MicrostockGroup

this is the anti anti-dreamstime thread for those who'd like to air their differences and show their support for this "dream" stock co.

1. great company name - very inspiring and so unstockish, like ss or is, or any name with 'stock' in it.
2. great for newbies, in terms of reviews and acceptance. their qc seems to be based more on subject matter and composition (something a newbie should be able to handle) rather than the technical details of noise and artifact. there is a strong selective aesthetic sense about their choices. so, even though i've managed to get my technical quality up, my acceptance rate has remained the same.
3. acceptance of editorial photos, even for those non newsworthy but illustrative of an event or subject. this is just great for those really 'interesting' photos or a chance to play photojournalist for a day.
4. highest commission pay out per download (for me) in absolute $, not % commission (it averages about $1.19 per download, beating 123rf and is at $.89)
5. there are no tests to pass or hoops to jump through for the newbie. so, you're kind of off and running from the start with your dignity intact as you climb the rungs of success at higher rated agencies.
6. the design and layout for the website is very nice, giving it a real professional edge.
7. they show the key words buyers used to search for your photo - invaluable and entertaining!
8. kudos to achilles for responding to each and every negative query, irregardless whether he's right or wrong.
9. dreamstime became the first microstock site to sign on to the picscout agency irc, which means: "all buyers who lookup a microstock image in the IRC will be directed to Dreamstime exclusively" and "the IRC protects images from theft and misuse". http://www.microstockdiaries.com/

for those who have a different experience, here is the original anti-dreamstime thread:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/dreamstime-com/what-do-you-hate-about-dreamstime/

Great profile page;
nice earnings but still behind SS;
nice statistic page;
database exposure numbers;
favorite photographers feature;
their spiral logo;
pending images countdown;
image levels;
monthly uploads feature.

There's quite a bit to like about them IMO.  Probably the reason they keep winning the "who's your favorite micro" polls. 

That might change with the next poll. When would that be?

I just made the last one 1 month ago in october. You still can vote if you didn't. Now I don't think a lot of things have changed since October 5

http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/your-best-agencies-3-poll/

Would be good to get suggestion on how to improve the poll though

^Was it ever anywhere close?
BTW there is a thread for all the things you dislike about DT out there http://www.microstockgroup.com/dreamstime-com/what-do-you-hate-about-dreamstime/, maybe there could be some things people like put in this thread?  Maybe not though?

HA!  I don't think I need to this one seems to be doing just fine, I'm just posting to keep it at the top so maybe someone will have good news.  I was merely trying to see the good in DT but doesn't seem like there is too much, afterall I'm still stuck there for a few months.  BTW after getting rid of 99% of my level 1 images my sales are down 70% and my RPD is about the same as SS I think it was 58 cents last I checked.  Thats a joke especially after we were told that with the change we would get lots of sales (unless i'm misremembering) to move our images up from level one to higher levels, it's like offering a ton of free content and then expecting buyers to pay for similar shots???  Really thats how its going to work?  I haven't seen any upside and apparently many others feel the same.

Just checked my RPD is 58 cents and I have had 6 sales, 5 of them level 2 images.  Who could be happy with that?

the clock goes both ways. for one image starting at 121 hours, it was approved within 12 hours. go figure!

I took all my exclusive image out of the exclusive pool after the cut in commission for non-exclusive members. 
I get really irritated at the RAH RAH RAH SIS BOOM BAH dtdtdt Cheerleader CRAP.  But, it seems to be what it takes to stay on good terms.

I wonder if those cheerleaders are sincere about all that mush?   

Amen!! I am with you Lisafx. I like DT also.
This started as a POSITIVE thread and I for one would like to see the negative comments gone! There is another thread that is nothing but negative, post the hard feelings there if anyone has them.

-Larry

I also like DT.
First of all they're my no. 1 sales (up to now, I just started, and I haven't applied for SS and IS yet).
Second, it seems to be a bit of a mixture with a social networking site, that's not bad to make contacts. It shouldn't get too much though, some of the blog posts are a bit ...
Third, they also seem to like non-microstock oriented pictures, such as landscapes.

Funnily they do not accept very much my microstock-oriented pics, whereas Fotolia does. Consequently I sell almost only the non-accepted things on DT in Fotolia and vice versa...

How? I can't contact anybody on DT. My right to comment on photos was taken away 2 years ago. I have no clue why. The only blog post I ever made there was removed. You can't even put up a decent tutorial there since external picture and video links are impossible. The DT blogs are glorified forum posts and the vast majority is a total time waste.

I don't need social networking on DT, I need sales.

Strange. Eearnings page:
11/06/2009     n/a      This is a level 3 image     subscription     $0.35     maximum

And on my download history it says:
Download date     Buyer searched after      Image level     Price     Earnings     Resolution     License
11/06/2009 10:18    airport handling    Level 3    subscription    $0.70    maximum (upsized)    RF
11/06/2009 02:02    n/a    Level 3    subscription    $0.35    maximum (upsized)    RF

So I sold it twice that day as sub, once for 0.35$, once for 0.70$, but in my earnings (2 days ago so no issue about database sync) it's only reported once on 0.35$.

Gosh, do we need to check really everything on those sites?    :'(

Image: search for luggage handling: my shot is first. Direct link is here.