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Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: Artist on August 05, 2013, 09:14

Title: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on August 05, 2013, 09:14
Was wondering how are your sales going.
For me down and weekends very bad. How are you ppl doing??
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: morning.light on August 05, 2013, 09:37
I had a huge drop since that search change, when all my best sellers went to hell.  But then sales got better. June was my BME money wise and July my BME downloads wise.

But things are not pink yet. My newest uploads don't sell at all! And it has nothing to do with them being buried under other pictures, because they're still on the first page under the "new" category for about a week after being accepted. And I really don't think I suddenly started taking crap pictures. Usually, 1-2 pictures from each batch used to sell. Now nothing, and I mean NOTHING sold from the last 10 batches! I really don't understand...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: marthamarks on August 05, 2013, 09:43
May was my BME (by a country mile) at SS, and July came in close behind it.

Who knows how August is going because... for 2 days I haven't been able to get in to see! Are the buyers able to get in and buy now or not?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 05, 2013, 10:17
I had a huge drop since that search change, when all my best sellers went to hell.  But then sales got better. June was my BME money wise and July my BME downloads wise.

But things are not pink yet. My newest uploads don't sell at all! And it has nothing to do with them being buried under other pictures, because they're still on the first page under the "new" category for about a week after being accepted. And I really don't think I suddenly started taking crap pictures. Usually, 1-2 pictures from each batch used to sell. Now nothing, and I mean NOTHING sold from the last 10 batches! I really don't understand...

My sales seem to be a mixture of old and new but I'm not really sure what is considered "new?"  If I look at my own port, using the "new" search algorithm, is that what is considered "new?"
Also, looking at the statistics "Overall Earnings," my "Earnings from New Content" is a bit over 10%.

Is that what we are discussing?

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 05, 2013, 10:22
The start of August is slow to say the least. I have to wait for a full week to end to give you an idea but it seems I am 30% from July's first week (not counting ELs and SODs otherwise its 75% down)

However, sales go up, sales go down. And I have my own rule;

1. When I complain, sales go up
2. You cant change rule 1.

Worked for me every time. July was BME.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 05, 2013, 10:36
August will pick up at the end as folks get back from their summer vacations than Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec simply ROCK!  :)





Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on August 05, 2013, 10:49
August will pick up at the end as folks get back from their summer vacations than Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec simply ROCK!  :)

My previous December was terrible, due to late approval of my batch. My Christmas files got approved after Christmas was gone. No cookie for me. Entire sale went down at that time.
Hope for good this December.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: modviz on August 05, 2013, 10:52
Best start since joining SS June,2012.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Roberto on August 05, 2013, 10:56
normal start but with a weekend first, I'll wait a BME  ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 05, 2013, 11:19
August will pick up at the end as folks get back from their summer vacations than Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec simply ROCK!  :)

My previous December was terrible, due to late approval of my batch. My Christmas files got approved after Christmas was gone. No cookie for me. Entire sale went down at that time.
Hope for good this December.
If you submit xmas images in December you are late, those need to be submitted by October, and maybe even sooner.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on August 05, 2013, 11:50
Not good.
June was good, July only the half, August starting out weakly.

I hope it can be explained by "summer slump", but the slumps use not to be so bad.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockmarketer on August 05, 2013, 11:59
First four days of this August vs Aug 2012 is the same almost to the dollar. But considering how many more images I have now vs last year, I'm not too happy. 

Looking at last summer vs this summer, I'm struck by how many of those "Single and Other Downloads" I had last year. 
Those are down big time this year.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on August 05, 2013, 12:21
I definitely have seen a downturn since the search engine change.  Sales are okay at SS, but could definitely be better.  Hoping after the summer things pick up a lot. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on August 05, 2013, 12:36
If you submit xmas images in December you are late, those need to be submitted by October, and maybe even sooner.

I'm working on some now. It's never too early for that stuff. :)

Quote
How are sales going?- Shutterstock

Today is the first day I've had in a few months where I'm optimistic about ending the day well. July was well short of where it should have been, and the first few days of August were no better. Today is finally looking good. Fingers crossed that this is the start of the summer rebound.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dbvirago on August 05, 2013, 12:37
Today is slightly better than Sunday, but not near as good as Saturday. Hitting one of those dead stop days.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on August 05, 2013, 12:54
First four days of this August vs Aug 2012 is the same almost to the dollar. But considering how many more images I have now vs last year, I'm not too happy. 

Looking at last summer vs this summer, I'm struck by how many of those "Single and Other Downloads" I had last year. 
Those are down big time this year.


+1

Too soon to tell about this month, but so far sales are down by 30% over last August with more files. Overall my OD's EL's & SOD are down over previous years.

It would be interesting to do a poll with results tied to royalty level.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Anyka on August 05, 2013, 14:07
My bestsellers got hit by the first Best Match change and never recovered.  The whole top 20 simply disappeared and has not returned on page 1 for more than 2 months now.  First month sales were down more than 15% compared to 2012. Now it has recovered a bit and July was only 5% down compared to July12.  I upload every week, so 5% down is not good.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on August 05, 2013, 15:58
good
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 05, 2013, 16:17
There are so many variables to this question- How to define good or bad? Let's use my average portfolio (thus another variable to consider) of 1,300 images on Shutter. Last month I made $281 is that good or bad? I really don't know? Did I make more money in June that last year's June- yes but I only had about 500 images back then.

So do we add in the quality of the images and type as well to consider if sales are good or bad? Do we include type (i.e. food shots, landscape, people) as well. For example, a portfolio of med to high end shots of people in the work place should bring in say $.50 per month per image thus a portfolio of 1,000 images nets $500 were another portfolio of landscapes-travel pics nets $.20 per image thus $200 per month.  Is this bad or good- I don't really know?  I've been told that $.20 per image per month is a good starting point thus my average (below average in my eyes compared to most of you on this site) should have netted $260 last month- I hit $281 thus do I dare say 'Good'?   I really don't know how to answer this one... :-\


T
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Carl on August 06, 2013, 06:01
I've noticed a decline in sales.  I normally exceed payout each month, but didn't make it in July.  I'm accustomed to seeing daily sales, but I've had three zero days and four sales total so far this month. :'(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: baz777 on August 06, 2013, 07:16
July was my BME, slower start to August though.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: CD123 on August 06, 2013, 07:18
Tad down from June to July, but does not fluctuate month to month as the other sites for me. Weekends always sucks.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 06, 2013, 07:37
I think we are in the middle of holiday season in Muslim Countries?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 06, 2013, 11:06
40 dollar in 7 days. Thats about 60% down from my average. Not good.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on August 06, 2013, 11:22

Here's something weird I've noticed...

I used to consider 11:00 am EST my sort of "mid day" in microstock. By 11am, I had a pretty good idea of where the day was headed for me and could predict to a reasonable degree of accuracy the dollar amount I should expect to be at by the end of the day by simply doubling where I was at by 11 o'clock.

Lately that hasn't been the case. My mid-day is more like 9 or 10am, and I think because I'm not getting the kind of sales volume I used to get from the western world. Just before the start of the business day in the US, my numbers look pretty good. But things slow down from there.

Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 06, 2013, 12:40
Looking very bleak.  My SS is off to a WME start.   :'(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Anita Potter on August 06, 2013, 12:43
Craptastical as normal  :-\

I'm also not very optimistic about an upswing after summer either.  This whole year so far has be bad.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on August 06, 2013, 15:34
Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.

True, but given all the doom and gloom at iS, and now reported at SS, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard on the Beeb that the UK economy is recovering.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: CD123 on August 06, 2013, 15:40
Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.

True, but given all the doom and gloom at iS, and now reported at SS, I nearly fell of my chair when I heard on the Beeb that the UK economy is recovering.
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url] ([url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url])


Think it's a worldwide rumor being spread by all countries. Seems like everyone, bar the man in the street, is seeing this wondrous recovery....
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 06, 2013, 16:13
Today can celebrate that both CanStockPhoto and FT today outperformed SS over the last two days added up. :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: modviz on August 06, 2013, 16:29
There are so many variables to this question- How to define good or bad? Let's use my average portfolio (thus another variable to consider) of 1,300 images on Shutter. Last month I made $281 is that good or bad? I really don't know? Did I make more money in June that last year's June- yes but I only had about 500 images back then. :-\
        Great comment Tab32 because you gave us  a brief summery of where you are in the microstock world. The per-usual "I,m doing good", "I'm doing poorly", "My BME", "My WME", is totally meaningless    because I-We know absolutely nothing about those who comment.There are contributers who comment on a very regular basis. I have no idea  where they stand in the microstock world. Many thanks, Tab32. I started two years ago. I belong to SS,DT,123RF and DP.                                                                                                                                                       
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on August 06, 2013, 19:42
Pretty poorly for me, I am down a little in total volume of sales, but it is the lesser number of alphabet soup sales - OD, EL, SOD sales that is really dropping the $ total down.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 06, 2013, 19:59
Tab62 not Tab32 since 62 is my birth year  :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MicrostockExp on August 06, 2013, 20:52
July was good but august is pretty terrible so far:(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 06, 2013, 21:30
This videos sums up my month so far-

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/Desert-rain-frog-just-might-be-worlds-cutest-frog-218547841.html (http://www.komonews.com/home/video/Desert-rain-frog-just-might-be-worlds-cutest-frog-218547841.html)



Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on August 06, 2013, 21:50
Sales are up for me. July was a BME in both earnings and downloads. I'm ahead of July pace for the first six days in both total downloads and earnings. July 1-6 (with one weekend day) was 272 downloads. August 1-6 (with two weekend days) is at 293. Two ELs, one on Aug. 1 and one on Aug. 2, are pumping up the earnings a little.  After tomorrow when I compare the complete weeks, I think August will be 60-80 images ahead.

I ended July with 1,435 total downloads. Had about 1,500 images in port. The pattern has been for me that the first week is a little slow and picks up as the month goes along with most of the downloads coming in the third and fourth weeks.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: YadaYadaYada on August 06, 2013, 22:09
Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.

True, but given all the doom and gloom at iS, and now reported at SS, I nearly fell of my chair when I heard on the Beeb that the UK economy is recovering.
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url] ([url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url])


Think it's a worldwide rumor being spread by all countries. Seems like everyone, bar the man in the street, is seeing this wondrous recovery....


In it's 3rd year if you watch holiday shopping interview, rumors is right.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Anita Potter on August 06, 2013, 23:25
YAY!  I just got a 0 on a weekday.

*bangs head on keyboard*

Either it's their search of my images have become irrelevant all of a sudden.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: modviz on August 06, 2013, 23:32
Tab32. I was born in 1956. I was a professional cameraman since 1978 working as a studio cameraman etc. and ending full-time in 1994 and freelanced ever since. I stopped freelancing
a few years ago (won't get into details) ;D but started microstocking 2 years ago. Shooting video and  taking a single image are two completely different disciplines. Creating a masterpiece day in and day out under any conditions will take me many years to achieve. "Shady Sue", etc. contribute their email address with each comment. I didn't notice that. I don' need more information. I just wish anyone new who wants to comment need to first provide a link to their portfolio. I'll contact MSG and see if I can move mountains. I make, on average, $500 a month. I'll provide a direct link to my portfolio as soon as I'm out of hospital. All the best........ :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on August 07, 2013, 00:38
I started with microstocks this year in January.
July has been the best month for me.
I have been very surprised because I was expecting a very bad month because of the holidays.

Now August has started very very slowly. I am selling only on Shutterstock from the beginning of the month, but the sales are 25% of the ones of july for the first week of the month (+ 1one sub on 123 RF……).

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 07, 2013, 03:53
I think I am finally coming down with the search bug, lol, no downloads for about 18 hours. Still on zero today. I have to adjust my earnings to 31 dollar in 7 days. ODDs and SODs are pretty much absent all together. The steady Shutterstock ship has sunk for me, lets hope its not going to be of Titanic proportions.  8)

But then again, sales go up, sales go down. I am sure September will be rocking again.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockmarketer on August 07, 2013, 05:56
I'll be a bit more specific... for the first 6 days days of Aug 2012, I had just over 900 downloads at SS.  For the same period in 2013, I have just over 1000.  (In my 6th year of doing microstock)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on August 07, 2013, 07:37
The number of downloads isn't great but my RPD for August so far is $1.58.  Mostly thanks to another big SOD.  Overall, looks like the best start to an August I've ever had.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on August 07, 2013, 11:53
August is kinda slow for me so far, but the thing that's really odd is the sudden drop in non-sub downloads since the middle of July. The first two weeks of July were fabulous, and then right after the "maintenance," sales of my new files and non-sub DLs dropped off a cliff. Can someone turn that feature back on?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 07, 2013, 12:18
My RPD on GL is 5.20$ but still its worth nothing if its only 1 DL in 6 months.  :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on August 07, 2013, 15:08
July was a BME at SS and the first week of August has been stonking - but then again it has to be to make up for the limp banana IS has become since mid 2012.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 07, 2013, 18:36
Sales are up for me. July was a BME in both earnings and downloads. I'm ahead of July pace for the first six days in both total downloads and earnings. July 1-6 (with one weekend day) was 272 downloads. August 1-6 (with two weekend days) is at 293. Two ELs, one on Aug. 1 and one on Aug. 2, are pumping up the earnings a little.  After tomorrow when I compare the complete weeks, I think August will be 60-80 images ahead.

I ended July with 1,435 total downloads. Had about 1,500 images in port. The pattern has been for me that the first week is a little slow and picks up as the month goes along with most of the downloads coming in the third and fourth weeks.

Yours and several other posts here are so discouraging.  My portfolio is similar in size but my downloads are terribly puny compared to yours.   I probably shouldn't compare ports.  Your subject matter and mine do not compare at all.

Congrats on the downloads.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on August 07, 2013, 18:44
I try to have a lot of variety. I don't think my stuff is great or anything, but I have a lot of different things. People photos do the best for me, but I get objects, landscapes, wildlife and other types of downloads as well. Even with the people photos, I try to do candids, outdoor shots, sports, isolations and so on.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: CD123 on August 07, 2013, 18:52
Tab62 not Tab32 since 62 is my birth year  :)
Better update your avatar - you look a bit greyish - might have caused the 32 impression? ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: CD123 on August 07, 2013, 18:56
Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.

True, but given all the doom and gloom at iS, and now reported at SS, I nearly fell of my chair when I heard on the Beeb that the UK economy is recovering.
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url] ([url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url])


Think it's a worldwide rumor being spread by all countries. Seems like everyone, bar the man in the street, is seeing this wondrous recovery....


In it's 3rd year if you watch holiday shopping interview, rumors is right.


Don't agree. It is after the balancing out of the 10% of the people who is spending 500% more and 90% spending 20% less that creates the impression of a recovery....  :-\

PS The rumors is definitely not right, they ARE right, but actually they is wrong  ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on August 08, 2013, 01:58
Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.

True, but given all the doom and gloom at iS, and now reported at SS, I nearly fell of my chair when I heard on the Beeb that the UK economy is recovering.
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url] ([url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23584843[/url])


Think it's a worldwide rumor being spread by all countries. Seems like everyone, bar the man in the street, is seeing this wondrous recovery....


In it's 3rd year if you watch holiday shopping interview, rumors is right.


Don't agree. It is after the balancing out of the 10% of the people who is spending 500% more and 90% spending 20% less that creates the impression of a recovery....  :-\

PS The rumors is definitely not right, they ARE right, but actually they is wrong  ;D
I think this Beatles lyric sums up the UK economy quite nicely,
"I've got to admit it's getting better
(Better)
A little better all the time
(It couldn't get no worse)"
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: CD123 on August 08, 2013, 03:11
I think this Beatles lyric sums up the UK economy quite nicely,
"I've got to admit it's getting better
(Better)
A little better all the time
(It couldn't get no worse)"

Thought you gonna give us: "I've got to get a message to you, hold on, hold on..."  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Veneratio on August 08, 2013, 04:04
I think this Beatles lyric sums up the UK economy quite nicely,
"I've got to admit it's getting better
(Better)
A little better all the time
(It couldn't get no worse)"

Thought you gonna give us: "I've got to get a message to you, hold on, hold on..."  ;)

Or "Help, I need somebody...."
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on August 12, 2013, 01:18
Very poor sales going on  :(
Seems it will be WME for me.  :(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: marthamarks on August 12, 2013, 07:46
Very poor sales going on  :(
Seems it will be WME for me.  :(

Same here. It's vacation time in the US, so no big surprise.

But hey, there's my new SYS site to keep things moving forward!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Batman on August 13, 2013, 18:59
Was wondering how are your sales going.
For me down and weekends very bad. How are you ppl doing??

So far this month is the worst in a year.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Noedelhap on August 15, 2013, 06:22
When did they change Best Match? I seem to be affected by it.

All in all, sales for August are pretty bad. I hope things pick up in September again.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mellimage on August 15, 2013, 06:58
Sales are down at SS - half the month gone and not nearly the halfway mark to payout. But the sad thing is - it's bad across the whole board for me - and SS is not even the worst in their performance... .
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on August 15, 2013, 07:07
Sales are down at SS - half the month gone and not nearly the halfway mark to payout. But the sad thing is - it's bad across the whole board for me - and SS is not even the worst in their performance... .

do you mean you haven't reached 37.5$? :o
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 15, 2013, 08:33
Sales are down at SS - half the month gone and not nearly the halfway mark to payout. But the sad thing is - it's bad across the whole board for me - and SS is not even the worst in their performance... .
How many images do you have on SS?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mellimage on August 15, 2013, 09:02
Sales are down at SS - half the month gone and not nearly the halfway mark to payout. But the sad thing is - it's bad across the whole board for me - and SS is not even the worst in their performance... .

do you mean you haven't reached 37.5$? :o

That's what I am saying - and yes I have a 600+ image port.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on August 15, 2013, 09:11
Sales at SS appear to be steady for me. I'm projected to be 7% up on August 2012 (this is my 9th year at SS).

What does concern me is the volume of new images being accepted at SS of late. They are currently claiming "175K new stock images added this week" and a few days ago it was 183K (the highest I've ever seen). Where are all these new images coming from? SS must have doubled their reviewing capacity to cope with such an influx which suggests that they expect this volume of new content to be sustained.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 15, 2013, 09:48
Sales at SS appear to be steady for me. I'm projected to be 7% up on August 2012 (this is my 9th year at SS).

What does concern me is the volume of new images being accepted at SS of late. They are currently claiming "175K new stock images added this week" and a few days ago it was 183K (the highest I've ever seen). Where are all these new images coming from? SS must have doubled their reviewing capacity to cope with such an influx which suggests that they expect this volume of new content to be sustained.

I have always thought they want to exceed Alamy and be able to say they have the largest library of stock images in existence.

They are gaining on Alamy with about 30k images per week. But Alamy has 10m more images.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on August 15, 2013, 10:11
Down -49% over August of 2012

Last three months have been an eye opener for me, down over previous years across the board. For years SS did not mess with the search.  Once they decided to go public they shifted into first gear to add new search rank capabilities, the results of that new effort have spoken volumes.

Time to look at other options.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on August 15, 2013, 10:14

Here's something weird I've noticed...

I used to consider 11:00 am EST my sort of "mid day" in microstock. By 11am, I had a pretty good idea of where the day was headed for me and could predict to a reasonable degree of accuracy the dollar amount I should expect to be at by the end of the day by simply doubling where I was at by 11 o'clock.

Lately that hasn't been the case. My mid-day is more like 9 or 10am, and I think because I'm not getting the kind of sales volume I used to get from the western world. Just before the start of the business day in the US, my numbers look pretty good. But things slow down from there.

Maybe it's summer slowdown, and the US is being particularly liberal with vacation time this year. I've never been a big believer in summer slowdown but it's kind of hard to ignore when the numbers are pretty convincing.

I call it the new SS download governor
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mellimage on August 15, 2013, 10:34
mistake fixed, no comment necessary. :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on August 15, 2013, 10:39
Down -49% over August of 2012.


How can you be down over a year in the future? ;) ;)

2012
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on August 15, 2013, 10:44

This is what came to mind first for me.  :P

You tell lies thinking I can't see
You can't cry 'cos you're laughing at me
I'm down (I'm really down)
I'm down (Down on the ground)
I'm down (I'm really down)
How can you laugh when you know I'm down
(How can you laugh) When you know I'm down.



I think this Beatles lyric sums up the UK economy quite nicely,
"I've got to admit it's getting better
(Better)
A little better all the time
(It couldn't get no worse)"

Thought you gonna give us: "I've got to get a message to you, hold on, hold on..."  ;)

Or "Help, I need somebody...."
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 15, 2013, 10:49
There are two ways to measure performance from what I've seen-

1. If you have a decent size portfolio -  over 5K images than comparing the particular month of one year to the next year is a good way to monitor the performance

2. If your portfolio is small but growing (newbies like myself) than comparing month by month within that year makes more sense

We want to compare Apples to Apples and Oranges to Oranges. I see (ok, read) folks saying things like- " My sales are up 5000% from last year at this same time!" Yeah, and your portfolio was 100 images last year and this year is it over 1,000 images.  You are comparing an Apple with an Orange in my eyes...

T

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mellimage on August 15, 2013, 10:55
There are two ways to measure performance from what I've seen-

1. If you have a decent size portfolio -  over 5K images than comparing the particular month of one year to the next year is a good way to monitor the performance

2. If your portfolio is small but growing (newbies like myself) than comparing month by month within that year makes more sense

We want to compare Apples to Apples and Oranges to Oranges. I see (ok, read) folks saying things like- " My sales are up 5000% from last year at this same time!" Yeah, and your portfolio was 100 images last year and this year is it over 1,000 images.  You are comparing an Apple with an Orange in my eyes...

T

I do not think you can only do year to year comparisons if you have a port over 5k images. I've been with SS for 6 years now - and have a small port - which is very slow growing.  Why should i not compare the performance of my port to the performance it had last august - or even August 2 years ago. And if I see that compared to last year, despite some growth of my port, my dls and $$ are down, then this is saying something too, right?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 15, 2013, 11:03
"I do not think you can only do year to year comparisons if you have a port over 5k images. I've been with SS for 6 years now - and have a small port - which is very slow growing.  Why should i not compare the performance of my port to the performance it had last august - or even August 2 years ago. And if I see that compared to last year, despite some growth of my port, my dls and $$ are down, then this is saying something too, right?"

Slow growing is a different variable thus you would be comparing an apple with an apple in my eyes for a year to year comparison. As long as your portfolio is growing say 25% or more a per year.  Also if your portfolio grow say 50% wouldn't you expect a 50% increase in revenue? Tons of variables to consider. Basically,  a base line needs to be established to make a good judgement on performance.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on August 15, 2013, 11:14
What if it's small, stable and not growing, then can I compare last year to this year?

ps I'm not down, that was just song lyrics. Sales are up compared to last year, and consistent on SS for me. I'm quite pleased.

So good that I might add another image or two again next month.  ;)

Just pointing out you overlook a third possibility. Small portfolio and stagnant growth, but level sales.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on August 15, 2013, 11:23
I don't think its ever worth worrying about sales in August.  Lots of people take time off this time of year.  There always seems to be a thread about low sales this time of year.  Hopefully in a few weeks, sales will be "Here, There and Everywhere" :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jcpjr on August 15, 2013, 11:41
Had a huge day Tuesday. Yesterday had 4. Today one so far. Really bad. Had better sales over the past weekend then I did the past two days. Too much search tweaking in my opinion.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jcpjr on August 15, 2013, 11:47
Had a huge day Tuesday. Yesterday had 4. Today one so far. Really bad. Had better sales over the past weekend then I did the past two days. Too much search tweaking in my opinion.
Just to add, I reached a payout on the 7th this month and then the bottom dropped out. Not good.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 15, 2013, 12:22
Had a huge day Tuesday. Yesterday had 4. Today one so far. Really bad. Had better sales over the past weekend then I did the past two days. Too much search tweaking in my opinion.

I'm seeing the same inconsistency.  Makes me wonder if the "real time" update is working.  I noticed last night that sales (on the world map) are popping up in bunches.  Then long periods with nothing?

Just a thought.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on August 15, 2013, 12:35
I don't think its ever worth worrying about sales in August...

If I based my involvement in this business on August, I wouldn't be in this business. Not that I wouldn't make it financially, just that the inconsistency would drive me insane. One day I'm feeling great about earnings, the next I'm ready to quit.

Although I am having more good than bad days this week, but still, it's not at all normal. Today is way down.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jcpjr on August 15, 2013, 12:48
Had a huge day Tuesday. Yesterday had 4. Today one so far. Really bad. Had better sales over the past weekend then I did the past two days. Too much search tweaking in my opinion.

I'm seeing the same inconsistency.  Makes me wonder if the "real time" update is working.  I noticed last night that sales (on the world map) are popping up in bunches.  Then long periods with nothing?

Just a thought.

I never thought of this but it could be the reason for the rollercoaster effect.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 15, 2013, 15:19
^^^ more and more convincing.  It's after 3 pm here and all my reported sales are in Europe and Asia.  Nothing yet in this side of the Atlantic.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 15, 2013, 16:51
Wow, the first week was disappointing, but this week is rocking. I am actually back on track for a normal month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Allsa on August 15, 2013, 19:37
Had a huge day Tuesday. Yesterday had 4. Today one so far. Really bad. Had better sales over the past weekend then I did the past two days. Too much search tweaking in my opinion.

I'm seeing the same inconsistency.  Makes me wonder if the "real time" update is working.  I noticed last night that sales (on the world map) are popping up in bunches.  Then long periods with nothing?

Just a thought.

Same problem here, I did great over the weekend, but today is terrible.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on August 15, 2013, 19:41
Had a huge day Tuesday. Yesterday had 4. Today one so far. Really bad. Had better sales over the past weekend then I did the past two days. Too much search tweaking in my opinion.

I'm seeing the same inconsistency.  Makes me wonder if the "real time" update is working.  I noticed last night that sales (on the world map) are popping up in bunches.  Then long periods with nothing?

Just a thought.

Same problem here, I did great over the weekend, but today is terrible.

Hmmm __ things were normal for me 3 hours ago and now sales have slowed. SS must have done a massive change to the sort order in the meantime. Not.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gillian vann on August 15, 2013, 19:59
slow month but not a disaster. looks on track to be average. I've hardly uploaded much to SS this month either, not sure if that is a factor.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on August 15, 2013, 23:50
Slow beginning for August, but on the 15th I am over the half of my July total (full month), and July has been my best month this year.
Probably it is because I have begun only few months ago on SS and my portfolio is growing every month with a  direct effect on the sales.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on August 16, 2013, 08:42
Was wondering how are your sales going.
For me down and weekends very bad. How are you ppl doing??

So far this month is the worst in a year.

Something is up for sure....for me anyway.  Low sales, new uploads, over 2700 images and I am seeing declines.  Could very well be a normal seasonal slow down.  I think in the US school is starting up as we speak, but isn't there a six week vacation window in Europe in August? That could be a factor as well.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: niserin on August 16, 2013, 08:50
Some change with a change order must have occured yesterday. First three days of the week were OK, but from yesterday it is much worse. Hope everything will be back on track from Monday
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on August 16, 2013, 08:54
My sales plunged the day after the "maintenance" at SS in mid July, and have yet to recover. I'm really hoping September brings a big upswing. Did they make a concerted effort to push buyers towards subscriptions? Because non-sub sales have suffered tremendously.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on August 16, 2013, 09:02
, but isn't there a six week vacation window in Europe in August? That could be a factor as well.
Depends where you are. Our schools went back this week, English not until the beginning of September, haven't a clue about other countries.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on August 16, 2013, 09:59
It feels like I haven't had an EL since the Victorian era - but a sprinkling of SODs and several ODDs has put a spring in my step of late.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PZF on August 17, 2013, 13:26
VERY erratic for me. One good or good-ish day - then one or two terrible ones...... A few hours of reasonable activity - then several hours of no downloads at all.......
Also downloads arriving at odd times  - as if people in the USA, for example, are buying in the middle of their night....
All very odd......
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 17, 2013, 13:32
This month in the USA is a crap shoot at best case- many folks working on alternative schedules do to their kids being home most of day- after labor weekend (first one in September) things will get back to normal...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on August 17, 2013, 13:39
Slow month at SS so far. They currently are running in 5th place. It will be surprising if DT actually beats them this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Anita Potter on August 17, 2013, 13:42
Our kids go back to school this Monday.  I don't know what an OD and SOD are anymore (I don't include ELs since those are rare for my port).

Managed to have a good day for a Friday and hard to stay optimistic that things will turn around after vacations and all kids are back in school.

We'll see what happens through mid September.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PZF on August 18, 2013, 01:43
Yesterday typical - a reasonable number of downloads early in the morning - but NOTHING after that. Nothing yet this morning either. Weird, even for a weekend when things usually trundle along, albeit slowly.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 18, 2013, 03:07
Yesterday typical - a reasonable number of downloads early in the morning - but NOTHING after that. Nothing yet this morning either. Weird, even for a weekend when things usually trundle along, albeit slowly.
I saw the same thing, saturday morning I had more Dls then I would expect, and then for 24 hours nothing.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on August 18, 2013, 06:49
Yesterday typical - a reasonable number of downloads early in the morning - but NOTHING after that. Nothing yet this morning either. Weird, even for a weekend when things usually trundle along, albeit slowly.
I saw the same thing, saturday morning I had more Dls then I would expect, and then for 24 hours nothing.

+3 Nothing yesterday, last night or this morning.

With essentially no communication from SS (nothing new), we are left to guess why we are experiencing these strange sales patterns.

1. They are making more changes to the site and they do not respect contributors enough to let us know our images have been left out of the sales loop.
2. There is something seriously wrong with the site  and they do not respect contributors enough to let us know our images have been left out of the sales loop.
3. There is something seriously wrong, they have no problem with contributors losing money on their hard work and investments and they never plan on addressing these issues.
4. They have made all of these changes on purpose and there are no bugs therefore some contributors can expect regular periods of time where they can expect to receive no sales. Some contributors report daily poor sales during US business hours.

These bugs happen far too often at SS.  I used to respect them as a company, but this has been going on for far too long with no resolution.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Pauws99 on August 18, 2013, 06:58
5. Sales vary get used to it
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on August 18, 2013, 10:47
oh god...  :(
This is the worst Sunday going for me right now...  :-\

What is happening to the worlds biggest microstock agency...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: DonLand on August 18, 2013, 10:59
I guessing (hoping) with so many reporting 0 sales since last night that images are selling but there is currently a glitch in their system of reporting the sales. Hopefully we'll all of a sudden get a bunch of sales listed at once. (fingers crossed)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on August 18, 2013, 11:01
I guessing (hoping) with so many reporting 0 sales since last night that images are selling but there is currently a glitch in their system of reporting the sales. Hopefully we'll all of a sudden get a bunch of sales listed at once. (fingers crossed)

never seen that at SS, have you?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: DonLand on August 18, 2013, 12:17
No I have not but as of now 0 sales since about 10pm last night, certainly the first time for me in 3 months since my initial large upload.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on August 18, 2013, 12:29
Just had 4 show up (all subs) at once thus could've have been a system glitch...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on August 18, 2013, 12:59
FWIW, my sales are showing about average for a Saturday and Sunday so far. 

If there's some glitch I haven't seen it. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: WarrenPrice on August 18, 2013, 15:11
Just had 4 show up (all subs) at once thus could've have been a system glitch...

Same here.  Nothing all day and suddenly a batch of sales.  It really does seem the updating is not "real time."

I guess it doesn't matter; just as long as sales are being recorded.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on August 18, 2013, 17:14
FWIW, my sales are showing about average for a Saturday and Sunday so far. 

If there's some glitch I haven't seen it.

Same here. Very steady growth projected for the month. I just wish other agencies had SS's supposed 'glitch'.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Travelling-light on August 18, 2013, 19:36
FWIW, my sales are showing about average for a Saturday and Sunday so far. 

If there's some glitch I haven't seen it.

Same here. Very steady growth projected for the month. I just wish other agencies had SS's supposed 'glitch'.

I wish I could say the same.
Last month was almost a BME, but this month is very slow, and new files hardly sell.
I ask myself, if new files aren't going to sell, why upload?
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Anita Potter on August 18, 2013, 19:38
I hear ya.  Last I uploaded was late July.  Those files are starting to get seen but not as much as I would like.  And that goes for all not just SS.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on August 18, 2013, 19:51
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on August 18, 2013, 20:07
My sales have crashed, especially Friday.  I usually am in the $30-50 a day during the week and made 8 bucks on Friday and last Monday, and just under $20 the rest of the week.  Hope it's a bug soon to be fixed.  Would be nice to hear form an admin as to whether there are problems or not.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Travelling-light on August 18, 2013, 21:03
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.

But you aren't tempted to start uploading there again?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on August 18, 2013, 21:33
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.

But you aren't tempted to start uploading there again?

Not really. I'm good with what I'm doing now. It could be going a little better, but I still feel it is the right course for me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 19, 2013, 05:43
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.
I stopped uploading to SS for 6 weeks and had a BME. I guess its all different for each person. I know someone on SS hasnt uploaded for 2 years and says that his earnings are still steady.

Edit: I should have known, only complaining about sales will get up votes. Stating positive FACTS always get the down vote here. Some people....
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on August 19, 2013, 05:47
Worst Sunday since I join SS :(.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: shuttercont on August 19, 2013, 05:52
shutterstock sales is very very bad!
I do not understand...
August last year 2012: 3000 $ - 2013: 1800 $ Waiting for August this year.
we do not sell to new images!
august 2012-2013: + 3000 nearly new image! terrible!!!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on August 19, 2013, 06:02
Worst Sunday since I join SS :(.
+1 Terrible Sunday for me too.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockmarketer on August 19, 2013, 06:13
I was figuring I'm doing about the same this August vs. last August, but this thread made me actually go back and check.

Turns out I'm having a fantastic August... up 25% over Aug 2012.

So if there was a best match change, it does seem to be affecting people in different ways.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on August 19, 2013, 06:26
What's more interesting yesterday had more DL on BS than on SS. Never happen before ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on August 19, 2013, 06:26
I wish I could say the same.
Last month was almost a BME, but this month is very slow, and new files hardly sell.
I ask myself, if new files aren't going to sell, why upload?
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I'm surprised you say that. New files do sell on SS as far as I can see. Perhaps not as well as they once did ... but back then there wasn't 28M other images for the buyers to choose from.

Of the last 100 images that I've uploaded fairly steadily over the last 3 months, 74 of them have sold at least once and 26 have no sales (obviously mainly the newest). Between them they have generated 320+ sales and a little over $200. I think that's quite a reasonable start for cheap-to-produce images that I hope will continue to generate income for 5+ years.

I notice that you have uploaded almost exactly the same number of images as I have (which look to be excellent stock to me) over the same period. So how many sales have yours generated?

I find that sales on SS nowadays are more concentrated on a few images that sell really well and the others that disappear down the sort-order before they get noticed.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on August 19, 2013, 06:30
I was figuring I'm doing about the same this August vs. last August, but this thread made me actually go back and check.

Turns out I'm having a fantastic August... up 25% over Aug 2012.

So if there was a best match change, it does seem to be affecting people in different ways.

Similar for me. I'm projected to be up 23.3% on SS compared to Aug 2012 although a couple of recent $100+ SOD's may have skewed that somewhat.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on August 19, 2013, 06:31
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.
I stopped uploading to SS for 6 weeks and had a BME. I guess its all different for each person. I know someone on SS hasnt uploaded for 2 years and says that his earnings are still steady.

and there is one contributor that haven't uploaded for 3 years and his earnings went to the floor like his first month
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 19, 2013, 07:29
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.
I stopped uploading to SS for 6 weeks and had a BME. I guess its all different for each person. I know someone on SS hasnt uploaded for 2 years and says that his earnings are still steady.

and there is one contributor that haven't uploaded for 3 years and his earnings went to the floor like his first month
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 19, 2013, 07:33
I am up 60% from last August to date mainly because of ODDs and SODs as August 2012 was mainly subs.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on August 19, 2013, 07:50
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.
I stopped uploading to SS for 6 weeks and had a BME. I guess its all different for each person. I know someone on SS hasnt uploaded for 2 years and says that his earnings are still steady.

and there is one contributor that haven't uploaded for 3 years and his earnings went to the floor like his first month

easy Ron, no need for shouting, I was just talking about other contributor, wasn't attacking you
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on August 19, 2013, 07:56
I am not shouting, Louis, its lower case, but really big  :) I know you werent attacking, me, I just figured that I kind of had mentioned that it is really different results per individual.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on August 19, 2013, 08:59
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I guess if my numbers are any indication, then if you stop uploading your numbers will start to decline at SS. I used to make 2 to 3 times more there.
I stopped uploading to SS for 6 weeks and had a BME. I guess its all different for each person. I know someone on SS hasnt uploaded for 2 years and says that his earnings are still steady.

and there is one contributor that haven't uploaded for 3 years and his earnings went to the floor like his first month

Mine have been more of a steady decline, so not much happened the first year. But, it slowly got chipped away at. On the flip side, DT has barely changed without uploading.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on August 19, 2013, 11:39
I find that sales on SS nowadays are more concentrated on a few images that sell really well and the others that disappear down the sort-order before they get noticed.

Mine have always been like that. It's about breaking through on an image here and there that get regular downloads while others sorta disappear or get a hit every now and then. New images do sell, just not all of them. I don't expect them to all sell.

On the other hand, it looks like they've finally worked through the new istock contributors. Review times are back down to normal, so maybe there's a better chance of new images selling because there aren't so many. Either that, or they hired a bunch of new reviewers.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Travelling-light on August 19, 2013, 13:20
I wish I could say the same.
Last month was almost a BME, but this month is very slow, and new files hardly sell.
I ask myself, if new files aren't going to sell, why upload?
And if new files don't sell on IS or SS, why bother producing for the micros?

I'm surprised you say that. New files do sell on SS as far as I can see. Perhaps not as well as they once did ... but back then there wasn't 28M other images for the buyers to choose from.

Of the last 100 images that I've uploaded fairly steadily over the last 3 months, 74 of them have sold at least once and 26 have no sales (obviously mainly the newest). Between them they have generated 320+ sales and a little over $200. I think that's quite a reasonable start for cheap-to-produce images that I hope will continue to generate income for 5+ years.

I notice that you have uploaded almost exactly the same number of images as I have (which look to be excellent stock to me) over the same period. So how many sales have yours generated?

I find that sales on SS nowadays are more concentrated on a few images that sell really well and the others that disappear down the sort-order before they get noticed.

116 sales and $70.28, so quite a difference.
 
Looking at the SS earnings chart, if I'm reading it right, over the last 6 months, only 7.6% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 6 months.
When you think that we've only been uploading to SS for about 15 months, it doesn't look good for new uploads.

Going back further, over the last 12 months, only 19% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 12 months.
That means that 81% of our earnings has come from what we uploaded in June and July 2012, plus the old stuff we had on line from the old days, and I can tell you that doesn't sell much.

I'm pleased to hear that you are doing well, but for us there doesn't seem to be a lot we can do to increase our micro earnings. We will have to do something else.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: disorderly on August 19, 2013, 13:46
Looking at the SS earnings chart, if I'm reading it right, over the last 6 months, only 7.6% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 6 months.
When you think that we've only been uploading to SS for about 15 months, it doesn't look good for new uploads.

Going back further, over the last 12 months, only 19% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 12 months.
That means that 81% of our earnings has come from what we uploaded in June and July 2012, plus the old stuff we had on line from the old days, and I can tell you that doesn't sell much.

I've been submitting to Shutterstock since 2005 and have been adding to my port pretty consistently over that time.  Here are my ratios by comparison:

     3 months:   5.1% of earnings from new images (  4.0% of my portfolio).
     6 months:   6.8% of earnings from new images (  7.4% of my portfolio).
   12 months: 13.2% of earnings from new images (17.9% of my portfolio).
   24 months: 29.7% of earnings from new images (41.0% of my portfolio).

Allowing for the fact that newer images are in my portfolio about half of each time period on average (for a three month period, some are there the entire time, some no time at all, the rest distributed across the range), the percentages of revenue from new images tracks pretty well for me.  Of course, your mileage may vary.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on August 19, 2013, 13:57
Looking at the SS earnings chart, if I'm reading it right, over the last 6 months, only 7.6% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 6 months.
When you think that we've only been uploading to SS for about 15 months, it doesn't look good for new uploads.

Going back further, over the last 12 months, only 19% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 12 months.
That means that 81% of our earnings has come from what we uploaded in June and July 2012, plus the old stuff we had on line from the old days, and I can tell you that doesn't sell much.

I've been submitting to Shutterstock since 2005 and have been adding to my port pretty consistently over that time.  Here are my ratios by comparison:

     3 months:   5.1% of earnings from new images (  4.0% of my portfolio).
     6 months:   6.8% of earnings from new images (  7.4% of my portfolio).
   12 months: 13.2% of earnings from new images (17.9% of my portfolio).
   24 months: 29.7% of earnings from new images (41.0% of my portfolio).

Allowing for the fact that newer images are in my portfolio about half of each time period on average (for a three month period, some are there the entire time, some no time at all, the rest distributed across the range), the percentages of revenue from new images tracks pretty well for me.  Of course, your mileage may vary.

Hmm. Earnings from my new content over the last 6 months is just 3.8%. Earnings from new content over the last 24 months is 23.7% of my total. I'm quite surprised that over 75% of my earnings at SS are from content uploaded more than 2 years ago. Mind you, I'd imagine that over 80% of my portfolio is more than 2 years old too.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Travelling-light on August 19, 2013, 14:10
Looking at the SS earnings chart, if I'm reading it right, over the last 6 months, only 7.6% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 6 months.
When you think that we've only been uploading to SS for about 15 months, it doesn't look good for new uploads.

Going back further, over the last 12 months, only 19% of our earnings have come from content uploaded during that 12 months.
That means that 81% of our earnings has come from what we uploaded in June and July 2012, plus the old stuff we had on line from the old days, and I can tell you that doesn't sell much.

I've been submitting to Shutterstock since 2005 and have been adding to my port pretty consistently over that time.  Here are my ratios by comparison:

     3 months:   5.1% of earnings from new images (  4.0% of my portfolio).
     6 months:   6.8% of earnings from new images (  7.4% of my portfolio).
   12 months: 13.2% of earnings from new images (17.9% of my portfolio).
   24 months: 29.7% of earnings from new images (41.0% of my portfolio).

Allowing for the fact that newer images are in my portfolio about half of each time period on average (for a three month period, some are there the entire time, some no time at all, the rest distributed across the range), the percentages of revenue from new images tracks pretty well for me.  Of course, your mileage may vary.

Hmm. Earnings from my new content over the last 6 months is just 3.8%. Earnings from new content over the last 24 months is 23.7% of my total. I'm quite surprised that over 75% of my earnings at SS are from content uploaded more than 2 years ago. Mind you, I'd imagine that over 80% of my portfolio is more than 2 years old too.

That's good news in a way, it means you aren't having to feed the beast the way we used to.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: kentannenbaum on August 20, 2013, 10:20
Who cares?  I stopped submitting to them as sales from across the sea and other places in the US are far better for me and more equitable without question.   
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on August 20, 2013, 10:36
Who cares?  I stopped submitting to them as sales from across the sea and other places in the US are far better for me and more equitable without question.   
What kind of places are they? Do they have name?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on September 12, 2013, 10:54
Yesterday was great for me due to a single license sale.. wow  ;D

I wish I get such sale all the time...  :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: John W. on September 18, 2013, 05:06
As we all can agree old files keep selling and new ones don't. I uploaded a batch of an event and the images got accepted yesterday. Someone else also uploaded images of the same event which appeared online about 5 days ago. Now I did a search on this event and got 3 pages of results, his and my images. My images start to appear on the second page in Popular and on the last in Relevant. When I select Newest first my images appear first.
Now I narrow the (Newest first) results down and add "blue"`(example). Even at Newest first my image appears last. Now I add "Red", some appear first others appear last. Even though they all got accepted yesterday. Seems there we got one of the problems why new images aren't selling at SS.

Edit: It appears SS sort Newest on image # instead of acceptance. So that explains that.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on September 18, 2013, 09:01
As we all can agree old files keep selling and new ones don't.

Huh? I wouldn't agree with that at all. New images, if they're good ones, are selling very well indeed as far as I'm concerned.

"It's not the arrows, it's the Indian" as they say.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: John W. on September 18, 2013, 10:43
As we all can agree old files keep selling and new ones don't.

Huh? I wouldn't agree with that at all. New images, if they're good ones, are selling very well indeed as far as I'm concerned.

"It's not the arrows, it's the Indian" as they say.

Most people report new images don't sell as much as they used to while older ones keep selling. My experience is that if the image is good it will eventually take-off but not in the first days (week) like before.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on September 18, 2013, 12:10
As we all can agree old files keep selling and new ones don't.

Huh? I wouldn't agree with that at all. New images, if they're good ones, are selling very well indeed as far as I'm concerned.

"It's not the arrows, it's the Indian" as they say.

Most people report new images don't sell as much as they used to while older ones keep selling. My experience is that if the image is good it will eventually take-off but not in the first days (week) like before.
Most people? What is most people? There are 35000 contributors and 10 of them are on the forum reporting new images not selling. My new images sell fine. People who have new images selling dont go to the forum to open a thread to say their new images are selling.

However, there is one thread about new images selling, and its 25 pages long by now.

Of course they dont sell like in the old days. There were 1 million images now there are 29 million. Big difference.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: John W. on September 18, 2013, 12:31
There was a change about 2 years ago. Before that it was all about feeding the beast. That seems to be over. They had about 15 million images back then. Now it looks like they've changed something in the search again. For example they seem to have switched the results in Popular and Relevant.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on September 18, 2013, 12:41
I am going towards a BME in downloads and maybe even a 3rd BME In a row. Whatever they changed, its like nitro in my port.

Also the downfall people reporting are not from the same months

You talk about 2 years ago, some say last year, some say this year May

I thought I had hit the wall up until 2.5 months ago when my port started to take off again. I am with SS for 18 months.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ACS on September 18, 2013, 12:48
I did not upload any single file to SS for 3 years (2010-2011-2012). Then I started to upload again this year and added 200 new to my old 500 files. When I check my stats now, I can clearly see that the new files do sell.

But OTOH this year I have more zero download files as I used to have in the past. In the good old days almost every new file used to sell at least couple of times before going down.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on September 18, 2013, 12:54
;
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: John W. on September 18, 2013, 13:07
I am going towards a BME in downloads and maybe even a 3rd BME In a row. Whatever they changed, its like nitro in my port.

Also the downfall people reporting are not from the same months

You talk about 2 years ago, some say last year, some say this year May

I thought I had hit the wall up until 2.5 months ago when my port started to take off again. I am with SS for 18 months.

I'm not saying there is a downfall at SS at all. My BME last July and I'm with them since 2009. The only thing I noticed lately (and saw others report too) is that new files sell less while older files (even same subjects) continue selling. Maybe this is not a problem at all but it used to be important with SS that new files sell in order not to get buried.
Perhaps I oversee something that makes it look like new files don't sell (like port growth compared to new files).

Anyway, I increased my port in August with 6,3% to 1600 files.
Since then 5,2% of my SS-income are from those files.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tab62 on September 18, 2013, 13:24
I see (actually read) way too much over analyzing on this subject... ;)


Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on October 08, 2013, 18:19
I had a poor September and October is off to a very slow start.  Very low on demand sales and not one EL or SOD yet.  Hope this slump ends soon but I'm starting to think this is going the same way it did for me with FT and istock.  Frightening to think that I've made more in one day in the past than I have in the first 8 days of October.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on October 08, 2013, 19:14
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on October 08, 2013, 19:16
I had a poor September and October is off to a very slow start.  Very low on demand sales and not one EL or SOD yet.  Hope this slump ends soon but I'm starting to think this is going the same way it did for me with FT and istock.  Frightening to think that I've made more in one day in the past than I have in the first 8 days of October.

I am having such a weird thing happening for the last three months.  Mondays and Fridays are like weekends now and I only have three days a week that are good (T,W,TH). My monthly income has been impacted mostly by SS and DT.  IS PP is making up for IS PooPoo.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 08, 2013, 19:17
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.

really? have you accepted the offer? where are you going to spend it? ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on October 08, 2013, 19:20
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.

really? have you accepted the offer? where are you going to spend it? ;D
Yes, I did and am not going anywhere, maybe Portugal been there couple of years ago but still love to go there again.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 08, 2013, 19:29
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.

really? have you accepted the offer? where are you going to spend it? ;D
Yes, I did and am not going anywhere, maybe Portugal been there couple years ago but still love to go there again.

interesting and quite brave as well, I wonder if you aren't afraid of potential issues from agencies due to that, regarding Portugal it is indeed a beautiful country with stunning weather, food and people :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on October 08, 2013, 19:41
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.

really? have you accepted the offer? where are you going to spend it? ;D
Yes, I did and am not going anywhere, maybe Portugal been there couple years ago but still love to go there again.

interesting and quite brave as well, I wonder if you aren't afraid of potential issues from agencies due to that, regarding Portugal it is indeed a beautiful country with stunning weather, food and people :D
No, I'm not afraid but will see how the things are going. By the way Portugal is really beautiful weather, food, people but the ocean is not for swimming windy wild cold .....  ;D.
 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 08, 2013, 19:49
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.

really? have you accepted the offer? where are you going to spend it? ;D
Yes, I did and am not going anywhere, maybe Portugal been there couple years ago but still love to go there again.

interesting and quite brave as well, I wonder if you aren't afraid of potential issues from agencies due to that, regarding Portugal it is indeed a beautiful country with stunning weather, food and people :D
No, I'm not afraid but will see how the things are going. By the way Portugal is really beautiful weather, food, people but the ocean is not for swimming windy wild.....  ;D.

it depends where you go but yes there are quite a few windy beaches, many surfers etc most near Lisbon

if you are looking for "calm" beaches you need to check the south, I am talking about a few small islands in the Algarve region, been in Tavira island a few years ago and it is as good as Maldives or Caribbean (soft sand and warm water)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on October 08, 2013, 19:58
Thanks for the info Luis! I'll check.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 08, 2013, 23:47
I can't complain. September was very good at SS but the real deal last month was with an agency when I sold  files(7000) for 15k. You guess which agency is it! It isn't on the list.

I remember getting some heat in that thread when I told you to take the money. So you sold out in the end anyways? The offer of a bit of money does weird things to people, dont it? LOL

You know there is an agency that pays 50 dollar per image to hand over copyrights? Thats 350k. Cheers.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on October 09, 2013, 01:20
15k does seem very cheap for 7,000 images.  Shouldn't a portfolio that size bring in much more than 15k a year?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on October 09, 2013, 03:40
I did't sell the exclusive rights and i didn't hand over copyrights, it's just non-exclusive right to sell them to their users for  $15,000.00 in exchange for the perpetual rights to sell 7,000 graphics. I will continue to sell them on regular sites as before. I see this as extra profit.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on October 09, 2013, 04:13
That's good, you had me worried there for a moment :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on October 09, 2013, 04:58
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 09, 2013, 05:45
You know there is an agency that pays 50 dollar per image to hand over copyrights? Thats 350k. Cheers.

can you tell us which agency? I would sell it yesterday ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 09, 2013, 06:04
You know there is an agency that pays 50 dollar per image to hand over copyrights? Thats 350k. Cheers.


can you tell us which agency? I would sell it yesterday ;D
http://cavanimages.com/ (http://cavanimages.com/)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 09, 2013, 06:12
interesting, thanks for sharing, just dropped them an email!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: LSD72 on October 09, 2013, 09:24
My sales with SS has slowed since I decided to concentrate on other areas. I have not uploaded to them in a long while. The sales have not stopped though. I got a nice SOD for $68 2 days ago. Almost disbelief when your used to all the normal license amounts.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on October 22, 2013, 22:22
October is going good compared with my previous months. I hope this continues in nov and dec too.  :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on October 22, 2013, 23:41

Got close to a BDE on Tuesday. Overall the month is looking good and that's with minimal new uploads over the last few weeks.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: hofhoek on October 23, 2013, 04:48
I'm having the worst october since years. Sales have dropped about 40% compared to october 2012.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on October 23, 2013, 05:13
Still slow for me.  Only one small SOD this month.  No El's.  I'm selling a lot of old images but hardly anything I've uploaded in the last 12 months.  Used to get lots of downloads of new images but they seem to mostly vanish now.  The images that used to be my best sellers aren't on my first page now.  Haven't sold a video clip in the last 10 weeks.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on October 23, 2013, 05:58
Yesterday typical - a reasonable number of downloads early in the morning - but NOTHING after that. Nothing yet this morning either. Weird, even for a weekend when things usually trundle along, albeit slowly.
I saw the same thing, saturday morning I had more Dls then I would expect, and then for 24 hours nothing.

+3 Nothing yesterday, last night or this morning.

With essentially no communication from SS (nothing new), we are left to guess why we are experiencing these strange sales patterns.

1. They are making more changes to the site and they do not respect contributors enough to let us know our images have been left out of the sales loop.
2. There is something seriously wrong with the site  and they do not respect contributors enough to let us know our images have been left out of the sales loop.
3. There is something seriously wrong, they have no problem with contributors losing money on their hard work and investments and they never plan on addressing these issues.
4. They have made all of these changes on purpose and there are no bugs therefore some contributors can expect regular periods of time where they can expect to receive no sales. Some contributors report daily poor sales during US business hours.

These bugs happen far too often at SS.  I used to respect them as a company, but this has been going on for far too long with no resolution.

There doesn't seem to be any special boost for new images any more, so the new stuff starts really getting sales a lot later if it's good enough - maybe weeks or even a month or so... but when they do, they seem to keep selling forever. I prefer this to having a bump after uploading, than 50% of it sinking into oblivion. This is more reliable. I take it asa sign of more mature business. Besides that I notice signs of having a cycle, with result preference: older - newer - newest - older... etc. But that's justa suspicion nad the effect is not overwhelming, os the 'fav' files keep selling everyday.

I don't really see bugs. What I find kinda disappointing is how sales have very little connection with aesthetic value.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on October 23, 2013, 06:04
Interesting link Ron. And for a short review, they buy RAW images, do all the work including editing and keywording. They own your image. "Cavan Images will be the sole copyright holder of any image you decide to sell to us. This means that you will not be able to license or resell these images, or similar images,"

And they own the shoot and similar shots. Kind of like being personally owned for $50?


You know there is an agency that pays 50 dollar per image to hand over copyrights? Thats 350k. Cheers.


can you tell us which agency? I would sell it yesterday ;D
[url]http://cavanimages.com/[/url] ([url]http://cavanimages.com/[/url])
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on October 23, 2013, 06:06
This month is slowing down for me. Sad, because it's the holiday season ans I was expecting a nice bump this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on October 23, 2013, 06:08
Interesting link Ron. And for a short review, they buy RAW images, do all the work including editing and keywording. They own your image. "Cavan Images will be the sole copyright holder of any image you decide to sell to us. This means that you will not be able to license or resell these images, or similar images,"

And they own the shoot and similar shots. Kind of like being personally owned for $50?


You know there is an agency that pays 50 dollar per image to hand over copyrights? Thats 350k. Cheers.


can you tell us which agency? I would sell it yesterday ;D
[url]http://cavanimages.com/[/url] ([url]http://cavanimages.com/[/url])



Horribly bad deal, unless you dump some leftovers on them.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 23, 2013, 06:11
It depends on how many images make you 50 dollar in their life span. I can see this being an interesting deal for some. But you need to pass a portfolio review. I was rejected when I tried to see what it was about last year.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on October 23, 2013, 07:06
I don't really see bugs. What I find kinda disappointing is how sales have very little connection with aesthetic value.
Usefulness as stock has very little connection with what would go on people's walls or get into Salons.
Buyers may only want part of an image to composite with other elements, or an image could be chosen because it has copyspace where they need it, or the 'directionality' of the image fits, or the colour fits in with their layout.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on October 23, 2013, 07:27
Still slow for me.  Only one small SOD this month.  No El's.  I'm selling a lot of old images but hardly anything I've uploaded in the last 12 months.  Used to get lots of downloads of new images but they seem to mostly vanish now.  The images that used to be my best sellers aren't on my first page now.  Haven't sold a video clip in the last 10 weeks.

This is exactly my experience, less video.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on October 23, 2013, 09:16
I don't really see bugs. What I find kinda disappointing is how sales have very little connection with aesthetic value.
Usefulness as stock has very little connection with what would go on people's walls or get into Salons.
Buyers may only want part of an image to composite with other elements, or an image could be chosen because it has copyspace where they need it, or the 'directionality' of the image fits, or the colour fits in with their layout.

I know, and that just shows we are the point where 'the crowd' either has bad taste or no taste. If they still had any culture, when someone produces any visual output, it's supposed to be regarded useless unless aesthetics is among the highest concern.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on October 23, 2013, 10:47
Disappointing with strange sales patterns.  My sales have always been consistent with clear seasonal sales patterns.

My old images have been selling in cycles with the exception of images with 2000 to 9000 sales that have been permanently and purposely banished to the nether regions of the search.  I gave up searching for them after 50 pages. It is sad to watch inferior older images receiving sales over those much better images.

It does seem like I have cycles of good sales with both new and old images and some good months, however the good periods are canceled out by the very bad cycles where I receive very poor sales and overall I am down 40% over last year.

I often find myself wondering if my port is corrupted or unplugged during the times where I have very poor sales. The sales patterns are so bizarre with lots of bugs, server errors and port errors showing up.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mayaartist on October 23, 2013, 10:58
This October is bad. And the video sales are way down for me as well.

October 2012 was a big bump in sales.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jjneff on October 23, 2013, 11:11
Gotta
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on October 23, 2013, 11:24
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on October 23, 2013, 11:27
It looks like SS lost momentum.

Im back at 2012 October numbers, and lost all that was build up during spring and summer 2013, so that oct 2013 is 3/4 of June 2013.

So a severe downfall....
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jjneff on October 23, 2013, 11:36
Problem is Pond5 is months behind on inspections! trust me I have called them. I was banking on SS-Pond5-IS-Getty to be enough but it hasn't worked that way and I don't want to spend my savings while I try to get my clips online.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on October 23, 2013, 11:37
jjneff..
I think your videos need a portion of "pep and pop" to serve the shutterstock market.
But what would  I know, i have 3 videos online and never sold one of them.
Im sort of extrapolating my knowledge about pictures onto the video market.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on October 23, 2013, 11:44
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jjneff on October 23, 2013, 11:52
True enough but I have to decided if I want to spend more time shooting or loading and keywording 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 23, 2013, 12:05
I think recovering IS exclusive earnings within the first 3 weeks is not realistic. But if you are making 500-700 in the first month with SS, thats impressive.

I think people say it could take up to 6 months to a year to get your $$ back, but you probably know that.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on October 23, 2013, 12:17
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on October 23, 2013, 12:36
True enough but I have to decided if I want to spend more time shooting or loading and keywording
You could try just uploading to Pond5 and raise your prices a bit.  I see people selling for nice prices there and with the 50% commission, it should make up for less sales than you were getting with istock.  I put everything on Pond5 first because they sell so much better than the other sites for me.  The slow review time is a pain but the sales make up for it.  My video portfolio isn't great, I'm sure any serious contributor can do very well there.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on October 25, 2013, 10:33
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on October 25, 2013, 10:58
True enough but I have to decided if I want to spend more time shooting or loading and keywording
That was a quick decision, looks like you are exclusive again already?
Maybe he kept exclusivity in one of his media (?)
However, I agree with others; I don't think that either becoming indie or becoming exclusive, or for that matter judging a new site, should be judged in less than 6 months.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on October 25, 2013, 11:16
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on October 25, 2013, 11:37
It looks like he is exclusive for video.
Oh, right; no "90 day reinstatement waiting period"?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 25, 2013, 11:45
3 weeks ? How can you base a decision on 3 weeks of being indy?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on October 25, 2013, 11:53
3 weeks doesn't seem long enough to me, but maybe IS made him an offer he couldn't refuse?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 25, 2013, 12:02
Professionals deal with... ah you get the drift ;)

Just kidding
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: sharpshot on October 25, 2013, 13:09
I thought SS had a lock in period now?  Perhaps that doesn't apply to video clips?  Going non-exclusive and back to exclusive in 3 weeks can't be much fun.  At least it will shorten the Pond5 queue :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: bunhill on October 25, 2013, 13:53
You know there is an agency that pays 50 dollar per image to hand over copyrights? Thats 350k. Cheers.


can you tell us which agency? I would sell it yesterday ;D
[url]http://cavanimages.com/[/url] ([url]http://cavanimages.com/[/url])


It's a nice collection. Have you clicked the license our work (http://cavanimages.com/license-our-work) link at the bottom of the page on that site ? Go on ....

Honestly - I think I would pay $50 per image to buyout the rights to selected images of this quality (and the ownership of all similars) too.

ETA: I guess that some of those 8699 images (http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?assettype=image&artist=Cavan+Images) are their own.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 25, 2013, 13:55
the question is how expensive they can be to produce?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: bunhill on October 25, 2013, 14:02
the question is how expensive they can be to produce?

My question would be how much could I make buying other people's good quality work. I think I would like to curate a collection like that.

ETA: I guess we should be able to make a good estimate of how much they should be generating based on our own sales at the same distributor. Good manners prevents me from speculating.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 25, 2013, 14:13
the question is how expensive they can be to produce?

My question would be how much could I make buying other people's good quality work. I think I would like to curate a collection like that.

ETA: I guess we should be able to make a good estimate of how much they should be generating based on our own sales at the same distributor. Good manners prevents me from speculating.

don't think that many photographers are willing to sell their pictures rights for 50$ unless they were significantly lower than that to produce

50$ is much less than 1 sale at OFFSET or 2 or 3 at Stocksy
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: bunhill on October 25, 2013, 14:28
don't think that many photographers are willing to sell their pictures rights for 50$ unless they were significantly lower than that to produce

Well you'd think.

On the other hand - I guess there are lots of different scenarios. It's certainly a collection of very saleable work.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 25, 2013, 14:36
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 25, 2013, 14:43
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again
I'd sell my 1000 images for 50$ a piece in a heartbeat. Give me 5000$ 50,000$ and I will just shoot another 1000 images. Nothing lost.


EDit calc error
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: bunhill on October 25, 2013, 14:43
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again

Ok - here is a scenario for you. You and your friends have a big outdoor Autumn meal somewhere in the country - like a garden party. You take lots of pictures with your DSLR - everyone enjoying themselves and eating really great food. Normally you might put the pictures on flickr. Instead though you sell 20 of them for $1K. You don't have to do any processing. You just have to get the model releases signed. You were there anyhow so it did not really cost anything - and maybe you need the extra cash that month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: bunhill on October 25, 2013, 14:45
I'd sell my 1000 images for 50$ a piece in a heartbeat. Give me 5000$ and I will just shoot another 1000 images. Nothing lost.

Have you checked out the 'license our work' link Ron ?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 25, 2013, 14:46
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again
I'd sell my 1000 images for 50$ a piece in a heartbeat. Give me 5000$ and I will just shoot another 1000 images. Nothing lost.

I would too but we are talking about Cavan collection type not pictures that you/I/other took and edit in a few minutes, I have emailed them and as I expect they weren't interested
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 25, 2013, 14:49
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again

Ok - here is a scenario for you. You and your friends have a big outdoor Autumn meal somewhere in the country - like a garden party. You take lots of pictures with your DSLR - everyone enjoying themselves and eating really great food. Normally you might put the pictures on flickr. Instead though you sell 20 of them for $1K. You don't have to do any processing. You just have to get the model releases signed. You were there anyhow so it did not really cost anything - and maybe you need the extra cash that month.

that is all very cute but you just don't pull 20 nice candid pictures in a few seconds, not to mention you need to deal with releases, food, expenses, etc

fun is fun, work is work, both is very hard unless you don't want to make a single buck

that is like living a dream life but in the end you aren't paying your bills with those kind of pictures, its way harder than you are putting here
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on October 25, 2013, 14:50
Ron that is 5$ a piece to sell their rights, why would you do that when 99% of them will make way more at SS alone
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on October 25, 2013, 15:14
Ron that is 5$ a piece to sell their rights, why would you do that when 99% of them will make way more at SS alone
I said 50$ and made a calc error. I obviously meant 50,000$ :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on October 26, 2013, 00:38
Beginning of the week very slow, but growing every day.
Yesterday very good day. More than twice my "normal maximum".
Very strange day indeed, better than "normal sales" on iS FT and DT too…
(Too much nice to continue I think…)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on October 27, 2013, 05:16
BME for me with five days to go. I think it will probably be 20 percent more my previous BME in July and double what I earned last October.

I'm expecting a dip in November and December with all the holidays.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on October 29, 2013, 07:33
Since 2013 has been the best year ever and many months, best of that month every, you can expect that next year, I won't be having Best Anything ever. But if the DLs and returns remain the same as this year, I'll be just fine and happy.

I really don't see the growth that people might have had five years ago. And now that things are leveling off, just staying the same is pretty darn good.

Heck I may upload a new image next month?  ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on November 01, 2013, 02:04
BME in downloads, by 2.

3rd BME, but the other two had big SODs and ELs. If I look at normal downloads, its BME, meaning, there is still organic growth in earnings.

I am positive in November I will break the 400 dollar barrier without ELs and big SODs. My goal is 15 dollar average per day.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mayaartist on November 01, 2013, 02:26
My October is less than September on SS :(
The only thing is that in October I took a break of microstock. It means that even working for almost 2 years I can't get a break. Or my earnings would fall straight away.

P.S. But I should mentioned that's new content is not selling well.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on November 01, 2013, 07:00
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again
I'd sell my 1000 images for 50$ a piece in a heartbeat. Give me 5000$ 50,000$ and I will just shoot another 1000 images. Nothing lost.


EDit calc error

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but aren't they cherry pickin' the best of the best? You people seem to have skipped that "minor detail" as debate went on :) They wouldn't buy even a fraction of your 1000 (most likely none), and demand you to stop selling most of the rest. Slightly different scenario, isn't it?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on November 01, 2013, 07:07
or maybe you skipped some reading ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on November 01, 2013, 07:17
wrong thread, sorry. I will repost in the October sales thread.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on November 01, 2013, 10:00
of course there are but I believe the most aren't willing to sell their hard work for 50$ and never "use" it again
I'd sell my 1000 images for 50$ a piece in a heartbeat. Give me 5000$ 50,000$ and I will just shoot another 1000 images. Nothing lost.


EDit calc error

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but aren't they cherry pickin' the best of the best? You people seem to have skipped that "minor detail" as debate went on :) They wouldn't buy even a fraction of your 1000 (most likely none), and demand you to stop selling most of the rest. Slightly different scenario, isn't it?
Ever heard of hypothetically speaking ? Plus... I already said they rejected me. Are you the next MSG troll? Seems some shoes need to be filled after the place had quiet down a bit.  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on November 01, 2013, 17:45
Had a decent month but last day very slow.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MicrostockExp on November 02, 2013, 03:33
BME for me with footage and pictures
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on November 02, 2013, 05:17
BME for me with footage and pictures
Thats all they offer ;) Congrats !
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on November 02, 2013, 07:29
BME for me with footage and pictures
Thats all they offer ;) Congrats !

Not really...illustrations man, illustrations.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on November 02, 2013, 07:48
BME for me with footage and pictures
Thats all they offer ;) Congrats !

Not really...illustrations man, illustrations.

Ah ok, I thought pictures would include both photos and illustrations. :)

How do you separate photo sales from illustration sales?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on November 02, 2013, 07:49
some illustrators have both versions online, vectors and jpgs

there is no way to separate unless they have another tab on the earnings
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: 60D on November 02, 2013, 12:40
My sales are pretty much steady over last 3-4 months even though I keep uploading images several times a week. It seems like I miss those best selling images... May be I should stop uploading for some time and have a look what is gonna happen...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fiftyfootelvis on November 02, 2013, 18:58
October started off slow - 2 days with 0 sales - but ended strong. Overall pretty decent month; better than September anyway.

What's up with GL though? It was always slow, but I haven't had a sale there in 2 months.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on November 02, 2013, 19:01
August started off slow - 2 days with 0 sales - but ended strong. Overall pretty decent month; better than July anyway.

What's up with GL though? It was always slow, but I haven't had a sale there in 2 months.

how about September and October? ;D

(Ok!)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MicrostockExp on November 03, 2013, 03:08
Thanks:) no I do not have any illustrations
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: OM on November 03, 2013, 09:44
Scraped a BME in dl's with 2 more than September. Not a BME in $$$ as I had no big SOD's or EL's in October.

Dl's still in an upward trajectory........big SOD's and EL's are serendipitous occurrences.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockastic on November 03, 2013, 11:54
November 2013:  worst start of a month EVER.   
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on November 03, 2013, 14:07
I agree! Friday was almost like a Saturday, and Saturday was like...bad.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on November 03, 2013, 14:13
it ain't a beautiful weekend of sales but comparing to the other place its STUNNING, 4 days in a row without a sale at iStock, thanks guys! ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on November 03, 2013, 17:41
What's up with GL though? It was always slow, but I haven't had a sale there in 2 months.

GL posted a few months back that they were hit particularly hard by the changes in the way Google displays images.  (not taking you directly to the page where the image is hosted)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockastic on November 03, 2013, 18:43
GL sadly seems to have dropped off the edge of the earth.   I'm trying to motivate myself to upload some recent photos to them but... nothing has happened there in such a long time...



Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: enstoker on November 03, 2013, 19:13
it ain't a beautiful weekend of sales but comparing to the other place its STUNNING, 4 days in a row without a sale at iStock, thanks guys! ;D


Don't cry, Argentina... :)
Only four days?
Lucky You.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on November 04, 2013, 06:34
a Sunday with a 67.5$ SOD, I had worst... ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockastic on November 04, 2013, 18:13
The disaster only continues to unfold. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on November 04, 2013, 18:18
Just hit a grand slam on SS. A poor start to November turns into a possible BME. Fickle does it.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on November 04, 2013, 19:00
A pretty good start to a month considering half the days have been weekends so far. My RPD is above that of DT (I guess that says more about the % of subs at DT though).

Last month started pretty weak but finished strong. Things are still a little lower than the good stretch of months I had last year though. There are a few more big sales and a few less regular subs lately.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fiftyfootelvis on November 04, 2013, 19:29
GL sadly seems to have dropped off the edge of the earth.   I'm trying to motivate myself to upload some recent photos to them but... nothing has happened there in such a long time...

Oddly enough, just had 2 sales on GL today! Let's hope it continues!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockastic on November 04, 2013, 20:40
GL sadly seems to have dropped off the edge of the earth.   I'm trying to motivate myself to upload some recent photos to them but... nothing has happened there in such a long time...

Oddly enough, just had 2 sales on GL today! Let's hope it continues!
+1
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on November 04, 2013, 23:25

Oddly enough, just had 2 sales on GL today! Let's hope it continues!

Oddly enough, I had the same experience.  +1 on both the sales and the continuing :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PhotoBomb on November 05, 2013, 00:07
GL sadly seems to have dropped off the edge of the earth.   I'm trying to motivate myself to upload some recent photos to them but... nothing has happened there in such a long time...

Oddly enough, just had 2 sales on GL today! Let's hope it continues!

I had 2 today too.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on November 05, 2013, 02:14
The later part of last month I was at last starting to get days of earning a few dollars (after about 2 years) but now it has dropped back down to the 0.33 to around 1.65 mark  :-\
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Newsfocus1 on November 05, 2013, 02:40
a Sunday with a 67.5$ SOD, I had worst... ;D

Congratulations Luis! I had one for $56 on Sunday as well, which was a nice surprise. I'd never had an SOD that payed more than $5 or so before -so it was good to join the "big sales club"  :) Regards, David.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on November 05, 2013, 04:28
How are sales going?
I am sailing!
 ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on November 09, 2013, 04:12
My ship is sinking this week  :( Terrible sales compared to last week. Who flicked the switch ?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Stu99 on November 09, 2013, 09:02
On Shutterstock with nearly 3k images; October,  7th consecutive BME, passed 100 sales in one day and passed $1500 (just SS). I've been uploading steadily, nothing crazy but SS is out performing on growth all other sites. Good start to November but am expecting less sales for the next two months. I feel that SS has taken sales from other sites, however total year on year sales are significantly good. I can't complain, head down and keep uploading is my plan. Good luck to us all!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on November 09, 2013, 12:14
0.33 cents in 2 days.  Many more files uploaded=depressing :'(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MisterElements on November 09, 2013, 13:47
A massive sudden slowdown for me on Shutterstock this Nov....but there is still a lot of Nov :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MB2B on November 10, 2013, 07:08
Hey Luis, this was a blood good Sunday! :)
This month looks like it will be the worst month of all. So far this month, SS alone barely made a little more than ​​500 bucks/800 downloads.  :o
I'm looking forward for on demand, enhanced ans single & others downloads
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on November 11, 2013, 09:40
Today (Monday) going worst for me.... not sure why  :-\
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on November 11, 2013, 09:42
Today (Monday) going worst for me.... not sure why  :-\
Holiday USA
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on November 11, 2013, 09:53
Today (Monday) going worst for me.... not sure why  :-\

fine here, unfortunately there is one SS only, 2 or 3 would be handy ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on November 11, 2013, 10:07
Today (Monday) going worst for me.... not sure why  :-\

fine here, unfortunately there is one SS only, 2 or 3 would be handy ;D

Yeah, that's the problem. There used to be two or three and now there ain't
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: spike on November 11, 2013, 10:34
Had one sale for $70 today <3
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: enstoker on November 11, 2013, 11:05
Had one sale for $70 today <3

Applause
Bravo.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on November 12, 2013, 00:44
Had one sale for $70 today <3

bravo spike... wish I too get the same..  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on November 12, 2013, 01:26
Had one sale for $70 today <3

Champagne !!!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Imagenomad on November 12, 2013, 03:59
My tiny 80-image port on SS is punching well above its weight at the moment. Made payout within the month last month. Slow but steady so far this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on November 13, 2013, 02:39
This last week has dropped significantly. stands to reason that it isn't more files accepted=more sales. Still doing better at IS because IS earn you more per sales than SS.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on December 06, 2013, 00:58
Expected december to do well.
But this month going very bad for me. Very less sale from any new content.
Hoping for anything good in coming days
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Tryingmybest on December 06, 2013, 01:07
Was wondering how are your sales going.
For me down and weekends very bad. How are you ppl doing??

BME for me. Sorry yours arent' going so well.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on December 06, 2013, 02:36
..
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on December 06, 2013, 03:34
Was wondering how are your sales going.
For me down and weekends very bad. How are you ppl doing??

BME for me. Sorry yours arent' going so well.
That comment was 4 months ago, in the summer.

It is always summer… somewhere  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on December 06, 2013, 03:37
Edit: deleted
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on December 06, 2013, 04:44
Yes, I wrote that because us, North Occidentals, we have the tendency to think that all the world is North Occidental… (And most here North American)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dpimborough on December 06, 2013, 06:46
Yes, I wrote that because us, North Occidentals, we have the tendency to think that all the world is North Occidental… (And most here North American)

Yup right now it's summer down in New Zealand and Australia :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on December 06, 2013, 08:28
Today (Monday) going worst for me.... not sure why  :-\

fine here, unfortunately there is one SS only, 2 or 3 would be handy ;D

Amen to that brother!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on December 06, 2013, 09:52
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on December 06, 2013, 11:46
I'd much rather ditch Fot and IS than SS, but I'd be willing to lose BS in the low cost subs dept.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on December 06, 2013, 11:47
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on December 06, 2013, 11:53
I'd much rather ditch Fot and IS than SS, but I'd be willing to lose BS in the low cost subs dept.
There's nothing holding you back from dropping iStock or Fotolia.  Bigstock makes you wait a few months I think.


ditch was the wrong word. I meant there are already too many Istock and Fotolias.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on December 06, 2013, 12:06
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on December 06, 2013, 12:43
Yes, I wrote that because us, North Occidentals, we have the tendency to think that all the world is North Occidental… (And most here North American)

Yup right now it's summer down in New Zealand and Australia :D

They can have it!  Summers are so brutal here in Florida, I look forward to the winters.  Unfortunately they are all too brief here...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mlwinphoto on December 06, 2013, 12:52
Early mornings in the teens here in Seattle the next few days, but sunny so I'll take it.  Makes for a rather brisk bike ride.... :D

Nov was BME on SS in terms of DL's and $....aided in large part by one of my images being in a Featured Lightbox.  Dec. off to a good start also.....leaving iStock in the dust.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: 60D on December 06, 2013, 22:47
Have SS played with their search algorithms again recently? My all best selling images are disappearing and some other images which had no proper sales are coming up... cannot complain though, especially with an ED I got early this week  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on December 07, 2013, 08:46
Today (Monday) going worst for me.... not sure why  :-\

fine here, unfortunately there is one SS only, 2 or 3 would be handy ;D

Amen to that brother!
I think there are already too many Shutterstock's out there.  Fotolia, Dreamstime, 123RF, Bigstock, Depositphotos, Thinkstock, Photos.com to name a few have followed in Shutterstock's footsteps and license very cheap subs.  What we should be hoping for are less Shutterstock's.

The point Luis was making, I believe, was in terms of monthly income. If we're all stuck with similar models, it would be far more favorable to have "2 or 3" Shutterstocks. I am sure we'd all give up dt, ft, dp or whatever and have them replaced by 2-3 SS's. I think you know exactly what Luis meant but prefer to be a buzz kill.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on December 07, 2013, 08:58
Yes, I wrote that because us, North Occidentals, we have the tendency to think that all the world is North Occidental… (And most here North American)

Yup right now it's summer down in New Zealand and Australia :D

They can have it!  Summers are so brutal here in Florida, I look forward to the winters.  Unfortunately they are all too brief here...

If you want a good true winter we can exchanges our places… here we have only 4 months of winter with sometime temperatures down to -35º C :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on December 07, 2013, 12:22
Yes, I wrote that because us, North Occidentals, we have the tendency to think that all the world is North Occidental… (And most here North American)

Yup right now it's summer down in New Zealand and Australia :D

They can have it!  Summers are so brutal here in Florida, I look forward to the winters.  Unfortunately they are all too brief here...

If you want a good true winter we can exchanges our places… here we have only 4 months of winter with sometime temperatures down to -35º C :D

Yikes!  I guess that would be going from the frying pan into the....freezer!   :o
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Allsa on December 08, 2013, 00:22

The point Luis was making, I believe, was in terms of monthly income. If we're all stuck with similar models, it would be far more favorable to have "2 or 3" Shutterstocks. I am sure we'd all give up dt, ft, dp or whatever and have them replaced by 2-3 SS's. I think you know exactly what Luis meant but prefer to be a buzz kill.

Not me - I would much rather go to the trouble of uploading to several agencies, rather that see any agency get too much power. If the earnings are spread out over several sites, it's much easier to drop any agency that starts to mistreat us. Look at how Shutterstock took over BigStock and then turned around and cut the royalties. Who knows what other crap they might hit us with in the future. SS is just too d*mn powerful.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on December 08, 2013, 20:58
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on December 08, 2013, 21:10
Here's one more new Shutterstock.

[url]http://flippa.com/blog/stockphoto-case-study/[/url] ([url]http://flippa.com/blog/stockphoto-case-study/[/url])


Hmmm. IMO iStock should have bought that domain name.
So that site, which has been going "since 1995 (!)" is selling pics by just one bloke (or am I missing something). I did a couple of searches and each was a number of series of one, two, three etc models with various minor changes in position. (actually, 'Christmas' is more varied)
Wonder if 'cashflow positive' means that he hasn't spent anything after buying the domain name and putting the site together.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: OM on December 09, 2013, 08:37
Well, the money is in the domain name game and I suspect that he kept the name going as a legit site by putting up a few stock photo's and now it's ka....ching! Certainly forward thinking by registering the domain in 1995......5 years before I got my first computer!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on December 09, 2013, 08:45

The point Luis was making, I believe, was in terms of monthly income. If we're all stuck with similar models, it would be far more favorable to have "2 or 3" Shutterstocks. I am sure we'd all give up dt, ft, dp or whatever and have them replaced by 2-3 SS's. I think you know exactly what Luis meant but prefer to be a buzz kill.

Not me - I would much rather go to the trouble of uploading to several agencies, rather that see any agency get too much power. If the earnings are spread out over several sites, it's much easier to drop any agency that starts to mistreat us. Look at how Shutterstock took over BigStock and then turned around and cut the royalties. Who knows what other crap they might hit us with in the future. SS is just too d*mn powerful.

You are completely missing the point. We are talking general situational alignment.....let me put it to you this way, if DP, FT and DT yielded commissions JUST LIKE SS, then we'd be happier, right? That is what Luis is inferring.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on December 09, 2013, 10:03
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on December 09, 2013, 11:05

The point Luis was making, I believe, was in terms of monthly income. If we're all stuck with similar models, it would be far more favorable to have "2 or 3" Shutterstocks. I am sure we'd all give up dt, ft, dp or whatever and have them replaced by 2-3 SS's. I think you know exactly what Luis meant but prefer to be a buzz kill.

Not me - I would much rather go to the trouble of uploading to several agencies, rather that see any agency get too much power. If the earnings are spread out over several sites, it's much easier to drop any agency that starts to mistreat us. Look at how Shutterstock took over BigStock and then turned around and cut the royalties. Who knows what other crap they might hit us with in the future. SS is just too d*mn powerful.

You are completely missing the point. We are talking general situational alignment.....let me put it to you this way, if DP, FT and DT yielded commissions JUST LIKE SS, then we'd be happier, right? That is what Luis is inferring.

yep
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on December 09, 2013, 14:23
That is what Luis is inferring.
Luis is not inferring anything.  He made a statement:  "unfortunately there is one SS only, 2 or 3 would be handy ;D"  and you are inferring he meant something different than what he said.

We'll he just responded and I was not wrong. How are you going to spin this one, Tickstock?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on December 09, 2013, 14:29
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on December 09, 2013, 14:38
2nd best week of the year last week but given the approaching festivities I doubt I'll top last month's BME. Don't have enough baubles and glitter in my port to attract the last minute Christmas shoppers but you never know, I have been a good boy this year and Santa might be generous.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on December 10, 2013, 08:48
My SS Sales are Through The Roof!
Sales are better than ever.
Looks like another Record year and month.
I cant say enough good things about ss
Rock On!
:)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on December 10, 2013, 09:10
Here's one more new Shutterstock.

[url]http://flippa.com/blog/stockphoto-case-study/[/url] ([url]http://flippa.com/blog/stockphoto-case-study/[/url])


Hmmm. IMO iStock should have bought that domain name.
So that site, which has been going "since 1995 (!)" is selling pics by just one bloke (or am I missing something). I did a couple of searches and each was a number of series of one, two, three etc models with various minor changes in position. (actually, 'Christmas' is more varied)
Wonder if 'cashflow positive' means that he hasn't spent anything after buying the domain name and putting the site together.



Why do I feel a court case coming on?  If your name is McDonald (and there are a lot of them) you can't open McDonald's Seafood Restaurant without getting sued to death, or even sell anything with "Mac" in it.  Istock obviously inserted the "i" because "stockphoto.com" was already taken but it was (I believe) inactive. Paying $250,000 effectively to try to piggyback off Getty Images is not, in my view, a clever move. iStock didn't buy this name in the past and I'd lay odds they'd rather shut it down than pay out a million or two to some dude who thinks he's spotted a quick buck.

I think I'll just go and register McDonalls.com (it's available for $12 if you want it) and sell it to someone for $1,000,000. No problem there!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tavi on December 23, 2013, 05:50
   I had a 0 sales day this sunday. Not happened for more than 6 months. Today nothing so far. I'm very dissapointed and wonder if is there anibody else seeing very low sales (or, like me, none)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on December 23, 2013, 05:57
   I had a 0 sales day this sunday. Not happened for more than 6 months. Today nothing so far. I'm very dissapointed and wonder if is there anibody else seeing very low sales (or, like me, none)


http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=132368 (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=132368)

http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130802 (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130802)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on December 23, 2013, 12:27
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

Thank You

Merry Christmas to Everyone from your friend Mike Ledray

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa
HO HO HO
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ploink on December 23, 2013, 13:31
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

aNd on THE 23Rd of the MonTh, no LeSs!

And in DeCeMeBeR, tOO!

Have a Merry Christmas, man...  ;D

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on December 23, 2013, 14:47
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

aNd on THE 23Rd of the MonTh, no LeSs!

And in DeCeMeBeR, tOO!

Have a Merry Christmas, man...  ;D

Thank You
and a Very Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours too.

:)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on December 24, 2013, 03:19
[off topic]

Hi Mike!
There is a moment that I follow your success on the forum…
I was wondering if you are trying to enter in the Guinness Book for the more negative posts obtained on a forum?

[/off topic]
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on December 24, 2013, 13:06
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

Thank You

Merry Christmas to Everyone from your friend Mike Ledray

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa
HO HO HO

You got to a payout this time?

Merry Christmas! :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on December 24, 2013, 15:28
[off topic]

Hi Mike!
There is a moment that I follow your success on the forum…
I was wondering if you are trying to enter in the Guinness Book for the more negative posts obtained on a forum?

[/off topic]

Yes from Jealous and Envious and Small Minded followers of my post.

Like they say in Hollywood "Say what you want about me in the papers, just be * Sure to Spell My Name Right!"

LOL
Merry Christmas
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on December 24, 2013, 15:30
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

Thank You

Merry Christmas to Everyone from your friend Mike Ledray

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa
HO HO HO

You got to a payout this time?

Merry Christmas! :)


If Only one day!
I still hope to reach that elusive $75.00 pay out level.
Perhaps then I can buy something special.
One day, One day

Lol
Merry Christmas

:)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: topol on December 25, 2013, 07:01
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

Thank You

Merry Christmas to Everyone from your friend Mike Ledray

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa
HO HO HO

You got to a payout this time?

Merry Christmas! :)


If Only one day!
I still hope to reach that elusive $75.00 pay out level.
Perhaps then I can buy something special.
One day, One day

Lol
Merry Christmas

:)

Ohh man, it's not worth the hustle. With your talents and features, you just need to grow a big beard and you can be a walmart santa anyday.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on December 26, 2013, 04:55
Sales for me have dropped right down despite adding a lot more files this year. Add that to the pauper's rate of 0.33 cents for most sales it's hardly worth bothering. IS still make me more $ even unexclusive.

Dear Shutterstock,

Please stop making me crack annoying captchas every time I visit the site. This has increased just in the last week or so and is hardly worth it considering the sales.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on December 27, 2013, 18:15
Its another RECORD Month for Sales on Shutterstock!

I LOVE Shutterstock

Thank You

Merry Christmas to Everyone from your friend Mike Ledray

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa
HO HO HO

You got to a payout this time?

Merry Christmas! :)


If Only one day!
I still hope to reach that elusive $75.00 pay out level.
Perhaps then I can buy something special.
One day, One day

Lol
Merry Christmas

:)

Ohh man, it's not worth the hustle. With your talents and features, you just need to grow a big beard and you can be a walmart santa anyday.

LOL!
:)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on January 02, 2014, 15:37
Pretty pathetic still.  A mere 33 cents for one sale. After getting a few hundred more images accepted last year it's a poor return  :-\
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ariene on January 03, 2014, 05:11
Yesterday almost best day ever... Good start in 2014 :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on January 07, 2014, 01:36
2014 so far = dead. What a disappointment after adding a lot more files and building sales at the end of last year which started to fall off mid December.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 07, 2014, 04:49
My dls are almost exactly the same as at this time last year. I did pick up an EL in the first week of 2013, so my earnings are down by comparison, but ELs scatter pretty randomly so there is no reason yet to think this Jan will be much different to the last one, which was a pretty average month for me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 07, 2014, 04:55
its slowly coming back to life
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Steveball on January 08, 2014, 09:31
Worst start to a month in 3 years, 9 subs in 6 days!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on January 08, 2014, 10:04
its slowly coming back to life

Like cold molasses.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 08, 2014, 10:21
its slowly coming back to life

Like cold molasses.
Yeah, I may end up with rum to wash away the slow start of the year  :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Allsa on January 08, 2014, 10:32
Very slow, except for yesterday, which was pretty good, very slow otherwise.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on January 09, 2014, 03:31
Well I had 11 sales yesterday. My best day yet so hopefully things are picking up ? :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 09, 2014, 04:20
With a ferocious heatwave in Australia, widespread flooding and storm disruption in the UK and Western Europe, and an extraordinary ice-storm all over the US it is a bit surprising that my dls are only down about 8% on the same time last year.  It's way too early to start worrying about this year's figures.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 09, 2014, 04:33
With a ferocious heatwave in Australia, widespread flooding and storm disruption in the UK and Western Europe, and an extraordinary ice-storm all over the US it is a bit surprising that my dls are only down about 8% on the same time last year.  It's way too early to start worrying about this year's figures.
Amen.

I doubled my slow start of the year, yesterday, if things keep going like this then we should be fine. My strong months seem to be July, August, September, so if it keeps building up, and with new content added, I am hoping to hit 500-600$ per month in 6 months with roughly 1500-1600 images by then.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: hofhoek on January 10, 2014, 07:03
My European sales are way behind my usual sales. The rest of the world did fine yesterday. Today only one(!) sale so far. Usually I have 12 to 15 by now.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on January 10, 2014, 07:34
My january 2014 growth is already (after 10 days) 159% compared to full january 2013.
My prevision is a minimum growth of 400 % for january.
But I had a lot of less images in 2013.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dingles on January 10, 2014, 09:35
Sales have been strong this month so far. I hope the momentum keeps up
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 10, 2014, 10:02
My january 2014 growth is already (after 10 days) 159% compared to full january 2013.
My prevision is a minimum growth of 400 % for january.
But I had a lot of less images in 2013.
I dont know why you got the vote down, I guess some people cant stand others being successful or they think you are a liar. On the MSG mug thread someone got a vote down for no apparent reason, I assume out of spite or envy. Christmas is only two weeks ago, where we wished each other all the best...  :o

Anyhooooo, I am at 84% of my January 2013 earnings and we are only on 1/3 of the month. I assume come Monday I have already beaten my Jan 13 earnings.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on January 10, 2014, 10:41
Love these kinds of posts!

Examples of general comments-

1. Worst month ever
2. Best Month ever
3. Up 124%
4. Down 65%

Heck, why not just use a mathematical formula like this to predict the month?

A function f(x) is "increasing" at a point x0 if and only if there exists some interval I containing x0 such that f(x0) > f(x) for all x in I to the left of x0 and f(x0) < f(x) for all x in I to the right of x0.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 10, 2014, 11:13
My sales are trending upward, almost back to normal. I'm getting 50s and 60s in total sales where I was in 60s, 70s and 80s in the summer and fall. Good mix of ODs and subs this week, with total earnings from ODs being more than subs.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 10, 2014, 11:47
Love these kinds of posts!

Examples of general comments-

1. Worst month ever
2. Best Month ever
3. Up 124%
4. Down 65%

Heck, why not just use a mathematical formula like this to predict the month?

A function f(x) is "increasing" at a point x0 if and only if there exists some interval I containing x0 such that f(x0) > f(x) for all x in I to the left of x0 and f(x0) < f(x) for all x in I to the right of x0.
LOL, anonymous complaining about people posting percentages of how they are doing. Cheecky.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on January 10, 2014, 11:55
My january 2014 growth is already (after 10 days) 159% compared to full january 2013.
My prevision is a minimum growth of 400 % for january.
But I had a lot of less images in 2013.
I dont know why you got the vote down, I guess some people cant stand others being successful or they think you are a liar. On the MSG mug thread someone got a vote down for no apparent reason, I assume out of spite or envy. Christmas is only two weeks ago, where we wished each other all the best...  :o

Anyhooooo, I am at 84% of my January 2013 earnings and we are only on 1/3 of the month. I assume come Monday I have already beaten my Jan 13 earnings.


Take it easy Ron! :)
_________
I had a lot of less images in 2013
I think that it is enough clear.

I think that it is obvious that with about 3 times more images, and a little more experience on microstocks, I have more sales now.

Don't worry about jealousy…
Their jealousy is their problem, not mine (our)

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: StockPhoto on January 15, 2014, 08:14
Incomes in this month, are being the same as in January 2012, two years ago. As I've probably tripled the portfolio, so a typical month of January is not. And compared to January last year is 50% down. >:(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 15, 2014, 09:00
Incomes in this month, are being the same as in January 2012, two years ago. As I've probably tripled the portfolio, so a typical month of January is not. And compared to January last year is 50% down. >:(
I'm about 40% down on the first fortnight of January last year. It is starting to look a bit worrying.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Steveball on January 15, 2014, 09:12
2 ELs and SODs result in a BWE, keep 'em coming!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on January 15, 2014, 09:23
So far I'm about 12% up January but that's as much due to a chunky SOD yesterday as anything else. Volume-wise, downloads are almost identical.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tavi on January 16, 2014, 07:51
   Anyone esle is experiencing very low sales today?
   My december was bad, despite lots of uploads, and january is looking even worse. Today my sales are really sad.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fotoroad on January 16, 2014, 08:30
Same here, so far only 13 % compare with January 2013
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on January 16, 2014, 08:59
   Anyone esle is experiencing very low sales today?
   
Yes. A lot under normality…
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ignard on January 16, 2014, 09:08
up she goes compared to 2013

I only check volume because that is in my hands.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 16, 2014, 09:49
I'm wondering if they did something to the search when they changed the presentation page about a week ago. January was looking quite normal until then.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 16, 2014, 10:06
I am at 128% or 28% up from last year. With another 15 days similar to the last 10 I will easily double my Jan 2013 earnings.

Unfortunately I cant post any screenshots, but I had around 600 files in January 2013 and 1150 files this January (not counting the 150 images added over the last 3 weeks).  Which means my earnings grow equally to the amount of images added.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tavi on January 16, 2014, 10:54
   Man you are lucky. My new files don't have many sales. Most of them have none...
   I'm in stock from march 2012, and dlds number/ files in port hasn't been so bad like december 2013 from oct 2012, when I had 20% images. And january looks to be worst...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockastic on January 16, 2014, 11:39
Way below last year at this time.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Julied83 on January 16, 2014, 15:38
I have a few sales but a bit low compared to december 2013
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 17, 2014, 01:18
Total volume looking to be normal for me, though heavier on the subs than usual, so earnings are on the low end of normal, and I doubt they'll top Jan 2013, which was my 2d BME and my BMY. 

With half the month and almost the entire year ahead, however, it's a bit early for prognostication (IMHO)  8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: nicku on January 17, 2014, 01:30
   Anyone esle is experiencing very low sales today?
   My december was bad, despite lots of uploads, and january is looking even worse. Today my sales are really sad.

very slow sales here to.... :(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: danivince on January 17, 2014, 03:21
Good start in 2014 :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on January 17, 2014, 13:14
It seems Shutterstock.com has shifted into high gear this month in regard to driving Revenue per download higher.

They are doing this at the expense of long time contributors who's assets got them where they are today.

Ironically, we all become long term contributors and those who work the hardest will have the most to lose.

Add me to the long list of long term contributors who are experiencing a unprecedented drop this month.  Down 60% on January 2013. 

I guess Jon does not have enough money, he needs to take the food off our children's tables
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etienjones on January 17, 2014, 13:35
I am having a contrarian month compare to most here. So far at least 50% more sales and much higher OD and ED sales, with a mixture of new and old files.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 17, 2014, 16:16
Sales of new images now make up 20% of my sales revenue for the last 6 months (vs 5% which seemed to be the case most of last year), though with my small portfolio not sure that a 5% uptick is statistically significant. I get about 60 sales a month (I have <200 files*). My volume of sales is pretty steady generally 55-70 a month and has been like that for the past year, but the mix of ELs, SODs, etc change which accounts for the revenue fluctuations. Sales of new images generally trending up since mid October - though still some weeks with no new image sales.

Sales volume has actually picked up for me this week, as have OD sales, but no ELs or SODs, so my revenue per download is lower than normal, but I'm hopeful that will change.

*I actually have 199 files there now - 2 backgrounds I uploaded yesterday were already approved. And they are under review at DT too - fast review times this week.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Petr Toman on January 17, 2014, 17:47
My Easter eggs are starting to sale on both SS and Fotolia :) Sales normal
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 17, 2014, 18:33
Best week ever and more than halfway to a BME.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 17, 2014, 18:58
I'm wondering if they did something to the search when they changed the presentation page about a week ago. January was looking quite normal until then.

I think you may be right.  Normal for January until yesterday, but miserable yesterday and today.

I hope gbalex is wrong and Shutterstock aren't following in Fotolia's footsteps and shafting their long-term successful contributors. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on January 17, 2014, 19:02
Don't worry about shafting the old timers - I am new and getting shafted as well  :-[

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on January 17, 2014, 20:01
Oh, my, don't give any less than whoop-de-doop posts about SS or you'll be voted down for telling the truth.
Yes, probably those reporting better sales are also telling the truth, but why vote down the others?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on January 17, 2014, 21:13
Just righted the ship thus no negatives on last few posts!  I know I won't be posting about sales anymore- Always get the same posts such as,  "I am losing money' than the next post is 'Having the BEST Month Ever!" 

Okay, than I am having my worst and best month ever....
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 17, 2014, 21:41
Curious what you all think is a long term contributor? I've been sending images to Shutterstock for almost four years. That seems pretty long to me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 18, 2014, 04:03
Curious what you all think is a long term contributor? I've been sending images to Shutterstock for almost four years. That seems pretty long to me.
More than nine years here (contributor number 262)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on January 18, 2014, 05:18
I'm wondering if they did something to the search when they changed the presentation page about a week ago. January was looking quite normal until then.

I think you may be right.  Normal for January until yesterday, but miserable yesterday and today.

I hope gbalex is wrong and Shutterstock aren't following in Fotolia's footsteps and shafting their long-term successful contributors.

My January earnings are currently projected to be similar to last year (according to Yuri's calculator) however the second half of January is always much better than the first.

I don't see any change in the pattern of sales either. Roughly half of my daily sales are from images uploaded in the last 2-3 years (probably about 15% of my portfolio) and the other half from images uploaded in the 6 years before. I've been fairly lazy in uploading new images in the last 2-3 years however I have tried to concentrate on quality rather than volume.

I don't think SS goes in for sweeping changes to the default sort-order, just subtle tweaks. In over 9 years I've certainly never noticed their effect __ totally different to my experience at IS where sales have literally dropped 30-40% overnight as all your best-sellers are condemned to the bottom of the sort-order.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ariene on January 18, 2014, 08:59
... however the second half of January is always much better than the first.

Woow, I hope you're right! :)
It's over half of Jan. and it's already my best month ever (x2). So, you say, second will be even better? Love it! :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 18, 2014, 11:50
I'm wondering if they did something to the search when they changed the presentation page about a week ago. January was looking quite normal until then.

I think you may be right.  Normal for January until yesterday, but miserable yesterday and today.

I hope gbalex is wrong and Shutterstock aren't following in Fotolia's footsteps and shafting their long-term successful contributors.

My January earnings are currently projected to be similar to last year (according to Yuri's calculator) however the second half of January is always much better than the first.

I don't see any change in the pattern of sales either. Roughly half of my daily sales are from images uploaded in the last 2-3 years (probably about 15% of my portfolio) and the other half from images uploaded in the 6 years before. I've been fairly lazy in uploading new images in the last 2-3 years however I have tried to concentrate on quality rather than volume.

I don't think SS goes in for sweeping changes to the default sort-order, just subtle tweaks. In over 9 years I've certainly never noticed their effect __ totally different to my experience at IS where sales have literally dropped 30-40% overnight as all your best-sellers are condemned to the bottom of the sort-order.

Thanks for posting.  I was wondering what your sales were doing.  Glad they aren't showing the dip mine are. 

I was expecting the usual upswing in second half of January too, which is why it was very surprising to see them fall off a cliff after the 15th. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 18, 2014, 11:54
Curious what you all think is a long term contributor? I've been sending images to Shutterstock for almost four years. That seems pretty long to me.

From my perspective, I was thinking of payment levels more than just length of time submitting.  Are you on the .38 payment level?  If you are, and have seen an upswing in sales lately, then that is another hole in the notion that they may be suppressing the files of the most expensive contributors in the search.

I would be very relieved to see that idea laid to rest :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 18, 2014, 12:09
All I can say is that Shutterstock does have ups and downs, but they are consistent ups and downs and my sales keep growing. The line is going up, not down. Rob is on 38 cents and I believe when he says he is going for BME it debunks some theories. I am also hoping for BME but I am on 36 level. And if my latest batch of 32 images gets approved I have added close to 200 images over the last 3-4 weeks, bringing my portfolio to 1350.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on January 18, 2014, 12:11
... however the second half of January is always much better than the first.

Woow, I hope you're right! :)
It's over half of Jan. and it's already my best month ever (x2). So, you say, second will be even better? Love it! :D

Yep. Your sales should increase steadily over the next few weeks and will probably peak in March before tailing off somewhat in April and then remaining fairly static through the summer months.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on January 18, 2014, 13:33
I'm wondering if they did something to the search when they changed the presentation page about a week ago. January was looking quite normal until then.

I think you may be right.  Normal for January until yesterday, but miserable yesterday and today.

I hope gbalex is wrong and Shutterstock aren't following in Fotolia's footsteps and shafting their long-term successful contributors.

I would really love to be wrong on this one, but I can not continue to discount the huge drops some long term contributors are experiencing.

These are contributors who have never complained about poor sales and have never seen large drops only gains. We only have to read the threads on SS to see that they are stand up photographers with great ports who do not cry wolf.   The trend seems to be 2007 and below.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Curvabezier on January 18, 2014, 13:40
So far, it´s been a solid month for me. Can´t compare it to last year, since it´s my first January as an independent, but clearly much better than the forgettable december.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on January 18, 2014, 13:45
It's been a downward trend for a few years for me. On a side note, has anybody gotten paid this month? I just realized is past the 15th and I haven't been paid.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etienjones on January 18, 2014, 13:49
It's been a downward trend for a few years for me. On a side note, has anybody gotten paid this month? I just realized is past the 15th and I haven't been paid.

yes, came the 7th
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on January 18, 2014, 13:53
It's been a downward trend for a few years for me. On a side note, has anybody gotten paid this month? I just realized is past the 15th and I haven't been paid.

yes, came the 7th

I realize what happened. I had my minimum payout set at $200 from like the beginning of time, and it was the first month I didn't make over $200. I just bumped it down.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 18, 2014, 13:58
Curious what you all think is a long term contributor? I've been sending images to Shutterstock for almost four years. That seems pretty long to me.

From my perspective, I was thinking of payment levels more than just length of time submitting.  Are you on the .38 payment level?  If you are, and have seen an upswing in sales lately, then that is another hole in the notion that they may be suppressing the files of the most expensive contributors in the search.

I would be very relieved to see that idea laid to rest :)

Yes, I've been on the 38 cent tier for about a year. I was at 38 cents when they made the last search change. I've had several BMEs since getting the raise. My port is still relatively small, though at 1750 images now. So when I add 100 images, it's a bigger change to my port than someone who adds 100 to 5,000 or 10,000 images, so I would naturally see a bigger increase.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PhotoBomb on January 18, 2014, 14:07
I've been at this since '06 - at the .38 level since forever and I'm up 38% over last jan (at the same point in time - 18 days) - I seen nothing but growth at SS, in both DL's and RPD.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 18, 2014, 15:15
Glad to hear many at the .38 level are continuing to grow.

On the up side, an image I had approved last week just sold again - and on a Saturday - so that's a good sign- 4 sales on a Saturday for me is good. Only subs - but at least now it's in the mix. (Sad how many sales we need to afford to buy a cup of coffee - wish the top level was a lot more than .38 - with my tiny port I'm hoping to make .36 this year - hard to work up a lot of enthusiasm for that "raise.") But SS is a a decent earner for me w/ my tiny port (microstock photography is a small part of my photo income, so "decent earner" is a relative term - I also do assignments, sell prints via galleries & POD, work with a few trad agencies, and license stock photos directly- and half my income comes from freelance writing).

I think that licensing photos directly (whether via symbiostock or your own site, and/or via direct contact with publishers) is really an important component in the mix of how to license your stock photos. For me, since I'm licensing photos directly for prices generally between $60-$450 a photo (some RF, some RM), I have a lot of photos that I can't put on the micros and so I've kept my micro portfolio deliberately small, hence I've been at .33 forever. MY RPD at shutterstock is awful, but the RPI is excellent, and that's the metric that really counts.

With my best-selling photo at SS having earned me around $350, I do see how the tiny payments (and a couple of ELs) add up there and that photo sold again a few times this week, so all the remixes of search algorithms seem to have evened out. My best-sellers disappeared for a while but now they're doing well.

I think that shutterstock is a strong company that knows how to make money and hopefully we'll continue to earn along with them.  Of course I wish we'd get a bigger piece of the pie and that they'd raise prices. Remember that Monday is a National Holiday here in the US celebrating the life of Martin Luther King so sales may be slower until Tuesday. For those in the US, enjoy the long weekend!

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 18, 2014, 15:50
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

In that way, it's true that people on the 38 cent tier would more likely see their sales drop. But it's a secondary effect, not a targeted one. I believe Shutterstock operators in this case when they say their goal is to keep fresher imagery to the front, but I don't think they are bothered if that means they save some money by paying lower rates at the same time.

The real bad news is that it makes it really hard to build a portfolio and sustain sales because sooner or later a larger portion of your port will get old and your popular files will become less popular. I'm not sure how possible it is to keep enough fresh material in your port to maintain sales when you now have to compete with many more new files than ever before.

I'm on the top of the coaster now because of some lucky timing. That's all.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PhotoBomb on January 18, 2014, 15:56


...The real bad news is that it makes it really hard to build a portfolio and sustain sales because sooner or later a larger portion of your port will get old and your popular files will become less popular. I'm not sure how possible it is to keep enough fresh material in your port to maintain sales when you now have to compete with many more new files than ever before.



Nobody said it would be easy
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 18, 2014, 16:29
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

In that way, it's true that people on the 38 cent tier would more likely see their sales drop. But it's a secondary effect, not a targeted one. I believe Shutterstock operators in this case when they say their goal is to keep fresher imagery to the front, but I don't think they are bothered if that means they save some money by paying lower rates at the same time.

The real bad news is that it makes it really hard to build a portfolio and sustain sales because sooner or later a larger portion of your port will get old and your popular files will become less popular. I'm not sure how possible it is to keep enough fresh material in your port to maintain sales when you now have to compete with many more new files than ever before.

I'm on the top of the coaster now because of some lucky timing. That's all.

In stock, traditional and micro, from all I've read, images tend to last about 3-5 years as places, fashions, and trends change. Of course, there are images that are timeless and will sell for much longer, but search algorithms probably put a fair amount of emphasis on image age to keep things fresh, both so their buyers don't just see the same images all the time, and to take into consideration the fact that images will become dated. 

At the same time, the fact that new stuff isn't getting the same bump that it used to is probably helpful to long-term contributors so the files with proven track records don't get buried by new stuff that may never sell.

It's got to be a tough balancing act and I imagine that they tweak the algorithms to increase sales without considering whose files they are. Our commissions are so small, even magnified by thousands of contributors, that I doubt they really worry about whether the .25 newbies' or the .38 top contributors' photos show up at the top of the pile. They are making way more than we are with every license, so saving a few pennies per sale by deliberately giving unproven work by newbies who don't have a track record preference over those who do, really doesn't make sense in the long run. As tough as it is for those of us who've been with them a long time to see our new work move up, I imagine it's even harder for those who are new.

I have to think that part of the algorithm considers how many sales per photo each contributor has. I've only got 199 photos on SS, nearly a third of them added in 2013, but I've been there since 2010, and I get sales every day - and have done for a long time. My port is mostly travel, nature, and some backgrounds and concepts - not traditional big sellers. So I have to think that there's something in the algorithm that is helping my photos get seen out of the 32 million on there. Several of my images show up on the first row for searches, so the fact that I average about 20 sales per photo (adjusted over time) has to be part of the mix, I'd guess. Your analysis, based on a much larger and more successful portfolio, seems to bear that out.

It must be great to have an image that sells so often, but, like having one agency account for 80% of your sales, having one image account for a huge percentage of sales can be scary if that image starts to lose popularity but with all your new content you've clearly hedged your bets.  Though it's tougher now for new images to find their audience, I think the best stuff will still rise to the top, although there are bound to be some good images that get lost in the incredibly huge crowd and never find their way out. 

Enough armchair analysis. Heading into NYC to have some fun - hope everyone is having a great weekend.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on January 18, 2014, 19:55
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

When I'd been at SS for a month I think they only had about 60 images corresponding to the keywords 'new zealand' of which about 45 were mine. Back then they sold quite nicely. Nowadays ... not so much. I'm absolutely sure it must be due to a 'search engine change'. It cant possibly be anything to do with the additional 33,150 images of 'new zealand' that have arrived since. It has to be SS conspiring against me and the higher royalty rate they have to pay me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on January 18, 2014, 20:04
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

When I'd been at SS for a month I think they only had about 60 images corresponding to the keywords 'new zealand' of which about 45 were mine. Back then they sold quite nicely. Nowadays ... not so much. I'm absolutely sure it must be due to a 'search engine change'. It cant possibly be anything to do with the additional 33,150 images of 'new zealand' that have arrived since. It has to be SS conspiring against me and the higher royalty rate they have to pay me.

I think it's a combination of both. Of course, the addition of huge masses of new files makes it harder to compete. But Shutterstock also adjusts their search algorithm to keep fresh content in front of buyers and increase sales. When they did their "site maintenance" in mid July sales of my entire portfolio took a steep plunge literally overnight...and they still haven't quite recovered (although my portfolio's larger).
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on January 18, 2014, 20:05
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

When I'd been at SS for a month I think they only had about 60 images corresponding to the keywords 'new zealand' of which about 45 were mine. Back then they sold quite nicely. Nowadays ... not so much. I'm absolutely sure it must be due to a 'search engine change'. It cant possibly be anything to do with the additional 33,150 images of 'new zealand' that have arrived since. It has to be SS conspiring against me and the higher royalty rate they have to pay me.

I would hazard to guess that those 33,150 images did not build up over night, so I am sure your drop occurred over a prolonged period of time.  However large drops that do happen over night would most certainly be caused by search changes.

I have personally spoken to 6 large producers who pull very good returns that had huge drops this month; when they have historically never had huge drops in January.  I would say it was most certainly a search change that is affecting those ports.  If you can not see this you are in denial. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 18, 2014, 20:11
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

You know as well as anyone that the search shift at iS years ago had a huge impact on sales of established files. Sometimes it IS the search. If a change is progressive over months then it is likely to be competition, if it happens suddenly it could well be the search. If it is one file affected then it's harder to say than if an entire portfolio suddenly sells better or worse.

Or it could just be a temporary run of luck.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 18, 2014, 20:30
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

When I'd been at SS for a month I think they only had about 60 images corresponding to the keywords 'new zealand' of which about 45 were mine. Back then they sold quite nicely. Nowadays ... not so much. I'm absolutely sure it must be due to a 'search engine change'. It cant possibly be anything to do with the additional 33,150 images of 'new zealand' that have arrived since. It has to be SS conspiring against me and the higher royalty rate they have to pay me.

When people's best sellers sitting at the top of popular sort disappear to the back of the pack overnight, that's because the search changed. And then you add in millions of new images making it more difficult to sell your new ones, your overall sales will continue to stagnate until you can generate more sales on new images. It's a combination of the two.

I'm not complaining about the change. I like it. If Shutterstock's popular search was based solely on the number of sales, that would suck. You'd have five to 10 year old images sitting on top while new images wouldn't get any traction. There would be no point in continuing to contribute, and Shutterstock wouldn't grow because customers would only see old images. The quality of the library has increased dramatically over the past five years. Those images need to get in front of the buyers.

But I can empathize with people who had been relying on older images to buoy their sales. They are suffering and feeling let down. I want everyone to be successful and make money.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on January 19, 2014, 02:25
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.


Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

When I'd been at SS for a month I think they only had about 60 images corresponding to the keywords 'new zealand' of which about 45 were mine. Back then they sold quite nicely. Nowadays ... not so much. I'm absolutely sure it must be due to a 'search engine change'. It cant possibly be anything to do with the additional 33,150 images of 'new zealand' that have arrived since. It has to be SS conspiring against me and the higher royalty rate they have to pay me.


When people's best sellers sitting at the top of popular sort disappear to the back of the pack overnight, that's because the search changed. And then you add in millions of new images making it more difficult to sell your new ones, your overall sales will continue to stagnate until you can generate more sales on new images. It's a combination of the two.

I'm not complaining about the change. I like it. If Shutterstock's popular search was based solely on the number of sales, that would suck. You'd have five to 10 year old images sitting on top while new images wouldn't get any traction. There would be no point in continuing to contribute, and Shutterstock wouldn't grow because customers would only see old images. The quality of the library has increased dramatically over the past five years. Those images need to get in front of the buyers.

But I can empathize with people who had been relying on older images to buoy their sales. They are suffering and feeling let down. I want everyone to be successful and make money.


The reality is that many long term contributors are not relying on older images to buoy their sales. They upload large numbers each month to no avail.

One recent short thread on SS http://tinyurl.com/kb3e9f4 (http://tinyurl.com/kb3e9f4)

Snip

Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Worst January since 2010 for me. And on top of that I have added 300 images over the last 2 and half months. Sales keep going down for me..... It is a bit depressing though - new equipment (5D MkIII) and many hours of work only to see sales go DOWN!

Joined: 12 Jul 2005 I added a LOT of new Images. We all know the time it takes to do this, I wasted a LOT of time and got a backwards return for my investment. Im selling Mostly Very Old stuff due to search. What a waste of time

Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Last month and this month are about 40% less than the year before. I've been uploading new images but they rarely sell so that doesn't help much.

Joined: 29 Jan 2006 It's just crazy how sales could drop that much. My DLs were consistent from Jan-Oct. then they came tumbling down fast in Nov-Current. Is the Apocalypse coming? It makes me want to scream!

Joined: 03 Oct 2007 But there does seem to be a trend towards the people who have been here the longest (often also the people on the highest rate) who are reporting the falling figures and the much newer people reporting the increases. Obviously if you are constantly adding to your portfolio you would expect to see an increase year on year, but that's no longer the case for some of us on SS.

Joined: 20 Jun 2006 I think quite a few people have noticed that. I can only go by what I see here on the forums but so many of us who have been here for a long time are showing definite downward trends. I used to see more downloads at the time I got up early in the morning than I am seeing now at 3 in the afternoon. I have never seen it this bad.

Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Awful slow 2 weeks for me, 50% down if compared to Jan 2013. I do not know what is going on???

Joined: 11 May 2006 For me so far, the slowest month ever.

Joined: 12 Jul 2008 I'm also very disappointing with the actual policy. Everytime they made a change (and of course I'm talking about the searching rules and alghorithm) our downloads fall down. I have a big portfolio and I used to sell several thousands of images on monthly basis... When I see 20 0r 30% down in dls... from a week to another I'm always worried... in the past those kind of changes has never pickup completely.. and good old dls days of 2011 are simply gone!!

Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Very slow month so far. Just checked my sales from January 2012 and 2011 and they were higher than right now. What's up with that?

Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Very, very slow for me. Totally different than last year...:(

Joined: 07 Aug 2007 very slow week for me too... uncommonly so even for this time of year :(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 19, 2014, 04:02

The reality is that many long term contributors are not relying on older images to buoy their sales. They upload large numbers each month to no avail.

One recent short thread on SS [url]http://tinyurl.com/kb3e9f4[/url] ([url]http://tinyurl.com/kb3e9f4[/url])



Sometimes I'm actually amazed at how many sales I have considering how gigantic the database is but I find the exponential growth of that database to be quite troubling and I think the addition of millions of new images each year will become more and more problematic for all of us, new or old, large or small portfolios - how many pages of photos will a buyer look at? 

I'm sure SS and all the other agencies recognize that there is a downside to such a huge database notwithstanding the need for fresh images and they will probably continue to tweak the search engine to deal with this - that tweak is bound to have a negative effect on some and a positive effect on others. To ignore the consequences of that growth or the effects of search engine changes is to ignore reality - but there are so many other factors that are causing these swings and I think that just about everyone here is correct to some extent. More competition, more images fighting to show up on page 1, images becoming dated, algorithm changes that send your best sellers back so far that no one will ever see them, a huge influx of images from some top iS exclusives this year, a database that's so huge that only a small fraction of images for any one search term will show up, perhaps a search boost for newbies so their images have a fighting chance... it's not just one thing.

Some of those in the .38 tier are continuing to do well, and others are seeing sales tank - has the database gotten so huge that search rank is more like a lottery than a meritocracy? Who knows.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 19, 2014, 06:17
....   The trend seems to be 2007 and below.
7 year old images in decline, buyers want to see and need fresh content. Whats weird about that.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 19, 2014, 06:34
...

In stock, traditional and micro, from all I've read, images tend to last about 3-5 years as places, fashions, and trends change.
... Its been argued there is no fashion in Stock as they all use generic clothing. So I have been told when I said the same thing.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 19, 2014, 06:38
I have no doubt that contributors with a larger percentage of older images got hurt more by the search change. I had an image that I shot in 2010 when I first started that had 1,600+ downloads. It was on the top of the search for "child." For almost three years, it generated 5-10 sales a day all by itself. They changed the search and it disappeared into the middle somewhere. So I can imagine that if you had a lot of images that were best sellers in that age range or older, then they lost popularity, which would naturally affect your sales to a large degree. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of my port is less than two years old. While I lost out on a couple of good sellers, the rest are holding up better because they're newer.

Oh, for crying out loud. Why do people always blame 'search engine changes' when one of their images ceases to generate the same level of sales? You know it just might have something to do with the 10M new images that are currently being accepted each year.

When I'd been at SS for a month I think they only had about 60 images corresponding to the keywords 'new zealand' of which about 45 were mine. Back then they sold quite nicely. Nowadays ... not so much. I'm absolutely sure it must be due to a 'search engine change'. It cant possibly be anything to do with the additional 33,150 images of 'new zealand' that have arrived since. It has to be SS conspiring against me and the higher royalty rate they have to pay me.

I would hazard to guess that those 33,150 images did not build up over night, so I am sure your drop occurred over a prolonged period of time.  However large drops that do happen over night would most certainly be caused by search changes.

I have personally spoken to 6 large producers who pull very good returns that had huge drops this month; when they have historically never had huge drops in January.  I would say it was most certainly a search change that is affecting those ports.  If you can not see this you are in denial.
I guess that explains my increase in sales come January. Really good month and if the second half is even better, than the search is definitely in favor of me. My sales jumped on 6 January and keep going strong.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on January 19, 2014, 07:12
One question I would ask of any long term contributor is whether they are shooting the same subjects as they were in 2005?

It may have some bearing I don't know but before I can draw any conclusions (for me personally) I would need to see a real drill-down into detail way beyond time in the business, number of files, number of new files added, current earnings ranking etc. In short, I don't see enough objective data on this forum or elsewhere to feel confident about where the business is headed - beyond my own experiences.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 19, 2014, 09:29
300 images in two months isn't a lot any more. When I'm working on my port, I'm adding 50-100 a week and that's low production.

It's also hard to judge what's going on when people aren't specific. New files do sell, just not all of them. I don't expect all new images to sell right away. And all of those other new images coming in make it harder.

These long term contributors saw sales decline on their older images when their older images weren't as popular anymore. I don't think see why you're arguing with that. It's like arguing that the earth isn't round.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on January 19, 2014, 12:45
300 images in two months isn't a lot any more. When I'm working on my port, I'm adding 50-100 a week and that's low production.

It's also hard to judge what's going on when people aren't specific. New files do sell, just not all of them. I don't expect all new images to sell right away. And all of those other new images coming in make it harder.

These long term contributors saw sales decline on their older images when their older images weren't as popular anymore. I don't think see why you're arguing with that. It's like arguing that the earth isn't round.

I am not talking about 300 images, those were just some examples of contributors with good content who are not seeing sales on new images.

Conversely you are seeing returns on new images when you admit that you are indeed a low producer. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on January 19, 2014, 13:05
My judge is always how things are going at other agencies in comparison. For me, SS continues to shrink while DT and CanStockPhoto have been fairly stable. Now, I earn about the same each month at all 3.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 19, 2014, 13:30
300 images in two months isn't a lot any more. When I'm working on my port, I'm adding 50-100 a week and that's low production.

It's also hard to judge what's going on when people aren't specific. New files do sell, just not all of them. I don't expect all new images to sell right away. And all of those other new images coming in make it harder.

These long term contributors saw sales decline on their older images when their older images weren't as popular anymore. I don't think see why you're arguing with that. It's like arguing that the earth isn't round.


I am not talking about 300 images, those were just some examples of contributors with good content who are not seeing sales on new images.

Conversely you are seeing returns on new images when you admit that you are indeed a low producer.

I guess my content is bad and that's why I'm seeing sales on new images.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on January 19, 2014, 14:09
okay, I think we have proven there isn't any sure fire strategy that either proves or disproves why are sales are down-just theories or beliefs...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on January 19, 2014, 14:27
Something strange I noticed about that chart...I also had a steep plunge in earnings from new content with a couple of zero days in January, the same days as Rob. Anyone else? I hope it's just a reporting glitch.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 19, 2014, 14:30
That steep plunge on mine is from the last two weeks of December. I didn't upload any images during those weeks and overall sales were less than stellar.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 19, 2014, 14:33
I have the same dip, its christmas and new year.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: DC on January 19, 2014, 17:56
I have that dip as well but it is an error.  I was getting sales on images uploaded in December but that part of the chart showed up as 0 sales for new content for those 2 weeks.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 19, 2014, 18:17
According to my graph, I had a one-week dip in December with no new image sales, but my December stats show I actually sold at least one new image that I uploaded in November, nearly every day that week, so it seems like it could be a reporting glitch.

Interestingly, I usually have my data set to 3 months, but when I set it to a year, considering images uploaded in the past year as new, it tells a far more encouraging story as to how well my new images are selling. Funny how your definition of "new" can seriously impact the facts that you base your insights on, isn't it?

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 19, 2014, 19:16
...

In stock, traditional and micro, from all I've read, images tend to last about 3-5 years as places, fashions, and trends change.
... Its been argued there is no fashion in Stock as they all use generic clothing. So I have been told when I said the same thing.

I haven't seen that argued.  What I've seen argued, and said myself, is that images are less likely to become obsolete IF you use generic clothing and and hairstyles and stay away from super trendy ones. 

There are certainly many cases where people do shoot trendier subjects and concepts and those images do age quickly.  I believe I mentioned electronics as a prime example of that...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 19, 2014, 19:21
One question I would ask of any long term contributor is whether they are shooting the same subjects as they were in 2005?

It may have some bearing I don't know but before I can draw any conclusions (for me personally) I would need to see a real drill-down into detail way beyond time in the business, number of files, number of new files added, current earnings ranking etc. In short, I don't see enough objective data on this forum or elsewhere to feel confident about where the business is headed - beyond my own experiences.

I'm happy to answer that question - I do upload some images in the same subjects as older ones because they are successful subjects, and it's a good idea to continue to be represented in popular concepts. 

But I also make an effort to shoot different concepts than I have done before.  Partly it keeps me from getting bored, and partly because it makes good business sense.  I try to upload some of each in a batch of images to mix things up.  Not that it's doing much good lately...  :-\ 

I all fairness, there are few unexplored subjects/concepts.  But a different take from what's already out there is still worth shooting.  Just harder and harder to do...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on January 20, 2014, 10:53
300 images in two months isn't a lot any more. When I'm working on my port, I'm adding 50-100 a week and that's low production.

It's also hard to judge what's going on when people aren't specific. New files do sell, just not all of them. I don't expect all new images to sell right away. And all of those other new images coming in make it harder.

These long term contributors saw sales decline on their older images when their older images weren't as popular anymore. I don't think see why you're arguing with that. It's like arguing that the earth isn't round.


I am not talking about 300 images, those were just some examples of contributors with good content who are not seeing sales on new images.

Conversely you are seeing returns on new images when you admit that you are indeed a low producer.

I guess my content is bad and that's why I'm seeing sales on new images.

Really you decided to go there.

There are many photogs who produce fresh & buyer relevant technically perfect content.  However if SS does not include that content in upfront searches there is not a snow balls chance in hell that the buyers will ever see those images.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on January 20, 2014, 11:46
According to my graph, I had a one-week dip in December with no new image sales, but my December stats show I actually sold at least one new image that I uploaded in November, nearly every day that week, so it seems like it could be a reporting glitch.

Interestingly, I usually have my data set to 3 months, but when I set it to a year, considering images uploaded in the past year as new, it tells a far more encouraging story as to how well my new images are selling. Funny how your definition of "new" can seriously impact the facts that you base your insights on, isn't it?

Yes, I definitely sold a bunch of new content during that time period...in fact a batch of new files made up a large percentage of my sales. So I thought it was odd that the chart suddenly dropped down to zero for a bit.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on January 20, 2014, 13:41
While those graphs on SS are interesting, they are not accurate. I have brought this to SS's attention a number of times with specific examples and they brush me off every time saying that the reported sales are accurate (the reports that we get paid off of).

Try making a set of all of your images and compare those sales to your reported total, I also have made sets of images submitted by year and compared them to the sales from the last year at the end of every year - they are not equal.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: grey1 on January 20, 2014, 14:31
First post! just felt I had to post on this one.  SS is a public company and as such the management is responsible of getting the best possible profits for their stock holders no matter what, or else it would be an infamita, a mis-management.

Sometimes its hard to see the forest for the trees. Of course if they can escalate profits by promoting lower royalty members they would, or else they would be complete fools. The administration is answerable to stock holders. However in the process you step on some contributors that were there building the company. So what, suppliers of files come and go. All replaceable, no one infallible.
Wait a minute! is there no moral in business? nope its business, profit, profit, profit!!

Of course in a year or two comes the day as always do when the Director of content turns around and say " hey we have only pictures of models, food, hamburgers, pizzas, babies and flowers left to show!  most of the others, the specialized content pulled their portfolios and left. All the other main agencies have it but we DO NOT.

I think you have to be naive to the point of utter stupidity, blindfolded and a fruit-cake in search of a brain, NOT to understand that SS, have done exactly this.
You can not blame them! after an IPO, company is public and so on. First thing that happens and for obvious reasons is an 80% change of administration and they DO NOT KNOW! and do not have to know anything about PHOTOGRAPHY. Its honorable positions. :)


 :) :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 20, 2014, 14:50
You couldnt be more further from the truth. There is a summary I wrote about a meeting I had with a few people from Shutterstock, including the vice president of communications. It is nothing as you make it out to be.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Travelling-light on January 20, 2014, 15:53
While those graphs on SS are interesting, they are not accurate. I have brought this to SS's attention a number of times with specific examples and they brush me off every time saying that the reported sales are accurate (the reports that we get paid off of).

Try making a set of all of your images and compare those sales to your reported total, I also have made sets of images submitted by year and compared them to the sales from the last year at the end of every year - they are not equal.

That's a pity. I've made some decisions based on those graphs. Oh well, too late now.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on January 20, 2014, 16:17
While those graphs on SS are interesting, they are not accurate. I have brought this to SS's attention a number of times with specific examples and they brush me off every time saying that the reported sales are accurate (the reports that we get paid off of).

Try making a set of all of your images and compare those sales to your reported total, I also have made sets of images submitted by year and compared them to the sales from the last year at the end of every year - they are not equal.

That's a pity. I've made some decisions based on those graphs. Oh well, too late now.

Your decisions are probably still valid - they aren't way off, but they aren't exactly correct either and SS didn't seem to care when I pointed it out.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: grey1 on January 20, 2014, 16:33
You couldnt be more further from the truth. There is a summary I wrote about a meeting I had with a few people from Shutterstock, including the vice president of communications. It is nothing as you make it out to be.

With due respect!  so you met the vice president of communications! do you know what that title means? president is the American way of describing a job title. In Europe its called the assistant to the communications manager, often a girl of 25-30 years old. Thats all I am afraid.
Another angle of course is their knowledge of your involvements in the forum and what better way to go, then through you? thats what I meant with seeing the forest for the trees.

I mean no harm you understand, just basic business orientation/strategy.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on January 20, 2014, 16:35
You couldnt be more further from the truth. There is a summary I wrote about a meeting I had with a few people from Shutterstock, including the vice president of communications. It is nothing as you make it out to be.

With due respect!  so you met the vice president of communications! do you know what that title means?

Isn't it American for 'Spin doctor'? What RogerMexico used to be at iS.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: grey1 on January 20, 2014, 17:16
You couldnt be more further from the truth. There is a summary I wrote about a meeting I had with a few people from Shutterstock, including the vice president of communications. It is nothing as you make it out to be.

With due respect!  so you met the vice president of communications! do you know what that title means?

Isn't it American for 'Spin doctor'? What RogerMexico used to be at iS.

ha.ha. great one!  whats Roger doing these days anyway?

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on January 20, 2014, 18:00
Best week ever last week.   ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on January 20, 2014, 18:47
Best week ever last week.   ;)

That might be my first and last week to beat you.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gemmy12 on January 20, 2014, 21:44
how is the footage sales going on there ?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tavi on January 21, 2014, 10:58
   I don't know. But my images are selling from bad to worst. I have the feeling this is the end. Hope I'm wrong. Lost the energy to upload anymore...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cthoman on January 21, 2014, 12:24
Sometimes its hard to see the forest for the trees. Of course if they can escalate profits by promoting lower royalty members they would, or else they would be complete fools. The administration is answerable to stock holders. However in the process you step on some contributors that were there building the company. So what, suppliers of files come and go. All replaceable, no one infallible.
Wait a minute! is there no moral in business? nope its business, profit, profit, profit!!

I have complaints about SS, but this wouldn't be it. These things may happen in the future, but it really hasn't happened yet. The only thing they've really dipped into so far was the affiliate program and Bigstock.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on January 21, 2014, 14:12
We can also hope they take the Costco model of maximizing returns for the shareholders rather than the Walmart one. It looks like something in between and closer to Walmart at this time though, especially w/ what they are doing w/ Bigstock.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 21, 2014, 15:33
I think I know what is happening. They seem to prioritising the search by matching the region the searcher is in to the region the supplier is from. As I upload from the Middle East I get Asian and European sales but I no longer seem to get them from the Americas (I'm not sure about Australia/New Zealand). In the last 24 hours I have had one customer from the Americas, who picked up four similar, very specialised files which might well have been on a search with all the results on a single page.
I hope this is just experimental as it is a heavy blow to me. As with all these swings and roundabouts changes there will be others doing very nicely, if they happen to be zoned in the main selling regions.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 21, 2014, 15:40
I think I know what is happening. They seem to prioritising the search by matching the region the searcher is in to the region the supplier is from. As I upload from the Middle East I get Asian and European sales but I no longer seem to get them from the Americas (I'm not sure about Australia/New Zealand). In the last 24 hours I have had one customer from the Americas, who picked up four similar, very specialised files which might well have been on a search with all the results on a single page.
I hope this is just experimental as it is a heavy blow to me. As with all these swings and roundabouts changes there will be others doing very nicely, if they happen to be zoned in the main selling regions.
That is what they told me. That is a part of their algorithm.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 21, 2014, 15:51
I think I know what is happening. They seem to prioritising the search by matching the region the searcher is in to the region the supplier is from. As I upload from the Middle East I get Asian and European sales but I no longer seem to get them from the Americas (I'm not sure about Australia/New Zealand). In the last 24 hours I have had one customer from the Americas, who picked up four similar, very specialised files which might well have been on a search with all the results on a single page.
I hope this is just experimental as it is a heavy blow to me. As with all these swings and roundabouts changes there will be others doing very nicely, if they happen to be zoned in the main selling regions.
That is what they told me. That is a part of their algorithm.

If that's right, then I'm sooooo scrooowed.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on January 21, 2014, 16:13
I think I know what is happening. They seem to prioritising the search by matching the region the searcher is in to the region the supplier is from. As I upload from the Middle East I get Asian and European sales but I no longer seem to get them from the Americas (I'm not sure about Australia/New Zealand). In the last 24 hours I have had one customer from the Americas, who picked up four similar, very specialised files which might well have been on a search with all the results on a single page.
I hope this is just experimental as it is a heavy blow to me. As with all these swings and roundabouts changes there will be others doing very nicely, if they happen to be zoned in the main selling regions.
That is what they told me. That is a part of their algorithm.

If that's right, then I'm sooooo scrooowed.

But it might have the unintended consequence of saving the photographers in Europe and N America from the long warned of hordes of people from India and China who can happily live on a few bucks a day.

I wonder if they do it on a portfolio basis or on an image basis (ie - where the image was uploaded from vs. where SS thinks the seller lives). If the former it would possibly make sense to extend a "vacation" a little longer to upload some local pics possibly.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 21, 2014, 16:26
Interesting.  My map shows sales still coming in from Africa, Europe, etc. along with North America. 

Volume has decreased, but sale location still seems pretty diverse. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: disorderly on January 21, 2014, 16:26
Color me unconvinced.  My sales have slowed down quite a bit, and I'm in the US.  Keep in mind that yesterday was a holiday here, and today there are chunks of the country under challenging weather conditions.  That could explain slow sales.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 21, 2014, 16:31
I hope you're right.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Firewall on January 21, 2014, 16:39
Sales are pretty diverse for me, the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East, but most of them are from Europe and sales slowed down here as well.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Asthebelltolls on January 21, 2014, 20:56
This must be one of the longest running posts this site has ever experienced which goes to show just how dominant the SS is.

I wish I could manipulate SS sales. More sales than anywhere else but almost all $0.30 and always the same old pix selling over and over again. Meanwhile every second sale this month (literally) with DT is $2.00 or more. DP always sells well but unlike SS its pix that I haven't sold anywhere else. Images that I had totally forgotten until they show up in the DP sold column.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 21, 2014, 23:45
I think I know what is happening. They seem to prioritising the search by matching the region the searcher is in to the region the supplier is from. As I upload from the Middle East I get Asian and European sales but I no longer seem to get them from the Americas (I'm not sure about Australia/New Zealand). In the last 24 hours I have had one customer from the Americas, who picked up four similar, very specialised files which might well have been on a search with all the results on a single page.
I hope this is just experimental as it is a heavy blow to me. As with all these swings and roundabouts changes there will be others doing very nicely, if they happen to be zoned in the main selling regions.

I hope very much that you are wrong. My map shows sales in the past couple of days to North America (where I'm from), South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa - just missing Australia/NZ and Greenland or I'd be covering the entire map. One each to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, 2 to S. America and 4 to N. America (I often have maps where the bulk of sales are concentrated in Europe and Africa and I often have a map that looks like this one with a nice spread across the world). My payment history shows more non-US source sales than US-source sales, and much of what I sell overseas are US travel images, so I certainly hope this is not the case. If someone is searching for a photo from a location in the US, a supplier from their region is no more likely to provide a photo more to their liking than I am. Similarly, it would be silly if my European photos got higher billing that someone from Europe because the buyer was American.

Of my editorial images, my best seller to Africa is a photo of an NYPD officer running in the New York marathon - in fact, my marathon photos from several years ago often sell right before the marathon and at other times as well to buyers from Africa and S. America. It just makes no sense for them to skew all search results that way. Maybe for lifestyle and concept images, but even then the world has become a much smaller place so I can't imagine any bump from more regional images would help mediate the downside in searches for many other kinds of content.

Hope Scott will jump in on this one and say it ain't so.

Meanwhile, I did the calculations folks were discussing in another thread. I've averaged one EL for every 137.4 sales, so I'm 4.4 away from the next one - could be tomorrow. Fingers crossed -  ;) wouldn't it be nice if things really worked like that?  8)

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 22, 2014, 03:58
That's interesting. EL volume must be subject related. I've only had two in the last 2500 to 3000 sales.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 22, 2014, 18:41
That's interesting. EL volume must be subject related. I've only had two in the last 2500 to 3000 sales.

Makes sense. The vast majority of my ELs have been of scenic travel images - more likely to be used in calendars, books and magazines in print volumes sufficient to require an EL. No EL yet today though, but I'm due soon  8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: grey1 on January 23, 2014, 02:44
I think I know what is happening. They seem to prioritising the search by matching the region the searcher is in to the region the supplier is from. As I upload from the Middle East I get Asian and European sales but I no longer seem to get them from the Americas (I'm not sure about Australia/New Zealand). In the last 24 hours I have had one customer from the Americas, who picked up four similar, very specialised files which might well have been on a search with all the results on a single page.
I hope this is just experimental as it is a heavy blow to me. As with all these swings and roundabouts changes there will be others doing very nicely, if they happen to be zoned in the main selling regions.

I am not too familiar with all this but if what you are saying is true? I live in the UK so that would mean that only buyers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland would be relevant to my portfolio? just as an example you understand.
In my case this would be a portfolio-suicide mission when most of my buyers are from the far east, Germany and the US. I have close to 4000 files there and have already during the last six months experienced a 30% drop. Not sure I can stomach much more.
In what ways would this benefit their sales? or am I missing something?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 23, 2014, 03:15
No, its part of the alogrithm, not constricting the complete search for you.

If a buyer in the USA is searching for 'architecture' he will get to see architecture from his region. If a buyer from the USA searches for 'UK architecture' he will get to see just that. If he searches for 'Tower Bridge' he will get Tower Bridge

This is how I understand it. But I could be wrong just as well.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on January 24, 2014, 12:54
I had to share this! I joked around a few days ago that based on my statistics, I was due for another EL, and I just got one this morning.
The power of positive thinking, huh?
$28 isn't usually cause for celebration but the timing was so perfect - just a couple of days later and a few sales later than "predicted" by my stats.

Still well behind last January which was my BME at shutterstock but an EL is always a positive sign.  8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ariene on January 24, 2014, 13:34
Maybe try some lottery? ;)

For me Jan. is BME (EVER!) :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 24, 2014, 14:02
Doubled my Jan 2013 earnings today. Going strong.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on January 24, 2014, 14:18
"Doubled my Jan 2013 earnings today. Going strong. "

That is a huge success!  :)

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 24, 2014, 14:35
"Doubled my Jan 2013 earnings today. Going strong. "

That is a huge success!  :)
Considering all I am selling is snapshots.

www.snapstock.com (http://www.snapstock.com)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Noedelhap on January 24, 2014, 19:19
Sales are going well. Not better or worse than last year, but it's still steady.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on January 28, 2014, 02:25
Last 2 days dropped like a stone. Monday was terrible. Last week was getting better.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Batman on January 28, 2014, 09:31
Doubled my Jan 2013 earnings today. Going strong.

How many pictures 2014 how many did you have in 2013? What is rpi on your only 2nd January since you join SS?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on January 28, 2014, 09:53
"Doubled my Jan 2013 earnings today. Going strong. "

That is a huge success!  :)
Considering all I am selling is snapshots.

[url=http://www.snapstock.com]www.snapstock.com[/url] ([url]http://www.snapstock.com[/url])

Then it must be the lenses?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: robhainer on January 28, 2014, 16:02
Doubled my Jan 2013 earnings today. Going strong.

How many pictures 2014 how many did you have in 2013? What is rpi on your only 2nd January since you join SS?

My earnings have almost doubled over last January, too. I had 1,201 images online last year with an RPI of 49 cents, and this year I have 1,765 images online with an RPI of 63 cents. This month isn't completed so the RPI will probably go up a little because I won't be adding that many images, and I expect total earnings will have doubled by the time the month is over. And this is my fourth January.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Petr Toman on January 29, 2014, 03:56
I will have BME. Lot of sales, every day something, without days with no sales like previous months. Lot of ODD. Things are moving the right way it seems. ;) 0 sales on any other agancies (FT, Pond, DP ..)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tavi on January 29, 2014, 06:22
   Good to see some contributors doing ok at SS. Sad that I'm not with them.
   My earnings will be bigger than jan2013, but that's because now I have 1750 images and by that time I had less than 500. But the numbers are very dissapointing. RPD is a little down, RPI is 50%, and dlds/no img is 56%. I had a slump in sales last month and not recovering in jan. Actually, dlds no are predicted to be 3+ from dec. $ down...
   I'm a contributor for less than 2 years, but it seems that I hit the wall. Despite adding more than 400 images in the last 3 months, my sales are going down...very depressing.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on January 29, 2014, 06:26
   Good to see some contributors doing ok at SS. Sad that I'm not with them.
   My earnings will be bigger than jan2013, but that's because now I have 1750 images and by that time I had less than 500. But the numbers are very dissapointing. RPD is a little down, RPI is 50%, and dlds/no img is 56%. I had a slump in sales last month and not recovering in jan. Actually, dlds no are predicted to be 3+ from dec. $ down...
   I'm a contributor for less than 2 years, but it seems that I hit the wall. Despite adding more than 400 images in the last 3 months, my sales are going down...very depressing.

its kind of obvious but how about new subjects? (free advice of the day!)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 29, 2014, 06:34
   Good to see some contributors doing ok at SS. Sad that I'm not with them.
   My earnings will be bigger than jan2013, but that's because now I have 1750 images and by that time I had less than 500. But the numbers are very dissapointing. RPD is a little down, RPI is 50%, and dlds/no img is 56%. I had a slump in sales last month and not recovering in jan. Actually, dlds no are predicted to be 3+ from dec. $ down...
   I'm a contributor for less than 2 years, but it seems that I hit the wall. Despite adding more than 400 images in the last 3 months, my sales are going down...very depressing.
I thought I had hit a wall as well, on SS and other sites, my sales stayed pretty much the same, even when continuously adding images. And then in the summer 2013 I saw a steep increase again, it went down again from September onwards, but in the end the bottom line keeps going up and I am 99% confident that January 2014 will be a BME again. So keep adding images, sales go up, sales go down. Its true for me. Most importantly, the bottom line is an upward trend.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tavi on January 29, 2014, 06:47
   Ron, I hope you're right. But now I don't have much energy to upload more.
   Luis, maybe you're right too. Thanks for advice. But what is weird is the steadiness. I'm projected at this moment to have 3 more dlds than december, this is less than 1% difference. I had two months at SS with the exact number of dlds. And at IS i had 3 credits more in 2013 than 2012. It's like they control our number of sales. Hope I'm wrong.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 29, 2014, 06:52
   Ron, I hope you're right. But now I don't have much energy to upload more.
 
I had the same exact feeling. Just keep the love for photography alive. I focussed on a few other things when sales went down, setting up my symbio site for example, and after a few months I found my mojo back and continued to submit images. Taking a break can sometimes just give you the energy again to get back in full force.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on January 29, 2014, 07:36
January and December are the worst months of the year for most people, so don't judge your overall performance by those two months.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 29, 2014, 13:08
Interesting.  December has always been the worst months of the year for me. But January has never been one of them until this year.

Sent from my Le Pan S using Tapatalk

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 29, 2014, 13:13
Interesting.  December has always been the worst months of the year for me. But January has never been one of them until this year.

But you have 11 more months? Or its a joke that went over my head  :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: spike on January 29, 2014, 13:16
Better than Dec '13, glad to see a recovery. Not a BME, but I'm still pleased.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on January 29, 2014, 13:22
Interesting.  December has always been the worst months of the year for me. But January has never been one of them until this year.

But you have 11 more months? Or its a joke that went over my head  :)

Good point! I guess I'm assuming sales will improve this year. What I meant was that January 2014 is hardly any better than December 2013. That's a first in my experience. Usually January sees a big jump from December.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 29, 2014, 13:30
Interesting.  December has always been the worst months of the year for me. But January has never been one of them until this year.

But you have 11 more months? Or its a joke that went over my head  :)

Good point! I guess I'm assuming sales will improve this year. What I meant was that January 2014 is hardly any better than December 2013. That's a first in my experience. Usually January sees a big jump from December.
Ah ok. That makes sense.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on January 30, 2014, 08:13
3 ODDs at once just pushed me over BME

2.6 x Jan 2013 earnings. 160% up.

1.5 day to go. Lets see where it ends.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on February 14, 2014, 02:35
Jan was good. Feb is bad. Despite a LOT more files added.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ariene on February 14, 2014, 10:33
Another BME here. I like this increasing month by month  ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on February 14, 2014, 10:54
Pretty well, so far :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on February 21, 2014, 03:17
Another BME here. I like this increasing month by month  ;D

Wouldn't know about that myself. Increasing portfolio=decreasing sales. last month was a good month. Gave me hope and this month a slump.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: danienel on February 21, 2014, 04:27
February and January both down on last year.... The biggest concern is probably the low amount of new material that is selling. I mean like scary little. I suppose it's just business cycles, though. What I'm selling might not be it right now, but later it might get a bit more popular :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ferdinand on February 21, 2014, 05:08
...summer was surprisingly good - fall was surprising average - and january/february - so far - are very good...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: leo83 on February 21, 2014, 07:10
About 400 vector files there, 1,00 $ or 3,00 $ per day !!! Sometime just 25 c, anyway am new there!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on February 21, 2014, 12:39
Last week has been bad.
people must be on vacation.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on February 21, 2014, 14:10
With 200 files had 9 sales Wednesday, an EL yesterday, and 4 sales so far today (it's early afternoon in NY) - including one 4 year old file that never sold before, so a slowish month is picking up. Trying to stay optimistic.  8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: enstoker on February 21, 2014, 14:24
With 200 files had 9 sales Wednesday, an EL yesterday, and 3 sales so far today (it's early afternoon in NY) - including one 4 year old file that never sold before, so a slowish month is picking up. Trying to stay optimistic.  8)

With only 200 files ist this very good stats.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: roede-orm on February 21, 2014, 16:51
Usually Shutterstock always goes well for me. But this week was a disappointment, only $ 35. It's already Christmas again?  8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on February 21, 2014, 19:26
Rocking. Can't make it anything else.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Julied83 on February 23, 2014, 19:29
second best week of 2014 ! I love shutterstock.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on February 23, 2014, 19:43
Rocking. Can't make it anything else.

Your words remind me of someone who owns white poodles.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on February 24, 2014, 09:38
You mean Bichon Frise I assume?  ;)

Yeah Baby, kick-ass, the best fifth week in Feb. I've had this year.  ::)


Rocking. Can't make it anything else.

Your words remind me of someone who owns white poodles.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on February 26, 2014, 14:39
Up over 100% from last February, monthly average up 66% from 2013, and RPI up nicely too. Too early to tell how the year will go but hoping this is a trend that will continue.   8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Copidosoma on February 26, 2014, 18:59
one of my best months ever.  Probably top 5.

More than 100% increase over Feb of last year.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on February 26, 2014, 19:00
You mean Bichon Frise I assume?  ;)

Yeah Baby, kick-ass, the best fifth week in Feb. I've had this year.  ::)


Rocking. Can't make it anything else.

Your words remind me of someone who owns white poodles.

Why yes, yes I do ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on March 01, 2014, 08:15
Feb was crap. Sales down, didn't even reach the payout threshold. Loads more added to my port this year. Dejected  :-\
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on March 01, 2014, 20:45
+31% comparing to February 2013

yesterday had +2 today +1, how pathetic you are
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dingles on March 01, 2014, 20:52
February was my BME at SS. My downloads were almost twice my average. While at IS my stuff sits. Does SS have more buyers of just a better search...maybe both
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Pauws99 on March 02, 2014, 06:45
SS does everything better than Istock as far as I can see :-)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on March 02, 2014, 09:10
SS does everything better than Istock as far as I can see :-)

Except make the sales of IS
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on March 02, 2014, 09:14
If I were to conclude a SS pattern it would be that sales are trending upwards (for me anyway) but they are more cyclic than I can ever remember them being.  I can make in the neighborhood of $50 one day and $8 the next, have 50-60 dl one day and 15 the next. Strange but maybe the norm, maybe linked to a new kind of "shuffle" algorithm (similar to what DT did), but in any event this behavior for me is newish since around Oct 2013.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: spike on March 04, 2014, 11:50
Today I actually had two SOD's for 80$ each, and both illustrations are so DUMB that I have a feeling it's a scam. :D

Edit: And a couple of more SOD's, but in the one-digit range. Weird, but I like it. :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on March 04, 2014, 15:06

Are you talking about Yours Truly?
:)
LOL
Yes Shutter Stock Rocks!
(http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/426/159543944/stock-photo-a-pure-breed-bichon-frise-smiles-for-the-camera-159543944.jpg)

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-159543944/stock-photo-a-pure-breed-bichon-frise-smiles-for-the-camera.html?src=KP6pfI5rmyHf0Ibfh-AiqA-1-15 (http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-159543944/stock-photo-a-pure-breed-bichon-frise-smiles-for-the-camera.html?src=KP6pfI5rmyHf0Ibfh-AiqA-1-15)

And for the record: I am not adding my images to Every thread I start or respond to.
Thank You








You mean Bichon Frise I assume?  ;)

Yeah Baby, kick-ass, the best fifth week in Feb. I've had this year.  ::)


Rocking. Can't make it anything else.


Your words remind me of someone who owns white poodles.



Why yes, yes I do ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Copidosoma on March 04, 2014, 15:35
Feb was my second best month ever.

Roughly 200x what I sold at Istock (account closing as we speak).

Absolutely no complaints here.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Julied83 on March 04, 2014, 15:40
Feb was good but yesterday and today are disaster !
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ethan on March 05, 2014, 08:51
Probably not representative of many but SS for February 2014 was my BME in D/L terms on this site.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 05, 2014, 08:54
You are no longer allowed to shared that kind of detail from SS earnings. Just a heads up.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 09:23
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: farbled on March 05, 2014, 09:58
Roughly 200x what I sold at Istock (account closing as we speak).

In light of recent issues there, I kinda want to sign up at iStock again just so I can re-quit! :)

At SS, Feb was normal + a little extra, my sales increase slightly each month hopefully because I upload a little each month. Jan was my big one though, almost double my best month to date.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 05, 2014, 10:14
You are no longer allowed to shared that kind of detail from SS earnings. Just a heads up.
Hey Ron said something correct for once why the negatives?
I have no idea, but people already have been reprimanded for sharing too much financial details. I dont get the down votes either, but I need to learn to live with it.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on March 05, 2014, 10:21
We can share numbers if we want.

But shutterstock kindly asked us not to, because numbers could be extrapolated back.
And as long as they kindly ask us, we kindly follow their advice, to keep the good relations between contributor and agency.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 05, 2014, 10:27
This would be a perfect time for SS to offer a raise on their payouts. Even a modest 1 cent more for every level would send a clear signal how confident they are.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 05, 2014, 10:29
We can share numbers if we want.

But shutterstock kindly asked us not to, because numbers could be extrapolated back.
And as long as they kindly ask us, we kindly follow their advice, to keep the good relations between contributor and agency.

They kindly made it legally binding on us not to, which means you can get booted out of there if you do. 

Anyway, everyone can do what they like and take whatever consequences, if any, there might be.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 10:37
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 05, 2014, 10:57
It might be a joke to you but if the first level after 500 dollars was to match the istock exclusive offer of 34 cents...and maybe the 500 dollars cut in half...it would send a signal.

And every level afterward is higher than what istock is now offering the exclusives. The S+ sub offered is easily balanced by sod´s.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 11:05
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 05, 2014, 11:08
It might be a joke to you but if the first level after 500 dollars was to match the istock exclusive offer of 34 cents...and maybe the 500 dollars cut in half...it would send a signal.

And every level afterward is higher than what istock is now offering the exclusives. The S+ sub offered is easily balanced by sod´s.
Do you remember when Shutterstock gave raises every year?  How long has it been now?  Don't get me wrong I'd love to see it too, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.  All the speak from them is that they are happy with how things are for the forseeable future.

The rises stopped at the time of the financial crash, didn't they? 2008 or 2009 I suppose.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 05, 2014, 11:10
I wasn´t there...I´m still new...;)

In the beginning I wasn´t that impressed with my downloads,but things are picking up...I only have 650 files and less than 500 photos...but if I can use that data to extrapolate, I understand why the contributor community loves SS.

And like I said before: I can choose which files go to a subs agency and which files I consider low volume, but high value files and place them with an appropriate agency with high prices and no subs.

This is the choice the istock exclusives do not have.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 11:14
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 05, 2014, 11:19
That is not what I am trying to do. I am interested in all agencies, but istock and SS are the biggest.

What happens there concerns most of the community.

And looking for a raise when it seem to be a good opportunity - what´s wrong with that?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 11:22
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on March 05, 2014, 11:39
That is not what I am trying to do. I am interested in all agencies, but istock and SS are the biggest.

What happens there concerns most of the community.

And looking for a raise when it seem to be a good opportunity - what´s wrong with that?
Like I said nothing wrong with the raise, I hope they do but history, Jon, the Shareholders, etc.. tell me they aren't going to do it.

I keep seeing your name pop up on this thread titled "How are sales going? - Shutterstock". Why?

Do you have any information to share with us about your sales or recent experiences on SS?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 11:43
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on March 05, 2014, 12:08
I don't think this has anything to do with Shutterstock offering a raise.  But hey if you want to turn everything into an iStock vs. Shutterstock pissing match, I'll bow out of this exchange.

I thought that was your job. Have you been sacked?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 12:14
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on March 05, 2014, 13:44
This part of the discussion wasn't about sales.  I do have an interest in what Shutterstock is paying so I think it's ok to comment on that, if it's ok with you of course.  I feel like I've said this before to you but I have many friends and family that do contribute to Shutterstock so I know a bit about what's happening with sales for at least 5 people.

So, in summary, just to be clear;

a) You don't have any sales on SS yourself

b) You already know what exactly SS are paying because you are always quoting from their ToS

c) You already know "what's happening with sales for at least 5 people" from friends and family.

Pray tell what it is you hope to gain from your multiple posts about an agency that you don't contribute to?

Would you advise that my time would be best spent writing lots of posts on threads about all the agencies that I don't contribute to? It seems a curious strategy to me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 13:46
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on March 05, 2014, 16:44
This part of the discussion wasn't about sales.  I do have an interest in what Shutterstock is paying so I think it's ok to comment on that, if it's ok with you of course.  I feel like I've said this before to you but I have many friends and family that do contribute to Shutterstock so I know a bit about what's happening with sales for at least 5 people.

So, in summary, just to be clear;

a) You don't have any sales on SS yourself

b) You already know what exactly SS are paying because you are always quoting from their ToS

c) You already know "what's happening with sales for at least 5 people" from friends and family.

Pray tell what it is you hope to gain from your multiple posts about an agency that you don't contribute to?

Would you advise that my time would be best spent writing lots of posts on threads about all the agencies that I don't contribute to? It seems a curious strategy to me.
I couldn't care less about what you do and I certainly am not going to advise you on what or where to post.

Tickstock, Gostwyck does make a valid point (bolded above).  Your only goal at MSG, mostly anyway, seems to solely focus on SS bashing, discrediting everything anyone says positive about them, while trying to take a turd (Istock) and pawn it off as a tulip.  Isn't that obvious to you?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on March 05, 2014, 16:57
I don't think this has anything to do with Shutterstock offering a raise.  But hey if you want to turn everything into an iStock vs. Shutterstock pissing match, I'll bow out of this exchange.

I thought that was your job. Have you been sacked?
I see conspiracy theories die slowly in these parts.  Seriously, I have to ask, do you really believe that?

Of course not silly.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 17:01
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 05, 2014, 17:02
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on March 11, 2014, 01:48
Absolutely terrible last 3 days just a pathetic $1.26 and yet 100's added in the last 12 months and sales poor. For each sale you get a mere 33 cents. How are we to live off that ? At least IS pay more per sale.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ariene on March 11, 2014, 03:30
Yesterday I had one of BDE, some ODs and SODs... Not so bad, but weekend was really weak.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 11, 2014, 03:32
Absolutely terrible last 3 days just a pathetic $1.26 and yet 100's added in the last 12 months and sales poor. For each sale you get a mere 33 cents. How are we to live off that ? At least IS pay more per sale.

No they don't. iS pay 16c per sale (and it used to be 8c before they abolished the smallest size).

At least, that's how it works if you calculate on a like-for-like lowest commission paid basis. If you look at it on a more realistic average commission price basis, Shutterstock's average commission has been quoted here in the past at around 80c per sale, in January iStock's average (the last month for which the figures are in) for me was 58c per sale.

Also, in cash terms SS produces more per month than iS.

So whichever metric you work on - total earnings, average commission per sale or lowest commission paid, iStock is paying less than Shutterstock.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on March 11, 2014, 08:35
Well I can assure you they don't make me as much money as IS. Where do you get 16 cents from ? I cant see any single photo sale for my work that is that low. For instance, 3 extra small regular sales show 66,78,76 cents. Not sure why the prices differ for the same file size though but non as low as 33 cents.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on March 11, 2014, 08:45
Yesterday, I made 50% more off of ODDownloads than 25aDay.  Interesting.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on March 11, 2014, 09:01
Well I can assure you they don't make me as much money as IS. Where do you get 16 cents from ? I cant see any single photo sale for my work that is that low. For instance, 3 extra small regular sales show 66,78,76 cents. Not sure why the prices differ for the same file size though but non as low as 33 cents.

its depends on the buyer plan/discount/etc, anyway luck is on your side, I have a Large for 64 cents (Feb 28th)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: 60D on March 11, 2014, 09:09
How is March so far? It's pretty bad for me....  :(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 11, 2014, 09:44
Well I can assure you they don't make me as much money as IS. Where do you get 16 cents from ? I cant see any single photo sale for my work that is that low. For instance, 3 extra small regular sales show 66,78,76 cents. Not sure why the prices differ for the same file size though but non as low as 33 cents.

iStock have all sorts of discounts and special deals. The lowest I've received for a 1 credit sale was 8c, that was a while back and you'll find a thread from someone who got 7c for a sale in the archive here (several others chimed in with similar experiences).

I'm not sure how an independent could be getting 70c for an extra-small regular sale. That would mean iStock charging something like $4.60 PER CREDIT, and I'm pretty sure there is no credit package selling at that price. I just checked one of my best-sellers and the normal (now discontinued) XS sale for one credit brought in about 25c on average. My "Small" 2 credit income is showing up at 50c or thereabouts.

There are only two ways I can think of you getting paid as you describe, one is that you are an exclusive who is sneakily selling on SS as well, in which case iSTock would beat SS; the other is that your sales are so low that you are quoting sales prices from nine months ago, before iStock awarded us all a severe pay cut to try to boost its sales.

If someone knows another way to get 75c per credit from a sale there, I would love to know what it is.

(March isn't setting me any records, not good ones, anyway, 60D)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on March 12, 2014, 03:10
I am certainly not exclusive and would never do something so dishonest. Why would I  come on here and mention it if I did ? As soon as I got on SS in Dec 2011 I requested to become unexclusive. Looking at my profile I can see the option with both my sounds and image contributions to become exclusive.

Looking at my last regular large sale I get $1.16. The same regular large file in 2013 earned me just 40 cents. Having said all that I got a great sale day at SS yesterday so that's a positive step. More of that and it will certainly beat IS  :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 12, 2014, 05:55
I am certainly not exclusive and would never do something so dishonest. Why would I  come on here and mention it if I did ? As soon as I got on SS in Dec 2011 I requested to become unexclusive. Looking at my profile I can see the option with both my sounds and image contributions to become exclusive.

Looking at my last regular large sale I get $1.16. The same regular large file in 2013 earned me just 40 cents. Having said all that I got a great sale day at SS yesterday so that's a positive step. More of that and it will certainly beat IS  :D

Well, you've got me completely confused. $1.13 for a L (four credit) sale is normal. If you got 40c for the same sale last year then at that particular moment you ran into some 10c credits, which happens.

But how on earth did you get a string of approximately 75c sales on 1 credit XS downloads? It just doesn't seem possible. Or have you misidentified M sales as XS?

By the way, if you look at the poll results on the right, you will see that you are unusual in doing better on iS than SS, on average Shutterstock generates three times the cash for indes that iStock does.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on March 12, 2014, 10:56
I'm hours away from the 38c threshold and quite frankly not looking forward to it - if the result is my port being "switched off" in favor of "newer" or "cheaper" contributors.

In fact SS, would you mind keeping me at my present level and continue the growth please. On the other hand, if my port is not switched off and my earnings continue apace, forget I said anything and have a nice day.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: spike on March 12, 2014, 11:08
I'm hours away from the 38c threshold and quite frankly not looking forward to it - if the result is my port being "switched off" in favor of "newer" or "cheaper" contributors.

In fact SS, would you mind keeping me at my present level and continue the growth please. On the other hand, if my port is not switched off and my earnings continue apace, forget I said anything and have a nice day.
Let us know how it goes.

I'm around 7 days from crossing it and am feeling happy and axious at the same time. :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on March 12, 2014, 11:31
I'm hours away from the 38c threshold and quite frankly not looking forward to it - if the result is my port being "switched off" in favor of "newer" or "cheaper" contributors...

It would be insane for SS to do such a thing, and I highly doubt they "switch off" portfolios just because they are in the $0.38 tier. They'd be shutting down all of their best content, the stuff from people who have high sales volume and in-demand images.

I've personally seen no ill effect of being in that tier.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Jonathan Ross on March 12, 2014, 11:39
Howdy,

 My March is bouncing back after a bad Feb. I am about 5% behind my average.

J
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on March 12, 2014, 12:01
My sales and earnings continue to grow despite reaching the .38 threshold a while ago. In fact, my earnings per DL continue to rise as more people buy larger licenses. It's now more than double the 25¢ I started out with...and higher than my earnings per DL at iS, which continue to drop.

I'm sure their search algorithms are much more sophisticated and complex than simply turning off or pushing back higher-priced files. They're looking for the ROI sweet spot, which means ups and downs in everyone's portfolio, IMO.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Jaak Nilson on March 12, 2014, 13:02



I am newbie at micro. I have 120 images at Shutterstock. Three month ago I added 100 images and now my income is about 30.- USD per month for 120 images.
Of course these first 20 images I added several years ago are "dead images" already. Nobody can see them today. I am on lowest royalty level, it is 25 cents. I see some 1,88 USD sales per image too.
Sales are same for three month. Pretty stable.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on March 12, 2014, 13:53
My sales and earnings continue to grow despite reaching the .38 threshold a while ago. In fact, my earnings per DL continue to rise as more people buy larger licenses. It's now more than double the 25¢ I started out with...and higher than my earnings per DL at iS, which continue to drop.

I'm sure their search algorithms are much more sophisticated and complex than simply turning off or pushing back higher-priced files. They're looking for the ROI sweet spot, which means ups and downs in everyone's portfolio, IMO.

I agree. In truth, I expect to see continued growth - simply because there are no indicators (for me personally) to the contrary.

There are bound to be other factors besides algorithm changes and age of ports to be factored in to the decline of some earnings and continual growth in others. What they are is a mystery since, as I am always fond of saying, we do not have a spectrum of data that reinforces any single or group theory beyond our individual port experiences.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 12, 2014, 14:28
The whole 0.38c portfolios are being punished is a misconception from several comments from Shutterstock, and a few contributors that spoke to Shutterstock. It has been mentioned that new ports or files are being favored to give them traction. But it has never been said that older ports or 0.38c ports are being switched off. Its a rumour that got to live its own life. A few people now spread this as truth and the word gets spread by others, who take it for fact. At some point it became a 'false truth'.

Read this book, Foucault's Pendulum, its the same effect as what is happening here.

http://www.easons.com/p-2883-foucaults-pendulum.aspx#sthash.aq0UxD0F.hZRnRVj0.dpbs (http://www.easons.com/p-2883-foucaults-pendulum.aspx#sthash.aq0UxD0F.hZRnRVj0.dpbs)

Quote
After reading too many manuscripts about occult conspiracy theories, three vanity publisher employees (Belbo, Diotallevi and Casaubon) invent their own conspiracy for fun. They call this satirical intellectual game "The Plan". The three become increasingly obsessed with The Plan, and sometimes forget that it's just a game. Worse still, other conspiracy theorists learn about The Plan, and take it seriously. Belbo finds himself the target of a real secret society that believes he possesses the key to the lost treasure of the Knights Templar.


At some point the people who made up 'The Plan' start to believe its actually true.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 12, 2014, 14:44
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Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 12, 2014, 14:56
I am not naming names, and its certainly not Lisa. You can read into it whatever you want. Your intentions are clear to me. Try someone else.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 12, 2014, 14:57
It seems clear who you are talking about.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 12, 2014, 15:02
Whatever, it can be anybody, but not Lisa.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 12, 2014, 15:12
Something seemed to happen to the search in January, but February sales were back to normal. Adjustments to searches are a normal part of things. I think SS has said it constantly tweaks its algorithm but it generally seems to happen in subtle ways that aren't immediately apparent (unlike iStock which has severely punished successful contributors with huge search shifts at least twice).
I'm not aware of any signs that SS deliberately tries to undermine my sales just because I'm in the top pay level.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 12, 2014, 15:17
Well, January and February were absolutely great for me, consecutive BME. First week of March it continued, and as of last weekend, after the maintenance, my sales are very slow. Only 27 sales per day and less ODDs, when I was touching 40-45 in previous months with lots of ODDs. I am on the 36c level.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on March 12, 2014, 16:28
Are you saying lisafx and gbalex are just conspiracy theorists who made up 'The Plan'?  Lisafx has said "There have been reports from many other long term contributors, both here and at SS that the search has changed to favor newer, cheaper contributors."...

Wait... can we just take a look at that sentence for a second? Reports from long term contributors about newer cheaper contributors. I'm a long term contributor. Where in my dashboard can I access this inside info about how newer contributors are doing?

I'm sorry, that just makes no sense. Unless these long term contributors have real info and not just theories about newer contributors being favored somehow, all of it is just that, theories.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 12, 2014, 16:32
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Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on March 12, 2014, 16:44
I'm sorry, that just makes no sense. Unless these long term contributors have real info and not just theories about newer contributors being favored somehow, all of it is just that, theories.

Just for the record, I have never claimed to have anything other than a theory.  In fact, I did not originate this theory.  I was responding to another member who was expressing his theory and getting a great deal of skepticism for it.  Since my stats and experience exactly matched his theory, I choose to share that. 

I don't imagine I have any insider info that anyone else doesn't have other than my own stats and observations.  I am making educated guesses about what's going on based on my own experience and that of others I have either spoken to or read. 

Isn't that all any of us can do?  When your sales tank, or soar for that matter, you try to figure out why and collect as much information as you can from what sources are available.  Is that proof?  No.  Are we going to get any "proof"?  Not likely.  This is not a court of law or a gov't inquiry it's a discussion board, and presumably that's what's happening - a discussion.   
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Gino on March 12, 2014, 16:50
I have to agree with Ron here. He made a good point. Dont want to offent but to me it also does not sound logical and not proven facts. But thats just my opinion. I am doing very well in stock and am not a newbe anymore and make a full income from stock. I don't see any of this.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 12, 2014, 17:16
I'm sorry, that just makes no sense. Unless these long term contributors have real info and not just theories about newer contributors being favored somehow, all of it is just that, theories.

Just for the record, I have never claimed to have anything other than a theory.  In fact, I did not originate this theory.  I was responding to another member who was expressing his theory and getting a great deal of skepticism for it.  Since my stats and experience exactly matched his theory, I choose to share that. 

I don't imagine I have any insider info that anyone else doesn't have other than my own stats and observations.  I am making educated guesses about what's going on based on my own experience and that of others I have either spoken to or read. 

Isn't that all any of us can do?  When your sales tank, or soar for that matter, you try to figure out why and collect as much information as you can from what sources are available.  Is that proof?  No.  Are we going to get any "proof"?  Not likely.  This is not a court of law or a gov't inquiry it's a discussion board, and presumably that's what's happening - a discussion.   

This is exactly why most people keep quiet about large drops.  Lisa I am sorry you are experiencing the same type of drop and I am sorry that you have been caught up in the digs. I did not mention my drops for months. In the end I brought it up because I don't think I am going to see a recovery and I thought others who are experiencing the same scenario ought to know they are not alone.

It has been almost exactly a year now. It is hard to imagine that after 10 years of consistent and strong sales that the bottom would drop out in just one day and stay there for a year.

It is pretty clear that some would like to assign blame and others would just as soon employ the ostrich metaphor to manage their business. What ever happened I think it is safe to say shutterstock pulled the trigger that caused our images to disappear from the searches. They alone know how and why. We can guess using anecdotal evidence which is all that is left to us.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on March 12, 2014, 17:25



I am newbie at micro. I have 120 images at Shutterstock. Three month ago I added 100 images and now my income is about 30.- USD per month for 120 images.
Of course these first 20 images I added several years ago are "dead images" already. Nobody can see them today. I am on lowest royalty level, it is 25 cents. I see some 1,88 USD sales per image too.
Sales are same for three month. Pretty stable.

Generally 100 images should produce $20 per month thus you are doing well...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 12, 2014, 17:29
gbalex,

have you tried talking to someone from SS directly? They have admins for "contributor success", would´t it be worth contacting them?

I am new to SS, so I don´t know how accessible the staff is,but since they even send people here, would´t it be worth a try?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 12, 2014, 18:02
gbalex,

have you tried talking to someone from SS directly? They have admins for "contributor success", would´t it be worth contacting them?

I am new to SS, so I don´t know how accessible the staff is,but since they even send people here, would´t it be worth a try?

Thanks for the concern cobalt.  Yes I contacted them multiple times and got no where. I know of at least 6 other contributors who have also contacted them and they received the same non response we did. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 12, 2014, 18:23
I am sorry to hear that. Losing nearly half your income from an agency in one night is very serious.

Diversification is really important for us all.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 12, 2014, 19:34
I am sorry to hear that. Losing nearly half your income from an agency in one night is very serious.

Diversification is really important for us all.

Thank you, I completely agree with your assessment. If we look at this or any business with rose colored glass's and fail to diversify or heed the warning signs, we leave ourselves vulnerable to rough roads. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on March 12, 2014, 19:44
gbalex,

have you tried talking to someone from SS directly? They have admins for "contributor success", would´t it be worth contacting them?

I am new to SS, so I don´t know how accessible the staff is,but since they even send people here, would´t it be worth a try?

Thanks for the concern cobalt.  Yes I contacted them multiple times and got no where. I know of at least 6 other contributors who have also contacted them and they received the same non response we did.

what things do you have in common with those 6 contributors? 10 years at SS? same or different content? level of earnings? do they contribute to many agencies? give us more information so we can understand your experience
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 12, 2014, 19:59
gbalex,

have you tried talking to someone from SS directly? They have admins for "contributor success", would´t it be worth contacting them?

I am new to SS, so I don´t know how accessible the staff is,but since they even send people here, would´t it be worth a try?

Thanks for the concern cobalt.  Yes I contacted them multiple times and got no where. I know of at least 6 other contributors who have also contacted them and they received the same non response we did.

what things do you have in common with those 6 contributors? 10 years at SS? same or different content? level of earnings? do they contribute to many agencies? give us more information so we can understand your experience

Louis after the remarks you and a few others have made to me on these boards, why would I entertain any of your questions?

As for the other people who have experienced drops, don't you think it should be up to them to give you the details?  Some of them talk about it on shutterstock.  Ask them yourself, if you genuinely care about their welfare!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: zeamonkey on March 12, 2014, 23:25



I am newbie at micro. I have 120 images at Shutterstock. Three month ago I added 100 images and now my income is about 30.- USD per month for 120 images.
Of course these first 20 images I added several years ago are "dead images" already. Nobody can see them today. I am on lowest royalty level, it is 25 cents. I see some 1,88 USD sales per image too.
Sales are same for three month. Pretty stable.

Several of the images from my first batch 3 years ago are still my best sellers today, despite age and rise in commision level. They actually sell much better than anything new I've uploaded in 2013.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 13, 2014, 01:01
Gbalex, if you and the others saw this drop a year ago then it coincided with the dropping of crowns over the gdrive affair. Could it be that the resulting influx of ex-exclusives hit some key areas of your portfolio and you lost out because of the extra competition?
I can guarantee you there was no policy decision made to hide the portfolios of long-established, high-paid contributors, because if there was I would have been buried, too (I joined in October 2004 and have always been in the top pay group, ever since they started introducing different levels).  I haven't heard Gostwyck complaining, either, and I think he joined in 2005.
So if there is no malice it follows that your problem lies somewhere else, and the only thing I can think of is that some files that had had not previously been visible, either because they were buried or because they had only just arrived,  went into competition with your best-sellers and you lost out.
That would be most likely to happen if your sales relied heavily on a small niche that others had trouble getting into, or if you were heavily reliant on a very small group of files for a large percentage of your income, so the loss of pole-position for a handful could hit you hard.
Or you could believe that Oringer picked on your portfolio specifically for demotion while leaving Gostwyck and me alone. But I don't think that is a conspiracy theory that will fly.
I can't see your portfolio so I can't be more specific about why it might have been vulnerable to competition.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 13, 2014, 02:00
gbalex,

have you tried talking to someone from SS directly? They have admins for "contributor success", would´t it be worth contacting them?

I am new to SS, so I don´t know how accessible the staff is,but since they even send people here, would´t it be worth a try?

Thanks for the concern cobalt.  Yes I contacted them multiple times and got no where. I know of at least 6 other contributors who have also contacted them and they received the same non response we did.

Was it a non response or was it a response just not confirming your theory?

 I think Baldrick hit the nail.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on March 13, 2014, 04:11
When I have looked into sales surges in the past, like 3-4 well selling pictures suddently stopping to sell, it was always competition.  I was out competed by better new pictures from other photographers.
Thats ok, then you can compete back.

Then I think I have seen a pattern when a picture reaches the age of one year, it has to have really many sales to stay alive,
but im not sure of this one.

I have not seen any sign of decrease when I reached the 38 level.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on March 13, 2014, 04:59
I have got a $79.69 SOD
But I don't understand to what kind of sale (licence/price) it corresponds.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 13, 2014, 05:16
I have got a $79.69 SOD
But I don't understand to what kind of sale (licence/price) it corresponds.

It's from some partner agency - that's all we know about SODs.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BoBoBolinski on March 13, 2014, 06:01
"Generally 100 images should produce $20 per month thus you are doing well..."

Is this a generally considered accurate remark? That is not a big incentive to drop exclusivity at IS.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 13, 2014, 06:07
only on SS. You are not moving from istock to SS. You are going to get income from many sources.

But from what I hear the number is higher, but I guess that depedns on the portfolio amd the volume of regular uploads.

SS has around 300 million dollars in revenue and is growing, Fotolia around 150, so together they are already bigger than istock. Plus the other agencies, macro sales and video.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 13, 2014, 06:31
I have got a $79.69 SOD
But I don't understand to what kind of sale (licence/price) it corresponds.

It's from some partner agency - that's all we know about SODs.

I dont think SODs are partner sales. Its SS negotiating a price with the buyer and the licence includes sensitive use.

The royalties are clear on those as well.

Single/Two Image On Demand

20% of sale price received (up to $80)*
25% of sale price received (up to $100)*
28% of sale price received (up to $112)*
30% of sale price received (up to $120)*
* Or more, based on sale price received.


https://submit.shutterstock.com/earnings_schedule.mhtml
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BoBoBolinski on March 13, 2014, 06:31
I'm mainly vectors.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 13, 2014, 06:34
I ahve no idea how the vector people are doing, sorry. all I looked at is photo and video. I am sure you can find  people here who can give you  numbers. There must be blogs by vector artists documenting their sales.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on March 13, 2014, 06:39
I'm a vector artist, but I've never been exclusive at iStock, so I can't offer you a direct comparison re: exclusivity. Like most people, I make about 3x more at SS than at iS, but I have a larger port at SS. This year SS outpaced iS in earnings per dl for me, thanks to larger licenses. My earnings per dl at SS are rising and at iS are dropping, so that trend seems likely to continue.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BoBoBolinski on March 13, 2014, 06:51
Interesting, thanks, I'd love to hear from someone who's made the transition from exclusive happily, most reports I get are not so good. I would love to be not dependent at IS, at the moment just can't afford it. I may be pushed though, if the upcoming subscriptions make income drop. As an exclusive i get the benefit of getty sales too, which are the only growth area at IS.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dirkr on March 13, 2014, 07:13
"Generally 100 images should produce $20 per month thus you are doing well..."

Is this a generally considered accurate remark? That is not a big incentive to drop exclusivity at IS.


I think there are no generally accurate numbers, it too much depends on the saleability of the images in one's portfolio.

But speaking strictly numerical averages, that seems to be about right.

The last numbers published by Shutterstock (posted here (http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/shutterstock-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2013-financial-results/)) speak of 28 million paid downloads in the last quarter of 2013 with a library size of 33 million images (plus 1,5 million videos).

So without being to exact, that would mean you can expect an average of one download per image per quarter, or 100 images would attract around 30 downloads per month.

Shutterstock also states a revenue per download of $2,43 in the same period, so assuming an average royalty in the range of 25% - 30% a total contributor revenue of $20 per month for a 100 images portfolio seems to be roughly fitting.

Of course that does not tell much about a specific portfolio.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Microstock Posts on March 13, 2014, 08:04
Yesterday, I made 50% more off of ODDownloads than 25aDay.  Interesting.

It's not unusual for contributors to get a fair proportion of their revenue from sales that are not subs.

http://www.microstockposts.com/just-how-much-of-a-subscription-site-is-shutterstock (http://www.microstockposts.com/just-how-much-of-a-subscription-site-is-shutterstock)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on March 13, 2014, 08:27
Yesterday, I made 50% more off of ODDownloads than 25aDay.  Interesting.

It's not unusual for contributors to get a fair proportion of their revenue from sales that are not subs.

[url]http://www.microstockposts.com/just-how-much-of-a-subscription-site-is-shutterstock[/url] ([url]http://www.microstockposts.com/just-how-much-of-a-subscription-site-is-shutterstock[/url])


right, 42% of my total earnings aren't subs
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on March 13, 2014, 08:28
Interesting, thanks, I'd love to hear from someone who's made the transition from exclusive happily, most reports I get are not so good. I would love to be not dependent at IS, at the moment just can't afford it. I may be pushed though, if the upcoming subscriptions make income drop. As an exclusive i get the benefit of getty sales too, which are the only growth area at IS.
But check out this month's GI sales thread - more than the usual number of people reporting large blocks of the month with no sales in Feb, when they'd have expected a lot more based on 'usual' performance, and more than the usual number of people reporting very small value sales.

Interestingly, admin have chosen not to comment on either of these issues, not even just to say, "tough, that's how it is".
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on March 13, 2014, 08:29
Interesting, thanks, I'd love to hear from someone who's made the transition from exclusive happily, most reports I get are not so good.
I would expect it to take well over a year, and would depend how many of the other dubious agencies (i.e. they might decide if they're staying on at iS as indie, who cares?) people want to spread to.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 13, 2014, 08:32
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Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on March 13, 2014, 08:37
But check out this month's GI sales thread - more than the usual number of people reporting large blocks of the month with no sales in Feb, when they'd have expected a lot more based on 'usual' performance, and more than the usual number of people reporting very small value sales.

Interestingly, admin have chosen not to comment on either of these issues, not even just to say, "tough, that's how it is".
February GI sales haven't been done yet.
Sorry, and for avoidance of doubt, the 'GI January Royalties' thread in the iS exclusive forum.
The issues, however, can't be swept away with that semantic correction.
Disclosure: I had exactly 2 GI sales in Jan: $3 and $0.91.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 13, 2014, 08:49
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on March 13, 2014, 08:52
...I am making educated guesses about what's going on based on my own experience and that of others I have either spoken to or read. 

Isn't that all any of us can do?  When your sales tank, or soar for that matter, you try to figure out why and collect as much information as you can from what sources are available...

Sure, that makes sense. But I think we can fall into the trap of reading too much into these small patterns. Obviously it can get to the point where some really out-there theories start to sound plausible, even though better judgement should prevail when we're talking about theories like the idea of Shutterstock tanking most of their best images just to save a few cents per DL.

I think we can all agree that the implication of a company doing that is pretty huge. Personally, I'd need to see a lot more evidence to even begin to give any consideration to that kind of theory. And very little opposing evidence as well, which doesn't seem to be the case here. Count me among the $0.38 crowd that is seeing no drop in sales or search placement lately.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Beppe Grillo on March 13, 2014, 09:40
I have got a $79.69 SOD
But I don't understand to what kind of sale (licence/price) it corresponds.

It's from some partner agency - that's all we know about SODs.

I dont think SODs are partner sales. Its SS negotiating a price with the buyer and the licence includes sensitive use.

The royalties are clear on those as well.

Single/Two Image On Demand

20% of sale price received (up to $80)*
25% of sale price received (up to $100)*
28% of sale price received (up to $112)*
30% of sale price received (up to $120)*
* Or more, based on sale price received.


https://submit.shutterstock.com/earnings_schedule.mhtml

Thank you Ron and BaldricksTrousers
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 13, 2014, 10:39
Gbalex, if you and the others saw this drop a year ago then it coincided with the dropping of crowns over the gdrive affair. Could it be that the resulting influx of ex-exclusives hit some key areas of your portfolio and you lost out because of the extra competition?
I can guarantee you there was no policy decision made to hide the portfolios of long-established, high-paid contributors, because if there was I would have been buried, too (I joined in October 2004 and have always been in the top pay group, ever since they started introducing different levels).  I haven't heard Gostwyck complaining, either, and I think he joined in 2005.
So if there is no malice it follows that your problem lies somewhere else, and the only thing I can think of is that some files that had had not previously been visible, either because they were buried or because they had only just arrived,  went into competition with your best-sellers and you lost out.
That would be most likely to happen if your sales relied heavily on a small niche that others had trouble getting into, or if you were heavily reliant on a very small group of files for a large percentage of your income, so the loss of pole-position for a handful could hit you hard.
Or you could believe that Oringer picked on your portfolio specifically for demotion while leaving Gostwyck and me alone. But I don't think that is a conspiracy theory that will fly.
I can't see your portfolio so I can't be more specific about why it might have been vulnerable to competition.

Think what you will, it happened in one day. Unfortunately I am not alone and it is not a conspiracy theory.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on March 13, 2014, 10:46
can you tell us the day?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 13, 2014, 10:49
gbalex,

have you tried talking to someone from SS directly? They have admins for "contributor success", would´t it be worth contacting them?

I am new to SS, so I don´t know how accessible the staff is,but since they even send people here, would´t it be worth a try?

Thanks for the concern cobalt.  Yes I contacted them multiple times and got no where. I know of at least 6 other contributors who have also contacted them and they received the same non response we did.

Was it a non response or was it a response just not confirming your theory?

 I think Baldrick hit the nail.

Ron you and Louis are starting to remind me of yippy little poodles following me around while nipping at my heels.

Instead of playing hall room monitors and planing what other people should be doing and saying. Focus on forming some of your own contributions to the larger community.

You can attempt to negate and suppress the experience of long time contributors if you wish, however that will certainly not change the facts or even suppress them, because the community at large talks to each other in private.  The tact you have taken will leave you out of those conversations.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: luissantos84 on March 13, 2014, 10:58
Quote from: gbalex
Ron you and Louis are starting to remind me of yippy little poodles following me around while nipping at my heels.

Instead of playing hall room monitors and planing what other people should be doing and saying. Focus on forming some of your own contributions to the larger community.

we can say the same thing about you no?

Quote from: gbalex
You can attempt to negate and suppress the experience of long time contributors if you wish, however that will certainly not change the facts or even suppress them, because the community at large talks to each other in private.  The tact you have taken will leave you out of those conversations.

I have been honest with you on the latest posts so I believe you are now playing the victim
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BoBoBolinski on March 13, 2014, 11:36
"so assuming an average royalty in the range of 25% - 30% a total contributor revenue of $20 per month for a 100 images portfolio seems to be roughly fitting."

This is a  low amount compared with my IS earnings. Not very encouraging and pretty disappointing. I appreciate it's an average but still.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on March 13, 2014, 11:39
I think that is an average for photos,not vectors.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: VB inc on March 13, 2014, 12:18
"so assuming an average royalty in the range of 25% - 30% a total contributor revenue of $20 per month for a 100 images portfolio seems to be roughly fitting."

This is a  low amount compared with my IS earnings. Not very encouraging and pretty disappointing. I appreciate it's an average but still.

As an ex exclusive vector artist i can tell you this. My best selling vector file sells on SS anywhere from 4-8 times a day. it comes up on the 1st position of that search. It really depends on individual portfolios but if your portfolio is bringing you on average over $150 a day on istock, I would still stay exclusive.

Even having said that, I am really glad i dropped my crown last year. I don't need the extra stress caused by GETTY.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on March 13, 2014, 12:38
As an ex exclusive vector artist i can tell you this. My best selling vector file sells on SS anywhere from 4-8 times a day. it comes up on the 1st position of that search. It really depends on individual portfolios but if your portfolio is bringing you on average over $150 a day on istock, I would still stay exclusive.

Even having said that, I am really glad i dropped my crown last year. I don't need the extra stress caused by GETTY.

I'm sorry, but I have to tell you, it cracks me up seeing you talk about being with SS. It was just a few years ago you were going on about not believing in the subscription model, subscriptions harm the business, etc.

Can I ask what changed your mind?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: VB inc on March 13, 2014, 14:15
As an ex exclusive vector artist i can tell you this. My best selling vector file sells on SS anywhere from 4-8 times a day. it comes up on the 1st position of that search. It really depends on individual portfolios but if your portfolio is bringing you on average over $150 a day on istock, I would still stay exclusive.

Even having said that, I am really glad i dropped my crown last year. I don't need the extra stress caused by GETTY.

I'm sorry, but I have to tell you, it cracks me up seeing you talk about being with SS. It was just a few years ago you were going on about not believing in the subscription model, subscriptions harm the business, etc.

Can I ask what changed your mind?

Who says my mind has been changed? I still dont believe in the subscription model. It trains the buyers into thinking they can get great images at pretty cheap prices. I feel it cheapens creativity in the long run. My kids wont want to get into any type of artistic career because they probably couldn't live off it due to all these little problems created by technology. Does it mean that i have to stay with istock and get abused left and right?

I probably uploaded 1/2 my istock content into SS because i do different type of vectors. I upload vectors i think will sell to the mass market and not the ones i created on which some took over 10 hours to complete. I still do feel like a cheap whore when i do see the .33 cents i get per download. Its not a good feeling, but the other downloads make up for that bad taste in my mouth.

I barely have any files on fotolia and dreamstime. I only submitted my vectors i created between 2008-2010 to SS and don't really create new content for micro. For me, going independent just meant getting out of istock. How are sales at vectorstock for you?

I think the subscription model works for content creators that can create things fast and efficient. But there are so many different ways people work to produce their images and some of them take a long time to make and i feel that those type of imagery shouldnt be offered in the subscription deals because they are only hurting the industry.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 13, 2014, 14:29
Gbalex, if you and the others saw this drop a year ago then it coincided with the dropping of crowns over the gdrive affair. Could it be that the resulting influx of ex-exclusives hit some key areas of your portfolio and you lost out because of the extra competition?
I can guarantee you there was no policy decision made to hide the portfolios of long-established, high-paid contributors, because if there was I would have been buried, too (I joined in October 2004 and have always been in the top pay group, ever since they started introducing different levels).  I haven't heard Gostwyck complaining, either, and I think he joined in 2005.
So if there is no malice it follows that your problem lies somewhere else, and the only thing I can think of is that some files that had had not previously been visible, either because they were buried or because they had only just arrived,  went into competition with your best-sellers and you lost out.
That would be most likely to happen if your sales relied heavily on a small niche that others had trouble getting into, or if you were heavily reliant on a very small group of files for a large percentage of your income, so the loss of pole-position for a handful could hit you hard.
Or you could believe that Oringer picked on your portfolio specifically for demotion while leaving Gostwyck and me alone. But I don't think that is a conspiracy theory that will fly.
I can't see your portfolio so I can't be more specific about why it might have been vulnerable to competition.

Think what you will, it happened in one day. Unfortunately I am not alone and it is not a conspiracy theory.

I never said you were alone or it was a conspiracy theory, I said that there must be a rational reason for it other than the demotion of all top-level contributors.

It seems to me that the most likely explanation is that a rival portfolio from an ex-exclusive got dropped into the best match one day, was given its moment in the sun and promptly started picking up sales that were previously going to you, and the combination of new files and quick sales cemented those files above yours.

Of course, I don't know anything at all about your portfolio so it's just the best hypothesis I can offer for a sudden collapse in sales for a limited number of high-ranking old-timers on SS.

Or maybe there was a search shift for certain categories of files, causing older stuff to sink and more recent stuff to rise. Istock did that back in 06 or 07 and a lot of people saw their sales slump 40% or so overnight, I was lucky that time and only suffered a minor hit - so these algorithm changes affect different kinds of portfolious differently.  If the target was the "38c crew" we would all get hit the same at the same time.

So people approaching the 38c level don't need to expect it will lead to a demotion in search ranking, it almost certainly is not something they target.

PS: Which day did it happen on? I'd be interested to see if there was any sign of a shift affecting my sales at that moment.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on March 13, 2014, 14:47
My guess of what happened is that SS made a change that pushed down files that were 3 or more years old. This could be pretty devastating to older established ports.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on March 13, 2014, 14:49
My guess of what happened is that SS made a change that pushed down files that were 3 or more years old. This could be pretty devastating to older established ports.

But the bulk of my files are three or more years old and I wasn't affected (and I'm not denying that something happened that affected some people). 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: loop on March 13, 2014, 14:54
"so assuming an average royalty in the range of 25% - 30% a total contributor revenue of $20 per month for a 100 images portfolio seems to be roughly fitting."

This is a  low amount compared with my IS earnings. Not very encouraging and pretty disappointing. I appreciate it's an average but still.

Yes, it is, not even a fourth of what I get at istock. I really hope that the new istock subs program doesn't end in this kind of little change earnings.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: tickstock on March 13, 2014, 14:57
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on March 13, 2014, 15:03
Gbalex, if you and the others saw this drop a year ago then it coincided with the dropping of crowns over the gdrive affair. Could it be that the resulting influx of ex-exclusives hit some key areas of your portfolio and you lost out because of the extra competition?
I can guarantee you there was no policy decision made to hide the portfolios of long-established, high-paid contributors, because if there was I would have been buried, too (I joined in October 2004 and have always been in the top pay group, ever since they started introducing different levels).  I haven't heard Gostwyck complaining, either, and I think he joined in 2005.
So if there is no malice it follows that your problem lies somewhere else, and the only thing I can think of is that some files that had had not previously been visible, either because they were buried or because they had only just arrived,  went into competition with your best-sellers and you lost out.
That would be most likely to happen if your sales relied heavily on a small niche that others had trouble getting into, or if you were heavily reliant on a very small group of files for a large percentage of your income, so the loss of pole-position for a handful could hit you hard.
Or you could believe that Oringer picked on your portfolio specifically for demotion while leaving Gostwyck and me alone. But I don't think that is a conspiracy theory that will fly.
I can't see your portfolio so I can't be more specific about why it might have been vulnerable to competition.

Think what you will, it happened in one day. Unfortunately I am not alone and it is not a conspiracy theory.

I never said you were alone or it was a conspiracy theory, I said that there must be a rational reason for it other than the demotion of all top-level contributors.

It seems to me that the most likely explanation is that a rival portfolio from an ex-exclusive got dropped into the best match one day, was given its moment in the sun and promptly started picking up sales that were previously going to you, and the combination of new files and quick sales cemented those files above yours.

Of course, I don't know anything at all about your portfolio so it's just the best hypothesis I can offer for a sudden collapse in sales for a limited number of high-ranking old-timers on SS.

Or maybe there was a search shift for certain categories of files, causing older stuff to sink and more recent stuff to rise. Istock did that back in 06 or 07 and a lot of people saw their sales slump 40% or so overnight, I was lucky that time and only suffered a minor hit - so these algorithm changes affect different kinds of portfolious differently.  If the target was the "38c crew" we would all get hit the same at the same time.

So people approaching the 38c level don't need to expect it will lead to a demotion in search ranking, it almost certainly is not something they target.

PS: Which day did it happen on? I'd be interested to see if there was any sign of a shift affecting my sales at that moment.

If that were the case our new images would sell.  In fact they do not.  I do agree that different types of ports have been affected differently. By chance do you shoot in an area not well covered. It happened at the beginning of March 2013
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: EmberMike on March 13, 2014, 15:56
Who says my mind has been changed? I still dont believe in the subscription model. It trains the buyers into thinking they can get great images at pretty cheap prices. I feel it cheapens creativity in the long run...

Probably true but we're all kind of backed into a corner right now, aren't we? If you're not working with Shutterstock you're probably all-in with Getty, or vice versa. But I really do believe that this can all change. I'm personally seeing growth in how much of my income comes from companies other than Shutterstock over the last year plus.

...How are sales at vectorstock for you?...

I should have known that was coming. :)

I'm not sure, really, haven't logged in to check in over a month. It's dead as far as I'm concerned. I haven't uploaded there in forever. And it's not because I changed my mind about it. I still think there is a place in this business for a company like VS. They just aren't it. They're not interested in growth, they seem perfectly happy with where things are today. And they stopped honoring the deal I made with them to price all of my stuff at a minimum of 3 credits, so I stopped uploading.

...I think the subscription model works for content creators that can create things fast and efficient. But there are so many different ways people work to produce their images and some of them take a long time to make and i feel that those type of imagery shouldnt be offered in the subscription deals because they are only hurting the industry.

Are you involved with any other companies? There are some really good non-subscription options out there for vector artists.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on March 13, 2014, 17:33
Baldrick, you make a good point about the recent influx of high quality competing portfolios.  Since I shoot lifestyle, that may account for some of the drop.  Whatever the cause, it is extremely distressing and I hope this is not the "new normal" we can expect as Getty continues to hemorrhage talented exclusives.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: disorderly on March 13, 2014, 17:43
For what it's worth, I'm having a pretty good month so far.  January was down a little and February was worse, but March gives me hope.  At the moment I'm up 37% over February and 39% over March, 2013.  Over the last six months, 11% of my earnings came from new downloads, so older images continue to sell.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dirkr on March 13, 2014, 18:18
"so assuming an average royalty in the range of 25% - 30% a total contributor revenue of $20 per month for a 100 images portfolio seems to be roughly fitting."

This is a  low amount compared with my IS earnings. Not very encouraging and pretty disappointing. I appreciate it's an average but still.

Yes, it is, not even a fourth of what I get at istock. I really hope that the new istock subs program doesn't end in this kind of little change earnings.
Yep, I'm hoping subs don't bring that level of earnings to iStock either.

I'd love to see the same kind of numbers (total revenue, total sales numbers) from any other agency - then we could compare.

Remember, I calculated averages for the total Shutterstock library.
I don't think you can draw any direct conclusion from that for any distinct portfolio - only if you are on Shutterstock, you may see if your portfolio performs above or below average.

If anybody is really interested in some more numbers, start a poll asking for individuals monthly RPI on Shutterstock, that may show how the distribution is to arrive at an average of (very roughly calculated) $0,20.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: spike on March 20, 2014, 10:56
Let us know how it goes.

I'm around 7 days from crossing it and am feeling happy and axious at the same time. :D
Crossed it, I missed by one day! So happy! :D

However, my sales are still at the 0.36$ level. How long does it take for SS to update?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on March 20, 2014, 10:59
Let us know how it goes.

I'm around 7 days from crossing it and am feeling happy and axious at the same time. :D
Crossed it, I missed by one day! So happy! :D

However, my sales are still at the 0.36$ level. How long does it take for SS to update?
From a few hours to a day. When you get the email, you will get the 38 cent. But after one day, you might want to contact SS.

Congratulations.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: 60D on April 25, 2014, 11:11
How are sales in April? No good so far, due to Easter holidays?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: disorderly on April 25, 2014, 11:41
Mine are down about 8% from March.  3% of that is because April's one day shorter, and another 3% is my average decline from March to April over the past eight years.  On the other hand, I'm up 73% on April, 2013 and up 8% year over year.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stocked on April 25, 2014, 12:58
How are sales in April? No good so far, due to Easter holidays?
I'm down too this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on April 25, 2014, 13:01
I need 80 dollar for a BME, which is possible, if it doesnt go tits up like in the last week of last month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Tantoon on April 27, 2014, 10:07
it's not the market, it's SS
0.13 x let's say  1000 monthly downloads (the actual number are much much higher)  = $130 x (at least) 10,000 contributors, you do the math..
and since many new PROFESSIONAL contributors are joining SS every month they can now apply this formula.. honestly why wouldn't they?!
those new contributors can produce almost the same image quality, so why should SS loose 0.13 in every sale?!

fortunately the game doesn't end here,
it's just a matter of time and a margin call ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on April 27, 2014, 16:00
I need 80 dollar for a BME, which is possible, if it doesnt go tits up like in the last week of last month.
And of course it went tits up. Very bad weekend. Which makes it almost impossible now.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: a and n on April 27, 2014, 17:36
April didn't start out very well, but the past week has been really good....I predict an increase of around 15%.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ethan on April 28, 2014, 07:26
Still two and a half days to go but so far I have three new records for April at SS (despite the rubbish/unpredictable search thing thats going on)

BDE in terms of Revenue (broke that record on 18 April)
BDE in terms of Downloads (broke that record on 9 April)
BME in terms of Revenue (broke that record this morning) - previous highest revenue month was January 2014.

As of now, 75 Downloads short of BME in download terms for one month.

So am hoping to keeping up my average of 33 D/L per day (this month, incl. weekends) so should 'just' pip the previous DL record of 894 DL's in one month, that was last month, March 2014.

Even if that doesn't happen I'll be happy anyway :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Julied83 on April 28, 2014, 07:49
It's going very good for me ! Sales are going up !
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on April 28, 2014, 07:50
Slow month for me. :(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: steheap on April 28, 2014, 11:04
Horribly slow for me as well. It is the Enhanced downloads that are missing for me - just one for the whole month whereas I got 8 in February. It must be that all my buyers of EDs have flocked to the Dollar Club at Fotolia to buy them there!

Steve

PS - on the good news side I just passed the $30K earnings level on Shutterstock over the weekend. Nothing happens, but it is nice to hit new thresholds
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ethan on April 28, 2014, 11:28
Horribly slow for me as well. It is the Enhanced downloads that are missing for me - just one for the whole month whereas I got 8 in February. It must be that all my buyers of EDs have flocked to the Dollar Club at Fotolia to buy them there!

Steve

PS - on the good news side I just passed the $30K earnings level on Shutterstock over the weekend. Nothing happens, but it is nice to hit new thresholds

Congrats.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on April 28, 2014, 11:31
It is the Enhanced downloads that are missing for me

+1
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on April 28, 2014, 12:30
very slow month here as well. The enhanced downloads and extended licenses are missing. subs alone is very little money even if the volume is normal. also only one video download this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: w7lwi on April 28, 2014, 13:00
I can pretty well sum it up in two words ... it sucks!  Right now it looks like DT, IS and 123RF will outsell them this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mayaartist on April 28, 2014, 13:10
very slow for me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: OM on April 28, 2014, 19:10
BME in $ by 18th of this month due to one big S.O.D and an E.L. Subtracting these from April would bring me out at about the same as last month (which was my previous BME) in $ and dl's.
So, April looking good.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: lisafx on April 28, 2014, 22:45
Interesting.  Everyone seems to be having a BME or terrible month.  I'm not at either extreme.   Sales this month are better than the last few months, but still way off BME.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on April 29, 2014, 01:30
Similar results as Lisa for me (well, I am sure she has way better results) - but mine are better than the last few months but nowhere near a BME.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ferdinand on April 29, 2014, 02:27
bme - less dl  - but few very very good sod sales
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on April 29, 2014, 02:41
I am going to break even with previous BME or very close to it. Yesterday was a good day and made up for the weekend stinker. But the sales are extremely erratic lately that there is no way to call it these days.

I have to say though, sales were erratic across all agencies in April. Maybe its just that type of month for me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Cesar on April 29, 2014, 15:03
BME in dl-s, only two big SOD,  earnings will not be BME, not enough sods.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ethan on May 01, 2014, 02:21
Still two and a half days to go but so far I have three new records for April at SS (despite the rubbish/unpredictable search thing thats going on)

BDE in terms of Revenue (broke that record on 18 April)
BDE in terms of Downloads (broke that record on 9 April)
BME in terms of Revenue (broke that record this morning) - previous highest revenue month was January 2014.

As of now, 75 Downloads short of BME in download terms for one month.

So am hoping to keeping up my average of 33 D/L per day (this month, incl. weekends) so should 'just' pip the previous DL record of 894 DL's in one month, that was last month, March 2014.

Even if that doesn't happen I'll be happy anyway :)

Did it, in all four areas for April :)

New Best Day Ever in Revenue
New Best Day Ever in Downloads
New Best Month Ever in Downloads (just short of 1000)
New Best Month Ever in Revenue ($600)

Revenues up 392% from last April 2013 and up 16% from previous month, March 2014 :)

I shall treat myself to a small beer a little later :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: kaboom on May 01, 2014, 02:39
BME thanks to one huge SOD but downloads are a bit down. When I dont upload new stuff, my DLs stagnate, when I upload, there is some growth. So its still "feed the beast" which works for me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on May 01, 2014, 02:45
BME by $0.97  :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on May 01, 2014, 04:01
I enjoyed my BME in March. I missed it in April by a miserable 3% - However, given the absence of EL's  combined with a truly rotten Easter weekend, the final haul was more than satisfactory.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on May 01, 2014, 06:17
I´ve had nearly the exact same downloads as in March. Unfortunately no 28 or 80 dollar downloads and only one video sale. So although the downloads were fine, my royalties were down 57% for April. But since I am indie, my risk is spread and overall I am just down 14% compared to March. That is fine and normal for a month with a lot of holidays.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: DF_Studios on May 01, 2014, 06:41
Feb was my BME.  April was down a bit from March.  I usually get a nice big sale or two but this month was all little stuff.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Jogga0 on May 01, 2014, 06:45
28% down compared to March, hopefully just the holidays causing the dip
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Tror on May 01, 2014, 06:54
28% down compared to March, hopefully just the holidays causing the dip

Down 24 %: Holidays + Notmuchgoodnewmaterialfromme + 260000newimagesthisweek = Desaster
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on May 01, 2014, 10:52
An average month, a few percent up on the previous year and a few percent down on March. Sales volume was on the low side but the ELs were good.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ArenaCreative on May 02, 2014, 13:33
My sales were down 15% in April on Shutterstock... even with some fresh uploads.  Ebb and flow, however.  I'm not exactly worried just yet.  But what troubles me is that the "feed the beast" method just doesn't work so well anymore.  It hasn't for several years now.  Keep on maintaining your momentum, or you will lose.  That's what's happening to me.  I went through a nasty divorce last year, and that screwed me over workflow-wise. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: miketravels on May 03, 2014, 18:32
Has anyone else had a really slow couple of days? My sales on shutter have been tiny for about 2-3 days.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on May 04, 2014, 01:30
April was fine.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pixsol on May 04, 2014, 01:41
Has anyone else had a really slow couple of days? My sales on shutter have been tiny for about 2-3 days.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

+1 (real tiny)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockphotoeurope on May 04, 2014, 02:05
Has anyone else had a really slow couple of days? My sales on shutter have been tiny for about 2-3 days.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

+1 (real tiny)

Labour day in whole Europe and many other countries, followed by a weekend, with just a Friday in between. Nothing to worry about: I'm looking forward to a great May starting from tomorrow.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ron on May 04, 2014, 02:09
Has anyone else had a really slow couple of days? My sales on shutter have been tiny for about 2-3 days.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

+1 (real tiny)

Labour day in whole Europe and many other countries, followed by a weekend, with just a Friday in between. Nothing to worry about: I'm looking forward to a great May starting from tomorrow.
Tomorrow is bank holiday in some European countries  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: stockphotoeurope on May 04, 2014, 02:11
Has anyone else had a really slow couple of days? My sales on shutter have been tiny for about 2-3 days.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

+1 (real tiny)

Labour day in whole Europe and many other countries, followed by a weekend, with just a Friday in between. Nothing to worry about: I'm looking forward to a great May starting from tomorrow.
Tomorrow is bank holiday in some European countries  ;)

Ok, from Tuesday  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: miketravels on May 04, 2014, 07:41
Thanks guys- glad its not just me :-)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pixel8 on May 05, 2014, 20:18
Thanks guys- glad its not just me :-)


My Numbers are Down for the first part of May, I'm not certain if Holidays in Europe are the cause as I can't compare numbers to last May. Can anyone else?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: max headroom on May 06, 2014, 09:46
April was BME but May started 1/3 lower in daily average. SODs and ELs rescue daily totals for now.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jcpjr on May 06, 2014, 12:57
Huge day yesterday and one today so far. I guess they're playing with the search engine again.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dpimborough on May 07, 2014, 10:47
Has anyone else had a really slow couple of days? My sales on shutter have been tiny for about 2-3 days.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Yup absolutely junk sales thankfully 3 ODD's kept it from being a train wreck. :(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on May 12, 2014, 12:52
Last month was great. This month garbage.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: jefftakespics2 on May 12, 2014, 12:56
BME for me in April -  lousy May so far. Then again small port.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on May 12, 2014, 14:16
SHUTTERSTOCK ROCKS!

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: miladin14 on May 12, 2014, 15:37
Downtrend on SS for me -18% in DLs
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on May 12, 2014, 17:12
So if sales are tanking on IS and SS does that mean nobody is buying ?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: fritz on May 12, 2014, 18:10
So if sales are tanking on IS and SS does that mean nobody is buying ?
YES, why to buy when you can get for free! 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on May 13, 2014, 01:13
So if sales are tanking on IS and SS does that mean nobody is buying ?
YES, why to buy when you can get for free!

Free ?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ravens on May 13, 2014, 09:55
Great! Shutterstock is the best.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Goofy on May 13, 2014, 10:23
Shutter is the best for sure but I have had a slow April and May thus having some concerns...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: 60D on May 13, 2014, 11:15
April was OK, and May started slowly for me. Seems it's catching up now.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on May 14, 2014, 01:42
Still low  :-\
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ngaga35 on July 28, 2014, 17:59
TNX etudiante_rapide  :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on July 28, 2014, 18:04
ngaga35, this is an old thread.
u can find the current thread on this http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/shutterstock-no-good-performing-this-month/msg388731/?topicseen#new (http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/shutterstock-no-good-performing-this-month/msg388731/?topicseen#new)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: mike ledray on July 29, 2014, 18:16
Shutterstock ROCKS!
Sales are AWESOME!
Life is Great!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Anita Potter on September 02, 2014, 21:35
From my area they still haven't recovered in over a year.  It still takes me 2 months now to reach payout when I used to get the minimum and over each month over a year ago.

And for me, personally, uploading new images and having them accepted just hasn't made a return on my investment of time spent on creating and uploading.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: LesPalenik on September 03, 2014, 00:10
Quote
Shutterstock ROCKS!

You mean, sinking like a rock?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on September 03, 2014, 06:34
Aug was bad for stills. Video saved me for a payout. This month so far is looking just as bad if not worse. No sales today.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MxR on September 03, 2014, 07:04
SHUTTERSTOCK ROCKS!

SUTTERSTOCK CROCS!! be careful with they friend!!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PixelBytes on September 03, 2014, 11:39
August earnings were about half what they used to be 2+ years ago in August. 

Too soon to know about Sept.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 03, 2014, 12:02
August earnings were about half what they used to be 2+ years ago in August. 

Too soon to know about Sept.

Totally correct. Sept is starting off worse than last month. It is obvious that shutterstock made some sort of change and it is affecting me horribly. Zip motivation to stay in this business.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: JPSDK on September 03, 2014, 16:01
Before noon, GMT it was kinda slow, but it picked up later.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Steveball on September 03, 2014, 16:20
If the search changed recently I hope it stays like this, double usual sales (low numbers) over the last week! Hope it turns around for everyone who's been negatively affected by changes over the past year or so.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Petr Toman on September 03, 2014, 16:32
August BME, double the sales compare to average of all previous months.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: GoncaloF on September 03, 2014, 16:33
ok, i have a very small portfolio but the last month was worst month of the year
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Petr Toman on September 03, 2014, 16:56
ok, i have a very small portfolio but the last month was worst month of the year

I have also small portf, either I got lucky with some new search testing, or few more uploads really helped.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/oimg?key=0AnvWQVHhryGOdFhGTDhRdGxvelJtSS1fTWE2TVBuVFE&oid=3&zx=jgoqi2agz7t8)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 03, 2014, 18:07
ok, i have a very small portfolio but the last month was worst month of the year

I have also small portf, either I got lucky with some new search testing, or few more uploads really helped.
(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/oimg?key=0AnvWQVHhryGOdFhGTDhRdGxvelJtSS1fTWE2TVBuVFE&oid=3&zx=jgoqi2agz7t8)

A better way to plot this is by subs and then by OD.  A big spike in subs = very little jump in income. Are your subs and OD balanced? Meaning if you plot the number of dl's of each do they have the same or similar uptick?  Because what is killing me is the severe drop in OD's.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gnirtS on September 03, 2014, 19:11
[quote ]
A better way to plot this is by subs and then by OD.  A big spike in subs = very little jump in income. Are your subs and OD balanced? Meaning if you plot the number of dl's of each do they have the same or similar uptick?  Because what is killing me is the severe drop in OD's.
[/quote]

Thats what im seeing and have been seeing for months.  My income is way down but download numbers are roughly the same.  What's changed is an almost complete lack of EL/big SODs and far few ODs.  Nearly everything now is subscription.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 04, 2014, 00:43
I made 50 dollars in the last 7 days, I have over 2100 images and footage.  :'(
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on September 04, 2014, 01:24
I made 50 dollars in the last 7 days, I have over 2100 images and footage.  :'(

So why the sad face ? I would be very happy with that amount on that number of files.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Gino on September 04, 2014, 04:01
I made 50 dollars in the last 7 days, I have over 2100 images and footage.  :'(

So why the sad face ? I would be very happy with that amount on that number of files.

Your joking right?  ??? At that pace he would need 10500 images to make just $1000. So I understand the sad face.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Petr Toman on September 04, 2014, 04:41
A better way to plot this is by subs and then by OD.  A big spike in subs = very little jump in income. Are your subs and OD balanced? Meaning if you plot the number of dl's of each do they have the same or similar uptick?  Because what is killing me is the severe drop in OD's.
I dont get these too much often ,
July : 1 OD, 1SOD
August : 4ODs 1SOD
Sept : so far 2 ODs

so yes the spike was in subs.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Noedelhap on September 04, 2014, 05:08
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 04, 2014, 07:39
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: MxR on September 04, 2014, 08:28
For me september begins good.



Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 04, 2014, 09:41
I made 50 dollars in the last 7 days, I have over 2100 images and footage.  :'(

So why the sad face ? I would be very happy with that amount on that number of files.
It is a third of what I used to make. That is sad, hence the sad face.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Photoman on September 04, 2014, 10:16
im a newbe to this game
i just made 3000$ on shutter
is that good or bad compared to you guys?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 04, 2014, 10:18
im a newbe to this game
i just made 3000$ on shutter
is that good or bad compared to you guys?

How long you been there? and how many Images?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Petr Toman on September 04, 2014, 10:19
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.
Honestly I think it is the market and supply. I don't think SS is handling positioning of suppliers etc. If I imagine me running an AD agency, I would love to search for new, fresh images for advertisements and not 3-4 years old ones. With increasing supply of images, it is natural that the old content is less salable until retro comes in fashion :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 04, 2014, 10:26
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.

+1

Accumulating empirical data seems to suggest they are handing out port demotions based on the years we joined. I have seen three tiers of image placement demotions and have been at SS since 2004. And yes the drops show up on a graph very clearly. Sudden drops with no recovery.

July and August were ugly in comparison to last year and the previous 8 years. In fact I had better sales in 2006. In the short term it looks to me like they are taking full advantage of the increased earnings that IS defectors bring in the form of lower royalty payments. Ask yourself why did they disable the TOP 50 weekly images. The simple TOP 50 query worked perfectly for 9 years and they had no problem outing our best sellers for those 9 years. It is plain that Shutterstock does not want us to see the contents of that TOP 50 Query now that they have demoted our ports.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Cesar on September 04, 2014, 10:35
i made 50$ yesterday with 1200 images

I made 50 dollars in the last 7 days, I have over 2100 images and footage.  :'(

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 04, 2014, 12:20
i made 50$ yesterday with 1200 images

I made 50 dollars in the last 7 days, I have over 2100 images and footage.  :'(
I have days of 100 dollars, what is your point?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 04, 2014, 12:24
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.

+1

Accumulating empirical data seems to suggest they are handing out port demotions based on the years we joined. I have seen three tiers of image placement demotions and have been at SS since 2004. And yes the drops show up on a graph very clearly. Sudden drops with no recovery.

July and August were ugly in comparison to last year and the previous 8 years. In fact I had better sales in 2006. In the short term it looks to me like they are taking full advantage of the increased earnings that IS defectors bring in the form of lower royalty payments. Ask yourself why did they disable the TOP 50 weekly images. The simply TOP 50 query work perfectly for 9 years and they had no problem outing out best sellers, they just do not want us to see the contents of that query now that they have demoted us.
Shutterstock have said that the influx of IS contributors did have an effect and they have also said that the search algorithm also considers image age, depending on the search query and whether age is relevant or not. For example if I need an image showing fashion they will show new images. If I need a cut-out of a symbol of some sort, age does not matter.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 04, 2014, 14:05
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.

+1

Accumulating empirical data seems to suggest they are handing out port demotions based on the years we joined. I have seen three tiers of image placement demotions and have been at SS since 2004. And yes the drops show up on a graph very clearly. Sudden drops with no recovery.

July and August were ugly in comparison to last year and the previous 8 years. In fact I had better sales in 2006. In the short term it looks to me like they are taking full advantage of the increased earnings that IS defectors bring in the form of lower royalty payments. Ask yourself why did they disable the TOP 50 weekly images. The simply TOP 50 query work perfectly for 9 years and they had no problem outing out best sellers, they just do not want us to see the contents of that query now that they have demoted us.
Shutterstock have said that the influx of IS contributors did have an effect and they have also said that the search algorithm also considers image age, depending on the search query and whether age is relevant or not. For example if I need an image showing fashion they will show new images. If I need a cut-out of a symbol of some sort, age does not matter.
Lets assume all of the above is accurate. If the search algorithm considered image age over port age, our new images would sell over our old images.

Instead I am seeing exactly the opposite. My new images do not sell, my best sellers have been killed off entirely and the only ones that sell are mediocre old images in my port that did not sell well in the past.

Shutterstock can blow all the smoke and mirrors that they want, we can see what they have done by looking at sales patterns. If they have nothing to hide they can re enable the TOP 50 images again so that every one can see which ports the search currently favors.



Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cobalt on September 04, 2014, 14:26
I don´t want to interrupt your discussion, but I thought I would just report I got 113 dollars for a video subscription sale. My first ever this high. So I am very pleased with SS today :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 04, 2014, 14:37
gbalex, I am not disagreeing with you, just wanted to add my two cents. I am sure I tell you nothing new.

cobalt, thats great, I have good days too. Does not mean there is no problem.  ;)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Shelma1 on September 04, 2014, 15:04
Where's the September uptick? So far I'm having a September downtick.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 04, 2014, 15:16
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.

+1

Accumulating empirical data seems to suggest they are handing out port demotions based on the years we joined. I have seen three tiers of image placement demotions and have been at SS since 2004. And yes the drops show up on a graph very clearly. Sudden drops with no recovery.

July and August were ugly in comparison to last year and the previous 8 years. In fact I had better sales in 2006. In the short term it looks to me like they are taking full advantage of the increased earnings that IS defectors bring in the form of lower royalty payments. Ask yourself why did they disable the TOP 50 weekly images. The simple TOP 50 query worked perfectly for 9 years and they had no problem outing our best sellers for those 9 years. It is plain that Shutterstock does not want us to see the contents of that TOP 50 Query now that they have demoted our ports.

I cannot make any other conclusion than I have been pushed down the food chain. SS probably doesn't care what I think or how this affect me personally, or any other contributor for that matter. What would be nice is to know if there's anything I can do about it other than give up.  My new stuff never sells, my video sales have stopped and my ods are non existent. This is months in the making, not a few bad days.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dirkr on September 04, 2014, 17:01
If they have nothing to hide they can re enable the TOP 50 images again so that every one can see which ports the search currently favors.

I don't really understand that thing you have about the top 50.
If you want to see which images are favored by the search, do a search and see what appears first...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 04, 2014, 17:29
If they have nothing to hide they can re enable the TOP 50 images again so that every one can see which ports the search currently favors.

I don't really understand that thing you have about the top 50.
If you want to see which images are favored by the search, do a search and see what appears first...

What he is saying is that the top 50 really never changed much over the years, or changed very rarely here and there.  You could click on any of those images and see the artist, their port, how long they have been with SS, etc.  Now the top 50 is gone because Shutterstock does not want us to see that those top 50 are no longer the top 50. The top 50 is likely now replaced by new contributors which would be proof of our theory.  Gablex's assumptions are, in my opinion, correct. They killed the top 50 so that we could not verify that they indeed changed the search to punish the long timers and see that they are replaced by new contributors, perhaps once who required special deals in the search over us long timers as a side deal for them to come over to SS. There can really be no other explanation. Today was another disaster for me on SS by the way. The way things are going I will make $350 this month, 500 less than normal. It really is that bad for me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 04, 2014, 17:44
If they have nothing to hide they can re enable the TOP 50 images again so that every one can see which ports the search currently favors.

I don't really understand that thing you have about the top 50.
If you want to see which images are favored by the search, do a search and see what appears first...

What he is saying is that the top 50 really never changed much over the years, or changed very rarely here and there.  You could click on any of those images and see the artist, their port, how long they have been with SS, etc.  Now the top 50 is gone because Shutterstock does not want us to see that those top 50 are no longer the top 50. The top 50 is likely now replaced by new contributors which would be proof of our theory.  Gablex's assumptions are, in my opinion, correct. They killed the top 50 so that we could not verify that they indeed changed the search to punish the long timers and see that they are replaced by new contributors, perhaps once who required special deals in the search over us long timers as a side deal for them to come over to SS. There can really be no other explanation. Today was another disaster for me on SS by the way. The way things are going I will make $350 this month, 500 less than normal. It really is that bad for me.

+1  +1  +1

ah yes, yes, yes,
but ...
there is someone who is amongst us who keep telling us we are trolls against SS,
and that our imagination of the switch being flipped is yet another one of our whines and trolls.

i can see why SS would turn the switch off for regular sellers in favour of newbies. they pay them less, and they (newbies) will be reporting BME every month when their monthly sales go from  zero to five .
as i said before, the first batch of  opium  is always free.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 04, 2014, 18:00
If they have nothing to hide they can re enable the TOP 50 images again so that every one can see which ports the search currently favors.

I don't really understand that thing you have about the top 50.
If you want to see which images are favored by the search, do a search and see what appears first...

What he is saying is that the top 50 really never changed much over the years, or changed very rarely here and there.  You could click on any of those images and see the artist, their port, how long they have been with SS, etc.  Now the top 50 is gone because Shutterstock does not want us to see that those top 50 are no longer the top 50. The top 50 is likely now replaced by new contributors which would be proof of our theory.  Gablex's assumptions are, in my opinion, correct. They killed the top 50 so that we could not verify that they indeed changed the search to punish the long timers and see that they are replaced by new contributors, perhaps once who required special deals in the search over us long timers as a side deal for them to come over to SS. There can really be no other explanation. Today was another disaster for me on SS by the way. The way things are going I will make $350 this month, 500 less than normal. It really is that bad for me.

+1  +1  +1

ah yes, yes, yes,
but ...
there is someone who is amongst us who keep telling us we are trolls against SS,
and that our imagination of the switch being flipped is yet another one of our whines and trolls.

i can see why SS would turn the switch off for regular sellers in favour of newbies. they pay them less, and they (newbies) will be reporting BME every month when their monthly sales go from  zero to five .
as i said before, the first batch of  opium  is always free.


Yea that's Uncle Pete. He's actually a good guy and he is usually right. In this case I would disagree with him, but we are all entitled to our opinion. If his opinion of me is that I am a troll, he would be wrong  there too. But I do love reading his opinions. He's a smart guy.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 04, 2014, 18:20
Yea that's Uncle Pete.
 He's a smart guy.

well, now that u mentioned it... :D
sometimes, um, actually, many times, smart guys are the last to know when the bottom has fallen out  ;)

i know that, because my eldest cousin is like one of those high IQ , genius, smart guy..etc
and always stuck with his pants down in a emergency .
He has to have the fire burning up his pants before he will agree there is something happening  ;D ;D ;D

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: PixelBytes on September 04, 2014, 18:54
I like Uncle Pete too, but Etudiante, your description of your cousin made me literally LOL!! ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: YadaYadaYada on September 04, 2014, 22:15
Low number of SOD's lately. Does anyone else experience this as well?

Yes totally. It's almost like Shutterstock is giving new contributors better positioning over old farts like me to encourage & motivate them to upload new, fresh content so they don't just give up.  There certainly doesn't seem to be any commitment to the longer-term contributors who've shown their support and dedication over the last 7 years. Now, this is how I feel and what I believe is happening, but I have no proof other than my ALL OF A SUDDEN horrible sales over the last few months. Yea, a SOD here and there but the overall downloads, especially OD's is nearly non existent. I have over 3000 files on SS. Yesterday I made $1.24 in OD.

+1

Accumulating empirical data seems to suggest they are handing out port demotions based on the years we joined. I have seen three tiers of image placement demotions and have been at SS since 2004. And yes the drops show up on a graph very clearly. Sudden drops with no recovery.

July and August were ugly in comparison to last year and the previous 8 years. In fact I had better sales in 2006. In the short term it looks to me like they are taking full advantage of the increased earnings that IS defectors bring in the form of lower royalty payments. Ask yourself why did they disable the TOP 50 weekly images. The simple TOP 50 query worked perfectly for 9 years and they had no problem outing our best sellers for those 9 years. It is plain that Shutterstock does not want us to see the contents of that TOP 50 Query now that they have demoted our ports.

Empiracle data? Do you have real data and research. SHow us the documentation and records of the empirical data. That would be a first over rumors and false accusations of demotions or caps. Then when somebody does good you change clothes and become a skeptical data wolf doubter. You only see or accept the people who boost your preconceived conclusion.

I liked Etuiante better when he was Joma St L. I wonder if somebody stole a 6 year old account password. Just doesn't seem right.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: scottbraut on September 04, 2014, 22:51
Hello,

To learn more about our search methods and philosophies, please see this thread (scroll down) (http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/ss-not-reporting-sales!/msg392017/) and this thread. (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=141151)

To clear up some of the rumors:


Portfolio size is really just one factor of many in terms of having successful earnings.  Certain image categories are much more covered (or competitive) than others, so portfolio diversity; keyword quality and amount; upload timing; supplying fresh content (customers look for it); having something unique about your images in terms of subject matter / quality / keywording, etc. -- they're all factors that can result in one portfolio having more consistent success than another. 

Best,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on September 04, 2014, 23:01
Checked my shorts, and they aren't around my ankles. I feel better now.  ;D Imagine trying to run out into the street with my hair on fire, if I was tripping on my pants! Bad Thoughts.

I like Uncle Pete too, but Etudiante, your description of your cousin made me literally LOL!! ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ploink on September 05, 2014, 00:24
Accumulating empirical data seems to suggest they are handing out port demotions based on the years we joined. I have seen three tiers of image placement demotions and have been at SS since 2004. And yes the drops show up on a graph very clearly. Sudden drops with no recovery.

I don't see that at all and I'm with SS since October 2006. I add around 300 to 400 photos a year to my port which is now at around 3.500 photos. My income has been stable over the last five years, which I consider a success given the rapid overall growth of the database and the nature of the majority of my port (editorial sports).

Of course I see seasonal variations, my Marches are always better than my Julys - much like everyone else's, I suppose. What I don't see is empirical evidence of an active demotion of my port just because of its age. Newcomers always enjoyed an exposure bonus at SS, but (a) this wears off after around six months and (b) the effect used to be stronger in the past - but this might also be due to the evergrowing database.

There seemed to be some experimentation with the search engine during July and August, because I sold photos which otherwise never see the light of day. With the beginning of September, sales are back where I expect them to be...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dpimborough on September 05, 2014, 04:17
Well August was bad but September is excellent so far.

 :D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 05, 2014, 12:06
Hello,

To learn more about our search methods and philosophies, please see this thread (scroll down) ([url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/ss-not-reporting-sales[/url]!/msg392017/) and this thread. ([url]http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=141151[/url])

To clear up some of the rumors:

  • We don't cap earnings. 
  • The "top image" reports need fixing as we update areas of the site; there was nothing intentionally turned off. This issue is in the backlog and something that gets considered relative to other development priorities.   
  • Our algorithms are targeted and optimized towards delivering the best individual images and videos to customers based on how they respond (i.e., do they download and purchase more); portfolios aren't promoted or penalized. 

Portfolio size is really just one factor of many in terms of having successful earnings.  Certain image categories are much more covered (or competitive) than others, so portfolio diversity; keyword quality and amount; upload timing; supplying fresh content (customers look for it); having something unique about your images in terms of subject matter / quality / keywording, etc. -- they're all factors that can result in one portfolio having more consistent success than another. 

Best,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock


Hi Scott,

Unfortunately none of this or the links you provided explain the sudden and sustained drop in sales, and I mean a significant drop. You have a lot of players here stating the same thing, like a light switch went on, and sales tanked. That's what we are referring to not key wording, or timing, etc. to be honest, I think there was a business decision made, SS knew some key contributors would be hit, and that's it......all for the betterment of "something"

Just asking.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 05, 2014, 13:14
Hi Scott,

Unfortunately none of this or the links you provided explain the sudden and sustained drop in sales, and I mean a significant drop. You have a lot of players here stating the same thing, like a light switch went on, and sales tanked. That's what we are referring to not key wording, or timing, etc. to be honest, I think there was a business decision made, SS knew some key contributors would be hit, and that's it......all for the betterment of "something"

Just asking.

+10

he (Scott Braut)  should be in politics, really  ;)
graduated with Honours in Doublespeak  !!!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on September 05, 2014, 13:25
It seems to go with the territory of being an agency's mouthpiece.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on September 05, 2014, 21:01
No one wants to address the shut down on these two? (known as rumors without substance)

"We don't cap earnings."

"portfolios aren't promoted or penalized"


"supplying fresh content" is a clue to why older images don't sell like they used to.

Could the words be any simpler to understand and not read between the lines. Or are people just going to ignore the truth in favor of nit picking rumors or outright calling SS liars?

My question would be, can anyone prove they have caps, or turn off ports? I mean data not undocumented personal observations.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 05, 2014, 23:43
Do you really think, If he knew the answers to our "Real" questions he would say anything? I think Not. Do I blame him?...No. Being a VP anywhere means politics period. My wife has been senior VP of many HUGE Film Companies that do 10 times the money SS does. She never talked to folks under her about company Issues she was Privy to. And they all sign NDA agreements so. Forget it.

Individual drops in sales for groups of people have  been  extremely documented like never before, More threads have been started than I've ever seen in My 10 years. It ain't gonna happen guys, This is all were gonna get. Like it or leave it. your replacement is already submitting. Maybe thats why Moderators and content division employees/supervisors is a transient Job. I've seen More folks...Some really Good folks have come and gone than I can remember,  The days When you could feel a personal touch...Thats all gone and ya can't bring that back. Pete is correct on many accounts but...so wrong on many more because he doesn't have the history that some have had with huge commercial ports that used to make huge money.

And until you have the history of what came before, you have little credibility going forward. And my friend pete has a specific Niche and he enjoys it more than the money he makes..

Like I said in another thread. These issues are a virus.....A virus that is separating us. It's to late to think we have the power anymore. We lost it around 2008 when we could and should have done something But the Lure of 38 cents or whatever killed it.

I Blame us and no one else.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Skylinehunter on September 06, 2014, 00:16
Hey guys, I'm an Istockphoto exclusive and I just happened to see this thread.  Did you guys have a similar experience like me?    Everything was relatively ok and then June was disappointing, July was good, and then all of a sudden August plunged (worse than June) and it got worse till the end, with the past 2 weeks being some of my worst in years.    August is usually up there with March as my best month of the year, and it was shocking for me to see my worst August since 2011.  If you guys got a similar experience, I'm wondering if its a market issue rather than an agency or individual contributor issue.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 06, 2014, 01:56
Hello,

To learn more about our search methods and philosophies, please see this thread (scroll down) ([url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/ss-not-reporting-sales[/url]!/msg392017/) and this thread. ([url]http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=141151[/url])

To clear up some of the rumors:

  • We don't cap earnings. 
  • The "top image" reports need fixing as we update areas of the site; there was nothing intentionally turned off. This issue is in the backlog and something that gets considered relative to other development priorities.   
  • Our algorithms are targeted and optimized towards delivering the best individual images and videos to customers based on how they respond (i.e., do they download and purchase more); portfolios aren't promoted or penalized. 

Portfolio size is really just one factor of many in terms of having successful earnings.  Certain image categories are much more covered (or competitive) than others, so portfolio diversity; keyword quality and amount; upload timing; supplying fresh content (customers look for it); having something unique about your images in terms of subject matter / quality / keywording, etc. -- they're all factors that can result in one portfolio having more consistent success than another. 

Best,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock


Let me preface this response by letting you know that I have worked as a data driven site developer and while many of your contributors do not understand the resources or the time it takes to fix minor site bugs, I do.

Shutterstocks success is driven by its contributors and yet shutterstock consistently makes the choice to put our welfare at the bottom of the pile when it comes to the numerous site bugs that pop up. In fact I lost track of how many times we have heard "This issue is in the backlog and something that gets considered relative to other development priorities." Through your actions over the years, we have come to understand that our problems have not been relegated to the bottom of the pile. You have simply chosen to blow us off entirely!

While I am not buying your excuse about the Top 50 Most Popular Images Query tab being broken, because the rest of your tabs in the most popular are still fully functional. http://tinyurl.com/ljbgxcl (http://tinyurl.com/ljbgxcl) .  I do know the resources it would take, to restore the Top 50 Weekly image query tab to working order.

The time/manpower/expense required to approve and then allocate the shutterstock resources need to resolve the TOP 50 Weekly "Tab" issue are infinitesimal. The fact that it has been "broken" for more than 2 years speaks volumes. The timing is also telling; as the page tab "broke" shortly before shutterstock announced its Initial Public Offering in Oct 2012 and shutterstock concurrently rolled out it's new "improved" search.

In general Shutterstock's consistent choice to put contributors on the back burner in regard to numerous long standing bugs and site challenges, demonstrates the lack of respect and regard you show toward your contributors over all.

As for the platitudes you are offering in regard to image attributes which drive sales, you seem to discount the fact that many of us who are seeing large and sudden drops have been at this a very long time. Longer in fact than most of the people now working at shutterstock. Our images sold well before the IPO, exactly because we understood & implemented your 33 tips and more; years before you recently wrote them down.

We have been producing images that do/did sell for many years and that is the very reason shutterstock is successful. We also understand that it is no coincidence that our images have disappeared from the searches in lieu of "new images" many of which are in fact images older than our own content which has been systematically killed off by your search.

The majority of buyers are also fully aware that a good portion of the "new content" at shutterstock is in fact old content, which has been recently uploaded by IS exclusives who jumped ship. In many cases this new shutterstock content has been selling since 2000 in the wider micro marketplace via IStock, which was founded in 2000.

It is unfortunate that shutterstock has made the choice to reward those of us who supported its growth by deliberately burying our HCV content deeply in your searches. It is even more demoralizing to see this happen to our fresh new content.

It is sad to see that you have chosen to promote images which were created by former IS exclusives circa  2000 - 2011 instead. I will not mention names but some former exclusives have mentioned here, that they send new work to sites other than shutterstock and upload 2006 and older work to shutterstock.

I would love to see shutterstock explain why our fresh new content is not selling, while content that is older than the images you have chosen to bury and which was also produced much earlier than our fresh new work; is promoted in your searches and therefor does sell well.

I have no problem competing in a market place with a level playing field, in fact in the past that is exactly why I respected and valued my business relationship with shutterstock. The previous and longstanding paradigm changed when Insight Venture Capitol got their hooks into the company. It is not lost on us that they have been quite active in placing key executives within the company as well as granting themselves stock options at a cost of $0 and then selling it at market value. http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/SSTK/insideractions (http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/SSTK/insideractions)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on September 06, 2014, 04:45
^^ Are you related to Sheldon Cooper?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 06, 2014, 09:06
^^ Are you related to Sheldon Cooper?

Are you Weyoun on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: scottbraut on September 06, 2014, 09:35
Hi guys,

Rinder -- yes, we're honest and open the forums and try to be helpful as much as possible; I've addressed quite a bit of the search topic both here and in the SS forum.  We did presentations on search at MicrostockExpo and PACA last year as well.  We sometimes may have to generalize because of the number of variables and complexity of the algorithms (or the topic), there isn't enough info to answer thoroughly at the time, etc.   As a public company, our financials are public, as are our download numbers. We also get audited by leading accounting firms. We're out in the community under our own names publicly and anyone can come meet with us at events, talk directly by phone and email, etc.  We have contributors who visit us at the office as well.  There are dozens of ways to get information (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130058) from us.  We're trying to be very transparent.

Gbalex - you're right.  A particular bug or feature may or may not be that big, but it comes down to prioritization. There are three reasons why a bug might not get fixed:  a) because of other priorities that are expected to deliver more value to contributors or customers; b) because it couldn't be reliably reproduced or is limited in scope; or c) because we're expecting to replace that area of the code entirely in an upcoming release.

So, for example, one thing that our contributor team has been working on has been additional site languages - we just released Brazilian Portuguese (http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/shutterstocks-contributor-site-launches-in-brazilian-portuguese) as the first of new languages.  We have (many) thousands of existing Shutterstock contributors whose native language is not English and many who apply. Our goal is to be accommodating of them in their own language. 

On a daily basis, the process of prioritization basically answers the following question:  what would you do first?  Make an improvement that drives more downloads for contributors overall (and therefore, more royalty dollars to them)?  Make the site available in the native language of our thousands of non-native-English speakers? New payment methods? New forum software? Fix the Top 50? How many contributors would benefit? How big is the effort? What teams need to be involved?  Is that area of the site due for a larger upgrade - will an issue get fixed as part of another feature release? 

Some improvements have to be prioritized first as part of growth, and others are prioritized based on what we believe -- based on contributor feedback -- will benefit the most contributors over the short- and long-run.  There's a lot more to come.  ;)

I do believe there's more we can do to expose some of that externally.
 

Best,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock


 



 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Uncle Pete on September 06, 2014, 11:46
I'll leave your wife's work out of this. And thanks for the compliment, yes I do enjoy what I shoot, even if it isn't as profitable as other things. Especially not a high profit Microstock subject.

But here's the point, and I'll try to explain.

Individual sales and income have dropped = true
Search rankings changed and dropped = many old timers with proven images re-ranked down
Good staff people have left SS = some were very favorable and positive towards contributors
Personal touch, I think communications is the weakest part of SS. Unchanged
I don't know how my "history" relates to what's going on now? Member since 2007 (This isn't about me, is it?)
Nope, we can't bring it back, the past is gone, things have changed
Yes we are now producing a commodity, not as much artists or creative as before. (for another day)
Competition is 100 times more than what it was not long ago
A well known, big name photographer, can drop SS and they don't blink or lose a sale.

Here's the points I disagree with, which people seem to be convinced are facts and I don't feel there is any logical evidence to support them.

1) SS caps earnings
2) SS turns off individual ports by location or time zone or ???

If 1000 people write on a forum that Elvis is not dead, does that make him alive? If people write on a forum that they see UFOs and conclude it must be alien visitors, does it become a fact? If people say, they think their earnings are capped, without documented proof (or say individuals are being turned off) because, they see it... does that make it true? But it does lead others to start following to the same conclusion.

(http://s5.postimg.org/pfupkz9lz/logical_falacy_colors.jpg)

1) Individual sales are down. 2) The search has been tweaked to favor different images than it used to = Conclusion Fallacy, they must have capped my earnings and are turn off my port. Really? Not a logical argument at all.

And just because someone writes something on a forum or many people write it, that opinion or common sense doesn't become true and a fact. Evidence Please?

The challenge is for someone to document that they are capping or shutting off individual artists.

It's not about individuals, or you or me, it's not personal. It's the whole system that changed, for all of us. That and 41,559,077 royalty-free stock images 10,000 new images a day! What was it in the old days? I have a list somewhere, can't find it) Even the good old days of 2008  ;D



Individual drops in sales for groups of people have  been  extremely documented like never before, More threads have been started than I've ever seen in My 10 years. It ain't gonna happen guys, This is all were gonna get. Like it or leave it. your replacement is already submitting. Maybe thats why Moderators and content division employees/supervisors is a transient Job. I've seen More folks...Some really Good folks have come and gone than I can remember,  The days When you could feel a personal touch...Thats all gone and ya can't bring that back. Pete is correct on many accounts but...so wrong on many more because he doesn't have the history that some have had with huge commercial ports that used to make huge money.

And until you have the history of what came before, you have little credibility going forward. And my friend pete has a specific Niche and he enjoys it more than the money he makes..

Like I said in another thread. These issues are a virus.....A virus that is separating us. It's to late to think we have the power anymore. We lost it around 2008 when we could and should have done something But the Lure of 38 cents or whatever killed it.

I Blame us and no one else.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 06, 2014, 13:07
I believe a few people have documented the capped earnings, a guy called Duncan Andison and a few others have graphs to back up their theories.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: cascoly on September 06, 2014, 13:27
I believe a few people have documented the capped earnings, a guy called Duncan Andison and a few others have graphs to back up their theories.

nope - what we have is anecdotal evidence from a few people that their income is down -- at the same time we have other anecdotal evidence from people reporting BME.     it's partly due to lack of statistical knowledge - if you have EL sales by month of 1 ,3 ,0 ,2 ,1,...   then have no sales for 2 months, that is just a predictable statistical happening, not evidence of a conspiracy.   if you have sales off 33, 44,22,44,34, and then 0, 0 that's pretty good evidence something has changed, but again NO evidence it's a conspiracy.

in addition, these reports lack important information such as type of images, variety of portfolio, etc, etc


as pete said, stock photos are now a commodity, so comparisons with the good old days are harder to make -- I sold similar images in the 70s and 80s for hundreds of dollars each that now bring pennies from microstock.  those days are gone and the photographers choices are to find a way to prosper with the new economies or find alternative outlets.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 06, 2014, 13:29
I'll leave your wife's work out of this. And thanks for the compliment, yes I do enjoy what I shoot, even if it isn't as profitable as other things. Especially not a high profit Microstock subject.

But here's the point, and I'll try to explain.

Individual sales and income have dropped = true
Search rankings changed and dropped = many old timers with proven images re-ranked down
Good staff people have left SS = some were very favorable and positive towards contributors
Personal touch, I think communications is the weakest part of SS. Unchanged
I don't know how my "history" relates to what's going on now? Member since 2007 (This isn't about me, is it?)
Nope, we can't bring it back, the past is gone, things have changed
Yes we are now producing a commodity, not as much artists or creative as before. (for another day)
Competition is 100 times more than what it was not long ago
A well known, big name photographer, can drop SS and they don't blink or lose a sale.

Here's the points I disagree with, which people seem to be convinced are facts and I don't feel there is any logical evidence to support them.

1) SS caps earnings
2) SS turns off individual ports by location or time zone or ???

If 1000 people write on a forum that Elvis is not dead, does that make him alive? If people write on a forum that they see UFOs and conclude it must be alien visitors, does it become a fact? If people say, they think their earnings are capped, without documented proof (or say individuals are being turned off) because, they see it... does that make it true? But it does lead others to start following to the same conclusion.

([url]http://s5.postimg.org/pfupkz9lz/logical_falacy_colors.jpg[/url])

1) Individual sales are down. 2) The search has been tweaked to favor different images than it used to = Conclusion Fallacy, they must have capped my earnings and are turn off my port. Really? Not a logical argument at all.

And just because someone writes something on a forum or many people write it, that opinion or common sense doesn't become true and a fact. Evidence Please?

The challenge is for someone to document that they are capping or shutting off individual artists.

It's not about individuals, or you or me, it's not personal. It's the whole system that changed, for all of us. That and 41,559,077 royalty-free stock images 10,000 new images a day! What was it in the old days? I have a list somewhere, can't find it) Even the good old days of 2008  ;D



Individual drops in sales for groups of people have  been  extremely documented like never before, More threads have been started than I've ever seen in My 10 years. It ain't gonna happen guys, This is all were gonna get. Like it or leave it. your replacement is already submitting. Maybe thats why Moderators and content division employees/supervisors is a transient Job. I've seen More folks...Some really Good folks have come and gone than I can remember,  The days When you could feel a personal touch...Thats all gone and ya can't bring that back. Pete is correct on many accounts but...so wrong on many more because he doesn't have the history that some have had with huge commercial ports that used to make huge money.

And until you have the history of what came before, you have little credibility going forward. And my friend pete has a specific Niche and he enjoys it more than the money he makes..

Like I said in another thread. These issues are a virus.....A virus that is separating us. It's to late to think we have the power anymore. We lost it around 2008 when we could and should have done something But the Lure of 38 cents or whatever killed it.

I Blame us and no one else.



Maybe capping isn't the right word. Technically SS says that they don't cap and that is probably entirely true based on their definitions.  But the term "positioning" might be more appropriate.  At any time I can find my images so they don't turn off your port as you clearly state. I agree with that.  But they certainly can have an algorithm that pushes ports back in the search when that person hits a specific threshold (which is a way of capping without the literal definition of actually capping).
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 06, 2014, 13:32
I believe a few people have documented the capped earnings, a guy called Duncan Andison and a few others have graphs to back up their theories.

nope - what we have is anecdotal evidence from a few people that their income is down -- at the same time we have other anecdotal evidence from people reporting BME.     it's partly due to lack of statistical knowledge - if you have EL sales by month of 1 ,3 ,0 ,2 ,1,...   then have no sales for 2 months, that is just a predictable statistical happening, not evidence of a conspiracy.   if you have sales off 33, 44,22,44,34, and then 0, 0 that's pretty good evidence something has changed, but again NO evidence it's a conspiracy.

in addition, these reports lack important information such as type of images, variety of portfolio, etc, etc


as pete said, stock photos are now a commodity, so comparisons with the good old days are harder to make -- I sold similar images in the 70s and 80s for hundreds of dollars each that now bring pennies from microstock.  those days are gone and the photographers choices are to find a way to prosper with the new economies or find alternative outlets.
No, that is not what I am referring too. I am talking about people with a database managing background who have their own data registered in graphs and clearly showing capped earnings.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 06, 2014, 15:27
Great Post Pete. I don't subscribe to capping or shutting off ports either. My personal sales are just OK, and slowly coming back from the big bang in Mar 2013. All the other conspiracy stuff never made any sense to me. I only have had one large question....What happened in mar 2013 when, for years it was rock solid and only fluctuated a few dollars instead of hundreds of dollars, And I question this for one reason. why did it happen so quickly? instead of slowly which would indicate something completely different. And why did they change my fought after Most Popular? in a week they went missing. BTW, they are coming back slowly because there good solid very useable Images even if there very old and sold 5000+ times each. All the other stuff...Doesn't even hit my radar unless someone brings it up. Luckily for me, I NEVER considered Stock work as more than 20% of what I need to cover my Nut anyway and I knew it going in because as a long time shooter I would get very bored very quickly having to worry about what sells and what doesn't constantly as thats a creativity killer for sure. I enjoy the process and since Photography,Painting,Music and teaching is all I've ever done, Looking back I did pretty well.

But when I see others and my friends hurting, It really gets to me and out comes the passion.  Im very much looking forward to a revamped forum and other things as Scott has promised.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Sheriff on September 06, 2014, 16:38
Okay, it's time to put this post out to the pasture folks. 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 06, 2014, 17:26
Okay, it's time to put this post out to the pasture folks.

ah, OK ! anything u say...

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D   coming from someone with just
    4 postings joined a couple of days ago.

considering the rest of the posters' "age",
that would be someone wet behind the ears telling senior gentries they should listen  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Pixart on September 06, 2014, 18:12
...I only have had one large question....What happened in mar 2013 when, for years it was rock solid and only fluctuated a few dollars instead of hundreds of dollars, And I question this for one reason. why did it happen so quickly?

According to my poor notes-I quit Istock in March 2013.  It was over the free images deal.  A factor would be that I wasn't the only one - although I wasn't exclusive, they lost a lot of exclusives.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Sheriff on September 06, 2014, 18:27
Okay, it's time to put this post out to the pasture folks.

ah, OK ! anything u say...

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D   coming from someone with just
    4 postings joined a couple of days ago.

considering the rest of the posters' "age",
that would be someone wet behind the ears telling senior gentries they should listen  ;D ;D ;D

Remember who has the badge and gun there stranger plus I refuse to do battle with the mindless grandpa...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on September 06, 2014, 18:40
Selling what once commanded good money for peanuts has always been a numbers game and when your 10,000 files are competing against 40 million others, rather than 8 million others, it's just simple math.

I think the post from the iS exclusives mentioning the overall market and the huge influx of iS exclusives, as well as Scott's myriad explanations in this topic & the other one he linked to make a lot more sense than some conspiracy theory. To me, the fact that I frequently have multiple daily sales and rarely have a day without at least one download at SS despite the fact that I only have 212 images, a tiny fraction of the 40 million files in their database, that I put most of my best images on traditional sites yet still make SS payouts bi-monthly tells me that SS itself is going strong, that their search engine works, but it doesn't matter because we're all getting an ever smaller piece of the pie. I've been with SS since 2008, have a tiny port, heavily weighted toward travel and not the big selling lifestyle stuff, but my stuff seems to compete on a level playing field with everyone else's - the problem is, the field is just too big.

I'm not optimistic about the future. My biggest regret is that I didn't upload a few thousand files back when they'd have gotten more exposure, because despite SS's strength, I think the size of their database means that the opportunity to grow is diminishing for all of us.

I've seen my new files account for smaller and smaller portions of my sales in the past year. A year ago it was a distressing 10% and now it's down to 1%. (I increased my portfolio by 25+% in the last year - even if I doubled it, the return wouldn't be worth it). In late 2012 and early 2013, I saw a lot of growth but that growth slowed down as the SS database outpaced all expectations.

Unless you're a factory, I don't see how you can sustain growth there, which is why I'm looking toward smaller niche markets that control the number of contributors. I think Stocky's dedication to slow growth of their contributor base makes good economic sense, because if even the top earners can't keep pace with inflation, how can a stock photo site attract and keep top talent?

To me, the uncontrolled growth of the database and the contributor base which is diluting the earnings of even the top contributors, is the real problem here, since an individual contributors sales need to grow constantly, especially when royalties stay the same for 8 years (the bump of a few pennies at each milestone notwithstanding).  It's not some conspiracy. If those who can actually make a living from their microstock earnings suddenly can't, then, IMHO, the field will be left to those who do this for fun, for experimentation, etc -and if SS keeps their prices and payouts low, they may just survive. But, let's face it, part of the reason microstock has done so well is because along with the experimenters and newbies, pros got into the game and many made good money while the boom lasted, but it hurt the industry in the long run. Then again, they were changing with the times, and now, things are changing again.

It's easy to spot the problems, harder to find a solution. And I appreciate Scott trying to put things into perspective, though IMHO there's more lottery than art to a winning image these days.

Will we ever get a raise? Not a question Scott can answer, I know, but that's the only way earnings for individual contributors will grow.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Mantis on September 06, 2014, 19:11
Selling what once commanded good money for peanuts has always been a numbers game and when your 10,000 files are competing against 40 million others, rather than 8 million others, it's just simple math.

I think the post from the iS exclusives mentioning the overall market and the huge influx of iS exclusives, as well as Scott's myriad explanations in this topic & the other one he linked to make a lot more sense than some conspiracy theory. To me, the fact that I frequently have multiple daily sales and rarely have a day without at least one download at SS despite the fact that I only have 212 images, a tiny fraction of the 40 million files in their database, that I put most of my best images on traditional sites yet still make SS payouts bi-monthly tells me that SS itself is going strong, that their search engine works, but it doesn't matter because we're all getting an ever smaller piece of the pie. I've been with SS since 2008, have a tiny port, heavily weighted toward travel and not the big selling lifestyle stuff, but my stuff seems to compete on a level playing field with everyone else's - the problem is, the field is just too big.

I'm not optimistic about the future. My biggest regret is that I didn't upload a few thousand files back when they'd have gotten more exposure, because despite SS's strength, I think the size of their database means that the opportunity to grow is diminishing for all of us.

I've seen my new files account for smaller and smaller portions of my sales in the past year. A year ago it was a distressing 10% and now it's down to 1%. (I increased my portfolio by 25+% in the last year - even if I doubled it, the return wouldn't be worth it). In late 2012 and early 2013, I saw a lot of growth but that growth slowed down as the SS database outpaced all expectations.

Unless you're a factory, I don't see how you can sustain growth there, which is why I'm looking toward smaller niche markets that control the number of contributors. I think Stocky's dedication to slow growth of their contributor base makes good economic sense, because if even the top earners can't keep pace with inflation, how can a stock photo site attract and keep top talent?

To me, the uncontrolled growth of the database and the contributor base which is diluting the earnings of even the top contributors, is the real problem here, since an individual contributors sales need to grow constantly, especially when royalties stay the same for 8 years (the bump of a few pennies at each milestone notwithstanding).  It's not some conspiracy. If those who can actually make a living from their microstock earnings suddenly can't, then, IMHO, the field will be left to those who do this for fun, for experimentation, etc -and if SS keeps their prices and payouts low, they may just survive. But, let's face it, part of the reason microstock has done so well is because along with the experimenters and newbies, pros got into the game and many made good money while the boom lasted, but it hurt the industry in the long run. Then again, they were changing with the times, and now, things are changing again.

It's easy to spot the problems, harder to find a solution. And I appreciate Scott trying to put things into perspective, though IMHO there's more lottery than art to a winning image these days.

Will we ever get a raise? Not a question Scott can answer, I know, but that's the only way earnings for individual contributors will grow.

I know that he gets hit with some questions he can't answer, either cuz he does't know or can't say, but I too appreciate him coming in here to shed whatever light he can that might help us continue to make money and be competitive.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 07, 2014, 00:49
Hi guys,

Gbalex - you're right.  A particular bug or feature may or may not be that big, but it comes down to prioritization. There are three reasons why a bug might not get fixed:  a) because of other priorities that are expected to deliver more value to contributors or customers; b) because it couldn't be reliably reproduced or is limited in scope; or c) because we're expecting to replace that area of the code entirely in an upcoming release.

So, for example, one thing that our contributor team has been working on has been additional site languages - we just released Brazilian Portuguese ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/shutterstocks-contributor-site-launches-in-brazilian-portuguese[/url]) as the first of new languages.  We have (many) thousands of existing Shutterstock contributors whose native language is not English and many who apply. Our goal is to be accommodating of them in their own language. 

On a daily basis, the process of prioritization basically answers the following question:  what would you do first?  Make an improvement that drives more downloads for contributors overall (and therefore, more royalty dollars to them)?  Make the site available in the native language of our thousands of non-native-English speakers? New payment methods? New forum software? Fix the Top 50? How many contributors would benefit? How big is the effort? What teams need to be involved?  Is that area of the site due for a larger upgrade - will an issue get fixed as part of another feature release? 

Some improvements have to be prioritized first as part of growth, and others are prioritized based on what we believe -- based on contributor feedback -- will benefit the most contributors over the short- and long-run.  There's a lot more to come.  ;)

I do believe there's more we can do to expose some of that externally.
 

Best,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock


Lets put this in perspective, it would take one programmer 1 hour tops, to restore the Weekly TOP 50 Most Popular images to working order.

I think you have made it quite clear that you have no intention of rolling back the changes to the page which rendered it non functional. You have had approx 2 years to accomplish one simple task, that an entry level programer could have accomplished in less than a day.

Lets talk about Priorities

Shutterstock's inside investors have literally put hundreds of millions of dollars in their pockets, by granting themselves stock at a cost of zero and then selling it a a premium.  Yet shutterstock refuses to allocate one hour of coding to repair a simple page query in 2 years time.

Shutterstock made the business decision to rent office space in one the most expensive pieces of commercial real estate in the US and yet the company flatly refuses to contract additional IT personnel, even on part time basis to stamp out the frequent bugs that plague it's life's blood contributors.

Shutterstock chooses to pay for yoga rooms & classes, Pizza Fridays, massages and many other benefits for its employees and yet it flatly refuses to spend a thin dime for one hour of work to restore contributor faith in its business practices.

Bottom line, Shutterstock has been willing to spend more on Pizza Fridays than it has been willing to spend stamping out the bugs plaguing it's contributors.

If Shutterstock really has nothing to hide and you would like to improve your relationship with contributors. It would be very simple to restore trust by repairing the TOP 50 weekly, after all shutterstock had no problem providing this very minimal level transparency for the 9 years before it went public.

With out our content your company and jobs would not exist. If Shutterstock values it's business; contributor welfare as well as contributor trust, should be at the very TOP of your priority list!
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: BoBoBolinski on September 07, 2014, 01:25
Hey guys, I'm an Istockphoto exclusive and I just happened to see this thread.  Did you guys have a similar experience like me?    Everything was relatively ok and then June was disappointing, July was good, and then all of a sudden August plunged (worse than June) and it got worse till the end, with the past 2 weeks being some of my worst in years.    August is usually up there with March as my best month of the year, and it was shocking for me to see my worst August since 2011.  If you guys got a similar experience, I'm wondering if its a market issue rather than an agency or individual contributor issue.
You must be fairly unusual to have August as your best month of the year, I don't think I know anyone who would say that.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 07, 2014, 01:49


Will we ever get a raise? Not a question Scott can answer, I know, but that's the only way earnings for individual contributors will grow.
That question was answered with a resounding no. It is in the Answers from Scott thread on the Shutterstock forum.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Gino on September 07, 2014, 02:12
I don't get the complaining. Let SS buy pizza if they want. It's a COMPANY and company's Make PROFIT. Nobody is forcing people to join them.

SS: hey guys! We have an online image selling website! Join us and we will pay you an x% for every sale we make! Our terms and conditions can be found on our website!

Photographers: Ok! Looks like fun and make some extra income!

(Some) photographers after x years: I don't like your terms and conditions. I want MORE and since many other photographers are in now I make less money. You solve that for me and I don't like you anymore!!!

Maybe... Just maybe it has something to do with competition. No 'cap' or algoritm change. But better images competing with outdated images.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 07, 2014, 02:23
Terms and conditions you signed 8 years back contained a royalty based on the economy of 8 years back. Everything has gotten more expensive, inflation, but royalties have either been kept the same or reduced. Image pricing has gone down, instead of up. It is very reasonable to ask for a raise. Especially from a company that has raised millions and millions of extra capital through the IPO. The success of the company is shared with share holders, whilst the people who built the company with hard work, loyalty and creativity are being ignored.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 07, 2014, 02:27
Correct. +1.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Ariene on September 07, 2014, 02:28
(Some) photographers after x years: I don't like your terms and conditions. I want MORE and since many other photographers are in now I make less money. You solve that for me and I don't like you anymore!!!

Maybe... Just maybe it has something to do with competition. No 'cap' or algoritm change. But better images competing with outdated images.

After x years this ~0,30$ doesn't mean much, it's not the same value as years ago.
Everywhere I worked, every job I did, after few years I had rise. Usually once a year. It's normal.
On SS I don't remember any rises in last 6 years... Now, why people want to earn more after 5-10 years? Answer is pretty easy :)

And one more thing. Micros want more and more better and better and bigger images from the best and newest cameras. But they cut our % or $, or just don't rise it. Something must be wrong here. Are we getting closer to charity work? In some cases we already are.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Gino on September 07, 2014, 02:45
Ok. I must admit you do have a strong point there. Royalties should rise with inflation but I don't think SS did a price raise for their buyers? So they did nit get a raise also? I am at SS for just 2 years so for me it had not been 8 years and I am used to get $0.38. But then again if my income keeps growing as it does I don't know if I will ever mind the 38 cents since I am just happy that SS is making me money.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Artist on September 07, 2014, 02:54
Terms and conditions you signed 8 years back contained a royalty based on the economy of 8 years back. Everything has gotten more expensive, inflation, but royalties have either been kept the same or reduced. Image pricing has gone down, instead of up. It is very reasonable to ask for a raise. Especially from a company that has raised millions and millions of extra capital through the IPO. The success of the company is shared with share holders, whilst the people who built the company with hard work, loyalty and creativity are being ignored.

+100... I totally agree with this.

We Photographers and Designers work very hard in creating images. We are the pillars of this company. It is very sad to share that benefiting and thinking for shareholders and increasing for IPO price without benefiting contributors are of no use.

A company who is dependent on us has an office in great Empire State Building with a owner Jon Oringer having worth more than a billion dollar. And we are still getting the same.

Yes, due to inflation everything got expensive and we are still at the same position as 8 years back. Raising millions of dollars without thinking for its contributors feels ignored.

I think shutterstock should look from contributors point of view too, not just shutterstock as a business.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Red Dove on September 07, 2014, 06:16
Anyone here who is self-employed must realize you cannot rely/depend/hope/expect the people you do business with to look after your own interests....and if they fail in that you sell to someone else or you find something else to sell.

I appreciate that may seem too simplistic and unpalatable for many contributors - but this has been a cold hard truth in microstock for years. If you haven't experienced that elsewhere in business then I can understand the degree of umbrage expressed here - but for many I suspect the energy and time wasted trying to bring SS or any other agency into line with their own expectations is more profitably deployed elsewhere.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: ShadySue on September 07, 2014, 06:23
Hey guys, I'm an Istockphoto exclusive and I just happened to see this thread.  Did you guys have a similar experience like me?    Everything was relatively ok and then June was disappointing, July was good, and then all of a sudden August plunged (worse than June) and it got worse till the end, with the past 2 weeks being some of my worst in years.    August is usually up there with March as my best month of the year, and it was shocking for me to see my worst August since 2011.  If you guys got a similar experience, I'm wondering if its a market issue rather than an agency or individual contributor issue.
You must be fairly unusual to have August as your best month of the year, I don't think I know anyone who would say that.
Maybe if a port consisted mainly of e.g. Thankgiving, Oktoberfest, Sukkoth, Divali, Hallowe'en gereral Autumn imagery etc. (?)
@SLH - many iS togs report sales going down rapidly since April subs were introduced. Did you read the August reports thread where many non-newbies report the same sharp drop even from there, in July.

Back to SS for this thread ...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 07, 2014, 11:30
I don't get the complaining. Let SS buy pizza if they want. It's a COMPANY and company's Make PROFIT. Nobody is forcing people to join them.

SS: hey guys! We have an online image selling website! Join us and we will pay you an x% for every sale we make! Our terms and conditions can be found on our website!

Photographers: Ok! Looks like fun and make some extra income!

(Some) photographers after x years: I don't like your terms and conditions. I want MORE and since many other photographers are in now I make less money. You solve that for me and I don't like you anymore!!!

Maybe... Just maybe it has something to do with competition. No 'cap' or algoritm change. But better images competing with outdated images.
Ok. I must admit you do have a strong point there. Royalties should rise with inflation but I don't think SS did a price raise for their buyers? So they did nit get a raise also? I am at SS for just 2 years so for me it had not been 8 years and I am used to get $0.38. But then again if my income keeps growing as it does I don't know if I will ever mind the 38 cents since I am just happy that SS is making me money.

You do not get it because as a new contributor you hit .38 in less than 2 years and your income is still rising.

I could also say this for 9 years. We thought that as long as we worked hard our incomes would also continue to rise. Things changed drastically after the IPO. We have worked hard since 2004 and have every right to step to the plate and look out for our own assets.


Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 07, 2014, 14:45
Anyone here who is self-employed must realize you cannot rely/depend/hope/expect the people you do business with to look after your own interests....and if they fail in that you sell to someone else or you find something else to sell.

I appreciate that may seem too simplistic and unpalatable for many contributors - but this has been a cold hard truth in microstock for years. If you haven't experienced that elsewhere in business then I can understand the degree of umbrage expressed here - but for many I suspect the energy and time wasted trying to bring SS or any other agency into line with their own expectations is more profitably deployed elsewhere.

ah yes...
but it is , to many, better to rant and roar to each other, like those commuters during the bus-strike.
n as soon as the bus arrives, they get in the bus and wish the bus-driver with a nice smile, "oh how r u this luvly morning???" :D :D :D 
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: nicksimages on September 07, 2014, 15:41
If royalties would rise, many more photographers will come, much more images will be uploaded and everyone will earn less. At .25 per download there are 10000 images approved daily. Uploaded probably twice as many. Does anybody consider that?

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 07, 2014, 18:51
If royalties would rise, many more photographers will come, much more images will be uploaded and everyone will earn less. At .25 per download there are 10000 images approved daily. Uploaded probably twice as many. Does anybody consider that?

Yes....About 8 years ago.Also, If that happened the other sites would fold under the weight and all Buyers would come top SS.  maybe? If SS offered a exclusive deal of 50% commission across the board. everyone would flock here in essence killing the competition.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: OM on September 07, 2014, 19:29
If royalties would rise, many more photographers will come, much more images will be uploaded and everyone will earn less. At .25 per download there are 10000 images approved daily. Uploaded probably twice as many. Does anybody consider that?

10K images/day...I wish! Almost 50,000/day approved this week...still at $0.25/download.

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 07, 2014, 23:49
Hmmm, let me see. do I pay 25 cents to people or pay 38 cents to people for basically the same stuff?  Hmmmm...Tough choice. LOL

Hence the name "Penny Stock"
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Dook on September 08, 2014, 05:33
.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 08, 2014, 07:57
Do you really think, If he knew the answers to our "Real" questions he would say anything? I think Not. Do I blame him?...No. Being a VP anywhere means politics period. My wife has been senior VP of many HUGE Film Companies that do 10 times the money SS does. She never talked to folks under her about company Issues she was Privy to. And they all sign NDA agreements so. Forget it.

Individual drops in sales for groups of people have  been  extremely documented like never before, More threads have been started than I've ever seen in My 10 years. It ain't gonna happen guys, This is all were gonna get. Like it or leave it. your replacement is already submitting.

Maybe thats why Moderators and content division employees/supervisors is a transient Job.

I've seen More folks...Some really Good folks have come and gone than I can remember,  The days When you could feel a personal touch...Thats all gone and ya can't bring that back. Pete is correct on many accounts but...so wrong on many more because he doesn't have the history that some have had with huge commercial ports that used to make huge money.

And until you have the history of what came before, you have little credibility going forward. And my friend pete has a specific Niche and he enjoys it more than the money he makes..

Like I said in another thread. These issues are a virus.....A virus that is separating us. It's to late to think we have the power anymore. We lost it around 2008 when we could and should have done something But the Lure of 38 cents or whatever killed it.

I Blame us and no one else.


Moderation is not the only transient job, the President/COO has moved on to greener pastures.

Shutterstock Announces Yearend Departure of President and COO Thilo Semmelbauer
http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/shutterstock-announces-yearend-departure-of-president-and-coo-thilo-semmelbauer-20140807-01513#ixzz3CjCfeSLF (http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/shutterstock-announces-yearend-departure-of-president-and-coo-thilo-semmelbauer-20140807-01513#ixzz3CjCfeSLF)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Phadrea on September 08, 2014, 10:04
As bad as it can be for a Monday. No sales. Very very worrying.  :-\
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: SLStudios on September 08, 2014, 11:22
So far we are starting out better this month than in August. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Sunday was a no sale day this week but that is the only one so far this month.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gostwyck on September 08, 2014, 11:29
Moderation is not the only transient job, the President/COO has moved on to greener pastures.

Shutterstock Announces Yearend Departure of President and COO Thilo Semmelbauer
[url]http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/shutterstock-announces-yearend-departure-of-president-and-coo-thilo-semmelbauer-20140807-01513#ixzz3CjCfeSLF[/url] ([url]http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/shutterstock-announces-yearend-departure-of-president-and-coo-thilo-semmelbauer-20140807-01513#ixzz3CjCfeSLF[/url])


With the $M's that he has made I'd imagine that the 'greener pastures' are probably a beach-side house with a nearby golf course.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on September 08, 2014, 12:23
So far we are starting out better this month than in August. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Sunday was a no sale day this week but that is the only one so far this month.

Almost same experience here - no sales Labor Day & Sunday but otherwise already well ahead of August. Hoping this means sales will be back to normal after a very slow summer.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 08, 2014, 12:38
Shocking today. Worst I have seen in a long time. Only a few dollars from a couple of thousand images. Don't know if I should  :'( or  ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: dbvirago on September 08, 2014, 12:44
Total for the last 37 hours is about what I would normally get on a very light Sunday. Yesterday was horrible and today is not much better.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: objowl on September 08, 2014, 12:57
Four ELs today, which considering I have only had six in the last two years and nine in the last six years I'd say September will be a good month  ;D
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 08, 2014, 13:35
as others mentioned, it is like everyday is a weekend with SS these past months.
and no one still thinks they turned off the switch for older contributors.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Sheriff on September 08, 2014, 13:49
as others mentioned, it is like everyday is a weekend with SS these past months.
and no one still thinks they turned off the switch for older contributors.

Time to move on pilgrim! You see the others nailing ELs like wolf getting sheep in the pen you have to look at yourself not blame others...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Pixart on September 08, 2014, 14:21
Has the power gone down in Europe perhaps?  My recent sales map has only been displaying North America.  Are we turned off in different parts of the world?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 08, 2014, 14:35
Has the power gone down in Europe perhaps?  My recent sales map has only been displaying North America.  Are we turned off in different parts of the world?
I only have a handful of sales in Europe today. The exact opposite from you.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: wordplanet on September 08, 2014, 14:40
Has the power gone down in Europe perhaps?  My recent sales map has only been displaying North America.  Are we turned off in different parts of the world?

I've got recent sales in Europe (Africa & N America too) showing up, including at least one new one today in Europe. I usually get several in S America and Asia but on my map right now - I don't think anything's been turned off, I think it's just random. How many of your last sales show up on the map at once? 15 or 20? Maybe they're just out of the rotation?
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: etudiante_rapide on September 08, 2014, 16:11
as others mentioned, it is like everyday is a weekend with SS these past months.
and no one still thinks they turned off the switch for older contributors.

Time to move on pilgrim! You see the others nailing ELs like wolf getting sheep in the pen you have to look at yourself not blame others...

ah yes, a reviewer or official in disguise. new member LMAO.

and back to topic, what do you call the rest of those here who are in consensus to me???
i noticed you got -5 just before i came in to respond

Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Sheriff on September 08, 2014, 16:52
as others mentioned, it is like everyday is a weekend with SS these past months.
and no one still thinks they turned off the switch for older contributors.

Time to move on pilgrim! You see the others nailing ELs like wolf getting sheep in the pen you have to look at yourself not blame others...

ah yes, a reviewer or official in disguise. new member LMAO.

and back to topic, what do you call the rest of those here who are in consensus to me???
i noticed you got -5 just before i came in to respond

If things are so bad on SS than why are they a 92.3 on the earnings poll?  Why are a lot of other folks staying they are having BME with SS?  Strictly speaking for myself- if my sales are slumping I look to see what areas I am weak in (which is a lot) such as categories (i.e., Xmas, Food, people) and address them.  I know that I have some serious gaps in my portfolio thus missing out on the holidays or seasons.  Than I ask what skills can I improve upon- how to process my images better or composition.    Can anyone on this site say that they don't need to get better? 

On the negative points- do you actually keep count? I don't especially since I might say things that folks don't want to hear...
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Gino on September 09, 2014, 09:17
Well.... I knew I would step on some toes... And I might again... I just hope you understand that I am not willingly trying to insult people.

You take Rinderart as a sample. I have looked at his portfolio and yes he is a good photographer but I also see many images that are looking outdated and with bad Photoshop cut outs and fake backgrounds were you can see they are pasted and look fake. All those images now have better alternatives that were not there 5 years ago. And there just is not much demand for art and portraits. A few years back there was less competition so he would sell more since there were not so many alternatives. But at this point there are so many more commercial images that will sell better

I also am a buyer so that is my advantage. I know what I want so that is what I shoot. I buy images every month on Shutterstock and if I look at this portfolio there is just not so much that I could use. This portfolio is to artistic and not commercial so there is the exact reason for sales going down. No cap, no wall, no algorithms. Just a portfolio with quality images but not very commercial and loosing from fresh commercial looking images.

Being a photographer for 10, 20 or even 50 years or having 5000 plus images does not make someone a better stock photographer or photographer even. I was not lying about my income and there are members on this forum I have shown my statistics. Stock is about knowing the market, knowing what sells and what is in demand. Not just shooting images and putting them online.

So I'm sorry. But looking at this particular portfolio I still understand why sales are going down for him. (Sorry Rinder I mean no offense just being honest)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gbalex on September 09, 2014, 09:52
Gino I could offer links to ports that use to make 3 to 4 times the amount you currently make that have seen hits of 50 to 70 drops. I am sure that if they wanted this type of exposure they would post themselves. No one wants this kind of attention and you would not either. However if you think it can not happen to you, you are wrong.

Their ports are top shelf and sell well at every site they are upload to including macro and yet shutterstock and previously fotolia are the only one they are seeing these kinds of drops. I think your assumption of superiority will be costly to your business in the end. New submitters have been given a gift and they would be wise to make hay while the sun shines because very few niches will be immune the bitter economics of site greed.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Gino on September 09, 2014, 10:09
@gbalex: first of all thanks for not shouting. ;) I am suspecting a wave of insulting after this post but good to see the first is not like that.

But again I don't mean to insult anyone so I hope people can respect my opinion. I would like to see portfolio's like that. But until now I am not seeing people complaining in the forums with good portfolio's. So for me it's just seeing is believing. And I keep hoping you guys are wrong since I sure as hell don't want this to happen to me.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gimages on September 09, 2014, 10:28
Hi,
Would u mind if I look at your port, and how to find it?
Thanks,
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Justanotherphotographer on September 09, 2014, 10:28
.....Instead of complaining I think people should look more serious to their portfolio. I know... you see me as a newbee since I am on SS for just 2 years. But I do make 4k at this moment per month and my earnings are growing also every month. .....

Hi Gino. There is something you also need to bear in mind when considering your earnings. I am going to try and explain how "the wall" works in this industry.

With very hard work and a bit of talent anyone can still increase their earning from a standing start for several years, I would say around 5. But images have a shelf life. Across a portfolio typically an image or a set of images will make returns in the pattern of 5,4,3,2,1 for the first five years. You can see this in articles from the people that made "stock performer", you can see it yourself if you have a large portfolio and a stats package to accurately break down your earnings across all sites. There are very few individual images that are exceptions to this rule, and no large portfolios.

If you look at calendar years sometimes it can appear that the pattern is something like 4,5,4,3,2,1, but this is misleading; a product of the time of year the image is uploaded. If I uploaded an image in June year 1 would only have 6 full months to perform in the first calendar year.

So now imagine that you upload the same number of images every year. Year one you make an income of "5", year two you make 5+4 (the returns from new images uploaded plus 4 from the images from the previous year) year three 5+4+3  and so on you get the pattern 5, 9, 12, 14, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15. You hit a “wall” at earnings of 15 (whatever monetary value that is for you based on your image quality and upload rate).

Improving image quality or upload numbers can theoretically push the wall back a couple of years, but the reality is all your competitors are doing the same thing and libraries are growing too fast, so income will slide.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: pancaketom on September 09, 2014, 10:34
What I think some people are missing is good or bad portfolio there were some sudden drops in income for some folks. I think that this is due to some search changes that hit older more stable portfolios rather than any targeted changes designed to hit older contributors (but had someone at SS pointed out that these changes would hurt established ports I don't think that they would have cared). Changes that would tend to hurt older portfolios are things like penalizing older images, smaller images, etc. Also the location based search could have severe consequences for someone not located near a major market or who is not located near where their previous buyers were. Those severe drops layered on top of the relatively easy early success and the continued competition with the massive expansion of the SS total image tally can make it appear that SS is targeting long time contributors with older ports.

Personally 2012 was my best year despite adding a fair number of images since then (but not keeping pace with the % added to SS as a whole).  I also saw my best selling image go from the first line in the first page in search to somewhere in the middle of the second page one day (for a single word search with over 700 pages of results). Had I had a lot more images with similar placement in search that change would have been much more severe to my overall earnings.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: gimages on September 09, 2014, 10:46
thanks man,it's been awhile. :)
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Valo on September 09, 2014, 11:34
Another abysmal day. I think we are being outpaced faster than we can imagine. I remember they were adding 70K images per week, now its 350k images per week. More than a million per month. Shutterstock just doesnt need to give us raise, they hold all the cards. Even if 10,000 contributors pull their portfolios, they still have plenty. They are in control now and they will never have any reason to give us a raise. And I have no illusion of ever increasing my earnings by adding more images. If I add 100 today, Shutterstock will add 50,000. It is amazing really, those numbers are staggering.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Nikovsk on September 09, 2014, 11:44
My two best sellers which used to sell 2-3 times every day were pushed down the search.
Not thrilled about it, they should come up with the best algorithm and leave it like that.

The search should change slowly according to sales and not with these sudden changes.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: Rinderart on September 09, 2014, 12:40
Well.... I knew I would step on some toes... And I might again... I just hope you understand that I am not willingly trying to insult people.

You take Rinderart as a sample. I have looked at his portfolio and yes he is a good photographer but I also see many images that are looking outdated and with bad Photoshop cut outs and fake backgrounds were you can see they are pasted and look fake. All those images now have better alternatives that were not there 5 years ago. And there just is not much demand for art and portraits. A few years back there was less competition so he would sell more since there were not so many alternatives. But at this point there are so many more commercial images that will sell better

I also am a buyer so that is my advantage. I know what I want so that is what I shoot. I buy images every month on Shutterstock and if I look at this portfolio there is just not so much that I could use. This portfolio is to artistic and not commercial so there is the exact reason for sales going down. No cap, no wall, no algorithms. Just a portfolio with quality images but not very commercial and loosing from fresh commercial looking images.

Being a photographer for 10, 20 or even 50 years or having 5000 plus images does not make someone a better stock photographer or photographer even. I was not lying about my income and there are members on this forum I have shown my statistics. Stock is about knowing the market, knowing what sells and what is in demand. Not just shooting images and putting them online.

So I'm sorry. But looking at this particular portfolio I still understand why sales are going down for him. (Sorry Rinder I mean no offense just being honest)

Love the honesty. But why was my stuff outdated in 2 weeks? Got an answer for that. And we all have some crap in our ports and thanks for the critique, I would Like the honor to critique yours also. pls. you can put it in a PM if ya want. I wanna see what one of  the best is, Or successful  at least for penny stock.
Title: Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
Post by: leaf on September 09, 2014, 14:42
sorry this thread has gotten out of control.  I've now locked it and will remove the insulting posts.