Sell Stock Photos: Where to Sell Photos Online

Learn where to sell photos online when you start to sell stock photos you have taken.

For any budding photographer the ultimate goal is to be able to sell your photos. 

However, one of the most difficult things in achieving that is figuring out how and where to sell your photos without having to put too much effort into it. 

Selling stock photos is a really excellent way to get yourself going in this arena.

In fact, stock photos taken by amateurs has become one of the largest web based businesses in existence. In fact, photographers have been able to get millions of dollars in royalties, including one who achieved a record-breaking $20.9 million dollars from photo royalties.

However, even though sales of stock photos are definitely a cash cow, many amateur photographers do not even know that this industry exists to sell Stock Photos.

For those who are looking to start making money with their photos the first step is to figure out where you can get your photos out into the marketplace.

Where to Sell Photos Online

iStockPhoto is one of the largest places for users to upload and sell stock photos. On iStockPhoto, the photographer will upload their photos for clients to look through. If a client likes a particular picture they can purchase it, and the photographer receives anywhere from 20-40% of the purchase price. However, iStockPhoto is not the only avenue to use on the web to get your pictures out there.

BigStockPhoto is another place to get your photographs out there. On BigStockPhoto, you will receive anywhere from 50 cents to $3.00 for your pictures. One really great thing about BigStockPhoto is that they have a list of photographs that they are looking for. This really aids you in submitting the right pictures so that they will be purchased, and you in turn will make more money from your photographs.

Shutterstock is another place to sell stock photos. To date, 116,000 photographers utilize Shutterstock for their work. Their library of images houses about 4.4 million different images, and for every image downloaded, the photographer receives 25 cents. However, Shutterstock does not only specialize in photographs. It also employs the sales of illustrations and videos.

Another site that deals in illustrations is Dreamstime.. Dreamstime even offers extra fees for the sale of RAW and vector art. However, their photo library is also quite extensive. It houses the work of 44,000 photographers, which equals about 3.6 million different photos. Each photographer is given a fee for their photos when they are sold, and that fee can be anywhere from 35 cents to $8.40 per picture.

Fotolia has about 4 million photographs on their site. Each photograph is priced between 1 and 3 dollars, and the photographer can expect to receive from 33%-64% of each sale when they sell stock photos.

Shutterpoint has probably one of the highest payouts to photographers on the market. By selling a photo on Shutterpoint, you can expect to receive anywhere from 70-85% or the payout depending on which royalty you have listed your image under.

Other Options to Sell Stock Photos

If you are someone who would rather price your own photographs then you might want to check into Photo Stock Plus. With Photo Stock Plus you are able to set your own price point and you will receive a startling 85% of your images selling price (minus a small processing fee.)

CreStock is another site that really offers you some aid in figuring out which images you will want to submit. With CreStock, you will actually be able to peruse the best and worst images that have been submitted. This really helps you to figure out what type of work is in demand. Additionally, these images all have comments that highlight what the good and bad points are of a picture so that you can learn from the work of others.

Nature Photo Index's name might be a bit deceptive. Despite what it sounds like their site is not purely dedicated to nature, but nature photos are a large part of their library. However, they also have other categories like 'technology' or 'architecture.' And though it is a smaller site, it does claim to pay out 99% of the sale of each picture to the actual photographer.

If your ultimate goal is to get your pictures out into the media then you will most definitely want to check out Scoopt. Media outlets can go to Scoopt to get pictures that they need for upcoming articles and stories. The site boasts that they will work with photo editors to get them the best price possible, and the photographer will in turn receive 40% of the purchase price.

However, Scoopt is not the only way to get your pictures into the news. You should also check in to Citizenside. Citizenside works to get your pictures to photo editors as well and they boast that photographers will receive 75% of the commission off each image.

Those are just a few of the different sites that you can look into uploading your images with. The trick is to do your research so that you are producing the images that are in demand. The key with selling anything is to make sure that there is a demand for what you are producing. So, do your homework and find out what types of images are being looked for. If you can do that, then you will be surprised at how much money you will actually be able to make in selling your stock images.