28 Apr 2007 123RoyaltyFree
123RoyaltyFree, commonly known as 123rf, was around when I first started selling photos online. My original popularity test told me it wasn’t a good investment of my time, but I’m starting to see a lot of other microstockers experiencing pleasing results with them.
The 123rf website has the appearance of an established market participant, complete with all the bells and whistles. An initial investigation shows the numbers are starting to look good. So, it’s time to reconsider my original decision about 123rf.
Details
| Web Address | www.123rf.com |
| Google Pagerank | 6 |
| Google Backlinks | 1,240 |
| Alexa Rank | 12,458 |
| Image Stats | 700,000 images at time of review (over 17,000,000 at Dec 2012) |
| Minimum Size | 6 Megapixels |
| Vectors | Yes |
| Video Footage | Yes |
| Licenses | Standard Royalty Free. Extended Licenses for Multi Seat and Resale Items, but Unlimited Reproductions are included in the standard license. |
| Compensation | 50% for credits and 36 cents for subscription sales |
| Pricing | Scales per size, starting at $1, or subscription |
| Payment Methods | PayPal, MoneyBookers, Check |
| Payout Threshold | $50 paid automatically on 15th of following month |
| Referral Program | 15% of buyer purchases and 10% of contributor sales for six months |
| Application | None, just start uploading |
| Exclusivity | Not offered |
| Upload methods | FTP, web form |
| IPTC data | Yes |
| Delete Images? | Yes, individually |
| Currencies | US Dollars |
| Languages | English, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Taiwanese |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA. USA (Operational HQ in Malaysia) |
| Ownership | Fully owned by traditional stock agency Inmagine |
Comments
The 123rf website is great. The layout is clear and all the information you’d expect to find is there. The agency is owned by one of the larger traditional stock photography companies, Inmagine.
Conclusion
I have no complaints about 123rf who I feel are doing a fine job with their website and creating some success with their agency. My only reservation with them is their popularity and turnover. I hope that given their website and technology seem solid they’re now concentrating on marketing and building their customer base. I will sign up with 123rf and upload a selection of images and watch. If the images sell sufficiently well I will continue to invest.
dbltapp
Posted at 14:37h, 18 NovemberAgency appears to be folding. Website isn’t working right, no response to contact requests. Seems like everyone went home for good.
Chris
Posted at 11:47h, 23 FebruaryTotally agree with dbltapp. I was an affiliate for them a while, but the conversions have nose dived, and they never pay me automatically! I have to constantly contact them every month to ask where my payment is. And there customer service is slow. And the stats area in the ‘make money’ section is always on the blink, every time I login I don’t know if it is going to work or not. Given my serious lack of confidence in them I have now completely stopped promoting them on my website!
Kapina
Posted at 18:22h, 21 AugustHey Chris;
I want to start doing stockphotos I’m a new commer at this and I was sent to this website. Looking at your comments. I’m thinking twice about signing up. as I write I have the site on hold. Should I finish signing or should I look for a better site.
Thank you
Kapina
bayu harsa
Posted at 08:47h, 11 Marchthe site is working well.
i received my payment last month for about USD 50.0
the site is now have a new looking.
🙂
Christian
Posted at 20:17h, 17 SeptemberI seem to agree. I am not impressed with the 123RF website.
It’s taken me 2 years to finally reach the minimum amount of a payment which only takes me in average a month with other agencies. On top of it I haven’t been paid and waiting for response from their support…At this stage its not worth the energy to maintain an account there and I can’t find anywhere on the site where to cancel my account. I would not recommend and photographers to work with this site.
tberruiser
Posted at 22:12h, 21 OctoberI see a lot of negative comments and will be careful here. However, does anyone have any suggestions for a GOOD and RELIABLE posting site?
hassan
Posted at 07:13h, 10 Aprilhy, plz help.
when ever i upload a photo it gives me the error DIMENSION BELOW REQUIREMENT.
what should i do?
thanks
Lee Torrens
Posted at 20:17h, 10 AprilHi Hassan, this message means your files are too small. They’re below the minimum specification at 123RF which is 4 megapixels. You’ll need to submit larger files to avoid getting this error. Good luck.
-Lee
hassan
Posted at 21:21h, 10 April@Lee
thanks, my problem is solved.
James B
Posted at 05:16h, 24 MayHi Hassan and Lee
I think they changed the minimum submission requirement to 6Mp at least.
http://www.123rf.com/submit/photographersfaq.php
2. What image format does 123rf accept?
Stock photos:
– Images should be at least 6 Million pixels.
James
Lee Torrens
Posted at 20:46h, 24 MayThanks James, you’re right. I’ve updated the blog post to reflect the new limit. Thanks for pointing it out.
-Lee
hassan
Posted at 02:22h, 25 May@ james
thank you,.. minimum requirement is 6MP and your photo should be in “jpeg” format.
Jennifer
Posted at 09:39h, 13 AugustAs a customer of 123RF I am annoyed at how many extremely artifical looking and sexist photos they provide. Everytime a woman is portrayed doing anything technical she looks confused or silly. And everyone looks SO fake! There was one photo I liked and so I bought some credits and now suffering as I wade through some horrible photos to find more.