How do I see my actual earnings?

[Hanna_Fate]

On my dashboard, there is a number for "sales to date". 

 

That's nice, but I know that number is not my actual earnings, because Alamy always has to do it the confusing way. 

How do I see what My actual earnings have been?

 

I'm trying to decide if I want to continue with Alamy.

 

I find their accounting distressing, and it may not be worth the anxiety to continue.  I really do try to just ignore it, and pretend it's all okay, but every time I see a sale, I have to mentally backtrack and tell myself "that wasn't really a $20 sale, it's probably more like $8, I need to look it up" and then see the confusing report... I can't make any real assessment of my earnings.  Maybe I can live without the earnings, and not have the stress. 

 

I have no expectations that Alamy will make their accounting less opaque.

 

I have worked hard on my portfolio.

 

It's hard to decide, and knowing my actual earnings over the years will help.

 

 

[meanderingemu]

19 minutes ago, Steve F said:

Agreed that it's good to know. I would also like to see net income somewhere though as a single figure (unless Alamy is worried it would make us depressed!)

 

 

i guess it's because i maintain my monthly accounting that I have that.  Plus Tax rules where i am are on paid basis, so until Alamy releases my fund it's a non issue)

 

 

as for the depression point, i think it's more why the others don't make a point of highlighting how much they charge you for their work.  Where else would you accept being charge 85% 

[meanderingemu]

23 minutes ago, Hanna_Fate said:

 

What I'm saying is more equivalent to expecting the dollar value on my paycheck to be the actual amount of money I can cash the check for.

 

If I want to know the "base salary" I can look it up. 

 

 

i have never seen a job where the salary posted was Net.  

9 minutes ago, Hanna_Fate said:

 

 

On all my other sites, if I log in and see a $20 sale, it's a $20 sale.  Yay!   I log in to Alamy and there's $70!.... no wait... I haven't earned $70.   I've earned $20.   Oh.

Maybe all I really want to be different is what they show me first.  Show me the net on the main page, show me the details elsewhere. 

 

 

 

 

it isn't a $20 sale.  It could be a an $133 sale, on which your agent took $113 for their service.  I'll take Alamy's openess any day

[Tony ALS]

As a relative newbie I have to agree with Hanna_Fate. The way the figures are presented is a mess. It wouldn't be difficult to change the layout to make it all simpler. And as for the time it takes for payments to clear... Perhaps it's covid but I'm surprised at the length of time it takes.  

Edited November 24, 2020 by Tony ALS
misspelling

[NYCat]

47 minutes ago, Hanna_Fate said:

 

I don't know where you've been banking, but my bank doesn't take a cut when I cash a check. 

 

I'm in New Mexico, USA.

 

 

 

 

 

My Alamy money comes directly into my American bank with no deductions taken. It may have something to do with the kind of checking account I have and it's fees. I don't have fees unless someone has given me a bad check.

 

Paulette

[Hanna_Fate]

I suppose my attitude about this will make more sense if I explain that I have been selling illustrations since before the internet.

 

There were two ways I sold them.  One was a simple one time license.  I would get a check, then the magazine would use my image in one issue.

 

The other was a royalty (percentage per sale) or commission (set amount per sale). There really wasn't much difference between these.  The publisher would start out selling with a high mark up, but wind up the run with closeout prices, for an average effect of a flat rate even when paying a percentage.   The publisher would sell items, then pay me quarterly.

 

When I started selling stock images online, it was commission sales.

 

I got paid a set amount per type of license sold, no matter what the publisher charged for it.  (The publisher did state their retail prices.) The amount to be paid, and the types of license allowed were all spelled out before any sales were made, and could be re-negotiated at specified intervals. 

 

This has changed, obviously.  Microstock marketing has become fluid and complex, with agencies offering subscription and package deals to their clients.  With digital mobility, they would really, really rather pay a percentage to contributors than a flat rate.   This allows them to offer better deals to try to get a larger market share.  (Agencies have also realized how broadly they can take advantage of hobbyists and punters who just want the pleasure of saying they have sold some things.  I fear the craft is dying.)

 

I still tend to think of my payment as commission.  I expect to get minimum $x per sale, no matter how much or little the agency is selling the licenses for.  So long as no payment drops below my calculated minimum, I figure it evens out in the long run. 

 

Probably an obsolete way to think about it, but it has been working for me for 40 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NYCat]

I can definitely see that it would be nice to not only see the amount the client has paid and the amount Alamy keeps. A column for the amount the photographer is receiving for each sale would be helpful. Since I am exclusive with Alamy and get an amount equal to what they get I haven't seen much need for it. There is a section for Suggestions and Ideas on the Forum so you could put in that request.

 

Paulette

[Hanna_Fate]

2 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

i have never seen a job where the salary posted was Net.  

 

 

it isn't a $20 sale.  It could be a an $133 sale, on which your agent took $113 for their service.  I'll take Alamy's openess any day

 

I'm not accusing them of hiding data.  I'm accusing them of presenting the data in a way that makes it difficult to assess actual earnings. 

 

Other agencies I sell through also provide information about their retail prices.  They just don't make me do math to find out what I have earned.

 

I want this:

 

"We have sold x-type license, here's $10."

"We have sold x-type license, here's $10."

"We have sold x-type license, here's $10."

 

not

 

"We have sold x-type license, here's $40.  Also, we are charging you $30 for selling the license for you."

"We have sold x-type license, here's $80.  Also, we are charging you $75 for selling the license for you."

"We have sold x-type license, here's $50.  Also, we are charging you $35 for selling the license for you."

 

It comes out to the same earnings, but one raises my anxiety levels, and the other doesn't. 

 

I'm an artist.  I can do art all day, and you will find me as perky as you like.

I can do math or bookkeeping, but after an hour, you will find me huddled in a blanket hissing at the world.

 

My dream goal as an artist has always been to make enough money to make my stuff and hand it off to someone else who will handle selling it and doing the bookkeeping, leaving me a comfortable income even if they skim off 15%. 

 

I suspect that hasn't happened because I have always had to do my own bookkeeping and my own marketing.

 

 

 

Edited to add:  I really don't care if they sell x-type license for $1000, so long as I get my $10.  They can rip off their customers if they want to.  

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Hanna_Fate

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, Hanna_Fate said:

I don't know where you've been banking, but my bank doesn't take a cut when I cash a check. 

 

I'm in New Mexico, USA.

 

We don't have checks here.  They were discontinued in 2002, but they hadn't been in use much since towards the end of the nineties. Here most people have one or usually more debit cards. Only half of the people have a credit card. Only 9% has 2 credit cards!

Within the US I pay no fees also with my bank (a credit union actually). The problems; the delays and the fees come when currency has to cross a border. Exchange rates are always in the favor of the bank plus there are handling fees.

I have been banking online since 1988, that's long before the internet, and initially one had to wait a whole 24h cycle (much like on Alamy - it's a database thing) before money from one account had arrived in the next. Usually another 24 hours for the other bank. Now it's nanoseconds of course.

To see how much the banks take, I keep record of the amount due in $$; the amount received in Euros; the exchange rate on the 1st of the month and on the day the money is in my bank.

The difference runs from $5 to $25 and is different each month. The time it takes is different each month too: 3 to 9 days.

I'm not complaining mind you: it's all just cost of doing business. Like paying my accountant because I hate bookkeeping.

 

wim

[meanderingemu]

17 hours ago, NYCat said:

I can definitely see that it would be nice to not only see the amount the client has paid and the amount Alamy keeps. A column for the amount the photographer is receiving for each sale would be helpful. Since I am exclusive with Alamy and get an amount equal to what they get I haven't seen much need for it. There is a section for Suggestions and Ideas on the Forum so you could put in that request.

 

Paulette

 

 

but the 50/50 is only for cases with no other intermediary.  I have some 70% commission sales and some 56% commission sales even on direct side,  And i sure appreciate Alamy telling me who takes a cut, and how much.  

I guess I am rare in thinking openess and transparency is better, and fairer.  

 

 

Had discussion with my Dentist 2 weeks ago, She had to figure out how to pass on the charges of additional cost of PPE due to Covid19, and she decided to price it exclusively.  She said there is a split on people's views. Some would rather it hidden.  Problem with hidden is that you need to converted somehow.  So someone who goes in and has 2 procedures in one shot pays double the one with 1 procedure even if only One set of PPE cost for dentist.  In addition, the hiding method means that the cost likely still remains even after if/when we go back to normal. So what she did was fairer, pay for what is linked to you.