Trouble with 123RF

Signed up with 123RF a few months ago and have an appalling approval ratio. 26 files submitted and 18 rejected. Reason? None given. Just 'rejected' in bold red letters.
These are the same images approved on Dreamstime, Shutterstock and several other places.

And after this mornings rejections i feel there is something odd going on at 123RF. We all have rejections i know but the reason for the latest (the first time they have given feedback on a rejection) were no property release on an illustration with a made-up city horizon?! They want a model release for a city that doesn't exist then?

With that in mind i wrote to them this morning and will post their reply:

"After getting a lot of rejections since signing up i need some clarification please after the latest rejections reasons given as 'property release required.'

It's good if 123 have high criteria to meet but i need more than 'rejected' as feedback to enable improvement on my side to meet that criteria.

After 26 files uploaded 18 are rejected with one pending (and i suspect that will be rejected also.)

The latest reason for rejection are in part unrealistic and frankly absurd: (filenumber***) Search lights pointing into a night sky above a silhouette city horizon (illustration). You guys want a property release for a city? An obviously fabricated horizon created from imagination?! That doesn't make sense neither is it possible to fulfill.

I understand the model release question for the 'girl in dress' (filenumber***) but can confirm this is original artwork and i retain all copyright to it.

On a last note i see a lot of the preview thumbnail images in the 'history' section are not showing up. Is that a reason for rejection also?

Thanks in advance for answering these points so i can improve matters."

The reply from 123RF:

"A quick check on your account showed that the files that you mentioned above were rejected because they had appeared to be corrupted. If you were to log in to your account, at the History page-- Rejection, you will see that the image thumbnail does not show and instead a square box with a red X is shown. This is because the file wasn't fully uploaded. Hence, only the word "Rejected" in red is shown."

OK.. that doesn't really explain why the files are being corrupted or why they didn't bother to add a note to the rejection page stating this problem or why they need a property release for a fictitious skyline. And, perhaps because i am using firefox i don't know, there was no 'red x' shown to alert me to the issues at hand.

I have just uploaded (or should i say re-uploaded) some files via their web form instead of via FTP. The thumbnails appear now although i will wait and see what the review process brings up this time. Any more rubbish about inappropriate property releases and i doubt if i will bother with them in future.

Reply from 123RF

Reply from 123rf:

"Hi there,

Connection problems could be a cause of this kind of situation whereby the images were not able to be uploaded completely. As for the rejection for an illustration without a release, we've managed to pinpoint the cause of it. The error was due to an overwritten approval reason by the system. The two images will be reversed from the rejection folder. We regret the glitch.

Regards,

123rf.com"

Might find it hard to reverse those as i have deleted some of the rejected images and simply uploaded them again.

Anyways.. enough about all that. Not sure i even understand the terminology of the reply.
Onwards and upwards.

First sales at Fotolia & 123RF

Had the first sales in the last couple of days at Fotolia and 123RF. Been a long time coming at 123RF.

I do dislike Fotolia's credit system though. It's overly confusing. Why they just can't use pounds or dollars is anyones guess.

Apparently a credit is equal to 75p ($1.15) and now my balance after one sales states 0.216. ugh how unhelpful.

If i am correct then, if that means cents and you round it down, i am about 13.5 pence better off today?! OR is that 0.216 of a CREDIT? Which would mean 21% of 75p = 15.5p? hmmmm either way... what should i buy first though? A motorboat or go straight for the villa in Spain. Decisions, decisions!

The one sale at 123RF gave me 0.36 (a sub sale) so i am 23 pence better off. That clinches it.. looks like I will go for the motorboat after all! ;-)

April Earnings Report

Well, as expected, April's total wasn't very impressive. Without uploading any new material for the whole of the month i didn't even come close to the previous months figure.

I have spent the time looking closer at the Photomatix program and playing with the camera settings with a view to creating some decent HDR photos. A work in progress.....