About the 123RF stock photo agency

There is a stock photo agency called 123RoyaltyFree or, for short, 123RF. The 123RF stock photo agency is considered to be in the middle range among microstocks – it’s not lagging behind, but it’s also not leading the pack. To diversify earnings in microstock, I recommend including the 123RF microstock in the list of agencies you use for work. The 123RF stock photo agency is a pretty good option for beginners, just like the Fotolia agency, as the inspectors at 123RF are quite lenient towards authors. Let’s run through the main points of the 123RF microstock operations!

What can be sold on the 123RF microstock?

On the 123RF microstock, you can sell raster images (photos, illustrations, 3D), as well as vector illustrations. The 123RF microstock sells images both via subscription and through single sales. Initially, the 123RF stock photo agency only sold images by subscription and later expanded its business model to include single sales. Today, both sales methods are thriving on 123RF. Authors earn $0.36 per sale on subscriptions and 50% of the sale price on single purchases. The price of single sales for buyers ranges from $1 to $3 under a standard license and up to $99 under an extended license. Therefore, with single sales, your earnings at the 123RF stock photo agency can range from $0.5 to $44.5 per sale.
The requirements for works sold on 123RF are quite reasonable. The photo size must be at least 4 megapixels and no more than 10 megabytes. If you’re uploading vectors, they need to be in EPS v.8 format and the file size must be up to 5 MB. By the way, vector previews are generated automatically, which speeds up the process a bit. Additionally, when attributing on the 123RF microstock, it’s not necessary to set categories, which is also a significant advantage.
Newly uploaded works sell best on 123RF. There is also a little trick to temporarily boost your sales on the 123RF microstock. You will need to fill out a questionnaire provided by the stock photo agency. The questions are quite simple, although in English. The 123RF stock photo agency promises to feature your works on the first pages for buyers within a certain time frame. From my experience, after filling out the proposed form, my sales increased fivefold within a week.

Exam on the 123RF stock photo agency

The exam that you need to pass on 123RF to start working is fairly simple and conditional. For the exam, you will need to provide 10 works. The exam on the stock photo agency can be passed even with the most primitive works. Therefore, I will say again – for gaining experience working with stock photo agencies, the 123RF agency is just right for beginners.

Payments from 123RF

The minimum payout on 123RF varies for each specific payout method. For example, when receiving payments to a wallet in the PayPal payment system, the minimum amount is $50; for payouts through Moneybookers, it’s at least $100; and if you want to withdraw your earnings from 123RF by check, the minimum amount must be no less than $200. You can request a payout upon reaching the minimum amount no more than once a month. When requesting your first payout, you will need to upload a scan of your passport to the 123RoyaltyFree microstock.

About the 123RF interface

Many newcomers have questions at the beginning of working with 123RF related to the peculiar interface of this stock photo agency. I want to briefly go through the main sections of the menu so you won’t have to waste time studying it.
So, to check your earnings and view daily and monthly sales statistics, you will need the Earnings section, where all the necessary data on this topic is displayed.
To find out what exactly was purchased from you on 123RF on a specific day, you will need to go to the Downloaded section. You’ll see a menu on the right to select the month; when you select it, click View.
To learn about the number of works in your portfolio, see how many have been uploaded and how many accepted, you’ll need to go to the History section. There, under the table, you’ll see a button View Images; when you click it, you’ll go to a page with your works. Here, you can change the title of a work or modify keywords; additionally, you can see which works have been accepted, which have not, and the reasons for any rejections. There’s also a list of works currently under review by the inspectors at the 123RF stock photo agency.
There is a menu section called Faved. In this section, you can create a collection of your best works that are in your portfolio. By the way, this collection gives a certain boost to your sales level.
The Donate menu section can also have a slight impact on your sales level. Here, you can select works you are willing to offer for free download. Additionally, you can set a time frame during which free downloads will be available. How does this affect sales levels? When downloading these works, there is a high likelihood that buyers will be interested in other works from your portfolio and may purchase something.

Summary

The 123RF stock photo agency, alongside Fotolia and Dreamstime, is an ideal option for beginner microstockers to gain experience working in microstock. Yes, I won’t argue, this stock photo agency won’t provide the same level of income as the leading agencies, but it will still allow you to earn. So, let’s give 123RF a try!
One, two, three – let’s all go work at the 123RoyaltyFree stock photo agency! 🙂