Author Topic: StockXpert Subscription Sales - Whats your experience? (Read 13724 times)

massman · « **on:** February 29, 2008, 11:59 »

My $ revenue has been in free fall at StockXpert since Nov '07. It appears to be subscription sales eating away at credit sales. This month has been the worst:

Feb '08 subscription DLs = 45.8% of total DLs
Jan '08 subscription DLs = 21.6% of total DLs
Dec '07 subscription DLs = 20.1% of total DLs
Nov '07 subscription DLs = 16.7% of total DLs
Oct '07 subscription DLs = 2.8% of total DLs

I decided not to opt out of subscriptions when they were introduced, now I am having second thoughts.

What has been your experience?
Has anyone seen a decline in revenue after opting out?

Pixart · « **Reply #1 on:** February 29, 2008, 12:54 »

I am considering doing the opposite. First, I haven't been there long and don't have many on the site to make any real evaluations, but I think I may opt in for the month of March to see what happens.

I hate subs. Period. But I worry that I am shooting myself in the foot by opting out. I don't expect the sub sales to boost my income at all, but perhaps they will boost individual photo popularity.

I will try for one month. Don't hate me for opting in:)

massman · « **Reply #2 on:** February 29, 2008, 13:49 »

I've also seen a big drop in the size of credit downloads. During Feb '08 I hardly had any XXL, XL or V downloads, however, the majority of the subscription downloads were at these sizes, especially vectors - ouch!

This month I will see only 35% of my November earnings, despite increasing my portfolio by around 25% over the same period.

HughStoneIan · « **Reply #3 on:** February 29, 2008, 15:11 »

I must say a large "Thank You" to StockXpert for allowing the opt-out option for subs. I opted out a while ago and my sales have not suffered for it at all---if anything they're increasing as I add a few files periodically. However, on Dreamstime yesterday my sales were a whopping 100% subscription, and nowhere near Shutterstock amounts.

PS- I'm planning to leave DT about this issue around June. Not a big deal to them I'm sure, but perhaps if many more leave they'll get the idea.

steve-oh · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2008, 16:12 »

Hi guys,

We've been running numbers, but it's still to early to tell if any definite trends are forming around this. By the end of April we will have a better idea of knowing whether or not, on a whole, subs are cutting into credit sales.

If credits sales go down and subs go up, StockXpert also loses out, so we definitely are monitoring this closely. Lately we have been running an aggressive credit marketing campaign and look for a couple other changes in the coming weeks that should help boost credit sales.

In the meantime, I will follow up with tech on the unable to opt-out issue some of you are having.

Thanks!
-Steve

jsnover · « **Reply #5 on:** February 29, 2008, 16:35 »

After looking at February's numbers, I just tried to opt out of subscriptions. Although it said something about succesfully updating my profile, the box is still checked.

Subscription sales are still small, but they nearly doubled over last month and my overall numbers from StockXpert are flat (Feb vs. Jan '08).

I had one day where I had 5 or 6 subs sales and 0 credits, and the overall $$ per download is dropping compared to late last year.

I'm not prepared to wait until April - I want to opt out now and halt the fire sale (which is what it feels like).

Can we have some announcement or e-mail to contributors when the bug that prevents opting out is fixed please?

anonymous · « **Reply #6 on:** February 29, 2008, 16:48 »

roughly 50 / 50

PecoFoto · « **Reply #7 on:** February 29, 2008, 16:50 »

These are my figures over the same period

Feb '08 subscription DLs = 19% of total DLs
Jan '08 subscription DLs = 33% of total DLs
Dec '07 subscription DLs = 28% of total DLs
Nov '07 subscription DLs = 0% of total DLs
Oct '07 subscription DLs = 0% of total DLs

My revenue is going up but that is more to do with the increasing size of my portfolio.

Kngkyle · « **Reply #8 on:** February 29, 2008, 16:54 »

Earnings have gone up consistently the past 4 months, so no complaints from me.
About 1/3 of my sales are subscription this month. Average $ per download is still above 1$.

Eco · « **Reply #9 on:** February 29, 2008, 16:56 »

February was the second full month since I opted out of subscription sales. My earnings are stable (up from January) and I had quite a few XL downloads. This month my average earning per download was $1.25, which is quite acceptable. There is no way that I will opt in again, especially with more and more photographers reporting an increase in subscription sales.

rjmiz · « **Reply #10 on:** February 29, 2008, 17:20 »

Feb was my first month with StockXpert. I just cashed out $111.80

Just looking quickly, the majority were not subscription. I am pleased with my first month
and look forward to subsequent prosperous months in the future.

The MIZ

Stu99 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 29, 2008, 17:54 »

I have opted in since sub sales started. This month I have seen a dramatic increase in sub sales as well as credit sales, fortunately as my sub sales increased so did my credit sales. Perhaps sub sales helped keep my images higher in the most popular search default....who knows? See info on sales below, left axis represents number of sales not revenue.

My earnings for February on StockXpert is up by 121% on January sales. I should also point out that I have been uploading at a steady rate over February across all sites and have seen a BME at SS, IS, StockXpert and DT.

My conclusion is that sub sales have not harmed my credit sales, however I do think that regular uploading is a main factor in increased revenue and that individual experiences to sub sales will vary considerably.

madelaide · « **Reply #12 on:** February 29, 2008, 19:37 »

I'm shocked with massman's numbers. StockXpert has been declining for me in the past three months, but not due to subs, credits too. I'm earning half of what I earned in Nov'07 (BME), but also dlds are 50% now. On the bright side, $/dld are on the same level as of Nov'07, with the credit dlds giving me $1.00/dld (vs $0.90/dld in Nov'07).

Regards,
Adelaide

sharply_done · « **Reply #13 on:** February 29, 2008, 21:01 »

Subscription sales are currently making up 10% of my StockXpert earnings, but over 25% of my sales volume. In terms of subscription sales, November and December were about the same, but I saw an increase in January and a 'holding pattern' in February. A lot of my subscription sales are XXL size, but almost none of my regular sales are. Here are my numbers:

Month	% Sub DLs	% Sub $
Nov 07	18%	6%
Dec 07	17%	6%
Jan 08	25%	10%
Feb 08	27%	10%

The bottom line, according to my experience, is that if I opted out of subscription sales on StockXpert I would be cutting my earnings there by 10%. This might only be a few dollars for some, but if I did it I'd be losing more than my monthly sales on lesser sites!

Travelling-light · « **Reply #14 on:** February 29, 2008, 23:44 »

You can't know that you would be losing 10% of your StockXpert earnings.

You don't know if you would have made those sales as credit sales on StockXpert, or even if you would have made more sales on other subscription sites, if StockXpert hadn't decided to compete.

The only thing that matters to independent photographers is their total income from all sites.

Linda

Karimala · « **Reply #15 on:** March 01, 2008, 00:29 »

I was wondering how everyone else was doing earlier today, because I'm seeing a steady decline ever since subscriptions were introduced.

Month % Sub $ % Sub DL StockXpert % of Total Earnings

Oct (BME) 1% 2% 13%
Nov 4% 11% 11%
Dec 11% 30% 12%
Jan 5% 14% 8%
Feb 15% 34% 8%

Number of credit sales have decreased steadily every month since October with February ending with the lowest number (62% of October's DLs). My total income is down almost equally with February reporting at 63% of my BME income in October.

sharply_done · « **Reply #16 on:** March 01, 2008, 00:43 »

Quote from: Travelling-light on February 29, 2008, 23:44

You can't know that you would be losing 10% of your StockXpert earnings.

You don't know if you would have made those sales as credit sales on StockXpert, or even if you would have made more sales on other subscription sites, if StockXpert hadn't decided to compete.

Yes I can. Steve-Oh once commented that credit buyers and subscription buyers represent two separate markets on StockXpert. If this is true, and subscription buyers license images solely by subscription, then I will never make a credit sale from a subscription buyer. I also doubt that the subscription buyer would purchase the same image from another suscription site - that would mean he/she would have concurrent subscriptions at competing sites, which doesn't make sense.

I stand by my conclusion: if I opted out of subscriptions my income from StockXpert would drop by 10%.

Travelling-light · « **Reply #17 on:** March 01, 2008, 01:14 »

We're opted out. Here's our StockXpert % of total earnings since September.

Sep 7.42%
Oct 7.49%
Nov 8.81%
Dec 7.16%
Jan 7.45%
Feb 5.69%

We haven't uploaded to StockXpert in Feb, I assume that's the reason for the decrease this month. I don't want to have an argument with you Sharply, we'll just agree to disagree:-)

Linda

epixx · « **Reply #18 on:** March 01, 2008, 01:19 »

Quote from: sharply_done on March 01, 2008, 00:43

Quote from: Travelling-light on February 29, 2008, 23:44
You can't know that you would be losing 10% of your StockXpert earnings.

You don't know if you would have made those sales as credit sales on StockXpert, or even if you would have made more sales on other subscription sites, if StockXpert hadn't decided to compete.
Yes I can. Steve-Oh once commented that credit buyers and subscription buyers represent two separate markets on StockXpert. If this is true, and subscription buyers license images solely by subscription, then I will never make a credit sale from a subscription buyer. I also doubt that the subscription buyer would purchase the same image from another suscription site - that would mean he/she would have concurrent subscriptions at competing sites, which doesn't make sense.

I stand by my conclusion: if I opted out of subscriptions my income from StockXpert would drop by 10%.

If a buyer needs one of your photos, he'll download it, subscription or not, particularly since you have a rather unique portfolio.

If you went into a shop, and found that all the goods could be paid for with a credit card, except beer. Would you stop drinking beer?

Phil · « **Reply #19 on:** March 01, 2008, 04:46 »

feb was $2 off bme for me and almost doubled dec and jan sales

subs sales was only 6% of income for jan and the same for feb despite higher overall sales

MikLav · « **Reply #20 on:** March 01, 2008, 13:37 »

I only had a few % from subscription, so I opted out.

graficallyminded · « **Reply #21 on:** March 18, 2008, 22:28 »

My sales have been down on StockXpert for months - I am opting out experimentally. I've had many subscription sales, only my income is suffering. It's down 50%

fotografer · « **Reply #22 on:** March 19, 2008, 02:30 »

I can't make my mind up. I opted in and the sub sales annoyed me so I opted out and it didn't seem to make much difference except that I didn't have the sub sales. Now I've just opted back in to see what happens and the first day after I had 14 normal sales when my normal is about 8 and no subs so I don't know what to think. I'm worried that opting out is affecting our placement in the popular/best match or whatever they call it at StockXpert

massman · « **Reply #23 on:** May 19, 2008, 10:59 »

I thought I would bump this thread , to see if my experience is similar to other submitters. Here is how it breaks down for me this year:

May '08 subscription DLs = 47% of total DLs (so far)
Apr '08 subscription DLs = 45% of total DLs
Mar '08 subscription DLs = 47% of total DLs
Feb '08 subscription DLs = 46% of total DLs
Jan '08 subscription DLs = 22% of total DLs
Dec '07 subscription DLs = 20% of total DLs
Nov '07 subscription DLs = 17% of total DLs
Oct '07 subscription DLs = 3% of total DLs

In $$ terms November '07 subscription sales were approx 3% of my overall StockXpert income, in April '08 it was nearly 11%, so far for May '08 its about 12%. My credit sales are dominated by XS, S and M sizes, where as my subscription sales are dominated by XL XXL and V sizes.

Are subscription sales on the increase at StockXpert? and are they eroding the revenue from credit sales?

It just seem such a shame that the agency with the fairest commission split has entered the world of subscriptions. Would anyone care to share their opinions and numbers. Thanks.

CofkoCof · « **Reply #24 on:** May 19, 2008, 11:22 »

For me subscription accounts for 58% of my downloads. Today I've had 13 sales, all from subs, all vector format

jsnover · « **Reply #25 on:** May 19, 2008, 11:48 »

I opted out of subs a few months ago. Today there was a nice morning surprise when I checked StockXpert - two $5.00 sales. I don't mind losing out on the subscription sales; the only concern would be lower placement in search results causing lower credit sales, and that's just about impossible to track.

epixx · « **Reply #26 on:** May 20, 2008, 00:12 »

I opted out from day one, and my sales... they are increasing

chellyar · « **Reply #27 on:** May 20, 2008, 03:21 »

I don't graph my subs vs credit sales (had never looked to see they were seperate! :-) )

But taking a quick look 'd say 20% are subs sales...

I have a small portfolio though, with ~20 sales a month...

madelaide · « **Reply #28 on:** May 23, 2008, 19:01 »

In April subs dlds went up madly and I decided to opt out. I don't think this affected my results there. I regreted to do that since StockXpert is a nice site, but then I was feeling outraged with my then latest upload selling only at subs.

I wished I could do that at DT as well. Subs increased significantly for me there too.

Regards,
Adelaide

CofkoCof · « **Reply #29 on:** June 04, 2008, 03:56 »

I'm also considering to opt out. Todays earnings explain why:

Freezingpictures · « **Reply #30 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:07 »

Quote from: steve-oh on February 29, 2008, 16:12

Hi guys,

We've been running numbers, but it's still to early to tell if any definite trends are forming around this. By the end of April we will have a better idea of knowing whether or not, on a whole, subs are cutting into credit sales.

If credits sales go down and subs go up, StockXpert also loses out, so we definitely are monitoring this closely. Lately we have been running an aggressive credit marketing campaign and look for a couple other changes in the coming weeks that should help boost credit sales.

In the meantime, I will follow up with tech on the unable to opt-out issue some of you are having.

Thanks!
-Steve

So Steve, are subs cutting into credit sales?

leaf · « **Reply #31 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:13 »

my StockXpert sales are actually currently higher than either dreamstime or fotolia (14 day average)

rjmiz · « **Reply #32 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:18 »

At the very least you made $3.00.
Had you opted out, the total would have been $0.00 (I recognize there would not have actually been a total available had you opted out)

As unfortunate as it may seem, subs allow our images to come in "second place winners" an alternative no DL's at all.
If you opt out then all your DL's become first place winners. Thats a good thing right? ....Wrong

By opting out, you have not changed the buyers selection habits for his DL's. He will select what he can from a list of images available to him.
Guess what?! Your images are NOT on that list! You lose! Your images have been banned from playing this second string DL game altogether.

I contend that if you "opt out" you ultimately hurt your potential income.

Cranky MIZ

sharpshot · « **Reply #33 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:37 »

But if the buyer can't find an image like yours in the subs section, you might get $5 for it instead of 30 cents.

Now SS have raised their prices, I think we should all opt out until StockXpert raise theirs. I want at least 35 cents before I will consider opting in again.

grp_photo · « **Reply #34 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:38 »

I'm against subs nevertheless i tried it for a little bit more than two weeks in may. I uploaded a batch of 800 new pictures (about 600 accepted) and i wanted to give them a boost in the best match search engine.
Unfortunately none of my new files have been downloaded as subs instead of this i had a lot of XL and XXL downloads of my old bestsellers. May ended up with 10% less than April. Plus minus 10% is in line with my normal fluctuation on StockXpert so i will not say it had a negative impact but is obvious to me that it had also no positive effect.
I hope most contributors will option-in for subs so StockXpert can continue their policy of making your own choice and allowing me to option-out. I have a lot of exclusive files with them because for me they are the most contributor-friendly microstockagency and still have good sales unfortunately they are currently not the market-leader.

CofkoCof · « **Reply #35 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:42 »

I wouldn't opt out because I think that I would start getting credit sales instead of subs sales. My sales would go down, I'm aware of that. Plus my images would be ranked lower on the popularity searches. I just don't like to see my portfolio downloaded in a matter of few days for small bucks. With the current trend of stealing images the subscriptions are not good for "my potential income". I doubt it that someone would pay 50$ for my 10 vectors just to put them online then. Which I can't say for subs.

If many of us do the same, then the whole thing would become interesting. Like shapshot said, many would be forced to either switch the agency or go for credit sales if the couldn't get what they need with subs.