MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => 123RF => Topic started by: CD123 on January 12, 2013, 17:34
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My sales MTD is only about half of what it used to be. Wondering if it is just a January thing, just my port or are they hurting a bit? How is your sales so far?
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SS, IS, FT, DT and DP are very good. More Downloads til now than the whole Jan of last year. 8)
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SS, IS, FT, DT and DP are very good. More Downloads til now than the whole Jan of last year. 8)
But what about 123RF?
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Mine are OK - slightly more sales than last year but a lower return per sale. Had a print EL for $16.63 and getting subs sales for 25 cents at level 2. Better than December and on pace for a BME if I get another EL.
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Sales are half of what they used to be, contrary to my top 3 earners, the rest don't really matter. And I'm getting 10% less in royalties than last year on top of that (I'm at 45%). I'm thinking of closing my account, after all, I've stopped uploading a while ago and now I'm getting more refunds every month that I've gotten on all other sites combined in 3 years :O
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SS, IS, FT, DT and DP are very good. More Downloads til now than the whole Jan of last year. 8)
But what about 123RF?
Bad ::)
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Mine are pretty darn good. 18% of my total for the month behind SS (44%) and well ahead of iStock at 9%. Running 40% ahead of Jan 2011, even though the second half of the month will likely beat the first half by a wide margin. Helps that I just squeaked into level 5 for the year, so I haven't lost any royalty points.
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I only check in once a week to have a look, it's too sad.
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Mine are pretty darn good. 18% of my total for the month behind SS (44%) and well ahead of iStock at 9%. Running 40% ahead of Jan 2011, even though the second half of the month will likely beat the first half by a wide margin. Helps that I just squeaked into level 5 for the year, so I haven't lost any royalty points.
At which level are you?
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Welcome back Charl
DLs on 123 are ok but earnings are totally pathetic - an SS sub looks good in comparison (and there are a hell of a lot more of them). For comparison, 123 have so far provided > twice the number of DLs that DT has but only 20% of the income. Dumping them after next payout.
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Welcome back Charl
DLs on 123 are ok but earnings are totally pathetic - an SS sub looks good in comparison (and there are a hell of a lot more of them). For comparison, 123 have so far provided > twice the number of DLs that DT has but only 20% of the income. Dumping them after next payout.
Thank you for the welcome. My DL's and obviously income has dropped. The first might be just co-incidence with my port and obviously the latter we are all feeling.
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Photo downloads at 123rf have dried up for me, and I get a pittance whenever a sale does happen.
Video downloads are very sporadic, and regularly end up very under priced for what I should get, for which support like to say it's because of 'promotional credits' or something of the like that they give out.
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2 subs (3rd and 11th.) Not good but they did pass DT in numer of sales overall.
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2 subs (3rd and 11th.) Not good but they did pass DT in numer of sales overall.
So you had 1 sale on DT?
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No DT and 123rf were tied with 7 sales. The sale on the 11th by 123rf put them at 8-7 over Dt.
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123RF sales are non-existent, last one was over a week ago.
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9 sales, 2.99, this month. This is such a sloooooow death for me, I need to wait another 35 dollar before I can get my port down. 8)
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only 12 sales on 123RF- do you think they did a deal with Google?
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only 12 sales on 123RF- do you think they did a deal with Google?
Why go to the trouble, they are virtually giving our photos away themselves in any case.
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for this moth I have 40 sales for 15.36$ (to compare for the December 2012 I had 45 sales for 29.17$). I'm level 2 unfortunately :(
It's so bad. I'm thinking of deleting my port from 123rf
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Sales are 30% less of what they have been in january 2012 :(
http://christophe-rolland.artistwebsites.com/ (http://christophe-rolland.artistwebsites.com/)
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Sales are 30% less of what they have been in january 2012 :(
[url]http://christophe-rolland.artistwebsites.com/[/url] ([url]http://christophe-rolland.artistwebsites.com/[/url])
Where? FAA or 123
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Sales at 123 remain truly pitiful despite their promises of great expansion........
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Same ass all other places: really bad..
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I thought they promised sales would be times 2, not divided by 2 as appears to be the case.
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I thought they promised sales would be times 2, not divided by 2 as appears to be the case.
I think the x2 forecast was actually for 2012, in anticipation of the commission cut. No promises for 2013. Guess they anticipated massive growth in sales for 2013 due to their price cut.
As forecasted, I think they are going to find out that price is only one third of the cookie and everyone might be paying the price for their misplaced marketing strategy. Well the year is young. Will wait an see how this is going to pan out.
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The big problem in my case that's I got more sales but almost 40% less money which is not acceptable. (I'm level 2 after cut)
I deactivated more than half of my portfolio.(yesterday and today)
It's just sad.
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I thought they promised sales would be times 2, not divided by 2 as appears to be the case.
I think the x2 forecast was actually for 2012, in anticipation of the commission cut. No promises for 2013. Guess they anticipated massive growth in sales for 2013 due to their price cut.
As forecasted, I think they are going to find out that price is only one third of the cookie and everyone might be paying the price for their misplaced marketing strategy. Well the year is young. Will wait an see how this is going to pan out.
I don't believe there's been a price cut?? Commission cut certainly - too small a cut of too small a price at too low a volume. 8 bucks to payout so guess my port will be there til around March ;D
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Currently in 6th position on the polls. Will be VERY interesting to see where they are end of the month.
Think many contributors is waiting to look at their bottom line end Jan. to make a final decision to stay or leave. Just have the feeling that if they drop more than 2 positions the drop will be out of control after that, as contributors will leave more and more (as it will influence their pockets less and less). Will probably be in exchange for which ever site might be next in line to be promoted to the middle tier.
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I thought they promised sales would be times 2, not divided by 2 as appears to be the case.
I think the x2 forecast was actually for 2012, in anticipation of the commission cut. No promises for 2013. Guess they anticipated massive growth in sales for 2013 due to their price cut.
As forecasted, I think they are going to find out that price is only one third of the cookie and everyone might be paying the price for their misplaced marketing strategy. Well the year is young. Will wait an see how this is going to pan out.
I don't believe there's been a price cut?? Commission cut certainly - too small a cut of too small a price at too low a volume. 8 bucks to payout so guess my port will be there til around March ;D
Did they not put out an ad or being boasting to be the cheapest RF site now?
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I thought they promised sales would be times 2, not divided by 2 as appears to be the case.
I think the x2 forecast was actually for 2012, in anticipation of the commission cut. No promises for 2013. Guess they anticipated massive growth in sales for 2013 due to their price cut.
As forecasted, I think they are going to find out that price is only one third of the cookie and everyone might be paying the price for their misplaced marketing strategy. Well the year is young. Will wait an see how this is going to pan out.
I don't believe there's been a price cut?? Commission cut certainly - too small a cut of too small a price at too low a volume. 8 bucks to payout so guess my port will be there til around March ;D
Did they not put out an ad or being boasting to be the cheapest RF site now?
Right on their Homepage they advertise themselves as being the "low price leader for RF content" .
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Did they not put out an ad or being boasting to be the cheapest RF site now?
They were always cheap - consider how 123commissions @ 50% compare to non-sub commissions from the top 4, even FT, with their lower %
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123 RF has always been a sleeper for me and ranks about 4th in my portfolio. BUT in Jan they took off for some reason and are now 2nd for me? Have no idea why.
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I'm having a BME for # of sales but about third best for $$. I used to like them but now it makes me sick to look at the low returns since I am at level 2. Had a small for 14 cents this week and an XL for $1.05 - pathetic, along with the measly 0.25 subs, and most are subs nowadays. Had an EL for $16.63 this month but that is a lot less than almost anywhere else. I've stopped uploading and will decide whether to continue with them during the next month or two.
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I'm having a BME for # of sales but about third best for $$. I used to like them but now it makes me sick to look at the low returns since I am at level 2. Had a small for 14 cents this week and an XL for $1.05 - pathetic, along with the measly 0.25 subs, and most are subs nowadays. Had an EL for $16.63 this month but that is a lot less than almost anywhere else. I've stopped uploading and will decide whether to continue with them during the next month or two.
I'm in exactly the same position. level 2. Sales good, prices insulting. I've sold more files this month than ever before but I've made less money than when I had half the number of files in my portfolio. I haven't uploaded anything since 1st January and I'm still deciding what to do with 123rf for the long term...but it's not looking good.
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I have a couple more DL's than last Janauary but half the $ amount due to being level 2. It doesn't help that there have been an increase in the Subs sales and I'm seeing less on the larger sizes in the credit level. Discouraging - not feeling the love here anymore.
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Stopped uploading in November. I have the same amount of sales each month. Around 25. I made a tenner this month. Lowest sale was 22 cent. I need 30 dollar more to payout and then delete my portfolio. By the way. Keeping money because you havent reached payout yet is pure and simple theft. Its criminal, if I signed up for it or not. Its my money, threshold or not. 123 is pure scum, DT as well.
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On pace for a WME. Unbelievably bad. Can't wait to close my account, but it might be a long wait to make the next payout.
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So far everything going as forecasted.
1. More sales for the ones who stayed on (less contributors + new uploads less so more sales for people contributing + possibly more subscription customers due to low price policy).
2. More subscription sales (increase in subscription customers due to low price policy).
3. Drop in income due to huge cut in commission and number of sales can not make up for loss (especially due to less out of contract sales as many are now contracted customers).
Next thing to happen:
1. Due to less out of contract sales (being replaced with subs) your rating might probably be worse that Jan. 2012, as the high score sales are less. This might cause your income percentage to drop even lower (if you are not at the lowest level already).
2. More contributors will leave or stop uploading as it becomes less and less profitable or worth their wile spending time uploading.
3. For a short period even more sales for the ones still holding out and uploading (bottom end of contributors now quickly falling out).
4. Major drop in new uploads over next 3 months and 123RF's name as one of the leading stock agencies are starting to get hurt by sub customers being unhappy with lack of new content).
Possible final outcome after 3 - 4 months:
1. 123RF succeeds in lining so many new subs up with their low pricing that the remaining top end contributor's sales double or triple, perhaps making it worth their while to stay on and upload more. 123RF's strategy has worked and they are pocketing. The industry is forced further down the tube with lower prices making it more and more difficult for contributors to keep head above water.
2. Dissatisfaction by both disappointed low cost chasing subscription customers, ending up with less and less new material and out of pocket contributors leaving the site, causes 123RF's demise.
Probability between outcome 1 and 2?
123RF's view probably 90% for 1, else they will not be doing it.
My view 75% outcome 2.
Apparent feedback on MSG and based on historic similar strategies 90% outcome 2.
Your view?
PS Inherent problem with outcome 1. Only existing high end contributors are finding it worth their while uploading, as they are on the high bracket. Newcomers will probably not find it worth their while to start uploading at such low percentage = no new contributors.
PS PS This is the longest post I have ever written - I hate posts longer than 3 paragraphs - sorry. ;)
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Its probably 1, but I am hoping 2. Really I am hoping they bring back the 50% and everybody happy. But really really hoping 2.
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Its probably 1, but I am hoping 2. Really I am hoping they bring back the 50% and everybody happy. But really really hoping 2.
I assume you mean probably 2 (failure)? I think everyone who was dependent on them for a large portion of their income is hoping for 1, but with your provisio about the percentage. However, they are clearly so determined that the 50% will only be re-introduced if their strategy is a complete failure. By that time, I am sure, the iceberg would have been properly hit.
Only time will tell........ :(
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I mentioned option 2 twice, so you can safely say I m hoping 2 is the scenario thats going to unfold,
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I mentioned option 2 twice, so you can safely say I m hoping 2 is the scenario thats going to unfold,
Interesting. Everyone here seemed so certain of their failure I did not think you are betting on their success. My bad ;)
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unless they get a boost from new ex-exclusive iStock contributors?
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Its funny how people think, and this is not to flame or troll, just to point out something I just noticed. I get a -1 twice for hoping 123 fail. Yet when its said about IS, people get massive +1s
Which is fine, just noticed it.
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My sales MTD is only about half of what it used to be. Wondering if it is just a January thing, just my port or are they hurting a bit? How is your sales so far?
Mine are good... my 4th earner ( after SS, FT, DT and waaaay ahead of DepositPhotos) with monthly payments.
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Its funny how people think, and this is not to flame or troll, just to point out something I just noticed. I get a -1 twice for hoping 123 fail. Yet when its said about IS, people get massive +1s
Which is fine, just noticed it.
This is what I find a real pain in the *ss about the - and + story (and you know how I feel about it). Instead of disagreeing and motivating your viewpoint, people now just press the "-" button. Seen people going to a minus for just saying what happened to them (not even an opinion based post). This is why I left a few weeks back.
Just ignore the minus mafia. ;)
PS You will also notice certain female posters getting 4-5 hearts for saying good morning. ::)
PS PS On the other hand - it might not have been for your opinion, but just for your blunt answer :P ;)
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unless they get a boost from new ex-exclusive iStock contributors?
Guess anything is possible in this madness at the moment. Hope they will rather join sites with less issues at the moment ::)
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I'm also biding my time.
Back to level 2 despite an (!) EL this time last year which will now fall from the 12 month rating.....!
Dec just 26 sales $20
Jan 37 sales $18
Stopped uploading and watching.............
Sad..........
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So far, I'm 5% down in cash this year compared with last, but since my commission was cut, that means the value of my sales is slightly up. I'll be interested to see if they try to push me back down a level, regardless (I'm only 4 credits inside level 4 according to their calculation).
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Similar DLs to FT with a smaller port but only 30% of the revenue - and folks say FT is cheap ??? Not gonna make payout this month but should be disabling early Feb
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So far, I'm 5% down in cash this year compared with last, but since my commission was cut, that means the value of my sales is slightly up. I'll be interested to see if they try to push me back down a level, regardless (I'm only 4 credits inside level 4 according to their calculation).
You would have to compare the types of sales against each other, because subs counts much less credits than the other types. So even if you break even cash wise, you might be short on a lot of credits if most sales are subs this time round.
The system calculates your level. So guess if you are 1 credit short, you would be 1 level down.
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My sales have been good. January was BME for me, even after having commissions cut (I'm level 4).
Substantially better sales at 123 than at DT, FT, and DP.
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My sales are awesome on 123! My 123 Jan 2013 was a 40% better then Jan 2012. My sales are steady and gaining monthly on 123rf!
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Above average, but about 20% less than a BME.
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So far, I'm 5% down in cash this year compared with last, but since my commission was cut, that means the value of my sales is slightly up. I'll be interested to see if they try to push me back down a level, regardless (I'm only 4 credits inside level 4 according to their calculation).
You would have to compare the types of sales against each other, because subs counts much less credits than the other types. So even if you break even cash wise, you might be short on a lot of credits if most sales are subs this time round.
The system calculates your level. So guess if you are 1 credit short, you would be 1 level down.
It says I'm three short, but by my calculations I'm actually exactly on 2,000 so I've protested again. I think they may have posted a couple of sales after the monthly calculation was done.
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So far, I'm 5% down in cash this year compared with last, but since my commission was cut, that means the value of my sales is slightly up. I'll be interested to see if they try to push me back down a level, regardless (I'm only 4 credits inside level 4 according to their calculation).
You would have to compare the types of sales against each other, because subs counts much less credits than the other types. So even if you break even cash wise, you might be short on a lot of credits if most sales are subs this time round.
The system calculates your level. So guess if you are 1 credit short, you would be 1 level down.
It says I'm three short, but by my calculations I'm actually exactly on 2,000 so I've protested again. I think they may have posted a couple of sales after the monthly calculation was done.
Heck, I hope they can just give you the 3 little credits if not already earned!
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It's not surprising that 123 admins don't bother to participate in the forums anymore....they can't take the verbal fact bashing because their commission cuts are indefensible. In am at level 4 now even though their stupid calculator told me I was at level 5. Bad January there and I don't expect it to get any better there...ever.
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About same amount but obtained from more sales. Prediction and analysis therefore still unchanged. Going to get interesting over next 3 months.
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My sales have been good. January was BME for me, even after having commissions cut (I'm level 4).
Substantially better sales at 123 than at DT, FT, and DP.
Same here, hope I can check my sales again today....site is still down for maintenance:( :'(
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Many microstock sites are changing many things these days. I noticed changes in DT and now 123rf. Some more changes are awaited. The world is changing very fast. Microstock market is behaving like Google Panda update after-effects on content farming. The interesting part is, some of the operators are same in this game as well.
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Well i had my 1st sale of 2013 today (sub .18) but 3rd time it sold this year. I'm not really a big player at this and i upload very sparingly. But it is my best seller through all agencys. I guess i'll take one day at a time and give it till the end of the year to improve.
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Just deleted my entire portfolio.
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Sales are good. Level 5 here.
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123RF is working things UP as they promised ;D
February 2012 - 113.98$ (127 downloads)
February 2013 - 58.41$ (85 downloads)
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Keep working at it, soon you will be at my level. (I can't go any lower) ;)
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Can also not see much of a difference in sales volume. The problem with their price war strategy is that there is no turning back. If it does not work, we are screwed (not necessarily them, as the reduction come mostly from our pockets I think).
Edit: Corrected type-o
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I do see a small increase in sales, but its peanuts.
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It would be interesting to hear from someone at 123rf. Perhaps they would like to tell us how they think things are going from their perspective - now that we are 2 months into the new regime.
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It would be interesting to hear from someone at 123rf. Perhaps they would like to tell us how they think things are going from their perspective - now that we are 2 months into the new regime.
no need to ask, they are doing fine, more money than before from us so I believe we shouldn't worry about them ;D
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It would be interesting to hear from someone at 123rf. Perhaps they would like to tell us how they think things are going from their perspective - now that we are 2 months into the new regime.
They would probably say sales have never been better, growing every month, with tons more growth to come in the foreseeable future, things have never been brighter....
oh , some con tributors who are not enjoying growing sales with us, would be encouraged to keep uploading quality images and keep building up your portfolio, so as to ensure that you benefit from our hard work we put into getting sales and customers...
yada yada yada
same $.it - different pile
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Well my 123rf sales in Feb were 2 1/4 plus 1 cent over Jan Things may be picking up.
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Whatever 123rf is doing I love it. Very Fast review times and awesome growth. If the next 3 weeks this month are as good on 123rf as the first I'll have a BME on 123rf. I've been on 123rf for 6 years and the last 24 mos have been just getting better and better! Thank you 123rf!
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Well my 123rf sales in Feb were 2 1/4 plus 1 cent over Jan Things may be picking up.
How many sales did you have on 123 so far?
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Well, I slithered further down this month.
Of course, they don't need to make any effort to boost sales now because if they do no differently than last year they'll achieve an amazing 30, 40 or 50% growth in profits. They'd actually be stupid to do anything to boost sales this year because it would create a precedent for enormouse profit growth and as everyone in business knows, you don't want to raise the bosses expectations of what you can achieve.
I'm not uploading any longer. If they can't be bothered to make the effort to sell my work, why should I be bothered to supply it to them?
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Not that I enjoy being a contrarian voice, but... oh, who am I kidding? I enjoy the heck out of being contrarian. Always have, and likely always will.
With that said, my results at 123RF are going like gangbusters. January was double January 2012. February was just shy of triple the previous year, and that's with one less day to the month. Right now I'm on track to more than double March last year, although of course things can still fall apart. But suffice it to say that at least for me 123 is doing very well. Heck, this month they're ahead of Shutterstock, and that just doesn't happen!
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Not that I enjoy being a contrarian voice, but... oh, who am I kidding? I enjoy the heck out of being contrarian. Always have, and likely always will.
With that said, my results at 123RF are going like gangbusters. January was double January 2012. February was just shy of triple the previous year, and that's with one less day to the month. Right now I'm on track to more than double March last year, although of course things can still fall apart. But suffice it to say that at least for me 123 is doing very well. Heck, this month they're ahead of Shutterstock, and that just doesn't happen!
You are just reporting facts. If people do not like it, tough. My sales quantity were a bit up, but not enough to lift my rating by much. This month seems to have started faster than others, so will see how its going to turn out. I am 400 points of level 4 so I need a good numbers boost from last year to get there (not talking finances now).
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I'm another one that is doing well there at the moment. If the rest of the month goes like the first part then I will have a BME there by quite a lot. I have already made 50% of what I do in a normal month.
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Not that I enjoy being a contrarian voice, but... oh, who am I kidding? I enjoy the heck out of being contrarian. Always have, and likely always will.
With that said, my results at 123RF are going like gangbusters. January was double January 2012. February was just shy of triple the previous year, and that's with one less day to the month. Right now I'm on track to more than double March last year, although of course things can still fall apart. But suffice it to say that at least for me 123 is doing very well. Heck, this month they're ahead of Shutterstock, and that just doesn't happen!
You are just reporting facts. If people do not like it, tough. My sales quantity were a bit up, but not enough to lift my rating by much. This month seems to have started faster than others, so will see how its going to turn out. I am 400 points of level 4 so I need a good numbers boost from last year to get there (not talking finances now).
indeed facts! too bad they are for me half way what they were in 2012 :o
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Not that I enjoy being a contrarian voice, but... oh, who am I kidding? I enjoy the heck out of being contrarian. Always have, and likely always will.
With that said, my results at 123RF are going like gangbusters. January was double January 2012. February was just shy of triple the previous year, and that's with one less day to the month. Right now I'm on track to more than double March last year, although of course things can still fall apart. But suffice it to say that at least for me 123 is doing very well. Heck, this month they're ahead of Shutterstock, and that just doesn't happen!
You are just reporting facts. If people do not like it, tough. My sales quantity were a bit up, but not enough to lift my rating by much. This month seems to have started faster than others, so will see how its going to turn out. I am 400 points of level 4 so I need a good numbers boost from last year to get there (not talking finances now).
indeed facts! too bad they are for me half way what they were in 2012 :o
Unfortunately that's common in microstock. At fotolia my earnings dropped to about 20% of the good old days while other people were reporting increases. It now seems to be my turn at FT as I am starting to go up again while others are reporting decreasing sales. When some are reporting increasing sales and some decreasing then it is usually all down to best match order. It can make or break you.
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Facts differ a lot from contributor to contributor. It is just a shame that people reporting good sales are sometimes nearly treated hostile for perhaps being out of sync with the general negative thread vibe around.
Just saying, nobody should ever apologize for reporting good sales (even if the site has been branded as one of the "bad apples"). A $ from 123RF can buy just as much as a $ from SS...... ;)
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Having had a good JAN/FEB MAR is not going too well. Still a long way to go im the month, so things will hopefully pick up.
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Having had a good JAN/FEB MAR is not going too well. Still a long way to go im the month, so things will hopefully pick up.
How many DLs did you have in Jan and Feb? Just curious.
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Well i had my 1st sale of 2013 today (sub .18) but 3rd time it sold this year. I'm not really a big player at this and i upload very sparingly. But it is my best seller through all agencys. I guess i'll take one day at a time and give it till the end of the year to improve.
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Sales are about the same as last year, $ are less for me, more for them. It seems that actual $ per sale are even lower than the % drop would suggest. Probably some sort of promotional discount which comes out of our take also instead of out of their marketing budget like it should.
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I am really on the fence now. My sales have basically tripled, still not much $$ but the numbers are up. BME few days ago already, in DLs and $$. Last month was good too. If April shows the same trend, I might start uploading again. I stopped back in November so I have about 160 images they never got. But I dont want to reward an agency for being greedy bastids. What to do.
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Bumped to level 6 this month, which is nice
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Also having a good month with them, but March was last year also my best month (and on its way with all site total so far this month as well). So I will not get excited unless followed up by a good April as well.
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I'm on course to beat my previous BME by about 10%. March last year was not at all impressive. I made more 8 other months in the last 12 than I did in March.
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I am really on the fence now. My sales have basically tripled, still not much $$ but the numbers are up. BME few days ago already, in DLs and $$. Last month was good too. If April shows the same trend, I might start uploading again. I stopped back in November so I have about 160 images they never got. But I dont want to reward an agency for being greedy bastids. What to do.
If you don't want to rewards and agency for being bastids you don't upload anything more and delete what is there already - I wonder how many have actually followed through on statements made towards the end of last year? I'm certainly not going to upload any more with the current RC system unless they change it to something that rewards performance per image instead of just port size and there is a better than average chance I'll delete what's there one I resolve the day job situation.
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Sales numbers seem to be about steady but $the are much lower. About 1/3 of march 2012 for me at the moment. Unless there are some serious sales I will most likely be under 50%200 pf march 2012 $for total but more sales. On another note I went up a level but as far as I could tell (sub sales) they didn't move me up. I wrote to them and they said they would look into it but I didn't hear back. When I checked sales this time I see they retroactively changed my subs. I didn't record the other sales values and with their opaque values I don't know if those are right.
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March is normally my best month, but my 123RF sales are very low this month for the first time, only 30% of February, I'm planning to close my account if they killed the site. >:(
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Even though i sell very little everywhere - 123rf has been slow but my biggest sale of year came this month. Go figure.
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Quite a mixed bag this month, judged by the feedback so far. Some much improved, some same, some worse. Just shows how different experiences can be and how one can not really tell another what to do. Ports differ and what is good for one is not necessarily good for another. I think anyone on level 5 or 6 and having good sales must be a brain donor to close their accounts (unless you really do not need the money and can afford to make a point about reducing commissions).
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Very, very bad months after last changes and RC level introduction. My sales are on lowest level ever - I think that my first month, with just few uploaded files was better than first 3 months of 2013! Think of closing my account there and I`ll not wait long - step one, cancelling their partner sites to gain anything from my content. Step two is next... Shame on 123rf!
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sales are the same as they always were. Quite low.
And now they have taken ½ of my commision, so Im only waiting for a few dollars to reach payout.
Then Ill delete my port.
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I'm starting to like this website. My sales were 0 for months, to the point that I wasn't submitting anything anymore and I wanted to delete my account. And then I made one final effort and I uploaded all the files that I didn't want to upload for a while. Then I had my first sale one week ago. Three more sales followed ( and 2 of them were credit sales ). So I'm liking the situation right now. I'm happy with 0.80 sales considering I mostly get 0.25 - 0.30 sales on other websites.
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Sales are a little worse than 2012. It's ok, considering the fact that I deleted some of my best / most unique files on Jan 1, 2013 when the RC system went online and sent me down to level 1. I also stopped uploading new stuff on the same day.
Finally reached payout few days ago and will close the account shortly.
I think I could have reached level 2 quite easily by now if I didn't delete anything and kept uploading, but even a 35% cut of their very low prices just doesn't seem feasible to me..
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I continued to upload with a "wait and see" attitude
but made a pact with myself that if they're going to
pay me cr@p they better approve everything I throw
at them - the bad along with the good.
Upon my first rejection three weeks ago I stopped
uploading and I'm slowly in the process of dismantling
my portfolio.
You've got to ask yourself - how much value is there
in your body of work? And the amount of time you
invest in creating, setting up and presenting your
creative work? Do you really want to take an opportunity
away from another agency that will pay you far more
for your work?
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This month's RPI for top 4 expressed as a % of 123
FT 188%
DT 356%
SS 786%
IS 1344%
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I'm right now in the process of deleting my images from 123RF. Not sure yet if I will close the account or just leave it there with 0 images.
But before I delete everything I wanted to retrieve my earnings statistics, preferably also with earnings per image. Just for my future reference, in case I need it one day...
But it seems they don't offer any downloadable statistics like a csv file or something similar. Or am I too stupid to find it? :D
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While sales overall are looking good in March, 123 on track for worst month in over a year
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As of this morning, March 2013 is my BME at 123RF. :D
I can understand why some people are frustrated, but why delete your portfolio? Stop uploading if you don't think it's worth your time, but deleting approved images seems silly.
I can't stand Dreamstime and stopped uploading a while ago because of their lame policies, but I still have enough action to get a payout from them every 2-3 months. Leave your files up and make a little money. If it takes a year to reach a payout... it's still a payout.
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I can understand why some people are frustrated, but why delete your portfolio? Stop uploading if you don't think it's worth your time, but deleting approved images seems silly.
Simple. 123RF takes away sales from other agencies that pay-out a lot faster.
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I can understand why some people are frustrated, but why delete your portfolio? Stop uploading if you don't think it's worth your time, but deleting approved images seems silly.
Simple. 123RF takes away sales from other agencies that pay-out a lot faster.
The trouble is that if I remove my port from anywhere it won't make the slightest difference to anybody except for me as I will lose out on my earnings there. I'm 100% sure that no buyer is going to follow me around looking for my images is they are no longer at one particular site. Unfortunately that is the truth of the matter.
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The trouble is that if I remove my port from anywhere it won't make the slightest difference to anybody except for me as I will lose out on my earnings there. I'm 100% sure that no buyer is going to follow me around looking for my images is they are no longer at one particular site. Unfortunately that is the truth of the matter.
Ok. Fair enought. How about....I think my body of work is worth more than 123RF is willing to pay me.
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The trouble is that if I remove my port from anywhere it won't make the slightest difference to anybody except for me as I will lose out on my earnings there. I'm 100% sure that no buyer is going to follow me around looking for my images is they are no longer at one particular site. Unfortunately that is the truth of the matter.
Ok. Fair enought. How about....I think my body of work is worth more than 123RF is willing to pay me.
Yep that will do :D
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I can understand why some people are frustrated, but why delete your portfolio? Stop uploading if you don't think it's worth your time, but deleting approved images seems silly.
Simple. 123RF takes away sales from other agencies that pay-out a lot faster.
The trouble is that if I remove my port from anywhere it won't make the slightest difference to anybody except for me as I will lose out on my earnings there. I'm 100% sure that no buyer is going to follow me around looking for my images is they are no longer at one particular site. Unfortunately that is the truth of the matter.
Well this is true for standard business handshake type images, but in my case I have some niche travel images in my port and by deleting those from 123RF I reduce the buyer's choice, hopefully driving him away to other agencies... :)
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I can understand why some people are frustrated, but why delete your portfolio? Stop uploading if you don't think it's worth your time, but deleting approved images seems silly.
Simple. 123RF takes away sales from other agencies that pay-out a lot faster.
The trouble is that if I remove my port from anywhere it won't make the slightest difference to anybody except for me as I will lose out on my earnings there. I'm 100% sure that no buyer is going to follow me around looking for my images is they are no longer at one particular site. Unfortunately that is the truth of the matter.
Well this is true for standard business handshake type images, but in my case I have some niche travel images in my port and by deleting those from 123RF I reduce the buyer's choice, hopefully driving him away to other agencies... :)
You can believe that if you want to.
I work in a place that uses a lot of stock images, so let me give you the perspective of one "buyer". Someone at my place of employment decided a while pack that BigStock was the place we'd purchase all of our stock images. They purchase a big pack of credits every few months or as needed. When we need an image, we use BigStock... period.
If there was an amazing image that was absolutely perfect for our project, we wouldn't know it existed if wasn't on BigStock.
I would imagine that same thing holds true for a lot of buyers. They have an agency of choice where they have an account and that is their first, if not only, place that they look for images.
123RF has loyal customers and they will not track you down at another agency if you delete your portfolio, because they will never know you even existed in the first place.
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Well this is true for standard business handshake type images, but in my case I have some niche travel images in my port and by deleting those from 123RF I reduce the buyer's choice, hopefully driving him away to other agencies... :)
You can believe that if you want to.
I work in a place that uses a lot of stock images, so let me give you the perspective of one "buyer". Someone at my place of employment decided a while pack that BigStock was the place we'd purchase all of our stock images. They purchase a big pack of credits every few months or as needed. When we need an image, we use BigStock... period.
If there was an amazing image that was absolutely perfect for our project, we wouldn't know it existed if wasn't on BigStock.
I would imagine that same thing holds true for a lot of buyers. They have an agency of choice where they have an account and that is their first, if not only, place that they look for images.
123RF has loyal customers and they will not track you down at another agency if you delete your portfolio, because they will never know you even existed in the first place.
Thanks for the insight. Everybody has the right to have his own opinion. I will just ignore your personal comments.
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Like Dave900 - March is BME at 123rf
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Thanks for the insight. Everybody has the right to have his own opinion. I will just ignore your personal comments.
What personal comments?
Do you need a hug?
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And as a final contribution to this topic (I promise). ;D
Should I support a microstock company with the motto: "The low price leader for Royalty-Free content" ?
123RF, in my opinion, has a very narrow, uncreative, one-dimensional business sense. They feel the only way they can succeed is by offering their clients rock-bottom pricing.
Let's say they succeed.
Do you really think contributors won't be victimized again by them, or another agency who follows 123's example because 123 found success in squeezing the contributor?
That's why it's important 123RF fails. 123's failure will set a precedent whereby contributors have drawn a line in the sand and said...."my images are worth more than that."
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And as a final contribution to this topic (I promise). ;D
Should I support a microstock company with the motto: "The low price leader for Royalty-Free content" ?
123RF, in my opinion, has a very narrow, uncreative, one-dimensional business sense. They feel the only way they can succeed is by offering their clients rock-bottom pricing.
Let's say they succeed.
Do you really think contributors won't be victimized again by them, or another agency who follows 123's example because 123 found success in squeezing the contributor?
That's why it's important 123RF fails. 123's failure will set a precedent whereby contributors have drawn a line in the sand and said...."my images are worth more than that."
A very valid argument.
However for me, 123RF is my second biggest earner. It's hard for me personally to justify a protest that will go largely unnoticed by 123RF and it's buyers. Call me a sell-out if you'd like... aren't we all sell-outs anyways?
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They're my highest earner this year and 3rd overall. Again like daveh900 - maybe i'm selling also out but each month has gotten better and better. Will stick with them for the fore seeable future.
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I have to ask...
If this site is anywhere higher than 5th for someone, what other sites are you submitting to and is there a big variation in port size?
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They're #2 for me behind Shutterstock and more than 3X iStock at #3. I have a large port at the sites that don't throttle my uploads. (DT, I'm looking at you.). So yes, 123 really does earn me more than the rest.
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Plodding along.... Sub sales are up but not at the expense of bigger sizes which are more or less the same. Despite a 15% increase in downloads my income is down by 35% because my small portfolio isn't generating enough sales to climb the ranks. Only saving grace at this point is that the increase downloads are helping my RC's to climb. I'm selling enough larger sizes to keep the RPD falling below an unacceptable level so I'll stick it out for a bit. They had been my #3 site prior to the changes.
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I'm having a BME there with more credit sales than subs and an RPD of 90c(more than SS) so definitely won't be dropping them.
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They're #2 for me behind Shutterstock and more than 3X iStock at #3. I have a large port at the sites that don't throttle my uploads. (DT, I'm looking at you.). So yes, 123 really does earn me more than the rest.
Looks like, compared to IS, a 40 times bigger port yields 3 times the revenue so RPI is roughly 1:12 which is approximately the same as I'm seeing.
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Ok. Fair enought. How about....I think my body of work is worth more than 123RF is willing to pay me.
Yep that will do :D
[/quote]
Worth? Your body of work is only worth what someone is willing to pay to use it - Just because someone is willing to pay $2 to use an image from a site like 123rf it doesn't mean that they are willing to pay $100 for the same image from Alamy for example. They will simply buy another photographers work on the same subject.
I of course use worth purely in relation to monetary value - you cant bring sentimental value into it when dealing with microstocks.
The only person you are doing a favor to by deleting your portfolios are other photographers as you are reducing their competition, so from a personal point of view I say delete all your profiles as that is less competition for me (last sentence said with tongue in cheek.)
The harsh truth of the matter is if you aren't earning enough for a payout each month with a particular site it is because your portfolio isn't strong or large enough.
Anyhow, happy Easter all :D
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Worth? Your body of work is only worth what someone is willing to pay to use it -
Dumb logic, DG. Sorry. Please don't quote me if you haven't read my entire contribution to this topic. If you want to feed an agency that thinks it can succeed by striping away contributor's earnings.....it's a free world (something 123 seems to be striving to achieve literally in the microstock industry).
If you, DG, want to compromise your body of work. It's your choice. "Sentimental value"? Huh? :o
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heywoody. I've got sales on 5 other sites but 123rf had the biggest port. Trying to increase port size at all even if it is little by little.
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heywoody. I've got sales on 5 other sites but 123rf had the biggest port. Trying to increase port size at all even if it is little by little.
How big is your portfolio and how many sales did you get at 123 or the other sites?
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Ok. Fair enought. How about....I think my body of work is worth more than 123RF is willing to pay me.
Yep that will do :D
Worth? Your body of work is only worth what someone is willing to pay to use it - Just because someone is willing to pay $2 to use an image from a site like 123rf it doesn't mean that they are willing to pay $100 for the same image from Alamy for example. They will simply buy another photographers work on the same subject.
I of course use worth purely in relation to monetary value - you cant bring sentimental value into it when dealing with microstocks.
The only person you are doing a favor to by deleting your portfolios are other photographers as you are reducing their competition, so from a personal point of view I say delete all your profiles as that is less competition for me (last sentence said with tongue in cheek.)
The harsh truth of the matter is if you aren't earning enough for a payout each month with a particular site it is because your portfolio isn't strong or large enough.
Anyhow, happy Easter all :D
[/quote]
I didn't say what you have quoted me as saying.
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The harsh truth of the matter is if you aren't earning enough for a payout each month with a particular site it is because your portfolio isn't strong or large enough.
Wow, this is a WAY oversimplification. It might be true of the top 6 or 8 sites, but there are small sites like GL, Stockfresh, etc. where there just is not the customer base to produce a payout each month for most contributors. I get a payout about every other month from the small outliers that I contribute to. And they have the same 7k of my images that the major sites have.
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I guess a pay out every 6 months then is not so bad with only 700 images