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Messages - Kone
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251
« on: March 29, 2010, 14:40 »
I still don't see the point in all the "details" We get paid like authors; if Tom Clancy gets paid $million from writing a book, does he care how much came from the sales of hardbacks and how much from paperbacks?
As long as my sales at DT continue to rise as they have since subs changes, I think I would be foolish to worry about exactly how each sales was made. I would be better off spending my time trying to make better images 
That is true also, however, as I said earlier I would like to find the reason why my sales have gone down. If I find out that Dreamstime is the reason for my decline, I will put them down in my priority list and make another agency as my favorite, for example FT. They were way behind DT, but now they are in third place as my favorite instead of DT. The better one is the one that sells more. I look through their photos and I try to take photos of those images that I think would sell well though that agency. It is still good to know a little bit of everything, it can only help you it can't hurt you. Kone
252
« on: March 29, 2010, 08:39 »
Yes, you can.
But it requires lots of work and constance: results will come in the end.
Truth.
253
« on: March 28, 2010, 22:53 »
I am surprised that some people go to such detail! Well done. Some buyers can count.
Does it mean that if a customer purchases a monthly package (let's assume they download 300 images), they would pay $129, but Dreamstime gets $0.43 per image for maximum-size level five. So this explains my subscription-maximum-level two $0.30. But how do you explain subscription-maximum-level four $0.70 (in my case) or how Lisa got $1.25 for her image sold, is it level five? Are you saying that the agency limits customers to download a maximum of 3 images max-size? First of all, this simulation is done from a buyers' viewpoint. A buyer doesn't care who gets what commission and whether the scheme is viable or not for the agency in the long run. He wants value for money and he just has to look at http://www.dreamstime.com/credits and use his brain.
A sub sale of a level 5 image counts for 3 downloads (any size) an a sub sale of a level 4 image counts for 2 downloads (any size). See here: http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_18104. With the 129$ subs package (10 downloads per day), a buyer can download 2 max size level 5s per day, and 2 max size level 4s (3+3+2+2=10). In a credit package, a small size level 4 is 9 credits, and a small size level 5 image is 11 credits.
A custom credit package of 129.27$ (http://www.dreamstime.com/credits, fill in 129$, click "calculate") gives 139 credits. Those 139$ give you 14 images, half of it level 4, half level 5, at small size. (7x9) + (7x11) = 63 + 77 = 140 credits. This means that after 4 days only, a subs buyer breaks even, compared with a custom credit buyer. Subs: 4days x 4dl = 16 images (maximum). Credits: 14 images (small).
Now a months has 30 days, which is more than 4. Imagine the subs buyer only buys 4 days per week, there are still 17 days left he buys. His profit is huge. Not to mention he has access to the max sizes and in the credits hypothesis, he would only have small. Of course, this scheme has a few assumptions: the buyer needs high-impact images on a regular basis. His needs may vary, so he can buy by credits 2/3 of the year, and switch to subs (even for 1 month) when the need is there.
It's all just simple math and correct me if I'm wrong. It is not site defamation, since DT must be aware too of this perverse effect of the level system combined with subs.
----------------
About subs threads being blocked on DT, this is a perfect commercial decision. The DT forum is accessible to buyers too, and they do read it. Disgruntled threads about subs might scare them off or make them worried about the future of that program, especially when they are subs buyers or considering becoming it. It would be counterproductive to the marketing efforts of DT. On a site forum, we have to present a uniform professional positive face to (potential) customers. I would never post a message like this on the DT forum since it might awaken sleeping dogs (customers). We have a common goal with the agency, and that is sales. Customers don't read these independent forums, unless they are contributors themselves, so we can digress a bit...
I have no idea what you are talking about. No, just kidding, thanks for details on this. LOL Maybe you should modify this post (delete). Kone
254
« on: March 28, 2010, 12:05 »
I wish there would be a size limit on subs. 100% agree.
I posted a message on DT's forum quite a while back, asking if DT couldn't consider limiting the size of sub sales.
The thread was removed within an hour, with no warning or notice. I said nothing at all negative or derogatory, it was simply a suggestion.
That was the last post I made (or shall ever make) on their forum. 
I don't start threads or post very often but what you are saying is the partly reason that I almost never visit agency forums
255
« on: March 28, 2010, 11:34 »
The subs on DT don't bother me so much, especially since they implemented the graduated scale for subs of different levels. I have had sub sales as high as $1.25 there. I wish all the sites would do something similar rather than the all-you-can eat buffet. I wish there would be a size limit on subs. At the moment, large sizes of level 5 images are far too expensive, and I noticed a trend towards XS downloads for level 4-5 images (9 credits for xsmall). I have the suspicion that former credit buyers switched to subscription (even for 1-2 months) since they can grab the maximum size of the higher level images for peanuts.
For instance, a custom credits pack of 129$ gives 139 credits, or 15 xsmall level 5 images. For the same sum as a subs package 1 month 10 downloads per day, a buyer has 300 downloads or 100 downloads (level 5 count as 3 subs downloads) at maximum size.
This seems to be a pervert side effect of the level system that can be exploited easily by clever buyers: limiting themselves to level 5 images (which are exceptional or unique), they can have 6 times more of those images at maximum size than at xsmall size credit sales. 
Refs: http://www.dreamstime.com/credits and http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_18104
I am surprised that some people go to such detail! Well done. I am a bit confused now. Does it mean that if a customer purchases a monthly package (let's assume they download 300 images), they would pay $129, but Dreamstime gets $0.43 per image for maximum-size level five. So this explains my subscription-maximum-level two $0.30. But how do you explain subscription-maximum-level four $0.70 (in my case) or how Lisa got $1.25 for her image sold, is it level five? Are you saying that the agency limits customers to download a maximum of 3 images max-size? Did I just confuse you? Kone
256
« on: March 27, 2010, 16:53 »
About 30% of my sales are subs this month, one at 70c, but then there were some good credit sales, such as one earning me US$6.
But I still wished I could opt out from subs. 
Yea, they don't have that option
257
« on: March 27, 2010, 16:45 »
Oct 09 $1.24 Nov 09 $1.26 Dec 09 $1.27 Jan 10 $1.00 Feb 10 $1.84 Mar 10 $1.53
Thanks. Are you having more and more $0.26, $0.35 and $0.70 lately? (probably not, your RPD is OK)
258
« on: March 27, 2010, 16:38 »
My sales have been on the rise lately, and I have a small oddball portfolio on DT. I requested a payout last week, and they did it promptly. They're still my favorite agency.
Pat
Very good. By the way Dreamstime link doesn't work. Kone
259
« on: March 27, 2010, 10:06 »
My stats show me:
DT Best month ever (May 2009): $293 with 1190 images -> RPI $0.25
Last month (february 2010): $193 with 1600 images -> RPI $0.12
The first time I hit $193 (March 2008, $201) with 746 images -> RPI $0.27
Change from July 2007 to february 2010 (jul 07 is the first month when I started keeping statistics over the amount of images I have): Revenue $140 (Jul 2007) -> $193 (Feb 2010) Equals to +38% Images 561 (Jul 2007) -> 1600 (Feb 2010) Equals to +186%
These numbers are very harsh. And it looks definitely like DT is dying. I hope they fix it soon, they were my favorite agency before they changed their royalty rates. (Now I don't have a favorite, I hate them all!)
Hi Perry, Thanks for the detailed information honestly I did not calculate the RPI I calculated the RPD. I don't hate anybody I am just doing my job. Photography is my only income source and microstock is taking bigger part. The economic situation at the moment is where it is so that maybe a big factor as well. Kone
260
« on: March 27, 2010, 10:01 »
Have you noticed that there are more and more $0.35 and even $0.27 lately? Sudden shift to subscriptions (Thread on DT forum) Answer from Achilles:
Paul, as mentioned in my previous post there may be other factors that contributed to your decline in revenue. Lower resolution could be an explanation or dillution via similars, change of the search engine or many others. While we monitor accounts in various ways, it's impossible to keep earnings growing at BME levels in every month for everyone. It's our goal, but various factors may contribute in ups and downs.
I suggest to check your quarterly earnings and see how revenue and downloads fluctuate. That graph is way more relevant for everyone's experience and should clear your worry about sudden shifts.
PS: a green curve above the blue curve represents a mature portfolio with a good RPD. The bigger the gap, the better the quality factors of that portfolio. Blue curve above green curve usually means new portfolio (or growing very fast), high number of similars or lower quality factors compared to your competition. I'm referring to long term trends, so check the quarterly page instead of the monthly one.
If they are talking about the camera resolution (or I mixed something up) I have a 12 MP Nikon D700 camera and pro lenses. So that is not a factor. Right now and the entire 2009 year, I was producing more files than before but the yellow curve is going down for some reason, even with the above 90% acceptance rate. Blue green curve scenario: My green and blue curves are mixed up all the time if I look from the year 2008 to the current period the blue is above green, this means that the RPD (portfolio) by Achilles is not good. There is almost no gap between them. From 2006 until 2008 the blue was well above the green curve. However, as click_click said, I don't think either is telling us the truth. I am making more now than in 2007 where the green was well above blue. Does that means my portfolio was better in 2007? No!
261
« on: March 27, 2010, 08:59 »
uploading since june 2008 port size at dt at present: 635 pics march 2010 already bme and still 4 days to go 
Excellent, Good luck. Kone
262
« on: March 26, 2010, 21:34 »
My RPD last month was also well over $2 but still I was over $100 away from my BME.
8 months now of decline. Not pretty to look at.
That is fantastic! I can just dream about $2 RPD. What types of photos do you shoot? Kone
263
« on: March 26, 2010, 20:54 »
Kone, you and I have the same number of years uploading, same acceptance rate, and roughly the same number of images in portfolio. Weird that we are experiencing such different results. Must be down to subject matter or dumb luck...
Hi Lisa, Everything you said is correct, but I do more food photography than models and maybe I should change that and start doing more and more modeling shots. I appreciate all of your comments and the time that you spent on them, not just for me, but for all of us. Kone
264
« on: March 26, 2010, 20:52 »
My sales at DT is dying!!!
I joined DT at 2005, with regularly uploading photos and big Portfolio, my sales increase every month and very stable. I mean it, very stable! Sales at DT is same as SS and FL. But from April 2009 to March 2010, my sales dropped more than 50%, at sametime, my sales at SS IS and FL are keeping growing. Now my sales at DT is way behind SS IS and FL !!
Very disappointed !!!
Yep, me too. Let's hope better times are coming. Kone
265
« on: March 26, 2010, 20:51 »
I haven't uploaded anything since December, preparing for exclusivity. Sales are still strong at dreamstime even after deleting a small portion of my port. Average royalty per download has been above $2.00 since dec.
Wow, you are a lucky one. Is it IS, if I can ask? I just looked your web site and your IS portfolio, and all I can say is that you have beautiful images. Great portfolio, now I see why you want to go exclusive. Thanks for your comment and good luck. Kone
266
« on: March 26, 2010, 20:50 »
out of the last 20 sales I had 11 .27 -.35 SUBS
I looked at this closely and I saw that I was making the wrong statement to ap. This is correct about subs $0.26 - $0.35 - $0.70: In my last 20 sales, 8 of them were subs, Of the last 40 sales, 21 were subs, Last 60 sales I got 34 subs. So more than 50% subs out of 60 sales is what I think is a little too many. Kone
267
« on: March 26, 2010, 20:48 »
slow decline since sept 08 for me
Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about.
268
« on: March 26, 2010, 15:28 »
Yup I am seeing the same trend. Not big drop, but slowly declining. It's not a good trend, hopefully they can pick up momentum with economy improving. I see noticeable increase in sales on Fotolia and IS (well on IS maybe because I finally managed to get a sizable portfolio online with their upload limits), SS is not quite "booming" but at least pretty consistent.
As I said before, I see a good increase in SS (moneywise) but not as many EL-s as before. Kone
269
« on: March 26, 2010, 15:25 »
I had seen the same slight decline, but this month my sales seem to be turning around. Nothing dramatic, but better than any since November. Certainly from my experience it doesn't appear they are struggling in any way.
Frankly, with my sales having stagnated pretty much across the board, it's more likely to be the law of diminishing returns than anything specific to DT.
I hope that you are right Lisa and that I will soon see an increase in my sales too. Kone
270
« on: March 26, 2010, 15:24 »
it's been a downward trajectory for me, even though they were very good to me in the beginning and my approval rate has always been very good. so, i wonder if they're just for beginners?
in comparison, IS is highly consistent, reflecting the growth of my portfolio to the t. ss is a rocket, leaping by over 100% each month. ft is just weird. i'm sure this can all change within the wink of the eye.
**even as we speak, just got an extra large dl on dt. maybe whining helps. 
Have you noticed that there are more and more $0.35 and even $0.27 lately? I used to have a few subs but lately there are more subs than regular sales and don't remember last time I had an ES. Kone
271
« on: March 26, 2010, 15:23 »
ups
272
« on: March 26, 2010, 15:20 »
Hi everyone,
First, I apologize that I was away for some time. Thanks to everyone for their time. I will not respond to everyone individually, but I'll do it like this.
As I see most of you are pleased with DT, so that makes me a little happy. On the other hand, there are several of us who are not thrilled with the DT sales at the moment. So we must do something to fix it. Most of you say that the March is BME so far, which is really surprising me, but my earnings in March (so far) are showing just one-third of the income I had before at the same time for the same period. And as I said before, the whole last year was bad.
@ PowerDroit
Yes it has happened to me before, each new month was the BME until I came to 4-5 K images in my portfolio, and then it started to slow down last year, but at acceptable level. But now sales have gone down more to a level of concern. My acceptance rate is over 90% what is making me more puzzled than before.
@ RT
Thank you and I am glad that you can say that.
@ Gostwyck
Very nice, all the best. There are not many people that can say that. As far as I can see, the last year was better in all agencies for about 20-25%. I don't see why agencies need more money for advertising, I guess they cut our commissions for their personal needs. I also think that is the wrong way of doing it and they should increase prices instead. Reducing prices is a not long-term solution.
@ microstockphoto.co.uk
No, not dying of course, I used the word just to attract attention. I did not notice an increase in rejection, but this is why I am worried. Maybe they are losing customers? But looking at the answers that others have given me, they are telling me that I made a mistake somewhere and nothing else.
@ sharpshot
Yes, and I think the same but it doesn't go that way. I also see a significant jump in earnings on SS and IS in the past few months, but it is too early for any forecast, at the same time, DT and BigStock are going down. But it seems that in the microstock industry, while one stock moves up, second goes down (as someone already said). I'm not sure if the reason for this is a increase in rejections, but something definitely smells.
@ fotografer
Very good. How many images do you have with them, if it's not secret?
@ cclapper
Thanks for answering. I know that the microstock business sometimes goes down and up again and I have experienced this too many times but the numbers are telling me that DT sales are only going down. I am not panicking, only trying to find an answer to my slowdown. I have been doing this for five years and it has never before happened that one agency's sales have drastically reduced while others' sales are increasing, without something serious happening. If so then it is as I said, the situation StockXpert, but it seems that I have somehow done this all to myself.
@ PERSEUS
Yes, Dreamstime never actually earned a lot per month, they were always somewhere in the middle and they were stable.
Kone
273
« on: March 26, 2010, 11:25 »
DT this month should end up about 30% more than previous BME. They are usually trailing well behind in 4th place but this month are in 2nd place at the moment ahead of SS and IS.
yeah this month they are heading for a new BME
For me WME Kone
274
« on: March 26, 2010, 11:24 »
remember these three words: ebb and flow
I'm glad (almost) everybody else seems to be doing well - for me it's not ebb and flow at DT, but ebb and ebb - and some more ebb 
Yea, me too.  Thanks all to reply Kone
275
« on: March 26, 2010, 08:59 »
Not for me. March was BME for me as far as RPD in the past year.
Maybe it's just me? Kone
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