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Author Topic: Dreamstime is on a roll  (Read 11326 times)

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Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« on: October 21, 2015, 05:02 »
+7
[rant] A bad roll, unfortunately. I think my weekend reviewer from Shutterstock quit and moved to Dreamstime. Rejections for too simple, poorly executed, too similar (Christmas vs. Hanukkah...yeah, they're definitely the same holiday), auto tracing (I don't auto trace anything), blah blah blah. At least Shutterstock gives me decent sales. Dreamstime is just annoying.[/rant]


« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2015, 05:12 »
+2
O dear - I know people don't like the similars policy but I've always found DT to be one of the fairer reviewers - lets hope its just a blip.

« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2015, 06:01 »
+5
DT thinks my SS bestsellers are too simple. So I quit them.

« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2015, 06:50 »
+4
I never understood the "similar" policy. Unless they are trying to cut cost by reducing server space requirements? It had felt like that policy was relaxing until my last submission where it came back with a vengeance. I have been bitten by them choosing the weakest of a set. From now on I will try to wait until I have 3-4 shoots,  sub a few from each shoot, best first.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2015, 07:52 »
+5
Their rejection says your files will compete with each other, but I've found the opposite to be true. One buyer will license a bunch of what Dreamstime considers my "similar" images on SS, resulting in multiple sales for me instead of one.

Fotolia also still rejects vectors with greek copy in place, explaining that their buyers are designers and will place the copy themselves. But again, I've found the opposite to be true. My images with greek copy in place far outsell the ones without, because it makes it easier for designers. They can see exactly where a block of copy will work and just delete my greek copy and replace it with theirs. Simple.

If designers wanted to do it all themselves they wouldn't bother with stock images.

« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2015, 16:04 »
+1
[rant] A bad roll, unfortunately. I think my weekend reviewer from Shutterstock quit and moved to Dreamstime. Rejections for too simple, poorly executed, too similar (Christmas vs. Hanukkah...yeah, they're definitely the same holiday), auto tracing (I don't auto trace anything), blah blah blah. At least Shutterstock gives me decent sales. Dreamstime is just annoying.[/rant]

lol, that is funny . well, we'll see, in a couple of weeks. if ss forum comes out happy and pink flowers
cheering for their new work being properly reviewed and most approved, it will mean you guessed right.
in that case, the rogue reviewer from ss must have been fired or decided to taste fresh roadkill
after the spell of massacre during working as a reviewer for ss.

i hope you are right, because they can reject 100% of my dt work and it won't hurt me at all as dt has been sleeping, no, correct that to read comatose for a long time already.

mcp

« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2015, 06:06 »
+5
Can we rename them Wasteoftime?

Sales are utterly abysmal at DT (one month of DT is one day on SS - even with SS in decline).

« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2015, 06:49 »
+1
With the same sales they become a nightmare to submit. I upload by FTP, but then - submit only if i watch something on tv, their server is like a snail

MxR

« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2015, 07:07 »
+1
Two big problems:

- They never reply any support mail.

- impossible edit photos in batch.

Time is gold!

ACS

« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2015, 07:29 »
0
I thought that similars policy was over/eased?! When some rivals started to accept almost everthing, this is nonsense. This doesn't offset the extra dollars coming because of the image levels system, I think.

« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2015, 11:51 »
0
I thought that similars policy was over/eased?! When some rivals started to accept almost everthing, this is nonsense. This doesn't offset the extra dollars coming because of the image levels system, I think.

It seams, they don't care about rivals. I just got an answer to my email, asking if they are still in business because sales stopped for me.
The answer was:
"If you keep increasing and diversifying your portfolio you will increase your exposure."

 They also said that they are approaching to 40 million images in their library and they increase it with roughly one million images per month. That is plenty, I think. No need to accept similars, unfortunately.


« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2015, 13:01 »
+1
Darkly amusing,  but I don't care. DT has fallen to my least downloads & least profitable site; so whether they accept or deny, it all comes down to sales.
I submit to 4 sites (with an average of only 350-400 images in each), and here they are, in order of sales (money, not downloads):

Fotolia:(Gaining over SS for several months, and  so far this month (10/22) 30% more sales than SS!
Shutterstock : slip slidin' away. And yeah, much tougher (and wildly inconsistent) reviews.
Bigstock - And let me just say, BS is pretty tiny, but more than...
Dreamstime 1 or 2 sales a week, right now - and they have more of my files than any of the others.

This is only my 4th year of shooting stock, and I marvel at how the game has changed in that short time. I'll bet it's even more head-spinning for those of you that have been doing it for much longer.

Hongover

« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2015, 13:46 »
+1
I've ran into multiple instances where they rejected my images for being "too simple". Not to mention rejections for images that are "too similar" even thought they're quite different in content.

But here's a trick to get pass their review team. Don't submit "similar" images in the same batch. Let them approve one batch and then upload your other similar image in another batch. You'll get a different reviewer who has no knowledge of the previous batch. I've gotten some things through that way.

But regardless of what goes though, the sales are pretty dismal compared to IS, FT & SS. I don't upload to DT anymore because the amount of time required to upload and create metadata generates far less ROI than the same amount of time invested in other sites.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2015, 13:48 by Hongover »

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2015, 13:51 »
+3
Their vector reviews have been absolutely crazy the last couple if months. I get the impression that once you get a couple of rejections the reviewer gets a hard on for rejecting your stuff and you are shafted for a few weeks. It's been really annoying me lately. Definitely feels like you always get the same reviewer/ team.

« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2015, 13:51 »
0
I think they have software that does a keyword match, canstock has that as well

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #15 on: October 22, 2015, 13:57 »
0
They seem to be looking excuses to reject though. Rejecting things that clearly have different uses because they share some elements

« Reply #16 on: October 22, 2015, 14:36 »
+3
On some rejections, the reviewer advised me to make a collage of all similar images (there were 3) and submit it as one.
I can't do that as long as I submit them separately to other agencies but I've seen some contributors are okay with this.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #17 on: October 22, 2015, 14:42 »
+3
If it were Shutterstock asking for collages or whatever, it might be worth the time. But to have a different upload process for DT just doesn't seem worth it. Not enough sales to justify the added time.

« Reply #18 on: October 22, 2015, 15:18 »
+4
I uploaded 2 similars, DT rejected the good image and accepted the much weaker version for being too similar. I wrote and asked them to let me keep the stronger image instead, and I, or they, could remove the weaker version from my portfolio. They refused. so I deactivated the weaker image out of frustration. All I was asking for was the opportunity to use my own judgement as to which of the two images was best, but they couldn't even give me that. I've been with them since 2004, and they still think I'm too stupid to form my conclusions. Sometimes I think they just want us to feel weak and powerless.

« Reply #19 on: October 22, 2015, 15:42 »
0
In a previous thread posted a response i got from DT a few weeks ago when i got flustered that i had my 4th straight month of 50% of my normal monthly income. Their response was that they have made a recent and permanent change to their search to redistribute income more fairly for everyone. No longer about merit and differentiation. Its about taking your income and sharing it with others, regardless of their quality, lingevity, committment, creativity, investment, etc.

Socialism at its finest.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #20 on: October 22, 2015, 15:48 »
+1
Stupidity, really. The reason images rise in the search is quality and usability. If you penalize contributors who provide high quality images people feel are worth using, you'll lose those high-quality contributors. DT certainly isn't in a position where they can afford to do that.

Hongover

« Reply #21 on: October 22, 2015, 16:30 »
+1
Despite what many people want to believe, socialism is bad. Dreamstime is a good example of it.

« Reply #22 on: October 22, 2015, 19:09 »
+1
Typical DT blip (for me at least). A week of robust, healthy buying and then
next to nothing for the next month. Same old, same old.

« Reply #23 on: October 22, 2015, 20:49 »
+1
Their rejection says your files will compete with each other, but I've found the opposite to be true. One buyer will license a bunch of what Dreamstime considers my "similar" images on SS, resulting in multiple sales for me instead of one.

...
And even if they did compete with each other why would that matter? Still at least the same number of sales for you.

« Reply #24 on: October 25, 2015, 08:51 »
+2
Despite what many people want to believe, socialism is bad. Dreamstime is a good example of it.

I agree with the first part but I wonder, how do you know that? Have you ever lived in socialism? I've spent a big part of my life in socialism and I'm thankful it is gone but I can tell you for sure, socialism means (before anything else) people and their lack of attitude. People who are afraid to speak out loud, people who turn the other cheek, people who kiss the hand that beats them. There never was equity among people in socialism (or anywhere else).

I can see lots of such people from all over the word on these forums. Just take a look at the "new preview image" thread at SS and read all the flattering thanks (for nothing): "Thank you for listening; the new watermark is much better (when it's not); a step in the right direction".......
They are all lying because they are afraid to speak out. What are they thanking for? This (false)humble, demagogic attitude is characteristic to socialism but it is present everywhere among humans.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2015, 08:58 by Dodie »


 

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