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Author Topic: Alamy 6th? Surely this is a joke..  (Read 29097 times)

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Hobostocker

    This user is banned.
« Reply #25 on: May 02, 2014, 19:17 »
+2
Well, I believe that they are having a tough time competing with MS.  Most of my sales are $20-$30 now with some at $5-$6.  I believe that the overall effect of micro stock is forcing Alamy to change their pricing so that single image sales are in line with what a customer would pay for an on demand file in micro stock.  Something along these lines.  And they have also cut commissions two or three times.

and this will finally backfire as they just don't have the sales volume required to get on par with microstock nor their clients will suddenly buy more than in the past !!

i mean typical buyer needs 10 pics for a 5-6 pages article on London for instance, he's got no reason to buy 100 photos but now he will just pay 100$ for his set of 10 photos and get away with it.

next time he will also take for granted that pics are so cheap and expect a further good deal, after all if these pics are so good and they only cost 10 bucks it's a buyers market isn't it ?

in the meantime the same sh-it is sold for 250-500$ per image on ImageBrief and a lot more for commissioned works or expensive assignments.

Alamy selling RM stuff for 5$ is just unsustainable for photographers, no wonder we all use it as a "dump" for old cr-ap that can't fit or sell in other agencies.





Hobostocker

    This user is banned.
« Reply #26 on: May 02, 2014, 19:22 »
+3
moreover, they've the most hideous keywording/uploading system in the industry and they are doing F all to improve it and no hope for FTP of course.

yeah they're photographer-friendly but that's all, where's the money $$ alamy ?

i've nothing against shooting obscure subject but the time it takes to edit and keyword and all ... just doesn't make sense with the actual fees.

nobody is going to waste production time and money into godforsaken destinations in the vain hope someone will need it sometime in the future, just a few years ago a travel image would sell easily for 200$, now it's 10 or 20 bucks .. i'll rather sell subs on istock and SS at least i will recoup some cash.

Ron

« Reply #27 on: May 03, 2014, 01:09 »
0
Feckin' Amen to that!

Goofy

« Reply #28 on: May 03, 2014, 10:14 »
+5
The key wording and return policy serious blows! But when you do get a large sell that 'Clears' it is exciting and I seem to sell things that I would never have thought would sell. For example, I took a close photo of a bush next to our house and it sold for $480 (I netted $240)! A bush for almost $500! I probably spent less than 5 minutes between taking the photo and processing and I walked less than 20 feet from my front door!

« Reply #29 on: May 03, 2014, 10:38 »
+2
I hate their keywording system, it's as bad as iStock's (but not actually worse .... if  you think it's worse then you probably haven't realised just how much work you need to do in Deep Meta and are losing out as a result), but with many, many thousands of dollars safely in my accounts from Alamy I'm not going to complain.
Well. actually, I am: it would be really good if they would rethink it. I always have scores of images awaiting final keywording at Alamy  because I hate it so much. Once it goes over 100 unfinished files I put in a few hours to try to catch up.
(PS Congrats on the bush, Goofy, it's just the sort of oddball thing that sometimes turns up trumps on Alamy)/.

« Reply #30 on: May 03, 2014, 19:24 »
0
I think they've all but stopped selling traditional RF 'stock'.   I have about 250 there, same ones I have on the microstocks, which I know isn't optimum; but I've still made some good money in the past.

In 2012 I had 15 sales, a few were sizable.  In 2013 I had 13 sales, again a couple were good ones.

So far this year I've had exactly 1 sale.

I might as well close the account, because it's obvious they no longer sell much of my sort of thing, and things aren't going to improve. 

« Reply #31 on: May 04, 2014, 04:18 »
+1
Of my five sales there last month there were three ordinary RF and two RM editorial, so they do still sell microstock-type stock but obviously it's a market that is under pressure from competitors

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #32 on: May 04, 2014, 06:53 »
+1
A nd of course, it doesn't mattter what the content is, if a buyer has a discount, they get it over all Alamy images. There's no way or protecting your more unique images, just like on most (now all?) of the micros.

« Reply #33 on: May 12, 2014, 16:33 »
+1
alamy is not worth efforts

VUS

« Reply #34 on: December 07, 2016, 07:06 »
0
Totally agree with the "Alamy Sucks" statement. Despite quite some negative vibes we decided to add them to our distribution First upload the system got stuck several times till we managed to get 42 shots done. After x tries we managed 60. Here it comes, they managed to check ONE, yes the first one, didn't like it and hence rejected them all. Following up on this attitude we were advised this is their standard procedure as the first upload should only be 5-8 images. A few weeks later, calm again, we uploaded 6 images and the same BULLCRAP attitude - 1st one rejected, all rejected. They milk the cow on contributors hard work and considering the quantity they have piled up and their lack of training, manning,... they bounce you off as quick as they can.

Won't waste my time again. Since I spent much of my career in Marketing I can only say just good I never purchased an image from them and for the future one won't even waste the time to check what they have.

« Reply #35 on: December 07, 2016, 07:26 »
+7
It's an old thread, but I don't suppose that matters in this case.
Alamy is consistently one of my top two or three sites. It probably depends on your content (but I'm not supplying three of the top five now, so maybe it would be lower down if I was).
I haven't had a rejection in my last 400+ batches, going back five years. If you're getting rejections then you've probably got problems with your quality control.

« Reply #36 on: December 07, 2016, 07:30 »
+10
the same BULLCRAP attitude - 1st one rejected, all rejected

Just make the effort to check that the images are all okay and you'll be fine.

They really don't have a "BULLCRAP attitude": They respond quickly and politely to requests and email questions - they're helpful and friendly - nice even. A breath of fresh air.

« Reply #37 on: December 07, 2016, 07:32 »
+8
Totally agree with the "Alamy Sucks" statement. Despite quite some negative vibes we decided to add them to our distribution First upload the system got stuck several times till we managed to get 42 shots done. After x tries we managed 60. Here it comes, they managed to check ONE, yes the first one, didn't like it and hence rejected them all. Following up on this attitude we were advised this is their standard procedure as the first upload should only be 5-8 images. A few weeks later, calm again, we uploaded 6 images and the same BULLCRAP attitude - 1st one rejected, all rejected. They milk the cow on contributors hard work and considering the quantity they have piled up and their lack of training, manning,... they bounce you off as quick as they can.

Won't waste my time again. Since I spent much of my career in Marketing I can only say just good I never purchased an image from them and for the future one won't even waste the time to check what they have.
They have a different approach they don't do quality control for you as they expect you to be capable of doing that....as well as reading the site conditions

Giveme5

« Reply #38 on: December 07, 2016, 08:08 »
+4
this particular company bounces around on me. One day I sold an image of a bush in my front yard for $450! than I go a few months without a single sale- still worth the price of admission in my opinion.... 8)


« Reply #39 on: December 07, 2016, 09:53 »
+4
Totally agree with the "Alamy Sucks" statement. Despite quite some negative vibes we decided to add them to our distribution First upload the system got stuck several times till we managed to get 42 shots done. After x tries we managed 60. Here it comes, they managed to check ONE, yes the first one, didn't like it and hence rejected them all. Following up on this attitude we were advised this is their standard procedure as the first upload should only be 5-8 images. A few weeks later, calm again, we uploaded 6 images and the same BULLCRAP attitude - 1st one rejected, all rejected. They milk the cow on contributors hard work and considering the quantity they have piled up and their lack of training, manning,... they bounce you off as quick as they can.

Won't waste my time again. Since I spent much of my career in Marketing I can only say just good I never purchased an image from them and for the future one won't even waste the time to check what they have.
They are so lenient with reviews, there must be something technically wrong with one of your images.  I think I've had one rejection in 8 years of uploading.  They have over 95 million images, so isn't it worth looking at your images with a more critical eye if you can't get past QC when they are very lenient?  That's what I did with my one rejected batch and I have to say it helped me much more than pretending the problem was with them.

angelawaye

  • Eat, Sleep, Keyword. Repeat

« Reply #40 on: December 07, 2016, 09:57 »
+6
I like Alamy. They treat me (a contributor) with respect. Very nice people over there!

« Reply #41 on: December 07, 2016, 10:02 »
+1
I'm not doing very well there but they are fair and good guys not their fault my work doesn't suit their buyers so well. Plan to work harder on that.

« Reply #42 on: December 07, 2016, 10:43 »
0
I sell every now and then but the so called "Quality Control" is a total joke. In the past they let everything just through, nowadays it happens more and more that a whole series of Batches is stuck for a month and then rejected because one image was bad....very unprofessional.
I haven't had this problem.  I have a small port with only one sale there this year, but it was a good enough price to put Alamy at about number three on my earnings for the year. 

« Reply #43 on: December 07, 2016, 11:17 »
+5
Totally agree with the "Alamy Sucks" statement.... they managed to check ONE, yes the first one, didn't like it and hence rejected them all. ...we uploaded 6 images and the same BULLCRAP attitude - 1st one rejected, all rejected. ...

I understand rejections are frustrating, but for the benefit of anyone else reading this thread in the future, Alamy is very straightforward about quality control - no editorial curation, just checks for technical quality.

I've never had an image rejected by them, so I have to think that if you have had two back to back rejections, you need to inspect your uploads more carefully. Impossible to say what the issues are without seeing the images. Did you look over the second upload of 6 before submitting or just assumed the first rejection was a fluke and not a flaw in your work?

Dealing with rejections without bursting a blood vessel is important for longevity if you plan to upload stock - all the other agencies inspect for composition and their commercial value opinions as well as technical quality. Alamy is as good as it gets :)

« Reply #44 on: December 07, 2016, 11:39 »
+2
Totally agree with the "Alamy Sucks" statement.... they managed to check ONE, yes the first one, didn't like it and hence rejected them all. ...we uploaded 6 images and the same BULLCRAP attitude - 1st one rejected, all rejected. ...

I understand rejections are frustrating, but for the benefit of anyone else reading this thread in the future, Alamy is very straightforward about quality control - no editorial curation, just checks for technical quality.

I've never had an image rejected by them, so I have to think that if you have had two back to back rejections, you need to inspect your uploads more carefully. Impossible to say what the issues are without seeing the images. Did you look over the second upload of 6 before submitting or just assumed the first rejection was a fluke and not a flaw in your work?

Dealing with rejections without bursting a blood vessel is important for longevity if you plan to upload stock - all the other agencies inspect for composition and their commercial value opinions as well as technical quality. Alamy is as good as it gets :)
They are also very straight forward in saying that your review times will be slower if you get rejections.   So, doing quality control yourself is extremely important.

« Reply #45 on: December 07, 2016, 12:31 »
+3
All the rejections I've had were either from home-developed and scanned film or on one or two occasions because of sensor spots in the sky that I somehow overlooked (the old 5D was a nightmare for sensor dust). I may have ground my teeth and cursed at the time - we all do when a batch gets rejected, I guess - but on examining the offending files I had to admit they were right.
Actually, that pretty much goes for rejections everywhere. If you can't see why something's rejected it's usually because you're not aware enough of the faults, not because there's nothing wrong.

« Reply #46 on: December 07, 2016, 13:25 »
+2
First of all.... i know the thread is old but somebody brought it alive..... anyway the fact that somebody opens such a thread with such title is a joke for me. Just because somebody dont manage to make sales doest mean it counts for others. Also Alamy is not microstock.... most biger earners are not voting here. People that vote here are microstockers that put the same images on Alamy. Out of the give up after two months because they dont understand the way Alamy works. This explains the rating on the right.

About the rejections........ Alamy expects that you submit technically good photos. It is more unprofessional to submit unsharp photos then Alamy rejecting all batch. I never understand why somebody would send bad photos and expect that the agency has to filter them out.

I got on Alamy around 24000 images and never got an rejection. Just dont send crap... what is not difficult at all  >:(.

Mirco


« Reply #47 on: December 07, 2016, 17:44 »
+6
They have been my #1 agency many times this year - actually most months. Average sales price per image this year is $68 and I averaged in the piddly $7 sales and still got that nice average. Highest license this year was $250 with $125 to me. Best last year was $400 with $200 to me. I've made payout most months - sometimes it takes longer since clients can be notoriously slow to pay which I don't love, but then I have calendar clients I license images to directly where I send them images 2 years in advance, 6-10 months later they chose images, and about a year later I can invoice them. That's how it often works with traditional stock photo sales. Slow but steady and once you have images in the pipeline it's not too bad.

Alamy is not the right place for everyone. I shoot a lot of secondary editorial and travel, so it's right in my wheelhouse. If I shot a lot of lifestyle, I'd sell them elsewhere.

With hundreds of submissions I went for several years without a rejection - but had two over the last few years - both times I missed sensor dust - my bad. Glad in both cases that they caught it as it would be embarrassing to have sold them. Since I had hundreds of submissions pass without incident, I was able to re-upload right away and wasn't punished for a month. My first year, back in 2008, I had a few of those month-long hiatuses and it was frustrating, but again, my fault. They expect you to be a pro or at least to shoot and process like one, but they are forgiving of the rare goof up if you have a good record.

I started with Alamy, so I'm used to their quirks. Much better than a dollar  - or 2 cents per download - so the extra effort is worth it.

« Reply #48 on: December 07, 2016, 19:11 »
+3
alamy 6th, possible, envato 4th, no way jose, impossible, these polls are manipulated for sure

Phadrea

    This user is banned.
« Reply #49 on: December 11, 2016, 08:40 »
0
I have gone through my biggest selling images on all sites and improved the keywording (still the old 3 tier keywording, not the new we have been promised) and they come up in the searches every time but alas, sales are still non.


 

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