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Author Topic: SOD/OD/ED seem to have stopped in May  (Read 14090 times)

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« on: May 09, 2014, 13:43 »
+4
I had a great April, but this month (May) SOD, OD, and EDs are almost non-existent. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this? 


« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2014, 14:09 »
+1
Same here, 7% of my April downloads were OD, but now it's 0% despite more sales in May.

DPC effect?

« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2014, 14:15 »
0
April was my best month so far but my SOD, ED, have been non Existent and ODs cut in half in May. Could it be that Dollarphotoclub is having an impact?

« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2014, 14:16 »
+2
I have had some OD sales, but no SOD or ED so far in May which had seemed a little unusual.

However, it's not even half way through the month yet and it may just be that all the high spenders are on some yacht trip somewhere :)

ethan

« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2014, 14:31 »
+7
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2014, 14:42 »
0
.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2014, 21:21 by tickstock »

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2014, 14:48 »
0
I'm getting all three types of downloads on a fairly regular basis, though the really large sales have dried up over the past few weeks. My income there continues on an overall upward trend, while iS is on a downward trend. Some months I have more sales, but I can trace that to sales of files that are tied to holidays or events.

« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2014, 14:55 »
+2
They said their enterprise sales have doubled since last year while the collection has gone up 40%.   Most people should be seeing an increase in those sales.

Yes, I definitely see that. After a blast of a BME in April due to record SODs it has been business as usual in May so far, not exceptionally but not bad either. Is that an I-opted-out-of-DPC effect?  ;D

« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2014, 14:56 »
+5
I had a great April, but this month (May) SOD, OD, and EDs are almost non-existent. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this?

Not for me. SOD, OD and ELs as usual.

« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2014, 15:22 »
+2
I only have smaller portfolios so the variations in my sales are not of much interest, but the only ODs I have got this month so far are actually two from Fotolia. Have opted out of DPC and removed my best sellers at Fotolia, so I thought I would not get much more from them...have less than 200 images there now. 

Ron

« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2014, 15:52 »
+6
Sales go up sales go down, but more erratic then ever yet I keep hitting BME.

One day I have many ODDs the next I have one, but at the end of the month I know if it was good or bad.

Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.

« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2014, 16:06 »
0
well, I would be happy to get 5% of my port to sell every day. I did notice the day I got a large SOD early in the day I didn't get another DL all day - which is odd. 
I guess one solution would be to stop uploading there and open another acct (as a business). It would be painful 'til you hit the top tier there, but otherwise you could double your income if they throttle the second acct. at the same level. Or just stop uploading to SS and consider that your residual income and devote your time and effort to stocksy or offset or something like that.
For me OD sales are about normal so far this month, SOD are a little low. Sales in general are a little low.


« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2014, 16:13 »
+1
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

This is really interesting and I for one do not regard it as a conspiracy theory.   It sounds exactly like something they'd do in an attempt to keep contributors hanging on.   Unfortunately it also seems rather transparent and obvious.

My own portfolio is probably too small to be a statistical valid sample.

« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2014, 16:38 »
0
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

This is really interesting and I for one do not regard it as a conspiracy theory.   It sounds exactly like something they'd do in an attempt to keep contributors hanging on.   Unfortunately it also seems rather transparent and obvious.

My own portfolio is probably too small to be a statistical valid sample.

It would not be that hard to cap DL for a port, but if they were clever they would put some sort of random limit on the cap so it wasn't obvious - I guess the other thing would be to note what time of day your last DL was every day - and how do they stop sales - push your images down in search or just not report them? If your images drop off the searches once you hit your quota that should be very obvious.

If your DL are capped at x% of port per day, then you need to upload a heap of quick and easy to produce images so that your port size goes up to allow the good sellers to sell all day.

« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2014, 17:02 »
+2
I had a great April, but this month (May) SOD, OD, and EDs are almost non-existent. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this?

Big time for me. Maybe another search adjustment, but horrible, horrible sales.  I wasn't going to start a thread about it but since you did I thought i'd vent a bit.

ethan

« Reply #15 on: May 09, 2014, 17:14 »
+2
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

This is really interesting and I for one do not regard it as a conspiracy theory.   It sounds exactly like something they'd do in an attempt to keep contributors hanging on.   Unfortunately it also seems rather transparent and obvious.

My own portfolio is probably too small to be a statistical valid sample.

It would not be that hard to cap DL for a port, but if they were clever they would put some sort of random limit on the cap so it wasn't obvious - I guess the other thing would be to note what time of day your last DL was every day - and how do they stop sales - push your images down in search or just not report them? If your images drop off the searches once you hit your quota that should be very obvious.

If your DL are capped at x% of port per day, then you need to upload a heap of quick and easy to produce images so that your port size goes up to allow the good sellers to sell all day.
Pancaketom. My last download was three hours ago. That was when I reached my 4.8% of portfolio total. I'm not kidding. I use the SS mobile App  to track my D/L's on my iTouch, I just checked, it's exactly the same image since three hours ago.

Want to place a bet it's still the last download image in about five hours from now?
It will be.

Every day is the same. And I am no messing with you man. It's a fact. And tomorrow I know I will be posting my last image (three hours ago) will be the last image I sell today.

It will be.

Every day is the same. I feel that guy in Groundhog day. Seriously.

Have to say though, I love the song :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERd61bDY7k

Goofy

« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2014, 17:17 »
+1
"Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


Now everyone say this three times in a row-

"Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.
Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.
Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


Best advice I've seen or heard in a while...

 8)






ethan

« Reply #17 on: May 09, 2014, 17:20 »
+3
"Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


Now everyone say this three times in a row-

"Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.
Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.
Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


Best advice I've seen or heard in a while...

 8)
What about three months? That's what I said.
aka. Ground hog Day :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERd61bDY7k


« Reply #18 on: May 09, 2014, 17:25 »
+4
"Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


Now everyone say this three times in a row-

"Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.
Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month.
Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


Best advice I've seen or heard in a while...

 8)

Well I am looking at 9-days, or almost 1/3 of the month, not a single day. Sales definitely out of the ordinary for me. If you have been doing this long enough and have a big enough port, you have a "feel" for when something is different. No conspiracy theory.  Just abnormal. As I said, possible a shift in search for some of us.  Remember, Scott has said before that they test different search algorithms on a sample of the population.  Could be that some of us are part of that test....assuming, of course, it's happening.

« Reply #19 on: May 09, 2014, 17:28 »
+3
Same old same old. Someone takes the time to watch his port closely for 3 full months and then reports detailed information regarding his sales pattern and then receives the usual parroted spew "Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "

Too bad more contributors do not take the time to actually track what is occurring in their ports!

Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

ethan

« Reply #20 on: May 09, 2014, 17:38 »
+2
^ Thanks Gbalex.

Thanks man :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fa4lOQfbA

It's Friday night. Enjoy the weekend.

I know I'm right :)

« Reply #21 on: May 09, 2014, 17:43 »
0
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

This is really interesting and I for one do not regard it as a conspiracy theory.   It sounds exactly like something they'd do in an attempt to keep contributors hanging on.   Unfortunately it also seems rather transparent and obvious.

My own portfolio is probably too small to be a statistical valid sample.

It would not be that hard to cap DL for a port, but if they were clever they would put some sort of random limit on the cap so it wasn't obvious - I guess the other thing would be to note what time of day your last DL was every day - and how do they stop sales - push your images down in search or just not report them? If your images drop off the searches once you hit your quota that should be very obvious.

If your DL are capped at x% of port per day, then you need to upload a heap of quick and easy to produce images so that your port size goes up to allow the good sellers to sell all day.
Pancaketom. My last download was three hours ago. That was when I reached my 4.8% of portfolio total. I'm not kidding. I use the SS mobile App  to track my D/L's on my iTouch, I just checked, it's exactly the same image since three hours ago.

Want to place a bet it's still the last download image in about five hours from now?
It will be.

Every day is the same. And I am no messing with you man. It's a fact. And tomorrow I know I will be posting my last image (three hours ago) will be the last image I sell today.

It will be.

Every day is the same. I feel that guy in Groundhog day. Seriously.

Have to say though, I love the song :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERd61bDY7k

Interesting - do your images move in the search position once you get your last dl?

Now it would be handy to be able to buy one of your own images to see if/when it is reported.

ethan

« Reply #22 on: May 09, 2014, 17:59 »
+5
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.

This is really interesting and I for one do not regard it as a conspiracy theory.   It sounds exactly like something they'd do in an attempt to keep contributors hanging on.   Unfortunately it also seems rather transparent and obvious.

My own portfolio is probably too small to be a statistical valid sample.

It would not be that hard to cap DL for a port, but if they were clever they would put some sort of random limit on the cap so it wasn't obvious - I guess the other thing would be to note what time of day your last DL was every day - and how do they stop sales - push your images down in search or just not report them? If your images drop off the searches once you hit your quota that should be very obvious.

If your DL are capped at x% of port per day, then you need to upload a heap of quick and easy to produce images so that your port size goes up to allow the good sellers to sell all day.
Pancaketom. My last download was three hours ago. That was when I reached my 4.8% of portfolio total. I'm not kidding. I use the SS mobile App  to track my D/L's on my iTouch, I just checked, it's exactly the same image since three hours ago.

Want to place a bet it's still the last download image in about five hours from now?
It will be.

Every day is the same. And I am no messing with you man. It's a fact. And tomorrow I know I will be posting my last image (three hours ago) will be the last image I sell today.

It will be.

Every day is the same. I feel that guy in Groundhog day. Seriously.

Have to say though, I love the song :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERd61bDY7k

Interesting - do your images move in the search position once you get your last dl?

Now it would be handy to be able to buy one of your own images to see if/when it is reported.

I tested it today, A business associate in London checked my portfolio whilst i was on the phone to him. I told him exactly what to look for in the search and he described (on the phone) what he could see in regard to my portfolio, and more specifically a search topic. His view matched my mine perfectly. Position 1 on page one of 47,000 images.  Two minutes later I called another friend in the US, Virginia WA, and talked her through what to do, the same thing btw.

With the exact same information she did not see any of my images at all on page one of the exact same page.

Now, with that specific image description, I have pole position 1, 7, 15 and 20 with different images of the exact same thing all on page one, again, of 47,000, she stated (live) on the phone "******* I cannot see any of your images, honestly, none"

OK some where the same, as she described them to me, mine however where not even showing at all on the page

Go figure :(

Same website, same search criteria, totally different results.

Tomorrow I'm doing the exact same exercise at the same time with a pal in Christchurch (NZ), my friend in VA and again my pal in London.

I'll post the results although I suspect the same thing :(


« Reply #23 on: May 09, 2014, 18:16 »
+2
Unfortunately you are not alone Ethan.  I have noticed the same pattern.  It is set in stone and never changes after a year of careful daily inspection.

I completely agree that it is real, I know what has been occurring in my port and patterns as consistent as this do not emerge without intervention on shutterstocks end.

fritz

  • I love Tom and Jerry music

« Reply #24 on: May 09, 2014, 18:26 »
+2
In May so far ODD-23   SOD-26. Looks normal to me for port size (6640 files)

« Reply #25 on: May 09, 2014, 18:57 »
+3
...
'
Go figure :(

Same website, same search criteria, totally different results.

Tomorrow I'm doing the exact same exercise at the same time with a pal in Christchurch (NZ), my friend in VA and again my pal in London.

I'll post the results although I suspect the same thing :(

We're getting close to the point where a representative from SS shows up and posts an oddly vague, not-quite-denial that this is happening - then doesn't answer the followup questions.   :-)
« Last Edit: May 09, 2014, 19:23 by stockastic »

Sri

« Reply #26 on: May 10, 2014, 00:22 »
+2
Cannot say I have but I have noticed a drop in SOD's or ODD's but what I have noticed (over the last three months) is that my earnings/downloads are "definitely capped" every single day.

At first I thought it was a co-incidence, so I ignored commenting on it but just continued to monitor it.

After watching it closely and saying nothing (over the last 12 weeks) I am convinced that SS are regulating my income.

I have precisely (and I mean precisely) between 4.5% - 5% of my total portfolio number downloaded every single week day (Mon-Fri).

Without any exceptions. On weekends it drops to 2% - 3% per day. Consistently.

Furthermore, even with the combination of Subs/ODD/SODs, each day my earnings (for each day) are within a tolerance of 5% of all days in that week.

I remember reading over on the SS forum (about a year ago) from a very long standing and experienced contributor "that when SS start rationing incomes that's the beginning of the end for me, I'll close my account"

Genuinely, I think that is what their doing, certainly to me and my portfolio. And I stress again, this has been consistent for the last three months. And I continue to monitor it, and every week the numbers confirm it.

This week for example, the same downloads within a margin of 3 downloads every single day and I'm talking between 35 - 50 downloads everyday. No way is that a co-incidence over a three month period. No way. And that even includes Bank holidays, the tolernaces are too close to say they're accidental, they're programmed !

You cannot rationally explain the pure consistency of downloads/income per day over such a period. For me it's basically a flat line, it might be a high line, but it's still a virtually flat line.

You have gotta hand it to the software guys at SS - they're doing a great job in rationing my standard of living, ergo - my success.

And finally, and even more kudos to those software guys, they allow me just a 1- 2% growth each month, just enough to get my BME and the the occasional BDE, hence the virtually "flat line". Clever. Very Clever

I sometimes wonder is that just to keep me quiet?

Well enough, I don't think so :)

#bustedSS

SS lovers vote me down, SS haters vote me up. I actually don't care. I'm stating the facts in my own case, if I could show you my numbers I know you would believe me.
This is a fix.
i have been experiencing similar events. And i am seeing this from the end of 2013. To add that, i see that when i delete some of my images or footage, there are sudden few downloads of images or footage respectively. I was hesitating to post such things publicly assuming its my own thing and that people wont believe. But its true for me. I also think that shutterstock read this forum and if there are really some tricks in ss dl then they will change it temporarily.


« Reply #27 on: May 10, 2014, 01:04 »
+1
lets all play this game then, search for "business man" and post your results


« Reply #28 on: May 10, 2014, 01:38 »
+2
lets all play this game then, search for "business man" and post your results

Exact same images in the same order.

Ron

« Reply #29 on: May 10, 2014, 02:06 »
0
Same old same old. Someone takes the time to watch his port closely for 3 full months and then reports detailed information regarding his sales pattern and then receives the usual parroted spew "Stop judging your sales on daily bases, it will drive you mad. Look at it from month to month. "


The OP asks for experiences and I am sharing mine. I do look at my port over longer periods and I do not experience what the OP is experiencing. But I dont say the OP is wrong, do I? I am sure he is right, but I dont share the same experience. With you no one is ever allowed to share their experience unless its doom and gloom about SS. You sound an awful lot like someone on the SS forum with a port of 500 images.

PS to add: I once opened a thread on SS where I said I thought my earnings were capped and it was ridiculed by the establishment. Similar experience as to the OP but that is no longer happening. However my monthly sales do hoover around the same dollar amount. And then it surges again to the next BME. I cant put my finger on it as its unpredictable.


Ron

« Reply #30 on: May 10, 2014, 02:12 »
0
lets all play this game then, search for "business man" and post your results

Exact same images in the same order.
+1

« Reply #31 on: May 10, 2014, 02:14 »
+1
lets all play this game then, search for "business man" and post your results

Same images same order for me too for "Business man" and also for "Business men"

« Reply #32 on: May 10, 2014, 02:38 »
+2
   For me, only the first three images are the same. Next are totally different order, and some other images.

« Reply #33 on: May 10, 2014, 02:45 »
0
   For me, only the first three images are the same. Next are totally different order, and some other images.

where are you located?

still the same results here (UK)

« Reply #34 on: May 10, 2014, 02:55 »
+1
For me OD seems pretty normal.

OD earnings / total earnings

2014:
Jan 33%
Feb 23%
Mar 26%
Apr 31%
-----------
May 25%

ethan

« Reply #35 on: May 10, 2014, 02:59 »
+1
Same. Based in UK BTW.

I can't do the NZ test until next week, my buddy in Christchurch is away this weekend so I'll tee it up for Monday, three way between Fredericksburg/London/Christchurch.


« Reply #36 on: May 10, 2014, 03:10 »
+1
   Luis, Romania. Now, one hour later, it has changed. More like your searches but not the same. I don't find how to post it here, but this time I have saved it.
   Btw, my sales are down big time this month. Very hard recovery after the holidays. Actually, no recovery.
   Interesting on this topic, I had the exact number of dlds two months in a row, two times, both december-january. I am talking of some hundreds number. EXACT NUMBER!!!


« Reply #37 on: May 10, 2014, 03:12 »
+1
   Luis, Romania. Now, one hour later, it has changed. More like your searches but not the same. I don't find how to post it here, but this time I have saved it.
   Btw, my sales are down big time this month. Very hard recovery after the holidays. Actually, no recovery.
   Interesting on this topic, I had the exact number of dlds two months in a row, two times, both december-january. I am talking of some hundreds number. EXACT NUMBER!!!

interesting stuff! keep telling your searches here :)

« Reply #38 on: May 10, 2014, 03:15 »
0
   One of my best sellers has times with good dlds, and then some days with none. I experience this after the winter holiday slump. One year was dlded almost every day. In my search, it is always there, but when I search from my phone, it is some places back. But still on the first page. Although the majority of pictures on the subject are the same, some aren't and the order is not the same.

« Reply #39 on: May 10, 2014, 04:27 »
+8
It seems to me that what Ethan has discovered is statistical averages, not a cap on earnings.  If you have a large number of sales - which I guess he does - from a large number of files being bought at random by a large number of different people then you will tend to find that the daily averages are very close.  The larger the average number of sales, the smaller the percentage difference from day to day is going to be.

In Ethan's case he reports that he sees a variation of around 10% in daily sales (there is a 10% difference between 4.5% and 5% of his portfolio) If his sales are around 100 a day or more I think that would be perfectly normal.  I strongly suspect that he is disregarding the odd day when he sells 4.0% or 5.5% because he regards it as a rogue result when something went wrong with the "cap". Or maybe he sells 1,000 a day, when the average would be much tighter - say 4.7-4.9%, and the outliers are at the 4.5 and 5 level.

This averaging effect has always been one of the great things about microstock. If you get thousands of sales a month you will have a pretty good idea of what your earnings are going to be next month - which will be pretty close to the figure for this month and last month.

Take a look at Alamy. You know your sales aren't being capped there because one month you might get 10 sales and make $800 and the next month you might make one sale and get $40.  Now extrapolate that "non-capped" result to SS: one month you get 10,000 sales and make $8,000, the next month you make 1,000 sale and get $400.  Would that mean that SS was not fiddling the results? No, it would mean the exact opposite. Because as sales volume increases the variation decreases so if you average 5,500 sales a month it is very improbable that 10,000 will be in one month and 1,000 in the other; it is, however, very, very likely that 5,500 plus or minus 5% will be in each month.

I'm not good enough at maths to do any proper mathematical analysis of this (and it's probably necessary to know how many sales a day there are rather than just that there is a 10% difference between high and low totals) but we're probably all familiar with the Bell Curve and the fact that the more data points you have the tighter the shape of the curve will become.

In short, if the day-to-day variation in sales is very small, then the chances are that it means you are selling lots of licenses and doing very well, so things average out over a very short period of time. It doesn't indicated that you're being swindled.

In any case, why would SS want to "cap" successful artists? It's in their interests to let buyers see work that people like, not to hide it away from them, and a portfolio selling 4%+ of its entire content every day is very successful indeed. According to the figures they've just published, on average less than 1% of the content is sold each day.

And, while I think of it, the apparent lack of ODs and ELs is likely to be a reflection of the low volume/large variation effect that you also see with Alamy rather than a real change in their frequency.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 04:35 by BaldricksTrousers »

Dook

« Reply #40 on: May 10, 2014, 05:08 »
0
Good points, BaldricksTrousers.
Large sales volume makes the income predictable. I remember that Yuri had a tool for calculating monthly income based on first 7, 15 etc. days income. He had large volume sales ages ago and, obviously, he noticed the same thing even back then.

« Reply #41 on: May 10, 2014, 09:16 »
+2
BTrousers makes valid points but ignores the reported observation of sales stopping when the cap is reached.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #42 on: May 10, 2014, 09:31 »
0
I did the Business man test (from the UK) and my results are different. In particular, although line one is the same, there is a totally different line two, then line three is like the originally posted line two.
Whether that difference can be simply accounted for by an algorhithm update since yesterday, I can't say.


(Does SS have a geographic bias in search, as iS allegedly does, or at least used to?)

« Reply #43 on: May 10, 2014, 09:48 »
+1
It seems like it would only make sense that SS or any Stock site for that matter would change up the images so as to look fresh to the regular buyers who shop there. Just like Google constantly changes things up. Also it seems like they would have some sort of organic system that doesn't always show the same results otherwise people searching for photos will always pull up Yuri.(For Example)

In the end although it stinks if you rank very high on the search results, overall I think it helps even the playing field so that more of everyones images are seen and sell especially as more and more images are uploaded.

Just like on Google, how many pages back is someone going to go when looking to buy an image? On Google when I look for things I typically go back two pages and almost never three. I think Stock Searches probably have some sort of max as well unless you need something really specific.

« Reply #44 on: May 10, 2014, 10:47 »
+1
BTrousers makes valid points but ignores the reported observation of sales stopping when the cap is reached.
A pattern I've noticed is that there is a slow stream of sales from the start of the European day until shortly before the US market opens, then there are a couple of hours of decent sales as the Americas kick in before it all goes quiet again. A few more quite often turn up overnight, probably when Australia and NZ are starting a new day and then the whole thing repeats.

I have the impression that designers tend to download material early in the working day getting everything ready for use that day, rather than downloading consistently throughout the day. It's always seemed to me to be like that. And that pattern could well create an appearance of a a rush of sales followed by a cut-off when you hit your "cap". 

@ Pixel8 - it would also make sense for a site to award points to different portfolios according to where they sell, so if one supplier had strong sales in South Africa but weak ones in America, it might be helpful to buyers to promote that work in searches coming from Africa but to give it a lower ranking in searches coming from America.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 10:50 by BaldricksTrousers »

Gino

« Reply #45 on: May 10, 2014, 10:53 »
0
It seems like it would only make sense that SS or any Stock site for that matter would change up the images so as to look fresh to the regular buyers who shop there. Just like Google constantly changes things up. Also it seems like they would have some sort of organic system that doesn't always show the same results otherwise people searching for photos will always pull up Yuri.(For Example)

In the end although it stinks if you rank very high on the search results, overall I think it helps even the playing field so that more of everyones images are seen and sell especially as more and more images are uploaded.

Just like on Google, how many pages back is someone going to go when looking to buy an image? On Google when I look for things I typically go back two pages and almost never three. I think Stock Searches probably have some sort of max as well unless you need something really specific.

Exactly!

« Reply #46 on: May 10, 2014, 12:58 »
0
its very similar Sue and it is what I am getting now as well, a few downloads here and there changed it a bit


« Reply #47 on: May 10, 2014, 13:01 »
-1
BTrousers makes valid points but ignores the reported observation of sales stopping when the cap is reached.

what cap man? are you wearing a hat? come on!

please specific the cap number ;D
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 13:05 by luissantos84 »

« Reply #48 on: May 10, 2014, 13:17 »
+7
When I search "conspiracy theory" on Shutterstock this what I get. Results may vary in other dimensions.
 

« Reply #49 on: May 10, 2014, 17:40 »
0
same results here

« Reply #50 on: May 10, 2014, 20:32 »
0
Here are the results of my search for "business man" from New York, US.

« Reply #51 on: May 10, 2014, 23:14 »
0
   
   Interesting on this topic, I had the exact number of dlds two months in a row, two times, both december-january. I am talking of some hundreds number. EXACT NUMBER!!!

Funny you mentioned it. Just checked and excactly the same for me this year. Took a big dive after November by 30% and after that Jan-Apr excactly the same download number every month (1 month had 2 less). Not normal.....
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 23:17 by zeamonkey »

« Reply #52 on: May 11, 2014, 00:24 »
0
Here are the results of my search for "business man" from New York, US.

I get different results when I search with different devices even from the same location. If I search for most popular "pet" photo on my tablet, it sometimes gives a different popular result than when I do it with my laptop. I wouldn't read in too much to the different location search.

PZF

« Reply #53 on: May 11, 2014, 11:55 »
+1
conspiracy theory: search results from Italy exactly as your screenshot yesterday.


 

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