Need pricing advice - I'm getting requests to purchase my photos

[JoeM]

I have been taking photos of different spots in my town and I usually share them on Facebook in a group that features local photos. I have been asked by a number of members if they could purchase prints of my photos and I have enough, along with my images of Cape May, NJ that I thought I would make them available on Picfair https://www.picfair.com

Picfair is new and seems like an interesting idea. You set a price for your work and they add their fee on top of it. They also handle all the usual printing on the sites as well and unlike SmugMug, they are free to join and sell on.

I'm looking around for how to price various sizes and have read a few articles. I'm not looking to do this as a business but as a way that I can share my images with people that might enjoy them at a reasonable price without putting much effort into having them printed myself, shipping, etc. If I can use any proceeds to reinvest in my gear that would be great but I'm not going to be counting on it.

Any suggestion on pricing and what sizes I should offer would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

[deckeda]

Do they offer different pricing based on license type? Or is each image designed to only be offered with a certain license?

I'd want to be able to offer pricing based on usage.

[JoeM]

deckeda wrote:
Do they offer different pricing based on license type? Or is each image designed to only be offered with a certain license?

I'd want to be able to offer pricing based on usage.

Yes they do . Here’s some info from their site:

We handle logistics and licensing

When you sell a print, we'll produce and ship it for you. If you sell a digital download, we handle the licensing for you. All you have to do is upload your images, set up your store the way you like it, and get paid when you make sales.

You get paid fairly

Our licences are designed to protect our photographers. Every image sold is licensed on a one-time-use basis. If you sell a digital download, the buyer can only use it once unless they pay again. Our licenses cover editorial and personal uses, commercial uses, and advertising uses, and if you sell an image for advertising, you’ll get paid 10x more than your usual price.

Picfair’s flat commission rate on every image you sell is 20%, which is added to the buyer’s total price. This means that the price you set is the amount you will receive when you make a sale. For example, if you set £30, you will get £30, and the buyer will pay £36, with the extra £6 going to us.

We are incredibly proud to be the first platform to have given non-professional photographers the tools to sell to Google, Etihad, Ogilvy, Elle, Guardian, Nat Geo, and lots more.

[AllGold]

Interesting. I hadn't heard of Picfair.

For print prices, really it's just whatever you want. I would go no lower than about $20 for an 8x10.

I would be a little wary about their download licensing. I think I personally would want to avoid that so I would set the rate ridiculously high and have the client contact me for licensing. You don't want to have a photo show up as a full page in some magazine and find out they got the license for $20 on Picfair.

[JoeM]

AllGold wrote:
Interesting. I hadn't heard of Picfair.

For print prices, really it's just whatever you want. I would go no lower than about $20 for an 8x10.

I would be a little wary about their download licensing. I think I personally would want to avoid that so I would set the rate ridiculously high and have the client contact me for licensing. You don't want to have a photo show up as a full page in some magazine and find out they got the license for $20 on Picfair.

Thats a very good point. I'm going to look at what others are charging in their market. They are small, out of the UK and supposedly a service started by photographers. Exposure isn't as wide as the majors but I'm not concerned as I just want to make some images available to folks in town that want photos of our local scenes.

[deckeda]

That’s what I don’t understand. On their site I see that images only have one price. They should have multiple prices based on the license. The license should mean something, or don’t bother with it.

$5 for personal use, like a tip jar. Buyers can hang it on their wall.

Something more if it’s for a business’s wall.

Something more if it shows up in digital advertising.

Something infinitely more if someone manages to advertise in print.

[JoeM]

deckeda wrote:
That’s what I don’t understand. On their site I see that images only have one price. They should have multiple prices based on the license. The license should mean something, or don’t bother with it.

$5 for personal use, like a tip jar. Buyers can hang it on their wall.

Something more if it’s for a business’s wall.

Something more if it shows up in digital advertising.

Something infinitely more if someone manages to advertise in print.

Looks like they have 3 licenses but I only see two prices listed on a particular photo I’m looking at.
For this photo:
https://www.picfair.com/pics/0211888-victorian-home

They list: Digital Download:
Editorial, Social Media, Marketing - $8.54
Advertising & merchandising - $85.45

There’s a ? Next to Digital Download with this info:

OUR IMAGE LICENCES

×
EDITORIAL & PERSONAL LICENCE
Editorial & personal use
ALL EDITORIAL
& PERSONAL USES
Single use
Personal use
Editorial: Print, online, broadcast
In-house business editorial
Corresponding online/offline content trails & social media
Any placement
Any size & DPI
Unlimited Distribution
No licence expiration

MARKETING
ADVERTISING &
MERCHANDISING
COMMERCIAL LICENCE
Editorial, Social Media, Marketing
ALL EDITORIAL
& PERSONAL USES
MARKETING
Single use or campaign
Advertorial, promoted & "sponsored by" content
Newsletters & email marketing
Website backgrounds & collateral
Social media
Social media advertising & promoted posts
Brochures & leaflets
All promotional materials
Unlimited sizes, distribution, placement, perpetuity
One time licence transfer

ADVERTISING &
MERCHANDISING
ADVERTISING LICENCE
Advertising & merchandising
ALL EDITORIAL
& PERSONAL USES
MARKETING
ADVERTISING &
MERCHANDISING
Single use or single campaign
Print advertising
Out-of-home advertising
Broadcast advertising
Display advertising
Multi-channel advertising
Merchandising
Retail product packaging
One time licence transfer

Their full license is here:
https://www.picfair.com/licences

I’m going to join so I can look around. Maybe there will be more info on pricing once you join.