M.Chapman Posted April 1, 2023 Share Posted April 1, 2023 It's concerning to see the bad reviews about Alamy appearing on Trustpilot. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/alamy.com?sort=recency It seems that confusion over image sizing affects consumers as well as new contributors. Someone also complains that they thought they were buying medicine and not a photo of medicine (another recurring theme). Alamy ought to be posting responses to some of these reviews to defend their reputation... Mark 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted April 1, 2023 Share Posted April 1, 2023 Wow. What a load of whiney people! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted April 1, 2023 Share Posted April 1, 2023 Just now, Steve F said: Wow. What a load of whiney people! You can't fix stupid. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted April 1, 2023 Share Posted April 1, 2023 Alamy also gets a fair share of bad reviews on its own forum! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted April 1, 2023 Author Share Posted April 1, 2023 (edited) If Alamy had only business customers the negative reviews on Trustpilot probably wouldn't matter, but with fees from PU sales remaining quite attractive whilst others have reduced, it won't be helping. Mark Edited April 1, 2023 by M.Chapman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 (edited) I hadn't see this thread. Yikes! 😬 However, Alamy isn't alone. Other big stock photo agencies don't exactly get glowing reviews on TP either. Edited April 2, 2023 by John Mitchell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 I wouldn't be too worried if I were Alamy. Anyone who thinks they're buying a real product from a photo library only makes themselves look stupid, not Alamy. And anyone who thinks the grievance is real is not someone Alamy would want as a customer. Alan 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Burrows Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Had a look at the reviews and everything seems to change over a few months towards the end of 2018. Before that mostly five stars or fours and Alamy replying to any problems, after nearly all one star and nothing from Alamy. Did something happen late 2018? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 In all seriousness, one thing about those reviews that made me wonder is the complaints about low res images. Several people mentioning that the image they got was very bad quality and low res. Are they somehow doing something wrong and downloading the thumbnail or do the masses now consider, say, 6 MP images bad quality and low res? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 30 minutes ago, Cal said: In all seriousness, one thing about those reviews that made me wonder is the complaints about low res images. Several people mentioning that the image they got was very bad quality and low res. Are they somehow doing something wrong and downloading the thumbnail or do the masses now consider, say, 6 MP images bad quality and low res? The comments I read were complaining that Alamy was hosting the same quality images as available on Wikipedia. This is true because they can be uploaded in the Archive scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Image users complain about prices being too high. Image creators that the prices are too low. Same old story. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 3 hours ago, geogphotos said: The comments I read were complaining that Alamy was hosting the same quality images as available on Wikipedia. This is true because they can be uploaded in the Archive scheme. But Alamy provides the dimensions and file size, along with the notice that the archival images may have imperfections, so buyers know what they are getting for the most part. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 4 hours ago, John Mitchell said: But Alamy provides the dimensions and file size, along with the notice that the archival images may have imperfections, so buyers know what they are getting for the most part. Maybe something like a loupe/magnifier showing a true 100% part of the image would remedy that. Didn't FAA use to have that? Probably impossible with 353,855,408 images on the servers already. Has anyone checked out the competition on Trustpilot? wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 (edited) I really don't have much faith in Trustpilot; so many manipulations and ill considered condemnations Edited April 3, 2023 by Robert M Estall 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Myford Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 It has been suggested in the past that Alamy could make it clearer that the customer is buying an image and not a product, with some prominent text in the checkout process. It would surely require less effort than was put in to coding the ridiculous "More" button, but it probably wouldn't prevent every mistaken purchase and Alamy don't seem to care anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 18 hours ago, wiskerke said: Maybe something like a loupe/magnifier showing a true 100% part of the image would remedy that. Didn't FAA use to have that? Probably impossible with 353,855,408 images on the servers already. Has anyone checked out the competition on Trustpilot? wim The loupe might be a good idea, although it could also result in some lost sales. I've checked out a couple of other big stock agencies on T-pilot, and they too have no shortage of negative reviews. I guess this says something about the current state of the industry and about human nature as well -- i.e. we love to complain. 😩 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 First review I read appears to be from a UK contributor bemoaning low prices and Alamy's lack of follow up to collect fees for unreported ues, so shooting themselves in the foot by posting in a forum aimed at photo buyers. Human nature at its finest. (Though I can't disagree with the points raised it's not the forum in which to share contributor grievances). On the buyer side, I've always wondered about those who think they're buying medicine from a photo library - or licensing it....as said above, no remedy for stupid. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 do you really think this forum is aimed at buyers? I'm happy that it is an open forum, but I do think it's mostly aimed at contributors 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted April 4, 2023 Author Share Posted April 4, 2023 7 hours ago, Robert M Estall said: do you really think this forum is aimed at buyers? I'm happy that it is an open forum, but I do think it's mostly aimed at contributors I think Marianne is referring to Trustpilot as "a forum aimed at buyers", not this forum. Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 8 hours ago, Robert M Estall said: do you really think this forum is aimed at buyers? I'm happy that it is an open forum, but I do think it's mostly aimed at contributors 21 minutes ago, M.Chapman said: I think Marianne is referring to Trustpilot as "a forum aimed at buyers", not this forum. Mark Mark is correct. I was referring to Trustpilot . I assume this forum is aimed at contributors. I've never seen a buyer comment here that I can recall & I've been on the forum since 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 Sorry Marianne, having a "senior" moment perhaps. Yes, I've not seen any indication that there are buyers checking us out, but the idea might keep us on our toes a little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 Maybe the forum is not aimed at buyers, but try something like Alamy lowest price in Google and see that comments on the forum appear high up in the list of results. For a couple of hours of interesting results try Alamy reviews. 😁 wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 (edited) EEEK! I took your advice Wim and checked out some reviews on Alamy reviews. Depressing that they were almost all from pretty unprofessional buyers and disgruntled newbee contributors Edited April 5, 2023 by Robert M Estall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlMillerPhotos Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 On 01/04/2023 at 14:33, Cal said: You can't fix stupid. Well, you can, but you'll likely get incarcerated for it. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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