If you were to cover an event for a non-profit arts organization for a pretty low daily fee... and they told you that they want to sell reprints of your images in their online store... giving you a 40% cut, would you feel that would be fair? How many people would agree to terms as such? Do you believe the photographer should maintain 100% of the reprints?
1. Do you have the capacity to host the photos yourself to offer prints?
2. Would their print store's exposure give you more profit than if you handled it yourself?
3. Who prints the photos?
4. Are you selling them a service or do you work for them (i.e., work made for hire type of situation)?
If it is good exposure for you it might make sense as long the the 40% is of the profit after the cost to produce the print. They are after all a non-profit org and need funds to support their efforts.
1. Yes, I have the capability to sell and fulfill print orders directly.
2. Yes, I believe it is beneficial to have the organization promoting the sale of the prints... It promotes a good cause, etc.
3. They will be using an online fulfillment company...Qoop. I have no idea who Qoop uses as their lab.
4. I am hired by them occasionally. There is no full time employment.
I know this is a complicated question and there is no cut and dry answer. I am just wondering how often others relinquish resale rights to their images and at what cost. Since everything is digital these days and everyone and their mother has an inkjet printer or a snapfish account, images aren't really viewed as "assets" to most people. They view photography almost as pure labor...
How do others communicate the "value" of purchasing prints from the photographer? Before digital, it wasn't much of an issue from what I understand. If you used a professional photographer, you purchased prints from them. Nowadays, where do professionals draw the line?
if this is just a job that happens to be for a non-profit you're not interested in supporting, charge enough upfront to off-set the loss in print sales.
TTLKurtis wrote:
I might consider for a higher cut. Thing is, I prefer to do all my printing myself...
Exactly... How do you communicate the value to your client that it is worth it to spend $5-8 for a 4X6 printed through you when they know they can order a 4x6 for 19 cents online?
I realize I am probably off of my original topic... but this is the larger issue I was hoping to discuss.
40 per cent of what? would be my first question; margin; profit total sale; net sale.
There are many ways to come up w/ that number. Get that first.
It has been my experience that cost of printing/shipping and a handling charge come out before the 'cut' That number could be pretty small.
For me; getting out of the way and not having to deal w/ customers on a 4/6 or 5/7 sale would be worth it. TLL may be correct in that you might want to ask for a higher cut and an accurate accounting.
spaceheat wrote:
How do you communicate the value to your client that it is worth it to spend $5-8 for a 4X6 printed through you when they know they can order a 4x6 for 19 cents online?
The fact is, they can't order one of your images for 19 cents. They can order their images all day long for 19 cents, but they hired you for a reason. Once you understand that you're not selling paper, you're on your way to understanding the business of photography. I charge the same for a 4x6 as I do for a 5x7 as I do for 8 wallets. It's not about paper. At some point you have to consider the COS, but your work is what you're selling, and that should greatly exceed the cost of paper!
