I dont get what is the advantage for the one that doctors Alamy up??? Then SS also could be doctored. All other agencies including low earners have chance to be doctored. Why only Alamy you think? For me it is simple. Alamy is doing well for many and those are voting here. There are here some people reporting alamy beating SS. If you dont get many sales then it is because you make typucal microstock photos or bad keywording. One thing is sure ... Alamy has great potential.

Because, statistically, it is very unlikely to have such a massive spike like the one from 2 months ago (22.86 -> 94.49). It is also very unlikely to have such a massive drop as the one from last month (94.49 -> 31.54).
Even if Alamy implemented changes leading to better sales, these improvements cannot happen overnight. All changes need time to propagate. The surge noticed 2 months ago was definitely artificial and far from being representative for the agency as a whole.

Remember that statisticians regularly exclude such extreme values from their analysis.

A value around 20-30 on that graph, makes more statistical sense, and it is more likely to be representative.
This means that Alamy #4 is closer to the truth.

Still i can not explain why only Alamy? And what reason somebody would do this. I think if only for example 5 new members coming from Alamy reporting earnongs of over 1000 net per month the climb could be realistic. If they where not reporting before.

Check the other trends and their standard deviation, there are no such massive spikes, followed by similar massive drops.

If those 5 new hypothetical users of yours have regular, statistically representative, large sales, why would they report them only in March, but forget to report them in April?

My point is: even if that March spike is real, it is not representative for Alamy. Alamy #2 is no go. Alamy #4 is more likely.

I know for example user worldplanet has Alamy as best selling agency. Number two shutterstock. I hope he sees this thread and can confirm. It is possible.

Quote from: MircoV on May 17, 2016, 09:00

Still i can not explain why only Alamy? And what reason somebody would do this. I think if only for example 5 new members coming from Alamy reporting earnongs of over 1000 net per month the climb could be realistic. If they where not reporting before.

Check the other trends and their standard deviation, there are no such massive spikes, followed by similar massive drops.

If those 5 new hypothetical users of yours have regular, statistically representative, large sales, why would they report them only in March, but forget to report them in April?

My point is: even if that March spike is real, it is not representative for Alamy. Alamy #2 is no go. Alamy #4 is more likely.

I think the more people that vote, the more accurate the poll results are.  So if a bunch of people from the Alamy forum came here to vote one month, that's more accurate than the months when they haven't taken part.

Quote from: sharpshot on May 18, 2016, 05:10

Quote from: Zero Talent on May 17, 2016, 09:10

Quote from: MircoV on May 17, 2016, 09:00

Still i can not explain why only Alamy? And what reason somebody would do this. I think if only for example 5 new members coming from Alamy reporting earnongs of over 1000 net per month the climb could be realistic. If they where not reporting before.

Check the other trends and their standard deviation, there are no such massive spikes, followed by similar massive drops.

If those 5 new hypothetical users of yours have regular, statistically representative, large sales, why would they report them only in March, but forget to report them in April?

My point is: even if that March spike is real, it is not representative for Alamy. Alamy #2 is no go. Alamy #4 is more likely.

I think the more people that vote, the more accurate the poll results are.  So if a bunch of people from the Alamy forum came here to vote one month, that's more accurate than the months when they haven't taken part.

But not for relative rankings.

Correct.
The other speculation is that the rank is doctored by someone trying to make Alamy attractive to contributors, the same way some Amazon reviews are doctored by seller's insiders. It is advisable to be careful when you see those over enthusiastic positive reviews and better pay attention to what the negative reviewers have to say 

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Correct.
The other speculation is that the rank is doctored by someone trying to make Alamy attractive to contributors, the same way some Amazon reviews are doctored by seller's insiders. It is advisable to be careful when you see those over enthusiastic positive reviews and better pay attention to what the negative reviewers have to say 

Like Yay did, not long ago.

Maybe Alamy is good for the images not longer accepted by the other agencies (graffiti, logos, etc.etc.), otherwise (if i was a buyer) i really can't find a reason to go there and buy something.

From 2014 to 2015 my average sale on Alamy went from around $35 to $75, with half to me - so my net income per sale increased over 100% from $17.50 to $37.50 per sale. That includes averaging in a bunch of little $6-16 ($3-8 net) sales. My sales volume also increased leading to an even larger increase in my overall income.

For 2016, my average sale is $98, which includes averaging in my most recent $7.01 sale, or else it would be even higher. So, I'm netting $49 per sale there on average in 2016, more than my average gross sale in 2014. I'm not surprised by how Alamy is doing at all.

April sales

Shutterstock $250 (323 sales)
Alamy $200 (5 sales)
iStock $42 (so far 100 sales)

No brainer to me Alamy always comes in at number 2 or 3 One day it will be number 1 and the naysayers will still deny you can make money with Alamy 

i don't think anyone is staying away from alamy not because they are without a brain like you say,
as who would not want to make the money like you do with alamy.
the fact is that only a handful of ppl are able to make money with alamy, as i said, i was there from the inception with 90% approval and did not see a penny for 5 years, nor see my name listed in their photographers' list. it's no wonder i had zero views in 5 years.

with ss, since i joined only the same time (5 years), i have reach payout almost monthly.

iow, almost everyone can make money with ss, but only a handful make money elsewhere.
that is why no one wants to bother uploading to everyone listed to the right.

You could get on the list for assignments if you had assignment experience. I started my career shooting editorial photos, and still do, so I was on that list ... but they abolished it a long time ago.

I get emails from the Live News people from time to time about events near me, but none of this has an impact on sales.

You need a diverse selection of images, good keywords, and after starting with a mid-level rank you need sales and a good CTR to get you a good rank so your photos are up on the first couple of pages. They are heavily editorial and travel, though I've sold concept stuff there too, so having a portfolio heavy on travel stock with clean composition and lots of copy space (not holiday snapshots) and editorial helps. I often see travel sites that buy their images from Alamy, Getty, and then either SS, DT or iStock - so I try not to overlap my micro and macro ports so I don't compete with myself.

For a long time I was making more with a small port on SS than with more than twice as many photos on Alamy, but lately Alamy has been number one for me. But I'm not a typical microstock shooter, since my port leans more toward editorial.

Quote from: MircoV on May 17, 2016, 07:57

I dont get what is the advantage for the one that doctors Alamy up??? Then SS also could be doctored. All other agencies including low earners have chance to be doctored. Why only Alamy you think? For me it is simple. Alamy is doing well for many and those are voting here. There are here some people reporting alamy beating SS. If you dont get many sales then it is because you make typucal microstock photos or bad keywording. One thing is sure ... Alamy has great potential.

Incorrect assumption. I started off in macro on slide film long before micro was invented. My photos at Getty outperform my Alamy photos by over 1000%. Therefore I do well at my other macro agency and I do well at all my micro agencies. The only odd one out is Alamy. In fact Alalmy is the only agency where forum members seem to post gross earnings instead of net, probably because once the commission is taken off net looks way less impressive.

You are the one with the incorrect assumption that because you don't do well with Alamy, other people can't do well with them.  I never sold a thing with FAA in two years but that doesn't mean that they aren't a good site for a lot of people.  The same applies to Alamy.

After about 2 years on Alamy, my sales are really perking up.  March was my best month yet, and April was even better still, with good sales for May so far.  YTD for me Alamy is #2 behind Shutterstock, having passed iStock at #3, which continues to decline.

I only know that SS report for first quarter says that they paid to contributors 33 million. Thats 130 million to expect for 2016. In 2014 it was 84 million. I think Alamy paid 130 million in all the time they exist. So SS paid in one year the same as alamy in all their lifetime. First ace belongs to ss for unknown time.

Quote from: MircoV on May 22, 2016, 12:09

I only know that SS report for first quarter says that they paid to contributors 33 million. Thats 130 million to expect for 2016. In 2014 it was 84 million. I think Alamy paid 130 million in all the time they exist. So SS paid in one year the same as alamy in all their lifetime. First ace belongs to ss for unknown time.

Exactly. The poll has now lost most of its former credibility

exactamento. my point against alamy is that even if one person came to say alamy earned that person xxx per dl vs 38 cts with ss. i really don't give a r@t$ @$$ to that .
there are many agencies on the right that pays one or a handful contributors a lot of money
which we don't see. it can be slanted as those ppl may be the owners,etc..

ss pays me, and a lot of other contributors, money every month,
we may not make as much as the top sellers, but we make money every month with ss.

that's what make me want to contribute to an agency. not that 20 ppl make alot
and the rest make 0 views and 0 cts in the first 5 years with agency x.