They're cutting commissions at the end of the year and since you'd be a new contributor wouldn't get 50% royalties anyway, but only 35%. Review process takes weeks if not months and many say it's hard to pass (I didn't have much problems though, but I have 90%+ AR at most agencies, even top 4).

I'd say it's not worth it, I've tried all the middle tier agencies and PD and none of them are worth my time, so I only upload to the top 4. Top 4 account for more than 90% of my earnings and there's constant hassle with smaller agencies, usually inconsistent reviews and their prices are really really low - even 50% commissions don't make up for it, not even close. 123RF is the worst, then can pay less than a dollar for an XL JPG. For instance you'd get at least 5$ at IS, not to mention the volume that is a lot lower when it comes to middle/low tier agencies. You're really just contributing to the race to the bottom by joining those small agencies, unfortunately none offer something new and revolutionary, they just sell files at 20% the price. For instance a full res (21 mpix 5D2 file for instance) costs 5 credits at 123RF, while it costs 23-28 at IS (P+ is 5 cr more) and 123RF gives lots of free credits to the buyers and pay you only 20c/cr, so you get 1$, instead of 6-7$ at IS or even a lot more at DT (if it's a level 3+ image)

they have very easy, if not easiest upload process, extremely long review time and worst part is future of our royalties there.

But if you are on sites like fotolia (I'm also there) and istock, even when they cut our share of royalties, they will still give us more then those two sites.

IMHO give it a try, it's worth it.

As I explained many times, this is simply not true. They give you way less money per sale and sales happen way less often, so you get even less. Sadly, many ppl only see royalty percentage and are blinded by it. Higher royalty share only makes an agency fairer, but that's it. And they become unfair as soon as they get "big", just like 123RF demonstrated

Best Middle tier in My Opinion.

I'll second that!

i agree with the others - 123 has been a consistent performer for me - much better than istock and close to DT and big.

If you compare sales, than at least do it fairly. You have 15x more files at 123RF than at IS. Divide 123RFs earnings by 15 and than compare them (and see how pathetic they really are;)

Quote from: cascoly on March 24, 2012, 13:23

i agree with the others - 123 has been a consistent performer for me - much better than istock and close to DT and big.

If you compare sales, than at least do it fairly. You have 15x more files at 123RF than at IS. Divide 123RFs earnings by 15 and than compare them (and see how pathetic they really are;)

my personal stats are irrelevant [altho i do notice you dont even HAVE a portfolio for anyone to check]

nothing unfair, just simple logic and statistics - number of images doesnt matter - actual sales do.  i can spend a lot of time submitting to IS and make nothing, or use 123 with their easy submission system.

Quote from: wut on March 24, 2012, 12:42

As I explained many times, this is simply not true. They give you way less money per sale and sales happen way less often, so you get even less. Sadly, many ppl only see royalty percentage and are blinded by it. Higher royalty share only makes an agency fairer, but that's it. And they become unfair as soon as they get "big", just like 123RF demonstrated

Absolutely not true in my case.

123rf gives me way more money and sales happens much more often compared to fotolia.

that's why I put "IMHO" in front of last sentence

dreamstime is about the same as 123rf, SS way better then every other sites earning combined

You simply can't get more since 123RF pays 1-2$ for a 21 mpix DL, while FT pays over 2$ even if you're just bronze (or base?). But I believe you regarding the volume it can vary greatly from contributor to contributor.

Quote from: wut on March 24, 2012, 13:50

Quote from: cascoly on March 24, 2012, 13:23

i agree with the others - 123 has been a consistent performer for me - much better than istock and close to DT and big.

If you compare sales, than at least do it fairly. You have 15x more files at 123RF than at IS. Divide 123RFs earnings by 15 and than compare them (and see how pathetic they really are;)

That is also not the complete picture. Considering that I have submitted the same images to all sites, they are all actually on par as far as income opportunity is concerned (thus no divisions of amount of images required).  I just get much more approved at 123RF and if they then generates more income than the others (like in my case), it is a feather in the cap of 123RF and their selection process.

True, but it's not possible for the difference to be as big. Not if you compare it with 123RF, it could be with some bottom tier agencies, which accept utter crap.

Quote from: CD123 on March 24, 2012, 16:27

Quote from: wut on March 24, 2012, 13:50

Quote from: cascoly on March 24, 2012, 13:23

i agree with the others - 123 has been a consistent performer for me - much better than istock and close to DT and big.

If you compare sales, than at least do it fairly. You have 15x more files at 123RF than at IS. Divide 123RFs earnings by 15 and than compare them (and see how pathetic they really are;)

That is also not the complete picture. Considering that I have submitted the same images to all sites, they are all actually on par as far as income opportunity is concerned (thus no divisions of amount of images required).  I just get much more approved at 123RF and if they then generates more income than the others (like in my case), it is a feather in the cap of 123RF and their selection process.

True, but it's not possible for the difference to be as big. Not if you compare it with 123RF, it could be with some bottom tier agencies, which accept utter crap.

Have no cooking clue what the point is you are trying to make....  But in any case, I will gladly recommend 123RF to any one as one of the best (for me the best) middle tier agencies, to grow your income.

Just to offset what others say - I earn about 9x on DT than 123rf and 2x on BigStock.  To be honest, when they drop commissions in January I can't see any reason to stay.   Also, I find 123 more of a feed-the-beast than SS.   No fresh uploads, no sales. 

So, I personally have no reason to encourage you to join 123, but many others claim to do very well there.

 
Also, I find 123 more of a feed-the-beast than SS.   No fresh uploads, no sales.  

 

i've never had the feed the beast phenom  on any site - it probably depends more on your subject matter  

i've had periods of up to 2 months where i upload few  new images, and i cant see any significant differences on my graphs of sales per month

Had some good news from Alex! They have tripled their reviewers (we knew there where some in training) and will be back on par with review time (worked through the backlog) within about 2 weeks. That will be awesome.