Quote from: OM on April 16, 2015, 06:56

Maybe this will make a difference in the number of downloads we get (from Europe). No more 750/month for us, we've been downsized to 350/month.

Its also 74 euro per month cheaper.

199 euro for 750 month = 0.27 c/i
165 euro for 350 month = 0.47 c/i

Shutterstock gave themselves a 20 cent raise per image. And nuttin' for us. So it seems.

I make it �34/less at the 1 month rate. When you take out a subs package for 12 months, the price/month drops below �199/month I thought. Anyway, not surprising that dls have dropped.....Europeeins get 400 dls less/month that they used to.

Last week was awesome on sales ! This week nothing ... !

Yep. Me too. Weird dat innit?

Interesting, I thought I was doing poorly as far as ELs. 1 in 337 from 2008 through 2014 totals. Had to pick the closer number 1:300

But as someone probably pointed out we all have different content, subjects and primary areas. (or should?) Some people may have images that lend themselves better to EL use? I have no Editorial ELs and roughly 85% of my images on SS are Editorial now.

I'm fairly sure all mine are for illustrations or line drawings, not photos.

That seems to be the determining factor. I get the impression (but it's no more than that) that ELs  go more frequently to cityscapes especially those at night. Having said that, I occasionally get one for a food shot or picture frame.

I found part 1 and 2 of this tutorial very useful. Even if you aren't working on people-sized subjects in a large (ish) room, the principles are the same. Light the back ground and foreground separately. Distance between the two (or flagging) makes the job easier. Cleanup in post tends to be very easy if done correctly.

http://zackarias.com/for-photographers/photo-resources/white-seamless-tutorial-part-1-gear-space/

Such a pity that all the images have disappeared from the linked Zack Arias tutorial. That really is the best tutorial on white seamless lighting.

Quote from: lopolo on March 19, 2015, 12:21

The probleme is the paypal fee is not clarify write on the transfert information. This is what i think is a steal.

check your transactions on paypal the conversion rate is right there.  And all their fees are listed in the terms and conditions

Yep. They give you the exchange rate first and then ask you to click on a button if you accept and want to transfer. Dollars to Euro's, they take around 3-4% commission. Perhaps their commission is higher for less traded currencies.

Uncle Pete, yes, I see this now, too. I noticed the change to 30 while I was uploading yesterday. I think you can still set it to 20, but the default price during uploading process is 30 now.

Uploaded yesterday and noticed too that the default setting had gone from 20 to 30.

Better sales at FT last month and this but despite the extra dl's my 7-day ranking is still lagging my overall ranking. Suggests to me that FT as a whole is doing well.

I dont get many rejections over the years and when I do, It was My fault Missing a clone mark or something and it's all good. just had rejections for "Titles Must be in English" I wouldn't know how to write in any other language!! . This is absolutely stupid...Really stupid. I won't re-submit. There not worthy of the Images if they can't even get that right.

Methinks it's time to introduce the reviewer to the the word, 'floccinaucinihilipilification' in the titles/keywords. 
(Even the spelling checker here thinks it's wrong or estimates it as valueless). 

Even if the actual person is unrecognizable, the reviewer isn't going to know that.  They will see what appears to be a recognizable person and want a release.

I think that for the reviewer, Ron, you'll need a model unrelease form. "I hereby declare that I do not recognise myself in this photo wot Ron took recently and therefore cannot release this photo wot is not of me."

 

Quote from: PixelBytes on January 29, 2015, 18:44

Agree with you in theory Estudiante but I think the over abundant crap just makes it harder for buyers to find the good stuff.

And let me add. The vast.VAST majority of DL's are blogs,church fliers etc,etc,etc , Not book covers or Billboards what not. They want the ordinary, The everyday,The real and the simplistic story that can be told, Not blown out super Pics with unreal colors or massive time consuming composites as much as we love seeing them,appreciate and love doing them. Clean and clear even if they could do them themselves.

Im not saying the High enders here aren't doing well, they probably are but, thats not the bulk of what Microstock really is and where it's roots are. hence the reason for stocksy,Offset and the like. I have and can do some fairly artistic stuff Photographically But what sells for me..Personally is the simplest stuff I've done  and every now and then something I thought was cool sells But, By and large it's the dead on simple message that can be used over and over which, is the hardest thing for me to keep doing and could be the reason The majority of my sales are Very Old when I had more of a "PURE" stock mentality.

It's just so * Boring...LOL

If the 'VAST majority of DL's are blogs,church fliers etc,etc,etc ,' then I would expect to see more ODD's at SS. How many bloggers/church-flyer makers need a few hundred images/month and would purchase a $200 subscription? I would imagine that these incidental users generate the majority of ODD's rather than subs sales. As the volume of ODD's appears to be decreasing, either these users have reduced their activities or simply gone elsewhere (eg DPC) where they can get their 10 'ordinary' images for an outlay of $10. Subs seems to be holding up reasonably well on SS but it's the loss of ODD's, EL's and big SOD's that is causing the declining income.

I am hoping adobe chucks out some of the aholes at FT including Chad.

Or, at least, stop him appearing on the forums as 'THE CHAD'. I think that says something about EGO.

 

What a crazy entity the EU is. It allows individual member states to set their own rules and levels of taxation which the members then use to create competitive advantage for their own country. The fastest way to competitive advantage is to encourage large multi-national corporations to register in that country, which they do in spades, and then the EU decides that it is not pulling in enough tax (to keep the BB (Brussels bureaucracy) in the manner to which it has become accustomed).

Because the EU is unable to set a standard VAT rate throughout the EU it resorts to punishing the small/micro business community through just this sort of regulation. The big multi-nationals have had all their accounting systems in place for years to comply with these regulations...ever tried to buy a Photoshop CS digital download in USD at the US price if you're in Europe? Bought a subscription package from a major stock agency in the US? You pays the � or � price including VAT. Herein also lies the advantage for VAT registered businesses....no VAT to pay by giving your registration number. Not registered? Then you pay more.

For the little people (that the BB's don't even know exist) this new/old law simply means more expense, more administration and reduced earnings and that's only when compliance is a viable option. For many it means closing the business but as you didn't exist anyway, it's no problem for the BB's.

As many laws and regulations in the US are written, for the most part, by the K-Street lobbyists, I have to wonder who was really responsible in the EU for concocting these (for micro business) apparently unworkable regulations? To me, they certainly appear to be advantageous to the global corporations by squeezing out the small guy.

Is there an easy way to get those kind of stats on Shutterstock?   Now I am curious as to what my best seller there makes a year.

Easy. Go to 'Earnings' and from the dropdown menu choose 'earnings summary'. Ignore the current month and view the top of the page under 'Earnings Summary'. You'll see 'By Month' and all the various possible sale types. Under each dl type, your best sellers are ordered in largest dl numbers with a dollar amount earned. Just click through the various dl type and add up the dollar amounts then divide by the number of years you're on SS, to get an annual average of sales for that particular image.

Gave 'em a try for a year. Uploaded my best sellers elsewhere and after 12 months CanStock-Can't Sell had managed to sell 2 images. Deleted port. Waste o' time.