MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: What's up with P5  (Read 8075 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: September 12, 2019, 19:28 »
+9
Anyone else noticed a drying up of sales since P5's 20% commission grab? My SS sales are steady, P5 is struggling the past few months. Whatever they're doing with their extra commission, it doesn't seem to be increasing turnover.


« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2019, 13:23 »
+1
Another terrible month for me, although strangely enough my best sellers are still on the 1st page of results and also near the top. But all of mine and other contributors videos are below the person who sells their HD videos of a similar quality for $25, and there is me who had to increase my price in order to compensate for the drop in commission.

IMO there should be a minimum cap for HD video from $40 - $50 , that way pricing is more equal and more revenue for P5 which is what they seem to be focusing on these days.

StockDaebak

« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2019, 14:13 »
+1
Same here, August ended up better than September has been so far for me on Pond but SS is also kinda slow this month so perhaps it's across the industry.

I wonder if buyers are not shopping at pond5 as much lately due to their lowering of prices and low prices makes the product look cheap and cheap attracts a different clientele, the the clients who have no money or very low budget. High prices give even so called crap the perception of value and high prices sell.

Reuters content sells on Pond5 for $1100/clip and NewsFlare for $150 to $300 per clip so it is viable to sell at those prices,  professional customers also know the cost of production and they know you can't do it for $49/clip or they assume there is something wrong with the clip, stolen or whatever.


Pond5 appears though to be trying to get a piece of all levels of the market, CPP and GPP programs for buyers in developing countries and web use only who have no money to the low, mid and higher tier buyers but what I wonder is this, does all that cheap stuff put off buyers who want and expect high quality and prices to match?.

It's like having some high priced high quality stuff in a dollar store but the dollar store atmosphere and pricing puts off customers so they walk out.

georgep7

« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2019, 02:00 »
+1
Quote
High prices give even so called crap the perception of value and high prices sell.

Not sure about this.  It is a global market. High pricing of everything works only on established branding and close markets.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2019, 02:05 by georgep7 »

« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2019, 07:40 »
+5
Anyone else noticed a drying up of sales since P5's 20% commission grab? My SS sales are steady, P5 is struggling the past few months. Whatever they're doing with their extra commission, it doesn't seem to be increasing turnover.

Very much so.  Still getting 2-3 image sales a month but the videos have been cut by 2/3.  I would get 5-6 a month now at two if I'm lucky.  But stock in general has tanked this year.  August is the first month in years where I didn't make $2500 (I used to make mid $3k a month on MS). Had roughly $1700 in Aug.  Very, very much drying up sales in MS.

StockDaebak

« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2019, 08:35 »
+2
@mantis, Your numbers are literally bang on like mine on pond5, I was making exactly the same with editorial video until April and then it crashed and of course pond5 responded in a way that didn't over very well but it's also very slow on SS so at this point my prime suspect is the rapidly developing global recession.

Companies big and small are going out of business everywhere, just this morning I am reading that Thomas Cook travel is bankrupt and 600,000 are stranded and 21,000 out of work.

I think the mentality of most businesses now is to cut spending asap and we are seeing the effects of that. It's not good.

georgep7

« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2019, 08:46 »
0
Editorial perhaps might die for individuals at Pond5 after Reuters entrance.
Their "expensive" videos actually offer multiclip sequences covering whole stories.

:(

StockDaebak

« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2019, 21:55 »
+1
Editorial perhaps might die for individuals at Pond5 after Reuters entrance.
Their "expensive" videos actually offer multiclip sequences covering whole stories.

:(

Really starting to look that way and while they can upload full stories with B-roll and interviews we have to upload individual clips with no audio, checkmate? I think so once again.

I guess it's simply more economically viable for agencies like Pond5 to do these deals with Newsflare and Reuters and others as opposed to dealing with us, we don't know the terms or those deals but it's probably working out for the agencies or their wouldn't be doing it.

I just wish I had seen this coming, I sure saw the recession coming as far back as February and worried that it might be slow but I kept uploading like crazy and come April they started to make some plays that basically made it impossible for my clips to be found let alone purchased and if the odd buyer did find a clip of mine they offered the buyer a 30% discount.

Literally went for $3000/month to around $200/month or less in April.   August was better believe it or not but September has been rather slow at Pond and SS so no major fall uptick in sales this year.




« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2019, 13:58 »
0
Anyone else noticed a drying up of sales since P5's 20% commission grab? My SS sales are steady, P5 is struggling the past few months. Whatever they're doing with their extra commission, it doesn't seem to be increasing turnover.

Very much so.  Still getting 2-3 image sales a month but the videos have been cut by 2/3.  I would get 5-6 a month now at two if I'm lucky.  But stock in general has tanked this year.  August is the first month in years where I didn't make $2500 (I used to make mid $3k a month on MS). Had roughly $1700 in Aug.  Very, very much drying up sales in MS.

Hey Mantis,
Your numbers are exactly the same as mine.
Coincidence, or are the manipulating us the same as Shutterstock?

StockDaebak

« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2019, 14:06 »
0
Interesting to see more than one of us with almost the exact same numbers pre-April and now, but in my case my SS numbers are down as well so it's not just a pond5 thing but maybe we feel it more because pond5 is leading the race to the bottom and discounting now to the extreme, all they care about is performance and sales metrics and if they have to discount our content to achieve those metrics they will do it as it doesn't cost them anything.

So there is that plus perhaps pond5 is feeling more of the slowdown in general, it affects different sites in different ways same as in conventional retail.

Something I think we and myself included are forgetting about with respect to the higher end clients is production cycles, if work for our clients for fall and winter started dropping off then we felt it in April no doubt as that's when they are buying and going into production for delivery in the fall.

Similar to retail, winter clothing is designed and produced in the spring and summer for fall and winter delivery.

What I don't like is down this fall is going so far, it's slow, September has not been good on Pond5 or SS so far and this is usually a good time.

« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2019, 14:48 »
0
They're having another town hall meeting on October 8th, might be a good time to see if they can address our concerns.

StockDaebak

« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2019, 21:31 »
+4
They're having another town hall meeting on October 8th, might be a good time to see if they can address our concerns.

I suspect they will keep on with their agenda of lying to us, telling us conversions and sales went up due to the price search cap and other experiments and avoid all questions that actually matter.   It really looks like the investors or other management have taken control of that company, it's not the same Pond5.

They also appointed themselves as stewards of the marketplace....really?, and they are limited non-exlusive sellers to $79HD and $1794K but allowing Reuters to sell their content for $1100 per clip and Reuters is allowed to upload full sequences with interviews and audio all while we are only allowed one shot per clip with no audio.

It's like when that new CEO took over and he raised the minimum prices we could sell HD and 4K at and said it was because we feel you should value your work and it turned out to be so we couldn't undercut their membership sales program.

Everything they tell us that is supposed to be for the benefit of artists translates to the direct opposite including the exclusive program.

They have a new admin in their forums now, he introduced himself, told us to keep it civil and already is in keeping with the pond5 tradition of conducting one way conversations, he refuses to answer multiple questions in the forum.

Hard lesson learned here for me, NEVER put all or a majority of eggs in one basket, I wasn't exclusive but I should have been more diligent in uploading every frame of video I have to SS as well. Every company can change their rules and policies or ways of doing business at any time so never put off uploading to the other viable sites, now I am playing catch up with SS and it's an eternity even with a moderately fast internet connection.















« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2019, 08:15 »
+1
My guess is that they lost a few big clients to other sites. 

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #13 on: October 05, 2019, 09:05 »
0
They're having another town hall meeting on October 8th, might be a good time to see if they can address our concerns.

I suspect they will keep on with their agenda of lying to us, telling us conversions and sales went up due to the price search cap and other experiments and avoid all questions that actually matter.   It really looks like the investors or other management have taken control of that company, it's not the same Pond5.

They also appointed themselves as stewards of the marketplace....really?, and they are limited non-exlusive sellers to $79HD and $1794K but allowing Reuters to sell their content for $1100 per clip and Reuters is allowed to upload full sequences with interviews and audio all while we are only allowed one shot per clip with no audio.

It's like when that new CEO took over and he raised the minimum prices we could sell HD and 4K at and said it was because we feel you should value your work and it turned out to be so we couldn't undercut their membership sales program.

Everything they tell us that is supposed to be for the benefit of artists translates to the direct opposite including the exclusive program.

They have a new admin in their forums now, he introduced himself, told us to keep it civil and already is in keeping with the pond5 tradition of conducting one way conversations, he refuses to answer multiple questions in the forum.

Hard lesson learned here for me, NEVER put all or a majority of eggs in one basket, I wasn't exclusive but I should have been more diligent in uploading every frame of video I have to SS as well. Every company can change their rules and policies or ways of doing business at any time so never put off uploading to the other viable sites, now I am playing catch up with SS and it's an eternity even with a moderately fast internet connection.

my dream is that all those agency fail tomorrow and we start again, with more quality and normal price....but it's a dream...or wait maybe soon will be reality...let's wait next ss quarter call to see as i expect that shutter stock is beginning losing money...

StockDaebak

« Reply #14 on: October 05, 2019, 09:13 »
+1
My guess is that they lost a few big clients to other sites.

I'm thinking it might be more a case of business being down for the clients and in turn they need less of what we produce.  I blame the recession and the economy #1 and then you I guess Pond5 didn't going about it the best way as they themselves scrambled to offset the losses.

I think we need to look at production cycles more, the sudden drop in April across all sites was a clue.   I guess there is that saying a rising tide lifts all boats but when the water drains we see who was swimming naked.

StockDaebak

« Reply #15 on: October 05, 2019, 09:19 »
+2
my dream is that all those agency fail tomorrow and we start again, with more quality and normal price....but it's a dream...or wait maybe soon will be reality...let's wait next ss quarter call to see as i expect that shutter stock is beginning losing money...
[/quote]

Sadly, I think you are going to be right, SS being a public company has to report it's results and I think we are close to seeing a loss, this fall selling season has been noticeably slower than normal and for all we know Pond5 may be losing money but they don't report their financial.

I hate to say it but so many startups have been swimming naked and now the water is draining, Look at Uber and WeWork for example, could they be the next Lehman brothers?.

As business for me drops like a stone plus income cut due to the changes as pond5 I have looked at self hosting and direct selling and the server space and transfer and all the costs associated with a website and it's not viable. Now I worry that these agencies have only been viable due to venture capital funds and tough decisions are coming.






marthamarks

« Reply #16 on: October 05, 2019, 14:07 »
+1
As business for me drops like a stone plus income cut due to the changes as pond5 I have looked at self hosting and direct selling and the server space and transfer and all the costs associated with a website and it's not viable.

Not sure if you were part of the Symbiostock effort, but lots of us here were. After investing tons of time/work and some money into it, I came out of the experience wiser and sadder.

Microstock may or may not have a long-term future, but for the average "shooter" it's probably the best (if not the only) option.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2019, 14:46 by marthamarks »

StockDaebak

« Reply #17 on: October 06, 2019, 09:32 »
0
Not sure if you were part of the Symbiostock effort, but lots of us here were. After investing tons of time/work and some money into it, I came out of the experience wiser and sadder.

Microstock may or may not have a long-term future, but for the average "shooter" it's probably the best (if not the only) option.
[/quote]

I wasn't part of Symbiostock but I did hear and read about it, didn't end up trying it because at the time I was doing quite well at Pond5 and SS until of course April 2019 happened.  So you are probably right, Microstock is the best option for now, just have to mass produce content/upload/sleep/repeat and of course try and figure out what the customer wants not what we want to shoot.

Not easy that's for sure. 


 

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors