MicrostockGroup

Alamy is proving as popular as ever amongst the photographic community with registrations from photographers up by 10% in the last two months.

ed: Alamy Registrations from photographers are up by 10% in the last two months from our average monthly trends.

http://www.alamy.com/pressreleases/2011/26-million-images.asp

they still have a quite boring upload, iptc ain´t imported to the right place and then tons of questions, quite time consuming but I do plan to "work" more there despite 4 sales, 15$ and 700 files for 8 months

given these 3 facts together... why don't they open a regular "micro" section - clearly separated from their "macro" section - with normal upload (no question asked, no categories), every picture checked, and NO upsizing? It's useless to have difficult upload and then sell at micro prices

As someone said in another thread... I'd like British - and European in general - agencies to succeed: it's time UK enters microstock seriously; iSignStock is doing well for me; iRockStock is still very new but I like their site, looks professional enough (possible legal problems apart, which someone noticed)

I only have a few pictures on Alamy due to their boring upload, and no sales. But I guess Alamy could do very well as micro

Alamy News launches at the end of this week so I expect that figure to climb significantly

upsizing not needed for a while now.. I wish they had a faster submission

yes 2, 3 times more I guess which can be explained in part by the much higher acceptance rate

Really?
I knew they reduced required size from 16 MP to 8 MP (from 48 to 24 MB in their weird units)
But I thought they still allowed upsizing to 8 MP, since they say:
"Images from at least a 6 megapixel DSLR or more"
http://www.alamy.com/contributor/help/prepare-images.asp

my last batch was a while ago but I know that is was a little over 8MP, thats was the only requirement now it is 6

I have 10D photos accepted there, upsized to 48MB before the new standards. They aren't lying. The approved camera list covered it pretty well.

I know I haven't written this before, (at least not this week) Alamy is NOT Microstock. Don't ask them to adopt the Micro formula. If Alamy charges less for smaller or does other things, that's their program, but they still have sales for over $200. What Micro sites sells my images for $120 commission? Hello!

Yes the data is boring and tedious. They do import one field and it's easier for me to ignore that and do everything manually. I really do like the three levels of keywords because I can control what is most important to the image and if used properly gives buyers a better search results. That 50 character limit, makes photographers think about what goes in the Main box. Instead of 200 keywords that just ruin and clutter results on Microstock sites.

My reviews run under 24 hours during the week. I have a feeling they track users and if you have a high number of accepted photos with no or one rejection, you get the fast track. Start trying to push through marginal shots or having repeat failures and you get sent to the back of the class, 2 weeks isn't unusual.

Low volume, higher pay, it's not micro it's never going to be like that, and Micro is never going to be Alamy. Two different markets and strategies. If Alamy tried to become Micro, it would be their demise. Hey why doesn't some micro sit do acceptance like Alamy? You know easy reviews, no checking for content... hint: Anyone have great sales at MostPhotos?  If it was such a good plan, wouldn't it work? Seems like the answer is no it doesn't.

I'm different and others may also be different in their own ways. I have Editorial RM on Alamy, I don't put the same shots there as Micro. If I have RF on Alamy, it's not on Micro. Personal decision.

I don't think that the whole Microstock type of photo and concept will sell well on Alamy. Ask someone who has lots of both on both and maybe I'm wrong. The RPI on Alamy (not that I actually care) is lower than micro. Some people care? But when I make more money bottom line on Alamy and average for the last two years now $80 commission for sold images, I feel better than selling something 100 times in a year for 25 cents and getting $25. Might just be me?

Heck if I could I'd sell one picture a year for $1000 commission and be happy! LOL

That's the point. Microstock is based on volume and then RPI does matter, but I might ask, what images? If I want a higher RPI, all I have to do is delete all my non-sellers. We've been here before. Yes that's kind of stupid, but it also shows that the numbers are meaningless unless someone asks RPI for what images? SOmeone with 200 really good shots on IS, will make a higher RPI that someone with 1000 marginal shots. And guess what, their RPI will be much higher too!

Alamy is not Microstock and they aren't trying to be. Sure they have some lower sales. Odd but those are mostly for people who sell the same images there as they have up cheap on Micro. What a revelation. Cheap photos are cheap everywhere.  It's not like buyers on Alamy are dimwits and don't know that they can get microstcok style images from 100 other sites, cheap? I will never understand how photographers think so little of buyers and are so insulting to assume they are stupid and will pay $200 for the identical shot that they can buy on SS for $12! Really?

How about this for the people who do well on Micro and have good size portfolios on Alamy and have tried for more than, "I put up some and they didn't sell, so I'm just watching..." What's the return per download on Alamy vs Microstock? Even the low sales on Alamy are higher than Micro for me, but I've read some horror stories where people got pennies. What's the norm and what's average for Alamy vs what's the normal and what's average for your best Micro agency, that would be the question?

Anyway, it's a different pricing, different type of buyer, different use most of the time. The same photos that won't get accepted on Micro will make a sale on Alamy. Lumping them together, just because they both sell photographs, is shallow and totally flawed reasoning. Something that may sell once a week on micro, won't sell once a year on Alamy.

Lowest sale I've had on Alamy was this year, $15 to some newspaper in Slovania, 1/16th of a page size, until Oct 2012, through an agent. Horrible. I got $6 and change. Best this year, $108 commission 2 page spread, Textbook - print and e-book, Worldwide, until 2027. There's a big difference between the size and usage license. Alamy pricing is based on use, not like Microstock where unless it's enhanced or some special condition, pretty much everything is one price fits all.

Hope that explains why I go off when someone says Alamy should get into Microstock... 

Reminds me, how did that IS getting into Editorial thing work out?

Editorial opens up a whole new world to your stock shooting. I had to break myself of the microstock eye and worrying about "Can I upload this?" type thinking. Then I had to research and learn about what type of shots are used. There is the forum and they have threads like "Have you found any images (name the month)". Thats where you can get an idea to start off on what you might want to shoot.

It's been worth it for me uploading there.

Completely agreed with Racephoto...!

yes, like different licence terms, credit terms, etc