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? 

While sales overall are looking good in March, 123 on track for worst month in over a year

As of this morning, March 2013 is my BME at 123RF. 

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.

Quote from: daveh900 on March 27, 2013, 13:12
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.

Quote from: modviz on March 27, 2013, 13:20

Quote from: daveh900 on March 27, 2013, 13:12
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.

Quote from: fotografer on March 27, 2013, 14:27
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.

Quote from: modviz on March 27, 2013, 15:26

Quote from: fotografer on March 27, 2013, 14:27
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

Quote from: fotografer on March 27, 2013, 14:27

Quote from: modviz on March 27, 2013, 13:20

Quote from: daveh900 on March 27, 2013, 13:12
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... 

Quote from: Mapics on March 27, 2013, 16:11

Quote from: fotografer on March 27, 2013, 14:27

Quote from: modviz on March 27, 2013, 13:20

Quote from: daveh900 on March 27, 2013, 13:12
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.

Quote from: daveh900 on March 27, 2013, 16:25

Quote from: Mapics on March 27, 2013, 16:11

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.

     Like  Dave900  -  March  is  BME at  123rf

Quote from: Mapics on March 27, 2013, 17:40

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?

And as a final contribution to this topic (I promise). 

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." 

Quote from: modviz on March 27, 2013, 19:53
And as a final contribution to this topic (I promise). 

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?

  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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Quote from: disorderly on March 28, 2013, 23:19
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.

Quote from: fotografer on March 27, 2013, 15:29

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
[/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

Quote from: Darren Green on March 29, 2013, 11:06
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? 

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. 

Quote from: Dan on March 29, 2013, 12:05
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?

Quote from: Darren Green on March 29, 2013, 11:06

Quote from: fotografer on March 27, 2013, 15:29

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

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
[/quote]
I didn't say what you have quoted me as saying.