Ok. I have been microstocker since nearly its inception. That means since 2007? I really cannot remember aleardy. Alamy was a site I started quite late as they have always been somewhat complicated comapred to the other sites. But a fat sale here and there made the effort worth it. But latest sale for 80 USD, 80% Alamy cut leaving me 15 bucks... WHAT ? I do not upload there anymore but now considering pulling my images out. Despite all that work during their clunky upload system.

Many creators think 15 dollars from alamy are better than 6 cents from istock...

I just had a 59 dollar sale on Alamy today (good start of the month), and my share will be 40 percent of that... I take that, especially compared to joke-of-an-agencies like Depositphotos, 123rf or Dreamstine (yes, sadly as well) where I am getting between 1-5 dollars per month, month-by-month, without ever getting any surprise sale there.
I sometimes get really irritated about those partner sales on Alamy, with double commisions, but still it is the 4th best agency for me (after AS, IS and SS obviously).

Quote from: Fyletto on December 01, 2025, 09:15
Ok. I have been microstocker since nearly its inception. That means since 2007? I really cannot remember aleardy. Alamy was a site I started quite late as they have always been somewhat complicated comapred to the other sites. But a fat sale here and there made the effort worth it. But latest sale for 80 USD, 80% Alamy cut leaving me 15 bucks... WHAT ? I do not upload there anymore but now considering pulling my images out. Despite all that work during their clunky upload system.

Not to be argumentative or anything mean, but you need to sell $250 net, to get 40%, otherwise, anyone who has been with Alamy for over a year, gets 20%. On IS you get 15% on SSTK who knows, $2 video and 10¢ photo sales. Adobe is 33% of the net sale price for their downloads. You'll get 30-60-90 (it varies by levels for lifetime sales), I usually receive, 33-98 cents, but everything in-between, and a few for more, the record low was 29¢this year.

What do you expect from Alamy? By the way, the percentage for a distributor sale is after they get their cut, and then Alamy takes their 80% and we get the final 20% of that. Which comes out less than 20%. But it's still more than SSTK or IS. You need to sell $250 Net a year, to make 40%, which is worth the effort, in my opinion. Their system reads embedded metadata, you just need to click a few things and you're done. You can tag an entire batch for Editorial, location, category, which are all optional, if you find it necessary.

Most I do nothing other than select the Pseudo for the image type, which is just for myself.

Agree with previous comments. You are getting 15 bucks? That's not bad, is it? Instead of pulling your images out, why not upload more to reach Alamy Gold and a better percentage in the future.

I agree that 250 net is a very reachable target for good creators. Alamy have always been ine of the fair places in the industry.

Alamy has been completely lifeless here for three months now.

Quote from: cobalt on December 06, 2025, 09:38
I agree that 250 net is a very reachable target for good creators. Alamy have always been ine of the fair places in the industry.

Yes, I don't know what people expect. First year is at "Gold" 40%, after that, if you have Net $250 in sales, you stay at 40% If you drop down, annual sales, below $250 = Silver @ 20%, as soon as your Net sales reach $250, you are bumped back up to 40% immediately. There's a higher level, but nothing I'll ever see.

What's so bad about 20%? Getty is 15% photo or 20% for illustrations. SSTK who knows. Adobe is 33% for myself.

My lifetime RPD:  iStock $0.62, SSTK $0.70, Adobe $0.92, Alamy $25.40. Yes, I've made more total on SSTK and Adobe, more volume, lower rates. I don't work Alamy very hard for what they sell, but if someone does, they can do very well. The way SSTK is now, and please ignore the history, they are going to make a comeback, I made more from Alamy on seven sales, than I have all year at SSTK.

Yes, I agree with you, $250 net is a very reachable target.

Victory at Alamy is still within reach.



ps Alamy is NOT Microstock.

Gross! Gross! Gross! This is the total amount Alamy receive from the customer. Either for a direct sale on Alamy where they get 100% of the sale price or what they get from a distributor partner after they have taken their cut (which varies according to the arrangement). Your sales need to total $250 GROSS per year to stay on the 40% level. Net is the actual amount you receive however it was sold. Luckily Alamy is one of the few (only?) agencies to be transparent and honest enough to show you exactly what the picture sold for, what has been deducted, and how much you are getting. One mistake I have seen repeated a number of times is contributors saying they have no chance of getting to the $250 total now they are only on 20% commission. It makes NO DIFFERENCE! It's still the Gross (total) sale price that counts towards your target - not how much you have actually received. I also agree with those that say that $250 gross per year is readily achievable given the higher (in general) fees Alamy commands. Had a sale last month for around $220 (gross) so that's my current years target nearly met with just one sale. The other mistake I see are those saying they have few or zero sales when they only have a few hundred images uploaded. You really need to think in thousands of images to expect sales unless you have a really exceptional collection of images which will be in demand by the (mainly) editorial customers. Random landscapes and flower images will struggle. For transparency I have just over three thousand images and tend to get 2-6 sales a month. Best of luck to everyone!

Quote from: Newsfocus1 on December 14, 2025, 13:50
Gross! Gross! Gross! This is the total amount Alamy receive from the customer. Either for a direct sale on Alamy where they get 100% of the sale price or what they get from a distributor partner after they have taken their cut (which varies according to the arrangement). Your sales need to total $250 GROSS per year to stay on the 40% level. Net is the actual amount you receive however it was sold. Luckily Alamy is one of the few (only?) agencies to be transparent and honest enough to show you exactly what the picture sold for, what has been deducted, and how much you are getting. One mistake I have seen repeated a number of times is contributors saying they have no chance of getting to the $250 total now they are only on 20% commission. It makes NO DIFFERENCE! It's still the Gross (total) sale price that counts towards your target - not how much you have actually received. I also agree with those that say that $250 gross per year is readily achievable given the higher (in general) fees Alamy commands. Had a sale last month for around $220 (gross) so that's my current years target nearly met with just one sale. The other mistake I see are those saying they have few or zero sales when they only have a few hundred images uploaded. You really need to think in thousands of images to expect sales unless you have a really exceptional collection of images which will be in demand by the (mainly) editorial customers. Random landscapes and flower images will struggle. For transparency I have just over three thousand images and tend to get 2-6 sales a month. Best of luck to everyone!

I agree and that's English for you. I've always called it gross, because that's what it's called and what accountants and businesses call the initial sale price.

Alamy Says: If you make below $250 in gross sales within the, you will automatically move into Silver tier. If you make over $250 in gross sales within the Revenue Year, you will stay in Gold tier. If you make over $25,000 in gross sales within the Revenue Year you will automatically move into Platinum tier. The Revenue Year runs from the 12 month period starting on the 1st July every year and ending 30th June the following calendar year. Your gross sales exclude any 'other income' payments, so for example DACS and ASCRL payments would not be included in your gross sales.

One reply, support called it NET sales. I will go back to the proper and correct term. 

Thanks for taking the time for accuracy, the correction, and good information.

I have 9,376 images, but many are obscure, limited interest, or possibly aged out of anything current, because I started in 2007 or 2008, many of the editorial, are more historic than news. Good that you have a better flow of sales.

I quitted Alamy years back due to this..

Frankly, if selling for $250 a year is an unattainable amount on Alamy, it's time to rethink things and produce quality images that might interest buyers, or else do something else to occupy time.
Even I can do it, and I'm way above it!
Btw, they don't take AI productions, maybe that is the issue for some people here.

Now, the agencies that get the praise here are the ones where contributors can flood with their AI images. 

Quote from: Artist on December 15, 2025, 04:14
I quitted Alamy years back due to this..

Why? Isn't 40% good enough for you.