I noticed Fotolia is getting close with Dreamstime for the 2nd place which used to be dominated by Istock.
I am keen on building a portfoilio with Fotolia as lately I feel confident that they will be the one with a new year of sales. Naturally I will have to upload more if I want to see this change as I am not a big player there yet.
Just want to know what you feel if you have been a long timer with Fotolia.
ie. do you feel it's getting hotter ...in downloads...there lately for you?

cheers in advance, and hope your 2009 started as well as mine did in downloads.

No, I don't wish that.  I wished StockXpert would, as they let me opt out subs.  I wish something shakes FT so they have to change something to stop being "the cheapest".  My little contribution is that I stopped uploading.  However I fear they haven't been affected yet.

Regards,
Adelaide

How about both Shutterstock and Fotolia sharing the top ?
Then combine them to be named Fleamart Photos 
Isn't that what it's coming to?   

Pixart, if FT is ahead of DST why would you not want it to be No.2 ?
Adelaide, I like StockXpert too. But being the cheapest may not be a bad thing;
after all isn't that how SS come to stay as No.1 ?

Because DT is civil and treats contributors with respect and answers queries when you have them.
Because DT pays 50%.
Because DT has a well thought out price structure that rewards you for good work.
Because DT has always been reasonable with acceptance.
Because FT starts photographers at what, 30% then escalates their commissions in 2% increments.  When will you reach 50% commission at FT?
Because FT changes their policies without advance notice
Because FT changes policies with no notice at all and you don't find out until you stumble upon it (think rank changes and affilate changes).

I might be wrong, but I still prefer to see DT to grow. Even if they paid the same commission they still treat me as an equal.  You asked.

Quote from: hali on January 14, 2009, 11:01

Pixart, if FT is ahead of DST why would you not want it to be No.2 ?

Because DT is civil and treats contributors with respect and answers queries when you have them.
Because DT pays 50%.
Because DT has a well thought out price structure that rewards you for good work.
Because DT has always been reasonable with acceptance.
Because FT starts photographers at what, 30% then escalates their commissions in 2% increments.  When will you reach 50% commission at FT?
Because FT changes their policies without advance notice
Because FT changes policies with no notice at all and you don't find out until you stumble upon it (think rank changes and affilate changes).

I might be wrong, but I still prefer to see DT to grow. Even if they paid the same commission they still treat me as an equal.  You asked.

Yes, I did ask. Pixart . Thx, Lots of good info to consider. 
But FT could change too in 2009, let's hope     

keep them coming ppl, cheers !

I would not want any microstock site to turn out like IS (I guess other than IS).  But for the top sales spot, I am rooting for Dreamstime all the way.  Dreamstime has my respect out of all the microstock sites.  They seem to understand about putting customers AND suppliers first.

I feel Fotolia has no respect for their contributors.  Sadly, as the microstocks grow it seems to become the norm (except for Dreamstime).  But that is just my opinion and is in no way slander or bad mouthing them.  I am not looking to tear any site down.

I have my own business outside of photography and understand the "squeeze them if you can" mentality.  It�s business; they have the power, so they use it.  If we as contributors found a way to join together and get back our power, it would be different.

In general, I think the sites are starting to settle correctly.  If you look to the right, Dreamstime is moving up, Shutterstock has held steady (and should for good reason), and iStock is dropping (probably from a non-exclusive perspective, if more exclusives put in their comments it would probably be different).

Brandon thanks for your insight.
You may be right about IStock's position being not correct, if most of the exclusives do not take part in the survey. After all , why should they? Isn't it in their self-interest NOT to have Istock be the most uploaded site?

Also, from an objective view, I am sort of disappointed that Fotolia is not one of your faves, and of the others here . I have only recently took an interest with them, and have been getting good results with approvals. I haven't had any sales, but then again, as I said, my portfolio is still "wet behind the ears"...
new born at Fotolia. 
My approvals could also be that I only sent the best ones there, as an initial test to see if the best images get me the quick sale. So time will tell.

Is there no one who is happy to see Fotolia gaining in the polls?
Keep your opinion coming, I do like to hear all. Which is the purpose of this forum. Cheers!

FT was the first site I joined, and I have maybe 30 DL's there since them. It's very low earner for me. DT was always good for me. My good friend is doing great on FT, and DT simply doesn't work for him.

Like many others here, I am rooting for Dreamstime to take the lead. So far this month they are in 1st for me.

4 me 2. That will be the first year, actually. This month DT will be leading 3/2 to SS. And yes, I keep feeding the beast. I had 19 out of 20 approved this afternoon. They're still in the queue at DT.

But Shutterstock is catching up after a slow start.

Not for me. They are OK, but it's just 33c at a time. At DT, it's 1-3$ at every click. Last monday I had 6x the amount on DT than I had on SS. SS is great, but my months of 3 digits (a year ago) there are gone. It must  be the economy. DT suffers too, but less.

Yes Hali, Fotolia has been on the pick up and is chasing DT in total number of Dls.
(not very far off).
I've been with them quite a while and sales there (mine anyway) don't rely on constantly uploading new work, which is good.

The only thing is - acceptance of work has become a bit more difficult.
As you may now, there was some big problems when the site was upgraded last year or so, but now things seem to be getting back on track.

wow, the party is about to begin 
 that's awesome, so many of you coming in to give me your perspective.
i like to know the good as well as the bad. and no, i don't think anyone deserve to be banned from just letting me know how they feel about a certain site.
i hope this topic would bring Fotolia to read about what is being said, so they too could introduce a change to make them more contributor friendly.

so far, i see one good thing about Fotolia,
and that is what you said takestock:  the sales don't rely on constantly uploading new work. i hate to "feed the beast" like so many SS say they have to do on SS.
so, this is attractive to me for Fotolia.
also, if acceptance is a bit stiff lately , i guess i must be doing something right as my approval rate for the past 2 months has been encouraging (90%).

also another thing that you whitechild said:  My good friend is doing great on FT, and DT simply doesn't work for him.
i am doing well on DT for my small port, but i like to think that FT will be the dark horse for me this year and run a great race to overtake all the other 2 that have been selling for me.
i don't like to think that i need to have to rely on one big seller. if it tanks then i am a dead duck. something like what istock exclusives may be thinking, right now.

still this topic is Fotolia, so i hope i see more reasons going for them.
keep it coming . Once again. i knew i could count on seeing all your familiar names here. cheers !

IS was my favorite but in the past two months, FT has generated more income for me than IS.

FT is again outperforming IS this month. I get a bit depressed when I read IS forums because IS seems to become more and more egocentric, while its sales are declining. Perhaps the exclusives get better treatment. On the other hand, how can I trust IS with exclusivity when my port's performance is declining?

I wish both IS and FT well, and hopefully FT will continue its success.

FT does very little for me, slower sales than other sites. I really like istock, even as a non-exclusive. Dreamstime would be my next favorite.

Same for me,exactly. Right now since IS bombed and DT increased they are neck and neck in earnings for the last two months. I hope to see a return for IS, when they were always 45-50% of revenue. I may be a minority but I like them.