Author Topic: How many customers does this site have? (Read 15630 times)

melastmohican · « **on:** October 06, 2008, 14:17 »

It's kind hard to expect any sales if most of then pictures got less than 10 views :-)

louoates · « **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2008, 15:24 »

I've got 8 sales since day one. All but 1 cheap subs.
My views of those 8 range from 225 views to 4 views. No sales last 4 months. New views almost non-existent.
No way to reach payout before this outfit closes up shop. No way I'm uploading any more to this loser.

sharpshot · « **Reply #2 on:** October 06, 2008, 16:27 »

I make around 7 to 10$ a month there, and the payout is only $10, so it is easy to reach. They are not doing great but I can't see any other new sites doing any better. There is still the chance that someone there might make a few changes that will make the site more attractive to buyers but I am surprised that they haven't done that already.

melastmohican · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2008, 16:49 »

I actually got couple sales there before I sent them a DVD. Now I have over 1700 pictures there and one sale so I think they do not have enough traffic to generate sales. I think they still got better chance to survive than YAY and other newcomers because of huge financial support from Corbis. Soon all smaller sites should fold down due to economic crisis and these guys still should live on their parent money.

louoates · « **Reply #4 on:** October 06, 2008, 17:19 »

Quote from: melastmohican on October 06, 2008, 16:49

I actually got couple sales there before I sent them a DVD. Now I have over 1700 pictures there and one sale so I think they do not have enough traffic to generate sales. I think they still got better chance to survive than YAY and other newcomers because of huge financial support from Corbis. Soon all smaller sites should fold down due to economic crisis and these guys still should live on their parent money.

My opinion is that they will shut down or unload it to someone else by the end of the year. Their abysmal record can't be overlooked for long by whomever holds the purse strings. Their recent shake up will hurry their decision. Whether or not they will survive Yay is a coin flip.

sharpshot · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2008, 18:05 »

I can't see why they would go any time soon because they are owned by Corbis. If they were an independent site or a site owned by inpatient shareholders, they would be in serious trouble. Isn't it up to the owner of Corbis to make these decisions? He isn't in a rush to see them make a profit is he?

louoates · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2008, 19:02 »

Any exec that doesn't see the need for a reasonable profit in a reasonable time is soon looking for work. I stand by my projection precisely because they're owned by Corbis. A company with any status at all will not let something like this wither on the vine for the world to see. The only hope I see for them other then selling it is to get serious in a big way with marketing. That plus a bigger shakeup in the management of Snap. Lots of things were promised by this site and the delivery has been worse than most. Of course, I'm speaking about the non-results I see with just my images. For me Snap is about .0001 % better than Yay.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2008, 22:31 »

Quote from: louoates on October 06, 2008, 17:19

My opinion is that they will shut down or unload it to someone else by the end of the year. Their abysmal record can't be overlooked for long by whomever holds the purse strings. Their recent shake up will hurry their decision. Whether or not they will survive Yay is a coin flip.

Do we start a pool now?

I say Dec 2010 which I based on Beta July 2007, going live this year and two years to make it or break it.

I was doing some searches for an idea I had, for a shoot. Seasonal theme for this month.

I looked and saw many photos that matched, for $1 with not many views when searching for price, no sales. Maybe the pictures are a buck for a reason.

Searching for Snappiness, the best had only two sales.

I'm still hoping that this site can break free and succeed. I like their pricing structure and being able to set my own value on each image. Of course if the place gets overrun by $1 photos, it's not going to do me any good.

louoates · « **Reply #8 on:** October 06, 2008, 23:10 »

Race, I truly appreciate your optimism. And I might have agreed with your comments four or five months ago. But the continental-drift pace given the assets that everyone here was looking to be deployed has been truly mind numbing. When you're building a business you have to keep building excitement as well as growth. All I've seen is a lot of stagnation livened only by the recent shake-ups there. I'll stick with writing December of this year in my lottery box.

peep · « **Reply #9 on:** October 07, 2008, 01:47 »

For me SV is much much better than YAY since I have regular sales there (even though most of them are subs, I have already seen payments from SV). However, I have yet to see the first sale at YAY.

sharpshot · « **Reply #10 on:** October 07, 2008, 01:59 »

I do think that for SV to survive they will need to bring in someone who will demand the obvious problems are fixed quickly. They need to be selling our images at bigger sizes, like all the other sites do. There doesn't seem to be much point doing anything else until they fix that.

Then they need FTP. Doing that and a new advertising campaign could spark the site in to life. If they don't intend to do this soon, then they might as well close now. It is apparent that we have lots of sites to upload to and most of us will ditch the ones that don't make a reasonable amount of money each month. The clock is ticking.

Newsfocus1 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 07, 2008, 14:00 »

Quote from: sharpshot on October 06, 2008, 18:05

I can't see why they would go any time soon because they are owned by Corbis. If they were an independent site or a site owned by inpatient shareholders, they would be in serious trouble. Isn't it up to the owner of Corbis to make these decisions? He isn't in a rush to see them make a profit is he?
[/quote
And that, surely, is the main point. Am I not right in thinking that even Corbis themselves have never made a profit! Bill is in for the long game I would have thought given his resources. That said I'm surprised at the slow progress of SV given the backing potentially available. I would have expected a lot more marketing by now. Some stats for you: Portfolio size approx 900 . Sales to date (having been with them since launch) 10 30c sub sales. Photo pricing $25 (have now contacted SV and asked them to globally reduce to $5 - I am getting an increasing number of views but no sales so am hoping a more realistic price will lead to a surge in sales). Will update you in due course. Regards, David

louoates · « **Reply #12 on:** October 07, 2008, 14:13 »

Quote from: Newsfocus1 on October 07, 2008, 14:00

Quote from: sharpshot on October 06, 2008, 18:05
I can't see why they would go any time soon because they are owned by Corbis. If they were an independent site or a site owned by inpatient shareholders, they would be in serious trouble. Isn't it up to the owner of Corbis to make these decisions? He isn't in a rush to see them make a profit is he?
[/quote
And that, surely, is the main point. Am I not right in thinking that even Corbis themselves have never made a profit! Bill is in for the long game I would have thought given his resources. That said I'm surprised at the slow progress of SV given the backing potentially available. I would have expected a lot more marketing by now. Some stats for you: Portfolio size approx 900 . Sales to date (having been with them since launch) 10 30c sub sales. Photo pricing $25 (have now contacted SV and asked them to globally reduce to $5 - I am getting an increasing number of views but no sales so am hoping a more realistic price will lead to a surge in sales). Will update you in due course. Regards, David

Yes, I reduced to $5 months ago and it made zero difference. Not one sales resulted. At least I don't have to check the site much.

Elenathewise · « **Reply #13 on:** October 07, 2008, 14:23 »

I have most of my portfolio there, not all since it's a pain to upload. Making about the same money as with Crestock. Will they stay in business or not - who knows:) but yeah I have also read that Corbis itself never showed profit, and they are still there....

RacePhoto · « **Reply #14 on:** October 08, 2008, 01:32 »

Quote from: louoates on October 06, 2008, 23:10

Race, I truly appreciate your optimism. And I might have agreed with your comments four or five months ago. But the continental-drift pace given the assets that everyone here was looking to be deployed has been truly mind numbing. When you're building a business you have to keep building excitement as well as growth. All I've seen is a lot of stagnation livened only by the recent shake-ups there. I'll stick with writing December of this year in my lottery box.

I'm just stubborn.

I like the look of the site and the potential. After that I would be foolish to disagree with you on any of your points. Once they launched in July of 2007 it looked exciting. Then the whole project seemed to founder for months. Then they made some changes early this year and it looked like they were going to finally get out of the chute. Alas, all we get are invisible updates, polar bear conferences, and nothing seems to change.

I have to say, the site is either moving at a very deliberate slow pace, or it's just waffling in the breeze. I like the enthusiasm of the staff, but as contributors people want results, not promises.

I stopped uploading in the Spring. Waiting... Watching...

Newsfocus1 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 23, 2008, 03:52 »

Well I did promise an update on SV sales once my portfolio dropped to the $5 level. However, despite an email on 2nd October saying this would happen in a week or so I'm still waiting

Are you there Brian?? Regards, David

hali · « **Reply #16 on:** October 23, 2008, 09:24 »

with SV i got one little dl. will forget this one for sure.

when i first started, i thought as a newbie i should ul as many and as regularly to every site i can. now , like some of you here, i 've stopped ul to about 70% of them . i now have only about a handful of sites i continue to ul . but really who gets my best attention? the ones who got me sales.
i don't agree with some of them who wrote me to say i don't have much images yet, so i can't expect to sell just yet. this is not true, as a couple of sites, got me sales from week one. and as i keep UL to them, i get sales too.
so yes, i think eventually, with this downturn in world markets, we will see which ones will survive. i think not many.
i don't even believe anymore a site that promises 70% cut but produce no sales for me in 5 months at all. i would rather go for one that says 50 50 and get me sales.

what do you all think? is that reasonable?

louoates · « **Reply #17 on:** October 23, 2008, 10:25 »

I guess the longer we work at micro-stock the more we understand that there are winners and losers, just like in real life. Why some folks keep feeding the losers is beyond me. Way too much time on their hands.

gbcimages · « **Reply #18 on:** October 23, 2008, 10:42 »

I don't UL to SV anymore, waiting a while longer to see if there is any sales . Been with them since 10/07 had one payout, about 7 dollars in the kitty now.Doesn't look good to this point.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #19 on:** October 23, 2008, 17:36 »

I'm still new enough to ask dumb questions without being TOO embarrassed. I don't understand why you decide to stop uploading to a particular site. Isn't it better to have you pictures available at the most sites possible? Does it really matter who sells them? Or if they simply set stagnant at a declining site? Will it hurt sales at other sites?

Just trying to understand the microstock business?

louoates · « **Reply #20 on:** October 23, 2008, 20:51 »

On the surface, you're right, it would seem to make sense to upload to as many sites as possible. But you'll quickly find that your time is frittered away with lots of sites that simply can't produce. It does take quite a bit of time to upload to several sites and keep track of what images are where and analyze what type of images are successful. Lots of variables are involved to maximize results. So when there are zero or very low sales all that time and effort is just wasted. My best advice is to try to get on all the Big 6 shown on the right of the screen and forget about the rest. I bet you'll find that even those 6 are too many and that the results will show you needn't bother with a few of those. I'm down to only four sites that I care to upload to. I still have hundreds of images on each of the others but all it generates is frustration. So they just sit there. But it's too much work to delete them.

sharpshot · « **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2008, 03:47 »

I stuck to the big 4, SS, IS, DT and FT to start with then added a new site each month after I was reaching regular payouts. I am pleased with most of the smaller sites I have uploaded to. The only complete failure so far is albumo. I use all the sites down to mostphotos on the list to the right. Those below that might be a complete waste of time.

It hasn't taken much time, as I upload in the background while I am doing other work on my PC. Those who don't have much time should just stick to the first 7 on the list but if your computer is on and the broadband isn't being used, why not add more sites? If we all waited for the smaller sites to have great sales, they would never stand a chance. I want more competition for the big sites, not one or two sites able to dictate how much commission they pay us.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #22 on:** October 24, 2008, 11:03 »

Quote from: sharpshot on October 24, 2008, 03:47

If we all waited for the smaller sites to have great sales, they would never stand a chance. I want more competition for the big sites, not one or two sites able to dictate how much commission they pay us.

I guess that is what I was really thinking. Maybe it will get better.
At this point, I have been concentrating more on getting images accepted than on the really important aspect ... sales. I'm hoping acceptance will mean sales ... then expansion to a few more agencies.
Thanks for the response. Helps me get on the right track.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #23 on:** October 24, 2008, 21:50 »

Quote from: sharpshot on October 24, 2008, 03:47

I stuck to the big 4, SS, IS, DT and FT to start with then added a new site each month after I was reaching regular payouts. I am pleased with most of the smaller sites I have uploaded to. The only complete failure so far is albumo. I use all the sites down to mostphotos on the list to the right. Those below that might be a complete waste of time.

It hasn't taken much time, as I upload in the background while I am doing other work on my PC. Those who don't have much time should just stick to the first 7 on the list but if your computer is on and the broadband isn't being used, why not add more sites? If we all waited for the smaller sites to have great sales, they would never stand a chance. I want more competition for the big sites, not one or two sites able to dictate how much commission they pay us.

I pretty much agree up to the last line. (and I have a few extra computers, so I don't have to upload in background

) The new sites seem to have the same plan, which is get all the same photos, from all the same people, and sell them for less. I don't see any new sites that say, we're going to charge $5 a photo and pay the photographers $3.50 a download.

If there were less cut rate agencies, nipping into the profits, and I hate to say this, but less agencies which could then all charged fair prices, instead of trying to undercut each other, then we'd get paid more.

The way it is now, anyone with a basement or a garage and some financing to rent server space, can become the latest new stock agency. You people know better than I do, but there should be a thread, new stock site of the month, and site closing of the month. It's a revolving door of people who think they can beat the big six, on a shoestring. SV has the backing and the staffing and they are struggling along after a year.

Since that's contrary to the free market and the way I think businesses should operate, it's interesting. I figure the best will win in the end, and everyone is welcome to try to open and run a business if they want. You want to open a little specialty coffee house, or maybe a burger place with a drive through, corner food store or maybe a little hardware and home improvement store?

But people keep opening Micro Stock photo sites. I don't get it.

The microstock boom is over. Now it's time to weed out the weak and we'll end up with the survivors. New sites getting into the market are a little late and hardly have a chance. That is unless they have strong financing and good staff and programming... and offer something different to the contributors who are tired of the same thing over and over.

sharpshot · « **Reply #24 on:** October 25, 2008, 02:23 »

Quote from: RacePhoto on October 24, 2008, 21:50

...I don't see any new sites that say, we're going to charge $5 a photo and pay the photographers $3.50 a download. ...

That would be zymmetrical

and they can charge a lot more than $5 a photo. They are more stringent in their reviews, so their collection is going to be quite different to the other sites. Mostphotos and cutcaster are also doing things differently to the other sites. I agree that there is no point in a new site replicating the other sites but some of the new sites have innovations that the established sites should look at. I want to be able to sell some of my images at higher prices. The big 6 sites should offer us the chance to do that.

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Author Topic: How many customers does this site have? (Read 15630 times)

melastmohican

louoates

sharpshot

melastmohican

louoates

sharpshot

louoates

RacePhoto

louoates

peep

sharpshot

Newsfocus1

louoates

Elenathewise

RacePhoto

Newsfocus1

hali

louoates

gbcimages

WarrenPrice

louoates

sharpshot

WarrenPrice

RacePhoto

sharpshot

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