With the aid of the internet, you may now monetize any interest you have and make it into a full-time revenue source. With the proliferation of photo banks and stock photography services, photographers may now sell pictures online and earn a decent amount of money. In other words, your work for photo stocks might either be an extra source of income or your primary source. In this blog we will share 21 platforms for you to sell your photos online.
1. Your Own Website
The best location to learn how to sell photographs online is on your own site. You may set your own prices and determine how your work is presented. I recommend starting your website with a WordPress theme.
2. Blogging
An active blog can help you gain more traffic for your website. Having your pictures for sale online becomes much more feasible if you publish content for your blog. You can use Google to attract more traffic by including the most relevant keywords in your posts. In addition to getting your name out there on social media, you can interact with your customers, keep in touch with your visitors, and remind them that your photos are purchasable. You can write posts on your daily job or the photography industry in general, as well as share the anecdotes behind your pictures. You’ll not only gain more visitors who enjoy reading your content, but you’ll also gain more customers.
3. Adobe Stock
This platform (formerly known as Fotolia) is a stock photography site created by the developer of Photoshop and Lightroom. It has been on the market for almost a decade, and therefore is often considered the first web company to sell photographs. Photographers earn 20% to 60% of the sale price, depending on the kind of sale. Because there is no exclusivity required, it’s an excellent choice if you’re just starting to learn how to sell pictures online.
4. Shutterstock
More than 270 million photographs, video clips, and sound recordings are available on this platform, and hundreds of thousands of clients visit it every month. Because of this, professionals on online forums typically recommend Shutterstock when individuals ask, “How can I sell my pictures?” This company handles your intellectual property and allows you to set the usage rights on your pictures. In addition to protecting your photographs and establishing your brand presence, crediting them is important, as this company pays you 20-30% of the overall sales amount and pays you each month.
5. Etsy
Despite Etsy being a haven for handmade goods traders, it is a decent alternative for photographers as well. The key benefit of this website is that it has a much bigger user base than most stock photo sites. You can either offer digital photographs or prints (provided that you handle packaging and delivery yourself). Furthermore, you get to set the price and keep most of the money.
6. Alamy
Alamy is a superb option for photographers who want to sell stock photos online, even though it is significantly smaller than Shutterstock or Adobe Stock. You can freely upload your work without worrying about licences or copyright infringements. Alamy has already paid out over $180 million to photographers who sell on their site. You get a generous 50% commission on each picture sold, which makes this a wonderful place to sell photos.
7. iStockphoto
This site has been available since 2001. If you want to know how to sell pictures online or sign up for this service, you must select a profession (photography, graphic design, video creation, or music) and complete a form (free of charge). Your application will be verified by an iStockphoto employee, and you will be given a quick test. After you become a member of this platform, you will be paid at least 15 percent for each picture that is sold.
To prove your expertise level, you must send a few of your finest pictures after you become a member. In addition to the 45% profit you’ll receive if you become an “Exclusive” member, you will also receive 15% for all pictures that are sold.
8. Freerange
There are more than 725,000 official users of the Freerange Stock photography community, which offers photographs without attribution. All of the photographs are licensed and do not require attribution. Photographers can earn money by displaying advertisements next to their images. The owner of the photographs receives revenue when visitors click on the advertisement. Every picture on Freerange has a clear and fair copyright policy.
Before uploading an image, the community checks and verifies it. If a picture is not licensed, it is because the community doubts its ownership or authorship. Photographers must submit original files for verification if requested.
9. Depositphotos
Unlike Shutterstock, this site has relatively low image quality standards. You only need to upload five works to pass the initial test. Your share is 44-60% depending on the purchase type and you can request a payout when you have at least $50. Since the photos here cost very little, you won’t earn much, but a lot of photographers recommend Depositphotos for beginners who’d like to learn how to sell photos online.
10. 500px
This isn’t just a stock photo site; it’s a community of photographers that constantly hosts competitions with valuable prizes. You can meet other photography enthusiasts and learn how to sell photos and find new clients. Your commission is either 30% or 60% of the total amount, depending on whether you select the monthly or yearly subscription plan.
11. Snapped4u
This site is created for event photographers. You can post your pictures without worrying about the other aspects, as it is very simple to utilise. For pictures that are sold for less than $5, you will be charged $0.5 per image, and 10% of the price for pictures that are sold for more than $5.
12. Visual Society
Selling digital photographs and prints on this platform is simple. If you want to sell stock images only, Visual Society allows you to keep all of the money you make. That’s great news for photographers, as they are accustomed to giving 30-70% of their earnings to the platform. Visual Society gives you complete control over pricing and allows you to establish your own photo-selling enterprise. Furthermore, this platform lets you create canvas and product prints easily.
13. Dreamstime
In order to maintain their high standards, Dreamstime carefully reviews each photograph and ensures that they meet them. Photographers receive 25-30% of the overall revenue once the images are reviewed. This company is one of the most reputable in the stock photo industry. Although this percentage is usually 60%, it can be increased if you agree to an exclusivity contract. You will also receive a $0.20 bonus for the first 100 images that you accept.
14. Fotomoto
Fotomoto’s prints on demand solution is the best option if you already have a website and want to add print products to your inventory. Fotomoto handles everything from printing to packaging and shipping, leaving you to shoot photos. You may immediately start selling your photographs online after copying the code generated by Fotomoto to your website. You may select a free basic account, but you must pay 22% of each sale to the platform.
15. FineArtAmerica
FineArtAmerica offers printing and shipping on a variety of products to allow you to sell your photos as canvas, framed, and metal prints, gift cards, and other items. You can rely on FineArtAmerica to produce and ship the items for you whenever you sell one. You will be charged for the manufacturing of your item, but if you set the price correctly, you will still make a profit. For example, if a print costs $50 to produce, you can charge $80 for it and make $30.
16. SmugMug
With SmugMug, you can design a variety of prints, albums, gift cards, and posters using your photos’ snapshots. In addition to granting you 85% of the profits, which is a pretty good deal compared to other services listed here as the best places to learn how to sell photos online, SmugMug distinguishes itself from other companies by giving you the ability to create various prints, albums, gift cards, and posters using your photos.
17. Can Stock Photo
The procedure for becoming an image stock provider on this platform is to obtain three pictures accepted by the reviewers within 24 hours of submitting them. One advantage of using this platform is that all of the pictures you post here are also shared with Fotosearch, one of the largest stock image databases. You receive up to 50% of the total income and are paid via PayPal once you reach $50. If you would like a check, the minimum amount is $100.
18. Stocksy
Among all the sites where you can sell stock pictures online, I consider Stocksy to be one of the best. Some of the greatest payouts are provided by this platform, which is why I believe it to be one of the finest websites to sell stock pictures online. To become a member, you must post at least 25 photos and provide personal info. You will receive 50-75% royalties if your application is accepted, but you must keep all of your photographs exclusive if you decide to sell them here.
19. Crestock
Crestock is a great resource for learning how to sell photographs online. You can create an account for free and start submitting pictures there. Crestock reviews and approves all pictures for free, and you can come up with keywords and titles for each one. The reviewers’ jobs are made easier as a result.
20. 123RF
There are already more than 110 million photographs on this platform and they are growing by 100,000 each day. You will earn 30% or 60% of each image sale, depending on your level of contribution. The more photographs you have in your portfolio, the more you will earn. With less than 1,000 photographs, you will earn 30%, which is about $0.20 per sale. If you submit more than 1,000 photos, your percentage will be 60%, which amounts to about $0.43 per sale.
21. TourPhotos
This is the best platform for selling stock images for those involved in tourism photography. You can post pictures from all over the world that you found particularly interesting, and now you want other people to see them. This site is popular with tourism agencies that want to advertise their services through photographs posted or sold. There is no recurring fee or subscription with TourPhotos unless you choose the “Sell Plan.” You get unlimited cloud storage in addition to the “Sell Plan” without any recurring fees or subscriptions. A 25% commission is charged on each photograph sold.
