123rf free stock images

mtkang

« on: August 20, 2010, 03:12 »

#link

Hi all,

just found out that 123rf got free images to offer, a good news for buyers!

and good news for seller is that only the small size are offered as free, and you can set how many days you would like to offer for free.

it is good to try how this work by choosing the images you want and the period you offer for free.

i have small portfolio, and there are consistent sale every month..

my referral link..thanks.

http://www.123rf.com/src_mtkang


	Ignore \| Logged

sharpshot

« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2010, 04:59 »

#link

Do we get paid for the free downloads? If not, what's the point? I don't give anything away for free if I am selling it on another site.

We should get paid for making images free. The sites claim in brings in buyers, making them more money. Why don't we get something like a referral fee when someone starts paying for images after we have enticed them to the site with our free images?


	Ignore \| Logged

Stock_Fox

« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2010, 05:07 »

#link

And again… an other ref-link-post from mtkang… Grin


	Ignore \| Logged

mtkang

« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2010, 08:27 »

#link

I don't agree giving out free images 100%.

But i do agree giving out 'free samples' or 'free taste' is business strategy to attract sales.

I don't give free images in other website because giving out a full size image free is not what i like. But i think 123rf makes it fair to try the strategy.. you can choose which image and how many days you set it free, and only smallest size XS size that will be offered free.

It is very fair to contributors that i have control over it and i can try does it improve my exposure. But if you don't agree just forget it.

Quote from: sharpshot on August 20, 2010, 04:59


	Ignore \| Logged

PaulieWalnuts

« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2010, 08:44 »

#link

If a site wants to offer images for free to attract new buyers than this should come out of their marketing budget from the 50-80% of money they already take from contributors. They wouldn't be so generous giving away contributors free images if they had to pay commissions on them.

And, isn't the purpose of a freebie to let the buyer sample the product to determine if it worth spending money on or joining? I think if a buyer was given access to 5-10 images of their choice that's more than enough to evaluate. What's the purpose of giving buyers access to tens of thousands of free images? IMO all that does attract freebie hunters who keep a list of everything that's free and it also allows buyers to get images they normally need to pay for.

I get the idea but I think the execution of it could be better for the site and contributors.


	Ignore \| Logged

WarrenPrice

« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2010, 09:00 »

#link

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 20, 2010, 08:44

If a site wants to offer images for free to attract new buyers than this should come out of their marketing budget from the 50-80% of money they already take from contributors.

EGG ZAKLY! Angry


	Ignore \| Logged

PaulieWalnuts

« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2010, 09:15 »

#link

Want to see how buyers/graphic designers think?

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2830&highlight=free+stock

Here's a GD forum listing all of the free stock sites they can find.

They will first search the free stuff. Then, and only then, if they can't find what they need will go buy it somewhere. For every free image that is good enough for them to use, one of us contributors just lost a sale. So the more images contributors offer for free the more the probability contributors are losing sales for themselves.

Why would anybody pay for something when they can get it for free. Now, if the free stuff didn't exist at all what would happen? They would need to create it themselves, steal it, or.... pay for it.


	Ignore \| Logged

Blufish

« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2010, 09:26 »

#link

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 20, 2010, 09:15

Want to see how buyers/graphic designers think?

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2830&highlight=free+stock

Here's a GD forum listing all of the free stock sites they can find.

They will first search the free stuff. Then, and only then, if they can't find what they need will go buy it somewhere. For every free image that is good enough for them to use, one of us contributors just lost a sale. So the more images contributors offer for free the more the probability contributors are losing sales for themselves.

In my previous incarnation I was a GD. I did exactly that, hunt free first. Sometimes because I was doing a pro bono project, or a non profit, or just had a cheap client. Sad, now I'm on the other side. But there will always be free somewhere.

Why would anybody pay for something when they can get it for free. Now, if the free stuff didn't exist at all what would happen? They would need to create it themselves, steal it, or.... pay for it.


	Ignore \| Logged

mtkang

« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2010, 09:33 »

#link

Hi PaulieWalnuts, I don't fully understand what you mean..I don't want to give my images free for a website to attract buyers and i got paid 0 but the website get $.

I am not sure of how other website giving out free images, but 123rf make it quite right for people who offer free images, and only XS size is free, that's like 400 x 267 px only, and when a buyer look at the page, all other size format are available for buying.

at least the image i want to sell is viewing by someone and there is a possibility the buyer finds XS is too small for his need and he/ she decide to buy for it.

anyway, my thread isn't able asking you to give your images free. But i just think 123rf free images are worth to try if you want to improve your sales among their buyers. They do it fair enough and you may want to see how it can help you.

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 20, 2010, 08:44


	Ignore \| Logged

mtkang

« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2010, 09:41 »

#link

only xs size of the images will be available for free, and it means if that's really what they need, they may buy for it.

If designer in this world only needs 400 x 267 px size images then i have nothing to say.

Quote from: Blufish on August 20, 2010, 09:26

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 20, 2010, 09:15

Want to see how buyers/graphic designers think?

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2830&highlight=free+stock

Here's a GD forum listing all of the free stock sites they can find.

They will first search the free stuff. Then, and only then, if they can't find what they need will go buy it somewhere. For every free image that is good enough for them to use, one of us contributors just lost a sale. So the more images contributors offer for free the more the probability contributors are losing sales for themselves.

In my previous incarnation I was a GD. I did exactly that, hunt free first. Sometimes because I was doing a pro bono project, or a non profit, or just had a cheap client. Sad, now I'm on the other side. But there will always be free somewhere.

Why would anybody pay for something when they can get it for free. Now, if the free stuff didn't exist at all what would happen? They would need to create it themselves, steal it, or.... pay for it.


	Ignore \| Logged

sharpshot

« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2010, 09:46 »

#link

I sell lots that are only used at 400 x 267 or smaller. They cost so little, I really can't see the point in giving them away. If someone isn't prepared to spend a few $'s, is it worth trying to get them to sign up by giving them free images? I still don't see how it helps us.


	Ignore \| Logged

WarrenPrice

« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2010, 09:47 »

#link

Quote from: mtkang on August 20, 2010, 09:41

Quote from: Blufish on August 20, 2010, 09:26

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 20, 2010, 09:15

Want to see how buyers/graphic designers think?

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2830&highlight=free+stock

Here's a GD forum listing all of the free stock sites they can find.

They will first search the free stuff. Then, and only then, if they can't find what they need will go buy it somewhere. For every free image that is good enough for them to use, one of us contributors just lost a sale. So the more images contributors offer for free the more the probability contributors are losing sales for themselves.

In my previous incarnation I was a GD. I did exactly that, hunt free first. Sometimes because I was doing a pro bono project, or a non profit, or just had a cheap client. Sad, now I'm on the other side. But there will always be free somewhere.

Why would anybody pay for something when they can get it for free. Now, if the free stuff didn't exist at all what would happen? They would need to create it themselves, steal it, or.... pay for it.

I think Paulie's point is that XS is also available For Sale. If 123rf (or any of the agencies) want to use our images to advertise, there is money in the marketing budget, taken from the 50-80 % they keep for selling our pictures, to pay for the XS image. If it is downloaded ... charge it to marketing and pay the contributor!!!


« Last Edit: August 20, 2010, 09:48 by WarrenPrice »	Ignore \| Logged

donding

« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2010, 09:57 »

#link

No way will I put my images for free. I also sell XS sizes. The only way they would buy, would be if all the XS free images were all crap or they did need large images and the way I look at that is if they needed larger images then they won't be looking in the free section to begin with.


	Ignore \| Logged

mtkang

« Reply #13 on: August 20, 2010, 10:07 »

#link

well, maybe giving out xs size as free is not a bait for more sales, i will know after i try it.

What i want to say 123rf get it fair for contributors than other website that also use free images to attract traffic. Other website ask you to donate a full size image which i think isn't fair to contributors.


	Ignore \| Logged

patrick1958

Premium Member

« Reply #14 on: August 20, 2010, 10:50 »

#link

http://www.microstockgroup.com/123royaltyfree-com/donate-free-images-is-it-good/

I can add to that :

When they started the Free image offerings my downloads dropped 30-40%.
I even joined in the program in the beginning. What made me decide to stop offering free images is that a designer contacted me personally asking if i could donate image x and x and x and x also to the free section... i didn't.
More interesting is that I didn't had any sales on those X images that month... that made me conclude there are a lot of designer out there that are not interested in becoming a paying customer.

Patrick H.