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).

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.

Guys, what is selling better: RF or RM ?

Hello guys,

For me Alamy also one of the top earners. We will see what the day bring.

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

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

don't get fooled by the poll..

it's (at most) a low earner for RF

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.

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.

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.

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

Quote from: wordplanet on March 03, 2016, 10:34

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.

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.