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Personal Use? - yeah right...


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I had a 'personal sale' the other day.  Fortunately I know the individual who was the subject of the photograph.

He told me that he has never heard of Alamy and certainly did not licence the image.

I have reported it and have been told that it will be checked out.  Not holding my breath.

 

'Personal Licence' is a huge loophole that is being abused and Alamy seem powerless or unwilling to do anything about it.  

If any other business had such a loophole it would be sorted out immediately or someone would get the boot.

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thats a nice picture which could easily be used for a wall dec particularly if the purchaser was associated with that garden! 

 

Regen

 

I agree with this (I'm not sure why anyone would give that post a red arrow?). I've seen plenty far stranger images where a PU license has been purchased.

 

I'm not saying the image in question was really for PU or not, just that it's a possibility. For now, unless it's changed (so many changes lately that I can't keep up), you can't stop PU without stopping other income too. It's best just to contact CR about any suspect PU sales. I've done that a few times and they've sorted it out quickly each time.

 

Geoff.

 

Geoff, do you think I've made an error by stopping PU sales?

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Geoff, do you think I've made an error by stopping PU sales?

 

Possibly, because of what other sales it may prevent. I'm honestly not sure where things stand with that at the moment, but I'm sure someone else will be able to give an accurate answer.  :)

 

Geoff.

 

Hmmmm, OK, thanks. I'm doubting myself now!

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thats a nice picture which could easily be used for a wall dec particularly if the purchaser was associated with that garden! 

 

Regen

 

Its the worldwide license for 5 years that makes me doubt the personal use - not the fact that the picture could be pretty enough for wall art etc.

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Posted An hour ago

regen, on 24 Feb 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:snapback.png

thats a nice picture which could easily be used for a wall dec particularly if the purchaser was associated with that garden! 

 

Regen

 

"Its the worldwide license for 5 years that makes me doubt the personal use - not the fact that the picture could be pretty enough for wall art etc."

 

Hi Cameragirl,

 

I had 2 back in November with the same terms. They were both close ups of plant fungal disease. I queried them with Alamy who inferred that usage for things like a thesis was OK  but they would check.

 

After about a month Alamy came back and said they were unable to make contact with the purchaser and were closing the file. About a week later I was paid. So it appears that Alamy can sell for personal use but are unable to contact the purchaser but still get paid! 

 

with 97 million files why should they care!

 

Regen

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Colblimp, you made the correct decision. This was the reply I received from Alamy

"We have heard back from our team regarding this questionable personal use who explained we have now closed down this case at our end.

The sale has now been refunded at the request of the customer as it turns out they thought they were actually buying a bottle of Cassis. It sounds silly, but you’d be surprised at how often it happens."

Aye right, anyone who believes that is on some kind of substance.

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I had a personal use sale of the inside of a major London station.    A mundane,  functional image that absolutely would not be used outside an editorial setting.   If I could opt out of personal use and nothing else I would.  

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Posted An hour ago

regen, on 24 Feb 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:snapback.png

thats a nice picture which could easily be used for a wall dec particularly if the purchaser was associated with that garden! 

 

Regen

 

"Its the worldwide license for 5 years that makes me doubt the personal use - not the fact that the picture could be pretty enough for wall art etc."

 

Hi Cameragirl,

 

I had 2 back in November with the same terms. They were both close ups of plant fungal disease. I queried them with Alamy who inferred that usage for things like a thesis was OK  but they would check.

 

After about a month Alamy came back and said they were unable to make contact with the purchaser and were closing the file. About a week later I was paid. So it appears that Alamy can sell for personal use but are unable to contact the purchaser but still get paid! 

 

with 97 million files why should they care!

 

Regen

 

If a sale is really for personal use, presumably this would be to an individual customer who didn't have an account. Therefore, payment should be made online before the image can be dowloaded so the fact that you waited more than a month before payment showed is suspicious. There's no doubt that 99.9% of 'personal' sales are nothing of the kind. 

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Posted An hour ago

regen, on 24 Feb 2017 - 08:52 AM, said:snapback.png

thats a nice picture which could easily be used for a wall dec particularly if the purchaser was associated with that garden! 

 

Regen

 

"Its the worldwide license for 5 years that makes me doubt the personal use - not the fact that the picture could be pretty enough for wall art etc."

 

Hi Cameragirl,

 

I had 2 back in November with the same terms. They were both close ups of plant fungal disease. I queried them with Alamy who inferred that usage for things like a thesis was OK  but they would check.

 

After about a month Alamy came back and said they were unable to make contact with the purchaser and were closing the file. About a week later I was paid. So it appears that Alamy can sell for personal use but are unable to contact the purchaser but still get paid! 

 

with 97 million files why should they care!

 

Regen

 

If a sale is really for personal use, presumably this would be to an individual customer who didn't have an account. Therefore, payment should be made online before the image can be dowloaded so the fact that you waited more than a month before payment showed is suspicious. There's no doubt that 99.9% of 'personal' sales are nothing of the kind. 

 

 

I believe there is almost always a 30 day wait in case of refunds.  Although on personal use, there should never be a refund.  Since Alamy says quite often that people think they are buying what is in the image, then Alamy should have a big pop up on personal use sales that state that sales are final, you are buying a digital file of the image, not the item itself.  And they have to click a box before the sale goes through.

 

Jill

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I believe there is almost always a 30 day wait in case of refunds.  Although on personal use, there should never be a refund.  Since Alamy says quite often that people think they are buying what is in the image, then Alamy should have a big pop up on personal use sales that state that sales are final, you are buying a digital file of the image, not the item itself.  And they have to click a box before the sale goes through.

 

Jill

 

 

A while ago I went through the process of purchasing an image from doing a Google search to the point of putting in payment details, and I wrote every step in one of the PU threads someone started. It was painfully obvious at every step that you are purchasing a digital license and not the actual product, so I don't think any extra popup would make any difference. I simply do not accept what Alamy tell us about how they are accidental purchases. If someone is capable of turning a computer on and Googling an image, they are capable of reading what's in their basket when making the purchase. It really is so incredibly clear.

 

As you say Jill, there should definitely not be a refund option. This is the only thing I think Alamy can do to prevent this.

 

Geoff.

It is unfair to the photographer for Alamy to offer refunds for personal use, but I think it may be illegal to not offer them due to the distance selling regulations. It would make more sense to not offer personal use.

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I opted out of PU sales some time ago. As I have only had 3 distributor sales since starting with Alamy it is no great loss.

 

Allan

 

It would be a big loss for me. February would be a washout without distributor sales. Out of seven sales so far this month, four are distributor, one for over $200.

 

I'm not a fan of PU as it stands, but I'd much prefer risking the occasional iffy PU sale to losing all my distributor sales, as low as some of them are.

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I opted out of PU sales some time ago. As I have only had 3 distributor sales since starting with Alamy it is no great loss.

 

Allan

 

It would be a big loss for me. February would be a washout without distributor sales. Out of seven sales so far this month, four are distributor, one for over $200.

 

I'm not a fan of PU as it stands, but I'd much prefer risking the occasional iffy PU sale to losing all my distributor sales, as low as some of them are.

 

Some of my distributor sales are pitiful, but as you suggest, some are better.

It is really unfair of Alamy to force us into PU if we choose to opt in to distributor sales, but it's marginally better than some other sites which force you into everything.

 

Have to say, I've been surprised about some of my PU sales, though they could be used in an educational presentation.

 

I had a photo box of medical tablets sold. When I queried it here, a peer suggested the buyer probably thought they were buying the pills, and right enough, there was a refund.

But still, as the price was under half the lowest price I could see online, how stupid would someone be to think it was pukka medicine?

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I opted out of PU sales some time ago. As I have only had 3 distributor sales since starting with Alamy it is no great loss.

 

Allan

 

It would be a big loss for me. February would be a washout without distributor sales. Out of seven sales so far this month, four are distributor, one for over $200.

 

I'm not a fan of PU as it stands, but I'd much prefer risking the occasional iffy PU sale to losing all my distributor sales, as low as some of them are.

 

Some of my distributor sales are pitiful, but as you suggest, some are better.

It is really unfair of Alamy to force us into PU if we choose to opt in to distributor sales, but it's marginally better than some other sites which force you into everything.

 

Have to say, I've been surprised about some of my PU sales, though they could be used in an educational presentation.

 

I had a photo box of medical tablets sold. When I queried it here, a peer suggested the buyer probably thought they were buying the pills, and right enough, there was a refund.

But still, as the price was under half the lowest price I could see online, how stupid would someone be to think it was pukka medicine?

 

 

I guess you've heard the one about the guy who thought that he had just bought a new Bentley for $19.99 (or is it £9.99?). B)

 

There are plenty to choose from too.

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I had two sales today and immediately thought "personal use". However, I had opted out of PU for these pics. This is what they sold for instead.

 

Country: Worldwide

Usage: Editorial, Use in slides/materials to support a presentation or talk - such as Powerpoint or Keynote.

Media: Editorial presentation, single design

Start: 25 February 2017

End: 25 February 2022

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Hello, everyone. I'm new to Alamy. After retiring last summer from the field of education I've been enjoying spending more time behind a camera lens. I've also been reading through threads here and trying to learn how to write better captions and tags.

 

Earlier this month I had one "worldwide" sale for personal use (a landscape). I'm wondering if it actually went through because the "Current cleared balance" on my dashboard still reads $0.

 

I was excited to have made my first sale, but now I'm guessing it wasn't that big of a deal.

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Hello, everyone. I'm new to Alamy. After retiring last summer from the field of education I've been enjoying spending more time behind a camera lens. I've also been reading through threads here and trying to learn how to write better captions and tags.

 

Earlier this month I had one "worldwide" sale for personal use (a landscape). I'm wondering if it actually went through because the "Current cleared balance" on my dashboard still reads $0.

 

I was excited to have made my first sale, but now I'm guessing it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

Cecile, welcome to Alamy!

 

Your "current cleared balance" of $0 just means that the image hasn't been paid for yet. It can take up to 45 days from sale for payment to be made - sometimes even longer.

 

Once it has been paid your "current cleared balance" will show the amount paid.

 

John.

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