 Tammy J. Bradley |
selling photos I am interested in selling my photos as greeting cards, matted prints, bookmarks, etc... and I am looking for opinions on what to charge. What would you reasonably expect to pay for my pictures and are they sellable?? Please check out my gallery and let me know what you think. Thanks!!
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Joan Bellinger |
Hi Tammy! I looked at your gallery and website. When I think of all the greetings cards I've seen, you photos are definitely along those lines and worthy of being put on a greeting card. Don't have exact numbers of how much to charge, but didn't know if you intended to: 1) print the entire card yourself; 2) order the cards that allow you to paste/glue-in 4x6 prints; or 3) have another company or photo lab to print based on you uploading your images. Each has advantages I guess. I have been considering getting the blank cards and putting in my prints. As far as where to sell, there is of course your gallery and website. If you live in a touristy area, check with some of the shops/stores about setting up a rack/shelf and paying them a portion of the sales. Also, there are always different festival of one kind or another and if your images are of local areas, your products would be a big hit. Hope this helps.
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Tammy J. Bradley |
Thanks, JB... I actually buy my card stock from Photographer's Edge. These are tri-fold cards with a window in the middle panel. You fold the back panel over the back of your photo and you have a nice card. I also like them because they are 5x7... totally framable. They are a little on the spendy side to make, though, if you don't buy in bulk. The more you buy the less you spend per card. It is costing me close to 1.50 per card including the price of the photo print. I was thinking maybe 3.50 per card would be reasonable... what do think?
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Carolyn L. Fox |
I'm going to start trying to sell some of my photos on cards also. I just requested a catalog from Photographer's Edge. Right now I have card paper from Red River. I think they may be a little less expensive. The paper I have is glossy and you just add your photo to the card paper. I'm also planning to sell prints. I don't think I'm going to offer matting or framing, at least not initially. I know some do and some don't. What do the rest of yo think about that? I don't want to be at a competitive disadvantage.
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Colleen Farrell |
Hello all, just found this thread when looking for info on something similar. I have sold greeting cards using Photographer's Edge card stock ... folks seem to like those quite a bit. Carolyn, for what it's worth, I would suggest matting your prints. I think the mats give the prints a more professional, finished look, and add perceived value (even more value than what you'd pay for the mat itself). As a consumer of art, I would buy a matted print over an unmatted one. A simple white or black mat would do. Then your customer only has to worry about getting a frame. Just my 2 cents. :)
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Carolyn L. Fox |
Colleen, I've been thinking about that recently and decided that I probably should provide matted prints. My concern is where to buy them wholesale. Do you know of any sources? I get catalogs from Light Impressions, but I don't really think their prices are that good. Thanks for the comments.
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Tammy J. Bradley |
Hi Carolyn. Try www.qlt.com - you will need to click on creative names supplies and then click on frames. If you just click on frames it will take you to a different page. I have bought mats from them before and they have pretty good prices. They come in packs of 25 and different colors. The price varies by size. Hope this helps.
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Carolyn L. Fox |
Tammy, Thanks, I'll take a look at their site.
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Lynn R. Powers |
Tammy Charging $3.50 for a card is reasonable. Just look at what a commercial card costs and they are mass produced. I've found that having someone else matt my prints cost me between $3-5 more than doing it myself. But I do not have to keep supplies on hand, purchase in large enough amounts to make worthwhile or have to take the time to do the mounting. For me it is less expensive and I can spend more time on my photographs and learning Photoshop. Nice gallery. Lynn
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Colleen Farrell |
Carolyn, I don't know any sources for wholesale mats--hopefully the site Tammy recommended will work for you. Lynn and Tammy: I agree that $3.50 is a fine price for a handmade card. Another thing to do is go to bookstores or gift shops in your area and see what other handmade cards are selling for. Around here, I've seen them sell for as much as $6.95! (Or, at least they're priced that high--not sure if they're actually selling, lol!)
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Carolyn L. Fox |
I agree that #3.50 is probably a fair price for your cards. That's what I'm charging for mine too, but I just got them out there, so I don't know if they'll sell. Of course, for them to sell someone has to see them. I haven't done my description, keywords, etc., yet so I haven't had a lot of traffic yet. I'm going to a seminar Friday that covers how to get people to your web site, etc. Hopefully, I'll learn something useful.
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Carolyn L. Fox |
Lynn, Colleen & Tammy, I looked at your galleries. Nice pictures! Have any of you gotten into stock photography? I'm taking the BP Stock Photography Boot Camp course that starts this week. It's the first course I've taken from them. Hopefully, I'll get some good ideas. I need to start shooting some different subjects and shooting in a more interesting way. Thanks for your suggestions on matts.
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Carolyn L. Fox |
I ordered some matts from qlt.com. I haven't received them yet, but I expect they'll be ok. They're definitely a lot cheaper than Light Impressions. Now I need to find envelopes large enough to mail them in. Since I've bought the matts I hope I actually sell some prints. If not I guess I'll be matting and hanging a lot of my photos in my house. Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll be better off offering matted prints.
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Colleen Farrell |
Carolyn, I'm sort of in the same position as you--not selling photos per se, but I'm hoping to enter an exhibition in my town. So I'm spending a lot of money to get my photos printed, matted and framed. Well, it's not a huge amount of money, actually, but I'm on a fixed income so it's a lot for me. ;) And the photos will be for sale. I asked in other thread about displays and matting and matcutter.com was recommended to me--so that's another resource for you if you need it. I haven't gotten into stock photography; I'm not sure my photos would sell, to be honest. Right now I'm just working on learning technique. The exhibition is mostly just for the experience--if I get accepted, that is! :D By the way, Carolyn, I don't think you need to shoot in a more interesting way! Your photos are great as is! Both you and Tammy should have success selling your work, I think.
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Carolyn L. Fox |
Colleen, Thanks for the matcutter.com website. I'll keep it around in case I'm not happy with qlt. Thanks for the compliment concerning my pictures too. Sometimes, when I look at some of the other photos on BP, I just wonder if mine are good enough. I guess we're always our own worst critic. I think your photos are quite good. Since I haven't tried stock, I don't know if they'd work or not. But if they didn't, it would be due to subject matter, not because they're not good enough. From what I've heard people shots sell better than anything else for stock. I don't take many of those, but I'm going to start working on that.
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Carolina K. Smith |
I have purchased from precutmats.com after looking at numerous options. Check out their 'Showpacks' which bundle things together for greater savings. But to be sure, for now, I have not sold many prints, although the same photos (that are on my BP website) are selling very well through the microstock agencies. I started with only 3 photos in April 2005 and currently only have ~270 images, but have currently earned $9375.93 and counting... Most BPers would do well... if you love photography... it's a good way to sharpen your skills and earn extra money. I try to submit 3-4 photos a month because I have a full time career, but there are others who now do microstock full time. It's a business you can build while still working or tending your family.
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Carolyn L. Fox |
Carolina, Thanks for the info about the mats. I'll check them out. I looked at a few of your pictures. They're really nice. Which microstock agencies are you working with? I've been thinking about it but haven't made the jump yet. I have to go now. Talk to you later.
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Carolina K. Smith |
Thanks for your nice comments. I submit to Shutterstock/iStock/Dreamstime/Bigstock/Fotolia/123rf/Stockxpert/Canstock/Scandanavian Stock. Shutterstock makes the most earnings for me, and I think they are the best to start with. $9375.93 and counting :)
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Carolyn L. Fox |
I'm in a Yahoo group where a lot of the people submit to Shutterstock. Most of them have said that they are really picky and advised me to start with Dreamtime or one of the others, because of the 30 day period if 7 of your pics don't get selected. I don't believe any of them had 7 pics approved on the first submission. You've looked at some of my pictures. What do you think? You mentioned a couple of micro agencies that I hadn't heard of. I'll look into them too. Thanks for the info & Happy Easter. Carolyn
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