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Author Topic: What is wrong with 123RF  (Read 8147 times)

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Justanotherphotographer

« on: March 01, 2021, 06:00 »
0
My earnings have dropped to lows I haven't seen in ten years over the last two months. I appreciate times are hard for a lot of the agencies but this is really weird...

Anyone else had a similar experience?


« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2021, 08:51 »
+3
Same here just 3 sales worth 65 cents in total for all of February. :P

123RF are dead they just haven't stopped twitching yet  ;D

« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2021, 09:09 »
+1
lowest total ever.

« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2021, 09:47 »
+1
13 sales for $3,82 in february 21
(even lower: 2 sales fr $0,43 in january 21)

But 123rf never performed well on my images

« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2021, 10:15 »
+2
January 1/2 of normal
February 1/5 of normal


Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2021, 10:17 »
0
Have they just killed their ads or somethging? I was making a four figure sum there most months, it's a huge drop for me and a LOT more sudden than anywhere else. Probably the fastest drop I have seen since starting in the industry. Very strange...

« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2021, 10:25 »
0
I hope they didn't calculate all sales yet

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2021, 10:30 »
0
I hope they didn't calculate all sales yet
The drop started January for me. A few mores trickled in a few days after the start of the month but sadly just a drip. I find it very suspicious.

« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2021, 11:37 »
+1
Exactly 1/2 of previous floating average. Very strange and bad...

« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2021, 14:18 »
+1
January and February combined together were my two best first and second month together since 2016.

« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2021, 14:51 »
+1
My earnings have dropped to lows I haven't seen in ten years over the last two months. I appreciate times are hard for a lot of the agencies but this is really weird...

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Same here, about half what it has been.

« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2021, 15:03 »
+2
The graph on the front page is showing February $0 for me, but the earning page shows me at more than double January ($22, don't get excited), which is a 10 month high.

"I was making a four figure sum there most months"

Wow.

« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2021, 16:41 »
+1
123rf's parent company, Inmagine, has been trying to branch out for the last several years - they were going to go public, they were going to become a design platform,  the Netflix of images (Stock Unlimited) etc. They are focused elsewhere. The latest is a platform Designs.ai - think Canva.

Here's an article about this and the pricing page - no idea what the 123rf contributor makes for the images included in the subscriptions to Designs.ai. The "unlimited" images probably come from Stock Unlimited.

https://kr-asia.com/this-company-makes-content-production-easier-with-ai-qa-with-designs-ai-ceo-warren-leow

https://designs.ai/en/pricing

There was an infomercial/review of the platform here

https://lionbridge.ai/articles/can-ai-improve-graphic-design-a-review-of-designs-ai/

Obviously I can't know that the nosedive at 123rf is connected to Inmagine building other businesses, but it's a reasonable guess.

Couple of additional articles about the company:

https://www.inmagine.com/how-inmagine-is-googlising-its-workplace/

https://www.marketing-interactive.com/opinion-re-inmagine-creative-processes


It would also be worth any current contributors finding out what they get paid when an image is licensed through Designs.ai - remember when they tried to say that sales through Inmagine were "partner" sales, leaving contributors with a lower share of the sale?
« Last Edit: March 01, 2021, 16:47 by Jo Ann Snover »

« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2021, 17:08 »
+4
They nosedived a few years ago after their version of an RC scheme and lies about doubling our sales. Since then they have been bouncing around near the bottom with a "good" month every once in a while. No real difference this year, but sales are so low I probably wouldn't notice anyway.

« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2021, 03:35 »
0
I had an exceptional Month January and a better than average February maybe a freak or maybe they've messed with the algolrithm which has gone in my favour.

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2021, 06:42 »
0
Okay. Now I am even more suspicious. I am on a higher tier. I wonder if they have fiddled the algorithm to favour contributors getting a lower commission?

Justanotherphotographer

« Reply #16 on: March 02, 2021, 06:50 »
0
The graph on the front page is showing February $0 for me, but the earning page shows me at more than double January ($22, don't get excited), which is a 10 month high.

"I was making a four figure sum there most months"

Wow.
Yup, just checked four figures all but 12 months out of the last 60, and all those were very close apart from January and February, which are down 50%. Lowest since 2012. They either have a massive drop in traffic or they have royally screwed people like me in the algorithm.

H2O

    This user is banned.
« Reply #17 on: March 02, 2021, 08:24 »
+4

Its funny that Justanotherphotographer had written this as I was just looking to close my account after 10 years, Im still dithering as to whether to do this, or just let it sit there.

I have always had a payout from them every month, except from the beginning of this year.

I wrote them a email in the middle of Feb asking why they had refunded a download from 2017, I have had no reply.

In the past, this is about 5 or 6 years ago, I had numerous vector logos that I had designed that sold really well, one of them selling 4 or 5 times a week, then out of the blue they deleted all contributor logos, replacing them with designs they owned, these where absolute rubbish; they had commissioned the production of a massive collection of childlike logos, pages and pages of them.

After about a year they allowed the contributors to re-upload their logos again, I strongly suspect that their logos didnt sell, but in doing this with their greed, they had killed that market and reloading all my previous logos these dont sell very much.

I get more refunds on them then any other site, and I believe that these are not so much refunds but a fraud, they are basically taking our cash and using the refunds as a cover story.

They have also continued to cut the commissions on several occasions in the last couple of years.

Im not sure if I want my Portfolio on a site run by crooks.

« Reply #18 on: March 04, 2021, 00:28 »
0
I had an average January, but a weak February. March is off to a good start and it's on pace to matching my best months.

« Reply #19 on: April 24, 2021, 19:47 »
0
After a few months, I'm starting to notice a real decline. April is going to end with the worst month I had since 2017.

January - slightly below average.
February - Worst month since 2017.
March - Below average despite a strong start.
April - On pace to be worse than February 2021.

Something is definitely going on over there that's causing the decline in sales. Maybe it's an algorithm change, but I think it could be a Google algorithm change. I think this image kinda of explains it:

https://i.imgur.com/xgU97OF.png

The site has been declining since last year. They were ranked 850 last April and 900 in November 2020. Right now they're 1,110. Their traffic had a sizeable decline in the last 4 months.




« Reply #20 on: April 25, 2021, 23:07 »
+2
I gave up on 123rf some years ago at their best I made $200 in a year (in 2016) then it started to slide to $75 by 2019

the 21 cent royalties and extended QC times really decided for me in the end.

« Reply #21 on: May 07, 2021, 10:45 »
0
123rf support is almost non existent


 

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