Best site for novice photographers to sell on

[mutau052]

Ok so after some searching on this site for a great place to start my photographic business I signed up for click image. The take care of everything for me, proofs,thumbs, and sales/collections, and most of all prints. Also it's totally free, for your own website and everything! For all the people starting out I really think this could be the answer, really. My only complaint is the don't have a plugin for apple aperture.

If there are any grammar errors in this it's cause I'm on a treadmill and typing on an iPhone. This how I signed up for clickimage.com also, it's that easy.

[MysticalPhoto]

interesting... i wonder how good of a lab they use? i wonder if they are good about paying.. let me know how it works out..

I use www.instaproofs.com

[SoundsGood]

If there are any grammar errors in this it's cause I'm on a treadmill and typing on an iPhone.
I've typed many posts from my iPhone... but never while on a treadmill. :)

[Tubbed440]

Good info. My wife has been all over me to post some of my images for sale. I've been against it due to the fact that I don't think that they are good enough for someone to pay good money for......but, I may be too hard on myself, lol. Either way, I guess I'm going to give it a try.

[SoundsGood]

Are the sites mentioned above similar to Zenfolio? Or are they different?

[mutau052]

Good info. My wife has been all over me to post some of my images for sale. I've been against it due to the fact that I don't think that they are good enough for someone to pay good money for......but, I may be too hard on myself, lol. Either way, I guess I'm going to give it a try.

yeah, the best part is its free so your not out any money. I added some test pics on my site you can check out the front end to see how it looks to the customer. note these were test photos of a truck i sold a while back, there not good quality and don't call me i already sold it, but you can buy a pic of it if you want. make sure you get something expensive so i get a good commission of it.

the site is

jordanelliott.myphotographer.com


all of the sites are xxxx.myphotographer.com

i think its pretty sweet, i didn't want to pay, my wife is kinda tight wad about stuff when it come to spending expendable income on "hobbies" so hopefully my "habit" will start to pay for itself.

[mutau052]

Are the sites mentioned above similar to Zenfolio? Or are they different?

i'm not sure about that one, but this one is totally free. they just take 13% off your profit. i found that i did not want to pay for a www. address, a business email, printing services, etc. so this was a quick fix. you also set all your own pricing.

[mutau052]

interesting... i wonder how good of a lab they use? i wonder if they are good about paying.. let me know how it works out..

I use www.instaproofs.com


Seems similar. i did not read to much about it, but I'm all about having my own FREE domain name, now if i get really busy as an amateur and some how become a professional event/action photographer i may move up to some system a little more advanced, but if you guys/girls have spouses like mine that don't like to "blow" money on these "pipe dreams" than you can relate to free is good. my wife has been very supportive, I'm just poking fun at what only married people can understand, and if you single blow all your money at bars and on junk you don't need, actually buy something for me, or get a lap dance (girls get one too, not discriminating here) or something, cause once your married that life is over.

[Tubbed440]

Seems similar. i did not read to much about it, but I'm all about having my own FREE domain name, now if i get really busy as an amateur and some how become a professional event/action photographer i may move up to some system a little more advanced, but if you guys/girls have spouses like mine that don't like to "blow" money on these "pipe dreams" than you can relate to free is good. my wife has been very supportive, I'm just poking fun at what only married people can understand, and if you single blow all your money at bars and on junk you don't need, actually buy something for me, or get a lap dance (girls get one too, not discriminating here) or something, cause once your married that life is over.

A-MEN TO THAT BROTHER!bw!

[RP33]

ANy update on Click Image? I am thinking of going with Zenfolio but is there any advantage to going with Zen over click image? Other than Zen does cost a little.

[SoundsGood]

I am thinking of going with Zenfolio but is there any advantage to going with Zen over click image? Other than Zen does cost a little.
Have you played around with Zenfolio? It's a very, very good service.

[RP33]

Looks like I might be going there. One last site that has caught my eye. What about photoshelter? Anyone have feelings about that one compaired to Zen?

[craiglee]

may i suggest making your own proofing site? cut back on the 10, 12, 15% fees.

[RP33]

I want the site to do the printing and billing. If I done my own site I would have to do that right?

[WillMass]

yeah, the best part is its free so your not out any money. I added some test pics on my site you can check out the front end to see how it looks to the customer. note these were test photos of a truck i sold a while back, there not good quality and don't call me i already sold it, but you can buy a pic of it if you want. make sure you get something expensive so i get a good commission of it.

the site is

jordanelliott.myphotographer.com


all of the sites are xxxx.myphotographer.com

i think its pretty sweet, i didn't want to pay, my wife is kinda tight wad about stuff when it come to spending expendable income on "hobbies" so hopefully my "habit" will start to pay for itself.

Can you "the photographer" set the templates and background? It's way too bright for my taste, and has a rather low end look to the layout.

Who sets the prices, and what percentage do you get? You keep saying "it's free". Well they gotta be making money somehow. Somebody has to pay for the servers and bandwidth.

Fact is; There ain't no free.

[WillMass]

may i suggest making your own proofing site? cut back on the 10, 12, 15% fees.

The downside to that is; then you've got to do all the maintenance. As for the percentage, I build it into my online prices. Also, because of image theft, we've stopped posting photos from spec jobs online. Now all that gets posted is paid jobs.

[mutau052]

Can you "the photographer" set the templates and background? It's way too bright for my taste, and has a rather low end look to the layout.

Who sets the prices, and what percentage do you get? You keep saying "it's free". Well they gotta be making money somehow. Somebody has to pay for the servers and bandwidth.

Fact is; There ain't no free.

there are some set templates to choose from, as for prices you set all your own prices (ie, they have there cost first then the mark up)

example i take pic put it up on my proofing site, you go to buy it, you want a 3x5 it says 3 dollars. so where doe that 3 dollars go...

.27 to printing (they keep)
so that leaves 2.63 as profit, well they take 13% so they make .34 off of my pic plus the cost of printing the picture. that leaves me with 2.29 as my profit.

and when i say free, i mean no subscriptions to purchase.

[danir.photography]

... You keep saying "it's free". Well they gotta be making money somehow. Somebody has to pay for the servers and bandwidth.

Fact is; There ain't no free.
It's free to you to the extent that you pay no upfront fees. You share (lose) revenue (with the site) when prints are ordered by your customers through the site.

[Strnge]

So can someone swipe photos from zenfolio? Or can they only purchase them? Can anyone tell me how much in a year have they sold on these sites and how much has been posted on them in the same year. Ex: posted 100 shots and sold 10 in a year.

[WillMass]

It's free to you to the extent that you pay no upfront fees. You share (lose) revenue (with the site) when prints are ordered by your customers through the site.

So it's just like Photo Reflect or any of a dozen others out there.

[WillMass]

So can someone swipe photos from zenfolio? Or can they only purchase them? Can anyone tell me how much in a year have they sold on these sites and how much has been posted on them in the same year. Ex: posted 100 shots and sold 10 in a year.

If it's on the web, it can be stolen.

More discussion on this here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=615245

Example on page 2

[Karl Johnston]

www.redbubble.com

Allows a 85% Rate of return with their premium account, and they do framing options too for pretty darn cheap.

That's some serious stuff; I do consignment for the same rate in stores ...imagine the world market, I've never seen a site offer more than 20 % as a RoR

If it's on the web, it can be stolen.
More discussion on this here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=615245
Example on page 2

That's only true if you don't take the necessary means to protect yourself.

[clipper_from_oz]

Ok so after some searching on this site for a great place to start my photographic business I signed up for click image. The take care of everything for me, proofs,thumbs, and sales/collections, and most of all prints. Also it's totally free, for your own website and everything! For all the people starting out I really think this could be the answer, really. My only complaint is the don't have a plugin for apple aperture.

If there are any grammar errors in this it's cause I'm on a treadmill and typing on an iPhone. This how I signed up for clickimage.com also, it's that easy.

If your on a treadmill and you can type this you aint working out hard enough!! :)

[amfoto1]

There are tons of "free" sites out there.

I think how people manage to find you and your work is more of an issue, when it comes to sales.

And I think you generally get what you pay for.

For the past three years I've been using Printroom.com, which offers a free account too, but for professional work offers two levels at $99 and $199 a year that have a ton of added features. There's a percentage of sales, too, that's already taken out of the check they send me about the middle of each month. Still, it's well worth it!

Not that Printroom really answers all the question of people finding me. It will come up when Googled, but I to drive traffic there I still distribute a lot of biz cards, flyers, get links from organizer websites, etc., etc.

This year I'll be putting together my own website, and the Printroom galleries will become a part of that, and I'll continue to maintain them for event photography (mostly equine), print sales and order fulfillment.

Printroom is highly customizable and can even be set up to appear as part of a separate, personal website.

[WillMass]

That's only true if you don't take the necessary means to protect yourself.
This statement is patently false.

[Karl Johnston]

This statement is patently false.

mmk

[mutau052]

If your on a treadmill and you can type this you aint working out hard enough!! :)

yeah, i've kinda been thinking that, but i run 4 at lunch and walk 6 after work, so i can get my 50 miles a week in. shin splints hurt to bad to run all the time. trying to get down to under a 20 min 5k, but i need to lose about another 20 pounds. I'm down 18 from last year so its a possibility.

[mutau052]

i actually started this thread to give Novice People a place to get a quick all-in-one, easy, free website. If your a pro, like I said in a previous post, this site is not going to do it all for you.