they arent "pretend" stock agencies, they're just a different type, they still have lots of photos getting sold, but the one HUGE difference, is that on a microstock, you ususally dont make much. for example, a while back i put some photos on istockphoto and have sold maybe 5 of them and have made under a dollar for each one... in my opinion, in less you have hundreds of very good stock images, its not really worth your time