How should I price and license photos for someone else's website and online shop?

Asked 12/11/2013

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An acquaintance who sells handmade hair accessories on Amazon, Etsy, and her own website wants to use some photos I took of my daughter wearing her products. She may also want more photos in the future.

What’s a fair way to charge for this kind of use? Should I sell the photos outright, or is it better to license them for specific uses such as websites and marketplaces? What terms should be covered in writing, especially since I only want to allow non-identifying images that protect my daughter’s privacy?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

2 Answers

5

Typically images are licensed not sold - that means you are not selling rights to the image but permission to use the image in a certain way, situation were a photographer sells the copyrights do exist but they are relatively rare and expensive.

The image license is usually priced by multiple factors - how much time the image will be used, where it will appear, the size, quality and importance of the image, number of places it will be used, etc.

For example, low res copy that you can only use on Facebook once - cheap; high res copy you can use forever in magazine ads - very expensive.

You will need to write a contract that say, for example, you are selling a license to use the image on up to X internet sites with a maximum resolution of X for a period of X years.

A fair price should be more than it costs you to make the image (including direct expenses, your personal expenses, your profit you need to make, and all the expenses of a business divided by all your sales - google "cost of doing business") and less than the extra sales she expects to make because of the image - tools like FotoQuote can give you a starting point.

Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2481

12y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The usual approach is to license the images rather than sell full copyright. In most cases, you grant permission for specific uses instead of giving up all rights permanently.

A fair price depends on the scope of that license, including:

  • how long the images can be used
  • where they can appear (website, Etsy, Amazon, social media, etc.)
  • image size/resolution
  • how prominently they’ll be used
  • how many images and how many platforms

A limited web-only license is typically much less expensive than unlimited, perpetual, high-resolution commercial use.

You should put the terms in writing. A simple contract should state things like:

  • which images are included
  • permitted uses/platforms
  • maximum resolution or file delivery
  • duration of use
  • whether modification is allowed
  • whether the license is exclusive or non-exclusive
  • any restrictions related to your daughter’s privacy

If the photos seem very specific now, you still may not want to give away copyright entirely. Selling copyright is less common and usually should cost much more than a limited license. If privacy matters, keep that explicitly covered in the agreement.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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