Quote from: stockmarketer on January 06, 2017, 22:11
Hi there,

Glad to hear you're having a good initial experience in microstock.  I think most of us can remember that early excitement and the dreams that if we just keep working and growing at that pace, it can turn into significant income. 

I remember putting my initial numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, and figuring that if I keep uploading a certian amount every day, and my images keep selling at the rate they sold in those first few months, that before long I'd be paying my mortgage, car payment, etc. with my microstock earnings.

The problem is, my spreadsheet assumed the size of my competition stayed the same size while I grew.  Or at least that it grew at the same pace that I grew.  That's the mistake every microstock dreamer makes. 

Not long ago, there were just a few million images in the agency collections.  Now there's a hundred million.  And the collections (at least SS and I suspect most the others) are growing at a rate of a million a week.

So how does a new microstock contributor make any sales at all?  Most of us here suspect that the agencies are either heavily promoting (showing at the top of searches) newbie work because they pay you the lowest commissions and they make more money, and/or to give you that initial burst of hope to get you hooked as a contributor.  It's like that first free rock of crack.

Some middle-ground contributors (not quite newbies and not quite veterans) may dispute this and say things are still rosy for them.  Maybe they haven't yet hit the wall, when their rate of portfolio growth falls behind the rate of agency collection growth.  That's when things really go south, and it happens to us all.

So, in a nutshell, if you're doing this for fun or for a little extra pocket money, keep on enjoying the ride.  But if you have dreams of supporting yourself and your family, and possibly making this a career, those days are long gone.  Sorry.

i agree..

Quote from: salaaaah on January 03, 2017, 10:32

Quote from: spetenfia on January 03, 2017, 09:08
I'm not a big connoisseur but I can tell you my experience

I sell on Displate. For me is the one that makes the most. You can get from $ 6 to $ 8 for displate image  you sell choosing the minimum price. You can choose the selling price . Earning is 25% on the price you decide after they discount and fees if I remember correctly. They always do discounts for buyers, that's very good. Uploading is a little boring, but it's worth it.

I sell also on Zazzle and Redbubble. I like both, less boring to upload, you decide the percentage you want. I sell less here but i'm not a great photographer. So I'm satisfy.

Whats you experience with zazzle?


died from overdrawn

Zazzle for me it is a pastime
390 sales from I sell on there, maybe 2/3 year, I don't remember... But I do not create objects one by one as you might do, use quick create.

Quote from: salaaaah on January 03, 2017, 10:24

Quote from: spetenfia on January 03, 2017, 09:28
I had 9 sales in the past 10 days and 7000 image in portfolio. But my image are not the best that you can find. 

And other than holidays, how many sales you get daily with that port?


died from overdrawn

Very few..
Decenber 65
June 56
other 40 more or less
500 in 2016

I had 9 sales in the past 10 days and 7000 image in portfolio. But my image are not the best that you can find. 

I'm not a big connoisseur but I can tell you my experience

I sell on Displate. For me is the one that makes the most. You can get from $ 6 to $ 8 for displate image  you sell choosing the minimum price. You can choose the selling price . Earning is 25% on the price you decide after they discount and fees if I remember correctly. They always do discounts for buyers, that's very good. Uploading is a little boring, but it's worth it.

I sell also on Zazzle and Redbubble. I like both, less boring to upload, you decide the percentage you want. I sell less here but i'm not a great photographer. So I'm satisfy.

Thanks to all for the suggestion.
I agree with everything.
Just some justification for what they're worth
1.Jesus keyword. DT suggest the keyword to be added when someone buy with this search. I added... (Christmas It was my thought because I photographed a living nativity scene)
2.the image that sell more (100/200 time for microstock) is lamb more prospects. Sometime someone buy 2/3  similar .
3. I have similar but not so much cropped like they said, maybe few units past two months
4. I looked other account and image similar are in most. they should close the mid account...( i agree I agree that it can be counterproductive). But don't understand why they accept similar and then blocked.. If they doesn't accept I do not think that the contributors continue to spend time to upload for years ..

Anyway I collect all your suggestions, it is my interest to learn.
Thank you all again.
Sorry for my English.

Maybe i cropped some image but i buy Canon S only in October and perhaps could be ten, more or less, because before that i used Canon 7D and is impossible crop the image otherwise they are too small....
Last year they blocked for similar image and now at the firs call they told me again similar. Today in the answer they mentioned "cropped".
https://www.shutterstock.com/g/spetenfia
This is my portfolio on SS. Same for the Fotoliamore or less. I upload the same.

They answer me one hour ago
this is their answer
"come accennato al telefono, presentare immagini ritagliate dalla stessa inquadratura, secondo le nuove regolamentazioni, è considerato spam. Il tuo account è stato bloccato per la terza volta e la procedura prevede che resti bloccato diverse settimane, ci stiamo adoperando per limitare il tempo di blocco al minimo possibile."
"as mentioned on the phone, presenting cropped images from the same shot, according to the new regulations, it is considered spam. Your account has been blocked for the third time, and the procedure requires that the remains blocked several weeks, we are working to reduce the lock time to a minimum."
Sorry for my english...google translate do this for me.
So.... at phone they said "similar file", now "cropped file".
Then i ask why when i work some file with preset of Gimp or other software they accept some and refuse other for "file does not conform"...
Answer.....Yes you can work file but not so much.
Are they kidding me? I use only some preset and are all the same... How i can know how much for them?

Yes, you are right! I ask them why they accept the file and then blocked account....
Seems like they don't want some contributor...

Hi, I'm an Italian contributor since 4 years ago.
Several months ago my account was blocked. I called Fotolia and I was told that I sent too many files similar. The operator helped me at the phone and reopen my account and  since then I've been careful not to send too many of them.
Recently, on Dec.26 my account has been blocked again. I have phoned again to the call center asking for help.
Apparently the problem is the same and I was told to write to the "support center" online. According to the operator, in response I should have received the  names of the files to be deleted because similar.
I followed instructions, wrote on Dec. 27th but didn't receive any response.
I've called again on Dec.29th, spoke with the same operator, and he told me that on the following day he would have written to me an e.mail with the files to delete and reopen the account.
As of today I'm still blocked and didn't receive any e.mail.
I do not understand why my account has to be blocked while several others contributor present many similar files.
Being a contributor since 4 years with 9000 file online it is a bit annoying to go through this, and it is unfair to notice a despair of treatment among users.