MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Pond5 => Topic started by: pfiverzv on January 16, 2018, 03:06
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I am a contributor on ShutterStock and Pond5 for almost 4 years. Every month pond5 had a better sales than shutterstock. The problems I had were how to increase sales on SS, what material should I bring, pond5 was a constant, I was pleased. In the last 4 months, pond5 lost the way, I speak only about my account, I barely sell 1-2-3 footage/month. Be aware that my account now has 12K footage. If Shutterstock has increased in the last year, pond5 I don't know why it's going down. In October I sold 1 footage from more than 11K, 1!!!! footage, November and December 3 sales, January 2018 it's 16th and I sold so far...0! Nothing!
Everyone with this problem in the last months, it's weird to keep adding hundreds of videos and selling less and less?
Thanks!
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What kind of sales did you have before?
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Be aware that my account now has 12K footage.
If you only get 1-3 sales from 12k you have to be honest with yourself, and identify 1-4 of these problems:
1. Your content is not what people need, or there are similar alternatives that look better.
2. Your pricing is off.
3. Your SEO is off.
4. Your portfolio isn't really 12k - because you have too many similar clips, so maybe it's more around 1.2k. This happens a lot.
With good commercial content and the right pricing you should be able to get 50-100 sales per month at P5 from a portfolio that big.
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Always the same story, at some point, some contributors stopped selling without any explanation and logic, It happens in almost all stock agencies, I have not sold one video since October and I am sending it to the Pond5 since 2011 and every month I had a sale.
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Be aware that my account now has 12K footage.
If you only get 1-3 sales from 12k you have to be honest with yourself, and identify 1-4 of these problems:
1. Your content is not what people need, or there are similar alternatives that look better.
2. Your pricing is off.
3. Your SEO is off.
4. Your portfolio isn't really 12k - because you have too many similar clips, so maybe it's more around 1.2k. This happens a lot.
With good commercial content and the right pricing you should be able to get 50-100 sales per month at P5 from a portfolio that big.
Agreed. If I had 12K clips, and they all sold as well as my current 228 clips, then I'd be getting an average of 574 sales a month!
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Always the same story, at some point, some contributors stopped selling without any explanation and logic, It happens in almost all stock agencies, I have not sold one video since October and I am sending it to the Pond5 since 2011 and every month I had a sale.
My thoughts entirely.
Early days for me on Pond5, been there a year, have 500 clips so far on there.
But if people aren't getting sales from a portfolio of 12k of clips, there is no hope for my small portfolio!
And 4 years to get to 12k of clips is pretty good going!
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I have 800 files and get more than 3 downloads a month.
So like others have said, it might be worth exploring new themes for more sales.
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What's your reaction then to the "Microstock Poll Results"? Pond5 is now part of the top four - a position I've never seen it in before.
I never worry about day to day, week to week or even month to month sales. The only important statistic, IMO, is year to year and so far Pond5 (along with the five other agencies I work with) have consistently out earned from the previous years.
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Here is another similar thread: http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/40-days-with-no-sales/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/40-days-with-no-sales/)
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Can we see your port?
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
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Thank you for your reply.
Talking about SEO, everything I upload, is on the page 1-5 from 500 sometimes. I'm not debating here my material, I'm not a pro contributor, I know that, but surely I'm no amateur shooting parks and dogs and lakes. My stock has tourism landmarks (london, paris, amsterdam, madrid, barcelona, dubai, sofia, lyon, edinburgh, etc etc) and around 8K of model release footage.
I ask others contributors if there sales drop 10 times or more in the last 4 months. Suddenly it happened to my account to stop selling, in the past more I added more I sold. Now I'm not selling what I used to sell in the past, I add more material, I don't sell the new, I don't sell the old. I contacted pond5 support, and they said that market is getting bigger, more contributors, more material, the sales would divide to more and more people, bigger competition lower sales.
So, you who have pond5 accounts for some time, did your sales drop dramatically ??? Thanks
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
Really good footage. Excellent drone shots and I like the color grading too.
I haven't flown my bird for several months now, as they introduced a very unclear "rule" here in the UK: at least 150m from buildings in "built up areas" (whatever that means).
Also every single country here in old Europe has different rules, so it is getting very hard.
I have gone back to shooting mainly timelapses
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Thank you for your reply.
Talking about SEO, everything I upload, is on the page 1-5 from 500 sometimes. I'm not debating here my material, I'm not a pro contributor, I know that, but surely I'm no amateur shooting parks and dogs and lakes. My stock has tourism landmarks (london, paris, amsterdam, madrid, barcelona, dubai, sofia, lyon, edinburgh, etc etc) and around 8K of model release footage.
I ask others contributors if there sales drop 10 times or more in the last 4 months. Suddenly it happened to my account to stop selling, in the past more I added more I sold. Now I'm not selling what I used to sell in the past, I add more material, I don't sell the new, I don't sell the old. I contacted pond5 support, and they said that market is getting bigger, more contributors, more material, the sales would divide to more and more people, bigger competition lower sales.
So, you who have pond5 accounts for some time, did your sales drop dramatically ??? Thanks
I have noticed that in P5 forum a lot of users are complaining about poor sales, even the ones that used always to boast excellent sales in the past.
I really like Pond 5, but their membership program has obviously heavily cannibalised sales, as it was largely expected
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
Really great work! Which camera do you use?
regards
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My sales are not that great either. It does seem to decline, even though I have made a lot of efforts to increase my port to over 1000. I only got about 2 sales in Nov and one in Dec., and has got none for January 2018. :'(
Please critique if you could spare a moment: https://www.pond5.com/artist/charlinex (https://www.pond5.com/artist/charlinex)
Are my prices too high or too low?
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
Really good footage. Excellent drone shots and I like the color grading too.
I haven't flown my bird for several months now, as they introduced a very unclear "rule" here in the UK: at least 150m from buildings in "built up areas" (whatever that means).
Also every single country here in old Europe has different rules, so it is getting very hard.
I have gone back to shooting mainly timelapses
Yeah it's getting tricky to keep up with drone rules everywhere. I think the main think is to just be safe.
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
Really great work! Which camera do you use?
regards
Thanks! I use a Panasonic GH4 and Phantom 4 Pro, for now. GH4 might need a new upgraded companion soon.
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I have sold very well on Pond5.
It's one of my best agencies.
But I have to say that this January was far below average.
Curious.
I hope February returns to normal.
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I'm pretty sure those flying a copter in busy city center, have all the rights and document to do this, especially if they sell it, because law tell the difference between fun and work. in contrary the day something goes wrong i'm pretty sure will be very big problems.
i remember a guy flying in seattle and hitting the tower, ending up in jail.
drone is not a joke, especially 4 motors.
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Thanks! I use a Panasonic GH4 and Phantom 4 Pro, for now. GH4 might need a new upgraded companion soon.
Have the same equipment right now :) P4P is great. I really like your pricing :D hope the sales are good!
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
Really good footage. Excellent drone shots and I like the color grading too.
I haven't flown my bird for several months now, as they introduced a very unclear "rule" here in the UK: at least 150m from buildings in "built up areas" (whatever that means).
Also every single country here in old Europe has different rules, so it is getting very hard.
I have gone back to shooting mainly timelapses
There's nothing unclear about drone rules in the UK.
For any commercial flying - commercial means any form of present or future payment or compensation of any kind - you need to be qualified and with insurance.
Training and Flight test £1000-£2000
Commercial Drone Insurance may cost £400
Ops manual
CAA permission (costs £173)
To get CAA permission you supply:
Operations Manual including a photo of UAV
Copies of remote pilots qualifications
Evidence of at least 2 hours flight time in the preceding 3 months
Copy of commercial flight insurance
Payment notification form FCs1500
I get the feeling many guys with drones shooting for stock are actually on a wing and a prayer rather than CAA permisson.
First Person View or FPV, is the practice of flying an aircraft using the view from a camera mounted on the aircraft. Although it’s great fun, flying a drone commercially using FPV is illegal. The pilot has to be able to see the aircraft at all times. This is called Visual Line of Sight or VLOS.
All UAV operators have restrictions on how close they can fly to people. You must maintain an exclusion of 30m at point of take-off and 50m at all other times, away from any person, vehicle or building that’s outside of your control. Obviously, if you are in control of the building or the people you can fly much closer.
The maximum distance that any UAV or drone can fly away from the pilot is 500m. But most importantly, the aircraft must stay in sight and the pilot must be able to control the aircraft still without any visual aids.
The maximum height that any UAV can fly at without special permission from the CAA is 400 feet (122 m) above ground level. This is normally high enough for most applications. But most importantly, the aircraft must stay in sight.
To operate a UAV or ‘drone’ commercially, you must have permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – the CAA control all airspace use in the UK. This comes in the form of a Permission for Commercial Operation or PfCO. To get a PfCO you must prove that you are competent to safely operate your aircraft.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulates all commercial UAV operations in the UK. It’s actually a criminal offence for anyone to operate a UAV or even a toy drone for any commercial purposes without having a Permission for Commercial Operation (PfCO) from the CAA. Even taking pictures of your neighbour’s house for a pint is considered commercial work.
Etc Etc......
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I have to agree with others... 12k clips should be wearing much more. Could be a lot of factors. Adding a link to your portfolio could bring some good constructive criticism to help you out with this. I've uploaded about 1,200 clips in less than 3 years at Pond5 and earning over a thousand dollars per month. I'm sure there's people with an even better sales to portfolio size ratio.
My Pond5 Port:
https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063 (https://www.pond5.com/artist/openrangestock#1/2063)
Really good footage. Excellent drone shots and I like the color grading too.
I haven't flown my bird for several months now, as they introduced a very unclear "rule" here in the UK: at least 150m from buildings in "built up areas" (whatever that means).
Also every single country here in old Europe has different rules, so it is getting very hard.
I have gone back to shooting mainly timelapses
There's nothing unclear about drone rules in the UK.
For any commercial flying - commercial means any form of present or future payment or compensation of any kind - you need to be qualified and with insurance.
Training and Flight test £1000-£2000
Commercial Drone Insurance may cost £400
Ops manual
CAA permission (costs £173)
To get CAA permission you supply:
Operations Manual including a photo of UAV
Copies of remote pilots qualifications
Evidence of at least 2 hours flight time in the preceding 3 months
Copy of commercial flight insurance
Payment notification form FCs1500
I get the feeling many guys with drones shooting for stock are actually on a wing and a prayer rather than CAA permisson.
First Person View or FPV, is the practice of flying an aircraft using the view from a camera mounted on the aircraft. Although it’s great fun, flying a drone commercially using FPV is illegal. The pilot has to be able to see the aircraft at all times. This is called Visual Line of Sight or VLOS.
All UAV operators have restrictions on how close they can fly to people. You must maintain an exclusion of 30m at point of take-off and 50m at all other times, away from any person, vehicle or building that’s outside of your control. Obviously, if you are in control of the building or the people you can fly much closer.
The maximum distance that any UAV or drone can fly away from the pilot is 500m. But most importantly, the aircraft must stay in sight and the pilot must be able to control the aircraft still without any visual aids.
The maximum height that any UAV can fly at without special permission from the CAA is 400 feet (122 m) above ground level. This is normally high enough for most applications. But most importantly, the aircraft must stay in sight.
To operate a UAV or ‘drone’ commercially, you must have permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – the CAA control all airspace use in the UK. This comes in the form of a Permission for Commercial Operation or PfCO. To get a PfCO you must prove that you are competent to safely operate your aircraft.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulates all commercial UAV operations in the UK. It’s actually a criminal offence for anyone to operate a UAV or even a toy drone for any commercial purposes without having a Permission for Commercial Operation (PfCO) from the CAA. Even taking pictures of your neighbour’s house for a pint is considered commercial work.
Etc Etc......
the point is that if something happen, it will be easy to discover they sold video and make money from a commercial point of view...in my country if you do this you risk 200 thousand euro of fine for lack of proper insurance, and they must pray not hitting anybody.
i hope the agency soon will be forced to request permission document for video shot in public places.
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https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/man-charged-with-piloting-drone-that-struck-space-needle-on-new-years-eve/ (https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/man-charged-with-piloting-drone-that-struck-space-needle-on-new-years-eve/)
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the point is that if something happen, it will be easy to discover they sold video and make money from a commercial point of view...in my country if you do this you risk 200 thousand euro of fine for lack of proper insurance, and they must pray not hitting anybody.
i hope the agency soon will be forced to request permission document for video shot in public places.
Where are you from?
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January and february 2018 update on my account: shutterstock sales in these 2 months - 27 sales and a lot of days till the end of february (more than 1.000 usd). Pond5 sales in these 2 months ...6 sales (less than 180 usd). Is there any reliable explanation?
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January and february 2018 update on my account: shutterstock sales in these 2 months - 27 sales and a lot of days till the end of february (more than 1.000 usd). Pond5 sales in these 2 months ...6 sales (less than 180 usd). Is there any reliable explanation?
I share your pain. I feel the same.
If you don't get many sales with a large portfolio, guess I have to feel lucky that I get sales at all.
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BME for me last month and doing well this month again. Got a sale yesterday for $109 after they'd taken their 50% cut. The clips is only $49 normally so the buyer must have extended license/coveraged it 'to the max'!
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Totally normal and steady month for me. Two sales in the first week. Not a huge port in comparison to some others but still doing well on average.
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I also sold one clip for over $100, but not from P5.
The review team is great and very fast, but only one sale for nearly a month. :'( :'(
Must be something wrong with me.
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It's obviously that we, the ones who write here angry, are not pro. BUT, pond5 for me at least was a great seller, and not just 1 month or 3 months. Almost 4 years of good income. Without being a top contributor or a specialist with the best quality material, I sold, and more I added more I sold. It was an honest income. I checked February 2017 vs February 2018, it's a disaster :)
I read opinions on sales on different forums, and a lot of contributors share the same frustration recently, so it is what it is, apparently the good times on pond5 are gone. We should accept that!
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If Adobe is on the ups that market share has to come from somewhere...
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Hi
Excuse me for writing my question here
I'm new at pond5
I uploaded some videos at pond5, after sending for review they returned two of theme for model releases. i prepared model release and also uploaded them in model release section but i can not find it to attach to my videos.
Where i can attach a model release to my videos?
Thanks for your help
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Sales on P5 are cyclic for me. Had a really good March but a lower February and a soft Jan. It's been this way for me for a couple of years when I go into video. So I don't really see any changes with P5's sales patterns. Except I did get a $125 royalty on an old picture last week. That was a nice surprise.