They need to have not one of the listed DA terms be a possibility - or maybe even the default. In theory the DA could be what makes IS search work better than anything else - in reality it is almost the opposite.

I got .28 for subs in the past, but mostly they have been the standard lately, (and some were at higher levels than their sales suggest).

I have gotten as low as about .18 per credit, generally anything under .25 makes me angry.

I did notice the one EL I got since this latest bit of odd pricing was at the lower end of the payment scale (and level 1). (although now I see that it was the first sale so previously it would have been lvl 0 - so I suppose I should be glad).

I wish that the sites were a lot more transparent about what was paid for the image as well as what we get and why when there is some oddity.

I noticed my levels were off (1 sale = level 2). I can see doing away w/ level 0 and just shifting the level #s.

I sure hope by different they don't mean less, and I hope that this doesn't come with another commission % decrease. Those have been quite damaging to my income in the past (not to mention my morale and feelings about DT).

I hope they get things all sorted out over there and can tell us what is really going on soon (and I  hope it is actually a positive change for the contributors too).

BTW - the images I uploaded mid day Friday were available to be processed on Monday. They still claim the normal 150 ish hour review time though.

I wonder if this will result in more high level sales (which could benefit DT and sellers with high level images). My own sales have not been mostly upper level though.

Maybe DT was trying to fix the deal where they would show a whole string of nearly identical images in the search - then they could start accepting vaguely similar images again.

In any case, thanks for being honest about it and good luck w/ getting it up and running right again.

I have my entire portfolio as P+. It does seem to help with the average return per sale and I never get the .10 or lower sales. Still it in no way makes up for what happened w/ IS in the last 2 years.

For the most part yes, I like them, although I am surprised by some grab shots that sell well. A maximum of return for a minimum of effort is always nice. It is the inverse that frustrates me more.

I am frustrated when I have a rather poor low resolution or poorly isolated pic that sells well and I put some time into making it better, or at least w/ a better camera and better isolation and then "new and improved" version never sells.

There are also lots of pics I quite like that never sell.

I never submit to the free bin, thanks for the confirmation that it was the right choice. (at least based on your data).

I would much rather a site accept more images and deactivate them if they don't sell after a certain period than arbitrarily decide they are LCV or whatever.

I have always been skeptical of free bins that have more than a few images (like a free image of the week or something). I do wonder how much overlap there is between free image takers and buyers though - I'd certainly check the free image section first if I had the time.

Quote from: emeebe on March 02, 2012, 03:53

I finally have some Level 3 files and am getting 84 cent subs... feels good, but I wonder how many sales would come our way if the level system was dropped... would it be more than double? How many 25 a day subscribers would jump ship from Shutterstock to go to Dreamstime? Just things I wonder about...

The levels system is the best thing about DT as far as I'm concerned - rather than decreasing, images seem to sell more often after they hit higher levels

I agree that the levels system is something DT has done right. I would also be sad to turn .38 subs into .35 or maybe even .28 subs (my last 2 were .28).

I've gotten as low as about 18 cents per credit there, but revenue seems to be doing ok after a pretty sad 2010 (the year they dropped commissions so much).

Feb 1-15 sales 0
Feb 16-25 sales 1

an infinite surge. But not really statistically very interesting (or very interesting as far as income goes either). I'm not about to pull my port, but uploading there isn't very high on the priority list either.

The idea of rewarding top contributors is not that controversial or new. Honestly 123RF is more punishing non top contributors though.

Also the store analogy is possibly somewhat apt, but missing something critical. Many stores open w/ new items and do well at first, but at some point a bean counter realizes that it is the normal boring items that actually make the most $, so they gradually devote more and more shelf space to those items. At some point they pass a tipping point and there are no longer the niche interesting items that actually bring customers into the store because they might as well just go to any other store that also has those same high $ return items.

I think this can happen with stock too, when a customer looks for a specific image and can't find it, they go look for it elsewhere. If this happens enough they will switch to where they find the images. This can hurt a place if they don't have the obscure images or if their search is so convoluted or lousy that it can't be found. All the sites will have heaps of business handshakes and smiling lifestyle shots, but if someone needs a specific image and can't find it they will go somewhere else.

12 subs, .25 to 1.65 with the average .53 - I guess I have been pretty lucky w/ only 4 at the lowest level. So far so good for me.

I didn't do excel fu, but I did do a quick eyeball of the sales, and unless 123RF picks up considerably I'll be dropping at least one and probably 2 levels.

I guess it will be nice to earn 50% for another 11 months, hopefully by then sales will have picked up enough so I won't need the lube, but I am doubtful. Nope - not a good way to engender loyalty.

I guess it will be business as usual for a year. If the subs sales are too low after that 123RF might go the way of IS. That would be unfortunate. Look what happened to iS and FT...

Really - keeping me at 50% would provide "stability and predictability" that I  "would appreciate". Not some sort of iStock  RC BS #$%^@$%^

ok, I'll shut up and go away 'til Jan 2013 on this one now.