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Author Topic: SS continues to deteriorate  (Read 96438 times)

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« Reply #150 on: September 12, 2022, 07:51 »
+2
I miss the SS forum, until today I still can't understand why they took it down

Hi brasilnut!
I think it was for too much negative comments when SSTK start with the reset button in January and new levels system. But to be honest i don't miss it.

Um abrao from Portugal


Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #151 on: September 12, 2022, 09:37 »
+2
I miss the SS forum, until today I still can't understand why they took it down

Hi brasilnut!
I think it was for too much negative comments when SSTK start with the reset button in January and new levels system. But to be honest i don't miss it.

Um abrao from Portugal

Yea, and all that posts about blatant thieving going on. You'd think that an IPO-listed company would have enough resources to go after them.

Abs!

« Reply #152 on: September 12, 2022, 11:11 »
+3
BUT Shutterstock has the best contributor support of any agency.... Shutterstock is the greatest stock agency in existence. Absolutely!

You have no idea how much i laughed. Thank you for your post. ;D
Congratulations i think you're in 0,00001% that probably thinks that.

Please, please, please....
Don't forget to get a big tattoo with SSTK logo and btw upload-upload-uplload it to your portfolio too.
If you're right you probably sell thousands!!! Absolutely! ehehhe :D

You can laugh as much as you can (laughing is good for your mental health ;))
But even if don't know much about their support, even if I don't like their 10c "earnings" and their January reset, despite all that, at the end of the day, SS is still the best agency there is, by some margin.
To back up my statement, this is the distribution of my revenue for the past month:

« Last Edit: September 12, 2022, 11:16 by Zero Talent »

« Reply #153 on: September 12, 2022, 14:18 »
+1
BUT Shutterstock has the best contributor support of any agency.... Shutterstock is the greatest stock agency in existence. Absolutely!

You have no idea how much i laughed. Thank you for your post. ;D
Congratulations i think you're in 0,00001% that probably thinks that.

Please, please, please....
Don't forget to get a big tattoo with SSTK logo and btw upload-upload-uplload it to your portfolio too.
If you're right you probably sell thousands!!! Absolutely! ehehhe :D

It would be rejected for visible trademarks, image noise (the AI takes he skin pores for image noise) and lack of focus (the AI cant understand that a tattoo machine cant work with the same precision as a professional inkjet printer)

« Reply #154 on: September 12, 2022, 18:54 »
+3
BUT Shutterstock has the best contributor support of any agency.... Shutterstock is the greatest stock agency in existence. Absolutely!

You have no idea how much i laughed. Thank you for your post. ;D
Congratulations i think you're in 0,00001% that probably thinks that.

Please, please, please....
Don't forget to get a big tattoo with SSTK logo and btw upload-upload-uplload it to your portfolio too.
If you're right you probably sell thousands!!! Absolutely! ehehhe :D

You can laugh as much as you can (laughing is good for your mental health ;))
But even if don't know much about their support, even if I don't like their 10c "earnings" and their January reset, despite all that, at the end of the day, SS is still the best agency there is, by some margin.
To back up my statement, this is the distribution of my revenue for the past month:



So what you consider best agency? the one which pays better right?
well for me i quit SSTK long ago. Best thing i did ...

I make much more today by a very large margin (thousands not hundreds) in other agency. Each portfolio is very unique and if works for you i am really happy. But for me, searching for new opportunities was the key to solve part of microstock puzzle. And in that puzzle some of AI knowledge as become more useful in last 2-3 years...  ;)





« Reply #155 on: September 12, 2022, 19:06 »
+2

So what you consider best agency? the one which pays better right?

Obviously.
And like it or not, SS is leading the pack by a sizeable margin.

« Reply #156 on: September 13, 2022, 10:20 »
+1
And like it or not, SS is leading the pack by a sizeable margin.

Maybe for you, but not according to the poll on the right.  For me SS was always by far the leader but over the past few years they have been eclipsed by Canva - last year I made less than a third on SS than I did on Canva.  So far this year SS is third after Canva and Adobe.  If it holds up it will be the first time ever for Adobe to beat SS but I expect that will continue going forward.

« Reply #157 on: September 13, 2022, 13:27 »
+5
And like it or not, SS is leading the pack by a sizeable margin.

Maybe for you, but not according to the poll on the right.  For me SS was always by far the leader but over the past few years they have been eclipsed by Canva - last year I made less than a third on SS than I did on Canva.  So far this year SS is third after Canva and Adobe.  If it holds up it will be the first time ever for Adobe to beat SS but I expect that will continue going forward.

as has been discussed recently, the poll is based on a small sample - for many of us SS outferforms AS by a factor of 2-3

« Reply #158 on: September 13, 2022, 13:37 »
0
And like it or not, SS is leading the pack by a sizeable margin.

Maybe for you, but not according to the poll on the right.  For me SS was always by far the leader but over the past few years they have been eclipsed by Canva - last year I made less than a third on SS than I did on Canva.  So far this year SS is third after Canva and Adobe.  If it holds up it will be the first time ever for Adobe to beat SS but I expect that will continue going forward.

as has been discussed recently, the poll is based on a small sample - for many of us SS outferforms AS by a factor of 2-3

Thanks for the short crisp explanation. It looks the same for me.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #159 on: September 14, 2022, 15:45 »
+1
And like it or not, SS is leading the pack by a sizeable margin.

Maybe for you, but not according to the poll on the right.  For me SS was always by far the leader but over the past few years they have been eclipsed by Canva - last year I made less than a third on SS than I did on Canva.  So far this year SS is third after Canva and Adobe.  If it holds up it will be the first time ever for Adobe to beat SS but I expect that will continue going forward.

as has been discussed recently, the poll is based on a small sample - for many of us SS outferforms AS by a factor of 2-3

Thanks for the short crisp explanation. It looks the same for me.

And there's always a major point that everyone creates different images. For another example of differences, I'm not on Canva, what I upload to AS is not acceptable for SS and what I upload to SS is not allowed on AS. (majority, not every single image) Then there are differences in the buyers and the base of people who subscribe or follow SS vs AS.

Really it's not that easy to compare them at all. But if the easiest and what the poll shows, is earnings, then that's what it is. I won't know until the end of the year, but currently AS is DOUBLE what I make from SS. I won't know until the end of the year, because some months SS does better and some AS does. If I look at RPD, then AS is just smashing SS as far as returns per DL.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2022, 11:19 by Uncle Pete »

« Reply #160 on: September 15, 2022, 07:44 »
0
I've had nearly 4x as many DL sales on SS than Al, AS, DT & DP put together over nearly 3 years. Although I joined some of these agencies many months later than SS, I've still had several times the no.of DLs per month on SS. Though I'm hopeful that the others will catch up because I have more images on each of them (bar AS) than SS.
However, the revenue I earned from the other four agencies is 84% of my SS total achieved with only 26% of my DLs. That said, I've only had one payout from AS but two from SS so far.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2022, 11:07 by TonyD »

« Reply #161 on: September 15, 2022, 10:47 »
0

I don't post much because I'm way too busy shooting pictures and doing searches.


Congratulations on your successes.
Well, you post here constantly, so you seem to have time. May I ask you  what medications you are taking? I would like to have the same stuff for a good and colorful world  8) ::)
Lol

« Reply #162 on: September 16, 2022, 03:53 »
+8
Everything you need to know about Shutterstock today

« Reply #163 on: September 16, 2022, 04:56 »
+1
Everything you need to know about Shutterstock today

Fantastic! What a story of success!  :-\

« Reply #164 on: September 16, 2022, 05:01 »
+1
Everything you need to know about Shutterstock today

 :o

I once made under $10 for 50 downloads in a day and thought that was a record, but you beat me.

« Reply #165 on: September 16, 2022, 07:17 »
+2
The first half of September was horrible, but these past few days for me have been promising.

Overall, I do see a significant downtrend in commissions, but I suppose it is what it is.  I'm not very motivated to shoot new topics, but I'm glad I have a decent sized portfolio that generates something each month.



Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #166 on: September 16, 2022, 07:59 »
+2
depressing...glad I've got off that sinking ship (or at least devoting much less time there).





wds

« Reply #167 on: September 16, 2022, 08:34 »
+1
What makes SS very scary is the huge range of "commissions" for an individual sale. For example, could be 10 cents or $200...that is a factor of 2000:1! My question is "when it is all said and done" does SS also see that huge variability to their bottom line? How would SS be doing if what the contributor sees as "big sales" slacked off quite a bit?

« Reply #168 on: September 16, 2022, 09:27 »
0
What makes SS very scary is the huge range of "commissions" for an individual sale. For example, could be 10 cents or $200...that is a factor of 2000:1! My question is "when it is all said and done" does SS also see that huge variability to their bottom line? How would SS be doing if what the contributor sees as "big sales" slacked off quite a bit?

What SS will be doing - and what I do - is to look at what the averages are rather than individual sales. So they will be looking at things like total volume, rate per download, margin per download, etc.. When you have a huge volume of sales, as SS does, it all averages out.

wds

« Reply #169 on: September 16, 2022, 11:50 »
0
What makes SS very scary is the huge range of "commissions" for an individual sale. For example, could be 10 cents or $200...that is a factor of 2000:1! My question is "when it is all said and done" does SS also see that huge variability to their bottom line? How would SS be doing if what the contributor sees as "big sales" slacked off quite a bit?

What SS will be doing - and what I do - is to look at what the averages are rather than individual sales. So they will be looking at things like total volume, rate per download, margin per download, etc.. When you have a huge volume of sales, as SS does, it all averages out.

Yes, but I guess my question is are the "big sales" as important relative to the "small sales" for SS bottom line as they are for the contributor's bottom line.

« Reply #170 on: September 16, 2022, 12:41 »
0
What makes SS very scary is the huge range of "commissions" for an individual sale. For example, could be 10 cents or $200...that is a factor of 2000:1! My question is "when it is all said and done" does SS also see that huge variability to their bottom line? How would SS be doing if what the contributor sees as "big sales" slacked off quite a bit?

What SS will be doing - and what I do - is to look at what the averages are rather than individual sales. So they will be looking at things like total volume, rate per download, margin per download, etc.. When you have a huge volume of sales, as SS does, it all averages out.

Yes, but I guess my question is are the "big sales" as important relative to the "small sales" for SS bottom line as they are for the contributor's bottom line.

Obviously not. Otherwise SS wouldn't be pushing the subscription model as hard as they are.

« Reply #171 on: September 16, 2022, 17:53 »
0
The first half of September was horrible, but these past few days for me have been promising.

Overall, I do see a significant downtrend in commissions, but I suppose it is what it is.  I'm not very motivated to shoot new topics, but I'm glad I have a decent sized portfolio that generates something each month.

How much of this is image vs video?

« Reply #172 on: September 16, 2022, 17:55 »
0
What makes SS very scary is the huge range of "commissions" for an individual sale. For example, could be 10 cents or $200...that is a factor of 2000:1! My question is "when it is all said and done" does SS also see that huge variability to their bottom line? How would SS be doing if what the contributor sees as "big sales" slacked off quite a bit?

What SS will be doing - and what I do - is to look at what the averages are rather than individual sales. So they will be looking at things like total volume, rate per download, margin per download, etc.. When you have a huge volume of sales, as SS does, it all averages out.

Yes, but I guess my question is are the "big sales" as important relative to the "small sales" for SS bottom line as they are for the contributor's bottom line.

Obviously not. Otherwise SS wouldn't be pushing the subscription model as hard as they are.

Could be like the concept... where there are small fish there are big fish too. I suppose if we don't attract either then we miss out on all. 

« Reply #173 on: September 16, 2022, 18:04 »
0
depressing...glad I've got off that sinking ship (or at least devoting much less time there).

That's a dramatic difference. My September 2022 has been poor so far - compared to the last two months at least anyway.

Funny was gonna come on and jest that after three years and more than 2470 images downloaded, I have not ever had an EL download... until Thursday two days ago. Had an image sold for $20.05 and though eh not bad for a photo sale, thought it was an SO but turned out to be my first EL sale.

I don't focus on uploading images / photos anymore (with only 39 uploads on Shutterstock since before November 2021) instead focusing on video which in my experience generally pays better commissions. I would never be able to do catch up with photos to make this anything worthwhile.   

 
« Last Edit: September 16, 2022, 18:07 by Pacesetter »

« Reply #174 on: September 17, 2022, 07:13 »
+2
depressing...glad I've got off that sinking ship (or at least devoting much less time there).

That's kind of what it looks like for me, too.
A normal month several years ago. Income exclusively from image sales with a portfolio size of about 1,050 to 1,100 images at the time. Three Enhanced in one month was normal. Today there are no more - for whatever reason. $283 only from subscriptions - today I would have to sell about 1500 to 2000 subscriptions to come to this sum.

In September 2022 my RPD so far is $0.41 and I'm pretty sure it probably wouldn't be higher at level 6.




 

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