I've been Emerald for about 2 years now and at some point this rule was enforced that if our images have been set to 2+ credits for the smallest size (which probably every Emerald+ did anyway) but didn't get enough/regular downloads, they will be demoted to 1 credit.

I'm particularly surprised about files that get downloaded fairly regularly but somehow "earned" a 1 credit ranking. I try to monitor them as best as I can to switch them back to 2 asap.

But what I really don't understand is that some of my files that I uploaded 4 or 5 years ago that have only 1 or 2 downloads, still are listed with 2 credits and that can't be right. I mean, I'd contact Fotolia to have it investigated but I'm afraid that it will turn out to be all changed into their favor.

Did anyone else experience something along these lines?

offtopic: click_click is it possible you're the only one with more DLs at DT than FT (judging by your speedometers)?

Quote from: wut on April 19, 2012, 02:38

offtopic: click_click is it possible you're the only one with more DLs at DT than FT (judging by your speedometers)?

When I was on Fotolia it always lagged way, way behind DT for sales, like 10 to 1.

Ooops, I messed it up, I meant DT vs IS (according to speedometers). Funnily, they were always on par for me, in the first year or so sales were identical, I was always getting to the payout at the same time. Now FT is getting me 20-100% more

Quote from: wut on April 19, 2012, 02:38

offtopic: click_click is it possible you're the only one with more DLs at DT than FT (judging by your speedometers)?

No, I have more sales at FT than DT, why would you think that I have more sales at DT than FT?

I messed it up, pls read my previous post

Quote from: wut on April 19, 2012, 05:50

Ooops, I messed it up, I meant DT vs IS (according to speedometers). Funnily, they were always on par for me, in the first year or so sales were identical, I was always getting to the payout at the same time. Now FT is getting me 20-100% more

Oh, so you wanted to know whether I have more sales at DT than IS? I joined IS several years after DT so I'm still in the process of uploading my portfolio at IS. Therefore my speedos are looking funky.

Yes, that makes sense. Because usually the ratio between IS:DT is somewhere between 1:4 and 1:5 (but usually ppl with lots of DLs have lots of images selling at the higher levels so their RPD is a lot better than at IS)

I've been Emerald for about 2 years now and at some point this rule was enforced that if our images have been set to 2+ credits for the smallest size (which probably every Emerald+ did anyway) but didn't get enough/regular downloads, they will be demoted to 1 credit.

I'm particularly surprised about files that get downloaded fairly regularly but somehow "earned" a 1 credit ranking. I try to monitor them as best as I can to switch them back to 2 asap.

But what I really don't understand is that some of my files that I uploaded 4 or 5 years ago that have only 1 or 2 downloads, still are listed with 2 credits and that can't be right. I mean, I'd contact Fotolia to have it investigated but I'm afraid that it will turn out to be all changed into their favor.

Did anyone else experience something along these lines?

Their "demoting" does seem random to me too! I know what you mean. I don't try to understand their system, they are well known to do whatever they please without proper explanations - but yes looking at some other contribotors' portfolios (like Yuri's:)) you see files that's been around for a few years, had a couple of dls and are still in higher price range. On the other hands, I have files with more than a 100 dls that are demoted to "1". Today this one got sold: http://us.fotolia.com/id/838141 78 dls and demoted to a 1 credit ranking.
So whatever system they use, it's either way more complicated than they claim it to be, or totally random.
The thing is I don't understand why they are doing it. As soon as I am able to bump up the price again, the image goes on selling just fine. Lowering the prices doesn't bring more sales. Both the agency and the contributor end up with less money for no good reason; Fotolia claim that they have to bring down prices because of competition doesn't hold water since number of sales are not affected by that; maybe they should rethink their advertising strategy instead.

Quote from: Elenathewise on April 24, 2012, 11:15

... As soon as I am able to bump up the price again, the image goes on selling just fine. Lowering the prices doesn't bring more sales...

I feel the same about that and my experience is also like yours. I bump them back up, a day later they sell, go figure.

I can even understand that a former good seller might have lost its commercial value and begins to sink, so a demotion may be "in order" but why are files that sold twice in 5 years still at a higher level?

Well, like I said noone knows what kind of system they are using, but it's out of our hands anyway. You can ask them why, and they they'd go - oh right, we should be demoting those too...

How do you guys manage to keep track of what images are eligible to be bumped back up?

Lisa, by painfully looking at each recently sold one and seeing if the price can be adjusted...  it's a great way to procrastinate and avoid doing retouching work on new images:)

For top performers this is some sort of masochistic way to get through the day.

I go through the list once a day and that's it. Sometimes it's really worth doing.

I've noticed the same thing. 

Seems like the demoted ones just aren't getting enough views to sell anymore, so I won't be able to bump them back up.

And I'm wondering if something has happened to FT today.  Change in best match?  My FT total so far this morning is down about 80% from a typical weekday.  Anyone else seeing this?  I'm hoping it's just a delay in reporting.

it might be quicker to load your fotolia portfolio and sort by 'popular' and 'most download' and make sure those files are at 2 credits.  You can easily see in the search results what the price is.  That way you are sure to at least update the images which would make the biggest difference in terms of sales.

I didnt see any differance in sales then but now, some time later, I have to admit, sales are way down. I dont know what they are doing really, is it the sale of the company which has an effect or what?
The best match, seems to be just about the same, or is it?
All I know is, during the last 2 weeks, sales are terrible and for no reason?

anybody?

I didnt see any differance in sales then but now, some time later, I have to admit, sales are way down. I dont know what they are doing really, is it the sale of the company which has an effect or what?
The best match, seems to be just about the same, or is it?
All I know is, during the last 2 weeks, sales are terrible and for no reason?

anybody?

Fiddled with the search. Newer uploads are being bumped up to the first pages of the ordinary search. Search any subject in the default setting and mostly images with 41,40 starting digits appear. To see the 'old' best sellers you'll need to change from 'relevance' to 'downloads'. Take a look at this page for Yuri's image:

http://en.fotolia.com/id/17954443

All the 'suggestions' and 'similia' are very recent uploads (and most are neither sensible as 'suggestions' or in any way 'similar').
People must have been complaining that their new uploads just weren't being seen, so they turned everything upside down and show only new work ( thinned down a little by their insertion of 'infinity' images; the price of which only serves to induce apoplectic fits in potential, budget-minded buyers)!