Hello. Looooong time no post. I know, it's been forever since I've been active here. I have really been lacking the motivation lately though. I think it's partly due to the fact that I really need to be making money so it's hard for me to look at all these photos just sitting on my hd doing nothing. I have to admit, I kind of lack the self-confidence to sell my work.....but now it's a matter of necessity for money and for motivational purposes. If I can sell a little here and there, I'll be more motivated to get back into my photography. :)
 
Which brings me to the topic of this post. I'm looking for your experiences with selling your work online, either through your website, or through the bazillions of other sites who will do it for you. I don't know if I want to just keep uploading my photos to all these sites in hopes of selling something somewhere, so I'm looking for a direction to go in for starters.

So, bring on your experiences with these sites and your own in regards to selling prints and whatnot. I hope this hasn't been explored too recently. I hate to make you guys repeat yourselves too often. :)

I think that's all for now. I'm off to browse the galleries since it's been so long. :)

Thanks for posting this question. I will be interested to see what others say also. We are starting our own website with merchant capabilities, but I'm kind of skeptical about what kind of business we will actually receive. If there's a better way out there, I'd be interested too!

Yeah, I can sell prints from my site....I just haven't taken the time to upload my photos yet. A little fear of rejection I think. :P So I figured if I can sell from other sites, I can sell from mine, too. I would really like to hear if people using these other sites are successful at all with them....and it doesn't have to be much, I just want to know if people have sold anything, even just one piece, from any of these other sites. :) I know there are a lot of sites out there that say they sell your work, so I just want  a direction to go in. :) Good luck with your website! I'm sure it will do well.

I can't believe no one has responded yet! I'm sure I remember someone talking out their pictures on a site that sells them, I just can't remember the name of the site! LOL :P

I'm right there too..... my husband has his photos on the site already and I'm just getting mine together. Of course I have a good excuse....... after two or three computer crashes and replaced hard drives, most of my photos are on back up discs..... and I'm not the most organized person when it comes to photo files. So I have a lot of searching to do and then I have to take the original photos and tweak them if needed, because I didn't know any better, early on, that I was going to want larger files for printing, not just posting here on RR. So I guess that means I never really thought anyone would really like or want to buy my photos either. :blink:

I am on a few sites..including my own, however for my site, I have it listed in my bio to contact me if interested in any one of my photos for purchase because of the way my host has it set up.I have sold a few photos online - while using redbubble.com and zazzle.com.  The new site I set up hasn't had many visitors yet because I need to advertise it more. 
Not to mention add more to it. 
I've had a little success with redbubble in selling a few of my works. But I only get a percentage of the sales price.I've had far more luck with selling images to people I know at work and at events I happen to be at (hockey baseball)

I don't want to sound negative, but even great photographers have limited success selling online. Blame the economy and prevalence of people with cameras if you want. The market is saturated and people are picking about what they put on their walls. I have had some limited success selling prints, and I make the occasional sale through microstock companies, but certainly not enough to put bread on the table. I haven't given it my 100% though so who knows.

Yeah, that's the big thing right now....too many people with cameras and the resources to advertise and sell....and the dang economy. I'm not looking to make a lot of money selling my prints. I realize it's not going to happen, but I'd like the confidence boost of selling one here or there once in a while to keep my motivation up. I haven't been as active in my photography as I should be and would like to be lately. I think having people at least interested in my stuff would help. So here I am.....uploading photos again to keep me involved in my creativity. :)

Thanks for the responses so far. I know it's tough right now and I'm just looking for feedback whether it's good or bad. Not looking to get rich or even make a living at it now. I'm realistic. :)

Now I'm off to upload another balloon shot from last weekend. :)

Never tried. Can't imagine having success doing that.

Have you thought of stock photography? Not quite the same, but can be a financial outlet nonetheless... Keep in mind you'll have to shoot a LOT, but if you start finding your niche, you can have some decent success.

-Lew

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2771587

I did the local exhibit for one primary reason: This was a gut check for me.  I was terribly nervous about it all beforehand and now that it is over and with another small exhibit coming up I am not nervous about rejection or acceptance.    Actually, I discovered it was not so much either acceptance or rejection as it was "me" on the wall..my work and I am basically shy.
Well, in December at the other little exhibit it will be "me" on the walls again...and this time I am not anxious about it.  You see, people will like, dislike, want to purchase, love but not buy, wonder what in the world you were thinking...but believe me it only takes a few positive comments and seeing folks looking to make it worth it.  Knowing someone out there appreciated  my work was a true personal boost.  I am willing to take more chances now.

For a personal gut check, if you can display locally such as a month at a local library even will do well in building confidence in front of the public.  

On line? I wish I could help but have no experience there.
  

I had limited success on Stock Photo Sites.My best results is on www.123rf.com - $5.96 and www.dreamstime.com  - $4.51.The other option is to have your own exhibition which i did not try yet.
Regards
Christo

Sounds like old hat but  anyone wanting to sell in any form should do this:

Examine each photo so closely you get tired of looking at the details. Why?   One example from my experiene is when a customer wanted a particular photo done in bw instead of color.  I did the conversion to be quite pleasing and had the print made.  Oh my..there was a mess up on the print over almost hidng in a corner but therer..rendering that version useless.  I redid, reprinted and the work look fine.

So, what happened?  I had cloned out a section in the original color version.  All blended in quite well and was not seen.  Then, when in bw without color to catch the eyes, the clone work was visible with tell tale traces.  I was surprised and looked at the color vesion...it took very hard looking but traces were there if I knew it look for it.   Slow down, even have someone else look if need be.  You don't want any mistakes showing at all.    

Most of you folks likely pay better attention than I do...but anyway.         Tom

as Christo mentioned above, one of your options is selling via stock sites. funnily enough, now might actually be a good time to get into it, at least microstock.... haven't personally seen any sales on macrostock sites (such as Alamy) recently, but designers and publishers are increasingly turning to microstock during the recession as a way of cutting back on their costs, unable to support assignments and staff photographers as they once were. I think I remember reading somewhere recently that there has been something like a 40% increase in sales via microstock sites since the recession hit, due to the relative low cost of per-image sales and the fact that more subscription buyers are actually likely to make use of their allocated number of downloads (example, Shutterstock's 25-a-day package)...

it's not for everyone, and what you may consider your best shots may not indeed be suitable for stock.... it also requires a large portion of time pixel-peeping with a critical eye, and keywording the images uploaded... after which they still might not make it through quality control.... but if you think it might be of interest to you, the best sites to check out are probably iStockPhoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Fotolia. probably your best chance of a regular paycheck selling online..

having only started a couple of months back it's early days, but have already made a couple hundred sales, so it can be done ;) ... also a couple of sales on DeviantArt but I wouldn't recommend that as the artist royalties are pathetic.. somewhere around 10% when you get down to it! you could also try RedBubble, though I have no personal experience of this site myself, a friend sold a single print for over $200 recently...

hope this is of some use..

Adam

Good pointers Adam, thanks. You can also so themed stuff on Renderosity for backgrounds and such, though you may not want you photography used in such a way.

Tom, very good points.Yes its true, get your work in front of people and you will sell more than on a website. Make a deal with a picture framer, you provide the prints and they frame. You only pay for the frame when the pics sells.So you both profit but need patience.And if you keep the sizes the same you can swop round prints for changing displays. A proper frame will enable swop easily, dont go for the bodged sticky taped mess framers.
Ask framers to display your work in their shop.

Tom, very good points.Yes its true, get your work in front of people and you will sell more than on a website. Make a deal with a picture framer, you provide the prints and they frame. You only pay for the frame when the pics sells.So you both profit but need patience.And if you keep the sizes the same you can swop round prints for changing displays. A proper frame will enable swop easily, dont go for the bodged sticky taped mess framers.
Ask framers to display your work in their shop.

Thank you guys so much for all your wonderful feedback.  :) I have to save some money before I can do some printing and get it out there, but that will definately be something I plan on doing asap. It's such a scary thing to start doing....especially with all those people out there with cameras just shooting away. I guess I just need to put faith in my abilities and if people don't like my photos, oh well. At least I can say I gave it my best effort. It's definately a test for me since I am soooo shy by nature, especially when it comes to convincing people I'm good at something and they should spend money. lol

Again, thanks so much! Lots to think about. :)

I've been inspired to go over to my local library and see if they want to exhibit some of my photos for a month. I figure the infrareds of the local Morikami Museum ("candyland") may be unique enough and local enough to get some interest. Who knows who might see them and where it might lead. Now I just need to print some and present them. I figure some plain matting would be fine in a library environment. Thanks for the inadvertent nudge Damia!

LOL Any time!! :) I'm glad this thread took off. There are some really good ideas and advice in it. :)