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Author Topic: Shutterstock dropping ODs?  (Read 20865 times)

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« Reply #50 on: November 04, 2009, 12:39 »
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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!

I would really hope you wouldn't give FT your business after everything thats been said on this forum and how they treat their contributors



RacePhoto

« Reply #51 on: November 04, 2009, 12:57 »
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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.

True it's only a test according to them. Assuming it is a success, they will do what they decide is best for their business. That's Micro.  ;D

You seem to like DT with a 6 month lockin? Why does 90 days bother you so much.

I doubt if they will move portfolios because of the duplications and BigStock takes things that SS never will.

We all have free will to choose which sites we like or don't want to work for. I have my favorites, others have theirs, but I can't understand dropping a good earning site over the loss of one type of sale. Seems like anyone who does that is just hurting themselves not the agency.

« Reply #52 on: November 04, 2009, 13:26 »
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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.


I don't want to upload there myself, because I don't want SS to profit from my work for a lower price at BS without doing some afford themselves. And the less we upload to BS, the less interesting that site will be for OD-buyers. I prefer them going to FT or DT when SS drops the OD's, but the best outcome will be that this test fails so that SS keeps the OD-program up and running.

« Reply #53 on: November 04, 2009, 14:18 »
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Communication doesn't seem to be SS's strongest side. It appears in all silence OD's are banned from the english version (many foreign buyers also use the site in english btw) of the site as "a test". From what i read the buyers weren't notified about this either and when they call SS support they are sent to BigStock with a database a fraction of SS' database. I'd start shopping around on other sites if i were them.

On SS OD's are 30% of my income there; on BigStock my files are sold $0,50 to $1,50 so if all OD traffic is sent there and the buyers nicely do what SS instructs them i still would lose out on a lot of income since a download there is not near as profitable as an (large) OD.

I find this truly upsetting. I also wonder how it is only a few people seem to care about this; many others seem to think nothing is wrong because "i just had an OD"...

« Reply #54 on: November 04, 2009, 14:32 »
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Communication doesn't seem to be SS's strongest side. It appears in all silence OD's are banned from the english version (many foreign buyers also use the site in english btw) of the site as "a test". From what i read the buyers weren't notified about this either and when they call SS support they are sent to BigStock with a database a fraction of SS' database. I'd start shopping around on other sites if i were them.

On SS OD's are 30% of my income there; on BigStock my files are sold $0,50 to $1,50 so if all OD traffic is sent there and the buyers nicely do what SS instructs them i still would lose out on a lot of income since a download there is not near as profitable as an (large) OD.

I find this truly upsetting. I also wonder how it is only a few people seem to care about this; many others seem to think nothing is wrong because "i just had an OD"...
It's concerning so many people don't get the point. Ofcourse OD's keep coming till everything that is sold till last month is downloaded or expired. I have $31 from OD's so far  for the first 4 days of this month, but I'm worried about next month and the next.

In an other thread on this shutterstock section someone wrote that he got $2 or $3 for OD's on BS while I wrote the prices you mentioned above (because I read those prices on the SS forums) Who of you is correct? Or does higher prices come with bigger portfolio's there?

KB

« Reply #55 on: November 04, 2009, 14:56 »
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In an other thread on this shutterstock section someone wrote that he got $2 or $3 for OD's on BS while I wrote the prices you mentioned above (because I read those prices on the SS forums) Who of you is correct? Or does higher prices come with bigger portfolio's there?
[/quote]
That was me.  ;D  And I am correct (as I just posted in that other thread, based on my actual sales at BigStock).

I don't believe there is a $1.50 commission on BigStock, but if there is, I haven't had it in the last 50 sales.

Everyone gets the same commission rates there. There are no levels or other things involved that would result in different earnings, AFAIK.

My SS OD sales usually amount to about 1/3 of my total earnings. So I will be very, very sad indeed if they decide to do away with them. I'm hoping they will find that the results of this experiment are poor, and they will decide to keep the OD sales as they have been.

To be honest, I don't know why they felt the need to buy BigStock in the first place, instead of just putting the money towards making changes/improvements at SS. But I don't understand many of the moves that microstock head honchos make.

« Reply #56 on: November 04, 2009, 15:44 »
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I just checked my earnings log again; my last 40 sales are: 24 of $0,50 ; 14 of $1 ; 2 of $2
Oops! You're right, there is no $1,50 commision...i was checking the downloads per pic page and counted wrong.

But still, i never had a $3 sale there... and its still waaaay below what OD's give me on SS.
I also hope this moving OD's to BigStock thing will turn out to be a real bad plan for SS.

lisafx

« Reply #57 on: November 04, 2009, 16:02 »
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I think there is genuine cause for concern that SS is shutting down a program that earns me $1.24 - 2.85 for OD sales,  in favor of directing buyers to a site where the VAST majority of sales are .50 - $1.00 with only the occasional $2 sale and the almost mythical $3 sale (yes, I have had a few of them, but they are so rare as to be statistically irrelevant). 

According to my October stats,  BigStock on demand sales averaged .87/sale. 
SS on-demand sales for the same period averaged $2.25/sale. 

So yes, this is a problem.

On top of that, BigStock doesn't have anywhere near the volume to make up the shortfall. 


« Reply #58 on: November 04, 2009, 16:10 »
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I think the $3 sales are for eps files. I have a bunch of them, so I assume that is what they are for.

It will suck if they eliminate OD's, but I can't really freak out about it since it is just a rumor right now. Plus, Shutterstock was a good earner before ODs, and they'll still be a good earner if they eliminate them. I think this whole experiment really solidifies my feelings on not being exclusive with any agency. You never really know when an agency is going to do something crazy or stupid, so you better have your images ready for customers to buy somewhere else.

KB

« Reply #59 on: November 04, 2009, 16:35 »
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I think the $3 sales are for eps files. I have a bunch of them, so I assume that is what they are for.

It will suck if they eliminate OD's, but I can't really freak out about it since it is just a rumor right now. Plus, Shutterstock was a good earner before ODs, and they'll still be a good earner if they eliminate them. I think this whole experiment really solidifies my feelings on not being exclusive with any agency. You never really know when an agency is going to do something crazy or stupid, so you better have your images ready for customers to buy somewhere else.
It may be (and should be) correct that eps files earn $3. But I don't have any eps files, yet I have had $3 commissions.  They are known as XL sales, and an image must be 11MP or greater to qualify.

It's true that SS was a good earner before ODs, but things seem to have slowed down quite a bit, for me at least, after the first few months of the year. Without OD sales, SS would probably still be my #2 earner, but #3 would be much closer than it is now.

« Reply #60 on: November 04, 2009, 17:26 »
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Quote
But I don't have any eps files, yet I have had $3 commissions.  They are known as XL sales, and an image must be 11MP or greater to qualify.

That is almost correct. I also do not have eps files and have had quite a few $3 commissions. However, I have a 10MP camera, so I'm not sure where exactly the cutoff is.

1,147 images in my portfolio, BTW

« Reply #61 on: November 04, 2009, 17:54 »
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I have a 10.2 mp and I also have $3 sales and no EPS files.

From my last 50 sales at BS 4=$3, 8=$2, 21=$1 and 17=$.50  averaging to $1.15 per sale (of last 50 only).  I have had many $1.07 sales at SS, but nothing more than $2.48.

In 2009 my average earning per SS-OD sale worked out to $2.18.

My OD sales are slightly lower than my BS sales totals each month.

I have never had sales reversed at SS, I have 2 maybe 3 times at BS.

I have more and larger photos at BS because I downsize everything that I send to SS.

SS has always been more restrictive for buyers - especially new buyers.  EL's, you have to buy at least 2 at a time.  OD's you had to buy at least 5 at a time for around $50.  A blogger can get 30 photos for $45 on BS.

KB

« Reply #62 on: November 04, 2009, 18:13 »
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That's interesting; thanks Pixart & elvinstar. Apparently I had the wrong info.

BigStock's website says XL images are only 3800x. With my camera, that would be 3800x2533 = ~9.6MP. So, quite a bit smaller than I thought.

It's too bad they don't offer one size larger than that, what with all the new 16-25? MP cameras out there.

« Reply #63 on: November 04, 2009, 18:25 »
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In the last 50 dwls at BigStock I had two 3$ downloads. I have a 10MPix camera.
But almost all downloads are 0.5$ or 1$.

« Reply #64 on: November 04, 2009, 19:33 »
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SS basically knows they can do what ever they want and while everyone will whine about it, very few will actually leave or stop uploading there.  The Micros are in total control of the industry now, and contributors are just lap dogs following their master's will.

Noodles

« Reply #65 on: November 04, 2009, 20:12 »
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SS basically knows they can do what ever they want and while everyone will whine about it, very few will actually leave or stop uploading there.  The Micros are in total control of the industry now, and contributors are just lap dogs following their master's will.

that's rubbish!  woof

« Reply #66 on: November 05, 2009, 00:35 »
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SS basically knows they can do what ever they want and while everyone will whine about it, very few will actually leave or stop uploading there.  The Micros are in total control of the industry now, and contributors are just lap dogs following their master's will.
Spot on!


traveler1116

« Reply #67 on: November 05, 2009, 02:42 »
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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.


True it's only a test according to them. Assuming it is a success, they will do what they decide is best for their business. That's Micro.  ;D

You seem to like DT with a 6 month lockin? Why does 90 days bother you so much.

I doubt if they will move portfolios because of the duplications and BigStock takes things that SS never will.

We all have free will to choose which sites we like or don't want to work for. I have my favorites, others have theirs, but I can't understand dropping a good earning site over the loss of one type of sale. Seems like anyone who does that is just hurting themselves not the agency.



Ha ha!  Like DT, you must not have seen my thread http://www.microstockgroup.com/dreamstime-com/what-do-you-hate-about-dreamstime/.   I don't think I have uploaded to BigStock in about 4 or 5 months and I haven't uploaded to DT since they lowered our percentages and have deleted 90% of my portfolio leaving just my level 2 and 3 images while I wait for the time to run out so I can delete all the rest.  They changed the pricing and won't let us leave even though the terms are completely different.  I am tired of these kinds of changes to policy but at least when FT does it I can leave and if SS does it they will let us leave too.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2009, 02:47 by traveler1116 »


 

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