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Distributor commission on sales


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8 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

And why should the "distributor" get the lions share of the fee?

 

I believe it should be distributor 25%, Alamy 30% and contributor 45%.

 

Allan

 

 

 

That's a very good question. However, 30% to contributors for distributor sales seems fairly standard -- even generous -- these days (unfortunately).

 

 

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3 hours ago, fotoDogue said:

 

 

Go to My Dashboard

Click on Additional Revenue Options

Click on Distributors and it will take you to a list of distributors arranged by continent.

Check on the ones you want. Uncheck the ones you don't want.

So, which the best, and which might be best to avoid? I have no experience of distributor sales, despite being opted in. 

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8 hours ago, Sally said:

So, which the best, and which might be best to avoid? I have no experience of distributor sales, despite being opted in. 

 

 

Sorry but I don't think it would be appropriate to name distributors, on this forum, with whom Alamy is currently doing business.

 

Let's just say that when Alamy opened the New York Office I oped out of English Language agencies in North America presuming those clients could go straight to Alamy - not that I had had any North American distributor sales anyway. Other ones I opted out were the ones that have consistently low rates. Once you've had a few distributor sales you'll know who they are.

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2 minutes ago, fotoDogue said:

 

 

Sorry but I don't think it would be appropriate to name affiliates, on this forum, with whom Alamy is currently doing business.

 

Let's just say that when Alamy opened the New York Office I oped out of English Language agencies in North America presuming those clients could go straight to Alamy - not that I had had any North American affiliate sales anyway. Other ones I opted out were the ones that have consistently low rates. Once you've had a few affiliate sales you'll know who they are.

Yes, understand, and thought that might be the case. I look forward to such sales :)

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4 hours ago, fotoDogue said:

Sorry but I don't think it would be appropriate to name affiliates, on this forum, with whom Alamy is currently doing business.

Affiliates and distributors are two different things. There is no way to opt out of affiliate sales (or know who the affiliate is), you just have to accept the lower percentage. An opt-out for affiliate sales is #1 on my wish list.

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On 3/10/2018 at 18:30, John Mitchell said:

 

I get what you're saying. Photo-buyers can indeed go directly to Alamy on the WWW, which would of course be better for us. However, many buyers might prefer to deal with agencies in their own regions for a number of reasons -- language, ease of doing business, local expertise, price, etc. 

 

BTW, I'm wondering how you know for sure that you have had direct overseas sales because you have opted out of the distributor system.

 

John

Obviously, I don't know if the direct sales come as a result of opting out.  However, I do get sales from parts of the world where I would normally expect them through a distributor (based on the time when I was opted in).  I understand that buyers might prefer to go through local distributors, and I'm sure I lose some sales because of this.  My point is that the enhanced fees obtained from forcing them to buy direct, might compensate - at least to some extent - for those lost.  It depends what you shoot, obviously, but if you have images they need then there should be at least some occasions when they will use Alamy directly. whether they like it or not.  As I said, I have no way of knowing.  I do actually allow distribution in territories where there could be a language problem (Japan being one example but there are obviously others).  I do not get reduced commission from derisory sales in other parts of the world though, which is good for my blood pressure.  

 

Chris

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7 hours ago, fotoDogue said:

 

Sorry I meant to say distributors.

Didn't mean to nit-pick, but just want to keep the lingo on track. Affiliate sales have the potential to undermine the contract, yet there is very little interest in the topic.

Thanks for pointing to the distributor list. Rather than just exclude low dollar distributors, I've decided to opt- out in April as this a tiny percent of my sales and I like to keep 50% of all sales, if possible.

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  • 3 weeks later...

To my mind it's far to easy for distributors to incorrectly report sales. It's a matter of trust and I'm afraid I don't. Also, to me at least, I don't like handing over a percentage for two agencies to do the same job. Fine if they want to split the 50% between them but they're not sharing out my portion of the sale. I'm remaining out.

 

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While we're on this subject, did anyone come to a firm conclusion over the link between personal use and distribution?  There were rumours that preventing personal use would also prevent distribution.  Is this correct?  And, if so, does this apply to just those images that have personal use prevented or is it "one out, all out"?  I don't remember seeing any conclusive statements from Alamy on this - perhaps I've missed something?

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38 minutes ago, CM photo said:

While we're on this subject, did anyone come to a firm conclusion over the link between personal use and distribution?  There were rumours that preventing personal use would also prevent distribution.  Is this correct?  And, if so, does this apply to just those images that have personal use prevented or is it "one out, all out"?  I don't remember seeing any conclusive statements from Alamy on this - perhaps I've missed something?

 

"Images which have any restrictions in place may be excluded from the distribution scheme at Alamy’s discretion." (from the contract)

Personal Use is one of the four types of restrictions found in AIM, so if put in place probably does preclude distribution sales. Note the word 'may' in the contract. 

 

Opted out of distributor sales today. Not interested in receiving less than 50% of the sale amount. Very few distributor sales of my mostly US photography.

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1 hour ago, KevinS said:

 

"Images which have any restrictions in place may be excluded from the distribution scheme at Alamy’s discretion." (from the contract)

Personal Use is one of the four types of restrictions found in AIM, so if put in place probably does preclude distribution sales. Note the word 'may' in the contract. 

 

Opted out of distributor sales today. Not interested in receiving less than 50% of the sale amount. Very few distributor sales of my mostly US photography.

 

Thanks, Kevin.

 

The reason I asked was that I have placed PU restrictions on some of my images but I am still getting the odd distributor sale (I am only signed up for a handful of territories).  I think I need to go through my distributor sales to see if any of them involve images for which I have restrictions, but it's unlikely to be conclusive.  And, as you point out, the word "may" will cloud the issue still more.

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6 hours ago, KevinS said:

 

"Images which have any restrictions in place may be excluded from the distribution scheme at Alamy’s discretion." (from the contract)

Personal Use is one of the four types of restrictions found in AIM, so if put in place probably does preclude distribution sales. Note the word 'may' in the contract. 

 

Opted out of distributor sales today. Not interested in receiving less than 50% of the sale amount. Very few distributor sales of my mostly US photography.

I opted out of distribution yesterday for similar reasons.  Alamy's web site has world-wide reach with sales offices in US, UK, etc. My small portfolio is US only and none of my sales so far has been thru a distributor.   

 

Perhaps in the future if I grow my portfolio considerably larger I may consider rejoining.  

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