Recently Alamy sent me a generic letter without any specifics. It has charged US$250  Exclusivity Administration Fee (EAF) on my sales.

But it doesn't bother to tell me which image(s) were in violation.

I have been an Alamy contributor for almost 18 years. Initially, there was no such thing as exclusive to Alamy. Since I became exclusive, I have always been careful to mark my submission to Alamy with a special code. Could there be a mistake somewhere? If there is, it would be an advertent error.

But my images have been stolen many times.  Is it possible that someone stole my images and sell them through other agencies?

I sell prints through FAA. But it is permitted, according to my understanding.

Alamy should have the decency to give me the specifics so I can assess the situation. Maybe it is wrong and I can help find the thief.

The following is the email from Alamy:

Hi There,

 Exclusivity Admin Fee on your sales report

We�re adding an Exclusivity Administration Fee (EAF) on your sales report due to you incorrectly marking images in your account as being 'Exclusive to Alamy' 

This is a fee that is charged in one of two scenarios: 

We have found a potential infringement, and we've opened up a legal case to make a claim but then had to close the case because the image has been incorrectly marked as being �exclusive� to Alamy ($150 charge)
We have searched for a potential infringement but the image is found to be available on another stock site so the image has been incorrectly marked as being �exclusive� to Alamy ($50 charge)
The reason we are adding this fee to your account is because there is a considerable investment in looking for infringements, whereby each �exclusive� image we search for incurs a cost.

As the image has been incorrectly marked as being �exclusive� we are now passing on a proportion of the cost already spent to your account, as outlined in the contributor contract:

2.10. Notwithstanding clause 16.7, by marking Content as Exclusive, you grant Alamy the right to chase third party infringements of the Content without Alamy having to consult you. Where pursuing such infringements if it is found that the Content is available on another licensing platform, Alamy has the right to recoup any fees (including reasonable administration fees where escalated to legal action), that Alamy has incurred in the pursuit of any action taken.

An image should not be marked as exclusive if:

o            It�s available on another stock agency site

o            It�s an exact reproduction (in all or part) of a work of art (this does not include having additional unique or incidental features in the image, for example a person standing in front of a painting. The general rule of thumb is that to be exclusive an artwork can�t take up any more than 1/3 of the image frame.)

o            It�s not protected by copyright

o            It�s in the public domain (for example, copyright has expired on a photograph from 1880)

o            Copyright ownership is unknown

 

For the image(s) which should not be marked as �exclusive� we have added the Exclusivity Admin Fee to your account and have removed its exclusive status.

It�s important that your images are marked correctly � we'd prefer to work with you so that these costs are avoided in future, and we can help you claim for images that are genuinely exclusive to Alamy.

To avoid further charges being made on �exclusive� images being incorrectly marked, please can you now review and check whether all the other images in your account should be marked as exclusive. Please remove the �exclusive� status if you find that they should not be marked as �exclusive� according to the terms outlined above.

If we find new cases of images being incorrectly marked as exclusive incurring further costs, after two months from the date of this email, then we will apply the corresponding fees to your account and we will also remove the exclusive status for all the images found in your account and remove any default settings for exclusive status.

If you need more time to amend your images, or if you have any questions about this please contact [email protected]

Thanks

Alamy

I received a reply a few days ago, but it didn't address any particulars. It only said that I had to update my tax form.

I wrote back with the particulars, including that my tax form expiration date would be Dec. 31, 2024, I updated my tax form in mid-November, and, in the Statement, the only deduction was $0.24 which does not match the actual deduction. They haven't responded yet.

My payment is also less than what is shown on the website.

I just updated my tax form, probably a week ago. The website said that I had until December 30, 2024, to do so.

I don't get it.

How do I contact the support?

I only sell videos. Today my balance has increased over $100. Is it from Firefly? 

No statement for me yet.

Can someone please advise me how I can disable my portfolio in SS? Thanks.

I went to Contact Us page and there is no link to leave a message.

You're not better at PayPal either. They just raised some fees as well.  Got a letter not too long ago stating the increase in fees. Not sure if its just for us unfortunate Canadians. Over here we get taxed to death over here for everything. Probably for breathing too. ☹️

Hi, I am also Canadian.

When you withdraw USD from Paypal to a Canadian bank account, other than the poor conversation rate, are there any other fees that I am not aware of?

I quit Payoneer many years ago. Be aware that I were also hit by a "border crossing" fee when I used the card to make online purchases even in US$. I asked how I could avoid the fee, the answer was "unless you shop in Belize". Anything you do outside Belize may be subject to the 'border crossing" fee.

Daniel, yes, I was talking about my SS video sales. Most of my video sales are sold as Clip Packs at 0.25. Occasionally I get higher valued sales, but they are rare.

I wonder why you have never had those sales. Which level are you at?

Quote from: Orchidpoet on December 29, 2023, 13:40

I am surprised that some of you are still making good money from SS in the past year. If your lowest earning is $1, does it mean that you have never made any sales from Clip Packs?

Most of my SS sales are at $0.25 as clip packs. High value sales are rarely seen. Even though I am at Level 3, it doesn't matter because a sale from Clip Packs is fixed at $0.25.

As a non exclusive, I also get very little from Getty sales, but at least most sales are more than $0.25.

Quote

Did you get individual video sale commissions below $1/sale? If yes, how much below? My lowest video sales commission on SS are $1. I�ve made my peace with that. However, lower than $1/sale would really be psychologically difficult

Someone else in this thread said some commissions for video sales are as low as $0.02. That�s very low!

I cannot understand how they come up with such low sales commission. The subscription prices are similar to SS. So, the lowest sale commission should be around $1, no?

I just want to make sure we�re both talking about video sales here.

Are your $0.25 sales video or photo sales?

My lowest video sale commissions on SS are $1 at level 3. I don�t get many of them so they don�t bother me much and I get better search ranking for the more common better sales

I cannot see my earning stats anymore.

Does it happen to anyone else?

The month's payment arrived at the normal time. If you have not received yours, you should contact the company.

anyone get the Payment ?

No, I haven't.