How much are you missing (%) ? Canva is Australian based, form thats 30% less

5,62%

They take 30% in taxes if your country doesn't have tax treaty or something

My country has a tax treaty.

Usually they send you you payment by the 15th of the month, but sometimes it's later, I got some payments at 16th of the month and also 18th and 19th, but some were sooner than 15th. You also need to reach 100$ mark to receive automated payment.

EDIT I haven't received mine yet for this month.

Thank you. Yes, I reached 100$ (though you can also set the treshold lower in your account settings). Then I'll wait. Doesn't look like I have much choice either way. Would just be nice to know whether I can expect the money this month or next month.

My commercial stuff is getting 80-100% rejected. Editorial 80-100% accepted.
Same photographer, camera, lenses, lighting, and composition.

Different Reviewer.

That's because editorial stuff doesn't have the same technical requirements regarding things like focus or grain.

"For Documentary Editorial images the quality standards are more lenient." https://support.submit.shutterstock.com/s/article/How-do-I-submit-editorial-content?language=en_US

If you have a rejection rate of 80-100% with commercial photos you really should reevaluate your photography technique  there is something wrong with your image quality.
Don't always look for the problem at SS reviewers or some AI that might ore might not exist. If that's where the problem is all people would face a similar rejection rate. I think a rejection rate above 10% already shows that there is a problem with your image.

Last month I got my Payment from Shutterstock on the 15th, so I would not worry yet.

Congratulations! You got 47% more than me for a sale with the same licence type on Alamy last month.

Yeah, my bestsellers with hundrets of sales on Shutterstock are "not used yet". 
The data is all messed up.

But the main thing (as mentioned already above) is how can  you claim to be 'ethical' while selling files for low prices and scraping off 60%?
What would you say if a customer asked  you that? "We do it because we have all the power. Suppliers are free to leave."?

Let's be realistic here. The problem is, the customers most likely won't ask for that. Every company wants to join on the diversity bandwagon these days. Not because they are so concerned about the issue, but because it's "in" these days. It's a marketing strategy. "Oh, look, we are so diverse!"  They probably want to print in some flyer how diverse their image providers are.
And I think it's good that diversity is more represented these days! I am all for inclusion. I just don't buy that it's anything but a marketing campaign when I see for example an advertisement for a body lotion with women of different skin colors and body shapes. I don't feel like it's "honest".
Payment on the other hand? Most companies don't care what the contributors or any other workers get paid. They got away with paying low wages forever. No one but the people getting paid poorly really care, because everyone fears that paying them fairer will lead to higher prices somewhere for someone else one way or another.
"Paying well" is not in, but everything is about diversity these days. Diversity doesn't cost a company anything.

I don't think payout on Adobe takes all that long compared to other agencies? I always request my payout at the last day of the month. I got my money on the 4th this month, last month it was on the 7th. With 4-7 days Adobe doesn't seem to take longer than other agencies?

It's similar to SS and istock/getty and faster than most of the others:  On Alamy my earliest payment was on the 8th and the lastest on the 13th of a month. Depositphotos is random. I had payment sent to me on the same day I made the request before, sometimes it takes several days. Bigstock is the worst, because they always pay you on the 15th and If you reach minimum payout and request payment on the 16th you will have to wait a full month till the payment is processed.

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 11:10

I can't just order something online, then I cancel my account with the online shop and think that makes my sales agreement invalid. This is not really different.

It is a whole lot different. I didn't cancel a purchase and I certainly didn't get any product shipped in return for my recurring payment. If I cancel an order in an online shop as long as it's technically possible (i.e. not in delivery) it's just cancelled. I wouldn't want my money back just because I changed my mind when it's already on the way. And in that case I'm happy (or unhappy) at least with the physical product i got.

In this case, however, they are billing for what exactly?

Yes, you didn't cancel a purchase - you just deleted your account. That's the problem.
And you did get a "product" - The product of Shuttertock's annual subsription plan is that you are allowed to download X images per month. You don't have to, but you will still get charged, not for the images, but for being allowed to download them. It's like an online newspaper subscription: If you subscribe, you have to pay, regardless of whether you actually read all, a few or no online articles at all.
You agreed to that.

Look, most of us like to bash Shuttesrtock wherever we can, but in this case you are just wrong. This is not fraud. You agreed to these terms and conditions when signing up for the trial!

The 10 images per month annual plan will automatically charge you each month for EUR XX �, allowing you to continue to download content without interruption. If you wish to cancel during your free trial period, visit the Plans section of the My Account page here

.  The link leads to your account page where you will find a link called "Cancel plan early" which you have to cklick on before the free trial period ends. That's what you have to do to cancel the plan and you agreed to that, so you can't call it fraud whenthe only problem here is that you did not follow the cancellation process you agreed to.

Don't sign stuff on the internet without properly reading what you sign up for! No one really wants to give you anything for "free".

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 04:06

Quote from: Annie on November 12, 2021, 03:55

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 03:34

Quote from: Annie on November 12, 2021, 03:21

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 01:30

Quote from: Annie on November 11, 2021, 17:43

Same here. AS has a really great algorithm IMO. If you get quick sales on new work, the algorithm repays you tenfold. And that�s where I am making the most money. More so on AS than other agencies.

I haven't put any of my work there up for free. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Please tell me your secret then!
Because I can't get Adobe to sell new content at all. Most of my sales there seem to come from a fixed set of older images that keep selling regularly and once in a full moon some random other image will sell, but I don't have any other agency where new images sell as poorly (= basically not at all) as on Adobe!  Getting new content to sell is difficult on all agencies to begin with, but on Adobe I always thought they had the worst algorithm for promoting new content of all agencies.
 

Firn, I hope you don't mind but I had a quick look at your new work on SS, I should have looked on AS but SS was easier, and I noticed at least 3 things that I do differently to you.

First of all, and I feel a bit awkward giving advice about AS because Mat Hayward is on here and he would know better than me, but I have always thought of AS as the designer agency. So once again, its about knowing your buyers.

So, the things I noticed about your shots vs mine: I offer twice the size as you (ie at least 6000 x 4000 px vs a lot of yours are only 3k x 2k), a lot more copy space than you (especially important if you're selling to designers) and I offer a lot more new trends (eg. colors, themes, etc)

People have been arguing with me about following trends for years, but I stopped listening to them a long time ago, and have been laughing all the way to the bank ever since. You know how many dls I get, so I dont have to go into any more detail than that.

As for selling to designers, I was a graphic designer, so that helps, and early this year I opened up an account with DesignBundles.com, and did a lot of research on what I can shoot to sell to those designers. One day I decided to upload them to AS and they have been selling like hotcakes ever since. A few sell on other agencies, but mainly on AS. Once again, the designer agency (because their buyers come through their software)

I am also on social media every night looking for new and popular trends in colors and styling - and that's how I get so many dls as well. My huge success from my holiday candyland cakes started back then in 2018, and been selling ever since. I remember at the time seeing all these eye-popping crazy cakes on Pinterest that were being pinned like crazy, I checked back to microstock databases and almost nothing there.

And thats the same with sooooooooooo many things I find on social media. I think contributors are still shooting too many traditional things without doing a lot of research.

No, Annie, I don't mind at all, on the contrary, I am very thankful for your advice.

I think you mentioned that you see a connection between good sales and image size before at some point and I actually try to implement this and while I always used to submit in 3kx2k, I now often try to go bigger, but I am afraid I am either simply not a good enough photographer or don't have have the right equipment. Most of my images will have way too much noise or a too soft focus in 6Kx4K size to get accepted by agencies like Shutterstock.
About the copy space I will try to keep that in mind. I actually thought I was already creating versions with a decent amount of copy space, but apparently not. 

But, Annie, this is all good advice to get more sales overall, but I am not sure it explains why on Adobe I can't get new images to sell? Because for me it's really a problem that stands out on Adobe. This year around Halloween I wasn't really able to establish and decent bestseller, but last year for example I added a series of images that performed well on ALL agencies - Expect on Adobe. 0 sales there. So for me it's really Adobe that fails to promote my new work and I am not sure image size or copy space is the reason why new images sell on other agencies but not on Adobe? That's what baffles me. I am not complaining about poor sales in general, just how on Adobe my newer works seems to stay unnoticed.

Ok, I just had another quick look at your Halloween searching by fresh images - and I see a lot of pumpkins and a lot of orange. Very traditional.

I dont shoot pumpkins anymore because that subject is too oversaturated for me. My thought is, its already done so why shoot it.

I made killing on AS this October - and I can give this away now because Halloween is over - I looked at Pinterest for what was trending a few months ago - and it was PINK halloween. So, this year I did one big Halloween party table shoot in pink, black and white theme, and lots of background flatlays - and some of my images and stop motion videos made it to the first page of those respective searches on AS. A couple on SS as well. It was big hit. Not a lot of competition. Thats what you have to go for.

But that's all the tips and trade secrets from me for now  - I dont want to give too much away on a public forum. lol ;-)


Firn, I think you're a great photographer. I love your puppies. So cute. You've done extremely well for someone who only started a few years ago. I think you just need a few tweaks here and there and you can do even better.

But AS's algorithm is great if you can find new stuff that designers want. A friend explained this me just this morning: "Yes, I like Adobe, remember they have that 30 days rank thing, then images are pretty well fixed where they are. Early views and sales are important. Which is good for your current type of material, instead of long run kind of things."

Pumpkins and "traditional" Halloween stuff don't do well for me on Halloween. What sells well for me are my dogs - same as on all other holidays. That's where I make the most money with. The shoot I was talking about that failed so miserably on Adobe was from this one: https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/french-buldog-dog-wearing-red-halloween-1831416523
So much work, I sew all the costumes myself, drove all the way to a cemetary where I could take dogs, embarassed myself by desecrating graves and then none of the images sold on Adobe at all. That was disappointing. 
I admit I don't look out so much for new trends, that's certainly something I have to look into. But as said, since it's my dogs that sell well and I like to stick to that as it works for me I am not sure trends is something I can implement there. Though, thinking about it, actually I could probably have made some "pink Halloween" themes with my dogs too.
Again, thanky ou for your advice. Thanks for taking the time! I will try to work on my copy space issue and try to look out more for new trends.

OK> another tip. I am trying not to be too negative. So dont worry too much about what I say - only take on what you think is ok. In the bulldog wearing red halloween pic - there is too much distraction in the background. Another angle perhaps?  If I was a designer looking for a pic like that - I would move on to something else. Because of lack of copy space usually.

What I do is shoot something like that with a full background is have one like that - and then move everything else to the side and shoot with a lot of copy space. Or for your puppy I might have brought him home and shoot him against a plain background with lots of negative space in a studio shot. And then see what sells most.

Your doggy pics are great though and wow, you do a great job on the costumes! I didnt know that. Well, play to your strengths, I always say. Your doggy pics and costumes are great.

Thank you very much for taking all this effort. I am not taking it as being negative. I always welcome advice when it's constructive and actually gives me an idea of what to improve.
I  have another one with that costume that should have more than enough copy space, as it's isolated:
https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/french-buldog-dog-red-devil-halloween-1792920889
But I could not say one sells more than the other. But maybe isolated images is a whole other topic altogether. I don't know.

I just wanted to write how my best selling dog photo on SS and Adobe (two completely dfferent photos) don't have proper copy space at all and still sell well, but actually I was wrong. I looked through my folders where I collect screenshot of all online uses I can find and even though these images don't have much copy space in many cases the people buying them still added text to the empty areas, even though there was't much space available. You are definitly right with the copy space being something that buyers are looking for. As said, I thought I often tried to implement copy space, but it looks like I have to pay more attention to this. Thank you very much.

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 01:30

Quote from: Annie on November 11, 2021, 17:43

Same here. AS has a really great algorithm IMO. If you get quick sales on new work, the algorithm repays you tenfold. And that�s where I am making the most money. More so on AS than other agencies.

I haven't put any of my work there up for free. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Please tell me your secret then!
Because I can't get Adobe to sell new content at all. Most of my sales there seem to come from a fixed set of older images that keep selling regularly and once in a full moon some random other image will sell, but I don't have any other agency where new images sell as poorly (= basically not at all) as on Adobe!  Getting new content to sell is difficult on all agencies to begin with, but on Adobe I always thought they had the worst algorithm for promoting new content of all agencies.
 

Firn, I hope you don't mind but I had a quick look at your new work on SS, I should have looked on AS but SS was easier, and I noticed at least 3 things that I do differently to you.

First of all, and I feel a bit awkward giving advice about AS because Mat Hayward is on here and he would know better than me, but I have always thought of AS as the designer agency. So once again, its about knowing your buyers.

So, the things I noticed about your shots vs mine: I offer twice the size as you (ie at least 6000 x 4000 px vs a lot of yours are only 3k x 2k), a lot more copy space than you (especially important if you're selling to designers) and I offer a lot more new trends (eg. colors, themes, etc)

People have been arguing with me about following trends for years, but I stopped listening to them a long time ago, and have been laughing all the way to the bank ever since. You know how many dls I get, so I dont have to go into any more detail than that.

As for selling to designers, I was a graphic designer, so that helps, and early this year I opened up an account with DesignBundles.com, and did a lot of research on what I can shoot to sell to those designers. One day I decided to upload them to AS and they have been selling like hotcakes ever since. A few sell on other agencies, but mainly on AS. Once again, the designer agency (because their buyers come through their software)

I am also on social media every night looking for new and popular trends in colors and styling - and that's how I get so many dls as well. My huge success from my holiday candyland cakes started back then in 2018, and been selling ever since. I remember at the time seeing all these eye-popping crazy cakes on Pinterest that were being pinned like crazy, I checked back to microstock databases and almost nothing there.

And thats the same with sooooooooooo many things I find on social media. I think contributors are still shooting too many traditional things without doing a lot of research.

No, Annie, I don't mind at all, on the contrary, I am very thankful for your advice.

I think you mentioned that you see a connection between good sales and image size before at some point and I actually try to implement this and while I always used to submit in 3kx2k, I now often try to go bigger, but I am afraid I am either simply not a good enough photographer or don't have have the right equipment. Most of my images will have way too much noise or a too soft focus in 6Kx4K size to get accepted by agencies like Shutterstock.
About the copy space I will try to keep that in mind. I actually thought I was already creating versions with a decent amount of copy space, but apparently not. 

But, Annie, this is all good advice to get more sales overall, but I am not sure it explains why on Adobe I can't get new images to sell? Because for me it's really a problem that stands out on Adobe. This year around Halloween I wasn't really able to establish and decent bestseller, but last year for example I added a series of images that performed well on ALL agencies - Expect on Adobe. 0 sales there. I was really frustrated about it, because that shoot was so much work and I felt like the images could have done so well on Adobe, if only they promoted them correctly. So for me it's really Adobe that fails to promote my new work and I am not sure image size or copy space is the reason why new images sell on other agencies but not on Adobe? That's what baffles me. I am not complaining about poor sales in general, just how on Adobe my newer works seems to stay unnoticed.

I think with Alamy the content that sells well there is really very specific.
For me Dreamstime does much better than Alamy. I make payout there quite regularly, while I only seem to get money from Alamy once in a blue moon - especially since they takes so long to actually pay me for my sales, so even though I had quite a few big sales this year, I think I only made payout there twice in 2021?
Dreamstime hit some kind of low for me starting at the beginning of October, but I still have daily sales and before that it used to be my best selling agency of the "small" ones.
It looks like for Alamy I don't seem to have the kind of content their buyers are looking for. People keep saying news-relevant content does well there, but for me the topics of photos that sell are very random. I once sold a photo of a cupcake there for like $300.  But then again I probably simply don't have enough sales there to see any pattern in it.