MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Sites that no longer exist => StockXpert.com => Topic started by: hofhoek on December 15, 2008, 07:13
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I am very curious if it is worthwile opting in at Stockxpert. I opted out the moment this Photos.com thing started because I didn't trusted it at all. I am still doubtfull but I would love to know if it would make a lot of difference. I sell about one a day averaged out, but I do make 50, 1.50, 2.50 or 5 for those photos. I am bit afraid that when I opt in I will only make 20 cents a photo and I will not sell any bigger priced photos anymore. Could somebody enlighten me, please? Do you sell only small potatoes or do you also sell big ones? I have a reasonable portfolio of about 1000 images. Should I or shouldn't I? Thanks in advance..
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I´m opt in and in my case i have some sells at 0.30$ but i also have some at 1$, 1.5$ 2$ depend the size.
I´m not very fan with the subscription model and payments, but in this hard times i prefer to sell some that don´t sell nothing.
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I've opted out and never regreted.
Regards,
Adelaide
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I Opt in last month, got a photos.com at $ 7.5 yesterday for a large pic
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I'm getting a good mixture of Jupiter, Photos.com and StockXpert subscription and regular sales.
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Thanks for your opinions. I still don't know but I'll think about it.
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My earnings have gone up since opting in but I am still not pleased with the 30 cents commissions.
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I came to understand that if you opt in at StockXpert, they send you extra money. I opted in. They send me exta money. I am happy. ;D
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1000 images and only 30+ sales per month? Wow, that's a really low 'batting average' for StockXpert - opting in might not give you much extra.
StockXpert subs account for 10% of my income there this year and 12% since September. Photos.com (subs and ppd) and Jupiter Images (subs only) together account for 15% of my StockXpert income since September. By opting in I've increased my income by 27% in the past 4 months. For me this about the same amount of money per month I make from the a lower-tier agency.
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photos.com subs + ppd + jui is
10% october
25% november
35% december (so far, partly boosted by $21 photos.com sale)
of my StockXpert income.
Phil
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It seems to me that to answer the question about whether to opt in or out of subs at StockXpert you need to know if the bonus of the high commission on the occasional photos.com/Jupitor sales offsets the low $0.30 subscription commission.
For me it is easy. I still only get $0.25 per sub at SS so why would I not sell the same pictures at the StockXpert $0.30 sub rate and the possibility (haven't seen any yet) of a few very high commission sales to boost the average. Currently about 80% of my earnings on StockXpert are from StockXpert PPDs and it is my best site (IS,SS,FT,BigStock,123 are the others) for average earnings per download.
For others you might look at it like this. If you are selling subs at other sites at a higher rate than StockXpert, then figure what you would make on 1000 sub downloads and see what you need from StockXpert/photos.com/JI subs on StockXpert to get the same per image return. For instance, if you are getting $0.38 per sub dl on SS then you need to make $80.00 in high commission photos.com/JI sales for ever 1000 downloads to get the same return from StockXpert as you get from SS.
SS 1000 dl @ $0.38 = $380
StockXpert 1000 dl @ $0.30 = $300
Difference = $ 80
If StockXpert high commission sales are greater than the $80.00 difference then opting in for subs allows a better return than the highest commission at SS. (Disregarding SS On Demand Sales.)
I'm just a newby in this business so maybe I am missing something but it seems clear to me that opting in for subs at StockXpert is nearly always the best course of action.
c h e e r s
fred
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It seems to me that to answer the question about whether to opt in or out of subs at StockXpert you need to know if the bonus of the high commission on the occasional photos.com/Jupitor sales offsets the low $0.30 subscription commission.
For me it is easy. I still only get $0.25 per sub at SS so why would I not sell the same pictures at the StockXpert $0.30 sub rate and the possibility (haven't seen any yet) of a few very high commission sales to boost the average. Currently about 80% of my earnings on StockXpert are from StockXpert PPDs and it is my best site (IS,SS,FT,BigStock,123 are the others) for average earnings per download.
For others you might look at it like this. If you are selling subs at other sites at a higher rate than StockXpert, then figure what you would make on 1000 sub downloads and see what you need from StockXpert/photos.com/JI subs on StockXpert to get the same per image return. For instance, if you are getting $0.38 per sub dl on SS then you need to make $80.00 in high commission photos.com/JI sales for ever 1000 downloads to get the same return from StockXpert as you get from SS.
SS 1000 dl @ $0.38 = $380
StockXpert 1000 dl @ $0.30 = $300
Difference = $ 80
If StockXpert high commission sales are greater than the $80.00 difference then opting in for subs allows a better return than the highest commission at SS. (Disregarding SS On Demand Sales.)
I'm just a newby in this business so maybe I am missing something but it seems clear to me that opting in for subs at StockXpert is nearly always the best course of action.
c h e e r s
fred
I think you're missing a point.
If the difference of $ 80 has to be "made up" by higher commision sales, that assumes that by offering your files at StockXpert for subscription will cannibalize ALL your subscription sales at SS.
So in your example it would mean:
Currently (opted out at StockXpert) you make 1000 x 0,38 $ at SS = 380 $.
If you opt in, you will make
(1000 - X) x 0,38 $ at SS (X determines the number of sales made on StockXpert instead of on SS)
+
(X + Y) x 0,30 $ at StockXpert (Y is the number of subs you get from StockXpert that are not made by customers switching from SS)
And you have to factor in the amount of "on demand" sales at StockXpert that might be replaced by subs (which is hard to know, especially in advance).
So you have to subtract Z (with Z < Y) x your RPD at StockXpert for on demand downloads.
So actually, trying to attack that problem with mathematics ends up in a number of variables you have no way of knowing... ::)
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It seems to me that to answer the question about whether to opt in or out of subs at StockXpert you need to know if the bonus of the high commission on the occasional photos.com/Jupitor sales offsets the low $0.30 subscription commission.
For me it is easy. I still only get $0.25 per sub at SS so why would I not sell the same pictures at the StockXpert $0.30 sub rate and the possibility (haven't seen any yet) of a few very high commission sales to boost the average. Currently about 80% of my earnings on StockXpert are from StockXpert PPDs and it is my best site (IS,SS,FT,BigStock,123 are the others) for average earnings per download.
For others you might look at it like this. If you are selling subs at other sites at a higher rate than StockXpert, then figure what you would make on 1000 sub downloads and see what you need from StockXpert/photos.com/JI subs on StockXpert to get the same per image return. For instance, if you are getting $0.38 per sub dl on SS then you need to make $80.00 in high commission photos.com/JI sales for ever 1000 downloads to get the same return from StockXpert as you get from SS.
SS 1000 dl @ $0.38 = $380
StockXpert 1000 dl @ $0.30 = $300
Difference = $ 80
If StockXpert high commission sales are greater than the $80.00 difference then opting in for subs allows a better return than the highest commission at SS. (Disregarding SS On Demand Sales.)
I'm just a newby in this business so maybe I am missing something but it seems clear to me that opting in for subs at StockXpert is nearly always the best course of action.
c h e e r s
fred
I think you're missing a point.
If the difference of $ 80 has to be "made up" by higher commision sales, that assumes that by offering your files at StockXpert for subscription will cannibalize ALL your subscription sales at SS.
So in your example it would mean:
Currently (opted out at StockXpert) you make 1000 x 0,38 $ at SS = 380 $.
If you opt in, you will make
(1000 - X) x 0,38 $ at SS (X determines the number of sales made on StockXpert instead of on SS)
+
(X + Y) x 0,30 $ at StockXpert (Y is the number of subs you get from StockXpert that are not made by customers switching from SS)
And you have to factor in the amount of "on demand" sales at StockXpert that might be replaced by subs (which is hard to know, especially in advance).
So you have to subtract Z (with Z < Y) x your RPD at StockXpert for on demand downloads.
So actually, trying to attack that problem with mathematics ends up in a number of variables you have no way of knowing... ::)
And that's what I'm afraid of. Canabalizing from my other stocksites. Do any of you notice this or doesn't it seem a problem? Are you by any chance opted in. I guess not...
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Maybe I am missing somethin but I don't really understand how you would consider cannabilization. Firstly, if it is a concern, the only remedy is going exclusive somewhere. Secondly, it is based on the customers' cost for the image not the contributors' earnings and so out of the contributors' control. Thirdly, I can't imagine being able to collect any meaningful data on the amount of cannibalization going on.
I used the highest sub rate at SS for comparison simply because it is the highest I could find. Presumably anyone considering selling their images on a subscription basis would think that is an acceptable rate or would not be considering selling on a subscription basis anywhere.
SS's On Demand sales present something of a problem and I didn't consider EL sales on either site or StockXpert PPD sales either. However, as I said I was really only trying to find a competitive rate for subscriptions. A better analysis would certainly include these things but for many - certainly for me - enough information is available to make an opt-in/opt-out decision on StockXpert.
fred
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Actually I am opted in.
I am pretty new to a number of sites (including SS and StockXpert). I did not use them for a long time, and one of the reasons was that I did not want to sell under a subs model.
But then Fotolia introduced subs and did not give an option to opt out non-exclusive files (and I do not have anything exclusive...).
So I essentially had two choices: Abandon Fotolia completely (which I did not want to, they actually sell pretty good) or embrace the subs model.
I chose the latter, which means I applied to SS and StockXpert (and Dreamstime) around two month ago.
So far I have absolutely no reason for regret. My total earnings have risen considerably (I also sell on Istock and several German Mid-Stock sites), although on a pretty low level in absolute numbers (I'm not a big seller, do mostly nature / animals / travel).
It is hard to really know whether such a decision did impact my "regular" sales on other sites, but if I would have to guess, I would say no.
I did not see any decline in sales (only on Istock, but that seems to be more or less across the board), so until now I would say the decision to go for subs was the right one.
And by the way, StockXpert is really doing well, better than Dreamstime (more than twice the money). And although I do get a lot of subs, receiving 5 $ for an XL does feel good
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Maybe I am missing somethin but I don't really understand how you would consider cannabilization. Firstly, if it is a concern, the only remedy is going exclusive somewhere. Secondly, it is based on the customers' cost for the image not the contributors' earnings and so out of the contributors' control. Thirdly, I can't imagine being able to collect any meaningful data on the amount of cannibalization going on.
I used the highest sub rate at SS for comparison simply because it is the highest I could find. Presumably anyone considering selling their images on a subscription basis would think that is an acceptable rate or would not be considering selling on a subscription basis anywhere.
SS's On Demand sales present something of a problem and I didn't consider EL sales on either site or StockXpert PPD sales either. However, as I said I was really only trying to find a competitive rate for subscriptions. A better analysis would certainly include these things but for many - certainly for me - enough information is available to make an opt-in/opt-out decision on StockXpert.
fred
I don't disagree, but if you do not consider cannibalization, where is a point in not opting in?
Then it would be all extra earnings...
So essentially cannibalization (of higher paid earnings either on StockXpert or elsewhere) is the only unkown in the equation.
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That is what I missed - I was only considering cross-site cannibalization. If I am missing any significant amount of PPD sales on StockXpert due to subs across all the players there I haven't noticed it.
My sub sales only represent about 16 to 17% of total earnings but that is with a very small port (175 images) and only two months of data. Probably not very meaningful. Also, no high commission sales.
PPDs on StockXpert much better than my SS On Demand numbers. Subs ratios elsewhere (FT, 123RF, DT) indicate even less cannibalization - again on very small portfolio.
fred