Useage charge

Question here, I was contacted by my SmugMug service as a sports equipment company had reached out to ask them about using one of my photos for the cover of their 2023 catalog.

I have no idea how to price something like that as I am just a hobbyist photographer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

duckster wrote in post #19427922
Question here, I was contacted by my SmugMug service as a sports equipment company had reached out to ask them about using one of my photos for the cover of their 2023 catalog.

I have no idea how to price something like that as I am just a hobbyist photographer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

There are lots of threads about pricing, and most of them won't answer it directly

Click to make this search: TITLE: pricing IN FORUMS: The Business of Photography

Thank you.

Completely uncharted waters for me. I will try to do some more searching for threads.

I would guess the usage is for a year, given it is a product catalog

I think the reason you will not get a straight answer is because there are many variables that will affect the price. How big is the company, a startup with very limited funds or someone like Nike who pay millions for a add campaign. Or how wide the distribution, global? National? Someone selling stuff out of their home? It might be beneficial to take a look at the company asking, do a bit of background checking and base your offer on that. Or maybe ask what they are offering. If it's good, take it, if it's low, counter with something your comfortable with.

Thanks. It is company based locally that sell outdoor sports equipment for T&F also some basketball and volleyball stuff. Looks like they do about $5 million in sales annually

duckster wrote in post #19427932
Thanks. It is company based locally that sell outdoor sports equipment for T&F also some basketball and volleyball stuff. Looks like they do about $5 million in sales annually

"I charge only 0.01% of your annual sales"

Pekka wrote in post #19428168
"I charge only 0.01% of your annual sales"

That's funny, but it's not a bad way to think. Maybe ask them straight out, what's your budget for this project and how would my picture fit in?

I was kind of thinking about this and have re-thought my original suggestion. Asking any potential client about how much they are offering or what their budget is is a sign of an amateur in both business and photography. I'm thinking your way better off telling them straight out what your price is. Maybe offer three tiers:
1. limited use, you retain rights to sell to others. (cheapest)
2. exclusive use (for some period of time, say a year where you will not sell the image to anyone else and priced more expensive
3. full ownership, sell them the rights to the image outright. (most expensive)

Then come up with what your willing to sell it to them and go with it. If they counter, you can evaluate the offer and proceed appropriately.

Do your research around product photography and going rates. This image is very similar to the idea of supplying product photographs IMO with maybe a small upcharge.

Only once in my 28 year career have I asked what their budget was. Last month, I received an email from a large local Ad Agency about a project and was told about the concept, a few examples, licensing and deliverables. I wasn't going to jump in and quote a rate without the Client, usage and other details. They responded with an impressive budget but didn't tell me the name of the client or Industry. I offered to shoot the job and only deliver RAW files since the Agency has in house editors but the client decided to shoot video only and do photography at a later date. I ultimately figured out who the client was, a Regional Healthcare Corporation so I think that the job was lowballed value wise.

The lesson, get all the information necessary to confidently quote a rate or you'll leave money on the table. If you don't have the information, you will either quote too high or not feel like a valued part of a project.

duckster wrote in post #19427922
Question here, I was contacted by my SmugMug service as a sports equipment company had reached out to ask them about using one of my photos for the cover of their 2023 catalog.

I have no idea how to price something like that as I am just a hobbyist photographer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Go to their web site and see if that have a advertising package you can download, that will give you a idea of what they charge for full page ads per run, IMO that should be very minimum of what you should charge for a cover shot.

If the don't have such on their webpage contact their advertising director and ask to have the prices e-mailed to you , but don't mention the offer to buy the photo just let them think you need prices for a project.


That is what they charge to to promote a advertisers product as such you photo should be worth at least that much to promote their publication.

How did it go?

They have not gotten back to me yet. They showed me the photo that they would like to use and they are going to do a "draft"