Alamy Paying Contributors

[TheSaintlyOne]

Having with a number of other Reputable Agencies I can honestly say that Alamy Is by far the worse at paying contributors. I made sales on Boxing Day 2015 that have only just started to show up as payments.

 

There ability to register sales is quite shocking and appears very hit and miss. Most agencies use an electronic system to track usage Alamy appear to use tea leaves or some other unbeknownst method . I had to challenge their misses and these uses were in majoy national newspapers

 

Alamy claim that they pay contributors when they get paid. How is this the case when my account shows account balance of 254 yet Im only paid 155 of that why are they holding on to 98.92

 

I have two Sales Recorded from the 19th of January 2016 My Commission 86.78 & 113.77 respectively that still have an x against them suggesting they have not been paid

 

My other agencies which are specialist for editorials pay within 3 months hence after working for the first three months you know that money is coming in. 

[spacecadet]

Alamy reports sales immediately, unlike other agencies, so I understand. Your uncleared balance of $98 is for sales for which Alamy has not yet been paid so you are mistaken about Alamy holding on to the money.

As you say you have accounts elsewhere I am surprised you don't know the procedure. You are paid when Alamy is paid- an "x" means that Alamy hasn't been.

[spacecadet]

It's 45 days minimum, but if it's paid late it clears as soon as Alamy book it. Then you get it at the end of that month.

The OP is mistaken about Alamy hanging on to money it's been paid, beyond the 45-day minimum- it doesn't.

[John Morrison]

I have few complaints about Alamy's way of conducting business; the reporting of sales (and refunds) seems transparent). Yes, there are occasional glitches, but Alamy, in my experience, try hard to put things right...

[spacecadet]

Alamy's repeated explanation that their instant reporting has its drawbacks has evidently fallen on deaf ears again.

OP, your other agencies only pay within 3 months if they've been paid themselves.

[TheSaintlyOne]

Yes I do know the system but I have not been with another agency who would let sales payments slide for 6 months. I'm sorry but Alamy are aware of these sales but are doing noting to chase them up. I have even worked directly with newspapers on sales and they generally pay within 3 months so why is it it has taken Alamy are taking over 6 months.

 

It almost feels that if you do not chase up your own sales then Alamy appear to miss quite a few. Not a very good system

[Martin P Wilson]

Why the libraries tolerate the flaky self-billing/reporting of the UK media industry is beyond me. There are now so few major sources of news and editorial stock pictures (libraries/agencies) that they should actually have the muscle to impose more stringent terms on newspapers. Demotix, a now defunct subsidiary of now defunct Corbis was much worse. They did not chase up uses even when informed of them (until perhaps the month or two after they closed). They did not want to upset "customers"! And they only reported usage (usually with no details) when they collected the cash. I reckon they reported fewer than one use in three, from my experience.

[York Photographer]

In alamy's defence, once made aware of an unreported use they do chase it. The problem lies at the other end, with the papers, it's hard to say if it's willful on their behalf, or lazy, but they could do with closer supervision, and financial penalties for not reporting in a timely and accurate way.

 

Much of the problem is reusing images they have licensed once, without re-licensing them for subsequent uses, their websites need to be monitored closely by all of us, and posted in the have you found any images thread, and followed up when sales don't appear.

[Alexandre Fagundes]

I don't have much experience here, but in my other agency (microstock) sales show up almost immediately.

[dustydingo]

I don't have much experience here, but in my other agency (microstock) sales show up almost immediately.

 

Cleared sales, or, like Alamy, uncleared?

 

dd

[Joe Gaul]

Cleared sales, or, like Alamy, uncleared?

 

Most sales through microstock agencies are by subscription so a download is a sale whether used or not.

I've recently had microstock sales reported within 24hrs of the image going live.

I presume one off sales are paid for by credit card, or other means, prior to download.

[fotoDogue]

Accusations that Alamy is somehow "bad at paying photographers" are really uncalled for on a public forum.

This could have been straightened out by either reading the contributor contract or by contacting Member Services.

 

 

fD

[Martin P Wilson]

Accusations that Alamy is somehow "bad at paying photographers" are really uncalled for on a public forum.

This could have been straightened out by either reading the contributor contract or by contacting Member Services.

 

 

fD

 

I agree. We may have grumbles about fees, and the failure of self-billing and reporting but over 14 years I have never had a grumble about Alamy not paying or being late.

[wiskerke]

I presume one off sales are paid for by credit card, or other means, prior to download.

 

 

We have those here as well.

 

wim

[John Mitchell]

 

Accusations that Alamy is somehow "bad at paying photographers" are really uncalled for on a public forum.

This could have been straightened out by either reading the contributor contract or by contacting Member Services.

 

 

fD

 

I agree. We may have grumbles about fees, and the failure of self-billing and reporting but over 14 years I have never had a grumble about Alamy not paying or being late.

 

 

Same here. Alamy is the most dependable stock agency that I've worked with when it comes to payment matters.

[Ace]

I think you will find its the purchaser of the photograph that Alamy sells on our behalf is the late payer and not Alamy paying you late.

 

In my other world i am currently waiting for several thousands pounds to be paid by a government, not Uk i might add.

 

Sometimes in the real world that's how it is. Not perfect but don't think you can blame Alamy.

[Joe Gaul]

 

I presume one off sales are paid for by credit card, or other means, prior to download.

 

 

We have those here as well.

 

wim

 

Don't know if I've had any of those Wim. Are they credited pretty quickly?

 

For the record I have no issues with Alamy payments; they were the first reliable agency I worked with and I have been given no reason to doubt them. I was simply highlighting a difference between the micros and Alamy as the OP was comparing them.

 

Regards

Joe

[wiskerke]

 

 

I presume one off sales are paid for by credit card, or other means, prior to download.

 

 

We have those here as well.

 

wim

 

Don't know if I've had any of those Wim. Are they credited pretty quickly?

 

For the record I have no issues with Alamy payments; they were the first reliable agency I worked with and I have been given no reason to doubt them. I was simply highlighting a difference between the micros and Alamy as the OP was comparing them.

 

Regards

Joe

 

 

No issues here as well.

In the past there once has been a Brazilian distributor that had gone bankrupt, which seriously affected average clearing times ;-)

In general however the clearing times are really short nowadays. Payment is pretty quick also. This month's payment was in my account this morning on the 3rd. That's the 4th time this year, that it has arrived on the 3rd of the month.

Why is money transfer not immediate (like it is here)? There's an American bank involved and those are not known for speediness. Nor for low banking fees. Let's hope English banks will not go back to that standard after the Brexit.

 

Wouldn't credit card clearing be immediate? Or is that the same American bank again?

 

wim

 

edit: I have been trying to make Excel subtract the invoice date from the clearing date, but I am stupid with Excel and have not succeeded.

[Alexandre Fagundes]

 

I don't have much experience here, but in my other agency (microstock) sales show up almost immediately.

Cleared sales, or, like Alamy, uncleared?

 

dd

Joe Gaul answered it for me, it is a different business model

[dustydingo]

 

 

I don't have much experience here, but in my other agency (microstock) sales show up almost immediately.

Cleared sales, or, like Alamy, uncleared?

 

dd

Joe Gaul answered it for me, it is a different business model

 

 

. . . my point exactly.

 

dd

[MircoV]

 

 

I don't have much experience here, but in my other agency (microstock) sales show up almost immediately.

Cleared sales, or, like Alamy, uncleared?

 

dd

Joe Gaul answered it for me, it is a different business model

 

Indeed. At microstock images are prepaid. Most of the time at least. If not prepaid then paid directly. Nothing is on invoice. So sales are showing up realtime on every minute.

[GaryK]

Having with a number of other Reputable Agencies I can honestly say that Alamy Is by far the worse at paying contributors. I made sales on Boxing Day 2015 that have only just started to show up as payments.

 

There ability to register sales is quite shocking and appears very hit and miss. Most agencies use an electronic system to track usage Alamy appear to use tea leaves or some other unbeknownst method . I had to challenge their misses and these uses were in majoy national newspapers

 

Alamy claim that they pay contributors when they get paid. How is this the case when my account shows account balance of 254 yet Im only paid 155 of that why are they holding on to 98.92

 

I have two Sales Recorded from the 19th of January 2016 My Commission 86.78 & 113.77 respectively that still have an x against them suggesting they have not been paid

 

My other agencies which are specialist for editorials pay within 3 months hence after working for the first three months you know that money is coming in. 

I've been in stock since 1994,  a contributor with Alamy since 2002,  and at present work with 10 other stock libraries worldwide.  Let me reassure everyone who reads this that Alamy is up there with the best of them, both in terms of reporting payments, and paying contributors.

[fotoDogue]

There seems to be some notion, particularly among those who also contribute to microstock, that all agencies work the same way. I don't understand why they would, unless they're all owned by the big G, or use the same software.

Like Gary K, I've been doing stock since the mid 90s and have worked with a fair number of agencies. None of them worked the same way. Alamy is rather unique in the sense that it's an unedited collection, they don't accept Credits, they license Rights Managed images, and they pay considerably more than microstocks. Personally I find Alamy far more transparent, and considerably more responsive to photographers, than other agencies I've worked with.

 

Those of us who have licensed images directly are aware that not all clients are the same. Some pay when they receive an image, others pay upon publication, or even months after publication. Licensing images through distributors, who may also work differently from microstock just adds to the mix. One of the benefits of Alamy is that they have the flexibility to work with a number of methods.

 

fD

[Niels Quist]

+1 to the latest fair comments about Alamy.

 

Comparison to microstock cannot be done. When the OP talked about agencies I first didn't include those, I thought of real agencies  

[Martin P Wilson]

Surely this thread has run its course? It seems to be going round in circles