MicrostockGroup

Sales have dropped for me, but no subs (knock on wood) and a RPD this month of US$2.96.  I wished it could always be like that....

+1

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When several of my images suddenly jumped to Level 3, I was thrilled.  Way to go Dreamstime.  I haven't sold one of those image since.  I sell lots of Maximum Size subscriptions but nearly all credit sales are Small and Extra Small.

Since the beginning of the year, my RPD has been:
Jan 2010 = 52 cents
Feb 2010 = 83 cents
Mar 2010 = 50 cents
Apr 2010 = 54 cents
May 2010 = 66 cents
Jun 2010 = 65 cents

The Thrill is gone!  Someone needs to consider changing something at Dreamstime.  I'm afraid, however, pride and embarrassment may make admission of failure too difficult.  And, how do you go back to the elated subscribers and jerk that goldmine out from under them? 

It's a mess.  I'm certainly not smart enough to figure it out.  Maybe Think Stock will pick up the slack!   

I saw a nice jump in RPD in Jan, and it's been up and down since.  Sales have been pretty flat since Jan, but then I can say that for most of the agencies.  Overall, I'm OK with how Dreamstime has been doing for me.

Income on DT going down with more photos. RPD going down by the avalanche of subs at max size. Although the recent joiners and people with small ports seem to cheer "BME" every month, many long-term stockers experience a drop.

Is this just a reflection of the bubble of microstock¹ bursting further, or is it specific for DT? Whatever, this is not a time to blame or even dump DT. They still have a reasonable acceptance policy and they are in the top 4.

So why not keep supporting DT? Do you think DP, Fresh, Zoonar, Veer offer any viable alternative? Stick with trusted and proven values.

No this was not a product placement.  
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¹ The bubble in microstock is not an agency phenomenon but a contributor phenomenon. All larger agencies report higher profits and higher volumes. Contributors are confronted with an ever increasing supply of new contributors and they will have to yield market share to those. As Ellen Boughn stated in an interview recently, image supply will become a lower-wage countries business, just like what happened with the production of sneakers.

Yes, this is an inevitable reality we're all being faced with.

Copycats in lower-wage countries -- and, of course, in EVERY country -- will see what sells well and duplicate those endlessly.  Today, microstock images are already a COMMODITY, where lower price wins and only those who supply in high volume will profit.   This scenario will become more and more widespread.

But is there another way to survive and even thrive?  YES.  Don't produce COMMODITY images, those with no creativity involved and those that can be easily duplicated by copycats.  Put your brain to work... create imagery that provides a unique perspective, says something about emerging business trends or new issues facing workers, families, the environment, etc.  There will ALWAYS be new subjects to cover, and there will ALWAYS be buyers for these images.  The first to market with good images that address these needs will profit with early sales, then the copycats will follow.

A small percent of contributors will understand this and remain at the top tier of producers catching a customer's eye with a unique vision and even flashes of brilliance.  However, if you're someone who says, "but there are no such ideas left," then you are a commodity and unless you're generating hundreds of images a day, you would be wise to throw in the towel now.

It's weird, there is no complain on the Dreamstime forums 

Somebody is so excited that DT can read EXIF and IPTC. "Sales better than other sites" (member since 2007, 405 uploaded pics, 92 sales).  
Right on track!

Well, I am not complaining (and got US$3.50 on another sale today), as I am not having those subs sales at the moment, only nice credit sales.  If this trend continues, I may get slightly more than last month, but even if just around the same, I am happy for the no subs period (almost 3 weeks now).

If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now..

Dreamstime consistently beat IS and SS for me in earnings by quite a large margin. I do extremely well in the searches there which explains it.  The only other place I do well in the searches is Fot which is by far my best earner.   Position in searches is everything in this game assuming that  you can produce images as good as most people.  Working out little tricks to get good search placement is as important as producing good images. In IS it's impossible because of all the exclusive images and SS I don't produce enough to keep my image up at the top.