Selling photos, what options?

bren2002

I know this topic has been covered a lot in the past, but what are peoples thoughts & actions on selling images.

I've often thought about it and I've tested a couple of things, but never successfully.

EBay
It's full of rubbish and everything else is over priced.

Etsy
More US centred, can have a lot of rubbish on it too. But as with ebay, it's very difficult to get noticed.

Dedicated website
Never got much traffic.
How do you promote successfully though, Google Ads? Has anyone experience of this?

Stock
This is something that I've never actually tried.

Facebook
There's a growing market for selling on facebook, there are even a couple of ecomm platforms that allow you sell directly off it. Haven't tried this yet either.

Do you sell online?
If so, how and what's the turn over like?

Personally I'd like to able to help fund my hobby, not looking to turn Pro or anything like that.

goods

I wonder about his aswell - esp when you see peoples personal sites with prints for sale - you would want to be getting a serious amount of traffic just to ell ia few i would suspect.

Maybe have your prints for sale in certain shops - mainly landscapes for tourists i suppose.

bren2002

The only one doing that is Giles Norman, as far as I know anyway.

magicbastarder

there's a new place open on dawson street selling prints.

dazftw

bren2002 wrote: »

The only one doing that is Giles Norman, as far as I know anyway.

Have to say Giles is very good, just had a look through his site there. No wonder he sells a lot.

I havn't done this myself but these are things ive thought of.

1st and foremost you have to be able to produce work that is technically and aesthetically pleasing. Have a certain style and stick to it. It wont look as good if you mix and match. Being original with help you two fold.

Promoting yourself:

• Personal site(nice looking and easy to use etc etc)
• Facebook Page(a lot of people are doing it now)
• Sell photos to cafes restaurants etc etc.
• Have business card made up to go with the prints you are selling to cafes/restaurants. This will link back to your website.
• Sell on the street. The boards.ie photo thingy(the name escapes me)
• Another little thing is having your website in your signature on forums and blogs. I've had 84 unique vistors in the last month and im guessing it mostly came from forums I post on. That may seem low but the fact im not selling is fine by me.
• Have a blog which you update regularly, talk about your work in a personal way to show your ambition and professionalism.

Thats all I cant think of for the moment.

I suppose you could try adverts.ie as well.

PCPhoto

I only sell my photos when people see them in the paper and want to buy a copy - and even at that its not very often.....my work is not aimed at the public, I work for the newspapers (mainly)

*eadaoin

Dazftw is right to mention promoting yourself. If you want to sell you've got to let people know you're there. Sites like Etsy, Redbubble and eBay have all made it really easy for us to sell online, as a result there are many, many talented people out there offering their fare to the world.

In one way it's pretty cool, in another way it makes it that bit more difficult to be visible. I don't think simply having a personal site or an Etsy shop cuts it, you need to be active in marketing your product.

In the Etsy community the most successful sellers often have blogs, Twitter accounts, Flickr accounts, Facebook pages, mailing lists etc. They're active in the online community and enjoy it. I wouldn't really say it's a more US centered site, it's probably one of the most well know online sources of art and crafts online and features sellers from all over the world.

I don't know much about selling in person, but I'd imagine it works in pretty much the same way, getting yourself out there to markets, exhibitions, selling in cafes etc, being active in promoting your product and helping the word to spread. It also helps to know your target market and think about the kind of people who will like your work and the ways in which they're likely to buy it.

And obviously you've got to make sure your work is sellable in the first place. Good quality, appealing work from a photographer with talent will do much for getting things started.

Ricky91t

I sell through my site, and never planned it to be any bit successful but it was more a continuation from a 1st year college project.

Saying this, I have sold images using the online payment process and people seeing them online and emailing me and paying an alternative way.

I kind of use social media once an event is online, finding relevant pages and forums ( not spamming though ) and this is my only advertising. I have an alright number of visits per month but when I host an event of interest news spreads and I can easily get one months worth of visits in a day.

Couldn't make a living off it though :pac:

PCPhoto

Ricky91t wrote: »

Couldn't make a living off it though :pac:

YET !!

bren2002

Ricky91t wrote: »

I sell through my site, and never planned it to be any bit successful but it was more a continuation from a 1st year college project.

Saying this, I have sold images using the online payment process and people seeing them online and emailing me and paying an alternative way.

I kind of use social media once an event is online, finding relevant pages and forums ( not spamming though ) and this is my only advertising. I have an alright number of visits per month but when I host an event of interest news spreads and I can easily get one months worth of visits in a day.

Couldn't make a living off it though :pac:

Wouldn't want to make a living, but offsetting the cost of lens etc. would help.

*eadaoin

Woohoo as I was typing here I sold another three prints on Etsy It's slow going for me, but I hope it will grow.

Ricky91t

bren2002 wrote: »

Wouldn't want to make a living, but offsetting the cost of lens etc. would help.

Well,

From the top of my head, the money I've made from my site, has probably covered the hosting of it, and a bit more.

A cost of a lens,( Depending on the type ) is a lot of money, You're probably better off finding events that you photograph looking for a photographer, Usually they'll pay you and then use your photos on their site ( maybe in a paper ). It's not a huge amount of money (and I'm sure some will complain about me mentioning it) but after you cover a few events you'll find you could cover a lens, or other accessories.

It's always nice to buy new equipment with earnings with your camera

bren2002

*eadaoin wrote: »

Woohoo as I was typing here I sold another three prints on Etsy It's slow going for me, but I hope it will grow.

Sweet, nice going.

Any chance of a link?

*eadaoin

Sure, this is my photoblog and this is my Etsy shop.

bren2002

Nice stuff, I especially like the Paris ones

humberklog

I coach a few photographer/artists in selling and my usual advice (depending on content) is to rent a stall out in an artisan bar first. A bar that opens itself to marketeers and artists etc. such as Shebin Chic or The George Bernhard (both in Dub, and badly slelt, spelled(?)) to see what public reaction is.

My own experience is is that bland people buy bland photos blandly on line and as what you're selling is a pic, that will hang in a house, then the buyer should be able to see it in its raw before they buy.

If you want to sell artistic pics then fly them and see if people like'm and do this through markets.

As to the advice that you should conform and give out traditional blah sh!t blah pics....well that's utter tosh and should be ignoted. It's ignorant crapola, people will buy what they like and if your style doesn't suite them (even if you try) they won't buy. Be true to yourself in this artform and ignore that utterly hateful piece of bollix advice. That sh!t advice leads to so many sh!t pics that really don't sell. Good feck that advice to you is depressing. Feckin' hell.

Take and print the pics you like then take'm to an open stall market and measure the reaction you get.

*eadaoin

bren2002 wrote: »

Nice stuff, I especially like the Paris ones

Thank you! My style is admittedly quite girly, so not appealing to everyone but support is slowly growing and as I learn more about photography the results get better

*eadaoin

humberklog wrote: »

My own experience is is that bland people buy bland photos blandly on line and as what you're selling is a pic, that will hang in a house, then the buyer should be able to see it in its raw before they buy.

Ooof that's rather a sweeping generalisation of the online market don't you think? I wouldn't think so little of online customers, you're cutting off a huge amount of people from your work.

humberklog

*eadaoin wrote: »

Ooof that's rather a sweeping generalisation of the online market don't you think? I wouldn't think so little of online customers, you're cutting off a huge amount of people from your work.

Perhaps:). Still and all...photos are generally poor on screen and tell a lazy lie to lazy people.

Prenderb

*eadaoin wrote: »

Thank you! My style is admittedly quite girly, so not appealing to everyone but support is slowly growing and as I learn more about photography the results get better

Helps to see what you've done, selling your prints. Well done, it's nice work, and, if you don't mind my saying, you make it sound quite easy to sell em?

*eadaoin

Prenderb wrote: »

Helps to see what you've done, selling your prints. Well done, it's nice work, and, if you don't mind my saying, you make it sound quite easy to sell em?

It's easy to set yourself up on a site like Etsy sure, but I wouldn't really call the selling process easy.

There's lots of things to think about and work on, and honestly I'm kind of a perfectionist so I agonise a bit over details

DougL

humberklog wrote: »

My own experience is is that bland people buy bland photos blandly on line and as what you're selling is a pic, that will hang in a house, then the buyer should be able to see it in its raw before they buy.

I think that's overstating it, but you probably think my photographs are bland! To each their own!

At the end of the day, if you're doing what you love, and people are buying your photographs, happy days! It doesn't really matter if they're doing it online or in a a market. At the end of the day, they're buying real prints, and that's the best medium a photograph can be displayed in (IMHO).

Having said that, it *is* a great idea to display your photographs in public! Not everyone has time to sell in markets during the week, or even at the weekend, but you could always do the Peoples Photography, or an occasional market.

As to the advice that you should conform and give out traditional blah sh!t blah pics....well that's utter tosh and should be ignoted. It's ignorant crapola, people will buy what they like and if your style doesn't suite them (even if you try) they won't buy. Be true to yourself in this artform and ignore that utterly hateful piece of bollix advice. That sh!t advice leads to so many sh!t pics that really don't sell. Good feck that advice to you is depressing. Feckin' hell.

This is good advice. Of course, everyone's definition of "traditional blah sh!t" is different! The point is, you should do photography because you love it, and pick subjects that interest you. If you try to pick subjects purely because they sell, you are quite likely to fail, and be miserable while doing it.

humberklog

DougL wrote: »

I think that's overstating it,

Ah you're right Doug, I was just being cranky as the nonsense post about churning out traditional shoight in order to sell got my goat more than just a little.

Also I do get very tetchy with people when they ask me if I've a web-site when they're standing in my flipping gallery. Mind you my own web-site's gonna be up later this year so I'll leave those very prickly posts of mine up there without edit and eat each word...wouldn't be the first time!:pac:
And I do like your pics.

DougL

humberklog wrote: »

Mind you my own web-site's gonna be up later this year so I'll leave those very prickly posts of mine up there without edit and eat each word...wouldn't be the first time!:pac:

I'm glad to hear you're expanding your global empire to this new-fangled internet thingamajig! Looking forward to seeing it!

humberklog

DougL wrote: »

I'm glad to hear you're expanding your global empire to this new-fangled internet thingamajig! Looking forward to seeing it!

Ah well it's not really to promote sales but more to do with linking up the galleries. Making a common thread between them, as such. It's gonna be pretty idiosyncratic in a few ways that certainly won't be conducive to creating sales. I'll link you in when it's up and rolling.

Promac

Just an alternate point of view - don't bother trying to sell anything. Make images because you like them and do your own thing and enjoy it. Being "professional" is a pain in the bollix. You generally end up doing sh!t work and resenting it, unless you're very lucky.

bren2002

Just watch Click on BBC and they were show that Getty were now taking submissions on Flickr.

Has anyone used this yet? Or got any feedback on Getty or other stock sites?

Seems that Getty take a 70% commission, although this seems high, 30% is still more than I'm earning at the moment.

As originally posted. I'm not looking for a new career here - just a way of offeetting the cost of photography and maybe buying the odd treat with it.

Yellow_Blue

Hi All,How do you deal with delivery/ printing/framing on etsy?

I wanted to sell my prints but not sure where to start. I only have a couple of potentially 'popular' ones so wouldn't make full time job of it as yet.

i_steal_sheep

I use SmugMug, customised to offer the products I want to sell (downloads / prints / framed prints) etc. Works well for me. Not making a fortune at it, but it's doing what I expect from it. I am noticing a trend over the last few months though at that is customers opting to purchase a 4MB file and print it themselves (or I guess they are sharing it on social media). Either way, I don't mind - I make the same out of it

i_steal_sheep

www.petercox.ie is using Shopify - albeit a heavily customised theme I guess