Dreamstime review

By on May 25, 2009 in Stock Agencies

Dreamstime is one of my favorite sites. It’s one of the top 4 (or 5) microstock agencies, with high payout per image and a good volume and variety of images sold. I like the large and valuable Management Contributors Area with a powerful  Account statistics area (earnings, downloads, affiliation, acceptance ratio, portfolio exposure, graphs, etc.); portfolio exposure is calculated by comparing the size of your portfolio with the biggest existent on the site at that time. Here an example of statistics graph:

dreamstime account statistics

dreamstime account statistics - click to zoom out


In the Earnings section, you can also see which are the keywords used by the buyers to find and download your photos.

dreamstime buyer searched keywords

dreamstime buyer searched keywords - click to zoom out

Photographers can request a payment as soon as their earnings balance is higher than $100, by applying from the Management area. Payments are sent as bank checks (that you can cash at a local bank), by PayPal, Payoneer (Dreamstime Prepaid MasterCard or MoneyBookers.

There is a limit to the number of images submitted per day, depending on approval percentage . All users can submit via FTP. The system supports automated EXIF/IPTC data retrieval ( title, description – subject – and keywords).

You can upload editorial images reflecting events from social, cultural and political scenes. Editors choose the best and most recent event-related images for the “In the News” section. Each news-worthy image is rewarded $5 bonus.

Image approvals are generally easier than for the other top microstock sites and I’ve also  registered in this three years that they have a quite constant inspection policy. Have a look at this Reasons for refusals article http://www.dreamstime.com/photography-article-2

You can donate images for the free section, in this case your profile link and some portfolio samples are in evidence (with the hope of gaining visibility)

dreamstime free section

dreamstime free section - click to zoom out

dreamstime free images

dreamstime free images

Dreamstime offers a good affiliation program:

  • You will receive a $5 bonus for signing up referral program; you must display at least one site badge on your website in a visible place
  • for every new referred user that buys something from the site, Dreamstime awards you 10% from each of their buying transactions. This applies for 3 years
  • for every new referred photographer that uploads images on the site, Dreamstime awards you 10% from all their sales, for 3 years after their registration

Other peculiarity and features:

  • Assignments: every month Dreamstime has an assignment contest. Photographers who have at least 50 images online can submit his/her work; this then gives the option to either escalate the file to level 5 pricing, or sell the rights of the image for an instant bonus. Each concept submitted must be sold exclusively with Dreamstime.
  • Keywording and Keymentoring services: you can pay and have  your images professionally keyword and/or you can earn some cents suggesting some keywords for others.

Conclusion: Highly Recommended

###

Update Aug. 09
Dreamstime updates royalties and launches facebook application

Update Oct. 09
Order a Print: Posters and Canvases
Dreamstime Ups Collection of Free Images

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/rmarinello r.m.

    Thanks Augusto! Be patient and keep on with uploading, have a look at @niltomil post http://www.niltomil.com/n2m/big-mo-2/
    Cheers

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/mystockphoto mystockphoto

    Hi Komar,
    it's a common consideration that in the last period Dreamstime has become more selective… maybe after 5,871,641 images they can choose.
    Thanks for your comment,
    roberto

  • guest

    unfortunately as a purchaser of images I was highly disappointed when I find out that my prepaid money "expires" and they just keep my cash if I don't use it fast enough. I liked their stock, but this policy is a rip off.

    granted I'm a small customer, but I see absolutely no logic in this policy other than to just scam the infrequent (but loyal) user .

    I emailed them questioning this policy and never got a response. it unfortunate cause I realy did like them, but I refuse to use them again.

    • Dreamstime US

      @guest: All credits expire due to technical constraints. This is mentioned on the Buy Credits page, where you purchase them. https://www.dreamstime.com/credits

      Because we update prices from time to time (last update was in Aug. 08), new prices will use a different type of credit (e.g. credits 2009 right now).
      We have to remove the old types of credits (i.e. 2007) from our database, while the number itself is very small. It's not the number that matters but the space these can take from our database (multiply each type of credit from 2004 up to now with almost 2,000,000 customers; each type of credit that is removed will optimize the speed of the website). Most customers spend these credits. We need to remove the type of credit, not the credit itself.
      All customers who have experienced issues with expiring credits can email support to get an extension. If you emailed us, please ensure that our response is not in your spam filter. You can also call us, to be certain your message reached us.

  • Dreamstime US

    PS: Thanks for the review, we appreciate it :)

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/mystockphoto mystockphoto

      Thanks for your contrib. to explain the credit system.
      Cheers,
      roberto

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/mystockphoto mystockphoto

    MPA,
    it's true that the review times are so long… but about the other issues you point out I have to disagree: my experience is good, rejections are similar to other big sites and I don't see any big difference in the royalty scheme.
    Cheers,
    roberto

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  • Lance Hopson

    Stay far away from DT. I’ve spent the last 15 days trialing their service and here’s what I found.– Their support is unhelpful and only check their email once per day.– Their submission process is cumbersome and instructions inconsistent.– You have no ability to delete or control uploaded photos. Once uploaded it’s stuck and support will NOT work with you to delete or replace images.– Some of their reviewers even insult submitters. I had one guy call a lingerie photo “Porn” and rejected it.– They offer a phone number to call for help, but in 5 days no one ever answered it.– You can not delete or remove your account, photos, model releases, etc… Their canned answer to everything in the forums is “email support” but support says you must do it from your own profile page, however, there is no button to do most of the things they say.It’s surprising to me that they are still in business at all. They are most likely being carried financially by the few long-term contributors. I expect to see them fall into the ditch with most other mismanaged microstocks.

  • Lance Hopson

    Stay far away from DT. I’ve spent the last 15 days trialing their service and here’s what I found.– Their support is unhelpful and only check their email once per day.– Their submission process is cumbersome and instructions inconsistent.– You have no ability to delete or control uploaded photos. Once uploaded it’s stuck and support will NOT work with you to delete or replace images.– Some of their reviewers even insult submitters. I had one guy call a lingerie photo “Porn” and rejected it.– They offer a phone number to call for help, but in 5 days no one ever answered it.– You can not delete or remove your account, photos, model releases, etc… Their canned answer to everything in the forums is “email support” but support says you must do it from your own profile page, however, there is no button to do most of the things they say.It’s surprising to me that they are still in business at all. They are most likely being carried financially by the few long-term contributors. I expect to see them fall into the ditch with most other mismanaged microstocks.

  • http://twitter.com/iifuturecom Future Corporation

    As a customer of Dreamstime all I can say is that the images might be good but the website is misleading and does not work well at all. You click to download an eps version and get a crappy jpg!

  • http://twitter.com/iifuturecom Future Corporation

    As a customer of Dreamstime all I can say is that the images might be good but the website is misleading and does not work well at all. You click to download an eps version and get a crappy jpg!

  • http://twitter.com/iifuturecom Future Corporation

    As a customer of Dreamstime all I can say is that the images might be good but the website is misleading and does not work well at all. You click to download an eps version and get a crappy jpg!

  • http://twitter.com/iifuturecom Future Corporation

    As a customer of Dreamstime all I can say is that the images might be good but the website is misleading and does not work well at all. You click to download an eps version and get a crappy jpg!