How much to sell my photos for?

Jordan Fernandez · Sep 13, 2014

So this girl on IG liked a photo I took and wants to put a few of my pics on a t-shirt shes selling at her store. She said that she could give me a few of the T's for free. I told her that I'm willing to sell them, she agree'd but wants me to give her a price. She doesn't seem to know to much about the business, and never made shirts before. But she said she would give me money once the shirts sell, but I want an intial payment for using my photos.

PS, should i use my watermark when she prints them??

hamlet · Sep 13, 2014

If she cant pay you now, then make a contract. When people start to make promises of goods or money after the fact, that is when i get worried. I never deal with people like that.

vintagesnaps · Sep 13, 2014

If she has a store that makes this retail/commercial use. She should license your photos and pay you a licensing fee. You should have a contract that specifies usage (a printing of a specific number of T shirts) and terms of payment.

You should be paid for licensing/usage before the shirts are printed or sold. It's her business, it seems up to her to figure out what she thinks will sell in her store and to pay to stock merchandise.

Try professional photographers associations, American Society of Media Photographers or look up PPA, for resources such as sample contracts, pricing, etc.

Edit - I don't know if a photo used in that way would typically be watermarked; I suppose it could be if you use it as your signature along the bottom (not sure of the typical procedure for use on a T shirt).

Jordan Fernandez · Sep 13, 2014

Wow that's a lot to do. But i definitely want to do it the right way.

tirediron · Sep 13, 2014

No, I wouldn't watermark the image. Sharon has some good advice - depending on the nature of the business and how you feel about the proprietress, it might be worth thinking long-term; that is (assuming she is interested too), license a couple of the images to her at a very reasonable price, say $50/thousand and if things expand move on to a more reasonable price ($250/thousand). If you were to go this route however, it would need to be VERY carefully spelled out so that there was no room for misunderstanding and she was aware that this was a special price, contingent on her further business with you.