Sales at Alamy #2 Update from 2008 Thread

[LSD72]

I was reading back in the Forums and found this thread

http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/sales-at-alamy-any-updates/

I thought it might be fun to see who is still around from that time. Also to see how people are doing and if its impacted somehow by Istocks dealings and such.


For my input: I had 13 images up there since last year.. and forgot about them. Checking them about a month or so ago, I had a sale netting me $66. Its from a shot that would never had made the micros at all.. but yet.. someone wanted it for an education book of some sort. Yay Me..lol.

Now with Istocks changing of their game, I figured to change up my approach to Work Smarter Not Harder. I decided which Micros Agencies I am going to stop uploading to or cut out altogether when I reach payouts. I am going to start concentrating on Alamy with RF and RM and occasionally shoot a little for the MS Sites I am keeping. It will be different Photos. I do have some of my RF Photos Crossed over into Alamy but I am going to keep them separate now. This should cut down the time a little by only submitting to Alamy for the most part and about 3 sites (2 Micros and 1 Business cards cause I like making them).

Since 2 weeks ago I have upped that 13 images to 56 now (with about 6 or 7 of them being crossed from the Micros).


Your Turn. Any Updates or Stories?

[sharpshot]

I doubled my portfolio to around 500 and my sales have fallen this year.  Sold 10 last year with around 250 images and only 3 so far this year.  I would love to drop microstock and go with alamy but I would need at least 20,000 images and that will take a while.

[LSD72]

Seems that most of the Forum Talkers at Alamy are UK based.. same with sales reported or images found. I wonder if thats the key..lol. Images that even the Brits can use or something. Just pure speculation as in I need to look at the images found sections more.

[PaulieWalnuts]

I doubled my portfolio to around 500 and my sales have fallen this year.  Sold 10 last year with around 250 images and only 3 so far this year.  I would love to drop microstock and go with alamy but I would need at least 20,000 images and that will take a while.

I submitted a couple dozen of mostly editorial images as a test and haven't sold anything.

I was just reading the latest sales results thread and was kinda surprised with the responses. Some of these people have 10,000 - 15,000 images and are getting $500 - $1,000 per month.

If Alamy could deliver at least comparable or better RPI than micro then it would be worth the time. But it doesn't look like that's happening.

[donding]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

[PeterChigmaroff]

I doubled my portfolio to around 500 and my sales have fallen this year.  Sold 10 last year with around 250 images and only 3 so far this year.  I would love to drop microstock and go with alamy but I would need at least 20,000 images and that will take a while.

If Alamy could deliver at least comparable or better RPI than micro then it would be worth the time. But it doesn't look like that's happening.

It's just not the same animal and as such is difficult to draw a straight comparison to. What sells on Alamy wouldn't get past most Micro inspectors keen (place tongue in cheek here) eyes. And even if they did the sales volumes would be so low as to not be worth while.

[Blufish]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

Yep, same policy. All in or all out.

[LSD72]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

Yep, same policy. All in or all out.

At least you don't have to upsize now.

[donding]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

Yep, same policy. All in or all out.

At least you don't have to upsize now.

The upsize part is good to know but the reject one rejects all part I still don't like. I might start uploading there again. I do have tons of images that wouldn't make it on regular micro because of property release's/landmarks. Micorstock doesn't seem to understand the concept of flowing water from a waterfall and the silky look. They always say focus isn't where we feel it should be or poor focus. I'll upload those to Alamy.

[Kone]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

Now they have something like "Partially past inspection", so if one of the images does have a problem the batch is accepted but the image has to be re-uploaded or ignored.

[mtkang]

the last time (last week) i submit to Alamy, i guess it is still 1 failed and all batches failed.

when i checked out those sold images that post by alamy contributors in their forum thread, i found out that a lot of 'editorial' kind images can be like a 'snapshot', a sink with dirty dishes, a potholes on the road. It is quite different than what i thought a stock photo as. I had mentioned some links in my blog http://wp.me/pPDGb-2H or u can just go alamy forum to check out what found alamy images that had been used.

It seems like alamy accept any kind of shots since their sales results showed that their customers bought all kind of images.

But dont get me wrong that i criticize those shots technically poor or suggesting we should submit that kind of photos to alamy. But they are shots that will reject in many agencies.

But those shots i refer are more 'editorial' and not using in advertising.

[ShadySue]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

Now they have something like "Partially past inspection", so if one of the images does have a problem the batch is accepted but the image has to be re-uploaded or ignored.

That's for special cases, one I had was that somehow one image in a batch was slightly smaller than the minimum size. I got an auto message about this at upload, then the batch went throught and 'partially passed inspection'.
If one fails, all batches in your queue fail, and it takes a week to get notification. No change there.
Also if there's a technical problem with uploading one of your images, though then a week after submission someone goes in manually and sorts it and the others are QAd. Despite a lot of advice on the forums about what might be wrong with your image to make them fail at upload, all mine which have 'stuck' have gone through, without change, when resubmitted.

[ShadySue]

the last time (last week) i submit to Alamy, i guess it is still 1 failed and all batches failed.

when i checked out those sold images that post by alamy contributors in their forum thread, i found out that a lot of 'editorial' kind images can be like a 'snapshot', a sink with dirty dishes, a potholes on the road. It is quite different than what i thought a stock photo as. I had mentioned some links in my blog http://wp.me/pPDGb-2H or u can just go alamy forum to check out what found alamy images that had been used.

It seems like alamy accept any kind of shots since their sales results showed that their customers bought all kind of images.

But dont get me wrong that i criticize those shots technically poor or suggesting we should submit that kind of photos to alamy. But they are shots that will reject in many agencies.

But those shots i refer are more 'editorial' and not using in advertising.

Also remember that iStock's images can't be 'real' because of possible copyright issues. e.g. if I took a photo of the pile of dishes I'll soon be washing up, even if I managed to get a tripod in front of the sink and control the lighting, reflections and hotspots, still iStock couldn't accept it because even my plain white dishes are probably recognisably M&S, not to mention all the other brands you'd find in there. For editorial use, that's not an issue.

[sharpshot]

I doubled my portfolio to around 500 and my sales have fallen this year.  Sold 10 last year with around 250 images and only 3 so far this year.  I would love to drop microstock and go with alamy but I would need at least 20,000 images and that will take a while.

If Alamy could deliver at least comparable or better RPI than micro then it would be worth the time. But it doesn't look like that's happening.

It's just not the same animal and as such is difficult to draw a straight comparison to. What sells on Alamy wouldn't get past most Micro inspectors keen (place tongue in cheek here) eyes. And even if they did the sales volumes would be so low as to not be worth while.

I agree.  Some of those big portfolios have thousands of similars that would be rejected by the micros.  It's a lot easier to build up a big portfolio on alamy, so comparing the RPI isn't worthwhile.  I do think it would take more work to make a decent amount with alamy than the micros but alamy is just one site, so that's no surprise.  I am going to build a portfolio with alamy to take away my dependence on sites like istock, so I don't have to put up with insulting commissions.

[PaulieWalnuts]

I doubled my portfolio to around 500 and my sales have fallen this year.  Sold 10 last year with around 250 images and only 3 so far this year.  I would love to drop microstock and go with alamy but I would need at least 20,000 images and that will take a while.

If Alamy could deliver at least comparable or better RPI than micro then it would be worth the time. But it doesn't look like that's happening.

It's just not the same animal and as such is difficult to draw a straight comparison to. What sells on Alamy wouldn't get past most Micro inspectors keen (place tongue in cheek here) eyes. And even if they did the sales volumes would be so low as to not be worth while.

I agree.  Some of those big portfolios have thousands of similars that would be rejected by the micros.  It's a lot easier to build up a big portfolio on alamy, so comparing the RPI isn't worthwhile.  I do think it would take more work to make a decent amount with alamy than the micros but alamy is just one site, so that's no surprise.  I am going to build a portfolio with alamy to take away my dependence on sites like istock, so I don't have to put up with insulting commissions.

Good point on the similars. Okay so what would happen if you cut out the similars? Or had the exact same images on your best earning micro site and also Alamy. What kind of results would Alamy get?

I really like Alamy but I haven't figured out what works there and haven't invested much time in it.

[sharpshot]

I don't think alamy will make as much for me as SS or istock but perhaps close to DT.  They sell images that wont be accepted or aren't going to make much on the micros and there is always the chance of some big sales.  I really don't like estimating how much I might make, I am going to build a bigger portfolio and find out.

[donding]

I don't think alamy will make as much for me as SS or istock but perhaps close to DT.  They sell images that wont be accepted or aren't going to make much on the micros and there is always the chance of some big sales.  I really don't like estimating how much I might make, I am going to build a bigger portfolio and find out.

That's what I think I'm going to do. I mean what would happen? No sales? Well the way I look at it is your really not losing anything but your time because a lot of the photos that can be uploaded would be rejected by most micro's because of the copyright fears of microstock. That is pretty much the only place you can upload all those editorial like images that are sitting idle on your hard drive. I won't mix the micro with the macro though. I'm willing to spend the time it takes to upload those images I already have to see what will happen.

[RacePhoto]

I haven't uploaded to them in ages. Been there since 2007 and always had trouble with their "up-sizing" policy. I got 64 photos there and got $32.00 in sales from 07 til now.

Do you know if they still reject the whole batch if one is bad or have they renewed their ways? That always irritated the crap out of me.

Now they have something like "Partially past inspection", so if one of the images does have a problem the batch is accepted but the image has to be re-uploaded or ignored.

Kone: No They Don't!

Why does this erroneous claim keep making the rounds. Are you reading that self centered guru David K's claims? He's so full of himself he can't see past his own nose.

If you upload a file and the server fails, you can get a partial fail. If you upload and undersized image, you can get a partial fail.

If you have 1 photo or 7 batches of uploads, waiting for QC, and one photo fails, everything waiting will fail. It hasn't changed.

donding: One Fail all fail, and there's a reason.

Alamy is for adults and educated photographers. If you can't tell the difference between a good exposure, and a sharp image, they don't want to waste time, culling your uploads and holding your hand.

I think you are intelligent and observing enough to do self evaluation. They don't want to waste time with reviewers picking and choosing. They look at the batch, a general view, and then they examine selective images. If those look OK them the whole batch passes.

Why isn't anyone crying about that? You don't have long waits, generally 48 hours, because they don't look for tiny flaws at 200% like some micro sites that seem to get their rocks off rejecting images for the tiniest flaw, a reflection, a tidbit of some logo, or some other excuse to refuse an image.

Alamy does not QC for content! I'll repeat myself. If you have a well lighted shot of a brown rock on a brown sand beach, proper white balance... they will accept it!   What else can we ask for? A site that takes our images and shows them to customers and pays us 60%. Not a site that rejects most everything, and what they do take, they keep 80% and send us some spare change for being their slaves and donkeys.

[donding]

Alamy does not QC for content! I'll repeat myself. If you have a well lighted shot of a brown rock on a brown sand beach, proper white balance... they will accept it!   What else can we ask for? A site that takes our images and shows them to customers and pays us 60%. Not a site that rejects most everything, and what they do take, they keep 80% and send us some spare change for being their slaves and donkeys.

You gotta good point there. I don't think I'd have problems with rejects like I did in the early days, I've learned a lot since then. My main rejects initially was with the upsizing. I always had trouble with that if there was any cropping done to my photos.

[RacePhoto]

I doubled my portfolio to around 500 and my sales have fallen this year.  Sold 10 last year with around 250 images and only 3 so far this year.  I would love to drop microstock and go with alamy but I would need at least 20,000 images and that will take a while.

I submitted a couple dozen of mostly editorial images as a test and haven't sold anything.

I was just reading the latest sales results thread and was kinda surprised with the responses. Some of these people have 10,000 - 15,000 images and are getting $500 - $1,000 per month.

If Alamy could deliver at least comparable or better RPI than micro then it would be worth the time. But it doesn't look like that's happening.

Sorry to stick a pin in the bubble but the number you want is bottom line, how much do they send you in a check, per year. Statistics don't put food on table or pay the bills. RPI is a micro statistic and meaningless at Alamy.

The less photos you have, the more it will go up. PaulieWalnuts, you know how well you did with IS when you started. Very Well, and great shots to match that. Now you have doubled your portfolio and your RPI is dropping. It's just the way it goes. But you are still making a better Bottom Line income from IS than you did the first year.

Same for Alamy. It's not about how many images someone has, although that helps, it's about how many images that buyers want! 

I just figured out that I'm working for about $100 - $150 an hour at the office. However I only work one hour a week. So it sucks. That's how RPI works too. It's am empty, fluffed up, pretty number, without any economic value or meaning. Bottom Line!

I keep selling things on Alamy that I toss up as extras. The ones I put up as the meat and potatoes, aren't selling. Says something about my business plan and target market? Or lack of foresight and understanding the demand! I guess I need to shoot more CrapStock and less interesting Editorial. I know what a major part of the problem is. I'm shooting things that the Alamy buyers don't want to need.

Alamy sells different content to a different market, so don't expect micro style or a micro type of shot, to bring in bigger money on Alamy than it does as volume sales on micro. Two different demands. Someone pointed out that the majority of Alamy sales appear to be in the UK. I believe that's still true and maybe 80% of their market? They have a US office, and have opened other sales efforts in other parts of the world, but I think it's still associated with the UK. Not much help for a guy from Chicago or Milwaukee, finding European content that's in demand. 

[donding]

The demand for images from the UK worries me. I never did good with Fotolia and I think that was a lot of the problem...UK images. Maybe I'm wrong but as for US I think you gotta have something that is in demand that is of US origin. Is there a way to determine how many downloads a photo gets on Alamy? I know I have photos of things that are found on Alamy, but in short supply. I'd like to be able to look at the download demand for that type of image to see if it's really worth the effort to edit these images.

[ShadySue]

The demand for images from the UK worries me. I never did good with Fotolia and I think that was a lot of the problem...UK images. Maybe I'm wrong but as for US I think you gotta have something that is in demand that is of US origin. Is there a way to determine how many downloads a photo gets on Alamy? I know I have photos of things that are found on Alamy, but in short supply. I'd like to be able to look at the download demand for that type of image to see if it's really worth the effort to edit these images.

Nope, you've only got that 'All of Alamy' thing, FWIW, which only registers their selected 'big buyers' (almost certainly most/all from the UK), and generally doesn't indicate sales from searches. Also, if you want to know if someone searched on e.g. New York shopping, you'll get a different result (six searches in past year) than if you type shopping New York (16).
However, they cut contributers' percentages specifically to establish a US base, and made a request a few months back for US content, so I guess it depends how much marketing they do. Which is a question I've always wondered about.

[LSD72]

Look in "My Alamy" and go to Alamy Measures and click "All of Alamy". There you will see what people are looking for. Click on the Sales Column and that will show you how many sales for a certain Search. Thats one way of checking out what sells.

You can also go into the forums and look for Threads about Found Images to get an idea of types of images that are being use.. and by who.

I see a lot of usage by UK Guardian.. I think an Online News outlet.

[etienjones]

Race . . You are right, I had a "Partially Failed" but it had to do with an Error with the Upload.

[ShadySue]

Partially failed inspection:

But they do, it has happened to me . . . but only once.

Since the size of your partially failed jpg is 114Kb, it was clearly far too small for Alamy and auto-rejected at upload, as has been explained above at least twice.