Saturday 14 July 2012

Removing Dreamstime Referral Link

Hello Everyone,
I have decided to remove my referral links for Dreamstime.  It is pretty well explained here, but I shall just briefly summarize.  My reason's are the same as Lee Torrens' (the guy who posted the above).

DreamsTime gives people who have referred photographers to them 10% of any sales made by those photographers.  Sounds great doesn't it.  There's just one problem.  The 10% is not actually coming from DreamsTime, but from the poor referred photographers' cut.  That is to say, if a photographer who used my referral id when joining DreamsTime sells a photograph for $1 (and for simplicity's sake say he/she is exclusive to DT), he/she should be getting $0.60 from that sale and I should get $0.10.  But in actual fact DT are cutting the $0.10 from his/her commission and paying it to me from there, so my referral is now getting only $0.50.

I find that very unfair and dishonest.  

First of all, they haven't actually done the work required to attract the photographer to their site.  That was me.  It is entirely to their benefit that a new photographer starts contributing to their site.  They should be paying me the 10% from their own pocket and not taking it from someone else and especially not from a new recruit who just joined.

Secondly, this does not do anything for my own reputation, or peoples' trust in my recommendations.  Seriously, because of this policy I now end up being the person who is taking a piece of the (already) pittance of a commission that my referral receives.  I am not prepared to accept that.

I know that I am a very tiny fish in the big pond of micro stock, but  that is no excuse not to do the right thing.  If everyone uses that as an excuse, no one will ever do anything.  So I am joining Lee in lodging a protest against this practice in the hope that it will discourage others from doing the same.



1 comment:

  1. Dreamstime have updated their policies in response to Lee's original blog. Good on Lee for sticking to his guns and exposing this. If only agencies would think things through before coming up with silly ideas and hoping to sneak them past people and make a fast buck.
    Link to DT announcement: http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_31890

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