There are two ways to make money with stock photo sites: listing your photos and videos on the sites for sale; and referring other photographers who do the same. If you have a network of photographers – or people interested in earning passive income by selling photos online – you can increase your passive income relatively quickly.
How does selling photos online work?
When you sell photos and videos online, you generally get paid “basic royalties” – yes, like when someone writes a song and gets paid over and over again to play it.
Once you list a stock photo or video on a site like Shutterstock, you get paid every time someone licenses it. I won’t go into what licensing means or the details behind royalty payments, but these are some terms you’ll see when starting a stock photo/video business, so they’re worth knowing. 🙂
Note: Affiliate links may be used in this post. I earn a commission when you make a purchase through them. 🙂 Click to learn how to increase your affiliate earnings on your own blog.
Shutterstock
I talked a lot about Shutterstock in my blog post about how to start selling photos online. Although their earnings aren’t as high as they used to be, you can still make passive income selling photos on Shutterstock!
How does it work;
I wrote a whole post about the process with Shutterstock! 🙂 Click above this paragraphchart where it says “how to start selling photos online”.
Referral program? Yes! Earn $200 per photographer/videographer signup. Start here.
Lake 5
Competitor of Shutterstock, Lake 5 is a solid choice for selling photos and videos.
How does it work;
With Pond5, you get paid a 50% royalty share on photos and illustrations, 40% on non-exclusive videos, and industry-leading 60% exclusive video rights share. For music and sound effects, you earn a 35% royalty share.
Referral program? Yes! Your link gives customers 20% off their first purchase and you earn 20% on their first purchase as well. Earn 5% on subsequent purchases for an entire year. Earn an additional 10% when your referral purchases your work (30% on their first purchase and 15% on subsequent purchases for the year). This means you can increase your royalty share up to 90% with referrals! Start here.
Getty Images
To get started with Getty Images, you must submit 3-6 samples (photos, videos, illustrations). They will look at them and let you know if your photos are of the quality they are looking for. Once you’re accepted, you upload as many photos as you want and earn money.
Your application will take about a week to be reviewed, but you should receive an email within those first 7 days letting you know if you’ve been approved.
How does it work;
Adding more content to your application Once you’ve submitted your application, you cannot add additional samples of your photos, videos or images to it. Size requirements for sample applications Photos and vector images should be in JPEG format and no larger than 3 GB.
- Minimum size: 720 x 960 pixels, 5kb
- Maximum size: 9000 x 9000 px, 3 GB
Video files should be submitted as YouTube links. Getty does not support links to Vimeo or other video platforms at this time.
Images you list on Getty will be licensed through iStock or Getty Images. Every time someone licenses your content, you get paid royalties. If sold through iStock, you get paid 15% or more for photos and 20% or more for videos and illustrations. If you offer exclusive rights, you can earn from 25% to 45%.
If your images are licensed through Getty Images, you earn 20% for images and 25% for video clips.
Sign up as a Getty Images contributor.
Referral program? You can be an affiliate and earn 10% of your sale amount. Sign up through ImpactRadius. I did not find a referral program for photographers.
Amazon
Sell your prints on Amazon as photo albums. You can do this through Amazon KDP. Here’s a video of the step-by-step process:
You can also sell your photo albums on Amazon through Blurb. Profits will be less, but the quality may be higher. Check it out.
Print on demand
In addition to selling photos and videos online on stock photo sites, you can sell your prints through a model called Print on Demand. Log on to a Print on Demand website, follow their instructions, and upload your images to their products (like t-shirts, blankets, coffee mugs, and more). They charge the customer and you earn based on how you set your pricing.
You can set your margins lower and focus on volume, or you can set them higher and focus on quality. I like to do a mixture of both.
Fine Art America
Sell your prints on the world’s largest online art marketplace, Fine Art America. This site allows you to sell your photos as greeting cards, phone cases, prints and more.
You can also sell your images as royalty-free and rights-managed digital downloads. Easily set your own prices and keep 100% of your asking price. Fine Art America just add a 30% markup on top of your asking price.
How does it work;
Fine Art America sets a base price for each item it makes, and then you add a markup on top of that base price. Your markup is what you earn. So, for example, if their base price for a canvas print is $50 and you set the markup to $25, the buyer pays $75 and you make $25.
You can set your prices as high or as low as you want and you can change them at any time.
While you can integrate your products into a Shopify store, I actually don’t recommend using Shopify.
I had an entire store disappear once and they offered absolutely no help. One of my stores was having some technical issues that I couldn’t figure out, and since it was the Shopify Lite plan, there was no way to get customer service. Whether you pay a little for a service or a lot for a service, customer service should be there. With Shopify, it doesn’t. I recommend WooCommerce with a self-hosted WordPress site. You can learn how to set it up again easyblogschool.comwhere my friend Sherry teaches you all about building a profitable website.
Referral program? Yes, through Shareasale, but it is for products and not for referring other affiliates. Start here.
If this post helped you in any way, please pin one of these images below!
My blog helps a lot. Thanks!
Spring
Formerly TeeSpring, Spring is the industry standard for easy print-on-demand.
How works
Create any of Spring’s 180+ physical products or upload original content instantly to create digital products. Get everything else through custom fulfillment services.
Upload your photos and images to products of your choice, including:
- t-shirts
- sweatshirt
- team jerseys
- tote bags
- pillows
- phone cases
- and more!
The best place for Spring? You can also create digital products such as:
- e-books
- guides
- coloring books
- Courses
- podcast
- and more!
This is a relatively NEW option on the site. Read our Spring blog to learn more about selling through Print on Demand.
Referral program? Yes, through Flexoffers. Start here.
Etsy
You know I’m a huuuuuge Etsy fan!! You can sell your stock photos on Etsy. you can also sell Print on Demand through Etsy. Choose your fulfillment platform, such as Printful or Printify, and set up your store. Etsy is a volume game: get to 100 listings as fast as you can and stay active on Etsy by listing or renewing regularly.
Referral program? Yes, through Awin, but if you are going to sell on Etsy, you might want to just share the “40 Free Listings” link and collect the free listings because their affiliate program pays very little.
BONUS #8 BELOW!!
If this post helped, inspired, or inspired you, even if you read this far… please take a moment to pick one of the pins below and PIN IT on Pinterest!
Bonus #8
Another stock photo site I haven’t tried yet is called FilmPac. You can apply to become a contributor on their website. Let me know if you do this! I would like to know your experience. 🙂
Take the next step!
Download my Quick Start Guide to start selling stock photos online TODAY!
https://sadiesmiley.com/product/quick-start-guide-selling-photos-online/
