Author Topic: May sales drop dramatically? (Read 9675 times)

BigBubba · « **on:** May 08, 2020, 01:26 »

Hi,
8 days into May and it’s a whole new world of nothing for me. It’s not too early to call because my clear bar is a minimum 100$ in sales every day on SS Alone, including weekends and holidays. I’m aware of the new sub model and understand the impact on my earnings. But what I don’t understand is the massive Drop in number of sales, it’s like everything stopped.
During Covid19 March and April sales kept coming and I assumed that with the new sub plan my earnings will take a hit but not my downloads and definitely not that bad.

I’m on Stockperformer and I can tell that the entire market is taking a hit because even with my super low numbers my ranking is still in the top 25%, I learned to trust Stockperformer because even in my Best months I was still ranked at 82% meaning bigger earners were with me.

So what’s going on? Is it because of Covid-19 slowdown? People are just not buying? Lack of budget?
Algorithm changes wouldn’t pull everyone on Stockperformer down (the way I see it).

I would love to hear your thoughts about it, am I missing something?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BigBubba · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2020, 01:31 »

I would like to add that P5 is completely dead for me with 2 sales so far
AS is lower in the same rate as SS
And Vimeo reports a month later so I’m blind.

12K clips
6.5K images.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Snow · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2020, 02:46 »

I'm waiting for the same old replies like "it's the fierce competition", "your work just isn't good enough", "you lost touch with reality", "my sales are fantastic so everything is great", etc...

Those who want to teach this guy some lessons in stock keep in mind that he's talking about $100 a day, on SS alone, not $10 or $1. I have respect for all contributors because I feel for them, we're all in the same boat, well most of us anyway but I do not however have any respect for those who try to lecture others and have nothing to show for (portfolio/sales)

Don't expect any improvement Liorpt! It's a steep downhill for many of us but you must have already known this was coming. Expect some treats now and then to keep you happy and uploading but that's about it.

Take care!

Visualab · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2020, 02:54 »

I'm seeing a bit less sales on ss but pond5 and as are on average..obviously the reason is hard to know but i guess covid19 and its economic impact will affect all of us in some way...

BigBubba · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2020, 05:25 »

Quote from: Snow on May 08, 2020, 02:46

I'm waiting for the same old replies like "it's the fierce competition", "your work just isn't good enough", "you lost touch with reality", "my sales are fantastic so everything is great", etc...

Those who want to teach this guy some lessons in stock keep in mind that he's talking about $100 a day, on SS alone, not $10 or $1. I have respect for all contributors because I feel for them, we're all in the same boat, well most of us anyway but I do not however have any respect for those who try to lecture others and have nothing to show for (portfolio/sales)

Don't expect any improvement Liorpt! It's a steep downhill for many of us but you must have already known this was coming. Expect some treats now and then to keep you happy and uploading but that's about it.

Take care!

Thanks for the support.
I wish all the comments here will be BME or solid sales or even normal because then I’ll know that i can do something about it, adapt, change style/subject. I know how to adapt to trends and I love it when things are “my problem” cause it’s up to me to fix it or get lost. I reacted fast to Covid-19 and got nice sales instantly.

And when I said 100$ a day minimum I meant that even if you take Christmas Day, Labor Day, Easter and 4th of July, put them all on the same day that happens to be on a Sunday during Covid-19 and the entire WWW crash, I will still get at least 100$ a day on SS.

And lastly, it’s the lack of downloads that bother me, not the small income.

Thanks again for your support and I wish everyone here will get tons of sales, this will be a very very good sign for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

panicAttack · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2020, 05:37 »

same here, about 50% less earning then usual.

last month was pretty good to me, even better then April 2019

But May is very low.

JustAnImage · « **Reply #6 on:** May 08, 2020, 05:52 »

Same here with sales in may at about 40-50% of the "normal" numbers.
(AS and DT are low too for me)

Pauws99 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 08, 2020, 06:19 »

"I wish all the comments here will be BME or solid sales or even normal because then I’ll know that i can do something about it, adapt, change style/subject. I know how to adapt to trends and I love it when things are “my problem” cause it’s up to me to fix it or get lost" and that rather than whining about unfairness is why you normally achieve very high sales

JustAnImage · « **Reply #8 on:** May 08, 2020, 07:05 »

@pauws99:
Hmm... I don't see anyone whining here, just sharing information.
But good to see we have guys with your level of wisdom here ;-) Thanks for your helpful comment!

Pacesetter · « **Reply #9 on:** May 08, 2020, 07:47 »

I don't earn anywhere near the number of downloads and $$$ as many do, but there is an absolute clear drop in both downloads / $$$ for the first week of May. I'm just hoping the tide turns for the remaining part of the month. I say I hope for this because I have seen a couple of posts elsewhere which show good sales.

ShadySue · « **Reply #10 on:** May 08, 2020, 08:38 »

Quote from: JustAnImage on May 08, 2020, 07:05

@pauws99:
Hmm... I don't see anyone whining here, just sharing information.
But good to see we have guys with your level of wisdom here ;-) Thanks for your helpful comment!

You misread Paw's tone.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #11 on:** May 08, 2020, 08:41 »

We are heading into the worst recession of our lifetimes. Advertising spends are going to drop off massively. It takes a month for subscriptions to end, some may even have been downloading more last couple of weeks to make the most of their spend or to stock pile for the lean times ahead shielding us from the impact for a while.

Even facebook etc are reporting drops in ad revenue already.

If you think it's bad now wait a couple of months...

BigBubba · « **Reply #12 on:** May 08, 2020, 08:51 »

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on May 08, 2020, 08:41

We are heading into the worst recession of our lifetimes. Advertising spends are going to drop off massively. It takes a month for subscriptions to end, some may even have been downloading more last couple of weeks to make the most of their spend or to stock pile for the lean times ahead shielding us from the impact for a while.

Even facebook etc are reporting drops in ad revenue already.

If you think it's bad now wait a couple of months...

So, you’re saying that the impact for contributors is just now starting to hit?
Sounds logic.
Do you also think that the market will see better days soon because everyone will need marketing/branding clips and images?

By the way, I’m a Big supporter of SS, I think they, like us try to figure out how to keep this market alive.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

steheap · « **Reply #13 on:** May 08, 2020, 09:10 »

I'm maybe down a little over the start of April, but there was the May day bank holidays in Europe, particularly, which gave me a slow start on the first day or two. I don't get $100 a day from Shutterstock, but have enough to see the trends.

But I do agree that this is not going to get better soon although it does depend on your portfolio, I guess.

Steve

JustAnImage · « **Reply #14 on:** May 08, 2020, 09:58 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 08, 2020, 08:38

Quote from: JustAnImage on May 08, 2020, 07:05
@pauws99:
Hmm... I don't see anyone whining here, just sharing information.
But good to see we have guys with your level of wisdom here ;-) Thanks for your helpful comment!
You misread Paw's tone.

If I did, I apologize!

angelawaye · « **Reply #15 on:** May 08, 2020, 10:37 »

It's not too bad for me so far. I deleted half my portfolio after they forced the Sensitive Use terms onto our portfolios so I was expecting much worse. It was going down even before the pandemic though.

cascoly · « **Reply #16 on:** May 08, 2020, 23:46 »

down about 50% from already low year so far - other troubling signs - junk mail decline giving joy to my mailman and robocalls near zero!

Pauws99 · « **Reply #17 on:** May 09, 2020, 01:19 »

Quote from: JustAnImage on May 08, 2020, 07:05

@pauws99:
Hmm... I don't see anyone whining here, just sharing information.
But good to see we have guys with your level of wisdom here ;-) Thanks for your helpful comment!

Not on this thread...but if you have been on here a while you will know what I mean.

Artist · « **Reply #18 on:** May 09, 2020, 01:25 »

May is going very poor. SS have dropped drastically

gnirtS · « **Reply #19 on:** May 09, 2020, 02:54 »

April dropped off massively to me and May looks to tracking April almost identically.Its 50-60% down on average so far.
Not just on SS but on AS etc. My AS rank doesnt seem to have changed so im guessing its a theme for most people.

A lot is going to depend on content. If, like me, most content is travel and outdoor related im guessing not many people or advertisers are buying that or using that content at the moment...

Pauws99 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2020, 03:10 »

Looking ahead a lot will depend if and by how much companies cut costs and drop their contracts or simply go bust. We may even see a short boost if they buy as much as possible before dropping them. It would be optimistic to put it mildly to think that a world wide recession will not serverely impact this industry in the short/medium term. This situation is pretty unprecedented so anyone's guess how much and how long.

StanRohrer · « **Reply #21 on:** May 09, 2020, 10:43 »

Typing without historical notes here - so my opinion may be all wrong. I think during the 2008 recession the macro stock sales tanked pretty quickly. Big businesses didn't buy the high priced stuff. Micro stock sales went up, at least for a short while, as big business bought the cheaper images. In a sense the whole market shifted down a category and the lower buyers no longer bought.
This time I think the recession hit so fast that the whole stock image market has been hit across the board. As said above, the remaining buyers may be using up the last of the current monthly subscription and then bailing out. So we have a few lingering sales. But with businesses not only short on money, they also have laid off the workers who would otherwise be buying stock images. Projects that need images, buyers to get images, money to buy images, are all gone at the moment. I expect a serious drought of image sales worldwide.

I think the recovery side will be slow. Projects will eventually come back as companies reopen - but at different scale and with much lower spend rates. Employees will eventually come back to make businesses run and to buy images. However, the budget disaster of temporarily or permanently closed businesses will depress the image transactions for quite some time. Micro stock will start selling before higher macro stock. Though, today, pricing is not as separated as in the past so macro stock will still rise to a fair degree. So the big concern is how long it will take to get companies back open. (Something like 80% of businesses in Ohio, USA, should be open within this month - but we don't know how scared customers will be to visit, while wearing masks and taking precautions). And then, how long until image needing projects get restarted and purchase money is available. I figure July to August would be early for companies to get their feet back under them and start to make some projections for future projects. Maybe our sales could start a meager recovery as we go into September. Then let's hope the world can avoid a rebound of the virus and another round of shutdowns.

All above is novice guess work on my part. I'm not an economist and do not play one on TV. As an image supplier, I have to cut all arbitrary spending and try to catch up of the recurring bills. When Adobe went to monthly plans, this type of very small business low cash situation was my significant concern to get on board. I keep a fully paid old copy of Photoshop in my computer so I can avoid the recurring fees and still get my editing done.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #22 on:** May 09, 2020, 11:10 »

About 50% down all-for stills. Clips is OK with 3 so far this month (at $20 a piece) so on pace for a good month.

medveh · « **Reply #23 on:** May 09, 2020, 14:32 »

April was good and May is a bit better than normal for me so far, I suppose it's because I adopted to Covid in time as well and managed to achieve good ranking with some files that still last. But the theory about companies downloading more while subscription lasts to "stock pile for the lean times" makes sense to me. Let's hope the upcoming recession won't hurt the microstock industry too bad and won't last too long.

Rasika · « **Reply #24 on:** May 09, 2020, 16:27 »

I am selling 70% of my usual (video), but I hardly can see any 20$ and up sales.
Most of them are 3-10$

Rasika · « **Reply #25 on:** May 09, 2020, 16:40 »

pond5 is dead for me for a long time. Sometimes it summons and gives a good month, but then dies back. In the past pond5 have been very good for me, it was selling the same amount as SS and sometimes even more, but then suddenly in one day everything dropped at about 80-90% about a year ago and since then never recovered.
Adobe always been low seller for me except this January which was surprisingly really good, with lots of 4k sales and then again everything stopped almost completely.
So far May is dry, but I never conclude a month before it ends. April also been very dry at the beginning, but then towards the middle I had some surprisingly good sales on SS
(yet, about 1k lower than my average for the past half year.)

Minsc · « **Reply #26 on:** May 10, 2020, 03:59 »

I think a lot of companies are just cutting back and some are canceling microstock subscriptions or reducing budget.

My sales are down 5% to 10%. I would be down more if it wasn’t buoyed by Coronavirus-themed content. With companies like Lyft, Uber and AirBnB laying off people and reducing marketing department headcount, they’re also probably cutting budgets.

This will be new normal until the economy rebounds again, but things will probably get worse better it gets better.

Ronib · « **Reply #27 on:** May 10, 2020, 09:37 »

The situation is not simple.
I feel it on daily basis.

stockman11 · « **Reply #28 on:** May 11, 2020, 03:09 »

May almost dead for me. And the whole this year so far SS is worse for me than the previous 2 years.

cascoly · « **Reply #29 on:** May 12, 2020, 17:19 »

even with a terrible may, ms income will cover all my foreign travel for the rest of 2020 (and probably beyond)!

skysense · « **Reply #30 on:** May 13, 2020, 02:37 »

For me:

SS is above average for first half of May. Will see how it goes till the end. January and February were disaster on SS, but it came back from March, topping average in May.
P5 where i have most of my portfolio slowed last few months.
AS very slow as usual, but kinda warming up in 2020.

Do you guys sell somewhere else, and if yes where?

I sold on few more platforms, but removed files and accounts (storyblocks, dreamstime, motionelements..)

stockmarketer · « **Reply #31 on:** May 13, 2020, 02:59 »

For me... April, and May so far, tracking nearly identical to 2019. So I guess everyone's mileage may vary.

(Been doing micro since 2008. Large port of both stills and video.)

MadPhotos · « **Reply #32 on:** May 13, 2020, 03:07 »

Well, its normal for me sales went down around 50% in first week of may but picking up now. Im in stock only 3 years now but i learned that everything can happen. Lets remember what we sell and to whom. I live in Austria and almost everything is opened back, 15th of May restaurants will be opened.
BUT Im not selling everything on Austrian market so need to take for account what is going on in every country im selling in photos.

Solution? Just keep creating new stuff and wait like we always do.

Visualab · « **Reply #33 on:** May 13, 2020, 03:25 »

Quote from: skysense on May 13, 2020, 02:37

For me:

SS is above average for first half of May. Will see how it goes till the end. January and February were disaster on SS, but it came back from March, topping average in May.
P5 where i have most of my portfolio slowed last few months.
AS very slow as usual, but kinda warming up in 2020.

Do you guys sell somewhere else, and if yes where? I sold on few more platforms, but removed files and accounts (storyblocks, dreamstime, motionelements..)

May i ask you why did you close your account on storyblock and motionelements??

skysense · « **Reply #34 on:** May 13, 2020, 04:18 »

Quote from: Visualab on May 13, 2020, 03:25

Quote from: skysense on May 13, 2020, 02:37
For me:

SS is above average for first half of May. Will see how it goes till the end. January and February were disaster on SS, but it came back from March, topping average in May.
P5 where i have most of my portfolio slowed last few months.
AS very slow as usual, but kinda warming up in 2020.

Do you guys sell somewhere else, and if yes where? I sold on few more platforms, but removed files and accounts (storyblocks, dreamstime, motionelements..)

May i ask you why did you close your account on storyblock and motionelements??

Well Storyblocks closed themselves because of their own marketplace. Motionelements was super slow (only few sales in 2-3 years) with some new licensing or whatever "promotions" that i didn't like, so i went away.

Are you on those platforms?

HalfFull · « **Reply #35 on:** May 13, 2020, 04:59 »

Well, after a quieter March at SS, April was good and May has started strong. AS has been very good all year, 4 figure sales. Alamy has been slow... and very slow for them clearing funds. IS seemed ok last month, 30% down but they do fluctuate at times.

As Europe wakes from lockdown, it will be interesting to see if they have a summer break this year... normally a lot of places shut up for Jul & Aug. May well stay open this year to try and catch/make up for the 1st half of the year.

Visualab · « **Reply #36 on:** May 13, 2020, 12:58 »

Quote from: skysense on May 13, 2020, 04:18

Quote from: Visualab on May 13, 2020, 03:25
Quote from: skysense on May 13, 2020, 02:37
For me:

SS is above average for first half of May. Will see how it goes till the end. January and February were disaster on SS, but it came back from March, topping average in May.
P5 where i have most of my portfolio slowed last few months.
AS very slow as usual, but kinda warming up in 2020.

Do you guys sell somewhere else, and if yes where? I sold on few more platforms, but removed files and accounts (storyblocks, dreamstime, motionelements..)

May i ask you why did you close your account on storyblock and motionelements??

Well Storyblocks closed themselves because of their own marketplace. Motionelements was super slow (only few sales in 2-3 years) with some new licensing or whatever "promotions" that i didn't like, so i went away.

Are you on those platforms?

No way!!! i only submit to agencies that pay me fair and don't give away my work for free...i'm not in any unlimited download subscription plan...

alexandersr · « **Reply #37 on:** May 14, 2020, 12:05 »

Yes, my may sales are the lowest in all time i have in Shutterstock.

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Author Topic: May sales drop dramatically? (Read 9675 times)

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