I have seen a gradual rise in my BigStock sales for the past month or two.  Just attributed it to growing my port and coming out of the summer slump.  Last week starting getting into the $20/day range for the first time. 

But nothing out of the ordinary over the past two days.

20% just ask someone else if they would work for 20% commission on their own creative products, working hours and hours, doing everything including keywords and editing, uploading, and start into business knowing that. I bet you'll get screams of laughter, "Are you kidding?" But Microstockers are now down to 15% on IS in many cases. Oh please Sir can I have some more, why not make it 10%, I love licking boots for pocket change.

I guess it all depends how you approach microstock.  I don't think of myself as an artist and each of my images is a part of my soul.  No, I wouldn't spend months painting a huge portrait and accept the terms of a gallery that wanted to keep 85% of the sale.  But I went into microstock with the idea that I would produce a set amount every day, they would earn a projected amount every day based on the agency commission rates, and if I met my goal, I would be very, very happy.   I set short and long term revenue goals.  I met the short term goal in about a year, and just surpassed the long term goal after three years.  So today, I am very, very happy.

I went into microstock knowing the terms, fully understanding and appreciating that the agencies have invested heavily in building, marketing and maintaining their sites, and would put my images out in front of people ready to buy my work.  I could never build a site like this on my own.  To me, this service is worth the revenue share for what (most of) the agencies are doing on their end.  And at the point I decide it's not worth it, I walk away.  I'm no one's slave.  For the time being, they're helping me live a very comfortable life.  My ROI is extremely positive, and my wife regularly thanks me for putting a small amount of time into something that delivers such a big payout.  

Quote from: Herg on September 20, 2011, 09:39

How do you get accepted by FT ?

isolations and people don�t get rejected

FT, and the other big players, spend a fair amount of resources on reviewing images.  It makes sense that they're becoming increasingly more selective over who and what they let in.  They have a very good idea of what will and won't sell, and they don't want to invite people in who won't earn them decent money and instead just be a drain on their reviewing resources.

To get accepted (and do well) at FT or any other site, follow two simple rules:
1. Be unique... create a unique style
2. Do marketing research... find underserved niches of topics that are in demand

Quote from: ShadySue on September 20, 2011, 09:10

There has been another big best match shakeup overnight.

Ouch! That's horrific. It looks like it is 95% geared towards newish images, with or without any downloads. Judging by the few test-searches I've tried my sales could be slaughtered if it stays like this.

This explains it!!!

I'm in shock looking at today's vs yesterday's numbers.  I earned $62 at IS yesterday, and today we're halfway through the day and I'm at $5.  (And this is a Tues vs. Monday.  Tuesdays are generally better, at least for me... all the more shocking.)

Has ANYONE benefited from this shakeup?

OK, first thing... dumb, misleading title for this paranoid thread.  Piracy?  How so?  Please.  You're just trying to get everyone's panties in a knot.

Second, I'm going to do a bit of cheerleading here for FT since they've been really taking a beating around here lately, and there's been virtually no one saying a good thing about them. 

Do I think they're perfect?  No.  But those reasons have been discussed to death here.   So here goes my positive FT rant, based on my own experience...

FT has pretty much become my #1 site.  Revenue has been steadily on the rise all year.  I surpassed a level milestone and my per image revenue has soared in addition to my overall download count.  I have nearly 100% approvals.  Of course, I'm living on the "grass is greener" side, but as far as I'm concerned, the reviewers are intelligent and on the ball.  The people I've dealt with when contacting support are fast to respond, friendly and professional. 

Simply put, all of the immature name-calling around here is simply projecting the contributor's own inadequacies onto an easy target.

You've entered into an agreement with FT, and you're welcome to end it if you're dissatisfied.  I can't think of another industry in which verbally abusing a business partner in a public forum while continuing to do business with it would be considered professional behavior.  I'm all for freedom of speech and everything, but if I were your partner, I would ask you to go away if you hate doing business with me so much.

I think people are confused.

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/IRS6050W

Yup, I messed up by saying W9 instead of 1099.  (I deal with W9s a lot in my day job, so I made a mental slip.)

And there does seem to be an important distinction between the 1099-K and the 1099s the agencies send us (they're 1099-MISC forms, right?)

Doing more web research, it looks like the 1099-K is used to compare your income to info the IRS gathers from credit card processing companies (which includes PayPal) to make sure we're claiming the right amount.  As long as we're not expected to add this 1099-K revenue alongside the other 1099s and use the grand total to determine the amount we owe, I guess I'm fine with it.


 

Just a simple bit. You can have more than one PayPal account. If someone wanted to, they could divide the payments and avoid the automatic trigger. However agencies report to the IRS, the law is $600.01 (aka over $600) and they must send a W-2, so what's the difference?

I declare all income because I can use the business, equipment and travel deductions to offset some of it. Easier for me to pay the taxes and not try to game the system.

I report the income from all the agencies every year.  No problem there.  But I don't know how I'm going to address the PayPal W9s that report the same income as the agency W9s.  I use TurboTax each year, and I don't recall it asking about W9s that may be reporting income that is already reported on other W9s.  If I don't enter the figures from the PayPal W9, that would have to raise a flag at the IRS, right?  Do I enter it, then subtract it out somewhere on a form that allows me to explain that it is income that has been reported by two different sources?  This is just an invitation to an audit.  Just remembered that I have a friend who is a tax accountant.  I'll ask his advice and report back here.

I request payments as soon as the payout hits between $200 to $500. On some of the lower tier sites I cash out at $100. By doing this I find that PayPal never takes a cut. A couple of times when customers paid through PayPal in amounts of $1500 to $3000, I noticed that PayPay charged me for the transaction. So I figured that when the payout is just a few hundred dollars, PayPay doesn't charge. It's like free banking.

Anybody else notice this?

My payouts aren't typically this large, so I never encountered fees from the ms agency payments.  (If you make more than $1,000 in a month at Shutterstock, they will send multiple payments, with none more than $999... I'm wondering if this is to protect us or them from fees?)

But my original question is a completely different matter.  Are you getting more than 200 payments in a year from the agencies?  Or are you actively trying to avoid the PayPal W9 at the end of the year?

If the next few weeks keep pace with the first two, Sept will be my overall BME.  Make mine a green tea.

Now, if we're just talking IS, that's another story.  My sales there have been fairly flat for about a year, with just the expected ups and downs (summer, holidays, etc.)   Good news is that SS and FT are more than making up for it.   

I have to say that I'm loving 123RF these days.  I haven't had a rejection there in months, uploading 100+ each month.  Each month is a BME, even through the summer.  (Been there over three years.)

Does anyone realize the real impact this survey will have?  Someone at ISP is no doubt watching these results and saying to a co-worker, "See, I told you we could stick it to them even harder than last time and they'd end up asking for more."

Apparently there's no breaking point at which people will say No More.  And if ISP didn't know it before, they do now.

I respect everyone's right to make a decision on their own, but I fear this type of forum is essentially organizing a response from some of ISP's most prolific and successful contributors to send a loud and clear message: "We're OK with this.  Keep the abuse coming."

I think I'm one of the few who is still having great sales at FT.  

Here's how the sites rank for me, with approximate percentages of total earnings:

TOP TIER:
SS - 28% (approx 100 sales/day)
FT - 21% (80)
IS - 18% (30)
DT - 14% (20)

MID TIER:
CAN - 6.5% (10)
BigStock - 4% (10)
123 - 3.5% (10)
DEP - 3.5% (10)

BOTTOM TIER:
GL - .8% (0-1)
SF - .5% (1)
VEER - .1% (0-1)
CRE - .005% (0)

Big companies get used to the fact that the photography in these days is FOR FREE. Another words Photographers have been cheated and they have been humiliated by big business and by Microstock companies who flooded the market with the free images and the problem is now that we are now surrounded by images that we dont appreciate anymore (and it doeas not work anymore)... and the next goal will be to transofrm the static picture into the moving picture (footage) and thats why about 3 months ago Shutterstock was calling all its contributors to change their activities into shooting movies. The age of static picture is going to the end and its price is going to drop drasticly in the following years since it has smaller and smaller value in commercial activities. Corporate marketing requires another form of imagery (particualrly in internet) to chase their commercial goals.

Two facts of business at work here: 1) natural evolution of business and technology, and 2) supply and demand.  We can complain until we're blue in the face, but it's pointless.  You adapt, and you make yourself unique instead of a commodity, or you die.

Those who are quick to embrace point 1 and on the cutting edge of figuring out what customers want before they want it will always prosper.  That's because there are very few of them at the beginning of any movement and the supply and demand ratio works in their favor.

Yes, video will be more and more in demand as everything you pick up will have moving images on it.  But we're not quite there yet. 

The answer won't be to simply shoot video of the things you're currently shooting photos of.  If your photos aren't selling today, chances are your videos won't sell well tomorrow.  Those with a true understanding of what customers demand, and what needs aren't already being met (probably people with skills better than your own), will prosper no matter what the format.  I've said it over and over here... there are niches that are undercovered and in great demand, and if you are one of the few artists creating photos or illustrations covering these areas, you will do well, even when the agencies each have a billion images.  Get out there and figure it out.