Sites Where You Can Sell Your Photography Online

At first glance, it appears most of the opportunities to make money online are geared toward those who are freelance writers, survey takers, forum posters, and other similar opportunities. At first glance, it appears that there are no opportunities for those who are creative - such as photographers. However, there are several sites with opportunities to make money online and supplement your current income.

Before you submit your photographs to these sites, keep in mind they have to be top quality work. High competition in this area of freelance work requires photographs to be clear, high resolution, and unique. Before you begin you may need to invest in a higher grade digital camera in order to get the quality the sites require. If this is the case, think of your purchase as an investment toward your online money making goal or business - and set aside funds for that purchase.

Photrade
A newer site to the freelancing photography marketplace, Photrade offers unique opportunities for both novice and freelance photographers. One of the greatest advantages for the novice is the submission process for your photographs. Currently, they do not have an approval process allowing you to sell any photographs of your choosing. However, do not think this gives you a chance to sell lower quality photographs. Most images that are submitted are by experienced photographers, are clear, and high resolution.

You can earn revenue for this site in two different ways. The first is the most common, which is by direct sale. Photrade offers you the opportunity to set your own prices, and earn an 80% commission on each photograph sold. In addition to direct sales, you can earn advertising revenue, which is unique to this site. You earn revenue each time someone views your photographs, and are given a percentage of advertising revenue. Eventually they will offer an affiliate program, but that is not available at this time.

Fotolia
Requires all photographs go through a submission and approval process before they are accepted for sale online. It offers a variety of ways and scales to earn income from your photography. The structure is complicated and it will take a bit of work to understand the income generating structure and how you can make it work for you. You can view this information in the section designated How to Become a Fotolia contributor.

In addition to submitting photographs, you may also submit high quality vector images and video - and the latter is a unique aspect to this site. Commissions are payable either to a Paypal or Moneybookers account. However you are not able to receive payment until after 45 days after the sale is made, as an effort by the site to reduce internet fraud.

Dreamstime
Personally, this is one of my favorite sites for freelance photography submission. Like Fotolia, Dreamstime requires you to submit each photograph for approval before it is sold on the site. However, if your photograph was rejected their reply email will specifically address the issue as to why the photograph was rejected. This direct critique allows you to understand and address the issues as to why your freelance photograph is not being accepted - and can give you guidance before you submit your work to other sites.

Commissions you can earn online range from 50 to 80 percent, depending on the criteria the photograph has met - either for exclusive or non-exclusive sale. Also, before you submit your work, be sure to read their terms and conditions for submission. Policies range on sites for permission to sell the same photograph on multiple sites. Always know what the rules for submitting your photography before you start using the internet to make money online for your freelance photography.

Shutterstock
Out of all the programs to sell your freelance photography online, Shutterstock is the easiest to understand. After gaining the approval to sell your photograph, each download will earn you 25 cents, and once you reach $500 your download commission price is increased to 30 cents. This may not seem like a lot of money, but if you have the correct tags on your photograph and submit multiple photographs, it will significantly increase your revenue.

In addition to accepting photographs, they also accept illustrations and 3D vector images. Using this may be to your advantage since payout rates are a bit steep compared to other programs. Payment is via Paypal or Moneybookers, but only made once a month once you earn a minimum of $75.

In addition to making a commission per download, you can also earn additional revenue by referring buyers and earning a commission off of their purchase package, and affiliate revenue. By using the affiliate program, you are able to earn an additional 3 cents when on of their photographs is downloaded.