These days you don’t have to be a professional photographer to make money from your images. Even with half decent shots, amateurs and hobbyists can turn their shots into dollars (mostly cents!).
Thanks to stock photography sites anyone can now upload and earn money with their images.
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There are so many people and businesses online that are willing to pay for your images and not everybody uses Getty Images. People buy images for number of different reasons. Some people need pictures to jazz up their website, some use it to pretty-up their e-book and some people use pictures to make their ads more interesting.
Here are 12 stock photography sites where you too can get paid to submit photos of all kinds:
1- ShutterStock
There are three ways to make money with this program: 1- Make money selling photographs earning 25 cents per image downloaded). 2- Refer other photographers and earn 3 cents per photo sold by them. 3- Refer Stock Buyers and earn 20% off their subscriptions. Once you reach $500 in earnings, your commission goes up from 25 cents to 30 cents per download.
2- iStockPhoto
Earn 20 % on prices ranging from $1 to $20 per image. You can earn up to 40% if you offer your images exclusively. You can also sell Audio,Video,Flash and Illustrations.
3- DreamsTime
Earn 50-80% from each image sold. Exclusive photos earn you more money.
4- BigStockPhoto
Make $0.30 to $3 per image sold. They have a list of categories that they need photos for. You can earn more money per photo if you submit photos to those categories.
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5- Crestock
You will earn 20% commission with prices ranging from $5 to $15 per photo, but as soon as you hit 100 sales, you’ll earn 30% commission. They have a very fast and easy uploading process.
6- PhotoStockPlus
85% commission on all sales. You can host private galleries and set your own prices. However, you must pay a processing fee (3.25%) on each sale.
7- 123RoyaltyFree
Earn 50% on each photo downloaded. Refer customers and earn 15% of their purchase or subscription. Refer photographers and earn 10% from each of their downloaded images.
8- Veer
You can set your own prices. For every image that’s sold on a standard or product license, you will receive 30% royalty. If you allow your image to be downloaded on subscription, you will receive $0.30 per download. Once you make $10 in royalties, you will be paid in PayPal.
9- Fotolia
Get paid an average of 50% on each image downloaded. They pay via PayPal and MoneyBooker. However, wire transfers are offered in countries where PayPal and Money Booker are not supported.
10- ShutterPoint
ShutterPoint offers the highest payout rate of any stock photography site; 85% for full Royalty-Free license and 70% for standard Royalty-Free license. When you reach $50, you can request to be paid via PayPal or by Check .
11- ClusterShot
You can set your own price or be open to offers. They get 12% of the sale price and you get the rest automatically in PayPal when your account reaches $100. However, you can request a payout before you reach the $100 threshold, but you will have to pay a small fee.
12- StockXpert
You get paid 50% of each sale. They pay through PayPal, MoneyBooker or Check. You can earn $7.50 for each XXL size download and $10 for each super high quality vector download! You can even earn $50 per sale by offering extended licenses for your images.
Conclusion
To increase your earnings from selling photography work, take advantage of referral programs that most of these stock photography sites offer. Basically, you can earn money by referring both photographers and image buyers.
The more people you refer, the more money you can make.