Achilles has been answering the subs issue a few times, also on this forum as I remember. It boils down to designers needing a few or many alternative images for a particular design, so that they can present these options without clumsy watermark to the customer. We read before here on this forum how designers hate comps with watermarks.
In fact, only one of those images will actually be used, so Achilles pointed out that sub sales are in fact an extra, those are sales that wouldn't have been happened on a credit package (except the image finally chosen of course).

For me "presenting" is a part of his job - so he USES these images (even if only one is a part of final design).

Finally, after 2 weeks of research, I found something I like at DT. Even a photographer without any photo can be favorite for many others.
Example : Tangie. 

I am cutting and pasting this exchange between Achilles and Tonyger from a thread on DT:

TONYGER:
Yesterday an image bought at 50 credits only netted me $16.62.
I'm not happy about this!

ACHILLES responded:
You used to get even up to 80% in real percentage. The client didn't pay $50 for the 50 credits. But let's not get off topic.

Achilles deserves the annual prize for the "man who never responds the question"
Tonyger asked why he got only 33% and Achilles talk about 80% of what? Never see 80% commission at DT.

I'm not directly affected by this any more (although I did go to check that my old DT images were still disabled and hadn't somehow been made freebies behind my back)

Strange. You have deleted-disabled your images over one year ago and they are still there? Theses images should be DELETED now.

Achilles from Dreamstime said:
"5.  disabling images not deleting them
Contributors may try to delete their whole portfolio after receiving the first refusal they disagree with. Hundreds or thousands of files can go down the drain in a few minutes. Many times contributors re-enable them after they calm down (see your case).
Another case is of photographers trying their luck with other partnership (i.e. exclusivity somewhere else). We're obviously not happy to see it, but respect it. The contributors may return sooner or later and many do. If they return after a few months, they can easily re-enable their portfolio. If it's later they need to start from scratch.
Final decision is up to contributors, we don't touch those files, they are offline. They are permanently deleted after a few months."

Donating free images is not good for contributors.

I only 'fix' rejects for IS and only then if I think it has the potential to reasonably sell well __ it's unlikely to be worth the time to do it for any other site. Mostly the 'fix' consists of shrinking it down so it just qualifies for Large size.

Ditto - only for Istock and only downsizing.

I don't see why people that weren't contributing to Fotolia before wouldn't want to now.  There is strong momentum with increased visibility in the market and the commission rate for photographers is so much higher than it is at I-stock.  Doesn't I-Stock pay somewhere around 20% commissions?  At Fotolia I am getting 55% commission and can charge $5 for XS files and $30 for XL if I want to (though I choose the $3-$18 range instead).

It's not true. Fotolia doesn't pay 55% commission to non exclusive so why you compare it to non exclusive commission at IS?
And dont forget a footage. Fotolia's deal is the worst in this industry. 3,5$ for HD video!
An
My earnings (total and per download) are much, much higher at Istock. Talking about porcentage is useless. Only money in my pocket count.
And now most important point : I just don't trust Fotolia anymore. They can give something today and take it back tomorrow. They change rules (subscriptions, rankings, commissions...). They take back our money too. Recently they took 400$ from Jason Stitt' account.
There is no this kind of problems at Istock. IS is thieves free.

Nothing.
SS and IS are only agencies I like (and trust them).
I hope one day Dreamstime and Fotolia learn from Shutterstock how to be contributor friendly, honest and have clear and transparent policies.

I've opt out. Don't like 0.25$ commission for full size images.

@Traveler1116
I'm in Asia too. What about creating FT-DT fun club? Send you PM
Sorry for hijacking this thread

Interview of microstock VIP (sites owners, best photographers...) with some rules:
- we prepare questions list (every MSG member can participate)
- questions should be precise and professional
- if VIP accept to participate he should honestly and clearly respond. If something is not clear we can ask for more details.
- then members can vote for VIP (relevance, usefulness...)

I don�t want to start new social movement, just give you an advice.
Be suspicious, be vigilant and don�t trust every advice and information microstock agencies give you. Be selfish, do what is good for you. They are not our agents, this is not win-win relation.
We have not common interests, worst, our interests are opposite. What�s good for us is bad for them. They sell credits and subscriptions, we sell images. For each credit plan or subscription the site get money. We get nothing. For each downloaded picture we get money and the site lose money. They love to have our images (that�s what makes clients put money in their pockets) but they don�t like sell them.
Who is the best client for microstock site? The guy who paid for 1 year subscription (2400$) and had a car crash 10 minutes later.
I wish a very long life to all our buyers.

@ Achilles
Congratulation, like always an excellent reply. You are very intelligent but, in my opinion, you still make some �political� mistakes. Dreamstime have potential to be great site. Stopping play "silent changes" and �fine print contract� game can be only benefit for you.

�1.  6 months of holding images
That is a regular requirement for most stock agencies in the world. It's true that not all microstock agencies have it. It was explained before lots of times. Without its integration several years ago, there will be a monopoly right now.�
-You are microstock agency. Comparing you to stock agencies is not relevant.
In microstock world you have the longest holding images period. Ok, it�s not completely true- there is still Albumo-but do you want to compare you to Albumo?

�10. Changing policies for old contributors. No possibility to option-in/out or close account when TOS change.
You have this possibility at any time as long as you respect the contract. There are also opt-out features on the site (see Alliances section).
You have to understand we are a business and there are rules. They are available at your signup date. None of our rules is uncommon for the industry.
If any of these rules would be abused by us, we wouldn't have contributors' support. We would lose it instantly or after 6 months, doesn't really matter. It would be simply stupid from us to abuse anything. In the end it's good business strategy that keeps agents, contributors and buyers together, not a set of rules.�
To be honest 6 months holding period is ok for me. I knew about that. What is not normal that you don�t propose possibility to get out is policies drastically change like subscriptions introducing and decreasing commission from 50 to 30%. This is not fair and even maybe not legal in some countries.
Why read contract, why agree with your policies if it means NOTHING. It�s only one way contract, you can do what you want and we don�t even have possibility to leave if we don�t agree with NEW terms. You know that a lot of people don�t read your TOS. I did, but I�ve never imagine that I signed blank check. Can you built honest and  perennial  business with this principle? Do you want to �trap� contributors. If they are happy they will not leave. .
Short story:
One day a door-to-door vendor sold to my 82 years old grand mother one year Internet connection. She has not computer and not even once touch a keyboard. Why she bought it? The vendor was a charming guy, he said it was a good deal. She signed the contract without reading. We try to cancel subscription, impossible, the contract was legal.

�11. Exclusive images - you can check in but cannot check out
Because it was abused by contributors in the past MANY times. You can still check out by emailing support.�
Before it was possible, than you changed it without any notice. And the page looks the same so you check in thinking that you can change your mind like before but it�s too late. Why you don�t inform us to avoid this kind of surprise? So if tomorrow bad contributors �abuse� (check out) you will, in silence, block it for 1 year?

15. Very slow earnings compared to IS and SS
That is your own experience.
Exactly, I'm talking about things I know. Not about rumors.

�16. About 40%!!!  commission drop.
Again, your own experience. Others see high growth. Again, don't take my word for granted, ask others contributors.�
I�m not talking about my earnings. I�m talking about decreasing our commission from 50% to 30% for 1 level images files (huge majority in my case). About 40% drop. Never heard about something similar.

�17. No information send to contributors about important changes, like new prices policy
We don't send too many emails because of how many users we have. We don't want to end up being called spammers.
Nothing was launched without a pre-announcement way in advance. The news section highlights those announcements. Let's be honest, no contributor complained that they didn't hear about the changes.�
Spammers ? Seriously, you send acceptance emails all the time and you worry about spam for one email, most important for us information?

�18. Lack of information about Partners program
Whenever we could, we announced them. In many cases the news leaked out. But these strategies are sometimes confidential, for obvious reasons. We have competitors, I'm sure you noticed  �
Don�t interested about your confidential strategies. But I�m highly interested about places where my images are send. Do you heard about countries that don�t respect copyright? You should communicate about OUR commission too, min and max.

�19. Sometimes strange earnings like 0,24. DT team never explain that
We used to explain every single royalty. it's very difficult today with so many price updates and so many downloads. Too many files are downloaded each day. We cannot track each of them to provide additional details, but the FAQ and our Message boards provide plenty of data you can work with.
In this case, it could've been a very old subscriptions (someone might have purchased a yearly plan) or a subscription royalty affected by a distributor comission fee.�
I was there when subscriptions stared. Never heard 0.24. Never mind, why not to inform about all amount still available?

�22. "sale is a sale" reasoning
Isn't a sale a sale?  That's the microstock spirit. We also agree that it shouldn't go too low and prices should keep up with equipment upgrades and skills improvement. Taking a look at past years RPDs, I dare to say RPD is fair, although it's increase is always welcome, of course.�
Exactly, probably contributors invest much more money in this business than you do. New contributors are always enthusiastic but they get older. One day it stops to be fun and economic question become pertinent. Personally, I don�t care about tear sheet game, never try to find any of my images in use. Only $ count. I prefer lose a sale than a sale for nothing.

If  nothing change, probably next year I�ll be exclusive at IS. I don�t like this idea but I dislike much more what happens at Dreamstime and Fotolia. I have possibility to make interesting (but costly) images that I cannot sell at subscription price. I like a lot Vetta collection.