Alamy – Cashback, Rebates & Rewards

For the moaners a bit of history. In days of film only people with professional equipment (Pentax 67 or Hasselblad) could produce the quality necessary to sell photos. When digital replaced film at the start of the millenium, Alamy entered what was in practice a new industry. Their business model was ground-breaking, as they accepted ALL photos submitted, subject to QC, and gave you 60% of the sale price. It was suck-it-and-see, Alamy and established professionals together surfing this exciting new technology. Nobody knew how it would settle down. Initially, we had a ball, but as digital cameras improved, everyman started eyeing this interesting market. Submissions to Alamy turned from a trickle to a flood, then an avalanche. With gross over-supply, in about 2008 the market crashed. Starting with Alamy in 2001, I still sell about a dozen images per month, but the amount I get is maybe 10% of peak prices during the mid noughties. I've had my ups-and-downs with Alamy, especially their now increased take of the cake, but they are just trying to survive in a very difficult market.

Alamy are doing pretty well in a difficult market. It seems most of the complaints on here are by people who don't really understand what it means to be a professional photographer, and/or contribute to a stock library.

Great site for contributors with the best earnings in the market! The only problem is that to get a sale is extremely difficult!

I have been contributing to Alamy for a few years now and after the initial rejection, I left it for a while until I felt that my photography had improved sufficiently. I check and recheck my photos at 100% and sometimes if I am not sure, I don't upload them for fear of them rejecting one and then you get put on hold for about 10 days. I think I will give it the miss as the time that it takes to prepare and then waiting for QC is not worth it. I have never sold a photo in the time I have been with them. I don't think i have even had any zooms which is disappointing as I am a reasonably good photographer. Maybe it is the subject matter. I don't know the answer but I will be going elsewhere I think.

Alamy started as a stock photo agency that Picture BUYERS trusted. I licensed thousands of dollars of images during my years as a photo editor for a large publisher. Now that I'm retired, I sell my own images on Alamy. I really can't understand the bad reviews here. I'm happy with the results of my sales - not a lot, but I only have 500 images on their site. Alamy is a site for professionals! They do not allow photos shot with a phone! They have strict standards for QC and I've had few problems. Almost all my images are accepted with the exception of a few that I knew weren't the best quality. Their rates have gone down over the years, because that's the business these days! The days of ASMP rates are GONE folks!