Author Topic: Sudden drop in sales! (Read 19102 times)

Tantoon · « **on:** June 13, 2013, 05:32 »

Hi guys,
is anyone else facing a dramatic drop in sales?
last week things were normal, this week however, SS sales went down almost -40% (I don't think it's June!)
any idea

?
Thanks..

fotografer · « **Reply #1 on:** June 13, 2013, 05:48 »

Normal sales for me.

Ron · « **Reply #2 on:** June 13, 2013, 06:04 »

If my sales keep going like this, I might hit BME.

Tantoon · « **Reply #3 on:** June 13, 2013, 06:51 »

Strange! still down.. like a back dive

I need to change my job, it's like living in a mines field, you never know when it's gonna blow you up!
(sales, popular search, contributor's level etc..) these unpredictable things are nightmares.

Quote from: Ron on June 13, 2013, 06:04

If my sales keep going like this, I might hit BME.

best wishes ^^

Mantis · « **Reply #4 on:** June 13, 2013, 06:54 »

Lately, my SWINGS are wicked. $15 one day, $100 the next, $30, then $80, then $20, $15, $50.

modviz · « **Reply #5 on:** June 13, 2013, 07:05 »

Please - if there's one re-occurring message on these
forums worth paying attention to it's:

Don't fret over day to day sales. Don't worry about
week to week sales. Don't even stew over your month
to month results....take note of your year to year. If it's
down, find out why. Is it you? Or is it the business in
general. If it's the industry, work collectively to try to
turn things around. If it's you, make changes. You're
in the wrong business if you constantly panic over your
day to day sales.

Cheers and all the best.

Mantis · « **Reply #6 on:** June 13, 2013, 07:06 »

Quote from: modviz on June 13, 2013, 07:05

Please - if there's one re-occurring message on these
forums worth paying attention to it's:

Don't fret over day to day sales. Don't worry about
week to week sales. Don't even stew over your month
to month results....take note of your year to year. If it's
down, find out why. Is it you? Or is it the business in
general. If it's the industry, work collectively to try to
turn things around. If it's you, make changes. You're
in the wrong business if you constantly panic over your
day to day sales.

Cheers and all the best.

I expect swings, but this last month I have had HUGE gaps that I have never experienced in 7 years at SS. So I think it's worth mentioning, oh God of microstock.

Fyletto · « **Reply #7 on:** June 13, 2013, 07:14 »

Yes, 50% down for a whole June comapred to May. Not normal. I am 3500+ port with regular uploading. This is not normal.

Mactrunk · « **Reply #8 on:** June 13, 2013, 07:32 »

I'm up. But I have a small port with 380 images. I upload every month and have not seen drops yet. Only ups. About $40 up average every month. But as I said my port might be to small and young for comparing. Only uploading for 10 months at SS.

tab62 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 13, 2013, 08:58 »

It's up! Wait it's down! No it's up...

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #10 on:** June 13, 2013, 09:03 »

Quote from: tab62 on June 13, 2013, 08:58

It's up! Wait it's down! No it's up...

Almost as if the sale that one person isn't getting is going to someone else....

Pauws99 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 13, 2013, 09:11 »

H'mm you could be on to something Sherlock

jefftakespics2 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 13, 2013, 09:15 »

I'm new at this -- really just got going in January. I have an admittedly not so great portfolio, but sales on SS were increasing nicely month after month until May when sales just almost stopped. Never really recovered. Very disheartening. After reading sales related posts in this forum I have to say I have never been involved in such a volatile business! I'm sticking with it and working on getting more salable content, but it is one wild business. Oddly, I had one month with IS with sales increasing quite a bit and after one month then that stopped almost entirely.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 13, 2013, 09:32 »

The SS database now contains almost 27 million images, and added over 108,000 this week. What proportion of those images gets downloaded every day? Pretty low and decreasing. When I started only 4 years ago the database was around 4 million images, now they add more than 5 million every year. Many of the new ones now are from former iS exclusives with excellent portfolios that we haven't had to compete with previously on SS. The rate of increase in the database is faster than any individual contributor so our portion will always decrease. I think this is the cause of the variation some people are seeing and it will only get worse as the database gets larger. At the current rate of increase the database will have over 40 million images in less than 4 years - how will our sales be then? Will demand for images double in 4 years? Maybe, but I doubt it. SS currently is the sales leader, which encourages everyone to submit there and recommend it to others. This increases the size of the database - great for the agency and for buyers, not so good for individual contributors. Greater variability and declining sales for individual contributors is a statistical inevitability. Ride the wave while you can but don't be surprised when it crashes.

(Of course, contributors may drop out as revenue declines, eventually leading to an equilibrium, but we still have a way to go for that)

BTW, my sales have been steady with a slight increase over the past year, although there are huge daily swings in numbers of DLs and particularly ODDs. I try to only look at monthly averages and long-term trends - anything else is statistical noise. If you're seeing large long-term decreases then my guess is that you may have had a niche all to yourself that now has been found (or copied) by others.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #14 on:** June 13, 2013, 09:40 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on June 13, 2013, 09:32

The SS database now contains almost 27 million images, and added over 108,000 this week. What proportion of those images gets downloaded every day? Pretty low and decreasing. When I started only 4 years ago the database was around 4 million images, now they add more than 5 million every year. Many of the new ones now are from former iS exclusives with excellent portfolios that we haven't had to compete with previously on SS. The rate of increase in the database is faster than any individual contributor so our portion will always decrease. I think this is the cause of the variation some people are seeing and it will only get worse as the database gets larger. At the current rate of increase the database will have over 40 million images in less than 4 years - how will our sales be then? Will demand for images double in 4 years? Maybe, but I doubt it. SS currently is the sales leader, which encourages everyone to submit there and recommend it to others. This increases the size of the database - great for the agency and for buyers, not so good for individual contributors. Greater variability and declining sales for individual contributors is a statistical inevitability. Ride the wave while you can but don't be surprised when it crashes.

(Of course, contributors may drop out as revenue declines, eventually leading to an equilibrium, but we still have a way to go for that)

BTW, my sales have been steady with a slight increase over the past year, although there are huge daily swings in numbers of DLs and particularly ODDs. I try to only look at monthly averages and long-term trends - anything else is statistical noise. If you're seeing large long-term decreases then my guess is that you may have had a niche all to yourself that now has been found (or copied) by others.

I think all of your supposition is correct. Additionally, think of the strain added to displaying those millions of images in a search. My theory is that no ONE Server (other than NSA) can handle that many images. Perhaps SS has images scattered over several servers. How would they be prioritized? Could that not be a consideration for the "ebb and flow?"

Mine are certainly up and down, especially the OD, SOD and EL images.

Ron · « **Reply #15 on:** June 13, 2013, 10:16 »

I love it when someone sticks a minus on a post that says they are doing well. As if thats going to make a difference.

OP asks if we see the same sales drop, I dont, I keep plodding on, and my sales are quite steady, I have poor days, but other days to make up for it.

When I say I am going to make BME, its not by 1000 dollar, its peanuts, but BME.

It seems people are only allowed to post their doom and gloom, tough luck. I have a new portfolio and very diverse, best chance to have steady sales.

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #16 on:** June 13, 2013, 10:27 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on June 13, 2013, 09:32

The SS database now contains almost 27 million images, and added over 108,000 this week. What proportion of those images gets downloaded every day? Pretty low and decreasing. When I started only 4 years ago the database was around 4 million images, now they add more than 5 million every year. Many of the new ones now are from former iS exclusives with excellent portfolios that we haven't had to compete with previously on SS. The rate of increase in the database is faster than any individual contributor so our portion will always decrease. I think this is the cause of the variation some people are seeing and it will only get worse as the database gets larger. At the current rate of increase the database will have over 40 million images in less than 4 years - how will our sales be then? Will demand for images double in 4 years? Maybe, but I doubt it. SS currently is the sales leader, which encourages everyone to submit there and recommend it to others. This increases the size of the database - great for the agency and for buyers, not so good for individual contributors. Greater variability and declining sales for individual contributors is a statistical inevitability. Ride the wave while you can but don't be surprised when it crashes.

(Of course, contributors may drop out as revenue declines, eventually leading to an equilibrium, but we still have a way to go for that)

BTW, my sales have been steady with a slight increase over the past year, although there are huge daily swings in numbers of DLs and particularly ODDs. I try to only look at monthly averages and long-term trends - anything else is statistical noise. If you're seeing large long-term decreases then my guess is that you may have had a niche all to yourself that now has been found (or copied) by others.

Now go post this on the SS forums and see what they have to say.

Tantoon · « **Reply #17 on:** June 13, 2013, 11:05 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on June 13, 2013, 09:32

Ride the wave while you can but don't be surprised when it crashes.

If you're seeing large long-term decreases then my guess is that you may have had a niche all to yourself that now has been found (or copied) by others.

that's exactly what I'm doing, I'm like waiting for that particular moment.. meanwhile maintaining my ratio, making my port a bit bigger and investing in "myself" in my free time (learning new skills) so I can abandon the ship safely when it sinks, well, at least that's the idea..

that's the curse of having many files in the first page ><
I'm not only being copied, I'm being traced, literally! they're using my (and other illustrators) work as reference

and they release these huge vector sets that would take forever if you were designing it from scratch.

lisafx · « **Reply #18 on:** June 13, 2013, 12:14 »

Quote from: fotografer on June 13, 2013, 05:48

Normal sales for me.

Yep^^

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 13, 2013, 12:14 »

Quote from: ruxpriencdiam on June 13, 2013, 10:27

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on June 13, 2013, 09:32
The SS database now contains almost 27 million images, and added over 108,000 this week. What proportion of those images gets downloaded every day? Pretty low and decreasing. When I started only 4 years ago the database was around 4 million images, now they add more than 5 million every year. Many of the new ones now are from former iS exclusives with excellent portfolios that we haven't had to compete with previously on SS. The rate of increase in the database is faster than any individual contributor so our portion will always decrease. I think this is the cause of the variation some people are seeing and it will only get worse as the database gets larger. At the current rate of increase the database will have over 40 million images in less than 4 years - how will our sales be then? Will demand for images double in 4 years? Maybe, but I doubt it. SS currently is the sales leader, which encourages everyone to submit there and recommend it to others. This increases the size of the database - great for the agency and for buyers, not so good for individual contributors. Greater variability and declining sales for individual contributors is a statistical inevitability. Ride the wave while you can but don't be surprised when it crashes.

(Of course, contributors may drop out as revenue declines, eventually leading to an equilibrium, but we still have a way to go for that)

BTW, my sales have been steady with a slight increase over the past year, although there are huge daily swings in numbers of DLs and particularly ODDs. I try to only look at monthly averages and long-term trends - anything else is statistical noise. If you're seeing large long-term decreases then my guess is that you may have had a niche all to yourself that now has been found (or copied) by others.
Now go post this on the SS forums and see what they have to say.

Why would I care what they have to say? If they want to see other opinions they can come here.

robhainer · « **Reply #20 on:** June 14, 2013, 11:59 »

I'll say the same thing there, and here, and with my name attached to it. No anonymity needed.

My sales haven't dropped. They've increased from month to month and year to year. I have no idea why some have sales going down while others have sales going up. It's definitely not about Shutterstock trying to steer downloads to lowest tier contributors; I've read that accusation quite a bit. I'm on the highest tier, and so are a lot of others who have increasing sales.

I do get a lot more fluctuations, and it's become hard to have any kind of expectation for sales on a given day. Last year, I could have told you Monday would be good, Tuesday would be best and then it would start to slow on Friday, slowest on Saturday, then start to pick up again on Sunday. This year, I have no idea what's coming. I think that's because so many new images are being approved from the former iStockers. So while my sales are increasing, maybe they would have been even better without all those new files. Who knows? All I can do is keep plugging.

Red Dove · « **Reply #21 on:** June 14, 2013, 13:43 »

As expected, (very nearly) all the people who were bleating about poor sales last week are doing cartwheels on their way to the bank this week, with one of 'em claiming a $900 day.

Codswallop I say.

gbalex · « **Reply #22 on:** June 14, 2013, 13:54 »

Quote from: Red Dove on June 14, 2013, 13:43

As expected, (very nearly) all the people who were bleating about poor sales last week are doing cartwheels on their way to the bank this week, with one of 'em claiming a $900 day.

Codswallop I say.

Mate you do have selective reading. Go back an read more carefully, the people reporting poor sales are still in the same boat.

I had to adjust my post. Mr Hip Hip Hooray is an exception.

CD123 · « **Reply #23 on:** June 14, 2013, 17:58 »

Had a bad drop in May but seems like this month is going to make up for it. Going along quite well (unlike most of my other sites, where I have been struggling since May).

tab62 · « **Reply #24 on:** June 14, 2013, 20:18 »

Now I know where all my sales are going right to CD!

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Author Topic: Sudden drop in sales! (Read 19102 times)

Tantoon

fotografer

Ron

Tantoon

Mantis

modviz

Mantis

Fyletto

Mactrunk

tab62

BaldricksTrousers

Pauws99

jefftakespics2

sgoodwin4813

WarrenPrice

Ron

ruxpriencdiam

Tantoon

lisafx

sgoodwin4813

robhainer

Red Dove

gbalex

CD123

tab62

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