Author Topic: How I got from 400 sales a day to 130 (Read 3469 times)

BelieveInStock · « **on:** April 03, 2020, 02:43 »

I've been a contributor for 12 years now. I do it full time and upload quality photos and illustrations.

In the peak time (2016) I used to have 400 downloads a day on Shutterstock. A year ago I was happy with 200-250 downloads. These days I am getting about 130 downloads a day. DESPITE regular uploads.

I am aware of the Covid19 situation, but how is it possible the downfall is strong ? On the contrary I am getting record sales on Adobe.

Has Shutterstock fell so much for you as well ?

PS: my username was created some years ago, it's meaning may no longer be true

Bad Robot · « **Reply #1 on:** April 03, 2020, 02:53 »

As of November 2019 my revenue dropped by 40% even though oddly the number of downloads has not.

They did something and they aren't telling us.

MicroVet · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2020, 03:22 »

I also have an abrupt drop in the number of sales. But the drop in the income is even more worrying. Not only the value received for the EL's is much lower, it has become almost non-existent. The Single & Others only sell by small values contrary to the beginning where I had sales for $100, $60 and so on.

The quality of the images uploaded almost doesn't matter has to produce good images I cannot focus on large quantities. So, when they become available for search the images enter immediately into the 10th page of the Fresh Content becoming invisible in the midst of all those spamming trash SS now accepts that it's downgrading their collection.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2020, 04:41 »

Increased competition from other contributors (both quality and quantity), market saturation, the industry's race to the bottom which reduces the number of OD and Enhanced License sales, corona crisis, commission cuts....So there you have it.

Horizon · « **Reply #4 on:** April 03, 2020, 04:57 »

Quote from: Bad Robot on April 03, 2020, 02:53

As of November 2019 my revenue dropped by 40% even though oddly the number of downloads has not.

They did something and they aren't telling us.

Same here and been with them since 2005. in 2010 they started to find ways of manipulating the search in order to gain as much as possible. In 2015 they started to drop older contributors to give way to new members and calling it a "fair chance " for them to earn some money and as you say in 2018-19 they stared to aim and nurse countries where lets say 4 dollars could get you through a whole day. That way the members from these countries started to upload like crazy, quantity and quantity became the name of the game. Quality went out the window!.....of course a saturated market with millions of members all fighting for a buck just adds to the misery. Nowadays I just let my portfolio hang in there and earn what it can any uploading is just futile.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #5 on:** April 03, 2020, 05:00 »

1. Shutterstock made the mistake of showing total payout vs total new content making it easy to plot graphs. What it showed was that in previous years payout was increasing more than image library size by percentage. In recent years things have shifted crazily in the other direction. I mean it is nuts how much the collection grows each year now. This just isn't sustainable anymore and is unmanageable by the agencies who are seeing a huge volume of spam and outright stolen work appearing on the site.

2. Total downloads in the market seem to have been pretty stable for a while from where I'm sitting. Agencies claims of opening up new market have been total BS every time. So your increase in sales at Adobe could mean less downloads from SS too. This great news as AS has a better RPD (at least for me), but historically a lot of DLs have shifted to lower paying sites, unlimited DL models, partner sales (incl. fake "partner" sales on sites owned by the same agencies allowing double dipping into our cut), free sites etc.

3. Yes, coronavirus has been devastating to the last few weeks too, and likely to get worse as subscriptions run out and aren't renewed and more of our business buyers go under.

HalfFull · « **Reply #6 on:** April 03, 2020, 06:13 »

With coronavirus, I'm seeing Shutterstock dropping fast but Adobe Stock is remaining very strong... it's almost as if SS has lost its clients to them.

pics2 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2020, 07:53 »

Quote from: HalfFull on April 03, 2020, 06:13

With coronavirus, I'm seeing Shutterstock dropping fast but Adobe Stock is remaining very strong... it's almost as if SS has lost its clients to them.

I'm not seeing that, SS is not dropping for me. Although, I would like to see Adobe stronger, or any other agency, since this domination of SS is not good for anybody except SS owners.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #8 on:** April 04, 2020, 08:07 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on April 03, 2020, 05:00

Agencies claims of opening up new market have been total BS every time.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 04, 2020, 21:20 »

SS has dropped quite a lot for me to less than half of what it used to be but i haven't uploaded much lately except in occasional spurts (like now when I'm home more). Adobe was a real bright spot for a while there and I thought they might overtake SS eventually but they have dropped like a rock the past few months. Last month I think they finished number 6 for me and are maybe fifth so far this month. They had been a solid number three for quite a while there but are now dropping back with the others. I do probably 35-40% editorial so that might be part of it, but they are now less than 50% of what they were 2-3 years ago. Too bad.

marthamarks · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2020, 00:08 »

Quote from: pics2 on April 04, 2020, 07:53

Quote from: HalfFull on April 03, 2020, 06:13
With coronavirus, I'm seeing Shutterstock dropping fast but Adobe Stock is remaining very strong... it's almost as if SS has lost its clients to them.
I'm not seeing that, SS is not dropping for me. Although, I would like to see Adobe stronger, or any other agency, since this domination of SS is not good for anybody except SS owners.

I'm not seeing that either. Lately, SS is surpassing AS for me in quite a significant way… everything from a (wow, surprise!) EL to quite a few more $2.70 commissions, to a whole lot more regular downloads.

I don't tend to add my data to the list on the right, but what I'm seeing with my own recent sales is tracking exactly with the SS vs AS data shown in the chart here.

Horizon · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2020, 09:31 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on April 04, 2020, 21:20

SS has dropped quite a lot for me to less than half of what it used to be but i haven't uploaded much lately except in occasional spurts (like now when I'm home more). Adobe was a real bright spot for a while there and I thought they might overtake SS eventually but they have dropped like a rock the past few months. Last month I think they finished number 6 for me and are maybe fifth so far this month. They had been a solid number three for quite a while there but are now dropping back with the others. I do probably 35-40% editorial so that might be part of it, but they are now less than 50% of what they were 2-3 years ago. Too bad.

Agree 100% Adobe started brilliant and then just faded away! but its been tested and Adobe also play the numbers game of quantity and giving all new members a premiere spot and all glory.

pics2 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 05, 2020, 10:43 »

Quote from: Horizon on April 05, 2020, 09:31

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on April 04, 2020, 21:20
SS has dropped quite a lot for me to less than half of what it used to be but i haven't uploaded much lately except in occasional spurts (like now when I'm home more). Adobe was a real bright spot for a while there and I thought they might overtake SS eventually but they have dropped like a rock the past few months. Last month I think they finished number 6 for me and are maybe fifth so far this month. They had been a solid number three for quite a while there but are now dropping back with the others. I do probably 35-40% editorial so that might be part of it, but they are now less than 50% of what they were 2-3 years ago. Too bad.

Agree 100% Adobe started brilliant and then just faded away! but its been tested and Adobe also play the numbers game of quantity and giving all new members a premiere spot and all glory.

That's not true for me. My Adobe numbers haven't dropped. You can't make conclusions about the agency in the whole just based on your, and few others, experience. I'm not saying they are not giving the new members an advantage, but we can't be sure.

ostill · « **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2020, 13:58 »

Same kind of story for me ...despite quality or whatever ... with the cover crisis it seem like a Sunday everyday ... regarding adobe before was Fotolia with a lot of costumers in Germany and northern europe countries with are less impacted by the virus ... and the second wave will reduce more download because Brazil and USA are yet into it but they will and they will pay more than the other countries which have confined sooner ...
I'm really pessimist for the future ... but all the world is asking the same question ... Hold tight because after should some revolts if not revolutions from people who lost everything ...

pancaketom · « **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2020, 16:26 »

Mostly what others have said above - supply vastly outstripping demand plus agencies either openly or somewhat shadily working to get a larger cut or funnel the sales to other things - eg offset at SS.

For me SS is well under half what it was, both in total downloads and especially in $. Almost no big sales at all (I think maybe 1 over $10 in the last year), and a lower percent of anything other than subs.

Adobe seems to have dropped more than SS recently, but my numbers are not enough to be particularly statistically valid.

in general I think the long slide to less income will continue - with a bigger dip from the pandemic coming. Hopefully the somewhat worldwide nature of this business dulls that hit.

Minsc · « **Reply #15 on:** April 05, 2020, 22:46 »

For some reason, my sales are up since the Coronavirus situation started. Had my BME on SS in March.

Artist · « **Reply #16 on:** April 06, 2020, 01:48 »

Quote from: Minsc on April 05, 2020, 22:46

For some reason, my sales are up since the Coronavirus situation started. Had my BME on SS in March.

Wow, thats great to hear, I am facing terrible month here.
What kind of content do you have in your portfolio?

thx9000 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 06, 2020, 04:18 »

I had great sales in jan, feb and partially march. Then at the end of march they removed the 'popular' button from the search options and my sales plummeted. Most relevant shows on first page some mediocre or downright awful looking stuff

thx9000 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 06, 2020, 04:21 »

Quote from: Minsc on April 05, 2020, 22:46

Had my BME on SS in March.

Same here in terms of number of downloads despite the decline at the end of the month

Lukeruk · « **Reply #19 on:** April 06, 2020, 05:15 »

Same thing happened in November 2016. Huge drop in sales on SS. I hope it is connected with corona, but I doubt because other agencies still not affected. Besides that many of you reporting BME, or at least great sales, so probably older contributors are pushed down in search.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #20 on:** April 06, 2020, 12:30 »

Quote from: Lukeruk on April 06, 2020, 05:15

Same thing happened in November 2016. Huge drop in sales on SS. I hope it is connected with corona, but I doubt because other agencies still not affected. Besides that many of you reporting BME, or at least great sales, so probably older contributors are pushed down in search.

No doubt about that, new files get a boost and better placement. If you upload new files, yours will also be pushed to the front for a time. If they don't get downloads, they will drop and drop.

madman · « **Reply #21 on:** April 06, 2020, 16:59 »

Quote from: BelieveInStock on April 03, 2020, 02:43

I've been a contributor for 12 years now. I do it full time and upload quality photos and illustrations.

In the peak time (2016) I used to have 400 downloads a day on Shutterstock. A year ago I was happy with 200-250 downloads. These days I am getting about 130 downloads a day. DESPITE regular uploads.

I am aware of the Covid19 situation, but how is it possible the downfall is strong ? On the contrary I am getting record sales on Adobe.

Has Shutterstock fell so much for you as well ?

PS: my username was created some years ago, it's meaning may no longer be true

wooowww 400 dl in one day, man, you must be so rich... 130 dl in one day is ten times more than my sales, even in this state, you have very good sales. enjoy with it.

pics2 · « **Reply #22 on:** April 07, 2020, 04:06 »

Quote from: madman on April 06, 2020, 16:59

Quote from: BelieveInStock on April 03, 2020, 02:43
I've been a contributor for 12 years now. I do it full time and upload quality photos and illustrations.

In the peak time (2016) I used to have 400 downloads a day on Shutterstock. A year ago I was happy with 200-250 downloads. These days I am getting about 130 downloads a day. DESPITE regular uploads.

I am aware of the Covid19 situation, but how is it possible the downfall is strong ? On the contrary I am getting record sales on Adobe.

Has Shutterstock fell so much for you as well ?

PS: my username was created some years ago, it's meaning may no longer be true

wooowww 400 dl in one day, man, you must be so rich... 130 dl in one day is ten times more than my sales, even in this state, you have very good sales. enjoy with it.

He can't enjoy with 130dl a day because he constantly reminds himself about 400dl/d

That's in human nature. Beside, imagine how much hard work is behind it. It didn't just fall down from the sky. And seeing that your hard work is not rewarded anymore is just adding to not being happy. But, you are right, despite all that he should be happy! Those are still good numbers!

madman · « **Reply #23 on:** April 07, 2020, 16:50 »

Quote from: pics2 on April 07, 2020, 04:06

Quote from: madman on April 06, 2020, 16:59
Quote from: BelieveInStock on April 03, 2020, 02:43
I've been a contributor for 12 years now. I do it full time and upload quality photos and illustrations.

In the peak time (2016) I used to have 400 downloads a day on Shutterstock. A year ago I was happy with 200-250 downloads. These days I am getting about 130 downloads a day. DESPITE regular uploads.

I am aware of the Covid19 situation, but how is it possible the downfall is strong ? On the contrary I am getting record sales on Adobe.

Has Shutterstock fell so much for you as well ?

PS: my username was created some years ago, it's meaning may no longer be true

wooowww 400 dl in one day, man, you must be so rich... 130 dl in one day is ten times more than my sales, even in this state, you have very good sales. enjoy with it.
He can't enjoy with 130dl a day because he constantly reminds himself about 400dl/d That's in human nature. Beside, imagine how much hard work is behind it. It didn't just fall down from the sky. And seeing that your hard work is not rewarded anymore is just adding to not being happy. But, you are right, despite all that he should be happy! Those are still good numbers!

I am same with you, 130 dl in one day is really great success these days, yes, BELIEVEME...GREAT!!!!!

Horizon · « **Reply #24 on:** April 07, 2020, 17:28 »

In a sense Adobe is worse then SS. Fotolia was great for me then came Adobe and wrecked a good agency. I had reached Emerald at Fotolia but that meant nothing when Adobe took over.

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Author Topic: How I got from 400 sales a day to 130 (Read 3469 times)

BelieveInStock

Bad Robot

MicroVet

Noedelhap

Horizon

Justanotherphotographer

HalfFull

pics2

Uncle Pete

sgoodwin4813

marthamarks

Horizon

pics2

ostill

pancaketom

Minsc

Artist

thx9000

thx9000

Lukeruk

Uncle Pete

madman

pics2

madman

Horizon

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