Author Topic: Shutterstock just bought BigStockPhoto [Big News] (Read 43230 times)

HermanM · « **Reply #100 on:** September 27, 2009, 20:33 »

Quote from: gostwyck on September 27, 2009, 16:04

only the very best images will get noticed. Quality is becoming everything, volume is pointless unless the quality is there.

I agree 100%

etienjones · « **Reply #101 on:** October 09, 2009, 05:36 »

Don't know if this is a coincidence or not but BigStock has pick up a lot over the last week . . . I hope its the influence from SS. Anyone else seeing changes in sales for the better?

E

ibogdan · « **Reply #102 on:** October 09, 2009, 06:58 »

Me too, but maybe it's the placebo effect.

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #103 on:** October 09, 2009, 07:00 »

Quote from: etienjones on October 09, 2009, 05:36

Don't know if this is a coincidence or not but BigStock has pick up a lot over the last week . . . I hope its the influence from SS. Anyone else seeing changes in sales for the better?

E

YES! Downloads from BigStock are now running double the normal amount for me. 3-10 per day. I expect this is just the beginning and we will see steady growth in the very near future.

-Larry

dirkr · « **Reply #104 on:** October 09, 2009, 07:10 »

I started with BigStock in May and have to say my performance at that site has been absolutely disappointing so far - just 10 downloads from May until October (yes, that is embarrasingly low and places BigStock very low on my list).
But yesterday I sold four licences - not at the same time, not closely related subjects, so it does not look like the same buyer.

Either this was a big coincidence or sales are really picking up...

weknow · « **Reply #105 on:** October 09, 2009, 07:58 »

Stockastic wrote: Well the honeymoon is over, that's for sure.
[/quote]

There's is really a kind of honeymoon on SS!
After acceptance as a contributor, you get an extra exposure on SS frontpage for about 6 weeks. That's why you'll get a lot of downloads very quickly. After that you're one of the many and your new files - which are looked at much more than older files - are just a few inbetween the thousands uploaded every day. If these new files have a lot of attention and downloads, they stay in the run. If not, they sink to the bottom and will only be found by the buyer who is really searching for that particular image, if someone is.

On SS the new stuff is looked at the most...a lot of subscribers only go quickly threw the tens of thousands new images, to collect the number of images they sucscribed for. Many downloaded are never used at all.

As the upload of new images on SS is developing in enourmous numbers, the piece for each contributor becomes smaller.

You can "feed the beast", because threw your newest uploads you have the change that buyers find more of your images of their interest. You'll find out that after 1 or 2 weeks not uploading, your overall downloads go down to < 50%. Feeding the beast is uploading a few images once or twice a week, to have attention with your portfolio.

In the longer run, your statistics wil slowly grow this way. Don't look to much to the first months!

When your total earnings go over 500 dollars (that will take some months), you'll get a boost because you'll earn 30% more for each download.
0,25 > 0,33! 1,60 > 2,48.

Each agency has it's own strategy. On the long run SS is one of the best earners. The influence of the market and the economical crisis might be there...but what you're looking at is a kind of pattern, each contributor to SS experiences.

regards!

PowerDroid · « **Reply #106 on:** October 09, 2009, 08:22 »

Quote from: weknow on October 09, 2009, 07:58

Stockastic wrote: Well the honeymoon is over, that's for sure.

There's is really a kind of honeymoon on SS!.....

In the longer run, your statistics wil slowly grow this way. Don't look to much to the first months!

[/quote]

I'm wondering if EVERYONE has experienced the honeymoon effect at SS, or if a certain percent has sold steady continuously right from the beginning?

I joined SS about 11 months ago and things have been steady... no honeymoon effect here, unless I'm still in it and not aware of it. My RPI at SS, and across pretty much all the sites, has held steady since the beginning.

To all the SS veterans... has anyone had a honeymoon effect that lasted a year or longer, or if I haven't experienced a fall-off yet should I expect a steady RPI if I maintain my frequency of uploads and keep diversifying my portfolio?

anton9 · « **Reply #107 on:** October 09, 2009, 08:44 »

One of my images was used by digital photographer magazine to announce this!! was so happy :p

http://news.dphotographer.co.uk/news/shutterstock-announces-acquisition-of-bigstockphoto/

ljooc · « **Reply #108 on:** October 09, 2009, 09:46 »

very nice, congrats, perfect photo for the announcement!

gostwyck · « **Reply #109 on:** October 09, 2009, 09:47 »

Quote from: PowerDroid on October 09, 2009, 08:22

I joined SS about 11 months ago and things have been steady... no honeymoon effect here, unless I'm still in it and not aware of it. My RPI at SS, and across pretty much all the sites, has held steady since the beginning.

To all the SS veterans... has anyone had a honeymoon effect that lasted a year or longer, or if I haven't experienced a fall-off yet should I expect a steady RPI if I maintain my frequency of uploads and keep diversifying my portfolio?

I've been with SS from the start and I'm not aware of this 'honeymoon period'. I think it's yet another myth for a newbie to grasp to explain few sales (rather than the more likely reason that their images may not be that saleable in comparison to the competition). Most newbies will probably upload their very best images first, which may have taken them years to take, and then the quality drops as they start to scrape the barrel of their hard drive. In the early days pretty much anything would sell as there were relatively few images but that is not the case nowadays.

vonkara · « **Reply #110 on:** October 09, 2009, 12:07 »

Quote from: HermanM on September 27, 2009, 20:33

Quote from: gostwyck on September 27, 2009, 16:04
only the very best images will get noticed. Quality is becoming everything, volume is pointless unless the quality is there.

I agree 100%

Agree also and there should be lots of useless images deleted from the collection. More than what is now. It's weird sometimes to see some accounts with 1000 and more images online and less than 500 sales...

goldenangel · « **Reply #111 on:** October 09, 2009, 15:38 »

Quote from: anton9 on October 09, 2009, 08:44

One of my images was used by digital photographer magazine to announce this!! was so happy :p

http://news.dphotographer.co.uk/news/shutterstock-announces-acquisition-of-bigstockphoto/

Great photo Anton! Congratulations!

lisafx · « **Reply #112 on:** October 09, 2009, 17:48 »

Quote from: Lcjtripod on October 09, 2009, 07:00

Quote from: etienjones on October 09, 2009, 05:36
Don't know if this is a coincidence or not but BigStock has pick up a lot over the last week . . . I hope its the influence from SS. Anyone else seeing changes in sales for the better?

E

YES! Downloads from BigStock are now running double the normal amount for me. 3-10 per day. I expect this is just the beginning and we will see steady growth in the very near future.

-Larry

Must be a search engine change. My sales there have dropped like a rock this month.

Seriously, they are back to sales levels from two years or more ago for me (when my portfolio was half the current size).

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #113 on:** October 09, 2009, 18:15 »

Quote from: lisafx on October 09, 2009, 17:48

Quote from: Lcjtripod on October 09, 2009, 07:00
Quote from: etienjones on October 09, 2009, 05:36
Don't know if this is a coincidence or not but BigStock has pick up a lot over the last week . . . I hope its the influence from SS. Anyone else seeing changes in sales for the better?

E

YES! Downloads from BigStock are now running double the normal amount for me. 3-10 per day. I expect this is just the beginning and we will see steady growth in the very near future.

-Larry

Must be a search engine change. My sales there have dropped like a rock this month.

Seriously, they are back to sales levels from two years or more ago for me (when my portfolio was half the current size).

It may be the subject that is in question. Your port is great Lisafx, but how much of it is "Milwaukee" "Wisconsin" and "Golf" as these subjects are 2/3 of my downloads. I think when one person is having a bad month another is having a great one ...... just depending on subjects being bought.

Plus your on SS and I am not .... could the sales be going to SS customers? (that may never have seen mine)

-Larry

lisafx · « **Reply #114 on:** October 09, 2009, 18:37 »

Quote from: Lcjtripod on October 09, 2009, 18:15

It may be the subject that is in question. Your port is great Lisafx, but how much of it is "Milwaukee" "Wisconsin" and "Golf" as these subjects are 2/3 of my downloads. I think when one person is having a bad month another is having a great one ...... just depending on subjects being bought.

Plus your on SS and I am not .... could the sales be going to SS customers? (that may never have seen mine)

-Larry

Nope, unfortunately no rise in SS sales either.

Normally my portfolio is fairly well insulated from seasonal ups and downs just by sheer size and scope. With this dramatic drop after years of predictable (if unexciting) sales at BigStock I would be inclined to think either there has been a best match change or an exodus of buyers after the announcement of the buyout. With so many seeing sales spike there it is more likely to be the former than the latter.

Either that or I need to book a flight to Milwaukee and invest in some golf clubs

gostwyck · « **Reply #115 on:** October 09, 2009, 19:59 »

No, I think talk of the 'spike' is exaggerated and of course spikes of a few sales do make a big splash in what is normally a very shallow pond (if I'm not mixing my metaphors too much).

I've had a few recent remarkably good days of late .. followed by very little. At the end of the month it tends to be 'same old, same old' at best.

fotografer · « **Reply #116 on:** October 09, 2009, 23:09 »

That's exactly what I have been experiending there lately. I have a few excellent days and think that I am going to have an amazing month and then it is followed by virtually nothing for a few days. But as you say it all evens out.

Quote from: gostwyck on October 09, 2009, 19:59

I've had a few recent remarkably good days of late .. followed by very little. At the end of the month it tends to be 'same old, same old' at best.

Norebbo · « **Reply #117 on:** October 10, 2009, 13:04 »

Quote from: lisafx on October 09, 2009, 17:48

Must be a search engine change. My sales there have dropped like a rock this month.

Seriously, they are back to sales levels from two years or more ago for me (when my portfolio was half the current size).

Me too. Sales have just suddenly fallen off the map at SS for my portfolio, but there have been a few good days in the last week or so. But I agree - something has changed.

imageZebra · « **Reply #118 on:** October 15, 2009, 02:55 »

Quote

Must be a search engine change. My sales there have dropped like a rock this month.

Seriously, they are back to sales levels from two years or more ago for me (when my portfolio was half the current size).

For me on SS is all the same, but on BigStock everything just stopped. Today is the 15th of the month, and I have zero images sold so far.

fotografer · « **Reply #119 on:** October 15, 2009, 03:04 »

I have never done particularly well at BS but the last few days have been great including an almost 60$ EL. I think it's my first ever EL on that site. It looks like they have done a best match re-shuffle if some of us have improved drastically and some are doing much worse.

dzain · « **Reply #120 on:** November 04, 2009, 05:49 »

Quote from: epantha on September 23, 2009, 08:28

Question from SS forum: "For those of us who are not on BigStock - would it make sense to start uploading our images there, or will you eventually copy them there?"

No immediate plans - so best to upload to both. We'll make sure to make it worth your while

Jon

What a big crap! Even if they copy our portfolio's to BS, when SS drops the OD-program and managed to send buyers to BS for OD's we'll lose big time, because OD's at SS are worth 2,85 and on BS only a louzy 1,50.

cathyslife · « **Reply #121 on:** November 04, 2009, 07:09 »

I've been on Shutterstock for four years now and I at least reach payout every month, except for a few times. I never experienced a honeymoon, but do believe you must feed the beast on ALL sites to keep your sales rolling. At times I have spikes where I do exceptionally well in sales, but it's been difficult to see any lasting jump.

On BigStock, the sales have never been as good, but again, they have been fairly steady over the four years. Despite constantly uploading to both sites, they sales have not increased proportionately...they have remained fairly steady.

I'm not sure how I will be able to get any kind of large increase in sales, unless I uploaded hundreds over a week or so and substantially increased the size of my portfolio. And I think the best way for me to increase sales would be to upload a lot of people shots.

It will be interesting to see where SS and BigStock end up in the race.

FD · « **Reply #122 on:** November 04, 2009, 07:28 »

Quote from: cclapper on November 04, 2009, 07:09

It will be interesting to see where SS and BigStock end up in the race.

The most interesting thing will be to see how they handle 2 competing products (OD-EL) under one roof. The same problem that Getty has with iStock and StockXpert. Will they cannibalize one site to make the original workhorse stronger? Hardly a good strategy since it would waste the digital assets of BigStock and just build traffic. A hostile buyout seems not likely since BigStock has no subscriptions. In the long run SS and BigStock have to be streamlined to work together with a scale and market advantage, and that will be very interesting to watch.

For now, Getty still seems not have made their mind up about StockXpert, since it's business as usual there, with still photos.com sales.

KB · « **Reply #123 on:** November 04, 2009, 13:19 »

Quote from: dzain on November 04, 2009, 05:49

What a big crap! Even if they copy our portfolio's to BS, when SS drops the OD-program and managed to send buyers to BS for OD's we'll lose big time, because OD's at SS are worth 2,85 and on BS only a louzy 1,50.

Did BigStock change their commission structure recently?

According to the info I keep, BigStock's commission for a 4-5MP image is $2. For 11MP and bigger, the commission is $3.

dzain · « **Reply #124 on:** November 04, 2009, 13:29 »

Quote from: KB on November 04, 2009, 13:19

Quote from: dzain on November 04, 2009, 05:49
What a big crap! Even if they copy our portfolio's to BS, when SS drops the OD-program and managed to send buyers to BS for OD's we'll lose big time, because OD's at SS are worth 2,85 and on BS only a louzy 1,50.
Did BigStock change their commission structure recently?

According to the info I keep, BigStock's commission for a 4-5MP image is $2. For 11MP and bigger, the commission is $3.

I read that on the SS forums, so I assumed those prices I mentioned were correct, but I can be wrong.

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