# Starting a photography sales online business



## tbrays (Jul 3, 2012)

Hi,

I have a lot of professional quality photos I want to start selling online but I am not sure how to get started on the web. I don't know anything that knows how to build a website and frankly the cost of of building one has caused me to keep putting this off. I like the ease of flavors.me to build your own site but I don't see how I can easily have photos listed in different categories especially since content is hosted on 3rd party sites. Does anyone have any ideas to help me get going on a photography print sales business online?  Thank you.


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## KmH (Jul 3, 2012)

What kind of photographs? Landscapes, people, sports, cars, abstract, nature, wildlife?

Many use places like Zenfolio, SmugMug, Flickr, etc.

The definition of "professional quality photos" is all over the map, so that means different things to different people.


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## tbrays (Jul 3, 2012)

Nature, wildlife, Bugs, Landscapes, Abstract, Textures.


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## tbrays (Jul 3, 2012)

To sell their photographs? Flickr has a policy against using their site to sell. Plus there isn't a convenience of a checkout process even if you could sell via Flickr.


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## KmH (Jul 3, 2012)

tbrays said:


> To sell their photographs? Flickr has a policy against using their site to sell. Plus there isn't a convenience of a checkout process even if you could sell via Flickr.


Flickr | Royalty-Free Stock Photography Capturing Real Life Around the World | Getty Images

At any rate add Etsy to the list.

Something like 85% of all the photos that sell (online or otherwise) have people in them.


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## tbrays (Jul 3, 2012)

KmH said:


> The definition of "professional quality photos" is all over the map, so that means different things to different people.



Right, my question is more in line with how to get the photos in some form of online store to sell and not in regards to the interpretation of their quality.


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## IByte (Jul 3, 2012)

tbrays said:
			
		

> Right, my question is more in line with how to get the photos in some form of online store to sell and not in regards to the interpretation of their quality.



You can buy a photography template and host it on godaddy.  The good news they will have pre coded checkout template for you to just copy and paste.


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## GothamTommy (Jul 3, 2012)

tbrays said:


> Right, my question is more in line with how to get the photos in some form of online store to sell and not in regards to the interpretation of their quality.



There are a few sites for selling online. Another questions nobody has asked is whether you want to sell prints or just the digital copies (like the royalty-free sales Flickr does).

I like Zenfolio and Instaproofs. Zenfolio has some up-front costs while Instaproof doesn't have any. However, Instaproofs only pays out your sales to you something like twice a month.


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## Big Mike (Jul 3, 2012)

I use an application called Photocart, it resides right on my website (so clients don't have to visit another site) and it was a one time purchase (no dues, fees or commissions).  But I do have to process the orders myself (order the prints and deliver/ship them)...whereas some of those sites will do that for you (for a fee).

Do you have another means of advertising and/or selling your photos?  Selling photos via a website only, is a very hard thing to do.  The conversion rate (turning site visitors into paying customers) is extremely low...I don't know what the average is, but for "Nature, wildlife, Bugs, Landscapes, Abstract, Textures"....I'd guess that it's something like 1:10,000 (maybe lower)  
So in order to sell a print, you'd need to attract 10,000 people to your site.  Do you have a plan for that?  It's not easy and probably not free.  

I'd guess that most photographers who do well at selling their work via a website, are rather well known.  People know of them, then go to the website to see/purchase their photos.  So are you well known as a photographer?  

Another option is to sell your photos via a stock photography company.  This used to be a decent way to make money for many photographers...but it's gotten much harder as the market became flooded with images.  To make good money, you either need to go with high quantity or really, really high quality.


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## SoCalTiger (Jul 3, 2012)

You can also sell pictures on 500px.com but I have no idea how many sales actually come out of that site. They only have 2 sale options: canvas print or digital copy.


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## tirediron (Jul 3, 2012)

To be brutually honest, it's probalby not worth the effort or cost to set it up.  I can count the number of non-commissioned prints that I have sold on the fingers of one hand and still have enough fingers left over to make change for a nickle.  The problem is that there are so many 'sites doing exactly this, with so many good photographs, that even if you're an SEO genius, only a hand-full of people are likely to find your 'site, and even fewer likely to buy.  

An alternative I would recommend is, if your images are of sufficient quality and interest is to put together a good portfolio and haul your butt aournd to local galleries and see if you can get space in one or two of them.  Your chances of sales will increase astronomically!


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## imagemaker46 (Jul 3, 2012)

I have to agree with tirediron on this. There are millions of photos of bugs, sunsets, sunrises, birds, trees and flowers out there. All you have to do is searches and you'll see.  If you believe that your "professional quality photos" are better than the rest of the "professional quality photos" then give it a try.  Can you post a cross section of your best photos on here and let us have a look, we may be able to help make some decisions for you.


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## Gaerek (Jul 3, 2012)

A little tough love here...

If you want to make money being a photographer, get into wedding/event or portrait photography. That's the honest truth. I shoot mostly landscapes, and I've had several people say they would pay money for my photos. Even after inquiring further each and every time, guess how many prints I've sold. Answer: 3 or 4 I think. Basically, covered my smugmug (the $60 account level) account for a couple years, and that's about it. The sad truth is, everyone has photos of mountains, flowers, birds, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. Your photos may be professional quality, I'm not questioning you on that, but there are so many professional quality photos in those categories that your chances of making even a little money are slim to none.

Having said that, if you're still set on it, smugmug will allow you to have an online storefront for like $120 a year, I think.


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## howtophotograph (Jul 3, 2012)

Tbray
you have to have a website first
there are free templates for e-commerce websites,
you can have a website built in no time with wordpress
there maybe some plugins to help you set up
do a bit of research and you will find your answers! Just look for websites doing the same thing...there are plenty

Christian
how to become a photographer - complete course on how to become a professional photographer


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## davisphotos (Jul 3, 2012)

I agree with the others here-without some seriously agressive self promotion, and an incredible portfolio of images, you won't sell a whole lot of prints online. It is not something you can just throw up a website and expect people to search 'pretty sunset print' and buy a $300 canvas of your image. If you're set on giving it a go, I use SmugMug for my wedding & portrait work, and I absolutely love it. I have the pro level at $150 a year, which is more than covered by print sales (people do like buying photographs of themselves and their children).


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## Overread (Jul 3, 2012)

Honestly I wouldn't pay for a Smugmug or any other similar account unless you were putting time and money into advertising yourself and at least making it a second minijob or main job. I say that because without those supports chances are you'll just throw good money into the commercial site and only make one or two tiny sales. You can easily throw up a simple flickr account (free) and put a "contact me for prints if you want any" note in the details (ps on flickr you cannot use their site commercially, so you couldn't quote prices, but nothing stops you telling people to send you a note if they want a copy).

If its just the very odd sale you're looking after then chances are those interested parties who are also able to buy (ie they have the money) will send a note to you to ask if you invite them to in the description.

Smugmug and other companies will give you a shop system - payment and such is all easily taken care of; but it costs you and its really geared toward the working photographer who wants a simple and quick website without having to pay for the design and production of their own (card payment slots online as well as hosting and the rest are not free services).


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