Author Topic: Alamy is going to sell VECTORS (Read 40251 times)

Ron · « **on:** September 29, 2013, 02:12 »

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/1022-why-not-sell-vectors/

Quote

We're introducing vectors to Alamy during the last quarter of this year and we're currently looking for high volume contributors.

At the moment, the submission process is via hard drive only and you must have at least 1000 vectors to submit. If this works for you then please get in touch by emailing [email protected]

If you've got less than 1000, you'll be able to upload via the website soon, but not just yet.

Cheers

James A

Jetsetter78 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 29, 2013, 02:39 »

Thanks you for sharing.
Does Alamy offer buyer subscription sales like SS as well???

The prices of the illustration does'nt come cheap from what I see. Probably need High quality illustrations to be sellable.

Ron · « **Reply #2 on:** September 29, 2013, 02:59 »

Nope, no subscriptions, no credit, just cash. But payout is 175 dollar and it can take up to 6 months or more to get paid, depending on how quick the outstanding royalties are paid by the customer.

Xanox · « **Reply #3 on:** September 29, 2013, 03:49 »

another BAD sign from Alamy !

why not focusing on their core business --> Editorial ?

so now they have good editorial but lackluster news images, creative collection, and soon bad vectors too.

KimsCreativeHub · « **Reply #4 on:** September 29, 2013, 05:39 »

Quote from: Xanox on September 29, 2013, 03:49

another BAD sign from Alamy !

why not focusing on their core business --> Editorial ?

so now they have good editorial but lackluster news images, creative collection, and soon bad vectors too.

"Bad vectors"? Is it because you perceive that they are in a rush that there will be no quality control.

sharpshot · « **Reply #5 on:** September 29, 2013, 07:43 »

I wonder why they didn't do this years ago? Hope they handle it better than video clips, I think by limiting themselves to contributors with big portfolios, they never got video sales going. The same will probably happen with vectors, if they don't open up to all contributors quickly.

Jetsetter78 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 29, 2013, 08:15 »

Quote from: Ron on September 29, 2013, 02:59

Nope, no subscriptions, no credit, just cash. But payout is 175 dollar and it can take up to 6 months or more to get paid, depending on how quick the outstanding royalties are paid by the customer.

6 or more months to get paid for reaching the minimum payout??? WHy does it take so long?

Does Alamy allow their customers to buy images without paying first or buy with credit terms just like credit card???

Xanox · « **Reply #7 on:** September 29, 2013, 08:35 »

Quote from: KimsCreativeHub on September 29, 2013, 05:39

"Bad vectors"? Is it because you perceive that they are in a rush that there will be no quality control.

c'mon everyone is using Alamy as a dump and rightly so, their QC is a joke and their leadership is confused to say the least .. last christmas they were claiming to enter the creative stock market and dueling with Getty, i haven't heard any news about it and now they come up with Vectors.

let's face it, their only goal is just to become the biggest dump in the stock industry, a place where photo buyers can eventually find the diamond in the rough providing they've a few hours to waste.

what's next ? selling PSD files ? wordpress templates ? ebooks ? t-shirts ? prints ? merchandising ?

luissantos84 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 29, 2013, 08:40 »

looks like we have a little genius between us and never noticed

if you are so good and full of ideas that would turn upside down the stock industry why don't you open an agency or cooperative or pub or something? GO!

Xanox · « **Reply #9 on:** September 29, 2013, 10:10 »

i plan to leave the stock industry actually, and i'm just doing a simple market analysis here.

it's too late now to launch a new agency or whatever, the right timing was when SS started.
we're witnessing the last final stage of the microstock industry.

coops like Stocksy will miserably crash and burn unless they manage to set themselves under the wing of Getty.

the only skill that can make a big difference in stock is quantity and that's exactly why only the image factories will stay afloat.

Mantis · « **Reply #10 on:** September 29, 2013, 10:12 »

Quote from: Xanox on September 29, 2013, 10:10

i plan to leave the stock industry actually, and i'm just doing a simple market analysis here.

it's too late now to launch a new agency or whatever, the right timing was when SS started.
we're witnessing the last final stage of the microstock industry.

coops like Stocksy will miserably crash and burn unless they manage to set themselves under the wing of Getty.

the only skill that can make a big difference in stock is quantity and that's exactly why only the image factories will stay afloat.

How soon?

cthoman · « **Reply #11 on:** September 29, 2013, 10:48 »

I guess I'll have to look at Alamy again. I thought the lack of vectors before didn't make it a very appealing agency, so this looks like a good move.

Xanox · « **Reply #12 on:** September 29, 2013, 11:11 »

Quote from: Mantis on September 29, 2013, 10:12

How soon?

as soon as i'll feel ready to jump ship to fine-art and art galleries full time.
could be tomorrow, could be in a few years, we will see, but i see no hope for stock, especially for RF stock.

cobalt · « **Reply #13 on:** September 29, 2013, 12:16 »

Well, I am glad you found your true calling and market niche and best of luck with your gallery sales.

The rest of us will just continue to do stock I guess.

I actually welcome the coming shake out of contributors. The real amateurs will move to greener pastures because simple shots won't make enough money to fund more expensive projects,training or hardware upgrades. The successful stock factories will remain if they are careful with their budgets, but they won't cover speciliazed niches, leaving enough interesting subjects for the full time stock artists to explore.

In the end the number of players in the industry will shrink, which means those that survive the coming storm will have developped enough flexibility and skills to keep doing it full time.

stockastic · « **Reply #14 on:** September 29, 2013, 12:26 »

Alamy's pricing is chaotic, and I think it's basically collapsing.

I just had a sale after 2 months of nothing. For this sale I got a bit of license detail which included "Educational book, editorial print + digital use, front cover". Wow! And I got a breathtaking $15.

So today, the only difference between Alamy and the (other) microstocks is that Alamy gives me this great, ego-boosting feedback. I'd rather have the money, but hey.

ShadySue · « **Reply #15 on:** September 29, 2013, 14:01 »

Quote from: Jetsetter78 on September 29, 2013, 08:15

Quote from: Ron on September 29, 2013, 02:59
Nope, no subscriptions, no credit, just cash. But payout is 175 dollar and it can take up to 6 months or more to get paid, depending on how quick the outstanding royalties are paid by the customer.
6 or more months to get paid for reaching the minimum payout??? WHy does it take so long?
Does Alamy allow their customers to buy images without paying first or buy with credit terms just like credit card???

Yes, their favoured buyers get the biggest discount and the longest credit terms.
After six months it's worth contacting their support to chivvy things along. Usually you get some lines about why that payment hasn't been made, but the payment usually then comes in fairly quickly.
One thing worth knowing is that if a sale is made through a distributor, you only get 40%, and the time to get paid is usually longer.

Xanox · « **Reply #16 on:** September 29, 2013, 14:57 »

Quote from: cobalt on September 29, 2013, 12:16

Well, I am glad you found your true calling and market niche and best of luck with your gallery sales.

The rest of us will just continue to do stock I guess.

well, so far i just got the foot in the door, but seeing with my eyes the amount of dross they sell for crazy money (say 5000$ for snapshots of kids playing with cats and dogs !) that's the place i want to be in one way or another or at least i'll try having a few sales from time to time, but it looks like a hard nut to crack as the rules of stock and common sense don't apply.

bunhill · « **Reply #17 on:** September 29, 2013, 15:10 »

Quote from: ShadySue on September 29, 2013, 14:01

if a sale is made through a distributor, you only get 40%

No if the sale is via a distributor you get 30%. The distributor gets 40% and Alamy takes 30%.

cobalt · « **Reply #18 on:** September 29, 2013, 15:11 »

I am often bewildered by the prices on photography or art in general.

You have probably seen this sale:
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2011/11/really-4-3-million-for-that-photo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

You will need to work hard on your "following" as an artist, build a cult persona and name that people will be ready to pay for and that interests art buyers.

I am sure if you persist you will succeed, maybe not for millions, but enough to make a living. But it will involve a lot of direct interaction with clients and doing sales.

this is what i really appreciate about the stock agencies - they handle the client and I just get the money. My work is emotionally easier than theirs, even if doing stock is a difficult challenge.

ShadySue · « **Reply #19 on:** September 29, 2013, 15:12 »

Quote from: Xanox on September 29, 2013, 03:49

why not focusing on their core business --> Editorial ?

Because the micros have taken up editorial, for better or worse.
Just like in my small town, each shop used to have a 'core' sales inventory, and there wasn't much overlap. But when the supermarket started selling newspapers, the newsagent started selling groceries in retaliation and the circles and overlap spread over the town. Doesn't seem to have helped anybody, but there is is.

cidepix · « **Reply #20 on:** September 29, 2013, 19:25 »

Quote from: cthoman on September 29, 2013, 10:48

I guess I'll have to look at Alamy again. I thought the lack of vectors before didn't make it a very appealing agency, so this looks like a good move.

I have my raster versions on alamy and do not recommend it personally..

poll results are misleading.. alamy is below veer for me.. and that is consistent..

of course results may vary, but I think alamy ranks high on MSG polls, due to photographer votes..

I am actually getting ready to write them off soon.. just want my personal sites to reach a certain level of success..

their payment threshold is $175 and you have to wait for "at least 45 days" for sales to clear.. it makes it very complicated to leave them because when you reach $175 and decide that you are leaving there will very likely be some uncleared payments that they won't pay you for months after you left..

let's say you have $195 in you account.. $175 is cleared.. $20 uncleared.. they will pay that $175 automatically at the end of the month.. you can not just remove your images and wait for that $20 to clear.. because If you remove your images, and they pay you that $175, you will never reach the minimum payment threshold again even if that $20 clears..

Not sure if they would honor that $20.. it is just too complicated.. awful system they have there..

KimsCreativeHub · « **Reply #21 on:** September 29, 2013, 20:44 »

They seem backwoods behind the times

Tone · « **Reply #22 on:** September 30, 2013, 03:30 »

Quote from: cidepix on September 29, 2013, 19:25

Quote from: cthoman on September 29, 2013, 10:48
I guess I'll have to look at Alamy again. I thought the lack of vectors before didn't make it a very appealing agency, so this looks like a good move.

I have my raster versions on alamy and do not recommend it personally..

poll results are misleading.. alamy is below veer for me.. and that is consistent..

of course results may vary, but I think alamy ranks high on MSG polls, due to photographer votes..

I am actually getting ready to write them off soon.. just want my personal sites to reach a certain level of success..

their payment threshold is $175 and you have to wait for "at least 45 days" for sales to clear.. it makes it very complicated to leave them because when you reach $175 and decide that you are leaving there will very likely be some uncleared payments that they won't pay you for months after you left..

let's say you have $195 in you account.. $175 is cleared.. $20 uncleared.. they will pay that $175 automatically at the end of the month.. you can not just remove your images and wait for that $20 to clear.. because If you remove your images, and they pay you that $175, you will never reach the minimum payment threshold again even if that $20 clears..

Not sure if they would honor that $20.. it is just too complicated.. awful system they have there..

Alamy will honour any outstanding balance if you close your account. Heres a quote from an email I received upon closing my account.

"We have terminated your account. The changes will be reflected after the update of our search engine. The payment will be sent to your account once all the sales has been cleared. The money will be sent to you in line with the payment details you have entered into your “payment and tax details” section of “My Alamy”."

Xanox · « **Reply #23 on:** September 30, 2013, 04:26 »

Quote from: ShadySue on September 29, 2013, 15:12

Because the micros have taken up editorial, for better or worse.

if we talk about travel images, micros only provide the most typical and obvious "postcard" images, and yet they're not selling so well either apart for the top locations, anything else would sell near zero i guess, it seems there's just no demand for what you would find on Alamy or other specialist agencies.

i'm not saying this is a bad thing, i'm glad each agency has its own kind of buyers.

ShadySue · « **Reply #24 on:** September 30, 2013, 04:47 »

Quote from: KimsCreativeHub on September 29, 2013, 20:44

They seem backwoods behind the times

It's an advantage for certain buyers who can't pay in advance (because of their company's accounting system) or who have accounting cycles.

I've heard that plenty of other RM agencies work the same way.

Ron · « **Reply #26 on:** September 30, 2013, 05:58 »

Thanks James, much appreciated.

sharpshot · « **Reply #27 on:** September 30, 2013, 06:11 »

Thanks James. Most of the microstock sites seem to credit us almost instantly for most sales. Would be good if alamy could take instant payments for the lower priced licences.

I hope vectors are soon opened up for everyone but I'm still disappointed that alamy haven't done that for video clips. I don't see the point in not utilising all contributors and only offering buyers a small collection that isn't going to appeal to them.

Ron · « **Reply #29 on:** September 30, 2013, 06:38 »

While we have your attention, are there any plans in changing the image editor? The keywording system could do with an upgrade.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #30 on:** September 30, 2013, 06:44 »

Quote from: Ron on September 30, 2013, 06:38

While we have your attention, are there any plans in changing the image editor? The keywording system could do with an upgrade.

+1

Ron · « **Reply #32 on:** September 30, 2013, 06:53 »

No worries James, thanks for chiming in. GOod to know you are working on improvements.

KimsCreativeHub · « **Reply #33 on:** September 30, 2013, 07:39 »

Quote from: ShadySue on September 30, 2013, 04:47

Quote from: KimsCreativeHub on September 29, 2013, 20:44
They seem backwoods behind the times
It's an advantage for certain buyers who can't pay in advance (because of their company's accounting system) or who have accounting cycles.

I've heard that plenty of other RM agencies work the same way.

Interesting, thanks Sue

cobalt · « **Reply #34 on:** September 30, 2013, 07:52 »

Thank you for coming in here James. We appreciate that very much!

Alamy is one of the few fair trade agencies and the company has been around a long time. So we hope you will continue to be successful and grow your business.

KimsCreativeHub · « **Reply #35 on:** September 30, 2013, 07:54 »

Thanks James, you've cleared things up nicely, and it's always nice to hear from an agency.

Alamy · « **Reply #36 on:** September 30, 2013, 08:50 »

Thanks guys, you're welcome!

James A

U11 · « **Reply #37 on:** September 30, 2013, 09:43 »

Quote from: Alamy on September 30, 2013, 05:49

we're only looking to take on collections over 1000 and they must be via hard drive.

BTW vectors are usually small in size, 1000 will easy fit into DVD

cthoman · « **Reply #38 on:** September 30, 2013, 10:13 »

Quote from: cidepix on September 29, 2013, 19:25

Quote from: cthoman on September 29, 2013, 10:48
I guess I'll have to look at Alamy again. I thought the lack of vectors before didn't make it a very appealing agency, so this looks like a good move.

I have my raster versions on alamy and do not recommend it personally..

poll results are misleading.. alamy is below veer for me.. and that is consistent..

of course results may vary, but I think alamy ranks high on MSG polls, due to photographer votes..

I am actually getting ready to write them off soon.. just want my personal sites to reach a certain level of success..

their payment threshold is $175 and you have to wait for "at least 45 days" for sales to clear.. it makes it very complicated to leave them because when you reach $175 and decide that you are leaving there will very likely be some uncleared payments that they won't pay you for months after you left..

let's say you have $195 in you account.. $175 is cleared.. $20 uncleared.. they will pay that $175 automatically at the end of the month.. you can not just remove your images and wait for that $20 to clear.. because If you remove your images, and they pay you that $175, you will never reach the minimum payment threshold again even if that $20 clears..

Not sure if they would honor that $20.. it is just too complicated.. awful system they have there..

Thanks. I'll definitely have to keep that in mind.

Xanox · « **Reply #39 on:** September 30, 2013, 11:45 »

Quote from: Ron on September 30, 2013, 06:38

While we have your attention, are there any plans in changing the image editor? The keywording system could do with an upgrade.

changes in the keywording system would impact all the actual rankings, it could easily backfire for many people !

what about giving us FTP uploads instead ?

Xanox · « **Reply #40 on:** September 30, 2013, 11:48 »

one more suggestion @Alamy :

why not offering a paid service for in-house keywording ?
like, i send you a hard disk with 5000 images and you do the whole keywording for an affordable price ?

i'm sure many of us would be interested in something like that and willing to pay for it.

Tryingmybest · « **Reply #41 on:** September 30, 2013, 12:40 »

Slightly annoying now that I have almost 1,000 JPG versions of vectors up there. Oh well.

Quote from: Ron on September 29, 2013, 02:12

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/1022-why-not-sell-vectors/

Quote
We're introducing vectors to Alamy during the last quarter of this year and we're currently looking for high volume contributors.

At the moment, the submission process is via hard drive only and you must have at least 1000 vectors to submit. If this works for you then please get in touch by emailing [email protected]

If you've got less than 1000, you'll be able to upload via the website soon, but not just yet.

Cheers

James A

stockastic · « **Reply #42 on:** September 30, 2013, 12:50 »

I'm really disappointed that they're going into vectors. I think one of the biggest reasons for the decline of stock photography is the "everyone selling everything to everyone" syndrome. Agencies are giving up everything that made them distinctive or gave them identity.

It's as if every retail store became a giant Walmart.

cthoman · « **Reply #43 on:** September 30, 2013, 13:01 »

Quote from: stockastic on September 30, 2013, 12:50

I'm really disappointed that they're going into vectors. I think one of the biggest reasons for the decline of stock photography is the "everyone selling everything to everyone" syndrome. Agencies are giving up everything that made them distinctive or gave them identity.

It's as if every retail store became a giant Walmart.

I agree, but I think photos are the anchor on the market's neck not vectors.

djpadavona · « **Reply #45 on:** October 01, 2013, 22:38 »

Quote from: Alamy on September 30, 2013, 05:49

- Sale clearing times. Unlike many other agencies, we report sales in real time. This means, you get notification of the sale when the licence is ordered, not when the client pays. When the client pays, the sale becomes cleared and your balance updated in your Alamy account. Why do sales take at least 45 days to clear? For account customers, depending on who they are and their deal with us, some will have long payment terms. This is normal in the industry, and that's one reason for the time delay. The other, is to allow a grace period where a refund can be issued for the customer. Projects get swapped around and changed frequently and we need to be flexible and allow cancellations of licences within a short time period. If you've ever had a 'refund' on an Alamy sale as a contributor, then it's likely that the sale had never cleared. With that in mind, a refund is more like a cancellation.

"At least 45 days" is very vague. I had a $245 sale in early July, and we are going on 3 months without clearance yet. It doesn't give me much confidence that the buyer still hasn't committed to the image after a quarter of a year.

Ron · « **Reply #46 on:** October 02, 2013, 03:02 »

Quote from: djpadavona on October 01, 2013, 22:38

Quote from: Alamy on September 30, 2013, 05:49

- Sale clearing times. Unlike many other agencies, we report sales in real time. This means, you get notification of the sale when the licence is ordered, not when the client pays. When the client pays, the sale becomes cleared and your balance updated in your Alamy account. Why do sales take at least 45 days to clear? For account customers, depending on who they are and their deal with us, some will have long payment terms. This is normal in the industry, and that's one reason for the time delay. The other, is to allow a grace period where a refund can be issued for the customer. Projects get swapped around and changed frequently and we need to be flexible and allow cancellations of licences within a short time period. If you've ever had a 'refund' on an Alamy sale as a contributor, then it's likely that the sale had never cleared. With that in mind, a refund is more like a cancellation.

"At least 45 days" is very vague. I had a $245 sale in early July, and we are going on 3 months without clearance yet. It doesn't give me much confidence that the buyer still hasn't committed to the image after a quarter of a year.

Hi Dan, same here, 21 June, I emailed MS and their reply was distributor sales will take longer than 90 days to clear. MS said it could take up to 120 days or more !!!

So I have to wait another 3 months to get paid, thats 8 months. Screw that, I am dropping Alamy as soon as that payment has cleared.

Alamy · « **Reply #47 on:** October 02, 2013, 03:45 »

Well distribution sales work slightly differently and yes, quite often the clearing terms for those can be 90 days, sometimes 120. The chain of payment is much longer:

>client informs distributor of useage>distributor informs Alamy (and therefore you, the photographer because we report live)>Distruibutor obtains payment from client>Distributor then pays Alamy>Alamy process the payment to you

This is quite common within the industry but please remember - with some other agents, you will not see this long process because they will only report the sale to you at the end of the process - we tell you at the start.

Some of the large publishers require long billing cycles, it's how they pay all of their providers, and we have to be flexible in order to retain business. That's the reality of the industry, there is nothing untoward going on here.

Is it frustrating waiting to be paid for an image use? Yes of course, but we will always be working to get the payment to you as quickly as possible. We've paid out over $135 million to photographers since we started and we're working on lowering the payment threshold further so there is less time our photographers have to wait before getting hold of their well earned money.

Happy to answer any other questions you've got.

Cheers

James A

Ron · « **Reply #48 on:** October 02, 2013, 04:15 »

To be honest, I'd rather wish you tell me at the end, so I can get the money asap, instead of showing me sale which I have to wait 8 months for to get paid, and even when the sale is reported, I am not sure if it will stick because of your refund policy. It wont be the first time a 1000 dollar sale gets retracted and then sold for 100 dollar instead. In fact, someone on your forum mentioned yesterday he started the October balance in the red, owing you money. LOL

All agencies I am with show me the sale in real time too, so I dont know why you say they dont. But when those sales happen, I know that within 45 days I have the money.

Doesnt matter anyway, I will be closing my account. The extremely tedious editor and the lack of sales and the 8 month period to get paid add too much frustration to my hobby.

Appreciate your comments James, I am sure you will do fine without me

Ron · « **Reply #50 on:** October 02, 2013, 04:52 »

Thanks James. Up until July I was doing fine with Alamy. I was actually gearing up and getting ready to upload a lot more images, but sales fell dead 2.5 months ago.

I have seen people with 8,000 10,000 12,000 45,000 images reporting 4 - 5 - 6 sales, for a couple of hundred dollars. I dont think me adding another 1000 images is going to make any change to my chances James. I have been keywording very relative and tight. As a result I had more zooms then ever. I figured I would see more sales too,,but the opposite happened. And I am not the only one seeing this trend.

So, it seems backwards for me to submit a ton of images, hoping to see the odd sale. I am sure Alamy is doing well with 40.5 million images, but for me its no longer working.

I am always open to change my mind, but its hard to see reasons to put in more work, for no return.

sharpshot · « **Reply #52 on:** October 02, 2013, 05:04 »

Ron, I think you could probably do better than some of those people that just upload thousands of walkabout travel photos. There are some people who do quite well with alamy with a more commercial portfolio. I think part of the problem with us microstockers is that buyers can do an image search and find our images cheaper on other sites.

I'll carry on uploading to alamy because every now and then they sell something over $100 and that keeps me interested.

Ron · « **Reply #53 on:** October 02, 2013, 05:40 »

James and Sharpshot, you are basically making the same observation, which has me thinking.

Ok, what I can do is instead of uploading RM, first get my whole RF portfolio online and see how it goes.

I will reconsider my options.

Thanks.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #54 on:** October 02, 2013, 08:23 »

James, I would like to say thanks for all the replies here to Ron, that is incredible good from an agency owner, good stuff!

have an issue myself which I have emailed Alamy today, I "had" my 1st payout this month (balance cleared) but I haven't got my payment details configured so it saying I got funds transferred but in fact I never entered any details so I wonder where the money went, I have now setup my Paypal details and I hope to have this problem sorted out ASAP, cheers!

Xanox · « **Reply #55 on:** October 02, 2013, 12:12 »

@Alamy : why not launching a "latest images sold" page ? it would be very useful to know what's actually selling.

stockastic · « **Reply #56 on:** October 02, 2013, 12:15 »

I understand that with Alamy, a report of a "sale" doesn't mean the sale was completed. But I guess I don't see the usefulness of this information. All it tells me is "someone has been given your photo, and may or may not decide to eventually pay for it. " As others have pointed out, it just causes aggravation when the money is "refunded" later; and Alamy has to continually explain this policy.

borg · « **Reply #57 on:** October 02, 2013, 14:56 »

I don't know about Vectors, but for sure Alamy is going to sell UFO pics...

Alamy rules!!!

luissantos84 · « **Reply #58 on:** October 04, 2013, 07:18 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on October 02, 2013, 08:23

James, I would like to say thanks for all the replies here to Ron, that is incredible good from an agency owner, good stuff!

have an issue myself which I have emailed Alamy today, I "had" my 1st payout this month (balance cleared) but I haven't got my payment details configured so it saying I got funds transferred but in fact I never entered any details so I wonder where the money went, I have now setup my Paypal details and I hope to have this problem sorted out ASAP, cheers!

all sorted out, cheers Alamy!

JoRodrigues · « **Reply #59 on:** October 04, 2013, 10:02 »

I haven't been in the business of sell stock photography (not photography itself, just Stock) for all that long and my online portfolio is still at just under 250. This is the "testing" phase before I carry on (or not). I already have started with the Symbiostock route to see how that goes.

Alamy is kind of a favourite of mine because it was the first agency to accept me and has generally accepted a large part of my 250 images. Having said that, I have not sold ONE image on Alamy since I started in April

You could say my work is all crap or it is just not marketable. I do, however, sell regularly through 3 or 4 other agencies with no problem. One of them is iStock which surprised me.

I've also started with Vectors but telling me unless I have a huge portfolio you are not interested... that is a rather nasty backhand. I think I'll sell them elsewhere...

No, I'm not interested in waiting for 2014. I want to sell my vectors now, today, tomorrow, not next year. I Think you are making a very silly mistake.

Paulfleet · « **Reply #60 on:** October 04, 2013, 10:50 »

I use a lot of different web sites and alamy has been very good for me. They are often in my top 3 earners. I would upload vectors there.

Xanox · « **Reply #61 on:** October 04, 2013, 10:55 »

Quote from: JoRodrigues on October 04, 2013, 10:02

I've also started with Vectors but telling me unless I have a huge portfolio you are not interested... that is a rather nasty backhand. I think I'll sell them elsewhere...

they should do the same in every other agency, it would quickly fix the oversaturation and oversupply issue !

after all if you don't have at least 1000 saleable images you're not a stocker so these agencies are not for you anyway.

vectors are a bit different as it takes a lot more time to make 1000 vectors, and same for videos.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #62 on:** October 04, 2013, 11:00 »

Quote from: Xanox on October 04, 2013, 10:55

Quote from: JoRodrigues on October 04, 2013, 10:02
I've also started with Vectors but telling me unless I have a huge portfolio you are not interested... that is a rather nasty backhand. I think I'll sell them elsewhere...

they should do the same in every other agency, it would quickly fix the oversaturation and oversupply issue !

after all if you don't have at least 1000 saleable images you're not a stocker so these agencies are not for you anyway.

vectors are a bit different as it takes a lot more time to make 1000 vectors, and same for videos.

that isn't totally right because there are a few exceptions, I am talking about portfolios below 1k files and doing extremely well, in this case I believe that Alamy might be losing a bit but in fact it will be open in 2014 for all contributors so I don't get why some folks are getting annoyed and upset with this announcement

Anita Potter · « **Reply #63 on:** October 04, 2013, 14:24 »

How are you going to handle the vectors James?

I'm wondering since my port is mainly jpg illustrations of vectors. Will there be an easy way to add the vector to their corresponding jpg file?

I don't have 1,000+ vectors so I'll have to wait until next year. But it would be nice if the process to add the eps file to existing content would be made simple.

Thanks.

Ariene · « **Reply #65 on:** October 07, 2013, 08:02 »

Quote from: Alamy on October 07, 2013, 06:19

Quote from: Xanox on October 02, 2013, 12:12
@Alamy : why not launching a "latest images sold" page ? it would be very useful to know what's actually selling.

We've considered it in the past and it may become a feature. The argument against it is that as a photographer, if you've got a good selling niche, you might not want details of it published out publicly and therefore perhaps copied.

When I started with Alamy few years ago I really missed this, and today, when I have some niche sales I must say that's great Alamy didn't change it. So be it.

Anita Potter · « **Reply #66 on:** October 07, 2013, 10:37 »

Thanks James that's the answer I was looking/hoping for.

toots · « **Reply #67 on:** October 11, 2013, 07:50 »

Quote from: Ron on October 02, 2013, 03:02

Quote from: djpadavona on October 01, 2013, 22:38
Quote from: Alamy on September 30, 2013, 05:49

- Sale clearing times. Unlike many other agencies, we report sales in real time. This means, you get notification of the sale when the licence is ordered, not when the client pays. When the client pays, the sale becomes cleared and your balance updated in your Alamy account. Why do sales take at least 45 days to clear? For account customers, depending on who they are and their deal with us, some will have long payment terms. This is normal in the industry, and that's one reason for the time delay. The other, is to allow a grace period where a refund can be issued for the customer. Projects get swapped around and changed frequently and we need to be flexible and allow cancellations of licences within a short time period. If you've ever had a 'refund' on an Alamy sale as a contributor, then it's likely that the sale had never cleared. With that in mind, a refund is more like a cancellation.

"At least 45 days" is very vague. I had a $245 sale in early July, and we are going on 3 months without clearance yet. It doesn't give me much confidence that the buyer still hasn't committed to the image after a quarter of a year.

Hi Dan, same here, 21 June, I emailed MS and their reply was distributor sales will take longer than 90 days to clear. MS said it could take up to 120 days or more !!!

So I have to wait another 3 months to get paid, thats 8 months. Screw that, I am dropping Alamy as soon as that payment has cleared.

I've been waiting for a payment to clear since June 2012, that's well over a year now!!!! I think I can say goodbye to that sale.

ShadySue · « **Reply #68 on:** October 11, 2013, 07:53 »

Quote from: toots on October 11, 2013, 07:50

I've been waiting for a payment to clear since June 2012, that's well over a year now!!!! I think I can say goodbye to that sale.

Even if you've contacted them before, contact them again to give a little nudge. Can't do any harm!

toots · « **Reply #69 on:** October 11, 2013, 08:33 »

Quote from: ShadySue on October 11, 2013, 07:53

Quote from: toots on October 11, 2013, 07:50
I've been waiting for a payment to clear since June 2012, that's well over a year now!!!! I think I can say goodbye to that sale.
Even if you've contacted them before, contact them again to give a little nudge. Can't do any harm!

Yes, I had contacted them before and all the reply basically said was that it sometimes takes a long time, but that they were quicker than most agencies for getting the money in and that I should be patient haha. Yeah, I'll send them another email but I don't hold out much hope, I've already written it off in my own head even though it stays on my account.

File Sold · « **Reply #70 on:** May 17, 2014, 04:51 »

Does anybody have experiences selling vectors at Alamy?

I'm considering to contact them and send a batch, but it takes a lot of work to do that batch so I was wondering if it's a dead market for vectors.

With my crappy snapshots I've had 3 sales in 1,5 year there

Metsafile · « **Reply #71 on:** May 19, 2014, 03:27 »

Quote from: File Sold on May 17, 2014, 04:51

Does anybody have experiences selling vectors at Alamy?

I'm considering to contact them and send a batch, but it takes a lot of work to do that batch so I was wondering if it's a dead market for vectors.

With my crappy snapshots I've had 3 sales in 1,5 year there

You'll need a batch of 1000+ vectors sent by mail.

File Sold · « **Reply #72 on:** May 19, 2014, 03:35 »

Quote from: Metsafile on May 19, 2014, 03:27

Quote from: File Sold on May 17, 2014, 04:51
Does anybody have experiences selling vectors at Alamy?

I'm considering to contact them and send a batch, but it takes a lot of work to do that batch so I was wondering if it's a dead market for vectors.

With my crappy snapshots I've had 3 sales in 1,5 year there

You'll need a batch of 1000+ vectors sent by mail.

I know and that's why I would like to have some advice is it worth to do that big batch with all metadata keywording etc.

Here's also number #1 tip for new vector artists: Save your EPS and JPG's with metadata to some specific folder and keep them in order so that it's easy to send them later in a batch.

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