September

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

First time in many years I was BLANKED! Zero. Pfffft.

This ought to make many of you feel better. I just set the curve.

 

Bummer. Hopefully October will bring better news.

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

Does not make me feel better Betty. The trend is not good.  While I had a payout this month, it was the lowest in many many years.

 

Sorry to hear that. My payouts have been surprisingly good -- including this month's -- during the pandemic, and sales nos. and revenue have been holding up much better than expected. However, judging by some of the posts in this thread, the overall trend doesn't sound encouraging. It seems that the only thing that is predictable these days is unpredictability.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by John Mitchell

[M.Chapman]

7 sales (1 was later refunded) for $63 gross, $28 net. A below average month, although several usages haven't been reported yet.

The refund was a PU sale of a tube of ointment. 2nd time that's happened with the same image.

 

Mark

[gvallee]

20 sales for $302.

7 were Presentations... 

[cbimages]

8 licences, which is good for me, but for a lousy $187.20 gross. Some were distributor sales. CTR holding well at .72. Two images of the small number I have on some of "those" sites gave me my largest net amount + my third largest net for the month. 

[MariaJ]

Only 2 licenses for me this month, a tiddley widdley travel one and a decent one that was distributor sale.   

Edited November 1, 2020 by MariaJ

[aphperspective]

5 for about $26 net. Most news licences are tiny these days. Onwards!

[Phil Crean]

September continues downwards....🤨

6 sales, well below average with fees all below 45$...

Hoping the winter season brings a bit of an upturn.

 

Phil

[Pearl]

38 sales which is about the norm for me but prices generally down.  Just crept into $$$$ gross but that is below average for how it used to be for my port. Only one $$$ and that was a distributor sale.  On a brighter note October has kicked off with a $330 gross, non-distributor sale so maybe this will be a better month.

 

Pearl

[Dave Nelson]

1 PU sale for $8 net.  

[andremichel]

Lowest number of sales and second lowest gross this year. 14 for $227 gross. Zooms not doing well either at 52 for the month.

 

At least I haven't had any costs since the pandemic hit, as I haven't taken any new photos. So all income is profit. I don't have much motivation.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by andremichel

[mickfly]

September 7 total, 5 for $ and 2 for $$.
Not much uploaded since Covid, but I intend revisiting my keywords through winter and shooting some indoor light tent images.

[noelbennett]

10 for $31.40 net.

 

[vpics]

59 minutes ago, noelbennett said:

10 for $31.40 net.

 

Ouch, that's an awful average. 

[IanDavidson]

On 01/10/2020 at 20:31, riccarbi said:

Ouch. I was thinking my 6 for $161 was low, but 17 for $164, less than $5 net per sale, are near-to-microstock prices. Furthemore, I had a look at you port, and I think your pictures are really good, and deserve to be paid much more than this.  I fear there's something wrong going on at Alamy...

There is, in my view, nothing going wrong with Alamy, what is going wrong is world economics hit by the impact of covid.  No one deserves “to be paid much more than this”.  In Monetary economics the value of any economic item Is what someone is willing to pay for it.  Alamy does not set prices, the market does this.  There is massive over supply in our market and the price will drop until supply equals demand.

 

some contributors, including myself are reporting normal or better revenue, some, maybe most, are reporting lower revenue but the contributors on here are a tiny, self selected sub set of the total contributor population whos revenues are likely to be somewhere between a normal and Prato distribution.  
 

I could be wrong but no one except Alamy has the data to make categoric statements about total contributor population  revenue.  Individuals can, of course, opine on their own and others earnings But is is, perhaps, an error to generalise from a tiny sub set either to the entire population or seek causation by individual organisations in the market place - I think.

[Chuck Nacke]

6 hours ago, IanDavidson said:

There is, in my view, nothing going wrong with Alamy, what is going wrong is world economics hit by the impact of covid.  No one deserves “to be paid much more than this”.  In Monetary economics the value of any economic item Is what someone is willing to pay for it.  Alamy does not set prices, the market does this.  There is massive over supply in our market and the price will drop until supply equals demand.

 

some contributors, including myself are reporting normal or better revenue, some, maybe most, are reporting lower revenue but the contributors on here are a tiny, self selected sub set of the total contributor population whos revenues are likely to be somewhere between a normal and Prato distribution.  
 

I could be wrong but no one except Alamy has the data to make categoric statements about total contributor population  revenue.  Individuals can, of course, opine on their own and others earnings But is is, perhaps, an error to generalise from a tiny sub set either to the entire population or seek causation by individual organisations in the market place - I think.

Ian,

 

I disagree with what you have written and am surprised, I thought you knew better?

 

The number of licenses that Alamy has made of the images that I have available on Alamy has held up well through 2020 and the pandemic,

eight for Sept. 2020, but the fees Alamy is getting and the license rights being given do not make me happy and I am very concerned.  

 

In response to what Ian has written:  I do have a number of images currently being licensed by Alamy that can not be found anywhere 

else and are in constant demand.  Some of the images that I write about have been licensed by other major agencies or libraries over 

the years for good fees.  My point is that I am concerned about Alamy protecting both Alamy, myself and the value of my work.  I have 

been a contributor to Alamy since 2004 and besides liking Alamy and the Alamy staff that I have communicated with, I also value Alamy.

I sometimes wonder if Alamy really values itself?

 

Chuck

[geogphotos]

10 hours ago, IanDavidson said:

There is, in my view, nothing going wrong with Alamy, what is going wrong is world economics hit by the impact of covid.  No one deserves “to be paid much more than this”.  In Monetary economics the value of any economic item Is what someone is willing to pay for it.  Alamy does not set prices, the market does this.  There is massive over supply in our market and the price will drop until supply equals demand.

 

 

 

 

If this were true every image sale would be at the same price. Clearly that its not the reality.

 

Using 19th century classical economics to try to explain 21st century internet commerce is not really very sensible. 

 

Anybody thinking about this for even a few minutes would surely realise this 'supply and demand' explanation for stock fees is just daft  full of holes.

Edited October 3, 2020 by geogphotos

[Mr Standfast]

A good month for me, thank you Alamy.

 

If I can reflect on Ian, Ian and Chucks valued comments.

 

When we consider the marketplace, well our subject is vast, complex and evolving; we are also looking at it through individual keyholes.  Each only seeing a part of the whole circus. How we interpret what we see and adapt to changes are all we as individuals can do.

 

Stay safe.

 

 

 

[losdemas]

11 hours ago, Paul J said:

Why is everyone quoting the gross sales? All that counts is the Net sales after you have convert it into £ sterling. Then you realise how bad it is!

 

I had zero sales in August and September,  admittedly my images need editing down and I have a load which have been sitting not for sale having not keyword then. I just can't be bothered to spend days keywording my images, thousands sit on my hard drives. I'd rather spend my time earning money elsewhere. 

 

Because it's a standard from which we can all do the sums. Different contributors will receive different Net values depending on how the image was licensed and whether or not the image is 'exclusive'. A Gross figure gives an ongoing base from which each individual can ascertain how their portfolio is performing, compared to other months. Individual contributors will often mention how they believe they are doing; some will keep very detailed records of both their figures and of others here.

[Brasilnut]

On 01/10/2020 at 17:37, geogphotos said:

 

 

“I Love You Alamy, but I’m Breaking Up With You!“

 

This did make me laugh.

 

Next you need to say that the problem is not with Alamy but with you.

 

That's the way break-ups go. 

 

Alamy cheated on me by promising me gold and instead delivering coal!

[geogphotos]

1 minute ago, Brasilnut said:

 

Alamy cheated on me by promising me gold and instead delivering coal!

 

 

The fact is Alex that you cheated yourself by uploading the same images to micro-stock and then refused to accept any possibility that this would affect your Alamy sales. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by geogphotos

[Marb]

On 01/10/2020 at 20:48, Betty LaRue said:

First time in many years I was BLANKED! Zero. Pfffft.

This ought to make many of you feel better. I just set the curve.

 

Nope, had a few blank months myself. You are following in my jet stream.

[geogphotos]

30 minutes ago, Marb said:

 

Nope, had a few blank months myself. You are following in my jet stream.

 

 

Just to say that I really like this image:

 

RDT3YW

[Betty LaRue]

On 01/10/2020 at 15:22, Michael Ventura said:

Does not make me feel better Betty. The trend is not good.  While I had a payout this month, it was the lowest in many many years.

I actually had a decent payout thanks to previous sales. But this big fat zero doesn’t bode well for future payouts.

[Betty LaRue]

On 01/10/2020 at 16:26, shearwater said:

Zero, nothing. Two months in a row.

Average views. CTR high: 1,08 (thanks to four strange zooms of a same subject in a sunday).

Still waiting for four distribution licenses not reported yet from may (2), july and august.

More luck next month.

Shall we hold hands and jump off the cliff together? 

Actually, when I have a good month I’m very pleased, but I don’t let the bad ones bring me down. I just found it odd to have nothing for September. I’m an optimist at heart, never let much get me down.

My philosophy is this. If you can change something for the better, do it. If you can’t, let it go. Stewing about it when you can’t change it isn’t healthy for mind or body.