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Author Topic: Is it possible that we don't see every sale?  (Read 6773 times)

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« on: July 05, 2016, 14:56 »
0
I entered Image Gallery Status on Shutterstock and sortet them by total purchases and this is what shows up. It's happened with two images. I know it's still in beta so I also checked for them in my gallery and in most popular they are in zone with pictures with one download, but they have zero. Then I entered undiscovered folder in gallery and they weren't there so they are probably downloaded at least once but I can't see it, or get money from it. I emailed to support about it but I didn't get any answer.

Does anybody else had problem like this? And does anybody know what it is about?


« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2016, 16:01 »
0
I have this script for sale stats for single images, and number of sales is different from, what SS stats page says......

« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2016, 16:56 »
+2
Of course it's possible that sales don't show up - we place a huge amount of trust in the agencies to do what they say they are doing. However, if they ever got caught deliberately not reporting sales, the blowback would be huge, so I'm guessing that for the larger agencies all we will see are (a) mistakes because of software failures or (b) delays in reporting because of varying timetables for updates.

I think the image stats says it's updated once a day, but may not always be that frequent. With the iOS app, I see that when an image sells for the first time, it shows up in the day's sales, but if you click on the thumbnail to look at the details (upload date and number of downloads plus a larger picture) you will see 0 downloads.

You'd think the app would add the sale it's reporting to the total from prior days, but it clearly doesn't. I don't know how quickly those stats update.

SS said in its last quarterly report that it was revamping all its software, so possibly these quirks will go away once they're done. Or like the forever-in-beta image stats feature, it'll just lumber along unchanged

« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2016, 19:13 »
0
I'm not thinking that they are doing this on purpose, cause if they are they won't let us to find it this easy. I think its probably some kind of bug that they don't know of, or more likely they do know but are to lasy to fix it since its working for them.

Also its standing like that for more than two weeks I think (for both images) so I doubt that it's becuase it is some delay in showing.

I'm new in this and I'm on SS for just a month and my biggest worry right now is what if this continue to happen, next year it could be 20 or 200 bugs like this per month if my donwloads rise.

And worst part is I don't know to whom to talk about this since they don't answer emails.

« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2016, 19:49 »
0
And worst part is I don't know to whom to talk about this since they don't answer emails.

In my experience they do answer, eventually. If you can be very specific about what you've seen - especially with screen captures, dates and other details - I'm guessing it'll increase the odds of getting somewhere. I assume it's you that posted in their Technical Issues forum - different user name but sounds like a similar problem.

One thing I think you may be missing is that there is no sort by downloads for the customer side of the site - just popularity, which isn't the same thing (some sort of weighted measure of recent sales). They frequently get the order of things messed up, so I'm not sure that sort order is enough to assume missing sales - could just be a bug.

« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2016, 21:04 »
0
I inquired about this from SS help some time before. They directed me to this page:

To help you analyze how your individual images are doing we have launched Image Gallery Stats which can be found under the header "Insights" to show the total downloads and earnings in relation to the keywords that were used for each image search.

Please be aware that Image Gallery Stats include information that is not visible in your Earnings Summary, like re-downloads or free watermarked comp images. Download history of free comp images will help you see how successful certain keywords are, even if they do not generate earnings for you.

It is therefor normal for some downloads to show in Image Gallery Stats, but not in your Earnings Summary so it is advised to use your Image Gallery Stats to analyze keywords and image popularity, but not your earnings.

« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2016, 21:22 »
0
This is why I assume they've left it as a beta, the bugs in the image count. I have two images that appear out of order. It's weird, but the page is still pretty well setup and  easier to use than iStock.

« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2016, 21:39 »
0

Of course it's possible that sales don't show up - we place a huge amount of trust in the agencies to do what they say they are doing. However, if they ever got caught deliberately not reporting sales, the blowback would be huge, so I'm guessing that for the larger agencies all we will see are (a) mistakes because of software failures or (b) delays in reporting because of varying timetables for updates.

I think the image stats says it's updated once a day, but may not always be that frequent. With the iOS app, I see that when an image sells for the first time, it shows up in the day's sales, but if you click on the thumbnail to look at the details (upload date and number of downloads plus a larger picture) you will see 0 downloads.

You'd think the app would add the sale it's reporting to the total from prior days, but it clearly doesn't. I don't know how quickly those stats update.

SS said in its last quarterly report that it was revamping all its software, so possibly these quirks will go away once they're done. Or like the forever-in-beta image stats feature, it'll just lumber along unchanged

Just curious, are you a shutterstock staff member?


died from overdrawn

angelawaye

  • Eat, Sleep, Keyword. Repeat

« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2016, 21:53 »
+1
Well, I will tell you this, I had a video sale for .28 cents or something and it seemed very odd so I emailed them. It took a couple of weeks to get back to me and they said it was some kind of glitch and credited me the $20 or so dollars for the video.

So definitely pay attention to video sales ... if I did not pay attention and look (daily) I may have never seen that "mistake" ...

« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2016, 22:36 »
+1


Just curious, are you a shutterstock staff member?


died from overdrawn
No. Have never worked for them or any agency. Why would you think I was staff?

After Scott Braut left, SS  doesn't come here any more

Rinderart

« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2016, 00:00 »
0
Correct, I keep getting that question also. I did work for another agency 2006/2009 But not SS. And would never. Job security is not very stable there and probably being told to keep My mouth shut wouldn't suit me to well.

« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2016, 03:20 »
+1
Can anyone remember just how long this has been in "beta" seems like forever to me. Surely an improved version would help contributors knowing whats in demand

Chichikov

« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2016, 03:37 »
0
Can anyone remember just how long this has been in "beta" seems like forever to me. Surely an improved version would help contributors knowing whats in demand

Beta is absolutely normal.
Today every software you use is still in beta

MacOs is in beta
Windows is in beta
Photoshop is in beta
Even your camera firmware is in beta.

« Reply #13 on: July 06, 2016, 04:04 »
+1
Well, I will tell you this, I had a video sale for .28 cents or something and it seemed very odd so I emailed them. It took a couple of weeks to get back to me and they said it was some kind of glitch and credited me the $20 or so dollars for the video.

So definitely pay attention to video sales ... if I did not pay attention and look (daily) I may have never seen that "mistake" ...

I can only imagine how many glitches like that may go unnoticed, especially with the photos. I have quite a few that I saw downloaded but the Image Stats still show 0 and I'm not sure whether those earnings are accounted for or it's just the inaccuracy of the Stats.

« Reply #14 on: July 06, 2016, 04:09 »
0
Well, I will tell you this, I had a video sale for .28 cents or something and it seemed very odd so I emailed them. It took a couple of weeks to get back to me and they said it was some kind of glitch and credited me the $20 or so dollars for the video.

So definitely pay attention to video sales ... if I did not pay attention and look (daily) I may have never seen that "mistake" ...

I can only imagine how many glitches like that may go unnoticed, especially with the photos. I have quite a few that I saw downloaded but the Image Stats still show 0 and I'm not sure whether those earnings are accounted for or it's just the inaccuracy of the Stats.

https://www.shutterstock.com/contributorsupport/articles/en_US/kbat02/000006570

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #15 on: July 06, 2016, 07:31 »
+1
Well, I will tell you this, I had a video sale for .28 cents or something and it seemed very odd so I emailed them. It took a couple of weeks to get back to me and they said it was some kind of glitch and credited me the $20 or so dollars for the video.

So definitely pay attention to video sales ... if I did not pay attention and look (daily) I may have never seen that "mistake" ...

You're by no means the only one, so a +100 to the advice to keep constantly checking.

« Reply #16 on: July 19, 2016, 11:19 »
0
OK it happened again, two times. Now I have four "downloads" that aren't reported. I would like if some of you guys would check for something similar in you image status, anyone else noticing anything like this?

I know it's probably false alarm but it's driving me crazy since I don't know what's going on with that and SS doesn't answer on mail I've sent them.

If this happened to me four times and I had 60 downloads in total (started two months ago) how many times that could happen to you guys who has 6000 or 60000 downloads in total? 400 times, or 4000 times? I really hope it's false alarm but it's driving me nuts since no one can tell me what is actually going on. People say it could be late showing but for the first image I noticed that a month ago and its still standing the same.


« Reply #17 on: July 19, 2016, 15:43 »
0
It happens to me too - some pictures with a lower number of downloads are higher up than those with a bigger one.

What Im also concerned about is when I go to Catalog Manager and in the top right corner the number of downloads for this month is double the number reported on the main submitter page/month overview. Does the CM number include downloads that were cancelled or something?

« Reply #18 on: July 19, 2016, 15:50 »
0
For me in Catalog Manager says monthly downloads but it shows total downloads (well from two months).

But I think that this could be real problem, they are probably not trying to steal from us (or they do but leave no easy traces like this) but it could be some bugs that happens which prevents us from getting out money and since no one answer the mail I really don't have idea what to do about it.

« Reply #19 on: July 19, 2016, 15:59 »
+1
your sales are reported here http://submit.shutterstock.com/stats.mhtml

dont look at the gallery, thats not the place where they report sales, if you get a reply from ss they will tell you the same

if ss was under reporting sales, it would have been a shitstorm ages ago, the fact that this thread only has 18 replies, half of them off topic, tells you that there is nothing to worry about


« Reply #20 on: July 19, 2016, 16:05 »
0
Well there aren't shown there.
And I hope you are right about that.

« Reply #21 on: July 20, 2016, 00:52 »
+1
The fact is, that I found one of my images on calendar, and at the bottom it says, it was from shutterstock. Yet my stats show 0 dl-for that image. I even went day by day back to check, and didn't see any sales for that image...

« Reply #22 on: July 20, 2016, 02:20 »
0
i wonder how people get their hands on so much weed to photograph

« Reply #23 on: July 20, 2016, 07:19 »
+1
The fact is, that I found one of my images on calendar, and at the bottom it says, it was from shutterstock. Yet my stats show 0 dl-for that image. I even went day by day back to check, and didn't see any sales for that image...

Well looks like stuff like that is possible. Or maybe I'm going totally paranoid? Don't know what to think, its probably that I'm paranoid but who knows. Did you ever checked that with SS?

« Reply #24 on: July 20, 2016, 08:16 »
0
The fact is, that I found one of my images on calendar, and at the bottom it says, it was from shutterstock. Yet my stats show 0 dl-for that image. I even went day by day back to check, and didn't see any sales for that image...

Well looks like stuff like that is possible. Or maybe I'm going totally paranoid? Don't know what to think, its probably that I'm paranoid but who knows. Did you ever checked that with SS?

I didn't.


 

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