Shutterstock Earnings – Day 2
Well, Shutterstock started their new earnings schedule as promised on June 1st. Well, to be honest, they screwed that up and didn’t start until half way through that day and even then didn’t properly report the earnings in the correct areas of the earnings report on the site. And so on day 1, we had regular subscription sales for 38c (for me), the Single and Other earnings representing normal single sales plus a mix of 10c earnings. Later in the day that was supposed to be fixed so that subscriptions came in the correct section, but this morning it still seems all over the place. I have 5 images reported in Subscriptions that are all over 69c for a total of $3.80 and an average sale of $0.76. Great I think! But then in Single and Other I have 15 sales, one of which is probably a real single at 3.21 and the other 14 are under 24c. Total for those 14 is $1.91 for an average of 13.6c per download. So still totally screwed up! Doing the sums, that would suggest that I have had 19 subscription sales today for a total of $5.71 and an average of $0.30 per download. Not as bad as I feared, but well below my normal 38c per download.
Just in case you are wondering what you should be paid under this new scheme, I created a spreadsheet from the work that someone in the Shutterstock Forum did (and I can’t find the original person now in the 100+ pages on this subject). I created it so that I would have a reference to check my own earnings as they come in and it is here for your use:
The way I use this is that every subscription sale should align (in my case) with the Level 5 column. The ones that are reported in the Subscription section do align, but I’m sorry to say the ones in Single and Other don’t. I have sales for $0.24, $0.16. $0.15, $0.13 – none of which should be appearing if I am being paid as a level 5. Crazy – more mistakes.
It is hard to find words for such a cock-up. And this chart really shows how much Shutterstock are potentially pocketing if their customer of the larger subscriptions packs don’t use all their allowed images. Can you imagine a large company making sure that at the end of the year they really did use every last one of their 9000 image pack? If they don’t do that, then of course Shutterstock takes all those $0.22 images and pockets the cash – nothing for the contributor if that occurs.
Surely someone in a senior position in Shutterstock will see what a mess this is…..
In my case it is much worse than feared. Yesterday 10 sales totalling less than a dollar. Today 5 sales, 96 cents.
Yes – it is quite possible that I’ve been lucky with a few bigger sales. This is a small sample as yet.
Lot’s of 10 and 12 cents sales instead of 38 cents. Worse than I feared or hoped for.
maybe time to stop contributing….
This is a shame. The contributors should do something, such as spending time without sending them photos, for example.
I’m still wondering where the “reward performance with greater earnings potential” will be….
It’s so frustrating at the moment…
Yes, this is becoming a battle to the end with Shutterstock. I’ve heard (but can’t verify) that they are laying off their reviewers and outsourcing to a company in India and also offering packages to some contributors where they stay on the current earnings plan until the end of 2020. Who knows if this is true, but they are behaving worse than I could have believed. You are right – there is no incentive here to produce more for them and I have stopped uploading there.
I had one .13 c download this month then no more sales. Level 2. The worse part is that those at higher levels also get downgraded to level 1 every January, still it will take time to build earnings even if one achieves their “original” level within a few months. Not uploading there anymore, SS is dead to me now.
Yes, so far this has not been encouraging at all, especially at a lower tier. I think my average today for subscriptions is 25c.
4 sales so far, level 2, one at .56, 2 at .10 and 1 at 2.62!
Just had an OD sale for $0.17 I really cant see based on any of the price levels how it can ever be that low. Now the reality of the prices are starting to be realized SS has gone from a nice little earner helping me pay off my mortgage to a couple of dollars a day. Not worth the electricity of having the computer on. My average for sub sales yesterday was $0.22 and thats at 30% the contribs on 15% this really is a waste of time.
Day three and so far I am liking this new system. I don`t care about those 10 c sales as long as I have 3 dollar, 5 d and 10 d sales in between and total day`s sum is ok :). So far, so good. Biggest losers are small port owners I guess.
You must be one of a select group then. What is your average payment on subscriptions and across how may daily downloads? I seem to be stuck around 25c on average. Incidentally, I notice you used a made-up email address.
Steve
“Biggest losers are small port owners I guess.”
— I have 14.000 in my port that was performing quite good. Today I earned 2$ on 11 downloads, each 10 or 11 cents. Your assumption about the affected range of people is a bit of wishful thinking I guess.
Also, I know a contributor who had really good sales in the first couple of days, an then it is plummeted to 4-7$ a day level.
You need more time and sample data to draw conclusion about your port I think.
But of course, I wish you only luck!
Yes I did use made up address :). Just because I don`t want people to see my gallery, just to avoid copycats. I have worked about 2-3 years really hard on my port. Not taking pictures, but making them ;). That`s why I don`t comment on S forum also. I am on level 5. Before change I had 0,36. So far I have seen lot of different numbers: 0.10, 0.11, 0.15, 0.16, 0.17, 0.88, 0.99, 1.2, 2.72, 3.00, 3.74, 3.77 and 4 d, 5 d something and yesterday even 10 d something. So really really different numbers, I like the lottery :D. Daily downloads can vary from 25-60 ( weekdays). I don`t do much travel photos, most are compositions and concepts( port has under 4500 images). I have worked in magazines as photographer, so I have an vague idea what might sell :).
No problem not using a valid email. I was just asking if you were real and you clearly are! Just to make sure we are comparing like for like, I was looking at the subscription earnings divided by subscription downloads. For yesterday and today (the only days with correct reporting), my result is 25c rather than the 38c I used to get.
Steve
Yesterday was sub average 0,24 and today 0,32.
As you were on 36c before you are down pretty significantly as well I think. You would have got those other higher priced sales under the old model as well – they were on demand and single sales I think.
Steve
Probably, but I am still somewhat hopeful, I have to be. Will see in the end of the month.
I would like to be hopeful, but I’m down at 18c today – less than half what I normally would receive from Subscriptions. This isn’t to say my income will be reduced by 50%, as I still get the SODS and ODs, but we can see the way this is going.
A lot of people taking the same approach. I’m waiting till the end of the month, but as to be hopeful – there is not much to go on with so far. I’m swamped with 10-11 cent downloads
Yep, just had 3 of those, taking mu average down :D( and night is young).
I’m down from 0.38 to 0.22 yesterday and 0.17 today. The ODs and SODs are far from making up for it.
Another thing that goes against expectations is the amount of traffic. I think everybody expected that with lower prices would come an increased traffic and sales volume. My sales volume is equal or lower than before.
That’s the thing though – there is no extra traffic. Images and videos cost the same to the buyer as they did before – it is only Shutterstock themselves who are getting more money. There was a vague hope that they might alter the search preference for cheaper images, but the same logic to pay contributors less if the buyer is happy with a cheaper (to Shutterstock) image still applies with the new scheme.
I think it is a pretty straightforward business model, with the following having been considered
1 Do we have enough images to satisfy the demands of buyers – yes.
2 Can we still make good profit if, say, 25% of contributors withdraw their port – yes.
3 Will we make more profit by reducing the payment to our suppliers – yes.
4 Will people still upload – yes, as they will still make money. There will be fewer uploads, but who cares, we’ve got far more assets than we need.
It is the critical mass argument. For Sutterstock they needed sufficient assets on line to make a profit enhancing move by cutting the cost of suppliers. So they did just that.
I think you are right – they wanted to increase their net margin and the only real lever they have (because they can’t raise prices) is to cut costs and the biggest cost is contributor royalties
There is one thing that would worry me if I was a business owner. It is not only a numbers game, quality of content matters. If 25% withdraw and take quality content with them and won’t upload new quality content, then clients may change their mind. What do you think?
The key will be if the number of clients actually drops because they no longer find what they want on the site. It is hard to say whether that will occur – if the earnings really do drop and more contributors think it is no longer worth the bother of maintaining a portfolio (or leave it there and stop uploading), then eventually clients will notice. I don’t think that will be a rapid process though.
Today all and only small subs, -50% drop ( 0.17c average). Every day is so different. Yesterday I was hopeful, today I`m sad :P.
Mine have been 25c on Wednesday, 24c on Thursday and 23c so far today.