How to Sell Photos Online in 2023
Photos are a part of our lives. While they capture moments that can’t be traded for a million dollars, they can also make products by selling photos online.
How does this work?
There is no magic to selling photos online. Like any business, you have to work for it. There are platforms that make selling photos less of a hassle.
All you have to do is choose the platform that best suits your goals, create an account and start earning.
As a photographer, you can use your skill to earn money and start a career by selling your photos online.
Photographers and now and I demand their work now more than ever from people who are interested in photography, promoting their brands, recording events, bloggers and graphic designers.
In this article, we hope to share the 12 best places to sell photos online and make money doing what you love.
How to Sell Photos Online in 2023
1. Do it yourself
Having your own website has many advantages and one of them is the complete control over everything. In this case, you can set your own prices, you won’t answer or give money to anyone, and you can display your content the way you want.
Creating a website is not difficult. Most of the professional photography websites on the web are built with WordPress.
After creating a website post your images to attract visitors and convince them to buy your images, if you don’t like wordpress you can use wixer or squarespace instead.
2. Adobe Shares
It’s a stock photo market created by the maker of the most popular photo editors like Photoshop and Lightroom. It is the first online marketplace to sell photos and has been around for over 10 years.
Adobe isn’t going to hold your photos in stock, so you can sell on other platforms at the same time.
It’s a royalty to share photos. Adobe continues to grow as a top destination for bio and photography vendors.
3. Shutterstock-
Shutterstock is another marketplace for photographers. Shutterstock has a lot of advantages, such as copyright protection, you just need to set the rights for the photos.
They also give credit to the owner of the image, which protects your ownership and promotes your brand.
As a site contributor, you’ll likely earn money every time someone uploads and buys your photos. It does not require exclusive rights to your images, so you can publish on other sales platforms.
You get 20-30% of what your image sells every month.
4. Alamy
Alamy is another platform where you can sell your photos online. Alamy doesn’t have as many buyers as Shutterstock and Adobe stock, but it’s great competition
Alamy allows photographers to upload their photos without licensing or other copyrights.
Alamy Marketplace paid photographers 50% of each cell if you exceed the annual threshold of $25,000, 25,000% of each sale if your annual sales are less than $250 but more than $20, and XNUMX% of donor sales are less than $250.
5. Etsy
Etsy is another popular platform for posting these images for sale. You can sell digital and print images on Etsy. Over 30 million users and multiple ways to sell your photos. It is best known for buying and selling unique handmade products.
With Etsy, you have a larger audience and demographic ready to purchase your images. For prints, consider printing, packaging and shipping costs.
Etsy allows you to price your own photos, and the site gives you complete control over how much you want buyers to see. If you want full control over how to sell your photos, but don’t want to create your own site from scratch, Etsy needs you.
6. Photomoto
Unlike others, Fotomoto is not an online marketplace, but a widget that integrates with your website to help you sell photos. Be sure to add it to your site and let Fotomoto handle all the photo sales processes for you.
Fotomoto allows you to offer photo prints of your digital photos and even drive traffic to your site. It manages the compression of your stock images so you don’t have to.
With 4000, you can customize and edit the widget settings to display your own brand by providing your logo so that visitors to your site can change the name.
Fotomoto has great features that work well with your existing WordPress.
7. Crestock
Crestock is a bit passive and complex. Get started by creating an account and uploading your photos.
Once your images are evaluated by Crestock, you will add them to your Crestock portfolio for customers to purchase.
You can add keywords and a description to each image, increasing your chances of getting approved by Crestock’s editor.
And the same keywords and description make your photos easier to find among others.
8. 500 pixels
500px is an online platform that allows you to create a portfolio of your photos and earn money. If you want to use 500 pixels, you need to create an account, add your image and wait for the results.
What makes 500px special is that it offers analytics and tracking services so you can track your photos against your friends’ photos.
For example, how many clicks your images get and how you rank compared to others. 500px would occasionally run contests for photographers, make sure you keep an eye out.
9. Snapped4U
Snapped4U allows you to create a gallery and upload photos, then set a price for the photos, and that’s it. It sells your images as jpeg files and sends them via email and requests.
This is easy because snapped4u sellers have their own gallery page, so clients who book you for multiple events can find your photos in one place and you can give your URL to anyone who wants to buy your photos.
Snapped4u charges a commission if your photo sells for a good price, but you get the biggest profit share.
10. Photo protection
Photoshelter is an online store where prints are sold and delivered to the customer. They allow you to define templates for sharing photos.
To do this, you need to purchase space on the platform for uploading photos. They have extensive plans with different features of monthly and yearly options.
11. Tour Photos
TourPhotos is a hub for tourists and travel photographers from around the world. In fact, many tour operators and travel agencies use it to post photos of their adventure tours for purchase by participants and the general public.
It is a great platform for travel photographers to sell their photos online to a like-minded audience.
And you’ll probably be inspired by all the beautiful photography on TourPhotos!
12. Getty Images
Getty Images is another platform where you can sell your photos. It attracts brands looking for high-quality and hard-to-find unique images to license.
The platform and iStock have more than 1.5 million customers around the world. The probability of selling pictures is quite high.
Also, prices for photos licensed through Getty Images start at 20% and can go up to 45%.
Frequently asked Questions
Just like any profession or hobby, you need to fine-tune your niche. Every photographer should have a consistent style that they pick up. Is it travel, fashion etc
Finding your niche is something you have to find your way into. If you want to sell your photos online, your style and photos will resonate with your audience.
Second, Include an online store in your portfolio. This includes the ability to accept payments from Paypal or Shop Pay. You can open several other doors to selling your photos online, such as selling courses, physical products, and services.
It depends on your audience and what they want
People – children, adults and everyone in between from all countries and cultures!
People working – These images are very popular among companies. People working on laptops, writing, talking in a meeting, etc. Just don’t make them so common that they become a meme.
Food – A variety of delicious food, even without clearing unwashed plates.
Tools – Gears, hammers, nuts, bolts and screws can convey a lot to potential buyers.
Cities – Cityscapes, buildings, commuters.
Nature – This is a simple one that never gets old to shoot or sell.
Travel — Pictures from around the world are always in high demand
Summary
Selling photos may not be easy at first, but it’s just the beginning. Don’t stop trying because if you do what you love you would never work a day in your life.
We hope this guide has helped you find the best places to sell photos online and make money.