Thanks Sharply.   I had already put  a few up and I think I'll see if they go well before I put the rest up .   They've already said that new files will get better placement when the new best match comes into effect so if these don't sell I'lll wait a bit longer.

Are new files getting better placing now?  I have been holiding off most of my images until they do.

If you appeal the review I think that if it is then accepted the original refusal will still count against you  and if you re-submit and it is again refused you will then have another refusal against you.

Appreciate both of your comments.  Can you tell me if appealing reviews is of any use on DT?  I am afraid that my poor acceptance rate in the past may have reviewers giving my stuff greater scrutiny - assume reviewers have this information - I've had some questionable rejections lately but I'm not sure how to appeal or if it is even worth it. 

c h e e r s
fred

I also don't think that forum participation is factored into it as they would be rewarding people that are constantly in the forums complaining or asking questions.
I think that this confusion came about as positive participation in the forums is one of the factors that Serban said is involved in being chosen as featured photographer.

 

I don't think forum participation is a factor though.  I rarely participate in the site forums anymore.  Especially since discovering this group

I so agree with this.  Putting food on the table and paying the bills is by far the most important part of selling my images.  I love DT but they only provide me with half of what my 3rd selling site  produces so until I start losing money I won't go against any of these top sites. At the moment that is not the case with any of the changes that Fotolia has made so far.  I have had 2 of my best earnings days ever this week since the last change at Fotolia so at the moment they have my support.
I made a stand against the overwhelming 25c downloads at crestock by stopping uploading but they made almost no difference at all to my income.

 

Cidepix, I understand your frustration but try to understand for the BIG players it is all about money, if you operate a business selling microstock it is the net profit a site produces that is the most important factor in deciding whether you sell your images via them, having morals and firm beliefs in the way you're treated is all well and good but that doesn't balance your account book, any of the big players will come out and air their opinion about any changes they're not happy with but that's as far as it will go for as long as the site in question gives an adequate return, when that stops happening they'll pull out.

   

Many of us that have commented in this thread are also successful at this and making 100s a month on this site but I still don't agree with most of your points.  Dt doesn't make as much for me as SS, IS and Fot but it comes in as a respectful 4th place. If as you say you are making 100s of $s a month then I don't know why you would be considering leaving.  Downloads are also going down a bit for me at DT but earnings are going up as more and more images reach high level pricing.
And yes I do agree with you about being anonymous

Wow it looks like I've stirred up a hornets nest here, Dreamstime is a popular site amongst contributors no doubt, however my view on sites are not how nicey touchy they are, I do this for a living and I'm very successful at it, I appreciate that many replies here are from those who are looking to make a few bucks each month and as such the friendly side of a site is important, however in business the base line is the only thing that counts I couldn't care less how friendly the management are it's nett profit that is the only important thing for me.

Re FTP - search their forum, just because something isn't happening to you doesn't mean you should dismiss others opinions, there is a problem with FTP there - for some, unfortunately the management at DT take the same dismissive approach as many here.

Re Ellen - Whatever your opinion of her, the fact remains she was brought in because of her reputation in the industry, Dreamstime are a tiny drop in the stock industry ocean, without a 'name' behind them I'm wondering whether they will suffer.

Re the breach - iStock were the only agency professional enough to admit it happened and publicly announced it, full credit to them it's what sets them apart. They weren't the only agency who were targeted and this has been going on for a couple of weeks.

Re the editor - As a professional I want my work reviewed to a high standard, obviously a site like Dreamstime is going to struggle to get a decent reviewer to work for them, if someone knows what they're doing they'll be out there doing it, so I accept reviewers might not be great photographers but what I don't want to see is lack of knowledge of the industry, Dreamstime have employed this guy and I ask what that says about their standards.

As for sales figures, I'm basing my views on a strong growth margin at nearly every site except Dreamstime, for some of you making 10,20 or 50 dollars a month a low percentage drop is not significant, when it gets into hundreds at a time every other site is steadily growing at a time of worldwide recession you'll understand why I said what I did.

As for being anonymous, if you don't understand why then you need a bit more experience in the industry.

For the record I think the folk at DT are nice too, I think the folk at iS are complete a**holes but they are the market leaders, guess which site I prefer 

 

I have never known anybody to get their editing locked for deleting one photo.  I have often in the past deleted photos with no problem.

and if they did not lock your editing if you delete one photo,

Dreamstime didn't have a major security breach.  Istock had a phishing attack on their site and passwords were stolen.  The problem is if people use the same pasword for the different agency then all agency passwords needed changing.  Istock handled it very well but as far as I know the only other agency that took the time to warn their contributors was Dreamstime for which they should be commended.

FOTOLIA 30%
IS           28%
SS          23%
DT          12%
StockXpert          3%
123RF      2%
BS            2%


All in all BME by over 500$ so I am very happy 

i've only ever been hit once by a bad reviewer who refused 5 perfectly good images.  A couple of weeks later I sneaked them into  other batches and all 5 were accepted.

You'll get a lot of help if you post in critique forum before uploading your initial 10. There are a lot of helpful experienced people that will be willing to point you in the right direction as to what exactly is needed to get into SS. I don't know if you know but each time they fail you then you have to wait a month before you can try again so it's definitely worth the effort to get it right first time.
The images take a while to get into the search so if you keep an eye on it constantly you should get time to delete the images before they are seen.
Good luck

I am having my WME this month at 123rf but don't really care as my top 4 sites are all doing extremely well this month and it is already a BME for my overall earnings .