If they leave things as they are now, those of you who've been around a while will have a good run  (at least for a while) but I think I'm going to stop uploading. There's no point as most of the newer stuff is just lost. I've only been back there since June 2011, but things had been pretty steady (not spectacular, but steady). Right now, it's really pathetic - with the occasional high price sale with those boosted images and then we're back to "subscription day" with only a trickle.

I feel you. But than again it can't be much worse than it is on mid or even low tier sites and you're contributing to some of them...

Quote from: wut on April 19, 2012, 14:34

Quote from: jsnover on April 19, 2012, 11:11

If they leave things as they are now, those of you who've been around a while will have a good run  (at least for a while) but I think I'm going to stop uploading. There's no point as most of the newer stuff is just lost. I've only been back there since June 2011, but things had been pretty steady (not spectacular, but steady). Right now, it's really pathetic - with the occasional high price sale with those boosted images and then we're back to "subscription day" with only a trickle.

I feel you. But than again it can't be much worse than it is on mid or even low tier sites and you're contributing to some of them...

true BUT we need to see that DT is supposedly the 4th or 5th agency not a mid or low tier..

My point was that there's no point in stopping to upload at DT, if they still earn her more (even though the sales dropped) than most, if not all mid/low tiers. If she stopped ULing at DT, she might as well stop uploading at the mid/low tiers (or just the latter, even better IMO)

I am in the same boat! I have more sales from most photos, CanStockPhoto, panther media than on DT this month. As rookie this wiped out about 30% of my monthly revenue thus I am not sure if I am going to upload anymore pics and write them off...

The comment about stopping uploading was related not to the drop in sales but to the notion that as bestsellers are getting great placement in the search results, I'll hold off uploading until new files have some sort of chance. Otherwise it's like tossing them in the wood chipper.

And my RPD is higher at PhotoDune this month than at DT (just over $1 versus 95 cents) so this pricing wonderfulness is diong nothing for me (too many cheap subs) so that my income is about 2/3 less so far this month than I'd expect based on prior DT performance.

And if you're trying to make the argument that my sales have dropped at DT because I contributor to PhotoDune, that's just bollocks.

Just for one more stat, at IS this month my RPD is $2.25 (if I exclude the EL I got) and my total is 7.8 times my DT total so far. If you look at the chart on the left, a more typical ratio is about 3 times. DT's having a crappy month for those who are relative newcomers...

I had the same problem. My sales were going up for months and dropped deep suddenly for more than 50%. I hope this is the reason and it will change soon!

...if you don't consider it worth while to UL to DT, then it sure as hell isn't to UL to the "lesser" agencies

It would appear that DT is becoming one of those "lesser" agencies.  I've had a total of two sales there this month.   

I was doing well at both DT and SS, this past week or two have been horrible. Guess I should have kept my mouth shut about how well I was doing...jinxed it.  They are all jumping on the bandwagon of farting around with their search algorithms in order to maximize profit for them. Screw the contributors, they say.

don't know for you, people, but this beginning of May was dead on DT for me...0 sales with 680 files so far!

I'm back to normal.  My total revenue for the first 4 days has already exceeded my entire revenue for last month.

I photograph landscapes. I go up 30 to 50 photographs monthly, no more, as varied as possible. Microstock is a secondary job. My sales are modest, but almost every month rise in sales. I am guided by quarters, I think it is more stable from month to month. There are always some bad month (February 28 days, Easter, August, xmas, etc).

For two years sales go up every quarter. In the top 6 up all ... except Dream, which is stalled for a year and a half .... If you serve the analysis ....

Down, down...d..d..d..down...!
Will the trend ever reverse?
Another bad month......
Do we know if the search glitch is sorted - or is this the new reality - and best get used to it?

I have a BME so far at DT - number of sales is a bit low, but RPDL with the level changes is much higher.  Of course I'd prefer more sales, but fewer DLs for more money is OK too.

Ok...ok, can the next photographer now tell us what a terrible month Dreamstime has been? WME. If we keep this up this could be the all time longest running forum topic and what an accomplishment that would be!

Sales are ok ... in general BUT I agree that new files are simply not selling! I really dont understand why would DT do something like this.
As the quality rise in the whole industry new files are making a difference ... and buyers need to see something fresh every now and then so why why why? are DT not showing those files to the buyers and yes I also considererd not uploading anymore The only reason why I am doing it is just because they will likely change the best match algorythm to favour newer files at some point and if I have stopped uploading then Im screwed .

But then again it may take a while and all those files will become old in the mean time. I mean save for the few percent that will be still fresh . Looking at it logically, wouldn't it be best for the change to happen and then upload? Ppl will report it right away anyway and that week of lost sale would cost you far less, than a ton of files that are aged and got no real sales, no action and didn't get good search positions.

I'll probably just stop uploading, also, or mainly because of possible SS exclusivity within a year. It won't be hard at all for me, since they only bring me 4-5% of my earnings. And they just rejected a batch of photos for the most absurd reason possible; they didn't like the descriptions. And they were descriptive and different for every file. That really pissed me off. Just when I had 100% AR 6/7 months and thought I figured out what they wanted, especially regarding no similars rule.

Last half of May has really picked up for me. Had a TERRIBLE run of subs for first half, but now I'd say its back to normal - usual sales, usual mix of subs and credits.

So far I have to say I think the level increase hasn't affected things too badly, and it has given a noticeable bump in royalties