agree 100% Jo Ann

I believe the main reason is that email is very easy/fast/cheap, pretty much they have nothing to lose, we do remember their pain in the butt procedure so it won't paint a better picture of them anyway

]Well, comparing what percent of its total library a subscription site sells over a year to what percent a non-subscription site sells is certainly worth noting, but is also missing significant relevant info, such as what commission is earned from typical sale for each....

But, more importantly, if a contributor determines an agency is not working out for him, acting on that makes sense, of course.

I can certainly relate, since I now have active files on just 2 images agencies - the other ones were either a waste of time and/or didn't treat contributors in a satisfactory way and/or were no longer a fit for where my photography's going.

(As an aside - Except for those already successful at stock, I no longer see it as something worth working harder and longer and smarter at, in hopes of becoming more successful. Unless one's geography, health, family, skills, time... limit options, better to find less speculative ways to increase one's photography income.)

I think those are automated emails. As soon as you hit a time trigger you will get an email.

Alamy sales have died since July 2013. James changed my mind to call it quits, but this time there is no stopping me. I am still waiting/hoping for when things pick, but seeing the threads on their own forum, I think Alamy has reached the point of implosion. Too many files and they sell nothing.

I have said this a few times before, SS sells their total library 3 times over per year (300%). Alamy only sells 0.87% (!) of their library, and mainly from the live news feed and editorial images that are present in massive over abundance due the spray and pray type of photography.

Jeff Greenberg added 10k files in the last year or so, and his sales graph is still dropping.

Nice of them to ask. I wonder if they send out a similar shot to buyers who haven't spent any money for some time....if so it is probably the full extent of Alamy's marketing campaign.

]Well, comparing what percent of its total library a subscription site sells over a year to what percent a non-subscription site sells is certainly worth noting, but is also missing significant relevant info, such as what commission is earned from typical sale for each....

But, more importantly, if a contributor determines an agency is not working out for him, acting on that makes sense, of course.

I can certainly relate, since I now have active files on just 2 images agencies - the other ones were either a waste of time and/or didn't treat contributors in a satisfactory way and/or were no longer a fit for where my photography's going.

(As an aside - Except for those already successful at stock, I no longer see it as something worth working harder and longer and smarter at, in hopes of becoming more successful. Unless one's geography, health, family, skills, time... limit options, better to find less speculative ways to increase one's photography income.)

Quote from: Ron on February 04, 2014, 12:44

I think those are automated emails. As soon as you hit a time trigger you will get an email.

Alamy sales have died since July 2013. James changed my mind to call it quits, but this time there is no stopping me. I am still waiting/hoping for when things pick, but seeing the threads on their own forum, I think Alamy has reached the point of implosion. Too many files and they sell nothing.

I have said this a few times before, SS sells their total library 3 times over per year (300%). Alamy only sells 0.87% (!) of their library, and mainly from the live news feed and editorial images that are present in massive over abundance due the spray and pray type of photography.

Jeff Greenberg added 10k files in the last year or so, and his sales graph is still dropping.

Most sales are between 4 and 20 dollar net. That 0.87% is not nearly enough to keep up with sales on SS.

Also, my return per image is 3 times higher on SS. So it makes a ton more sense to submit to SS then to submit to Alamy.

In fact, once I pull of all my RM from Alamy and submit to SS illustrative editorial, it will make more money guaranteed. SS actually sells images, Alamy does nothing for me.

Alamy and microstock are completely different models. Cheap subscription works for content which gets lots of sales. Editorial microstock makes sense for product pack-shots.

If all of Alamy was available at SS it would not sell more - but it would make much less money. It's the fact that it is not edited which results in it being possible to find very obscure editorial content at Alamy.

Back in Dec I emailed support to ask about a year-old sale that had yet to clear. After saying they were sorry but it was unlikely I would ever be paid for that (distributor) sale, they wrote:
On another note, it would be great to get some more of your images online.

 

Unbelievable! I haven't had that situation (although I did opt out of distributor sales last April as I was unhappy with the deal) but did you push back on that? Unless the distributor had gone bankrupt, I think if Alamy continued to do business with a distributor that didn't pay their bills, they are complicit in a very shady business deal. The end user has your image and never paid for it - and instead of going after them, the agency is throwing up their hands and saying - in best Rick Perry style - "Oops".

That's great - that you're selling. But then I assume you're uploading and thus wouldn't have received the letter encouraging you to resume?

My puzzlement was at why they'd bother encouraging a "lapsed contributor" to upload - clearly someone is selling at Alamy or they'd have shut their doors. Probably the best explanation is that there's some automatic e-mail after a certain period of no uploading.

I hear the "alamy is different" argument, but I'm not different and what used to sell there doesn't any more, so either Alamy's appealing to different markets now, or they moved away from their core business of supplying UK newspapers for a while but that has dried up.

Whatever the explanation, sales are what motivate continued uploads, so those who are getting sales will continue and I won't

Alamy and microstock are completely different models. Cheap subscription works for content which gets lots of sales. Editorial microstock makes sense for product pack-shots.

If all of Alamy was available at SS it would not sell more - but it would make much less money. It's the fact that it is not edited which results in it being possible to find very obscure editorial content at Alamy.

I accept that, but still doesnt explain why this guy who added 10k images, and is now at 100k images, shows a downward earnings graph!

I got the same email.  Cute, but my sales there are still not exactly stellar.  There is more money to made uploading fresh images elsewhere.  When you only have a limited amount of time in the day as an independent, you need to prioritize.  If they want more images, how about some incentive?  A bonus program would be nice, or maybe even a bulk-submit option by mailing a disk.  Their upload process is the biggest pain in the gonads, and I save them for last always... I have to use alamy size checker app then use their ridiculous upload tools.  Getting images approved is cake, but pushing them through is ridiculously cumbersome with their million and one things that need to be checked off and selected.  They make the big 6's  submission process a walk in the park.

Companies that streamline the upload process to simple pull metadata and not require anything further, will always be my favorite.  Setups like GraphicLeftovers.com will never lack supply, because let's face it... stock contributors get tired of mouse clicking after a while.

I still like alamy.  I think it makes sense for them to encourage people to upload more, as the huge collection is their USP.  They sell my microstock images and ones that I'm sure would make almost nothing on the microstock sites.  It would be nice if they sold more but January was quite good and hopefully that will continue for the rest of the year.