MicrostockGroup

I really need some opinions - is it okay to submit micro images to Alamy ? Can it be justified by the different (and possibly wider) licensing terms ?

I've always restrained myself from joining because I wouldn't want to be that buyer who found the image on a micro site the next day. On the other hand, maybe some buyers are staying with Alamy because they like their service and licensing terms - well aware of all the micro alternatives out there. Maybe they're seeing some professionalism / extra security there that they won't find on the micros - I have no idea.
What do you think, do you have any qualms submitting micro images to Alamy as RF?

It's probably not going to change my opinion on this, but I guess if everyone else is doing it and it's not against the Alamy contributor agreement, I might consider jumping on the bandwagon.

I wanted to make a poll for better "measurement" of opinions, but don't know how to.

ETA: There it was.

Your poll question doesn't ask the question you need to know.
In your post, you ask whether it's OK to submit micro images to Alamy, but in your poll you ask whether we submit our micro images to Alamy.
AFAIK, it's 'legal' so send the same images to micro and Alamy, so long as you're not exclusive for your micro images (person or image).
As to whether it's moral, it's for you to decide: the same products are sold in different physical shops at vastly different price points; most shoppers know this and may choose accordingly or may choose for other factors than price. For example, Alamy allows some big buyers quite a long time (3+ months in some cases) to pay, so that might suit some accounting systems more than paying in advance. Some accounting systems, e.g. in my old job, wouldn't allow payment to be made before you had the physical product in your hands. Their argument would be, 'if the agency goes bust, what use is ten months unused subscription or 5000 unused credits?'
Though as I branch out, I must admit I'm looking to maximise my efforts by looking at different angles of the same subject (literally or figuratively) for iStock and for Alamy. At the moment, I haven't got a handle on what sells at Alamy. The sales I've had so far have been pretty 'random'.

Yes, you're right that they are two different questions. The poll and the title really does ask what I want to know, but there's room for a discussion of morals in the thread as well - I'd like Alamy contributors to answer the poll, then backup their answers in the threads, which will inevitably touch the topic of morals. Sorry for not being clear
I know this has been eagerly discussed before but didn't manage to find a poll here at MSG asking the exact question I'm seeking an answer to (not saying it's not here somewhere though). I'd like to see the share of people respectively for and against.

I agree with Steve. I submit everything to alamy RF. I know there is a moral debate about pricing, but I'm of the mind that people who are buying at alamy, aren't necessarily looking at the rest of micro and price shopping. I know if I buy something at one store and find it cheaper at another, I don't get mad at the store or vendor, I'm more annoyed at myself for not shopping better. Weak comparison, but it's early for me.

I'm not sure it is about ethics or morals at all, as I think about this. Here is a photo that I sold on Alamy, and it is on all the other stock sites:


Pretty reasonable image of Washington Cathedral that can be used to illustrate an article about Washington DC. It sold for $32 on Alamy for low res web use for a 12 month period. The buyer obviously had something specific in mind and this image met his/her requirements. Perhaps they don't use many images and have always used Alamy. What is the ethical problem with me putting this image in the buyers hands through Alamy even though they could have bought it from Shutterstock for $5, say? I see no problem, at all, in uploading the same images to both sites.

Steve

Great example. So did you offer it for sale at Alamy as RM but you offer it as RF on the Micros?

Sean mentioned before that it's possible to offer the same image as RF at one agency and as RM at another.

Maybe someone can elaborate if this example here qualifies.

I get some of my lowest payments from the novel use scheme at Alamy, so can't really see what the problem is, they aren't much more expensive than some of the micros for RF

My images sell at the various microstock sites ranging in price from a few bucks to over $20. The difference from the low end to the high end can sometimes be a multiple of 3 or 4. In some cases the price difference from the high end of the microstock price range to the Alamy price range isn't much different in terms of the percentage increase.

I don't worry about Alamy buyers seeing images they bought there available for less elsewhere. The same thing could happen within the microstock sites, where someone buys a photo for $30 and then sees it for $5 somewhere else.

No biggie. I'm still curious though if this is "ok" to do, according to what Sean was saying in the past in another thread.

i don't, because what sells on Alamy is unpredictable to say the least.
never sold any pattern or still life or typical micro stuff there.
on the other side all my sales are about obscure and hard to find subjects and all RM.

You aren't supposed to sell the same photo as RF and RM on alamy and I think that makes it a problem doing it on other sites.  I don't mix licenses, if it's sold RF elsewhere, I would only sell it as RF on alamy.

Actually, reading the terms and conditions, it really looks like selling using the RM license isn't allowed if you sell the same or very similar photo as RF elsewhere.

http://www.alamy.com/contributor/contract/default.asp

All I have right now are micro images so that's all that Alamy got from me aside from one that I changed and am selling RM exclusive.  I would like to do more RM illustrations but I need to figure out what that would be.  And I've been so busy with other stuff lately I haven't had the chance to dive into that just yet.

I also, from my understanding, is that once it's RF somewhere else it has to be RF there.  There's no harm in putting your RF stuff on there it's just somewhat of a pain to upload there sometimes.

So, 18 says "yes", and 5 says "no". Very surprised by the poll results so far. I thought most people were against it as I've read many posts over time encouraging not to submit micro images to Alamy. Maybe these people have been more sound than others and I've just misunderstood the situation.
Think I'm going to start reading their agreement and consider selling my images there