Question about my pricing

[Kra_Ash]

Who says she has made a profit? Lots of assumptions in these posts. She may have revenues, but she also has expenses that she can deduct, including depreciation on her equipment which memoirshots alluded to in his post. She may be claimed on her parents' tax return as a college student (again, lots of assumptions in the responses to this thread). If she's not claimed by her parents, then if she claims herself her personal exemption would exceed her taxable income and again, she may not owe taxes.

Too many assumptions in these answers to give her really clear guidance on her issue.

I'm not even convinced she's "being sued" as she stated. Based on what I've read, she's in an argument with a client but there has been no lawsuit filed. What person would file a lawsuit where the damages are negligible? What a waste of time and energy.

Yes, I am under my parents for taxes.
And my last post says, she will come by my parents or work tomorrow for whatever reason she plans to, if I'm not there, she will call police, file against me, then take me to court. She plans to, but I won't know if anything will happen for real, till tomorrow.

 

[MReid]

The lessons you learned from this are worth more than the money you are trying to get from her (not going to happen).
Give her what she wants and be done with it.

 

[jwbryson1]

If she comes to your parents house or your work and is harrassing you, I'd call the police right away. I think she's blowing off steam and trying to bark as loud as possible and get you to cower.

Sometimes the simplest solution to these types of issues is to just give them what they want and avoid them in the future. Chalk it up to "lesson learned" and move forward.

No point in escalating the issue if you can diffuse it.

Just my $0.02.

Good luck.

 

[jwbryson1]

The lessons you learned from this are worth more than the money you are trying to get from her (not going to happen).
Give her what she wants and be done with it.

Exactly. You beat me to the punch.

 

[cannpope]

Personally, I wouldn't worry with her any longer. She's not worth the stress she is causing you. Send her a money order for the $6 you owe her in prints and tell her to leave you alone or you will have an order of protection placed against her. She's pulling your chains to see if she can get what she wants. I hope she doesn't intimidate her husband that way :/ Unless she has a lot of $$, I doubt she will ever sue you. She could have spent the $$ that she is going to sue you with on some phenomenal photos!!

 

[Kra_Ash]

If she comes to your parents house or your work and is harrassing you, I'd call the police right away. I think she's blowing off steam and trying to bark as loud as possible and get you to cower.

Sometimes the simplest solution to these types of issues is to just give them what they want and avoid them in the future. Chalk it up to "lesson learned" and move forward.

No point in escalating the issue if you can diffuse it.

Just my $0.02.

Good luck.

She's said that she's coming to get the pictures and cd she's paid for.
But, I already gave those to her...so I really don't know why she's doing this. I tried to bargain with her if she wants more pictures from the shoot, let's talk about prices so she can get the pictures so were.done and she doesn't want to. Just going straight to doing this.

 

[jaicatalano]

Unfortunately being that you are getting paid for your work you are a professional. If you don't feel so in your heart then try to come to terms with it because to charge someone is because they believe your work to be of a better or more professional quality then if it were free. It also sounds like she offended you more than the pricing issue. Had she come across more humanly to you you might have seen things differently.

 

[cannpope]

Point blank...if she comes to your house or your place of employment...as soon as you see her...call the POLICE!! There are laws that protect people from stalkers and harrassers. This should be a huge lesson learned. I do feel bad for you in this situation though because you are young and didn't know any better. She should know better, she's a grown woman.

 

[Kra_Ash]

Point blank...if she comes to your house or your place of employment...as soon as you see her...call the POLICE!! There are laws that protect people from stalkers and harrassers. This should be a huge lesson learned. I do feel bad for you in this situation though because you are young and didn't know any better. She should know better, she's a grown woman.

Yeah :/ thank you. I've told my mother about it and she will call the police if she shows up. My dad is helping out as well as my boyfriend.

 

[MLeeK]

I feel bad for you lol but it's really easy to get a tax ID and EMI. And if your client has not fully paid you ... You are still the owner of the picture unless you sell it to some one else . So technically she won't win in court if you use her picture for you portfolio. Just don't sell it for money.

Lol thanks. Yeah she already paid me for it all. I just owe her $6 for two prints I wasn't able to get for her. I wouldn't use her pictures for anything besides showing others what I can do. And when I start a portfolio, those would not be in it. They're devent, but not portfolio worthy.

I found this while looking up business license for photography businesses. Would this apply to me as well?

Freelance photography - business License? - Yahoo! Answers

Yes, mostly... Each city, municipality, county, state, etc has their own requirements and rules. You should have a chapter of the SBA or SBDC at your college or somewhere near you. Their advice is invaluable about what you will need. You can start at The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov and go from there. As you narrow things down it will go down to the state level for you. They quite often give free or low cost classes for people such as you who are just venturing into business. The website alone is an amazing resource for a new business.
Don't depend on internet advice for much of anything. ANYONE can put ANYTHING on the internet and say it's the gospel truth. A consult with an attorney is always free. Consulting with an attorney can help you oodles without retaining him or her. There is also mention of legal aid thru your school, etc. I have no clue what's available there, but check.
You should seek an attorney's advice about this matter, but more so about the business stuff for your future clients. You need a good portrait contract. There are OODLES of them out there on the internet that you can use. It needs to cover everything you are promising the client and everything the client is responsible for. Then it needs to be reviewed by an attorney. You can never spell out too much in a contract. There may be parts of what you spell out that is overkill or unenforceable, but too much is never a bad thing. The usual: WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE HOW and WHY (or what for... $.)
You should also seek the advice of an accountant/CPA regarding your responsibilities for income, sales tax, record keeping, etc... Yea though you are reporting your income at this point, you probably aren't ACTUALLY making a profit and if you did things differently you would not be tax liable for that income. There are some things you need to consider and plan for in there, but a CPA can guide you along. It's tax time. If you haven't done your taxes from last year take them into any actual tax office and talk with the actual certified accountant there and he or she can guide you on what to set up for next year's.

You mentioned in your original post about prints and a printer-VERY few of us print our own prints. It's not cost effective. You need to use a GOOD, reputable, professional grade lab. The price of your prints does not only need to include the cost you pay, but it also needs to consider all of the other factors of cost of doing business and cost of goods-time invested, equipment, shipping, licensing, your taxes, sales tax... The list is pretty extensive. So a print that costs you $2 at the lab does not really cost you $2.
For example that $2 print: you had to take the shot, process the shot, show the client however you are showing (post to internet-and your internet service costs you...), you used your car to go there, computer to process, electric to run the computer to process, camera to take the shot... every one of those things cost you something. Even though you already own it. Your computer will get used up, your camera costs you somewhere around a penny for every shot you take-you do have to replace it eventually. You had to spend time getting the order and/or emailing the client, then placing the order, receiving the order, checking the order, delivering the order (which may require your car...) All of those things figure into the cost of that print. That is why the national average for an 8x10 is upwards of $25 per print.
You don't have a tax id yet, but there are many labs that won't require it: Mpix.com, WHCC, CPQ, BayPhoto... it's a LONG list, but those are all well loved. WHCC is probably the choice I see most new photogs go with and they seem to love it.

I have had several people and conversations about this start up business costs, pricing, etc questions lately and I really am working on a post about it. It's just that this is my busiest month of the year right now and I am literally balls to the wall running my butt off... I will definitely get there... I will try to remember your S/N when I get there! I am here daily and I have a few minutes to point you somewhere if you need it, but I don't have a ton of time like I usually do right now. Feel free to send a note if you have a question I might be able to point you towards a resource for.

 

[MLeeK]

The lessons you learned from this are worth more than the money you are trying to get from her (not going to happen).
Give her what she wants and be done with it.

Exactly. You beat me to the punch.

In this instance I'd give her the CD of all of the images and cut your losses. It's not going to cost you any more and going to court may cost you in the end. Even if you win it costs you to get there, prepare, etc. It may even mean missing a class... Not worth the headache.

 

[Kra_Ash]

Yes, mostly... Each city, municipality, county, state, etc has their own requirements and rules. You should have a chapter of the SBA or SBDC at your college or somewhere near you. Their advice is invaluable about what you will need. You can start at The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov and go from there. As you narrow things down it will go down to the state level for you. They quite often give free or low cost classes for people such as you who are just venturing into business. The website alone is an amazing resource for a new business.
Don't depend on internet advice for much of anything. ANYONE can put ANYTHING on the internet and say it's the gospel truth. A consult with an attorney is always free. Consulting with an attorney can help you oodles without retaining him or her. There is also mention of legal aid thru your school, etc. I have no clue what's available there, but check.
You should seek an attorney's advice about this matter, but more so about the business stuff for your future clients. You need a good portrait contract. There are OODLES of them out there on the internet that you can use. It needs to cover everything you are promising the client and everything the client is responsible for. Then it needs to be reviewed by an attorney. You can never spell out too much in a contract. There may be parts of what you spell out that is overkill or unenforceable, but too much is never a bad thing. The usual: WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE HOW and WHY (or what for... $.)
You should also seek the advice of an accountant/CPA regarding your responsibilities for income, sales tax, record keeping, etc... Yea though you are reporting your income at this point, you probably aren't ACTUALLY making a profit and if you did things differently you would not be tax liable for that income. There are some things you need to consider and plan for in there, but a CPA can guide you along. It's tax time. If you haven't done your taxes from last year take them into any actual tax office and talk with the actual certified accountant there and he or she can guide you on what to set up for next year's.

You mentioned in your original post about prints and a printer-VERY few of us print our own prints. It's not cost effective. You need to use a GOOD, reputable, professional grade lab. The price of your prints does not only need to include the cost you pay, but it also needs to consider all of the other factors of cost of doing business and cost of goods-time invested, equipment, shipping, licensing, your taxes, sales tax... The list is pretty extensive. So a print that costs you $2 at the lab does not really cost you $2.
For example that $2 print: you had to take the shot, process the shot, show the client however you are showing (post to internet-and your internet service costs you...), you used your car to go there, computer to process, electric to run the computer to process, camera to take the shot... every one of those things cost you something. Even though you already own it. Your computer will get used up, your camera costs you somewhere around a penny for every shot you take-you do have to replace it eventually. You had to spend time getting the order and/or emailing the client, then placing the order, receiving the order, checking the order, delivering the order (which may require your car...) All of those things figure into the cost of that print. That is why the national average for an 8x10 is upwards of $25 per print.
You don't have a tax id yet, but there are many labs that won't require it: Mpix.com, WHCC, CPQ, BayPhoto... it's a LONG list, but those are all well loved. WHCC is probably the choice I see most new photogs go with and they seem to love it.

I have had several people and conversations about this start up business costs, pricing, etc questions lately and I really am working on a post about it. It's just that this is my busiest month of the year right now and I am literally balls to the wall running my butt off... I will definitely get there... I will try to remember your S/N when I get there! I am here daily and I have a few minutes to point you somewhere if you need it, but I don't have a ton of time like I usually do right now. Feel free to send a note if you have a question I might be able to point you towards a resource for.

Wow thank you TONS! After I'm off work I will check out those websites and everything else. Most importantly I will call a attorney first.

 

[jwbryson1]

Wow thank you TONS! After I'm off work I will check out those websites and everything else. Most importantly I will call a attorney first.

For the record, I'm both a practicing tax attorney and a CPA, but MLeek is right--you should consult with a tax professional in your area. Good information and advice.

 

[cannpope]

I'm going to go ahead and agree with MLeeK on this. More than likely, she will take the CD to WalMart or some other retail store to have them printed. If your watermark is on every image, most places will not make prints without your release on them. If this happens and you are contacted to go and sign a release, take your time in doing that. I surely wouldn't rush I'm really a nice person ya'll

 

[Kra_Ash]

I'm going to go ahead and agree with MLeeK on this. More than likely, she will take the CD to WalMart or some other retail store to have them printed. If your watermark is on every image, most places will not make prints without your release on them. If this happens and you are contacted to go and sign a release, take your time in doing that. I surely wouldn't rush I'm really a nice person ya'll

Lol, well there's no watermark but in the file info it does have my name on them.