howard_grill Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Hi all. I have been doing digital photography and wide format digital printing and selling some of my work, but thus far have sold only prints from my Epson 7600. Today, I got an unusual e-mail from my website e-mail address. (The site is www.hgrillphotographic.com if anyone is interested). The e-mail had the persons name, e-mail address, and phone number on it, which I have eliminated, but I am copying the rest of the e-mail since I have not had a request like this in the past: "I am interested in purchasing the rights to makeprints of some of your photos. I am interested in"shades of pink I", and autumn leaves VII. Please quotes prices. Thank you" I am not sure why one would want to 'buy rights' to make prints unless it was for posters, cards or something similar and obviously I am concerned that this could be some type of scam. My initial response is to call and see what the person wants it for and not quote any prices until that is clear and to make the price commensurate with what the proposed project is and not provide anything until there is money in hand. I am just curious if this type of request is routine and what one would do with it to try and make sure it is not a scam of some sort. As I mentioned there is an e-mail address, name and phone number. Thanks for any opinions and advice. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_haykin Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 I can only ask the following question: How do you make the leap or connection from a potential client asking about buying prints along with certain right to a scam? What am I missing here. Either you are utterly paranoic or suffer from abjectly low self-esteem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conraderb Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 well, ask for some details and see what they say. the fact that they have a ph# and contact info means they are more likely to be a legitimate person instead of just some random nigerian scammer or whatever. if it is a scam, look out for the fake cashier's check for more $$ than what you asked, and then they ask that you send the difference via western union... :-( I had that happen a while ago - and of course, I didn't send them the difference b/c I knew it was a total scam. oh yes - I once had some guy pretend to be a buyer in UK who wanted to buy my lens with a fake BidPay payment. I had him give me his FedEx account #, and although he sent me a FedEx label that said that the lens was valued at $15, I put a half brick in a FedEx box, wrote in the value at $550USD and put it in the FedEx box to Nigeria. I tracked it and it looks like it went all the way! Shame - he thought that I sent him a lens for free, when he probably paid $60 worth of duties and import taxes on half of a brick :-( here's the tracking info: Tracking number 792563432586 Signed for by W.IDRIS Ship date Oct 27, 2005 Delivery date Nov 1, 2005 1:50 PM Destination IPAJA NG Delivered to Receptionist/Front Desk Service type International Priority Service Weight 6.5 lbs. Status Delivered Date/Time Activity Location Details Nov 1, 2005 1:50 PM Delivered IPAJA NG 8:00 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery LAGOS NG Oct 31, 2005 6:28 PM Shipment exception LAGOS NG Held, cleared regulatory agency(s) after aircraft departed 6:06 PM Int'l shipment release LAGOS NG 5:43 PM In transit LAGOS NG Package available for clearance Oct 28, 2005 11:55 PM At dest sort facility POYLE GB 9:31 PM In transit POYLE GB Package available for clearance 1:50 AM Departed FedEx location NEWARK, NJ 12:54 AM Arrived at FedEx location NEWARK, NJ Oct 27, 2005 8:35 PM Picked up WASHINGTON, DC 7:49 PM Left origin WASHINGTON, DC Oct 26, 2005 8:45 AM Package data transmitted to FedEx conrad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christianrevolution Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 I say call them and see what they intend on using them for. Say they want to make greeting cards out of them, see how many they are going to make and so on, and add all that together and quote them a price for the use of the photos and HAVE IT ALL IN WRITING and singed by you and them. They will probily want you to not sell those photos for a year or so to other card compinys or competing markets, that's ok. BUT REMEMBER TO HAVE IT ALL IN WRITING! God bless. -Micah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_grill Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 Art....I initially thought that was a rather harsh response until I thought about it and, of course, you are right. However, it was not initially a case of having low esteem, but rather the mega-paranoia option. Not totally unreasonable given the huge amount of internet based scams out there including ones involoving photographers that I have read about on various forums (and the fact that I was almost the victem of a $600 buy/sell scam here on photo.net a few years ago...but that's another story). The request, not for print purchase, but for the rights to produce prints, was an unusual event for me as I am not a photographer by profession and my website is not one that I have heavily promoted in any way. Nonetheless, my wife had the exact same reaction as you :>))) So I will contact the person and find out exactly what they are proposing. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtluong Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 It's not unusual at all. I've received similar requests several times. I ask for a royalty in the 20%-40% range (of the retail price), depending on details. <a href = "http://www.terragalleria.com/">Terra Galleria Photography</a>. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_grill Posted November 29, 2005 Author Share Posted November 29, 2005 Well, I contacted the person and they responded that they are opening an art gallery and are interested in making Giclee prints on canvas of 2 photos limited to 10 to 20 prints of each. They would consider a fee to have the right to do that or consider splitting the profit 50/50 after deducting the cost of the print and sending me a check when they sell. I have not had an offer like this before and was hoping for further input...if one charges a fee what is reasonable? Is a split of the sold prints after deducting the cost of making them more likely to yield more? I presume that somehow the prints are still identified as mine and not the printers...how does this work? Is there an opening here to see if the person would be handling more of my work? I know these are probably naive questions, but I am new at this. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtluong Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Their proposed arrangement is reasonnable. It is better if you can have them pay a licensing fee (ie a one-time prior payment), but most would be reluctant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_grill Posted November 29, 2005 Author Share Posted November 29, 2005 What would be a reasonable licensing fee per image for 10-20 copies? Does it depend on how much they sell them for? How does one ensure that only so many copies are made? Does one ensure that the quality of the finished product is agreeable to my standards (as I assume my name will somehow be associated with it)? How does my name get associated with the artwork as it will be on canvas and I am not present to sign...does a little card go with it or something like that to explain who the original artist is? Is there a low cost downloadable standard contract that can be used for this? As you can see, I've lots of questions and appreciate any help! Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.W. Wall Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 FWIW, there is extensive discussion of photo business subjects at www.danheller.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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