MicrostockGroup

Well, something like that. 

I never had so many images there becauese of similars. DT is not a problem as they do not delete images immediately. It is possible to enable most of them.
SS have also a great feature that you can take off line whole portfolio and easily get it back if you change your mind.
Unfortunately 123RF  deletes everything forever.
I wonder if the owners or some agencies have ever thought of that, if let's say, a thousand of submitters deletes a thousand files each
that makes 1 million files less.

Thank you Lisa 
I don't know if I still want to talk to them. It would be nice if they can help but I would not cry if they don't.
From my experience I know that as they started to do such things, they would not stop on newbies only.
   

On the surface, it would appear so.  The only definitive answer would have to come from 123RF customer service. 

That was very well put. 

Hope you'll report back when you hear the answer.  This could potentially affect a lot of people.  FWIW, I think 123RF would be wise to make joining attractive to IS former exclusives.  There may be quite a lot of them over the next year or so. 

Is this a response to my question?  You can have whatever policy you want, delete or disable that's your choice.  I assume your answer means that if an exclusive artist decides to go back to 123RF they would get the lower pay rate. 

Personally, I don't agree. When I became an exclusive IS contributor, I asked those sites that didn't make it obvious whether or not I could de-activate my account without deleting my images. A couple did, most did not.  So far I haven't cared one way or another, but if things continue to deteriorate the way they seem to be, I'll be happy to pick up where I left off at those that did.

So new royalty rates come into effect today (i think!) - can't wait to see how they have implemented it.

Hey Alex. I was very happy about 123RF since 2005. I didn't upload though since a  year because I was a bit scared about the automated inspection process, outsourced to India or Timbuktu, but that's not so important. After an average of 30$/mo, in January I got barely 9$ on 123RF (less than 100$ in total on all sites) and that was the limit I was drawing to myself to throw all my stuff for free full size on Flickr and leave microstock. Or I will have m own site, also fr free. I will decide end of February but if you keep a backup or not, I don't really care then. Under 10$/mo is too low to stay.

I think I know where you are coming from here Alex.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.  That being said, this whole thing has a very "Ready-Fire-Aim" feel to it.  I would hope that you have at the very least a legal consultant in place to help you guys make decisions vs. relying on a photographer telling you it's a crime to keep a backup copy of your file. 

Reading between the lines of your post I am picking up that it is impossible to make everyone happy.  This is most unfortunately true in most every business in every industry.  I wish you the best of luck here sincerely as I believe 123rf is a site teetering precariously on the line of potential success.  With the existing commission structure and the (too) low prices it's probably a huge challenge to remain profitable.  Change it and you run the risk of pushing out the photographers that aren't making enough to stay truly loyal at this point as it is which also creates a challenge to become competitive.  The way you are implying it is going to be done is also implying a Grandfather clause that in all reality probably can't remain in place for a long time.  A result is that you could be setting yourself up to really burn some of your most loyal members down the road.  The lack of real information with the hints and innuendos is in my opinion making it look like you guys are really struggling to figure out what to do.  Sometimes you've got to just make a decision and own it.  Even if it's the wrong decision it might be better than not making a decision at all. 

You said to advise so here it is...Raise your prices, lower your commissions.  Make the dollar amount we earn higher on a lower percentage for photographers and earn more dollars yourself.  You've got the database, you've got some visibility and a bit of momentum...use it.

I agree, this is crazy. How can you make an announcement TWICE about new changes, and then never reveal them?! Over a week late is pretty unacceptable. I love 123RF, but they need to improve their communication. I don't think I have ever received one of their emails others have talked about (other than the newsletter!).

Please give us an update guys