MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => Dreamstime.com => Topic started by: tavi on March 14, 2013, 01:21

Title: very low sales
Post by: tavi on March 14, 2013, 01:21
   Hello. I upload to DT and other acencies for a year now. I don't have a professional port and i do it for fun. But, if i look at the stats from the pool, it's clear i have a problem at DT.
   Someone opened a topic about sales/port at SS, and i saw my sales are like many others. So  my images are low sellers, but match with the others that don't shoot professional but only for fun. But at DT,t hey are pathetic, and the numbers are not growing at all. I wonder if it's worth uploading other pictures. Probably it isn't.
   my stats are:
   febr2012       34 pics   1 sale
   march2012    67pics    2 sales
   april2012      103pics   1sale
   may2012      142pics  3sales
   june2012      184pics     0
   july2012       200pics     0
   aug2012       242pics  2sales
   sept2012      307pics  6sales
   oct2012        375pics  6sales
   nov2012       447pics  6sales
   dec2012       515pics  8sales
   ian2013        594pics 7sales
   febr2013       676pics 6sales
   
   Now i have 717pics and so far 3 sales this month. This way. i'll reach payment after 3 years, when i will have probably 2000pics or more. I find it very weird. My acceptance ratio grew up steady at DT, and they have a graph for exposure, witch is  growing also. Two weeks ago i had a file chosen for editors  choice, and it is having lots of views, but 0 dlds.
   At SS and FT the sales are growing with the port, IS was my best for the first 6 months, it's going down, but that's not weird.
   Maybe you can help, maybe i made some mistakes at DT. Thanks
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: JPSDK on March 14, 2013, 02:57
Can we see your port?
Else... Sales are falling at DT, at least mine are.

and its is not all about numbers, its about if the site sells the type of pictures you make, - or if you produce pictures that can sell.

If a picture has many views and not so many sales, its often because it is not unique and there are better ones in the neighbourhood or if it is tweaked off from concept and keywords.
Like if you have a "Bold Eagle" image, and it really is a buzzard.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: fotografer on March 14, 2013, 04:14
Having an image as editors choice doesn't mean sales.  I had an Editor's choice image that never sold and was recently deleted by DT as being a non seller. 
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: tavi on March 14, 2013, 05:10
   No matter how non-cmmercial are my files, a 700 port must sell better than a 300 port. And they are selling on SS and FT. So must be something with DT.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: modviz on March 14, 2013, 06:37
     Now i have 717pics and so far 3 sales this month.

You're describing my February to a "T". 4 sales with approx. 750 images. I actually wrote DT Support to ask them if there could be a problem with their "sales tabulation system". They assured me everything was fine.

March is better. Nothing to write home about but at least back to regular daily sales.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: tavi on March 14, 2013, 06:44
   Ya, except your "february" is my "every month"  :(
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: gillian vann on March 16, 2013, 02:03
   No matter how non-cmmercial are my files, a 700 port must sell better than a 300 port. And they are selling on SS and FT. So must be something with DT.

hmm, except my 300 port outsells yours.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: sharpshot on March 16, 2013, 02:32
It looks to me that DT has lost a lot of pay per download buyers.  Some seem to of switched to subscriptions but I think others have gone to SS and other sites.  All the different pricing levels for pay per download must be frustrating for buyers.  And they have taken away a lot of their choice with the ludicrous similars policy.  Doesn't take a genius to work out why they're struggling in the earnings poll and look like favorites to fall out of the big 4.  I wonder if they're willing to do something about it and if its already too late to stop their decline?
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: aly on March 16, 2013, 02:58
My uploads to DT the past month or so have been mostly rejected so I am not bothering at present as the same pics rejecte dby them are accepted at SS and other. Very disappointing as the sales are also abysmal at DT- what is going wrong?
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: tavi on March 16, 2013, 03:04
   Vannphoto, I was reffering to my own files. I sell now the same as when I had 300 files. I was not reffering to another port of 300.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: fotografer on March 16, 2013, 03:08
  I don't have a professional port and i do it for fun.
In my opinion DT seem more than anywhere else to  reward consistently good portfolios in the search.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: Firewall on March 16, 2013, 05:17
DT is one of my lower earning agencies. So far this month 4 sales with a tiny port of 100.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: gillian vann on March 16, 2013, 05:39
   Vannphoto, I was reffering to my own files. I sell now the same as when I had 300 files. I was not reffering to another port of 300.

ah. I see your point. and given that DT doesn't allow similars your port of 700 is more versatile than anywhere else?

It's a sad thought that I could double my port at DT and not see much difference in sales.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: cathyslife on March 16, 2013, 06:44
Quote
ah. I see your point. and given that DT doesn't allow similars your port of 700 is more versatile than anywhere else?

It's a sad thought that I could double my port at DT and not see much difference in sales.



It happens in microstock. Ask sjlocke and lisafx. Not only have they not seen differences in sales, they have watched sales decline. Every agency and microstock as a whole is kind of a crapshoot.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: tavi on March 16, 2013, 08:11
   Vannphoto, I said that my sales are now the same as when I had 300 files at DT. So with 700 files I sell the same (almost nothing) as when I had 300, some months ago. And that's weird. I didn't compare my port with others.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: mtkang on March 16, 2013, 08:30
dreamstime seems like the only agency who up down a lot and doesn't really grow with my portfolio size..
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: heywoody on March 16, 2013, 11:33
They are not consistent but usually my #2, volumes lower than SS / FT but RPD much better and very occasionally can match SS in $ - this month they are ahead of SS for me.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: disorderly on March 16, 2013, 11:44
DT has been in decline for me for a while.  They were a consistent #3 behind SS and iStock, but over the past two years have dropped to #5 and are now #6, with 123RF, Deposit, and PhotoDune outperforming them.  They're down 16% year over year, and that's with a significant increase in the size of my portfolio.  I don't see any sign of recovery either.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: stockastic on March 16, 2013, 14:17
The whole pace of activity there seems slow.  I uploaded some photos 4 days ago, they still show an estimated 5+ days until review.   Meanwhile they're nibbling at my old,  unsold photos with automatic deactivations.  They recently dumped one that had brought me an EL at SS about 2 days earlier.  The photos they're deleting are niche subjects which were only expected to sell once in a while, which they do on SS, but I guess DT doesn't want those sales and would rather get new business handshakes.

Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: Travelling-light on March 16, 2013, 14:57
The whole pace of activity there seems slow.  I uploaded some photos 4 days ago, they still show an estimated 5+ days until review.   Meanwhile they're nibbling at my old,  unsold photos with automatic deactivations.  They recently dumped one that had brought me an EL at SS about 2 days earlier.  The photos they're deleting are niche subjects which were only expected to sell once in a while, which they do on SS, but I guess DT doesn't want those sales and would rather get new business handshakes.

Why not put your niche photos on Alamy? We sold one for nearly $400 a couple of weeks ago, and another for $250, of which we get half.  If they are just occasional sellers on the micros, you may as well get decent money for them. You would need a lot of micro sales to make up that kind of money.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: stockastic on March 16, 2013, 15:43
Why not put your niche photos on Alamy?

Actually I have, and I am getting a sale there every now and then.  But the prices aren't anything like $400.  My most recent were $24 - I got $12.

Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: Travelling-light on March 16, 2013, 15:54
We get lots of those too, they're still better than micro. We are gradually seperating our files, some for micro, some for elsewhere, depending on how niche they are.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: lisafx on March 16, 2013, 17:52
I have found my sales numbers at DT to be pretty consistent over time.  Recently though, more of them have been subs and fewer OD, which has affected the monthly $ totals. 

Still, for me they are holding up MUCH better than Istock and Fotolia, where I have seen extreme drops. 
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: gostwyck on March 16, 2013, 18:08
I have found my sales numbers at DT to be pretty consistent over time.  Recently though, more of them have been subs and fewer OD, which has affected the monthly $ totals. 

Still, for me they are holding up MUCH better than Istock and Fotolia, where I have seen extreme drops.

I'd agree. Income has held up remarkably well considering that I haven't uploaded to them for a couple of years. The RPD, for what it's worth, is also very impressive. Mine's been rising steadily and is at $2.64 so far this month.
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: tab62 on March 16, 2013, 18:12
$2.64 rpd is very good! Thus tells me quality is top notch...
Title: Re: very low sales
Post by: sharpshot on March 16, 2013, 18:26
My RPD with DT is really low this month thanks to all the subs commissions, just $0.78.  It's $1.11 with SS, thanks mainly to a $120 SOD.  Never thought I could get a higher RPD with SS than DT.