Shutterstock says they don't manipulate the search, if they did then surely there would be some solid evidence by now.  If you look at the "popular" search you'll see very good images not bad images by new contributors at the top.  There are many other real reasons why sales could be falling that don't involve conspiracies and search manipulation.

I would worry more about what is my own port.

... what was in high demand is no more because designers are looking for new stuff like filtered images that old timers consider stupid old out of focus faded Polaroids, so they want nothing to do with the trend and the BUS has run over them.

You are being deluged by ports from IS and their work is at least on par with most images at shutterstock and in some cases much better. To top it off new ports are being given priority in the search.

Couple years ago averaged $2.20 - 2.55/ rpi per month.  These days more like $1.10 - 1.25. 

Wow Ultimagia, you are either deliberately trying to mischaracterize my posts, or you are really not good at following a train of thought.  Let me try to make it simple for you.

1.  I am not a big fish or a small one.  I been at this around 5 years and managed to get between 5k and 6k online, varying by site.

2.  My main concern is my own income and paying my own bills.

3.  I ONLY brought my more successful friend in to refute your ridiculous statement that successful people aren't complaining about sales, and if your sales are down you are the only one to blame.  If he wants to chime in here he can, but unlike me, he's probably too smart to waste his time.

4. The past couple years I  have seem trends, not conspiracies, that have effected my income.  These include greater competition, which is inevitable,  but also actions by the agencies, like lower prices, images given away for free, shady distribution deals, DFC, OD sales turning to sub sales, and total meltdown of what was the top site when I started.  You don't need a crystal ball to see this is not going in good direction.

5. I sold 15% MORE photos in 2014 then 2013, but made 20% LESS.  That's not a conspiracy,  that's a FACT, and if it's my fault for producing sh*t, then why did I sell more?  For me its a bummer to be down a couple k per year, but if that 20% was a loss of 20k I would be real upset!

Some top sellers like Yuri, Dolgachov, Elena, and a few others come in here once in awhile, and they seem to also mention sales are going down for them. But most of the top guys don't waste their time here anymore arguing with the uninformed and dogmatic blowhards who seem so prevalent here now.  I shouldn't have bothered either.   It's like arguing with my 5 year old only at least she's  cute.

Quote from: tickstock on March 29, 2015, 14:55

Quote from: PixelBytes on March 28, 2015, 23:49

Couple years ago averaged $2.20 - 2.55/ rpi per month.  These days more like $1.10 - 1.25. 

Quote from: PixelBytes on March 29, 2015, 14:38

Wow Ultimagia, you are either deliberately trying to mischaracterize my posts, or you are really not good at following a train of thought.  Let me try to make it simple for you.

1.  I am not a big fish or a small one.  I been at this around 5 years and managed to get between 5k and 6k online, varying by site.

2.  My main concern is my own income and paying my own bills.

3.  I ONLY brought my more successful friend in to refute your ridiculous statement that successful people aren't complaining about sales, and if your sales are down you are the only one to blame.  If he wants to chime in here he can, but unlike me, he's probably too smart to waste his time.

4. The past couple years I  have seem trends, not conspiracies, that have effected my income.  These include greater competition, which is inevitable,  but also actions by the agencies, like lower prices, images given away for free, shady distribution deals, DFC, OD sales turning to sub sales, and total meltdown of what was the top site when I started.  You don't need a crystal ball to see this is not going in good direction.

5. I sold 15% MORE photos in 2014 then 2013, but made 20% LESS.  That's not a conspiracy,  that's a FACT, and if it's my fault for producing sh*t, then why did I sell more?  For me its a bummer to be down a couple k per year, but if that 20% was a loss of 20k I would be real upset!

Some top sellers like Yuri, Dolgachov, Elena, and a few others come in here once in awhile, and they seem to also mention sales are going down for them. But most of the top guys don't waste their time here anymore arguing with the uninformed and dogmatic blowhards who seem so prevalent here now.  I shouldn't have bothered either.   It's like arguing with my 5 year old only at least she's  cute.

Aren't you down about 20k?  You said in the other thread your RPI was about $1.25/month, that's $7,500 per month or about $90,000 per year.  If you are down 20% then you are down $22, 500, right?   If you are telling the truth about your numbers RPI $1.25, 6000 images then you wouldn't be down a couple thousand you would be down 10x that.  Which numbers are you fudging here? 
If you are down a couple thousand like you say and you are down 20% that would mean you make about $8,000/year now, that's a pretty big difference from $90,000/year which you are claiming with those RPI numbers.  It just doesn't add up.

Your right.   My maths don't add up. Not so much fudged as effed up..  The first post should have read rpd instead of rpi.

None of this changes the fact that even when my sales go up, the income goes down.  I have lost money, others lost much more and a lot of us upset.  Which is a result of agencies changes to prices and TOS.  I am not a mathematician, but I am a micro photographer and this downward slide is affecting not just me but a lot more people.

Couple years ago averaged $2.20 - 2.55/ rpi per month. These days more like $1.10 - 1.25.  Lots of factors in play.  Among those is that  as your port grows your sales gets dituted and rpi goes down.