Are you a secret photographer at heart?
Do differing light conditions get your heart pumping?
Do you feel compelled to capture moments of beauty around you?
Are you continually aware of subjects that would make a great photo?
If so, like me, you will have thousands upon thousands of images on your computer.
Why not give them the light of day and share them with the world earning money whilst doing it?
Maybe you're not sure how to go about it or whom to approach with your photographs?
Well, read on to find out the best places to start.
12 Most Profitable Places to Sell Your Photos Online
by Rob Nightingale
If you have a number of quality photos
that you believe people may want to pay for, there are a selection of
renowned websites that can help you turn those shots into hard cash.
For professional photographers, having a variety of websites on which to sell your top shots can be a great way to diversify your income. For newbies with a bit of skill, it can be an interesting way to start earning some cash on the side.
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The 12 websites below have been chosen due to their high royalty
rates, their popularity, or simply because they offer something
different. Each could provide an additional income stream for anyone
with enough good shots lying around.
If you would like to add any other websites to this list, please provide a link in the comments at the end of the article.
Alamy
There’s a reason why Alamy has over 60 million images and videos for
sale on its website. It’s because it offers photographers a huge 50% royalty payment on each photo sold. The site also allows photographers to sell their photos elsewhere (it doesn’t demand exclusivity.
This has enabled Alamy to become the world’s largest marketplace for
stock photos, and it now has a huge number of monthly visitors – all of
whom are potential customers for your photos.
Shutterstock
Since launching, Shutterstock has paid out over $350 million to its
contributors. When you upload a photo to the marketplace, you still keep
copyright, and can earn up to 30% of the sale price of your photos depending on the size of your image. Currently, the payout is between $0.25 and $28 per sale.
iStock Photo
iStock Photo is a great place for those just starting out selling
stock photos. Its popular forums and resources will help you to find
your feet, and to understand the world of photo sales.
The standard royalty payout for iStock Photo starts at only 15% per
download, but this can increase to 45% depending on the popularity of
your photos. If a customer purchases a photo using one of the
subscription “credits” however, royalty rates are 15% by default.
If you’re willing to sell your photos exclusively on iStock Photo, the site will thank you by offering 22-45% royalties. This exclusivity contract can be ended if you give the company 30 days notice.
PhotoShelter
If you want to sell your photos, but would rather make those sales
through your own site, PhotoShelter is a great tool for this. At its
core, it’s a photography-oriented e-commerce platform that you can
integrate into almost any website. This includes cloud storage for your
photos, an intuitive interface, decent SEO (search engine optimization),
and several social media integrations.
The benefits of this option include retaining full control over how
your photos are displayed, not having your competitors photos displayed
alongside your own, and the ability earn much more of the sale price. A
couple of other similar alternatives are Fotomoto and Pixpa.
Fotolia
With over 4 million buyers, Adobe’s Fotolia is a beautiful site that offers royalties of between 20-46%.
These royalties are deposited into your account immediately, unlike
with many other sites where you have to wait to reach a threshold, or
payments are made every 30 days.
The site has been in operation for over 10 years, and now houses over
45 million images. Relatively recently it was integrated into several
of Adobe’s software packages, including Photoshop, Illustrator and
InDesign. This means that when you upload a photo to Fotolia, it’s also
added to Adobe Stock, so people can buy your photos directly from within those applications.
PhotoMoolah
If you want a different way of selling your photos, try PhotoMoolah.
This is a site where you can submit relevant photos to different contests.
If your photo is picked as one of the winners, you get paid while
retaining your rights. The site isn’t yet massively popular, meaning
there’s less competition for aspiring photographers.
As a couple of examples, there’s currently a contest looking for photos of “Australian and European kids playing outdoors”, offering a prize of $200. There’s another looking for “Unique selfie shots in Singapore”, where you could also win $200. Prizes have been known to go up to $500, but most are $100-200.
SmugMug
The SmugMug “Pro” package is an alternative to PhotoShelter. The
platform enables you to showcase your work on a massively customizable
storefront, and to manage your orders.
The main distinguishing feature is the ability to use the SimplyMug
labs to offer prints, books, and greetings cards created from your
shots. There are additional features such as the ability to create
coupons, photo packages, and built-in analytics. You’ll also get to keep
up to 85% of your revenue.
Can Stock Photo
If you’re looking for an easy option for selling your photos,
Can Stock Photo is a great choice. You will need to be approved first,
which is a simple process where you have to submit three images to the
site’s editors. You’ll usually have a response within 24 hours.
When uploading photos (you can upload several hundred at once) onto
the site, the metadata and keyword data is read automatically, saving
you the pain of needing to categorize each photo. You can earn up to 50% in royalties on
the site, and can withdraw your money into PayPal once your balance
reaches $50. If you want a mailed check, you’ll have to wait until you
have $100.
123RF
This site has over 45 million files on offer, with almost half a
million being added each week. The royalties payable vary between 30%
and 60% depending on your level of contribution.
This means that the more photos you upload, the higher your payout.
If
you upload less than 250 images to the site, you’ll earn 30%, which
equates to $0.216 per download. If you upload over 1 million images,
you’ll receive 60%, which equates to $0.432 per download.
Dreamstime
In the stock photography world, Dreamstock is a reputable player. It
achieved this status by ensuring that all uploads are reviewed to check
they meet their standards “technically, aesthetically and commercially”,
thereby guaranteeing quality.
Once your photos are approved, you’ll receive royalties of 25-50%,
though this could increase to 60% on all images if you sign an
exclusivity contract. If you do sign that exclusivity deal, you’ll also
receive an additional bonus of $0.20 for each approved submission. The
sale price of each photo is based on the number of times it has been
downloaded.
FineArtAmerica
FineArtAmerica is the perfect place to set up an alluring portfolio,
and to sell physical prints of your shots. You can sell each photo as a
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When you make a sale, the order (including the printing) can be
fulfilled by the company’s own Print-On-Demand service. If you would
rather take care of the printing yourself, however, you won’t have to
have to pay FineArtAmerica a dime – though once your sales are over a
certain number, you will have to sign up for a premium account.
If you’re able to produce your own prints, there are also a number of craft websites which you may be interested in using as a selling platform.
Snapped4U
If you’re a photographer who takes photos at events — parties, gigs,
festivals, weddings etc. — Snapped4U is a website that makes the sale of
those photos extremely simple. It’s also a great way to use the sales of photos to raise money
for good causes. By uploading and selling your photos here, you don’t
need to deal with the nightmare of order processing, printing, and
postage. Snapped4U deals with all of that on your behalf.
The cost to you for each photo sold is just $0.50 on photos that are
priced $5 or less. If the photo is sold at more than $5, Snapped4U will
charge a 10% commission.
Where Else Do You Sell Photos?
There are plenty of other websites out there where you can sell your
photos. The ones included here are those that either offer something
different, are highly reputable, or who offer fantastic royalties to
contributing photographers.
As you improve your photography skills,
and learn to understand the photos that sell well (and those that
don’t), your forays into this territory should, in time, become more
lucrative.
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