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Am I the only one struggling when I have not subscribed to either novelty or newspaper schemes and have the following showing up in sales:

 

Usage: Personal use, Personal prints, cards and gifts. Non-commercial use only, not for resale.
Media: Non-commercial, one time, personal/home use
Start: 30 June 2016
End: 30 June 2021

Fee $10.74 gross

 

How can any rationale commercial operation provide a license for one time personal / home use (for which there is no way of tracking its actual use) that has a lifespan of five years, also if for personal ONE time use, why are Cards and gifts shown in the plural? Is there also a block on the personal use licensee being able to put up on social media (facebook etc) and thereby reduce potential future sales of an image?

 

And all this for a fee to me that was less than the parking meter on the day in question. If personal sales are to become a regular option then I personally would like an opt out button, I can (albeit) begrudgingly live with sales of $30-50, at least it covers the cost of lunch and parking, but c$10 gross is a joke and that is why I opted out of novel and newspaper use.

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You can opt out from personal use.

 

How so?

Richard

 

 

You have to put that restriction on all your images.  If you do, then none of your images will be available through distributors.

 

Jill

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You can opt out from personal use.

 

How so?

Richard

 

 

You have to put that restriction on all your images.  If you do, then none of your images will be available through distributors.

 

Jill

 

 

 

For the number of distributor sales I have it could be worth it. -_-

 

Allan

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yes it is a joke and I don't see how opting out is an ideal solution to either us or Alamy when it means cutting out distributor sales, a better solution is needed urgently. I get quite a few distributor sales and have had some good amounts from these, so I would hate to lose them - also not good for Alamy if everyone who wants to get out of personal use sales has to cut off distributor sales too.

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It's an underhanded way of forcing us to stay in Personal Use. Each option should stand on its own. It's a shame that we, who are out there beating the streets, spending money getting the shots, have very little control over how our images are sold.

And considering some of the images sold for Personal Use, it screams of cheating.

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I had two PU sales a few days ago. Both of the city Ghent (Belgium), clearly bought by the same "client" and certainly NOT the kind of images you'd hang on the wall.

BT9BW4

BGMGKH

 

Contacted MS with the question to investigate. Their answer: "We will have a look into these usages. We are monitoring how personal use licenses are being used from our end."

 

I truly wonder HOW they are going to check whether these licences for HIGH RESOLUTION images were rightfully used or not? Ask them nicely to tell the truth? Ask them to take a picture of their wall with the framed print?

Can't wait to hear back from ms.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

I could see someone hanging a picture of the Yacht Basin on their wall but not the other.

 

Not that I would want it on my wall though. :P

 

Allan

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isphoto, we already have few threads about this case. At least we had... Many posts talking about PU - far to cheap, large size, no option to opt out and stay in distribution, people sending emails to Alamy and getting the answer as you can see in Philippe's post. And clients buying clearly editorial images in the cheapest option which is PU. Many authors are annoyed and against it but why would Alamy care?

 

One more time - yes, this PU price is a joke, Alamy is ignoring photographers and loosing our trust seriously. I used to love Alamy and share a good words about this professional agency for last few years, but now we get only unprofessional lack feedback to shut up and upload more... Read it fast as we can expect to see this post/ thread removed soon too as it's clearly not comfortable for Alamy to openly (and professionally) speak with us about the BIG problem... 

Have no words to say how much I'm disappointed  :rolleyes:

 

edit for typos.

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I'd agree with an easy opt-out for personal use. I don't want want to stop all distribution - my biggest sales have come from distributors - but personal use does seem to be the new Novel Use and I'd like to see an opportunity not to opt in.

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One thing that confuses me with some of the posts on this thread are the comments that some contributor's biggest sales have come about via distributors.  My biggest sale to date was via a distributor.  

 

Why can't Alamy get these high prices or am I misunderstanding something?

I would also like to add my feeling that we should have a separate opt out for personal sales.

 

John

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I have bitten the bullet, and placed the required restriction on all my images.  

 

MS just don't want to know or want to understand the problem that these low prices cause, along with sending out the hires image file.

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One thing that confuses me with some of the posts on this thread are the comments that some contributor's biggest sales have come about via distributors.  My biggest sale to date was via a distributor.  

 

Why can't Alamy get these high prices or am I misunderstanding something?

 

I would also like to add my feeling that we should have a separate opt out for personal sales.

 

John

They're usually in local markets, of local subjects, where presumably the distributors can get better fees. My good ones have been in Germany and France which seem to have well-established agencies. Although the top-end sales still seem to be direct. So I have just contradicted myself.

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I had two PU sales a few days ago. Both of the city Ghent (Belgium), clearly bought by the same "client" and certainly NOT the kind of images you'd hang on the wall.

BT9BW4

BGMGKH

 

Contacted MS with the question to investigate. Their answer: "We will have a look into these usages. We are monitoring how personal use licenses are being used from our end."

 

I truly wonder HOW they are going to check whether these licences for HIGH RESOLUTION images were rightfully used or not? Ask them nicely to tell the truth? Ask them to take a picture of their wall with the framed print?

Can't wait to hear back from ms.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

I could see someone hanging a picture of the Yacht Basin on their wall but not the other.

 

Not that I would want it on my wall though. :P

 

Allan

 

 

Bought by SAME "client" :

 

smak-the-municipal-museum-of-contemporar + yacht-basin-portus-ganda-ghent-belgium-b  = clearly for editorial purposes  :rolleyes:

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

 

 

YUP!  :angry:

 

Allan

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I'm doing the same right now - I've been waiting for long enough for Alamy reaction and won't accept beeing ignored anymore. Enough!

 

I will be doing the same.

 

Allan

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I think a clear indication of abuse is the appearance of some of these personal use sales in Customer Search Activity (Measures). If these were genuine, one-off licenses by Joe Public, the data for searches and sales shouldn't be registering - not to mention the unsuitability of much of the content for personal use.

 

Ian D

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I think a clear indication of abuse is the appearance of some of these personal use sales in Customer Search Activity (Measures). If these were genuine, one-off licenses by Joe Public, the data for searches and sales shouldn't be registering - not to mention the unsuitability of much of the content for personal use.

Ian D

Agreed.
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fotoDogue , are you sure it's $ not £? 

 

Yes I'm sure. I'm in the US so the calculator shows me US Dollars.

 

Buy this stock image now…
Share ▼
 

Choose a license from the list below that suits your needs.

Personal use 
$ 9.99
Presentation 
$ 9.99
Website 
$ 24.99
Magazines, newsletters and books 
$ 69.99
Marketing package: Small business 
$ 59.99
Marketing package: Large business 
$ 199.99
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I can beat the previous suspect sale example ...

 

 

Two images just sold for personal use ($6 each). 

 

Both zoomed on the 9 June and they are both of Kate McCann!!!!*

 

C41Y0E.jpg  C41Y2A.jpg

 

C41Y0E                              C41Y2A

 

 

Really? 

 

* for non-UK readers she is the mother of Maddy McCann who went missing in Portugal aged 6. Received significant press coverage at the time and still five years later.  

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I can beat the previous suspect sale example ...

 

 

Two images just sold for personal use ($6 each). 

 

Both zoomed on the 9 June and they are both of Kate McCann!!!!*

 

C41Y0E.jpg  C41Y2A.jpg

 

C41Y0E                              C41Y2A

 

 

Really? 

 

* for non-UK readers she is the mother of Maddy McCann who went missing in Portugal aged 6. Received significant press coverage at the time and still five years later.  

In a pig's eye did she order them for herself.

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I have just searched one of my "personal use" licence sales.  The very same day as the image was licensed for "personal use", it appeared on a guide to New York website (which alone is not within the licence) with a link to wedding venues, and it also appeared a few days later on another site listing wedding venues (no separate licence has been reported for this).  It seems to me that not only is my image being used on the web (in itself not licensed), but also that there is an obvious commercial purpose.  I have referred the matter to Member Services and will not, in the interests of discretion, reveal the file reference pending their comments, but what I am seeing here chimes with other comments about abuse of the "personal use" licence.  The fact that it was posted online the very day it was licensed appears to me to indicate that this was a cynical and deliberate attempt to acquire the ability to use the image at the lowest possible cost with no intention of adhering to the licence terms, but I will await Member Services' comments with interest.

 

It really is a pity that it is not possible to opt out of this licence, which is clearly open to abuse, without affecting other opportunities.

 

Graham

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