in order to maintain the same commission in future.. one needs to reach contributor level 5, that's 12 month credit total 5,000 - 19,999, what does it means does it mean I need to have a $5000 for 12 month total minimum?

why come out with contributor level that's so difficult to understand? so the 1 credits is not equal to $1, where can we see the credits we accumulate?

Quote from: mtkang on May 29, 2012, 12:02

why come out with contributor level that's so difficult to understand? so the 1 credits is not equal to $1, where can we see the credits we accumulate?

because they will not tell you

Quote from: grafix04 on May 28, 2012, 11:46

... Apart from even that, there's the heavy discounting, IF in fact they're really discounting.  Looking at a sample of some of my earnings for just the large size, the royalties all vary.  

At $1.07 per credit, a large size image costs the buyer $3.21.  At 50% commission, I should receive $1.61 for each. ..

A sale today made me take a look at some of this month's sales to see what sort of discounting of credit prices was going on. I wasn't happy with what I saw.

If you look at their prices, they offer credit prices as low as 68 cents a credit via web purchases - so we would get 34 cents a credit from those sales. I don't much like that, but the actual prices per credit go way, way lower. They're offering a 42% discount on those (supposedly rock-bottom) prices based on royalties I've seen just looking at May's stats. 40 cents a credit, or thereabouts. That leaves us with 20 cents a credit in royalties (under the current scheme).

There's no reason to think the discounts will go away Jan 2013, so they'll be paying even lower than 50% of 40 cents a credit to many contributors.

I saw my royalty at 80 cents for an XL, 60 cents for L and $1.00 for an XXL. There were some smaller discounts - an XL for $1.13 which means the buyer got a 17% discount on the 68 cents "minimum" credit price.

At 60 cents for a large, that's what I used to get from IS in 2004 when the prices were $1/2/3 and we got 20 cents/40/60 for S-M-L

The idea that 123-rf is lowering even these wretched royalties come January is just shameful.

Hi All,

I shall explain pricing.

The scenario :
Our cheapest package = $15 for 15 credits.
Price per credit = $1 / credit
50% share to you = $0.50 / credit

If customer purchases an S size image from you, you'll get $0.50. Clear?
If the customer purchases an XXL image from you (5 credits), you'll get 5 x $0.50 = $2.50 for that image downloaded.

Of course, we have discounts, loyal customers, customer who want a big discount as they've been with us for a very long time, so we then discount them for bulk purchases. Nevertheless, we will go through the same calculations and contributors will get 50% of the effective credit price.

So where does the $0.20/credit come from? These credits come from our PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES such as the case of giving away CREDITS to prospective clients whom we think require a bit of a test drive on the 123RF system before they make their first purchase. A demo if you like, we give these out at our discretion. The client DID NOT PAY for these credits, it's given to them courtesy of 123RF.com.

Therefore, seeing as 123RF is giving away these credits, it comes out from our Advertising and Promotions Budget and there is a cost attached to it - 20 cents per credit given away.  I do hope you'll see this a bonus from your business partner 123RF as the prospective client did not pay for them in the first place.

As I have maintained many times before, 123RF Limited is running a business, we are not here to give away to charity nor as some have eloquently put it - "screw" our contributors.

Thank you for maintaining your objectivity on this matter. If there are any questions, you can always email us : [email protected]

P/S - Forums were closed because we decided to shift to Facebook. They have excellent searchable threads there.

Alex

Well this is interesting and I think together we just let the cat out of the bag.  You see 0.68 per credit.  Well let me tell you that the price per credit varies in different countries.  I had a look at their site from different servers in different countries and they're all different and they don't convert accurately from currency to currency.  Very interesting indeed!  We've been asking for an explanation on these credits for years and not once has Alex mentioned this.