Almost everybody’s favourite agency, Adobe Stock, is happily at it again for a third year in a row exchanging $5/download so clients may use the selected images free for up to a year.

Last two years I’ve just gone for broke and let them choose whatever they wanted. But this year I’m taking a different approach and actually asking myself, with the aid of the wonderful Microstockr, if I’m hurting my sales both at Adobe Stock and elsewhere by agreeing to give away some of my images away for free in exchange for just $5. Let’s get started!

Let’s recap on what it’s all about

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

Upfront payment opportunity, now until June 4

Dear Alexandre,You’re eligible to opt in or renew stock content for consideration to be added to the Adobe Stock free collection. By June 4th, sign into your Contributor portal dashboard to opt-in your eligible files.  Right now, you have 570* suggested assets that could be opted in for review.How much do I get paid for each image?  For each selected file included in the free collection, you’ll receive an upfront payment of 5 USD.

Opt-in now

What happens next?  If any of your opted-in assets get selected, they will be added to the free collection for 12 months. While in the free collection, those assets won’t earn any additional royalties (since you will already have received the one-time payment per asset). After the 12-month period, your selected assets will be opted-in by default for consideration in each subsequent 12-month renewal period. If selected by Adobe, you will receive an additional upfront payment for each subsequent 12-month renewal period. You will be able to opt- out assets from renewal through the portal during next year’s review period. If you do not opt-out assets, the assets will be automatically renewed in the free collection.To protect your best-selling work, we won’t suggest any assets that have been downloaded 4 or more times in the paid collection in the last 12 months.You have until June 4th to review and opt-in your eligible assets in the Contributor portal. If you change your mind before the cutoff date, you can always remove individual assets from the submission. Only the content you opt-in will be considered for the free collection. We’ll review your opted-in assets. Your upfront payment for any selected assets will automatically appear in your Earnings page.

How did I do on the free-giveaway in 2022 and 2023?

Firstly let’s look back at how many images were in fact selected.

Year	Images Selected	Amount earned
2022	68	$340
2023	48	$240
2024	570 potentially	Up to $2,850 potentially but more like another $200-$300

Let’s look at 5 images from 2022 and 2023 that were selected and whether I’d nominate them again

I don’t want to spend too long doing this but let’s take a sample of some images that were selected both in 2022 and 2023. I want to see if being selected for free canabalized my sales on there and elsewhere.

Let’s start off with those tasty Dutch bitterballen. I lazily let them take this one image in return for just $5 (which probably won’t even buy two of these tasty treats these days), when I should have checked their history.

Example 1 – Bitterballen

As you can see, the sales pretty much collapsed after I started giving them away at all agencies when before they were averaging about $25-30 a year. So yea pretty bad decision! They have nominated this one again in 2024 and I’ve opted out but it’s probably too late as it’s been downloaded so many times for free already that it’s pretty much worthless. Lesson learned there.

Example 2 – Ponte Vecchio

Next up we have the famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

This one was given away both in 2022 and 2023 and as you can see it continued to sell at other agencies since then (not by much). This is one I don’t mind exchanging for $5 since it barely sold at all.

Example 3 – Birmingham cityscape

This is an interesting one since it was given away back in 2022 but has sold strongly since at Shutterstock at just over $30. Now, why would someone actually pay for this image when it’s available for free…the answer is that most buyers don’t shop around for various reasons. This one I’ll nominate again since I don’t think it will make a difference at Shutterstock and keep selling.

Example 4 – Tram in Milan

Despite being nominated in 2023, this one has continued to sell quite regularly at Shutterstock. I’ll nominate it again.

Example 5 – Wine glass overlooking Italian vineyards

Last but not least, this is an example of an image I have no issues exchanging for $5 since it’s quite clear that it’s past it’s prime. That wine has turned to vinegar!

One new Image that was nominated that I would never ever give away for free just $5

Reason why is that it’s quite recent and has too much potential on the upside, this one and similars have done OK and I expect it to sell for many years.

Conclusion

Hope that you’ve found this practical exercise useful for you when thinking about which images to nominate which you have until June 5th.

I’ll do the same when they soon start nominating for videos.

Until next week when I’ll be reporting on my monthly earnings.

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About Alex

I’m an eccentric guy, currently based in Lisbon, Portugal on a quest to visit all corners of the world and capture stock images & footage. I’ve devoted eight years to making it as a travel photographer / videographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others by showing an unique insight into a fascinating business model.

I’ve gone all in on submitting book cover images to Arcangel Images. Oh and was also flying a DJI Mavic 2s drone regularly (although it crashed into Botafogo Bay on NYE – here is the story), which I’ve upgraded to a Mini 3 Pro and eventually an Air3 in 2024/2025.

I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography