Stock Photo Agencies

50 things to find out before you start to sell photos with a stock agency.

All stock photo agencies are different. Before considering if you want to sell photos with them you should ask yourself a few basic questions.

Below I have lined out 50 basic things you should consider about any stock photo agency before you start submitting your photos to them.

1. Who will own the rights to the licensed photo? (I recommend staying with sites that allow you to retain copyrights)
2. How does the site attract buyers? (what is there advertising campaign?)
3. Do they offer other ways to earn money? I.e affiliate programs.
4. What legal policies are spelled out on there site? Are they clear for photographers and buyers?
5. What are they doing to keep your photos safe from illegal downloading?

6. What percentage of the sale do they give there photographers? How much will you earn?
7. How do they sell photos? (single image purchases, cd’s, subscriptions)
8. How long have they been in business?
9. What do other photographers think of them? Visit stock photo forums for these answers.
10. How many images do they have on there site?
11. Is there business growing or fading?
12. How many active photographers are using the site?
13. How much do they sell images for?
14. Are there multiple options for photo buyers?
15. Do they offer exclusivity bonuses? (some sites pay more if you sell only with them)
16. Do they offer a photography community?
17. Do they give you feedback on rejected photos?
18. What are the submission guidelines?
19. How many images can you submit in a day?
20. What upload system do they use?
21. How strict are there submission guidelines?
22. Do they offer keywording help?
23. How fast do they respond to submissions?
24. How fast do your photos get indexed?
25. What feeling do you get when you visit the site?
26. Have they been in the news lately?
27. Do they offer advice and tips for improving your photos?
28. Do they require you to upload a valid id?
29. How do they rank with the search engines?
30. Do they focus on a specific type of photo?
31. What is there payout threshold? How much must you earn before you get a check?
32. How often is the site down for maintenance?
33. What is the minimum image size they will accept?
34. Do they accept editorial use photos?
35. Does the site look professional?
36. Would you buy from them?
37. Do they offer multiple languages for there photographers and or buyers?
38. Do they offer buyers multiple license choices?
39. Do they run contests for there photographers?
40. Do they have a newsletter for there photographers?
41. Do they keep the photographers up to date on changes to policies?
42. Who is behind the scenes? Who runs this site?
43. Do they offer higher commissions to photographers who sell more? Some do.
44. How do they present the photos on there site?
45. How good are there search tools?
46. What is the biggest image size they sell?
47. What is the starting price for an image download?
48. Do they offer a free image section on the site?
49. If rejected , how soon can you try again to get accepted?
50. Why do you want to sell images with them?

Stock photo agencies for selling stock photos.