Micro sales

[meanderingemu]

56 minutes ago, VbFolly said:

Alamy have confirmed by Email that the 12 cent sales were via a distributor based in China. I'll definitely be opting out of distribution in China (and Russia) as well as novel use. Hopefully this will reduce the number of tiny sales eventually, though I realise it takes some months to take effect. 

 

thanks.  not sure if Alamy will allow, but maybe we can ourselves assist others with additional info on the various distro deal. 

I currently am open to all of Europe (Russia and Belarus will be removed Friday) and a few select countries, my repeat sales are in Former Yugoslavian countries with fees normally in the low-mid $, so post commission i never net $1.  My decent Fees have come from France, Japan, Germany

[VbFolly]

5 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

thanks.  not sure if Alamy will allow, but maybe we can ourselves assist others with additional info on the various distro deal. 

I currently am open to all of Europe (Russia and Belarus will be removed Friday) and a few select countries, my repeat sales are in Former Yugoslavian countries with fees normally in the low-mid $, so post commission i never net $1.  My decent Fees have come from France, Japan, Germany

My best distro sales have been to Japan and Germany, so I plan to keep those. I had one or two reasonable $$ ones from Brazil too, but that was some time ago. I'll probably keep most of Europe (with the same exceptions you mention) as I get some sales from various European countries - they are usually only $, but at least they're not usually cents. I'm definitely opting out of China too.

[Kirk Hewlett]

I also had one of these for which I only received 23%. I thought it was still 40% or there would be an affiliate charge to get it below 40% which there isn’t , so does this mean that even the low 40% is not guaranteed? Did anyone else get a lower than normal percentage?

 

License type

License detail.

Total sale

Total deduction

Net due

Region

RF

3.0 MB;1566 x 665 pixels;181 KB  compressed ;    Additional Details: Downloaded 3 times

0.3500

-0.2700

0.0800

ROW

 

[meanderingemu]

7 minutes ago, Kirk Hewlett said:

I also had one of these for which I only received 23%. I thought it was still 40% or there would be an affiliate charge to get it below 40% which there isn’t , so does this mean that even the low 40% is not guaranteed? Did anyone else get a lower than normal percentage?

 

License type

License detail.

Total sale

Total deduction

Net due

Region

RF

3.0 MB;1566 x 665 pixels;181 KB  compressed ;    Additional Details: Downloaded 3 times

0.3500

-0.2700

0.0800

ROW

 

 

Distributor sales.  Alamy's commission is 60% of the NET amount after the Distributor takes their cut.  So in this case it looks like the distributor took 40% (there is no limit in our contract on how much they can take)

 

So Distributor   40%

Alamy 60% of (100%-40%) = 36%

 

Remaining for contributor 100%-40%-36% - 24%

[Kirk Hewlett]

20 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

Distributor sales.  Alamy's commission is 60% of the NET amount after the Distributor takes their cut.  So in this case it looks like the distributor took 40% (there is no limit in our contract on how much they can take)

 

So Distributor   40%

Alamy 60% of (100%-40%) = 36%

 

Remaining for contributor 100%-40%-36% - 24%

Ah. I was thinking the gross amount reported was what the distributor paid Alamy not what they charged the licensee. Thank you for explaining.

[meanderingemu]

3 minutes ago, Kirk Hewlett said:

Ah. I was thinking the gross amount reported was what the distributor paid Alamy not what they charged the licensee. Thank you for explaining.

 

 

actually that was one thing i was afraid when the new Agreement came out, but i will give credit to Alamy for at least continuing to report the Gross amount, and keeping the Distributor commission transparent, if only in order to access contributor level- though 12 cents sales is not going to help...  

[Reimar]

7 hours ago, VbFolly said:

Alamy have confirmed by Email that the 12 cent sales were via a distributor based in China. I'll definitely be opting out of distribution in China (and Russia) as well as novel use. Hopefully this will reduce the number of tiny sales eventually, though I realise it takes some months to take effect. 

Thanks for that. 

Still, it's hard to know what distributors to drop.  I just got two sales for 8 cents from Germany under a 750 images/month plan.

 

edit: just to clarify - the German sales were direct 20/8 cents.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Reimar

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Reimar said:

 Still, it's hard to know what distributors to drop.  I just got two sales for 8 cents from Germany under a 750 images/month plan.

 

Drop them all by opting-out of all Distributor sales.  Then there's no guessing which to drop.

 

Alamy's web site is accessible to most anyone on the planet to browse and purchase images.   If buyers want image selection and purchase hand-holding by using a local distributor then distributor pricing must be improved to reflect the localized assistance without cutting contributor royalties off at the knees.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Phil
word delete

[John Mitchell]

16 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Drop them all by opting-out of all Distributor sales.  There's there's no guessing which to drop.

 

Alamy's web site is accessible to most anyone on the planet to browse and purchase images.   If buyers want image selection and purchase hand-holding by using a local distributor then distributor pricing must be improved to reflect the localized assistance without cutting contributor royalties off at the knees.

 

I'm not ready to leave distribution altogether, but I'm starting to think this way too. Now that April is coming up, I'll certainly be doing some serious opting out as I didn't sign up for "worse than microstock" prices.

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

 

Drop them all by opting-out of all Distributor sales.  Then there's no guessing which to drop.

 

Alamy's web site is accessible to most anyone on the planet to browse and purchase images.   If buyers want image selection and purchase hand-holding by using a local distributor then distributor pricing must be improved to reflect the localized assistance without cutting contributor royalties off at the knees.

 

there are language/currency issues for purchasers, I can see why a Japanese buyer would be more comfortable buying from a country based provider, which is why I am keeping a few provider where this makes sense.  

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I'm not ready to leave distribution altogether, but I'm starting to think this way too. Now that April is coming up, I'll certainly be doing some serious opting out as I didn't sign up for "worse than microstock" prices.

 

 

i opted out of Novel and most non Europe distro last year, so far this year my lowest licence fee is for a live news image in the UK (sigh!), 

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, meanderingemu said:

 

there are language/currency issues for purchasers, I can see why a Japanese buyer would be more comfortable buying from a country based provider, which is why I am keeping a few provider where this makes sense.  

 

Yes, Japan is a good example. There are others as well.

 

Even if the ruble wasn't now rubble, I wouldn't stay with Russia and Belarus for obvious reasons. China is a no-brainer as well. I've thought about canning Brazil too, but I actually see an OK sale from them now and then.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by John Mitchell

[Phil]

I understand the arguments pertaining to distributors in regions where they may have language barriers and/or other reasons to prefer local service.

 

But to my way of thinking that additional level of customer service and support provided by local distributors is entirely worthy of a license premium up-charge to provide that level of localized service but without damaging contributor royalties.   Makes no sense.  A premium level of service should imply a higher level price point.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Phil

[meanderingemu]

7 minutes ago, Phil said:

I understand the arguments pertaining to distributors in regions where they may have language barriers and/or other reasons to prefer local service.

 

But to my way of thinking that additional level of customer service and support provided by local distributors is entirely worthy of a license premium up-charge to provide that level of localized service but without damaging contributor royalties.   Makes no sense.  A premium level of service should imply a higher level price point.

 

which is what i have seen from the Japanese distributor, your experience is different?

[meanderingemu]

31 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Yes, Japan is a good example. There are others as well.

 

Even if the ruble wasn't now rubble, I wouldn't stay with Russia and Belarus for obvious reasons. China is a no-brainer as well. I've thought about canning Brazil too, but I actually see an OK sale from them now and then.

 

 

 

 

interesting i removed all South America, but you are the second mention on Brasil so may give them a a try.  (i guess i don't need to wait to add).  

 

i also got a couple of decent fees from France on specialised usage, so even though Alamy has a translated version to French, the Distributor seems to have done an ok job.

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by meanderingemu

[Phil]

11 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

which is what i have seen from the Japanese distributor, your experience is different?

I've been out of all distribution for a number of years.

 

 

[meanderingemu]

20 minutes ago, Phil said:

I've been out of all distribution for a number of years.

 

 

 

interesting.  I just had a look, my Distributor sales alone put me into second tier for the next contract year, so this probably also needs to be included in value.  If they mean 50% more commission for someone at start of the contract year, this might have more value than for you upper echelon contributor. 

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

interesting i removed all South America, but you are the second mention on Brasil so may give them a a try.  (i guess i don't need to wait to add).  

 

i also got a couple of decent fees from France on specialised usage, so even though Alamy has a translated version to French, the Distributor seems to have done an ok job.

 

 

 

 

My last three Brazil sales were in the low $$ range, which makes them worthwhile these days. Sales thru distributors in other countries in SA have been virtually nonexistent. 

[Reimar]

5 hours ago, Phil said:

 

Drop them all by opting-out of all Distributor sales.  Then there's no guessing which to drop.

 

Alamy's web site is accessible to most anyone on the planet to browse and purchase images.   If buyers want image selection and purchase hand-holding by using a local distributor then distributor pricing must be improved to reflect the localized assistance without cutting contributor royalties off at the knees.

Yeah, but the thing is that those 8 cent sales were not distributor sales.  No way to opt out of the 750 images/month package.

[Phil]

16 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

interesting.  I just had a look, my Distributor sales alone put me into second tier for the next contract year, so this probably also needs to be included in value.  If they mean 50% more commission for someone at start of the contract year, this might have more value than for you upper echelon contributor. 

After a few distributor sales some years ago and opt'ing out of a few notorious low-ball regions I decided it made no sense for me to subsidize distributor's commissions with my royalties - so I pulled the plug on all distribution. 

 

I have a small portfolio that has occasional sales at reasonable royalties so far.   No distribution, no Novel Use, and being in Texas no UK newspaper sales.

Even with the mentioned restrictions my portfolio sales reached Gold level within the 1st 2 months of the newest contract period.   No qualms about not being in distribution or the other schemes.  Now if we could just opt-out of image pack & subscription sales...

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Phil

[meanderingemu]

12 hours ago, Phil said:

After a few distributor sales some years ago and opt'ing out of a few notorious low-ball regions I decided it made no sense for me to subsidize distributor's commissions with my royalties - so I pulled the plug on all distribution. 

 

I have a small portfolio that has occasional sales at reasonable royalties so far.   No distribution, no Novel Use, and being in Texas no UK newspaper sales.

Even with the mentioned restrictions my portfolio sales reached Gold level within the 1st 2 months of the newest contract period.   No qualms about not being in distribution or the other schemes.  Now if we could just opt-out of image pack sales...

 

 

 

Good that it works for You, but plenty of people have reported they had trouble reaching the threshold so for them keeping as many licences as possible makes sense, even if it means a hit on the specific licence itself, the long term value may actually be worth it.

[Kirk Hewlett]

Alamy support has confirmed by email that the comment “downloaded x times” means the distributor licensed the image x times, and those licenses have been combined in the report.

 

Direct quote: 

“Our distribution team have confirmed the “downloaded 3 times” refers to the number of times it has been used. This image was paid for three times, but our billing team have combined them into 1 invoice, that’s why it’s added in the comments.”

[PuffinsPictures]

Just had my first sale that was so low it showed up as $0 and once Alamy takes their cut it pretty much is. Very disheartening... can't replace or repair broken camera gear to create more content at rates like that... heck, that doesn't even pay for the bus to get places.

[Rudix]

I have now opted out of distribution completely, Hopefully it will be the end of the sub 10c sales. If not I will leave Alamy. As it is I have not uploaded any new content since they started messing with the commission by changing the original 60:40 split that I signed up for.

[Graham]

Quote

I have now opted out of distribution completely, Hopefully it will be the end of the sub 10c sales. 

Some distribution licences can be at reasonable fees.  I am assuming that the main culprit as regards low fees is Novel Use.  I have recently opted out, and will be interested to see what difference that makes.

 

Graham