Need help...someone wants to buy a photograph!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alyssa Maisano on March 3, 2009 at 5:28pm

That is a great photo! I have never sold photos like that, but you could look online and see what others say like istockphoto.com

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Diane on March 3, 2009 at 5:43pm

I would figure my costs to produce the image (print, mount, laquer, frame, etc.) and then, at least, 4x it (that will give you a 25% cost of goods, kinda).

Nice image.

Unless you have a good lab, you may want to consider MPix.com. They are the prosumer division of the professional lab Millers. They are used to producing very high quality prints in a reasonable turnaround time.

If they are talking about a digital file, then the cost is much more to "license" the usage because you lose a lot of control over your image. If they do want the digital file then you need to find out the exact usage and then structure your licensing agreement to say what they can and - just as important- what they cannot do with the image for the money they pay for it.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Susan Pope on March 3, 2009 at 5:44pm

Pretty photo Jess! I think you have to be critical about it and decide if you are seriously going to do sell your work for business or if your photography is just a hobby. If the latter then decide whatever suits you. If you are serious about selling your art you should definitely set up a site for yourself where you can upload your photos and set prices. Then you can direct traffic to your site. There are lots of sites around, I use Smug Mug. If you still don't know, then go online and look at other work. Search for "sunflower" in a site like ISTOCK and see what they charge remembering that they are big business and will charge accordingly, plus they want to buy the license to sell multiples of your image. It also depends if you are just selling the digital image or if you are going to sell the paper image plus framing. You can do all this online. I suggest that you look into the price of getting the photo printed and framed (if that is what your buyer wants) and then adding 20% to 30% to the cost. If your buyer just wants to buy the digital image you need to know if they just want it for a one time image or for multiple images - then you would need to price it accordingly. Hope this helps.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margaret Chaidez on March 3, 2009 at 5:51pm

Gorgeous shot! Congratulations that is a big deal. I have never sold photos online. I use iStockphoto all the time and you can read the rules on that site to get an idea. Good luck.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jess Carter on March 3, 2009 at 5:52pm

Thank you all so much for the info. I am going to look into doing this as a business, but for now my friends have been the one's interested. One of my neighbors wants this photo for her downstairs bathroom so i'm trying to figure out what I should charge. I'm going to give her a framed and unframed price.
Diane- I will take a look at Mpix, I usually just print for myself, but that's just for my personal use.
Alyssa and Susan- I have tried to go to istockphoto.com but it keeps telling me somethings wrong with the server. I'll keep tryng though!

Thanks again :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Celina on March 3, 2009 at 6:15pm

That is a great shot! My best advice would be to check out some other works or sites (like RedBubble) and see what a similar sized photo would sell for. I only suggest that site because that is where I have some of my work. Average price would be around $15.00 for an unmounted and unframed print. You can also list your work at any of a number of websites and have them handle the printing for you. You pick your price and get the profit depending on how much you mark it up.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lawyer Mama on March 3, 2009 at 7:09pm

Nice photo! I generally charge $25 for an unmounted, unframed 8x10 print. I use Mpix when I buy prints for myself, but I sell my prints on SmugMug b/c they collect the money and handle all of that stuff so I don't have to worry about state taxes.

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This