Insulted!

Report · May 02, 2020

I am about to close my Adobe Stock account, which I only opened a few months ago, having just sold my first picture - for 52p. (Thats £0.52 for clarity). It seems that organisations with bulk credits can buy very cheaply, but that's no help to me. It's not worth the time to upload the picture for that sum of money. I have also realised that I don't know who has bought the picture so consequently don't know if a copy I see online is licenced or not. I value my work and time much more than this. As a comparison, I had previously sold the same picture privately to a farming journal for £40.

Is there anyone out there who can honestly say that they get a good return from Adobe stock?

Report · May 02, 2020

Hi Tony,

I can understand your concern. When I just started getting sales and I saw royalty of $0.20 for one of my files, I almost fainted. However this was just one small sale. The royalty receive on your files vary depending on how much they are licensed for, and what packages they fall in. You will get a small return sometimes, but other times you will get much more.

You process these images once and thy are sold multiple times, hence will fetch you indefinite amount of money. There is no limit to the number of times each file is licensed. I have gotten up to $7.00 on a singe license. And I have files licensing multiple times. I have read of a lady that gets even more than twice that amount on a single file. You also have to keep in mind, submitting to Adobe is submitting to an agency that pays you a percentage of what the file is licensed for.

I have been with agencies that have large asking price, thus larger royalties and have not earned as much as I do within any given time period as at Adobe. Adobe has a large customer base ranking either first of second, and thus is among the best agencies that will yield for you regular returns.

Best wishes

JG

Report · May 02, 2020

Hi Tony,

If you suspect that your file is being used illegally, and was originated from Adobe, then you can make report to Adobe. However if you are selling your work to other people independently, they could share copies with others (I am not saying this is definitely the case, but that is a possibility). To learn how to go about making report of files stolen from Adobe, go to https://community.adobe.com/t5/stock/theft-of-images-on-adobe-stock/m-p/10642123?page=1

Best wishes

JG

Report · May 03, 2020

Thanks for your replies. When I sell privately I sell a licence and I know who I have sold it to. Therefore if I see one of my pictures online I will know if it is legitimate use or not. How will I know if someone is using my picture under a licence from Adobe?

Report · May 03, 2020

Hi Tony,

If you see a file you upload to Adobe on the web and suspect it might be illegally used, I suggest you follow the link I post earlier. So far I have not come across any stock platform that publishes their customers' identity. Therefore if that is a burning issue of yours, then I believe doing your own marketing would be the better way to go. In such case you have total control over who uses your files.

Best wishes

JG

Adobe Community

Insulted!