I thought I would start this thread so that this text is not lost in the �Fotolia D-Day (Deactivation Day) � May, 1� thread. It is a generic text that we can use to send directly to contributors who still have their images in the Dollar Photo Club to let them know that there is an option to opt out in case they don�t know. It is courtesy of Jo Ann Snover (http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/fotolia-d-day-(deactivation-day)-may-1/msg377176/#msg377176). Thanks a lot, Jo Ann!!

Earlier in 2014, Fotolia introduced the Dollar Photo Club, a stock site with all Fotolia's photos and illustrations but with very different pricing. Although Fotolia is presenting this site as exclusive and targeted at high volume buyers, the reality is that for just $10 a month you can sign up for a 10-image "subscription" - $1 per  image, all sizes. Anyone can sign up - and some contributors who had never purchased a single image were sent the offer e-mail!

And the contributor makes a subscription royalty for each sale. Subscription prices without a requirement for the buyer to commit to a high volume of purchases is very very bad news for contributor income.

Contributors were not notified about the drastically different pricing and were initially told there was no way to opt out of this sales channel - except by leaving Fotolia. With the encouragement of a group of contributors pledging to remove their files if things didn't change, Fotolia has relented and provided an option to opt-out of sales at Dollar Photo Club (referred to as DPC in the Contributor Profile)

You can read Fotolia's intentions in their own words in this TechCrunch article:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/29/dollarphotoclub-expands-into-more-markets-hits-11000-users/

"In an effort to take on the entrenched players in the States, namely Shutterstock and iStock, he created DollarPhotoClub as a pricing play to break into the US." and "It�s disrupting the business model of the two big U.S. players..."

If Dollar Photo Club succeeds, what will get disrupted is contributor income - this is replacing higher royalties with lower, not opening new markets or finding new buyers (and early responses on Twitter and Facebook indicate that's exactly what's happening).

So for your own sake, at a minimum opt out of Dollar Photo Club - on Fotolia, when logged in, it's in Profile, then Contributor Parameters. Another step to take is suspend uploading to Fotolia - subscription sites need a steady stream of new uploads to keep buyers coming back (and advertise the weekly/monthly number of new items). You could also consider whether or not it makes sense to continue with an agency that treats its contributors so shabbily. Remember, the opt out only became available as people started deleting work from Fotolia.

It was 28 million plus images; today, it's 27 million and falling.

Source: http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/fotolia-d-day-(deactivation-day)-may-1/msg377176/#msg377176

And also the steps to opt out of the DPC:

In Fotolia website: My Account > My Profile > Contributor Parameters > Sell my files on DPC - Modify (Make sure the text now reads "Don't sell my files on DPC) and Save parameters