MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Dreamstime.com => Topic started by: madelaide on July 10, 2010, 16:55
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Sales have dropped for me, but no subs (knock on wood) and a RPD this month of US$2.96. I wished it could always be like that....
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I've seen a big increase in sub sales. The other sales are usually small or xtra small so they might as well be sub sales too because the pay isn't that much more
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I've seen a big increase in sub sales. The other sales are usually small or xtra small so they might as well be sub sales too because the pay isn't that much more
+1
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^^ +2
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-1
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+1. No, -1. Wait...what am I agreeing to again?? ;)
My average this month at DT is $1.53, so pretty much as usual. I am seeing a lot of subs, unfortunately, but the credit prices for the higher level images are still balancing them out.
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+1. No, -1. Wait...what am I agreeing to again?? ;)
My average this month at DT is $1.53, so pretty much as usual. I am seeing a lot of subs, unfortunately, but the credit prices for the higher level images are still balancing them out.
When several of my images suddenly jumped to Level 3, I was thrilled. Way to go Dreamstime. I haven't sold one of those image since. I sell lots of Maximum Size subscriptions but nearly all credit sales are Small and Extra Small.
Since the beginning of the year, my RPD has been:
Jan 2010 = 52 cents
Feb 2010 = 83 cents
Mar 2010 = 50 cents
Apr 2010 = 54 cents
May 2010 = 66 cents
Jun 2010 = 65 cents
The Thrill is gone! Someone needs to consider changing something at Dreamstime. I'm afraid, however, pride and embarrassment may make admission of failure too difficult. And, how do you go back to the elated subscribers and jerk that goldmine out from under them?
It's a mess. I'm certainly not smart enough to figure it out. Maybe Think Stock will pick up the slack! ::) :-[ >:(
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if it makes you feel better, my rpd dropped from $2.18 when i started this time last year to .33 for this month. even i'm a little shocked. :o
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I saw a nice jump in RPD in Jan, and it's been up and down since. Sales have been pretty flat since Jan, but then I can say that for most of the agencies. Overall, I'm OK with how Dreamstime has been doing for me.
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My RPD for May was $1.72, down to $0.79 for june and is standing at $0.57 for July. Fortunately its still early days, a lot can happen before the end of July.
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Income on DT going down with more photos. RPD going down by the avalanche of subs at max size. Although the recent joiners and people with small ports seem to cheer "BME" every month, many long-term stockers experience a drop.
Is this just a reflection of the bubble of microstock1 bursting further, or is it specific for DT? Whatever, this is not a time to blame or even dump DT. They still have a reasonable acceptance policy and they are in the top 4.
So why not keep supporting DT? Do you think DP, Fresh, Zoonar, Veer offer any viable alternative? Stick with trusted and proven values.
No this was not a product placement. ;D
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1 The bubble in microstock is not an agency phenomenon but a contributor phenomenon. All larger agencies report higher profits and higher volumes. Contributors are confronted with an ever increasing supply of new contributors and they will have to yield market share to those. As Ellen Boughn stated in an interview recently, image supply will become a lower-wage countries business, just like what happened with the production of sneakers.
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So far this month DT have contributed just 8% of my earnings, an all-time low, with an RPD of $1.08. Exactly 50% of my sales this month are via subscriptions.
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As Ellen Boughn stated in an interview recently, image supply will become a lower-wage countries business, just like what happened with the production of sneakers.
Yes, this is an inevitable reality we're all being faced with.
Copycats in lower-wage countries -- and, of course, in EVERY country -- will see what sells well and duplicate those endlessly. Today, microstock images are already a COMMODITY, where lower price wins and only those who supply in high volume will profit. This scenario will become more and more widespread.
But is there another way to survive and even thrive? YES. Don't produce COMMODITY images, those with no creativity involved and those that can be easily duplicated by copycats. Put your brain to work... create imagery that provides a unique perspective, says something about emerging business trends or new issues facing workers, families, the environment, etc. There will ALWAYS be new subjects to cover, and there will ALWAYS be buyers for these images. The first to market with good images that address these needs will profit with early sales, then the copycats will follow.
A small percent of contributors will understand this and remain at the top tier of producers catching a customer's eye with a unique vision and even flashes of brilliance. However, if you're someone who says, "but there are no such ideas left," then you are a commodity and unless you're generating hundreds of images a day, you would be wise to throw in the towel now.
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As Ellen Boughn stated in an interview recently, image supply will become a lower-wage countries business, just like what happened with the production of sneakers.
Yes, this is an inevitable reality we're all being faced with.
Copycats in lower-wage countries -- and, of course, in EVERY country -- will see what sells well and duplicate those endlessly. Today, microstock images are already a COMMODITY, where lower price wins and only those who supply in high volume will profit. This scenario will become more and more widespread.
But is there another way to survive and even thrive? YES. Don't produce COMMODITY images, those with no creativity involved and those that can be easily duplicated by copycats. Put your brain to work... create imagery that provides a unique perspective, says something about emerging business trends or new issues facing workers, families, the environment, etc. There will ALWAYS be new subjects to cover, and there will ALWAYS be buyers for these images. The first to market with good images that address these needs will profit with early sales, then the copycats will follow.
A small percent of contributors will understand this and remain at the top tier of producers catching a customer's eye with a unique vision and even flashes of brilliance. However, if you're someone who says, "but there are no such ideas left," then you are a commodity and unless you're generating hundreds of images a day, you would be wise to throw in the towel now.
A well thought out, well written post. And, thought provoking. For me, I think you nailed it. Where's that blue heart? :)
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It's weird, there is no complain on the Dreamstime forums ;)
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Most of the people commenting on the DT forums lately are new contributors. They are excited when they get their first sale or when they finally reach 50 uploads. They are cheerleaders, for a short time. If you go to their portfolios they have few sales. The heavy hitters seldom chime in.
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It's weird, there is no complain on the Dreamstime forums ;)
No complains of course, there's a frenzy down there. (http://blog.dreamstime.com/2010/07/06/what-do-you-like-most-about-dreamstime-_art32831)
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Most of the people commenting on the DT forums lately are new contributors. They are excited when they get their first sale or when they finally reach 50 uploads. They are cheerleaders, for a short time. If you go to their portfolios they have few sales. The heavy hitters seldom chime in.
Of course. If you have a comment that goes beyond cheering, you get a (private) comment back from people at high places.
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No complains of course, there's a frenzy down there. ([url]http://blog.dreamstime.com/2010/07/06/what-do-you-like-most-about-dreamstime-_art32831[/url])
Somebody is so excited that DT can read EXIF and IPTC. "Sales better than other sites" (member since 2007, 405 uploaded pics, 92 sales). :o ;D :-[
Right on track!
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It's weird, there is no complain on the Dreamstime forums ;)
No complains of course, there's a frenzy down there. ([url]http://blog.dreamstime.com/2010/07/06/what-do-you-like-most-about-dreamstime-_art32831[/url])
LOL that's a epic back kiss
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Well, I am not complaining (and got US$3.50 on another sale today), as I am not having those subs sales at the moment, only nice credit sales. If this trend continues, I may get slightly more than last month, but even if just around the same, I am happy for the no subs period (almost 3 weeks now).
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^^ I also had a good sale last week, $2.63. That raised my RPD for July up to $1.06. ::)
PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
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PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now.. :D
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Well... I am sure that THEY are WATCHING this ;-)
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Dreamstime consistently beat IS and SS for me in earnings by quite a large margin. I do extremely well in the searches there which explains it. The only other place I do well in the searches is Fot which is by far my best earner. Position in searches is everything in this game assuming that you can produce images as good as most people. Working out little tricks to get good search placement is as important as producing good images. In IS it's impossible because of all the exclusive images and SS I don't produce enough to keep my image up at the top.
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double post
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DT seems to do constantly good for a very limited amount of people. And those people are most likely all of them in this business since a long time, 4-5 years perhaps. However, for most of the contributors (and that includes a very large number of experienced / full-time / big portfolio contributors) Dreamstime it only gets worse as the time goes by. They seem to have had their time and now they're just home for hobbyists and cheerleaders.
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It's a yo-yo ride at DT for me. Most of my sales are subs and after a few years, I've still actually done a payout. Of course, it would probably help if I stopped converting earnings into credits to buy stuff for my blogs and web design business. I am finding that the more I upload the more I sell, which is of course a "DUH" kind of deal.
I have also noticed, that once I hit level 2 on an image, it pretty much stops selling, except for subs. Which sort of make sense since I only buy level 1 images myself, the credit cost is too high otherwise (from a buyer's perspective).
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Dream is over. Had a subs sale today.
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Dream is over. Had a subs sale today.
yeh a lot of subs but I have faith on them! :P
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I have totally lost faith on them!
A. lot of subs.
B. massive rejections.
C. perhaps the longest waiting time to review images.
D. revenue down 62% compare to Feb 2009, with large Portfolio and continue uploading.
Joined the 4 site, IS, SS, FL, DT, at same time, sales and revenue are at the same level untill Feb 2009.
Now Dreamstime is way behind IS, SS and FL, and getting worse.
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I have totally lost faith on them!
A. lot of subs.
B. massive rejections.
C. perhaps the longest waiting time to review images.
D. revenue down 62% compare to Feb 2009, with large Portfolio and continue uploading.
Joined the 4 site, IS, SS, FL, DT, at same time, sales and revenue are at the same level untill Feb 2009.
Now Dreamstime is way behind IS, SS and FL, and getting worse.
I get you.. My revenue is up but they are my 5th after 123RF
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As Ellen Boughn stated in an interview recently, image supply will become a lower-wage countries business, just like what happened with the production of sneakers.
Yes, this is an inevitable reality we're all being faced with.
Copycats in lower-wage countries -- and, of course, in EVERY country -- will see what sells well and duplicate those endlessly. Today, microstock images are already a COMMODITY, where lower price wins and only those who supply in high volume will profit. This scenario will become more and more widespread.
But is there another way to survive and even thrive? YES. Don't produce COMMODITY images, those with no creativity involved and those that can be easily duplicated by copycats. Put your brain to work... create imagery that provides a unique perspective, says something about emerging business trends or new issues facing workers, families, the environment, etc. There will ALWAYS be new subjects to cover, and there will ALWAYS be buyers for these images. The first to market with good images that address these needs will profit with early sales, then the copycats will follow.
A small percent of contributors will understand this and remain at the top tier of producers catching a customer's eye with a unique vision and even flashes of brilliance. However, if you're someone who says, "but there are no such ideas left," then you are a commodity and unless you're generating hundreds of images a day, you would be wise to throw in the towel now.
Excellent post.
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But is there another way to survive and even thrive? YES. Don't produce COMMODITY images, those with no creativity involved and those that can be easily duplicated by copycats. Put your brain to work... create imagery that provides a unique perspective, says something about emerging business trends or new issues facing workers, families, the environment, etc. There will ALWAYS be new subjects to cover, and there will ALWAYS be buyers for these images. The first to market with good images that address these needs will profit with early sales, then the copycats will follow.
But if someone is able to create fresh unique creative imagery, why would he sell them at microstock prices? I have some images that I consider unique, those are the ones I sell at RM agencies...
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PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now.. :D
No you don't get fired. Achilles has a big handle next to his desk and he will push it far down for your account. Every mark on the stick means one page behind in the search results. I'm not kidding, I had a revelation about this from an angel in my sleep last night and he had a green swirl (http://www.dreamstime.com/favicon.ico) on his head. ;D
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PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now.. :D
No you don't get fired. Achilles has a big handle next to his desk and he will push it far down for your account. Every mark on the stick means one page behind in the search results. I'm not kidding, I had a revelation about this from an angel in my sleep last night and he had a green swirl ([url]http://www.dreamstime.com/favicon.ico[/url]) on his head. ;D
I thought of this several times, because of Achille's behaviour in a number of issues we had. And here on MSG as well.
However, I believe it is not so. There is no preferential search placement. If searching for "schoolboy" - a common term, I have several images on first page. Now, its obviously that I'm at the bottom of Achille's and his groupies' preference list. So the images are found and displayed. Which leads to only one conclusion - Dreamstime is not able to market our photos properly. This is a sad things, since they dropped from a very good position right to the bottom.
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PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now.. :D
No you don't get fired. Achilles has a big handle next to his desk and he will push it far down for your account. Every mark on the stick means one page behind in the search results. I'm not kidding, I had a revelation about this from an angel in my sleep last night and he had a green swirl ([url]http://www.dreamstime.com/favicon.ico[/url]) on his head. ;D
LOL....I retract my statement with a new one....
"Dreamstime is the greatest site I've even had the honor to partake in. It is the easiest to upload to and they only let the best through. I make $100,000.00 a month and it increases every month. I just love them...they are the best of the best..... the reviewers are the kindest people I know"
You think I just got catapulted to the top?? ;D
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PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now.. :D
No you don't get fired. Achilles has a big handle next to his desk and he will push it far down for your account. Every mark on the stick means one page behind in the search results. I'm not kidding, I had a revelation about this from an angel in my sleep last night and he had a green swirl ([url]http://www.dreamstime.com/favicon.ico[/url]) on his head. ;D
LOL....I retract my statement with a new one....
"Dreamstime is the greatest site I've even had the honor to partake in. It is the easiest to upload to and they only let the best through. I make $100,000.00 a month and it increases every month. I just love them...they are the best of the best..... the reviewers are the kindest people I know"
You think I just got catapulted to the top?? ;D
NOPE .... RolMat has a stick too. He has no sense of humor. ;D
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PS: I'm not sure if DT has any rules about posting numbers on here? ??? ???
If that was the case then we'd all been fired by now.. :D
No you don't get fired. Achilles has a big handle next to his desk and he will push it far down for your account. Every mark on the stick means one page behind in the search results. I'm not kidding, I had a revelation about this from an angel in my sleep last night and he had a green swirl ([url]http://www.dreamstime.com/favicon.ico[/url]) on his head. ;D
LOL....I retract my statement with a new one....
"Dreamstime is the greatest site I've even had the honor to partake in. It is the easiest to upload to and they only let the best through. I make $100,000.00 a month and it increases every month. I just love them...they are the best of the best..... the reviewers are the kindest people I know"
You think I just got catapulted to the top?? ;D
NOPE .... RolMat has a stick too. He has no sense of humor. ;D
Oh come on, I really do! :-)
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^^ ROFL... welcome.
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Glad to say, Im seeing an increase in sales at DT and pretty good prices as well.
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I'm having an awful month on DT. Half month over and it looks like I'll be down 60% at the end of the month. I have to add that July was my best match of the year though.
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DT is chugging along nicely for me. In fact, they and SS are the most consistent sites I contribute to. Sales may gradually go up and down, but never seem to fall off a cliff like they have at IS this month. Wish every site was as reliable for me!
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Oh come on, I really do! :-)
Yes he does! You can see it by the grin on his face when he walks with all those Champaign bottles or when he gets stuck between the keys on his keyboard.