What to charge for 1 single photograph for a 1 time fee???

Hi all, I have a quick question, that will probably yield me many different answers, but I do not even know where to start.

I was approached today about usage rights for one of my photographs. This is the first time I have been contacted like this before. And I have no clue as to what type of compensation to ask for.

I emailed them back asking specifically what and how my photo would be used, and I was given the response

''It would be primarily used internally- possibly on our website or for promotional materials.''

They are a very big company, and do have plenty of money, I do not even know where to start at an asking price. $10? $100? $1,000? Less? More?

Also from their answser, I still don't have a clue what exactly they want it for. I am thinking they just want it to keep in there own stock pile for possible future use, and at the moment do not have a ''specific'' need for it.

I appreciate everyones help and time, Dustin.

look down there \/ \/ \/ \/

See how it says 'similar threads' ? Try clicking on some of those links

Thanks you, I did read the ''similar threads'' below, and I am still just as lost.

Also from reading the many other threads on this same topic, I realize a fee is extremely difficult to come to and varies tremendously.

Is there any other questions I can or should be asking this company?? They are waiting on me to reply, and again, I have no clue where to start.

Thanks again in advance for everyone's help & input

Dustman wrote in post #14320203
Thanks you, I did read the ''similar threads'' below, and I am still just as lost.

Also from reading the many other threads on this same topic, I realize a fee is extremely difficult to come to and varies tremendously.

Is there any other questions I can or should be asking this company?? They are waiting on me to reply, and again, I have no clue where to start.

Thanks again in advance for everyone's help & input

Here's the question you need to answer:

Until you can determine what they need it for, you can't really give them a fair price.

You can also ask them to make an initial offer.

Their reply isn't really very useful. They may as well have said "Oh, all sorts of things."

Here are a couple of free license pricing tools:
http://www.featurepics​.com …ense-fees-calculator.aspx
http://www.stockphotop​ricecalculator.com/

There are specific prices for specific types of usage. If it's only in internal communication, it has a relatively small value (but still something). If they're using the image to advertise a product, that has somewhat more value. If they just want an unlimited usage license, it could be big bucks depending on the type of image and the type of company.

Nathan's correct.. 'internal use' has a different price to 'promotional use'. From their answer you have 3 different uses:

internal
website
promotional

I would probably send them another email asking if this is correct, and if they can elaborate on the 'promotional use' and 'internal' as you'd like to make sure you do not overcharge them.

It would be a good idea to find an image license agreement online to send through to them so they can tick the boxes they require the usage for.

Thank you all for input!!

I emailed them back again, asking them to be more specific, and told them how they use the photo will depend on how much they must pay me.

Will let you all know what they say when I get a response.

Nothing like being non-specific.

Naturalist wrote in post #14322250
Nothing like being non-specific.

Tell me about it LOL

I mentioned in my response to them, that there awnser to how it will be used, tells me absolutely nothing.

Here is another usage calculator (in ye olde English pounds) http://home.the-aop.org/Usage_Calculat​or

Even if you don't use it to calculate the fee you can at least look at all the many many different categories of usage. The best way to proceed is to get them to clarify exactly what usage they want. If their answer is vague use this calculator to compile a full list of possible uses and email that to them and ask them to indicate which ones they want. Then when you do the license agreement you list those uses and indicate that quotes for additional usage are available upon request.

Regardless of all of the 'guides', calculate a price that is worth it to you, taking into account any and all factors you feel are relevant. If they say no, feel free to negotiate.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

You need to start the process somewhere and without the benefit of knowing what they might be willing to pay, come up with a number to start the ball rolling.

This isn't rocket science, it's sales.

Since the OP seems to have his answer, I wanted to ask a related question. I use smugmug to host my photos, and with their new price lists, they have pricing categories for digital downloads. You can set the pricing for a single image or entire gallery for personal use or commercial use. This seems pretty vague compared to what I see with the above calculators, and I have no idea how to set the pricing for my digital downloads. Any words of wisdom here? Thanks.

sdipirro wrote in post #14327307
Since the OP seems to have his answer, I wanted to ask a related question. I use smugmug to host my photos, and with their new price lists, they have pricing categories for digital downloads. You can set the pricing for a single image or entire gallery for personal use or commercial use. This seems pretty vague compared to what I see with the above calculators, and I have no idea how to set the pricing for my digital downloads. Any words of wisdom here? Thanks.

Put a value on the "life worth" of the image and charge accordingly because, unless you're dealing with an entity that really has their sh*t together vis a vis copyrights, it's out there to be used almost at will.

Your best "defense" is to create versions that, if downloaded for personal use (screensavers, wallpapers, etc.) simply can't be up-rezzed enough for anything else. 1024X @ 72dpi with a stylish, yet effective watermark promoting your business.

I took another look and had oversimplified the choices. I can pick and choose what I offer for sale. There are four categories within the "personal use" and "commercial use" selections: single photo, single printmarked photo, gallery, and printmarked gallery. In each category, you can set separate pricing for web size, low-res, high-res (4Mb), and original. So I could choose to only sell printmarked versions or set the pricing higher on the ones that aren't printmarked. For all the digital downloads, they get either a personal use or commercial use license agreement. The gallery pricing is even harder than the single photo pricing because it's hard to know how many pictures I might typically have in a gallery, depending on the client and job. I guess this is one I might have to fiddle with for each customer and customize it.

Thanks for everyones input, appreciated as always!!

After I told them I need more info on how they are using my photograph (What, When, Why, How, Duration, Etc.) , so we can discuss a price. I was told basically, Oh we thought we can just give you credit as the photographer and than we can do and use your photo in anyway we like. They are offering me photo credit and no monetary compensation. (So I should just be glad to be getting the free advertising they say.....right). They want the full resolution image, otherwise I wouldnt have been surprised if they just right clicked and saved my photograph off the internet where they saw it.

If I don't hear from them again, its no skin off my back. If they want it that bad, they will have to pay me.......I'm not saying they aren't honest, but I will keep an eye on there website to make sure I don't see anything familiar pop up there at some point.