Dropped off a cliff for me so far this month :-(

Me too this August - nada!

I made 2.94$ in July and 9.66$ in August

$1.40 for me so far in August :/

I'm exclusive with DT and my sales have fallen to about a third of what they used to be until a couple of months ago. At first I thought it was because of summer, although last year I didn't see a seasonal decline. Only recently did I realize that the drop coincided with a little change DT made to its search engine: the default buyers now see when they search for images is "Best selling" instead of "Most relevant." I think that benefits mostly old images, which have had time to sell a lot, and I've only been a DT member for a couple of years.

I'm thinking of not only dropping exclusivity, but leaving DT altogether. I really don't have time to upload to many sites, so I'm considering trying to become exclusive at iStock, but I've been doing research and iStockers don't exactly seem like happy campers either, and the announcement that you'll have to ask permission to delete your photos from iStock seems shady as hell... On the other hand, sales have to be better than at DT. I'm just not sure if it's worth the hassle of disabling my 3,000 images at DT (which of course you have to do one by one  ) and starting all over at iStock.

Sigh.

I have to agree. I know everyone has different experience but in general ss is a must. I used to be exclusive with dt also but i never made as much as on SS. If i would be working with one agency then shutterstock. You will get more from it.

Best things of ss is fast review....often witthin hour...
Regular sales.
They approve as good as every subject as long legal, techincal and composition are fine.

Quote from: nycnyc on August 21, 2016, 18:27

I'm exclusive with DT and my sales have fallen to about a third of what they used to be until a couple of months ago. At first I thought it was because of summer, although last year I didn't see a seasonal decline. Only recently did I realize that the drop coincided with a little change DT made to its search engine: the default buyers now see when they search for images is "Best selling" instead of "Most relevant." I think that benefits mostly old images, which have had time to sell a lot, and I've only been a DT member for a couple of years.

I'm thinking of not only dropping exclusivity, but leaving DT altogether. I really don't have time to upload to many sites, so I'm considering trying to become exclusive at iStock, but I've been doing research and iStockers don't exactly seem like happy campers either, and the announcement that you'll have to ask permission to delete your photos from iStock seems shady as hell... On the other hand, sales have to be better than at DT. I'm just not sure if it's worth the hassle of disabling my 3,000 images at DT (which of course you have to do one by one  ) and starting all over at iStock.

Sigh.

Do not become exclusive at Istock.  You will regret that more than DT.  If I were you I would drop exclusivity and get approved at Shuttterstock at the least.  In the whole scheme of things you will make more money with SS than any other micro. Istock has treated contributors horribly and with the new Getty transition you no longer have the option to pick and choose what images you may want to delete later unless there is a legal reason.  The only other way will be to close your account with them.  They have two lawsuits against them with hefty claims that, if awarded as sought, will put them out of business. 

This isn't to say that SS is all peachy.  They are having lots of turnover and technical issues reminiscent of Istock of the last 5-6 years.  They in effect cut commissions on EL's but did allow contributors to opt out, which many did. 

Best of luck in your decision.

I agree to that. Don't even think about Istock I am independent and reached the status of black diamond and I am lucky if I get three downloads per day. About DT I am sure they will be the next agency to fold.

Thanks a lot for your replies, guys. Your feedback is much appreciated! I do have to say I'm kind of surprised by your comments about iStock. As I said, I've done my research, so I knew contributors weren't happy with the way they were treated, but I thought that at least exclusive contributors were making good money. And I thought that because the poll on this site told me so.  Is it terribly outdated or am I missing something?

The polls are only indicators and the n value for Istock exclusives is probably very low. Anyone can post anything, there are no facts to back up what anyone puts in the polls.  There are some exclusives who seem t be doing okay but most I speak with have left exclusivity. There are a lot of threads on the topic of Istock that discusses the frustration of exclusives, except maybe for one or two on this forum who clam exclusivity works for them.

Exclusives work for one rf agency and so use all their energy to it. I believe if someone invest that time only to ss they could be better of. 

There is a thread going there " one month without a sale"  check it out please. The only people shouting bme or good sales are the lower level royalty members. Embarrassing actually since they must take us for complete fools.

There is a thread going there " one month without a sale"  check it out please. The only people shouting bme or good sales are the lower level royalty members. Embarrassing actually since they must take us for complete fools.

But DT royalty levels are by image, not by member/contributor?

There is a thread going there " one month without a sale"  check it out please. The only people shouting bme or good sales are the lower level royalty members. Embarrassing actually since they must take us for complete fools.

I couldn't find the thread, but that hasn't been my case. My sales over the past couple of months have been bad, but not that bad. I've had sales every week, but almost all of them are 42-cent subscriptions and it's not like they are adding up quickly.

But the change in the search engine must benefit some contributors, so I wouldn't be surprised if people who've been at DT a long time have seen a spike in their sales.