Decline in sales 2019

[Colblimp]

9 hours ago, andremichel said:

How are your stock sales when you exclude live news?

 

Best to compare like for like. 

I don't actually know for sure.  I'm having a lot of repeat sales, so I reckon it's probably 60% News/40% Stock, or thereabouts.

[Marb]

On 23/04/2019 at 11:41, NYCat said:

 

I love your frogs. You should put the scientific name in all your flora and fauna. People do search that way.

 

Paulette

I always do put the specific names of flora and fauna . Thanks for the kind comment though.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Marb

[Shergar]

20 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

They did improve. But whenever I worked them over was awhile ago. It seems at least the past 6 months, anyway, sales have declined. That said, working mine over has resulted in sales of old images. But life circumstances have kept me from uploading on a regular basis. I have a firm belief that uploads every week seems to help my images come up higher in searches. I’ve done good to manage a few once or twice a month for quite a while. During the time I was adding 80-100 a month was best for sales.

And during the time I have had less output, everyone else has uploaded a LOT of images, so competition is fierce. 

 

If my family can stay healthy, I just might be able to get myself in gear again. Here’s hoping. So keep on fixing your tags. It does help. But while you do, be steady with adding images.

Betty

Thanks for the advice Betty . I hope things start to look up for you soon.

 

Best wishes

 

Shergar.

[andremichel]

On 23/04/2019 at 21:28, Colblimp said:

I don't actually know for sure.  I'm having a lot of repeat sales, so I reckon it's probably 60% News/40% Stock, or thereabouts.

 I wonder whether people are still managing to get revenue growth from Alamy stock without Live news (which is not stock) being a contributing factor. 

 

Regarding your repeat sales I think you may be getting the first sale via Live news then once they have your image they decide to use it again and again. 

[Colblimp]

38 minutes ago, andremichel said:

 I wonder whether people are still managing to get revenue growth from Alamy stock without Live news (which is not stock) being a contributing factor. 

 

Regarding your repeat sales I think you may be getting the first sale via Live news then once they have your image they decide to use it again and again. 

I'd say some contributors are - Kumar springs to mind straight away.

 

That's absolutely correct - a big percentage of my repeat sales are originally live news pics.

[Betty LaRue]

On 25/04/2019 at 01:32, andremichel said:

 I wonder whether people are still managing to get revenue growth from Alamy stock without Live news (which is not stock) being a contributing factor. 

 

Regarding your repeat sales I think you may be getting the first sale via Live news then once they have your image they decide to use it again and again. 

I have never shot news because I knew Alamy would not be interested in anything in my part of the world. 

I have, though, had a couple of general images bought by UK newspapers.

[andremichel]

On 25/04/2019 at 08:15, Colblimp said:

I'd say some contributors are - Kumar springs to mind straight away.

 

That's absolutely correct - a big percentage of my repeat sales are originally live news pics.

 

I expect you are referring to "Doc" Kumar? He has done amazingly well on Alamy compared to most and for the size of his port. I may be mistaken, but I think he told me once that even he doesn't cover his stock shooting costs from his Alamy income.

 

Also I think even he may be experiencing a downturn this year compared to 2018. Don't quote me on that one as I don't know for sure.

 

I reached approximately the same gross revenue on April 27th this year, as I did at the end of March last year, so running nearly a month behind with many more images and have also been wacked by the 40% thing.

 

[Colblimp]

17 hours ago, andremichel said:

 

I expect you are referring to "Doc" Kumar? He has done amazingly well on Alamy compared to most and for the size of his port. I may be mistaken, but I think he told me once that even he doesn't cover his stock shooting costs from his Alamy income.

 

Also I think even he may be experiencing a downturn this year compared to 2018. Don't quote me on that one as I don't know for sure.

 

I reached approximately the same gross revenue on April 27th this year, as I did at the end of March last year, so running nearly a month behind with many more images and have also been wacked by the 40% thing.

 

Yeah, Doc Kumar - a living legend.  I met him and Paul (LawrensonPhoto) in Birmingham in March - what a meeting it was!!!

 

Not sure how I'm doing year on year, but I think I'm ahead both in number of sales and revenue.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Colblimp

[ReeRay]

Currently I have only 25% of both sales and revenue compared to the same 4 month period of last year despite uploading a lot more images. Fees are particularly low. Last sale netted me $1 only. This is unacceptable and I'm now reviewing my decision of going exclusive at such a poor performing outlet. I most definitely have lost the incentive to upload anymore. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by ReeRay

[Marb]

Ok, so I have had 2 sales this month but only $19 and $8. That is not worth having exclusive images for. Yesterday I earned $99 on a single image at a well known stock image/music/video site. That is what I thought Alamy was supposed to be earning us. Decent money. 

 

I have said it before and I will say it again: Microstock sites have many times netted bigger individual single sales than Alamy. It's not the fault of microstock sites that Alamy's prices are so low.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Marb

[Doc]

21 hours ago, andremichel said:

 

I expect you are referring to "Doc" Kumar? He has done amazingly well on Alamy compared to most and for the size of his port. I may be mistaken, but I think he told me once that even he doesn't cover his stock shooting costs from his Alamy income.

 

Also I think even he may be experiencing a downturn this year compared to 2018. Don't quote me on that one as I don't know for sure.

 

I reached approximately the same gross revenue on April 27th this year, as I did at the end of March last year, so running nearly a month behind with many more images and have also been wacked by the 40% thing.

 

 

15 hours ago, Colblimp said:

Yeah, Doc Kumar - a living legend.  I met him and Paul (LawrensonPhoto) in Birmingham in March - what a meeting it was!!!

 

Not sure how I'm doing year on year, but I think I'm ahead both in number of sales and revenue.

Has Ha Ha! Thanks guys but there are people doing much better than I am in Alamy - but  suspect they dont post on the forum or dont admit their sales numbers/income on a monthly basis!

I dont do Live News - you are right - in 15 years have submitted I think about 3 images none of which sold - mainly because I dont do getting out of bed at dawn very well!

 

I cover my photo-equipment costs easily with Alamy income but not the cost of travel, which TBH I would do anyway so not a problem.

 

Not sure how well this year is going so far, but will update in the "end of April" thread when it appears.

 

Meantime Colblimp (Andy) - I owe you a coffee! We should meet up sometime - if you are in the UK on 14th May the next Cambridge meet-up is happening!

 

Cheers

 

Kumar

[Colblimp]

14 minutes ago, Doc said:

Meantime Colblimp (Andy) - I owe you a coffee! We should meet up sometime - if you are in the UK on 14th May the next Cambridge meet-up is happening!

 

Cheers

 

Kumar

Ooh, don't tempt me!  I'm pretty sure I won't be in Old Blighty on the 14th, which is a shame as I'd love to get to a Cambridge meet-up.  I will get that coffee off you sometime, that's for sure!

[Niels Quist]

Sales okay, 10 so far in April, but prices.....

 

Edited: well,  another a bit more decent sale ticked in.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Niels Quist

[Marb]

Views way down in April and zero for May. Looks set to be just as bad.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Marb

[Bryan]

My sales volume increased year on year until it peaked in 2017 with 213. Last year the number fell to 179 and, projecting forward, always a dangerous thing to do, it looks like being a similar figure in 2019.  Opted out of NU this year so that might have some impact. 

 

Things aren't getting better, but as was mentioned earlier, the state of the economy may be influencing the results.

 

 

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, Bryan said:

My sales volume increased year on year until it peaked in 2017 with 213. Last year the number fell to 179 and, projecting forward, always a dangerous thing to do, it looks like being a similar figure in 2019.  Opted out of NU this year so that might have some impact. 

 

Things aren't getting better, but as was mentioned earlier, the state of the economy may be influencing the results.

 

 

 

My sales numbers have remained fairly consistent -- roughly 11 sales per month average -- for the past few years:

 

2016 -- 119 sales

2017 -- 136

2018 -- 124

 

I had 55 sales during the first four months of 2019, so it could conceivably turn into a very good year. I had more UK sales (non-newspaper) than usual last year if that means anything.

 

 

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

I'm scratching my head at this one

how do you go from at least 5-15 a month to zero sales? May isn't looking any better with no zooms or licenses yet. I'm exclusive in all my images.

September	October	November	December	January	February	March	April
$433.32	$798.66	$313.04	$290.27	$212.67	$764.85	$326.44	$0.00

 

I'd be scratching my head as well. That's very disturbing.

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

I'm scratching my head at this one

how do you go from at least 5-15 a month to zero sales? May isn't looking any better with no zooms or licenses yet. I'm exclusive in all my images.

September	October	November	December	January	February	March	April
$433.32	$798.66	$313.04	$290.27	$212.67	$764.85	$326.44	$0.00

 

Oops worrying indeed. Or is it? If your views are in decline, that would be worrying. If there's a sudden decline even more so.

Most people here report that sales happen (or are reported) months after they really happen. So I would go back to your numbers and check if views (and zooms) have gone down as dramatically as your sales, or if there has just been a (sudden) dip in views (and zooms) some months ago. In case of the latter, I would worry a lot less and maybe just sit down with a nice glass of wine or beer.

 

wim

[John Mitchell]

27 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

 

Most people here report that sales happen (or are reported) months after they really happen.

wim

 

That' right. I find that sales often get reported in clumps. Last month was a "clump month" for me, and May is getting off to a very slow start with only one license (a PU) so far, which is often par for the course after a good month. I'm sure there is a wise old Dutch saying for this.

[Doc]

21 minutes ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

If I compare with last year (my first full year here) my views have shot up, so have my zooms. I just wasn't expecting a blank month!

Seems strange Paul - can you produce a table for the same months with view numbers, zoom numbers and sale numbers to have a look at?

 

Kumar

[DJ Myford]

I've also seen a decline in views lately. My rolling CTR has gone up significantly, not because zooms are up but because views are down. Though in my case the number of images is probably too small for meaningful stats.

[Marb]

Diabolical. Looks like May is going to be worse than an already bad April. Nothing. Zilch. Non points.

[Reimar]

Yes, it's bad.  My third sale of the month today netted me $0.50.  I've had 128 of those kind of sales at the other place so far this month.

[Betty LaRue]

On a positive note, I had 8 zooms today. And made a direct sale of $40. Nothing to write home about but not chump change, either.

Betty

[Hellonearth]

I sale this month for a nett value of 50 cents. I have had 15 sales this year, one of which netted me $75. The other 14 sales together netted me $73.45, an average of $5.25. For the last 2 years I put all my eggs in the Alamy basket and I have twice the number of images here than anywhere else. I am changing that as quickly as I can because I am earning more elsewhere. To make matters worse I still have uncleared sales from January.