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Author Topic: Dead?  (Read 10713 times)

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« on: March 14, 2007, 19:04 »
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DT seems to have died over the last few days.  Anyone else getting the same impression?  Or is it just me?


dbvirago

« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2007, 19:29 »
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Fairly steady for me and yesterday was huge.

Photoguy

« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2007, 19:51 »
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A little quieter.

« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2007, 20:03 »
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Fairly steady for me and yesterday was huge.

Same for me.

Ebb and flow...

« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2007, 20:40 »
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Horrible!  Getting ready to upload pictures of cemetary plots...  only 9 sales this month!  Really poor!! Really, SS & BS only ones performing for me this month so far.   8)  -tom

eendicott

« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2007, 21:07 »
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Getting ready to upload pictures of cemetary plots...

Don't bother.  My image of cemetery plots sat for a year without downloads before I pulled it  ;D

I've noticed that when people report a lot of sales, my sales lack.  When people report a loss of sales, my sales are great.

This time, my sales as well as everyone else's, seem to be lacking.  My sales have been declining steadily since my best month ever in December.  If I double what I have so far this month, I will earn more (because of the higher commission rate) but I will have less downloads.

I don't upload to other micros but I wonder if this is an industry wide thing?  I know the fourth quarter of last year was slow for the entire industry based on reports I've seen.

I did get one subscription sale today.  Only 3 more to go before it makes a difference on my payout.  I wish they wouldn't round down to the nearest dollar so I can get all the money I've earned from my sales.  Oh, wait, I should be happy because that sale may have never occurred - sorry for being greedy  >:(
« Last Edit: March 14, 2007, 23:26 by eendicott »

« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2007, 03:41 »
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Has picked up well for me in recent times.

Can't complain.

« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2007, 04:21 »
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As a matter of interest eendicot, can I ask why you have decided to upload to only DT and no other agency?

Your 'starry night' is excellent BTW.

eendicott

« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2007, 07:58 »
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As a matter of interest eendicot, can I ask why you have decided to upload to only DT and no other agency?

Your 'starry night' is excellent BTW.

Initially, the decision was based on my experience with 16 other agencies and the realization that I will never make payout at any of them no matter how many images I upload.  Not to mention the one or two that went belly up.

So the decision was to check my experience with the "big 6" agencies.  I don't like the subscription plan at Shutterstock very much.  I can deal with a subscription model and limiting usage (as is part of their TOS) but I can't deal with giving the whole show away for 20 cents (this was before the last pay raise) that's included in the second part of their TOS.

I had an issue with Fotolia (not Chad) that was beyond Chad's control - I won't work with an agent that does what they want with my images (this includes continuing to sell my images despite the fact that I asked them to close my account - I couldn't log in but as a customer I could search for them, find them, and buy them).  Again, Chad is a great guy and did everything he could.

I don't like the upload limits or the attitude at iStock.  They have a great community and all but at times, I felt I was selling through my local high school's bake sale.

Someone stole an image from me at StockXPert (it had their watermark on it).  StockXPert NEVER backed me up or looked out for me (what's the point of having an agent that won't back it's contributors)?  After I contacted them, they pretty much left me high and dry and on my own for getting it removed.

That left me with DT and Bigstock.  Bigstock wasn't a big seller for me and I did a little financial calculation and figured I could make the same, if not more, by becoming exclusive.  I consider my time valuable as well and the payoff looked good so last August, I became exclusive.

Because of the recent changes at DT, I've resigned my exclusivity.  I've given my 30 day notice which will expire on the 21st of this month.  I am weighing my options and may decide to pull out of microstock altogether (my 6 months at DT since my last upload is up in June).  This also goes along with the valuation that if you set aside all the smoke and mirrors of bonus this and contest that, the core earnings of my Microstock RF images over the past two years could be wiped out by two large size RF sales on Alamy - and I don't have to deal with ridiculous refusals and spending an hour on each image trying to find minuscule mistakes.

I got into this to build a portfolio that would eventually make my student loan payments for me (I have about $95,000 in student loans that I will be paying on for the next 28 years because I deferred them for so long and the interest accrued) - that amounts to $650/month.  Based on all the time and effort I've put into the micros over the past two years, I would have been better off getting a part time job flipping burgers at the local fast food place.

I do upload to other agencies - just don't sell RF stock through those other agencies (per my exclusivity agreement).  I currently have 251 active images at Alamy, 880 in the "processing" stage, 100 in the "received" stage, and 43 in transit.  I also have small RM portfolios at other smaller agencies.  I'm looking at RM and the traditional agencies and I'm seeing (experiencing) a lot more hope with relation to my small business.  I'm also seeing a lot of lucrative private work that will eventually help build my portfolio as well.

Thanks for the compliments on the star image - I was really surprised that it has sold so well.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2007, 08:05 by eendicott »

red_moon_rise

« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2007, 08:39 »
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eendicott - I appreciate your candit remarks. Nice breakdown of the differnt sites. Lets make this a thread about what we think about the different sites. This is how I broke the industry down for someone I met while shooting the lunar eclipse...

About my pictures. Featurepics.com is the ideal website because they pretty much except all pictures (even my 1600 ISO moon shots) and you can set your own price, royalty free or rights managed license and they keep only 30%. Unfortunately they do not generate sufficient buyer traffic and as you obviously know, on the www it is all about the traffic. I do not know what you mean by how do I get paid. Different stock agencies have different schemes. I usually break down my pictures in 3 categories:
 
1. The best/most unique/spectacular: Very occasional fine art print, rights managed (RM) stock photography on "Photographers direct" very few but high priced sales. Anonymous portfolio because buyers can see your pictures but they have to go through website to contact the artist. I submit to specific picture requests on the same website. I am not very successful probably due to technical requirements, exotic requests, strong competition of professional Photogs. This site is a macro stock site.
 
On to the micro stock sites:
2. Very good pictures of generic interests with brand names or restricted contents (recognizable people in public places, sports teams etc.). Royalty free, editorial use.
Only Shutterstock.com accepts those pictures but they sell quite well if you have good editorial contents BUT only for 0.25 each. Buyers subscribe to the site via subscription (750 pictures/month) so traffic is very high. Initial rush of sales can only be sustained by regular uploading of new contents. ADDICTION potential high - Earning potential also high.
EXTREMELY picky about noise - and I mean it. My highest earner.
 
3. Royalty free microstock
 
Dreamstime.com  50% commission for non exclusives (the best commission rate, decent traffic, fair conditions for buyer and seller)
 
Shutterstock.com $0.25/download very high traffic, good earner, very picky about quality
 
Fotolia.com 33% commission for non-exclusives, good concept but not a lot of traffic, international translations in 8-10 languages. Good acceptance rate.
 
Istockphoto.com the granddaddy of the microstock. Getty owned. Highest traffic of them all. Unfair to non-exclusives - but still worth it. Very tedious and btutal upload process. Last that I subscribed to.
 
General tips for microstock. Microstock if not persued full time is probably only good if you have alot of good images that you are not generating income from - just sitting on your hard drive. Even though the prices you get seems super low - it adds up and something is better than nothing. Keywording is the most important aspect - the buyers have to find the pictures.
I hope that helps.
 

eendicott

« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2007, 08:53 »
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Red_moon - be careful with Photographer's Direct.  They don't allow you to contribute and sell through them if you sell through the micros.  :)

red_moon_rise

« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2007, 09:35 »
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I wonder why I broke down their name in my message.

« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2007, 11:38 »
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I had an issue with Fotolia (not Chad) that was beyond Chad's control - I won't work with an agent that does what they want with my images (this includes continuing to sell my images despite the fact that I asked them to close my account - I couldn't log in but as a customer I could search for them, find them, and buy them).  Again, Chad is a great guy and did everything he could.

eendicott -  I wonder if I could contact you about your problem? Just to see if it is similar to mine at FT. Curious!  8) -tom
« Last Edit: March 15, 2007, 16:00 by a.k.a.-tom »

« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2007, 21:03 »
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Red_moon - be careful with Photographer's Direct.  They don't allow you to contribute and sell through them if you sell through the micros.  :)

The question is: what is a micro? Is ImageVortex a micro? And what about agencies like Featurepics and Paxxion? Some of the new agencies give us the option to set the prices ourselves. To me, that makes a lot of sense, since we can place images of different quality levels at the same agency, but it makes the definition of what is micro and what is not very difficult.

« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2007, 02:36 »
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Well DT is still dead (for me).  Saw their statistics page; a whopping 37,000 images waiting to be approved.  No wonder things are taking so long.  And no wonder they've reduced the number of images people can submit.  Have the price increases caused this rush?

At the same time, the waiting list at IS has declined from 30,000 to 20,000 and I am finding my images being accepted more quickly than ever before.

Interesting.  Coincidence?

At SS my images are being accepted so quickly it's frightening - acceptance usually within hours.  And almost every image is being accepted; out of 80 submissions I have had only 2 declines.  That doesn't tie in with all the stories of difficulty, noise, high rejections etc.

So something is going on.  Or perhaps I am just suspicious in my old age.....

I expect to see price and commission increases at SS and eventually at IS.  Competition seems rife....

eendicott

« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2007, 13:59 »
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I just noticed a small thread on the forum started by Serban that says they are switching around the search algorithm (currently working on it).  In the meantime, they've gone through and used a computer program to "clean up" our keywords.  I've posted my issue with that there but it may be a reason why DT has been "dead" for you.

« Reply #16 on: March 16, 2007, 14:11 »
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I have had a drastic upswing in the same period.  7 -$1.00 sales today and 4 on the 14th, much better than the trickle before. I am surprised.

Lee

« Reply #17 on: March 16, 2007, 14:59 »
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Glad its improving for you Lee.  I've had a quick look at my keywords etc and everything seems fine.  I have been uploading three or four images every day as usual but DT has comnpletely died for me.  Was making what I thought was good progress until about a week ago.

Perhaps its just a phase.

« Reply #18 on: March 16, 2007, 16:50 »
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I dont' have many images online, but I've been very pleased with DT in 07.  I've also had several sales for pix that I've considered removing.  And this week the subscription sales have started to trickle in for me as well - but still mixed with the nice $1.50 sales.  Even sold a Christmas image today.   Definitely not dead for me!

« Reply #19 on: March 16, 2007, 17:20 »
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Well for me it's died.  Dead.  No views, no sales.  Nuffink.

« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2007, 20:22 »
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Red_moon - be careful with Photographer's Direct.  They don't allow you to contribute and sell through them if you sell through the micros.  :)

The question is: what is a micro? Is ImageVortex a micro? And what about agencies like Featurepics and Paxxion?

If you sell your images at microstock prices at FP, you're working in the microstock model.

I have images at high and low price ranges at FP.  I'm thinking of having two accounts there to separate the two portfolios.

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #21 on: March 16, 2007, 21:01 »
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OMG.  A download at DT.  Wonders never cease....

« Reply #22 on: March 17, 2007, 00:08 »
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Red_moon - be careful with Photographer's Direct.  They don't allow you to contribute and sell through them if you sell through the micros.  :)

The question is: what is a micro? Is ImageVortex a micro? And what about agencies like Featurepics and Paxxion?

If you sell your images at microstock prices at FP, you're working in the microstock model.

I have images at high and low price ranges at FP.  I'm thinking of having two accounts there to separate the two portfolios.

Regards,
Adelaide

Still, it's difficult to define. On IV, I have photos ranging from 20 to 150 (I think). 20 isn't really micro, but it isn't macro either. Nobody will buy "whatever-for-the-office" isolated on white background for more than 20$ anymore, and quite rightly so. Shots like that are easy to set up, particularly with a digital camera, and should be cheap. Photographers can hardly be blamed for adapting to realities. Still some do of course, and although they have the right to do so, I find the arguments somewhat out of date some times.

« Reply #23 on: March 20, 2007, 13:18 »
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The curse of the "dead" thread....  Ever since I was raving for DT on the 16 I haven't had a single sale since the 16th...  What did I do???!!!

« Reply #24 on: March 20, 2007, 13:31 »
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I have been getting a sale everyday for the past week though not much just $0.50 - $1.50 a day but i'm happy cos i dont have a big portfolio  :D but i'm dying on BigStock no sale since last week !!


 

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