Does the Photo Stock market really down

[Sohn Gottes]

I joined stock photography almost 8 months back. Thought I did not uploaded too many images.  I have almost 350 images/ vectors online now. As I was increasing my uploads there used to be few downloads every months. But suddenly the downloads are dead for almost 2 months. I have searched on internet and read at other posts too that  many other contributors are complaining of extremely low sale after march this year.

Can any body know what is going on. 

Thanks

[twaritar3263062]

Moving to Adobe Stock Contributors​

[joanH]

The most logical guess is that there are more good photographers and artist out there selling their work. And the simple, good to great cameras make us look even better. It's numbers, demand and fewer sales by more contributors. : + )  JH

[Sohn Gottes]

It may be or may not be... Yes it is just a guess.....  It is not possible that suddenly so many super expert photographers join stock agencies in just a time of 3-4 months that they took share of not only new but old contributors who have portfolio of 5000+ images and videos and are uploading for more than 10 Years. Yes I have seen such contributors complaining about low sale. Not only new one. Yes there are many who are still enjoying good sale but they are too seeing some downfall in sales. But they are those who owns footage taken from outside the world.

There is some BIG reason. Someone may be knowing.

[ricky336]

To use an English idiom/phrase - that is the nature of the beast, when it comes to microstock. And as more people upload, there is more stuff, so we each get a smaller slice of the pie! Which then begs the question - is it worth it? (This is meant to be rhetorical).

[Sohn Gottes]

Ricky  it is true  but my question is different.... my question is where has the pie gone suddenly n two months of time. If the pie is reduced in size to that extent that old contributors who were enjoying downloads in two decimals every day complaining about 1 or 2 downloads a day.

It is a generalised question. Please don't point it at me only. One of my vector I uploaded yesterday got two downloads within twenty four hours of approval at other agency (Yet to approve for sale at AS).

[ricky336]

Sohn, my answer is supposed to be general - so not pointed at you at all! (Although, it is a response to your general question).

I don't think there is an answer - hence 'the nature of the beast' - it is what it is, and I think unpredictable. Microstock is a lot more popular now. And no two agencies are the same! People will always complain as well - it is what we like doing!

[Sohn Gottes]

Yeh..... Adobe takes its own time in approval...

When I started uploading  my first ever sales was at Adobe Stock. Hence always spacial place.

[shashinjin]

you should realise that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Two months is nowhere near enough time to get an idea of what the market is doing. Keep shooting, keep uploading, spread your images across multiple sites and keep diversifying your portfolio content. Once you've done that for a few years, you'll have the experience to know if things are not going right.

From my perspective, sales are steady as always.

[Sohn Gottes]

I understand that... Thanks.

When I started uploading six months ago my images and illustrations were not even closer to what they are now. But with fewer those images I had recorded sale and not only subs but downloads with even $1+ amount for single image. Now for almost 3 months except one other agency downloads are almost nil at all agency I am upload to. In last 15 days I had uploaded few (~25) vectors and at that other agency rate of sale of those specific vectors was almost 30%. Except that agency downloads at all other agencies was perfect ZERO (including AS). 

Now you have a data.

[Sohn Gottes]

Is it possible that buyers at one agency founding my work so likeable and useful. 30% sale conversion rate in today's time is not a joke. While at other agencies no response. Something is wrong.

[joanH]

Yep, my best guess too. JH

[MatHayward · Accepted solution]

It takes time and effort to build your portfolio. 350 files is an excellent start but it isn't realistic to expect consistent sales for an indefinite period of time with a portfolio that size. My advice is to continue to create and upload content which will help keep your portfolio relevant in the search.

-Mat

[shashinjin]

It's entirely possible that you got lucky with one buyer liking 30% of your stuff and buying it all at once, yes. That happens to me from time to time when one buyer goes crazy and downloads a whole ton of images at once.

There's nothing wrong except perhaps your expectations of what your sales should be. Things come and go and sales are impacted by all sorts of factors. Some of these are obvious (for example, my sales of mostly Middle Eastern images are lower during the recent Ramadan month as people are at work less than normal), but many others are impossible to guess at.

with all due respect, the numbers of files and timescales you're talking about are really small. Let us know how things are doing in, say, a year and when you've uploaded, say, 25 diverse images a month in that time.

[Sohn Gottes]

No at different time of day some at early morning some at noon some at evening some at late night. single download at a time some images downloaded 3 times in last fifteen days. Same buyer is not going to wake up 24 Hours a day and download same image 3 times.

[Abambo]

Looking at your name... you should know!

It's possible to have no sales for certain times. As long as you do not have a huge portfolio, do not expect to get a lot of sales. There are literally thousands of pictures using your theme so I suppose it's kind of a lottery to pick your image/creation. Stock photography is probably on the decline as you can do any picture yourself, you have a lot of suppliers and most of the pictures are really high quality. The effort I put into stock creation is not worth the return. My guess is that I would need thousands of pictures to get a continuous stream of revenue. And for sure, you need the right themes...

Keep on going.

(Me too I experience currently kind of slowdown. Probably all the people interested in my pictures have left... 🙂