Question for those who submit to Alamy

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

06/15/2005 09:59:55 AM · #1

Well, I got brave and sent my first set of photos to them. Being an eager beaver I sent them Fedex. When I got to Fedex and tried to send it with a value of zero adding the words - No Commercial Value, their system would not accept it. I had to give it a value of $1.00.

Now until someone buys those images - they have no value. But the Fedex people sent me to someone on their international phone line who said something about not for resale. OK - noone is going to sell my homemade DVD of photos . . . . but hopefully Alamy will sell my photos.

I am assuming the "No Commercial Value" is related to the VAT or customs. But could someone give me a better explanation of why Fedex required a value and Alamy wants it valued as no commercial value??????

Thanks!

PaulMdx

Canon EOS-1D

06/15/2005 10:05:38 AM · #2

I'm not 100% sure of this because I only have experience of UPS, but I believe it's possible to mark packages as 'business documents', which you can then mark as having zero value. Like you say, it is related to customs.

mcrael

Nikon D300

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D

06/15/2005 10:06:22 AM · #3

The value that a courier or postal agency requests is for one or both of the following reasons:

For insurance purposes: if the shipment gets damaged, you are (should be) entitled to be reimbursed for its replacement value; I would normally list a disc as being worth about $50.00 to me - cost of materials plus my time to create the disc.

For cross-border duty purposes: If shipped across a border, duty in the receiving country would be calculated based on the value of the shipment.

I hope this helps.
Linda

06/15/2005 10:20:12 AM · #4

But Alamy says on their site that the package must be "clearly marked" no commercial value, or they will return it unopened. Do you think they'll send yours back?

I sent mine to them just regular US postal service, for $5.00, and it got there in 5 days. Not bad. And the post office let me write "no commercial value" on the outside of the envelope. I'll be really interested to hear from you if Alamy sends your submission back since it had a "value" of $1.00 marked on it... Most curious...

Now, if Alamy would hurry up and just approve or reject the images! This suspense waiting on them is killing me!!! ha ha ha ha.

Doug

06/15/2005 10:39:32 AM · #5

I wrote "No commercial value" on the customs page as well as the shipping label. So I am hoping that Alamy will accept it. Hopefully I'll know today when I use the tracking number to see if it was delivered.

I am assuming that subsequent submissions are also sent on disk - I will send those via US Postal Service.

06/15/2005 01:21:01 PM · #6

For those that might want to know - Alamy accepted the packet - it shows on my account at their site that they have received the media. . . . .Now the wait for acceptance begins.

Canon PowerShot Pro 90 IS

06/15/2005 01:24:08 PM · #7

Thanks for the info.

And now, the waiting...that's the part that's killing me... Mine have been in "the queue" for a week and a day now. Let us know when your's get thru.

coolhar

06/15/2005 02:59:58 PM · #8

Good Luck Mary Ann. I think they would be nuts not to accept your work.

Message edited by author 2005-06-15 17:13:48.

06/15/2005 06:05:28 PM · #9

Well, some movement! A week and a day after the disc showed up on their system, the status went from "no. of images N/A" and a status of "media received" to "no. of images 15" and a status of "processing." Woo.

Doug

06/15/2005 07:49:11 PM · #10

Originally posted by coolhar:

Good Luck Mary Ann. I think they would be nuts not to accept your work.

Thanks, Coolhar, for your vote of confidence. I sent in some of my favorite old ones, some of my "winners" and a few new ones that I thought would be commercially marketable.

We'll see.

Peleng 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye MC In M42 Mount

06/23/2005 09:32:38 AM · #11

Well . . . I didn't pass quality control with my first submission. But they did give me detailed reasons on several of the photos. So it is back to the drawing board (er photoshop). I will try again.

Matthew

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

06/23/2005 09:42:52 AM · #12

Originally posted by Mary Ann Melton:

Well . . . I didn't pass quality control with my first submission. But they did give me detailed reasons on several of the photos. So it is back to the drawing board (er photoshop). I will try again.

I would be interested in the kinds of reasons that they used to reject your submissions. Good luck next time!

M

lyta

Canon EOS-40D

06/23/2005 09:44:53 AM · #13

It's none of my/our business, but is it possible to share with us some of the reasons they gave you -or a brief summary of what they want in a photo? Thanks! (I understand if you would rather not though)

06/23/2005 10:05:37 AM · #14

Even though I used Genuine Fractals - some of the images had interpolation issues. Some of the images were ones I had cropped too much - so they did not interpolate well. I am travelling and don't have my image files with me, but I need to go back and look at the enlarged files at 100%. Some came out too soft and I don't know whether it is an issue of how I used Genuine Fractals or if the photo was too soft to begin with. They don't allow sharpening - so that may be an issue if the images were not sharp enough to begin with. There were some exposure issues - whites not white enough, etc. Plus some other post processing flaws.

06/23/2005 10:20:18 AM · #15

Just an update for anyone interested, but yesterday (6/22) they approved all 15 of the ones I sent in for an initial submission. I keyworded them last night, and submitted them, but they said it took 24 hrs for them to actually show up in the catalog. So as of now, there is nothing there, but supposedly this link

//www.alamy.com/stock-photography-contrib-browse.asp?cid={5685A746-E8D7-45A3-892F-9927581CC4D8}&name=Doug+Webb

will eventually show them. I was really surprised, and pumped, that they took all 15. Now I hope they sell!!!

Doug

06/23/2005 10:23:07 AM · #16

Congratulations, Doug! I look forward to seeing your photos when they post them on the link you supplied.