Flickr as a way to get your images,"out their"

What do you guys/gals think. Every few weeks I see someone posting asking what to do when they have some one asking to buy pictures and I have found that most of the time the pictures have been found through flickr. I'm sure it couldnt hurt to have a flickr but its one more site I would have to keep updated. What do you guys/gals think?

I don't use flickr.

I've used flickr in the past, and will probably play around with it a bit again next year. Most of the 'use' requests that come in from (Ironically) "buyers" who don't have a budget. - How do you buy something with no money? Oh, wait, they bait you with fame & fortune by offering you the 'gift' & 'opportunity' of a credit line.

That said, I've had a couple legitimate sales come through on flickr. I've also caught someone that stole and used one of my flickr shots without my permission. I wound up billing (& getting) four figures for what would have been a three figure sale had they just asked first.

If you want to use flickr as a sales channel, there are buyers out there that use it, but they're usually looking in cheap or free mode.

HTH,

I have a Flickr for the express purpose of sharing with friends, it has no commercial intent in my using it. No doubt that they as an entity are a huge success. I read something that as of September of this year they were hosting some 5 billion images but it didn't say how many users those were spread across. Can it hurt, probably not but I certainly don't put any value in it.

When you say "out there", and correct me if I am wrong, I get the impression that you are throwing images out on various sites hoping that you get found. Given that you posted this in the business section I also assume that you are trying to make this a commercial venture of some sort. Imo, you can not simply put images online and hope that someone will call to hire you. It takes plenty of other work including door knocking. You have to invest time and money in order to get people knocking on your door.

ssim wrote in post #11460574
When you say "out there", and correct me if I am wrong, I get the impression that you are throwing images out on various sites hoping that you get found. Given that you posted this in the business section I also assume that you are trying to make this a commercial venture of some sort. Imo, you can not simply put images online and hope that someone will call to hire you. It takes plenty of other work including door knocking. You have to invest time and money in order to get people knocking on your door.

It must have gotten moved because I most likely put it in the worng place Honestly this post came more out of boredom today, than anything else. I no longer have the desire to make a flickr

I had the pro account a few years ago, when it didn't cost me anything (through Yahoo). They quit doing that and I didn't bother renewing. That said, I'm thinking about renewing it to get more exposure. I'm not uploading hi-res images, just small (~720px) images with watermarks.