Author Topic: Shutterstock testing new pricing plans for customers (Read 33571 times)

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #25 on:** February 02, 2017, 09:58 »

With regards to what SS has done vs IStock/Getty remember that Shutterstock never reduce our commission fees while IStock has consistently been reducing RPD every year since 2009 as well as thinking up 1000 other ways to scr*w us. RPD on Shutterstock has increased every year since 2006. How do we expect them to compete if we keep taking trash commissions from their competitors?!

If you don't want to see lower commissions across the board suspend uploads or delete portfolios from all sites that pay low commissions, including IStock, Depositphotos and Bigstock, or we don't have a leg to stand on.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #26 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:01 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on February 02, 2017, 09:50

Actually BOTH Trump and SS promise more......but will deliver less

LOL, must be the signs of the time.. scavenger !!! no apology !!!

ironic, i was just listening to Joni Mitchell 's Taming the Tiger before going to bed..
this is the album she decides to quit the music business.. as she considers it a cesspool..
or something smelly like that.

looks like someone is trying to tell me something of my own "industry"..
time to move on to something else...

be a shareholder of ss, for one!!! start a small ad business so i can cheer ss some poor sucker
with a "photographer" ID is getting sucked while my business thrives as a scavenger..

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #27 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:11 »

From the latest post on the forum the new commissions wont be on 350 / 750 per month plans.
So the lower figures from the table wont be happening i.e. new pack return will be higher than sub returns.

We'll have to wait and see what the net effect is.

Bauman · « **Reply #28 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:20 »

Yes, only 10 and 50 packs are affected.

If your percentage is 30% earnings are 0,59 $ for 50 pack and 0,87 $ for 10 pack.

Less than 2,85 in demand but more than 0,38 sub ...

jonbull · « **Reply #29 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:24 »

anyway ss is till selling very good..after uploading big batch i got two good days...fotolia even uploading is not selling nothing for me...i don't know why but can't sell nothing in fotolia....i think fotolia is more oriented towards model released photos and studio stuff

jonbull · « **Reply #30 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:25 »

Quote from: Bauman on February 02, 2017, 10:20

Yes, only 10 and 50 packs are affected.

If your percentage is 30% earnings are 0,59 $ for 50 pack and 0,87 $ for 10 pack.

Less than 2,85 in demand but more than 0,38 sub ...

considering that in demand are less and less every month...well it could be interesting if they can reach a good volume of sales.

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #31 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:39 »

Quote from: mike935 on February 02, 2017, 02:01

Is 0,05 per download a new reality?

Testing New Pricing Plans for Customers
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/90234-testing-new-pricing-plans-for-customers/

Where does that say 0.05 per download? I see the member created chart but the answer from Alex doesn't say the same? He says on plan will be percentage others remain the same.

Has anyone gotten a 2c download from IS yet? I know we are kept in the dark and earnings might show in days or on the 20th. But has anyone actually been paid 2c for a download from IS on the new plan? Is that real?

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #32 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:48 »

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on February 02, 2017, 10:39

Quote from: mike935 on February 02, 2017, 02:01
Is 0,05 per download a new reality?

Testing New Pricing Plans for Customers
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/90234-testing-new-pricing-plans-for-customers/

Where does that say 0.05 per download? I see the member created chart but the answer from Alex doesn't say the same? He says on plan will be percentage others remain the same.

Has anyone gotten a 2c download from IS yet? I know we are kept in the dark and earnings might show in days or on the 20th. But has anyone actually been paid 2c for a download from IS on the new plan? Is that real?

We wont hear about those 2c sales for a while as it's on the subs program that isn't being reported at the moment. The 2c sales will also be a result of discounted sales, so I would expect them to ramp up over several months after reporting starts.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #33 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:51 »

If buyers use these instead of ODs then the amount to us will decrease - you can be sure this will not increase sales enough to make up for the royalty difference.

One statistic I track for all agencies every month is the amount earned per accepted image - this gives the best picture of how images on that agency are selling and indicates which are the best for future submissions. For SS last month the number was the worst since May of 2009, just after I started. Things look bad and are getting worse. Even though I just do this part time and mainly for fun, it is hardly worth the effort to process, keyword and upload any more. I suspect with this change we will have reached the tipping point, or at least this is the one that will do it for me.

SS was the one agency that kept rolling along more or less steadily. We will see how this plays out going forward, but as we have all seen in the past these sorts of announcements rarely work out well for contributors.

Artist · « **Reply #34 on:** February 02, 2017, 10:56 »

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on February 02, 2017, 10:39

Quote from: mike935 on February 02, 2017, 02:01
Is 0,05 per download a new reality?

Testing New Pricing Plans for Customers
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/90234-testing-new-pricing-plans-for-customers/

Where does that say 0.05 per download? I see the member created chart but the answer from Alex doesn't say the same? He says on plan will be percentage others remain the same.

Has anyone gotten a 2c download from IS yet? I know we are kept in the dark and earnings might show in days or on the 20th. But has anyone actually been paid 2c for a download from IS on the new plan? Is that real?

Even, I am wondering where did they said that royalty will be 2 cents. They are telling about the percentage royalty. Shutterstock is in a very good position in market and I am sure they care of both customers as well as contributors.
They have enough money that can be spent on marketing and other strategies. Remember they purchased a new floor in empire state building

Why getting so panic?

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #35 on:** February 02, 2017, 11:11 »

Quote from: Artist on February 02, 2017, 10:56

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on February 02, 2017, 10:39
Quote from: mike935 on February 02, 2017, 02:01
Is 0,05 per download a new reality?

Testing New Pricing Plans for Customers
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/90234-testing-new-pricing-plans-for-customers/

Where does that say 0.05 per download? I see the member created chart but the answer from Alex doesn't say the same? He says on plan will be percentage others remain the same.

Has anyone gotten a 2c download from IS yet? I know we are kept in the dark and earnings might show in days or on the 20th. But has anyone actually been paid 2c for a download from IS on the new plan? Is that real?

Even, I am wondering where did they said that royalty will be 2 cents. They are telling about the percentage royalty. Shutterstock is in a very good position in market and I am sure they care of both customers as well as contributors.
They have enough money that can be spent on marketing and other strategies. Remember they purchased a new floor in empire state building

Why getting so panic?

2c was from IS, which is what a user/contributor calculated. I don't know, because another version said 10c. Well, how bad does it have to be? 2 or 10 it's still terrible. It might be panic and over reaction, that's been going on for a couple months now. It might be right and getting out before wasting more time there for nothing.

The user calculation for SS was 5 cents. Again, I don't know, until I see one. Alex wrote it was only for one plan, only on a test basis. Maybe I'll never get one of those. Maybe the 5c was for a different plan and a mistake?

I'm not going to make a claim either way, until we see the facts. As you can see, some others are ready to blame Trump, what the f does he have to do with a SS earnings thread? The panic is based on conjecture and supposition. That doesn't mean it's not right and the worst is just around the corner, but people whipped into angry mob scene with no facts, is ahead of the truth.

jonbull · « **Reply #36 on:** February 02, 2017, 11:17 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on February 02, 2017, 10:51

If buyers use these instead of ODs then the amount to us will decrease - you can be sure this will not increase sales enough to make up for the royalty difference.

One statistic I track for all agencies every month is the amount earned per accepted image - this gives the best picture of how images on that agency are selling and indicates which are the best for future submissions. For SS last month the number was the worst since May of 2009, just after I started. Things look bad and are getting worse. Even though I just do this part time and mainly for fun, it is hardly worth the effort to process, keyword and upload any more. I suspect with this change we will have reached the tipping point, or at least this is the one that will do it for me.

SS was the one agency that kept rolling along more or less steadily. We will see how this plays out going forward, but as we have all seen in the past these sorts of announcements rarely work out well for contributors.

well already decreased a lot the on demand.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #37 on:** February 02, 2017, 11:31 »

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on February 02, 2017, 11:24

So I should include Obama said in all my messages from now on, as part of the title or Hillary promises? My point is, it's unnecessary to include the T word in a subject about SS possibly cutting earnings...

Yup, unnecessary and confusing

cthoman · « **Reply #38 on:** February 02, 2017, 11:47 »

I just kind of skim read it, but it doesn't look like they are changing the volume stuff...

Quote

Hi,

There is no change to contributor payouts for our 350 / 750 per month plans. When a customer downloads one of your images through the 350 / 750 plans, you will continue to receive $0.25 - $0.38 (depending on your lifetime earnings).

As mentioned before, these new test pricing plans are designed to attract a new set of customers who are looking for an offering somewhere between the Packs and the 350 / 750 subscriptions. These new customers will drive a new stream of downloads and earnings.

You’ll be earning more per download through these 10 / 50 per month plans than you do for our large volume plans. For these test products, your earnings will be calculated as a percentage of the purchase price, according to your earning tier in the Custom Image / Enhanced License Image category. You will see these earnings in the Single and Other column in your earnings summary.

Best,

Alex

cthoman · « **Reply #39 on:** February 02, 2017, 11:53 »

That said, it does look like it cannibalizes the image packs sales which is probably the real bread and butter now.

Artist · « **Reply #40 on:** February 02, 2017, 11:54 »

Quote

The OD was decreased? When and how? Is that part of this new plan or something that slipped past recently? Mine haven't dropped yet, should I be ready for less income?

After the fotolia and adobe acquisition, shutterstock started being more active in building customers by various means. With lot of images being uploaded (mostly crap

) we still see that earnings are fair, we never saw any dead end.

There are many agencies including istock who do not want their contributors to earn inspite of being in good position.
I still don't know how someone calculated 2 cents and make everyone in panic. This new model is in testing more which clearly states that if this isn't successful it will be removed.

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #41 on:** February 02, 2017, 12:37 »

Quote from: Artist on February 02, 2017, 11:54

Quote
The OD was decreased? When and how? Is that part of this new plan or something that slipped past recently? Mine haven't dropped yet, should I be ready for less income?

After the fotolia and adobe acquisition, shutterstock started being more active in building customers by various means. With lot of images being uploaded (mostly crap ) we still see that earnings are fair, we never saw any dead end.

There are many agencies including istock who do not want their contributors to earn inspite of being in good position.
I still don't know how someone calculated 2 cents and make everyone in panic. This new model is in testing more which clearly states that if this isn't successful it will be removed.

Thanks I didn't understand how ODs commissions were reduced?

Success means does the company make more and pay us less. Sorry, but as much as SS has held up commissions and played straight, they have to pay for that new space in the building.

obj owl · « **Reply #42 on:** February 02, 2017, 12:49 »

Quote from: Artist on February 02, 2017, 11:54

Quote
The OD was decreased? When and how? Is that part of this new plan or something that slipped past recently? Mine haven't dropped yet, should I be ready for less income?

After the fotolia and adobe acquisition, shutterstock started being more active in building customers by various means. With lot of images being uploaded (mostly crap ) we still see that earnings are fair, we never saw any dead end.

There are many agencies including istock who do not want their contributors to earn inspite of being in good position.
I still don't know how someone calculated 2 cents and make everyone in panic. This new model is in testing more which clearly states that if this isn't successful it will be removed.

The 2c was put forward by istock as a safety net for commissions that may not reach that sum. Therefore, istock must envisage a scenario in which buyers will be paying much less for their subs packages, discounting. Even so the buyer would need to redeem a good number of their discounted package for the payout to be less than 2c.

spike · « **Reply #43 on:** February 02, 2017, 15:34 »

Quote from: jjneff on February 02, 2017, 07:06

I would say the market is ready for an Adobe take over!

I've been earning more with Adobe than with Shutterstock for a couple of months now. Shutterstock was once responsible for over 70% of my earnings, now it's barely 40%.

trek · « **Reply #44 on:** February 02, 2017, 18:34 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 02, 2017, 13:26

Can we keep trump off this thread? This is about business and politics is off topic. I am not sure why the op chose to insert him here and it's too late to start a new thread.

I think the OP can change the title.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #45 on:** February 02, 2017, 20:04 »

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on February 02, 2017, 05:19

...The danger is of course that this is adopted across all subs upto 750 images after the trial period in which case earnings will be reduced.

I think the "danger" is that the higher-royalty on demand downloads get replaced with these new packs. At the 30% tier I get $2.85 for an OD (2/$29, 5/$49, 25/$229).

Why would you buy 2 images for $29 (or 5 for $49) when you could buy 10 for $49? The only thing you (currently) get extra for paying $29 for 2 is one year to use your downloads vs. one month).

I would get paid $1.47 for a download under the trial scheme, a 48% cut in my royalty. That's if they pay by the month. It's worse if they buy an annual subscription, but that's a less obvious substitute for the OD packs.

It's a mistake to think that subscriptions are the royalties with which to compare for the one month packs. For an annual subscription, it's possible that the current 350 a month deal customers will switch to 50, and 60 cents a download vs. 38 cents would be a nice increase. Whether that makes up for how we get scr*#ed with the team subscriptions, I'm not sure

As the Premier Select segregation has all but removed SOD sales (of decent size) for me, zapping the OD income would be yet another cut.

Given the earnings call is coming up and given the attention last quarter to the slowdown in their paid download growth, SS will want to say they're doing something about lower downloads. I'm guessing this is it.

I posted a comment in the SS forum thread on this topic

mike935 · « **Reply #46 on:** February 03, 2017, 01:25 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 02, 2017, 13:26

Can we keep trump off this thread? This is about business and politics is off topic. I am not sure why the op chose to insert him here and it's too late to start a new thread.

Isn't democracy allow us to choose titles we want? It seems that some people are tired of democracy. That's why so many protests these days. The topic is about SS unfair payment. If you do not like the title, please read the rest.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #47 on:** February 03, 2017, 03:46 »

Quote from: mike935 on February 03, 2017, 01:25

...

Isn't democracy allow us to choose titles we want? ...The topic is about SS unfair payment. If you do not like the title, please read the rest.

Perhaps you should read Leaf's guidelines (it's his forum that he runs and that some of us - anyone marked Premium member - pay for)? They include:

"When you start a new thread, please give the thread a descriptive subject."

You've mixed two subjects in the title: payments to SS contributors and US politics. I don't think your subject is descriptive.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #48 on:** February 03, 2017, 05:54 »

Quote from: mike935 on February 03, 2017, 01:25

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 02, 2017, 13:26
Can we keep trump off this thread? This is about business and politics is off topic. I am not sure why the op chose to insert him here and it's too late to start a new thread.

Isn't democracy allow us to choose titles we want? It seems that some people are tired of democracy. That's why so many protests these days. The topic is about SS unfair payment. If you do not like the title, please read the rest.

You are a strange duck aren't you?

Jo Ann has explained it but let me reiterate.

Ignoring that you are talking about freedom of speech (and not understanding the fundamentals of even that) and not democracy. We are not in a democracy here, we are in a dictatorship, a benign dictatorship but still a dictatorship.

I am not taxed to pay for the bandwidth or the numerous other costs of this site and I don't get to vote on what titles you can use.

It was a suggestion to try and keep things organised as there's an "Off-topic" section to the site for politics and the like. You can choose to ignore the suggestion, I am free to make it and Tyler is free to boot any one of us or delete any post he likes (see how that works?)

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #49 on:** February 03, 2017, 11:42 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 03, 2017, 05:54

Quote from: mike935 on February 03, 2017, 01:25
Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on February 02, 2017, 13:26
Can we keep trump off this thread? This is about business and politics is off topic. I am not sure why the op chose to insert him here and it's too late to start a new thread.

Isn't democracy allow us to choose titles we want? It seems that some people are tired of democracy. That's why so many protests these days. The topic is about SS unfair payment. If you do not like the title, please read the rest.

You are a strange duck aren't you?

Jo Ann has explained it but let me reiterate.

Ignoring that you are talking about freedom of speech (and not understanding the fundamentals of even that) and not democracy. We are not in a democracy here, we are in a dictatorship, a benign dictatorship but still a dictatorship.

I am not taxed to pay for the bandwidth or the numerous other costs of this site and I don't get to vote on what titles you can use.

It was a suggestion to try and keep things organised as there's an "Off-topic" section to the site for politics and the like. You can choose to ignore the suggestion, I am free to make it and Tyler is free to boot any one of us or delete any post he likes (see how that works?)

Yes, Tyler Olson aka Leaf owns and runs this place. It's not a democracy. He's King or dictator or whatever anyone wants to call it, but he's captain of the MSG ship and makes the rules.

As for the actual topic, I'd agree with the people here who say this could replace what we have, if it works for the agency. That would make me very unhappy.

We haven't seen the results of the new and exciting changes at IS but I'll predict what it means. Less for us, more for them. And the same will be true with shared plans like the new SS test. If they make more, we get less and the plan is a success for the agency.

Not for us!

Wait I have an idea. Since SS is so profitable and we are the suppliers who helped make it that way, how about a raise. One more level for the true artists who make the sales, and were important for making SS what it is? Now there's a plan I could like.

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Author Topic: Shutterstock testing new pricing plans for customers (Read 33571 times)

Justanotherphotographer

etudiante_rapide

Justanotherphotographer

Bauman

jonbull

jonbull

YadaYadaYada

Justanotherphotographer

sgoodwin4813

Artist

YadaYadaYada

jonbull

Justanotherphotographer

cthoman

cthoman

Artist

YadaYadaYada

obj owl

spike

trek

Jo Ann Snover

mike935

Jo Ann Snover

Justanotherphotographer

YadaYadaYada

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