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I think the days of feeding the beast are over at SS. I sometimes go weeks without uploading, and see no drop in sales. They are pretty constant. 123 is more erratic, sometime I have days there without sales,so maybe feeding the beast would work on that site.

No, definitely not dead. I get regular payouts, and some very nice $45 commissions recently. 

Hi there -

I like 123 - always have. They have a bad press sometimes, but you can sell consistently.

I make between 50-100 per month, every month. The reason, in my humble opinion, is not having a great portfolio, it is having a large one. With over 2,000 pics on there, this means I have over 100 images "faved". These best of an average bunch provide the regular downloads.

It's no so much a case of feeding beasts, but building them up over time.

On the negative front, increasing revenue is slow work , at least with my mediocre talents.

Rgds

Oldhand

They are not a feed the beast type site...sale just randomly roll in.  Like I have said in other threads...123RF has consistent sales for me.  You wont be seeing monthly payouts though, unless you have a lot of images.

Isn't there some sort of link between 123 and Inmagine?  Would that be where the $45 commission came from?

It's been a long time, but I had a couple of images in the $37 range one day at 123. Never again, but it's still a steady performer for me

Six months ago I was considering giving up on 123RF, and I even contacted them to remove my images.  Fortunately they advised me to think it over and request it again if I didn't change my mind.

Good thing I didn't bail out - I started getting small sales, snd now I get only a few sales per month.  Usually between 7 and 12 downloads per month.  However, the downloads seem to be in the $37 to $40 range - Extended License.  I looked at my sales after four months and had $42.  The next day it was $132.  That's not bad for an old bo like me.  So I'll hang tough.  I only have 160 images in my portfolio.

The reason I naearly quit was due to the huge Rejection ratio.  One month they rejected 20 out of 20.  The next month they rejected 10 out of 10.  So I didn't bother submitting for about 6 months.  In June I sent 19 images, and they rejected 9.  Goody Goody!  Then I got two Extended Licenses yesterday (Aug 6) of the same image that pushed my sales up to $200. 

Since I'm retired with a great income. I only shoot when I feel like it, and I only submit two or three times a year now.  Reason being that I'm quite busy with other things that I enjoy.  M biggest inventory is with BS - 289 images over three years.  I just can't do big shoots.  I at least manage to keep plugging.

Roadrunner,
Sounds like we are in pretty much the same boat ... except my income isn't really GREAT.   
I take a low-overhead, shoot what I feel like approach.  I have, however, spent a bunch of time learning to shoot products ... still life, setups, etc.  No models except for family.  Do you shoot people?
Good luck at 123rf.  I'm just getting started and would love to reach the level you have.

It was a CEL download - whatever that is! This image:


Not the greast shot I ever took, but I like it now!

Warren - I primarily shoot landscape, nature and products.  NO MODELS apart from family.

The shot that brought me a double EL in one day was this one http://www.123rf.com/photo_2362408.html . 

I realize most photogs on this site won't see anything that appears to be exceptional, two people on the same day bought the EL.  I probably am just plain lucky, but many on this site are truly great. I just can't get large numbers of shots at a time, and still would only submit ten or twenty images at a time.  I rarely submit more than one image of a type, but on rare occasions I may submit a wide angle shot with a close up for more detail of a given scene.  Sometimes I submit a shot of a female doing somethin and a shot of a male doing the same thing - i.e. bowling.

Hope you too are blessed as I have been.
Roadrunner