I don't think the poll is all that indicative.  Ideally I would like to see higher numbers than $1,000.  Once you are over 1k there is no way to indicate whether your sales are up or down. 

I would agree, the poll is only so accurate...  I think it would be just as useful to ask if your sales are up, down, or about the same.  I also wonder if the votes are simply averaged - if you vote 10 and I vote 0 at best you would expect the average dollar value to be $500, but an average vote of 5 is a dollar figure much lower.  Exclusives have to decide if they vote 0 for the other sites

In this thread http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_23946 (which unfortunately has expired - maybe you can talk them into it again!) they talk about e-mail to allow uploads without being online, and then following up later to activate the whole portfolio...

You can just send an e-mail and they switch your account over in a month.  I can't answer the question definitively about whether you can make the 30 days notice part of the 6 months timeline...  But the way it reads:

"...an Exclusive Contributor may terminate their status as an Exclusive Contributor with thirty (30) days prior written notice to Dreamstime.com. If an Exclusive Contributor terminates this Agreement prior to the passage of six (6) months, Dreamstime.com reserves the right to..."

I would say if you are giving 30 days notice to terminate, then you haven't actually terminated prior to the 30 days being up...  I would want to clarify with their support, though, as you stand to lose all the exclusive earnings and upload bonuses if you get it wrong.

I didn't realise I could do that Megastock, thanks.

Hope it works out   I personally found that going the other way, other sites wouldn't take my top sellers from DT...  Seems to go both ways!

One really nice thing about it is that you can test the waters with some of your images and get a feel for whether standards have risen since your content was put up somewhere as an exclusive...  Useful to know before you even make your decision to drop exclusivity somewhere.

Quote from: holgs on November 03, 2011, 07:42

Yep nice to see some good news for a change. Guess they realized just how much this cuts into PPD sales. I think in many cases this sort of thing doesn't lure new buyers, just cuts prices for those that are already buying from the site.

Agree.

I do applaud them, though, for trying to think of new ways to encourage buyers, and then discontinuing when it isn't making money for anybody.

I've always been impressed with how Dreamstime rolls out changes, keeps contributors informed, responds to ideas and criticism on the boards - and then isn't afraid to admit something didn't work and roll it back.  The Print on Demand is another that comes to mind...  It is kind of refreshing to see that something that seemed on the surface to be good for the agency at the expense of contributors wasn't good for either party!

Quote from: Megastock on October 26, 2011, 15:15

Dreamstime pays $1.05 for the level 5 subs.

I just had one a few hours ago of 1.26$ (level 5, exclusive). Many of my level 4-5's are exclusive. (I started a thread on the DT forum some time ago as to why it pays off to make your level 4-5's exclusive there if (and only if) they don't sell well elsewhere). For instance yesterday: Editorial, exclusive : 17 credits (2010) $9.35 = 55% but I had cases of 60% too.

In all these subs discussions there is an elephant in the room as to DT. The elephant is the level system. This is quite unique in the microstock world (as far as I'm aware). In fact, it is a Darwinian "Vetta", determined by sales on an image per image base, not by some editor's decision. On other sites, you'll just have to live with subs and hope for PP sales that deliver the largest share of our revenue anywhere. On DT, a sub sale is a sale that makes the image also climb up on the level scale. Not to mention the recent introduction of the level 0 (still 1 credit to buy) that becomes level 1 (3 credits to buy) just after one single sale (included a subs sale).

So imho, the subs system on DT can't be compared with any subs system anywhere else. To address the concern of OP : DT seems to handle the subs temptation (for buyers) well, especially in view of the recent introduction of the 1-week subs plan. My subs are still around 50-60% but not increasing, and my RPD (I'm not an illustrator) has been around 1.5-1.6$ the past 3 months, more than before the 1-week subs plan.

Apparently DT runs a tight ship with 1 captain-photographer in control while other sites fell to the multi-headed "corporate" temptation, a temptation that brought us in the economic mess in the financial world we are currently in.

You can compare Dreamstime subs to other sites and I think you will find they pay a lot more due to the level system, as you suggest   On the 'exclusive' tab on the earnings page (http://www.dreamstime.com/exclusivity.php) it shows you your last 50 credit and sub sales, and makes it easy to see what you are actually getting from sub sales on DT.  Personally, I'm getting $0.61 per sub on average which handily beats any other site by almost double...  I didn't see a drop in RPD after the introduction of the weekly sub, either.

I get the credit variation spiel - but in all the subscription sales  I've received from DT since June, it's been 35 cents per for images at levels 0-1-2.

Credit sales are often less than subs (for small sizes), but are below 35 cent subscription sales common for other people and I've just been lucky so far?

I have had thousands of sub sales and only recently have I had a few of the sub 35 cent variety - maybe five or so.  Support told me they were partner sales...  Apparently they don't sell a lot of subscriptions through partners!

On a semi-related note I find it 'interesting' that despite the sites having very different royalty rates and so on, Shutterstock is the only one where I feel I actually know what to expect to get from a sale.  I don't know why DT bothers to list maximums - it is very misleading and just plain wrong when you consider the likelihood of a buyer purchasing credits at the 8-pack rate to buy a level 5 image for 19 credits   Wouldn't be so bad if they listed minimums as well...  All that said they are still providing my highest RPD...I'm getting $0.60 per subscription sale on my last 50.

Does it come with a some hints as how to earn it back from 0.25$ subscriptions?

LOL - In less than an hour at 12 fps you can shoot enough photos to only need 1 sub each to pay for the camera !  Might have trouble with so many similars on DT, though

With their new weekly subscriptions there will only be more and more subs on DT as buyers old credits run out  - smart move from DT to intransparent cut contributors commission and keep a larger cut to them selves...

When I used to calculate the value of credits from the royalties, I was surprised to find that most of my sales come from the 100 or 200 credit pack size.  That still holds true for most of my credit sales.  There has always been a monthly sub that is cheaper than a 200 pack, yet people were still buying those credit packs.  All the evidence we have is anecdotal (since we have no idea if overall sales are up or down, how many of our sales are actually weekly subs, etc.), but one could just as easily argue that the availability of weekly subs will mean fewer monthly subs, and that sub use will go down overall.  There will always be credit sales as people need them for extended licenses, and then they need to use up the rest.

We can be cynical about DT's motives, but if the weekly sub is more attractive than the monthly, they may well be paying out MORE royalties - I have to think someone can make better use of the subscription over a shorter time frame.  Much harder to log in every day for a month and use the whole sub than for a week.  I still think the jury is out on whether a weekly sub is more attractive to a monthly sub buyer, or a credit buyer.  I can see people in both groups who would be attracted by the option, and people in both groups who wouldn't.  The question is how many and in which group.

The proof in the pudding is what happens with RPD and sales.  Since credit packs expire in a year, and subs could expire monthly or yearly, it may be a while before we really know the impact of this change.  Since they brought in the weekly subs, I still haven't had a month that was lower than the previous year for both revenue and RPD - but I can also see that if one is non-exclusive with a lot of level 0 images that would likely be a much different story....

I've done quite a few of the assignments.  I find it worthwhile.  I think it does generate traffic to your portfolio, and also gives you the highest return per image sale you can get.  Not only are they level 5 automatically, but you also get (I believe, but can't find it right now) 60% of the sale. 

So yeah, I think it's a good deal.  And 12 months isn't a long time to commit to unless you are seriously considering artist exclusivity somewhere else. 

Exclusive images get the 55% royalty rate for a non-exclusive contributor: http://www.dreamstime.com/sellimages...

As for the gray checkbox - all exclusive images are now greyed out, not just assignments.  You have to go through support to remove exclusivity from ANY image. You can check it to make an images exclusive, but not the other way around.

Quote from: Daevid on June 24, 2011, 05:36

So far this month, Dreamstime is beating iStock for me for the first time. I hope it continues at this pace, because it's making up for my iStock losses.

How is this possible?  I have <7% of my Dreamstime images on IS yet revenue from IS is 75% of Dreamstime 

How would your income at DT compare if you eliminated all but your top selling 7%?