Hi MSG Folks,

My DT Sales have really tanked as of the last few months- I hoping May to be a turn but so far no luck- here is my past year results to show my sales headed south- so for just 2 sales. Now I don't have a large portfolio (only 573 photos) but it clearly shows a major decrease for at least myself.  What about others?  Thanks T

     Online:    Refused:    Acceptance ratio:    Downloads:    Earnings:    Referral Earnings:    Database Exposure:    Messages:
Sales    Revenue    RPD
May 11    24    23    51.10%    0    4    $1.84    $0.46    $0.00    0.00%    0
Jun 11    38    18    67.90%    0    16    $10.86    $0.68    $0.00    0.00%    0
Jul 11    31    22    58.50%    0    9    $7.67    $0.85    $0.00    0.00%    0
Aug 11    35    25    58.30%    0    15    $15.79    $1.05    $0.00    0.00%    0
Sep 11    29    10    74.40%    0    12    $18.59    $1.55    $0.00    0.00%    0
Oct 11    36    11    76.60%    0    12    $17.70    $1.48    $0.00    0.00%    0
Nov 11    29    27    51.80%    0    16    $13.52    $0.85    $0.00    0.00%    0
Dec 11    22    15    59.50%    0    16    $11.20    $0.70    $0.00    0.00%    0
Jan 12    17    9    65.40%    0    15    $18.56    $1.24    $0.00    0.00%    0
Feb 12    41    29    58.60%    0    18    $17.98    $1.00    $0.00    0.00%    0
Mar 12    52    28    65.00%    0    20    $20.91    $1.05    $0.00    0.00%    0
Apr 12    66    23    74.20%    0    4    $1.75    $0.44    $0.00    0.00%    0
May 12    31    21    59.60%    0    2    $2.80    $1.40    $0.00    0.00%    0

Yet, when I talked to DT they told me everything is back on track. No way. Yes, I know some folks are making a killing while others are doing poorly. Any theories on what is happening? Once again I have a below average portfolio in size and quality compared to 99% of the MSG population thus I would like to hear more...

Thanks T

Every time a microstock site cuts commissions, I spend more time taking photos just for alamy.

Is this a cost effective solution?  Do you find that increasing your Alamy portfolio is helping make up the financial losses in micro? Or is it just more satisfying but less lucrative? 

Quote from: sharpshot on May 09, 2012, 09:24

Every time a microstock site cuts commissions, I spend more time taking photos just for alamy.

Is this a cost effective solution?  Do you find that increasing your Alamy portfolio is helping make up the financial losses in micro? Or is it just more satisfying but less lucrative? 

Sales aren't great with alamy and I think it's a lot less lucrative than micro but I hope that in a few years time, I will be much less reliant on my micro income.  There's nothing certain about the future with alamy but I feel more confident that there's a long term with them.  I struggle to produce good microstock images now, I used to do a lot of isolated on white and conceptual photos but that was only for the money.  I had no enthusiasm to carry on doing that when it became apparent that sites were going to cut commissions over and over.  Until there's an end to commission cuts, I have no idea if microstock is sustainable.  How low will they be in 5 years time?  Working on other ways to make money seems like the best option for me.

Quote from: lisafx on May 09, 2012, 09:29

Is this a cost effective solution?  Do you find that increasing your Alamy portfolio is helping make up the financial losses in micro? Or is it just more satisfying but less lucrative? 

Sales aren't great with alamy and I think it's a lot less lucrative than micro but I hope that in a few years time, I will be much less reliant on my micro income.  There's nothing certain about the future with alamy but I feel more confident that there's a long term with them.  I struggle to produce good microstock images now, I used to do a lot of isolated on white and conceptual photos but that was only for the money.  I had no enthusiasm to carry on doing that when it became apparent that sites were going to cut commissions over and over.  Until there's an end to commission cuts, I have no idea if microstock is sustainable.  How low will they be in 5 years time?  Working on other ways to make money seems like the best option for me.

Thanks for the info. 

I haven't produced anything solely for Alamy.  I just have my RF port there.  But I may spend some time coming up with an RM portfolio for them.  If anything, it would be worthwhile just to have the experience of changing up what I am doing creatively.  I agree with your conclusions that micro is not sustainable. 

DT had been between 12% and 14% of my monthly total income. Last month, and so far this month, it's at 7%.

That's not because all the other sites are having some great bonanza but because DT sales have dropped off - and a few sales at higher prices don't make up for the (a) lower volume or (b) 25 to 35 cent subs (the lower amounts are when they take away for referral bonuses). I don't care about a higher RPD if the monthly totals are lower, and jury's still out, but I think DT hasn't helped things with this massively complex level system masking a price hike.

DT had been between 12% and 14% of my monthly total income. Last month, and so far this month, it's at 7%.

That's not because all the other sites are having some great bonanza but because DT sales have dropped off - and a few sales at higher prices don't make up for the (a) lower volume or (b) 25 to 35 cent subs (the lower amounts are when they take away for referral bonuses). I don't care about a higher RPD if the monthly totals are lower, and jury's still out, but I think DT hasn't helped things with this massively complex level system masking a price hike.

I had a BME there last month and DT's share is just over 4%. Absolutely pathetic!

Quote from: wut on May 09, 2012, 11:55

Quote from: WarrenPrice on May 09, 2012, 11:09

Maybe it's just me -- this is obviously a panned image.  It is editorial but was rejected for:

 Image is out of focus or too much of the subject is out of focus (DOF too shallow or DOF not justified) / Image is shaken. Use a faster speed or a tripod. Please check the files at 100% zoom before submitting them.


Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

PS:  the image above is on Shutterstock ... where it is already getting sales.

&^%^&$%^

PPS:  After BME last month just 3 sales (subscription) so far this month.  What the eff is going on there.  Is this the periodical shift in search engine priorities?

And ... for Dt ... if it ain't online -- you cain't sell it. 

--more cuss words --

Sorry, but this image shouldn't be accepted anywhere. The main subject should be sharp, the bg is of course good and gives you sense of speed. Looking at it like a madman, the number could be sharp at 100%, but it's the motorcrossist and (most) of the bike that should be sharp

I like it and I'm sure some buyers would.  We aren't doing photos for a camera club contest.  That's where I think the microstock rules go wrong.  It shouldn't just be about the technical quality of a photo, as buyers often look for something else.  The blur here gives more of an impression of speed.  It's possible to get a blurred background and a sharp bike with panning but that's a boring photo.  Breaking the basic rules can make a more interesting photo.  I see photos that would be rejected by microstock sites being used all the time.

Same could be said for shaken and/or OOF lifestyle or any kind of photos...But if we look at the current standards, it should be rejected. But I do agree, that reviews should be based on things beside IQ. But most would disagree, just as they disagree with LCV rejections. But that's the reason we see so much crap in the libraries. But then again, it's the micros we're talking about, but micros are only micros wehn it comes to prices, because there sure are togs among all of us (me excluded just so someone won't misunderstand) that really upload stunning material, way out of the micro league. And then there are higher priced collections etc

Quote from: WarrenPrice on May 09, 2012, 11:09

Maybe it's just me -- this is obviously a panned image.  It is editorial but was rejected for:

 Image is out of focus or too much of the subject is out of focus (DOF too shallow or DOF not justified) / Image is shaken. Use a faster speed or a tripod. Please check the files at 100% zoom before submitting them.


Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

PS:  the image above is on Shutterstock ... where it is already getting sales.

&^%^&$%^

PPS:  After BME last month just 3 sales (subscription) so far this month.  What the eff is going on there.  Is this the periodical shift in search engine priorities?

And ... for Dt ... if it ain't online -- you cain't sell it.  

--more cuss words --

Sorry, but this image shouldn't be accepted anywhere. The main subject should be sharp, the bg is of course good and gives you sense of speed. Looking at it like a madman, the number could be sharp at 100%, but it's the motorcrossist and (most) of the bike that should be sharp

I'm sure you're right.  The image sucks.  BUT ... it's selling.  Isn't that the idea?  

What's a "motorcrossist?"  

Warren, don't be offended mate, the image doesn't suck.

See the difference though:

In focus with panning


Out of focus with panning


It's your old eyes playing tricks on you

ja, my chart is the same, i have just checked.

So DT is going down. Thats a shame, they were nice to begin with.

Yet, DT told me their revenue stream is just fine. 

Well you're supposed to get better at it old man haha!

Let's get back on topic shall we, the downfall of DT

There is a thread about search engine/best match changes being tested.
http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_31330

Doesn't seem to favor my team.   

Bump...
this is getting more and more interesting.  If you upload to DT ... you are affected.   

http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_25396

It's an epidemic.  SS earlier in the week, DT today and iS ... who knows?

What the heck is going on with all the sites? 

The latest steal price raises/commission cuts are proving yet again that it affects their business in a catastrophic way (my sales are at 20% of Apr sales, instead of being at 40%). Now I'm really starting to wonder if agency owners indeed are naive. They're seeing IS, FT and 123RF going down from month to month, yet they decide to copy their obviously flawed way of doing business

...  Images with 20 dls can now be 'selling better' than images with 120 dls. ....

I suspect that "best selling" might be a bit like SS "popular" and the age of the file factored in??

Quote from: heywoody on May 12, 2012, 19:41

Quote from: michaeldb on May 12, 2012, 18:20

...  Images with 20 dls can now be 'selling better' than images with 120 dls. ....

I suspect that "best selling" might be a bit like SS "popular" and the age of the file factored in??

There is something else also because old images with relatively few downloads can appear before newer images with more downloads - and this is just sorting in my own port - so no relevancy for keywords or other secret sauce should be effecting the order.

Sales/views, perhaps, whch would help rescue images that got buried by a bug and were never looked at.

DT is picking up again, regular TIFF sales.

To put it into perspective: DT is currently at 5% of SS and not even at 25% of FT which I usually compare it to.

Unbelievably, behind IS last month and so far this month with almost 20 times the number of inages    It also seems lately that acceptance or rejection is pretty much a lottery and depends on which reviewer you get.  Nothing wrong with high standards, even ridiculously high standards but the standard should be pretty much consistent or it looks like the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.

Once again, images accepted at all sites but not at DT.
One DT reject from 6 months ago has been downloaded over 100 times at SS including OD's and an EL.

Quote from: WarrenPrice on May 09, 2012, 11:09

Maybe it's just me -- this is obviously a panned image.  It is editorial but was rejected for:

 Image is out of focus or too much of the subject is out of focus (DOF too shallow or DOF not justified) / Image is shaken. Use a faster speed or a tripod. Please check the files at 100% zoom before submitting them.


Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

PS:  the image above is on Shutterstock ... where it is already getting sales.

&^%^&$%^

PPS:  After BME last month just 3 sales (subscription) so far this month.  What the eff is going on there.  Is this the periodical shift in search engine priorities?

And ... for Dt ... if it ain't online -- you cain't sell it. 

--more cuss words --

Sorry, but this image shouldn't be accepted anywhere. The main subject should be sharp, the bg is of course good and gives you sense of speed. Looking at it like a madman, the number could be sharp at 100%, but it's the motorcrossist and (most) of the bike that should be sharp

Agree with Wut. The main subject should be sharp, or at least reasonably so. It's a tough shot to pull off correctly. I can't blame the reviewer in this case.

Indeed Mike, I've said it before, DT (and SS in my case) need to work on their reviewing, hire more qualified people, not some spoiled brats who like to abuse their power of being the middleman.
The other day DT rejected a mother's day greeting card for too many on site, the card has sold multiple times before, on the actual holiday and afterwards on other agencies, it's even one of my personal favorites (I've used it myself)

Some reviewers rob us and the agency from our income, if the agencies are happy with that then do continue to sell less, good for business right!

To be honest, neither DT nor I will lose a fortune based on these rejections.  The real problem is that if you have widely different standards then you really have no standards.  IS are ridiculously picky but at least they are consistent.   The odd reject from SS generally has some basis in my case and if they say there�s a technical or lighting issue it is usually with a weaker image.  Up to recently I would have said the same about DT but, lately, it seems to have nothing to do with the technical quality of the image.  Over the weekend I had 4 accepted that included one weakfish image and one rejected.  The images (apart from one of those accepted) would be virtually identical in terms of quality @ 100%.  I know this was a different reviewer based on it going under review much earlier and coming out later.  If they have decided to raise the bar that�s fair enough but if it�s heads you win and tails you lose, that�s just unprofessional.

I have only recently joined shutterstock as I had to get my i.d. sorted, so only been with them about 3 weeks. I had my application approved with all ten illustrations accepted, which I didn't expect at all and since then practically all illustrations I have submitted have been accepted, apart from, maybe, one or two. Ive also had 2 sales so far, and yet dreamstime have rejected many of these images that have been accepted by shutterstock, and all the other agencies I'm with, fotolia etc. Ive also had no sales on there for several weeks!

Did other contributors to DT get (e-mail) a May newsletter today?

It's May 17th and the most recent item in the "News" section is May 12th - the other two items are from April.

The picture is of a family in wooly hats blowing snow.

The only other items are listing the current "On Assignment" and featured contributor - some stats are at the bottom. One interesting thing is that DT lists 47,558 images are pending while iStock lists only 35,459 (although that's up from about 20K a couple of weeks back).

What's the point of a newsletter with no current news? wouldn't something about the price and royalty changes have been a good idea?

My port is so small I usually don't worry too much about fluctuations.  But 29 DL's in April and in May only 2 so far?  That is hitting a stone wall no matter how you calculate the statistics.  Other sites are about on par for me, SS is even up a bit over last month.

Does this mean DT has the same sales but it went to other portfolios or is DT down across the board?

Me too.  Sales for May a WAY down.  But, I've noticed in the past that there seems to be a cyclic pattern ... Search engine change, perhaps?

PS:  never noticed such drastic changes in the pattern.  Wondering what part all the "testing" plays in the Ups and Downs?

Sales at DT seem to pick up in the last couple days of the month.
It's only the 22nd - anything could still happen.

I have constant mixed feelings about DT, it doesn�t look bad lately but still quite low/stagnated, will see next months..

I have a Romanian friend who recently told me, regarding her struggles with sharing her feelings, that the "F*@#ing communists trained them to be strong."

I think that, and growing up under Ceausescu makes the concept of freedom of expression, a difficult one for some Romanians.