2009 microstock commissions, highs and lows

It is time for an update of  my post of last year post regarding microstock commissions. I added 6 new agencies to compare and lower and upper limit commissions.
To sum it up, sales commission will depend on: amongst over on the type of sales (subscription or credit), image size, agency or photo exclusivity, contributor or photo ranking.

Once again these numbers are not universals but are related to my ranking, exclusivity and my photo equipment: I have a  10MP and 12MP cameras, a bronze level at Fotolia with some exclusive photos there, some level 2 images at Dreamstime, sold more than $ 500 worth of pictures at Shutterstock but less than $ 3000.

These are the highs and lows I registered for 2009 (extended licenses are excluded from the list):

• Shutterstock : between $0.33 (subscription) and $2.48 (on demand sale). Same numbers than last year.
  

• Stockxpert (subs opt-in) : between $0.3 (stockxpert, photos.com, jupiterimages subscription) and $5 (L size, pay per download stockxpert) . Up limit dropped from $7 last year due to the discontinuation of photos.com credit sales this year, drop from $0.5 on the lower limit because I opted-in for subscription sales.
  

• Istockphoto : between $0.19 (XS size) and $3.36 (L size). Upper limit is up this year from $2.70 last year:)
  

• Fotolia : between $0.31 (subscription) and $4.99 (L size, exclusive). Lower commission dropped from $0.36 last year. I however expect for the upper limit to be lower since my commission for exclusive photos dropped from 52% to 32% in 2009! You have now to be 100% exclusive to get a 49% commission (bronze ranking)...
  

• Dreamstime : between $0.30 (subscription) and $3.75 (panoramic image maximum size, level 1). $3.32 (level 2 image, maximum size). Up from $2.70 last year for the upper limit.
  

• BigStockphoto : between $0.5 (small) and $3 (panoramic image, extra large). Up limit was $2 last year.
  

• Crestock : between $0.25 (subscription) and $1.5 (S size). Up limit up from $1 last year
  

• 123RF : between $0.36 (subscription) and $4.94 (Mega High XL TIFF). Up limit up from $4.5 last year

New agencies:

• Canstockphoto: $0.3 (Fotosearch subscription) and $19.80 (Fotosearch regular)
  

• Cutcaster: $4.70 (XXLarge)
  

• Yaymicro: $3.69 (S size) - $7.38 (L size)
  

• 3DStudio: $2.40 (Small) - $7.20 (large)
  

• Scanstockphoto: unique commission at $1.46
  

• Fotomind: $0.9 (full resolution)

In the light of last year numbers, few conclusions can be made:


Fotolia is the agency with the more disparity between lower and higher commissions ($0.31 to $4.99).

Sales commissions are the highest for the new agencies, unfortunately sales volume is still very small:(

The difference between higher and lower commissions increased compared to last year (from $7.3 to $19.61).

Agencies where my commissions are stable: Shutterstock,bigstockphoto
Agencies where my commissions are raising:) Istock, Dreamstime,crestock,123RF
Agencies where my commissions are dropping :( Fotolia, Stockxpert

Looking at my average monthly sales commission (including extented sales) for the first nine months of the year, it actualy increased this year to $0.74 from $0.58 last year.

See you in a year to see if these numbers are moving up or down......

Compilation of HD Stock footage agencies requirements

A quick memo about the requirements of the HD stock footage agencies I contribute or plan to contribute to. I will update this table from time to time but feel free to leave a comment if you find that some informations are outdated...Thank you.





Submit Footage Clips to Shutterstock and make $$$!

August 2009 earnings

Highlights

There was a bit of reshuffling in my top 6 this month as 123RF and BSP were forced out by a new player....

1.SS
2.IS
3.DT
4.3DS
5.SXP
6.FT

August was a good month considering the period of the year and it even end up being my BME, beating last May by few dollars. I had 3 EL this month (1 EL at SS and 2 EL at DT). SS claimed back its number one spot from IS, DT made a new BME.

I will write a few words about an agency I started submitting to called the3Dstudio. It is an established marketplace selling 2D and 3D products since 1996 that just opened a stock pictures section. 3DS has been receiving a lot of attention due to the fact that pictures go immediately on-line for sale and because of the generous 60% commission they redistribute to photographers (they also allow you to fix the price of your pictures). More importantly, customers are actually buying stock pictures! Uploading pictures at 3Dstudio is quick and reliable and I was able put online more than 1400 pictures this month, 3DS being my largest collection right now. Stats speak for themselves since on its first month, 3DS made more that FT and SXP, where I have been uploading for 2 years ....
If you want also to join the3Dstudio, you can use my referral link below, they even have a good referral program:)

Veer marketplace was a big dissapointment this month with only 1 view and ... no sales . I do have less than 100 pictures on-line there so I need to send more before drawing some conclusions....
Midstock sales brought my earnings just above the $500 mark this month:)

I am looking forward to September with, maybe, a new BME ?
You can follow me on Twitter for daily updates of my microstock adventures:)
To finish this update, if you want like me make your uploading less painful and see your live stats use Isyndica ! My Isyndica stats for this month can be found below along with a detailed Excel spreadsheet.

July 2009 earnings

Highlights

Here my top 6 agencies this month ranked by decreasing monthly earning:

1.IS
2.SS
3.DT=SXP
4.FT
5.123RF=BSP
6.CSP

No BME to report this month but it was more or less on the same level than the previous one with SS continuing losing ground against IS, DT and SXP. Microstock earnings were 14 % higher compared to July 2008 earnings despite the fact that some of my portfolio doubled in size. With midstock sales this July actually ended up being slightly better than June just above the $ 400 mark.
For the third consecutive month, IS is my strongest agency and if it was not for some OD sales, SS woulld have been very close to DT and SXP this month.
After encouraging early sales reported by some photographers at the new Veer Marketplace I decided to join and started uploading my portfolio.
Hopefully sales will help offset a soon expected drop of earnings at SXP......

Earning figures in USD

Isyndica stats screenshot

June 2009 earnings

Highlights

My top 6 agencies this month ranked by decreasing monthly earning:

1.IS
2.SS
3.FT
4.CSP
5.DT
6.SXP

A small decrease in earnings was observed compared to May (which was my BME) mainly due to the fact that I did not have any EL. For the second consecutive month IS is ahead of SS and I expect this difference to increase in the coming months. Shutterstock is at an all time low with a RPI of only 0.1 despite six on demand sales this month. Fotolia did better than normal, with just enough earnings to rank number three. With a new BME, Canstockphoto is not far behind followed by Dreamstime.

Stockxpert is on the decline and I do expect this to continue when the subscription scheme Jupiter/Photos cancellation will be kick in. 123RF,SCP and BSP have still low sales and no sales to report on new agencies YAY and Cutcaster:(
I got few sales at Panthermedia though which pushed my earnings very close to $400 this month.

I changed quite a bit my workflow this month using Isyndica platform which I found very useful especially when using a limited broadband access. Although SS and IS are not reported yet, a screenshot below shows respective earnings for the months of June 2008 and June 2009. I found also Deepmeta very useful to submit to IS and I hope to get to 500 pictures online in the near future.
The $ 500 milestone is within reach but I don't see it happening before September.


Figures in USD



June 2009 earnings (Isyndica screenshot)



June 2008 earnings (Isyndica screenshot)

May 2009 earnings

Highlights

Like last year, May sets up a new high for microstock earnings.The most strinking development is that after 24 months, SS lost its number spot to Istock. Two BME to report at IS and SCP this month and a record of $ 0.77 per dl.
I joined Isyndica this month to make my uploading task easier and spread pictures to more agencies . It will be interesting to see if it will help reach my long expected $ 500 target. I will blog on this subject later on.

Microstock one by one

• IS. Put all other agencies in the dust this month and sets the record for the most money made by one agency. Even without the 2 EL, IS would have end up ahead of SS. RPI=0.51
  

• SS. 9 OD's sales and just above $ 100 this month . Earnings down 20% compared to last year with 500 more pictures online ! Growing earnings at SS appear quite limited for the future.... SS represented this month only 25 % of my total earnings compared to 37% last year.
  

• FT. Back to number 3 spot but still on the same flat line despite continuous uploading....
  

• SXP. Down from last month but overall satisfying earnings. It looks like that since Getty got on board some files were desactivated because of IP problems. I noticed that some reviews were not very consistent this month.
  

• DT. Big drop this month , looks like level 2 and level 3 images are not selling anymore.....
  

• BSP and 123RF: quite far from DT in term of earnings with RPI of 0.01......

• Less than 1 % of earnings:CSP, CT (got my 1st payout :)

Earnings in USD

April 2009 earnings

Highlights

This month sets a new high for my microstock earnings just above the $ 400 mark (previous was in May 2008). Several sales contributed to that: 3 extended sales at SS,FT and DT (my first one), a first fotosearch credit sale at CSP. All this translated to 3 best months ever at DT,SXP and CSP and a new record of $ 0.76/dl in average. If 2009 follows the trend of last year sales, I expect May 2009 to be as good or better but we shall see...

Microstock agency ranking by $

• Shutterstock: 1 EL and 4 OD's sales this month, 1 zero sale day. It looks very difficult to increase earnings at SS despite a rather large number of new pictures added this month.
• Istock: Very similar to last month, but it always slow to growth my portfolio: upload limit combined with slow review and high rejection rate. Should take over SS one of this day if I manage to get more best sellers (my best seller made alone exactly $ 214.97 in one year with 164 dls).
• Stockxpert: For the first time in a while, credits sales were largely superior to subscription sales and a single image leads to a BME due to a favorable ranking in the search engine towards the middle of the month. It will interesting to follow up on this one !
• Dreamstime: My first EL there and quite a lot of regular downloads made a BME. Working towards a 1000+ pictures portfolio there.
• Fotolia: Despite constant uploading my earnings in FT did not really change in over a year: low search engine ranking ??? If it was not for a EL, FT would have been at the bottom...
  
• Canstockphoto: A nice fotosearch sale the last day of the month :) Hope to have 1000 + pictures on line soon.
• 123rf: An average month at 123rf, it is the first agency where I have 1000+ pictures on line.

Low earners this month with 1% or less of total sales are BSP, SCP and CT (I am 50 cents shy from my first payout there....). No sales to report at YAY and Cutcaster.

Earnings table (figures in US dollars)

Lookstat screenshot

March 2009 earnings

Highlights

A good solid month with a bit more than $ 300 earned  with microstock alone, not far from my BME in May 2008. Midstock added another $43 to the total. No BME this month but all big agencies performed well especially IS. Earnings are well up compared to last month and March 2008 with a new record of $ 0.7/dl in average. If it was not for 1 EL and 9 OD's sales, Shutterstock would have lost its number spot to IS this month. I had also one day with no sales.....
DT ranked third this month followed closely by FT and SXP. SXP looks like more and more like SS since most sales are from subscription. So far it looks like that my increase in earnings is coming from IS,DT and SXP. On the other hand, FT, BSP, 123RF earning curves are flat despite regular uploads..... I had my first download at Snapvillage for $ 15, I've completely forgot about this one......

Compared to March 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 325.76 ($ 209.51)
Pictures sold: 445 (402)
Average $/dl: 0.73 (0.52)
Global RPI : 0.82 (0.78)

February 2009 earnings

Highlights

For the time since I started microstock, my earnings were lower by few dollars compared to the same month last year. On a positive side, I had my first sale and Cutcaster and two new sales at YAY.
A good surprise came this month from midstock agencies taking a bit more than 25 % of total earnings including Panthermedia with 32 euros sales in total. Total earnings with midstock brought this month earnings above the $ 300 mark. I found Panthermedia to be a consistent seller in term of sales and type of pictures sold so I encourage to submit there and see what pictures of your portfolio they accept like I did.

Compared to February 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 238.33 ($ 239.18)
Pictures sold: 435 (379)
Average $/dl: 0.55 (0.63)
Global RPI : 0.46 (1.06)


Microstock one by one

Shutterstock . Less than 30% of microstock earnings this month way down compared to February last year. It is the first time since I joined Shutterstock that I did not reach a payout.... Only 2 OD sales this month

Istockphoto. Earnings slighty better than last month with a RPI of 0.16 the highest of all the microstock agencies

Fotolia.Number 3 only because I sold a bunch of old and ugly pictures for 0.5 credit each

Dreamstime. One of the most consistent agency this past months in term of earnings and very close to a BME. Above average rejection rate this month though.....

Stockxpert. Earnings are in the normal range this range although a lot of sales came from subscriptions.

A lot of action in low earners this month: 4 BME to report at Crestock, Yaymicro,Cutcaster and Scanstockphoto.

123RF and BSP joined the rank of the low earners this month but all of them made a non negligeable 15 % of earnings. . I had my first sale in 7 months in CSP as I uploaded my entire portfolio there after the Fotosearch acquisition.

Lookstat screenshot

January 2009 earnings

Highlights

A good month in term of earnings considering the slow start of the month and the fact that I did not have any EL and sales in midtock. Among the 10 agencies, I had only one BME at Dreamstime. RPI went up so does volume of sales from last month. However compared to the same period last year, RPI is only half its value and volume of sales about the same despite the fact that I have a larger number of pictures on line.

Compared to January 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 265.08 ($ 179.26)
Pictures sold: 462 (446)
Average $/dl: 0.58 (0.42)
Global RPI : 0.48 (0.89)

• Shutterstock. A good month above the $ 100 mark again due a large number of OD sales which represent 15 % of the earnings, up from 5-8 % normally RPI=0.17. I had however my first 0 sale day ever this month.
  
• Istockphoto. Sales are getting better again. IS new price structure certainly boosted my earnings.RPI=0.16
  
• Fotolia. Very close to the second position this month and earnings. RPI=0.05
  
• Dreamstime. A BME by few dollars hope it continues this way. RPI = 0.04
  
• Stockxpert. A lot of sub sales this month since I had a only 6 credit sales on 45 sales. RPI=0.03
  
• Bigstockphoto . Dissapointing month with earnings lower than in december
• 123RF. Dissapointing month as well, a bit better than last month but still far from past performances....
  

Less than 1%: SCP (no sales this month),CSP,CT


On the midstock front no sales this like I mentioned earlier. I have 500 pictures on line now on YAY and decided to hold uploads now on. I give a bit more time to Cutcaster but still wait for my first sale there. I hope Zymmetrical and Panthermedia will pick up next month....



Stats

Lookstat screenshot January 2009

The trends of this month are clearly visible on this screenshot from Lookstat. FT should be added shortly to the list of agencies and it worth mentioning that Lookstat implemented a new feature this month to track earnings per picture. I will do a post about this later on but it is definitely a very good tool to analysis strengh and weakness of a portfolio.

Detailled earnings January 2009 (figures in USD)

December 2008 earnings

Highlights

As expected, a slow month in microstock especially during the second half of the month .Looking at the yearly graph, earnings dropped from September despite adding new pictures which is the opposite of last year. Compared to december 2007 most agencies are down also.
This month is the 2nd worst month of the year for earnings, the lowest RPI and $/dl with just below $ 200 for microstock. Quite unusual month as I did not have BME in the big 6 this month. No help from extended sales but a sale a panthermedia brings total earnings to almost $220. I also had my first payout there. Shutterstock was the only agency not be affected this month. I definitely looking forward to january to see an increase in downloads!

Compared to December 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 192.47 ($ 163.46)
Pictures sold: 383 (446)
Average $/dl: 0.50 (0.37)
Global RPI : 0.38 (0.90)

• Shutterstock. A pretty good month considering the slow down at the end of the year, SS takes almost 50% of the earnings this month. As last, I sold less pictures this december than the one last year but because of the higher commission earnings are few dollars up. On demand sales made up for 5 % of the earnings.RPI=0.16.
• Istockphoto. Very similar to last mont with RPI of 0.11 hopefully IS will pick up again next month. Got my first sub sale there for $ 0.19.
  
• Fotolia. A big drop compared to the last two months at Fotolia. Very RPI at 0.02
• Dreamstime. A bit slower than last month. RPI 0.02.
• Stockxpert. A decrease compared to last month despite my first ppd sales of $ 7.5 via photos.com. RPI of 0.02
• Bigstockphoto . Not bad considering the performance of other stocks. RPI 0.01

CT had a BME but still under 2 % of total earning. I tried to resume my uploading but got 100% rejection! I think I will just for my first payout there !
Less than 1%: SCP,CSP


Stats

For the first time, I include this month stats provided by Lookstat that I joined recently. At the moment it allows to track the stats of SS,DT and IS. I had Rahul Pathak , CEO of Lookstats,on the phone recently to give him some feedback. Exciting developments are on the way, the ultimate goal being to move away to the classical Excel spreadsheet. Some features like tracking earning by keywords across agencies would a powerful tool since it very difficult or impossible to do that manually . FT will be added next as well as more flexiblity about the date periods selection.

November 2008 earnings

Highlights

I was complaining about last month but November was worse for me with less than $ 250 sales for Microstock. However, one sale at Yaymicro (5 euros), one at Panthermedia ($19.3), one at Zymmetrical ($21) plus referrals push this month earnings to $ 285. Global RPI sunk to 0.46 and average $/dl was 0.59.

Compared to November 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 233.57 ($ 143.9)
Pictures sold: 396 (377)
Average $/dl: 0.59 (0.38)
Global RPI : 0.46 (0.93)

Microstock one by one

• Shutterstock. By far number 1 again despite a pretty bad 1st half of the month. For the time for a while, just below the $ 100 mark this month Like last month I had four on demand sales taking 8 % of the earnings. A good split between old and new files regarding downloads which is good. My lowest RPI ever this month at 0.16... I sold more pictures than last year at the same time but because of higher commission now I actually earned more.
  

• Fotolia. Similar number than last month with a nice EL

• Istockphoto. Lost its solid second place. Earnings went down for the second consecutive month and I am back to money I was making at the beginning of the year.
  

• Stockxpert. I decided finally to opt-in in an attempt to get some pay par dl's sales at photos.com. It did not happened yet, but I had quite a lot of sub from Jupiter image.

• Dreamstime. Pretty slow month, a lot of sub sales which explains the low number this month
  

• Bigstockphoto. BME by one dollar this month. I managed to have 500+ photos on line now.

• 123RF. Very dissapointing month, sales came to a halt. It is actually my year Worst Month !
  

Less than 1%: Crestock (BME),Scanstockphoto,Canstockphoto (no sales).

October 2008 earnings

October pictures (collage Picasa 3)

Highlights

An pretty slow October (especially the second half) with 500 pictures sold for a bit less than $300 . Referrals and midstock pushed my earning to $ 320. No extended licences sold this month but one sale at Zymmetrical. Global RPI is only 0.63 down from 0.84 last month. I continue uploading to YAY micro and Cutcaster as a test but no sales so far....
The only got thing is that the dollar regained some strengh against the Euro...
Compared to October 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 296.35 ($ 122.53)
Pictures sold: 501 (275)
Average $/dl: 0.59 (0.45)
Global RPI : 0.63 (0.84)

Microstock one by one

• Shutterstock. By far, my best earner this month even if RPI went down to 0.22. I had four on demand sales taking 8 % of the earnings. I noticed that new uploads did not get as many downloads as usual and that the second half of the month was noticibly slower than the first.
  

• Istockphoto. More than 50% down compared to last month probably explained by change in best match : my best seller lost a lot of ground but on the positive side I sold some ''old'' pictures for the first time.
  

• Fotolia. Pretty similar than last month and I still hold my uploads over there, just clear out the queue from time to time...
  

• Dreamstime. Not far from a BME but $/dl decreased compared to last month since I had few level 2 picture sales.
  

• Stockxpert. Up again after two slow months, hope to see this trend continue in the future
  

• 123RF. Earnings are in the normal range this month but nothing spectacular. I have now 800 + pictures on line.
  

• Bigstockphoto. BME. I included BSP in the detailled earning this month as I had a big jump in sales (3 % of total earnings). It is probably due to the fact that I cleared my pending queue of pictures.

Less than 1%: Crestock,Scanstockphoto,Canstockphoto (no sales).


Detailed earnings, figures in USD

Microstock sales commission: highs and lows

Few dollars more to break even :)

This year saw many microstock agencies increased their prices and their contributors' commission. Often articles about microstock are talking about photographers making pennies but overlook that commission for the same picture varies quite a lot....
Sales commission depends on multiple factors : the business model of the agency (subscription and/or credit sales), the resolution of your camera (if you downsize or not as well), being exclusive or non exclusive contributor, your own ranking or the one of your images.

These numbers are not absolute but related to my ranking in some agencies and my gear as well : I have a 10 MP camera, a bronze level at Fotolia with some exclusive photos there, few level 2 images at Dreamstime, sold more than $ 500 worth of pictures at Shutterstock but less than $ 3000.


I had a look at my sales this year at each microstock agencies and these are the highs and lows I registered so far (excluding extended licenses):

• Shutterstock : between $ 0.33 (subscription) and $ 2.48 (on demand sale)
• Stockxpert (subs opt-out) : between $ 0.5 (XS size) and $ 7.5 (L size, pay per download Photos.com) .
  
• Istockphoto : between $ 0.19 (XS size) and $ 2.70 (L size)
• Fotolia : between $ 0.35 (subscription) and $ 4.16 (L size, exclusive)
• Dreamstime : between $ 0.30 (subscription) and $ 2.90 (L size, level 2)
• BigStockphoto : between $ 0.5 (small) and $ 2 (large)
  
• Crestock : between $ 0.25 (subscription) and $ 1 (S size)
• 123RF : between $ 0.36 (subscription) and $ 4.5 (Mega High XL TIFF)

In my case I can get as low as $ 0.2 at IS and as high $ 7.5 at SXP for the same picture!
123RF is the agency where the difference is the more important...

However, because of my large volume of sales at Shutterstock my average monthly sales commission fluctuates between $ 0.6 and $ 0.7 per picture....

September 2008 earnings

Highlights

A 20 % increase compared to last month and a few dollars shy of a BME. The couple (SS + IS ) took 65% of the earnings and I had 2 BME at IS and DT. Cumulative RPI was 0.84 this which is much lower than my BME last May with 1.11.
I sold 548 pictures this month with an average of 0.61 $/dl with no extended license sales to report:(
I continue contributing to YAYmicro and Cutcaster but no sales so far. PS is no longer there so i my RM pictures go to Alamy. I earned $ 10 at Panthermedia , the only midstock with sales to report this month.

Microstock one by one

• Shutterstock. 2nd BME with on demand sales taking 4 % of the earnings. I have now close to 500 pictures in my portfolio. RPI pretty stable at 0.27. I still try to gather more referrals so here is my link : Submit Photos to Shutterstock and make $$$!. Thanks !
  

• Istockphoto. BME this month with an increase for the 6th consecutive month now. My best seller took 43 % of the earnings. I have sold now 500 pictures at Istockphoto since the beginning. Highest RPI of 0.38 (same than last month).
  

• Fotolia. Noticeably down compared to last and a poor RPI of 0.05. A big drop in $/dl as well.I still have some files on the queue but did not upload any new pictures there last month

• Dreamstime. BME with earnings almost doubled compared to last month. 1.15 $/dl which is a record so far for DT.
  

• 123RF. A nice surprise there with a second BME and a very high $/dl at 1.27. I think it will the first agency where I will reach 1000 pictures by the end of the year.

• Stockxpert. Like FT, a big drop compared to last month and still the same problems with the views. Hope sales will start again soon because SXP has the highest $/dl at 1.71 this month.
  

Big six ranking

$ : SS>IS>FT>DT>123RF>SXP (same than last month)

Performance (RPI): IS>SS>DT>FT>123RF>SXP

$/dl: SXP>123RF>FT>IS>DT>SS

Less than 1% of earnings: SCP,CT,CSP (no sales). I got my first payout at BSP !,took more than a year though...


Figures in USD

July earnings

Highlights

Despite new uploads, I am still in the $ 300-400 bracket, for three consecutive months now. The same global trend within microstock agencies was observed: SS and IS leading the pack taking more than 60 % of earnings this month. These two agencies have been increasing steadily the past three months and I had a BME for both of them.

On the midstock front, things were still very quiet with no sales for the past two months . I registered at YAY micro last month but nothing happened yet so I gave it a go at Cutcaster, the uploading and approval were very fast, let’s see what happened. I sent my first right managed pictures to Photoshelter which I do not propose to microstock , I will probably expand to Alamy in the near future.

Microstock one by one

• SS Above the $ 100 mark again this month but RPI continues to go down at 0.33 despite new uploads and an EL this month
• IS (+18 %) BME. IS confirmed its second place this month and the $ gap with SS is closing down. Best RPI this month at 0.37 doing better than SS for the first time. I did not have any sub sales yet.
• FT. Normal month for FT stable compared to last month but always under performing with a RPI of 0.06. They still reject almost everything so my pictures are in the queue waiting for better days…..
• SXP (+38%) BME. A very good month at SXP with again the highest $/dl at $ 1.94 /dl this month. SXP pictures will be available for sales at www.photos.com in August and this caused a lot of controversy amongst contributors ( low price of EL and the impossibility to opt-out).
• DT. Very average month but on the positive side a new price structure is in place now so $/dl should increase, logically ….
• 123RF. Disappointing month again at 123RF where I did not even made $ 10 this month. Credit package sales did not change anything for me. RPI is 0.02 the lowest of the big six
  

1% or less of earnings: CT, SCP,CT,BSP. BSP and SCP are the only ones where I continue uploading.

• Big six ranking

$ : SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT>123RF

Performance (RPI): IS>SS>SXP>FT>DT>123RF

$/dl: SXP>FT>IS>DT>123RF>SS

Earning figures in USD

June 2008 earnings

It is being a year already that I am selling my picture on microstock agencies and report my earnings.
This month was pretty good considering I did not have any extended license sales and also no sales on midstock. I am down 13 % compare to last month but still above $ 300 for the total earnings. It was was record month in number of sales with 601. For the first time it is worth noticing that IS is number 2 just after SS.
So far I have significant earnings on 6 sites and if I had to pick 3 of them my choice would be SS,IS and SXP.
I joined YAYmicro this month and will join Image Vortex next month to try to get more value out of my portfolio by selling at higher prices.

• SS (+11%). BME. Another good month explained by quite a lot of uploads. Approval rate was 81 %. RPI stable compared to last month with 0.41. May batchRPI dropped from 2.08 to 0.85 taking 27% of the earnings this month.
  

• IS (+56%). BME. Earnings increased for the third consecutive month. Interestingly,one picture took more than 70% of the earnings! I expect to see flames in few weeks on this one :) RPI of 0.35 which is not far at all from SS. I reached the bronze canister in June with more than 250 dl's. The only advantage is that I have a higher upload limit now.
  

• FT. Better than last month but not quite what I would expect from FT. I had few sub sales as well making $/dl the lowest in few months. FT is simply not predictable at all ! RPI very low at 0.06. I noticed that sub sales concerned my last uploaded images.
  

• SXP. Equal my BME of last month there again.Approval times were very fast this month. The highest $/dl of all agencies with $1.85.
  

• DT BME by few dollars. Still at low RPI at 0.06. Earnings might go up next month again due to an upcoming price change and a change in picture levels.
  

• 123RF. The last of the pack this month , a big drop compared to May where i had 2 EL. Hope July will get better, earning seems to stalled otherwise... 600 + portfolio.

Low earners (less than 1 % of earnings)
BSP, CT. No sales at SCP this month for the fist time since i started there, pictures at no reviewed as well :(

* Big 6 rankings

$: SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT>123RF
Performance: SS>IS>SXP>DT=>FT>123RF
$/DL: SXP>FT>IS>DT>123RF>SS

Detailed earnings figures in USD.

May earnings

A record month for earnings which for the first time were above the $ 300 and closing down on the $ 400 mark....
4 BME on the big 6. 123RF performed very well this month due to two EL and the new price structure. SS came back to the first position with a record month in sales helped by the 32% increase in commission.
FT came down very hard but was better at the end of the month. It can explained by the fact the search engine was scrambled..... Apparently FT is also implementing a subscription package but at $ 0.23 it will be the lowest price in the industry, not good... So far it only possible to opt-out exclusives pictures, even worse.... That is what I did first.
BME at IS as well where the subscription package started the 26th but apparently sales were not credited yet.
SXP gave me the highest $ per regular dl's with $ 1.82 helping by some $ 5 sales (I still opt-out for sub there).
Regarding midstock one sale to rport at Zymmetrical for $ 19.6.

Microstock one by one

• SS (+72%). BME. Excellent month and with global performance coming back up again to the level it was last December. More than 400 pictures sold this month. performance 43 %

• 123RF (+559%). BME. Record month due to 2 EL at $ 36.5 each few days apart.$ per download of $ 3.4 the highest this month.
  

• IS (+21%) A good month at IS with a average of $ 0.87/dl this month and a global performance of 28 %.
  

• FT (-64%) Earnings clearly down this month and only number 4 this month.... $ 1.5 /dl
  

• SXP (+96%) BME. SXP continues its progression with an average of $ 1.82/dl (subscriptions opt-out). Global performance 11 %.
  

• DT (+9%). Stable compared to last month. Average return of $ 0.77/dl and global performance of 4 %.

Low earners (less than 2 % of earnings)
BSP (no sales this month) CSP ($ 0.75...) , SCP ( $1.5), CT ($ 1.5....), LO ( $ 0.4) RIP

* Big 6 rankings

$: SS>123RF>IS>FT>SXP>DT
Performance: SS>IS>123RF>SXP>FT>DT
$/DL: 123RF>SXP>FT>IS>DT

Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.

April Earnings

This is now my 10th consecutive earnings report and the best so far closing down on the $ 300 mark. For the first time, SS lost his number one spot over FT. All the other sites are performing as usual no surprise there. I got my first sale (11.97 euros) at Panthermedia with a very small portfolio which is encouraging.

The surprise this month in microstock was LO announcing that they will close down the 15th of May due to a lack of funding. Got one payout there and have so far $ 3.40 on the piggy which will probably get lost.... Other agencies are following this path and it looks like that on the long term, micro will evolve to midstock.
Next month should see an increase in earnings: SS will announce and implement its raise for its contributors in the first two weeks of May, I hope it will be something like $0.40.... IS will implement subscription at the end of the month (26th) and finally 123RF implements its new credit prices today the 2nd of May.
Go back to stats now with microstock one by one

Microstock one by one

• FT (+74%). BME. My best earner this month for the time since I started contributed to SS last August. A exceptional month at FT with good sales volume and a record of $ 2.57 per download due to an extended sale ($ 26, picture was exclusive to FT). Global performance of 14 %.

• SS (- 5%). Despite uploading new pictures, earnings do not increase like they did before , it is hard enough to maintain them.... Hopefully with the raise coming and more uploads it will possible to make $ 100 a month on SS. Global performance down to 29 %, an all time low.

• IS (+72%) A good month at IS with a average of $ 0.72/dl this month and a global performance of 27 % just behind SS...

• DT (+28 %). Not far from a BME this month. Average return of $ 0.85/dl and global performance of 4 %.

• 123RF (+31%) A dip in sales compared to last month but 123RF is pretty stable otherwise. Hopefully earnings will go up this month when the new credit prices will kick in this month. Performance of 3 % and average of $ 0.72/dl.

• SXP (+8%) BME. SXP continues its slow progression with an average of $ 1.44/dl (subscriptions opt-out). Global performance 6 %. 200 + portfolio this month.
  

Low earners (less than 2 % of earnings)
BSP, LO (RIP), SCP, CT (a slight improvement in sales this month). No sales at CSP for 2 months in a row (next to go down ??).

• Big 6 rankings

$: FT>SS>IS>DT>123RF>SXP

Performance: SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT>123RF

$/DL: FT>SXP>IS>123RF>DT>SS

Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.

March earnings

Highlights

For the first time since I started this blog, I had a drop in earnings of 14% but I am still above the $ 200 mark. Three BME at FT, SXP and 123RF and an EL at FT. Regarding midstock this month only one sale of $ 7 to report at Zymmetrical which is not bad considering it was a small size.

Some news in the microstock world this month: SXP and 123RF followed IS and FT in the increase of prices which is good news for contributors. SS is expected to implement a raise next month and it was the subject of a lot of discussion across the forums.
I will be interesting to follow SS this year to see if they will stick to the subscription model: a lot of photographers noticed a significant drop in sales at SS this year. I observed this also despite having from 0.25 to $ 0.30 and the upload of new pictures.
Because SXP in their new price structure include a XXXL size I am still opting out for subscription. I did the same at Snapvillage and decided for the time being to put all my pictures at $ 50 treating SV like midstock not microstock. However I do not have any sales to report it there.

Microstock one by one

• SS (- 19%). A significant drop in sales this month despite a raise at $ 0.3/dl early this month. It looks like SS is slowing declining , hopefully the coming new price structure will compensate some of it. Global performance down to 32 % which is the lowest since I starting uploading there.
  

• FT (+13%). BME. A good month at FT where the effect of the price increase are still there with an average $/dl close to $ 1.5. Global performance of 9 %.
  

• 123RF (+31%) BME A surprise 3rd place for 123rf. A lot of credit sales with few sales at $ 3.75 which is much higher than all the other sites for a 5MP picture. Performance of 5 % but a good $ 0.89/dl this month.
  

• IS (-47%) IS did not continue its progression of last month after the price increase. Less sales and a slight drop in $/dl explain this result. Good performance of 16%
  

• DT (-38%). Despite the fact the DT is my 3rd largest portfolio among my leading agencies, sales are not really following. I still do not have any level 2 images but the $/dl is not bad at $ 0.85. Performance at 4% so less than 123RF.

• SXP (+85%) BME helped by the new prices in place at the end of the month with the highest $/dl of all the major sites at $1.5 . Performance 7 %

Less than 3 % of earnings
BSP, LO, SCP, CT(1 sale at $ 0.25). No sales at CSP this month

• Big 6 rankings

$: SS>FT>123RF>IS>DT>SXP

Performance: SS>IS>FT>SXP>123RF>DT

$/DL: SXP>FT>123RF>IS>DT>SS








Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.