Wow some change happened!
I don't know if in the coming days DT recovers its previous position, but for the first time the gap is consistent. It is unfortunate that SF and GL do not grow, but something is moving at last. And also yoyo IS continues to lose. Perhaps a new scenario is coming up.

I know poncke, I remember other days when DT fallen but ever for few 0,X point now are 3,9. Probably it's too early to say anything and you are right, and the Easter takes away from the forum many of us. We will see.

The earnings I lost with DT were more than made up for by another big BME with SS.

Amazing how two contributors can have an identically different month. I had a DT BME and SS was down dramatically in every catagory from last month. In fact, DT earnings weren't that far off from SS.

One thing's consistent for all contributors, it seems. Predictability is out the window month to month. This is a business not for the faint of heart. Hang on to your hats!
Here comes April!

Are you sure this is not an April fool prank?

I think my earnings are very consistent and predictable. Only Dreamstime can be very different but this is just because of the credit and subscription sales. February was $112 with 62 sales and March $84 with 61 sales. But as long as I sell about the same amount of images I am not worried and know my images are still in demand. Some months you win with many credit sales and some you loose on subscriptions.

Shutterstock is climbing fast. I am uploading more images now and am at 258 images (started with 220 beginning of March and I had 268 sales but also from many new images so I hope to go over 300 next month.

Fotolia is also climbing fast for me! I think it will earn more than Dreamstime if I have the same amount of images on there. So yes I think Fotolia will beat Dreamstime in a few months. I made $50 with 160 images at the beginning of the month and now 192 images. So I have also been uploading more there but I am also seeing increase in sales of existing images I had online.

Personally I don't think Dreamstime is sinking but I think Fotolia is growing.

Deposit is now above Dreamstime but this must be a mistake() since I have about the same amount of images on there and only made $19 there in March. Can't really imagine that someone is doing much better on Deposit than Dreamstime??? But Deposit accepts allot of rubbish images so maybe some have 2000 images on deposit and only 200 on Dreamstime??

I am not seeing a drop in sales at Dreamstime but I do see Fotolia getting more sales were for me it used to be 1 or 2 sales every 2 days. I now have more regular sales there up to 4 a day. But this could just be me of course! But I am very curious to see if Fotolia will keep this position!

I don't know if it's a matter of portfolio content or what, but my results don't quite match those of others here.  Like most, SS continues to be number 1.  However, it is closely followed by DT.  Then comes IS, BS, 123, DP and CanStockPhoto in that order.  Interestingly I had no sales at all in March on GL or Veer.  Admittedly my port on both of these is comparatively small, but even periodic uploading seems to have no impact.  Both have been extremely slow for me right from the beginning (couple of years), almost to the point where I've considered dropping both.  However as I've already gone to the trouble of setting up accounts and uploading content, I'll probably just leave them alone, possibly uploading new content after all other sites have received theirs and I have nothing better to do.

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Are you sure this is not an April fool prank?

You know what, you may very well be right about that lol. 

Quote from: tickstock on April 01, 2013, 17:02

That's a nice way to look at it.  They used to have 50% for all sales now they start your files at 25% and you can work all the way up to 45%, thanks Dreamstime for making that possible.

That motivation is for our benefit. 

And when we do get to 45%, the images are too expensive for buyers and they switch to subs, so we get $0.35, thanks so much DT

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Quote from: tickstock on April 02, 2013, 11:34

Quote from: heywoody on April 01, 2013, 18:34

Quote from: tickstock on April 01, 2013, 17:02

Quote from: heywoody on April 01, 2013, 16:14

DT are a steady #2, they don't have the volumes that SS has but RPD is good (compared to SS, FT and 123 at least).  Uniquely, DT makes it possible to go up the levels with a small port as it's based on image performance instead of the brute force and ignorance approach everyone else uses.

That's a nice way to look at it.  They used to have 50% for all sales now they start your files at 25% and you can work all the way up to 45%, thanks Dreamstime for making that possible.

Never said they don�t have flaws.  I tend not to look at %, just on what I get paid and it�s the only place I get $5 for an extra small.

I wasn't saying just look at the percentage.  You said Dreamstime "makes it possible to go up the levels", they made it possible by cutting royalties in half and now you can go up to 45% instead of starting at 50%.   The money is the important thing not moving up levels like some kind of game isn't it?

�The money is the important thing� � isn�t that pretty much what I said?  I can�t comment about historical commission rates as I wasn�t around but I get a distinct impression that they all pretty much start off with 50% and then reduce it.  The point though is that all sites have mechanisms to increase RPD based on sales � mostly brute force and ignorance (10,000 images will get you to the higher RPD values even if you produce crap).  DT is the only site offers folks with small ports the opportunity to get to the higher RPD levels and, thus, more money.

123RF, for example, requires a volume of sales across your portfolio.  Same with Fotolia, and DP, and IS.  IS and 123RF both require ONGOING sales as well, or you can drop back down.  Shutterstock is kind of in the middle - you rise in royalties as your total dollar balance increases.  While this is sort of based on portfolio size, if you had a small number of very well selling images you'd still make it to the highest 'levels'.  The key difference at Dreamstime is that it is file based - so a single file and a few hundred dollars in total sales could net you the highest royalty rate - which is unlike where you would be on other sites with a very small number of files and a strong seller.  Of course, the downside is that if you have a very large and strong selling portfolio, it still takes 25 sales on each and every new file to get to the highest rate for that file - meaning the bulk of anyone's images are not at the highest levels, and selling at 25-40% royalties...  I much preferred it (of course) when the level system just meant the prices went up, but the agency share was the same (50%).  Now that they've tied royalty rates into it as well it isn't the greatest deal for established sellers with new content.  I have a hard time being too critical, as DT still provides 60% of my income and gets me the highest RPD of any site I sell at.  If money is the thing, DT certainly has my vote - though I understand it is a different story for many...  When it comes to royalty rates, they aren't all they once were with 50% across the board and higher paying subs.