selling pictures online

[monobrow]

I've been asked to setup an online shop so people can buy pictures from an event i photographed.

I'm fairly clued up on PHP code/html.

But I was wondering what people could suggest to make things easier?

i.e. web cart software, websites, etc

[Ems]

Re: selling pictures online

Have a look at Fotoplayer

http://www.fotoplayer.com/index.html

You could upload them to somewhere like Photobox and people could order direct from there.

[Millie]

Re: selling pictures online

Hi Monbrow,
You could just use something like Gallery2 and use the paypal plugin.
Millie

[joanaugusts]

Re: selling pictures online

There are a ton of stock photo sites online these days, some offering free downloads, some you pay large amounts and some are much smaller. A quick search on google will bring up a ton of sites offering free photos. Some are more reputable than others, so buyer beware!

As to selling through other online companies - an interesting example is istock.com, which started with photos you could download for 25 cents and the photographer got 5 cents of that . Anyway...it must have been successful for them because now they've launched istockpro.com - a step up from istock - photographers set their own fees and conditions. (see more here:" http://www.istockpro.com/xnet_index.php")". It's much harder to get listed with istockpro that with their other site. I haven't gone this route, I couldn't tell you if people make money from selling their photos that way. You'd need thousands of shots to make $$ at a nickel per photo.

There is also the decision of whether your photos are to be for web use only or printable resolution. Larger images that are of good quality should demand a larger price point since they can be utilized in more ways.

It's not an easy field to make money in, but there are ways to break in via specialization (photos that not everyone else has onsite). I know several successful photographers who are lukewarm as to how successful selling their work online is. I also know a few that branched out into a sort of "tourism" type mode. They provide postcards and notecards for small gift type stores in their area as a way to get their name out and many of the postcard/notecard images are available in larger format for a fee.

I don't sell online officially, but have been contacted by clients who have seen my site and wanted to know more about a specific photo or needed something similar and I have provided it for them.

Be aware that anything with other people in it will need a signed release from the people in the photo and as the photographer you are responsible for having that on file and available at all times should someone request it. If you are unsure as to how to word one of these forms, type "photography release form" into google and you'll get lots of examples!

Prices - check your area, see what the market will bear. I find online purchases interesting, because most people assume the price is in US Funds, and for me that is of benefit since my Canadian dollar is currently of less value than the US dollar.