From Sunday to Monday night I "lost" two images.

My DT's portfolio size just went down by 2 images. I have no idea which images were affected and wrote support but DT says that there is a server update issue going on.

Usually I'd understand that if I just had a couple of images approved and I'm waiting for my portfolio size to increase by 2 but I had the opposite happening (obviously without disabling any images).

Then I constantly see that I have new comments (bold pink number in the upper right corner) but there are no new comments once I click on it. I had this issue reported before and the tech department had to fix that problem but it appears to be happening again.

Furthermore downloads have just disappeared. In over 4 years I had my first day without downloads. Additionally the entire performance of DT just went down. I don't know what's happening these days.

It's meant to be a server synch problem that is being put right. They say they havent lost any sales records, that it is just a delay in updating the stats but I wonder about that. The problem started on thursday or friday and when my sales finally appeared a few hours ago they were worse than normal.

+1, but it's just a feeling. My numbers are too low on DT. Lisa could tell.

The delayed sales that are now showing seem about normal to me.

Anyone else see sales plummet after the technical issues that started last Friday?  Each day since the trouble began, my numbers show me down between 50 and 90 percent from previous weeks.  And I'm not saying down from $1 to $.50, which is statistically insignificant... I'm talking down from $30 to $10 a day, or in the worst case the previous two Sundays were in the $8 range and this past Sunday -- in the middle of the reporting problems -- I had one commission for a total of $.35.  My sales there were on a good roll for the past few months, and now they're suddenly in the toilet.  Could buyers have been experiencing technical issues when attempting to buy?

I attempted a couple of image searches for images like "car"and "fabric"earlier today with no results.
I emailed support and approx. 1 hour later the search function worked properly.  If this has been an ongoing problem then that could explain a lack of sales!

I attempted a couple of image searches for images like "car"and "fabric"earlier today with no results.

The search was out for a while. Tangie just announced it was fixed.

I can't help thinking that they've got their pricing architecture seriously wrong for small size images at the higher Levels. Asking 9 credits for an XS image, just because it has sold a few times, is going to look seriously expensive when FT and IS may be selling the same image for just 1 credit.

That's a very good point.

But if correct, is it DT's fault / problem, or our own? Shouldn't we, perhaps, be removing images at Level 5 on DT (and maybe levels 4 and 3) from other sites and make them exclusive to DT? Support their pricing structure by taking away (as much as we can) the possibility of undercutting ourselves?

Not that I've done it, but now that you mention it, I wonder ....

Quote from: gostwyck on February 17, 2010, 10:47

I can't help thinking that they've got their pricing architecture seriously wrong for small size images at the higher Levels. Asking 9 credits for an XS image, just because it has sold a few times, is going to look seriously expensive when FT and IS may be selling the same image for just 1 credit.

That's a very good point.

But if correct, is it DT's fault / problem, or our own? Shouldn't we, perhaps, be removing images at Level 5 on DT (and maybe levels 4 and 3) from other sites and make them exclusive to DT? Support their pricing structure by taking away (as much as we can) the possibility of undercutting ourselves?

Not that I've done it, but now that you mention it, I wonder ....

If it is a problem for people to buy small images at the higher prices there are 1000's of more on the site at the lower price.  If they 'need' the expensive shot - then they will pay for it.

I am very happy with Dreamstime's pricing structure.  I think it offers something for everyone, including the contributor.

I do see Gostwyck's point, however, about the highest level images being a bit pricey compared to other sites.  I would prefer the other sites boost the prices rather than DT lower them

And FWIW, in spite of not uploading to DT the last couple of months my sales there remain pretty steady.

It's just weird that the sales volume has shrunk so suddenly at DT (for me).

I had a real burst, especially the first days of February. Perhaps it's portfolio composition dependent (I don't have Easter shots).

This month I have made so far the earnings as the whole last month.

+1

My guess is that they absorbed part of the former StockXpert buyers. That would explain the glitch with their servers (server load?) too. This is guess is further confirmed by the low number of subs sales at DT this month, as well as by the unusual high number of ODs on SS. It's as if some StockXpert buyers are first testing the waters with credit sales before deciding where to buy a subs package.

Quote from: Xalanx on February 17, 2010, 15:54

This month I have made so far the earnings as the whole last month.

+1

My guess is that they absorbed part of the former StockXpert buyers. That would explain the glitch with their servers (server load?) too. This is guess is further confirmed by the low number of subs sales at DT this month, as well as by the unusual high number of ODs on SS. It's as if some StockXpert buyers are first testing the waters with credit sales before deciding where to buy a subs package.

could be that too and if it is so then most of the StockXpert buyers went to DT because the other agencies are doing normal for me. I'm getting everyday ODs on SS but nothing out of the ordinary in terms of volume. FT is the same too (maybe a bit worse than last month). A bit more I have on 123RF but that's because I'm featured on the frontpage.