Quote from: Brasilnut on September 14, 2025, 17:05
I had to rant...

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2025/09/14/switched-off-my-september-stock-sales-have-collapsed-at-shutterstock-pond5/

Well it ain't over until the fat lady sings (end of month). I had given up on Adobe because of a trend for weeks of diminishing downloads and just had the best week ever (downloads, not $). Pond5 is dead for sure, no argue there. But otherwise, besides that microstock is not viable anymore, you could be having a poor month on SS. It happens, just like good months.It's all random and unless you have a lot of data, it's difficult to say that things are going down the drain or that you just had bad luck this month. But yeah, golden days are over.

Quote from: SimonSays on September 14, 2025, 20:29

Quote from: Brasilnut on September 14, 2025, 17:05
I had to rant...

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2025/09/14/switched-off-my-september-stock-sales-have-collapsed-at-shutterstock-pond5/

Well it ain't over until the fat lady sings (end of month). I had given up on Adobe because of a trend for weeks of diminishing downloads and just had the best week ever (downloads, not $). Pond5 is dead for sure, no argue there. But otherwise, besides that microstock is not viable anymore, you could be having a poor month on SS. It happens, just like good months.It's all random and unless you have a lot of data, it's difficult to say that things are going down the drain or that you just had bad luck this month. But yeah, golden days are over.

It's not random; it's a trend that started this January. And I do have data 2020 ave $380(ave Dls 30) per month, 2021 Ave $296(ave Dls 33) per month, 2022 ave $386(ave Dls 53) per month, 2023 ave $504(ave Dls 65) per month, 2024 ave $494(ave Dls 69) per month, 2025 ave $258(ave Dls 40) per month. Compared to the last two years, income has reduced by 50%. The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08

Quote from: SimonSays on September 14, 2025, 20:29

Quote from: Brasilnut on September 14, 2025, 17:05
I had to rant...

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2025/09/14/switched-off-my-september-stock-sales-have-collapsed-at-shutterstock-pond5/

Well it ain't over until the fat lady sings (end of month). I had given up on Adobe because of a trend for weeks of diminishing downloads and just had the best week ever (downloads, not $). Pond5 is dead for sure, no argue there. But otherwise, besides that microstock is not viable anymore, you could be having a poor month on SS. It happens, just like good months.It's all random and unless you have a lot of data, it's difficult to say that things are going down the drain or that you just had bad luck this month. But yeah, golden days are over.

It's not random; it's a trend that started this January. And I do have data 2020 ave $380(ave Dls 30) per month, 2021 Ave $296(ave Dls 33) per month, 2022 ave $386(ave Dls 53) per month, 2023 ave $504(ave Dls 65) per month, 2024 ave $494(ave Dls 69) per month, 2025 ave $258(ave Dls 40) per month. Compared to the last two years, income has reduced by 50%. The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Indeed, it has nothing to do with 2 weeks. I've been uploading to SS since April 2013 so that's like 600+ weeks.

The rant post was a long time coming since I'm seeing a gradual decline in earnings/volumes, but past 3-4 months it's been really steep...and now September is a joke....

Perhaps the last 2 weeks of Sept may surprise but I doubt it. Just checked my earnings Monday morning and I've earned 89cents at SS. The real test will be Oct/Nov/Dec, I don't expect much.

Now if what I would have earned in SS is (partially) offset by higher earnings at iStock then it's OK, time will tell whether this will be the case.

Shuttershyte just gets progressively worse.

Considering the total market share they control (which is roughly equal to Getty/istock), I find it incredible how little they pay to contributors. For me it works out to be roughly 15% of what I earn on istock with the same size port. They must be diverting our earnings to pay for all the companies they bought.

I can only hope that if the merger goes through, that Getty shakes things up at SS HQ because ATM I have zero motivation to continuing uploading there.

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08
The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Just some details? Getty did not acquire Shutterstock in January. There is a proposed "merger" which hasn't been approved yet, which means Getty is not running anything and they can't turn off anything. I know this is Microstock and as soon as something is announced, even if nothing has changed, people will come to the forum here and say they can see it's changed already.

When Adobe says they are adding unlimited downloads, a day later, someone will see how it's hurt their sales. LOL 

The rest of your post, one way or another, in degrees, I agree. SSTK has been failing and falling, worse each year and that 10¢ on demand was the dagger in the heart. Subscriptions are almost nonexistent. Even my little port, 90% niche, sales in 2012 where way higher, more DLs and more money, than the years after. Now I make in a month, what I did on some single days, on SSTK. How can I have double the images, plus the same images, and sales are down to almost nothing?

Shutterstock is an embarassment

Quote from: Uncle Pete on September 15, 2025, 20:22

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08
The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Just some details? Getty did not acquire Shutterstock in January. There is a proposed "merger" which hasn't been approved yet, which means Getty is not running anything and they can't turn off anything. I know this is Microstock and as soon as something is announced, even if nothing has changed, people will come to the forum here and say they can see it's changed already.

When Adobe says they are adding unlimited downloads, a day later, someone will see how it's hurt their sales. LOL 

The rest of your post, one way or another, in degrees, I agree. SSTK has been failing and falling, worse each year and that 10¢ on demand was the dagger in the heart. Subscriptions are almost nonexistent. Even my little port, 90% niche, sales in 2012 where way higher, more DLs and more money, than the years after. Now I make in a month, what I did on some single days, on SSTK. How can I have double the images, plus the same images, and sales are down to almost nothing?

Shutterstock is an embarassment

Not to argue with you in relation to the old days but my RPD has risen since these almost non existent subscription sales, a lot less 10¢. Heck my downloads also went up and together with the improved RPD I am having a good year in relation to the last three years. So yes, SS is not what it was but does everyone see the last three years diminshing in downloads and revenue? Maybe I am just lucky and the algorithm is in my favour for once (as long as it lasts) and appeal to better paying customers.

Shutterstock ignores yet another batch of videos which have now vanished from the review cue after 3 weeks. All videos are editorial. The place is useless to me if they ignore video submissions as I don't submit photos.   

Quote from: Pacesetter on September 16, 2025, 01:47
Shutterstock ignores yet another batch of videos which have now vanished from the review cue after 3 weeks. All videos are editorial. The place is useless to me if they ignore video submissions as I don't submit photos.

This place (SS) is useless to me on anything I submit to them! Another company bites the dust!

Quote from: Big Money on September 16, 2025, 03:11

Quote from: Pacesetter on September 16, 2025, 01:47
Shutterstock ignores yet another batch of videos which have now vanished from the review cue after 3 weeks. All videos are editorial. The place is useless to me if they ignore video submissions as I don't submit photos.

This place (SS) is useless to me on anything I submit to them! Another company bites the dust!

And this prospective merger arrangement I think would be a bad move for iStock for the key reason being Shutterstock's reputational damage in the marketplace - both with contributors and customers of stock.       

Quote from: Pacesetter on September 16, 2025, 01:47
Shutterstock ignores yet another batch of videos which have now vanished from the review cue after 3 weeks. All videos are editorial. The place is useless to me if they ignore video submissions as I don't submit photos.   

Same here. Everything I added on 21/22nd Aug has sat in the queue for weeks and has now disappeared completely. I re-uploaded some this week, and they have been approved within a day or so. I guess they had some server issues during this time?!

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08...

It's not random; it's a trend that started this January. And I do have data 2020 ave $380(ave Dls 30) per month, 2021 Ave $296(ave Dls 33) per month, 2022 ave $386(ave Dls 53) per month, 2023 ave $504(ave Dls 65) per month, 2024 ave $494(ave Dls 69) per month, 2025 ave $258(ave Dls 40) per month. Compared to the last two years, income has reduced by 50%. The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

one data point (Jan) doesnt show a trend - it could just as easily be an outlier -  and  the 6 year data for the previous or next month  might show a very different result

if anything, your data shows the opposite of what many report - that their sales have been decreasing steadily, while yours were increasing over the years until 2025  - which is why anecdotal evidence is weak support for any theory. 

and tracking a single month is less statistically valid as the 4 weeks in a month might not reflect a quite different trend from the last week of Dec & first 3 wks of Jan.  Taking 3 mo avg  would flatten this effect (and is why following a week ly sales total is not very useful - the data is too noisy to draw any conclusions)

in mycase, annual sales  2016-2018 were steady then took at 20% hit in 2019 and has been steady +/- 10% since then


we have variable histories, so it's hard to draw any conclusions about causes - esp'ly when the environment has been so variable (market changes, covid & recovery, ai gen images, type of content of various artists, new images added. etc)


all we can say, like geologists, is "shift happens!"  - things are worse (for most of us) than 10 years ago, but our paths vary greatly and there's no one cause

This is why I love Shutterstock, I know most of you guys hate it but for me was pretty good all these years.

Quote from: Brasilnut on September 15, 2025, 12:33

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08

Quote from: SimonSays on September 14, 2025, 20:29

Quote from: Brasilnut on September 14, 2025, 17:05
I had to rant...

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2025/09/14/switched-off-my-september-stock-sales-have-collapsed-at-shutterstock-pond5/

Well it ain't over until the fat lady sings (end of month). I had given up on Adobe because of a trend for weeks of diminishing downloads and just had the best week ever (downloads, not $). Pond5 is dead for sure, no argue there. But otherwise, besides that microstock is not viable anymore, you could be having a poor month on SS. It happens, just like good months.It's all random and unless you have a lot of data, it's difficult to say that things are going down the drain or that you just had bad luck this month. But yeah, golden days are over.

It's not random; it's a trend that started this January. And I do have data 2020 ave $380(ave Dls 30) per month, 2021 Ave $296(ave Dls 33) per month, 2022 ave $386(ave Dls 53) per month, 2023 ave $504(ave Dls 65) per month, 2024 ave $494(ave Dls 69) per month, 2025 ave $258(ave Dls 40) per month. Compared to the last two years, income has reduced by 50%. The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Indeed, it has nothing to do with 2 weeks. I've been uploading to SS since April 2013 so that's like 600+ weeks.

The rant post was a long time coming since I'm seeing a gradual decline in earnings/volumes, but past 3-4 months it's been really steep...and now September is a joke....

Perhaps the last 2 weeks of Sept may surprise but I doubt it. Just checked my earnings Monday morning and I've earned 89cents at SS. The real test will be Oct/Nov/Dec, I don't expect much.

Now if what I would have earned in SS is (partially) offset by higher earnings at iStock then it's OK, time will tell whether this will be the case.

Just wondering. How did september end in relation to previous month and last year? Was it indeed a complete disaster or did things pick up at the end? I am having a really terrible month now with SS.

After 10 days of Oct 2025:

Shutterstock --- $46
Adobe Stock --- $348

Couple of years back Shutterstock is in first place in terms of earnings, Where I am received monthly average between $750-$1000. Now dropped to second place. It's hardly hitting $300-$400. This month it's performing more worst.

Very soon it joins with the agencies in last positions(Dreamstime and Depositphotos).

I personally believe an increasing number of customers have the unlimited download plan on SS with earnings on the last day of the month..

Quote from: danielvisuals on October 11, 2025, 05:11
I personally believe an increasing number of customers have the unlimited download plan on SS with earnings on the last day of the month..

If it's a month plan, than doesn't mean everyone who prefers should take that plan on 1st of that month, if it's a year plan, than doesn't mean everyone who prefers should take that plan on 1st Jan of that year...

Depends on the customers requirement, they purchase it on beginning of month/year, middle of month/year, end of month/year...So they have 30/365 days to use thir subscription plan...

So, that makes no sense all the subscriptions ends at the end of month/year...

Quote from: SimonSays on October 10, 2025, 17:45

Quote from: Brasilnut on September 15, 2025, 12:33

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08

Quote from: SimonSays on September 14, 2025, 20:29

Quote from: Brasilnut on September 14, 2025, 17:05
I had to rant...

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2025/09/14/switched-off-my-september-stock-sales-have-collapsed-at-shutterstock-pond5/

Well it ain't over until the fat lady sings (end of month). I had given up on Adobe because of a trend for weeks of diminishing downloads and just had the best week ever (downloads, not $). Pond5 is dead for sure, no argue there. But otherwise, besides that microstock is not viable anymore, you could be having a poor month on SS. It happens, just like good months.It's all random and unless you have a lot of data, it's difficult to say that things are going down the drain or that you just had bad luck this month. But yeah, golden days are over.

It's not random; it's a trend that started this January. And I do have data 2020 ave $380(ave Dls 30) per month, 2021 Ave $296(ave Dls 33) per month, 2022 ave $386(ave Dls 53) per month, 2023 ave $504(ave Dls 65) per month, 2024 ave $494(ave Dls 69) per month, 2025 ave $258(ave Dls 40) per month. Compared to the last two years, income has reduced by 50%. The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Indeed, it has nothing to do with 2 weeks. I've been uploading to SS since April 2013 so that's like 600+ weeks.

The rant post was a long time coming since I'm seeing a gradual decline in earnings/volumes, but past 3-4 months it's been really steep...and now September is a joke....

Perhaps the last 2 weeks of Sept may surprise but I doubt it. Just checked my earnings Monday morning and I've earned 89cents at SS. The real test will be Oct/Nov/Dec, I don't expect much.

Now if what I would have earned in SS is (partially) offset by higher earnings at iStock then it's OK, time will tell whether this will be the case.

Just wondering. How did september end in relation to previous month and last year? Was it indeed a complete disaster or did things pick up at the end? I am having a really terrible month now with SS.

Won't count June/July/August as these are "holiday" months.

Finished September at $72 (no, didn't really pick up much)
May 2025 was $140
September 2024 was $213

Now that we're into October I can see that I've earned $30 1/3 of the month in

Quote from: SimonSays on September 15, 2025, 21:00

Quote from: Uncle Pete on September 15, 2025, 20:22

Quote from: digipro on September 14, 2025, 22:08
The only conclusion I can make is that since Getty acquired Shutterstock in January, they are "turning the light off", slowly becoming a monopolist on the market.

Just some details? Getty did not acquire Shutterstock in January. There is a proposed "merger" which hasn't been approved yet, which means Getty is not running anything and they can't turn off anything. I know this is Microstock and as soon as something is announced, even if nothing has changed, people will come to the forum here and say they can see it's changed already.

When Adobe says they are adding unlimited downloads, a day later, someone will see how it's hurt their sales. LOL 

The rest of your post, one way or another, in degrees, I agree. SSTK has been failing and falling, worse each year and that 10¢ on demand was the dagger in the heart. Subscriptions are almost nonexistent. Even my little port, 90% niche, sales in 2012 where way higher, more DLs and more money, than the years after. Now I make in a month, what I did on some single days, on SSTK. How can I have double the images, plus the same images, and sales are down to almost nothing?

Shutterstock is an embarassment

Not to argue with you in relation to the old days but my RPD has risen since these almost non existent subscription sales, a lot less 10¢. Heck my downloads also went up and together with the improved RPD I am having a good year in relation to the last three years. So yes, SS is not what it was but does everyone see the last three years diminshing in downloads and revenue? Maybe I am just lucky and the algorithm is in my favour for once (as long as it lasts) and appeal to better paying customers.

I'll guess that you have better content that's up to date and meets the needs of the buyers, while mine is getting stale and old.  Best to you and that you are getting paid for your effort.

Example: September SSTK for myself = 12DLs for $2.84, which i used to make, some days in 2012 and considering the reset and 10c sales, and that I have the same images, plus another 1,000? Something changed. I don't blame Getty or IS though, I think it's plan old, SSTK dying and that's why the stock dropped to so low and why a merger is the way to clean up and get out of the business.

Those fancy offices in NY will be the first cut!

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 13, 2025, 19:30
Those fancy offices in NY will be the first cut!

Lets hope so

many years ago.  many years before i got into the stock photo game, i knew someone who had a tech job in manhattan.  she took me and a few other acquaintances to visit her office.  it was inside the empire state building which i had never been inside before.  we took a tour around the office after hours when no one was there and we got to see some of the external spaces.  the building has several landings so some of the lower floors have outside decks that have views of the building looking up.  she worked for shutterstock and it was a very nice office in those days.  if they are still in that office it won't be long til they give it up i would think.

After 2 weeks od October 2025:

Shutterstock:
* I earned 11.25% of what I earned in Sept 2025(whole month)
* 8.37% of Oct 2024(whole month)
* 4.46% of Oct 2023(whole month)
* 5.80% of Oct 2022(whole month)



Adobe Stock:
* 43.61% of what  I earned in Sept 2025(whole month...includes firefly bonus, without firefly bonus its 53.49% of sep 2025)
* 52.35% of Oct 2024(whole month)
* 52.38% of Oct 2023(whole month)
* 116.98% of Oct 2022(whole month)

I started contributing to both Shutterstock and Adobe stock at the same time at the year 2019... at that time I earned 4-5 times more in Shutterstock than Adobestock...
I earned around $50-$100 a month in Adobe Stock, which is increased year by year with uploading files regulary... it reached $500-$600 a month, sometimes more than $700 or $800 by the year 2022-2023... from there earnings not increased or decreased with new files... just small fluctuations( Adobe subscription plans not affected the earnings, Average earning per sale decreased by number of sales increased)...

at the same time... from $200-$350 a month of shutterstock, which is increased year by year, at peaks level I earned $900-$1200 by the year 2022-2023... From there which is decreased month by month, with uploading more than 1000 videos every year...Now I am hardly earning $300-$400 from Shutterstock...
This month it's more worst, after 14 days I earned $46...

Is anyone seeing a proportional uptick on istock versus sales dropping at Shutterstock and pond5?

While the merger is not yet concluded, perhaps the advertising budgets have been closed or lowered for Shutterstock already because the future focus for attracting customers will be istock/getty?

Quote from: cobalt on October 15, 2025, 11:44
Is anyone seeing a proportional uptick on istock versus sales dropping at Shutterstock and pond5?

While the merger is not yet concluded, perhaps the advertising budgets have been closed or lowered for Shutterstock already because the future focus for attracting customers will be istock/getty?

I only have a small portfolio on iStock, but as I kept uploading regularly since last Christmas, I saw my sales increasing - till last week of August. Since then there has been a drop. I had very few sales in September and all of them were IS subscriptions, October has been similar so far (one IS credit + some IS subs), no more sales via GI that usually brought me better earnings than IS subs (and that used to account for half of my sales ).

Quote from: cobalt on October 15, 2025, 11:44
Is anyone seeing a proportional uptick on istock versus sales dropping at Shutterstock and pond5?

While the merger is not yet concluded, perhaps the advertising budgets have been closed or lowered for Shutterstock already because the future focus for attracting customers will be istock/getty?

I wish but no, everything is same on IS

Quote from: danielvisuals on October 11, 2025, 05:11
I personally believe an increasing number of customers have the unlimited download plan on SS with earnings on the last day of the month..

I can now say that sales were very likely low in October because many buyers have now switched to the unlimited plan.

50% of my earnings in October on SS came from unlimited subscriptions.