Author Topic: Shutterstock dropping ODs? (Read 24097 times)

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #25 on:** October 29, 2009, 13:11 »

Are they redirecting traffic to BigStock?

ED: Are they redirecting OD traffic to BigStock?

PowerDroid · « **Reply #26 on:** October 29, 2009, 13:17 »

Quote from: WarrenPrice on October 29, 2009, 13:11

Are they redirecting traffic to BigStock?

ED: Are they redirecting OD traffic to BigStock?

If they are, I'm sure not seeing any bump in BigStock sales today. And even if every SS on-demand sale turned into a BigStock sale, we're still looking at a 2.70 commission being reduced to something like .50 or 1.00. Arrggghh!

gostwyck · « **Reply #27 on:** October 29, 2009, 13:41 »

Quote from: PowerDroid on October 29, 2009, 13:17

If they are, I'm sure not seeing any bump in BigStock sales today. And even if every SS on-demand sale turned into a BigStock sale, we're still looking at a 2.70 commission being reduced to something like .50 or 1.00. Arrggghh!

Exactly __ this is really bad news. Of course BigStock also pay as little as 20% commission on their much cheaper prices too.

I really don't understand why SS are doing this. I generally earn about 3x more from SS OD's as I do from BigStock in total (and therefore it follows that SS themselves earn nicely from it). Seems like they're throwing the baby out and keeping the bathwater.

PowerDroid · « **Reply #28 on:** October 29, 2009, 13:48 »

I've always argued on this forum that an agency would not buy another agency and keep the two companies operating without changes, essentially competing with one another. They will look at what makes the most business sense (what makes them more money, earns greater market share, etc.) and drop the products/services/brands that don't support the rosiest financial scenario for the overall company. Looks like that's what's happening here. SS has apparently decided it stands to make more money by pushing customers to BigStock for on-demand sales. And you can bet a big factor in their cost analysis was that contributors will receive a smaller slice of the sales.

Pixart · « **Reply #29 on:** October 29, 2009, 13:51 »

Hopefully they have a well thought out plans that they will be rolling out November 1st.

Don't forget that they DID have a site that they sold single downloads before the OD's and it was a big failure. Surely they learned something from their mistakes?

I have just had my worst month on SS since June 07. I'm not a big uploader though so it is likely just catching up with me.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #30 on:** October 29, 2009, 14:23 »

Quote from: RT on October 29, 2009, 10:51

I've had five so far today, and I don't read their forum.

Let me help you with the forum part.

"Show Me Your..."

OK that's it.

suwanneeredhead · « **Reply #31 on:** October 29, 2009, 14:36 »

Here's the new post from Anthony, this should explain it:

Hello:

We are currently testing different product lineups for a small subset of our visitors and that we will, of course, make an announcement if anything changes permanently.

We appreciate your continued patience and support.

Sincerely,

Anthony Correia
Shutterstock

lisafx · « **Reply #32 on:** October 29, 2009, 16:16 »

This is strange. I have had OD sales today. About the same amount as usual.

Thanks for calling and looking into it Epantha. Too bad about losing $2.70 sales to 1.00 sales, though.

And like others, I have seen no corresponding jump in BigStock sales. Quite the opposite in fact. BigStock sales have been really low since the SS announcement.

stockastic · « **Reply #33 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:08 »

I see a lot of people here resolutely looking for the silver lining in this latest cloud. I don't think there is one.

The microstock companies all want to herd all their customers onto subscription plans. They pay no contributor commissions when they sell a subscription; they only pay comissions on files the buyer actually downloads. The subscription buyer thinks he just bought a large number of images at rock bottom prices; but the microstocks are betting that many buyers will simply never get around to downloading all those images, and they won't even have to pay the pathetic 25 cent commissions on files the subscriber has essentially paid for but never downloaded.

Meet the future.

elvinstar · « **Reply #34 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:11 »

Strangely, my BigStock sales were up considerably today. I wonder if it is random or as a result of this "test"...

travelstock · « **Reply #35 on:** October 29, 2009, 18:46 »

I've seen a spike in "on demand" sales from Istock in the last 2 days... maybe that's where they are pushing their traffic?

Suljo · « **Reply #36 on:** October 29, 2009, 21:27 »

Quote from: holgs on October 29, 2009, 18:46

I've seen a spike in "on demand" sales from Istock in the last 2 days... maybe that's where they are pushing their traffic?

HeHe
Im not iStock lover but this month is BME on iStock because of spikes

Anyhow Shufter same BigStok same...

j2k · « **Reply #37 on:** October 30, 2009, 11:13 »

Uhh that really sucks. The ODs were great for me. I guess this way shutterstock will be able to save on commissions since BigStock pays less.

The whole "overnight" move doesn't make sense thou.

FD · « **Reply #38 on:** October 30, 2009, 11:33 »

Quote from: Suljo on October 29, 2009, 21:27

Anyhow Shufter same BigStok same...

Would you care to elaborate that in English? English is my third language, and to me it sounds like "me Tarzan, you Jane". $:-\$

On topic: I had 2 ODs the past 24hrs so they don't seem to be phased out in general.

cathyslife · « **Reply #39 on:** October 30, 2009, 13:08 »

10/20 was my last on-demand download but most of my sales are subscription anyway. Since the announcement of SS buying BigStock, my sales at BigStock have been really slow. SS earnings are normal though.

vonkara · « **Reply #40 on:** October 30, 2009, 14:00 »

The weird thing is SS not giving any information about this either on forums or by mail. At least they could notify that it's wrong or not.

PowerDroid · « **Reply #41 on:** October 30, 2009, 14:05 »

Actually, SS has chimed in via its forum:

"Hello:
We are currently testing different product lineups for a small subset of our visitors and that we will, of course, make an announcement if anything changes permanently.
We appreciate your continued patience and support.
Sincerely,
Anthony Correia
Shutterstock"

Hoping to hear that these tests showed SS they stand to lose big money by eliminating OD sales and we'll go back to business as usual. I was getting great OD sales up until yesterday.

vonkara · « **Reply #42 on:** October 30, 2009, 14:22 »

Thanks PowerDroid

gbalex · « **Reply #43 on:** November 03, 2009, 12:47 »

I buy on demand images from SS. They are valid for a year after the date you purchase the OD subscription. So you have a year to download your images. I just looked to see if OD subscriptions are available for purchase and they are.

If SS chooses to no longer offer OD subscriptions on SS, I will be buying more images from DT and Fotolia not BS!

lisafx · « **Reply #44 on:** November 03, 2009, 16:45 »

Quote from: gbalex on November 03, 2009, 12:47

I buy on demand images from SS. They are valid for a year after the date you purchase the OD subscription. So you have a year to download your images. I just looked to see if OD subscriptions are available for purchase and they are.

If SS chooses to no longer offer OD subscriptions on SS, I will be buying more images from DT and Fotolia not BS!

Thanks for sharing the buyer's perspective gbalex. I hope SS is listening.

If designers want to keep the OD option on SS then it should remain available!

leaf · « **Reply #45 on:** November 03, 2009, 17:03 »

Quote from: cclapper on October 30, 2009, 13:08

10/20 was my last on-demand download but most of my sales are subscription anyway. Since the announcement of SS buying BigStock, my sales at BigStock have been really slow. SS earnings are normal though.

I still have on demand sales pretty well every day so there are obviously still buyers using them some places.

Noodles · « **Reply #46 on:** November 04, 2009, 03:55 »

Quote from: leaf on November 03, 2009, 17:03

I still have on demand sales pretty well every day so there are obviously still buyers using them some places.

I bought some OD credits a little while ago - I think I had to buy 5 though I only wanted one image so now I have 4 remaining which I can use at anytime - hence sales will continue for some time even if they do switch over to BS.

Quote from: stockastic on October 29, 2009, 17:08

I see a lot of people here resolutely looking for the silver lining in this latest cloud. I don't think there is one.

funny you say that - I was thinking a few days ago that MS isn't getting any easier and if we loose OD's its another nail in the coffin.... and such thoughts. So I had a chat with my main client and he bumped my retainer up an extra $400/wk - rock and roll

dzain · « **Reply #47 on:** November 04, 2009, 05:12 »

I'm soooooo angry at SS because of the way they treat us so I registered here on this forum, because I don't want to risk another warning for venting on the SS forums.

They don't even have the decency to inform us properly about what they are doing. When there will not be offered OD-program anymore the OD-downloads will dry up after a few weeks/months (whenever the OD's that are sold till now expire)

My OD's are 20% of my income on SS, so it would be a big loss for me when they disapear.

I only have a small portfolio on BS and I don't want to upload there myself because of the little sales compare to other sites. Even when SS transfer all of our ports to BS, we will lose because on SS we get 2,85 for one OD compare to 1,50 at BS, so that will not be fair at all!

Hope buyers simple don't go to BS, but choose DT of FT when they can't find what they are looking for at SS.

cathyslife · « **Reply #48 on:** November 04, 2009, 07:17 »

Quote

Question from SS forum: "For those of us who are not on BigStock - would it make sense to start uploading our images there, or will you eventually copy them there?"
No immediate plans - so best to upload to both. We'll make sure to make it worth your while Smiley
Jon

I've seen a few posts about how SS is going to automatically send contributors ports over to BigStock, like you just mentioned in the post above, dzain. This quote was posted in another thread about SS on September 23rd, so it doesn't look like they are going to do that. It looks like if you want your images on BigStock, you will need to upload them there yourself. Unless something has changed since September.

traveler1116 · « **Reply #49 on:** November 04, 2009, 11:42 »

Quote from: dzain on November 04, 2009, 05:12

I'm soooooo angry at SS because of the way they treat us so I registered here on this forum, because I don't want to risk another warning for venting on the SS forums.

They don't even have the decency to inform us properly about what they are doing. When there will not be offered OD-program anymore the OD-downloads will dry up after a few weeks/months (whenever the OD's that are sold till now expire)

My OD's are 20% of my income on SS, so it would be a big loss for me when they disapear.

I only have a small portfolio on BS and I don't want to upload there myself because of the little sales compare to other sites. Even when SS transfer all of our ports to BS, we will lose because on SS we get 2,85 for one OD compare to 1,50 at BS, so that will not be fair at all!

Hope buyers simple don't go to BS, but choose DT of FT when they can't find what they are looking for at SS.

I'm not sure there is an issue yet, no announcement has been made as far as I know. And since all this talk about SS dropping OD's I have had a ton more (probably up over 100% last month). Hope they don't push the OD's over to BigStock, I won't upload anything there because of the 90 day lockin and if they move our portfolios overthere with the same rules I will be forced to drop SS.

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Author Topic: Shutterstock dropping ODs? (Read 24097 times)

WarrenPrice

PowerDroid

gostwyck

PowerDroid

Pixart

RacePhoto

suwanneeredhead

lisafx

stockastic

elvinstar

travelstock

Suljo

j2k

FD

cathyslife

vonkara

PowerDroid

vonkara

gbalex

lisafx

leaf

Noodles

dzain

cathyslife

traveler1116

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