123rf - a heads up

sarahdalton · Jun 13, 2013

Hi guys,

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but about a week ago I found out on another forum that 123rf require you to buy their extended license for use of stock images on book covers. It's fine for promo material, such as on blogs and websites, or inside the book, but not on the cover.

I've found that many of their images are available on Shutterstock or Bigstock and their standard licenses include covers -- which is much cheaper.

This is coming from a designer who emailed 123rf directly. Here's the blog post: http://ebookindiecovers.com/2013/03/31/all-about-stock-images-and-book-covers/

Now, whether they'll change their minds in the future, I don't know, but I'd avoid them like the plague.

It's a bit of a headscratcher, this one. Surely they're shooting themselves in the foot here?

Filigree · Jun 13, 2013

Thanks for the alert.

E. S. Lark · Jun 14, 2013

Wow, thank you for the heads up. It's a shame since their prices seem to be the lowest, especially when compared to Dreamstime unless you have a subscription.

This also means I'm going to have to alter my custom cover prices in the future to reflect the use of another stock site (or have the authors purchase the stock themselves).

Of course, not to sound like a scammer but, how can they even tell the stock we use is from their site and not a different one? Unless it's a stock exclusive to 123rf, I don't see how they could tell.

sarahdalton · Jun 14, 2013

I'm not sure whether they put something in the metadata of the image. I'm not an expert, but I think it might be in the title of the image.

I don't think they will be able to tell, but to be on the safe side I've bought the images from big stock as well, so I should be covered.

Gale Haut · Jun 16, 2013

E. S. Lark said:
Wow, thank you for the heads up. It's a shame since their prices seem to be the lowest, especially when compared to Dreamstime unless you have a subscription.

This also means I'm going to have to alter my custom cover prices in the future to reflect the use of another stock site (or have the authors purchase the stock themselves).

Of course, not to sound like a scammer but, how can they even tell the stock we use is from their site and not a different one? Unless it's a stock exclusive to 123rf, I don't see how they could tell.

That's a really good point. Even metadata is really easy to alter, and I've never heard of anything equivalent to DRM protection for photos. If a user were to find the same stock available at other stock sites with a more lenient ToS it would be really unlikely for anyone to question the use of the stock. It may be unethical but unlikely.

E. S. Lark · Jun 18, 2013

That was my thinking as well, Gale. Especially if the artist alters the original image or merges it with others to create a cover.

SBibb · Jun 23, 2013

Yeah-- I was looking at them once and decided it wasn't worth it to try.

I did find they had some of the same images on Dreamstime, and you might check out Fotolio. I haven't used them just yet, but it sounds like their terms of service is cover friendly, too, when I emailed them about it (so long as it isn't being used controversially).

123rf - a heads up

sarahdalton

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

E. S. Lark

Editing all the time

sarahdalton

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

E. S. Lark

Editing all the time

SBibb