Do You Use Stock Photos on your sites and products? I could use your thoughts and opinions

I think offering both options would be better. I use iStockPhoto and I don't mind paying for credits and then use them, because I always buy many photos and end up using the credits anyway. But I can understand some people just want one photo and would prefer not to have to buy credit packages. That's why I think two different offers would be better.

Kathy, I do use stock photos at times but because I'm a pretty competent photographer and I have access to lots of subjects, when it comes to my vet/dog/animal products, I take my own photos.

For my other niches, I'd much rather pay $1-2 per photo, than have to buy 10-20 credits, and I'd be reluctant to use a membership site for photos. For me, I prefer to pay now for what I need now, than pay now for something I may need in the future.

Hope this is of some help. BTW your photography is lovely!

Audrey

I buy all my photos as I need them.

I would not join a membership type site to get a lower price on them since I buy sporadically.

As of now, I only buy images on a not so regular basis, so I would not consider a monthly package. Though I can imagine if my business model had a high demand for images, I would rather pay a smaller monthly fee.

I prefer to just pay $1-$2 each time I need one. Sometime I will buy 5-10 credits in a package, but so far nothing higher.

One thing I would like to see though is lower priced 'extended licenses' for web templates. I would love to use certain photos in a web site template and be able to sell 20-30 copies of the template. Most sites charge $75 for this use. They do allow unlimited re-sales though, but I would rather pay $10-$30 for limited re-sales of say less than 50.

The benefit of the credit system is speed and ease.

Market research reveals that every time a person has to go through a checkout process- even if their card info is saved or Paypal is used that this hurdle will reduce conversion drastically.

I like that I can purchase a few hundred credits at istock and with just a couple of clicks get a photo in moments.

I personally think that this is the way to go.

Membership sites with downloadable content will be exploited badly. People will purchase, download 2,000 pictures for later use, then cancel.

I would make the one-time purchases or use credits ideally.

Your best bet is to specialize in a certain type of photography and then market directly to companies that need such things.

Remember to have the appropriate model releases and other legal documents in place.

Good luck! Photography is a big hobby of mine...but I still buy a ton of stock photos.

I would rather use a service that allows me to purchase pics as they're needed, rather than buying bulk credits or joining a membership site.

Wow, excellent feedback here everyone, thank you! I'll try to address each point and see if I can make sure not to miss anyone

Miguel: Not a bad idea actually. A bit more work technically for setup but worth thinking about, thanks

Audrey: Thank you for the comments and insight. I was pretty sure most small marketers are like you (buy as you need it) which is one of the reasons I've avoided the membership site option so far. And thanks for the feedback on my work!

Justin: Another vote for one off sales, thank you too

Greg: Another vote for one off sales, thanks!

On the extended licenses: Things get trickier there - particularly depending on the scope of the license. Most microstock sites don't allow their photos to be used for resale website templates even when extended licenses are bought, because the license can be abused so easily. Allowing that type of usage though - plus any other usage which allows the buyer to create products which will be resold - can be pretty lopsided in a variety of ways.

If a buyer gets a license for $25 for instance, creates a t-shirt or mug with that image and sells 50,000 units a year at $5 profit each, they've made a quarter of a million dollars in profits off of someone else's work. There's no royalties paid with RF stock, and most of the time there's not even a credit line anywhere acknowledging the photographer's work.

Putting a cap on the number of products which can be sold is standard practice for various licensing levels, but that in and of itself takes a lot of backend work to police.

I'd love to start selling more extended licenses myself, but for the moment I've still got a lot of brainstorming to do before I can figure out which approach (or approaches) is best to try.

FWIW, I have noticed there's a larger interest in web template rights with this smaller business market, and I've thought about starting a service specifically aimed at that.

LB: You are more rare in this market. Most small business owners and online marketers don't buy hundreds of credits at once. Usually they can't afford to, and most likely they have no idea what to do with that many pictures at once.

As for the download exploitation: No The number of downloads would be limited based on membership size/level, just as it is with any of the larger sites.

On legal documents: Covered. I've been doing this for a few years now

Jessica: Another vote for one off sales, thank you

Again: Huge thank you to everyone for the feedback so far, it's extremely helpful!
- Kathy

Hi there - I'd rather be able to buy them at $1 or $2 per rather than a membership fee as I know I sometimes might forget to use up all my credits in the membership fee!

I'm wondering about the credit card processing fees for someone ordering 1-2 photos for a buck or two apiece. Usually there is a minimum fee plus a percentage of the purchase. Couldn't selling just 1-2 images at a time end up chew up the profit in processing fees. I thought that was why most places make you buy a certain number of credits.