Author Topic: Can't get out of DT quick enough (Read 18935 times)

djmorgan · « **on:** June 04, 2009, 02:58 »

I decided to go exclusive with IS all the other agencies I submitted to understood my plight and closed my account and deleted images, EXCEPT DT they hold the line of their Agreement and won't let me delete images until they are 6 months old.

This will stop me going exclusive, and effect income, any thoughts as to what I can do

David

fotografer · « **Reply #1 on:** June 04, 2009, 03:06 »

Sorry but the only thing you can do is wait the 6 months that you agreed to when you signed on with them. Many people have tried unsuccesfully to break the agreement but it's just a matter of being patient.

gostwyck · « **Reply #2 on:** June 04, 2009, 03:37 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 02:58

... any thoughts as to what I can do

David

Yes __ you could try being man enough to honour the terms of your contract without complaining.

Would you expect them to write for advice on forums asking how they could wriggle out of paying you for example?

crazychristina · « **Reply #3 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:06 »

It's a bit late now but it might have been wise to keep images on the other sites until the six months was up, so as not to lose too much income.

djmorgan · « **Reply #4 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:19 »

Quote from: gostwyck on June 04, 2009, 03:37

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 02:58
... any thoughts as to what I can do

David

Yes __ you could try being man enough to honour the terms of your contract without complaining.

Would you expect them to write for advice on forums asking how they could wriggle out of paying you for example?

I have no problem honouring terms of an Agreement, other agencies had no problems letting me go.

I do have a right to ask questions if you see it as complaing then that is your problem. a complaint would be me saying why in the past 2 weeks has DT taken back sales due to credit card fraud?
Another thing unique to DT....see! that's what's called complaing

crazychristina · « **Reply #5 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:26 »

BTW it's not 6 months from uploading, it's 6 months from going online. If you deactivate and reactivate again, the 6 months starts counting again.

CvanDijk · « **Reply #6 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:30 »

You can delete 30% (i'm not sure if this is the right percentage) of the images that have the waiting period of 6 months. Start with the new ones and then maybe you have to wait less than 6 months

gostwyck · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:38 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 04:19

I have no problem honouring terms of an Agreement, other agencies had no problems letting me go.

I do have a right to ask questions if you see it as complaing then that is your problem. a complaint would be me saying why in the past 2 weeks has DT taken back sales due to credit card fraud?
Another thing unique to DT....see! that's what's called complaing

Good. Actually BigStock, if you had been with them, would also have insisted on their 90-day-following-acceptance rule too.

FT take back sales from credit card fraud too __ I have had far more there than at DT. Of course DT are paying out 50% commission so it is perhaps not that surprising that they can't afford to waive fraud charges.

null · « **Reply #8 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:49 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 02:58

This will stop me going exclusive, and effect income, any thoughts as to what I can do

Read the fine print next time. You could also set your exclusive buyout price at 1$ and then buy your pictures yourself at DT

Milinz · « **Reply #9 on:** June 04, 2009, 04:57 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on June 04, 2009, 04:49

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 02:58
This will stop me going exclusive, and effect income, any thoughts as to what I can do

Read the fine print next time. You could also set your exclusive buyout price at 1$ and then buy your pictures yourself at DT

This one is very GREAT idea FlemishDreams!

I'd do that if I am OP.

djmorgan · « **Reply #10 on:** June 04, 2009, 05:15 »

Quote

Good. Actually BigStock, if you had been with them, would also have insisted on their 90-day-following-acceptance rule too.

I was! guess what they let me go

gostwyck · « **Reply #11 on:** June 04, 2009, 05:26 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 05:15

Quote
Good. Actually BigStock, if you had been with them, would also have insisted on their 90-day-following-acceptance rule too.

I was! guess what they let me go

Really? I am amazed. I once asked BigStock to disable a file that I wished to make exclusive elsewhere. It turned out that the file had been approved 85 days earlier and, even though it had no views or sales, they insisted that I had to email them again in 5 days time before they would act upon my request.

alias · « **Reply #12 on:** June 04, 2009, 06:12 »

Don't fall out with DT over the 6 month thing because one day you might want to start uploading to them again.

I fell out with them in a series of emails and now, a few years later, I feel a bit stupid about it. Because I expect it would be difficult to rebuild a relationship there if I ever wanted to.

DanP68 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 04, 2009, 10:19 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 05:15

Quote
Good. Actually BigStock, if you had been with them, would also have insisted on their 90-day-following-acceptance rule too.

I was! guess what they let me go

Well, it turns out your portfolio must be quite expendable.

cthoman · « **Reply #14 on:** June 04, 2009, 10:31 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 04:19

I do have a right to ask questions if you see it as complaing then that is your problem. a complaint would be me saying why in the past 2 weeks has DT taken back sales due to credit card fraud?
Another thing unique to DT....see! that's what's called complaing

Credit card fraud isn't unique to DT. I had fraud happen to me at iStock as well.

puravida · « **Reply #15 on:** June 04, 2009, 10:33 »

Quote from: DanP68 on June 04, 2009, 10:19

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 05:15
Quote
Good. Actually BigStock, if you had been with them, would also have insisted on their 90-day-following-acceptance rule too.

I was! guess what they let me go

Well, it turns out your portfolio must be quite expendable.

rofl. no seriously, Dan P68 could be right. Bigstock insists on 90 day rule because clients do bookmark your images and if they come back to buy in before your 90 days hold to find it is not there, they can be quite pissed off with Bigstock. At least that was the reason Support gave me for needing to hold our images for 90 days.

stockastic · « **Reply #16 on:** June 04, 2009, 10:36 »

6 months! What a drag.

Since their recent search changes, my sales at DT are now so low I'm seriously thinking about dropping out now in case I want to go exclusive somewhere else in the future. I sell 10 times more on SS, and FT has pulled way ahead of DT.

willie · « **Reply #17 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:06 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 04, 2009, 10:36

6 months! What a drag.

Since their recent search changes, my sales at DT are now so low I'm seriously thinking about dropping out now in case I want to go exclusive somewhere else in the future. I sell 10 times more on SS, and FT has pulled way ahead of DT.

FUNNY you should say that. I feel the same way now about DT these past quarterly. They seem to be performing badly even though I am getting more approved images. Maybe I should think about slowing down with uploading new images too, as I am getting better results with FT since I started with them earlier this year. And yes, I am playing with the thought of going exclusive too.
But I want to see what Veer marketplace holds in store before deciding. And June 8 is almost here for my port to be ported from SV.

Freezingpictures · « **Reply #18 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:16 »

Quote from: puravida on June 04, 2009, 10:33

Quote from: DanP68 on June 04, 2009, 10:19
Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 05:15
Quote
Good. Actually BigStock, if you had been with them, would also have insisted on their 90-day-following-acceptance rule too.

I was! guess what they let me go

Well, it turns out your portfolio must be quite expendable.

rofl. no seriously, Dan P68 could be right. Bigstock insists on 90 day rule because clients do bookmark your images and if they come back to buy in before your 90 days hold to find it is not there, they can be quite pissed off with Bigstock. At least that was the reason Support gave me for needing to hold our images for 90 days.

Thats a weird argument. What if when the buyer bookmarks the image one day before the 90 days are over? But I understand that it can be quite annoying for a buyer. Yesterday I had to relicense a few images from a design for a client, and it would have been very bad, if the images would not have been there anymore. Non the less I have no understanding for the 6 month policy of Dreamstime. It's just making life more difficult for the contributors. It works at other agencies without this policy, why not with DT??
Anyway I rather accept this policy than not submitting to DT at all. Otherwise DT is quite a good agency.

Pixart · « **Reply #19 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:21 »

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 04:19

I do have a right to ask questions if you see it as complaing then that is your problem. a complaint would be me saying why in the past 2 weeks has DT taken back sales due to credit card fraud?
Another thing unique to DT....see! that's what's called complaing

Don't kid yourself. Istock will do the same, they have reversed credits in my account.

Read_My_Rights · « **Reply #20 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:28 »

I forgot if you can edit the keywords after acceptance in DT. In case you can, just delete all keywords,descriptions and titles or change them to something nonsensical and just become exclusive with IS. If the pictures can not be found on DT they are effectively not for sale anymore.

just my 1.5 cents

gostwyck · « **Reply #21 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:32 »

Quote from: Freezingpictures on June 04, 2009, 11:16

Non the less I have no understanding for the 6 month policy of Dreamstime. It's just making life more difficult for the contributors. It works at other agencies without this policy, why not with DT??
Anyway I rather accept this policy than not submitting to DT at all. Otherwise DT is quite a good agency.

Don't forget that 'exclusivity' at IS was basically introduced to protect IS's position against the emerging competition, notably SS, CanStockPhoto and DT.

DT later devised their 6-month policy (originally they tried to make it one-year!) as a countermeasure to protect themselves against IS's exclusivity deal.

One of the significant up-front costs in any agency is that of reviewing new images. Judging by file numbers it looks like they generally inspect 2 or 3 images for every one they accept and possibly only 50% of those actually go on to become reasonable sellers and provide a return on the original investment. I don't think it's unreasonable to insist on an image remain on the site for 6 months. After all no-one is forced to upload their work to any agency.

lisafx · « **Reply #22 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:33 »

Quote from: averil on June 04, 2009, 04:06

It's a bit late now but it might have been wise to keep images on the other sites until the six months was up, so as not to lose too much income.

This is the best advice. Too late for djmorgan, but good advice to anyone planning to go exclusive with IS in the future.

Out of curiosity DJ, were you aware of the 6 month hold?

If so, why did you delete at other sites first rather than keep them up and collect the income while you wait out the DT holding period?

Too bad you didn't read this forum earlier. There are many threads about this subject and in every case Dreamstime stuck to their 6 month hold.

I also agree with Alias that it is a bad idea to fall out with any of the agencies, particularly those in the big 6, in order to go exclusive. You never know when you might need to recross those bridges you burned.

stockastic · « **Reply #23 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:34 »

Quote from: Read_My_Rights on June 04, 2009, 11:28

I forgot if you can edit the keywords after acceptance in DT. In case you can, just delete all keywords,descriptions and titles or change them to something nonsensical and just become exclusive with IS. If the pictures can not be found on DT they are effectively not for sale anymore.

I think that would take a heckuva long time to accomplish, and wouldn't satisfy the requirement anyway.

I'm now thinking seriously of dropping out of DT. Microstock is changing rapidly and the picture could be very different even 6 months from now. I don't want to be locked in to a site that isn't generating any sales for me anyway.

Pixart · « **Reply #24 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:35 »

Quote from: Read_My_Rights on June 04, 2009, 11:28

I forgot if you can edit the keywords after acceptance in DT. In case you can, just delete all keywords,descriptions and titles or change them to something nonsensical and just become exclusive with IS. If the pictures can not be found on DT they are effectively not for sale anymore.

just my 1.5 cents

Good way to take a stand, but if he's trapped there why not make some moola for the next 6 months.

gostwyck · « **Reply #25 on:** June 04, 2009, 11:38 »

Quote from: Read_My_Rights on June 04, 2009, 11:28

I forgot if you can edit the keywords after acceptance in DT. In case you can, just delete all keywords,descriptions and titles or change them to something nonsensical and just become exclusive with IS. If the pictures can not be found on DT they are effectively not for sale anymore.

They are aware of this tactic and will lock you out of editing if they detect it happening __ they also get very angry about it too.

Dook · « **Reply #26 on:** June 04, 2009, 16:11 »

DT is the only agency you can not close your account, neither.
By the way, does anybody know which agencies will let you come back after closing your account, in the case you change your mind?

DanP68 · « **Reply #27 on:** June 04, 2009, 16:38 »

No reason they won't all take you back, unless you give them the 1 finger salute on your way out the door. Maintain a professional relationship. You may want to do business with them again.

puravida · « **Reply #28 on:** June 04, 2009, 16:46 »

Quote from: Freezingpictures on June 04, 2009, 11:16

Thats a weird argument. What if when the buyer bookmarks the image one day before the 90 days are over? But I understand that it can be quite annoying for a buyer. Yesterday I had to relicense a few images from a design for a client, and it would have been very bad, if the images would not have been there anymore. Non the less I have no understanding for the 6 month policy of Dreamstime. It's just making life more difficult for the contributors. It works at other agencies without this policy, why not with DT??
Anyway I rather accept this policy than not submitting to DT at all. Otherwise DT is quite a good agency.

good point there. I am a big fan of DT too. but 6 months is a bit much.
methinks if the reason is to go exclusive for someone else, all sites should be understanding enough to let you remove or at least deactivate all images immediately. would they (the site themsevles) not wish for the same treatment if say I wanted to go exclusive with DT?

Read_My_Rights · « **Reply #29 on:** June 04, 2009, 16:49 »

I am keeping all my accounts empty but active - just in case.

stockastic · « **Reply #30 on:** June 04, 2009, 16:55 »

Sure it's a hassle for buyers if images go way. Sure DT invested some time reviewing the images. So maybe DT should focus more on keeping contributors happy, instead of p!ssing them off with stuff like this 6 month thing.

madelaide · « **Reply #31 on:** June 04, 2009, 17:18 »

I don't think 6 months is that long, in fact. There is investment from the site in our images as well. And should I start considering becoming exclusive somewhere, I would stop to upload to other sites until I make a decision.

stockastic · « **Reply #32 on:** June 04, 2009, 18:05 »

I doubt the reviewing of an image costs more than 50 cents. They make it back on the first subscription sale. Sure there are other expenses, like advertising, but I don't think we're talking about a river of fleeing contributors. Yet.

Talanis · « **Reply #33 on:** June 04, 2009, 18:27 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 04, 2009, 18:05

I doubt the reviewing of an image costs more than 50 cents. They make it back on the first subscription sale. Sure there are other expenses, like advertising, but I don't think we're talking about a river of fleeing contributors. Yet.

Because you think they only have the reviewer to pay? What about the administrators, the developpers, the marketing people, the marketing cost, the server cost, the bandwidth, etc.

Their argument is logic. And why . would they help you leave to be exclusive with a competitor? We're not in kindergarden where everyone is friend, it's business and I don't see why DT would be happy to see a contributor go sell his photos exclusively with another agency.

If you read the contract before you sign it, you know that they will keep the pictures online for 6 months. You then have a choice: contribute or not. If you change your mind after that, you have only yourself to blame.

There is a good side for contributors to locking the images: preventing someone to erase everything on a "coup de tête", to react only on temper. When something pisses you off (like the IRS thing at SS), you can take the time to calm down and think about your options before making a hasty decision that you could regret after that. I'm considering going exclusive with iStock at the moment but will have to wait until november. It gives me 6 months to make a decision and thought about it on all sides. I will stop uploading to DT now but will keep all my portfolios open and continue to make a couple of hundred dollars a month while thinking carefully about my decision. In the fall, I'll decide if I go exclusive or if I continue with all the agencies I'm on atm. If I continue as is, it won't be a problem uploading all the stock photos I'll make in the next 6 months (I can upload 300 pictures a day on DT anyway).

Unfortunately for you, you made a hasty decision in removing all your portfolios on all sites and it will be a costly one. Too bad.

eppic · « **Reply #34 on:** June 04, 2009, 18:42 »

I've been on the fence about going exclusive with IS since they're consistently accounting for around 60% of my monthy gross sales for the past few months. However, up until now I've still been actively uploading on DT, so I know that I couldn't go exclusive with IS until the beginning of December. It's a fact that I'm well aware of and so I have to plan 6 months in advance if I want to go IS exclusive if I keep uploading to DT.

rene · « **Reply #35 on:** June 04, 2009, 19:01 »

Quote from: cthoman on June 04, 2009, 10:31

Quote from: djmorgan on June 04, 2009, 04:19
I do have a right to ask questions if you see it as complaing then that is your problem. a complaint would be me saying why in the past 2 weeks has DT taken back sales due to credit card fraud?
Another thing unique to DT....see! that's what's called complaing

Credit card fraud isn't unique to DT. I had fraud happen to me at iStock as well.

Are you sure it was Istock?
In 3 years it never happens to me at Istock. In their forum one admin said that they don't do it for credit card fraud. It's only IS lose and not contributor's.
In my experience only DT and Fotolia make us paying for their errors.

RGebbiePhoto · « **Reply #36 on:** June 04, 2009, 20:32 »

Yes, there are other agencies, this is not exclusive to Dreamstime. BigStock hit us for a $3 refund for credit card fraud.

Here is the reason they gave me:
--quote--
There is not a way for us to identify the reason for an image sale being invalidated. It could be any of these reasons: * BigStock Personnel downloaded it as a test for some reason
* Fraud
* A file download problem occurred
* User did a mistake and didn't want to download the image
* Reseller mistaken download
* Resellers user downloaded a mistake

----
Joseph
Customer Support
[email protected]
1-800-631-9809

--end quote--

So, you see, it isn't just DT.

Gebbie

DanP68 · « **Reply #37 on:** June 04, 2009, 21:47 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 04, 2009, 16:55

Sure it's a hassle for buyers if images go way. Sure DT invested some time reviewing the images. So maybe DT should focus more on keeping contributors happy, instead of p!ssing them off with stuff like this 6 month thing.

Arguing over this is worthless, and tired. They have set rules, which they make perfectly clear to anyone who wants to upload there. If you don't agree to those rules, you shouldn't be uploading there. Why people think they can enter a contract and then get out of it as soon as they realize they don't like the contract is beyond me.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #38 on:** June 05, 2009, 00:49 »

Quote from: Read_My_Rights on June 04, 2009, 11:28

I forgot if you can edit the keywords after acceptance in DT. In case you can, just delete all keywords,descriptions and titles or change them to something nonsensical and just become exclusive with IS. If the pictures can not be found on DT they are effectively not for sale anymore.

This won't work (unless they've changed something recently) as they disable your ability to edit the images when you delete a certain percentage of your portfolio in a short space of time.

djmorgan · « **Reply #39 on:** June 05, 2009, 01:01 »

Quote from: jsnover on June 05, 2009, 00:49

Quote from: Read_My_Rights on June 04, 2009, 11:28
I forgot if you can edit the keywords after acceptance in DT. In case you can, just delete all keywords,descriptions and titles or change them to something nonsensical and just become exclusive with IS. If the pictures can not be found on DT they are effectively not for sale anymore.
This won't work (unless they've changed something recently) as they disable your ability to edit the images when you delete a certain percentage of your portfolio in a short space of time.

Hi Jo Anne yes found that I disabled about 210 images and then got locked out from doing anymore... I guess I have to wait a month to do more

Daid

djmorgan · « **Reply #40 on:** June 05, 2009, 01:04 »

Quote from: Talanis on June 04, 2009, 18:27

Quote from: stockastic on June 04, 2009, 18:05
I doubt the reviewing of an image costs more than 50 cents. They make it back on the first subscription sale. Sure there are other expenses, like advertising, but I don't think we're talking about a river of fleeing contributors. Yet.

Because you think they only have the reviewer to pay? What about the administrators, the developpers, the marketing people, the marketing cost, the server cost, the bandwidth, etc.

Their argument is logic. And why . would they help you leave to be exclusive with a competitor? We're not in kindergarden where everyone is friend, it's business and I don't see why DT would be happy to see a contributor go sell his photos exclusively with another agency.

If you read the contract before you sign it, you know that they will keep the pictures online for 6 months. You then have a choice: contribute or not. If you change your mind after that, you have only yourself to blame.

There is a good side for contributors to locking the images: preventing someone to erase everything on a "coup de tête", to react only on temper. When something pisses you off (like the IRS thing at SS), you can take the time to calm down and think about your options before making a hasty decision that you could regret after that. I'm considering going exclusive with iStock at the moment but will have to wait until november. It gives me 6 months to make a decision and thought about it on all sides. I will stop uploading to DT now but will keep all my portfolios open and continue to make a couple of hundred dollars a month while thinking carefully about my decision. In the fall, I'll decide if I go exclusive or if I continue with all the agencies I'm on atm. If I continue as is, it won't be a problem uploading all the stock photos I'll make in the next 6 months (I can upload 300 pictures a day on DT anyway).

Unfortunately for you, you made a hasty decision in removing all your portfolios on all sites and it will be a costly one. Too bad.

Not too bad I still have my top 3 earners active 4 if you include DT

David

stockastic · « **Reply #42 on:** June 05, 2009, 11:07 »

Quote from: Achilles on June 05, 2009, 10:15

This is a very good explanation.
I will only add that unless motivational factors, incentives and sometimes requirements are brought into a market with a single player, no competition can exist. 5 years ago a monopoly could've been easily created. What a monopoly means to photographers, you know much better than me.

An agency that advertises its relationship with the photographers as one of its best assets, will not enforce harsh requirements, unless that was vital. The reality shows that others have enjoyed this too, not only the contributors. It's just happened that we took the responsibility to pick up the iron from the fire, as we were the first one.

Am I the only one who doesn't understand this post? Exactly what is the justification for the 6 month requirement?

mattb · « **Reply #43 on:** June 05, 2009, 12:47 »

stockastic, does this help?

The justification of the decision that was previously decided in the decision to require a 6 month hold on said images is a good and wise decision for all parties involved in said decision.

Personally, I think 6 months is a little long but not entirely unreasonable. I think for DT exclusive images, 6 months is totally fair since DT has a greater investment in those images with the higher commisions. For non exclusive images, it does seem a little too long.

sgcallaway1994 · « **Reply #44 on:** June 06, 2009, 10:30 »

Or you could view this from the flip side, if your images are still on DT for six months at least you will be getting sales at DT, which isn't a total loss! ??

lisafx · « **Reply #45 on:** June 06, 2009, 11:06 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 05, 2009, 11:07

Am I the only one who doesn't understand this post? Exactly what is the justification for the 6 month requirement?

Did you read Gostwyck's explanation?

In a nutshell, Dreamstime instituted the 6 month hold partly as a counter measure to istock's exclusivity plan and partly as a response to some contributors arbitrarily deciding to pull their portfolios and then changing their minds and reuploading them (which apparently had happened on a number of occasions).

It is a way for Dreamstime to protect its investment in images already online and to protect themselves and their buyers from whole portfolios vanishing overnight.

I don't get what is so hard to understand here??

Personally, although I didn't much like the 6 month hold in the beginning, I have come to appreciate it. There were times that I seriously considered istock exclusivity and having that 6 months forced me to bide my time and make a thoughtful, considered decision rather than an impulsive one.

And without fail every time I was close to choosing istock exclusivity, IS always managed to do something within that time to make me glad I was independent. If I haven't said so before, I owe DT a big Thank You because their 6 month hold has saved me from making a hasty decision more than once

gostwyck · « **Reply #46 on:** June 06, 2009, 11:17 »

Quote from: lisafx on June 06, 2009, 11:06

Personally, although I didn't much like the 6 month hold in the beginning, I have come to appreciate it. There were times that I seriously considered istock exclusivity and having that 6 months forced me to bide my time and make a thoughtful, considered decision rather than an impulsive one.

And without fail every time I was close to choosing istock exclusivity, IS always managed to do something within that time to make me glad I was independent. If I haven't said so before, I owe DT a big Thank You because their 6 month hold has saved me from making a hasty decision more than once

Exactly the same here. I could have made a very expensive mistake if it hadn't been for the 6-month lock-in. I did get as far as not uploading to DT for 4 months once in preparation for exclusivity __ but then I came to my senses!

alias · « **Reply #47 on:** June 06, 2009, 11:26 »

Quote from: DanP68 on June 04, 2009, 16:38

No reason they won't all take you back, unless you give them the 1 finger salute on your way out the door. Maintain a professional relationship. You may want to do business with them again.

There should be a special check box labelled: 'sorry I gave you that one fingered salute pretty please, grovel, grovel grovel'

Don't fall out with anyone. Not worth it.

null · « **Reply #48 on:** June 06, 2009, 11:54 »

Quote from: alias on June 06, 2009, 11:26

Don't fall out with anyone. Not worth it.

Be nice to all people on your way up, since you will meet them all again on your way down.

I can't feel any sympathy with the OP since he agreed to terms uploading at DT, now wants to change them at his convenience. He knew it, right? Some people even uploaded to Pixmac when it was clear the lock-in period was one year (2 years first until I objected) and you have to send them a registered snail mail to close your account. Anybody ever heard again of Pixmac or Vivozoom or Albumo with their 400 days lock-in period?

My first year on microstock, half 2005-half 2006, IS made me much more than DT. Then Getty bought it and IS went the dramaqueen tour. Recently, IS got much better with a higher RPI than DT. SS got better too since they changed their feed-the-beast search engine. StockXpert got swallowed by Getty, and Fotolia is basically unreliable.

You'll never know what's going to happen next. Agents come and go. Featurepics turned into a subscription site basically, LO went down the drains. Cutcaster will be like Lookstat. At the end of the day, Dreamstime is still the most reliable site for me, but if they get sold too, who knows? Six months is not that long...

rene · « **Reply #49 on:** June 06, 2009, 20:48 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on June 06, 2009, 11:54

I can't feel any sympathy with the OP since he agreed to terms uploading at DT, now wants to change them at his convenience. He knew it, right?

I can't feel any sympathy with DT. They change rules. When I've signed up there were no subscriptions. Then one day I woke up and the subscription wrere there. No option out, no possibility to cancel account before 6 months. So what about initial contract? Now DT will decrese our earnings. Who breaks rules ?

DanP68 · « **Reply #50 on:** June 06, 2009, 23:10 »

So you signed a contract with DT which stated they could not add subscriptions? Please share this with us when you get a chance.

null · « **Reply #51 on:** June 07, 2009, 01:06 »

Quote from: rene on June 06, 2009, 20:48

I can't feel any sympathy with DT. They change rules. When I've signed up there were no subscriptions.

The issue was not subscriptions but lock-in period. In general, when a site changes conditions unilaterally, you can get out at once by not agreeing to the changes.

gostwyck · « **Reply #52 on:** June 07, 2009, 05:14 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on June 07, 2009, 01:06

The issue was not subscriptions but lock-in period. In general, when a site changes conditions unilaterally, you can get out at once by not agreeing to the changes.

Exactly. I'm quite sure if you had objected to subscriptions that strongly then DT would have waived the lock-in.

rene · « **Reply #53 on:** June 07, 2009, 05:45 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on June 07, 2009, 01:06

In general, when a site changes conditions unilaterally, you can get out at once by not agreeing to the changes.

Good news for OP.
Djmorgan you can get out once DT have lowered our commissions.

Quote from: DanP68 on June 06, 2009, 23:10

So you signed a contract with DT which stated they could not add subscriptions? Please share this with us when you get a chance.

Quote from: DanP68 on June 06, 2009, 23:10

So you signed a contract with DT which stated they could not add subscriptions? Please share this with us when you get a chance.

There's nothing about paying DanP68 1ct/download tomorrow neither. So it means you would be ok with this?

DanP68 · « **Reply #54 on:** June 07, 2009, 10:20 »

Highly unrealistic.

Dreamstime added subscription sales in 2007. We are half-way through 2009. Enough already.

You've been complaining about DT and their subscription sales for over a year, yet you are still there. Instead of these tired rants, why don't you leave DT if you have such a problem with them? Seems to me you've had more than enough time to wait out the lock-in period and "take a stand." My guess is when push comes to shove, you'll take the subscription sales rather than take a stand. Which is fine. Just don't complain about the situations you have chosen to be a part of.

CvanDijk · « **Reply #55 on:** June 07, 2009, 10:39 »

Quote from: averil on June 04, 2009, 04:06

It's a bit late now but it might have been wise to keep images on the other sites until the six months was up, so as not to lose too much income.

Stockxpert also has (or had) something in their agreement that it will take them some time to remove your images from the partner programs. If you're not opted-in, then it's offcourse not a problem. And also with FT it can take a while before your images are removed from the partner sites.

So I guess it's not such a good idea to keep your images until the six months are up. Instead of that I would think to remove everything 90 days before going exclusive with Istock, except maybe Shutterstock

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #56 on:** June 18, 2009, 00:18 »

Quote from: FlemishDreams on June 04, 2009, 04:49

Read the fine print next time. You could also set your exclusive buyout price at 1$ and then buy your pictures yourself at DT

I just tried setting one of my pics. to $250 for exclusive buyout. A text came up saying the minimum value allowed is $350.

rene · « **Reply #57 on:** June 18, 2009, 00:47 »

Quote from: DanP68 on June 07, 2009, 10:20

Highly unrealistic.

Dreamstime added subscription sales in 2007. We are half-way through 2009. Enough already.

You've been complaining about DT and their subscription sales for over a year, yet you are still there. Instead of these tired rants, why don't you leave DT if you have such a problem with them? Seems to me you've had more than enough time to wait out the lock-in period and "take a stand." My guess is when push comes to shove, you'll take the subscription sales rather than take a stand. Which is fine. Just don't complain about the situations you have chosen to be a part of.

LOL
Hopeful there are people like me to make this world better

I stay (for instant) to help DT (giving my advices) to improve .
If there will be only two groups, 'wow-you-rock fan club' and 'contributors leaving in silence', nothing will change.