Hi, I have been asked to send an extensive amount of my pictures of a certain subject to a possible buyer. They want to buy them like Dreamstime is selling them but I can't find what their price is for extensive use.Shutterstock pays me 28 but what do they ask and what is the price Dreamstime asks? Does anyone know? I can't seem to find these prices. Hope someone can help.
Thanks,
Patricia

I don't quite understand what you mean by "extensive use"? Are referring to the "Enhanced License" that allows prints for reproduction?

First off, be careful who you are dealing with if you are making this yourself (unless you have done this before).

Find out everything you can about your prospective buyer. Is it a company? Where are they/is he/she located? Is there an address listed on their web site? Can you contact them via phone? Is the person who contacted you really a person you can reach via phone?

Also, if you send them an "extensive amount" of images for preview make sure they cannot use the images. Put your watermark on them across the image and send them in the smallest possible resolution.

Did they see your portfolio at one of the agencies? How did they find you?
Why won't they buy form the agency?

You have to ask them or yourself these questions.

If something doesn't make sense, be careful! Don't let them fool you.

Please post more info about this on the forums so we can assist.

EDIT: I guess you ARE talking about the Enhanced Licenses.

Tell us how many ELs they would like to buy from you. You can certainly offer them a better deal than if they purchased the images through the agencies - like giving them a bulk discount. However, if they have already an account with Dreamstime or contacted you through Dreamstime you are breaking their terms by doing business with them on your own. If you sell those images through Dreamstime you wil only get 50% of the sale price but all legal and financial trouble is handled by DT which could be also a headache if you wanted to close the deal yourself.

Thanks for your concerned reaction. Yes, I mean enhanced license and I'm also a bit worried if this is a legitimite request. I am not sure. They do have an address with phone but no website is found yet. I have asked this today by email so I'll see what will be the reply. My other concern is if they are for real that I have no idea how to get all these images (a few hundred I have) available for them to see without giving them the possibility to copy them. If anyone ever had a similar request how did you handle this? It would be a great chance to sell quite a lot of my images but I have to be sure it's no scam.
 
Thanks

EDIT: I have only a small portion of my images of the subject they are looking for on Dreamstime. Although I don't see how It would breach my contract with Dreamstime. I'm not exclusive to them and can sell my images anywhere I please.

Hi, I have been asked to send an extensive amount of my pictures of a certain subject to a possible buyer.

I'm not sure what you mean by "send an extensive amount of pictures".  How would you be sending them?  And why would you send them to a "possible buyer" BEFORE being paid??  Surely if they have already seen the images at DT they don't need to receive copies on spec.  

I agree with Click_click.  This sounds very fishy to me.  

Personally, I would tell them to buy the license through one of the agencies you do business with.  If they don't want to do that you have to ask yourself why not....

The only way to truly verify their authenticity is to get an approval code for the purchase from their credit card issuer...but even that is uncertain these days.

Proceed with caution...you are asking all the right questions...hope it works out and you make a great sale!

Quote from: hofhoek on May 19, 2010, 07:02

Thanks for your concerned reaction. Yes, I mean enhanced license and I'm also a bit worried if this is a legitimite request. I am not sure. They do have an address with phone but no website is found yet. I have asked this today by email so I'll see what will be the reply. My other concern is if they are for real that I have no idea how to get all these images (a few hundred I have) available for them to see without giving them the possibility to copy them. If anyone ever had a similar request how did you handle this? It would be a great chance to sell quite a lot of my images but I have to be sure it's no scam.
 
Thanks

EDIT: I have only a small portion of my images of the subject they are looking for on Dreamstime. Although I don't see how It would breach my contract with Dreamstime. I'm not exclusive to them and can sell my images anywhere I please.

Again, it's up to you to find out as much as you can. If it's impossible to verify the authenticity of a buyer who wants "hundreds of your images" then don't bother.

As much as I'm happy for you to get such an opportunity it sounds too good to be true. Also I'm wondering why one buyer would need hundreds of images about one topic?

This may all be legitimate but naturally it requires some communication between you and the prospective buyer. Selling 200 images as ELs with a 20% discount compared to what DT charges could put $7000-8000 in your pocket. If you're really talking about so many images or even more you need a lawyer to draw a contract for you. I can't see how you would be able to handle such a transaction yourself.

Maybe Sean or some other pro can chime in here.

Thank you all. Very helpful ideas. I haven't had a reaction yet since I asked for their website but I'll wait. I thought about making a print of the pages with the selected images on Adobe Bridge and sent that to them. Small images not worthwile copying but giving a good idea of what I have. Hope it works out. Thanks again.

Quote from: ComfortEagle2095 on May 19, 2010, 22:12

I used to set up  a web page for them to review the images on with small, watermarked images.  Then I'd have them choose the images they want, give them a price and email them the original files only after I received their payment on PayPal.

These days I use Smugmug.  I can set up a watermarked portfolio just for that customer and they can pay for and download the images directly through Smugmug.   This makes it easier and more secure for everyone but I do have to give up 15% to Smugmug.

^^ Great ideas!  I am sure these would be very helpful if I ever find myself in a similar situation.  Thanks

+1

Thank You.

(I accidentally posted above 2x, when I meant to edit it, and don't see 'delete' option.)

Thanks for all the great ideas. I haven't heard from them anymore so I guess it was a hoax. But I'm a lot wiser now if I would get a similar request for real .I still think that a print screen of my images is a good idea too.  Thanks again.