Same here... UK

Horrible month. I had to cancel my "affordable" health care coverage (bronze @$400 a month).

The economy is going so well but this year has been just awful for me. I never thought I would have to cancel my health insurance.

Makes me feel lucky to be in the UK.

For me, SS has been good this month but AS/FT have been poor. They seem to have a bad 1-2 weeks followed by a good week. Compared to the rest of the year, it's been harsh this month.

Quote from: georgep7 on July 10, 2019, 04:38

Nobody is perfect, nobody will ever be!
But there is always the competition and comparisons.

Dennis it is kind of hard to assume that one contributor have to become an MSG member and post to grab Adobe's attention. Perhaps I misunderstood your saying. If i can make a rough but friendly comment the communication channels must be first direct with the company and secondary in related forums or whatever. Even if your previous post had to be in a monthly Adobe newsletter to all contributors.
I have menntioned e.g. an Adobe rejection on intellectual property violation on a cherry blossom close up and still laugh on it, searching the Adobe forum to just read similar stories never answered (ok, frustration passed). In contrast, i have uploaded clips of money bills, got rejected, email asked and got my answers and guidance all those in the same working day in other agency.

EDIT correction, not same working day but within 20-24 hours.

Communication perhaps must be direct, personal and fast.

Yup, we're not perfect that's for sure!

To answer briefly, we are communicating on a variety of methods and will continue to build and expand upon those. 

As for your past or current issues - please feel free to message Mat or I directly with your account information and we're happy to try and address concerns.

For money, we've recently loosened restrictions but essentially there is a IP problem on currency that is 100% readable.  You can find the specifics under the general section of our known image restrictions page: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/known-image-restrictions.html  If your image/clip wasn't that, then again contact me directly.

At the end of the day, Adobe is likely to be the most conservative with regards to intellectual property and I'm 100% okay with that as it protects customer, contributor and Adobe alike.

Best,
Dennis

Being able to contact the likes of yourself and Mat is great... whenever I've been in contact with Mat it has always been quick and easy process.

I do think Adobe are missing out on a proper forum. I can understand the desire to have everyone post in one place in their own language but, for me anyway, it just feels a bit of a mess. The translation of the posts is not very good and in the end, you end up copying and pasting into google for a slightly more accurate result. Just makes it a drawn out process when often you just want to quickly read through what's been happening, post or whatever and get back to work. In the end I just stopped visiting... I might use it once every 6 months or so... if that.

"Adobe is likely to be the most conservative with regards to intellectual property"

I've always found Adobe to have the right balance and, more importantly, they're consistent with in their approach. Makes it easy to know what to send.

I agree with the warning email before banning/blocking... with all the small print for each agency being different (and plenty of it) it can be very easy to miss something or, fail to spot a change to policy. Most of us are here to make a living and wouldn't intentionally jeopardise it.

Anyway, good to hear from you about this... especially on holiday! with a beer by the pool 😉

Quote from: christiano on June 19, 2019, 08:23

no sales since 8 days... Usually, I have sales every day ... a trend or it's just me?

Not just you.

Same here, extremely slow this month, even after taking into account the 4th July etc. Hopefully there'll be an upturn soo.

Spoke too soon... volume and value seem to have gone off the edge of a cliff this week. Looks like I'm heading deep into that trough of the wave that was mentioned. Excellent start of the month though, but that looks like it is soon to be balanced out a bit.

Quote from: HalfFull on June 20, 2019, 11:21

Quote from: cathyslife on June 20, 2019, 11:04

I can see narrowing those 5000 (!) down to the 20 most relevant messages. 5000 is just ridiculous. Without being able to choose a thumbnail, has the contributor added the text message to the description so the buyer knows the message? I am guessing no, that the description was copied and pasted. Thieves, after all, are lazy. (I don�t care enough to go check again.)

20 would be extreme in the opposite direction. Remember, clients will not be able to add words themselves without difficulty even if they have enough computing power and the right software. 5-10% of what they�ve submitted should be enough. I often get emails from clients asking me to create custom files for them... great for me as I get all the money.

What I would rather see is adobe allowing some sort of Apple Motion 5 templates rather than just After Effects. That said though, that wouldn�t work for clients searching a specific term .... for example, �Security� as you cannot keyword a template file to show up for these searches without having hundreds of keywords.

Incidentally, I didn�t see any reason to call them/ insinuate they�re a thief

I disagree. And by posting 5000, they are gaming the system (or trying to). Call it cheating, thievery, whatever you like. I call it ridiculous that it�s even allowed.

I agree, 5000 of the same concept is extreme and they are trying to tip the system in their favour... way more than what is acceptable, just the use of the word, �thieves� feels a bit off base in this instance.

Quote from: Dennis Radeke on June 20, 2019, 08:15

Quote

Wow! Just wow.

How in hell does Adobe allow that???

It's a tough one to be sure - I hadn't seen this series until I reviewed this thread. 

Generally speaking, I've provided guidance that similar shots are acceptable within reason.  If there's a different take with the same enactment, a different focal length, an animation with a different colorization, etc.  I'll have to look deeper into this one as it may be a bit....extreme. 

I think I know how to fix this in the future.

Thanks for making me aware.

Thanks, Dennis, for checking this out.

I'm sure we all would like to understand if there are notable differences, and if not how they got through.

The differences are in the message the end. Most clients wouldn�t know how to add the messages to these concepts and make them blend in with the motion graphics so there is a market for this.

However, in this instance the volume of clips in this one sequence (if I�m seeing it correctly on my iPad) is excessive if it truly is 5000+ Of the same concept and nothing else in his port. Secondly, with Adobe not allowing contributors to select the relevant thumbnail they all look the same and clients would have to watch it till the end (30secs or so) to understand why it was returned in the search. This is not good and would also go against the contributor as most will sink without a trace.

Personally I would only submit concept work like this if the thumbnail makes it clear what it is about so the clients will see the actual message before playing the clip.

Hopefully we don�t throw the baby out with the bath water! There is a market there for material like this and it isn�t straightforward for someone to add these messages to a 4K file without the right software and hardware but, common sense has to come in to play.... 5000 of one concept is more than a little crazy.

Edit..... I would also hope that the key wording for each file is distinctive and not the same across all files. Having distinctive keywords from one file to another would mean they won�t all show up in one search and that only the correct one or two appear. If they all appear on mass because keywords are mostly the same then that would have to change.

Quote from: ShadySue on May 23, 2019, 06:41

Sales on Alamy for me are totally random - I can't use my sales to predict what might be wanted in future. It literally seems to be just what a buyer needs at the time, and old, unloved pics from ten years ago can suddenly sell.

I don't know why people expect Alamy to be like the other sites, they aren't. What makes Alamy good is what causes concern for others. Once someone reaches the $50 (which used to be what? $200?) They pay. This isn't a short term or constant situation. They aren't microstock.

I agree with you, random, unpredictable, but the agency is very up front about how they operate. I think artists have other expectations and imagine someplace that Alamy is not, because Alamy is nothing like any other. That's not good or bad, just different.

Quote from: rene on May 15, 2019, 04:09

I am in similar situation. My "cleared balance" slighty below $50 and doesn't move from weeks despite of sales! The "forwarded brought balance" is over 50 but the payment is "not due" .
I asked to close my account which they promised to close in 45 days. I will update here if or not they pay me, but I would not be surprised if they keep the money. All these sale which are not recorded directly and opaque "cleared" system doesn't inspire any confidence.

Patience?  "doesn't move from weeks despite of sales" really, and you are standing at $48? Despite sales.  Not due means not $50. If you actually have sales, you will have payment due in a short time.

Quote from: stockastic on May 14, 2019, 17:51

No sales this year, and I'd  like to close the account. Cleared balance is $48 and I'll be dead before it reaches $50.  If I close, will they pay me that balance?

Don't know, but if you wait for any sale and payment, they will? 

Common folks. Is everyone that desperate and needy that they sell images for 35� or less, while an agency that pays more, but sells on a sporadic basis, gets knocked for requiring $50 in sales total, before they pay out. Some people will wait months to collect from Canstock, paying small change, but when Alamy makes you wait for better sales, this becomes a time issue? Think about that. Think long term, which one pays more a year?

I don't like the paid and unpaid balance thing they have going, but when the payments clear I like Alamy just fine.

Three sales this year, commissions: $15, $4 and $120 someone who's hanging on IS, BS, CS, DT, 123 or DP tell me, how do their 2019 numbers per image sale compare? RPD, and how many sales, how long do those places take to make payout?

Just a quick point on the, "If you actually have sales, you will have payment due in a short time.".

This is not necessarily the case. When a sale is reported, it's the time they notify Alamy of the use, Invoice Date. The actual cleared funds can take between 3-6 months after that point to show up. Some clients are quick and pay their bills within 30-60 days but others... well, I've had some that have taken best part of a year to come through. Again, not really a problem, just the way they work but people should be aware so they are not let down by their own expectations of how Alamy works.

For example, on the 5th of May I received cleared funds for sales that showed up in October 2018 and, I have quite a few sales that haven't cleared from January this year. Nothing from the end of march till today has cleared (34 sales). Everything happens very slowly at Alamy.

After a slow start to the month things have picked up again. Not to March standards but reasonable if it continues as it is... I can here Mat saying..."Told ya so" 

Quote from: HalfFull on May 19, 2019, 13:49

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on May 19, 2019, 13:41

Quote from: HalfFull on May 19, 2019, 13:00

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on May 19, 2019, 07:28

Seriously! People why do you continue to support this outfit?

Just delete your portfolios and stop the cycle of abuse!

Because the $600+ earnings are better off in my pocket.

$600 per month, per year or over the lifetime you've been with iS/Gty?

No disrespect to you but I was referring to all the other above complaining about low returns.  Its not an issue with me if you or anyone else values their work so
poorly that they are willing to take a good shafting by these companies.

Its the attitude that no matter what they throw at a contributor its better than nothing.

Which is exactly why these agencies keep doing what they do.

$600 per month. They've been steadily increasing for me over the last 18 months.

Good for you

To be honest, I don't submit any footage to them as they do under value footage significantly compared to what I get at AS & SS. I would also like to submit more to them but, their god awful keywording system limits my patience to 1-2 submissions a year... hence they only have 8% of what I've submitted elsewhere.

And as for the $6k acceptable limit quoted above... well, good luck with that one. That would mean 95-98% of all contributors would have to pack in and delete their portfolios.

Quote from: HalfFull on May 19, 2019, 13:00

Quote from: Sammy the Cat on May 19, 2019, 07:28

Seriously! People why do you continue to support this outfit?

Just delete your portfolios and stop the cycle of abuse!

Because the $600+ earnings are better off in my pocket.

If you would say $6000, then it wouldn't be so bad... but giving away all your hard worked images for $600? You really don't yet respect your work, do you?

For the 1500 images I have there, that isn't bad. I wouldn't expect t $6k from them. I place images to libraries that fit the types of sales I get. RM for higher value etc.

it's math...evry agency is doubling collection in less than a year...at this pace in 5 years will have  a billion file included hundred millions of video but as shown by financial data of ss in the last year the revenue is growing  practically zero...and royalty paid to contributor are practically any growth at all. in the long run this business is ended...any chance to earn enough to sustain work and family. unfortunately they destroyed everything  accepting everything together with instagram file free website and all and the future is completely black. i'm still going but not enough to justify the work done and resource invested. personally i'm moving all my quality production high end rf and rm agency. better sell few files at good price than hope to earn enough selling thousand of files every  month.

To be fair, the above doesn't represent my experience as a whole and certainly not that of AS. May has started off badly... that is all and hopefully things will turn around.

The last 6-12 months have shown increases in earnings against the previous year and overall, some of the best months earnings since 2013.

My only concern is they don't start squeezing all clients into minimal payment/subs packages as this really kills the smaller producers (less than 50k images). If you lose a $5 sale and they replace it with 10 $0.38 sales you gain in volume but over the course of a month, the $ return is going to be badly hit. I fear they're removing the number of options for clients to pay which will result in them going to other places that have a more flexible credit purchase options. I'm hoping I'm wrong on this, time will tell.

Sales have drop a lot for me since may 1th. I used to have 10 minimum sales a day and now I have three days with 0 sales ! The end of fotolia maybe ? Anyone experiencing the same drop ?

Yes. Only one footage sale in the last 3 weeks and mainly low value sales. The first 4 months of the year have been good so hopefully it will improve in the second half of May... otherwise with its current form it will result in $200 less than May last year, $190 down from last month and $480 down on March this year. AS is normally way ahead of SS but for the 1st time in 3-4 years, they are comfortably ahead.

Could well be the closing of FT. As with DPC, when that closed there was a sizeable reduction in income then as a lot of the people did not transfer to AS. I'm hoping that won't happen here but so far, I'm not see any improvement in sales volume, just low sales value. When schemes/partnerships are closed and client options are reduced by AS, it seems to end up hurting us more as they still have the Software Subscriptions.

But, there is still half the month to go... so, things can change.