Author Topic: Where do you sell photos for big money? (Read 12505 times)

Petr Toman · « **on:** June 06, 2013, 15:43 »

I do upload photos to different stock agency, but sometimes some photos are really exceptional, and I dont want to sell them for $0,35.

Any advice where you put really great pictures or pictures that actually cost more money for production.

Maybe RM Alamy ?

Thanks for any advice

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2013, 15:53 »

Maybe, but last month I had an RM/Alamy netting me cents over $3 (Not NU, not in the UK newspaper scheme). You can get big sales there, but it's not the quality or even rarity of your photo that makes the difference, just what discount the buyer has negotiated with Alamy.

tickstock · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2013, 15:57 »

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2013, 16:08 »

Quote from: tickstock on June 06, 2013, 15:57

Getty

Maybe if you get into RM.
RF you can sell for less than on iS (or a lot more; deals are cut same as Alamy)
Posted by JoAnn:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/04/haiku-deck-update-brings-getty-images-to-slides-adds-image-history-public-and-private-notes
http://blog.haikudeck.com/premium-images-from-getty-images-now-in-haiku-deck
https://haikudeck.zendesk.com/entries/23868472-About-Premium-Images
in a thread that seems to be problematic (technically) (below)

There are still some old style RM agencies which may still bring in good money for specialist photos. Normally they are very picky, you have to provide either different subject matter or a distinctly different style, you have to provide a lot of unique photos to start with (that you don't have anywhere else), often e.g. 200, and you often have to agree to supply them with 'so many' more unique images in a particular timespace. Some of these may not even consider you if they find you're selling even other pics on Micros.
You should relatively easily be able to find the agencies supplying your specialty.

Petr Toman · « **Reply #4 on:** June 06, 2013, 16:37 »

Quote from: ShadySue on June 06, 2013, 16:08

Quote from: tickstock on June 06, 2013, 15:57
Getty

Maybe if you get into RM.
RF you can sell for less than on iS (or a lot more; deals are cut same as Alamy)
Posted by JoAnn:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/04/haiku-deck-update-brings-getty-images-to-slides-adds-image-history-public-and-private-notes
http://blog.haikudeck.com/premium-images-from-getty-images-now-in-haiku-deck
https://haikudeck.zendesk.com/entries/23868472-About-Premium-Images
in a thread that seems to be problematic (technically) (below)

There are still some old style RM agencies which may still bring in good money for specialist photos. Normally they are very picky, you have to provide either different subject matter or a distinctly different style, you have to provide a lot of unique photos to start with (that you don't have anywhere else), often e.g. 200, and you often have to agree to supply them with 'so many' more unique images in a particular timespace. Some of these may not even consider you if they find you're selling even other pics on Micros.
You should relatively easily be able to find the agencies supplying your specialty.

Thanks a lot for these hints. I really appreciate it. I will try to gather such collection and lets see.

ShadySue · « **Reply #5 on:** June 06, 2013, 16:44 »

Alternatively, seek out Lagereek, use the secret handshake, and he'll get you into Getty RM. It's one of his many talents/great influence benefits.

Then he owns your soul for ever.

Xanox · « **Reply #6 on:** June 07, 2013, 10:46 »

RF is destined to be worthless, it's the worst possible licence for photographers but great for cheap buyers.

ShadySue · « **Reply #7 on:** June 07, 2013, 10:58 »

Quote from: Xanox on June 07, 2013, 10:46

RF is destined to be worthless, it's the worst possible licence for photographers but great for cheap buyers.

So your useful suggestion, other than RM, which doesn't protect price (as exampled above) is ...?

asmai · « **Reply #8 on:** June 07, 2013, 14:27 »

Pond5, you set the price, and if people would like your photos on posters or canvas prints, try Zazzle , you set your commission.
Alamy is an disappointment for me, got all the micro price lately, you have no control of the price whatsoever.

Ron · « **Reply #9 on:** June 07, 2013, 14:33 »

Quote from: asmai on June 07, 2013, 14:27

Pond5, you set the price, and if people would like your photos on posters or canvas prints, try Zazzle , you set your commission.
Alamy is an disappointment for me, got all the micro price lately, you have no control of the price whatsoever.

I've heard that on Zazzle any product with royalty set over 15% is not considered in their marketing campaigns and is also not picked up by any of their partners. So, its another way of punishing you for trying to make money off your own work.

On GL you can set your own price as well, albeit limited, but this message from GL is also saying that setting the 15 dollar price will work against you:

Quote

The $6 price category, which makes up about 70% of the site, sells the most. Why is that? Because the $10 minimum deposit is the most popular and allows Buyers to purchase one or more images that are priced in the $6 to $10 range. If images are priced at $15 then the buyer has to choose the next higher deposit amount.

cthoman · « **Reply #10 on:** June 07, 2013, 14:42 »

Self-hosted?

topol · « **Reply #11 on:** June 07, 2013, 14:49 »

galleries

JohnItalia · « **Reply #12 on:** June 07, 2013, 15:13 »

Alamy! Sold a photo that was rejected on the Big Four but accepted and sold on Alamy for $196.00. However, I have sold photos on Alamy for a few hundred one time and sold them on Dreamstime for example multiple times which exceeded that few hundred. My advice would be to sell on Alamy and the micro sites.

fieldsphotos · « **Reply #13 on:** June 07, 2013, 16:24 »

Quote from: Ron on June 07, 2013, 14:33

Quote from: asmai on June 07, 2013, 14:27
Pond5, you set the price, and if people would like your photos on posters or canvas prints, try Zazzle , you set your commission.
Alamy is an disappointment for me, got all the micro price lately, you have no control of the price whatsoever.
I've heard that on Zazzle any product with royalty set over 15% is not considered in their marketing campaigns and is also not picked up by any of their partners. So, its another way of punishing you for trying to make money off your own work.

The Zazzle comments are entirely true - they will not promote your items at royalty rates set higher than 15%. Major affiliates for Zazzle will also not usually promote your items at royalties higher than 15% either. And based on the announcements Zazzle made today, I would expect that royalty cutoff amount to lower in the future.

I suppose you could try Fine Art America, but so far I have had zero luck selling anything there. Other folks seem to do OK, though.

Ron · « **Reply #14 on:** June 07, 2013, 16:29 »

I am doing ok on FAA, but Zazzle made me 45 euro in 13 months.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 07, 2013, 16:33 »

I have my royalties at 25% (Zazzle) and have at least 1 featured selling regularly, where have you guys read that?

lbarn · « **Reply #16 on:** June 07, 2013, 16:40 »

I have several zazzle stores, the main one being approximately 700 business cards. Since their announcement last year about the 15% royalty not being included in their % off sales, it hasn't made any effect on my sales (still show growth), so some product types this may not actually be a problem. I created some cards at a 15% rate so they would be included in their %off sales, and they don't sell any better than the regular ones at around 30%.

I agree, that at 15% it isn't very attractive royalty rate when they deduct the % off sales and the 3rd party sales from my set royalty.

Zazzles announcement from today seems to indicate you can now set a 5% royalty rate if you want to, where the former minimum was 10%.

Petr Toman · « **Reply #17 on:** June 07, 2013, 16:44 »

Did you guys try to sell elswhere as RF and on alamy the same stuff as RM?

Any luck to sell stock image available on SS for $0,25 on Alamy RM for much more?

ShadySue · « **Reply #18 on:** June 07, 2013, 16:49 »

Quote from: Toopy on June 07, 2013, 16:44

Did you guys try to sell elswhere as RF and on alamy the same stuff as RM?

Any luck to sell stock image available on SS for $0,25 on Alamy RM for much more?

Alamy does not allow you to sell images RM if you're selling them RF anywhere else.
You are free to sell RF images RF there, provided you don't have any blurry pixels representing out of focus background people you don't have releases for. However, for studio work etc that's not going to be an issue.

ShadySue · « **Reply #19 on:** June 07, 2013, 17:01 »

Quote from: JohnItalia on June 07, 2013, 15:13

Alamy! Sold a photo that was rejected on the Big Four but accepted and sold on Alamy for $196.00.

Gross or net?
Only asking for clarity. Some people coming from the micros where we are used only to seeing our net amount per sale get inflatedly excited about quoted prices on the Alamy forum, which are usually quoted gross, of which our share is currently 50% or 30% (distributor).

luissantos84 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 07, 2013, 17:17 »

Quote from: lbarn on June 07, 2013, 16:40

I have several zazzle stores, the main one being approximately 700 business cards. Since their announcement last year about the 15% royalty not being included in their % off sales, it hasn't made any effect on my sales (still show growth), so some product types this may not actually be a problem. I created some cards at a 15% rate so they would be included in their %off sales, and they don't sell any better than the regular ones at around 30%.

I agree, that at 15% it isn't very attractive royalty rate when they deduct the % off sales and the 3rd party sales from my set royalty.

Zazzles announcement from today seems to indicate you can now set a 5% royalty rate if you want to, where the former minimum was 10%.

thanks for sharing

XNoneleftX · « **Reply #21 on:** July 05, 2013, 13:04 »

Thanks for hints.

danielsbfoto · « **Reply #22 on:** July 07, 2013, 02:18 »

Time ago I tried to apply with no fortune (its not the "time" was the answer) at Trevillion Images.

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #23 on:** July 07, 2013, 02:44 »

I have a few images on Getty submitted through the Flickr program. Some sold and made more money than they probably would have made on microstock in their whole life cycle.

I was lucky to be part of Stocksy United from the start but that is just a start up and we will have to see if it works out in the long term. Mid-tiered pricing and photographer participation in the profits are good enough reasons for me to try and wait.

Also I just started submitting to a local (German) macrostock agency. While all agencies tend to call for "local images", the reality in microstock seems to be that they don't get enough sales to A) pay off and B) get a spot in the top of searches. So for me it makes sense to have a place for images with local flavor that actually offers those images specifically to clients interested in this type of images.

Petr Toman · « **Reply #24 on:** July 07, 2013, 03:00 »

The local agency is a good idea. I also register with one of the biggest in Czech Rep. They still sell the smallest image for $25 and you get 50%. But it is mainly about editorial images. But worth trying.

roede-orm · « **Reply #25 on:** July 07, 2013, 05:38 »

I would recommend local agencies too. You will not have so many sales, but sometimes a breathtaking high revenue. I sold some pictures this way and I'm sure, that these pics never would made this money in any of the big microstock-agencies over years.

RedPixel · « **Reply #26 on:** July 12, 2013, 18:36 »

One thing we've done successfully is to have our own stock photo website - so we're controlling the prices, photos, etc. - and then use the sites mentioned in this thread as "alternative sales channels" (similar to an online retail store that also sells their products through Amazon). Post a few photos on the sites, and in some cases a buyer who likes the photos they find on the more popular sites, will check out your stock photo website for additional photos.

Note, this isn't easily done, and we've had a lot of help from SEO professionals on our site, and photos - so after calculating those costs in you may find the route above isn't feasible (but figured it was worth mentioning).

Good luck!

Ron · « **Reply #27 on:** July 12, 2013, 18:47 »

I am starting to see these SEO professionals as ambulance chasers. If Leo can create a simple WP theme like Symbiostock with such good SEO, then I wonder what these SEO professionals do.

danienel · « **Reply #28 on:** July 23, 2013, 03:50 »

I supply about 14 microstock agencies and 1 RM agency in South Africa, who are the master delegates for Getty for Africa/Middle East, so I have my images on Getty too. My portfolio is small on there, as they are very particular about what they want etc, and I sell about an image a month, mostly for editorial, but what I make on that one image is normally more than what I do on DT per month. Another thing is that the submission process is so so laborious!! DVD's, spreadsheets, documents etc etc etc. What stops me is the hassle sometimes.

EmberMike · « **Reply #29 on:** July 23, 2013, 11:25 »

Symbiostock.

tickstock · « **Reply #30 on:** July 23, 2013, 11:29 »

EmberMike · « **Reply #31 on:** July 23, 2013, 11:37 »

Quote from: tickstock on July 23, 2013, 11:29

Quote from: EmberMike on July 23, 2013, 11:25

Symbiostock.
How come your vectors are only $10 then?

Why does my pricing matter? You can set your own pricing at Symbiostock. The OP was asking for suggestions on where to sell for higher prices. You can sell for whatever price you want with a Symbiostock site.

Click · « **Reply #32 on:** October 02, 2013, 15:47 »

I started out doing istock and shutterstock but I feel like those sites are so over saturated that I would make like one sale a month. I tend to like the smaller sites, they do more targeted marketing which still draws in a lot of people but you dont have the intense competition.

I'm just going to mention these guys because I told them I would since they have been awesome to me, they give you 50% and even though they are small I am getting more traffic there than I was on istock and shutterstock. They are called www.Stockopus.com [nofollow]

Great guys, small, but then again I kind of like that. Plus 50%! Who wants to make just pennies off of a sale?

Cheers

Ed · « **Reply #33 on:** October 02, 2013, 19:22 »

Getting "big money" in stock is like winning the lottery....and a $196 license on Alamy is NOT big money.

Your best bets are commissioned work, prints, or fine art. If you can tap into that market, you have a good chance. A couple of years ago I would have said you could do the same shooting weddings but these days even that area of photography has gone to hell because of so many people willing to shoot a wedding for $350 and then turning over a DVD of images to the bride and groom.

Xanox · « **Reply #34 on:** October 02, 2013, 23:28 »

the big money is only in art galleries and scandalistic/paparazzi stuff.

and by the way, the only ones doing billions with photography are Canon and Nikon !

08stock08 · « **Reply #35 on:** October 08, 2013, 12:51 »

Quote from: Click on October 02, 2013, 15:47

I'm just going to mention these guys because I told them I would since they have been awesome to me, they give you 50% and even though they are small I am getting more traffic there than I was on istock and shutterstock. They are called www.Stockopus.com
Great guys, small, but then again I kind of like that. Plus 50%! Who wants to make just pennies off of a sale?
Cheers

Somebody mentioned stockopus here. I was almost ready to submit some images there but Alexa data does not support going there. I checked site, I do not know whether buyers are coming there. It seems new site. It was registered in April this year. Sounds like another small site which will struggle to survive. I do not have better data to support my judgement about stockopus for now. I would certainly love to upload there if I see some ray of better things.

heywoody · « **Reply #36 on:** October 08, 2013, 15:17 »

Quote from: Click on October 02, 2013, 15:47

I started out doing istock and shutterstock but I feel like those sites are so over saturated that I would make like one sale a month. I tend to like the smaller sites, they do more targeted marketing which still draws in a lot of people but you dont have the intense competition.

I'm just going to mention these guys because I told them I would since they have been awesome to me, they give you 50% and even though they are small I am getting more traffic there than I was on istock and shutterstock. They are called www.Stockopus.com

Great guys, small, but then again I kind of like that. Plus 50%! Who wants to make just pennies off of a sale?

Cheers

50% / higher prices maybe. More traffic than IS / SS doesn't really compute. In fact one sale a month on these sites with more than a single digit port size would be pretty rare I'd imagine?

08stock08 · « **Reply #37 on:** October 09, 2013, 10:24 »

Quote from: heywoody on October 08, 2013, 15:17

50% / higher prices maybe. More traffic than IS / SS doesn't really compute. In fact one sale a month on these sites with more than a single digit port size would be pretty rare I'd imagine?

Difficult to draw the conclusions whether it would make sense to go with stockopus or something like that. I trust data always. If there is no data to support belief, it is certainly no-go area.

fritz · « **Reply #38 on:** October 09, 2013, 19:09 »

Can someone tell me how much money is big money?

Ed · « **Reply #39 on:** October 10, 2013, 20:23 »

Quote from: fritz on October 09, 2013, 19:09

Can someone tell me how much money is big money?

Big money is hard to come by. Some recent (within the last couple of years) examples in the Stock Photography World....

Do you recognize this poster???

The shards of glass in this poster are from an image that was licensed from Alamy. It is a composite....the shards of glass were created from three people shooting a television with shotguns. If memory serves me correctly, the gross license to the photographer was $7,000 ($3,500 net).

About a year ago, a contributor to AGE Fotostock licensed an image of a neat stack of sweaters of different colors. If memory serves me correctly, the gross license was $5,500.

There is another thread about Image Brief - take a look at what their briefs pay. They want the best of the best.

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