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Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: Erin Cadigan on May 14, 2014, 08:13

Title: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Erin Cadigan on May 14, 2014, 08:13
Can anyone tell me if this "Bridge to Bigstock" is still an option on SS?  I can't find anything on their forums since the search option is down   :(.    My next question would be, is it even worth it?  I have about 100 images or so on BS since joining in 2007.  I had two payouts back then and then things came to a sudden halt.  What I read about them here doesn't seem all that positive anymore.

Thoughts???
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Mantis on May 14, 2014, 08:14
No, I believe it has been ended.  If you are grandfathered in then you still get those benefits. 
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Erin Cadigan on May 14, 2014, 08:29
Thank you Mantis.  Although I have had a physical "account" with SS since 2007, I have only just been accepted as a contributor within the past month.  I'll have to check just in case!
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Dook on May 14, 2014, 08:40
I don't think it ended. But, I think it was by an invitation only. If you have large portfolio at SS or somthing like that. If your portfolio at SS is small, I don't think you'll have this option. There is a link on your Contibutor front page for Bridge if you qualify.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: sdeva on May 14, 2014, 09:21
I stopped unloading to BS last year because I wasn't on bridge and there sub commissions were not even on parity with SS !!!
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: robhainer on May 14, 2014, 09:24
You won't get it. They don't offer it anymore.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: ruxpriencdiam on May 14, 2014, 13:16
The answer to this is here somewhere because it was asked about before so I sent an email to SS to ask about it and it is no longer available to anyone nor will it ever be in the future either.

So sad too bad.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: pancaketom on May 14, 2014, 13:53
Yeah, I asked about it a while ago because I wanted to know if I could get .36 for my BS subs if I turned it on, but the answer I got back was so vague and it sort of seemed like they didn't really read or understand the question I asked.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: luissantos84 on May 15, 2014, 01:36
its not a bad thing they ended it, BigStock is paying us less
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Batman on May 19, 2014, 16:44
its not a bad thing they ended it, BigStock is paying us less

Not a bad thing if it ended BS paying us less. Nobody knows if it ended for sure its just guess. No bridge is good for mine.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: ruxpriencdiam on May 19, 2014, 19:13
its not a bad thing they ended it, BigStock is paying us less

Not a bad thing if it ended BS paying us less. Nobody knows if it ended for sure its just guess. No bridge is good for mine.
Not a guess I have the email from SS stating no more bridge and no one else can be a part of it it was a one time deal for certain people.

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Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Allsa on May 19, 2014, 20:26
I stopped unloading to BS last year because I wasn't on bridge and there sub commissions were not even on parity with SS !!!

Same here.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: robhainer on May 19, 2014, 21:09
It's not a guess. I wrote to Bigstock support, and that's what they told me. They still pay people who joined bridge the same as what they get on Shutterstock, but the rest of us are stuck with less.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on May 19, 2014, 21:54
I stopped unloading to BS last year because I wasn't on bridge and there sub commissions were not even on parity with SS !!!

Same here.

When they would not provide an opt out from the subscriptions on BigStock, I left in March last year. Either because I'm not a big enough fish or because I was an iStock exclusive when the bridge was introduced, I wasn't part of it. If there had been an opt out I'd have stayed, even though BigStock income was pretty low relative to the other agencies
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: robhainer on May 19, 2014, 23:08
Even though it annoys me that I only get 31 cents compared to people on bridge who get .38 like I would if I were on bridge, Bigstock has turned into a decent secondary earner since it start selling subs. It earns as much, if not sometimes more, than Dreamstime and Fotolia for me. It also brings in double what I make on Canstock, 123RF, Deposit Photos. Subs on Canstock only pay 25 cents, so I can't really complain about 31 cents from Bigstock.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: sdeva on May 21, 2014, 00:14
As I understand, BS is under the same ownership as SS.  Yet, they firstly undercut the sub commission and secondly (in my case and I think many others), they sell a lot less than SS.  So its a double whammy for the artist - less volume as well as less revenue per download.  I felt that I would be a schmuk to undercut my own earnings by continuing to upload to BS.  I therefore stopped uploading last year and also deactivated some of my better selling work from BS. 

Their business approach does not by any means come across as a healthy or fair one for the contributors, most specially the ones who are not on the bridge.
Title: Re: Bridge to Bigstock
Post by: pancaketom on May 21, 2014, 11:24
Since they undercut SS I am glad they sell a lot less - but I have a suspicion that BS is the place for them to test contributor screwing and then move it to SS later (or move the buyers to BS). It also sucks that the non-bridge photographers are supporting paying the bridge contributors more for subs. (we should all be getting the same subs as at SS).