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Author Topic: SS continues to deteriorate  (Read 96393 times)

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« Reply #75 on: September 24, 2019, 17:16 »
+3
always the same stuff always the same old files...nothing new sells....unbielevable.

Just to see, I looked at recent stuff for landscape : https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/search/landscape?sort=newest&image_type=photo
UNBELIEVABLE, I was not conscient about all the crap coming in. Nothing surprising that recent stuff, even if the best keeps unseen and unsold, buyers don't come through all these snapshots to find professionnal photo... How serious contributors can feel proud by participating on such a platform? personnaly, I feel ashamed to put my best pictures there.
But, I am sure that one day things will change, and they will have to clean up the base.

Perfect example of proof by using a terrible example. One word search for Landscape? Are you joking?

What buyer would do that? Landscape  ::)

always the same stuff always the same old files...nothing new sells....unbielevable.

You say you stopped uploading and when you did it was rejects. What did you expect?

my rejects is probably in the 5% for batch. I'm not uploading my best stuff or creative one, simply upload stuff i not consider my best work, that doesn't mean is bad work, probably much better than what you are uploading.

Show us who you are so we can see if your work backs your big talk.


Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #76 on: September 25, 2019, 18:06 »
+6
Having a monster month on SS...

« Reply #77 on: September 26, 2019, 02:22 »
+3
I'm on pace for BME in September. Quite surprising.

They changed something on SS at the beginning of the month and some contributors are seeing the positive effects of it.

« Reply #78 on: September 26, 2019, 06:27 »
0
Having a monster month on SS...

You have some big sales in September, right?

« Reply #79 on: September 26, 2019, 08:27 »
0
Having a monster month on SS...
0.7 rpd is very good!

Enviado desde mi LYA-L29 mediante Tapatalk


« Reply #80 on: September 26, 2019, 08:28 »
+1
I'm on pace for BME in September. Quite surprising.

They changed something on SS at the beginning of the month and some contributors are seeing the positive effects of it.
Others don't. They change their f*cking algorithm and it works for some people. For me this month, no. But previous months I have seem some crazy changes. SS is a casino.

Enviado desde mi LYA-L29 mediante Tapatalk


Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #81 on: September 26, 2019, 08:31 »
+1
Having a monster month on SS...

You have some big sales in September, right?

6 large ELs (including a $90 sale) and 3 clip sales making a big difference this month. Don't know what they did to change the algos, but more please!

Full report out in a few days on my blog.

« Reply #82 on: September 26, 2019, 08:33 »
+1
Having a monster month on SS...

You have some big sales in September, right?

6 large ELs (including a $90 sale) and 3 clip sales making a big difference this month. Don't know what they did to change the algos, but more please!

Full report out in a few days on my blog.
Have you uploaded more content recently than usual? I tend to think they reward people that's constantly uploading.

Enviado desde mi LYA-L29 mediante Tapatalk


« Reply #83 on: September 26, 2019, 08:35 »
0
Having a monster month on SS...

You have some big sales in September, right?

6 large ELs (including a $90 sale) and 3 clip sales making a big difference this month. Don't know what they did to change the algos, but more please!

Full report out in a few days on my blog.

Keep rocking!

Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #84 on: September 26, 2019, 09:07 »
0
Having a monster month on SS...

You have some big sales in September, right?

6 large ELs (including a $90 sale) and 3 clip sales making a big difference this month. Don't know what they did to change the algos, but more please!

Full report out in a few days on my blog.
Have you uploaded more content recently than usual? I tend to think they reward people that's constantly uploading.

Enviado desde mi LYA-L29 mediante Tapatalk

I've uploaded very few pics over the past 4 months (only about 350) vs something like 120 clips (been focused on uploading clips since I purchased a gimbal). So I don't think it's a significant factor.

Most of what has sold as ELs are at least a year old, one of them three years old.   

« Reply #85 on: September 26, 2019, 09:21 »
+1
Having a monster month on SS...

You have some big sales in September, right?

6 large ELs (including a $90 sale) and 3 clip sales making a big difference this month. Don't know what they did to change the algos, but more please!

Full report out in a few days on my blog.
Have you uploaded more content recently than usual? I tend to think they reward people that's constantly uploading.

Enviado desde mi LYA-L29 mediante Tapatalk

I've uploaded very few pics over the past 4 months (only about 350) vs something like 120 clips (been focused on uploading clips since I purchased a gimbal). So I don't think it's a significant factor.

Most of what has sold as ELs are at least a year old, one of them three years old.
SS works in mysterious ways

Enviado desde mi LYA-L29 mediante Tapatalk


StockDaebak

« Reply #86 on: September 26, 2019, 14:10 »
+2
Late September editorial sales update here and it's still slow on SS, not dead but not what it should be for September, Pond5 picked up a bit but still way down especially for this time of year.

Awful reality when I realize I could make more money going door to door and charging $10 per house to rake leaves than doing stock footage full time.

« Reply #87 on: September 27, 2019, 14:31 »
0
Having a monster month on SS...

Thats hilarious and sad at the same time to me  :).  My BME by far was june. This Sept is my worst month this year so far. Hasnt been so bad since april last year, and i had half the portfolio I have today.
It just shows that sales are seasonal.
br,
Joao

OM

« Reply #88 on: October 01, 2019, 05:54 »
0
Reviewing other posts here, I'm sure SS changed their algo in September. Good news for some but bad news for others like moi! Had a 4% increase in downloads but a 28% decrease in earnings compared to August; almost entirely due to lack of ODDs in September.

Due to lack of sales of new work, haven't uploaded anything since March/April. Seems pointless.

« Reply #89 on: October 01, 2019, 06:24 »
+1
Not my best month of the year but a good month ! It's not going down for me , but rising at SS ! New stuff are selling, slowly, but selling. I'm good with SS at this moment !

StockDaebak

« Reply #90 on: October 01, 2019, 07:35 »
+2
September ended up being "ok" but not great for the fall season but nothing to complain about considering how slow it's been here on SS and over at pond.  Both ended up higher for the month but nothing like it was last year or the year before.

Have to keep at it shoot/upload/sleep/repeat

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #91 on: October 01, 2019, 07:48 »
+2
subberstock...and adobe subs...20 % more download than last year combined 30 % less money.....it's clear that people who need credit or on demand photos are looking elsewhere.


jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #92 on: October 01, 2019, 07:50 »
+1
even those beggars outside supermarket earn much more per time than a sub....

OM

« Reply #93 on: October 01, 2019, 10:05 »
+3
subberstock...and adobe subs...20 % more download than last year combined 30 % less money.....it's clear that people who need credit or on demand photos are looking elsewhere.

My theory is that the big users still buy their subs every month but the smaller independent grahpic designers etc who used to buy an ODDs package as needed per job, now go first to Unsplash and Pixabay etc and only when they're unsuccessful do they return to SS/Adobe.

Probably explains why SS and Adobe advertise on those free sites...and help keep them in business ::) Eejits!

jonbull

    This user is banned.
« Reply #94 on: October 01, 2019, 11:15 »
+2
subberstock...and adobe subs...20 % more download than last year combined 30 % less money.....it's clear that people who need credit or on demand photos are looking elsewhere.

My theory is that the big users still buy their subs every month but the smaller independent grahpic designers etc who used to buy an ODDs package as needed per job, now go first to Unsplash and Pixabay etc and only when they're unsuccessful do they return to SS/Adobe.

Probably explains why SS and Adobe advertise on those free sites...and help keep them in business ::) Eejits!

of cours, in addiction there is pinterest instagram where find free images...unspalsh who was seen by many just a non competitive reality, is killing this business.
in my opinion even big corporate takes files there , first the quality is much better than micro, they fit perfectly the current style choosen by many, the quality is very high and you can't find that garbage you find in micro....seem like is full of artist who don't bother to earn penny in ss but prefer visibility...i remember even apple used their files in  a presentation....

for me the big challenge of ss is make new good files seen by customer....yeasterday i make some research in ss for some kind of food....search pulled pork for example, watch popular and the new...how in the earth they accepted the garbage in the new tab? how is it possible to be discovered if there is this kind of spammingg in key word?
ss think to be smart but it's losing lot of customer, especially ion enterprise sector....hw they think a customer can be happy to bows to that kind of stuff not even my grandmother of 95 years old would make photo of?

in addiction they are killing any wish for positive and good worker to produce...there are photographer who don't upload fo rages as i see in fotolia for example who still sell thousand of photo per year simply because their position in page one....new contributor and nw files struggle to be seen. this is heavily biased toward old contributor...i hope they kill popular and leave only relevant or a tab wh i s mix of age and download or view..

« Reply #95 on: October 01, 2019, 11:17 »
0
So, to summarize, this month was a roller coaster.

The month started pretty horribly, before having around the 15th a lot of Single & Others, including a $50 one, which is pretty unsual (my portfolio is made of 99% photos), before slowly returning back to a normal pace.

In the end, I'm within my goals for this month. The $50 sale made it among my BME's. Deducting this sale, it would have still been an average month, slightly better than the previous ones. In terms of downloads, as well, it would have been in the average, even though the numbers were probably 5 to 10% lower than usual (the RPD was therefore higher, even without the $50 sale).

As I was previously saying, I have this conspiracy theory that SS is using sometimes the Single & Other column to renconciliate amounts after they screwed up something in the royalties. It's not the first time indeed that I'm seeing this scheme happening. For the moment, however, I would still say it's a kind of conspiracy theory, as it can be a coincidence, given that I lack of evidence, even statistically speaking.

In terms of algorithm, something happened, indeed. It seems the algorithm is promoting more intensively the older pictures. I got actually a lot of sales from files with an ID inferior to 1200000000, while I used to have in the previous months good performance from files between 1200000000 and 1460000000 (there were a few strategic mistakes that could explain why the most recent files are failing, even though it shouldn't be that radical). Even more, I got some pretty big surprises with 1st sales on files that were older (below the billion).

So, in the end, it's a bit of a stressful situation after a beginning of the year that was perfect. That being said, the algorithm changes, in the end, just transformed the way I'm selling, but not the average result. Now, let's see if the trend continues. The last years, October was a bit of a disappointment, we'll see if there's a seasonality here.

« Reply #96 on: October 02, 2019, 01:44 »
0

 I have this conspiracy theory that SS is using sometimes the Single & Other column to renconciliate amounts after they screwed up something in the royalties. .... For the moment, however, I would still say it's a kind of conspiracy theory, as... I lack evidence,

Yup. Just another wild supposition.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #97 on: October 02, 2019, 14:31 »
+1

 I have this conspiracy theory that SS is using sometimes the Single & Other column to renconciliate amounts after they screwed up something in the royalties. .... For the moment, however, I would still say it's a kind of conspiracy theory, as... I lack evidence,

Yup. Just another wild supposition.

Just like they must have changed the algorithm because... without tracking specific images and where they are in the search over months or years. Just blame the evil agency and that's easy?  :)

I have tracked my best selling images and after years, they are still in the same relative positions as they were a year before. Some move up or down, depending on competition, but front page in a search, a three word search by the way not some silly one word. None that has sales has ever dropped from page 1 or 2 to suddenly page 23. So it appears that SS likes me better than everyone else? LOL

I suggest to the people who claim that the search on AS or SS or IS keeps changing and they are being punished for less uploads or file age, where old files are pushed down, oh wait, new files don't sell. Anything that fits, without actual watching, is open for a claim. Some I suspect are total speculation and change depending on the day or goal of the post.

Track and watch, for months and years, then tell us. I track photos with sales, their positions for a specific search term, that includes main keywords that a buyer might use. Make notes, same search, same words, what position is the test images or images?

As for month to month and general trends, yes, I'd agree, a continuing slow decline, across all agencies. Whether it's prices which means lower income or just lower numbers of downloads. Nothing is growing, the market is declining. No conspiracy, a young market that was growing, and growing, now is declining. Just what we'd expect if it was based on business and markets and consumers, instead of personal opinion and emotions.


« Reply #98 on: October 02, 2019, 15:37 »
+1
I agree, I'm doing a supposition based on a pretty small statistical evidence made of 4 cases, two of them being pretty radical, two others slightly less. I would need of course more observation, but, based from my experience from a few years ago working in the back-office of a pretty big website, doing some weird inventory adjustments to reconcile inputs and outputs in accordance with the contracts is something pretty common. In the end, as long as I'm receiving my share, I actually don't really want to see how the sausage is made.

Then, in terms of algorithm, I have tracked a few cases, and there are indeed some changes in the search results over the time. Here again, even though I may be penalised in some cases, it seems some are taking advantage, so these changes are not totally bad, at least not for everybody.

The only solution I have found up until now to counter these suspected changes is to maintain an upload rate as stable as possible on the long term. This is as well how I can sometimes see something changing, like when older pictures suddenly start to come back.

marthamarks

« Reply #99 on: October 02, 2019, 16:22 »
+3
In the end, as long as I'm receiving my share, I actually don't really want to see how the sausage is made.

Yep.

The only solution I have found up until now to counter these suspected changes is to maintain an upload rate as stable as possible on the long term.

Double yep.


 

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