steve18 Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 How can this happen? Is it even legal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 If you mean a refund, well yes, it happens from time to time. Never pleasant but I assume entirely legal. If you want to you can ask contributors@alamy.com for an explanation and I'm sure they'll oblige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve18 Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 Thanks for the replies. It's a refund! A decent $75 sale refunded after 4 months +. Surely it had been paid for given the amount of time that's passed, reverse image search to be done I think. That was my best sale on Alamy and the only sale this year so a little deflated to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve18 Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 The sale didn't clear so I guess it was never paid for! Sales shouldn't be reported unless they've been purchased. Thanks for the positive slant Geoff. Yes Alamy should have a time limit (1 month max). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 8 hours ago, steve18 said: The sale didn't clear so I guess it was never paid for! Sales shouldn't be reported unless they've been purchased. Thanks for the positive slant Geoff. Yes Alamy should have a time limit (1 month max). Refunds like this are frustrating. However, stock photography doesn't work like a grocery store. Shoppers can usually walk out with a bag full of images and promise to pay later. If they don't, both Alamy and contributors lose out. As someone mentioned, "refunded" can actually mean "cancelled". There's often a backstory that we don't know about. If Alamy has given up trying to collect from a buyer, we have to assume that it was for a good reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Lowe Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 A while ago I had a sale that was refunded after something like three years - it never cleared, and I think several other contributors were caught as well. If I remember correctly the sale was through a Brazilian distributor which went bust and I believe Alamy spent a lot of time trying to get some money out of them before giving up. So a time limit would be totally impractical - remember, Alamy are losing money as well as contributors, so it's in their interest as well as ours to avoid refunds. Most agencies wouldn't report the sale until they actually get paid or until they paid you, so with those agencies you would never know there had been a sale in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 28 minutes ago, Vincent Lowe said: A while ago I had a sale that was refunded after something like three years - it never cleared, and I think several other contributors were caught as well. If I remember correctly the sale was through a Brazilian distributor which went bust and I believe Alamy spent a lot of time trying to get some money out of them before giving up. So a time limit would be totally impractical - remember, Alamy are losing money as well as contributors, so it's in their interest as well as ours to avoid refunds. Most agencies wouldn't report the sale until they actually get paid or until they paid you, so with those agencies you would never know there had been a sale in the first place. I too had a few of those ancient Brazilian distributor refunds that you mention. You're probably right about having a time limit. It could prove counter-productive in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 I had a picture that was sold last November and paid for refunded last month. Alamy told me it had been bought with a stolen credit card so had to be refunded. Fair enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve18 Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 It would be more useful to everyone if Alamy only reported a sale after all the games had been played so we would know it's genuine and would get paid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Read the posts. This isn't a retail business. It's Alamy policy to report sales quickly -it's a very popular policy and it won't be changed. The downside is that occasionally you get a refund. I for one wouldn't find it "more useful" to wait months for a report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve18 Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 GS you were right, sale back (same image same fee). Waiting for November now when they refund again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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