Current Cleared Balance is different than sales to date?

[BeckyW]

Hi, new here.  On my dashboard it shows sales to date as $42, but it says that the current cleared balance is $15.  If I've made $42 why am I only cleared to get $15 of it?  I see they won't pay until I've reached a balance of $50 which is fine, but I'm confused about the current cleared balance.  What exactly does that mean?

 

Thanks!

[Joseph Clemson]

Sales show up on your account when Alamy invoices the customer for the sale. Many sales are on customer credit accounts and it can be several weeks or, in some cases, even months before the customer actually sends Alamy the cash to pay for the image licence. When Alamy receives the payment from the customer, it appears on your account as a cleared payment. AAs you say, when you have $50 cleared balance, Alamy sned you your payment.

 

Even those sales which made directly through the website, rather than through an Alamy slaes person, and are paid instantly by the customer are still subject to a delay (45 days I think) before they show up as cleared on your account.

[BeckyW]

4 hours ago, Joseph Clemson said:

Sales show up on your account when Alamy invoices the customer for the sale. Many sales are on customer credit accounts and it can be several weeks or, in some cases, even months before the customer actually sends Alamy the cash to pay for the image licence. When Alamy receives the payment from the customer, it appears on your account as a cleared payment. AAs you say, when you have $50 cleared balance, Alamy sned you your payment.

 

Even those sales which made directly through the website, rather than through an Alamy slaes person, and are paid instantly by the customer are still subject to a delay (45 days I think) before they show up as cleared on your account.

 Thanks for the info.  It has been several months.  If for some reason a customer doesn't make their payment I would hope we still get paid because the image has been given to them.  I sell my photos on other stock sites and I have to say I'm not sure I"m crazy about that long of a delay. 

[MizBrown]

5 minutes ago, BeckyW said:

 Thanks for the info.  It has been several months.  If for some reason a customer doesn't make their payment I would hope we still get paid because the image has been given to them.  I sell my photos on other stock sites and I have to say I'm not sure I"m crazy about that long of a delay. 

 

I had a sale reported in April that hasn't be paid yet, not sure that it will be.  Another fish shot was licensed and paid for more.  Shrug.  Not sure when I should start asking questions, or just wait to see if the sale reverses after a while.  My understanding is that if the sale reverses, we don't get paid. 

 

[imageplotter]

I'm still waiting for 18 sales from May to clear, several of them live news sales. The reponse I received to my query was the usual standard email 'We're aware...'

[meanderingemu]

11 hours ago, BeckyW said:

 Thanks for the info.  It has been several months.  If for some reason a customer doesn't make their payment I would hope we still get paid because the image has been given to them.  I sell my photos on other stock sites and I have to say I'm not sure I"m crazy about that long of a delay. 

 

 

how do you know there is no delays at so called "other stock sites" ? in fact i know of one that just had a bunch of retroactive adjustments all negative going back several months...  

Edited October 12, 2019 by meanderingemu

[Joseph Clemson]

12 hours ago, BeckyW said:

 Thanks for the info.  It has been several months.  If for some reason a customer doesn't make their payment I would hope we still get paid because the image has been given to them.  I sell my photos on other stock sites and I have to say I'm not sure I"m crazy about that long of a delay. 

 

I think we can be quite clear that if Alamy doesn't get paid by the client then we won't get paid either.

 

Non-payment may be a result of various circumstances, not just that the cleint has used the picture and then refused to pay up. Indeed, if that was the case and it became known, then Alamy has the option pursue the errant client for illegal use of the image, or to tell you you can do so yourself if they aren't able to for some reason. 

 

Non-payment (as opposed to refunds) can happen for other reasons, such as clients going out of business. It is in Alamy's own business interest (as well as ours) to pursue as far as is reasonably possible any unpaid invoices or dubious refund requests. 

 

Picking up on the later point about microstock sites. By and large with microstock we have no idea when the actual sale was made when the payment pops into the contributor's sales record - effectively all we see from most of these other sites is the cleared payment arriving (and even then, still subject to possible refund).  I suspect in most cases the microstock site are quicker to make the payment available to us, but we can't be sure and there is little actual transparency in the process. At least Alamy is open and transparent about the sales and invoicing process, even if we find it frustrating.

[BeckyW]

4 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

how do you know there is no delays at so called "other stock sites" ? in fact i know of one that just had a bunch of retroactive adjustments all negative going back several months...  

Fair enough.  I don't know and honestly never thought about it until now.  On other sites I just assumed because it says there is a sale and the money is in my dashboard that it's all well and good.  I've never had any negative retroactive adjustments occur either. 

 

 

[dustydingo]

26 minutes ago, BeckyW said:

Fair enough.  I don't know and honestly never thought about it until now.  On other sites I just assumed because it says there is a sale and the money is in my dashboard that it's all well and good.  I've never had any negative retroactive adjustments occur either. 

 

 

 

Alamy could  do what many other sites do and not report anything until payment has actually been received. They choose to do it differently, but there will always be people who are not happy with that. C'est la vie       

 

DD                 ,                                                       

[Brizbee]

Hi Becky.

 

Your current cleared balance and your sales to date are always going to differ. Sales to date is a running total of what Alamy has charged buyers for your pictures. Unfortunately we don't get all that cash. We only get a percentage, between 30 and 50 depending on whether it's a distributor, non-exclusive or exclusive sale.

 

The best way to find out exactly where the 15$ in your cleared balance has come from is to download a sales report (black button at the top of your dashboard). Once you've opened this window select a wide date range and select 'date invoiced'. This will produce a list of all your sales. Any sale with 'cleared' in the left hand column has been paid for and your share of the sale is shown in the right hand column, which is your cleared balance.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Brian.