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Author Topic: Whats up with DT?  (Read 20574 times)

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hali

« Reply #50 on: November 19, 2008, 10:22 »
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In my opinion Dreamstime is the most straight-forward microstock site. I haven't got a bad word to say about it so I'm going out for a cigarette.
mark, that nicotine drag is more dangerous to your health than an IS rejection,  ;D ;D ;D
(just kidding).


« Reply #51 on: November 19, 2008, 16:33 »
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Well, I am very small potatoes compared to most forum members
....... travel, landscape and architecture shots. The problem is that those really don't sell well in Microstock unless as part of a more varied port. You need more people shots since those sell best and they might drag your other images along and way up.

 

that's what i've found too -- landscape and travel shots sell less, but they do seem to have a longer half-life than other shots, so images a year or more old can still sell  - my main concentration has always been travel & adventure travel, but i've tried to round it out more in the last year.  still  ways from setting up a studio tho

steve

« Reply #52 on: November 19, 2008, 17:27 »
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I think there is a bit of confusion here.  I like DT a lot, I never said otherwise.  When discussing site management though (that was my understanding of the debate), I do prefer what we have accomplished with StockXpert better than with DT.  They listened more (I remember Steve-oh coming here before subs was announced to discuss this with us).  They did not (in the end) take a one-side decision, and they left us an option other than "accept this or leave".

Problems.  StockXpert had the recent problem with Photos.com sales reports (not a problem for me personally, as I haven't joined this deal, but I understand the gravity of this).  DT has been reverting sales due to frauds or whatever, and twice they had problems with MB, leaving many of us temporarily without a payout.  So, nobody is a saint.

I have no complaints about Achilles, I guess, unless he is responsible for the "it doesn't matter what you guys think, we will do it our way" policy.  Closing or deleting forum threads is not his task, I think.

Subs in DT are sometimes too many.  When they began to be too many in StockXpert, I was able to opt-out and have no regrets - it's still my best earner.  DT may have gotten a share of the market as they wanted, but it's a share of the market _I_ never asked for.  _I_ chose not to join SS.  _I_ stopped uploading to CS as soon as I realized that the few images accepted were almost only generating subs sales.  Why can IS and StockXpert let me opt-out and DT and FT can not?

In the past months, earnings in StockXpert have always been ahead of DT for me, and overall StockXpert is also ahead of DT for me, though still behind IS.  Plus all that I've said above, _I_ have a better relationship with StockXpert than DT.  What doesn't mean I dislike DT, or that I think they are as inflexible as FT, but simply that I deal better with StockXpert than with DT. 

Regards,
Adelaide

RolMat

« Reply #53 on: November 20, 2008, 00:55 »
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Most of their new policies were well accepted, but the subscriptions raised a lot of problems, and DT deleted posts against them, or even suggestions to limit size, etc.  In that respect, I think StockXpert is the best site to deal it, they let people discuss more freely, and they listen more.


They listened and Achilles made a quite elaborate post about the issue in the Yahoo microstock group when the debate was at its azimuth. The point was that they did market simulations that showed that in general, subs would not eat into SPP but rather synergically provide sales that otherwise wouldn't happen.
Now you can have doubts about the business attitude of sites like SV, MP, LO, and others, but not about that of DT.
Apart from SS, it's clearly the best site business wise, and it proves it by its results. We aren't there to be pampered but to make money. DT is clearly homing in on its main competitor iStk and though DT can be tough sometimes to deal with, they don't employ Attila class reviewers and they don't look down apparently on (non exclusive) contributors like iStk seems to do.

Apart from my "law" #1 of microstock that no new site after 2005 will make it, I have a tentative law #2 (my 2 cents) that after the creative destruction in the arena of the microstock free market (currently in a fast acceleration phase), there will be only 2 main players left: SS for the bulk model, and DT for the mixed model.

As to forums, well, iStk is still the champion in stifling posts, in so far it has been ages since I checked that forum, let alone contribute. Buyers read forums too, and a site forum is one of the fronts of the enterprise. Disgruntled posts might turn off buyers or make them worried for instance about the sustainability of the subs model or policies in general. If we want to let off steam, we have our independent forum here, right? What do you prefer: a site with a frank forum like YAY and no sales, or a site with sales but a tightly monitored forum?

DT always made it quite clear that they have two parties to deal with, contributors and buyers. Buyers have wishes too, and as to the subs model, it would be quite confusing that some images can be purchased as sub and some can't. It would piss off buyers, and without happy buyers, less sales for contributors.

The main point was in fact if subs would eat into SPP. At Crestock it certainly does, but I still trust the DT policy for now, since subs in my case still aren't the majority. That might differ for the large contributors or for contributors with limited themes. A look at yesterday's sales at DT as a sample (3 subs, 5 SPP). Even 50/50 or 40/60 would do, a ratio that SS doesn't attain with its On Demand (3% for me this month).



Just as a side remark here: I have dry spells too, like one or two days without any sales at all at DT. Why sometimes there are spells of sales? It might have to do with occasional buyers wandering off into your portfolio and deciding purely based on visual search. This is suggested by the "n/a" in the table above (in fact half of all sales! Keywords alone are not the full story).
DT is the best in presenting both "More images from <your>'s portfolio" and "Similar images" from other contributors. It's a presentation that facilitates visual search enormously, both for yourself and for others.

Another remark: portfolio diversity seems to be very important to make visual search work properly, and also for the fashionable themes of the moment. I can imagine that a portfolio with only landscapes, cheering girls with headset and successful businessmen striking fabulous deals will be less in demand now at the start of the recession. In the above table 6 images are about the economy, China, greed and money. You just have to have them all I guess to have a sustainable sales profile and to avoid too many dry spells.

Just my 2 cents. Experiences and opinions might differ and mileage may vary too ;D



Very realistic post, and completely true on a most global vision regarding DST positioning on the market. For what it is worth for, my experience and opinions is exactly the same, as stated above. But you said it better and sraght to the point :-)

« Reply #54 on: November 20, 2008, 01:42 »
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Well, I am very small potatoes compared to most forum members

....... travel, landscape and architecture shots. The problem is that those really don't sell well in Microstock unless as part of a more varied port. You need more people shots since those sell best and they might drag your other images along and way up.



Actually I think you may have me mixed up with someone else - I don't have a portfolio on YAY.  However, my portfolio on StockXpert is mostly travel and landscapes and I agree I need to get more varied stuff into it. 

My DreamsTime Portfolio is here -->http://www.dreamstime.com/lffile_portfolio_pg1

I can't create a direct link to my portfolion on StockXpert but my username is lffile and you can do a search on that here -->http://www.stockxpert.com/browse_image/advanced_search if you are interested.

c h e e r s
fred


c h e e r s
fred

« Reply #55 on: November 20, 2008, 05:26 »
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But you said it better and sraght to the point :-)


Maybe but your portfolio is much better. Did your drink all those champaign bottles yourself first?  ::) Whatever, great portfolio of overwhites of models and objects and in a very comfortable position too ;D

« Last Edit: November 20, 2008, 05:31 by FlemishDreams »

« Reply #56 on: November 20, 2008, 06:01 »
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My earnings per download have increased since DT introduced subs.  They have increased prices and the downloads move images into a higher priced tier.

That is so much better than StockXpert, who have stuck to a ridiculously low 30 cents a download, with no increasing prices with downloads.

lisafx

« Reply #57 on: November 20, 2008, 10:04 »
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I agree Sharpshot.  My earnings/sale have climbed steadily at DT, as have my overall earnings there. 

Not sure when they introduced subs, but my current $/DL is 1.35 compared with 1.01 a year ago. 

« Reply #58 on: November 20, 2008, 12:33 »
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Initially I wasn't a great fan of DT.  I had all those rejections because of MRs that they had previously accepted and my questioning that in the forum led to my posts getting deleted (okay, right, they can do that, they have the legal right, but should they?  I think not).  Anyways, I just got 44/44 accepted and I am starting to like them more and more ;-) 

lagereek

« Reply #59 on: December 07, 2008, 03:45 »
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Its funny that. I find its selling really well for some 3 or 4 days, then all of a sudden it goes dead for a day or two, then stars selling again. Weird?

dbvirago

« Reply #60 on: December 07, 2008, 07:05 »
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DT, BigStock, and FT are all like that for me. A rash of sales for a day or two, then nothing for a day or two. But after falling off earlier in the year, DT has climbed back into the #2 spot.


 

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