No, they didn't.
To be honest, I don't understand how people come up with such weird conspiracy theories in the first place. It's becoming a habit here.

Since Elan Musk hasn't completely shot up the Shutterstock headquarters with his lasers from space, downloads are completely normal, revenue in January is expectedly poor.

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on January 14, 2025, 14:55

No, they didn't.
To be honest, I don't understand how people come up with such weird conspiracy theories in the first place. It's becoming a habit here.

Since Elan Musk hasn't completely shot up the Shutterstock headquarters with his lasers from space, downloads are completely normal, revenue in January is expectedly poor.

My sales are up and I found one of my images, first in a search, there's obviously some unfair manipulation going on there! 

I'm genuinely surprised by the low figures from Shutterstock and Pond5 this January. Considering their business practices, I can't help but wonder if they might be manipulating the numbers or hiding sales�but is that even possible?

I'm experiencing a drop of around 70% compared to the same month last year. Is anyone else noticing something similar?
 

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on January 15, 2025, 18:59

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 15, 2025, 14:53

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on January 14, 2025, 14:55

No, they didn't.
To be honest, I don't understand how people come up with such weird conspiracy theories in the first place. It's becoming a habit here.

Since Elan Musk hasn't completely shot up the Shutterstock headquarters with his lasers from space, downloads are completely normal, revenue in January is expectedly poor.

My sales are up and I found one of my images, first in a search, there's obviously some unfair manipulation going on there! 

No Pete, this is not manipulation. I have personally noticed that downloads increase when you dance naked around a public fountain in winter.
I'll submit photos later 

Please don't, just imagining that scene is scaring me. 

I generally sacrifice chickens, under a Full Moon. (others call it grilling BBQ Wings, but close enough?) I burn offerings to the all powerful and wise God of Microstock, Hephaestus, who is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.


Also covering other options, I celebrate Saturnalia, with a Scotch tasting festival, near the winter solstice.

Charms are also something that everyone should have and use, for good luck. The rabbits foot is extremely powerful for more illustration downloads.

Quote from: Video1977 on January 14, 2025, 09:08

I'm genuinely surprised by the low figures from Shutterstock and Pond5 this January. Considering their business practices, I can't help but wonder if they might be manipulating the numbers or hiding sales�but is that even possible?

I'm experiencing a drop of around 70% compared to the same month last year. Is anyone else noticing something similar?
 

Very easy to do programatically. Its literally a couple lines of code, and yes - that is a risk you have selling on a 3rd party platform.

Easy way to test - get several friends to purchase several of your assets. If you are not credited with ALL the sales, then yes - they are manipulating the numbers.

I believe someone (here) had done that 1-2 years ago with shitterstock (& posted the results), and came to the conclusion that shitterstock was indeed keeping/hiding some sales. You should be able to do a search and find that.

Quote from: Video1977 on January 16, 2025, 18:20

Quote from: SuperPhoto on January 16, 2025, 16:11

Quote from: Video1977 on January 14, 2025, 09:08

I'm genuinely surprised by the low figures from Shutterstock and Pond5 this January. Considering their business practices, I can't help but wonder if they might be manipulating the numbers or hiding sales�but is that even possible?

I'm experiencing a drop of around 70% compared to the same month last year. Is anyone else noticing something similar?
 

Very easy to do programatically. Its literally a couple lines of code, and yes - that is a risk you have selling on a 3rd party platform.

Easy way to test - get several friends to purchase several of your assets. If you are not credited with ALL the sales, then yes - they are manipulating the numbers.

I believe someone (here) had done that 1-2 years ago with shitterstock (& posted the results), and came to the conclusion that shitterstock was indeed keeping/hiding some sales. You should be able to do a search and find that.

Interesting...

Someone CLAIMED that he knew someone who ran a test and they claimed that they didn't receive credit for all the downloads, but they were waiting to check the data in case there was a delay. In other words, no one had anything except someone on FB who said it happened.

Sorry about having a little fun, jezz.

The only people who see manipulation of earnings are the ones who have lower sales than they think they should have. Anyone who's sales are up, doesn't claim there's any manipulation or favoritism, because that persons sales are up. Get it? I wasn't lying, my images are 1st in some searches and on another I'm 2,3,5 on the first page. One more, I see my images, depending on the variety of the exact search, moving around, but six are on the first page.

According to the conspiracy people, I am getting biased position and an unfair advantage. People with lower sales, of course will claim, it's some software manipulation.

In truth, I think it's just what it is and since my images that got better position, have sold or have a different view from the spammed, multiple other images, I got better rank. No conspiracy. (Of course I'd deny the conspiracy, because it's favoring me...)

I'm seeing more than a few reports of contributors reporting very poor earnings this month on Shutterstock. My earnings are 4.35x more on Adobe Stock than Shutterstock so far this month / year. Shutterstock has really gone downhill over the past year and seems it has dropped off another ledge since the start of 2025.

I'm certainly one of the people who would report exceptionally poor earnings this month and I'm on target for the worst month there since 2009. Adobe is currently 3 times higher in earnings, and usually, Shutterstock and Adobe are neck and neck.

Part of this is due to the level reset, and January last year was also poor until I got back to level 4, but the download numbers are lower by about 30%.

I'm sure that Shutterstock report sales, and whilst I also have a good number of images in top search positions, I do see that mine are mostly being pushed down by AI coming up to the top.

The cynic in me assumes that this is advantageous to them, as they can turn a blind eye, get the income, and then close down these portfolios, allowing them to keep 100% of the profit.

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on January 14, 2025, 14:55

No, they didn't.
To be honest, I don't understand how people come up with such weird conspiracy theories in the first place. It's becoming a habit here.

Since Elan Musk hasn't completely shot up the Shutterstock headquarters with his lasers from space, downloads are completely normal, revenue in January is expectedly poor.

Lol - why do you call anything you personally don't agree with a "conspiracy theory", and on top of that - not offer ANY intelligent discourse, other than labelling it as such? It would be like someone trying to discredit anything & everything you say by simply saying "Oh, there is ralf again, the left wing nut, yada yada yada, spouting his left wing nut nonsense". ARE you a left wing nut - and do you prefer just name calling? OR... are you capable of intelligent discourse?