Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Sell Photos Online and Make Money, 10+ Best Places to Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Are you looking for the best place to sell photos online? Maybe you're wondering which photo-selling websites are the best for selling stock photos.
Photographers of all skill levels are in high demand for their work, and there are many ways to sell digital photos online. As a photographer, you can easily make money (or even start a new career!) if you know the best places to sell photos online.
However, with so many online marketplaces and websites claiming to be the best place to sell photography and stock video, it can be difficult to know where to start. To help you out, we've compiled a list of the best ways to sell photos online so you can make money doing what you love.
In this paragraph
How much money can be earned by selling pictures online?
What types of photos sell the most?
The #1 best place to sell photos online
Top 10 Photo Selling Websites
- Adobe Stock
- Shutterstock
- Alamy
- Etsy
- SmugMug
- 500px
- Snapped4u
- PhotoShelter
- Fotomoto
- TourPhotos
Which website is best for selling photos?
How much money can be earned by selling pictures online?
The amount of money you can make selling photos online varies widely and depends on several factors. First, the quality and uniqueness of your photos play an important role. Exceptional, in-demand images attract more buyers. And, the platform you choose matters – some marketplaces charge higher prices or offer better commissions.
Consistency and volume can contribute to revenue. Regularly uploading attractive images can increase your sales chances. Building a strong portfolio and engaging with your audience can increase your income and generate positive word of mouth.
Ultimately, selling photos online successfully requires dedication as well as an understanding of your audience and market trends. While some photographers earn a modest supplemental income using a stock photography website, others turn online photo sales into a profitable ecommerce business.
What types of photos sell the most
Large corporations, mom-and-pop shops, graphic designers, marketers, and more buy custom or stock photography for online use. Bloggers and website owners who run small to medium-sized businesses make up the largest buying base for stock images. Here are some of the types of photos they buy the most:
People: Pictures of people of all ages are very popular. Today, people from different countries and cultures, active senior citizens and models who have imperfections and look like regular people sell more.
People at Work: These images are very popular with businesses. Don't make people working on laptops, writing, talking in meetings, etc. so common that they become a meme.
Food: Photography of different types of food, stages of cooking and even empty unwashed plates.
DIY and tools: Photos of DIY artwork, crafts and home projects are popular, as well as pictures of tools like gears, hammers, nuts, bolts and screws, which mean a lot to potential buyers.
Cities: Cityscapes, buildings, people passing by, and photos that show the motion and light of cities are very popular.
Nature: This is a no-brainer. Beautiful outdoor shoots never get old and never go out of style with buyers. Check out our list of the 15 best places to sell nature photography online.
Travel: Landscape photos for sale and shots from around the world are always in high demand.
The #1 best place to sell photos online
Sell Photos Online and Make Money. Before diving into our list of the best stock photo-selling sites, let's talk about the best place to sell photos online: your own website! The biggest reason selling photographs on your own site is that it puts you in control. You set your own price, no one else takes a cut, you have 100% control over how your photos appear, and you can set your own terms and conditions.
Don't have a website yet? Starting one is not difficult. Most professional photography sites online are built on WordPress. Check out this easy guide on how to create a photography website on WordPress to get started.
After creating your website, you need to display your photos beautifully to attract visitors and convince them to buy your photos. You want to make sure your images are displayed correctly, your design is user-friendly, your photos are protected from theft, and your images are optimized for search engines. Also, you'll need an excellent eCommerce system to sell images, process payments, and provide digital downloads.
Fortunately, it's actually quite easy with Envira Gallery!
Envira Gallery Home
Envira Gallery is the best premium WordPress gallery plugin, which allows you to create beautiful image and video displays. Create a stunning gallery effortlessly with a drag-and-drop builder and multiple layouts including slideshow, fullscreen, masonry, lightbox display and more.
In addition, Envira Gallery offers native integration with Woo, allowing you to set up eCommerce and sell your photos. You will have complete control. The Digital Download addon allows users to easily download photos and you can even allow users to print images directly from your WordPress gallery with the printing addon.
Ecommerce Gallery Demo
Check out our other popular features:
Client image proofing.
Social sharing buttons on photos, galleries and albums.
Filterable galleries and albums using tags.
Supports video gallery.
Albums for organizing and managing galleries.
Deeplinking for SEO-friendly galleries.
Watermarking, image protection, and password-protected galleries.
Built-in image compression.
Adobe Lightroom integration.
Integration with popular page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder.
And much more…
Envira Gallery makes it easy to stand out from your competitors and create beautiful, functional galleries without touching a line of code. Check out our step-by-step tutorial and learn how to sell your photos on WordPress using Envira Gallery.
Get started with Envira Gallery today!
Want to learn more about creating your own site to sell photos as stock images? Check out our articles on the best WordPress themes for selling photos and how to sell stock photos with a WordPress plugin or theme.
Top 10 Photo Selling Websites
Although the best place to sell photos online is your own website, there are many other sites where you can list your photography for purchase. Let's dive into our list of the top 10.
1. Adobe Stock - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Adobe Stock Contributor
Adobe Stock is a stock photo site from the makers of the most popular photo editing software, including Photoshop and Lightroom This photography ecommerce platform has been around for over 20 years. It is known as one of the first online photo-selling marketplaces and is still considered one of the best stock photo websites for selling photos.
Adobe Stock is integrated with the Adobe Cloud Platform, which makes it especially popular among photographers because you can upload albums directly from Lightroom. Additionally, Adobe has numerous products that are widely used around the world, meaning that your uploaded images will likely be seen by a large audience.
Check out more features that make Adobe Stock one of the best ways to make money selling photos:
Supports a variety of asset types including images, vector graphics, illustrations and stock videos.
You don't need exclusive rights to your images, so you can sell on other platforms at the same time
Adobe offers free access to Portfolio for contributors, which allows you to create a portfolio and showcase your best work.
All in all, Adobe Stock is an excellent choice for selling your photos online. It's easy to use, free to sign up, offers great workflow integration, and provides massive reach to millions of buyers.
Price / Payment: Sign up for free. Contributors receive a 33% royalty share on images.
Get started with Adobe Stock today!
2. Shutterstock - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Shutterstock Contributor Home Page
Like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock has been a popular website for selling photos since the platform's inception. They have over 600 million images, videos and music tracks and nearly 200 million contributors. That means they also have millions of customers.
Signing up for Shutterstock is free, and once you become a site contributor, you'll start earning money every time someone buys and downloads your content. Here are a few features that make this a great place to sell your stock photos:
Supports a variety of file types including images, vector graphics, images and videos.
Your photos don't need exclusive selling rights, so you can sell on other platforms at the same time
You can earn extra money by referring other photographers or artists to Shutterstock.
Provides a personalized portfolio page and the ability to track earnings.
One thing to note about Shutterstock is that the competition is steep. As one of the largest stock photo and video sites on the Internet, buyers have millions of images to choose from, including royalty-free images. That said, you can still sell photos on Shutterstock and make good money in the long run if you focus on uploading a lot of photos.
Pricing / Payments: Free signup and 6 different earning levels, ranging from 15% to 40% of the purchase price. The more downloads you get, the more money you earn.
Get started with Shutterstock today!
3. Alamy - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Alma Contributor - Website for selling photos
Alamy is a British photography site that is another great website for selling photos. It offers quick and easy signup, an iPhone app (Stockimo) for capturing and uploading photos on the go, and competitive income – paying contributors over $1 million per month.
Alamy handles all the complex licensing that comes with online sales and offers photographers a simple contract. The platform does not edit submissions, so you can be sure that you have full control over your work.
Signing up with Alamy is free, and is a special option for students. Because students get a special 100% commission rate for 2 years! Here are a few features that make it one of the best websites to sell photos online:
Supports a variety of assets including images, vector graphics, images and videos.
Analytics tools to help you track sales and see which types of photos sell the most.
Your photos don't need exclusive selling rights, so you can sell on other platforms at the same time
While this photo-selling site may not have as many buyers as Shutterstock or Adobe Stock, it's still a great contender for extra income. It is an excellent choice for students due to its 100% commission rate for 2 years.
Price/Payout: Free signup and three commission levels. Most contributors get 40%, which requires you to meet a threshold of $250 or more in gross sales each year. Contributors who earn over $25k in gross sales receive 50% commission.
Get started with Almi today!
4. Etsy - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Sell photos online on Etsy
Etsy is known as a marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods, custom goods, vintage clothing and more. So, you might be surprised to see it on our list of top photo-selling websites, but Etsy boasts millions of users every month and many photographers use it to sell their work.
The great thing about Etsy is that they have a larger audience than most stock photography sites and a specific demographic that you can cater to. Sellers often make money from images that target young women.
Another big plus is that Etsy works as your own ecommerce shop. Sure, you can sell digital photos, but you can also sell prints or other items featuring your photography like mugs or blankets to promote your photography business! Check out the benefits of making money selling photos on Etsy:
You can price your own photos and products, which offers high earning potential.
Complete control over how you display your photos to buyers
Offers an offsite advertising program where the platform will automatically advertise your products across the web (15% fee on sales for service).
Just remember, if you're selling prints or other items, you'll need to handle production and factor in printing, packing, and shipping costs. If you want to create an online store to sell your photography but don't want to build your own site, Etsy can be a great fit.
Price / Payout: You can sign up for free or pay a $10 monthly fee for more benefits Etsy charges a listing fee (the first 40 are free, then $0.20 each), a transaction fee (6.5% of the sale price) and a processing fee. Fee Fee (3% + $0.25) if you choose to accept payment through the platform.
Get started with Etsy today!
5. SmugMug - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
SmugMug sells photos
SmugMug is a well-known photo storage platform that allows you to protect, store and share digital photos but also offers a sales platform where you can sell photo prints and digital downloads. They claim that the setup process only takes 15 minutes!
One of the great things about SmugMug is that they partner with various print labs, so you can sell traditional prints or products. Images can be printed on almost anything, including metal, glass and keepsakes. Check out more features of SmugMug:
Personal gallery and client-friendly tools for proofing.
Custom price list.
Unlimited photo storage with RAW file management.
Pre-built website templates and personal event sites.
SmugMug is another reputable choice for photographers and is especially suited for users who want to provide a wide range of product prints without having to handle all the production details themselves. It is also convenient for photographers who need a powerful storage solution.
Pricing / Payment: To access sales features, plans start at $28 per month and contributors keep 85% of their profits.
Get started with SmugMug today!
6. 500px - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
500px
500px is a photography website aimed at professionals. It takes a different approach than many common stock companies. 500px is a community platform that lets you host and share photos, connect with other creators, give and receive feedback, and build a portfolio to sell and monetize photos online.
The main thing that sets 500px apart when selling photographs is its payment structure. Contributors pay a monthly subscription fee to access the platform's features and sell photos. As long as you have a paid subscription, you get 100% commission on any sale (free plan gets 60%).
Check out the features that make 500px one of the best places to sell photos online:
Analytics features give you insight into where your photo views are coming from, which photos are most popular, how your photos are priced compared to your competitors, and more.
Add your profile, portfolio and resume to available-to-hire directories and get discovered by potential clients (Pro Plan).
The "Pulse Algorithm" increases your exposure by adding your new uploads to a discovery page.
Weekly photo challenges with prizes, called Quests.
500px puts a big emphasis on high-quality submissions. They review each photo and consider uniqueness, technical quality, overall aesthetics, production value and commercial viability before approving your image and making it available for purchase.
If you're a professional photographer with a high skill level, this can be a great way to get your work seen and make sure you're not competing with low-quality images in an over-saturated market. Plus, you'll earn 100% commission and connect with the photography community. However, this is not the most beginner-friendly option.
Price / Payment: Offers 3 membership plans ranging from free to $9.99 per month Paid plans include unlimited photo uploads and 100% commission.
Get started with 500px today!
7. Snapped4u - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Snapped4u - The best place to sell photos online
Snapped4u is a piece of cake selling your event photos and portraits. Whether you're shooting weddings, parties, engagements or other events, Snapped4u is designed to make your life easier.
After shooting an event or portrait session, you can create a new gallery, upload the images in JPEG format, and set the image price. After that, clients are able to purchase the photos and Snapped4u will email them the files immediately.
Each Snapped4u vendor has its own gallery page, so customers who book you for multiple events can always find your photos in the same place. And, you can give your personalized URL to anyone who wants to buy your photos, just like other event guests
Check out the details of selling event photos online with Snapped4u:
Set your own price with a maximum photo price of $20.
Pay for all photo purchases to your PayPal account by the 1st of the month
Galleries are posted for 4 months, but can be renewed after they expire.
Remember, Snapped4u is not designed for stock photography. This is for event and portrait photographers only. It provides a simple, straightforward way for photographers to sell their photos to other photographers
Pricing/Payment: Commission fee includes $10 registration fee Snapped4u charges $0.50 for all photo sales under $5.00 and 10% for all others.
Get started with Snapped4u today!
8. PhotoShelter - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Photoshelter for photographers
Photoshelter is a digital asset management system serving brands and agencies as well as photographers.For photographers, the platform supports portfolio creation, gallery organization, client proofing and selling digital downloads or prints.
Photoshelter allows you to quickly create a portfolio website, create galleries, add e-commerce functionality and easily deliver purchased orders to customers. Here are a few features that make it a great choice for photography websites:
Pre-built templates to build your photography site.
Built-in e-commerce features and partnership with professional print labs.
Private galleries and client proofing.
The mobile app uploads, rates and views your photo archive on the go.
If you're looking for an easy, hands-off way to create a photography site, PhotoShelter is a good choice. The service is user-friendly and offers plenty of features to manage and sell photos online
Price / Payout: 3 subscription plans are offered, starting at $10.00 per month. You will also pay a transaction fee of 8%-10% for each photo you sell.
Get started with Photoshelter today!
9. Fotomoto - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Photomoto
Unlike most of the websites on our list, Fotomoto is not a marketplace for selling photos online. Rather, it's a widget that integrates with your website to help you sell digital photos and offer print-on-demand services.
After you set up a Photomoto account and add the shopping widget to your site, visitors will be able to purchase photos. If you sell physical prints or canvases, you can fill the orders yourself or let Fotomoto handle them. The service will handle the entire process including printing, packaging and shipping.
Here are some of the top features of Fotomoto for sale:
Integrates with numerous platforms including WordPress, Joomla, Flickr and Squarespace.
The widget itself is customizable. You can adjust the widget's settings to display your own branding and logo.
User-friendly dashboard for customization and tracking.
Whether you're a hobbyist photographer, a professional photographer, or a graphic designer, Photomoto has some great features that will work seamlessly with your existing website. If you're looking for an easy way to sell physical prints online, this is a solid option.
Price / Payout: Offers 3 membership plans with 10% transaction fee to a free plan with 22% transaction fee from $10 per month.
Get started with Fotomoto today!
10. TourPhotos - Sell Photos Online and Make Money
Tour photos
TourPhotos is a hub for tourist and activity photographers around the world. In fact, many travel agencies and tour companies use it to allow participants to upload photos of their adventures.
You can create galleries for each activity and upload high-resolution images or videos for clients to purchase. The platform uses a calendar-like store. This way, buyers can easily find their photos by clicking on their activity dates. Check out more of TourPhotos standout features:
Set individual prices or bulk packages and create discount codes.
Automatic branding will apply your logo to every photo.
Customers can share purchased photos directly on social media.
If you are an activity photographer who often shoots tours or other events, then TourPhotos is a perfect solution to easily deliver photos to your clients. Also, the service has a staff management feature where associates can upload photos and earn a % of sales
Pricing/Payment: It offers a transaction-based plan where TourPhotos keeps 20%-25% commission. Or, pay a monthly fee and use the service to provide free photos to clients.
Get started with TourPhotos today!
Which website is best for selling photos?
The best site to sell photos online is your own website. Building your WordPress photography site and selling photos with Envira Gallery is easy and you don't have to pay any commission fees. However, since most of the stock agency sites and platforms on our list do not require exclusive selling rights, you can have your own site while earning passive income from other photo-selling websites!
Adobe Stock and Shutterstock are both popular options that reach large audiences and are perfect for beginners. If you're an experienced photographer with high-quality images, 500px is another great option.
Still looking for options? Here are some other best photo selling websites that we didn't cover in our original list:
iStock Photos by Getty Images - Non-exclusive microstock site that pays 15%-45% royalties.
Dreamstime - Stock website that lets you curate your galleries and pays 25%-45% commission for non-exclusive images.
Fine Art America - Print-on-demand service that handles all aspects of ordering. They focus on fine art and pay 35% commission, but you set your own price.
A niche with a focus on artistic, high-quality photos. It requires exclusivity of sales and pays contributors 50%-75% of the purchase price.
Until now! We hope this guide helped you find the best places to sell photos online so you can start making money with photography!
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