Selling online

Basically, I'm trying to collect some data on how many clicks/sales you get on your Zenfolio/SmugMug/other​s accounts.
Within 2 days I had 2 conversations with 2 of my friends, with the opinions expressed completely opposing each other.

Here's the excerpt of the first conversation:
Friend #1: You should totally start posting your pictures online, because I would totally buy them;
Me: I've been posting pictures online for over a year and not a single person ever asked me to buy a print;
Friend #1: Well, if there was a "buy print" button, many people would pay $2/$5/$15/$10,000 for a print;

Here's the skinny on the conversation with the second friend:
Friend #2: I would get annoyed that you want to charge me for my picture. I will not pay for a picture, even if it's a good one. Plus, what about model release, etc.
Me: It's impossible to get a model release, especially at some events.
Friend #2: Another point, how many sales a month do you think you'll generate? How many clicks from unique visitors do you get a months?

Here's what I'm trying to find out:
1. Do you get enough traffic and sales to at least cover the cost of Zenfolio/SmugMug/other​s?
2. If you don't mind sharing, how many sales and what kind (small prints, huge posters, etc) do you make a month?
This doesn't apply to wedding or otherwise hired photographers, it's a completely different ball game.

I'm not quitting my main job, nor I'm making photography my main source of income. It's a hobby, a very expensive hobby (but every good hobby is expensive), but if I can make a few bucks on a side - great, if not - I ain't quitting photography.

Thanks in advance,
Aleness.

P.S. Again, I'm not asking for your profits, I don't care how much you make, I just wanna know some statistics and should I even bother offering a service like this.

I sell online and offer prints for sale on my website. Until recently I didn't have an 'official' way to do it, other than have someone contact me if they wanted a print and meet in person (if local) or Paypal the money to me. Just recently I wised up and opened an Etsy storefront. At the prices I sell for, my website costs are paid for all year with one print. With the prints that I've sold over the last year and a half I've upgraded my camera setup almost to exactly what I want. Plus, showing my prints has led to other opportunities (work for businesses especially). And posting my work on FB has led to friends purchasing prints too.

I'm not getting rich or at the point where I can leave my corp job, but it's feeding my habit. If your work is good enough to sell, then why not?

Okay, what type of photography are we talking about first, and simply posting it online isn't enough, you have to let people know its out there (i.e. marketing)..I have mine on a couple of sites and sell some each year on both, plus i have a "buy now" link on my website that points back to 1 of those sites..

Well, for now it's mostly events and concerts photography, i.e. happy faces, drunk faces, nothing staged. I wasn't even planning on selling before the conversation with my friend.
I do some artistic photos, sometimes local, sometimes from travels. My sister-in-law really liked some of my HDRs to the point she wanted to print them out and post on a wall.

Aleness wrote in post #11105955
My sister-in-law really liked some of my HDRs to the point she wanted to print them out and post on a wall.

Generally that attitude changes once there is a price involved..If I got a dollar for every "Your stuff is great" or "Love your images" etc..I would be sitting pretty..liking it and liking it enough to pay for it are sometimes miles apart..

Aleness wrote in post #11105955
Well, for now it's mostly events and concerts photography, i.e. happy faces, drunk faces, nothing staged. I wasn't even planning on selling before the conversation with my friend.

For those I would probably look at Smugmug or one of the other similar sites.

digirebelva wrote in post #11106069
If I got a dollar for every "Your stuff is great" or "Love your images" etc..

Yeah, I have the same feeling. Well, at least I make a mental note and the times comes to give a birthday present or something like that, I just print, frame and 15 bucks later (depending on a size of a frame) I have a memorable, thoughtful gift. So, at least I'm saving money here.