Selling a picture for online use

July 27, 2006 9:08 AM

How do I sell a photograph for online use?

I realize this has been semi-covered before; I apologize in advance. I have someone contacting me through Flickr who wants to use one of my images on a local commercial website. Anyone have experience with this? (ie. How much is a fair price and what usage rights are transferred with sale?) I'm tempted to just say "sure, use it" but I think I might regret that.

posted by selfnoise to media & arts (4 answers total)

Whatever usage rights get transferred are completely up to you.
Try reading through the contracts on sites like Veer to get a feel for the variety of costs and usage rights available.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:52 AM on July 27, 2006

Side question: why do so many people seem to be getting offers on their Flickr photos?
posted by reklaw at 10:55 AM on July 27, 2006

It depends on what they are using it for. Typically prices vary depending on the number of visitors to the site and how long it will be used as well as what rights they want. You can contract for one-time exclusive internet rights for a definite time period. Don't give away all rights to the image for $50. Also, you can specify in the contract what size/type of image they will get to use. Any agreement should spell out in writing what rights will be given and should be signed by all parties involved to make it legally binding.

reklaw: I'm guessing Flickr is a good site for site managers to troll because they know they can get cheap rates from the huge amount of amateurs. Also it is an easy site to search unlike the many stock agencies.
posted by JJ86 at 11:13 AM on July 27, 2006

reklaw - because it's a very robust community of photographers of varying aptitude.

I got three inquiries in the last month. Two for some Gay Games photos and one for some Pride photos. Totally varying requests on what they want to do with them. I'm so appreciative that a) someone likes my work and 2) they ask instead of just taking, that I usually agree to the usage without any sort of compensation.
posted by FlamingBore at 11:40 AM on July 27, 2006