andremichel Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 The current £ - $ exchange rate is 1.277, but today's Alamy payout uses 1.327. I am surprised there is such a large discrepancy, resulting in me receiving £6 less than I expected. I don't remember it ever being this bad previously. This is even more infuriating given Alamy are a British company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 34 minutes ago, andremichel said: The current £ - $ exchange rate is 1.277, but today's Alamy payout uses 1.327. I am surprised there is such a large discrepancy, resulting in me receiving £6 less than I expected. I don't remember it ever being this bad previously. This is even more infuriating given Alamy are a British company. Frankly I always work out what I should get from the exchange rate and then subtract many pounds from that estimate, as its always less in practice. :( Kumar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andremichel Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 10 minutes ago, Doc said: Frankly I always work out what I should get from the exchange rate and then subtract many pounds from that estimate, as its always less in practice. Kumar It is always a bit less, but I was expecting something in the region of 1.29 not 1.327 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Devon Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Hopefully they use the same exchange rate when they invoice the customer in £sterling to convert it to $US as shown in our sales reports. If the same rate is used at both ends - then it doesn't really matter what the rate is! (for UK sales) Jools 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) IME the spread has always been about 3%. Incidentally, do you get advance notice from your bank? I only get notified of the payment when it's credited, on the 4th. working day of the month. Edited March 2, 2020 by spacecadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 37 minutes ago, spacecadet said: IME the spread has always been about 3%. Incidentally, do you get advance notice from your bank? I only get notified of the payment when it's credited, on the 4th. working day of the month. Only when credited Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Currency converter tells me I could get paid £466 this month - I reckon I will actually get £450... we will see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Walker Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Could it be that Alamy averages out the rate over the month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 8 hours ago, John Walker said: Could it be that Alamy averages out the rate over the month. Or just picks the highest, or lowest, whichever way you are looking at it. Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 8 hours ago, John Walker said: Could it be that Alamy averages out the rate over the month. Never given me more than I was expecting! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Crean Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Exchange rates are normally set by the bank doing the transfer... Phil 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Phil Crean said: Exchange rates are normally set by the bank doing the transfer... Phil i would assume Alamy has £ denomited accounts, and enough revenue in pounds to not have to require paying for conversion. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) 9 minutes ago, meanderingemu said: i would assume Alamy has £ denomited accounts, and enough revenue in pounds to not have to require paying for conversion. Yes I would assume that's the case. What we be the point in receiving UK sales payments in £, actually converting to USD and then paying back to UK contributors in £? That would involve two conversions. The other thing that complicates conversion rate is that some companies take out forward contracts which provide currency conversion at a fixed exchange rates until some future date. Sometimes they win sometimes they loose depending on how rates shift, but it gives them some "insulation" against these fluctuations. Therefore it maybe difficult to correlate the "spot" exchange rates with those used to calculate our payments. Nevertheless.... it would be nice if Alamy provided some insight into how they treat licence fees received on our behalf and paid to us. Mark Edited March 3, 2020 by M.Chapman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 16 hours ago, Doc said: Never given me more than I was expecting! But I guess it might depend on when they do the conversion which may be several days before payment made so may give Alamy the benefit of the doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Doc said: But I guess it might depend on when they do the conversion which may be several days before payment made so may give Alamy the benefit of the doubt. I sometimes check the spread on xe.com and I use the payment date that appears on the balance of account. it's usually around 3%. OP's figures are about 4% but the rate has been a bit bouncy this week- certainly 1%- so he may have picked a different day to compare. Edited March 4, 2020 by spacecadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 40 minutes ago, spacecadet said: I sometimes check the spread on xe.com and I use the payment date that appears on the balance of account. it's usually around 3%. OP's figures are about 4% but the rate has been a bit bouncy this week- certainly 1%- so he may have picked a different day to compare. just checked the charts and most of the 28 of February, last business day of the month, was around 1.288, in line with a 3% load (which i find excessive considering they have revenues in pounds that should cover part of the payments, but that would be every month). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 (edited) On 04/03/2020 at 13:32, meanderingemu said: just checked the charts and most of the 28 of February, last business day of the month, was around 1.288, in line with a 3% load (which i find excessive considering they have revenues in pounds that should cover part of the payments, but that would be every month). I dont think Alamy operates that way. It decided at the outset to account in dollars to contributors . My rate was $1.324. On the 2nd the rate on xe.com was about $1.28, so the commission is about 3.5%. Edited March 6, 2020 by spacecadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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