Anybody making any sales on 500px?

[trekkiestud]

If so, of what?
Check out my 500px (http://500px.com/JamesHarbal/photos)

[BaghdadFred]

I really only imagine a very select few are. Not that its bad stuff but it's not really a place that seems to heavily drive stock image sales such as Getty Images.

[Picture North Carolina]

Although some may sell there, 500px is not marketed heavily as a selling platform. It is more of a "bragging rights" platform where photographers can post pics and other photographers can "ooh" and "ahh" them.

About nine months ago I emailed their support team and asked them what type of effort they were doing to market themselves outside the photographic sector for the purpose of bringing buyers to 500px. In other words, making art collectors, interior designers, home decorators, etc. aware of their existence for the purpose of helping members sell pictures.

At first, they sort of dodged the question. But I persistently asked again, and received an email reply; quote: "We currently don't do specific marketing for selling platform." In other words, they do little (or no) promotional marketing with the purpose of bringing non-photographic sector buyers to 500px. Perhaps it's changed in the last nine months. Don't know.

So if you are an amateur and want a good platform to show your work to other photographers (which is not a primary buying market), 500px is great. On the other hand, if your primary goal is to sell pictures, there may be better vehicles to utilize.

As a side note, I have read quite a few articles lately where recognizable names (in photography) are saying the Creative Commons platform has actually increased their sales. I personally don't like CC, but it is apparently getting eyes on images and dollars in the pockets for quite a few. So if you want to sell, consider a CC platform as part of your marketing plan. I don't think 500px is CC - it's not in their current terms of service.
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[torode]

I believe I can sort of confirm that there are very few sales happening on 500px.com.

I am assuming that the transaction IDs issued when you make a sale are incremented, because a few days after sales began I made some digital (not prints) sales and the transaction IDs were #181 and #182 respectively, and the sales, from different customers, mind you, occurred within an hour of one another.

Yesterday I made two sales of prints and the transaction IDs were in the 700s.

From this, I am unscientifically deducing that less than a thousand sales, digital or prints, have been made since the sales function debuted around a month ago.

[tupper]

Thought I would bump this up and see if anyone is getting sales?

I'm thinking about enabling the store, just not sure whether its worth it

[arich]

I doubt it, there are so many images on there with no real marketing strategy in place. Consider any sales some nice gravy on the side.

[Phrasikleia]

Are they still giving away free HD downloads with each print sale and requiring that all marketplace images be available for sale as cheap HD downloads? I saw a tweet or FB post by them saying that the HD downloads would become optional for photographers at some point, but I haven't seen any announcement about it since. I refuse to do any selling through 500px until I can opt out of HD download sales/freebies.

[frederiksenp]

I've gotten a few requests for sales on 500px, but I only upload small resolution images with a watermark. In order to use their system, I'd have to upload full res photos with no watermark. The small percentage of business that I make on prints isn't worth it. If people want to buy a particular image, I throw it on my webpage where they can make the purchase.

[lui-même]

I emailed them couple of months ago regarding the weird way - for me, mind you- of selling prints. That is, the customer has to download the picture and printed himself/herself. I will never allow a customer to download a full resolution picture. No control over it.
You want to buy it, tell me which one, what medium and I'll send it to you.
I asked them to make optional the downloading feature. They said that it would be done sometime in the future.

[Tony_Stark]

Im just mad that 500px took down the portfolio feature and new makes me upgrade to a premium account just to access the feature, havent even considered selling prints on the site!

[Phrasikleia]

I emailed them couple of months ago regarding the weird way - for me, mind you- of selling prints. That is, the customer has to download the picture and printed himself/herself. I will never allow a customer to download a full resolution picture. No control over it.
You want to buy it, tell me which one, what medium and I'll send it to you.
I asked them to make optional the downloading feature. They said that it would be done sometime in the future.

That's not quite how it works. The customer does not ever get a full-resolution download. What they get is HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, with the idea that it will be used as a desktop screensaver or some similar "personal use." If the customer wants a print, they have only one choice: a canvas wrap for $199. The canvas wrap option includes one free HD (1920 x 1080) download. Marketplace images must be at least 3600 pixels on the long end, and no customer ever gets a file that large as a download.

Last I checked, photographers had no way of opting out of the HD downloads, which is a total deal-breaker for me. The option of only canvas and only in one print size makes sense, however. By keeping the medium rough and the size of the print modest, 500px avoids the possibility of shoddy technique showing up in a print and causing a customer to want a refund.

[tupper]

Im just mad that 500px took down the portfolio feature and new makes me upgrade to a premium account just to access the feature, havent even considered selling prints on the site!

I gave you a follow anyway :lol:

Thanks for the replies to the bump guys, I'll just stick to using it as a portfolio

[Tony_Stark]

I gave you a follow anyway :lol:

Thanks for the replies to the bump guys, I'll just stick to using it as a portfolio

Thanks! Haha :D

[elrey2375]

I'm not sure they're that serious about making it a destination to buy photos. As another poster said, they don't really market themselves that way and there aren't any options as to how the photo is mounted, framed, etc. What if I don't want a wrap, or I want a different size? I think they did it to appease some members and to be honest, I don't really care for the site that much since the big changes took place. I find myself going there less and less and I won't be renewing my membership.

[agphotography]

I have yet to make any sales through 500px personally but I thought it was going to be an interesting platform. I previously was using smugmug and despite all the marketing I tried to do I never made one sale through them. All print sales I did make were on my own and handled separately.

Anyways, I too reached out to 500px's support team asking about the market and if/when other options will be implemented.

Their reply to me (which came quickly btw) stated that they are actively working on adding alternative print choices and further improving the overall market system.

I do not know how far they are going to take it, but it would be nice to see it develop into a viable option for photographers to sell their work.

[es1]

Although some may sell there, 500px is not marketed heavily as a selling platform. It is more of a "bragging rights" platform where photographers can post pics and other photographers can "ooh" and "ahh" them.

This. Flickr is better since it has a community and you can actually learn stuff there since people share their lighting setups below the image etc. In 500px people don't share their knowledge and it's pretty much only for showcasing the photos.

[tupper]

This. Flickr is better since it has a community and you can actually learn stuff there since people share their lighting setups below the image etc. In 500px people don't share their knowledge and it's pretty much only for showcasing the photos.

Which is why it's quite well liked by Professionals.. they don't have to explain how they did everything all the time :lol: Occasionally you get helpful ones. But I wouldn't say it makes flickr better, just two very different ways of doing the same thing.

[Scatterbrained]

You can always try out 1x.com.

[wkalka]

Hi there,

I have a photo on the top of the bestseller lists on 500px, and sold so far 26 times the 2mpx
for each 2eu .. so much about earnings and that in 12 month ...

[Phrasikleia]

Hi there,

I have a photo on the top of the bestseller lists on 500px, and sold so far 26 times the 2mpx
for each 2eu .. so much about earnings and that in 12 month ...

Yeah, that's exactly why I haven't opted in to the marketplace. I've now had at least a dozen purchase requests come through, but I know that they're likely to be for the 2 EUR downloads and not for actual prints. And I worry that some of these people would just like to get their hands on an HD file so that they can try to make money off of my photo themselves via stock sites or what have you.

Until they allow us to opt out of the HD downloads: no thanks!