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Personal use license - refunds shouldn't be allowed.


IDP

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Whilst not approving of Alamy's personal use license, I have to accept that a buyer can abuse any low-cost license and so putting restrictions on one's whole collection would prove pointless.

 

However, what is worrying, is the ability for the buyer to get a refund on a personal license - which I've just had. It was apparently refunded because the customer complained of poor image quality. This is totally unacceptable and these cheap licenses should never be refunded. Even if the intended use was genuine, the buyer has ended up with a high resolution file, the usage for which can never be verified.

 

It's time Alamy started controlling this and other aspects of the license (which have already been discussed), before it gets out of hand.

 

Ian D

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Poor image quality? Did QC miss something? No it shouldn't be allowed, but anything seems to be allowed if the client requests it.

 

I note that even Fine Art America offers a full refund if the customer isn't happy for ANY reason . . .

 

As unpleasant as it may be to experience refunds, offering them is common practise.

 

dd

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Poor image quality? Did QC miss something? No it shouldn't be allowed, but anything seems to be allowed if the client requests it.

 

I note that even Fine Art America offers a full refund if the customer isn't happy for ANY reason . . .

 

As unpleasant as it may be to experience refunds, offering them is common practise.

 

dd

 

 

Sure but FAA offer a hard copy of something and don't quality check their content on upload. Maybe Ian can say if QC did miss something? Sure it can easily happen with the amount of images Alamy get, but was a refund for that reason justified in this case?

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Sure but FAA offer a hard copy of something and don't quality check their content on upload. Maybe Ian can say if QC did miss something? Sure it can easily happen with the amount of images Alamy get, but was a refund for that reason justified in this case?

Quality was excellent. Moreover, it was an archival image, with the prominent warning about quality. Seems an obvious case of somebody wanting something for nothing.

 

Ian D

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Hi Ian,

 

This was an archival image of Charlie Chaplin taken in 1915 from a movie. This was submitted through the archive route so would not have been subject to QC.

 

Looking at the correspondence from the customer, there was a disappointment with the quality once the client had downloaded it.

 

Refund terms are set out in the contract and the customer was within the terms to request a refund. 

 

Alamy

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Whilst not approving of Alamy's personal use license, I have to accept that a buyer can abuse any low-cost license and so putting restrictions on one's whole collection would prove pointless.

 

However, what is worrying, is the ability for the buyer to get a refund on a personal license - which I've just had. It was apparently refunded because the customer complained of poor image quality. This is totally unacceptable and these cheap licenses should never be refunded. Even if the intended use was genuine, the buyer has ended up with a high resolution file, the usage for which can never be verified.

 

It's time Alamy started controlling this and other aspects of the license (which have already been discussed), before it gets out of hand.

 

Ian D

 

Control of image  usage is already out of hand across the whole of the stock photography market generally. It is not an Alamy specific problem. How does ANYONE control ANY internal use such as personal, presentations, internal documents, training materials, ...

 

If you licence digital images you will get ripped off, just as since shops went self-service they have had to accept they will get shoplifting. The question is do the extra sales compensate for the thefts? I have heard it suggested that in the early days of self-service shop managers got into trouble if their "shrinkage" (thefts) were too low; it was treated as sign that their displays were not sufficiently attractive ;)

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