BobD

Poor. 4 for $53

Shutterstock is already very profitable. In 2018 they had a turnover of $623 million and paid a special dividend to shareholders of $104 million. The new structure is greed pure and simple.

I think one would be stupid to 'flick the switch' before seeing the result of the change. Although I have done so with video's as they are being sold for a pittance. However I will do it if as is being reported some commissions fall to 10c. I am on level 2 at the moment.

There was an article on BBC news this lunch time highlighting how creatives are being badly treated by web platforms. Although primarily about music, all creative forms can be included. The hypocrisy of the BBC is astounding, Highlighting the complaint while touting for free images from the public and using microstock wherever possible.

John. I think I read somewhere that they payout if you close your account but you had better verify this before doing so.

It's funny, I was reading someones blog the other day and he said his top earning site last month was a free website.

Steve, I do not rely on the income at all but did run my own business for over 40 years until retirement. If I had run it the way Alamy runs theirs, I would have gone skint in very short order.

Ian, up to last year I completely agreed with you and refused to sell on MS. It was Alamy's last commission cut and drastically falling prices that conversely convinced me to give it a try. Once I had a few hundred images up my income per image was consistently higher there than here. I produce very few images nowadays and just exploiting what I have to the greatest extent.

Indeed. How many sales will never clear because companies going out of business in the current situation and Alamy's lax attitude to collection. Alamy seriously need to look at pay to download, the same as any digital asset sales.

My experiment over there is about to come to an end. Actually my commission on sales this month has ranged from 25c to $60 and I will get a payout of $140 this month with just over a 1000 images which is more than I have received from Alamy for well over a year. My 3 sales on Alamy so far this month have earned me $13.53 nett and I have not had a sale cleared for 3 months. When I did have a sale to take me over the $50 it was refunded a couple of days later. This whole business has become the modern equivalent of a Victorian sweat shop. However I will not be exploited by anyone.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/20/uk-lockdown-heatwave-pictures-hot-weather-london-scotland/dennis-pug-back-garden-early-morning-making-sunshine-gets-hot/ Simon Maycock / Alamy live news

Unfortunately I find that volume has not increased as prices haven fallen on Alamy ( allowing for increased volume of images). As far as MS sites go, it's true that most sales are small but I had a $80 net sale from one on Monday. A higher net sale than I have received from Alamy since 2011.

Two small sales so far and zooms are worst I've known. 3 today still only brings the total for the month so far to 4.

Thanks Jaime

7 for $255, best month for a while. Zooms pretty poor but 5 on the last day improved things.

I have never had the opportunity to post in this thread before but my first 3 figure sale for 3 years dropped in this morning.

Nothing new about that. When I was a kid I always had holes in the knees of my trousers. 😃

only 1 small sale so far, zooms at 4 are the worse since 2009 when I had far fewer images. This after having 3 record months for zooms. Sales at the other place are normal.

My three for April.

Thanks Steve

You're preaching to the converted Ian. I went non exclusive at the last commission cut and wish I had done it earlier.

There is no extra money for Alamy to make to regard 'exclusive' in the normal sense of the word.

Agreed, but there is nothing in the contract that says you have to be exclusive. They are in fact saying you cannot be exclusive with some images. They already seem to be moving the goal posts, how long before statues are added. Anything that is created by humans can be considered art. This is just another way to take money from contributors. This is not the Alamy of 10 years ago, nor 5 years for that matter. There is nothing to be gained for loyalty here anymore.

No I am not misunderstanding. If Alamy regard an image as not being exclusive for commission purposes, what is the point of having it only on Alamy.

Just another reason to not be exclusive to Alamy.