Found one of mine there using Google Image, have emailed Alex to see if he could persuade them to buy a subscription package instead. I don't read Arabic, perhaps if someone does, he/she can contact them

http://www.startimes.com/f.aspx?t=29061980

This Captcha is definitely a nuisance although I understand where 123rf is coming from. Sept was my BME but Oct has started really weak. Wonder if it has anything to do with the rather annoying captcha? I imagine 123rf buyers have to go through the Captcha verification as well when they log in and if indeed so, that might be have been frustrating to the buyers and deter them from coming to the site often for the downloads.

Alex, Anglee, what about putting captcha not on the entry login/landing page but on the second level pages where earnings/downloads etc are located for contributors?

Let's take the analogy of a Tablet maker, say Samsung, they did not have any exclusive arrangement with either Best Buy or Circuit City or Office Depot. They signed separate agreements with each of them at whatever price/deal Samsung has cut with these shops (depending on what the entire distribution agreement offers). If Circuit City decides to sell the same tablet at 20% below what Best Buy is selling the same tablet for whatever reason (low price leader, better marketing, lower overhead), and as a result Best Buy is losing sales to Circuit City, Best Buy has no right to go to Samsung later and say "your tablet is being offered at Circuit City for 20%, therefore I am going to take 20% off the your wholesale price unilaterally" and by the way we are going to do this retroactively. That is absurd!

Stock photo sites are nothing without contributors (yes most contributors will not leave as it is their livelihood). Competing to see who gets to the bottom first will ensure that you get to the bottom first. Instead they should be working hard at building and nurturing loyalty with their suppliers (contributors)  What FT is doing at every turn can only ensure that it loses its standing in the stock photography community fast if it has not already done so.

I am beyond speechless!!. They are acting like thugs, there is no other word to describe their behavior towards contributors.

I have a copy of the "Still Life and Special Effects Photography: A Guide to Professional Lighting Techniques", Second Edition
by Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz. I thought it was a pretty useful book with good setup/plenty of illustrations and images.

I bought mine at Barnes and Nobles. Amazon carries it but through one of their sellers http://tinyurl.com/68q48cr

Don't forget you can get excellent health care at private hospitals in Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, India at 25-30% of the costs in the US. A friend had his gall bladder removed in a private hospital in state of Washington, was in hospital for 4 nights, his bills came to a whopping 40K (mostly of tests/use of medical equipment fee, hospital stay, medicine, doctors fees were actually a small part of the 40K (he was self insured then). He kicked and screamed and threatened and they brought it down to 25K which was what they would charge someone if the insurance co was paying for the same surgery. (yes, the sad truth is hospitals do charge you more if you are uninsured or self insured unless you threaten to go to the media, and 50% of personal bankruptcy in the US is due to run away medical bills). My sister in Asia had the her gall bladder removed and it costs her $3500 USD and she had excellent surgeon/care and more nurses per bed!!

US health care system is broken, costs are absolutely spiraling out of the control. $1000 per month just for health insurance for a family of 3-4 is going to be done at the expense of taking care of other basic needs, paying mortgages, eating healthy, taking a vacation to relax and rejuvenate from time to time. Basic medial care should be a basic right that a nation provide for its citizen. I would pay a little more taxes in the US if there is free basic health care. What good does it do even if you can deduct your medical expenses (and only after you exceeded the 6.5% AGI floor) because you will be broke anyway.

I am self employed and used to buy health insurance until they increased my payment 15-30% each year, at times 2x a year or at every renewal. The company's excuse was health care costs are going up every year and we try to keep the increase as little as possible, blah blah but we have no choice, BS really. I am very healthy, fit, but that did not matter. I got fed up with the "high way robbery of my money" that I decided I will self insure!! or if I can fly when i am sick, I will have my surgery in Asia. (I do have a small medical coverage with my auto insurance). I set aside some emergency funds and focus on being and staying healthy. It is not the ideal situation but I simply hate being "robbed"

thanks everyone (so far) for yr thoughts 
I have 20+ images on Alamy (RM)/editorial for 2+ years (not enough to make a dent anyway), never had a single download so I stopped uploading there.
I just started adding editorial to 123rf, mostly popular landmark/landscape/generic people/sports type shots, will see how that works.  I have had good downloads on 123rf for the RF images, so thought I give it a try there. Right now I am just recycling old worthy photos shot last few years with no property/model release, not doing anything new for editorial specifically. Having said that if I see some sales, I probably will keep editorial in mind when I shoot for stock next time around.

Hi All,

Has anyone has good success with editorial image sales? If you could share your thoughts on sales/download/time spent site(s) you  are seeing success with them?

thanks 

Terms of Service link on their home page (at the very top right)- takes you to a page that includes the following paragraph:

"The images and resources that members and our collaborators published on http://www.freegreatdesign.com/ were was collected from many different sources. In addition to get permission from the copyright holder to post some pictures of them on our website, there are also many pictures that we not contact the copyright holder of the picture, or have the photos are shared for free on the internet that our collaborators has collected over the years.

So we do not assume any liability when people use photos, resources are posted on the website used for private purposes.

If you are the copyright holder of one (or some) images that were posted on our website, you may allow or do not agree. You should contact directly with us to be satisfactorily resolved."

They are blatantly taking and posting images without permission on their site and telling users that they do not have copyright on them (caveat emptor)!! Unbelievable. Somebody needs to write to them to tell them redistributing another person's work without explicit consent is NOT OKAY and it needs to stop immediately.

does anyone know what the contributor earnings % is for editorial image? is it the same as RF except that it is for editorial use only? I can't find any info on 123rf FAQ

thanks

I like her work, it is awesome.  I agree with others selling such work on Microstock does not do justice to her talent. A coffee table book or two (if she does not already do so) will give her the much deserved publicity and visibility. Now if she would come to MSG and share with us her thoughts, that would be nice.

just received the email as well, It is a real shame. I moved from Smugmug to them 7 months ago because I like the simplicity and professional look of their site. Never did get any sale, have 48 images on it, I was using it purely as a place to show my port.

There was a refund of $10 from them this morning and I was wondering why. Now I know.

Wonder if there will be a buyer. They said they are soliciting offers.

I have never had any major issues receiving payments via Paypal from Fotolia, although it has taken 3-4 weeks for me at times. Did you check to see if your email address was correct in the system at Fotolia? or whatever tax forms they needed to be filled out before hand? It is a pain to have to wait so long for payment and not able to resolve it. My last payment was a little over 2 weeks ago and it came pretty swiftly. Don't give up on your hard earned money.

superb, thoroughly enjoy them keep up the good work
jc

breathtaking and simply amazing That is the kind of candid on the spot photography I love.

I got lucky this time around, payment via paypal came in 3 days. Previous one took more than 3 weeks. It does not look like there is any payment schedule at Fotolia, just who is manning the "payment booth" at the time of one's request.

ok, looks like the problem is uniquely mine tks for the feedback

For those who are on Fotolia, has anyone noticed if the #s of downloads reflected under Statistics (SOLD FILES, PAID and Subscripttions) are being updated each time there is a download. Mine have remained the same for the last few weeks despite having many downloads since 

I know it is hard to check if you have a lot of dns each day, but if you could make a mental note of that number and check if it changes with the next download you have.

I have just emailed support

the little round dot would stay orange (pending) until Fotolia has processed the payment request at their end and money sent to your paypal account. In the past, it has taken anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (lately) for me to get my payment. Thelast payment took a good three weeks and only after 3 email chases. Until that happens, it would show "Receipt" (yes, strange that they generate a receipt before money has been sent). May be that is their way of saying request received.

I would say give it til end next week and if payment is not received by then, definitely email them and ask them to expedite.

same for me, I have daily sales, and a few ELs every so often. March was good, April is not bad could be better. With 15 more odd days to go, the month could still end decent.

I have never had any issues with my earnings nor had any refunds at 123rf, sales are good for me month on month, I have more images with them, images others deem not stock worthy and they sell. Payment is prompt around the 14th 15th of each month without me having to make any request or chase for it

It seems quite a few ppls on this board are less fortunate and experiencing all kinds of issues with them, guess I am the lucky few. The site is getting a lot of bashing as a result perhaps unnecessarily and 123rf should definitely look into the problems reported here and rectify them quickly?

I just registered but it says upgrade to pro a/c for $50, which page do I go to get the $20/yr for the first year?

jc

I also had a great month @123rf. In fact the Ext license sales pay much better than at FT for me). 123rf has not reduced the contributor % unilaterally the last 18 months when things were slow (not the same can be said about FT for eg) What I got paid for each download, subscription or credit sales has not changed for the past 2 years, again not the case with FT. Furthermore 123rf communicates, they do consult contributors and value our inputs, I can't say that for many other sites. I am in favor of the additional revenue possibilities and I speak for myself only. I think adding an opt out option for contributors would be the right step.

just received mine as well, from March 4th, it too some 17 days this time

I am reporting mine on Schedule E under Royalties, I am not doing this full time or as a profession, hence not deducting any expenses or depreciating my camera gears (the amount should not be subject to self employment tax which would be the case with Schedule C income) In my situation, the income is really passive income since the one image earns me royalties year after year (much like if one is an author and receiving royalties from book sale each year). I could treat this as a hobby and net it against my expenses and report any excess income on line 21 but I did not plan on netting income and expenses. Also in my case, it isn't too much and it won't impact my tax situation adversely.

Having said that, much of US tax laws are subject to/a matter of interpretation. If in doubt, best to err on the side of caution and consult a tax expert in each situation