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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: lucato on March 19, 2013, 06:43

Title: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: lucato on March 19, 2013, 06:43: Hi Folks,

I wonder if it worths to work with RF images at Alamy. I saw their prices are very high and people commenting that it isn't "fair" to put the same RF images in ALAMY and other agencies because customer can find a cheaper place and get mad and so on. Well, I don't agree with this part once if you are going to buy a camera, you will find several stores with different prices, so it is up to you to do you research. ;0)
Well, going back to the main subject, selling RF at Alamy, I saw some graphic that it seams that worth to submit image to them, but here at MicrostockGroup it doesn't show at any TopTier, Middle Tier or LowEarnigs.

A few questions:
- What are your comment on it?
- What is the RF Alamy ranking for you among the agencies you sell your images? Is is on the Top tiers?
- Do they accept FTP file transfer?
- After uploading is it needed to categorize every single image on their site?
- After uploading is it needed to attach MR or PR image by image?

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: Gannet77 on March 19, 2013, 06:47: I think Alamy isn't shown in the poll results because it's not generally considered a microstock agency, more as macrostock, though these days perhaps it should be included.

My impression from other posts though is that you can do quite well with RF on Alamy, though I've no personal experience since as an IS exclusive the only stuff I have there is RM, which doesn't sell so much - and I only have a small portfolio too.

But if I were to go independent, I'd certainly want to be there.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: Mantis on March 19, 2013, 07:16: Yes they have RF and it pays way more, in general, that microstock. You can sell RM or RF there. You get 50% of Alamy sales. It used to be 65%, then they cut commissions to 60% then they cut commissions again to 50%, so who know where they are going. With the introduction of Novel use, they are slowly (in my opinion) migrating to a more microstock model. Novel use is 50% as well but you get somewhere around $1 to $5 per download. Those seem to come in in large bundles at the beginning of the month. You can opt out of Novel use if you want, but I believe only in March or April. Also, distributor sales are a killer. You end up keeping 30% while making the distributor a lot more money. Really crummy deal given the lousy volume of sales that doesn't help offset the 30% commission. You can also opt out of distributor sales in April if you want. I still like Alamy but I am a bit weary of them given their last big 10% pay cut and the drop in sales. I was doing about $1000 a month there until about mid 2012 then sales fell off a cliff. Now all I seem to get are these monthly $27 downloads (5-10 a month), 10-20 Novel use downloads for about $1-2 each and an occasional $7-$12 DL. I haven't seen much of the $150 to $400 downloads that used to be a lot more common.

So that's my experience in a nutshell.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: sharpshot on March 19, 2013, 07:50: Quote from: Mantis on March 19, 2013, 07:16
....With the introduction of Novel use, they are slowly (in my opinion) migrating to a more microstock model...
They've said that they’re getting rid of the novel use scheme. I've noticed a decline in novel use sales, probably as they don't renew contracts when they run out.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: fotografer on March 19, 2013, 08:07: I started to upload to them about a year ago and have about 600 images there all RF and I am quite pleased with how it's going. This month I've had 6 of the 27$ sales which netted me 13.50 each and one little sale that netted me about 2$.
In previous months I have had one that sold for more than 400$, one for more than 200$ and one for just over 100$ although most of my sales are the 27$ ones.
Although it doesn't make as much as some sites it is nice to see high commissions on individual sales.
ETA - the images that I upload to Alamy are on all the other micro sites that I upload to.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: Mantis on March 19, 2013, 08:57: Quote from: sharpshot on March 19, 2013, 07:50
Quote from: Mantis on March 19, 2013, 07:16
....With the introduction of Novel use, they are slowly (in my opinion) migrating to a more microstock model...
They've said that they’re getting rid of the novel use scheme. I've noticed a decline in novel use sales, probably as they don't renew contracts when they run out.

Yea, sharpshot, I've heard that last year too and it didn't happen. So I suppose time will tell.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: RacePhoto on March 19, 2013, 12:08: Yes I sell RF on Alamy.

No I don't sell the same as Microstock. (that's up to the individual) Mine are far different from anything "Micro" or suitable for Microstock.

Novel use is dead and gone except for preexisting contracts.

True Alamy is NOT Microstock, but I don't see why Leaf couldn't just add it as an exception. Seems like a majority of people here are members. Why not add FAA also? I know that's opening the door, but places that most people sell on, much of the same works and make money, might be of interest to the community?

My argument would be, there are all these that don't get enough votes, that are shown month after month, why not something that people actually would find useful?

ClipartOf
DrawShop
RevoStock
Self-Hosted
VectorStock
SignElements
PhotoSpin
ScanStockPhoto
Pixmac
ClipDealer
Clipcanvas
PhotoCase
PocketStock
Stockami
The3dStudio
photaki
StockPhotoMedia
Vivozoom
Imagegate
ImageVortex
PhotoKore
ViscoImages

(posted on behalf of the Add Alamy to the Survey committee...)
::)
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: lisafx on March 19, 2013, 12:14: I sell the same photos RF in micro and Alamy. Years ago there was a big price differential, but now it has pretty much evaporated. Maybe once a month I will get a $200-$400 sale at Alamy, but most of my sales there are under $100, and many are way under that. Considering the scope of their license is broad like an EL at the micros, I think the prices are pretty comparable.

I do okay there. They are anywhere from 2-4% of my monthly income, which puts them in the low-mid earner category if they were a micro.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: wordplanet on March 19, 2013, 18:19: I used to make several $200-300 sales of RF images on Alamy netting 60% but now those sales are much rarer with much fewer over $100 in the past year. I have some of the same RF images on both but removed several from the micros when they sold on Alamy though I still have several on both. These days most of my better sales there are RM.
Monthly earnings there vary widely. Most of my portfolio there is different than what I have on the micros - a lot more editorial.
I have a few RF images (mostly travel) on both Alamy & the micros that are good earners on both & find lifetime earnings for those photos is similar on both Alamy & Shutterstock and/or Dreamstime - but everyone has different experiences. I've left those particular photos on both but these days I try to make both portfolios different because I hate seeing a zoom on Alamy turn into a sale on Fotolia where I get $4 instead of potentially $$$. Of course I had zooms on Alamy where I took the photo off the micros only to end up with an NU sale.
You need a much larger portfolio on Alamy to make regular monthly sales than on the micros where even a small portfolio of 100 images means daily sales so adjust your expectations & good luck!
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: KimsCreativeHub on August 30, 2013, 22:17: Did I notice correct that alamy does not sell vectors?
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: Anita Potter on August 30, 2013, 22:23: You are correct they don't take eps files but they will take large jpg files.
Title: Re: Do you sell RF at Alamy?
Post by: KimsCreativeHub on August 31, 2013, 07:43: I'm exclusive with rasters at IS but not vectors... That is a bit behind the times of them!

They would be wise to consider the incredible editable vector ;)