Waiting for approval list is still up at 35,000.  My own uploads have continued as before, but the waiting time for approval seems to have lengthened considerably.  I've got 28 in the list, the largest number ever, even though I am uploading at the same rate.

It's all very well attracting such huge numbers of images.  But can they get the customers?

A quick look at the 'most popular' list shows downloads of the biggest sellers at very small levels.

I'll second what epixx said......

All of a sudden Dreamstime has really taken off....I am getting quite a few .25 downloads, but I also get lots of $1.50 and 2.00 so for now I'm not complaining. I really don't understand why they took off all of a sudden though??? they raised their prices and we start getting more sales??? doesn't make sense.

Ya.. they do take awhile to approve photos, but if you put photos in daily (or regularly) then you will get photos approved regularly....even though they are 1 week old. 

Overall right now I'm really impressed with Dreamstime and it is very very close to making as much as IS right now...but I have 3 times as many photos on Dreamstime as IS...so not really a fair comparison....I just wish I could load more than 25 a week as IS....what a sloooooow process getting photos on there.

The one thing I don't like about the new subscricption model at DT is that with a subscription they can download any photo...level one, two, three, four, or five.  So why doesn't a person  just buy the subcription and download the higher level (priced) photos. It should cost them more for level 2-5 photos....say .50 for level two, .75 for level three...ect... at least you would get some compensation for your good photos....

DT is a total mystery to me these days. It used to be a close second to IS. It now falls behind even 123rf. At this moment, my IS sales are 6 times more than that of DT with the portfolios of very similar size.

I wonder if FT is taking away its buyers.

I also upload on a very regular basis, but only my old files get sold. Most sales are subscription or small sizes for less than $1.

 

Hatman went exclusive with IS a year or more ago.   Since then a lot of stuff around here may not seem as relevant to him.

Although of course there are istock exclusives who are active here, so who knows.

As for DT, my sales and views keep rocking along there.  In June I had a record month on DT.  Not sure why - maybe because I have a good mix of old an new files? 

I am still pleased with DT sales.  They might not be as good as istock but they are consistent and they don't go down much if I stop uploading for a while.  hatman is doing well with istock but I am sure he would of done well as a non-exclusive as well.

June was a very good month for me, but now the sales have taken a break again. But what worries me more is my AR, which is going down the drain. Are your ARs the same as ever, or is Attila doing a summer job on DT?

Atilla ? arghhhh !
I stopped uploading new works to DT since that time when everyone was complaining about no views with their new approvals. I also disabled the most recent ones out of frustration.
Are you getting slammed dunked on your AR that much to notice a diff?
If Atilla is there, I think I'll pass, and leave DT out of my list until november. I don't want to start cussing and swearing again. I stopped going to confession, ha!ha!

... with a disturbing amount of subs in July.

Wonder if some of the photos/jiu buyers have gotten wind that most of the images on those sites are going to vanish soon and have switched their sub accounts to DT? 

I don't like subs anywhere, but I would sure rather see them go to DT than to Getty, especially after they slashed commissions.

DT has been by far my fastest rising site this year.  it was way way down in 4th position but now beats SS and is quickly gaining on FT and IS.

Exactly the the most important difference to me is that I get 50% instead of 20%. 
 

Quote from: fotografer on July 10, 2009, 00:30

DT has been by far my fastest rising site this year.  it was way way down in 4th position but now beats SS and is quickly gaining on FT and IS.

JMHO, but DT seems to me the logical choice for disaffected istock buyers.  Their site is similarly organized, comparably high acceptance standards, reliable search engine, good customer service.  DT seems to have a similar vibe and comparable prices and features to what istock used to have. 

Out of all the sites I think Dreamstime would feel the most familiar and comfortable to long time istock buyers who feel they have been priced out of purchasing there. 

At least this is what I have heard from a couple of buyers.  Not sure how many they represent?

Besides, if there is a customer refund, I simply get an email from IS, saying "sorry, our mistake, don't worry about it." No deduction from my earned sum.

^^Seriously?!!  This is a new one on me.  

I get notices practically every week from Istock that they have refunded a customer and taken back my commission.  

ETA:  The point I was making above is that DT is a natural choice for BUYERS who are looking for a cheaper alternative to istock.  Although of course the seller experience is important too

DT remains consistent for me.
I never think about views - why bother! It's sales that count. Anyway, if your images are well keyworded they will look after themselves.

80% of my sales at DT this month are subs.  I never had anything like that before.   

You too? My RPD has been cut in half in July compared to June by the staggering amount of subs, at maximum size of course. I thought it was only me since the subject "subscriptions" is totally taboo on the DT forums.

In July, my RPD at DT was the same as at ShutterStock. I hope this is a seasonal phenomenon by buyers that want to finish their subscription package before going on holiday. Almost no on demand and no ELs at Shutterstock too in July.

If it stays like that after summer holidays, I will have to rethink my size upload policy. Shutterstock gets my downsized versions, and DT my full sizes.

My subs had always been marginal - 15-20%, 30% on worst months.  But now...

Open this subject on the Dreamstime forum now. They are all sleeping in Bucharest. By 9am CET the topic gets filled up, then it will be gone mysteriously around 10am CET.  
Thanks to the Lord for the microstock group.  

No joke, Dreamstime will have noticed this trend too. They are not Fotolia and actually they take care of their contributor's worries. I guess it's a seasonal phenomenon of buyers finishing off their subscription packages before going on holiday. If it is becoming permanent, I'm sure Dreamstime will do something about it.

I had a few dls (thank goodness) although still only the older images.
Incidentally, has anyone seen a change to the no views on newest images? I stopped submitting for a bit already, as I didn't want to waste my time getting new images up when no one can find them. No point.
I 'd love to know if DT actually did amend this problem so I can resume submitting new works.

Quote from: Perseus on July 19, 2009, 08:44

Incidentally, has anyone seen a change to the no views on newest images?

None yet on my most recent batch that was approved 3 days ago, but 3 views on a single editorial image approved on 06/27/2009 and some (2+2+1) views on a batch approved 06/26/2009. I'm not sure whether it's not my own views. Did they filter out Google traffic and self-views?


In view of this, holding your uploads at DT is a bad strategy since a picture can only get older when it's online. Just my 2 cents.

So you think it's better to continue uploading? Wouldn't no views on our newest images be detrimental to our portfolio as a whole?

I have this little theory that images will only be found by conventional (keyword) search after half a year online, and if you sell something more recent, it's by visual search only. This thanks to the feature more of this model and more like this.

It can't be exactly like that, had a download found by keywords the other day of a file uploaded in May.

To the views thing: Didn't Achilles post somewhere that they changed the way views are counted (only views from logged in members are counted as opposed to all "external" views as e.g. from Google)?
This would mean you can't compare your old view numbers with those after that change - and possibly there is no change at all as to how many members view your files.

I think there might have been a change favouring exclusives in July. I got a lot more sales from end June and throughout July. But most of them were subs or small sizes, RPD went down to 0,73.

DT as always been my most stable site and it is still the same. July was a bit better than june and my RPD is around 1.20$ so not that many sub sales for me.

I had my BME on DT in June.  July was down 18%.  My RPD there is still the highest of all sites I am on at $1.43.

I am not too worried about the drop since it comes in a historically slow month.

I have had a huge surge of subs so far this month at Dt.   My RPD is 1.14 compared to nearly 1.60 last month and a  high of over 1.90 one month.

With the increase in Levels (and sort order placement I think) just consider those sub sales to be money in the bank for later. My RPD for this month is running at $1.72 but that will change as the month progresses.

Dreamstime is very, very weak for me. It's only the first week in august, but the earnings are only a third of what they should be. DT the worst of my big5 (usually second or third best, now they are even after StockXpert. What has happened?