Author Topic: What is your highest earnings? (Read 2219 times)

sinandogan · « **on:** December 13, 2024, 02:34 »

Hello everyone. There's a statistic I'm curious about. What's the most you've earned from selling a single photo or video on Shutterstock?

I've been uploading for two years. The most I've made on a single sale is $60 for photos. $18 for videos.

Pacesetter · « **Reply #1 on:** December 13, 2024, 03:09 »

Video sale on 27 September 2023....

alijaber · « **Reply #2 on:** December 13, 2024, 04:18 »

A video sale in June 2023: 942$

stoker2014 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 13, 2024, 08:13 »

Quote from: alijaber on December 13, 2024, 04:18

A video sale in June 2023: 942$

gnirtS · « **Reply #4 on:** December 13, 2024, 16:53 »

Quote from: sinandogan on December 13, 2024, 02:34

Hello everyone. There's a statistic I'm curious about. What's the most you've earned from selling a single photo or video on Shutterstock?

I've been uploading for two years. The most I've made on a single sale is $60 for photos. $18 for videos.

Now or previously?

Had a few $930 video sales last year, have had some $500 images in the past (normal sales not direct negotiation) but they're very very rare.

PeteStock · « **Reply #5 on:** December 14, 2024, 03:21 »

Had a $300 video last month, my highest so far.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #6 on:** December 14, 2024, 07:56 »

While for the most part the 'sales' are ridiculously low and not worth it (i.e., $0.25 for video) - so I don't bother uploading there any more, from time to time I will get a $200-$300 sale. ('rare', maybe like 1x/year).

sinandogan · « **Reply #7 on:** December 15, 2024, 03:32 »

A sale of around $900 is an incredible figure. It's astonishing. Are these videos Editorial or Commercial?

gnirtS · « **Reply #8 on:** December 15, 2024, 06:34 »

Both mine were commercial.

Photobomb · « **Reply #9 on:** December 15, 2024, 09:37 »

In Sept of this year I had an editorial photo sale of $847, so did a friend of mine, and from what I have heard so did several other photographers. Previous to that (a few years ago) I had in one month, 6 photo sales at $230 each.

alijaber · « **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2024, 11:24 »

Quote from: sinandogan on December 15, 2024, 03:32

A sale of around $900 is an incredible figure. It's astonishing. Are these videos Editorial or Commercial?

Mine was editorial...
Also, I had 2 editorial video sales of 117$ each this month (the highest sales for me this year)

Contemporary Dave · « **Reply #11 on:** December 15, 2024, 13:46 »

Somebody once bought 5 images in a single sale. Each sold for about $160 each. I also had a sale for around $650 on a photograph of a Covid leaflet. All were editorial.

sinandogan · « **Reply #12 on:** March 27, 2025, 03:18 »

Yesterday, my photo of a historical mosque in Turkey was sold for exactly 44 dollars. Not a record for me, but a good figure. The photo was not editorial. I've only been here for 2.5 years and high sales are rare. I hope it continues.

Contemporary Dave · « **Reply #13 on:** March 27, 2025, 13:24 »

I got a $650 sale on an editorial photo of a Covid leaflet. On another day, someone bought 5 images of mine for around $160 each.

wordplanet · « **Reply #14 on:** March 27, 2025, 14:41 »

Encouraging to see that there are still some really good numbers. My best was $80 - quite a long time ago. Last year my best was $46. Definitely need a lot more of those to offset the 10 cent subs and 10 cent SOLs.

zeljkok · « **Reply #15 on:** March 27, 2025, 14:49 »

April '23, 3-digit RF still

SimonSays · « **Reply #16 on:** March 27, 2025, 18:16 »

67.96 USD royalty with Istock for a still from Paris taken from the Eiffel tower. 2nd 55.63 USD for a video with Adobe for a Northern lights video in Finland. 3rd 45 USD with Istock for a still of the white house in Washington DC.

SimonSays · « **Reply #17 on:** March 27, 2025, 18:25 »

Quote from: Contemporary Dave on March 27, 2025, 13:24

I got a $650 sale on an editorial photo of a Covid leaflet. On another day, someone bought 5 images of mine for around $160 each.

That was your royalty or that was what the client paid? Always very confusing here what people state on their sales and what they received.

Contemporary Dave · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2025, 10:21 »

Quote from: SimonSays on March 27, 2025, 18:25

Quote from: Contemporary Dave on March 27, 2025, 13:24
I got a $650 sale on an editorial photo of a Covid leaflet. On another day, someone bought 5 images of mine for around $160 each.
That was your royalty or that was what the client paid? Always very confusing here what people state on their sales and what they received.

Those figures are what I got paid.

Asthebelltolls · « **Reply #19 on:** March 31, 2025, 19:07 »

Quote from: Contemporary Dave on March 31, 2025, 10:21

Those figures are what I got paid.

10 years ago the slogan of the day was: "The more you submit, the more you'll make" They feed off of eager and naive videographers and/or photographers. The only goal, while anyone submits to agencies, is to cover your equipment and travel costs.

If you're good and want to make fair earnings, start your own website. If you can cover the costs of equipment and travel expenses and make a good income, you're very good but you're not going to achieve success submitting to on-line agencies unless, out-of-the-blue, you get very, very lucky.

wordplanet · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2025, 19:45 »

Quote from: SimonSays on March 27, 2025, 18:25

Quote from: Contemporary Dave on March 27, 2025, 13:24
I got a $650 sale on an editorial photo of a Covid leaflet. On another day, someone bought 5 images of mine for around $160 each.
That was your royalty or that was what the client paid? Always very confusing here what people state on their sales and what they received.

I thought we were talking about ss - where you only see what you are paid - although I guess you can calculate what the client paid based on your level. Although I'm assuming no one is going to answer with that number?

I'm amazed by the high numbers here because the OP asked about ss. If people are answering with figures from other agencies, the numbers are still nice, but not as surprising.

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Author Topic: What is your highest earnings? (Read 2219 times)

sinandogan

Pacesetter

alijaber

stoker2014

gnirtS

PeteStock

SuperPhoto

sinandogan

gnirtS

Photobomb

alijaber

Contemporary Dave

sinandogan

Contemporary Dave

wordplanet

zeljkok

SimonSays

SimonSays

Contemporary Dave

Asthebelltolls

wordplanet

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