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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: kingjon on January 25, 2011, 17:31

Title: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: kingjon on January 25, 2011, 17:31
Alamy just made my day - one of my images sold for over 1300$! I just get 40% of that but, hey, 550$ isn't bad. Most I had made on a single sale was just over 200$ after commissions.

Looking forward to my next payout.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: markrhiggins on January 25, 2011, 17:44
yaa also got a check today
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: ShadySue on January 25, 2011, 17:47
Alamy just made my day - one of my images sold for over 1300$! I just get 40% of that but, hey, 550$ isn't bad. Most I had made on a single sale was just over 200$ after commissions.

Looking forward to my next payout.
WOW! Congratulations!!!
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on January 25, 2011, 17:57
Congratulations. Nice to know there are still some big sales about.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: LSD72 on January 25, 2011, 18:30
Thats great for you! Congrats.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: RH on January 26, 2011, 00:39
Great, congrats!
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: alfonsodetomas on January 26, 2011, 02:48
Congrats!   :D
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: RacePhoto on January 26, 2011, 03:10
Alamy just made my day - one of my images sold for over 1300$! I just get 40% of that but, hey, 550$ isn't bad. Most I had made on a single sale was just over 200$ after commissions.

Looking forward to my next payout.

That is the next payout? :D

Why only 40% ?
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: madelaide on January 26, 2011, 03:11
Congratulations! RF or L?
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: RT on January 26, 2011, 04:10
Why only 40% ?

You only get 40% if it's sold via a distributor.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: rubyroo on January 26, 2011, 04:17
Congratulations Kingjon!  An appropriate name!  ;D
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: kingjon on January 26, 2011, 08:04
Yes, it was sold through a distributor, otherwise it would have been 60%. It was an RF sale.

Most of my sales in the past couple of years have been for under 100$. This one took me by surprise - but a good surprise for a change.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: iclick on January 26, 2011, 08:24
Congrats very nice indeed.....

Must admit I have been thinking more and more about joining Almay of late especially with the ways things have been going with reductions in royalties at IS and Fotolia if ever there was a wake up call for me it's now, really had enough of all this driveing down our wedge what has always put me off with Alamy a little was  was my previous experiences in RM with Acclaim which were not great and also the need to upscale Images at Almay ?

Still tempted  :)
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: Perry on January 26, 2011, 08:32
Now cross your fingers and hope that the sale won't be refunded. And that it will be paid (which country was it sold to?)

I hope you get your money and that I would get some sales that big!
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: kingjon on January 26, 2011, 12:34
iclick - Alamy reduced the size requirements so depending on what camera you have, you may not have to upsize.

I can't check what country the sale is from right now but if it was to be fraud, they could get the same size image for much less - why bring attention to a fraudulent transaction by making a large purchase? I've been with Alamy for over 3 years and have never had a sale cancelled. Hopefully this won't be the first.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: lisafx on January 26, 2011, 17:07
Congratulations!! Really great sale!  I've never had anything close to that price on Alamy.  Let's hope it's the first of many :D
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: gbcimages on January 26, 2011, 17:12
I made a couple of sales early Jan
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: lightscribe on January 26, 2011, 21:39
I thought RF sales could only go as high as $365?  was it a particularly large file size or something , never heard of such a large rf sale.  Congrats.....does this mean there is a distributor selling for higher prices than alamy? I just went to alamy can't find any rf images priced that high.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: kingjon on January 27, 2011, 15:01
not sure - its the first time I make that large a sale but most of my images are RF and this one certainly is. I can't find the info on where the image sold - where do you find that?
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: kingjon on January 27, 2011, 15:04
Image size was normal size for 5d Mark II (I don't think I cropped it).
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: leaf on January 27, 2011, 15:19
congrats - that must have been a nice surprise on the earnings page :) .  I have been having more and more respect for Alamy lately.  I really like that they show you a breakdown of how their commissions are taken and 40% for a distributer sale isn't bad at all.  Alamy gives 60% if it is an on site sale... we the photographers should be supporting them full force.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: gbcimages on January 27, 2011, 16:17
I'm back to uploading after a year off
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: Elenathewise on January 28, 2011, 15:24
yup Alamy doesn't suck:) Would be nice to see more consistent sales though. Sometimes it's really good, and then - nothing........
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: Karimala on January 28, 2011, 16:09
congrats - that must have been a nice surprise on the earnings page :) .  I have been having more and more respect for Alamy lately.  I really like that they show you a breakdown of how their commissions are taken and 40% for a distributer sale isn't bad at all.  Alamy gives 60% if it is an on site sale... we the photographers should be supporting them full force.

I couldn't agree more...especially considering they donate over 80% of their profits to medical research.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: visceralimage on January 29, 2011, 01:41
I was on Alamy for many years with no success; they loved my stuff but nothing every sold.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: ShadySue on January 29, 2011, 17:36
congrats - that must have been a nice surprise on the earnings page :) .  I have been having more and more respect for Alamy lately.  I really like that they show you a breakdown of how their commissions are taken and 40% for a distributer sale isn't bad at all.  Alamy gives 60% if it is an on site sale... we the photographers should be supporting them full force.


I couldn't agree more...especially considering they donate over 80% of their profits to medical research.

To be pedantic, it's a range of charities including education and conservation as well as medical research.
http://www.alamy.com/medical-research.asp (http://www.alamy.com/medical-research.asp)

Not in any way wishing to denigrate the charitable donations, but maybe they could commit a bit more money to marketing, then maybe they'd get more sales and so they, we and the charities would get some more actual £££.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: epantha on January 29, 2011, 17:47
Congratulations! And more big sales to all.

Since all the shenanigans started over at IS I've been focusing on uploading more to Alamy and have one sale in Jan. and a lot more zooms than I used to. Also just bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 that will be with me all the time and is on Alamy's recommended camera list.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: leaf on January 29, 2011, 18:54
congrats - that must have been a nice surprise on the earnings page :) .  I have been having more and more respect for Alamy lately.  I really like that they show you a breakdown of how their commissions are taken and 40% for a distributer sale isn't bad at all.  Alamy gives 60% if it is an on site sale... we the photographers should be supporting them full force.


I couldn't agree more...especially considering they donate over 80% of their profits to medical research.

To be pedantic, it's a range of charities including education and conservation as well as medical research.
[url]http://www.alamy.com/medical-research.asp[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/medical-research.asp[/url])

Not in any way wishing to denigrate the charitable donations, but maybe they could commit a bit more money to marketing, then maybe they'd get more sales and so they, we and the charities would get some more actual £££.


This was discussed quite a bit once before in this thread
http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-gives-to-charity/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-gives-to-charity/)

My main point being, how much they donate to charity has nothing to do with how much they spend on advertising.

To simply things greatly....
If they generate 1,000,000 in sales in a week or month or whatever, pay photographers $600,000 they have $400,000 left over
Let's say they spend $100,000 on office workers, they now have $300,000 left over

Now comes their advertising ... they spend $290,000 ... They now have $10,000 left over which is their profit.

Alamy says they give  89% of their profits to charity, that means they give $8,900 to charity and the owners keep $1,100.

If they increased their marketing budget by $9000, they could still give 89% of their profits to charity.
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: ShadySue on January 30, 2011, 04:56
congrats - that must have been a nice surprise on the earnings page :) .  I have been having more and more respect for Alamy lately.  I really like that they show you a breakdown of how their commissions are taken and 40% for a distributer sale isn't bad at all.  Alamy gives 60% if it is an on site sale... we the photographers should be supporting them full force.


I couldn't agree more...especially considering they donate over 80% of their profits to medical research.

To be pedantic, it's a range of charities including education and conservation as well as medical research.
[url]http://www.alamy.com/medical-research.asp[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/medical-research.asp[/url])

Not in any way wishing to denigrate the charitable donations, but maybe they could commit a bit more money to marketing, then maybe they'd get more sales and so they, we and the charities would get some more actual £££.


This was discussed quite a bit once before in this thread
[url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-gives-to-charity/[/url] ([url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-gives-to-charity/[/url])

My main point being, how much they donate to charity has nothing to do with how much they spend on advertising.

To simply things greatly....
If they generate 1,000,000 in sales in a week or month or whatever, pay photographers $600,000 they have $400,000 left over
Let's say they spend $100,000 on office workers, they now have $300,000 left over

Now comes their advertising ... they spend $290,000 ... They now have $10,000 left over which is their profit.

Alamy says they give  89% of their profits to charity, that means they give $8,900 to charity and the owners keep $1,100.

If they increased their marketing budget by $9000, they could still give 89% of their profits to charity.


My point was only that I wish they would spend more on marketing so that they'd sell more and make more.
% of profit only means so much: bottom line is far more interesting for me. One person could give 90% of their disposable income to charity, and it would only be $10, someone else could give 1% and it would be £100,000. Who benefits the charity more?
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: borg on January 30, 2011, 05:01
Many people mix income with earnings  for profit. These are two completely different item ..
Title: Re: Alamy Rocks!
Post by: Mantis on January 30, 2011, 10:38
I was on Alamy for many years with no success; they loved my stuff but nothing every sold.

With Alamy, you HAVE TO HAVE VOLUME.  They have over 20 million images, albeit a lot of it is junk.  And we're talking one-off sales in contrast to Pay as you go packages or subscription.  So buyers aren't using Alamy like they do micros in terms of number of buyers and download frequency. Instead they pay $30 to $300 + bucks for one image.  Just keep uploading, build volume and make sure you have marketable content.  I too enjoy a nice sale now and then but for the most part it's hit and miss...sometimes 6-8 weeks goes by before I get any sales.