If you’re a photographer, it’s the million dollar question: “How to sell my photos online?”
This article will show you the 5 best websites for selling your photos online, how much potential commissions you can get, and will also connect you with a great course for selling your photos from your own niche photography site that is an ABSOLUTE MUST for maximizing your sales snd revenue potential.
How to Sell My Photos Online
There are many great stock photography websites where you can feature and sell your photography. Websites like Adobe, Shutterstock, Alamy, Etsy, and 500px are great options. Additionally, you can get the absolute most out of your photography by creating your own niche photography website.
1. Build Your Own Niche Photography Website & Eliminate the Competition
If you want to absolutely maximize your profits, it’s time to sell your photography on your own website!
Wait, but you’ve never built a website before? No problem.
Cut out the middle man (and the competition) by selling your photography on your own real estate. You call the shots. You pocket the profits.
Getting trained on how to do just that along with learning how to drive free, targeted traffic to your site is more straightforward than you think.
When you have your own niche website up and running you COMPLETELY ELIMINATE the competition, plus you can earn revenue in multiple ways.
- Earn consistent commissions by connecting your target audience with all the best photography gear they’re already looking for through affiliate marketing.
- Review your DREAM GEAR and the best high end cameras and GET PAID FOR IT!
- You can even earn consistent monthly revenue just from the web traffic itself without selling a single thing!
Building your own niche photography website while you upload your photography to the traditional photo sharing sites gives your budding photography business the diversity you’ll need to sustain it.
2. Adobe Stock
Royalties: 20-60%, non-exclusive
Topping our list of traditional photo sharing websites is Adobe Stock.
Formerly known as Fotolia, Adobe Stock has been around 10+ years.
With spectacular royalties, this is a definite “must” for photographers looking to sell their photos.
I’m sure you recognize the Adobe name. They are the creators of the immensely popular Photoshop and Lightroom photo editing programs.
This means every photo uploaded to Adobe Stock is available to be used in other Adobe applications reaching millions of users.
Royalties range from 20% all the way up to 60%.
Adobe Stock is also non-exclusive, meaning the photos you upload to Adobe Stock can be sold on other websites as well. And more is better!
3. Shutterstock
Royalties: 20-30%, non-exclusive
Shutterstock is another very popular site for selling stock photos.
They’re in over 150 countries globally with a collection of over 200 million photos and boast $500 million in sales to date!
What does this mean to you? It means people from all over the world are having success selling their photos with Shutterstock!
Royalties are solid, ranging from 20-30%.
Shutterstock is also non-exclusive, so why not add this to your list of sites you’re selling from?
Having multiple sites where you sell your photos is an easy way to get more eyes on your photos.
4. Alamy
Royalties: 50%, non-exclusive
Next on our list is Alamy. With over 195 million images in their collection, they are a very popular photo selling site with photographers.
They also give one of the highest commissions to photographers at 50% of each photo sold and, like the other two so far on this list, they are non-exclusive.
Also to be noted is that Alamy determines the price of your photo once uploaded.
With the amount of royalties they offer, this shouldn’t be a sticking point.
5. Etsy
High traffic, Full control of price points & display
Etsy isn’t usually thought of a site where you can sell your photos online because in and of itself it isn’t a photo selling site.
However, from a traffic standpoint alone, you should consider Etsy for selling your work.
With over 30 million users, Etsy simply has more traffic than most other photo selling sites.
With Etsy you also have more control over your work.
You set the price point and control how the photos are displayed. Don’t sleep on this high traffic site.
6. 500px
Royalties: 30-60%, Both exclusive & non-exclusive tiers
Last on our list is 500px.
500px allows you to create a portfolio of your images and offers some nice tools as well.
Are you an analytics junkie? Ever wondered how many times a photo was clicked or how any single photo ranks with the competition?
500px offers the Pulse Algorithm which shows how your photos stack up.
Images uploaded to 500px also get displayed in a Discovery page that is viewed by thousands.
Something that makes 500px stand out from the others on this list is they offer exclusive licensing with royalties at 60%.
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you can’t sell on other websites. It just means that you can’t sell those exclusive photos on other websites.
500px also offers non-exclusive royalties at 30%. So why not add this to your list of non-exclusive websites to sell on while having a small sub-niche of your photos available exclusively at 500px for that higher royalty tier?
Related Article at WorkFromYourLaptop.com!
Check out “Photojobz Review” to know the kinds of shady platforms you should avoid when building your photography business!
Final Thoughts
There are two main routes you can take for turning your photos into consistent monthly revenue. The best for maximizing your profit potential would be through building your own niche photography website. This option eliminates your photos getting lost in a sea of competition on the screen, and also eliminates you having to share your profits with anyone else.
The second route is through traditional photo sharing websites. With these third party websites you’ll have to share your profits and abide by their terms and conditions, but you also benefit from the fact that these websites are well established and bring in consistent traffic.
If you’re interested in learning affiliate marketing and turning your own website into consistent revenue, check out my top recommendation for training.
Have you used any of the photo sharing websites listed above before? What’s been your experience with them? Ever considered building an affiliate marketing photography site before? What’s held you back?
Leave all your questions and comments in the section below! I always reply and I look forward to hearing from you!
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As I’m currently working on this idea, I never thought about Etsy as a market place to sell photos, but I would be interested to learn more about it, my question is that selling a photo on Etsy would be as a PDF file? Thanks again for the great article.
With Etsy you’d be able to sell actual prints of your photos, and even go further with posters, canvas art, arts and crafts with your images on them, etc. Thanks so much for the comment!
I’ve never had much luck with the photo sharing websites. It’s nice to be on there but getting found seems impossible. Some of those websites also take a massive cut out of your profits so I don’t feel like I’m making much at all. I’d much rather get a full priced sale that just a partial commission. Do you have any recommendations for training on how to build a website?
Absolutely. Check out “How Hard is it to Build a Website?”. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Eric, this was very informative! I’m not much of a photographer, but my wife definitely is. I was pretty familiar with all the services listed except for 500px, the offer of a guaranteed higher royalty for an exclusive photo is an interesting concept. With so many ways to monetize, it makes sense if you’re a photographer to get on as many platforms as you can. Thank you for sharing your experience and insight on this topic!
Absolutely! Thanks for the comment!
Hello, I was wondering if you have to be a professional photographer to be able to sell your pictures on these websites. I am very interested I’m photography myself but I am no professional, I just love to do it as a hobby. So I am wondering if you have to be a professional to sell your pictures.
Thanks Mason
Great question. The answer is not at all. Nowadays almost everyone has a camera in their pocket and anyone can take a great photo. In fact, many of the photos uploaded to these photo sharing sites are picture taking off mobile devices. Thanks for the comment!
Hello! I found really helpful the sites you introduced me to! Although I do have a question for you though, you mentioned on one of the sites being able to set the price for your photos. How do you decide how much the image is worth? As for the services listed above I wonder if you can sell your photos on each platform… is that possible?
That’s a very common question. What I’ve done in the past is to compare my photos to similar ones and go with similar pricing. And yes, you can upload your photography to all the websites that are non-exclusive. If you go with one that is exclusive then that’s going to apply to the photos you upload to that exclusive site. You won’t be able to sell those specific photos anywhere else. Thanks for the comment!
I have a friend who travels quite a lot and has over the years built quite a collection of photos. This is exactly what he’s been looking for. I’ll definitely point him to your site, but most especially front the option of building his own website with the helpful links you provide.
We are Blessed.
Glad this can be of help to your friend! Thanks for the comment!
Hi Eric, Great post I would love to do this I think. Going traveling taking photos and selling them to go towards my next trip that sounds amazing. Although I do have a question though how do you decide how much the image is worth? As for the services listed above what I wonder is if you can sell your photos on each platform is that possible.
All I’ve ever done to determine the price of a photo is to look at others that are comparable. And yes, you can simultaneously sell on all non-exclusive platforms. 🙂 Thanks so much or the comment!
Dear Eric!
I found really helpful the sites you introduced me! Once I will be at the level, to be able to sell my photos through the internet, I will use the websites you recommended! I was a small photographer on some smaller event back in 2018, maybe once I will give it another try. Thanks a lot for writing about this topic such an interesting and informative article!
Bence
So glad you enjoyed this! Thanks for the comment and best of luck!
Travel is my favorite and I love photography! I have a lot of pictures on my computer because I travel 2-3 times a year and all these travel pictures were collected by me I never sold the pictures. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’m going to start with all the non-exclusive sites and go from there. Thank you!
Very glad to be of help! Keep up the good work and get those photos the views they deserve! Thanks for the comment!
Great article! As a professional photographer. I would also like to recommend Pixpa, as it helps built online store alone with an online portfolio.
Thanks.
Very cool. I’ll look into that and maybe do a review on it. 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Hi Eric, my biggest concern is the cost involved in paying an accountant to handle sales taxes to multiple states. Are there any sites that pay the taxes for you and simply pay you a commission? With stock photo companies, do you have to pay tax to where the buyer purchased it from or is it all consolidated to a tax you pay to one place? And last, if no companies handle the tax for you, what is your advice to photographers just starting out in online sales to help keep initial profits from getting eaten up by accountants? Yeah, a lot of questions but I have been wrestling with this for a few years now and have not found good advice yet.
Thanks,
Scott
When you sell your photos online, whether you’re using a platform that displays your photos alongside many others photographers’ work, or you build your own site and take full control of how your photos are displayed and sell them yourself, your buyers pay their own taxes. You simply pay your state and/or federal tax at the end of the year based on where you live and how much income you’ve made. There’s no headache with accountants. It’s the same as reporting income from a part time job 🙂 Thanks for the questions and comment!
Eric, Thank you for this information. I’m new at wanting to sell my work and have been looking for solid advice. I have photos and digital paintings, but I have never ventured into selling any of it. I’ll be looking into all these awesome sites you talked about and following you on your social media platforms. And if you have any more advise, I’m all ears! Thanks again. – Roland
I really appreciate that, Roland. I’m a photography and travel lover myself and the two go hand in hand 🙂 My absolute top piece of advice for anyone looking to sell their photos online is to eventually take the plunge into building your own website where you have full control of your photos so they’re not lost in a crowd of competitors. The platform I link to in the article is absolutely great even for beginners and you can try it free to see if it’s for you. Thanks for the support, brother! If you need any help with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out.
I have been using Fine Arts America for 3 years and am very disappointed with this site. I have had technical issues since day 1 and I have emailed them but they have ignored my emails. Also my photos have won worldwide awards and have been published but I have only sold two on this site. There are millions of photos to choose from on this site from other photographers. Recently I went on my site and many of my photos have disappeared. I emailed Fine Arts America regarding this issue and have had no response from them. One has to email regarding tech issues because there is no phone number.
Wow, Gina. I’m very sorry to hear that. While I’ve never had issues with Fine Arts America myself, I can see the frustration that can come with technical issues that are out of your control along with feeling that your pictures are getting lost among the millions of other ones on that site. For that reason, many have opted to sell their photos from their own websites where they have full control over how they’re displayed, along with not having an competition to worry about. Photoshelter offers that feature to integrate into your own site. The main key to having success with that is knowing how to build a site that generates real traffic so you can get sales. For that I highly recommend creating your free starter account with this training platform and mentoring community that walks you through building your own niche site or building traffic to your already existing niche site so that your photos get the eyes on them they deserve. It also walks you through the key strategies to turning that traffic into consistent revenue and sales, in this case, from selling your photos. In fact, I’m going to go back into this article and add a more obvious link for those photographers just like you who could really benefit from that training. Thank you so much for your comment and insight!
Hello Eric
Thanks for this truly informative video and post. I have bookmarked it. I’ve taken some really great photos and had heard of opportunities to sell my photos but have not looked into it any further. This post cuts straight to the chase and straight to your best recommendations which are really helpful. I too travel a lot and would love to share some of the spectacular pics I have taken.
Thanks again mate
Paul
Very glad to help, Paul! Thanks for the comment!
Hey Eric,
I love taking photos too when I’m not banging words on my computer. I love ShutterStock a lot. I however have never thought of selling my photos online. And this is an eyeopener. I’ll bookmark this page for future reference. It seems like a good venture to sell my work. Thanks for your insights,
Dennis
Thanks for the comment, Dennis! I appreciate it. I’m right there with you at my laptop banging out words all the time. I just shared some tips on how to get organic traffic you might like. Follow that link and check it out 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Eric; how do you like Fine Art America? I take lots of photos in that style and it seems really perfect for what I’m needing.
I’ve always seen photography as a total hobby, but after seeing some photos online for sale I thought to myself that mine were just as good. Found your post online and now here I am.
Thank you!
DorcasW
Hi Dorcas! I think if you have photos that fit in that fine art category you’re going to absolutely love Fine Art America. They have so many options for selling your work and they take care of all the details. Very glad to help you with this. Thanks again!
Hi Eric,
You have some beautiful photos!
When it comes to selling photos online, I was wondering how I do this always wondered if mine were good enough, know what I mean? But the only way to know that is to do it, right? and now you have given me the answer.
I have never heard of Alamy up til this point, but I’m going to try each one of these. Thank you!
Very glad to help, Stella! Thanks so much for the comment!
I often take photos when I get out into nature and sometimes the results are quite good. I often use Photoshop to enhance the photos even more, so they would look more professional. I started getting asked about them and if they were for sale, so finally I started researching how to sell my photos online. Thank you for this quick overview of these sites! The video was perfect and simple and direct! Is Fine Art America your personal fave? It sounded like it might be.
I think you’ve guessed right. I tend to take fine art photos where I digitally edit them to make them surreal and I love turning the digital photograph into a canvas like that. For my style of photography it’s a perfect fit. Fine Art America and Photo Shelter for the control you have over your photos would be my top choices of the 5, but the 5 as a whole are my top 5 over all others for sure. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for the information! I’ve submitted photos to most of the sites you mentioned, but I haven’t had any sold yet. I haven’t had much luck with Alamy. They seem to be very picky. I’ve only had a couple of photos approved. I haven’t heard of Photoshelter, but I will try that next.
Thanks for the insight. I’ve actually been so busy building this site at WorkFromYourLaptop.com that I haven’t had the chance to upload several new photos from my catalogue to Alamy as of yet. I had used it in the past but heard that they recently became a bit more picky and I’ve been looking to see for myself how this affected the process. Thanks for the comment!
Great info. I will share it to my photographer friends. Thank you very much.
Thanks for the comment, Melani. Glad to be of help. And if any of those photographer friends need help building a solid site for their photos to get them seen, don’t hesitate to point them to my top recommendation! Take care!
Hi Eric and thank you! I loved the little blurb about writing a paragraph in third person about yourself. Too funny. Anyway, I was just suggesting to my daughter about selling photography online. I wasn’t sure how, but you gave me the info needed for her. I truly enjoyed the article. :o)
Ha! I’m glad that little blurb got a laugh. Very glad to help out with your daughter! Thanks for the comment!
Love this article Eric!
My sister is an Artist and just getting started with Photography these are great places to show her work I will let her know!
Thanks =)
glad I could help! thank you for the comment, Krista!
Thanks for collecting this info and putting it out there! I have thought about selling photos online but never got around to researching it. Thanks for making it easier!
Not a problem. I appreciate the kind words and your comment, Sandra. Feel free to share this page with your social networks. Thank you!
I really enjoyed your article. I am going to have to share photoshelter.com with an artist friend my mine. Thank you for the awesome links, much appreciated!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to share the post, that’s why I wrote it 🙂 There are so many photographers out there who I feel could benefit from using these sites.
Eric,
I enjoy taking pictures while traveling, but inn ever thought about selling these photos online before. Thanks for the ideas! I think I’ll check the sites listed above.
David
If all you gotta do is upload some photos and tag them into a category it can’t hurt to try. 🙂 take care David.
Wow, I didn’t even know that such platforms exist before reading your article. I really like your article because not only you listed all the available sites, you also did short and concise summary of their pros and cons. Very helpful article!
Thank you! There are so many more out there, but these are by far my top picks. I appreciate the comment 😉
First off, It’s great to know how nice and detailed the site is that are accompanied with supporting images that is directly in line with what you want to say. Your website is clean and easy to navigate all throughout. I don’t mind signing up for the 5 best sites you recommended because I need new phots on my content lol
Hey thanks man. I appreciate the feedback. You should most definitely grab your photos from these great sites. Remember though, while it’s free to upload to these sites as the photographer it will more than likely cost you if you want to use these photos in your blog or website, so it could get pricey. For free, royalty free pics I use pixabay.
This is gold: “But if you’re doing something you love, why not turn it into revenue?”. I also have my blog and I’m monetizing it. If there is value in it, then why not?
I like the quality of images on Shutterstock but purchasing them it out of my price range at the moment. I was hoping that with these high prices that at least they are giving high commissions to photographers so that’s a downer. I would rather buy images on a platform where the photographer earns a high commission to keep on supporting them.
That’s a cool take on the subject. I always see it from the photographer’s point of view since I myself love photography and look to make revenue from it, but you as the buyer have a great point. If you’re going to be buying them why not reward the photographer who actually did the work. Nicely put.
This is a great post! I will start to learn taking great photos soon from a great photographer. So this post really a great info for me. Thanks!
Glad to be of help, Dino. When photography is your passion there is no reason why you can’t make money from it with all the tools available. Go out and take some great pics!
This is exactly the kind of article I was looking for! I always loved taking pictures and traveling and through my adventures I’ve captured some pretty good shots. I knew there was a way I could sell them online but I didn’t really know the best way. I have heard of shutterstock before but not alamy so thank you for introducing me to that! I think selling my photos is definitely something I’m going to look into more.
Brianna
Alamy is spectacular with their commissions. Glad I could help and thanks for the comment :).