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Messages - MatHayward
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1501
« on: May 29, 2012, 19:37 »
Download your stats at 123rf and look at the commissions you have received for each sale. Compare the commission amount to the size of the file and the price they charge. Can anyone in this forum claim a full price sale?
Right now you should receive...
50 cents for a Small
$1 for a Medium
$1.50 for a Large
$2 for an XL
$2.50 for an XXL Jpeg
$5.00 for an XXL Tiff
If they were paying us that it is still demoralizing and grossly undercutting the other sites for the same content. Take a look at your stats though...they aren't paying that. The closest I came was $1.41 for a large sale. Makes me feel dirty.
Mat
1502
« on: May 28, 2012, 11:55 »
I stopped uploading as soon as I figured out that I'm not actually getting 50% commissions but rather a small fraction of that after they discount their numerous promotional credits. I just could not justify giving them my work. It degrades SS, FT and DT. I do agree with the person that said 50% of small sales is better than 15% of bigger sales. I can't justify contributing to IS either. It's just too demoralizing.
1503
« on: May 25, 2012, 15:19 »
I have a pretty decent selection of L series glass and I can say that the Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro is my favorite lens and produces the best quality images of any lens I've got. I can't say enough great things about it. So worth the money!
1504
« on: May 06, 2012, 14:58 »
I am struggling to see the point of this site. I've heard a lot of buzz about it and I have been invited to join but I haven't spent any time in there. I'm told that my images are floating around in there. I'm not sure how they got there nor am I sure how I feel about this.
1505
« on: May 04, 2012, 16:28 »
I think it looks great. Clean, simple, catchy. The video is very impressive. An all around great job in my opinion.
1506
« on: April 30, 2012, 15:24 »
I'm sure there is an easy way to translate this article but I can't figure it out. Anyone have a translated version?
1507
« on: April 23, 2012, 14:26 »
I've got two websites and a blog. An obsession with Facebook really took me off of a steady pace of blogging for a while. I'm slowly switching back though I'm still a bit behind (Go Kart Racing with bands Young the Giant and Grouplove made my FB page and some other sites but not mine). www.haywardphoto.blogspot.comwww.MHWildlife.comwww.MatHaywardPhoto.comNone of these have anything to do with stock however. They do generate me a fair amount of business however. I will probably be dumping the wildlife site at some point in time and converting MatHaywardPhoto.com from flash but I don't see myself blogging much regarding stock. I've really made a point to keep the two realms of photography separate.
1508
« on: March 26, 2012, 19:12 »
I have printed 24X36 prints with my 11mp files and had no issues. A friend of mine used his files from a 1D Mark II and had them blown up literally to stadium size. Ground to ceiling at Century Link Field (Home of the Seahawks) with player images and they looked amazing. You should not need to upsize your 5d files for a 40 inch print in my opinion. I would call my lab and ask them what they think before investing in any software.
Good luck,
Mat
1509
« on: March 26, 2012, 19:09 »
Hmm, that's weird. I just logged in and it was the same process as it's always been for me.
1510
« on: March 21, 2012, 19:28 »
Unfortunately, you can't request a payout from 123RF.
If your sales total is $50.00 or more at the end of the month, they automatically pay the amount on the 15th of the following month. Consequently, cashing out the funds is not an option. 
That didn't happen for me this month unfortunately. The money was there but the payout didn't happen. Anyone else experiencing delays?
1511
« on: March 20, 2012, 13:29 »
I might be misunderstanding, but... if it is "billed as a part of 123RF's Advertising and Promotional budget," or "the cost comes directly out of 123RF," wouldn't that mean credits aren't devalued to the contributor? Sounds to me like costs are coming from the contributor.
That is exactly right. We are expected to eat the cost of their promotional credits. Looking at my sales stats it is extremely disproportionate with the overwhelming majority of my sales coming at a discounted rate. I just uploaded my first new batch of images to SS, DT and FT in recent weeks and for the first time made a conscious decision to omit 123 from the process as a result of this unfair practice. They will not be getting any more of my photos in the future. The intent of the upcoming change appears to be motivational but that and these freebies we are forced to give away have had the opposite affect on me.
1512
« on: March 19, 2012, 15:47 »
I'm seeing a rise in sales this month. I am assuming there has been a recent shift in the search algorithm as the images that are selling for me more consistently are from a different era than what has been selling in recent months. Not my newest images but newer images all the same.
1513
« on: March 14, 2012, 14:09 »
They sure aren't giving the buyers a 60% discount.
I'm sure they are actually. It is very rare I see a payment for a sale that represents the full price listed. Even at the full price it's too cheap in my opinion. They give out promotional credits as incentive to lure buyers away from other sites then they discount the promotional credit from our commissions. Hypothetical situation: Buyer spends $50 but receives $100 in credits for his purchase. The credits are then worth just 50 cents on the dollar and the purchase amount is cut in half with our commission reflected on the discounted price. Can anyone in this forum that actively contributes to 123rf claim they have more full price sales than discounted?
1514
« on: March 07, 2012, 16:47 »
$ 100 is just figurative matter, so I am surprised with your calculations ...
It represents only my desire for new technologies and abandoning dependence on oil ...
I just wanted to send a message that "moral" people should not build their own standards on other people's suffering!
Huh, I guess I'm still a bit confused because what you just wrote seems a little bit different than the first post you made opening this thread. In that post you said " But we are talking about RPI, PRD, intoxicated with our "gentle" lives, angry if oil jumps 1% ..."
That statement along with the title of the thread I interpreted to imply that you perceive us (when I say us, I mean those of us from the United States posting in this forum specifically since you mentioned our silly discussions of RPI and PRD) as spoiled or "gentle." I didn't catch the part about your desire to see technology advancements in there. Oh well, I guess it's my mistake. Oh wait...that last part of your last quote where you said "moral people should not build their own standards on other people's suffering!" Who exactly are you referring to there? I don't want there to be any more mixups. Could you please elaborate and let me know who you are referring to with that statement? Thanks, Mat
1515
« on: March 07, 2012, 14:22 »
Hey people, I like America!
Oh hey wow, so you are a good guy after all! That's great news. So I guess the only thing I'm confused about now is your hope that the price of gas will increase 100X. As far as I can tell the only thing that would happen there is the global economy would crash and burn. Millions of people would lose their jobs and be unable to provide for their families. Sounds like you love us Westerners so clearly that can't really be your "hope" can it? There are 3.78 Liters in a gallon. If gas was $100 per liter that means it would be $378.00 per gallon. It would cost me $9,450.00 for a tank of gas. I would need 27,794 subscription sales per week to be able to get to work and back. If you "like America" how can you hope for that. Sorry, but I choose to take your hatred personally. I wasn't complimenting the photo of yours I linked above but rather expressing concern that your true "hope" is revealed there.
1517
« on: March 02, 2012, 01:02 »
1518
« on: February 26, 2012, 14:44 »
Just saying that 40% as a percentage alone is still higher than what many microstock agencies offer.
40% of what though? Like I mentioned above...right now we get 50% but it's 50% of a deeply discounted sale. It seems there are more "promotional credit" sales than regular sales at 123 so the way I see it I'm getting around 20% of a bargain basement low price regular sale as it is. If we are forced to pay for their marketing in addition to a drop in commission you have to ask yourself what's the point? Any sale there is one sale that otherwise would have happened at SS, DT, FT or IS. I know FT does a lot of promo credits but they pay us the full commission rate regardless. This should be the industry standard in my opinion. We don't get to choose how much these guys send out in promo credits. At the very least we should be able to opt out of selling our images with promo credits. I never agreed to that unless it's buried somewhere in the fine print.
1519
« on: February 25, 2012, 16:45 »
Actually, Alex told us this: "With regards to sales, we're looking to more than double the figure. 2011 was great for us, we're looking to make 2012 greater. Ultimately your sales as a whole will more than just improve." Maybe it's a load of bs, but that's a far cry from suggesting they said they can't sustain their growth.
I've got a bridge I'm interested in selling you. Talk is cheap. Have sales doubled for you there in the last year? 10 months to build up? That means that a year from THEN is when you would get the higher commissions. That's assuming they don't change their mind again. The only thing consistent about 123rf is their lack of consistency in their message(s). Why continue to build this site up and take away from the sites that charge more and ultimately pay more. I just went through my sales at 123rf and am finding commission amounts with more variance than even DT. A few examples... For an XL file I was paid $1.72 Are they selling for $3.44 now? For an L file I was paid $1.12 implying a $2.24 sale Then another L file paid me $1.30. Why was this one sold for $2.60? Medium file paid me $0.60. Sold for $1.20? Now I get a Large sale commission at $.91. Really? Small size pays me $0.40 and on and on...as far as I can tell I had two medium sales that paid me $1.00. Every other sale is a very partial commission rate. Way more sales are discounted than not. I am not getting paid 50% now. Next year this site has strong potential to be the lowest paying site out there. Now they are just pretty much tied for that category. Do these sales stats mean if they give away free promotional credits to encourage a new buyer they are not paying me any commission on those downloads?
1520
« on: February 20, 2012, 14:04 »
These do look pretty great. I had bought and since broken a cable to fire a camera remotely for my PWii's that was very handy. Now I can focus with them too? Very cool.
I have to say, I enjoyed watching the lighting setups in action from these guys as much as I learned about the new toys available.
Great video, thanks for sharing it!
Mat
1521
« on: February 19, 2012, 13:57 »
This is an excellent post that brings up a very important question that needs to be answered. Are we eating the cost of discounts offered to buyers? Add the discount to our commissions and we are in very bad shape here. I am mad at myself for trusting the hype and ignoring my gut feeling on this site. I have no reason to upload new images to 123rf considering they probably wont be reviewed until the changes take place anyway. You can bs us all you want. I sure hope you arent bs'ing yourself too. Another unhappy contributor here.
One thing that hasn't been touched on much is that the 123RF commission % is based on the price the buyer paid for the credits and not based on 1 credit = $1.
It appears that 123RF seems to quite heavily discount their credit packages.
From a quick review of my last 100 credit sales, 308 credits were required for their purchase.
One would assume that at a 50% royalty that the commission would be close to $154, however the actual commission received was actually $126.
This represents an average credit discount of 18% given by 123RF to its buyers, which takes a substantial chunk out of our commission earnings.
I have had some XXL and XXL TIFF sales where the discount that 123RF must have given to the buyer is close to 60%.
Based on an average discount of 18% (from review of my last 100 credit sales) our sales are currently already being sold at what is effectively a percentage much lower than 50%, by hiding it behind buyer credit discounts.
If 123Rf are planning to increase sales dramatically as Alex says, how much of that is going to be at the cost of the contributor, by large credit discounts to buyers, even before they cut the commissions.
The proposed cut in commissions coupled with the fact that our dollars received are often based on substantial buyer credit discounts is just one step too far.
Alex if you are out there, I would like to here your reply to this.
1522
« on: February 15, 2012, 15:28 »
Whenever a business has leverage over something (employees, distributors, etc) it will almost always take advantage of the leverage to optimize its financials.
The HUGE, glaring difference between this move by 123rf and other sites that have made similar moves is that 123rf doesn't have the leverage you have referred to Paulie. I know I've only got around 1,000 images in my port there so I'm not one of their big shooters by any stretch of the imagination but still at 1,000 pics I have yet to earn even $40 in a month. Based on all the love and hype for 123rf seen in so many threads here, my expectations were far higher. As a result, if asked what I think about 123rf my answer would be "I don't." The drop in commission equates to very few real dollars for me at this point. The devaluation of my images by offering them so cheap could be far more costly.
1523
« on: February 15, 2012, 11:36 »
Price changes are very sensitive, we cannot just raise prices willy nilly. But we will take things under advisement and we'll improve from day to day.
Alex, Why are you setting your sites so low? You've got 10.5 months to work hard and build up a reputation amongst buyers that can separate you from the rest and justify a "Willy Nilly" price increase. Have faith in yourself. Heck, you will even have video to offer! Mat
1524
« on: February 14, 2012, 16:12 »
All...
Good Luck and put your helmet on. You guys aren't big enough and in my opinion haven't garnered enough loyalty to make a crazy, vague, indecisive move like this. The back and forth, contradictory messages have rattled my confidence in you. I hope you guys can get it together. As I've mentioned before, I see potential with 123rf but at this point in my opinion it's drifting away. Mat
1525
« on: February 13, 2012, 16:46 »
It's a system wide rollover for simplicity's sake,
So to make it easy on yourself you will be reducing commissions for all contributors on January 1, 2013. Am I reading that correct? Please consider increasing the prices of the files if you intend to decrease the commission. Mat
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