Financial transactions
- Could you explain the commissions and charges for Alamy Blue in more detail?
- What is an Order Processing Fee?
- Payment Fees
- Other 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 banking information do I need to supply to be paid via funds transfer?
- What is an intermediary bank?
- When I am paid by funds transfer where are the funds sent from?
- What does Alamy do to recover debt?
- What will it cost me if I don’t sell any images?
- 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 sometimes see two different amounts for the same sale on my statement?
- 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?
- Please can you tell me more about storage fees on Alamy Red and Green.
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Could you explain the commissions and charges for Alamy Blue in more detail?
You receive 65% of the sale and Alamy receive 35%. There are no other fees associated with submitting or storing your images. This is currently the only commission scheme available to new contributors.
When a Sale is made inclusive of Sales Tax, then the order processing fee is calculated on the Gross Licence fee. This results in an Alamy commission of 35.875%.
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What is an Order Processing Fee?
Our commission is broken down into “"Alamy Commission ” and EITHER “Credit card processing fee” or “Account Fee”, depending on how the client purchased the image. You can see this breakdown on the contributor contract.
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Payment fees
You can choose to be paid by either cheque or bank transfer and will incur the following charges, depending on your choice:
- Cheque fee US $8.00
- This covers the costs of printing and sending out cheques through Citibank's global banking network
- Wire Transfer fee US $11.00
- This covers the costs of making electronic payments direct to your account through Citibank's global banking network. This is an alternative method of payment to the cheque, and may be the more favourable option in some countries.
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Other fees
- Foreign exchange fee 1%
- This is only charged for non US$ payments to contributors, it is charged on the net amount remitted.
- Cheque cancellation fee US $15
- This covers the cost of cancelling a cheque should it be lost in the post, or if you misplace or damage your cheque.
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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 provider, Citibank. 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?
During registration, to simplify the process, we ask for details required for payment by cheque. After you have registered, if you do not wish to receive payment via cheque, you have the option to select to be paid via funds transfer in one of three currencies: US Dollars, Pounds Sterling or Euros. 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?
We can pay via funds transfer in US Dollars, Pounds Sterling or Euros. We can pay via cheque in a number of currencies as supported by Citibank, our payment provider. These currencies are listed below:
- Australian Dollar (AUD)
- Bahraini Dinar (BHD)
- Brunei Dollar (BND)
- Canadian Dollar (CAD)
- Cyprus Pound (CYP)
- Danish Krone (DKK)
- Euro (EUR)
- Fiji Dollar (FJD)
- Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
- Indian Rupee (INR)
- Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)
- Japanese Yen (JPY)
- Kenyan Shilling (KES)
- Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD)
- Mexican Nuevo Peso (MXN)
- Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
- New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
- Norwegian Krone (NOK)
- Omani Rial (OMR)
- Philippine Peso (PHP)
- Saudi Riyal (SAR)
- Singapore Dollar (SGD)
- South African Rand (ZAR)
- Swedish Krona (SEK)
- Swiss Franc (CHF)
- Thai Baht (THB)
- Tunisian Dinar (TND)
- Turkish Lira (TRL)
- UAE Dirham (AED)
- UK Pound Sterling (GBP)
- US Dollar (USD)
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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$250. Account balances of less than US$250 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 $250. This is the date Alamy releases the funds to our third party clearing house, Citibank. It can then take 3 - 7 working days for the money to arrive in your bank account or your cheque to arrive.
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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 banking information do I need to supply to be paid via funds transfer?
Depending on the currency in which you would like to be paid and the location of your bank, the banking information we require from you varies. Completing your bank details in Change payment details will help to ensure that our payment provider, Citibank can make a funds transfer to you when payment is due.
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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. Our payment provider, Citibank needs 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.
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When I am paid by funds transfer where are the funds sent from?
If you are paid by funds transfer in USD, the funds are sent from Citibank’s branch in the United States. If you are paid in Euros or Pounds Sterling the funds are sent from Citibank’s branch in the United Kingdom.
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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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What will it cost me if I don’t sell any images?
Nothing. All commissions and fees are offset against aggregate sales. See our explanation of charges and commissions.
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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 sometimes see two different amounts for the same sale on my statement?
The Sale amount is the licence amount Alamy charges the customer. The gross figure you see in the detail column is the amount of the licence fee plus any sales tax that Alamy have to charge to buyers based in certain countries. It is calculated at 17.5% of the net licence fee amount. As this is a sales tax Alamy have to pay this on to the respective government department, it is not income to us. However, Alamy have to pay transaction charges based on the sale (net amount) and the sales tax amount, i.e. the gross amount. This is the amount you see in your sale detail line and it is the amount on which we charge the 5% order processing fee. The amount in the Credit column is the value of the sale minus the sales tax.
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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 (Licenced).
- 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 DATE!!! 2006. You receive 75% of the sale and Alamy receive 25% . You are also charged 10 cents per image per month storage fee for all images you have with Alamy. When a Sale is made inclusive of Sales Tax, then the order processing fee is calculated on the Gross Licence fee. This results in an Alamy commission of 25.875%.
- Alamy Red
- This scheme was in place up to May 2002. You receive 85% of the sale and Alamy receive 15%. 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.
When a Sale is made inclusive of Sales Tax, then the order processing fee is calculated on the Gross Licence fee. This results in an Alamy commission of 15.875%.
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.
Please can you tell me more about storage fees on Alamy Red and Green.
- How much is the storage fee?
The storage fee is 10 cents ($0.10) per image per month or part thereof. It is charged for all the images you have in the catalogue once they have been uploaded to our site. - When are storage fees charged to my account?
They are charged on the first day of each month at 01.00 GMT. - Will I see an individual charge of 10 cents per image for each image I have on the site?
No, you will see the charge for all images in one lump sum, e.g. Storage fee for 300 images would be a one line entry for $30 not 300 line items listing each image number and the $0.10 charge. - When do storage fees clear?
Storage fees clear immediately. - What happens if I delete an image?
If you delete an image you will not be charged storage fees at the start of the next and subsequent months until the 180 days is up and your image is no longer available for sale. However no refund will be given for the charges at the start of the month for images deleted part way through the month. - What happens if I terminate my contract?
If you terminate your contract then you will be charged storage fees for the next 45 days until your notice period has expired.
- How much is the storage fee?