10 Best Places to Sell Photos Online

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Are you looking for the best place to sell photos online? Maybe you are wondering about the best photo selling site for selling stock photos.

Basically, at all skill levels, photographers have quite high demand for their skills. There are lots of ways for friends who have hobbies and expertise in the field of photography to sell their work very easily so that you can earn income online.

However, with so many online marketplaces and websites claiming to be the best place to sell stock photos or videos, it can be difficult to know where to start. To help you, we have compiled a list of the best ways to sell photos online so you can make money doing what you love.

How much money can you make by selling photos online by selling photos online?

The amount of money you can make by selling photos online varies greatly and depends on several factors. Firstly, the quality and uniqueness of your photos play an important role. Awesome and popular images certainly tend to attract more buyers. And. The platform you choose matters-some marketplaces charge higher prices or offer better commissions.

Consistency and quality can also contribute to revenue. Uploading interesting photos regularly can increase your chances of generating sales. building a strong portfolio and interacting with your audience, of course this can generate repeat customers and positive word of mouth, so you can optimize and increase your income.

Ultimately, successfully selling images online requires dedication and an understanding of your audience and market trends. Although some photographers earn modest side income using stock photography websites, others have turned online photo sales into quite profitable eCommerce businesses.

What Types of Photos Sell the Most?

Big companies, small shops, graphic designers. marketers, and many more purchase custom or stock photography for online use. Bloggers and website owners running small to medium businesses make up the largest purchasing base for stock images. The following are some of the most frequently purchased types of photos:

1. People Photos: Pictures of people of all ages are very popular. Nowadays, photos featuring people from different countries and cultures, active senior citizens, and models who have imperfections and are more like ordinary people are very popular.
2. Photos of People Working: These images are very popular among businesses, people working on laptops, writing, speaking in meetings, etc. Just don't make them so general that they become memes.
3. Food Photography: Various types of food photography, cooking stages, even empty plates that haven't been washed.
4. DIY And Tool Photos: Photos of DIY art, crafts and home projects are popular as well as pictures of tools such as gears, hammers, nuts, bolts and screws, which can convey a lot to potential buyers.
5. City Photos: City views, buildings of people traveling and photos showing movement and city lights are very popular.
6. Nature Photos: This is a no-brainer. More beautiful outdoor views never go out of style for photography and never go out of style in the eyes of buyers. check out our list of the 15 best places to sell nature photography online.
7. Travel Photos: Scenery photos and photographs from all over the world for sale are always in demand.

The Best and Most Expensive Place to Sell Photos

The top 10 photo selling websites, which you can use to sell photos are as follows:

1. Adobe Stock 

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 almost 20 years. it is known as one of the first online photo sales marketplaces and is still considered one of the best stock photo websites for selling images.

Adobe Stock is integrated with the Adobe Cloud Platform, which makes it very popular among photographers because you can create albums directly from Lightroom. Moreover, Adobe has many products that are widely used throughout the world, meaning that the images you upload have the potential to be seen by a fairly large audience.

Check out more features that make Adobe Stock one of the best ways to make money selling photos:

• Supports a wide range of assets including images, vector graphics, illustrations and stock videos.
• Does not require exclusive rights to your images, so you can sell them on other platforms simultaneously.
• Offers free access to Adobe Portfolio for contributors, allowing you to build your portfolio and showcase your best work.

Overall, Adobe Stock is a great choice for selling your photos online. It's easy to use, free to sign up, offers great workflow integration, and provides a broad reach of millions of buyers.

Price/Payment: Registration is free. Contributions receive 33% royalties on images.

2. Shutterstock

Similar to Adobe Stock, Shuttertock has been a popular website for selling photos since this type of platform was invented. they have more than 600 million images, videos and music tracks from around 200 million contributors. that means they also have millions of purchasing customers.

Registering for Shutterstock is free, and once you become a contributor at Shutterstock, you can start making money every time someone buys and downloads your images. Here are some of the features that make it a pretty good place for you to sell stock images:

• Supports various file types including images, vectors, illustrations and videos.
• Does not require exclusive sales rights to your images, so you can sell on other platforms simultaneously.
• You can earn extra money by referring other photographers to Shutterstock
• Provides a personalized portfolio page and the ability to track income.

One thing to note about Shutterstock is that its competition is very tight. 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. However, you can still sell photos on Shutterstock and make a lot of money in the long run if you focus on uploading lots of images.

Price/Payout: Free registration and 6 separate earning levels, ranging from 15% to 40% of the purchase price. The more downloads you get, the more money you can earn.

3. Alamy

Alamy is a British photography site which is another good website for selling photos. The platform offers fast and easy registration, an iPhone app (Stokimo) for taking and uploading photos on the go, and competitive earnings - over $1 million paid out to contributors every month.

Alamy handles all the complex licensing that arises from online sales and awards contracts directly to photographers. This platform does not edit posts, so you can rest assured that you have complete control over your work.

Registering with Alamy is free, and this could be a pretty good choice for you, because the commission offered by this platform is quite good, namely the commission is up to 100% for 2 years from the time you join as a contributor! Here are some of the features that make it one of the best websites to sell photos online:

• Supports various assets including images, vectors, illustrations and videos.
• Analysis tools to track sales and help you choose the types of photos that sell best.
• Does not require exclusive sales rights to your images, so you can sell on other platforms simultaneously.

While this photo sales site may not have as many buyers as Shutterstock or Adobe Stock, it is still a big competitor for additional income. it is also an excellent choice for students because of the 100% commission rate for 2 years.

Price/Payout: Free registration and three levels of commission. most contributors receive 40% which requires you to meet a gross sales threshold of $250 or more annually. contributors who earn gross sales over $25k earn 50% commission

4. Etsy

Etsy is well-known as a marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods, custom products, vintage clothing, and more, so you might be surprised to see it on our list of top photo selling websites. However, Etsy has 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 targeting devious young women.

Another big advantage is that Etsy operates as your own eCommerce store. Of course you can sell digital images, but you can also sell prints or other items featuring your photography such as mugs or blankets to grow your photography business! Check out the benefits of making money selling photos on Etsy:

• You can price your own photos and products, which provides high earning potential.
• Full 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% sales fee for this service).

Just remember, if you sell prints or other items, you have to handle production and account for printing, packaging and shipping costs. If you want to create a shop to sell your photography but don't want to create your own site, Etsy could be the right choice.

Price/Payment: You can sign up for free or pay a monthly fee of $10 to get more perks, Etsy charges a sign up fee (the first 40 are free, Then $0.20 each) a transaction fee (6.5% of the sale price) , and processing fees if you choose to accept payments through the platform (3% + $0.25).

5. SmugMug

SmugMug is a well-known photo storage platform that allows you to protect, store and share digital photos. However, it also offers a sales platform where you can sell photo prints and digital downloads. they claim the setup process only takes 15 minutes!

One of the cool things about SmugMug is that they partner with various printing labs, so you can sell prints or traditional products. Images can be printed on anything including metal, glass, and keepsakes. check out more SmugMug features:

• Private gallery and client friendly tools for inspection.
• Special price list.
• Unlimited photo storage including managing RAW files.
• Pre-built website templates and personal event sites.

SmugMug is another reputable option for photographers, and is perfect for users who want to provide a wider range of product prints without having to handle all the manufacturing details themselves. it's also useful for photographers who need a powerful storage solution.

Pricing/Payout: To access sales features, plans start at $28 per month and contributors earn their keep.

6. 500px

500px is a photography site targeted at professionals. it requires a different approach from most stock agents in general. 500px is a community platform that allows you to host and share photos, connect with other content creators, give and receive feedback, and create a portfolio to sell photos online and earn money.

The main thing that differentiates 500px in selling photos is its payment structure. Contributors pay a monthly subscription fee to access platform features and sell photos. As long as you have a paid subscription, you will receive 100% commission for each sale, while on the free package you will receive a 60% commission.

There are several features that make 500px one of the best places to sell photos online:

• The analytics feature gives you insight into where your photo views come from, which images are the most popular, and how your image performance compares to other contributors' images.
• Add your profile, portfolio and resume to available directories for hire and find potential clients.
• Pulse algorithm, which functions to increase your exposure by adding your new uploads to the meeting page.
• Weekly photo challenges with prizes, called Quets.

500px places a big emphasis on high-quality submissions, they review each photo and consider things like 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 level of skill, this can be a pretty great way to get your work seen and ensure you're not competing with low-quality images in an already saturated market. Plus, you will earn 100% commission and connect with the photography community. However, it is not a beginner-friendly option.

Price/Payment: 500px offers 3 membership plans ranging from free to $9.99 per month. Paid plans include unlimited photo uploads and 100% commission.

7. Snapped4u

Snapped4u makes selling your photos and event portraits easy. If you are photographing weddings, parties, engagements, or other events, Snapped4u is specially designed to make your life easier.

After photographing an event or portrait session, you can create a new gallery, upload images in JPEG format, and set a price for the photos. after that, clients can buy the photos on Snapped4u. After that, Snapped4u will send the file via email.

Each Snapped4u seller has its own gallery page, so customers ordering you for multiple events can always find your images in the same place. And, you can provide your personalized URL to anyone who might want to buy your photos, such as other event guests.

Check out the details of online event photo sales with snapped4u:

• Set your own price with a maximum photo price of $20.
• Get paid for all photos purchased on the 1st of every month on your PayPal account.
• Galleries are posted for 4 months, but can be updated after the expiration date.

Keep in mind, snapped4u is not designed for stock photography. This is only for photographers and portraits. Of course this provides a fairly simple and easy way for photographers to sell the images they take to the people being photographed.

8. PhotoShelter

PhotoShelter is a digital asset management system that offers services to brands and organizations as well as photographers. for photographers, the platform helps with portfolio creation, gallery organization, client screening, and selling digital downloads or prints.

PhotoShelter allows you to quickly create a portfolio website, create galleries, add eCommerce functionality, and easily send purchase orders to customers. Here are some excellent features that make it a great choice for a photography website:

• Ready-to-use templates to build your photography site.
• Built-in eCommerce features partnerships with professional print labs.
• Private gallery and client inspection.
• Mobile app for uploading, pricing, and viewing your photo archive on the go.

PhotoShelter is a great choice if you are looking for an easy and practical way to create a photography website. This service is easy to use and provides many features for managing and selling photos online.

Price/payment: 3 subscription plans offered, starting at $10.00 per month. You will also pay a transaction fee of 8% -10% for each photo sale.

9. Fotomoto

Unlike most websites, Fotomoto is not a marketplace for selling images online. Instead, these platforms are widgets or applications that integrate with your website and help you sell digital photos and offer print-on-demand services.

Once you create a Fotomoto account and add a shopping widget to your site, visitors will be able to purchase those images. If you sell physical prints or canvases, you can fulfill orders yourself or let Fotomoto manage them, packaging and shipping.

Here are some of Fotomoto's superior features for selling photos:

• Integrates with various platforms including WordPress, Joomla, Flickr and Squarespace.
• The widget itself can be customized, you can adjust the widget settings to display your own brand and logo.
• Easy to use dashboard or pages for customization and tracking.

If you are either a professional photographer, or a graphic designer, Fotomoto has some great features that will work seamlessly with your existing website. This is quite the right choice if you are looking for a way to sell physical prints online.

Pricing/Payments: On this platform they offer 3 subscription plans ranging from a free plan with a 22% transaction fee to $10 per month with a 10% transaction fee.

10. TourPhotos

TourPhotos is a hub for travelers and activity photographers around the world. in fact, many travel agents and tour companies use it to promote photos of their adventure trips for participants to purchase.

You can create galleries for each activity and create high-resolution images or videos for clients to purchase. This platform uses the store like a calendar. That way, buyers can easily find the photo by clicking on the activity date. The following are some of the superior features that you can use as a reference to earn dollars on TourPhotos:

• Set individual prices or bulk packages and generate 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 takes photos of tours or other events. TourPhotos is the right solution for providing photos to your clients easily. In addition, this service includes a staff management feature where collaborators can upload photos and earn a % on each sale.

Price/Payment: This platform offers transaction-based plans where TourPhotos earns a commission of 20%-25%. or, Pay a monthly fee and use this service to provide free photos to clients.

4 places to sell photos other than Shutterstock

The Shutterstock platform is a market for selling photos that is quite popular, but did you know that there is a platform that is no less popular like Shutterstock for selling your photos with quite large commissions, here are several website options besides Shutterstock, namely as follows:

1. iStock Photo: Non-exclusive microstock site that pays royalties of 15%-45%
2. Dreamstime: a website that allows you to organize galleries and pay 25%-45% commission for non-exclusive images.
3. Fine Art America: Print on demand service that handles all aspects of orders. they focus on fine art and pay 35% commission. but you determine your own price.
4. Stocksy: is a special platform with a focus on artistic and high-quality photos. this requires sales exclusivity and pays contributors 50%-75% of the purchase price.

So, that's a summary of the best sites for selling photos and making dollars, hopefully this combination will help you find the best place to sell photos online so you can start making money.