This company is a scam. You are extorting money for some random photos. On my website, users post photos from the internet themselves; how am I supposed to know if they are licensed (though I doubt th... See more
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Avoid this company at all costs. I inadvertently used one of their photos on my personal non profit making web site. I only realised this when I got a letter from Alamy fair licensing demanding £400 +... See more
Company replied
We purchased a couple of photos for our website of a project we had completed. few months later Alamy's "fair licensing" department. Sent aggressive invoices for what Alamy identifies as unlicensed... See more
Company replied
The people at Alamy were enormously helpful and the primary reason I give the company 5 stars. They helped me over several years and throughout the process of choosing images for my new book "Both Si... See more
Company replied
Company details
Written by the company
Alamy is the world’s most inclusive content collection of creative and editorial photos, vectors, 360-degree images and videos from individual photographers, picture agencies and archives. Its global contributor base supplies upwards of 150,000 new images a day to the online platform. Founded in 1999, Alamy was built on a vision to change the world of picture buying. The collection offers creative and editorial content sourced from a network of over 100,000 photographers, content creators and 650 contributing agencies and archives. With three global sales hubs; Alamy serves a global customer base covering the news, publishing, advertising, design, corporate and broadcast sectors. Be braver. Go further. Own the blank page.
Contact info
6-8, West Central, 127 Olympic Ave, Milton, OX14 4SA, Abingdon, United Kingdom
- 01235 844600
- sales@alamy.com
- alamy.com
Replied to 38% of negative reviews
Typically replies within 2 weeks
How this company uses Trustpilot
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Image review system is weird
Image review system is weird.
First of all, it refused photo as lacking definition, while there was obviously no such problem. Another photo of the same quality has been accepted. I would think that photos are being reviewed by AI and not by human, if not for insanely long waiting time.
Doesn't (and never has done) Android.
Doesn't (and never has done) Android.
Woeful experience trying to upload via Android... they don't seem to realize there are platforms other than Windows and nowadays people want upload on the fly via phones and tablets not great big laptops.
Metadata input a pain whilst on the road
Very old fashioned
Extremely Distressing Experience with Poor Customer Service and Unexpected Charges
My experience with Almary.com was extremely disappointing and distressing. The customer service was not just poor; it was almost nonexistent. I felt coerced into paying an outrageous and unexpected charge of £450, which was not clearly communicated or justified. This charge was a significant financial burden, causing me severe stress and emotional turmoil. The lack of empathy and assistance from their customer service team only added to the distress, leaving me feeling ignored and helpless. The entire ordeal was overwhelming and unacceptable. I strongly urge Almary.com to overhaul their customer service practices and ensure complete transparency in their billing processes to avoid causing such harm to others in the future.
"with Photo Review System
Here is the corrected message in English:
The photo review system is not working properly. I have tried many times, and many batches have been rejected without any reason. The same images, when submitted individually, were accepted. I really don't understand! Honestly, this is completely unacceptable.
Great Customer Service
I have been very impressed at my dealings with Alamy. It is obvious from Google searches and looking at their website that they have a comprehensive range of images available to license. What’s not so immediately apparent is that this is also backed up by outstanding customer service. I recently purchased images to use in my next novel, and after I had purchased four of them, I realised I would’ve been better buying a package deal. Alamy it would’ve been perfectly within their rights to say that once the images had been downloaded and paid so they could not be refunded, but they immediately agreed to do this once I bought them as a package.
Even more helpfully, when I made a mess of doing this, they patiently sorted out the problems I have caused for myself and now I have the images at an even lower price.
It was great when companies go above and beyond what is required of them, and this is the case in this instance. Well done!
STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE - EXTORTING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND SMALL BUSINESSES
STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE, they have decided to TAKE ADVANTAGE of my dad's small business, claiming we have used their image without paying when WE DID NOT! I am being ignored by phone and email by ALAMY when ask to speak to their team, getting out of UK copyright agent to try and claim money from my dad's small business. We have showed many times we have not broke any rules, they are still emailing and asking for money. STAY AWAY FROM THEM, if you are bigger and have money, please take them to court,
Alamy are basically a scam company pretenting to be the same as shutterstock or dreamstime
As you can tell from all the negative reviews (the positives are from people involved with the company) Alamy are basically a scam company pretenting to be the same as shutterstock or dreamstime.. They have low quailty images, most of lifted of other websites. There main business however is the Image Copyright Infringement Scam......
Paid the higher price for an enhanced…
Paid the higher price for an enhanced photo and it looks like the photo was taken by an oven. Will not buy from again!
SCAMMERS!
SCAMMERS!! I paid for a digital image claimed to be 49.4 Mb. When I paid and downloaded it was 2Mb. I read the reviews here and searched the image on Google. The Copyright seems to belong to Colin Smedley who sells on Photo4me. Fortunately I paid with Paypal and took out a dispute asking for the full size and proof of copyright. They did not reply and I eventually got my money back from Paypal. Do not even think to deal with them they are scammers
Beware
These clowns contacted me, claiming infringement of rights and asking for money. I pointed out that the image I have on a website was not theirs and is clearly watermarked to another provider. Scam artists. Beware.
Not worth contributing for them
I have been selling online photographs since 2017.
Since I started selling online, I made $500US with Adobe Stock, $572US with Shutterstock and only $27US with Alamy.
I have the same portfolio over the 3 platforms and Alamy by far takes the most % of them all.
Time to delete my account.
Just don't buy from them
Just don't buy from them, all paid, nothing free, and you will be charged right after
Scammers threatening to sue an underage student
I am a 16 years old, school going student who wish to be a web developer one day. I started one educational travel blog website for my learning with no commercial intent and it had zero traffic. Unknowingly, i used one image from google search. In April, they sent me email through fairlicensing to pay 450 pounds for "copyright settlement". They possibly think i live in Europe but i do not. I live in a small country in Asia and there is no way i can afford so much money even in my lifetime. Millions of people sleep without food in my region and i don't have a father. I am so scared i deleted my website forever and crying due to unimaginable stress. Surely suing a kid for using one image from google will get them good press coverage.
I have been submitting pictures for Alamy
I have been submitting pictures for the past 4 years and only made $61.86 of which Alamy takes $-49.49 in commission. Honestly, find another company to submit or take your pictures from Alamy is unreliable and useless I hope this company goes bankrupt and the industry actually pays photographers a fair wage or a fair price for their work.
Alamy is using minor pictures without parents concent!
Alamy is using pictures of my minor child. They do NOT have authorization to sell pictures of my minor child! This picture does have a copy right. It is not to be used! This is horrible that this sight will use minors without the parent consent!

Reply from Alamy
should really have zero for stealing…
should really have zero for stealing images of our business and staff with zero permission, unreal that they can then sell images of our store front and interiors for up to £40.00 which could in turn encourage fraud or imposters
Looking into the legality of this, and if they have broken any laws civil or otherwise, we will take action.
Anyone interested and who feels the same feel free to message me.
I bought a picture claiming to be high…
I bought a picture claiming to be high resolution but is just an upscale. after working on filters you could see someone just took a picture with his camera of some other copy. the reflection becomes clear after increasing brightness. a scam! now i understand they don’t refund
Low quality image refund
A follow up on an experience I had with Alamy. It would seem as though this is a repeated scam they perpetrate : marketing an image as high resolution when in reality it is very low quality. I complained and they refused to give a refund even after multiple emails. Fortunately I had paid through paypal and opened a dispute. After a little wait I successfully received a refund. Best route to go if you are one of the many people who have had the same problem.
Alamy seems to be organized fraud
Alamy seems to be organized fraud. I purchased a photo in high resolution that should be 7,1 MB according to description. When downloading I get 378 KB as maximum resolution.
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