MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Shutterstock.com => Topic started by: PZF on January 27, 2021, 10:27
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Wow!
Unless there is a miracle, it looks like I will be almost 75% down on January 2020 (and 2019).
Obviously with the ripoff Levels change I expected a drop - but down to one quarter of last year?
Amazing. :(
And none of the other sites even begin to make up the the slack.
:( :( :(
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Didn't expect anything else.
To be honest I think this whole "oh wow! look what shutterstock have done to us" is getting silly.
Either put up with their crappy rates continue swimming with sharks and don't complain when they feed off you
or just delete your portfolio.
Those are the only choices we have even Jon Oringer said as much :(
::)
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Well that's helpful Bad Robot - stating the blindingly obvious ::)
Expected bad but this is truly DIRE!
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75% down looks about right for me.
Even working back up through the levels its not the video *level* that's killing me, its all sales are now subscription/tiny and i get a % of that.
My video sales per same number of downloads are 84% down this January compared to last.
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For the last few months, Shutterstock has fallen to third place for me, well behind Adobe and even Istock, though my portfolio at SS is considerably larger. It's not the level royalty calculation that did this, but the fact that most subscription sales are now 10 cents compared to 35 cents previously. By the end of January, I will be at level four, but most sub sales are at 10 cents regardless of what your level is.
If they ever explained the radical change for subscription sales, I missed it, but explanations are beside the point anyway. The bottom line is that they are paying out a lot less. They've suddenly gone from being one of the more generous payers to one of the worst.
As a result, I've paused in uploading to SS and I'm working on building out my Adobe portfolio, particularly in catching up with editorial (which I find is selling reasonably well there). It will take years, but eventually buyers will notice that SS does not have as good a selection of new material as it used to.
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For January, my revenue on SS has fallen to the 5th place, far behind Adobe, Alamy, iStock and even Dreamstime. My RPD for January on images on SS is $0.12 >:(
Of course, I stopped uploading to SS. The question now is to delete or not my SS portfolio.
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Well that's helpful Bad Robot - stating the blindingly obvious ::)
Expected bad but this is truly DIRE!
So what are you going to do about it?
People complaining on a forum is a a waste of energy
So don't complain do something! ::)
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I think people just want to share their misery. Makes them feel better. Nothing wrong with that. There is a saying in Germany, "Shared suffering is halved suffering",
My January earnings are down by 50% on SS compared to last month - compared to January 20 they are actually better, but I am doing really poorly on all stock sites this month, so I can't blame it on SS alone.
January just isn't a good month for microstock anywhere for me, especially the first half of the month. But it's starting to pick up and I am optimistic for February.
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January just isn't a good month for microstock anywhere for me, especially the first half of the month. But it's starting to pick up and I am optimistic for February.
For me, the volume of sales on SS is normal (similar to January 2020). The issue is the number of $0.10 sales (around 80% to 90% of all sales, but I was Level 1 for 3 weeks) and the consequence on the RPD. Low RPD is new compared to 2020 and I don't see why it would improve in February.
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70% down compared to Jan 2020, and for the first time ever, I earn more on Adobe. Obviously Shutterstock is going down. Even though I'll be on lvl 3 for video pretty soon, I don't think my earning will recover much in Feb.
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January just isn't a good month for microstock anywhere for me, especially the first half of the month. But it's starting to pick up and I am optimistic for February.
For me, the volume of sales on SS is normal (similar to January 2020). The issue is the number of $0.10 sales (around 80% to 90% of all sales, but I was Level 1 for 3 weeks) and the consequence on the RPD. Low RPD is new compared to 2020 and I don't see why it would improve in February.
I can't compare January 2020 and January 2021, because I only started microstock around 2019 and my portfolio was much smaller last year. But comparing December 20 and January 21 my download number is down by a almost 300 and there are only 3 days left in January, so my sale numbers are definetely down in January. They are also down on Adobe, though the difference is smaller (But Adobe hasn't been performing well for me since around August last year) and on iStock I can't compare sale numbers before next month, but my views are down by a lot and at least for me, that's usually a good indicator for sales. Last month my most viewed image had around 200 views, this month it's less than 50...
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January just isn't a good month for microstock anywhere for me, especially the first half of the month. But it's starting to pick up and I am optimistic for February.
For me, the volume of sales on SS is normal (similar to January 2020). The issue is the number of $0.10 sales (around 80% to 90% of all sales, but I was Level 1 for 3 weeks) and the consequence on the RPD. Low RPD is new compared to 2020 and I don't see why it would improve in February.
I can't compare January 2020 and January 2021, because I only started microstock around 2019 and my portfolio was much smaller last year. But comparing December 20 and January 21 my download number is down by a almost 300 and there are only 3 days left in January, so my sale numbers are definetely down in January. They are also down on Adobe, though the difference is smaller (But Adobe hasn't been performing well for me since around August last year) and on iStock I can't compare sale numbers before next month, but my views are down by a lot and at least for me, that's usually a good indicator for sales. Last month my most viewed image had around 200 views, this month it's less than 50...
Every portfolio is different.
In my case, number of sales for January 21 is similar to December 20 for SS, AS and IS (for IS you can see the number of sales for the current year in the profile tab). I have a lot of sales on the Covid-19 subject this might explain why a have a good number of sales and a low RPD (costumers for these images are medias with big contract and low prices).
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for IS you can see the number of sales for the current year in the profile tab
I don't seem to have such a tab. (I think I asked about where that can be found here before, because someone mentioned it, but got no reply.)
I only have Overview, ESP User Info and Performance as tabs. Peformance has more tabs, Recent Activity, which shows views, and Download, which only shows me downloads up to Decmeber 21.
:-[
I had a LOT of Corona related downloads during the summer, but I guess my Corona-related topics are not in demand anymore, as sales on these topics are very sporadic for me these days.
What worked well for me in the past months was seasonal stuff and I thought Valentine stuff would work well in January, but it's not really working out for me. I am actually still selling more Christmas stuff than valentine stuff. :o Maybe I'll have more luck with Easter.
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for IS you can see the number of sales for the current year in the profile tab
I don't seem to have such a tab. (I think I asked about where that can be found here before, because someone mentioned it, but got no reply.)
I only have Overview, ESP User Info and Performance as tabs. Peformance has more tabs, Recent Activity, which shows views, and Download, which only shows me downloads up to Decmeber 21.
:-[
Here is the direct link to the Profile tab : https://accountmanagement.gettyimages.com/Account/Profile
To access it, you can also click on "account management" on the high top right of iStock page (between ESP and Contributor Community links)
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for IS you can see the number of sales for the current year in the profile tab
I don't seem to have such a tab. (I think I asked about where that can be found here before, because someone mentioned it, but got no reply.)
I only have Overview, ESP User Info and Performance as tabs. Peformance has more tabs, Recent Activity, which shows views, and Download, which only shows me downloads up to Decmeber 21.
:-[
Here is the direct link to the Profile tab : https://accountmanagement.gettyimages.com/Account/Profile
To access it, you can also click on "account management" on the high top right of iStock page (between ESP and Contributor Community links)
Ah, you mean the year to date number and then I have to substract all the numbers from the previous months? (Unnless it's january)
If these are my sales for January, then I am down by over 200 sales compared to last month there as well, as I suspected by the lower view number.
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Globally, it's pretty bad. I am at the moment around -50% compared to last year, as many here.
That being said, here's a bit more insight:
- the first 10 days of January have always been lower than average: businesses are just reopening avec the Holiday season, and the budgets are not always renewed. It's especially the case for On Demand, Extended or Enhanced sales (there may be a billing question with SS about it, I wouldn't be surprised).
- it was the case as well this year, but it got even worse due to the new scheme.
- as the weeks pass by, every year, the activity starts to kickoff, and I'm usually ending up with an average performance for January.
- in terms of volume, this year, the same phenomenon happens, as I have for instance generated 80% of my sales and revenue for the month in the past 7 days. In the end, the differences between the beginning and the end of the month should just be way more dramatic than before, due to the combination of the seasonal phenomenon with the first SS levels being reached pretty fast. In the end, I will probably face a 30% decrease compared to last year.
So, in the end, it's still bad, but not as much as I could expect based on January's first days. But anyway, screw Shutterstock.
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Last year at this time from Monday and same week: $22.20. 26.40. 17.30 and 27.70.....this week so far. $2.80. 2.80. 2.60 and so far 1.80.
notice the similarity in daily earnings this week! ( coincidence)??
So for any star-struck member just joind. This is what you are facing! a total decline! and just for the record I have spoken to about four other old time members each one with over 3000 failes one with 9000 files and they are seeing exactly the same. Sigh!
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Same here. Will be down 75% from last January.
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So my January downloads are up 81% over last January (I have added to my portfolio) but my sales are only up 6% from last January :(
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Help me to understand something...
Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
As noted above, you either bend over and take it up the corn hole, or you close your account, but this ouch it hurts mommy thing is very very very boring.
As far as I am concerned it is nothing more than senseless complaining. What more do you want? How about a little bit of cheese with that whine.
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Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
I don't think anyone is acting surprised?
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Help me to understand something...
Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
As noted above, you either bend over and take it up the corn hole, or you close your account, but this ouch it hurts mommy thing is very very very boring.
As far as I am concerned it is nothing more than senseless complaining. What more do you want? How about a little bit of cheese with that whine.
Well, the thing is: SS accounted for 1/3 of my microstock earnings last year. Alone, this money is crucial as I use SS earnings to invest and update my gear, that I use as well outside of microstock.
So, can I easily leave SS? No.
Then, is it legit to complain, and to try to analyze the impact of their policy? Yes.
Should I remind you that staying on a platform does not mean you support its policies?
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Help me to understand something...
Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
As noted above, you either bend over and take it up the corn hole, or you close your account, but this ouch it hurts mommy thing is very very very boring.
As far as I am concerned it is nothing more than senseless complaining. What more do you want? How about a little bit of cheese with that whine.
Thank You
(https://i.postimg.cc/7YdHkML9/no-whine-200.jpg)
Anyone who stays and spends nearly every day here and on the SS forums, complaining, needs to get over it. Either leave and stop being taken advantage of, or stay and take what you can get.
Those who left and did what they thought was best, I'm happy for you. Now please shut up and stop your complaining, you aren't working for SS anymore!
By the way, I stayed, I know that I'll get dimes, and earn less money, and that's my personal choice.
(https://i.postimg.cc/CLxs22Vg/beatdeadhorse.gif)
Enough!
None of this constant complaining is going to change anything at Shutterstock and by now almost everyone knows what we are getting and what to expect. There is no surprise that 8 months ago SS told us, we would get sent back to level 1. There's no mystery that even level 6 people will still be getting 10¢ credits for downloads.
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Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
I don't think anybody is surprised -or acting surprised. But the amount of the downturn is significantly worse than expected.
I don't think anybody really spends 'all day' whinging on the forums.
If you don't want to read these threads, then please don't read them.
If people who are dismayed with it all want to come here and vent then what is your problem?
In any case there is no need to be rude and tell us to 'shut up'.
Insults and bullying and the desire to 'cancel' differing opinions is getting everywhere even in small forums like this. Almost as depressing as the SS results for Jan.
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Help me to understand something...
Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
As noted above, you either bend over and take it up the corn hole, or you close your account, but this ouch it hurts mommy thing is very very very boring.
As far as I am concerned it is nothing more than senseless complaining. What more do you want? How about a little bit of cheese with that whine.
(https://i.postimg.cc/CLxs22Vg/beatdeadhorse.gif)
Enough!
Absolutely brilliant Uncle Pete.
Mommy Mommy make it go away...
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For me, it looks like downloads will be flat, and revenue will be down 20%. :(
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For me, it looks like downloads will be flat, and revenue will be down 20%. :(
Never mind the Quasi-philosophers will tell us not to moan and just shut-up grin and bear it! ::)
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With a couple days left, it looks like I'll be down about 30% on SS compared to January 2019.
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Video only:
Dec 2020: 41 sales: 498$ (level 4)
Jan 2021: 40 sales: 229$ (level 1&2)
Even if I was on level 4 this January, I will get around 350$: RPD is really low this month as I get a lot of 1$ sales
Pond5 which was my best earner until 2020, with more videos and exclusive 250 clips:
Dec 2020: 1 sale
Jan 2021: 0 sales
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Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
I don't think anybody is surprised -or acting surprised. But the amount of the downturn is significantly worse than expected.
I don't think anybody really spends 'all day' whinging on the forums.
If you don't want to read these threads, then please don't read them.
If people who are dismayed with it all want to come here and vent then what is your problem?
In any case there is no need to be rude and tell us to 'shut up'.
Insults and bullying and the desire to 'cancel' differing opinions is getting everywhere even in small forums like this. Almost as depressing as the SS results for Jan.
Cancel? Bullying? Oh c'mon get real.
This constant harping about shitterstock is just self-flagellation and there are plenty of threads and discussions out there both here and on shittystock.
You want to do something positive then either delete your portfolios or if you can then at least stop uploading.
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Down some 40-50%... Terrible
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Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
I don't think anybody is surprised -or acting surprised. But the amount of the downturn is significantly worse than expected.
I don't think anybody really spends 'all day' whinging on the forums.
If you don't want to read these threads, then please don't read them.
If people who are dismayed with it all want to come here and vent then what is your problem?
In any case there is no need to be rude and tell us to 'shut up'.
Insults and bullying and the desire to 'cancel' differing opinions is getting everywhere even in small forums like this. Almost as depressing as the SS results for Jan.
Cancel? Bullying? Oh c'mon get real.
This constant harping about shitterstock is just self-flagellation and there are plenty of threads and discussions out there both here and on shittystock.
You want to do something positive then either delete your portfolios or if you can then at least stop uploading.
[/quote
Thats right! go on! you tell them! ;D ;D
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Help me to understand something...
Shutterstock last year pulled the carpet from underneath you and then told you they will do it again every year on January 1st.
And you now act surprised that your income stream is down??? what did you think was going to happen, your income would triple???
As noted above, you either bend over and take it up the corn hole, or you close your account, but this ouch it hurts mommy thing is very very very boring.
As far as I am concerned it is nothing more than senseless complaining. What more do you want? How about a little bit of cheese with that whine.
(https://i.postimg.cc/CLxs22Vg/beatdeadhorse.gif)
Enough!
Absolutely brilliant Uncle Pete.
Mommy Mommy make it go away...
I think there's a difference from posting facts and numbers, for example:
For me, it looks like downloads will be flat, and revenue will be down 20%. :(
Or recognizing that:
Should I remind you that staying on a platform does not mean you support its policies?
But some keep posting, boycott, close your account, hurt them (like we really make any difference to SS?) or "I closed my account last year". Does anyone think that the agencies actually care about what gets posted here or on other forums. And why all the anger, all the time, towards Shutterstock while the rest of the thieves, who under pay for our work, get a free pass for doing even worse?
If someone left and took their photos with them, what does it matter to them so much, that they have to tell the rest of us, how we want to act personally? I'm going to do what I want. I'm happy to say, do what you want. To each their own.
Like BalkanskiMacak, understanding the math or asking for fair criticism and balance, isn't defending anyone. It's just being rational instead of being consumed by anger picking at anything to attack, no matter how small.
This constant harping about shitterstock is just self-flagellation and there are plenty of threads and discussions out there both here and on shittystock.
You want to do something positive then either delete your portfolios or if you can then at least stop uploading.
Or stop posting the same redundant messages here, go cry on somebody else's shoulder? ;)
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::)
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there you go again, pete -- nothing like deflating a good rant w reality
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Stopped uploading when they changed the payment structure. Income looks down by more than a third on last year on SS. SS down from first place in terms of earnings to comfortably in third place. Sales up elsewhere for me, overall earnings across all site looking fine. So everything going according to plan.
Oh and feel free to whinge on as for as I’m concerned. If we have to plough through pages of stories about the old days from hobbyists on every thread to get to anything about photography I am sure they can tolerate a line or two of commiserating with each other or complaining when someone decimates your entire living and means of supporting your family. And people wonder why participation is down ::)
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I sold 48 photos on SS in Jan 2020 and 100 in Jan 2021. Hopefully tomorrow I'll move into tier 2.
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Hopefully tomorrow I'll move into tier 2.
Where you will still mostly get 10-cent subs - yay! Congratulations on moving up at least.
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Worst month since August of 2009 - my seventh month in microstock. It was down 86% from my average of last year and 92% down from the average monthly earnings of my best year in 2017. Fortunately I don't need the money, but wow what a precipitous drop!
My final submissions to them were during April of last year - wasn't really worth the effort even before the commission cut and definitely not now. Looks like this month they will finish in fourth place, and might drop to fifth depending on iS. They were just a few cents ahead of DT and could drop behind them with one more DL. Will be interesting to see how far they drop after the next poll - soon fading to irrelevance, unfortunately.
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Worst month since August of 2009 - my seventh month in microstock. It was down 86% from my average of last year and 92% down from the average monthly earnings of my best year in 2017. Fortunately I don't need the money, but wow what a precipitous drop!
My final submissions to them were during April of last year - wasn't really worth the effort even before the commission cut and definitely not now. Looks like this month they will finish in fourth place, and might drop to fifth depending on iS. They were just a few cents ahead of DT and could drop behind them with one more DL. Will be interesting to see how far they drop after the next poll - soon fading to irrelevance, unfortunately.
Same here but I only do assignment photography nowadays I cant be bothered with stock anymore it always turn sour anyway. I deleted 4000 files after the SS horrible behaviour I have about 2000 files left and the income is sinking rapidly to the point where I am soon thinking of deleting all the rest of my files. Well next week will tell for sure!
Its almost as if they know who we are behind our pseudos??
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I don't understand why peoples total month earnings are down from 1 year ago unless they just have the same image quantity as a year ago. I only upload 25 images a week but am $100 up this month from a year ago and only submit to the 5 main agencies. As long as I keep adding photos my earning increase. iStock non exclusive giving me double of Adobe and Shutterstock.
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I don't understand why peoples total month earnings are down from 1 year ago unless they just have the same image quantity as a year ago. I only upload 25 images a week but am $100 up this month from a year ago and only submit to the 5 main agencies. As long as I keep adding photos my earning increase. iStock non exclusive giving me double of Adobe and Shutterstock.
In the last 12 months I've added 521 images and 88 clips.
Images revenues are down 63% year on year, as reported. Return per down is down from 56cents/download January 2020 to 24cents/download January 2021.
Adding more content will just mean that revenue won't drop as much but it will surely drop.
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The numbers are in and worse than i thought.
Compared to average lifetime RPDs im down 48% for images (down to $0.39) and down 75% for video (from $21 or so to $5).
Download *numbers* remained consistent, a bit higher than average so its not covid or recession, its simply being paid a LOT less for the same thing, particular with video where almost every sale was a pathetically low subscription.
I actually sold more videos than the last few months and earned 75% less.
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Yes of course they remain the same!^¨^ but all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc. the actual search algorithm is aimed towards that. SS have been nursing these markets for many years now!
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Worst year since April 2016.
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I don't understand why peoples total month earnings are down from 1 year ago unless they just have the same image quantity as a year ago. I only upload 25 images a week but am $100 up this month from a year ago and only submit to the 5 main agencies. As long as I keep adding photos my earning increase. iStock non exclusive giving me double of Adobe and Shutterstock.
Depends largely on the size of your portfolio. If you start out with 25 images and add 25 in a week you've doubled your portfolio size, while RPI may have only slipped by a percentage point or two in that week. The pain wont kick in until your portfolio is large enough that you can no longer keep pace with the decrease in RPI (or you slow down uploading).
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Yes of course they remain the same!^¨^ but all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc. the actual search algorithm is aimed towards that. SS have been nursing these markets for many years now!
Well that sure is a speculative opinion. Do you have any facts to back your algorithms?
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I don't understand why peoples total month earnings are down from 1 year ago unless they just have the same image quantity as a year ago. I only upload 25 images a week but am $100 up this month from a year ago and only submit to the 5 main agencies. As long as I keep adding photos my earning increase. iStock non exclusive giving me double of Adobe and Shutterstock.
Young rookie, you'll soon meet the wall!
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Yes of course they remain the same!^¨^ but all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc. the actual search algorithm is aimed towards that. SS have been nursing these markets for many years now!
India and Pakistan seems to be their main target for contributors (image farms etc).
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I don't understand why peoples total month earnings are down from 1 year ago unless they just have the same image quantity as a year ago. I only upload 25 images a week but am $100 up this month from a year ago and only submit to the 5 main agencies. As long as I keep adding photos my earning increase. iStock non exclusive giving me double of Adobe and Shutterstock.
Because each image same now returns 50% less commission and each video sale 75% less commission than 1 year ago....
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So, here's the final comparison to January 2020:
Revenue: -41%
Sales: -2.64%
So, as I sometimes say, this month was un dolor anal.
Actually, I'm much more preoccupied at the decrease in sales than at the decrease in revenue: my portfolio is significantly bigger than in January 2020, but the number of sales is lower. I'm still extremely upset at the revenue decrease, but I can expect things to get better be less bad in the upcoming weeks thanks to the season and the sales levels.
One positive thing: I got an increase of sales and revenue (+5.5%) on SOD and Singles compared to last January. Both in 2020 and in 2021, I didn't get any outstanding sale in this column (the highest one was below $4 in both cases), so it means there's still something growing out of there.
With the new scheme, I had actually previously noticed that , while my subs were getting murdered, the Singles, Other and SOD were stable, or were even getting better. It's hard to say, however, if this comes from the new system, or if it's due to my strategy: I'm mainly editorial, and I'm focusing more and more on small niches that start to add up where the supply is close to non existent and where I'm usually the only option (I'd say the second).
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un dolor anal.
I had to Google that. Ew.
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For me number of sales ended up almost the same as january 2020.
But earnings were 72% lower than january 2020, and 60% lower than they would have been with the old earning structure :'(
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation…
If you're gonna cite the beast, at least call it by its correct name: SHITTERSTOCK
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation…
If you're gonna cite the beast, at least call it by its correct name: SHITTERSTOCK
YOU ARE RIGHT, apologies for that.
The reason I wrote they are a bunch of Nazi’s, is over the concentration camps they had a sign saying;- Work will set you free.
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this is how shitterstock looks in my rear view mirror ꓘƆOTƧЯƎTTIHƧ
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Yes of course they remain the same!^¨^ but all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc. the actual search algorithm is aimed towards that. SS have been nursing these markets for many years now!
India and Pakistan seems to be their main target for contributors (image farms etc).
Youre dead right! any country where 5 bucks a day goes a long way! thats their nursing targets!
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Youre dead right! any country where 5 bucks a day goes a long way! thats their nursing targets!
A quick look on the FB groups show that. People prodly posting $10-$20 a month earnings, plenty of people jealous or saying amazing, others asking how they can sell as much.
This is SS key contributor market now - people who will upload for effectively nothing. They dont need/want quality - there's Custom and Offset for that.
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They dont need/want quality - there's Custom and Offset for that.
Yes ... but sales on Offset, Getty, Adobe Premium ... are good or not ?
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this is how shitterstock looks in my rear view mirror ꓘƆOTƧЯƎTTIHƧ
Everyone is leaving Shitterstock ... except for the people who got shitterstuck.
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They dont need/want quality - there's Custom and Offset for that.
Yes ... but sales on Offset, Getty, Adobe Premium ... are good or not ?
No not good! stock is not good anywhere! just some are less worse then others!
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Yes of course they remain the same!^¨^ but all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc. the actual search algorithm is aimed towards that. SS have been nursing these markets for many years now!
Contributors are not a market they are suppliers. Do you have any evidence that the search engine is geared that way or any reason why it is of any commercial advantage to SS that contribitors come from certain countries?
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this is how shitterstock looks in my rear view mirror ꓘƆOTƧЯƎTTIHƧ
I appreciate a good effort like that. :)
Contributors are not a market they are suppliers. Do you have any evidence that the search engine is geared that way or any reason why it is of any commercial advantage to SS that contributors come from certain countries?
No one does, just like most of the other invented claims. But then people repeat the lies enough times and someone else will believe it's actually truth.
Called Factoids. But also known as The Big Lie.
Oddly enough: The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously".
So tales of how Shutterstock favors someone else or does horrible things to give others some advantage or cheat us, is an example. Salary caps, account blackouts, favoring some country, favoring some contributor, making special deals in secret, or why our sales are down because someone else is getting special favors.
The truth is, they don't need to cheat and block, or play favorites, because they make so much from any sales, (AKA pay us all so little) it doesn't matter to them.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
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this is how shitterstock looks in my rear view mirror ꓘƆOTƧЯƎTTIHƧ
Everyone is leaving Shitterstock ... except for the people who got shitterstuck.
Good one! :D
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Sales are in the gutter everywhere so far this year.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
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this is how shitterstock looks in my rear view mirror ꓘƆOTƧЯƎTTIHƧ
I appreciate a good effort like that. :)
Contributors are not a market they are suppliers. Do you have any evidence that the search engine is geared that way or any reason why it is of any commercial advantage to SS that contributors come from certain countries?
No one does, just like most of the other invented claims. But then people repeat the lies enough times and someone else will believe it's actually truth.
Called Factoids. But also known as The Big Lie.
Oddly enough: The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously".
So tales of how Shutterstock favors someone else or does horrible things to give others some advantage or cheat us, is an example. Salary caps, account blackouts, favoring some country, favoring some contributor, making special deals in secret, or why our sales are down because someone else is getting special favors.
The truth is, they don't need to cheat and block, or play favorites, because they make so much from any sales, (AKA pay us all so little) it doesn't matter to them.
You are quite right Pete! its all lies nothing but lies and people can not use their own intelligence! the fact that soome US members with over 50000 files are down 70% is all lies no truth at all since they are lying!
SS is all above board fair and square and do their utmost to bring peace and happiness among all their contributors. The fact that SS themselves 4 years back came clean with saying they are going to make it "fair" trying to give everybody a slice of the cake!: is all lies of course!
Well Pete its like believeing in Santa isnt it! never the less: Never have so many millions had so few (SS) to thank for so much! at least thats true.....isnt it?
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!
Good grief its not because they are facists or Jewish its because they follow the same old well trodden path of all businesses in the USA which is crush everyone, competition, suppliers et al.
Corporate greed and good old fashioned capitalism.
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"Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!"
Honestly, this might be the worst take yet.
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the fact that soome US members with over 50000 files are down 70% is all lies no truth at all since they are lying!
So how exactly does 'soome US members with over 50000 files are down 70%' prove that 'all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc'?!
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the fact that soome US members with over 50000 files are down 70% is all lies no truth at all since they are lying!
So how exactly does 'soome US members with over 50000 files are down 70%' prove that 'all revenues are geared towards the eastern blocks, Thailand etc, etc'?!
Thanks for bringing this back to the point. False claims and made up data.
(and away from senseless personal attacks that ignore the original false claims and fabrications)
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Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!
[/quote]
What a shallow shallow human being you are.
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Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!
What a shallow shallow human being you are.
[/quote]
You are reading me wrong! I was being sarcastic to the poster that originally said this! I was being fecicious you see!
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Lowest $ since february 2015, half of what I made last month and jan 2020 :o
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
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Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!
What a shallow shallow human being you are.
You are reading me wrong! I was being sarcastic to the poster that originally said this! I was being fecicious you see!
[/quote]
Sorry if I read into your sarcasm wrongly, that said just so you know it does come across as shallow. Sadly at times texting or messaging is the ultimate way to miscommunicate. My sarcasm gets me into trouble all the time :) Carry on....
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Yep! and this is very strange considering both Oringer and Pavlovsky are of Jewish origin/religion!
What a shallow shallow human being you are.
You are reading me wrong! I was being sarcastic to the poster that originally said this! I was being fecicious you see!
Sorry if I read into your sarcasm wrongly, that said just so you know it does come across as shallow. Sadly at times texting or messaging is the ultimate way to miscommunicate. My sarcasm gets me into trouble all the time :) Carry on....
[/quote]
Thats Ok no hard feelings! I did actually word it badly! :)
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Lowest $ since february 2015, half of what I made last month and jan 2020 :o
Yup, same here....Shitterstock didn't just take. They stole.
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Good grief its not because they are facists or Jewish its because they follow the same old well trodden path of all businesses in the USA which is crush everyone, competition, suppliers et al.
Corporate greed and good old fashioned capitalism.
it just shows the general ignorance of posters who couldn't define capitalism or fascism in the first place and narrowness of their worldview to concentrate on SS as evil when there are so many major companies that pay no taxes, are super-polluters, etc etc. SS isn't even a blip on radar
and anti-semitism is on the rise (still) when congressfolk can claim a laser stared the west coast wildfires
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21% increase in sales, 42% drop in $.
The first part of the month until I hit level 4 was painfully low $. That and a drop in footage sales did the real damage.
But, AS is doing very well... especially footage. Maybe a shift from SS - AS?!? Who knows. SS is probably 1/4 of AS... maybe less.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
I am not saying that Oringer and Pavlovsky are doing this because they are Jewish, (who cares what they are) I am simply saying they are Fascist, sure they run Shutterstock like many large companies (who are also run by Fascists).
The whole fee structure is 'Work will set you Free', which is a Facist motto.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
I am not saying that Oringer and Pavlovsky are doing this because they are Jewish, (who cares what they are) I am simply saying they are Fascist, sure they run Shutterstock like many large companies (who are also run by Fascists).
The whole fee structure is 'Work will set you Free', which is a Facist motto.
The fee structure is based on the capitalist system of supply and demand. Nothing to do with fascism. You don't work for Shutterstock and no one is forcing you to contribute. One of the primary definitions of Fascism is nationalism which they are the complete opposite of. They are simply exploitative bosses.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
I am not saying that Oringer and Pavlovsky are doing this because they are Jewish, (who cares what they are) I am simply saying they are Fascist, sure they run Shutterstock like many large companies (who are also run by Fascists).
The whole fee structure is 'Work will set you Free', which is a Facist motto.
The fee structure is based on the capitalist system of supply and demand. Nothing to do with fascism. You don't work for Shutterstock and no one is forcing you to contribute. One of the primary definitions of Fascism is nationalism which they are the complete opposite of. They are simply exploitative bosses.
You are stating the obvious but in business there is a certain amount of " com il faut " among companies their employees and of course in our case contributors and this and business ethics seems to be non existent in terms of SS.
No we are not working for them but we are supplying them with our pictures and of course also our TRUST!!: violated!
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Anyway back to the subject
Just reached level three today Woo Hoo!!! ::)
Still 10 cents coming in :D
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
I am not saying that Oringer and Pavlovsky are doing this because they are Jewish, (who cares what they are) I am simply saying they are Fascist, sure they run Shutterstock like many large companies (who are also run by Fascists).
The whole fee structure is 'Work will set you Free', which is a Facist motto.
The fee structure is based on the capitalist system of supply and demand. Nothing to do with fascism. You don't work for Shutterstock and no one is forcing you to contribute. One of the primary definitions of Fascism is nationalism which they are the complete opposite of. They are simply exploitative bosses.
I don't believe the fee structure is supply and demand, it is based on those who control the fees ripping off the suppliers, by hiding behind a fee structure that they won't divulge.
The definition of Fascism is;- a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.
This can be directly applied to Shutterstock as a business, the only trait that is missing is 'ultranationalism' otherwise all the characteristics are the same.
They are Business Fascists, it is a way of thinking.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
I am not saying that Oringer and Pavlovsky are doing this because they are Jewish, (who cares what they are) I am simply saying they are Fascist, sure they run Shutterstock like many large companies (who are also run by Fascists).
The whole fee structure is 'Work will set you Free', which is a Facist motto.
The fee structure is based on the capitalist system of supply and demand. Nothing to do with fascism. You don't work for Shutterstock and no one is forcing you to contribute. One of the primary definitions of Fascism is nationalism which they are the complete opposite of. They are simply exploitative bosses.
I don't believe the fee structure is supply and demand, it is based on those who control the fees ripping off the suppliers, by hiding behind a fee structure that they won't divulge.
The definition of Fascism is;- a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.
This can be directly applied to Shutterstock as a business, the only trait that is missing is 'ultranationalism' otherwise all the characteristics are the same.
They are Business Fascists, it is a way of thinking.
No one is forcing you to have any kind of relationship with Shutterstock whatsover. Whilst SS may be the largest player they don't have power to dictate anything...and certainly not the way society or economies function.
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The reality is ShutterStock is run as a facist organisation, it doesn’t remotely come anywhere near capitalism.
Those who continue to upload are just being exploited by a bunch of Nazi’s.
Shutterstock is a product of unfettered free market capitalism. It has nothing whatever to do with Fascism as far as I can see. To draw parallels with concentration camps is a bit ridiculous really.
I am drawing a parallel with how Jon Oringer and Stan Pavlovsky think, there thinking is straight out of the Facist playbook.
For example?
I am not saying that Oringer and Pavlovsky are doing this because they are Jewish, (who cares what they are) I am simply saying they are Fascist, sure they run Shutterstock like many large companies (who are also run by Fascists).
The whole fee structure is 'Work will set you Free', which is a Facist motto.
The fee structure is based on the capitalist system of supply and demand. Nothing to do with fascism. You don't work for Shutterstock and no one is forcing you to contribute. One of the primary definitions of Fascism is nationalism which they are the complete opposite of. They are simply exploitative bosses.
I don't believe the fee structure is supply and demand, it is based on those who control the fees ripping off the suppliers, by hiding behind a fee structure that they won't divulge.
The definition of Fascism is;- a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.
This can be directly applied to Shutterstock as a business, the only trait that is missing is 'ultranationalism' otherwise all the characteristics are the same.
They are Business Fascists, it is a way of thinking.
Then delete your portfolio and leave them if you hate them that much
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Anyway back to the subject
Just reached level three today Woo Hoo!!! ::)
Still 10 cents coming in :D
Congratulations to moving up, one step closer to getting more dimes. While I sit at level 1 getting? Dimes! ;D
Actually good that for the real sales and not the subs, you'll get 25% now which according to old calculations, was about what we got before the "new improved, reward based system". S
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Reached level 4 for images before the end of january.
Level 3 for videos at the end of this week (theoretically) :)
Anyway, Adobe is flying (january about 3x of SS)
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I just reached level 4 for Shutterstock but January was the best month I have ever had with Adobe. A great month makes me want to shoot more content.
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Anyway back to the subject
Just reached level three today Woo Hoo!!! ::)
Still 10 cents coming in :D
Congratulations to moving up, one step closer to getting more dimes. While I sit at level 1 getting? Dimes! ;D
Actually good that for the real sales and not the subs, you'll get 25% now which according to old calculations, was about what we got before the "new improved, reward based system". S
I just feel so good that my images are making Jon and Stan even more wealthy. ::)
I do hope Jon can buy a new helicopter he deserves it ;D
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Dean! for many uploading is a hobby some extra cash but for many serious members full-timers it used to be part of a living! yes earnings used to increase for hard work but not nowadays. Many complain they spend hours shooting and hours in front of the computer with no reward at all in fact some complain they even earn less.
Quality is gone and its all a matter of quantity!
The gravy-train is over and the ship is long gone!
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The gravy-train is over and the ship is long gone!
The train crashed and the ship sank. :)
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The gravy-train is over and the ship is long gone!
The train crashed and the ship sank. :)
All this is true, and it was Oringer and Pavlovsky who crashed the train and ran off with all the cash, shutterstock is like a the old Wild West.
It's a sick up.
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The gravy-train is over and the ship is long gone!
The train crashed and the ship sank. :)
And the sharks are circling sniffing the gravy
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The gravy-train is over and the ship is long gone!
The train crashed and the ship sank. :)
All this is true, and it was Oringer and Pavlovsky who crashed the train and ran off with all the cash, shutterstock is like a the old Wild West.
It's a sick up.
They were hardly first in line were they? Every microstock agency has been doing the same over the last 5 years. You seem to reserve your ire for Shutterstock but what has happened is consistent with every other industry since capitalism began.
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I sold 101 photos on SS in January 2021.
So, I moved to tier 2 on 1st February.
43% of my income in January was from on-demand sales.
I'm still think I can make more on SS in 2021 than in 2020.
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I sold 101 photos on SS in January 2021.
So, I moved to tier 2 on 1st February.
43% of my income in January was from on-demand sales.
I'm still think I can make more on SS in 2021 than in 2020.
I hope you are correct and I'm also hoping the same for myself. But after "HOPE" the new payment schedule doesn't look really optimistic. February is going to pass January for me, probably by the 15th at the rate things are going.
That's not saying a whole lot, because Jan. 2021 was down 33% from 2020.
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I sold 101 photos on SS in January 2021.
So, I moved to tier 2 on 1st February.
43% of my income in January was from on-demand sales.
I'm still think I can make more on SS in 2021 than in 2020.
I hope you are correct and I'm also hoping the same for myself. But after "HOPE" the new payment schedule doesn't look really optimistic. February is going to pass January for me, probably by the 15th at the rate things are going.
That's not saying a whole lot, because Jan. 2021 was down 33% from 2020.
I was down 67% :'(.
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I'm still think I can make more on SS in 2021 than in 2020.
Sure, if you work hard.
Double your efforts, make a little bit more ;-)
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I sold 101 photos on SS in January 2021.
So, I moved to tier 2 on 1st February.
43% of my income in January was from on-demand sales.
I'm still think I can make more on SS in 2021 than in 2020.
You should be able to, with sales on that kind of sales volume I assume you can double your portfolio size in a year, which will offset almost any decrease in sales or commissions. It's when you are making that many sales each day that these changes are devastating.
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I'm still think I can make more
Dont forget to calculate ALL your expenses AND your working hours
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Jan 2020 - $125 / 135 sales
Jan 2021 - $76 / 222 sales
Plus if doing this as a side hustle to a decent paid main job in the UK, you loss 40% of that to the taxman lol
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Jan 2020 - $125 / 135 sales
Jan 2021 - $76 / 222 sales
Plus if doing this as a side hustle to a decent paid main job in the UK, you loss 40% of that to the taxman lol
Only if you are earning in the 40% tax band
Personal Allowance Up to £12,500 0%
Basic rate £12,501 to £50,000 20%
Higher rate £50,001 to £150,000 40%
Additional rate over £150,000 45%
::)
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You only have to pay 40% to the taxman... if you're in the 40% tax group? Who would have thought it?!
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Jan 2020 - $125 / 135 sales
Jan 2021 - $76 / 222 sales
Plus if doing this as a side hustle to a decent paid main job in the UK, you loss 40% of that to the taxman lol
Average wage in the UK is £31K, so if you are doing this as a side hustle and your primary hustle is making you considerably more than the average person then, yes, you will be paying 40% of your Stock income towards services provided by government. Just like anyone else earning that much money. I am not sure “losing” it is the correct framing.
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To answer Justanotherphotographer^...its amazing really there was a time from around year 2000 to 2010 when you could earn that sort of amount from stock-photography alone.
The Image-Bank, Stones and the early years of Getty together with the early years of SS, Istock and Fotolia. Providing a good commercial portfolio you could earn a small fortune!
Now we are all penny pinching!
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Is there any way how to know if part of buyers migrated from SS to Adobe or other websites? Maybe someone can see it in his stats (with portfolio big enough to get stable and not so random results).
Unfortunately my own stats are not clear, because I don't upload new images on SS since Juny. I'm down 50% on SS in earnings and 20% down in downloads. Other websites do better now for me (Adobe is 50% up), but I uploaded a lot of new images there (but not so many to get 50% up) so I can't say clearly if they do better because of my new images or because they keep bigger part of the market.
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Adobe will be dominating this market in no time. Shutterstock and Istock are being left behind much faster that everybody thought. The Shutterstock move is just a quick money grab so the founder and a few more people in the management can make as much money as possible before leaving the sinking ship. Mr Oringer is slowly selling his stock in the company every week. I wonder if he still has more than 50%.
Istock did the same when they raised prices like crazy with Hellman&Friedman in this case making a quick money grab on the back of their customers. They run away and then they had no other option to reduce royalties, introduce subs, ...... Since today they have not recovered from the hit, have a huge debt that at one point might put them out of business in the future.
Less and less top contributors are giving any content to Shutterstock and that only means one thing in the near future. As simple as that.
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Is there any way how to know if part of buyers migrated from SS to Adobe or other websites? Maybe someone can see it in his stats (with portfolio big enough to get stable and not so random results).
Unfortunately my own stats are not clear, because I don't upload new images on SS since Juny. I'm down 50% on SS in earnings and 20% down in downloads. Other websites do better now for me (Adobe is 50% up), but I uploaded a lot of new images there (but not so many to get 50% up) so I can't say clearly if they do better because of my new images or because they keep bigger part of the market.
I think it still depends a lot on luck and randomness and on an individual port and the content. My February earnings on SS are for example 400% of my Adobe earnings right now. Adobe has been doing really great for me sometime around June last year where it was doing better than Shutterstock. Then my earnings declined and have pretty much been stagnant there for months now even though I constantly add new content. I think actually Adobe is the only one of the agencies I submit to, where adding new content does not have any positive effect on my sales.
I think more than any other agency they seem to have a problem in promoting new content over best-selling established content. I had such great results with my new Halloween and Christmas dog photos on all agencies (Hundreds of sales on some individual images, adds to various agencies' curated collections), expect Adobe, where they basically didn't sell at all - instead the same old images of much poorer quality from 2 years ago would still sell. As long as that's not changing, I don't think my future with Adobe is looking too bright.
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Is there any way how to know if part of buyers migrated from SS to Adobe or other websites? Maybe someone can see it in his stats (with portfolio big enough to get stable and not so random results).
Unfortunately my own stats are not clear, because I don't upload new images on SS since Juny. I'm down 50% on SS in earnings and 20% down in downloads. Other websites do better now for me (Adobe is 50% up), but I uploaded a lot of new images there (but not so many to get 50% up) so I can't say clearly if they do better because of my new images or because they keep bigger part of the market.
I think it still depends a lot on luck and randomness and on an individual port and the content. My February earnings on SS are for example 400% of my Adobe earnings right now. Adobe has been doing really great for me sometime around June last year where it was doing better than Shutterstock. Then my earnings declined and have pretty much been stagnant there for months now even though I constantly add new content. I think actually Adobe is the only one of the agencies I submit to, where adding new content does not have any positive effect on my sales.
I think more than any other agency they seem to have a problem in promoting new content over best-selling established content. I had such great results with my new Halloween and Christmas dog photos on all agencies (Hundreds of sales on some individual images, adds to various agencies' curated collections), expect Adobe, where they basically didn't sell at all - instead the same old images of much poorer quality from 2 years ago would still sell. As long as that's not changing, I don't think my future with Adobe is looking too bright.
The quality was far, far better years back simply because pro photographers submitted portfolios! they have now left SS in droves. Nowadays they accept and promote any old crap! working on the concept of quantity rather then quality and of course silly buyers that dont know the difference!
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Is there any way how to know if part of buyers migrated from SS to Adobe or other websites? Maybe someone can see it in his stats (with portfolio big enough to get stable and not so random results).
Unfortunately my own stats are not clear, because I don't upload new images on SS since Juny. I'm down 50% on SS in earnings and 20% down in downloads. Other websites do better now for me (Adobe is 50% up), but I uploaded a lot of new images there (but not so many to get 50% up) so I can't say clearly if they do better because of my new images or because they keep bigger part of the market.
I think it still depends a lot on luck and randomness and on an individual port and the content. My February earnings on SS are for example 400% of my Adobe earnings right now. Adobe has been doing really great for me sometime around June last year where it was doing better than Shutterstock. Then my earnings declined and have pretty much been stagnant there for months now even though I constantly add new content. I think actually Adobe is the only one of the agencies I submit to, where adding new content does not have any positive effect on my sales.
I think more than any other agency they seem to have a problem in promoting new content over best-selling established content. I had such great results with my new Halloween and Christmas dog photos on all agencies (Hundreds of sales on some individual images, adds to various agencies' curated collections), expect Adobe, where they basically didn't sell at all - instead the same old images of much poorer quality from 2 years ago would still sell. As long as that's not changing, I don't think my future with Adobe is looking too bright.
The quality was far, far better years back simply because pro photographers submitted portfolios! they have now left SS in droves. Nowadays they accept and promote any old crap! working on the concept of quantity rather then quality and of course silly buyers that dont know the difference!
I am not sure what this has to do with the fact that on Adobe my old - much crappier - images sell, but my newer ones with much more experience and much better equipment that sell well on other agencies, don't. ???
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I am not sure what this has to do with the fact that on Adobe my old - much crappier - images sell, but my newer ones with much more experience and much better equipment that sell well on other agencies, don't. ???
Pretty basic but, for me, different images sell on Adobe than SS. There are some "best sellers" that seemed to rise to the top everywhere, (when I was working more agencies) but more recently, one that has 100 downloads on AS has 1 on SS. And one that has hundreds of DLs on SS has 1 on AS. I don't even have a majority of the same images on both anymore, because SS takes some that AS doesn't and visa versa. Not a whole lot of identical to compare.
I think I'll need to watch new images as that's what you mentioned, and see how that goes, but I'm essentially down to two active agencies and Alamy for Microstock. I really don't see anything new catching on like they used to do, anywhere. Everything is a long slow ride, and maybe in a year, I'll see what's going on. There is no more, upload on Monday and watch for sales during the week.
Now it's more like upload, and wait... a long time! :-\
Sad to say, I started a pay FAA account in November and although I'm not working very hard, the sales there are better than DT, DP, P5, 123RF, and IS combined, for the entire last year. (most of those through Wirestock) All that tells me is I should be working where the money is and wasting less time where I get peanuts for downloads?
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I think I'll need to watch new images as that's what you mentioned, and see how that goes, but I'm essentially down to two active agencies and Alamy for Microstock. I really don't see anything new catching on like they used to do, anywhere. Everything is a long slow ride, and maybe in a year, I'll see what's going on. There is no more, upload on Monday and watch for sales during the week.
I've only been doing microstock for a little over 2 years, so I can't really compare whether new stuff is catching on like it used to.
I can only make an observation for that short period of time and it's like I described above. For me one image selling 50 or 100 times within a month is very good (maybe some will laugh at these numbers, I don't know. I am content with this. For me very few images manage to do this. ) and some of my newly uploaded seasonal images have managed to do this both on Shutterstock and iStock. Even on Dreamstime and Depositephotso some of them have sold 10-20 times within a month (I know these numbers don't look great, but these agencies just don't generate many sales for me, so it's a lot in comparison to the overall sale number), it's just Adobe where sales on these images are missing. Most of these images have not sold one single time on Adobe, a few maybe once. It's basically as if they did not exist. But the few images that have been selling regularly for me for the past 2 years still kept selling.
It's just that the difference between how these new images performed on Adobe compared to all other agencies (expect Alamy where I sell an image once in a blue moon) is quite noticeable, so I am having a hard time believing that it's the microstock market in general or that it's my images.
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Adobe will be dominating this market in no time. Shutterstock and Istock are being left behind much faster that everybody thought. The Shutterstock move is just a quick money grab so the founder and a few more people in the management can make as much money as possible before leaving the sinking ship. Mr Oringer is slowly selling his stock in the company every week. I wonder if he still has more than 50%.
Istock did the same when they raised prices like crazy with Hellman&Friedman in this case making a quick money grab on the back of their customers. They run away and then they had no other option to reduce royalties, introduce subs, ...... Since today they have not recovered from the hit, have a huge debt that at one point might put them out of business in the future.
Less and less top contributors are giving any content to Shutterstock and that only means one thing in the near future. As simple as that.
We would all like to believe it I'm sure but I don't think theres much evidence for that. "Third Quarter 2020 highlights compared to Third Quarter 2019:
Key Operating Metrics
Subscribers increased 39%, to 255,000.
Subscriber revenue increased 12% to $67.6 million.
Average revenue per customer, increased 0.3% to $328.
Paid downloads decreased 6% to 43.4 million.
Revenue per download increased by $0.39 to $3.79.
Image collection expanded 18% to approximately 350 million images.
Footage collection expanded 25% to approximately 20 million clips."
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I think I'll need to watch new images as that's what you mentioned, and see how that goes, but I'm essentially down to two active agencies and Alamy for Microstock. I really don't see anything new catching on like they used to do, anywhere. Everything is a long slow ride, and maybe in a year, I'll see what's going on. There is no more, upload on Monday and watch for sales during the week.
I've only been doing microstock for a little over 2 years, so I can't really compare whether new stuff is catching on like it used to.
I can only make an observation for that short period of time and it's like I described above. For me one image selling 50 or 100 times within a month is very good (maybe some will laugh at these numbers, I don't know. I am content with this. For me very few images manage to do this. ) and some of my newly uploaded seasonal images have managed to do this both on Shutterstock and iStock. Even on Dreamstime and Depositephotso some of them have sold 10-20 times within a month (I know these numbers don't look great, but these agencies just don't generate many sales for me, so it's a lot in comparison to the overall sale number), it's just Adobe where sales on these images are missing. Most of these images have not sold one single time on Adobe, a few maybe once. It's basically as if they did not exist. But the few images that have been selling regularly for me for the past 2 years still kept selling.
It's just that the difference between how these new images performed on Adobe compared to all other agencies (expect Alamy where I sell an image once in a blue moon) is quite noticeable, so I am having a hard time believing that it's the microstock market in general or that it's my images.
You are doing fine. Some image selling 50 times in a month would be shocking, in a good way! Everyone to their own levels based on what they produce and how much. Selling something new 20 times in a month on DT or DP is equally positive and a success.
Oh now I get it. When you said old images I was thinking "OLD" images. :) The days of upload Monday, downloads by Wed. ended in around 2012. Kind of a marker date when things boldly went into a black hole that we had never seen coming, and never came out. Not precise but a general time when the industry turned down.
No answer why the current darling of the artists wouldn't do as well for you. I'll just say, for many, Adobe is the last one standing (holding up respect for artists) and makes more money for more people, than any other Microstock agency. Good that you do so well on others!