It's not totally logical to complain that Alamy "could do better" while supporting and praising the sites which undercut it.

Also remember last year when someone (Mirco?) persuaded people over on the Alamy forum (i.e. some of who don't come here as they don't supply the micros) to input their figures for the poll here - Alamy's earnings rating went up considerably, but people here didn't believe it.
Meaning other suppliers do better than most of us here (I can't poll for Alamy, as it would take my iS earnings out of exclusive, so both of the iS figures would be more inaccurate than they might otherwise be, and anyone else who is Exclusive RF at iS and RM on Alamy is in the same position).

Quote from: ShadySue on February 02, 2018, 07:08

Also remember last year when someone (Mirco?) persuaded people over on the Alamy forum (i.e. some of who don't come here as they don't supply the micros) to input their figures for the poll here - Alamy's earnings rating went up considerably, but people here didn't believe it.
Meaning other suppliers do better than most of us here (I can't poll for Alamy, as it would take my iS earnings out of exclusive, so both of the iS figures would be more inaccurate than they might otherwise be, and anyone else who is Exclusive RF at iS and RM on Alamy is in the same position).

Oh really?  You really believed that? That was another publicity stunt coordinated by the likes of the OP. Lol!

Now you're just being silly.
It was over on the Alamy forum and talked about there.

What makes you believe that similar top earners from other agencies spend time updating the stats?

Where did I say that?

In my view, the selection of people using this forum is representative and gives a decent view of the relative positioning of all agencies on the marketplace. That stunt was such an obvious cheat! 

Winky noted

One more thing: Alamy can clearly do better. But it doesn't mean they should copy SS.
Of course we like to see 50% commissions! But this is not very efficient, if their strategy and price structure only leads to a dozen of sales a month or 5 times less revenue than the 3rd top competitor.

For you.
Everyone's port is different, and some will do better at some agencies than others. Different buyers.
As said above, it's not rational to compare ports with e.g. lots of videos and vectors with ports on Alamy where videos are a virtual non-starter and AFAIK, they don't sell vectors.
So the poll tells us nothing at all about the relevance of Alamy photo-sales to micro-stockers, many of whom supply multiple media. And it doesn't really say anything to those who (like me) supply only photos for the same reason.

What individuals like you and I find is relevant and accurate, but only for each individual themselves.

Quote from: Zero Talent on February 02, 2018, 07:26

Quote from: ShadySue on February 02, 2018, 07:08

Also remember last year when someone (Mirco?) persuaded people over on the Alamy forum (i.e. some of who don't come here as they don't supply the micros) to input their figures for the poll here - Alamy's earnings rating went up considerably, but people here didn't believe it.
Meaning other suppliers do better than most of us here (I can't poll for Alamy, as it would take my iS earnings out of exclusive, so both of the iS figures would be more inaccurate than they might otherwise be, and anyone else who is Exclusive RF at iS and RM on Alamy is in the same position).

Oh really?  You really believed that? That was another publicity stunt coordinated by the likes of the OP. Lol!

Now you're just being silly.
It was over on the Alamy forum and talked about there.

Quote

What makes you believe that similar top earners from other agencies spend time updating the stats?

Where did I say that?

Quote

In my view, the selection of people using this forum is representative and gives a decent view of the relative positioning of all agencies on the marketplace. That stunt was such an obvious cheat! 

Winky noted

Quote

One more thing: Alamy can clearly do better. But it doesn't mean they should copy SS.
Of course we like to see 50% commissions! But this is not very efficient, if their strategy and price structure only leads to a dozen of sales a month or 5 times less revenue than the 3rd top competitor.

For you.
Everyone's port is different, and some will do better at some agencies than others. Different buyers.
As said above, it's not rational to compare ports with e.g. lots of videos and vectors with ports on Alamy where videos are a virtual non-starter and AFAIK, they don't sell vectors.
So the poll tells us nothing at all about the relevance of Alamy photo-sales to micro-stockers, many of whom supply multiple media. And it doesn't really say anything to those who (like me) supply only photos for the same reason.

What individuals like you and I find is relevant and accurate, but only for each individual themselves.

Ok.

I see the reply from Alamy and I trust the stunt was not coordinated by Alamy representatives. But it was coordinated nevertheless, as you stated yourself.
This makes those significantly out of range samples just exceptions that any statistician would immediately discard form a decent evaluation.

Yet, for some naive people, those abnormal samples were somehow representative for the marketplace! Really?

The point you didn't get is that similar flawed samples could be triggered by any other group colluding to influence the polls.

You also keep on saying that it is only my situation. And I keep on repeating that it is NOT only my situation. My situation is very much aligned with the polls on the right side of the page, when there is no collusion. So it is not just about me, but a about a representative amount of micro/mid stockers. It is more probable that their current position (5th or 6th) is right. It is very unlikely that those spikes, putting Alamy first were a true picture of the marketplace.

Of course there are exceptions. Of course there are people doing well with Alamy. Never denied that.

Similarly, of course you can make money from, let's say, tennis. But don't give me examples like Serena or Roger and don't ask them to vote in a poll aiming to display averages. Serena and Roger are not representative for the average population. If they would vote in such polls, you will get a false impression that common people can make millions from playing tennis.

Anyway, Kudos to Alamy for being brave enough to advertise in this forum.

But it doesn't take away the fact, that statistically, they are on the 5th or 6th position, for the majority of us.
And this means that they can do better.

Quote from: Zero Talent on February 02, 2018, 10:19

But it doesn't take a way the fact, that statistically, they are on the 5th or 6th position for the majority of us.
And this means that they can do better.

You're still not comparing like with like.
They choose not to sell vectors, and I have no idea what's happened to video there.
You could only compare if there was a section of the poll which only counts photo stills sales.

That's a fair and valid point!
The poll is looking at the bottom line, regardless of how and what these companies are selling. It is a good representation of the bottom line, for most of us, regardless of the media we sell.

Isn't it maybe exactly what they need to do in order to "do better, much better"? Why not selling videos? Why not selling vectors?
I don't do vectors, but I would love to see some of my videos sold by Alamy!

It also implies that you agree with me, when I say that those bogus spikes, putting Alamy on the first overall position, were not representative for the marketplace.

Thanks for share. I like that Alamy is fair agency. We must feed the sagencias that pay well and do not throw the prices

Well, you never get the calculator price because they negotiate massive discounts for their clients. Lets not get ahead of ourselves here, Alamy slashes prices, they just don't update the calculator.

Quote from: ShadySue on February 02, 2018, 07:08

[snip]
Meaning other suppliers do better than most of us here (I can't poll for Alamy, as it would take my iS earnings out of exclusive, so both of the iS figures would be more inaccurate than they might otherwise be, and anyone else who is Exclusive RF at iS and RM on Alamy is in the same position).

I thought that iS polling alone indicated iS Exclusive in the Poll to the right. I was also under the impression that iS + Alamy was also scored as iS Exclusive. It's been a long time ago that I picked up that impression. Only Leaf could answer how the Poll works in this regard. I report iS + Alamy thinking my iS numbers go to the Exclusive number.

Leaf answered, but things might have changed since then I guess.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/site-related/rating-and-number-of-votes-showing-in-poll-results/msg448811/#msg448811

Quote from: Zero Talent on February 02, 2018, 10:19

But it doesn't take a way the fact, that statistically, they are on the 5th or 6th position for the majority of us.
And this means that they can do better.

You're still not comparing like with like.
They choose not to sell vectors, and I have no idea what's happened to video there.
You could only compare if there was a section of the poll which only counts photo stills sales.

Well, how wrong can a girl be?
 
They do sell vectors, but despite being on there since 2009 and watching them for a couple of years before that, I had no idea.
I don't recall ever reading a post by anyone on their forum, or here, discussing vectors there! I guess that could be that I have the very slightest interest in vectors, but still, I could tell you about other sites I'm not even on or interested in which sell vectors. How weird.

Everyone can do better but statistically 5th or 6th is in the top 5% of sites at least. Excluding video its probably top 4. So not exactly a basket case. The poll is a handy guide but no statistician would take the results seriously for all sorts of reasons...sample size is tiny for example

A small sample can reflect a large group within the margin of error, and be pretty accurate. Who is in the sample group means much more. We have volunteers taking the poll and many if not most, ignoring the poll. People who volunteer is not a way to get a valid sample group. A hypothetical way to get an interesting result would be have a requirement once a year, January 1st, for access to the forum, you must answer the poll. That has problems too as a forced poll some people might just click and go, not trying to give honest answers. But there you are, a big sample of all people who come here, once a year.