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Author Topic: Alamy cutting all commissions by 10%  (Read 42635 times)

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« Reply #25 on: November 20, 2012, 08:56 »
+1
I don't know much about this place so I would like to hear how people are doing on Alamy.

not many sales, but some at a very good price, make Alamy worthwhile

Quote from: jjneff
Agencieis that are paying 50/50 should get our support as a community!!! It's at least fair so I don't know why people complain so much about an agency like this! Keep in mind if you are non exclusive at iStock then you are earning 15% if you are lucky. If all great artist helped sites that pay 50/50 we would all be in better shape!

50% is good in itself compared to others, but the trend (cutting commissions) is not

furthermore, Alamy is funding medical research, which is commendable; but cutting our percentage to give away to others is not

after all, if they are so confident that they are acting to "grow the business", then they could easily reduce funds to their charity now (they say they give away 89% of profits), in order give away even more lately of course


but how big are the profits.  If the company profits are only 2% of gross income.. cutting all their charity which is 89% of profits or 1.78% of their gross wouldn't really add much money to anyone's pockets.  What their charity is essentially saying is.. instead of lining the pockets of our investors with giving 100% of the profits to them, we are giving 89% of the profits to charity and only 11% to investors.

I like companies like that.


« Reply #26 on: November 20, 2012, 08:56 »
0
Thats quite in order and will probably benefit us long term. :)

The last cut, to fund the US offices, didn't.

Exactly, Liz. It didn't change a thing, for me anyway, but less income.

« Reply #27 on: November 20, 2012, 09:06 »
+1
If revenue is increasing, and the company is profitable, then there should be more profits to spend on expansion.

at least they are honest and admit that it is profitable, unlike the jackasses who claimed it became "unsustainable" while getting %80 so they needed more!

LSD72

  • My Bologna has a first name...
« Reply #28 on: November 20, 2012, 09:14 »
0
Guess it is time to order the 2013 Photographers Market book. This does not look good. The old slippery slope argument.

If they need more money.. do like regular people and cut back on Charitable Contributions and use that money elsewhere.

« Reply #29 on: November 20, 2012, 09:37 »
0
Another thought - if some other agencies reduced our commission by 10 percent points it would leave us with a commission in the single digits  :o

To see that Alamy still pays us 50% AFTER the commission cut is not a total disaster...

aspp

« Reply #30 on: November 20, 2012, 09:51 »
+1
Why don't they just lower or remove the amount they are so proud of giving to charity, and leave the charity giving up to the suppliers if they so wish?

That is analogous to asking the other agencies to reduce the amount which they give to the greedy corporate entities which own them. ie the greater part of their profits.

Whilst Alamy seems to be run very differently from the majority of other agencies and is much more "photographer friendly" it is still ultimately run as a business. It is not run for the ultimate benefit of the photographers. It is not a co-op.

What the owners choose to do with the profits is an after-business, up-to-them issue. But they still have to aim to maintain or increase the profits.

I like them and I trust them ultimately.

« Reply #31 on: November 20, 2012, 10:05 »
0
still looks fair but its certainly a disappointment to get a cut, only the 1st is/will be hard for them..

tab62

« Reply #32 on: November 20, 2012, 10:26 »
0
for those that submit to Fotolia (like me) I cannot complain about a company that only pays 50%...

PaulieWalnuts

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« Reply #33 on: November 20, 2012, 10:27 »
0
If revenue is increasing, and the company is profitable, then there should be more profits to spend on expansion.

at least they are honest and admit that it is profitable, unlike the jackasses who claimed it became "unsustainable" while getting %80 so they needed more!

Yes, they are honest. They are cutting commissions to bring it down closer to competitors. And competitors keep lowering commissions so all agencies will continue to reduce commissions until contributors go away. Then they will stop cutting. Apparantly not enough of us have left yet.

« Reply #34 on: November 20, 2012, 10:32 »
0
If I were looking for something from Alamy it would be increased sales volume and immediate - as opposed to "this year, next year, sometime, never" payments. If I thought that taking 10% to fund growth - without having to get money from the short-term-oriented venture captialists - I could live with that. Alamy's occasional large sales don't make up for the lack of volume and the payment process seems antique if you've been selling via micro.

I'm very willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because (a) they seem unusually straightforward compared to the rest of the agencies and (b) I don't currently make much from them. I have more to gain than I do to lose, looking at it from the perspective of a relative newbie (and I don't really count the handful of RM images I put there in 2007). I'm sure people with a big current income stream which is steady and which will be cut in the short term will have a very different view of this.

fujiko

« Reply #35 on: November 20, 2012, 10:41 »
0
To me is crystal clear.
Agencies cut commissions when they foresee a drop in sales to maintain their revenue despite the drop or just to have a bigger cut of the pie.
All agencies say they do it to increase sales and it is a lie. Maybe if they did it after increasing sales it would make sense but they simply cut commissions now with a promise of better sales in the future.
Lies, lies and more lies. Infinite greed and false promises.

tab62

« Reply #36 on: November 20, 2012, 10:46 »
0
I might have to go eat a hostess twinkie now after hearing the lies  :-\



« Reply #37 on: November 20, 2012, 11:58 »
0
60% seemed about right.  Alamy need to pay a big percentage commission because they have relatively low sales volume and have been cutting prices.  I also wonder if this is the last cut or are they going to end up finding another excuse to cut again in the future? 

If they increased sales first and then cut commissions it wouldn't hurt so much but sites don't seem to do that.

Having put a lot of time in to alamy in the past year, I'm not happy with them and will have to consider my plans for next year again.

« Reply #38 on: November 20, 2012, 12:15 »
0
I haven't sold on Alamy yet. If it increases sales the I can accept that. I wait to be convinced. 50% is still good compared to rest of the market. My issue with the site is the the key wording/submission process which makes it the longest site for me to complete. Why have 3 categories? A simpler process would be a nice way to spend some of the money. I like the 123RF process.

ginasanders

« Reply #39 on: November 20, 2012, 12:26 »
0
You can delete 3000 images in 10 minutes. Just made!

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #40 on: November 20, 2012, 12:29 »
+3
I haven't sold on Alamy yet. If it increases sales the I can accept that. I wait to be convinced. 50% is still good compared to rest of the market. My issue with the site is the the key wording/submission process which makes it the longest site for me to complete. Why have 3 categories? A simpler process would be a nice way to spend some of the money. I like the 123RF process.

I think we as a whole need to get away from the "it's okay to take stuff away from us" mentality. For the effort we put in we should be getting increases, not reductions.

This "it's okay as long as it's disguised as yet another false benefit" sets a tone for the entire industry that it's okay. We've taken enough cuts. Once commission is cut it's not going back up.

« Reply #41 on: November 20, 2012, 12:34 »
0
I don't disagree with your arguments.

Poncke

« Reply #42 on: November 20, 2012, 12:42 »
0

« Reply #43 on: November 20, 2012, 12:51 »
0
Dear Alamy, you say "We understand that reducing your share by ten percentage points cannot be seen as great news in the short term."

Well, I couldn't care less about "short term". The problem is the long term: the two other major sites that did cut our shares only got a lot of bad publicity in return, and a reduction in sales, not an increase.

You are still in time to withdraw your decision, and we will forgive you: we have little power, but we are many.

Yeah, it doesn't really seem changes like this have ever brought in the additional customers. In theory it makes sense to spend it on marketing, but the reality just hasn't backed it up so far.

« Reply #44 on: November 20, 2012, 13:00 »
0
I haven't sold on Alamy yet. If it increases sales the I can accept that. I wait to be convinced. 50% is still good compared to rest of the market. My issue with the site is the the key wording/submission process which makes it the longest site for me to complete. Why have 3 categories? A simpler process would be a nice way to spend some of the money. I like the 123RF process.

I think we as a whole need to get away from the "it's okay to take stuff away from us" mentality. For the effort we put in we should be getting increases, not reductions.

This "it's okay as long as it's disguised as yet another false benefit" sets a tone for the entire industry that it's okay. We've taken enough cuts. Once commission is cut it's not going back up.

Agencies which lower commissions are not worth talking about..

Instead of going mad over the crap they are pulling I am concentrating on my own websites..

« Reply #45 on: November 20, 2012, 13:07 »
+2
"I think we as a whole need to get away from the "it's okay to take stuff away from us" mentality. For the effort we put in we should be getting increases, not reductions.

This "it's okay as long as it's disguised as yet another false benefit" sets a tone for the entire industry that it's okay. We've taken enough cuts. Once commission is cut it's not going back up."

Absolutely.  This 'well they said it really nicely' attitude is just bizarre.

rubyroo

« Reply #46 on: November 20, 2012, 13:13 »
0
Yes, well, maybe I should be more mortified... but having been hammered by others so badly, maintaining a 50% cut somehow doesn't seem so bad.

Of course we'd all prefer no cuts anywhere.

« Reply #47 on: November 20, 2012, 13:27 »
0
Agencies which lower commissions are not worth talking about..

Instead of going mad over the crap they are pulling I am concentrating on my own websites..

I made the same decision about two years ago, and I haven't regretted at all.

« Reply #48 on: November 20, 2012, 13:35 »
0
Keeping up with the competition - does that mean I don't have to wait 3 month for my payout anymore?

« Reply #49 on: November 20, 2012, 14:02 »
0
shouldn't exclusives be out of this discussion?


 

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