New earnings structure for Contributors

[crbellette]

SS takes 70% of the sales amount (level 3) to manage and market our images/videos, and what's their big marketing idea? Give more of our work away for less in subscription plans. When are they going to learn that if its not profitable for contributors to produce work they will upload elsewhere or stop producing completely.

[El Caron]

So, this new scheme works well for other agencies

In June I make more money from each:123, istock and adobe than from ss.

For first time no payment this month 

 

 

[Philippe Clement]

Already blocked my images since June ..... and will probably block my footage as well because these ridiculous prices will undercut my sales elsewhere.

SS has become a complete waste of time.

 

 

[Keith Tarrier]

1 hour ago, Philippe Clement said:

Already blocked my images since June ..... and will probably block my footage as well because these ridiculous prices will undercut my sales elsewhere.

SS has become a complete waste of time.

Me too!! 

Considering I have been using Adobe software since a student in 1998... about time! LOL...

But I don't do video... so I cant get the full suite for free. I need InDesign, Acrobat Pro and Illustrator especially for other work I do too. But at least their stock income covers my subscription price. 

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

3 hours ago, Keith Tarrier said:

Me too!! 

Considering I have been using Adobe software since a student in 1998... about time! LOL...

But I don't do video... so I cant get the full suite for free. I need InDesign, Acrobat Pro and Illustrator especially for other work I do too. But at least their stock income covers my subscription price. 

You could try Affinity products instead of InDesign and Illustrator. You can buy the software and don't need to subscribe it. It's very cheap.

[Vlasto Opatovsky]

Shuttherstock has a problem. Clients are missing images from deactivated portfolios. Today I received an email to upload a picture to the Shutter :-).

 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Hi Vlasto,

I am sorry to bother you. I have received a request from a customer that currently has a print project ongoing and they really need the following image as they are about to start printing.
Would it be possible for you to add it to your Shutterstock account again? This would be much appreciated!
Please let me know your feedback and I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Name

Client Partner BENELUX + DACH Shutterstock

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

So I wrote them that clients can buy my photos in other microstock agencies 🙂

 

[Mirko Rosenau]

1 hour ago, Vlasto Opatovsky said:

Shuttherstock has a problem. Clients are missing images from deactivated portfolios. Today I received an email to upload a picture to the Shutter :-).

 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Hi Vlasto,

I am sorry to bother you. I have received a request from a customer that currently has a print project ongoing and they really need the following image as they are about to start printing.
Would it be possible for you to add it to your Shutterstock account again? This would be much appreciated!
Please let me know your feedback and I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Name

Client Partner BENELUX + DACH Shutterstock

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

So I wrote them that clients can buy my photos in other microstock agencies 🙂

 

Well done! Let Shutterstock bleed. 

[Claudia G Cooper]

You did the right thing by not adding that image back on your Shutterstock portfolo. I hope more and more agencies go elsewhere for their stock images.

Shutterstock is focused on appealing to their shareholders and trying to boost profits and share price. They shot themselves in the foot by drastically reducing payouts for their Contributors, who are what makes money for the company.

 

[Saxarinka]

It looks this is the end for new contributors on the stock... %(( So sad to see this.. So many plans with my husband..

 

 

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

On 5/26/2020 at 5:30 PM, Forum Moderation Team said:

Our new compensation model is designed to reward content creators for producing quality work that is fresh, relevant and in demand by our customers. By resetting the royalty levels each year, we aim to provide an avenue for contributors to be fairly rewarded for content that is performing well at the current time.

The adjustments are being made to align with changes we have been seeing in the global market for creative content. They also help to create fair opportunities for all our contributors, and reward performance with greater earnings potential.

It appears that some of the successful contributors do not share this view.

I've only just checked. The largest contributor that shutterstock had had written the following under his vendor name:
"Largest collection of abstract grunge backgrounds and textures. Over 1.5 million images. All you need in one portfolio!"
Of the 1.5 million images, exactly 3 are left!

The second largest contributor has not uploaded a single image for weeks. At least not at shutterstock!

Maybe you should think about what kind of performance you are talking about.

If my car would theoretically have a good performance, but I can't afford the fuel anymore, then there is nothing more to get out of it. The "potential" of the car can then no longer be exploited.

Now you send a new shot list with recommendations. Almost all of them contain model photography. How are the contributors supposed to pay the models? And new contributors who accept the new price structure will certainly not be the ones who start taking model photography now. They can't even invest in camera equipment anymore.

Maybe shutterstock does not notice it right away. But already in the medium term there will be an extreme loss of - from the customer's point of view - useful image material. Then your customers will say that they want to pay even less for bad pictures. Or they will go where the good, fresh image material is still available.

It would have been a better way to prohibit providers who sell on shuttersock from offering it on free platforms at the same time by means of a contractual clause. This would have been a sensible approach to stop the downward trend in the price spiral. Every agency should do this.

However, I am absolutely certain that shutterstock will catapult itself out of the market in the medium term.

 

[Akra Studios]

I agree, they committed a marketing suicide, and I'll watch them die with pure joy.

[Mark Godden]

2 hours ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

However, I am absolutely certain that shutterstock will catapult itself out of the market in the medium term.

Wise words Wilm. SS have taken a huge gamble by literally biting the hand that feeds them and it is unlikely to end well. 

[Evgeny Drablenkov]

I have a second VIDEO level with 20% royalty,
but i get from clip packs sales - 0,26, 0,34 and 0,77 cents for the 1 clip ?
(But the minimum price is 9.95 $ *0,2=1,99 $ royalty )
WTF ?

[Munimara]

Bueno, amigos empresarios, han sido malos, sabían, os había salido mal, habían perdido el negocio, han apostado a ser miserables para ganar dinero que no os pertenece.

El sudor de los trabajadores no es vuestro.

Ya está, parad, reflexionar, tenéis una oportunidad, todavía está a tiempo de resolverlo todo.

¿Cómo?

Pedir perdón a vuestros trabajadores por vuestra ambición y volver al sistema anterior, eso sí, con un aumento en el porcentaje de los beneficios de los colaboradores como castigo por todo lo que nos han hecho sufrir y perder.

Seguro que si hacéis eso todo puede volver al punto anterior a volver a locos de ambición.

Os perdonaríamos de corazón si viéramos vuestro arrepentimiento sincero.

Es vuestra última oportunidad.

[Tony ALS]

I've decided like others to remove images once they have been downloaded and sold for the pathetic amount of $0.10. No point in undercutting yourself with the same images available with other agencies who pay more. I can't bring myself to delete everything as I like everyone spent time getting them onto the site in the first place. I don't have a huge amount on here but as my by best selling image just sold again for the 29th time I have removed it and a similar image. I hope the same image is now found elsewhere and I get paid a little more. I will abandon SS at the end of the year if nothing changes, which I hope is what the majority of contributors do, so that SS wake up to the mess they have created. I do feel for those who have built a business and rely on the income generated here. Seems other agencies do not have the reach of SS but that might change if the site loses thousands of contributors. Sad situation during these uncertain times.     

[Sarah2]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:52 PM, Nina B said:

Why am I still earning only 11 cents for many of my photos even though I have gone over the 100 download mark, into the next payment level?

11 cents? You are lucky! I get a lot of 10 cents sales and am on Level 4, allegedly.

[stevemart]

On 7/18/2020 at 9:13 AM, GregDPhotos said:

Until level 6, 10¢ seems to be the norm. Be thankful for your 10% bonus.

And even at Level 6 you can only get 10, 11 or 13 cents from a sale from the largest (750 dl) subs package. Notalot compared with $0.38!

 

[stockphotofan1]

2 hours ago, stevemart said:

And even at Level 6 you can only get 10, 11 or 13 cents from a sale from the largest (750 dl) subs package. Notalot compared with $0.38!

 

 

And yet some sub payments at level 6 are higher than $.38 too..

 

[Awana JF]

24 minutes ago, stockphotofan1 said:

And yet some sub payments at level 6 are higher than $.38 too..

 

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

2 hours ago, stockphotofan1 said:

 

And yet some sub payments at level 6 are higher than $.38 too..

 

Yes, it's true. For certain subscriptions you get more than you used to. The highest sub reported from Level 5 contributors so far was $2.28. The problem is, those are exceptions.

Have you done the math? Probably not.

I've done it. I know what I would have earned in the former highest level, and what I earn now in the new level 5.

I had 730 subscriptions. These would have earned me $277.40 earlier. Now - with a level where I would have to earn 5% more, I have earned $163.42. This gives a return per subscription of $0.22. Instead of a 5% increase, I have a 42% decrease. If I take the beginning of the year into account, it will approximately be a minus of over 50%. 

These are facts you can ignore if it makes you personally happy - for whatever reason. But you cannot change reality with words.

 

[Ints Vikmanis]

I don't regret my decision to disable sales here

How much I would earn here for 28 sales?

28x 0.10 = 2.80 USD? If I'm very unlucky…

[Joe Herlong]

This is great news for Pond5 and Adobe!  I have a third of the downloads on Adobe and have made over 3 times what I have made here.  I have been shooting a lot of drone footage the past few months and was getting ready to start uploading it.  I don't think I can make enough here to pay for the gas it took to travel to the sites to shoot.  I won't be uploading anything here and trying to decide if I would be better off to take my work down instead of letting you give it away.  Very disappointed. No respect for the people that created your jobs.

[BobNoah]

fresh out of the oven. Published less than an hour ago

But do they know, the cut in royalties to contributors? 

Edited July 22, 2020 by BobNoah

[Don Landwehrle]

I turned off my portfolio on SS in early June after viewing a few days of the dismal results.
Since then it seems my AS sales have increased a little bit but things at AL are different.
I haven't had any sales on AL since early September. In July I've had 4 sales for a net profit of $131.
That's a little bit better than .10¢ each. Not sure if one has to do with the other but just maybe.

[Don Landwehrle]

BTW. If you're greyed out from posting here do the following.

Get to this page.
Disable Javascript.
Reload page.
Post.
Reenable Javascript.

Let's see how long this post remains!!!

BTW. I can't take credit for the work-around.