MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => General - Top Sites => Topic started by: beketoff on March 01, 2016, 16:00
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Hi all,
I'm just looking at MicrostockGroup's poll results and what do I see?
Alamy 25.1
Fotolia 22.5
Not only Fotolia didn't surpass the 25 rating in recent months since Adobe acquisition, it just gave it up to Alamy which was in the middle tier just months ago. Curious to see how this unfolds, since personally my sales at Fotolia shot up as of last December-January, almost catching up with SS, whereas at Alamy I have...0 all-time total sales (ok, with a smallest port among other agencies, but still with a few hundred nice landscape pictures).
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Yep, interesting, and very close to the second IStock's place :o
How long has your port been online at Alamy? Everyone here says they need time and patience before sales start to kick in, so i'm among those who are patiently waiting and keep uploading ;D
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Yeah that's right Alamy has always been number 3 for me and streets ahead of Fotolia. In terms of iStock credit sales Alamy are also ahead of them too.
Only iStock's subs and PP sales pull it back for them.
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My opinion if everyone here would give to Alamy the same effort like to SS and co and people that submit to alamy only also would report their earnings i think alamy would be quickly on number 1. Alamy is just more photographer friendly and they know how to talk with costumers.
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Guys, what is selling better: RF or RM ?
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Deleted, double post.
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Hello guys,
For me Alamy also one of the top earners. We will see what the day bring.
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Guys, what is selling better: RF or RM ?
My best selling images are editorial so they are RM. I have a few one (out of thousands) that sell regulary they are really good classic editorial shots with contemporary good content that is rare or non-existant on Microstock-sites.
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Alamy is very close to Istock with just one point difference at the moment.
My guess the explanation for that is that many people realized to sign in with Alamy after all the falling prices. Also i guess more not microstock users that submit to Alamy are starting to report their sales.
Mirco
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Or is it just fake? Someone tries to boost the number?
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Hmmm... could be but on the other hand i dont see any interest to do that.
What also could be a reason is 2000 dollar sales. I saw in the forum some people reporting last two months 1k and 2k sales. Suppost to be Telecom sales. If this would have been catched by some of the microstock group members then it would give another reason.
For me SS is the number 1 earner while Alamy is doing also good job.
Mirco
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Well, I'm amazed. I've never looked at (or submitted) to Alamy until I read this post. Their prices appear to be, overall, higher than the other micros from a customer viewpoint; and I have to say, to my eyes, their images don't seem to be as good or varied as even (dare I say) BigStock.
Let alone SS or FT.
But, kicking the tires today, I did like their dashboard, ease of upload/edit, and payment to us.
If anyone can elaborate or clarify, I'd love to read it.
Meanwhile, I'm off to join and upload.
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don't get fooled by the poll..
it's (at most) a low earner for RF
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If I ever get a sale there, then it might pass FT. ;D
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I think Alamy is doing a good job. It is just what i said before. Alamy needs a special approach. It is not just copy the micro photos and done. You also need to put the keywords on the right order. Essential keywords needs to be essential. Main need to be main. Then it helps to add also RM next to RF. Also patience helps instead of giving up after few months already.
For the price point of view. A Alamy RF has far less restrictions then a micro RF. To get a decent print run you need to purchase on micro a extended license what can be 80 dollars. Then you have a print run of 10.000 copies. On Alamy you get a RF file for the same price but with 100.000 copies print run. So dont look at the prices to black on white.
Then there where this sales of 2000k and 1000k this month. The next hint is the Alexa ranking. In a short time Alamy climbed from place 16.000 to 9.500.
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Maybe Alamy is picking up former Corbis customers. They initially choose Corbis over Getty for various reasons. Those reasons likely still exist.
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Maybe Alamy is picking up former Corbus customers. They initially choose Corbus over Getty for various reasons. Those reasons likely still exist.
You have a good point here. You can also see on the forum a bunch of new contributors coming from Corbis. Indeed it could also apply for costumers.
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I have earned more from Alamy than Fotolia over the last few years. That said, I don't earn a lot from either. Alamy ranks 5th for me right now.
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Alamy seem to be doing well with images but I'm still disappointed that they aren't using the same model for video clips. I think if they let everyone upload when they started the video section and only rejected on technical grounds, they would be good competition for Pond5. No idea why they have been so half hearted with video when it looks like its going to be a huge market.
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Alamy was my best agency this month, followed by DT, then SS, then FT. Next month, who knows? But Alamy has been one of my top two for the past few months. FT has been steady but it hasn't caught up to my better agencies yet. (DT nearly always beats the forum average for me, but it's usually in third place). The fact that Alamy has been beating SS to me is more significant. My sales there are a mix of RF and RM - my best price this month there was an RF for $99.99, netting me $49.48, better than I'd get for an EL, though it would cost the buyer the same if it had been available on the micros.
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Alamy was my best agency this month, followed by DT, then SS, then FT. Next month, who knows? But Alamy has been one of my top two for the past few months. FT has been steady but it hasn't caught up to my better agencies yet. (DT nearly always beats the forum average for me, but it's usually in third place). The fact that Alamy has been beating SS to me is more significant. My sales there are a mix of RF and RM - my best price this month there was an RF for $99.99, netting me $49.48, better than I'd get for an EL, though it would cost the buyer the same if it had been available on the micros.
Good to hear that! How long have you been contributing to Alamy? Just curious as it is now a common knowledge that Alamy takes time and patience :)
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I started getting serious about uploading to Alamy late last year and have gotten 4 sales, the first one on Jan 5. (Yay!) Now it sure would be nice to actually get paid though. (BOOO!)
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Alamy was my best agency this month, followed by DT, then SS, then FT. Next month, who knows? But Alamy has been one of my top two for the past few months. FT has been steady but it hasn't caught up to my better agencies yet. (DT nearly always beats the forum average for me, but it's usually in third place). The fact that Alamy has been beating SS to me is more significant. My sales there are a mix of RF and RM - my best price this month there was an RF for $99.99, netting me $49.48, better than I'd get for an EL, though it would cost the buyer the same if it had been available on the micros.
Good to hear that! How long have you been contributing to Alamy? Just curious as it is now a common knowledge that Alamy takes time and patience :)
Thanks. I started with Alamy in 2009, before I joined any of the micros. It took a good part of the first year before I made my first sale, versus making daily sales on SS with just a handful of images, so it's very different and does require patience. I've been getting fairly steady sales, though the amounts this past year range from $6.38 to $400, with many in the $35-75 range. I have a small portfolio - under 1000 images - with a mix of editorial, travel and some concept images. Most of what I have on Alamy is not on the micros. I license both RM and RF images there and have seen prices come down from when I started, when sales in the $150-200 range were more common, but volume seems to be increasing and there are still some nice prices.
I think they treat contributors fairly and they are very nice to deal with. When I first started with Live News they even called me from London to get captions when a batch didn't upload properly. I like that personal touch. Some years ago they invited a bunch of us to their office in Brooklyn when they first came to the states - and I wasn't a big producer for them but they treat everyone well.
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It's fascinating to watch that poll these days. More fascinating still is the spectacular drop from 3rd to 6th place for DT in less than a year. How does this happen?
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I can confirm this personal approach. While on other agencies i feel to talk to something automated Alamy is a person to me. Even the Cfo James himself is not afraid to ask for our oppinions on the forum. They have 40.000 contributors. Great job Alamy.
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Alamy was my best agency this month, followed by DT, then SS, then FT. Next month, who knows? But Alamy has been one of my top two for the past few months. FT has been steady but it hasn't caught up to my better agencies yet. (DT nearly always beats the forum average for me, but it's usually in third place). The fact that Alamy has been beating SS to me is more significant. My sales there are a mix of RF and RM - my best price this month there was an RF for $99.99, netting me $49.48, better than I'd get for an EL, though it would cost the buyer the same if it had been available on the micros.
Good to hear that! How long have you been contributing to Alamy? Just curious as it is now a common knowledge that Alamy takes time and patience :)
Thanks. I started with Alamy in 2009, before I joined any of the micros. It took a good part of the first year before I made my first sale, versus making daily sales on SS with just a handful of images, so it's very different and does require patience. I've been getting fairly steady sales, though the amounts this past year range from $6.38 to $400, with many in the $35-75 range. I have a small portfolio - under 1000 images - with a mix of editorial, travel and some concept images. Most of what I have on Alamy is not on the micros. I license both RM and RF images there and have seen prices come down from when I started, when sales in the $150-200 range were more common, but volume seems to be increasing and there are still some nice prices.
I think they treat contributors fairly and they are very nice to deal with. When I first started with Live News they even called me from London to get captions when a batch didn't upload properly. I like that personal touch. Some years ago they invited a bunch of us to their office in Brooklyn when they first came to the states - and I wasn't a big producer for them but they treat everyone well.
Great insight, thank you for sharing! :)
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It's fascinating to watch that poll these days. More fascinating still is the spectacular drop from 3rd to 6th place for DT in less than a year. How does this happen?
DT have been working hard to lose contributors and buyers for years with their unfathomable similars rejections. They had a good opportunity to be bigger than istock for non-exclusives but they ignored that.
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I can confirm this personal approach. While on other agencies i feel to talk to something automated Alamy is a person to me. Even the Cfo James himself is not afraid to ask for our oppinions on the forum. They have 40.000 contributors. Great job Alamy.
I am glad Alamy is doing good for you guys. How is it roughly compared to SS in terms of overall earnings?
Also, do they still have that antiquated and extremely non-contributor friendly indexing system with a lot of clicking and keyword separation? :)
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I don't believe for a second. Look at the monthly earnings thread there and you'll see the type of earnings reported by folks with thousands of images.
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One or two good sales on Alamy can change everything, but they are as rare as hen's teeth.
For me, Alamy is well behind FT and DT - even on a good month. And I haven't had one of those for...well...months!
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If I remember right, we saw YAY on this place a couple of month ago. And it was fake, because one person had reported completely exaggerated sales figures.
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I make more than FT and DT with Alamy now. One month last year, one Alamy sale made more for me than a month with SS. So I'm not so surprised by the poll but Alamy will probably go up and down, because those big sales make a huge difference.
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It is like sharpshot said i think. According to the forum on Alamy there where several sales coming from a large company with more then 1000k net per sale. If such sale is cought by Microstockgroup forum members then it could explain the jump.
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Why do people doubt the accuracy of the poll? Sales with Alamy can vary significantly month to month because the possibility of large sales and even a few smaller ones grossing $100 each can quickly add up. As others have said, if you check out the Alamy forum, you'll see that sales are up recently for a lot of people. It's not like the number is so huge as to be unbelievable. Does everything have to be doom and gloom here?
If you had $180 of sales gross, you'd net $90, which would mean you'd tick $100 on the poll, a third of that is $33 which is roughly what the poll is showing. Many people earn more than $180 there in a month, if a few people made those $1,000+ gross sales, even if it was just one, that $500 net would quickly move Alamy up here. It will be interesting to see where they are next month, hopefully still in the top tier.
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I understand the suprise. It is the same suprise like Dreamstime fall that quick. I have to say being active in the Alamy forum that those last months where very unique as it comes to sales. People are reporting in general relative high sales this past months. I dont know the reason but some bigger companies where purchasing some high priced licenses. The jump could match this. Maybe next month Alamy is back where it started.
Mirco
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There is some time that I don't look the poll.
This thread has drawn my attention, but what have surprised me more is to see Dreamstime in sixth position!
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It's fascinating to watch that poll these days. More fascinating still is the spectacular drop from 3rd to 6th place for DT in less than a year. How does this happen?
DT have been working hard to lose contributors and buyers for years with their unfathomable similars rejections. They had a good opportunity to be bigger than istock for non-exclusives but they ignored that.
so true... isn't it? serbian was c*cky too ,,,
that plus that "this is not the type of image we want" or something like that to LCV.
looking at it today, they rejected almost 70% of it due to similars,
and the rest due to LCV.... taking only the HCV according to their curation
which came to almost one dl per month, if you're lucky
so, no, not the least surprising they are in 6th. wait for it, they will drop even below
into low earners like bigstock
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Also i noticed Envato climbing up. Soon passing dreamstime.
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2nd place now :o
Haven't considered Envato for my work yet.. wondering if they could really be on their way up as poll suggests?
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2nd place now :o
Haven't considered Envato for my work yet.. wondering if they could really be on their way up as poll suggests?
They are not for me. Very low in sales....$30-$50 a month with about 3800 images. No way in hell I will upload my video there, either.
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Edited - got mixed up with stock sites.
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It's fascinating to watch that poll these days. More fascinating still is the spectacular drop from 3rd to 6th place for DT in less than a year. How does this happen?
DT have been working hard to lose contributors and buyers for years with their unfathomable similars rejections. They had a good opportunity to be bigger than istock for non-exclusives but they ignored that.
so true... isn't it? serbian was c*cky too ,,,
that plus that "this is not the type of image we want" or something like that to LCV.
looking at it today, they rejected almost 70% of it due to similars,
and the rest due to LCV.... taking only the HCV according to their curation
which came to almost one dl per month, if you're lucky
so, no, not the least surprising they are in 6th. wait for it, they will drop even below
into low earners like bigstock
He's not Serbian, man. He's Romanian. He's name is Serban, Serbian is a person from Serbia.
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2nd place now :o
Haven't considered Envato for my work yet.. wondering if they could really be on their way up as poll suggests?
I didn't like the low prices and low commission with Envato. Then they said they weren't an agency and we were selling direct through them. That makes the tax situation more complicated for a lot of us and doesn't seem right, because however hard they try to deny it, they are just like all the other sites. The last thing I want is a more complicated tax situation, there's a big difference between selling direct and through an agency. They left me with no choice but to deactivate my images.
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2nd place now :o
Haven't considered Envato for my work yet.. wondering if they could really be on their way up as poll suggests?
I didn't like the low prices and low commission with Envato. Then they said they weren't an agency and we were selling direct through them. That makes the tax situation more complicated for a lot of us and doesn't seem right, because however hard they try to deny it, they are just like all the other sites. The last thing I want is a more complicated tax situation, there's a big difference between selling direct and through an agency. They left me with no choice but to deactivate my images.
Do you know if this complicated tax situation is applied to only US residents or to everyone? Coz I normally don't pay taxes in US my other micros revenues..
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2nd place now :o
Haven't considered Envato for my work yet.. wondering if they could really be on their way up as poll suggests?
I didn't like the low prices and low commission with Envato. Then they said they weren't an agency and we were selling direct through them. That makes the tax situation more complicated for a lot of us and doesn't seem right, because however hard they try to deny it, they are just like all the other sites. The last thing I want is a more complicated tax situation, there's a big difference between selling direct and through an agency. They left me with no choice but to deactivate my images.
Do you know if this complicated tax situation is applied to only US residents or to everyone? Coz I normally don't pay taxes in US my other micros revenues..
I'm no expert but when I looked in to this, I decided it just isn't worth the risk with Envato. I'm in the UK. I think what Envato have attempted to do might cause problems for everyone that uses them if this site has got it right.
"The rules apply to all sellers providing digital services to customers within the EU, no matter where in the world the seller is located." http://euvataction.org/key-facts/#key_outsideEU (http://euvataction.org/key-facts/#key_outsideEU)
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personal opinion: nonsense
not even close to fotolia, istock, 123rf or dreamstime
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2nd place now :o
Haven't considered Envato for my work yet.. wondering if they could really be on their way up as poll suggests?
I didn't like the low prices and low commission with Envato. Then they said they weren't an agency and we were selling direct through them. That makes the tax situation more complicated for a lot of us and doesn't seem right, because however hard they try to deny it, they are just like all the other sites. The last thing I want is a more complicated tax situation, there's a big difference between selling direct and through an agency. They left me with no choice but to deactivate my images.
Do you know if this complicated tax situation is applied to only US residents or to everyone? Coz I normally don't pay taxes in US my other micros revenues..
I'm no expert but when I looked in to this, I decided it just isn't worth the risk with Envato. I'm in the UK. I think what Envato have attempted to do might cause problems for everyone that uses them if this site has got it right.
"The rules apply to all sellers providing digital services to customers within the EU, no matter where in the world the seller is located." [url]http://euvataction.org/key-facts/#key_outsideEU[/url] ([url]http://euvataction.org/key-facts/#key_outsideEU[/url])
I see, thank you for the link (even reading it is complicated) :D
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Alamy never did anything for me. RF vectors don't seem to be very popular there, or is it just me?
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Also i noticed Envato climbing up. Soon passing dreamstime.
That's probably partly due to me. I filled in the poll for the first time last week, for Feb, and I make a decent chunk of my earnings from Envato.
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Also i noticed Envato climbing up. Soon passing dreamstime.
That's probably partly due to me. I filled in the poll for the first time last week, for Feb, and I make a decent chunk of my earnings from Envato.
Thanks for pointing. That sounds like these poll results are not so homogeneous and consistent. If a single big seller participates in poll, it can change the results to any direction.
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Also i noticed Envato climbing up. Soon passing dreamstime.
That's probably partly due to me. I filled in the poll for the first time last week, for Feb, and I make a decent chunk of my earnings from Envato.
Thanks for pointing. That sounds like these poll results are not so homogeneous and consistent. If a single big seller participates in poll, it can change the results to any direction.
I'm just guessing here, but I get the impression Envato isn't that popular with contributors here... so if not many people sell there, it's possible for one 'big seller' to tip the scales a bit. I'm assuming that because most of us are all on the big four, then those are going to be a lot more accurate, as there's more of a spread of earnings. Possibly. I could be completely wrong!
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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.
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I think it is the case. Thats why i mentioned before that Agency like Alamy will not get the spot on the Poll that it deserves. It is a Poll for microstock contributors and Alamy has in first place "traditional contributors" where the main money is made. Those traditional contributors are not putting their results on the poll what gives a wrong view about what it is capable off. Next to that not all Microstock contributors are fully participating in Alamy since they system is different and gives other expectations.
The same you can say for other agencies. I am quit sure if everyone would submit everywhere and giving their result on the poll the ranking could look different. Look at Getty Images. It is on the low earners...... why? because Getty contributors are not putting their earnings here. It is not mircostock. The same applies half for Alamy.
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
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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!
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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
:D :D
Run DMC and Aerosmith combo might do ok!
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In the meantime Alamy ratings keep growing..
How I wish it was because of me (sigh) :-\
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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.
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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.
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For me Alamy sales are increasing more and more and I'm happy about it, because I feel that my work is valued there, besides not having images denied, for illogical reasons, like on the Shutterstock and iStock. ;D
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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.
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I have to add that there are things happening that matches this climb in the ranks. For example in the same speed Alamy is climbing the Alexa ranking. Few months ago it was position 14000 in the USA and it shows now 7500.
Then in the Alamy forum under the results thread the reportings of 240$, 330$ are going like a train. Even a 1000k and 2000k between them. All in the last two months.
Something is for sure happening..... what exactly i can not tell. I only know that they are doing thing right.
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Or is it just fake? Someone tries to boost the number?
Yes, same for Envato.
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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?
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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.
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Lets say it even better... It makes all the difference. It is almost like not having any image online then. If you have a flower in the background and you put it to main a client that looks for flower doesnt want it in the background. He will not choose yours and you go down in ranking. The same for your other 5999 images and welcome to the sea bottom. Mirco
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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! :D
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..
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Alamy/Alamy measures/Your images
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Alamy/Alamy measures/Your images
thanks!
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Your efforts to reshoot the place paid off in a nice way, well done! :D
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.
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Your efforts to reshoot the place paid off in a nice way, well done! :D
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 ;)
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For me Al has collapsed this year.
Used to tick over......
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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?
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I was under the impression that the poll kept IS as Exclusive if Alamy was the only other entry.
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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?
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I all of a sudden Love these guys. Been there a Very Long Time and I gave up going through the upload process and had 500 or so I just didn't do..... well, A few weeks ago someone? did it for me and everything is in. Ya gotta love that.
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I all of a sudden Love these guys. Been there a Very Long Time and I gave up going through the upload process and had 500 or so I just didn't do..... well, A few weeks ago someone? did it for me and everything is in. Ya gotta love that.
I am not surprised to hear such kind of experiences. Whenever you need help they respond within 1hour to you. They listen to contributors..... talk to contributors. Before they change things they ask contributors opinion. I had thousands of photos not keyworded for some time. They contacted me and asked me if they somehow can help me because i have many photos inactive. At the end we agreed for an excel file submission.
They are by the way changing their upload system and should be within few months active.
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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 think you are right. Essential is very important for search.
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I all of a sudden Love these guys. Been there a Very Long Time and I gave up going through the upload process and had 500 or so I just didn't do..... well, A few weeks ago someone? did it for me and everything is in. Ya gotta love that.
And next thing you know they did a nice photoshoot for you and added it to your port ;D
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In the meantime Alamy rating hitting new high! I took a trip to Alamy forum today and there were many Alamy vets discussing regular 3 digits sales.. Got me encouraged more (and just a tiny bit jealous) :D
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Alamy is super close to take over SS.
In poll results it's closer to SS than iStock!
8) 8) 8)
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I took a trip to Alamy forum today and there were many Alamy vets discussing regular 3 digits sales..
Do I need to sign in to read that? Can you give the exact link to the forum thread? Just got interested to read that.
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I took a trip to Alamy forum today and there were many Alamy vets discussing regular 3 digits sales..
Do I need to sign in to read that? Can you give the exact link to the forum thread? Just got interested to read that.
I think you can read their forum without being logged in - just go to the Alamy main page and scroll to the very bottom, there will be "Forum" link under "Selling to Alamy". There are several threads discussing sales (i'm not sure if we're allowed to post here the links to the forums threads)
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Remember that on Alamy people quote the sales gross value, unless they specifically say "net".
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Hey members,
Yes they show gross but still it are great sales. People are there regular reporting 240 dollar sales. And on the forum is only a small fraction of contributors. A 240 dollar sales is still 120 net. This is like 300 shutterstock subscription sales. Also 2 people reported a 1000 dollars sale and 1 even a 2000 dolar sale. Today somebody reported a sale for 650 dollars (editorial).
This are just facts that it is possible. You just have to keep in mind that those contributors dont have their Alamy images on microstock. This means that they will mostly not bother to be on this MSG forum what means that many earnings are missing in the poll. So it is a very unrealistic matter to put Alamy between microstock agencies in competition in that poll. The same for Getty, Stocksy and so on. People are making good money on Getty but here it looks like a low earner.... why ? .... because Getty contributors are in general not active in this forum.
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Remember that on Alamy people quote the sales gross value, unless they specifically say "net".
Sure, still with regular 180$ and 250$ gross sales the net amount looks attractive too.
Most of vets reporting regular sales on Alamy forum have the ports of 6000+ photos.
So I keep asking myself if I should bet on Alamy now... I have a few thousands of photos from last year travels that I keep selecting, processing and submitting bit by bit to all of the sites I contribute to, but maybe long term I could benefit more if I concentrate on Alamy right now with submitting more exclusive content rather then only RF ::)
I have just short of 300 photos on Alamy, most of it uploaded within last couple of months, only 4 of my images are RM, 1 sale so far, views are good, a few zooms..
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What would explain Alamy's quick rise in the ratings survey? How could they rocket up like that. Makes me wonder if it is real or some sort of artifact of the rating system.
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The poll is useless, and so is alamy.
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The rise could be different reasons:
- People got this month sales of 1000$. More as ususal 250$ sales are reported.
- There is also an rapid jump of Alamy in the Alexa ranking from position 17000 not so long ago to 8000. This somehow also proves that it is not one sided.
- Maybe more people are reporting sales for Alamy here on the poll. Not all Alamy users are aware of MSG since Alamy is officially not a microstock agency.
- Maybe part of Corbis customers moved over? I see on the Alamy website that one of Alamy clients is Microsoft. I didnt see it before as far as i think.
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Remember that on Alamy people quote the sales gross value, unless they specifically say "net".
Sure, still with regular 180$ and 250$ gross sales the net amount looks attractive too.
Indeed, but remember these are reported specifically to promote positive results. To be balanced, you'd need a wider view of overall sales. After all, there have been reports here this past week of large sales on SS, and heaven forbid I'd advocate SS!
Most of vets reporting regular sales on Alamy forum have the ports of 6000+ photos.
And at the end of the month, when you see reports of people reporting e.g. 40 or 70 sales from ports of 50k plus, I often think they'd likely do better on the micros, at least historically (probably not nowadays).
But at least the way the forum is set up, you can look at the ports of the people who post there, with either good or bad results. So if you see that a lot of the people who post good results have mainly images from a particular geographic locality you don't have access to, their results are irrelevant to you.
So I keep asking myself if I should bet on Alamy now... I have a few thousands of photos from last year travels that I keep selecting, processing and submitting bit by bit to all of the sites I contribute to, but maybe long term I could benefit more if I concentrate on Alamy right now with submitting more exclusive content rather then only RF ::)
It's really impossible to be able to discern this in advance. Who knows what way the market is going? If you have a good spread af agencies just now, that might be the way to stay. but maybe not. It's a risk either way.
I have just short of 300 photos on Alamy, most of it uploaded within last couple of months, only 4 of my images are RM, 1 sale so far, views are good, a few zooms..
Seems about normal. I had to laugh when I read of a newbie saying about the same as you, and one of the regulars was dissing them a bit, and said when he started at Alamy, he uploaded 1000 pics straight away. (I can only hope he had these images elsewhere, or else he had accumulated the 1000 on one trip, and wasn't holding them for the big upload.
You also have to look at Alamy to see how many more pics there are of your subject. That can be seriously scary! (And often if I have an 'alamywhack', it's of no interest anyway!)
Just a FI, for some reason, Alamy was getting better for me for sales (but worse for rpd) over the past nine months, but this month has almost ground to a halt. Adding insult to injury, one of my only two sales this month was of a lesser-known celeb. There are five pics of him on Alamy, two from 1991 (so of historic interest only), two by me from 2013 and one other. So not much choice for a buyer, but mine was chosen, netting me $1.28 (distributor sale). Didn't even pay for my bus fare to get there! ::)
I do like Alamy in some ways, but ... it's just too random. Even looking at my own sales, I see no pattern which would help me know what to focus on (except that US content seems to hit above its weight in my port, but that's no actual help).
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What would explain Alamy's quick rise in the ratings survey? How could they rocket up like that. Makes me wonder if it is real or some sort of artifact of the rating system.
There was a thread over there encouraging people to come over here and post. So it's not people who regularly posted having better sales, it's new people coming over and polling for the first time.
Also, as explained in another thread, those of us who are exclusive-RF at iS and also RM/Alamy can only post one result, or the system would mark us as indie on iS, so I haven't polled my Alamy results for a couple of years, since I discovered that, and I know a few others likewise, so there isn't a comparison available for iS-exc and Alamy-RM.
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I have to say 70 sales from 50k on Alamy is not bad at all. It will be good enough for around 2700 dollars net.
You should not forget that those reporting contributors are all editorial photographers. Creating editorial photography goes in general much faster then commercial ones. For 10k commercial photos the time spend could be the same like 50k editorials. It talk just about principe. I hope you know what i mean.
On Alamy there are contributors with 20k photos that make net 300$ but on the other hand there are contributors with 1k of photos making 1000$ net per month. Just like everywhere.
Not talking about you ShadySue because i see that you know what you are doing but i know directly when some other people say that Alamy is not working i know that they do something bad. Wrong keywording or stop building port or having all their images also on microstock.
Try this:
1. Create also decent port with variation that is not on micro (around 3k images)
2. Upload and keyword them according Alamy guidelines
3. Then sit back have some patience and sales will slowly thick in and after time become regular. Dont quit in between.
Good luck.
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I have to say 70 sales from 50k on Alamy is not bad at all. It will be good enough for around 2700 dollars net.
Good luck.
It could be good enough for $2700; or if on my recent average, it could be $700 net.
Remember, that thread you started was about positive results. People aren't saying all their sales are good, they're just posting their good value sales.
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I have to say 70 sales from 50k on Alamy is not bad at all. It will be good enough for around 2700 dollars net.
Good luck.
It could be good enough for $2700; or if on my recent average, it could be $700 net.
Remember, that thread you started was about positive results. People aren't saying all their sales are good, they're just posting their good value sales.
Actually i am talking about the thread "How was your.....). There is a mix between good results and bad results. Just like on every other agency. I just want to say that in the microstock world Alamy is underestimated because of some errors many do including me in the past.
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Did Alamy ever lower their payment threshold? Wasn't it around $250 or something unattainable by a lazy uploader like me?
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Remember that on Alamy people quote the sales gross value, unless they specifically say "net".
Sure, still with regular 180$ and 250$ gross sales the net amount looks attractive too.
Indeed, but remember these are reported specifically to promote positive results. To be balanced, you'd need a wider view of overall sales. After all, there have been reports here this past week of large sales on SS, and heaven forbid I'd advocate SS!
Most of vets reporting regular sales on Alamy forum have the ports of 6000+ photos.
And at the end of the month, when you see reports of people reporting e.g. 40 or 70 sales from ports of 50k plus, I often think they'd likely do better on the micros, at least historically (probably not nowadays).
But at least the way the forum is set up, you can look at the ports of the people who post there, with either good or bad results. So if you see that a lot of the people who post good results have mainly images from a particular geographic locality you don't have access to, their results are irrelevant to you.
So I keep asking myself if I should bet on Alamy now... I have a few thousands of photos from last year travels that I keep selecting, processing and submitting bit by bit to all of the sites I contribute to, but maybe long term I could benefit more if I concentrate on Alamy right now with submitting more exclusive content rather then only RF ::)
It's really impossible to be able to discern this in advance. Who knows what way the market is going? If you have a good spread af agencies just now, that might be the way to stay. but maybe not. It's a risk either way.
I have just short of 300 photos on Alamy, most of it uploaded within last couple of months, only 4 of my images are RM, 1 sale so far, views are good, a few zooms..
Seems about normal. I had to laugh when I read of a newbie saying about the same as you, and one of the regulars was dissing them a bit, and said when he started at Alamy, he uploaded 1000 pics straight away. (I can only hope he had these images elsewhere, or else he had accumulated the 1000 on one trip, and wasn't holding them for the big upload.
You also have to look at Alamy to see how many more pics there are of your subject. That can be seriously scary! (And often if I have an 'alamywhack', it's of no interest anyway!)
Just a FI, for some reason, Alamy was getting better for me for sales (but worse for rpd) over the past nine months, but this month has almost ground to a halt. Adding insult to injury, one of my only two sales this month was of a lesser-known celeb. There are five pics of him on Alamy, two from 1991 (so of historic interest only), two by me from 2013 and one other. So not much choice for a buyer, but mine was chosen, netting me $1.28 (distributor sale). Didn't even pay for my bus fare to get there! ::)
I do like Alamy in some ways, but ... it's just too random. Even looking at my own sales, I see no pattern which would help me know what to focus on (except that US content seems to hit above its weight in my port, but that's no actual help).
Thank you for such a detailed opinion, ShadySue!
I will take some time to weigh my options better. Maybe I will keep submitting accross the agencies but will select some photos to upload as RM exclusive to Alamy just to see how it will do over the time.. I do have a lot of content that is not so well covered in Alamy, so maybe it's worth a try..
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Did Alamy ever lower their payment threshold? Wasn't it around $250 or something unattainable by a lazy uploader like me?
yes, it is 75$ now
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Did Alamy ever lower their payment threshold? Wasn't it around $250 or something unattainable by a lazy uploader like me?
Yes, they lowered the threshold to $75, which at the time was seen as a recognition of lowering rpd.
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Try this:
1. Create also decent port with variation that is not on micro (around 3k images)
2. Upload and keyword them according Alamy guidelines
3. Then sit back have some patience and sales will slowly thick in and after time become regular. Dont quit in between.
Why not to put pictures which are on micro (red part)? Is it because buyer will check the price on SS or others and buy it there for cheaper?
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Try this:
1. Create also decent port with variation that is not on micro (around 3k images)
2. Upload and keyword them according Alamy guidelines
3. Then sit back have some patience and sales will slowly thick in and after time become regular. Dont quit in between.
Why not to put pictures which are on micro (red part)? Is it because buyer will check the price on SS or others and buy it there for cheaper?
I still get sales on Alamy with my micro port.
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I still get sales on Alamy with my micro port.
I've had a few 3 figure sales on images that are selling for peanuts on at least 10 other sites.
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Thats true......
Thats why i said not only "non microstock" photos. Off course those you have on micro you could put also on Alamy. But it is good to have next to that a special portfolio. This will also attract costumers that wants a more "exclusive" photo that is not spreaded all over the internet. 80% percent of my sales are from not micro photos.
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Thats true......
Thats why i said not only "non microstock" photos. Off course those you have on micro you could put also on Alamy. But it is good to have next to that a special portfolio. This will also attract costumers that wants a more "exclusive" photo that is not spreaded all over the internet. 80% percent of my sales are from not micro photos.
Can I ask you a few things? So 80% coming from exclusive content or just RM that you submit to several macro sites? What's the approximate ratio of RF/RM files you have with Alamy?
And, if you have an image that is exclusive with Alamy do you set the license as RM exclusive or just RM? I remember you or someone else said that editorial can not go as RM exclusive but now I mean the non editorial content..
Thank you, just trying to figure out a better strategy with Alamy now.
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If I ever get a sale there, then it might pass FT. ;D
I've just got my first sale... :)
Compared to several hundred monthly sales on SS and FT.
I've started uploading to Alamy a few months ago.
Many stated here that sales will start very slowly, but they will be regular. So, I keep uploading.
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If I ever get a sale there, then it might pass FT. ;D
I've just got my first sale... :)
Compared to several hundred monthly sales on SS and FT.
I've started uploading to Alamy a few months ago.
Many stated here that sales will start very slowly, but they will be regular. So, I keep uploading.
Very good. It is a good sign. Dont forget that one sale on Alamy most of the time equals 100+ micro sales. My SS was last month first place on the 15th of the month and then few macro sale changed everything. SS on position three. This in my case.
Just keep uploading on Alamy with good keywording according Alamy guidelines. You will see growth will come. Most contributors experience on the second year a almost 100 percent increase in sales. This because it can take months till a sale is reported. This happens in the publishing area.
Mirco
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Thats true......
Thats why i said not only "non microstock" photos. Off course those you have on micro you could put also on Alamy. But it is good to have next to that a special portfolio. This will also attract costumers that wants a more "exclusive" photo that is not spreaded all over the internet. 80% percent of my sales are from not micro photos.
Can I ask you a few things? So 80% coming from exclusive content or just RM that you submit to several macro sites? What's the approximate ratio of RF/RM files you have with Alamy?
And, if you have an image that is exclusive with Alamy do you set the license as RM exclusive or just RM? I remember you or someone else said that editorial can not go as RM exclusive but now I mean the non editorial content..
Thank you, just trying to figure out a better strategy with Alamy now.
Hey Lana,
No, they are just coming from RM photos without being exclusive. RM means that the photos are not on Micro by nature. So for many customers it is a advantage. They dont need to share the photo with hundred others plus the possibility to buy a exclusive license. Also a RM license is less restricted in therms of print runs comparing to RF. So it suits the publishing world much better.
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Thats true......
Thats why i said not only "non microstock" photos. Off course those you have on micro you could put also on Alamy. But it is good to have next to that a special portfolio. This will also attract costumers that wants a more "exclusive" photo that is not spreaded all over the internet. 80% percent of my sales are from not micro photos.
Can I ask you a few things? So 80% coming from exclusive content or just RM that you submit to several macro sites? What's the approximate ratio of RF/RM files you have with Alamy?
And, if you have an image that is exclusive with Alamy do you set the license as RM exclusive or just RM? I remember you or someone else said that editorial can not go as RM exclusive but now I mean the non editorial content..
Thank you, just trying to figure out a better strategy with Alamy now.
Hey Lana,
No, they are just coming from RM photos without being exclusive. RM means that the photos are not on Micro by nature. So for many customers it is a advantage. They dont need to share the photo with hundred others plus the possibility to buy a exclusive license. Also a RM license is less restricted in therms of print runs comparing to RF. So it suits the publishing world much better.
Ok, many thanks
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No idea what partner (?) site it is but it appears every 29th of the month.
March
2 sales at 2.70.
Woohooooo.
The only sales on Alamy this month which has simply DIED since last autumn for me.
:(
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It may not last but Alamy in now above iStock.
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This month, Alamy poll numbers look over-inflated again.
I have the feeling that most people do not post their true royalties, but the gross amount.
Even so, the numbers are too good to be true in my opinion ;) Someone is playing games here.
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I fully support Alamy with their fair 50% and I would like to see them on the first place here and to be the best agency of all because of their respect for photographers (pricing images as they should be) but also think someone is playing something here. Maybe because people are tired of those 15-30% sites so to encourage new members to join Alamy instead of other sites it's okay, but those results are just nonsense and it looks like I'm not the only one who think this way.
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Like everything in the poll, we don't know enough to be able to deduce anything. I do know that an msg member was over there persuading people to poll their Alamy scores here. I wouldn't be surprised if people are posting their gross sales figures, as that's what generally happens on Alamy. Also we have no idea what size their ports are. Some, but not all, of those who have already reported good months there have ports of over 10k or over 20K.
I'll just say that with a 4:3 port size of different images on iS and Alamy, iS, even with the huge fall from previous years, made me almost 3.5x more than Alamy in March, credit sales alone, with subs etc still to come in.
I'm torn between polling my iS or my Alamy amount, as I can't poll both.
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Alamy blew away all the other sites for me again this month and I have fewer than 900 photos there.
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Like everything in the poll, we don't know enough to be able to deduce anything. I do know that an msg member was over there persuading people to poll their Alamy scores here. I wouldn't be surprised if people are posting their gross sales figures, as that's what generally happens on Alamy. Also we have no idea what size their ports are. Some, but not all, of those who have already reported good months there have ports of over 10k or over 20K.
I'll just say that with a 4:3 port size of different images on iS and Alamy, iS, even with the huge fall from previous years, made me almost 3.5x more than Alamy in March, credit sales alone, with subs etc still to come in.
I'm torn between polling my iS or my Alamy amount, as I can't poll both.
I have roughly similar results as you do - but bear in mind your Alamy images are all RM, as are mine (at least, I assume they are); those with RF images may be doing better.
That said, I too find it hard to credit the figures shown in the poll results as being a realistic comparison.
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Those Alamy results are totally false. I am with several agencies and know the capabilities of Alamy. Compared to most agencies they severely under perform. Someone is entering false data on Alamy for whatever reason.
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I feel Alamy is a bit of a different game than the typical microstock sites and I think people have a pretty wide range of results. I'm certain there are a lot of people making good money with Alamy, I'm not one of them unfortunately. If you shoot lots of RM or other content that sells well on Alamy I don't think it is surprising to have sales above $2500/month.
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Those Alamy results are totally false. I am with several agencies and know the capabilities of Alamy. Compared to most agencies they severely under perform. Someone is entering false data on Alamy for whatever reason.
Alamy has currently 110 votes in this poll (Shutterstock 169, Istock 132 to put it into perspective).
Must be a lot of "someones" working together to skew the results.
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Those Alamy results are totally false. I am with several agencies and know the capabilities of Alamy. Compared to most agencies they severely under perform. Someone is entering false data on Alamy for whatever reason.
Alamy has currently 110 votes in this poll (Shutterstock 169, Istock 132 to put it into perspective).
Must be a lot of "someones" working together to skew the results.
Changed already. SS 174, Alamy 114, IS 137, ft 160. Maybe it was the campaign for Alamy forum to come vote. I used to make much more there then any Micro, but in two years SS has passed Alamy for me, while Alamy has dropped. I'll look forward to the new keyword box and start uploading more.
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Those Alamy results are totally false. I am with several agencies and know the capabilities of Alamy. Compared to most agencies they severely under perform. Someone is entering false data on Alamy for whatever reason.
Alamy has currently 110 votes in this poll (Shutterstock 169, Istock 132 to put it into perspective).
Must be a lot of "someones" working together to skew the results.
Good point, however knowing the performance of my own Alamy account over several years, as well as observing the contributor monthly reported earnings string on the Alamy forum (over a long period of time), I still find these results barely credible. They were for so long middle tier and within the last couple of months they're suddenly near the top. I'm sure many people are as dubious as I am.
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Those Alamy results are totally false. I am with several agencies and know the capabilities of Alamy. Compared to most agencies they severely under perform. Someone is entering false data on Alamy for whatever reason.
Alamy has currently 110 votes in this poll (Shutterstock 169, Istock 132 to put it into perspective).
Must be a lot of "someones" working together to skew the results.
Good point, however knowing the performance of my own Alamy account over several years, as well as observing the contributor monthly reported earnings string on the Alamy forum (over a long period of time), I still find these results barely credible. They were for so long middle tier and within the last couple of months they're suddenly near the top. I'm sure many people are as dubious as I am.
Not really! Last month I had a large $3.8k private sale and I assigned it to self-hosted. I could see the rank of self-hosted jumping, immediately, from the bottom section to just under the low tier. Therefore, a couple of self promoting, fake accounts could really alter this poll.
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Ok. Then i think if an Alamy contributor with 50k images that earns 4k net will add his result here such a jump would be also realistic?
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I also have to add that i can not believe that Alamy is a low performer by nature. There are 40.000 contributors and over 70 million images, Why so many contributors would submit that many images to an Agency if no decent money can be made? Again i think it is just a question of knowing how to keyword and not give up on uploading because the system is different.
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Ok. Then i think if an Alamy contributor with 50k images that earns 4k net will add his result here such a jump would be also realistic?
Only if that person is exclusive with Alamy and only joined this forum last month. Possible, but not really probable.
Anyway, for good statistics, the poll should exclude such extremes.
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I also have to add that i can not believe that Alamy is a low performer by nature. There are 40.000 contributors and over 70 million images, Why so many contributors would submit that many images to an Agency if no decent money can be made? Again i think it is just a question of knowing how to keyword and not give up on uploading because the system is different.
Alamy is a well known poor performer. Here's a link to the Alamy forum where people report on their monthly earnings.
http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/5592-march-wow/ (http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/5592-march-wow/)
My Getty account outperforms my Alamy by about 1500%. My micro outperforms Alamy by about 1000% I have a decent well rounded Alamy portfolio of 7000 images.
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I was reading about differences between RM or RF on Alamy:
http://www.alamy.com/contributor/how-to-sell-images/understanding-stock-image-licensing/?section=6 (http://www.alamy.com/contributor/how-to-sell-images/understanding-stock-image-licensing/?section=6)
But I am still undecided about it. Let's say you can upload an image to Alamy for which you can choose either RM or RF (non-editorial). Which one would you choose? Will RM have a potential to sell more / higher than RF or vice versa?
Also, can I put something as RM on Alamy if it was previously RF in other agencies (but was removed from everywhere else except Alamy since then)?
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Also, can I put something as RM on Alamy if it was previously RF in other agencies (but was removed from everywhere else except Alamy since then)?
Yes, but if it sold previously as RF, you need to make notes of that, in case the very unlikely event happens that someone wants exclusive rights and you'd need to reveal that fact. From what I've read, that's relatively very rare on Alamy, but happens sometimes.
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In my case last time Alamy earns more (net) than SS so no reason to put false results in the poll. Btw, huge number of Alamy contributors do not visit this forum at all. If they did, the result would be even more surprising for microstockers ;)
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Those Alamy results are totally false. I am with several agencies and know the capabilities of Alamy. Compared to most agencies they severely under perform. Someone is entering false data on Alamy for whatever reason.
Alamy has currently 110 votes in this poll (Shutterstock 169, Istock 132 to put it into perspective).
Must be a lot of "someones" working together to skew the results.
Good point, however knowing the performance of my own Alamy account over several years, as well as observing the contributor monthly reported earnings string on the Alamy forum (over a long period of time), I still find these results barely credible. They were for so long middle tier and within the last couple of months they're suddenly near the top. I'm sure many people are as dubious as I am.
Lots of people in the Alamy forum say they earn more than I would think the average microstocker here makes on any individual site. So I'm not that surprised by Alamy doing so well. My RM portfolio isn't that big compared to many other contributors and I can see that people with 5,000 images could make more than all but SS. With the Alamy review system, it isn't hard to have a much bigger portfolio there than the micros.
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and Stocksy has 14 votes with a rating of 388.6 much higher than any of these other agencies but you don't see anyone decrying those results now do you?
There are a lot more people on Alamy so it gets included in the ratings and the rates are better than any of the micros.
All you need are a few Alamy sales to overtake the peanut shops like SS/iS/FT etc.
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All you need are a few Alamy sales to overtake the peanut shops like SS/iS/FT etc.
Ha, maybe, maybe not ~
Yesterday I got one dl each on iS and Alamy, and iS is $5.44 ahead for April. ;D
The Alamy cheap RM sale ($2.81 net) was for a pic of a subject for which I have the only pic on Alamy, and there are none on iS / SS / Ft / DT / Getty. Still, the buyer's discount counts for more than the rarity of the subject (as it does more or less everywhere :().
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Alamy passed shutterstock.
Not suspicious at all. Lol.
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Also, can I put something as RM on Alamy if it was previously RF in other agencies (but was removed from everywhere else except Alamy since then)?
Yes, but if it sold previously as RF, you need to make notes of that, in case the very unlikely event happens that someone wants exclusive rights and you'd need to reveal that fact. From what I've read, that's relatively very rare on Alamy, but happens sometimes.
Thank you Sue!
So what do you think, which license sells better / higher on Alamy - RF or RM?
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Also, can I put something as RM on Alamy if it was previously RF in other agencies (but was removed from everywhere else except Alamy since then)?
Yes, but if it sold previously as RF, you need to make notes of that, in case the very unlikely event happens that someone wants exclusive rights and you'd need to reveal that fact. From what I've read, that's relatively very rare on Alamy, but happens sometimes.
Thank you Sue!
So what do you think, which license sells better / higher on Alamy - RF or RM?
Sorry, no idea. I only sell RM there.
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They have a lot of hybrid licenses so the results for both RM and RF can be pretty similar.
RF used to be a lot higher back a few years ago, but now they seem to be pretty close.
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Alamy passed shutterstock.
Not suspicious at all. Lol.
A complete and utter joke with zero credibility
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Alamy has passed istock this morning in the poll. It did the other day too but yesterday sank down again. this is exciting.
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I would be very suspicious of the poll, you only have to look at the published figures for Alamy V SS et all to see that RPI is a long way behind at Alamy. Naturally that does not take in to account rank which is probably the most important factor with Alamy....it takes time to bed in new accounts and work your way up the greasy pole.
Saying that, Alamy have been very very good to me in the past for secondary editorial, for commercial images they still rank well down the order for trad agencies/aggregators - Getty, Masterfile et al..