Mays was bad for me, June was ok (and one EL really paid my fes subs losses), now in July I'm seeing more subs sales again, but then another EL made my month.

I would still love to be able to opt-out. Today I sold an image at StockXpert, making US$2.50, the same image that made me give up on subs there when it was dld'ed four times as subs.

Regards,
Adelaide

http://microstockpix.com/supplies/page7/page7.html

Cranky MIZ
The voice of reason

Things are slow this time of year anyway. It's natural for subs sales to be the one thing people will keep up with (given the use it or lose it nature of the beast). So it doesn't surprise me to see the percentage of subs sales rise.

The problem is that the volume is about the same as last July, when there were no subs. If the subs meant a rise in volume, things would have been much better, but volume isn't going up, and I believe the reason is very simple: the clients don't need more photos if the prices go down. Reducing prices in a market that is more or less constant will get us nowhere. Somebody haven't done their homework.

I had a BME in June and my average sale was $0.92.  Sub sales are a concern but they do help push up the regular sales prices.  While DT is still one of my favourie sites, I would like to see them StockXpert, SV and Crestock raise their subs prices after the SS raise.

Noticing the same phenomenon. Sub sales are increasing consistently in July. Even if June was my BME on DT, it still had around 15% more sub sales than May. In July the RPD dropped from 1.10 to 0.76.

I had a BME in June and my average sale was $0.92.  Sub sales are a concern but they do help push up the regular sales prices.  While DT is still one of my favourie sites, I would like to see them StockXpert, SV and Crestock raise their subs prices after the SS raise.

Dreamstime has already announced a sub commission increase.  35 cents per sale, 42 cents for exclusive photos. 

It's interesting. I'm down to $0.65 per DL so far this month, while it was $0.89 in July last year, which I considered bad, since I was usually over one dollar. As mentioned earlier, my main problem is with the vectors, which are mostly sold as subs now, while they earned up to 4 or 5 dollars per DL earlier. There are lots of nice vectors at DT, so ad agencies etc. can probably save a lot on a subscription there, but that doesn't help those who create the vectors.

And while I'm sitting here complaining and whining, I have a BDE at DT (ELs not included), bringing the earnings per DL up to 0.88 and the earnings this month right up behind IS and FT, go figure   

I don't see any 35 cents subs sales yet - I'm getting either 30 cents, 25 cents or 21 cents (those partner sales).

I think what makes DT's subs problematic - other than the lack of an opt-out - is that there is no limit on the size or level of the image you get. It's all very well to say that you're helped to the next level by the subs sales, but that (a) appeals much more to people with all level 1 images than someone with lots of higher level images and (b) doesn't help you at all if all the sales are subs.

DT's performance (for me) this month is dead last - lower than even 123rf, and that's really saying something as the latter's not having a good month. Volume is low and proportion of subs sales is much higher. This from the agency that once was a reliable #3 performer month after month after month.

If you take the major players - I think it's a big 5 as I can't see why 123rf is listed on the right as comparable to the others - DT has the worst subscription program of the 4 in that group who offer both subscriptions and credit sales.

With SS, as it's subs only, people can submit only downsized images (as many people have reported doing when they don't want 20+ MP images going on the cheap). You can also omit vectors if you want to sell those only at higher prices.

With the mixed model sites you can't do that as you cut off your credit sales, but StockXpert and IS offer an opt out and FT limits the size to Large (I don't count their opt out as it's exclusive images only).

DT is the only one that has no limits and no opt out. So I think you could make the case that it's the least appealing of the bunch. You can't count exclusive subs prices as that's only available if you give up everywhere else, but 35 cents is hardly exciting - 123rf has been offering that for a very long time. And partner sales will reduce that to something quite a bit less (25 cents perhaps).

Was it a subs for sure, or a level I XS? 

I try to keep track of numbers and it's hard to tell on DT what is what sometimes.