Where to sell your pictures?

[anzycpethian]

I'd like to try out selling some of my pictures just to make some money for buying new equipment. I'd actually need it...

I don't want to use microstock agencies like shutterstock etc. but also don't demand very high prices for my pics. I worry a bit about the payment because I live in Europe and I have no idea if transactions US agencies would work.
If possible I'd prefer some sites where I can upload and present my pictures for free.

What do you suggest me to try out?


Thanks for advices!

[ericvision]

I am on photographersdirect.com - haven't sold anything at all yet, but plenty of other people do. Much higher income from one photograph than microstock, if you manage to sell some.

Good luck!

[madlights]

They were supposed to be implementing sales (to others) on Pbase about a year or so ago Guess I'll believe it when I see it.

[areaphotography]

There are more micro stock sites than just Shutterstock. Some you can set your own prices. You can find more sites @ http://www.microstockphotography.com.

[andrys]

I haven't even seen a note from anyone on pbase about selling
via Photographers Direct yet.

I've sold pictures from here, and none of them would have been
acceptable, size-wise, to the agency. But the customers wanted
those particular images.

I think you need to look at what your target market would be
and then choose accordingly. Make use of Photographers Direct
as well as higher-quality lower-income stock agencies if you can
get enough from them. But Photographers Direct will not accept
your work if you use the penny stock-image types ($1 per image etc).

[areaphotography]

I would not rule out the micros. People make very good income at some of them. To all their own I guess.

[areaphotography]

The micros seem to be pulling in a lot of traditional stock photographers

[lua77]

I wish more people would give us some clues on where to sell photos, i am new to this, thanks,
louisiana

[kutedymples]

http://www.mediafire.com/ Is a great site you can upload all of your photos for free. You can either choose to share them after uploading them or password protect them. Good luck with selling your photos. I know it can be rough coming up with money for equip. and such to continue a dream.

[maresphotos]

I have been renting booths at art and craft shows with good success. Like you I just want money for my hobby. There is a booth rental fee, and some are juried, so this might be more work than you want. I print out packs of greeting cards, photo cards, print on magnet material to make refrigerator magnets, the really nice photos I print out 8.5 x 11 in., or larger, mount and mat them. I make sure there is a range of prices , from $2.00 up to $35.00 or more. It helps to write a small story to go with the photo, to give it more interest.

[halesr]

You might want to check out RedBubble. Several folks from pbase have images there. You set your percent of profit, they print and ship. I have not sold anything yet, but several folks from pbase have made sales. I think it is somewhat like what was supposed to have happened at pbase a year or so ago. It is free and easy.--Rene

[pstubley]

Thanks -- these are all good suggestions.

Are there other tricks to getting hits? For example, do you need to be creative and careful with how you tag images so that people are more likely to come across (and thus buy) them?

One of the things that concerns me about volume stock sites is the same thing that one finds on pbase (and this is not a criticism of pbase!): there is a lot of truly superb work here, but also a lot of ho hum stuff, where "ho hum" is not as pejorative as it sounds. There are many valid reasons for posting besides "great art," even assuming we all agreed on what "great art" is (and where would the fun be in that?). Although pbase is not all about hits, many others seem to get way more hits than I do. That doesn't really change much for me: I am still going to do what I want to do. But how do I quickly find others whose work I find truly superb? And how do they find me? Theoretical for pbase, but more relevant for a stock agency: if no one comes to look at my shots, they won't buy them.

So back to the question: if one contributes to a stock site, how does one maximize the chance of interested people finding your work out of a multitude of other images?

Peter

[areaphotography]

Its simple. Go with agencies that sell. No matter what price range you sell in, if no one buys them you don't make anything.

I updated http://www.MicrostockPhotography.com recently with more information about selling your images. Of course its about the micro market. I have had my images at different price ranges for years. I have been moving them to micro because I get a better return.

I am not one to argue about price though. To me its ROI.