MicrostockGroup

Post by Achilles on DT forum:

http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_29407

''The referral share is calculated taking into account the percentage awarded to the referral. Some of the partners in the alliance program will send users to our site, as they don't have access to subscriptions but still need access to this product. Their share is taken into account just as we take it into account for referrals, in fact they become referrals in this part, because the buyer is sent to Dreamstime. Dreamstime was supporting the entire fee until a while ago, this is actually what changed. We corrected that and probably missed to announce it.''

After posting on the DT forums about this issue, Serban asked for the ticket number for the unanswered support message from 2 weeks ago about my unusual sub sale. He followed up with me and said that when someone asked for clarification before answering, the ticket fell through the cracks when the answer didn't come. He apologized and acknowledged it shouldn't have happened.

I suggested that it'd be good to have an internal flagging system for tickets that aren't answered after a certain time to catch such slip ups, but that in general I've had good experience with DT support.

Edited to add that I received a very apologetic and straightforward e-mail from the customer service rep who got the original support ticket. I've often felt that how an organization handles mistakes is in some ways more important than the fact that they occasionally make them. I'm really impressed with DT's handling of this goof. They were forthright and apologetic. Very refreshing and commendable.

A mistake. I see.

I got a reply from support after they asked about the image number. They were somewhat vague but said that it could be a partner or a referral. I replied that the page listing our returns only listed .35, .70, and 1.05 for indy subs. I was told that that page represents the maximum value. When I said that page should show the range I was told that the ranges were too complex but that they would update it.

Basically it looks like for whatever reason our commissions are being cut again by DT. frustrating. Last time they dropped our commissions my earnings there took about a year to recover.

This should come out of Dreamstime's large percentage share of the sale.

The agency could set up their own partner sites that "refer" to their own agency and then skim another 10-20% off the top.

Karimala,

Alamy at least already takes the smallest bite, unlike micros. What is more annoying in DT's new policy is
- changes were not announced
- they make it sound like this should have always been like this, so that this is not actually a change

I wasn't happy to start the new year off at DT with a 49 cent subscription sale for a level 3 image - what would once have been a 70 cent sale.

I've been keeping track of subs (which haven't been all that numerous, thankfully) and there have been seven (including the above) that were below 35 cents or 70 cents. The lowest until today was 28 cents for a 35 cent subs - i.e. getting 80% of what I expected. but 49 cents on a 70 cent sale is getting only 70% of the 70 cents I expected. That's a huge chunk for a referral bonus and why is it a bigger percentage than the others?

Has anyone else been keeping track of the discounted subs and how much we're losing?

I've got a few subs sales that are down 30% on what they should be too....

I'm in the US, so there are no tax-related deductions from my numbers.

I think you aren't really supposed to make sense of it.

The percentage you make is based on the level of the image (24 to 50%). The actual amount per credit depends on the package and any discounts the buyer might have used. I don't know the lowest there, but it can vary quite a bit. The Number of credits also depends on size and the level of the file.

for subs it is a little simpler except when they make it lower for some reason or other (like to reward a referral and taking the $ out of your sale).

In any case, having higher level files can really make a big difference in RPI.

You can see their explanation here:

http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_26512