18 Best Websites to Sell Your Photographs & Make Money Online

In this post, we’re going to discuss 18 best websites to sell your photographs and make money online like crazy.

Making money online as a photographer is possible, however, it entails harnessing your creativity and applying it to the monetization of your talents.

This comes down to three things:

Let’s get started.

18 Best Websites to Sell Your Photographs

1. Shutterstock

Shutterstock is a leading stock photography site for selling photos online.

And in the past 15 years, the platform has paid more than a billion dollars to its community, and the website can get your photos to be seen by millions of people.

As a micro-stock website, its photos are cheaper and non-exclusive, and the main way to increase downloads is by contributing a huge amount of images

However, don’t expect to earn big, but it’s a good place to learn how to sell your photographs online.

2. iStock Photo

iStockPhoto is the micro-stock offshoot of Getty Images. The major difference between these two is that your photos on iStock are non-exclusive, meaning you have the right to sell your photographs to other agencies.

This means your earnings are lower than exclusive photos. Their commission ranges from 15% to 45%, depending on whether your photos are exclusive or non-exclusive.

3. Etsy

Opening an Etsy photography shop may be a great option if you want to sell photos online.

With Etsy, it’s easy to start selling prints quickly, and their fee structure benefits both pros and newbies.

Etsy as a platform takes only 5% of the transaction price, which includes the shipping cost you set.

The difference between Etsy and other websites is that most people don’t come searching for stock images. So for wider visibility, investing in designs and marketing will benefit your Etsy store.

4. Getty images

Getty images attract both brands and publishers looking for high-quality exclusive images to license.

Moreover, Getty, together with its microstock website, iStock, reaches more than 1.5 million customers around the globe.

The standards for how to sell your photograph online here are higher than on many other photo sites. However, the rates for submitting high-quality photos licensed through start at 20% and can reach as high as 45%.

5. Alamy

Alamy is considered the world’s most diverse stock photo collection, with more than 215 million stock images, vectors, and videos

You are free to sell anything from everyday images to specific photography niches.

Alamy has over 60,000 contributors worldwide and more than 110,000 buyers. Also, they have an app, “Stockimo”, where you can sell your iPhone photos and earn extra cash from your selfies.

6. 500px

500px Licensing (formerly 500px Prime) has millions of photographers selling photos. Its distribution partners serve more than one million customers over the world.

All photos submitted to the website are royalty-free, meaning it’s licensed for unlimited and perpetual use.

Also, 500px is a community-based platform both for amateur and professional photographers.

Where you follow other photographers, list your photos in their online marketplace, and participate in photo quest competitions.

7. Adobe stock

Adobe Stock is one of the best places to sell photos online for free, when you list photos for sale here, they’re also available on the stock site Fotolia.

If you already use the Adobe suite for other creative projects, you can easily add your images, videos, vectors, or illustrations to Adobe Stock directly from Adobe Lightroom CC and Adobe Bridge CC, and through the web.

Selling photos on Adobe Stock becomes easier because of millions of buyers that get to see your photos.

8. SmugMug pro

SmugMug provides tools that can help sell your photographs online as a news photographer or a pro. This platform allows you to keep 85% of the profit between the price you set and SmugMug’s default print prices.

9. Stocksy

Stocksy is the best way to sell photos online for many publishers and creatives.

As a Stocksy contributor, you can earn high payouts — photographers: 50% royalty on standard licenses and 75% royalty on extended licenses.

All photos are 100% exclusive, which means you can’t reuse them on other stock photo platforms.

10. Can stock photo

Can Stock Photo as a platform has taught over 100,000+ photographers how to sell their photos online. They have various payout structures that range from percentages to fixed amounts, and Can Stock pays you $5 for every 50 photos your referral sells.

When you sell your photos on their website, your photos are also listed on Fotosearch, a stock photography agency.

11. Twenty20

This website started as a tool for Instagram photographers to sell their images to brands.

Now, Twenty20 has evolved into a big photography website where photographers sell their photos online and also connect with potential clients.

Moreover, on the website, you can earn money in three ways:

12. Depositphotos

• Earn $2 per photo licensed
• Earn cash prizes from photography challenges
• Receiving 100% commission from whatever brands hire you for scheduled shoots

Depositphotos is a global marketplace with more than 100,000 contributors from all over the globe and is trusted by companies like Warner Bros., Subaru, TripAdvisor, etc.

Your commission as a contributor is based on your own experience and status, as well as the resolution and your license type, and ranges between 34% and 42%.

13. 123RF

All content on the 123RF is non-exclusive, so you’re free to sell on other websites. 123RF helps your photos to be seen by more than five million buyers across 44 countries and in 17 different languages.

14. Foap

Foap is best known for its community of more than three million creatives. So whether you want to upload a professional shoot (or try and make money selling photos of yourself!), with Foap’s app, you can be able to sell your photos.

15. Dreamstime

For more than 20 years, Dreamstime has consistently provided high-quality images to clients — from independent customers in the private sector to Fortune 500 companies. The stock agency boost of over:

16. EyeEm

• 31 million registered members
• 600,000 contributing photographers
• 144 million photos, illustrations, clipart, and vectors
• 20 million unique monthly website visitors

EyeEm is best known for advertising stock photographs, thus making it one of the best websites to sell photos online if you’re looking to be in the commercial photography space. You can also get booked for shoots by brands like Airbnb, Spotify, etc.

17. Zenfolio

Zenfolio platform makes selling photos online for beginners and pros easy. You can design a website to showcase your work, attract new customers, and sell your photos online. Also, it offers photography print, and digital product options, with a commission fee of 7%. However, if you’re a subscriber of their monthly package, your commission will be around $5 per month.

18. Pixieset

Pixieset offers you the package to share, deliver, and sell photos online. You can easily create a beautiful online store to sell photography prints, products, and more with automatic fulfillment.

You have full control over your store, which helps your photography business grow. All you need to do is to set the price for your products and market your photos.

2 Things That Will Help You Sell Photos Online Like Crazy

Now that you know where to sell photos online, let’s talk about how to turn selling photos online into a successful and legitimate business.

1. Define your niche

The easiest way to succeed in selling photography online at high prices is to specialize in a niche.

Every successful photographer has a consistent style that runs through their work. Whether you decide to specialize in travel, outdoors, night, nature, food, etc., consistency is key.

People follow others online to see more of whatever it is that interests them in the first place. And the same people unfollow them when those expectations aren’t met.

So finding your niche if you want to sell pictures online is something you feel your way into as you see which styles and photos resonate with your audience. But evaluate the demand for certain topics using keyword research to analyze the search volume for terms related to your photographs.

Uzorsuggest is a free SEO tool that shows you the search volume right below your Google search, making it easy to find and experiment with in-demand subjects and angles to see what you can cater to with your photographs.

Whether you’re freelancing or selling photographs online as prints, the best way to be successful is to build and leverage your network to expand your reach and credibility.

2. Integrate e-commerce into your portfolio

Many photographers have their own websites to show their work to potential clients. But by adding e-commerce to your site, with the ability to accept payments from PayPal or direct bank transfers, you can open more doors for how to sell your photography online.

How to Sell Your Photography Online as a Service

Whether you’re into events, fashion shoots, or product photography, there are a lot of business opportunities to take advantage of.

Here’s how to sell your photographs online as a service:

While you can list your services in a freelance marketplace like Fiverr and Upwork, it still involves networking locally, since you’ll be traveling to meet clients in person.

Tips to use networking as the best way to sell photos online this way:

Since your work is unlike other freelancing gigs, you have to learn how to work in strict time slots. Having a booking platform can help prospective clients see your schedule and book you when you’re free.

Now, let’s talk about how to protect your work — the next step of how to sell your photos online.

• Always have your business cards wherever you go.
• Work on your LinkedIn profile, show your work and optimize it for the photography service you provide (Wildlife Photographer).
• Attend events where your target customers meet to expand your network.

Your Legal Primer to Selling Photos Online as a Photographer

Figuring out how to sell your photographs online is quite overwhelming. However, there are some terms and concepts you should know to help protect yourself from theft and infringing upon others’ rights when selling photos.

I’m by no means a lawyer, so don’t take this as actual advice, this list should offer you broad definitions that will help you navigate the world of photography.

Glossary of legal terms for selling photos online

1. Exclusive: This means that anyone who purchases the license from you is the only one to use the photo.

2. Non-exclusive: This means that the photo can be purchased and used by anyone.

3. Editorial use: Permission to use in websites, magazines, newspapers, magazines, and other publications.

4. Commercial use: Permission to use in marketing and advertising.

specific price. Then you get a royalty payment as the photographer.

Originally published at https://myhustleinfo.com on June 20, 2022.