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Author Topic: P+ How are your sales?  (Read 11705 times)

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lagereek

« Reply #25 on: May 20, 2011, 09:43 »
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Yes!!  here we are wrecking our brains out trying to find out why its so bad and the simple answer is:  lack of traffic, thats it, never mind Vettas or collections,  the traffic simply isnt there anymore,  and thats ofcourse the WORST, news of it all.

Bashing your head against a brick wall.


« Reply #26 on: May 20, 2011, 09:59 »
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Yes!!  here we are wrecking our brains out trying to find out why its so bad and the simple answer is:  lack of traffic, thats it, never mind Vettas or collections,  the traffic simply isnt there anymore,  and thats ofcourse the WORST, news of it all.

Bashing your head against a brick wall.

The lack of traffic is *because* of the Vettas and collections. By deliberately stacking the search with high priced content iStock alienated its customer base. I guess they underestimated how important the small designers, churches, non-profits, and other small businesses were to their business.

lagereek

« Reply #27 on: May 20, 2011, 11:18 »
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Yes!!  here we are wrecking our brains out trying to find out why its so bad and the simple answer is:  lack of traffic, thats it, never mind Vettas or collections,  the traffic simply isnt there anymore,  and thats ofcourse the WORST, news of it all.

Bashing your head against a brick wall.

The lack of traffic is *because* of the Vettas and collections. By deliberately stacking the search with high priced content iStock alienated its customer base. I guess they underestimated how important the small designers, churches, non-profits, and other small businesses were to their business.

Ofcourse!  because of the Vettas/agency, etc,  but it hardly alters our situation, does it. 

Thanks for the coffee guys, see you all in next life,  so long fellas.

« Reply #28 on: May 20, 2011, 11:26 »
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I just discover the P+ collection today here!
Let's try for my 60 more downloaded pictures!
Sells are falling deeply for me too, maybe 40% less than last year.
Let's see the effect of P+, i will inform you as soon as can see some results!

lisafx

« Reply #29 on: May 20, 2011, 11:33 »
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Really great insights so far in this thread.  Thanks so much for all the thoughtful participation! 

Downloads are decreasing, but income is slightly up from last month through P+. For a while now I am looking at my files in best match placement.
What I am seeing is that slowely these files are moving further back in best match placement. Since Vetta and agency and exclusive files are have increased exposure my files are doing less and less well.
Because they are doing less well, they cannot hold their positions - and move further back ... doing less well.

Circle of a slow death.


Freezingpictures, I think you have really hit on a problem here.  I suspect this is exactly what I am seeing too.  Good for you for monitoring your best match placement as you are.  I stopped that a long time ago when the copying got to be too much for me. 


3. Sales are so bad at IS at the moment that even the sales I'm getting is still good in comparison with other images sales therefore pushing them up in the search.
I suspect that 3 is the correct answer.

This makes a lot of sense too.  With sales traffic falling at IS across the board, the best match is just redistributing an ever decreasing pie. 

The bottom line is:   IS, simply dont have the amount of traffic anymore, with or without its collections.

Agreed, I think they underestimated how big a role the good will of contributors had in their brand image.

SNIP

On Istock a lot of the contributor's are also in the design community, and a lot more of the customers are lower down the design foodchain then traditional RM buyers. Once word got out that IStock isn't "one of us" anymore it's bye bye sales, even if we can't afford to pull our portfolios or stop contributing.

So true!  Getty never understood the crowdsourced, community aspect of Istock.  They are failing for exactly the reason you outline above. 

« Reply #30 on: May 20, 2011, 11:53 »
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My downloads were consistent for January, February and March but dropped 40% in April.  This month they're on track for 80% of Jan - March, or 33% up from April.

That's downloads.  Actual revenue is up 50% from April.  The difference between 33% more downloads and 50% more revenue is mostly or maybe entirely due to P+.  So my sales are still down since Best Match pushed my stuff to the back of the queue, but at least not as bad as April.

lisafx

« Reply #31 on: May 20, 2011, 16:18 »
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My downloads were consistent for January, February and March but dropped 40% in April.  This month they're on track for 80% of Jan - March, or 33% up from April.

That's downloads.  Actual revenue is up 50% from April.  The difference between 33% more downloads and 50% more revenue is mostly or maybe entirely due to P+.  So my sales are still down since Best Match pushed my stuff to the back of the queue, but at least not as bad as April.

Good info.  Thanks!  Looks like we are in a similar boat :)

« Reply #32 on: May 21, 2011, 03:25 »
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I just had my first P+ sale! Wooohoooo! 18 cents!!! LOL

« Reply #33 on: May 21, 2011, 08:47 »
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None of my P+ files has even a single download the last 10 days.......................!  >:(

« Reply #34 on: May 23, 2011, 03:38 »
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I have earned more sofar at DT or FT than Istock this month. Dramatic fall compared to last year and may turns out to be worse tha april. I didn't know about P (I hardly look at Istock anymore) but I'll give it a try

XPTO

« Reply #35 on: May 23, 2011, 10:08 »
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At this moment the Photo+ is being a huge disappointment. Even if I've only used less than half the possible slots for my portfolio, the fact is that my Average Return per Download is seriously dropping despite i'm having several P+ sales. Let's see:

ARPD:
Jan: 1.30
Feb: 1.38
Mar: 1.30
Apr: 1.30
May: 1.20 (with P+ downloads)

Is this happening to you too?

BTW, my estimate for May is another huge drop in income in IS.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2011, 10:11 by XPTO »

« Reply #36 on: May 23, 2011, 10:53 »
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The P+ is still working well for me. My average sale is now about 30% higher than it was before P+. I'm projected to earn about the same on Istock this month as I did in May 2010 although downloads are likely to be down over 30%.

lagereek

« Reply #37 on: May 23, 2011, 11:39 »
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The P+ is still working well for me. My average sale is now about 30% higher than it was before P+. I'm projected to earn about the same on Istock this month as I did in May 2010 although downloads are likely to be down over 30%.

Well thats just it!  a few more quid here and there?  the amount of dls, are no better off. So, over a period of time the P+, will stagnate but where are the dls? just to add.

Fair enough for somebody with a reasonable small Port, etc,  this could be a good move because you dont expect much anyway but for long-term contributors with a couple of thousand+ images and comparing with shall we say before the latest best match change, this P+  is really a drop in the ocean and had I known they were not in any way going to support it?  I would never had nominated any,  for what? couple of bucks? 
« Last Edit: May 23, 2011, 12:17 by lagereek »

lisafx

« Reply #38 on: May 23, 2011, 13:11 »
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The P+ is still working well for me. My average sale is now about 30% higher than it was before P+. I'm projected to earn about the same on Istock this month as I did in May 2010 although downloads are likely to be down over 30%.

Well thats just it!  a few more quid here and there?  the amount of dls, are no better off. So, over a period of time the P+, will stagnate but where are the dls? just to add.

Fair enough for somebody with a reasonable small Port, etc,  this could be a good move because you dont expect much anyway but for long-term contributors with a couple of thousand+ images and comparing with shall we say before the latest best match change, this P+  is really a drop in the ocean and had I known they were not in any way going to support it?  I would never had nominated any,  for what? couple of bucks? 

Yes, I am willing to have images in P+ for a couple of extra bucks.  By that I mean that sales are dropping like a rock at Istock and have been for some time.   It is unlikely I can do anything to increase my number of downloads.  Certainly uploading more material seems to have no affect.  If the only thing I can do to increase my income there is to add images to P+, then that will have to do. 

I don't think any of us is naive enough, at this point, to imagine that P+ is going to turn things around at Istock.  I was just wondering if it would cause further decline in sales.  Looks like the majority of reports are that it doesn't. 

So if all I can get is a little bit more money per sale, then why not?

« Reply #39 on: May 23, 2011, 13:35 »
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I dont understand really.. I understand when contributors say "downloads are going down" but when they "complain" about making a few more bucks thats not understandable.. better to be without a few more bucks??

when we have "less" money or money, we dont want more???

I dont see a downside on this photo+ actually.. unless IS was crazy giving you a lot of sales and you are taking a bigger risk joining p+

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #40 on: May 23, 2011, 13:51 »
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when they "complain" about making a few more bucks thats not understandable..

It's because money doesn't make you happy of course.

However - after a few weeks in the program - I agree it seems there are no downsides to P+, a (little) more money is always welcome. Sales are steadily declining - with or without P+.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2011, 13:55 by microstockphoto.co.uk »

lagereek

« Reply #41 on: May 23, 2011, 14:26 »
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No!  didnt mean it like that! ofcourse nobody complains over a few bucks extra, not as such. Only for how long will it last, I mean the novelty of this P+, it could be just a flash in the pan and for how long can P+, carry the sinking amounts of dls, thats what I mean.
As Lisa says,  the forever sinking dls!  thats true and its worrying.

I still stick to my theory,  they simply havent got the amount of traffic anymore, which is even more worrying. Yet, Ive got a Swedish competitor here, Gold status and with plenty of Vettas and he is earning a packet and a half.

Slovenian

« Reply #42 on: May 23, 2011, 15:32 »
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Looks like the DLs are really being transferred from gold+, to silver- exclusives (especially bronzes). Of course I'm not saying overall sales aren't sinking, according to the number of ppl complaining and various site rankings (Alexa and such). If us silver- non-exclusives would be included as well, I wouldn't mind. Diamonds have earned more than enough, time for you to take the path of dinosaurs and let us have so much fun you had from 03 up until 2011 :P.

« Reply #43 on: May 23, 2011, 18:22 »
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I added my most popular images in P+ and they seem to sell at similar frequency as before... Will see after few more days. I just joined P+.
Regarding sales at IS in general, there is an evident decline from month to month. I don't think it's related only to images added to P+.

lagereek

« Reply #44 on: May 23, 2011, 23:48 »
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Sloivenian is correct here actually. Ive also noticed that most sales are going to the lower rankings and if you look at the IS forum, most complainers are in fact the higher cannisters.

« Reply #45 on: May 23, 2011, 23:55 »
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Looks like the DLs are really being transferred from gold+, to silver- exclusives (especially bronzes). Of course I'm not saying overall sales aren't sinking, according to the number of ppl complaining and various site rankings (Alexa and such). If us silver- non-exclusives would be included as well, I wouldn't mind. Diamonds have earned more than enough, time for you to take the path of dinosaurs and let us have so much fun you had from 03 up until 2011 :P.

It's all about the appeal and usefulness to buyers of images - not some social engineering notions of who is owed some time selling their images. Clearly search position matters, but there is a relationship between image quality/usefulness and sales. The reason most of the golds/diamonds are that is because they've sold a lot of useful images, not just hung around since 2003 eating bon bons. And if you look at some of the complaining diamonds, among them are some of the superstars who've reached that rank in just the last 2-3 years.

You're really barking up the wrong tree.

Slovenian

« Reply #46 on: May 24, 2011, 03:04 »
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And if you look at some of the complaining diamonds, among them are some of the superstars who've reached that rank in just the last 2-3 years.

I'm not sure I follow your logic...

Maybe IS took the Robin Hood approach. When it comes to contributors of course, they're excluding themselves. They're bringing even more to themselves as they take a bigger cut. At the same time they are demotivating high canister members and motivating the low, that won't become high for some time, no matter how hard they try. And then they'll do it all over again, the flow of new contributors is more than large enough (depends on IS again on how strict they're when it comes to "entry exams").

ayzek

« Reply #47 on: May 24, 2011, 04:48 »
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Sales similar to April.

« Reply #48 on: May 24, 2011, 06:08 »
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My May earnings are now equal with my April ones, with a week still to go in May. My downloads are on course to equal my April ones by the end of the month. Earnings should be 10% up on May last year, but downloads will be 20% down.

« Reply #49 on: May 24, 2011, 06:14 »
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My May earnings so far with still a week to go are 40% of my april ones, and my april '11 royalties were barely 50% of what they were in april '10... *weeping song*
I didnt add my full quota to P+ yet, the ones i added sell just as bad as the rest of my portfolio.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2011, 06:15 by Artemis »


 

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