My better months on SS net me some 2000 downloads. I am under 700 so far this month, with this week being particularly slow, so I guess we are slowly going down the pan.

Quote from: KuriousKat on March 14, 2018, 05:52

Quote from: derek on March 14, 2018, 04:41

Its not the usual tons of bugs and glitches we are seeing at SS right now I spoke to somebody with 100% insight of this and he said thousands of ports are affected with either zero or really low earnings?? wouldnt say what it was though! just saying!

Now I dont want any ghost buster coming along with the same bunch of crap because I am just forwarding some info I got hold of.

I must be in the 'really low' group, and yesterday and today have totally tanked - down by about 75% over the usual day. Did your friend give any insight as to when we might expect this to be fixed?

Same here!

Then I guess misery loves company - I am glad to know I'm not alone!

I keep expecting something to be fixed and trigger the sales again but, at the moment, there are no signs of a reprieve. I can't see any obvious bugs, like missing keywords that have been reported by other contributors recently, and I'm praying this isn't some sort of new norm.

I know sales patterns have changed a lot over the last 18-24 months, but this is suddenly very poor, even by my adjusted expectations.

I uploaded a handful of images to test it, using good sellers that have been in my portfolio for years. I know these images are all over the internet, because I can find hits using Google or Tineye. In a but one case, Pixsy didn't find any matches.

I think there is enough sensible people around, with sufficient sales data and longevity in the industry, not to completely ignore what they are saying about having their sales capped.

Whilst I have never subscribed to the capping theory (Why? How? Who to? Why would SS do it?) I think there may be another plausible explanation. I reached top tier back in 2014, and my sales kept going up and up until end of 2016, so I don't think its that. But something big happened to me in the beginning of 2017, a massive 50% drop in photo DLs, that has never really recovered. SS went from 50% of my total microstock sales, to around 30%, and if I hadn�t started video before that, I would have suffered deeply. This also affected a number of other people I know who made good sales. They saw the same significant % drop as well.


This takes a while to explain, so please bear with me, and forgive the long post.

Now, this is the other possible explanation that I think of. SS is big on having very complex algorithms. They pride themselves on it, in fact. right? Also keeping in mind that one of the biggest problems that clients have is seeing the same images every time at the top of searches. This drives the buyers nuts � and away. Even building in a function of time into their algorithm probably doesn�t cut it.

Also keeping in mind that SS has some big buyers � the very large advertising agencies or whatever,  that probably come in and buy up 10,000 photos or whatever for their needs. Now SS can�t afford to lose these guys. So, what if they wrote another algorithm just for them. If it was my business, I certainly would. And what if, that algorithm included, �if you have seen or purchased this image before � don�t show it!� ?? And what about the consequences to all the contributors who have sold a hell of a lot of images in their past? How much of their port would automatically disappear from view from these big buyers?

We can�t prove the individual capping theory because when we look our images are still there. But what if there are special algorithms for special big buyers??

So, my question is to others � did you also notice a sudden drop at a particular time? And are there other people here who also experienced a significant drop in January 2017?  I have been racking my brains the past 12 months as to what happened. Where did the buyers go? Not noticeably to other agencies. So, I am very, very interested in what others say.  More contributors and more images being added to their database would not have resulted in such a big sudden drop, it would have been more gradual.

(To explain how much data I have to collect, I started Microstock in December 2012, now have 8,000 photos, and for the past 3 years have earned over $30,000, every year, from microstock. Also, I keep RPIs and stats on just about everything, and up until January 2017 they were always very predictable. I specialised in Holidays and Events, which makes it even more predictable.)

@Milleflore

I had a similar drop in sales some six month before your reported drop, and I know of many large port, long term contributors noticing the same phenomenon of sales dropping by 40-50% virtually overnight.  At the time, I sought answer on forums but was slapped down.  A number of contributors who had not been affected just told me I needed to work harder and study the market more, believing that the problem must be something I was doing wrong. It was very upsetting to be suddenly losing several hundred dollars per month, but also distressing to be reaching out to a community to share experiences, only to be told that the fault was mine and I needed to wake up and smell the coffee.

Those who have experienced this will be entirely sympathetic to your plight, and will also be looking for answers. Those who haven't yet found themselves in this position will be quietly - or maybe not so quietly - smug. It doesn't matter which camp you are in, as neither side will be able to give you answers. Those who have experienced a drop with be looking for reasonable theories to explain things, and those who are still riding high will shout those theories down.

I don't buy in to the 'cap' conspiracy theory per se, but I do believe that we are victims of arbitrary search changes and, once you start to lose ground in the rankings, it's a slippery slope to the bottom.

I'm also sure that Shutterstock employ a good team of behavioural psychologists to analyse not just buyer behaviour, but also to anticipate contributor behaviour. When your sales dropped what was your instinct - quit, or work harder to get back to where your were? Are you still contributing a year on? Do you set yourself deadlines of 'if this doesn't improve by month end I'll stop uploading', only to be thrown a large SOD just when you are ready to throw in the towel? Are you telling yourself that you need to diversify to grow, trying new media or searching for an elusive niche? Have you adjusted your monthly expectations down, and effectively accepted the new 'norm'?

Look at the behavioural science behind the forming of habits - it only takes about 21 days for an action to become a habit - and we will continue this habit while we are being rewarded, making it deep-seated and harder to break. Companies know how to hook us, and have changed their reward pattern from regular to random, which keeps us engaged and makes us crave reward. On the flip side, an as many of us know, breaking a habit is difficult, even if we know it's something really bad for us. Many of us have joked about the addictive nature of this business, and I think that's exactly the truth. I'm 10 years into this, so it's a big life-shift to give it all up.

We are nothing more than hopeful lab rats craving a reward, and we are totally at the mercy of these big corporations to throw out a treat. They can, and will, do what they like, because their advisers tell them that, in reality, 80% of the hardened contributors will moan but carry on working. For those they lose, there is a queue of newcomers stepping over each other to get in the door.

No sales in the last 3 hours ... An issue ?

I'm seeing things on the map, but when I try to view sales it fluctuates between 1 or 9 - neither of which are correct, so I guess they will fix it eventually.

I checked the SS forums and it looks to be a widespread issue.

I'm rather furious to have also dropped from level 4 to level 2. A sneaky pay cut is a slap in the face for hard-working contributors.

I will think long and hard before I upload anything further.

Copyright � 2018, Crosscards.com. All rights reserved. Article Images Copyright � 2018 JupiterImages Corporation.


JupiterImages are part of Getty aren't they?

Looking at the image number, it's been online for a long time. In the early days none of the stock sites worried so much about releases, I guess until they started getting treats of lawsuits.

Rules change for new uploads, but the sites don't worry too much about the old stuff unless they know that the subject is likely to be problematic. So people who got approved images before the tightening of the rules, are lucky that they have a monopoly but are also more at risk of the stock sites holding them responsible in the event of a claim.

I had a lot of trouble opening my contributor page this morning, so with the stats not downloading to Stockperformer, I'm hoping there is a problem that has caused a delay and the numbers will suddenly jump.

If not, perhaps it's time to trow in the towel?

I can now login but my December earnings is also at zero. Now doubt it will be fixed soon

"As it took two months to make a decision, a fuller response would have been helpful so that I would at least know whether the rejection was based on my photographic style rather than a property release issue. "

It wouldn't be for a release.  We have to correct releases all the time.  It's not a crime. 

I didn't have (and can't get) releases - that why I'm curious. Shutterstock would take them straight out, whereas Fotolia would reject them requesting a release. I don't know what Stocksy's position is on this, so I took a chance and uploaded, figuring someone would tell me if I got it wrong.

@ikostudio, I think you have a clear case here to report the other photographer to Shutterstock, as it certainly looks as if you can provide the solid evidence that your composite came first, (and you own all elements within it), and that the other contributor lifted your balloons to use in a later composite.

I'm not sure why some are starting to distrust you? I guess maybe they are getting their wires crossed.

Anyway, good luck with reporting this, and please let us know the outcome.