Seems that way, especially lately when there seems to be less of the older contributors about. With smaller portfolios one EL can throw out your results.

It is like you put a Rocker at a Hip Hop competition with hip hop fans. It doesnt matter how good the Rocker performs in his Rock world he will never win the Hip Hop competition.

Mirco

Run DMC and Aerosmith combo might do ok!

In the meantime Alamy ratings keep growing..
How I wish it was because of me (sigh)   

I had a $250 sale pop up this morning. It's a new photo that I uploaded in October. On Alamy images don't usually get licensed on day one - it was "zoomed" a month ago and that same search term (it's a rare one - there are only 41 images on Alamy - 6 of them mine) was searched for back in September because an image I took in 2007 was zoomed then, which is why when I took a trip to shoot stock I made sure to go back and get newer photos of that obscure travel location. So someone was looking for a very specific image - and they kept looking and found what they wanted several months later. I think the mindset of the average Alamy customer is different - they are more traditional photo researchers/buyers rather than small businesses, bloggers, web news outlets looking for a quick inexpensive image to put online - though there are many of those buyers on Alamy too. I wouldn't put an image like that on the micros since I know someone will pay more for it. (There are 9 of the same subject on SS).

Though my primary photography income is from assignments, I've been with both Alamy and SS since 2009 and while I have small portfolios on each, I get regular sales on both (for the most part 1-4 monthly on Alamy and daily on SS) so I'm very aware of the differences between the two - Alamy requires more patience but the payoff can be much greater.

Being there also means not uploading some images which might do quite well on the micros to them, and instead putting them on places like Alamy and 500px, hoping the better prices will make it worth the choice. That's sometimes been a tough decision for me - will an image be downloaded hundreds of times on the micros so I should put it there rather than wait for one license on Alamy to make me as much? I've seen zooms of images I have RF on both get licensed from micros so it is a risk. Since I license RM and RF images directly to magazines and calendars and others, for me, putting them on Alamy rather than the micros also has other benefits, since I can charge traditional licensing fees. Selling direct at micro prices seems impossible to me.

Both types of agencies - midstock/traditional and micro - have their similarities and differences and their pros and cons. Just don't expect your experience on Alamy to be the same as your experience at FT or SS. I'd give it two years before deciding if it is worth the effort. That's when most people I know there (me included) started seeing regular sales rather than just the occasional one.

I had to close my Alamy account since I had 4 small sales from 1 Jan 2015 :| (contributing from 2009 with a portfolio of 6k+ images/illustrations only).
So I'm not sure how accurate are those ratings ... maybe the sales are better for other contributors but for me it was a big fail.

You must of been doing something wrong with the keywords to sell that little.  I don't think they are great with illustrations but I only have around 100 and get regular sales with them.

Or is it just fake? Someone tries to boost the number?

Yes, same for Envato.

Quote from: sharpshot on March 10, 2016, 11:52

Quote from: mantered on March 10, 2016, 08:45

I had to close my Alamy account since I had 4 small sales from 1 Jan 2015 :| (contributing from 2009 with a portfolio of 6k+ images/illustrations only).
So I'm not sure how accurate are those ratings ... maybe the sales are better for other contributors but for me it was a big fail.

You must of been doing something wrong with the keywords to sell that little.  I don't think they are great with illustrations but I only have around 100 and get regular sales with them.

I was wondering about that. I have mass uploaded my images so I didn't pay attention to the whole "essential"/"main"/"comprehensive" keywords thing. Would that make a difference or is it a waste of time?

I think it makes a big difference, at least get the most relevant keywords in the Essential keywords box.

I had a $250 sale pop up this morning. It's a new photo that I uploaded in October. On Alamy images don't usually get licensed on day one - it was "zoomed" a month ago and that same search term (it's a rare one - there are only 41 images on Alamy - 6 of them mine) was searched for back in September because an image I took in 2007 was zoomed then, which is why when I took a trip to shoot stock I made sure to go back and get newer photos of that obscure travel location. So someone was looking for a very specific image - and they kept looking and found what they wanted several months later. I think the mindset of the average Alamy customer is different - they are more traditional photo researchers/buyers rather than small businesses, bloggers, web news outlets looking for a quick inexpensive image to put online - though there are many of those buyers on Alamy too. I wouldn't put an image like that on the micros since I know someone will pay more for it. (There are 9 of the same subject on SS).

Your efforts to reshoot the place paid off in a nice way, well done!
But where can you check whether the image was "zoomed"? I checked my Alamy port but still don't get if it shows the "views" of my photos..

Alamy/Alamy measures/Your images

thanks!

Quote from: Lana on March 11, 2016, 09:39

Your efforts to reshoot the place paid off in a nice way, well done!
But where can you check whether the image was "zoomed"? I checked my Alamy port but still don't get if it shows the "views" of my photos..

Thanks. I was happy to see it pay off.
When you go into Alamy Measures/Your Images you'll see numbers highlighted under the "Zooms" column and when you click on that number it shows you the photos that have been zoomed. You can also change the date parameters to see those you've missed. And when you click on each  pseudonym you can see the keywords that your images showed up for for all your views. Keep in mind that Alamy only tracks views and zooms for a certain set of customers, so you are probably getting more views and more zooms than are shown.
I often get sales on photos that weren't zoomed but it's helpful to see how your photos are doing in searches.

Thank you! By the way my only sale wasn't zoomed either

My sales on Alamy are going up, but the rpi is nowadays very low, e.g. a sale to a German website this month earned me $1.28.So even if you're out of Novel Use and the UK newspaper scheme, you can still get very low sales. Still, the pic could have got 75c on iS. 

But as always, I can't submit my Alamy figures, as it would push my iS figures, which are still higher than Alamy, into indie iS out of exc. iS.
Is there any way that can be changed in the poll backend?

I was under the impression that the poll kept IS as Exclusive if Alamy was the only other entry.

At one point it wasn't (I'm pretty sure) but maybe it's been changed and I missed the announcement (?).
Is Leaf around to clarify?