A good one for me too. Only few 3 cent "sales"

Pretty medicocre for me too. Which I guess is good compared to the downwards trend on SS and Canva? 

istock/Getty sales are doing well for me and I think I made the right decision to start uploading there again after a hiatus of many years. I figured if every other agency has dropped to their level then there�s no point in me ignoring them anymore. I refuse to let them have my 4K videos though, so I downsize them to HD before uploading. Not sure if this strategy make sense, but videos on Getty are so severely undervalued to most customers and I don�t want my 4K animations that took a lot of work and rendering selling for 2 cents.

As for stills, they are selling really well on iS/Getty compared to other sites and I am thinking about Photo Exclusivity, however I am getting a high amount of image rejections on iStock and barely any rejections on other sites. I am mostly submitting digitally rendered abstract fractal backgrounds and the rejections tend to be for the reason that there isn�t a clear concept or narrative element. These rejections seem to be very inconsistent and subjective depending on the reviewer. My abstract images that make it through iStock review are selling well, however the rate of rejections is one reason I�m holding back from exclusivity at the moment.

... however I am getting a high amount of image rejections on iStock and barely any rejections on other sites. I am mostly submitting digitally rendered abstract fractal backgrounds and the rejections tend to be for the reason that there isn�t a clear concept or narrative element. These rejections seem to be very inconsistent and subjective depending on the reviewer. My abstract images that make it through iStock review are selling well, however the rate of rejections is one reason I�m holding back from exclusivity at the moment.

This may just be me, but it seems that I have more problems on weekends with my uploaded illustrations. So much so that I now stop uploading images after Friday mornings and only start again on Monday mornings to avoid issues that weekend reviewers give me.

28 dollars with over 4000 files.

I will continue uploading until I reach a month with over 100 dollars.

To downsize videos to hd is probably a good idea. It is unbelievable how cheap they sell them.

6 cents!

If they had a superhigh volume, maybe it would work, but they don�t.

But not like this.

For comparison, I have 2400 files on Adobe, but just 1400 photos. The rest is video and ai.

The majority of sales are photos and I earn 28 dollars in 2-4 days. It is very easy to make money on Adobe.

And video is 2.80 minimum, but can go to 25-50 dollar range. Also video sales are increasing.

I will keep uploading photos, but very sceptical about video.

If you have what the customer really needs, then I am sure they will also buy it in hd. I have older clips in hd that still sell.

I only have 1500 clips in total, 1000 on pond5, 500 on Blackboxglobal and less on the others, because I don't upload everywhere.

So I am not a video superpro.

But nevertheless video is the best growing part of all my portfolios everywhere...except on istock.

For inspiration have a look at this thread on pond5

https://www.pond5.com/community?thread=8135844

It is self reported, but what impressed me most is how many people sell editorial content at high prices.

So I am trying to do a lot more local, editorial content. And also experimenting with higher prices.

But my ducks in the park go for minimum price. My personal choice.

Others also offer their ducks for 299. And seem to sell them ?!

I love pond5. Fast reviews, high acceptance, can set my own prices.

But Adobe is also slowly having more video sales.

I think there is still less than 60 millions distinct videos over all the agencies combined, so it is very, very early stages.

Basically everything is still open, huge gaps in all collections.

What sells? Surprisingly nature sells. Even sunsets, beach scenes, very simple stuff. Animals, ducks and parks, squirrels. People of course and especially editorial.

There is a report here on bestselling content from backyard silver. The report is about photos, but at least for me his photos look like the videos that actually sell in my ports.

However it takes longer for my videos to get sales than for photos. Sometimes 2 years before a series starts selling.

And my portfolio is still very, very small.

https://xpiksapp.com/blog/best-selling-microstock-categories/

Do it now as long as things are still fine. Maybe we get lucky and Shutterstock leaves them alone for a few years.

But yes, I think most people are nervous about what SS might do. It is the reason I haven't really uploaded much to the second exclusive port. I would love to fill it, but what if Shutterstock starts selling exclusive content for 10 cents?

If there was a written public commitment that at least for 5 years nothing will change I think Pond5 would absolutely bloom. Especially if they did more to promote their exclusive content and the 60% royalty.

Pond5 could attract the majority of top video content from the market.

The team are also very nice and very helpful people.

In an ideal world, SS would learn from pond5, reopen their forums and focus on a mutual win win strategy for customers and producers, who are often the same group.

But it looks like they are happy with their ai adventure.

I love pond5, hope you have a good experience with them.

Just wanted to add: I am still hopeful that if I add 1200 files to istock I can turn it around and earn more money.

On Adobe my earnings were also just 10-30 dollars with 1300 files and not uploading for 10 years.

Now I added 1200 in 10 months and I am up to around 150-210 dollars. And winter is coming...

Adding fresh files brings eyeballs to any port, so hopefully my istock port will wake up with regular uploads.

However, Adobe pays out 33%, compared to istocks 15%. So it is always easier as a non exclusive to grow your income with Adobe.

istock/getty are a huge agency, I am sure I can raise my income to at least half of what I make at Adobe as a non exclusive.

Quote from: synthetick on August 16, 2023, 05:53

I refuse to let them have my 4K videos though, so I downsize them to HD before uploading. Not sure if this strategy make sense,

Wow.  I do the same thing.  I generally only put 4K files on non-subscription agencies.  But granted, that list is shrinking.

Well, I just broke my own rule and uploaded 3 illustrations after noon on Friday. And sure enough, 2 were rejected. Why do I break my own rules .... why, why, why?