If you want to make some extra income as a photographer, you may want to sell photos online. But there are a lot of platforms to consider, and some are better than others. Even then, some websites offer more commissions.
Do you have a backlog of photos you don’t know what to do with? Before you delete those files, consider if you should sell photos online.
If so, you should consider the best place to sell photos online to make money. Then, you can set up an account and get your images out there so that you can better make use of your photography skills.
No matter your experience with fine art in America, there’s a website where you can sell photos online.
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Where to Sell Photos Online
Before you start selling photos online, you should consider where you will do so. You can find a lot of different options, including stock photo websites. However, you also have the option of selling on a creative marketplace or your own site.
Whether you want to make money with photos full-time or part-time, the right site can make a huge difference. Some sites may help you get sales, while others rely on you to promote your work to get people to buy.
Either way, here are some of the best places to sell stock photos online and make money, from Adobe Stock to your website.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is an excellent option for beginners looking to sell photos online easily. You can sell photos for a cheap price, so you’ll need a lot of sales to make a decent income. The platform pays you every time someone downloads your images.
Payment rates are around 20 to 30%. If you want to make more money, you’ll want to upload more photos so that you have a better chance of getting a lot of sales. Another way to make money is to join the affiliate program to refer photographers and clients.
You can sell the stock photos on other websites along with Shutterstock. That gives you even more of a chance to earn money.
Adobe Stock
Another one of the best websites to sell photos online is Adobe Stock. Most of the customers here use images for graphic design and photo editing. It can be a great place to sell photos in all sorts of niches.
You can make anywhere from $0.33 to over $26, depending on the order. Adobe Stock is the best place to sell photos and videos online. Videos will pay more than photos, but you don’t have to sell videos to use the site.
If you like Adobe products, you may want to try this program. Then, you can make it easy for other Adobe customers to use your images.
iStock by Getty Images
Getty Images created iStock to let photographers upload and sell stock photography online. It’s a great website to use if you want an exclusive partnership. That means you can’t sell your images elsewhere, but that may help get more sales.
People have to go to that one site to buy your photos. By uploading exclusive images, you can make up to 45% of the sale price, or you get 25% for non-exclusive shots. Plus, you can also sell videos to increase your earning potential.
iStock isn’t the best option for beginner photographers though. You’ll need to upload the best possible stock photo to find success on the platform.
BigStock
Another website where you can sell images is BigStock. This platform has a different structure than other websites when it comes to pricing photos. As you sell your photos more, the price of those images increases, so you can make more money.
The commission rate starts at 30%, which is about average. If you also create videos, vectors, or illustrations, BigStock is great. You can sell all of your visual creations on the site, so you have more opportunities to make money.
Customers can search by industry or keyword, so be sure to optimize your image listings. That way, you can get more impressions and sales.
Stocksy
If you’re looking for stock photo sites without too much competition, consider Stocksy. It’s not as large as some competitors, but there’s a good market there. You’ll need to upload images exclusively to the platform.
However, that exclusivity comes with a commission rate of up to 70%. Like many other sites, you’ll need to upload high-quality images, so it’s not the best site for beginners. If you’re a professional looking to make extra money, it’s a great choice.
The high commission rates are very attractive, and they’re more competitive than other sites. So you may want to give this stock photo platform.
CanStock Photo is yet another fantastic place to sell photos online. The pricing is a bit low, at $1 to $2.50, and you’ll make $0.50 to $2.50 on photos that you sell. However, customers don’t need to have accounts to download images.
That can make it easier to get more sales since anyone can buy your images. Uploading photos to the site is relatively easy. You can upload one image or a batch of photos, so you can save time.
When you upload a picture, you’ll be able to upload a file with the tags and keywords you want to apply. That way, you don’t have to add those keywords during the upload process.
Dreamstime
Beginners should check out Dreamstime when deciding where to sell photos online. The platform is more flexible regarding the images and photographers it accepts. The website is also user-friendly, so you can get your photos up quickly.
When you first start selling photos online at Dreamstime, you’ll make 25 to 27%. The higher commission is for exclusive images. Over time, you can increase your commission rate up to 45 to 49.5%, so you can make even more.
If you want to test the waters of selling stock photography, Dreamstime is great. You can always expand your business to different sites when you can produce better images.
500px
500px is a combination of a stock photography website and a social network. Along with listing stock images, you can follow other photographers. The platform also offers competitions with prizes, so you can make good money there.
Viewers can “like” photos on the platform, and that can help you see what’s popular. That way, you’ll know what types of images to take to upload and sell to grow your