Saw today that there are just approx. 55k PSD (Photoshop) templates on Adobe Stock. So the competition seems still to be low here.
I'm currently thinking about creating some product templates by generating AI objects and then create PSD collages within Photoshop, which you could then easily edit.

Since I would be spending a lot more time than just submitting AI images (which are already oversaturated), is it worth the time investment?
Has anyone tried out whether templates are sold in significant amounts?

As far as I know, template contributors are invitation-only and that's why competition is low. Incredibly unfair IMO.

This doesn't sound right at all.  US witholding tax is 10% not 5% and only applies to a company registered and operating in the US and making distributions to residents abroad.

US witholding tax is max. 30% not 10%. It depends on agreement USA has with contributor's country.

Hi Lina!

Yes, I stopped using their paid ads too. Mainly because I found that I was attracting too many of the wrong buyers. I was selling to the sellers (product mockups for party suppliers, mainly) but the ads were drawing in the general public, some of whom were angry and upset when they didn't read my listings properly and accidently bought my photos instead of actual party supplies.

Instead, I used eRank, who give you all the keywords, descriptions and analysis that you need. Also, instead of paying for Etsy ads, I decided to invest a small amount each month into a paid eRank account, that gave you a huge amount of information about the whole market and pricing, competition, etc.

https://erank.com/


With quite of bit of research, thanks to eRank, I was able to increase my revenue on Etsy up to $300 USD a month, after about 6 months last year.


However, this year, I had a lot of problems, mainly because of harassing messages from someone who was not a genuine buyer. Its really easy for people to set up bogus accounts there. Also, some of my competition started to get into price cutting, which started to bring down the market price from $5 to $1 per jpeg/png photo**. That, plus constantly having to be at the beck and call of buyers, was started to stress me out too much, so I decided it just wasn't worth my time anymore.

However, for someone who doesn't have my problems, I believe there is reasonable money to be made with the right amount of research and finding gaps in the market there.

All the best,
Annie


** I now sell them mainly on Adobe where I get up to 99c for them. Not as many, but it's hassle-free. 

Thank you very much for these advice, Annie! Especially for eRank, I am using free version, but wasn't sure is it worth to pay for it or not. Maybe I will give Etsy one more chance with eRank research, I'll see.

And yeah, I somehow feel it as a annoying mess and I believe AI and Canva changed many things there too, so people who don't have much knowledge can compete in many areas with millions of images, mockups, templates and consequently lower the prices. Probably it wasn't like that just couple years ago.

So yes, I definitely agree, as much as I don't like stock sites for many reasons, at least they are hassle-free and more in order in terms of copyright infringements etc.

Quote from: wds on November 12, 2023, 10:42

Quote from: cobalt on November 12, 2023, 10:36

Would love to know, my code for Photoshop ran out. Now working with PS Elements 22. usable, but I miss the shiny new ai tools.

And no, I am too stingy, I pay for lightroom every month, don't want to add more.

Doesn't your LR monthly fee also include PS?

No, lr is 10 euros, ps costs another 23 euros a month

PS elements is 90 euros and usually works for 2-3 years then it is "no longer compatible" with the latest ios update.

I hope one day I earn enough to get the entire photoshop suite every year.

I think you should check it again. Photography plan for 10 � per month includes both LR and PS.

Thank you Mat for clarifying it. Is there a way to opt out of being featured on this list? If moderators or customers don�t see it, I would rather stay humble.

It would be nice if there would be a badge that Adobe can attach to a profile. It would speak of quality of images and might give customers more confidence to download them?

Yeah, I was there few times too and although it was nice to see my name, I was just afraid copycats will have a feast. I was hoping I will be higher in search when "Sort by featured" is chosen on buyer's side, but it wasn't the case. Badge is really great idea.

First time I went to read Canva's license and wow, that Pro license is so unfair to contributors, no wonder sales are crashing: "As a Pro subscriber, you will simply be issued with a new One Design Use License for the second, third and fourth designs (and so on). You do not need to pay for these individual licenses, they are included in your subscription. Free users need to pay for a new license for each subsequent design."

Plus, they allow selling on POD and similar, buyers obviously need just slap text over image and that's their "new" design: "All of our photos, fonts and graphics can be used to create designs for printing on products for sale (like t-shirts, mugs, books and other merchandise). Please note, you can�t sell standalone prints of Canva content, such as a printout of a stock photo (without any other design elements) on a t-shirt."

I'm not on Canva (luckily), I was just curious because some discussion from people who are heavily using Canva content for reselling on various designs. Sometimes is hard to read and I was convinced it is not allowed but I was wrong, obviously.

AI influencer and scammed anchor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5phuCoTCOM

Quote from: Lina on July 26, 2023, 00:31

According to some reports, Adobe staff worried they are killing jobs of their own customers with AI:

https://www-benzinga-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.benzinga.com/amp/content/33368787

Here is the original articles with more details.
https://www.businessinsider.com/adobe-ai-firefly-kill-graphic-designer-jobs-cut-seat-sales-2023-7?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=business-sf&utm_source=headtopics&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=2023-07-25


Some key notes:

"Adobe often sells cloud software subscriptions based on the number of seats, or licenses (...). A company with, say, 5 graphic designers in-house would buy five licenses. So if designers are getting laid off, demand for licenses might fall"

.... how some constributors still think AI was a good thing and they will still have a job in 10 years where all they do is enter prompts when not even the customers - the designers - are safe, is beyond me.

That article is behind paywall. I think that people who did photo-manipulations are already affected most. Other designers - I don't know, maybe it can replace some simple work but not everything, AI would explode if it heard some of my clients requests. In my opinion, Canva destroyed designers much more than AI ever could.

Quote from: Lina on July 17, 2023, 14:03

Quote from: JustAnImage on July 17, 2023, 12:25

(c) How can I ensure that the income generated by the stolen images goes to the original authors? Or alternatively, the income from such accounts could be donated to a good cause.

Buahahaha. Sorry, I couldn't help it. You know that agencies keep that money for themselves, right?

That's perfectly fine - I didn't feel any different when I wrote the question.

But nevertheless, I will ask.

And then we'll see if we can find out the name of the operator through a legal enquiry, so that we can do some digging.
And yes, I'm fully aware that there's not much chance of success - but if you don't poke a little at the wasps' nest, nothing will change.

Yes, you don't have much chance of success, but I like your attitude.

I just started watching, but it seems interesting so far:

"The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee holds a hearing on artificial intelligence and intellectual property on Wednesday.
Witnesses testifying include Jeffrey Harleston, general counsel and executive VP of business and legal affairs at Universal Music Group; Karla Ortiz, concept artist and illustrator; Matthew Sag, professor of artificial intelligence at Emory University School of Law; Dana Rao, executive VP and general counsel at Adobe Inc., and Ben Brooks, head of public policy at Stability AI."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoCJun7gkbA

You are right, just the title is editorial.

But that kind of title, in addition to iphone, should have got it deleted.

Yes, definitely. :/

Nope, copyright is yours. You sell license so someone can use your photo.