Author Topic: Collapse in sales (Read 8843 times)

sarah2 · « **on:** May 09, 2017, 11:35 »

ok, Alamy isn't a big seller, but has tended to tick over at a fairly consistent rate for a while. But the last month - since the changes maybe? - zip. Zilch. Nada.
Anybody else found this?
I've been doing categories etc for new stuff in the name of 'discoverability' but have done nothing to older files. Seriously....life is too short!
But sales have gone the way of the dodo.....

Brasilnut · « **Reply #1 on:** May 09, 2017, 13:11 »

I saw two of my pics being used, one by the Guardian and another by the BBC. So i'm pending those which they have 3 months to report. Perhaps you as well.

Overall, it seems really slow going and a game of patience...

sharpshot · « **Reply #2 on:** May 09, 2017, 15:12 »

Not seen a collapse in sales, about the same level as last year.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #3 on:** May 09, 2017, 15:50 »

Been bad for me for the whole of this year. I guess it's different for everyone. Trouble is, my sales there aren't large enough to give a decent average, it's varied wildly from month to month.

pancaketom · « **Reply #4 on:** May 09, 2017, 16:05 »

My "revenue" there is already over last year (my take might not be because of the distributor cut). My sales are pretty infrequent and random, so some months 0, some months up to 5 or 6. This month 0 so far.

dpimborough · « **Reply #5 on:** May 10, 2017, 01:09 »

Already exceeded 2014 and 2015 in the first three months and on target to exceed 2016.

Getting monthly sales which though small in quantity more than makes up for it in revenue.

No complaints here

Smilla · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2017, 01:12 »

Great first two months, 8 sales and then nothing. But its bad all over at the moment for me so I shall just wait and see and try not to read anything into it.

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #7 on:** May 10, 2017, 01:54 »

Alamy is actually one of the sites that have a nice steady flow of sales for me. There are entire months without them, but usually the next month makes up for it.

sarah2 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 10, 2017, 14:04 »

Oh dear. Just me then.

Daryl Ray · « **Reply #9 on:** May 10, 2017, 14:22 »

Not just you. Sales at Alamy are so rare it's ridiculous. And when they do happen, it's awesome seeing the BBC and other massive companies using my full rez, unwatermarked images in the headlines of their articles, waiting 3 months, and then getting only $1.60 of the $5 they paid for it.

They're definitely on my "don't bother wasting time uploading" list.

stockastic · « **Reply #10 on:** May 10, 2017, 18:21 »

Quit checking long ago. Last sale was months ago. One of these days I'll close the account, I guess.

I have nothing against them; they've tried to maintain prices that are at least reasonable. It's just a case of oversupply.

ShadySue · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2017, 00:57 »

Quote from: Daryl Ray on May 10, 2017, 14:22

Not just you. Sales at Alamy are so rare it's ridiculous. And when they do happen, it's awesome seeing the BBC and other massive companies using my full rez, unwatermarked images in the headlines of their articles, waiting 3 months, and then getting only $1.60 of the $5 they paid for it.

They're definitely on my "don't bother wasting time uploading" list.

Have you queried why you don't get 50% for your Beeb sales? The BBC doesn't buy via a distributor, and anyway, $1.60 isn't 30% either: that's surely a mistake.
Alamy has tried to keep prices up, but have lost some big buyers to eg SS.

dpimborough · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2017, 02:29 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 12, 2017, 00:57

Quote from: Daryl Ray on May 10, 2017, 14:22
Not just you. Sales at Alamy are so rare it's ridiculous. And when they do happen, it's awesome seeing the BBC and other massive companies using my full rez, unwatermarked images in the headlines of their articles, waiting 3 months, and then getting only $1.60 of the $5 they paid for it.

They're definitely on my "don't bother wasting time uploading" list.
Have you queried why you don't get 50% for your Beeb sales? That's surely a mistake.
Alamy has tried to keep prices up, but have lost some big buyers to eg SS.

+1

BBC sales alway got me 50% only distributor sales netted less but it was still 30% which is on par with the other outfits.

The BBC however has scrambled in to bed with Getty in a partnership and if you check their news site it's 90% Getty these days for stock images.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2017, 02:35 »

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on May 12, 2017, 02:29

Quote from: ShadySue on May 12, 2017, 00:57
Quote from: Daryl Ray on May 10, 2017, 14:22
Not just you. Sales at Alamy are so rare it's ridiculous. And when they do happen, it's awesome seeing the BBC and other massive companies using my full rez, unwatermarked images in the headlines of their articles, waiting 3 months, and then getting only $1.60 of the $5 they paid for it.

They're definitely on my "don't bother wasting time uploading" list.
Have you queried why you don't get 50% for your Beeb sales? That's surely a mistake.
Alamy has tried to keep prices up, but have lost some big buyers to eg SS.

+1

BBC sales alway got me 50% only distributor sales netted less but it was still 30% which is on par with the other outfits.

The BBC however has scrambled in to bed with Getty in a partnership and if you check their news site it's 90% Getty these days for stock images.

and pretty poor quality ones imho

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #14 on:** May 12, 2017, 02:48 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on May 12, 2017, 02:35

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on May 12, 2017, 02:29

The BBC however has scrambled in to bed with Getty in a partnership and if you check their news site it's 90% Getty these days for stock images.
and pretty poor quality ones imho

Yeah, I was actually quite shocked by how cruddy one of the Gettty stock images they used was. The quality was reminiscent of the famous toilet door shot they dumped into the elite group of iStock images back in the days when they had only just got started on completely ruining iStock.

derek · « **Reply #15 on:** May 12, 2017, 03:56 »

Well nothing tend to make any sense anymore not sales agencies or buyers? My last three sales reports from Getty prove they are in micro-stock while one of my other macro RM agencies render thousands of dollars every month and they are MUCH smaller but more specialized I suppose.
Some Getty sales makes you cringe how about 0.52c or 0.80c?? I mean they complain about micro-stock! haha!

The on the slide we have SS where my daily figures differ by something like 0.90c and at about 9 o'clock every single morning I read $ 1.52 hahaha! its getting to become a joke!

ShadySue · « **Reply #16 on:** May 12, 2017, 05:19 »

The BBC has used Getty for celebrity/politician/hot news for years. If they have spread out from that, they're probably (my speculation) in the 'premium access' scheme whereby we effectively get lower than our stated percentage as we don't share in the full payment made. And as the price paid per pic is lowered, we get a lower payment by way of a double whammy. AIUI.

Daryl Ray · « **Reply #17 on:** May 12, 2017, 06:38 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 12, 2017, 00:57

Quote from: Daryl Ray on May 10, 2017, 14:22
Not just you. Sales at Alamy are so rare it's ridiculous. And when they do happen, it's awesome seeing the BBC and other massive companies using my full rez, unwatermarked images in the headlines of their articles, waiting 3 months, and then getting only $1.60 of the $5 they paid for it.

They're definitely on my "don't bother wasting time uploading" list.
Have you queried why you don't get 50% for your Beeb sales? The BBC doesn't buy via a distributor, and anyway, $1.60 isn't 30% either: that's surely a mistake.
Alamy has tried to keep prices up, but have lost some big buyers to eg SS.

"BBC and other massive companies" - True, it was another sale to some other massive brand that was $5.21 with an Alamy Distribution Commission of 30% and Distributor Commission of 40%, leaving me $1.57, to be more specific. BBC was just a few more dollars more of a sale, but was indeed a 50% split.

The 50% is why I've stayed with them, but more pieces are being cut out of ever-shrinking and increasingly rare pies.

wordplanet · « **Reply #18 on:** May 15, 2017, 14:10 »

Alamy sales are inconsistent since the prices can vary so wildly. With the small sale I had today ($20.00) EDIT in italics: I have about 60% as many sales as last year, (my original post said one fewer than last year which would be well over 90%, I was looking at the wrong stat, sorry, but my point is still the same) My revenue is 1/4th of what it was for all of last year, so I'm seeing more activity but revenue per sale is generally lower than in the past. Of course, a run of $200-300 sales could change that. I also tend to make more sales during the second half of the year there, so it's hard to judge by where I am in May. Views and zooms have gone way up for me lately, despite not adding new images.

I find with Alamy as long as I'm seeing activity, hopefully the year will work out. You don't get the daily feedback you have with the micros unless you have 20,000 or more files.

It's awful to see large businesses that can afford it licensing images for pennies, but hard to complain when you have images on microstock sites with which they are competing.

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Author Topic: Collapse in sales (Read 8843 times)

sarah2

Brasilnut

sharpshot

BaldricksTrousers

pancaketom

dpimborough

Smilla

MarcvsTvllivs

sarah2

Daryl Ray

stockastic

ShadySue

dpimborough

Pauws99

BaldricksTrousers

derek

ShadySue

Daryl Ray

wordplanet

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