Basics of Microstock: Dreamstime

Dreamstime is one of the giant microstock companies out there…certainly one of the top four players on the market. Dreamstime started out back in 2000 and has grown to a huge size, having now over 11 million images, over 4 million members and 120.000 photographers and artists. Dreamstime offers a a top-quality platform to sell your content world-wide. Below you will find all the information, tips and walkthrough one needs to get started selling stock images and other digital content at Dreamstime.

SIGNING UP

The process of signing to Dreamstime as a contributor is pretty simple. The first thing you need to do is visit the registration page and complete the form. The registration is free and a very simple process. After you have confirmed your account and managed to log-in, you can go right to the upload page.

HOW TO UPLOAD

After you have made sure to comply with all the requirements, you can start uploading your content. As of now, Dreamstime accepts images, illustrations and vectors. Different from other agencies, there is only one process to upload files. Vector files are uploaded as an additional format. Basically, everything for sale on th site is a photograph, simple illustration in jpeg or an illustration with an additional vector file.

In the site, find the Management Area and search for the UPLOAD IMAGES button. On this page, you should see a window where you must add or drag the images you want to upload. If nothing appears, you need to install the Java plugin it requires. You can find the link on the page. Once you have added all your files, hit the upload button and wait for it to finish. It depends on your internet speed and the number of files you have selected.

After the download is over, the files will be found in the Unfinished Files section. Here, you have the choice to continue the upload, either as a commercial RF or as an Editorial. If your image is commercial, hit the corresponding button and you will reach the actual upload page for that file. Here, you have to add a title, a description, categories and keywords to your image. Make sure you check all the boxes below that apply to your image. If it is Exclusive to that site, check the box. When you have taken care of everything, go forward and hit the SUBMIT button.

Depending on the quality of your file, it will either be accepted and made available for sale, or you will receive a reason of denial. If you feel that you can improve the file, you can re-upload it afterwards. All your submitted files can be found in the PENDING section. Unique to Dreamstime, you can see the number of hours until your files will be inspected. It usually takes from 2 to 5 days for a file to get to inspection.

If accepted, the files will shortly appear in your portfolio and buyers will be able to see it and download it, giving you a commission every time. There are surely many other things you can do on Dreamstime, but you will learn them with time and with experience. Just continue uploading until you have at least 50 files in your portfolio. You should start selling if your files are decent enough. After this, if you want to get serious money from your photos, just continue to work on the size and quality of your portfolio.

REQUIREMENTS

Before uploading your content to Dreamstime, one must first make sure to follow the requirements:

• image must be your personal work and you must own the copyright upon everything within it;
• image must be 3MP in size or more;
• image must be RGB, saved at the highest JPG quality;
• have a Model Release for all people recognizable in your image;
• upload the original image from which you traced an illustration in the Property Release area in the same time you upload the illustration (if it is not the case you should mention the illustration is your own, created from scratch, work in the notify admins area);
• check the image carefully for copyright issues, anything that is label, logo, characters from cartoons or movies, are protected and are not accepted. Also some buildings are protected by a trademark, new sculptures, cars like Ferrari and Porsche, Harley Davidson motorcycles, the Coca-Cola bottle, the Olympic logo circles;
• check the image for all the faults listed in the guidelines that you can find here;
• don’t upload offensive content like explicit nudes, drugs, people in offensive positions, racism;
• add a relevant description to your image. It must be more then one word and explain the image;
• don’t write the image name and description in capital letters;
• don’t add model releases that are not jpg or pdf. Filename of the MR must be made of letters and numbers, no special characters.

REVENUE

Dreamstime pays its contributors with a commission for every file sold. The revenue depends on many factors: the size of the file, the type of download, the type of file, the level of the file or the status of the contributor. Usually, the bigger the size (in pixels) of the file being downloaded, the bigger its price and the bigger your commission. If the file is sold through a subscription sale, you get less commission than for regular sales. If the file is a vector, you get more commission than for photographs. As files sell more times, their level increases and the price increses. This gives you a bigger commission for a higher level. Lastly, if you are an exclusive contributor, you get much more money.
NON-EXCLUSIVE
In short, if you are non-exclusive, you get 25% of the sale price for a level 0 file. This percent increases up to 50% revenue for a level 5 file. This gives you a commission, from 31 cents, up to almost 12$ for just one sale, depending on the size of the file. For subscription sales, you get between 35 cents and over 1$. There are also other types of sales, as print usage, web usage, increase maximum sales and these usually bring higher commission. The biggest commission is earned from a Sell the Rights. This can even bring hundreds of dollars for just one sale.
EXCLUSIVE
If you choose to sell your files exclusively to Dreamstime, you will get a much bigger share of the sale. You get 60% of the sale price for each level of the files, but the selling price is much bigger. For a level 0 file, you get from 75 cents, to over 5$ for the maximum file size. For a level 5 file, you earn from over 8$ for an extra-small file size, to over 14$ for a maximum size. Additionally, Dreamstime give 20 cents for every file you have in your portfolio if you are exclusive. Dreamstime also offers the option to have a partial exclusivity, where just some files are exclusive to the site. These earn you a bit more than non-exclusive file.

REFERRING OTHERS

If you would like to make some more money, you could refer other artists to Dreamstime and receive a percentage of their every sale. Dreamstime offers you 10% of every sale a referred photographer makes, for a period of 3 years from the time he registered. For image buyers, you get up to 380$, depending on the package they buy. This can give your earnings a good boost, if you know a lot of talented people or are good at convincing people.