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Author Topic: Caution: Don't Question Alamy  (Read 52935 times)

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Stefan Dahl

  • Formerly known as Uber Images

« Reply #25 on: October 23, 2018, 03:54 »
+6
Been with Alamy for several years now!

Never meet anything but really professionel and kind people there. Always helped out with problems within a super short time frame, and no questions asked bout anything. Just help!

Can't recognise the topic no matter how hard I try!


Keep it up Alamy - You are one of the good guys/girls!

Stefan Dahl


Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #26 on: October 23, 2018, 06:27 »
+1
Quote
Been with Alamy for several years now!

Never meet anything but really professionel and kind people there. Always helped out with problems within a super short time frame, and no questions asked bout anything. Just help!

Can't recognise the topic no matter how hard I try!


Keep it up Alamy - You are one of the good guys/girls!

Stefan Dahl

+1, I agree.

I deal regularly with their customer relations team, including: Amy, Corin, James, Shelley and others who have always been prompt to reply and accurate with their responses.

Alamy is, in my opinion, the benchmark of customer service in this industry that is increasingly outsourced and crowd-sourced to the detriment of contributors.

« Reply #27 on: October 23, 2018, 06:35 »
+3
When it comes to service and listening Alamy is by far the number 1. I really dont know any other company in any sector with such great approach and attitude.

Thanks Alamy of being always open and available for us.

Mirco

« Reply #28 on: October 23, 2018, 09:35 »
0
Look, I may have just caught the wrong rep at the wrong time. Has it been James or whoever you guys get, I would have agreed with all the positive rebukes and never made this post in the first place. But, I stand by "petty" and "easily offended" when that is how my direct private experience with them has been. I'm glad to hear many others experience much better than I have. I concede that "vindictive" may not accurate, an astounding coincidence with the timing and scale, but sure, coincidences happen. I retract that, for what it's worth.

"whining", "ego-tripping", "drama".  Throwing childish, unprovoked insults at one another probably discourages more agencies as well as contributors from posting on here than agency reps choosing whether or not to defend honest criticism.

« Reply #29 on: October 23, 2018, 09:44 »
0
.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #30 on: October 23, 2018, 10:02 »
0
Many years back, I accidentally uploaded a pic from an unapproved camera in a batch and it literally dropped out during upload and was marked as 'unapproved camera' (but the rest of the batch went through OK).
Presumably there was some sort of filter back in the day that could do that, but also presumably there are many more unapproved cameras now which might make that programming cumbersome.

« Reply #31 on: October 23, 2018, 11:14 »
0
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #32 on: October 23, 2018, 11:26 »
+3
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?
The most obvious answer is that Alamy buyers don't need your images.

Could be  because they can get them cheaper on the cheap sites, but that isn't the whole answer, as some people say they sell the same images on micro and on Alamy.

Sales do tend to be lower on Alamy for most people, that's just a fact; and certain historic buyers have moved to e.g. SS (seen in credits in publications). However, at least one reasonably-big buyer has recently moved TO Alamy (from Thinkstock, so apparently choosing not to go the Getty PA route), so they must be being proactive in attracting new buyers to some extent.

dpimborough

« Reply #33 on: October 23, 2018, 11:55 »
0
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

I would probably guess its down to insufficient keywords or inaccurate keywords


« Reply #34 on: October 23, 2018, 12:37 »
+2
Alamy contributor support is second to non. Yes, they do make mistakes at times .... especially when releasing design changes  ;)  ;D but they do listen and correct errors when they're found. I would go as far as to say they are the least likely of all the agencies to ever get petty, alter or manipulate search positioning of images/portfolios. I'd always contact them with a problem first but, I've rarely ever had to. Can't remember the last time, we're talking years ago.

« Reply #35 on: October 23, 2018, 14:19 »
+2
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

I would probably guess its down to insufficient keywords or inaccurate keywords
That and they are not the type of images Alamy buyers are looking for....my (sporadic) sales on there tend not to be "typical" stock images

« Reply #36 on: October 23, 2018, 16:39 »
0
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

I would probably guess its down to insufficient keywords or inaccurate keywords
That and they are not the type of images Alamy buyers are looking for....my (sporadic) sales on there tend not to be "typical" stock images
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #37 on: October 23, 2018, 16:54 »
+1
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?
Why not check out the Alamy forum?


« Reply #38 on: October 24, 2018, 02:02 »
0
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

Really?! Why don't you find out for yourself? In this day and age where everybody complains about falling sales, "slices of pie" shrinking to everyone due to competition, etc, do you really think people will tell you their secrets so they get even less sales?

Honestly, why don't you put your bank account number here so we can all start sending you money. Would save a lot of time for everybody.

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #39 on: October 24, 2018, 02:17 »
+3
The Alamy QC is as crazy as the SS accepting everything and anything!

« Reply #40 on: October 24, 2018, 02:32 »
+2
The Alamy QC is as crazy as the SS accepting everything and anything!

It has always been like that from the beginning. The only criteria is technical quality. On the plus side, there are sales on images that would never have been accepted on micro or any curated agency on the first place. From exposures that would be considered wrong, to strange subjects.

Chichikov

« Reply #41 on: October 24, 2018, 02:59 »
0
The Alamy QC is as crazy as the SS accepting everything and anything!

It has always been like that from the beginning. The only criteria is technical quality. On the plus side, there are sales on images that would never have been accepted on micro or any curated agency on the first place. From exposures that would be considered wrong, to strange subjects.

The only criteria is the technical quality of the first and unique image they review in a full batch

dpimborough

« Reply #42 on: October 24, 2018, 03:03 »
+2
Touch wood I haven't had a QC failure in years from Alamy.

I'd rather the agencies all adopted the same QC practice as Alamy one fail they all fail
it would teach a lot of "so called photographers" to do some basic quality checking and weed out the "snapshot" brigade and go some way to prevent some of the appalling junk that's being accepted.

This comment is in general and does not refer to the OP specifically

« Reply #43 on: October 24, 2018, 07:33 »
+3
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

Really?! Why don't you find out for yourself? In this day and age where everybody complains about falling sales, "slices of pie" shrinking to everyone due to competition, etc, do you really think people will tell you their secrets so they get even less sales?

Honestly, why don't you put your bank account number here so we can all start sending you money. Would save a lot of time for everybody.

Slow down. He didnt asked which images are selling in your port of anyones. He just asks what kind. Answer would be for example travel photos... editorial photos. Dont look always for a reason to blast around. This forum is becoming worse and worse.

Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #44 on: October 24, 2018, 08:23 »
0
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

I would probably guess its down to insufficient keywords or inaccurate keywords
That and they are not the type of images Alamy buyers are looking for....my (sporadic) sales on there tend not to be "typical" stock images
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/10427-have-you-found-any-alamy-photographs-october/?page=15

« Reply #45 on: October 24, 2018, 08:34 »
+3
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

Really?! Why don't you find out for yourself? In this day and age where everybody complains about falling sales, "slices of pie" shrinking to everyone due to competition, etc, do you really think people will tell you their secrets so they get even less sales?

Honestly, why don't you put your bank account number here so we can all start sending you money. Would save a lot of time for everybody.

Slow down. He didnt asked which images are selling in your port of anyones. He just asks what kind. Answer would be for example travel photos... editorial photos. Dont look always for a reason to blast around. This forum is becoming worse and worse.

What's the difference between asking what photos we sell and the types of photos that sell?

Lets say I answer "Space Travel" after years of testing different types of images and understanding what sells or not. Next thing you know, thousands of photographers that just arrived and barely invested time, effort and money start buying tickets to visit Mars and Jupiter and even worse, Earth, submitting those images to alamy and diluting my work.

It's not blasting around. This is a business and like all businesses there are trade secrets. And in stock photography the most important one is, what type of images sell.

Try to make similar questions to Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Apple or the successful restaurant in your area for the recipe of the specialty that make people travel miles to eat it and you'll get a real feel of what is to be blast around.

« Reply #46 on: October 24, 2018, 19:14 »
+1
The Alamy team has always been gracious and accommodating when I've contacted them - even when it's been my fault in terms of messing things up. I sent them an email the other day (via Stockimo) that I'd made a mistake in captioning a pending image and they fixed it. I can't imagine doing that with the others - and there really isn't a way to have that same personal back and forth, which is why I like working with them. I've dealt with them since 2008 and they always go out of their way to help.

To be honest, I've had good customer service from shutterstock too - even last year when I got a frustrating and unhelpful email from someone there (re: a request to download one of my own images that was lost from my backup hard drive and a failed computer). When I complained about the initial response I'd received, I got a gracious new response explaining that the person on their end was new and sending me the photo I'd requested.

And of course Mat over at Adobe is great. I even got a nice email response years back from the owner of dreamstime.

It's easy to criticize all these places (and yes, there are things to be critical of), but at the end of the day, they are service businesses and whether they are dealing with clients or contributors, those who stay in business and have good reputations listen.

I get that sometimes we feel the need to call a place out in public if they don't seem to be listening or we want to help others with a warning when we have a bad experience, so I'm not criticizing the OP - glad he's satisfied with the response now too. I think it speaks volumes that both Alamy and Adobe monitor these forums and pop in. I'm surprised the others don't do it.





« Reply #47 on: October 24, 2018, 22:12 »
0
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

I would probably guess its down to insufficient keywords or inaccurate keywords
That and they are not the type of images Alamy buyers are looking for....my (sporadic) sales on there tend not to be "typical" stock images
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/10427-have-you-found-any-alamy-photographs-october/?page=15
Thanks

« Reply #48 on: October 24, 2018, 22:13 »
0
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

Really?! Why don't you find out for yourself? In this day and age where everybody complains about falling sales, "slices of pie" shrinking to everyone due to competition, etc, do you really think people will tell you their secrets so they get even less sales?

Honestly, why don't you put your bank account number here so we can all start sending you money. Would save a lot of time for everybody.


Slow down. He didnt asked which images are selling in your port of anyones. He just asks what kind. Answer would be for example travel photos... editorial photos. Dont look always for a reason to blast around. This forum is becoming worse and worse.
Thanks

dpimborough

« Reply #49 on: October 25, 2018, 02:11 »
0
I have image on Sthutterstock, Fotolia,Istock,Dreamstime,123Rf and Alamy. In all of them i have sells, but not in Alamy, why?

I would probably guess its down to insufficient keywords or inaccurate keywords
That and they are not the type of images Alamy buyers are looking for....my (sporadic) sales on there tend not to be "typical" stock images
What kinds of images could be sell on Alamy?

You can see exactly what images sell on Alamy by going to the "Alamy Measures" link on your dashboard and selecting the "All of Alamy" link which shows what has been zoomed and sold.

Its the only agency that does this that I know of


 

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