Compensation for lost portfolio (not negatives)

[patsjazzpix]

Hello everyone, Hope all is well. Because of your
background, or photography experience I am fielding
the following question for your opinion:

On Oct 04 I submitted 20-8x10 B&W prints as part of a
portfolio / resume package to a daily newspaper. I
wasn't selected for the position and I received a
thank you letter from the photo editor.

I finally got a letter from them regarding my
portfolio, and that it is in fact lost and can not be
found. They are offering me reasonable compensation
for this lost.

Any ideal about what the amount of the compensation
should be?

 

[Rogue Monk]

Since you haven't lost anything more than the time to create the portfolio plus the cost of supplies, I wouldn't try for crazy amounts of money. They weren't buying the images--just using them to gauge your talents and whether you'd be a good match for there company.

Tally up your supplies, add in a reasonable figure for the time required to reproduce your portfolio, and add 10%.

At least they were willing to pay your to replace it. I wouldn't have expected that.

 

[Rob]

Good advice from Monk above, I read something about this in a "How to be a great stock photographer" book. The essence of the guy's advice was to ask for a reasonable amount of money on the grounds that they're more likely to pay it AND that they might then give you some business in the future. If you ask for silly sums, you're going to be in for a fight.

As Monk suggested, I would tally up the costs, including P&P etc. and add 10%. Itemise it to add justification in your letter asking them for the money to add further weight to your argument.