Financial transactions
- Could you explain the commissions and charges for Alamy Blue in more detail?
- Payment Fees
- In what currency are the fees and commissions?
- How am I paid?
- In which currencies can I be paid?
- What is the difference between cleared and un-cleared funds?
- When am I paid?
- Does Alamy send a breakdown of sales when you pay me?
- What is an intermediary bank?
- What does SEPA mean?
- What does ACH mean?
- What does Alamy do to recover debt?
- Where can I find licence details of images sold?
- Where can I find a financial statement of transactions on my account?
- I have received a payment but I don’t know which sales it includes?
- What are the VAT implications of working with Alamy?
- I have changed my currency but the statement is still in US Dollars
- Why do I see a sale refunded on my Summary of Images sold page?
Help on previous commission schedules which are not available to new contributors
- Could you explain the Alamy Red and Alamy Green commission schedules to me?
- What fees are there on Alamy Red and Alamy Green?
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Could you explain the commissions and charges for Alamy Blue in more detail?
You receive 60% of the sale and Alamy receive 40%. There are no other fees associated with submitting or storing your images. This is currently the only commission scheme available to new contributors.
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Payment fees
Alamy will not charge you for making a payment. When we send contributors money we pay all the fees, some banks may make a charge to receive, this is out of our control.
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In what currency are the fees and commissions?
Contributor sales, commission and fees are all posted in US dollars. Buyers pay for images in either US dollars, Euros or Pounds Sterling. Local Distributors pay in any of the above or their local currency. Contributors are paid the US dollar equivalent in the currency of their choice at the exchange rate value on the day of transfer. This rate is set by Alamy's payment providers, or by Alamy in accordance with the contract. Contributor sales history information - Summary of images sold and Balance of account and Net Revenue pages are displayed in US Dollars only.
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How am I paid?
You can choose to be paid by bank transfer or PayPal. To change your payment method, go to Change Payment and Tax details in My Alamy once you have registered.
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In which currencies can I be paid?
You can be paid via PayPal in US Dollars, Pounds Sterling or Euros. If you need to convert your payment into another currency after getting paid in PayPal we advise selecting payment in US dollars. You can be paid via bank transfer in US Dollars or Pounds Sterling. Payment in Euros via bank transfer is also available for banks located inside the SEPA agreement area.
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What is the difference between cleared and un-cleared funds?
Cleared funds are the funds available to pay the Contributor.
- Alamy defines cleared funds as:
- Funds available to pay the Contributor from licence sales after receipt of funds for the sale has been cleared in Alamy's bank account but not sooner than 45 days from the date of the licence sale.
On the Balance of account page you will see that once cleared the "cross (x)" (meaning not cleared) will become a "o" (meaning cleared).
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When am I paid?
You are paid in the currency of your choice if your balance due of cleared funds is over US$175. Account balances of less than US$175 remain in credit with us until your sales figures exceed that sum. Contributors are paid the US dollar equivalent in the currency of their choice at the exchange rate value on the day of transfer. Payments are made monthly, on the first UK working day of the month, once cleared funds are above $175. It can then take 4 - 7 working days for the money to arrive with you.
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Does Alamy send a breakdown of sales when you pay me?
No, all information is available through My Alamy.
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What is an intermediary bank?
If you are paid via funds transfer in a currency different to that of your country, banks use an "intermediary bank" to route the payment. Payment providers need to know the SWIFT code of this intermediary bank in order to transfer funds to your account. The bank used may vary according to where funds are sent from. You will need to contact your bank to find out the intermediary bank.
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What does SEPA mean?
SEPA stands for Single Euro Payment Area. This is the European low cost bank to bank transfer method. If your bank is located outside the SEPA agreement area you cannot get paid in Euros. The following countries are located within the SEPA agreement area;
Country Code Country AT Austria BE Belgium BG Bulgaria CH Switzerland CY Cyprus CZ Czech Republic DE Germany DK Denmark EE Estonia ES Spain FI Finland FR France GB United Kingdom GR Greece HU Hungary IE Ireland IS Iceland IT Italy LI Liechtenstein LT Lithuania LU Luxembourg LV Latvia MC Monaco MT Malta NL Netherlands NO Norway PL Poland PT Portugal RO Romania SE Sweden SI Slovenia SK Slovak Republic -
What does ACH mean?
ACH stands for Automated Clearing House. This is the US low cost bank to bank transfer method. If your bank is located in the US and we pay you in Dollars you will be paid by ACH.
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What does Alamy do to recover debt?
Alamy operate a debt chasing policy which consists of confirming that the invoice has been received, reminders of payment by the due date, chasing emails, telephone calls, letters and statements, final warnings and if necessary taking customers to court. However, if the customer goes into receivership and we are unable to recover the debt, the sale will be cancelled and the sale amount debited from your account.
It is Alamy policy however, not to comment on individual sales by contributors, either in regards to the stage that we have got to in our debt chasing or the company involved. This policy is solely due to the extra administration that Alamy would incur in answering these queries, which would impact on our ability to collect debts from our customers.
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Where can I find licence details of images sold?
We provide you with a live sales report, called the Summary of images sold, which can be found in My Alamy. As the sales are processed through our system they are automatically posted here.
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Where can I find a financial statement of transactions on my account?
Simply visit your Balance of account which is like a bank statement. This is your running total of debits and credits on our system, all transactions are posted here including Sales and any deductions we make for commission or payment fees etc. Please note all transactions are posted in real time with no delay, so Sales are posted before they have cleared. Cleared transactions are marked with an 'o', uncleared funds with an 'x' at the top left hand corner we show you when you will next be paid and how much (at that point, remember funds are clearing daily) is due.
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I have received a payment but I don’t know which sales it includes?
The Net revenue page gives you a breakdown of the sales included in each payment.
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What are the VAT implications of working with Alamy?
Please visit our taxation FAQs for a detailed explanation:
Tax - UK Contributors (VAT)
Tax - EU Contributors (VAT) -
I have changed my currency but the statement is still in US Dollars
The preferred currency you see in your account log in details is the currency you would pay for images if you were buying images. The currency you see in your payment details is the actual currency you will be paid in. Please note that your Net revenue will always be shown in US$.
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Why do I see a sale refunded on my Summary of Images sold page?
Refunds are necessary from time to time, as we report sales to you in real time you may see a sale that is then subsequently refunded, reasons for refunds include:
- The customer has their job pulled (cancelled) at the last minute.
- The customer purchases the wrong image by mistake.
- Customer requests to change their purchase method for example from credit card to account.
- The customer purchases the wrong image size (Royalty-free).
- The customer purchases using the wrong licence details (Rights Managed).
- Poor image quality - (in these rare cases we would notify you of a problem and remove the images from the site.
- In many of these cases you will subsequently see the corrected sale go through.
Help on previous commission schedules which are not available to new contributors
Could you explain the Alamy Red and Alamy Green commission schedules to me?
- Alamy Green
- This scheme was in place up to October 2006. You receive 70% of the sale and Alamy receive 30%. You are also charged 10 cents per image per month storage fee for all images you have with Alamy.
- Alamy Red
- This scheme was in place up to May 2002. You receive 80% of the sale and Alamy receive 20%. In addition for each image submitted there is a $2 charge, you are also charged 10 cents per image per month storage fee for all images you have with Alamy.
What fees are there on Alamy Red and Alamy Green?
- Image submission fee US $2 (Alamy Red only)
- The submission fee is to cover our costs of processing your images, and applies to each image that is accepted into the collection and uploaded onto the site. The fee is offset against your aggregate sales.
- Monthly storage fee 10 US cents per month
from March 1st 2003 (Alamy Red and Green only) - This is a monthly storage fee of 10 cents per image per month. It is offset against your aggregate sales and is charged on the first day of the month, It was first charged in March 2003 for contributors on the Alamy Red and Alamy Green commission options.