Here 123RF write:

What are the benefits of donating? Expect a huge increase in your portfolio exposure! Increase your sales, (oh yea), as much as 40% to 2800%!! Sell higher resolution images!

Is it true ?
Do you have some free images on 123RF?

it has come up here a couple of times (last time about 6-8 months ago I think), would be worth digging through.

Personally I tried 3 times with a selection of images, (last time with about 15 at once from memory) and a mix of what I thought would be low and high earners and I didnt notice any improvement in sales any of these times.  However some people believe it is worthwhile and feel that they get sales out of it.

Phil

I just don't believe in giving images away for free.  There are lots of other people willing to do it and perhaps it brings buyers to the sites but I am no joining them.

Tried when started uploading to 123RF and I do not see any benefits so far. Waste of time.

I have donated a lot of freebies there and my sales are still slipping down, down, down. 

I tried two images didn't help with sales at all.

Quote from: sharpshot on May 29, 2009, 07:39
I just don't believe in giving images away for free.  There are lots of other people willing to do it and perhaps it brings buyers to the sites but I am no joining them.

Hell, why not? At this rate, we'll all be giving our images away for free 

Next thing you know, the sites will be asking us to give them money for OUR images.

Quote from: GeoPappas on May 29, 2009, 21:56
Next thing you know, the sites will be asking us to give them money for OUR images.

With all the changes going on in microstock lately I bet your not too far off the mark.

Quote from: GeoPappas on May 29, 2009, 21:56
Next thing you know, the sites will be asking us to give them money for OUR images.

Congratulations you have been accepted as a Getty photographer. You may now upload photos to our site for $50 per image. It's already here.

I have been experimenting with "donate" at 123rf. I have several images which have had 6-8 free downloads so far. This shows up on the total number of overall downloads for an image when you click through on it  and I hope it will increase its overall search exposure over time.

My sales at 123rf had been pretty low lately despite taking full advantage of the "fav" program,  so I felt it wouldn't hurt to try donating some images in effort to increase my portfolio's overall exposure.

I've been testing this for about a month now and will let you know if I see any significant increase in sales in my 123rf portfolio which has over 700 images.

-Mark

Mark,
were you able to see/realize any results from the Fav Program?

My feeling is that 'donation' is just a way for the microstocks to build up a bigger and bigger stock of free images, which will only serve to drive our commissions lower as then industry continues grinding its way to a point where the per-image cost is zero, and the profit comes from ads, exotic subscription plans and other, related products and 'services'.

Quote from: WarrenPrice on October 21, 2009, 18:40
Mark,
were you able to see/realize any results from the Fav Program?

Most of my Fav photos are my best sellers at 123RF.  What isn't necessarily good because they also get lots of subs sales. 

nope, I tested it once quite intensively for couple weeks; my free files were downloaded like hot cakes, but 0 impact on sales.

same on dreamstime.

The only site that you should even consider putting images for free is Fotolia. At least they give you 50 cents for every file you offer for free. So if you have really old crappy files that never sell, you have little to lose.

really? never got that. one file i offered for free i found on an affiliate site. when i tried deleting it from fotolia, it remained on the affliate, forever now it seems.

at least at 123rf, you can manage how many 'days' you're offering it for free, from 1-30 days. the ones that had the most downloads (while free) also tend to become the best sellers.

As many contributors testified in the past, free images don't benefit the contributor at all, although they might benefit the site as a whole. From time to time I'm part of the guild of free leechers and I don't even look who the contributor is, let alone look in his paying port. I guess most freebie-hunters are like that.

Quote from: WarrenPrice on October 21, 2009, 18:40
Mark,
were you able to see/realize any results from the Fav Program?

Warren,

The FAV program is definitely worth using. I would say it is mostly responsible for most of the sales that I do have ... It definitely gives added exposure to certain images. Also the great thing about it is that the larger your portfolio is ... the more "FAV" images you can have at one time. I frequently change them all the time when I want to add emphasis to something that is perhaps seasonal or holiday related.

I hope this helps.

-Mark

Thanks Mark,
I've been doing pretty much the same thing but on a very small scale.  Haven't been able to determine if it helps.  I still have less than 200 images there.  I like this site.  Will be increasing as fast as I can push them thru.

I dont like the idea of free images. Some people will find something almost as good as what they need somewhere. Then why pay? I have seen some really good free images. I think if free images should only be offered in a small size if at all.

Also what is happening now is that people are downloading hundreds of these free images and then putting them on CD on ebay for $5-$10 for 1000's of photos.

This can only kill the market. Microstockers are going to end up killing themselves.

As RF came along and damaged RM, now Micro is here and eroding quality RF, free images can only further devalue our work and damage the photography business...what next? How low will our industry go?


Don't give in to the sites pleadings and dubious assurances that offering free images will attract more sales...it only suits their corporate creed...and damages the future of stock photography. Only an MBA could come up with a hare brained scheme like that...and I heard that after the financial crisis MBA's are going for 10 cents on the dollar.

Quote from: PixelBitch on October 25, 2009, 18:48Only an MBA could come up with a hare brained scheme like that...and I heard that after the financial crisis MBA's are going for 10 cents on the dollar.

Not if you buy the MBAs in a subscription package. Then they go as low as 0.099$ (restrictions may apply).
The newest trend is you can obtain an MBA for free, in the hope you would hire his cousin.  

The model sounds crazier when you apply it to the housing market. A real estate agent gives you a fancy house for free to live in, in the hope you are so charmed with it that you'll later upgrade to a premium paying house. What if the free house suits your needs and you don't have money for a premium house anyways?

123rf freebies never helped me.  My theory is that giving away images only works on a one-to-one basis.  I donate photos occasionally but only at the lowest resolutions suitable for the application and with clear attribution and if I think the advertising value is at least $.25. 

This cannot work with an archive of free pictures just thrown up on the web with a take what you want system.  Users can't be traced so some will not bother with attribution so there is no advertising value.

An archive of free images might attract users to a site and some value may trickly down to the contributors but it is too small to justify giving away any single picture by any individual photographer.

fred

Perfect for giving the agencies free exposure and traffic that you won't get anything in return for.

If you want to give away free images, why not do it from your own website?