Hi all,
Are you also experiencing extremely low revenue on Shutterstock?
My revenue is down 5-6 fold. It's a disaster.
Review times also became catastrophic. I am uploading vectors and I have to wait around 24-36 hours for my files to get reviewed.
So, despite my regular uploads, my revenue is going down each day.
How are your Shutterstock portfolios doing?

Sales were lower than average in January which is expected for that time of the year. February though has been completely abysmal so far. It's like they flipped off the switch for big sales. So you're not alone

Sales and in particular earnings per download have gone down the past three months, but like thx9000 said, February has been a disaster with almost nothing but 10 cent commissions for images and $1.00 for videos.

I think Shutterstock's toxic management has likely seen a number of higher quality contributors stop uploading and / or upload elsewhere to places like Adobe, and consequently higher paying customers have naturally moved to where the fresh better content is available. My Adobe Stock port has seen a significant increase in downloads and revenue, as has many others.       

Quote from: thx9000 on February 18, 2024, 11:34
Sales were lower than average in January which is expected for that time of the year. February though has been completely abysmal so far. It's like they flipped off the switch for big sales. So you're not alone

Could there be delays in reporting sales?

Yes, SS is a disaster.  I suspect they probably gave up on their business. 

October & November were OK for me, with a slight decrease in sales/earnings in December. In January, the amount of sales was the same (around 130), by my earnings were less than half what I did in Oct and November with the same amount of sales.  So far this month, I've had about 40 sales, where normally it would be around 60. Revenue is still on the low side.

Whilst at Adobe and with less than half the amount of images and clips than I have at SS, sales and revenue are pretty stable.

Level 5 on images and Level 3 on videos but for this month I see a decrease in high earnings but records number of downloads.

This is my 6-month trend for SS.  Pretty much like a nosedive.

Quote from: odesigns on February 18, 2024, 14:00
This is my 6-month trend for SS.  Pretty much like a nosedive.

That's impressive you still made $3,500/month just a few month ago with mostly videos on SS.

Quote from: blvdone on February 18, 2024, 14:09
That's impressive you still made $3,500/month just a few month ago with mostly videos on SS.

It was good while it lasted.

For downloads, I'm tracking at about the same level as last year which isn't great because I added 30% to my portfolio since then. I would have hoped to have more downloads. Feels like I'm working hard to stand still.

However, for revenue, I'm doing a lot better than last year .. at  least so far.

Quote from: odesigns on February 18, 2024, 14:11

Quote from: blvdone on February 18, 2024, 14:09
That's impressive you still made $3,500/month just a few month ago with mostly videos on SS.

It was good while it lasted.

But how much is your nosedive is due to royalty % reset everybody loves?

SS used to be my best earner, now it's second last.  Freefall coincided with start of new payment scheme couple of yrs ago.   Oddly enough for Feb '24 SS is looking to be #1 (ahead even of Adobe).

I don't think SS is dead, or will be anytime soon, but certainly appears far from where it once was.

Quote from: danielstassen on February 18, 2024, 11:49

Quote from: thx9000 on February 18, 2024, 11:34
Sales were lower than average in January which is expected for that time of the year. February though has been completely abysmal so far. It's like they flipped off the switch for big sales. So you're not alone

Could there be delays in reporting sales?

With a different thread I was going to mention the history, but I thought it wasn't worth the contradictions and allegations.

There used to be people here who watched very carefully. They could see the differences when the businesses is time zones would close an open. Just like we do on weekends, which is days, people could see what hours, by what's on the map. Some saw it as sales blackouts and accused SS of blocking their accounts. Others saw it as the work periods when buyers would be downloading vs when business was closed.

There is not supposed to be delayed reporting. The times that showed in the past, were the real times of the download, even if it took overnight for some that were stuck in batch or processing. For example, a new reported download would pop in the report, ahead of one that was already reported earlier, but it would be in the proper time sequence.

I don't claim to know, as a matter of fact, but all evidence leads to the conclusion, SS reports almost all sales within 24 hours of the actual download. More like, overnight, one night.

I wouldn't expect that one of us was held, or that many of us have sales that are being delayed and suddenly we'll get credit in a different month. Some months are less profitable than others. That's been the way things have worked since the start.

Quote from: zeljkok on February 18, 2024, 19:03
SS used to be my best earner, now it's second last.  Freefall coincided with start of new payment scheme couple of yrs ago.   Oddly enough for Feb '24 SS is looking to be #1 (ahead even of Adobe).

I don't think SS is dead, or will be anytime soon, but certainly appears far from where it once was.

Do you sell video? And if so are you still seeing any high(er) priced video sales?

^This is where I'm seeing the biggest earnings collapse. 

Sales have flipped. S/S used to be best and A/S second. Now A/S sales are what S/S used to be.

Quote from: DaLiu on February 18, 2024, 12:53
Level 5 on images and Level 3 on videos but for this month I see a decrease in high earnings but records number of downloads.

There was a time when we weren't so far apart in terms of numbers. You've been working hard since then and are obviously being rewarded for it. Congratulations on that and well deserved.

I admit that I wouldn't have thought such an increase as yours was possible. So it's really interesting to read that it's possible.

My personal answer to the question "Is shutterstock dead?" is now yes. Which is also self-inflicted due to a lack of diligence. But since the new income structure, I lack all motivation.

Quote from: Pacesetter on February 18, 2024, 21:43

Quote from: zeljkok on February 18, 2024, 19:03
SS used to be my best earner, now it's second last.  Freefall coincided with start of new payment scheme couple of yrs ago.   Oddly enough for Feb '24 SS is looking to be #1 (ahead even of Adobe).

I don't think SS is dead, or will be anytime soon, but certainly appears far from where it once was.

Do you sell video? And if so are you still seeing any high(er) priced video sales?

^This is where I'm seeing the biggest earnings collapse.

No video, just stills.  But one difference I am noticing compared to before is many more "Single and Other", far less subs.  Still avalanche of 10 cents, but every once awhile $$ sale comes in.  Not too often though

20K clips - 280$ so far in February, last year around this time in February it was 3000$+ what's going on?


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... they are not totally dead, they are doing fine... but not sharing with us, like they did in past...

Quote from: BigBubba on February 19, 2024, 05:28
20K clips - 280$ so far in February, last year around this time in February it was 3000$+ what's going on?


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That is indeed more than frightening! Incredible!

I have been loading SS for about 15 months. I currently have around 26000 images. I made 1350 sales and a total profit of $450. I think these numbers are not good. I hope for higher earnings.

 

Quote from: danielstassen on February 18, 2024, 11:49

Quote from: thx9000 on February 18, 2024, 11:34
Sales were lower than average in January which is expected for that time of the year. February though has been completely abysmal so far. It's like they flipped off the switch for big sales. So you're not alone

Could there be delays in reporting sales?

I don't think reporting delays make sense in Shutterstock's business model

Quote from: BigBubba on February 19, 2024, 05:28
20K clips - 280$ so far in February, last year around this time in February it was 3000$+ what's going on?


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Video sales make the bulk of my earnings but big licences are completely gone. My biggest sale in february is for 12$...
Maybe they are trying to shift clients for video from SS to Pond5. It wouldn't make any sense but who knows what grandiose strategy they have in mind

Quote from: BigBubba on February 19, 2024, 05:28
20K clips - 280$ so far in February, last year around this time in February it was 3000$+ what's going on?


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That is totally frightening.

And mirrors the complaints on pond5.

Where are the customers buying now? Especially where are they buying editorial content?