anyone familiar w. RSVPpublications.com?

I was approached by a rep for this direct mail outfit. This particular office does post card decks mostly for home remodeling & improvement companies (50K-150K volume).

He says his company buys images for unlimited use but only pays anywhere from $1-150 depending on the image & the use. Based on using the Stock Price Calculator site, this appears to be way under market price (esp. considering RSVP purchases for unlimited use).

I'm not a professional so the amt. of payment at this early pt. in my selling career isn't that important. But is this highway robbery or reasonable on their part?

I maintain my photo galleries on Pbase.com. THis fellow also suggested that I display my photos on free royalty sites like dreamstime.com, istockphoto.com, 123royaltyfree.com.

I haven't even visited these sites yet to see what they're about. But does anyone have any opinions on whether this is a useful/effective way to market one's photos? Any alternative ideas/suggestions would be welcome as well.

It doesn't sound like to great of a deal, well at least not for you. His pricing is cheap, very cheap and the unlimited use is absolutley a deal stopper from my point of view. If you grant them unlimited use, they can use that same images for 52 weeks in mailers. Now if the pay you $150 then figure out how much your making per week off that image. Probably about the same as if you list it with a royalty free site.

Doesn't surprise me that he is recommending you go to one of the RF stock sites. He can get all he wants, all year long for cheaper than what he may have to pay you for one image.

Personally, I'd thank him for the interest and say that I would be glad to license any image for a one time limited use at $150 but, unlimited usage is out of the question. If a great image is what he wants and quality matters he will pay to get it.

richards1052 wrote:
I was approached by a rep for this direct mail outfit.
He says his company buys images for unlimited use but only pays anywhere from $1-150 depending on the image & the use.

In my opinion, it's really a bad deal. On a purely theoretical viewpoint, a royalty free image (unlimited use under very loose terms & conditions) should have an unlimited price. This is not sensible of course, so I'd say you either avoid royalty free and sell only managed rights images, or if you accept a royalty free deal, you really have to get LOTS of money out of it. How much? Well, more or less the same amount that you would realistically get from multiple sales of that image using a managed rights method. Micropayments is nonsense to me.

www.stockphoto.net has lots of info about stock photography in general.

All, IMHO.

Unless you want the printed pieces for portfolio use, I'd tell him no. He obviously wants to get the photos virtually free since paying photo usage cuts into his profit.

Thanks everyone. It does sound like a raw deal but great for RSVP. They charge clients $.07 for 50,000 volume mailing. If I did my math right that $3,500. If he can get away w. paying $1 or even $50 for my photo that's a pretty good deal for him. Even w. his other expenses he's sitting pretty.

I don't know how they get any prof. photographers to particpate in their operation though (or even if they do).