sales any more - and I'm anxious to view any SD sales without having to scroll so far.  It's a bit like looking for 'buried treasure' at the mo. 

Quote from: RT on September 29, 2011, 09:36
People have and will 'wooyay' about this latest deal from Shutterstock, no doubt the same people will be moaning like hell when iStock drop our commissions even further to match it. I don't pay my bills with percentages I pay them with money, and the actual monetary figure is the only thing that interests me.

drop to match?
istock has to increase royalties to match this shutterstock deal

Quote from: SNP on September 28, 2011, 20:36
interesting, fairly low royalties though

Nearly double the rate istock is giving me.

Quote from: Allsa on September 28, 2011, 23:20
While things continue to get worse at FT & IS, they just keep improving at Shutterstock! Thank you Shutterstock!!

++++++++++

FT seem to be severely lacking in the business-brains department. When IS, or rather Getty, began to pull their slick moves with the royalty decreases, etc, especially lately, it really created quite a backlash. Many contributors have quit contributing, and quite a few exclusives are no longer so. Then, lo and behold, sales start to go up at other agencies, especially SS. What a coincidence! Even 123RF is doing better these days (wow!). Well, any agency with their ears open would have known that sweetening the pot at this time would be a winner for them. I was wondering if SS was going to do something to that effect, and here it is. Meanwhile, FT goes the opposite direction and basically begins squeezing off their lifeblood (contributors). No win for them. So now that they've decided the road they're going to take, it would be wise for other agencies to follow SS' example:  "We designed this product to attract new customers who aren't currently making purchases at Shutterstock."
Where d'you think those "new customers" will be coming from? SS is no fools. I just hope they stay the course for a long time to come. Those who follow SS' footsteps at this time in micro history will doubtless reap some pretty good rewards!

Quote from: lisafx on September 28, 2011, 20:51
Royalties look very competitive to me.  The graduated scale gives incentive.  30% as the high end seems reasonable.  Sure, it could always be more, but beats my 19% from Istock...

Hope this is a big success for SS and contributors

Yes it does, its a clever move and rates are far better then IS.

Where do I find my account balance now? My download stats page now just shows earnings for this month and all time earnings -the running total of unpaid commission due has gone. Thanks, David.

Quote from: Newsfocus1 on September 30, 2011, 07:39
Where do I find my account balance now? My download stats page now just shows earnings for this month and all time earnings -the running total of unpaid commission due has gone. Thanks, David.

There seems to be a glitch in the system and others on the SS forum are having the same problem so you're not alone.  Not sure if anyone's written/heard back from support on it.  Hopefully someone will know something soon.

It would be nice if I could start seeing some of those new downloads.  Some have said they've gotten them I just wish one of them could be me

Quote from: Anita Potter on September 30, 2011, 07:42

Quote from: Newsfocus1 on September 30, 2011, 07:39
Where do I find my account balance now? My download stats page now just shows earnings for this month and all time earnings -the running total of unpaid commission due has gone. Thanks, David.

There seems to be a glitch in the system and others on the SS forum are having the same problem so you're not alone.  Not sure if anyone's written/heard back from support on it.  Hopefully someone will know something soon.

It would be nice if I could start seeing some of those new downloads.  Some have said they've gotten them I just wish one of them could be me

Thanks Anita, not just me then. I'm sure you will be seeing some of those sales soon! Good luck. Regards, David.

"In the midnight hour SS gave us more more more..."  

I just got a second EL in the past week...sweet!

Thanks David and I hope that glitch you all are having gets fixed soon.

borg that is just toooooo funny! 

double post

Just realized that you had to scroll down to the bottom of the stats page  to see the single sales and when I did I saw that I have had my first one for 5.70  Bring them on !!

i had also one 4.75

Fantastic!  Well done you two.

SS are the champs 

I am happy to report that my SS earnings have increased 50% (or more, for some months in 2011) in September. This is really nice to see!

Inventive and full of fresh ideas!  no wonder they are the market leaders.

Quote from: lagereek on October 01, 2011, 13:43
Inventive and full of fresh ideas!  no wonder they are the market leaders.

And if they gave out a raise, they would really put themselves on an even higher plateau