Where is the Best Place to Buy Stock Photo and Vector?

There are more than 30 stock agencies out there, and I will only recommend a few based on their credibility, trust-worthy, quality, and quantity of stocks available in their site.

iStockPhoto
iStockPhoto is definitely the top site to buy photos and vectors from. They are reliable and very customer-centric.The special thing about iStockPhoto is that it has many exclusive photos and vectors. Meaning, you cannot get these stocks anywhere else. Furthermore, the quality of their stocks are top notch. The only fallback is that they are more expensive compares to other agencies.

Another issue to concern about is the expiry of your credits. Your credits will expire in a year time if you do not finish using them. This has been quite a headache because these credits cannot convert back to cash.

Shutterstock
If you are looking for the most-loved stock agency in the world, then Shutterstock is my choice. Shutterstock is loved by buyers and contributors. From my observation, there are at least 10 to 30 times more buyers at Shutterstock compares to other agencies.

They are loved by buyers because they have the biggest collection of photos and vectors. And most of their stock are NOT available at iStockPhoto because they do not meet iStockPhoto's requirement. This is not because they are low in quality, but because they are "too cheap" and contain text. A single file can contain hundreds of beautiful elements, and Shutterstock is selling them at the same price. You cannot get these files at iStockPhoto.

Apart from that, the on-demand and subscription plan are simple and easily understandable. The search is amazing as well and you can easily find the stocks you want. Whether you plan to buy one file or many files, it has the right choice for you. Shutterstock is a MUST-CONSIDER stock agency.

Fotolia
Why Fotolia? They are the cheapest. Yes, the pay-as-you-go and subscription plan at Fotolia are unbelievably cheap. You can also customize your credit plans and this is one of my favorite tool. Fotolia will remain as one of my top choice when considering where to buy.

The quantity of collection at Fotolia is lesser compares to Shutterstock and iStockphoto mainly because contributors contribute less here - because they sell too cheap and the royalty rates for Contributor is among the lowest too. You can get an Extended-License at Fotolia for the cheapest price in the industry because many of the contributors did not (or forget) to adjust the pricing for their Extended-License. So, many files remain as 40 credits for Extended License as oppose to 100 credits.

The only reason not to choose Fotolia is because their search engine are less accurate. If you compare search results, Shutterstock would almost beat Fotolia anytime. This is a very important criteria for designers because a good search engine saves time - a lot of time.

123RF
If you are looking for the best customer service with live support, then 123RF is the agency you are looking for. Their live support (Live Chat) is definitely quick and supportive. Whatever questions and help you need, they can answer you straight away and you don't have to wait for emails or queue.

GraphicRiver
There are two things that GraphicRiver offers to designers that you cannot get anywhere else. First, is the Photoshop file. Second, is the exclusivity of their files. Furthermore, their files are very high in quality.

GraphicRiver tags their files very cheap, and you don't have to buy credits in bulk, and so this is good for small time buyers. If you cannot find what you need elsewhere, then perhaps you should look into GraphicRiver. It may contains just what you needed.

DepositPhotos
Another great site. DepositPhotos is the rising star in microstock industry. Small time buyers love to buy here because they only have to pay very little before they can actually start buying. Their pricing is as good as Fotolia.

As a contributor myself, I can see DepositPhotos is moving into the right direction. I believe in the long run, DepositPhotos can be a top agency.

To summarize this, on whether which is the best stock agency to buy from will depend on who you are. If you are a small timer, then Fotolia, GraphicRiver, and DepositPhotos are good choices. If you are looking for high quality items, then buy from iStockPhoto. And if you are looking to buy a lot of photos/vectors, I would strongly recommend Shutterstock as it has the most choices, plus the search engine returns the most accurate result - always.

Why Shutterstock Should Not Go Exclusive?

Many independent contributors have been dying to join Shutterstock exclusivity if it offers one. But up until today, Shutterstock does not plan to do it simply because it will do more harms than goods. Hey, isn't this is an opportunity of a life time for Shutterstock to kill all its competitors once and for all? No.

First, we have to understand from the contributors point of view. There are basically two groups of contributors. Those that make thousands of dollars every month, and those who make pennies.

The Successful earn 50% from Shutterstock and 50% across all other agencies.
The Failure earn 95% from Shutterstock and 5% across all other agencies.

The above is however, a hard fact. If Shutterstock offers exclusivity, the Failure will immediately join the offer without doubt. The Successful, on the other side, will dangle between the fence because it is such a risk for them to change what is already successful.

In the end, Shutterstock will build up a lot of EXCLUSIVE, BUT LOW QUALITY images/vectors. This will not only harm Shutterstock, but the big contributors as well. The only winner here is the Failure which fail to produce quantity and quality.

To comprehend more, exclusivity means higher pricing, ranking, and royalty percentage for contributors. So, if the majority of the exclusive contributors are the Failures, you can imagine how poor Shutterstock will become. We cannot compare Shutterstock and IStockPhoto here because IStockPhoto has the first-mover-advantage in the industry. IStockPhoto captured and forged the Successful one when they have yet to become successful.

Unless Shutterstock can offer a very delicious and lucrative exclusive offer, then it might have a chance to totally win the heart of the Successful contributors, and at the same time, eliminates all its competitors once and for all.

DepositPhotos Earnings

As promised on January 2011 on DepositPhotos Review blog post, I will report my earnings for DepositPhotos in the past 6 months. To be honest, I was only expecting to make $10 per month, but DepositPhotos performs far better than I expected. On average my earnings were about USD40/month for the past 4 months with about 250 vectors.

Most of the sales came from subscription though, which equivalent to $0.30 per download. I was hoping to get more Credit Download which normally worth $3.00 per download but this is rare.

Many regard DepositPhotos as a low-earners among other agencies, but to me, DepositPhotos has been a reliable and steady earners. I strongly suggest that you join DepositPhotos if you have a lot of vectors now because it is definitely worth a try. The uploading process is easy and smooth and the reviewers had been very lenient.

8 reasons why I have not submitted to VectorStock.com

VectorStock.com has been around for many years. It sells nothing, but vector. Many top vector artists have submitted to VectorStock simply because they do not have better options. They need to generate their income as much as possible.

However, I for once have not submitted anything to VectorStock because of the 8 reasons below.

1. VectorStock had denied my application as a contributor... twice. I have submitted the below two vectors in two different occasions, and their response is...

ARTIST UPLOAD NOT GRANTED.
Thank you for your sample submission.
We have reviewed your sample and do not feel your work is suitable for the VectorStock library at this time.
You may re-submit a new sample for reviewing if you feel you can illustrate a different style.
Visit the FAQ for more information.
Best Regards
VectorStock Team

Below are the two vectors I submitted to VectorStock on different occasions and both have been denied for not suitable.

2. I believe my sales will be poor and unworthy. Although, this page (most download) shows us that there are indeed sales, but the performance of their new files are utterly disappointing. Take a look at their latest vectors and browse the pagination up to as many as you can. You will see that 99% of the files have 0 download. I don't mind if older files will eventually sell, but try to browse up to page 1000, and you will still be seeing 0 download for 99% of the files.

3. They sell us cheap. For a start, you earns 25% of your sales. All your files are priced at only USD1. That means that if you sell a vector, you only make USD0.25. Mind you that this is not even a subscription rate download, but a totally on-demand download. You cannot compare this rate to site like Shutterstock because Shutterstock sells at least 1000 times more than a low earners like this.

4. VectorStock uploading process is lame. They want you to reduce your artwork size to 380 x 400. Ohh, please, you are actually troubling ten thousand artists out there just because your programmer does not know how to write a script to resize a JPEG for the website preview. I reckon they rejected my application earlier was because of this reason. Yes, I didn't create my artwork in 380 x 400, and if this was really the reason you rejected me, at least you should mention properly why am I rejected instead of saying "I feel this is not suitable".

5. Because they are selling our vector so cheaply, I feel that they are luring "thieves" into buying our vectors and then putting it up for free at file hosting site. The reason why these "thieves" put our vector for free in file sharing site is because of money. However, I will not discuss this matter today as it will take one whole blog entry to explain. "Thieves" will most likely target on cheapest stock agency and buy from them so that their earning margin is higher.

6. They don't have PR (personal relationship). When is the last time you heard about them saying anything at all on the Internet? They don't even have a news column and forum in their site for us to discuss their site related matter and doesn't even bother what everyone is saying about them outside. These are some forum threads about VectorStock and I don't see VectorStock sending a representative to comment.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/illustration-general/anyone-using-vectorstock-com/

http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-vector-only-stock-site/msg17099

When you don't send someone to comment and to clear things up, you are basically losing your creditability. Take a look at Graphicleftovers, they are good at PR. I have recently wrote a review about Graphicleftovers, and they really care enough to send someone to comment and to clarify things up. I love them.

7. No marketing effort. I can't see their advertisement anywhere in the Internet.

8. No site upgrade. You never ever see the site improve or degrade before. Do they even have a team of programmers? Have they given up?

As a conclusion, I have decided that I will not upload to them. If you have anything to say about Vectorstock, please comment on the comment box below.

CanStockPhoto Review (The New Big 4)

Despite the ugly and only 125 pixel square banner it has, CanStockPhoto should be one of the Big 4, not Dreamstime. The ever popular microstock industry's jargon, the Big 4 consists of Shutterstock, IStockPhoto, Fotolia, and Dreamstime have always been the talk of all vector contributors in the world because of their success.

Nearly over a year in microstock industry, I realize that Dreamstime sales is actually very bad compares to the other 3. Just for a record, I have made a total of $482.69  in about 11 months at Dreamstime having 233 vectors with Dreamstime. On the other hand, I have 118 vectors with IStockPhoto and I make over $400.00 every month at IStockPhoto. Apart from the bad sales, Dreamstime vector uploading process is the craziest and longest among all.

Enough about Dreamstime, let's get back to the main topic. Yes, CanStockPhoto should be one of the Big 4 because the sales are much better than expected. I made about $100.00 per month with 250 vectors at CanStockPhoto. Apart from the easy uploading process, CanStockPhoto loves all my works. I have 100% acceptance rate at CanStockPhoto. They values my work and they sell them with a good price. Every sale averaged between $1.50 to $5.00 at CanStockPhoto. For a comparison, majority of my sales at Dreamstime ranges from from a pity $0.24 to $0.35.

Like many other stock agencies, CanStockPhoto should revamp their web design. It is mediocre. Period. I have involve in the Microstock industry for nearly a year now, and I have only joined CanStockPhoto in last 2 months because I have doubt with CanStockPhoto. The design of the website looks unprofessional and it feels incomplete. On the other hand, I must give praise to their programmers and marketing department because the functionality and the sales of the site are much better than anyone can expect.

CanStockPhoto - Mediocre web design

In my opinion, no bottom stock agencies should sell cheap. You simply cannot win the pricing war anymore with Shutterstock. Many CEOs thought that by lowering the price to $1 per vector would gain them competitive advantage, but this is wrong and it is proven wrong. Vector pricing should be about $5.00 to $15.00. Money earned from this should be spent on marketing. Come to the end of the day, it is all about exposure of your company. IStockPhoto sells our vector in an expensive way (about $15.00) and with the money earned, they can have even more aggressive marketing. Buyers who can only spent a pity $1.00 per vector are most probably not someone who will actually buy again because they are poor. If they cannot spend $10.00 per vector, they probably will not spend $1.00 per vector. They would rather download the vectors from illegal site than spending $1.00 for it. Do you want to sell shoes at South Africa or do you want to sell shoes to Roger Federer? Think!!!

CanStockPhoto does sell our vectors cheap in subscription package, but in a way, CanStockPhoto is able to attract its buyer to buy a lot in credits. I have got a couple of Extended License in just 2 months at CanStockPhoto and that is something.

To summarize this, I think CanStockPhoto is in the right direction. I hope they keep it up and hopefully one day later it can be truly recognized as one of the new Big 4. Until then, good luck to CanStockPhoto and I wish this company all the best.