Jon, on the other hand, has always been straight with contributors and has a real vested interest in the long term success of his baby (SS).  

People complain about too many similar sites, isn't it nice to have one that is doing something different?  There are lots of sites that accept all our microstock images and hardly sell anything.  From what people are reporting, photocase do have sales.  Perhaps they are right and some of the other copycat sites are wrong?

i agree. i'm really liking photocase for it's not only allowing me to experiment with my photography but also rewarding it with higher financial returns. i only have 7 photos there since a month ago but the rpi is over a dollar and the rpd is 2.7. i'm also having a lot of fun in the process. at least i don't have to think or ask, 'what will this sell or promote' as i click the camera shutter.

by the way, i think Dudebun favorited one of your photos. teacher's pet. 

If there's one lesson I've learned (or not learned) about microstock is, I can never predict or believe what buyers will buy. The second you think you have a money shot, think again... then you upload that one you're sure will be rejected, but you like it, and it sells 100 times in a year.

there were a few arty photos i did for photocase and out of curiosity submitted them to the top sites. surprisingly not only were they accepted but did very well out of the gate. i think one of the common theme to what does well is down to how much you liked the image you created in the first place, not whether you think it will be accepted. in all cases, the first trumped the latter.

Quote from: sjlocke on December 14, 2009, 12:43

Boy, all that stuff is confusing.  Upload this here, or there, or what...

Yeah, very confusing.  For one thing they don't mention a category of people who are opted in to the StockXpert partner program but opted out of partner subs on istock. 

in addition, i do have different emails for both of them, by accident. do i inform is, do i stay quiet? it's like 12 dimensional chess.

i have an even smaller port than yours, but sales have been really even every month, although bme was back in september. this month is shaping up to do really well, but my port has grown also. my sales are pretty diversified, between people, landscapes, and food. but your landscapes are pretty amazing.

and the other 5 just said REJECTED

5 passed.  

feel better? don't ask me why. it's an ancient tradition at ss. i'm sure their forum can explain it better.

Just out of curiosity, what reason did they give?

if there is no reason, it actually passed. 

@Lisa, you've been on and off that fence so many times now there's probably a big dent in it

she's not that heavy!  judging from her photo, she's positively svelte.

i may be a lone voice in this, but being relatively new, the 'fun factor' overriding the bottom line is still important to me.

istock is definitely a classy site but then you'd be giving up the wackiness, the dependability, and the uniqueness of all the other sites. most important is not being able to submit editorial images and ss has a brilliant red carpet program.

again, being new, my images aren't accepted carte blanche by everyone, least of all by is. it's a source of amusement to see who will take what but it also covers all the bases for me. very few become 'exclusive' images by default.

financially, i feel more charitable about being independent vis a vis is latest price adjustments. if the buyers think the exclusives' new prices are too high, then they'd buy only non exclusive stuff. if they can't find any of the non exclusive images due to best match manipulation, then they'd naturally migrate to other sites. there will always be of course for whom money is no object. but i think that's probable half and half.

if you think is is a stepping stone to getty, then you've sidestepped the flicker artist or the photographer choice programs. i think being exclusive is only good for photogs like lisa who has a large and profitable portfolio to oversee. it makes no difference to newbies, yet. (fingers crossed)

Quote from: cthoman on December 11, 2009, 17:21

Speaking of Dreamstime, I think I read that wording half a dozen times and still don't understand it. It's the deleting 30% of your portfolio that is throwing me.

Sort your DT portfolio by date, and see how many have been approved within 6 months.

Let's say you have 100. You are allowed to deactivate any 30 of those 100. (You would chose the most recent 30, of course.) 

That's all it means.

thanks for digging this info out. i never knew there was a 30% allowance at dt. i think i'd been brainwashed by traveller116 about the whole 6 month tie up.

a more interesting question is "when will you stop posting to msg for xmas?" or does it never stop for you?   

I'm very curious to see how big the hit will be independents with these changes. The best match dial is going to be turned so far towards exclusives, it will be like nothing ever experienced before. Independents look out!

this doesn't make sense though. if one of their goals is to broaden their less expensive collection, it doesn't help the buyer if they can't find it.

Way, way better! No offense to the copier intended (in case I know him/her), but they just didn't do a very good job, compared to FD-amateur's.

i know, the copier's model seem so half-hearted about it. does he really want to kill his computer?