Sell photos on line

Hi! I'm a amateur photographer for a youth football club and usually up load all my pictures to FB so parents can log on to their accounts to view them.

I want to sell these same pictures, but in high resolution; have parents download them for maybe $1 USD. Which selling app / site do you recommend? I tried Alamy and SmugMug, but I can't set a low price.

Thanks for your help

Why do you want to set such a low price? Maybe there's a reason that these sites don't allow $1 pricing? Are you only shooting $1 quality?

I've done same and the truth is that, at the time, few parents were willing to pay anything for pictures. I wasn't offering digital downloads, it wasn't really a thing at the time but I don't think that the turn out would be any better.

Hi @patricioramirez,

For me, the main question is: what is your personal motivation for taking photos of a youth football club? It can't be to make money so it must be something else. Perhaps you don't think you're compensated well enough for your time. A different approach might be to discuss with the club whether you could be compensated for your time. Perhaps parents would even chip in.

I've never tried to sell any photos. I live in the Netherlands. Most people are 'digital' here. I agree with @ed_farmer that few people these days (at least in NL) have any need of hi-res photos. Even fewer are willing to pay for them. The vast majority are quite happy viewing photos on digital media. At $1 per photo my guess is that you're unlikely to make more than a few dollars at best.

I (voluntarily) take photos at an annual cross country running event. Each year, I post the best ones on the event's Facebook page: 30-50 photos in each of 3 albums. Many more are posted on the organisation's website. In both cases, I ask people to contact me if they want a print-quality photo (free of charge). In 5 years, only 1 person has ever requested a hi-res photo of his (then 11-year old) daughter, an up-and-coming young track athlete. She'd been photographed at many other 'running events'. My photo showed the absolute determination in her face to 'finish' in record time. It's no longer online so I can't share it. But it was the best photo I've taken there.

Anyway, a couple of ideas:

- you could do as I did and just offer hi-res photos at $1 (or whatever) a time on FB

- you could post photos on FB with a watermark and offer photos without a watermark for $1 (or whatever)

- you could set up your own photo webshop using something like WIX. You'd need to set the pricing to at least cover the costs

- you could use your best photos from each football match (including all team players) to create a photo-album for online printing. Then you could offer a printed album to parents at cost price + markup.

Or any combination of the above. Offering a printed 'team-album' from different matches at the end of each season seems to me to be the best way of 'adding value' to the digital photos. Something that parents might be prepared to pay extra for. Again, you post your FB photos as a volunteer. Most people involved in amateur football clubs are voluntunteers too. If you feel you should be compensated for your time, talking to the club might be the best option.

Mike

You don’t say whether you’re taking photos of the players or just the game. I’ve been an amateur auto racer for decades, and there are always photographers at the track for my clubs’ events (SCCA, VSCCA, SVRA). But their focus (no pun intended ;) ) is on getting at least one or two shots of each competitor in action - and these sell fairly well for far more than a dollar. I doubt that they’d sell many general action shots to club members, but people buy good shots of themselves or their kids despite already having too many to display.

Doing this is hard work - I’ve volunteered to take pics at a few smaller meets, and you’re constantly in motion to make sure you get everybody. Your shots have to be consistently excellent, and you’ll hear from anyone who was missed or doesn’t like what you got. Generalized action shots can be used for club publicity and sent to the media to get some coverage, so they have value - but you won’t sell any.

You don’t say whether you’re taking photos of the players or just the game. I’ve been an amateur auto racer for decades, and there are always photographers at the track for my clubs’ events (SCCA, VSCCA, SVRA). But their focus (no pun intended ;) ) is on getting at least one or two shots of each competitor in action - and these sell fairly well for far more than a dollar. I doubt that they’d sell many general action shots to club members, but people buy good shots of themselves or their kids despite already having too many to display.

 

Doing this is hard work - I’ve volunteered to take pics at a few smaller meets, and you’re constantly in motion to make sure you get everybody. Your shots have to be consistently excellent, and you’ll hear from anyone who was missed or doesn’t like what you got. Generalized action shots can be used for club publicity and sent to the media to get some coverage, so they have value - but you won’t sell any.

Awesome... what car are you running.?

I wrenched on a Formula Ford for the 1978 and 1979 seasons at Sears Point and Laguna Seca. :)

Awesome... what car are you running.?

I wrenched on a Formula Ford for the 1978 and 1979 seasons at Sears Point and Laguna Seca. :)

I’ve run many cars, starting with a C Sedan Mini in 1968. I ran a Zink C4 FV for about 15 yrs, trying in vain to keep it competitive with current models driven by children half my age and size until I finally finished last and sold it to a budding vintage vee racer. I restored and ran the 16th Lotus 7 made in VSCCA for about a decade, getting it down to a 1:06:195 at Lime Rock on Pirelli P3s.

Other fun finds included a LeGrand Mk 3 H mod with Saab Monte Carlo power and an MG-TD. It’s been a great run. Sadly, when we retired and downsized to a condo, I had to give up my garage and shop. So I’m looking for a building near our apartment to buy.

Hi! I'm a amateur photographer for a youth football club . . . I want to sell these same pictures, but in high resolution; have parents download them for maybe $1 USD. Which selling app / site do you recommend? . . .

None.

If you're business goal is to sell digital image files, especially at such low price, then I suggest that you nail the sale and get the payment, at the event.

WW