Dreamstime – losing money by uploading a similar image

I have always known that Dreamstime have the unique approach of boosting the cost of an image as it become more popular, and so after 50 downloads, an image moves into the highest price category (Level 5.) I have one of those:

Original Image

This one sells well on a number of sites, and as there appears to be no end to the foreclosures in the US, I hope it will continue to sell. The photo is OK, but not great, technically, and so I took another shot more recently and uploaded that to all the sites. This is a technically better image with more separation between the sign and the house to make it jump out more.

Revised Image

I put it on Dreamstime as a test to see if the old image would continue to sell, but, after two months, my experiment is at an end. The new image did sell three times, but at the low “Level 1” pricing. The old image didn’t make it out of the digital locker room!

The new one sold again today, and so I decided to end the trial and disable the image on Dreamstime and just leave the old one in place. Stage 2 of the trial will be to see if it starts to sell again!

I’ll report back on progress.