I'm puzzled and disappointed in the way our commissions for EL's at DT appear to have almost halved over recent months.

Only 18 months ago all EL's were paid at 50% of the credit price without discounts being applied so that a 50 credit EL always generated $25 to the contributor and a 25 credit EL generated $12.50.

Nowadays it is very different. One of my images was recently sold with a 50 credit (2010) P-EL license and I got paid less than $13. Several others have netted less than $17 and the actual amount being paid appears to be steadily reducing month by month.

On the 'Sell your Images' page it suggests that a P-EL might generate $35 to the contributor although there is the disclaimer that 'these are maximum values' at the top of the list. However even if I apply the maximum discount given to credit packages then it appears that I am being paid less than 27% of the purchase price.

I really can't work out any circumstances in which the advertised $35 would actually be payable. It would presumably require the purchaser to pay $70 for the 50 credits (far more than any of the packages on offer) and for the contributor to be paid 50% of the purchase price __ which it would appear we are not. I am receiving barely more than one third of the $35 suggested.

It strikes me that this is yet another 'smoke and mirrors' exercise in which the purchase price and/or the commission payable are not stated explicitly and there is a significant lack of transparency. Does anyone know what we are supposed to be paid for EL's at DT?

In 2008, I had an EL sell for 50 credits and I received $25.00 for it.
Almost a year later in 2009, I had an EL sell for 50 credits and I received $20.43.

Here's the wording in the Contributors Agreement (I added the bold):

Non-exclusive contributors: A non-exclusive contributor is an artist who uploads images which are also available for sale with other stock agencies. These contributors may upload their images to Dreamstime.com while selling the same images through other channels. Non-exclusive contributors shall receive 30-50% of the sale price received by Dreamstime.com for the images they have contributed to the site which are subsequently sold by Dreamstime.com.

Exclusive images: A contributor may work with other agencies in addition to Dreamstime.com. However, the images provided to Dreamstime.com and marked as being exclusive are sold only on Dreamstime.com. An exclusive image is represented by concepts, models, wardrobe, and subject matter which provide a unique creative message and small variations in the image (variations in camera angle, model posture or gesture, for example) do not enable an image as being different. Exclusive images may only be sold through Dreamstime.com and may not be offered through other channels. Contributors shall receive 34.5-57.5% of the sale price received by Dreamstime.com for the exclusive images they have contributed to the site which are subsequently sold by Dreamstime.com. A Contributor may remove the exclusivity rights to an image with thirty (30) days prior written notice to Dreamstime.com.

I saw nothing that specifically addressed ELs differently.

Does it have anything to do with buyers purchasing tons of credits at once and getting a discount? In other words, for that buyer, their credit might be worth x cents because they bought a zillion, as opposed to the buyer who buys 20 credits at $1.25 per credit?

Smoke and mirrors and lack of transparency...I agree totally. I wish there was way more detail about these things. If a purchaser bought bulk credits and that explains why I only got 20.43 for 50% of a 50 credit EL, I would like to know about it.

Have you asked over there?

Yes and Achilles confirmed that the 30% commission (announced earlier) had been rolled out in full. The actual commission you will get depends on how much the customer paid for the credit pack or custom credits, but it can go as low as 0.77$ for 25,000 custom credits.

For Gostwyck: my last EL (this month) on a level 1 image was this:
25 credits (2008)     $6.33     maximum     (U-EL)
This means the buyer paid 0.844$ per credit = 21.1$ for the image, of which 30% is exactly 6.33$.
Since the lowest price per credit on credit packs is 0.93$, it means the buyer bought a custom credit of 2,300$. Of course this is for 2010 credits, and I don't know how much that would be in 2008 credits. It's all too complicated but I trust them.

http://www.dreamstime.com/credits

I have a $14.66 EL today.  It is very disappointing, if we have our commissions cut, they should put the prices up.  Buyers don't seem to mind paying more for EL's on other sites and I earn more.  As commissions are cut, so is my enthusiasm.  I have only just started uploading to DT again but that might go on hold now.

off topic: have you ever noticed how many buyers are still spending 2008 credits? .. LOL you'd think they would have been used up by now.

"2008 credits" were actually sold up through the end of 2009.

Yes and Achilles confirmed that the 30% commission (announced earlier) had been rolled out in full. The actual commission you will get depends on how much the customer paid for the credit pack or custom credits, but it can go as low as 0.77$ for 25,000 custom credits.

For Gostwyck: my last EL (this month) on a level 1 image was this:
25 credits (2008)     $6.33     maximum     (U-EL)
This means the buyer paid 0.844$ per credit = 21.1$ for the image, of which 30% is exactly 6.33$.
Since the lowest price per credit on credit packs is 0.93$, it means the buyer bought a custom credit of 2,300$. Of course this is for 2010 credits, and I don't know how much that would be in 2008 credits. It's all too complicated but I trust them.

Thanks. It appears that there's also different %'s paid on EL's depending upon the image Level. The EL in question was Level 1, so payable at 30% commission, and presumably was bought via a credit package of about 2000 costing about 85c per credit.

It doesn't alter the fact that our commissions at DT have been halved though on some sales.

Instead of getting less than $13 on DT, if the EL had been bought at SS the commission would have been $28, at IS $33 ($66 if exclusive) and $31 at FT (if priced at $75). It's not just the % commission either, EL's are much cheaper for the customer to buy at DT than anywhere else.

Over 90% of images at DT are level 1 (official DT numbers) - so we can say that non exclusive commission is 30% for images directly sold by DT.
For partner sales it's another story. If partner's commission is 50% our commission will be only 15%.
I hope that this system is not applicable to "selling rights"...

Over 90% of images at DT are level 1 (official DT numbers) - so we can say that non exclusive commission is 30% for images directly sold by DT.

It's come a very, very, very long way from their original "50-80% commission" proclamation __ such a short time ago.

I wouldn't mind so much if we were also benefitting from growth in our earnings but I don't see any evidence of that in my own figures over the last couple of years. I've no doubt that in that time their own profitability has multiplied hugely though.

My flabber is well and truly ghasted at the greed they display and the obvious disdain they appear to have for their contributors. Looks like they've joined forces with FT to encourage us to go exclusive with IS. Fair enough __ they will eventually reap what they sow. SS have never treated us like this.

They're only doing what everyone else seems to be doing at the moment.
If I were Achilles I would do it too.
Since others can get away with it, why not me?
While DT was actively paying a fair commission to its contributors what did the said contributors do? Did they upload their best, unique, exclusive content to DT to show support? Did they stop uploading to lower commission sites?
No, they didn't. Sales (good or bad) were coming through, 0.5 cent is better than nothing and this is where we are today.

DT's customer support is fast, polite and reliable. Fotolia's the worse I've ever encountered.
Locked threads on DT are quite rare. Fotolia's forum rules are nothing short of ridiculous and its moderators in a league of their own.
DT's communication policies are not only open to everyone but also go as high as possible, right up to the man at the very top. This is not something you see every day.
Can't compare the two.

They're only doing what everyone else seems to be doing at the moment.
If I were Achilles I would do it too.
Since others can get away with it, why not me?
While DT was actively paying a fair commission to its contributors what did the said contributors do? Did they upload their best, unique, exclusive content to DT to show support? Did they stop uploading to lower commission sites?
No, they didn't. Sales (good or bad) were coming through, 0.5 cent is better than nothing and this is where we are today.

DT's customer support is fast, polite and reliable. Fotolia's the worse I've ever encountered.
Locked threads on DT are quite rare. Fotolia's forum rules are nothing short of ridiculous and its moderators in a league of their own.
DT's communication policies are not only open to everyone but also go as high as possible, right up to the man at the very top. This is not something you see every day.
Can't compare the two.

You certainly can't compare the two. Sadly my earnings on DT this month are projected to be 12% lower than Feb 09 whilst at FT my earnings are 69% higher than Feb 09. FT is now generating 2.5x more than my portfolio at DT.

I'd agree with everything you say about the support and forums at each but ultimately the job of an agency is to optimise our revenue and FT, for all their faults, are vastly superior. I can begrudgingly accept reductions in commissions when they are transmitted in to higher sales, as they have been at FT, but lower commissions combined with lower sales is just the agency being greedy.

I believe we are almost in violent agreement, FD.   The DT Forum is censored.

They certainly never liked discussing anything about subs, even in the suggestion forum.  And I am always polite in my posts , I don't say "you are ripping me off" or anything like that.

Nevertheless, I'm impressed with DT this week, and I can only wish all weeks were like that.  Only credit sales, with earnings ranging from US$1.15 to $5.19 for M sizes, average RPD US$2.56.  I'm delighted.

You have perfectly assimilated dual DT language.

Yes since I'm not anonymous like you.  

When a buyer says: "you images are too expensive" - Seban responds : not true, huge majority (90%) of them are level 1.
When a contributor says : you pay only 30% for huge majority of my images - Seban responds : not true, focus on higher level images and forget 90% of others.

Marketing. Imagine a mall shop that advertises on the outside "up to 60% reductions on selected items". A certain percentage of the passing mallers will go inside and come out with a prime item with no reductions at all, since they wanted it. They would never have gone inside the store without the reduction sign. You might think these (and other) kinds of cheap bazaar tricks don't work with educated consumers, but experience shows that they do work, all the time. Even spam works.

So FD-amateur, if I delete 90% of my portfolio (level 1) what would you respond to the unhappy buyer?

If you delete all level ones, others won't. It's a giant sea and we are just small fishes. It makes sense though, to delete your level ones that compete with your own level 2+.
On IS similars will enhance your revenue, since image prices are independent of nr of downloads. On DT it will drag your total revenue down if one of your similars is level 2+.
On SS similars work very well if you upload them spaced apart. You will prolong your exposure of the concept via the new images. Upload in small varied batches, but consistently. Make the batches varied so more buyers find something they like in the new images all the time.

Every site needs another strategy.