What to do when you are asked to sell a picture on Flickr

Not too long ago, I have been approached to sell a picture of mine that was on my Flickr site. I was just as excited about the request as I was nervous. Some actually thought my picture was good enough they wanted not only ask for my permission to use it, but actually pay me money for doing so. Needless to say, I did not know how to go about making that transaction at all or what should I ask for the image the interested party wanted to buy from me. I did not want to be scammed either, so I as a bit afraid to pursue the whole thing too. You hear about those things happening on the web all the time…. You never know who is approaching you to buy/use your image and for what purpose, so it pays off to be extra cautious. In the end, my initial suspicions turned out to be false, and I have sold my first picture off of Flickr. The buyer and I agreed on the price and we have drafted a formal contract which was signed by both of us outlining the terms of purchase and use of the image. I have also created a Paypal account, as there was no way I was going to give them my bank account number or accept a check. Paypal worked out great for me for this specific purpose. I sent the prospective buyer an invoice outlining the picture specifications and the price which I have created right on the Paypal site. Upon receiving the payment from the buyer in my Paypal account, I have emailed the buyer a copy of the image and in the format they have requested. The whole experience has been a good one, alas a bit stressful.

One of my friends at the time was a bit critical of me that I have accepted a payment for may image. She said - Why would you want to do that? You are not a professional photographer and you are not taking and posting the pictures for the pure reason to make a few bucks". Yes, that was and still is true. My pictures are all taken because I enjoy doing them. However, at the same time, I figured if the company or an individual is going to use my pictures for making profit, I did not see the reason why I should not get a credit and compensation for my work. After all, all the equipment I use, and plan to acquire in the future, does cost significant amount of money to produce in the first place.

So recently, when I saw the DPS blog article on What to do when you are asked to sell a picture on Flickr I was glad that my opinion and ultimately, the decision to sell my picture rather than give it away was such as it was. I wished too I had an access to this information before I have sold my first image on Flickr. It might have saved me some of the anxiety I've experienced during this selling process and answered some of the most general questions I had about the process.

If you are reading this and you are a Flickr user, you should read the article (full link is provided below). You never know, when you will be approached to sell your first picture on Flickr and if you are, how are you going to approach it?

Here's the full link to this interesting post on DPS site: http://digital-photography-school.com/what-to-do-when-asked-to-sell-a-picture-on-flickr