MicroStockr Pro (note missing 'e') will give you that info across all your agencies.

Sorry Shelma,
Wrong assumption.
If you contribute footage, you would never, ever want to contribute still images as well

Huh??? What world do you live in?  Almost every photog I know that submits video also does stills.  I'm sure there are videographers that don't shoot with a still camera at all who only do one.  Otherwise, they are probably in both.

In fact, with only one exception, everyone I know that submits footage started in stills, and keeps that portfolio active (which, BTW, includes me...)

Hello. I have the app in my Android phone but the login in Depositphotos is not working. Anyone has the same problem? Is the "username" the mail account? Thank you.

In the case of DepositPhotos, it is your username, like it says.  When you created your account there, you created a user name. 

Basically, go log onto DP directly.  Whatever text you put in the first field is the text you want on MSr for DP.  (It might be your email I suppose. in my case, it is not though.)

and if that particular video wasn't on iStock just maybe the buyer would've purchased it on Adobe Stock/Ft and you get $28.

Highly unlikely.  A buyer goes to his favorite site and looks at what is available, then picks the best suited from what he sees.

I would be extremely surprised if more than a small handful of people shop around multiple sites and then choose the best from multiple agencies.

i wonder if they r able to sell something couse 50% share for a non-exclusive looks Ok.

When someone uses such trickery to bring you in, I have very heavy doubts things will get better once they have my media.

Though I am curious how others here read this, I don't think it is a good gamble myself...

Most photographers are broke and no one is going to sue a broke photographer.

First, I would never want to use that as my business strategy...

Second, not all of us are broke.  Personally I have a very tidy nest egg that I would not want to lose through carelessness...

Am I the only one that has no idea what these numbers mean?  Clearly not the number of people on each agency, since I think we only have entire people, not decimal portions of them...? 

One last comment (well, until I think of something else anyway...) -- I like your description of the lifetime of a portfolio, and how it will deteriorate over time.  Too many people do not understand that, and wonder why when they stopped adding new material, the sales started dropping off.

Between 1995 and 1999, my wife and I produced 54 instructional videos, all between 60 and 90 minutes in length. At the time, they were sold on VHS tape cassettes. Later converted to DVD.  Initially, we mailed out catalogs 3 times a year to 20K-50K people per mailing, and later moved to email.  Initially we sold and shipped all videos ourselves, and then Amazon took over and now produces each DVD upon being ordered, and ships to the customer, with my only current interaction being to see the royalty payment at the end of each month.

When Amazon first took over (circa 2005), we were getting around $10,000 per month.  I felt I was set for life!

We never produced another video after 1999.  Of course, sales declined.  We still sell some every single month, but our Amazon payment is now around $100/month instead.  20 years later still getting sales, but now so small that I'm not sure I'd bother with cashing the check if it came that way (as is, goes directly into my PayPal account).

Sales of micro stock drop off for more reasons that you mention though.  As you say, keywording algorithms change.  And there is the issue of "those that want that type of image now already have it" after a while.

However, also, it appears that the agencies will give you a bump in the search ratings if you are a consistent supplier of salable images.  They want to encourage those that produce images that actually sell, and if your past images sold well, there is a better chance that your new ones will too. 

If you are a consistent supplier of salable images, then you have an edge in the search engines and all your images (both old and new) will get a boost and be more likely to show up in a search.  If you stop submitting, then you lose that extra boost, and all your images (oldest and "just old") will become less likely to show up to a buyer -- and thus less likely to sell.

Good article overall. At least once a week, someone will post on one of the agency Facebook sites "I posted 28 photos last month. How come I haven't had any sales yet?" (and yes, those are the actual numbers from a post last week!).  It seems that too many people are hawking micro stock as a get-rich-quick-with-your-phone-camera scheme.

When I bother to respond at all, I note the need for the long haul view with 1000's of photos.  If they give a link to their existing portfolio, you can usually see it is one topic shot 28 times. In the post mentioned above, they were all snapshots of a pet chameleon.

(long route to the point... sorry...) I then suggest they go to Shutterstock and type in the type of photo they want to take. "Chameleon" is this case.  Look at the images that come up.  Now, how do yours (referring to the person wondering why no sales in a month) compare to those?  Can you honestly say someone would pay money to buy your image when they have those others as alternatives?

Most times, when people ask "why no sales on x images in a month?" the answer is a pretty clear "not a chance in this lifetime"...

You do mention (and repeat) the need for quality.  I would suggest adding that test as a well to see if what the newbie is shooting has a chance of sales.

When I hear the word �free�, I immediately think � you get what you pay for�

Then you must never visit any YouTube videos to learn how to accomplish anything?

Platitudes like that are nice sound bites, but don't hold up in the real world. Lots of people put up very high quality free material on the web.  Sometimes it "paid for" by having ads alongside.  Other times, it is used to show people what a good instructor the person is, encouraging you to them buy lessons that are not free (I have spend thousands of dollars that way over the years).

If you don't want to watch this, that is completely fine and your choice.  You may want to rethink your knee-jerk reaction to the word 'free' though...

If this is a serious legit offer from ShutterStock, I am not sure why you are even asking here?

Personally, I would take it without a doubt, but then I certainly have no single image that earns me $1500 per year, so to me this is a no-brainer.

For all time:

   RPI - $2.99
   RPD - 0.71

2018:

    RPI - $1.71
    RPD - 0.70

Oct 2018:

    RPI - 0.51
    RPD - 0.46

I have found the problem. Is from the bulk editing tool from Bigstock. I will write an email to Bigstock explaining the bug they have there.

I reported that bug back around February or so.  They just responded that they knew about the bug, and that I would have to edit a single image at a time until it was fixed.

No fix or indication of even working on it for 8 months so far.  I just flagged BB for "no more uploads until fixed" which I suspect, may be never...