Sorry if this has been posted already. Here's the email:

"Change in Commission Structure for 123RF.com Contributors

We will be changing our Contributors' commission structure effective January 1, 2012.

Here's what you need to know:

   All existing contributors shall continue to enjoy the current 50% nett commission share ONLY IF they fulfill ALL of the following criteria.:
       Have registered with 123RF.com before January 1, 2012.
       Have at least 150 accepted images in their respective portfolios by January 1, 2012.
       Have had a minimum of 10 paid downloads by January 1, 2012.
   All new contributors who start submitting images to 123RF.com AFTER January 1, 2012 OR do not meet all the criteria above shall be enrolled under the new commission structure.

More details on the new commission structure shall be announced closer to the implementation date.

In the light of the criteria above:

   We urge you to continue uploading your images to 123RF.com if you haven't already met all of the criteria above.
   We believe it is more expedient to upload your images now rather than later if you haven't met the sales quota criteria.

Thank you very much for your attention,
Best Regards,
123RF.com Submission Team"

This is at least the second case - following Crestock - of different (lower) commissions for newbies.

As an "old" contributor, I guess I should be happy. But...
Surely, they are trying to avoid bad comments from us.
And a side effect, are they trying to divide us? Old vs new contributors?

What seems a little strange is that it says there will be more details closer to the time of the change, but we are already within a month of it!
How close do we have to get!

Squeezing contributors can't be good news, even if it doesn't affect us. Presumably, the details to come will deal with the terms and conditions for newbies.

And since it takes longer than 15 days to review new images it's very late now to hear this news.

Well at least for once I'm among the privileged. The first time ever and I missed all the promotions too (like 10c for every accepted file at DP etc)

Well, considering they reject something like 60% of what I have sent them (and these are all images that were previously accepted at iStock and sold well there), I can't see me making the grade either.  The point about two week wait times for inspections is well-made.

What is the lower pay level going to be?  Does anyone know?  I haven't received that email from them.  I think I might just drop them in this case.

Quote from: StockCube on December 06, 2011, 11:32
Well, considering they reject something like 60% of what I have sent them (and these are all images that were previously accepted at iStock and sold well there), I can't see me making the grade either.  The point about two week wait times for inspections is well-made.

What is the lower pay level going to be?  Does anyone know?  I haven't received that email from them.  I think I might just drop them in this case.

Haven't you even got 10 downloads there? If you have, you will stay on 50% commission regardless of the new rate (which is bound to be significantly less than half, I'd guess 30% and that they launch a campaign to say it is still among the highest in the industry).

I have had 11 sales there, but it says in the email above that I must fulfil all of the criteria to get the higher rate.  I am nowhere near the 150 accepted mark and at a 60% attrition rate it would need me to upload more than a hundred images in the next week to get in.  Which just isn't going to happen.

Quote from: StockCube on December 06, 2011, 12:10
I have had 11 sales there, but it says in the email above that I must fulfil all of the criteria to get the higher rate.  I am nowhere near the 150 accepted mark and at a 60% attrition rate it would need me to upload more than a hundred images in the next week to get in.  Which just isn't going to happen.

For me the same problem, 11 sales, 75 images online, 26 waiting for approval. Didn't receive an email neither and on their blog I see nothing concerning this.

Quote from: StockCube on December 06, 2011, 12:10
I have had 11 sales there, but it says in the email above that I must fulfil all of the criteria to get the higher rate.  I am nowhere near the 150 accepted mark and at a 60% attrition rate it would need me to upload more than a hundred images in the next week to get in.  Which just isn't going to happen.

you have over 650 at IS, why not uploading them?

Quote from: luissantos84 on December 06, 2011, 12:26
you have over 650 at IS, why not uploading them?

http://stockcube-stockcube.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-apologies.html

Quote from: microstockphoto.co.uk on December 06, 2011, 09:46

This is at least the second case - following Crestock - of different (lower) commissions for newbies.

As an "old" contributor, I guess I should be happy. But...
Surely, they are trying to avoid bad comments from us.
And a side effect, are they trying to divide us? Old vs new contributors?

I doubt the need for any sinister motives.  Probably just trying to stay in business!

lff

With the new announcement I tried to check the website just to verify my numbers and I can't even log in. Anyone else having this issue? It says I'm not authorized to see the earnings page.

I've been with them since 2008, have had much more than 10 sales but only have 114 vector images there.

I could upload more to get my portfolio count over 150, but I would have to go through my old stuff to find images that I didn't want included in the first place. It's ridiculous to have portfolio count as one of the criterias as it doesn't say anything about quality. I may have to consider closing my account.. 

Well, that's a bummer....after a rash of nonsensical bulk rejections from 123RF and from Shutterstock earlier this year, I decided to work on my RM portfolio.  I've added about 1,100 images to my RM agencies and was going to concentrate on the micros the first half of 2012.

Seeing as I'm a contributor that didn't get the message (i.e. I was tossed aside)...I guess I'll have to re-think my agency priorities when I work on my micro portfolio early next year.

I certainly hope they implement a tiered structure - I'd be OK if they gave a reduced commission UNTIL a contributor reaches the outlined criteria but if they decide everyone gets a scant 20%, then I can't see prioritizing them.

This business is getting to the point that it's becoming more profitable to compete with the agencies that represent our work and to submit it to magazines and customers directly.

that explains waiting over 2 weeks for review...

Quote from: azurelaroux on December 06, 2011, 13:18
With the new announcement I tried to check the website just to verify my numbers and I can't even log in. Anyone else having this issue? It says I'm not authorized to see the earnings page.

I've had that - try control+F5 to force a refresh and it should prompt you for a captcha annoying thing to get in.

Quote from: briciola on December 06, 2011, 13:54

Quote from: azurelaroux on December 06, 2011, 13:18
With the new announcement I tried to check the website just to verify my numbers and I can't even log in. Anyone else having this issue? It says I'm not authorized to see the earnings page.

I've had that - try control+F5 to force a refresh and it should prompt you for a captcha annoying thing to get in.

Thanks for the tip but it was a dud. I still can't get past it. I'm going to email my "account manager" and see if she can fix it.

Quote from: azurelaroux on December 06, 2011, 13:56

Quote from: briciola on December 06, 2011, 13:54

Quote from: azurelaroux on December 06, 2011, 13:18
With the new announcement I tried to check the website just to verify my numbers and I can't even log in. Anyone else having this issue? It says I'm not authorized to see the earnings page.

I've had that - try control+F5 to force a refresh and it should prompt you for a captcha annoying thing to get in.

Thanks for the tip but it was a dud. I still can't get past it. I'm going to email my "account manager" and see if she can fix it.

I have the same problem - I have to Empty Cache every time I try to go to the earnings page. I sent a messages over a week ago and still no reply.

I checked my spam folders but don't see any e-mail from 123rf - did they only e-mail contributors who don't meet the criteria? It would seem to me that all contributors should know what's going on, not just those who are directly affected.

This is like those deals airlines did a while back where the pilots at the regional carriers got less than those at the main airline. Then they based the lower pay on which jets you flew and tried to move some of the "cheap pilot" jets into the main airline fleet. In other words I don't see this as good news even for old contributors like me who have large portfolios and enough sales.

Cutting royalties is not a good sign - and it's a shame as 123rf had been doing reasonably well.

I'm no longer a photo contributor on 123RF, but I applaud them for doing it this way. Considering what has happened at some of the other agencies, this seems to me to be a fair way of doing it. (Though I think the criteria for qualifying for the grandfathering rates could've been more lenient.) If iStock had done it this way, there would have been far fewer defections from exclusives, and less hatred towards them from all.

Now ... I wonder if this applies to the new footage contributors as well? I assume not, as they're just getting started on those.

Great!

142 in portfolio and far too little notice to get the extra 8 approved !

I don't know what I did but now I can't find any of my images on the website. I'm completely confused.

Edit: The site works on my phone but it gives me a "Certificate not from a trusted source" warning. My desktop is running FinJinn security so it may be auto blocking based on the certificate warning.

Looks like I'll be staying at the 50%.

I don't meet the criteria and I definately didn't get the email.  There is nothing in my spam filter or bin.  The last email I got from them was introducing my 'personal team' on the 21st of October. 

This is not an early April Fool or something from the OP is it?