How does SS make any money from 25-a-day subscriptions when they pay $0.25 per image to a novice contributor and even more to those who have been selling above a certain level? Subcription of $249 per 750 images (25 a day, 30 days) equals $0.33 per image.

That's a good question.  Do you suppose the 30-day limit might be the answer?  I wonder how many actually download 750 images?

I think SS business model can be compared to the concept of an "all you can eat buffet" concept with a few exceptions. With the buffet concept the most money is made on all of the people that pay the fee and DO NOT go back for a second trip to fill their plates ...

However ... if one day that were to change due to a football or other sports team practice center opened next door and all of the football players came every day to fill their plates multiple times each day in mass numbers ... the business would likely have to rethink their strategy due to the change in their business landscape.

If SS had all of its subscription users "fill their plates" everyday the model would not likely be profitable if this were the case over a significant amount of time.



-Mark
http://markwpayne.wordpress.com
 

How does SS make any money from 25-a-day subscriptions when they pay $0.25 per image to a novice contributor and even more to those who have been selling above a certain level? Subcription of $249 per 750 images (25 a day, 30 days) equals $0.33 per image.

its the same thing that "photospin" is doing. They assume that not every customer will use/need the upload limit.

Yeah, I'd assume people don't use all their possible downloads. Regardless, they probably still save money with the subs.

This is the very reason that I believe that the subscription model still exists in its present state. Its Win-Win for the buyers and the agency ...

-Mark

On a sort of side note, I'd like to see SS count vectors and larger jpegs as multiple downloads. This would be great for contributors, but I wonder if it would eat into SS's profits. I know Fotolia does this for vectors which is nice, although they kind of skimped on the larger size jpeg bump. It's weird that Fotolia almost got it right, so I guess it may be possible for SS too.

+1 for the vectors.
Fotolia is kind of mixed up, it's got increased sub prices for vectors(3x premium) but an XXL jpeg version of the vector is more expensive than the full size high detail (8credit) editable vector lol. However I still had sales for jpg versions which were more expensive than what the vector version would have costed.. oh well.

Just curious if anyone notices long periods when sales come to a halt. I seem to experience this all the time on Shutterstock. It appears that if I have a good start on a day with a lot of sales in the morning - suddenly they come to a complete halt - no sales for the next few hours. Very strange. I almost feel like someone or a program kicks in and slows down your sales.

since ss have so many buyers from the international community, i think purchases are country related, and therefore time related. my buyers start clicking around midnight for me (asia or europe). by the time i wake up in the mornings, most of the sales have been made. if there are us buyers they must do it very early in the morning or a few later in the day.

as for everything else, coincidence or paranoia. you need a little bit more proof. 

When in Europe, it's easier to follow than from here, East Asia.

fd,

if you're in asia, isn't it around 2 am?

"come to a complete halt - no sales for the next few hours"

Perhaps I should clarify. I am in the Eastern TimeZone. I normally have consistent sales every hour from (6 am - 5pm EST) on weekdays. More sales early morning and then later in the day (50% of my daily sales are by say 10 am)

There are some early sales before 6am and then I may have some stragglers in the evening hours probably australia/Japan etc.

Now if I get 0 sales for say 4 hours between 6am -5pm on a weekday I would consider that highly unusual. It could mean there was perhaps a glitch that day -but I would expect that my sales will all catch up later but this does not happen. I feel like I am losing my sales during that period. Shouldn't there be some independent auditing of SS that guarantees that what is actually sold is what we are paid?