Quote from: Uncle Pete on August 16, 2022, 18:54
My only contention is, that more people, would tend to make for more stability.

Agreed.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on August 16, 2022, 18:54
How about a random contest of some sort for people who took the survey? I'll start by offering a double SS sub of 20 cents? 

Hahaha! Love it.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on August 11, 2022, 03:08

Quote from: cypher on August 10, 2022, 18:37
I was surprised how fast Adobe and Shutterstock had their August earnings rating showing up on the MSG poll -- they were already over the 50 vote threshold the first time I visiting this site on August 1st. Three others are close with over 40 votes, but everything is trickling in, now. As much chatter as there has been about Pond5 this summer, I'm surprised the poll only has 26 votes for it.

It doesn't work that way. The poll isn't just this month, since the 1st, it's within a time period. I don't know exact details (ask Leaf?) but for example, - votes in the last 30 days - but not since the start of the month. It's a rolling average.

Ahhh.... that makes more sense with what I'm seeing about how the graph at the end of the month doesn't align with the numerical rating listed at the end of the month. If the chart shows each month's actual vote average and the poll shows a rolling average across several months, that would explain the differences. We would see more wide-spread variability in the graph than in the numbers on the poll, but the poll would give us an ongoing moving average as each person casts a vote. I would love to read more about how the poll is calculated. Thanks for your insight.

This post has me curious about a couple of things. First of all, Daniel, were these refunded sales from the same buyer(s)? Second, how much does Dreamstime pay for video compared with other agencies?

I was surprised how fast Adobe and Shutterstock had their August earnings rating showing up on the MSG poll -- they were already over the 50 vote threshold the first time I visiting this site on August 1st. Three others are close with over 40 votes, but everything is trickling in, now. As much chatter as there has been about Pond5 this summer, I'm surprised the poll only has 26 votes for it.

It's working for me.

Quote from: aitor on August 03, 2022, 12:07

Do we have any alternative for editorial videos?

Thanks.

Dreamstime accepts editorial videos. Doing a search there, it doesn't look like there are yet a lot of these, but editorial videos are definitely in the DT database and searchable as such.

Quote from: k_t_g on August 09, 2022, 05:45
I know a lot of customers/clients have been asking for the feature for quite a while. So great its been finally offered. No doubt that other MS sites are going to try and add this feature. Not sure why they never thought of doing this before.

I'm not sure what you mean. Offering PNGs to customers is not a new idea; Dreamstime has allowed them for years as one of the additional file formats that can be uploaded. Haven't other agencies as well?

Quote from: Uncle Pete on August 08, 2022, 17:45

Quote from: cascoly on August 08, 2022, 17:06
i still get non-subs that keep my RPD between .5 & .65 for the last year, actually a bit higher than previous 2 years!  overall income down 30% from 2 yrs ago

AS has RPD 20-30% higher but consistently only 30% of SS income over last 3 years

Sure thing and fact of the business, one place pays us better RPD, but they don't sell as much in real $$$ as another.

And then there are the others that do neither. iStock at 15% and Alamy now 20%, DT somehow has lost the customer base, but pays fairly, the group of others is growing larger every year.

Are there ways we can help customers find the agencies that pay producers fairly?

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on August 04, 2022, 07:38

Quote from: cypher on August 01, 2022, 22:23
I reached out to Dreamstime asking about this, and I received a reply stating that there has been no change in the unsold image policy. Contributors still have the same three choices: donate to free section, delete, or keep online in portfolio.

Do they mean the policy hasn't changed but the way you make the choice has? You had the option of donating to free, but you could set your own default.

I did not ask that specifically; I was just told that "nothing has changed for the free section", and that we can still select what happens to the images. The reply also stated that if a change were to happen, that they would make an announcement.

If this is something that you are wondering about, it might be good to contact support and to ask. The situation does not directly affect me at the moment since I went through a several year period of not uploading to microstock anywhere, so I do not have any media that are currently approaching the 4 year of no sales mark. My older items have already passed that threshold, and the newer uploads have a few years to go before they hit it.

I reached out to Dreamstime asking about this, and I received a reply stating that there has been no change in the unsold image policy. Contributors still have the same three choices: donate to free section, delete, or keep online in portfolio.

Quote from: Wilm on July 21, 2022, 21:05
But they all do - only the microstock agencies don't. Why not? Because we put up with it. From my point of view, it's as simple as that.

So, which agencies are currently paying the least per download? How many images and how many contributors do those agencies currently have?

Quote from: cascoly on July 16, 2022, 17:57
i dont bother anymore, either - with such low participation (which i contribute to), results are questionable, easily skewed by 'voting' against agencies one dislikes, reporting incorrect income, etc

given the intensity of SS hatred i wouldn't be surprised if they are being hit by faux votes - i know for me SS is 2x that of AS and canva is just under SS

I'd be interested in seeing your results added to the mix. Several of the agencies are really close to having enough data to have their ratings displayed.

A new milestone was reached today -- 190 million images.

Also, rereading the prize info, it looks like the photographer/illustrator who uploads the image gets an iPad Air, and the buyer prize is 100 credits (not an iPad Air).

So with Canva info geting sent yesterday and iStock info getting sent today, the poll numbers should likely get more info in the next few days. I'll be curious to see what happens.

Just curious -- when (if ever) do you choose to vote in the poll provided on this site? Do you do it immediately at the end of the month; do you wait a certain amount of time in case of changes to your account; do you only vote when you earn above a certain amount? I've been watching the poll results recently, and I see several agencies really close to the threshold for having their ratings visibly shown but not quite getting there.

If you don't vote in the poll, why not? I personally don't because I'm such a small player in the field (I have less than 100 photos listed anywhere), I don't think my voice should weigh as much as the people who have significant stats.

Anyway, just curious.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on July 11, 2022, 14:21

Quote from: cypher on July 11, 2022, 05:15
I'm often amazed how many of the iPad Air prizes that Dreamstime gives away to designers go completely unclaimed. It looks like the threshold for winning isn't very hard -- looking at prior winners, it looks like the image only needs to be downloaded a handful of times before a winner is selected.

https://www.dreamstime.com/contest

I thought they always gave the prize. Do they sometimes go unclaimed? Aren't they just given to a random active photographer who's regularly on the forum or are their specific download targets?

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear. Every 10,000,000 images, Dreamstime offers two prizes; one goes to photographer/illustrator who uploads the milestone image, and the other goes to a buyer who purchases that image. All of the photographer/illustrator prizes appear to be awarded. It's the buyer/designer prizes that are often still listed as TBA (to be announced). Checking out the images, it looks like only a few downloads are needed by qualified buyers to get awarded. I am often surprised how many of those are awaiting buyers to win the prizes.

I'm often amazed how many of the iPad Air prizes that Dreamstime gives away to designers go completely unclaimed. It looks like the threshold for winning isn't very hard -- looking at prior winners, it looks like the image only needs to be downloaded a handful of times before a winner is selected.

https://www.dreamstime.com/contest

Beyond raw dollar amounts (which I know is ultimately what we usually look at), which agency(ies) do you feel treat you the best? Where do you get the best responses to questions you ask? Which ones help you feel like part of a community? Who provides you the best value per download? Which agency(ies) do you wish had a larger market share than they do?

Quote from: w7lwi on April 15, 2013, 16:56
There are three options available with old non-selling images:  1.  Give away for free, 2.  Let DT re-keyword (for a fee) and 3.  Delete the image.  All anyone needs to do is go into their profile and set the default to delete.  Then whenever you get this e-mail you can simply ignore it unless you deliberately want to give it away or have DT do some keywording work.

I believe that the re-keywording option was removed some time last year.  People who used to have that as their default action may want to make sure that images are now either be deleted or donated as desired.

It looks like DT is changing Stock Free Images from being completely free to just mostly free.  Users will be given a set number of completely free downloads, and after that they must get a subscription for anything beyond the web sized images.  The fee is small, but the hope is that it may introduce prospective buyers to the idea that images have monetary value and that licensing them is a safer plan that simply downloading from random sites.  Here's the announcement of the change from Achilles:  http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_34234

I saw the following comment by Achilles in the midst of a thread on the DT forums:

Quote
We have actually eased the similarity criteria recently for images that have sales potential. It means we will accept more similars from a series of good images (i.e. nice authentic-looking models, in good light having fun in a contemporary setup/props, a niche-but-popular subject, etc.) than from the everyday shots (think common still lives).
Given that level 0 is applied after 6 months and that the images enter the database as level 1 files there is a faster price diversification for similar images. It doesn't mean we accept anything or that we don't expect photographers to do their own selection. Folks who simply dump their cards in the FTP folder are kindly asked to make a prior selection.
I know it's not the case for most of you and again, we keep in mind the quality of the submissions at review time. If your images are very good, salable, AR is high, you have better chances to have them accepted. If they are not, it's not the end of the world. See if you can improve something or move on.

Having said these, you are encouraged to ask for a second review using the form available in the Refused files section. A senior editor is reviewing those, someone different than initial reviewer. This comes as an additional support to the resubmit feature, who goes to the same editor. Both these assume the possibility that your refusal was unjust. Please take advantage of these opportunities and if the image is still refused, trust us and move on to the next images.

We are aware refusals are frustrating. You worked for those images, you spent time uploading and we spent time reviewing. We would much rather accept everything, but we have selection criteria we need to abide in order to keep our customers happy. The number of submissions is about 40% higher than last year. We could increase the size of our database dramatically but we prefer to remain focused on quality rather than quantity.

Thanks for your understanding.

Here's a link to the thread.

It shouldn't matter at all to any of us who deleted files and who did not.  That is a personal business choice that each person must make for themselves.  However, for those who seem concerned about this, please check your information.  Sean mentioned that he did in fact delete some of his files.  http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/image-deactivation-tally-for-istockphoto/msg296135/#msg296135

A third one has been added.  Is it better to post these as new posts or just modify the OP?  What's the accepted standard here at MSG?  For now, here's the link:

#3 - Valentine Frames

True. I doubt most contributors do either. These collections won't get as much visibility as they would if DT featured them.

The story made it to Slashdot.  Here's the direct link:

http://search.slashdot.org/story/13/02/05/2254256/google-redesigns-image-search-raises-copyright-and-hosting-concerns

There are some interesting comments being made from lots of different viewpoints.