Author Topic: SS vs DT (Read 8205 times)

heywoody · « **Reply #25 on:** September 06, 2015, 08:08 »

DT doesn't compare to SS or, much as I hate to say it, IS. I find that, even though volumes are lower, $ value is generally better than FT or 123 which are more appropriate sites with which to compare.

nahlik · « **Reply #26 on:** September 10, 2015, 17:00 »

For me, total earnings in SS in last 3 years are 10x higher than in DT. As to the number of sales, average monthly sale in DT now equals average daily sale in SS. And I have much more sales not only in IS and FT, but even Deposit Photos works for me better than DT. Sad, as I like DT and it was my first agency…

wordplanet · « **Reply #27 on:** September 12, 2015, 17:21 »

SS used to be so consistent for me - now it's as inconsistent as DT has always been, and DT has beat SS a few times this year - and not just last month when I got some high credit sales including one that earned me $375 - my highest single sale on SS earned me $80. I have about 50% more images on SS than on DT but I still get a decent number of credit sales on DT. This month DT is earning me twice as much as SS thanks to credit sales but we're only 1/3rd of the way through the month and so far I'm below average on both.
Honestly, I've nearly always beat the DT Earnings rating here (I know that means I need to earn 3x what the earnings show) despite having only a tad more than 200 photos, thanks to having many level 4 and 5 images and a handful of exclusive images that consistently do well for me.
My total revenue over the years is still higher on SS than on DT thanks to past consistency over the years and a larger portfolio, but for me, DT still beats out iS and Fotolio on RPI and is generally a strong number 2 for the micros. DT sells a lot of travel and abstract background images for me, which are overall the strengths in my portfolio. Other than slow months in June and July, DT has been decent this year - I'm not rushing to upload new content since I'm really concentrating my efforts on traditional stock, but it's been okay. Usually my #2 micro and occasionally #1.

Mantis · « **Reply #28 on:** September 12, 2015, 17:33 »

Quote from: wordplanet on September 12, 2015, 17:21

SS used to be so consistent for me - now it's as inconsistent as DT has always been, and DT has beat SS a few times this year - and not just last month when I got some high credit sales including one that earned me $375 - my highest single sale on SS earned me $80. I have about 50% more images on SS than on DT but I still get a decent number of credit sales on DT. This month DT is earning me twice as much as SS thanks to credit sales but we're only 1/3rd of the way through the month and so far I'm below average on both.
Honestly, I've nearly always beat the DT Earnings rating here (I know that means I need to earn 3x what the earnings show) despite having only a tad more than 200 photos, thanks to having many level 4 and 5 images and a handful of exclusive images that consistently do well for me.
My total revenue over the years is still higher on SS than on DT thanks to past consistency over the years and a larger portfolio, but for me, DT still beats out iS and Fotolio on RPI and is generally a strong number 2 for the micros. DT sells a lot of travel and abstract background images for me, which are overall the strengths in my portfolio. Other than slow months in June and July, DT has been decent this year - I'm not rushing to upload new content since I'm really concentrating my efforts on traditional stock, but it's been okay. Usually my #2 micro and occasionally #1.

I agree, but my inconsistencies are higher $. On SS I cam make $1200 in one month and $600 the next. Did't used to be like that. With DT I can make between $75 a month and $200, but the trend is more around the $75 range. Maybe three months of $75 then I will do a $150, then back down to the low 100's or lower. I have never made more $ on DT than SS by a long shot. That would be an impossibility for me as the delta is too great. However, DT was always better than FT, which was a brick, and never better than IS. I started a thread on is DT Dying, and I believe they are struggling to retain market share and they are l;using penetration to SS (at least for me and what I shoot).

http://www.microstockgroup.com/dreamstime-com/do-you-believe-that-dt-is-dying/msg430830/?topicseen

wordplanet · « **Reply #29 on:** September 12, 2015, 17:47 »

With a small port like mine, a few high priced ELs/SODs on either site or even several higher credit sales on DT can skew things toward one site or the other - for me a $200-400 month on either site is close to or a BME so it's easier for the two sites to be closer than if I had a few thousand images and $1000+ in monthly earnings at each site. My monthly earnings at SS are down by about $30-40 a month - not by $600 like yours.

weymouth · « **Reply #30 on:** September 13, 2015, 01:39 »

Between the years 2011-2014, I could easily make around $.4000 a month at SS, no problem, around $.2000 at FT and around $ 800 at DT, and also at IS. Thats with a portfolio of close to 8000 files.
However, today with the new Adobe/FT things are looking very bright, last month around $.2500, SS. $.2000, and so on. Having said this, just six sales at GI, netted me almost as much. There is just no way of telling.

My views is that SS is slowly becoming just another subs site, they treat people like vermin and survive exclusivly on the lower level of royalty members, pushing subs packages all the way. DT? well thats another sad story, they seem to have stagnated in mid-air.

Adobe/FT is the big surprise and I will be spending 2016 building up exactly what the want and sell.

all in all the micro-stock market is edgy, shakey and very unpredictable.

wordplanet · « **Reply #31 on:** September 13, 2015, 08:09 »

weymouth, I know what you're saying, direct licenses from my site and even a couple of high-value licenses via Alamy can earn me much more than 60+ DLs on SS - but until recently that was less predictable than SS.

I just rejoined FT a few months ago and am earning more there with a handful of files than I did in the past. I plan to upload the rest of my microstock portfolio there over the winter and have also started uploading some iPhone photos there via the Fotolia Instant app. The stock photography market keeps changing - I just wish I'd built up my portfolio back in 2008-2011 when the money was good but I was just dabbling. Adobe seems to be aggressively marketing Fotolia - it pops up every time I open Photoshop and their ads are all over the internet, so it certainly seems like a good place to focus my energy in terms of my microstock portfolio - but I'm also a firm believer that a strong midstock/macrostock presence is needed these days, and my direct licensing efforts have paid off far more significantly than anything else for me.

I'm curious, is your 25% increase at Fotolia due to adding a lot more files or has it just grown due to Adobe taking over?

superdone · « **Reply #32 on:** September 13, 2015, 08:52 »

Woow in front of your earnings I am speechless.....I started one month ago and I have more or less 400 files on SS and I see only sales of 0.25....and rarely 1.88...in order to hit 2000$ I should sell more or less 5000 files on month....it is impossible!!!

weymouth · « **Reply #33 on:** September 13, 2015, 09:19 »

Quote from: wordplanet on September 13, 2015, 08:09

weymouth, I know what you're saying, direct licenses from my site and even a couple of high-value licenses via Alamy can earn me much more than 60+ DLs on SS - but until recently that was less predictable than SS.

I just rejoined FT a few months ago and am earning more there with a handful of files than I did in the past. I plan to upload the rest of my microstock portfolio there over the winter and have also started uploading some iPhone photos there via the Fotolia Instant app. The stock photography market keeps changing - I just wish I'd built up my portfolio back in 2008-2011 when the money was good but I was just dabbling. Adobe seems to be aggressively marketing Fotolia - it pops up every time I open Photoshop and their ads are all over the internet, so it certainly seems like a good place to focus my energy in terms of my microstock portfolio - but I'm also a firm believer that a strong midstock/macrostock presence is needed these days, and my direct licensing efforts have paid off far more significantly than anything else for me.

I'm curious, is your 25% increase at Fotolia due to adding a lot more files or has it just grown due to Adobe taking over?

With Adobe/FT I keep uloading steady, not too much but around lets say, 30-40 files per month but my material is extremely niched and perhaps thats one reason they are selling well, especially at Adobe/FT, among the micros that is.
SS is still producing good earnings but they are going down, in fact the agency is slowly going downhill, old people gone replaced by new and without any experience. Its turned to nothing but a subs agency and thats really sad.

Yes if I were you, I would invest heavy and upload as much as I can to Adobe. I don't favorise any agency but so far, they are the agency that is getting it right. Time will tell.

wordplanet · « **Reply #34 on:** September 13, 2015, 16:00 »

You guys inspired me. I just uploaded 70 images to Fotolia via FTP and have another 30 uploading now. Of course, I've only indexed about 20 of them. Hope to get Fotolia up to as many images as I have on DT by the end of the year and on a par with SS in early 2016 so I can make a reasonable comparison.

Rinderart · « **Reply #35 on:** September 13, 2015, 23:37 »

FT is on fire for me. has been for 2 months, Maybe more. actually exciting and a fresh feeling.

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Author Topic: SS vs DT (Read 8205 times)

heywoody

nahlik

wordplanet

Mantis

wordplanet

weymouth

wordplanet

superdone

weymouth

wordplanet

Rinderart

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