I'd say if you can come up with 20 unique images (not similars from the same series) within a few weeks, you don't need to wait. That alone would show that you are good (and willing) enough to build a larger portfolio quickly if you'd get accepted.

The key however is that you need to find a unique non-microstock style. You'll find all of the styles/types of images you mentioned on Stocksy, there is no benefit in focusing on something someone else tells you. Do your own thing.

(Then again, I never applied. So maybe I don't know what I'm talking about  )

Three sales through the SMART collection by Westend61, netting me �130 (about $150).

A few sales with mobile shots on Stocksy United, not sure because I don't really remember which of my shots were mobile or from my Sony NEX.

A handful of sales through Fotolia Instant. I don't track separate sales on Shutterstock and others.

Quite a few sales on EyeEm/Getty over the last year.

Just started a mobilestock experiment on my blog three weeks ago where I upload on Snapwire, Twenty20, Foap etc. First sale on Twenty20 for $1.

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on October 27, 2015, 11:36

Quote from: stock shooter on October 24, 2015, 14:41

Just out of curiosity, for those of you who are Stocksy photographers, what is your image acceptance rate?

For most series, probably about 85% for me. A few series have been completely or majority declined, which then go elsewhere.

wow, completely/majority declined???  from even sjlocke??? that's atilla 's kind of slaughter 

Not really because for those rejections the reason most likely is not "out of focus" or "too much noise" but "these look to much like generic stock and not enough authentic to fit in our collection". That's a whole different story. And Sean was the hero in shooting generic stock, so I'd bet he had to make quite some changes to the way he shoots (and directs his models) to make it work for Stocksy.

My personal acceptance is around 50%. It varies heavily because I haven't really found "my Stocksy style" yet. I upload a diverse range of images, not really a lot of shoots planned for Stocksy. It's a good match because it sometimes is a place for images that don't really fit anywhere else. And if I upload three similar images and get two rejected, I assume I will still get most of the sales I would have gotten with all three versions as there is not all that much of a competition for images that are somewhat unique in a collection of less than half a million.

Quote from: hofhoek on October 16, 2015, 09:33

I have uploaded a few to Eyeem to test the water but I am not sure how the reviewing works. I know that the reviewing for Getty takes a few weeks and that they ask if you want your image at Getty but how does it work for Eyeem itself? How do I see if my images are for sale? When I click on my images it doesn't say it's for sale but maybe that's because I see the image from my own account. Do they give you info if your images are for sale or when they are rejected? I tried to go to the Marketplace but that link doesn't work. Anyone cares to tell me how it works?

I've had photos approved for Getty within days, myself. Usually, within no more than a week of uploading to the market.

Gary

"Approved for Getty" in the sense of EyeEm suggesting it to the Getty collection? Yes, that should typically happen within a few days of uploading it ot the market.

That's not the same as seeing those images appear on the Getty site however. Images go to keywording first and then are being reviewed again on the Getty side. There is no guarantee that images selected for the Getty collection are being published on Getty in the end, and it takes a few weeks (maybe up to two months) before the images are being seen on the Getty sites.

Cobalt, thanks for the link to what I presume is the EyeEm Collection on Getty Images(?). How does anyone search the collection, though? If my images there are discoverable, via tagging, then how does one enter any tags to search for on the collection's pages?

You can look for your own images by searching on the Getty site using "Firstname Lastname / EyeEm" (don't forget the spaces before and after the slash). As a sample, these are mine: http://www.gettyimages.de/search/2/image?mediatype=photography&license=rf&artist=michael%20zwahlen%20%2F%20eyeem&family=creative&sort=best&excludenudity=true

However, from being accepted at EyeEm for the Getty collection it can take quite a few weeks to have them reviewed by Getty and approved. Also, there is no guarantee that the images suggested will be accepted at Getty. A huge majority does but a percentage of the images EyeEm picked for the collection never make it to Getty in the end.

Also, the images sent from EyeEm to Getty are being keyworded somewhere else, so you can not add, enter or change any of the terms that are being used.

I am the same guy yes haha, and i hadn't earned anything when i left, however after seeing how short sighted my decision was to quit i started back up again, and now 2 weeks in once again i have received this payment

Well, here is the answer: You closed your account. At this stage, iStock pays out the amount that is in your account.

While you mention you didn't have any downloads, you are probably mistaken: The payment made now is what was in your account on August 31st. And that includes the partner program and subscription downloads in July. 84 Cents would be exactly three downloads valued 28 cents each.

So that is what you are paid for and why you received this exceptional low amount.

Exclusive, signature;
1 month, 85 eur -10 signature images 10 x 0,75=you earn 7,50 USD (6,50 Eur aprox) and Istock earn 78,50 Eur

Well, that part at least changes a bit with the Signature+ files. Based on the (limited) data I have, exclusives make more in the range of 1,20-1,50 per subscription download on average. If a customer only downloads Signature files, they would have to pay out maybe $15.

Then again, the Signature Subscription includes all Essential images as well, so you can assume it is more in the range of maybe $10-12. Highly profitable I'd say.

But you read the news, right? They need some cash urgently.

I myself have wondered how do these slow or no seller sites stay in business.

Let's assume someone has 2,000 images in their portfolio and only gets 2 sales per month. If the site has 20 million images that would translate to 20,000 sales each month. And while you might only earn 60 cents from each sale, the actual price for the sale is $2. So this agency would never make it to the top 10 on the list on the right side but still cash in $40,000 a month. That's quite okay for a business that often does not have more than three of four people hired and some tasks outsourced.

Actually I believe that some agencies make even less than that but considering that some are in countries where salaries may be around $500 (or even less), you can still run a business.

I think Bigstock customer service

There must be a misunderstanding. A customer is someone buying a product or service. You are not a customer but a supplier to these distributors.

So the buyer gets full ownership but can't resell it, seems contradictory.  Hard to figure out what selling THE rights and full ownership mean, sounds like they don't actually mean THE rights just some rights and it's not full ownership but limited ownership.  Is there a more complete explanation of this somewhere?

You can use the image in any way you want (moral standards provided), for products, unlimited print runs, for as many clients as you want.

But the main key for buyers to buy out those rights most likely is the exclusive use. They can't license the photo as a photo but they can protect themselves from others to license the same image in the future. The only risk is that the image has sold in the past and those licenses can't be revoked. It's basically what big companies still pay five digits for in the rights managed market, just with a lack of sales history.

When I submit images to GI, I cannot select whether it should goes under RF or RM. However, most of my accepted images are sold under RF, while others are under RM. Do you know on what basis GI categorise images into RF and RM?

I think you can only choose when you are a house contributor. Not through Moment etc.

From the other images, I believe Getty is mostly putting images into RM where it's a great image but it contains some unreleased elements that would prohibit licensing as RF.

Given that the majority of sales today are happening as RF, it is commercially more attractive to have images offered as RF. While there can be huge sales through RM - licenses for $10,000 and more are being reported every now and then -, those big sales are distributed amongst a mass of million images and it's more like a lottery ticket. On the other hand you are losing most of the advertising sales with RM which on average sell at higher prices than editorial uses.

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on September 02, 2015, 02:14

Quote from: ravens on September 02, 2015, 01:39

Why would anyone purchase photos taken with mobile phone? People can snap them them themselves!

You must shoot very, very boring images of things that are easy to shoot then.

That's all I shoot with my phone.  I wouldn't trust the focus and quality to anything I thought was really important.  Get home later and find the shutter was too slow, too much noise, or focus was somewhere?  No thanks...

Yes, I think a smart phone is definitely not the right solution for the images you typically take for stock.

I was addressing the (in my opinion rather stupid) comment before that people wouldn't be willing to pay for smart phone images because they could shoot them themselves... and I think you can create visually appealing images of things/objects/people with a smart phone that are not easy to re-create by someone else. You don't have to use a smart phone for that but you can.