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How to sell photos online

Short answer

Sell prints and digital downloads of your best work on your own site, where you set the price and keep the buyer. Upload the rest to stock agencies like Adobe Stock and Shutterstock, which pay a royalty per download and reach designers who'd never find you. Etsy suits prints for buyers browsing by theme.

Two ways to sell, and which is yours

License through stock sites

Stock agencies sell licenses to designers and marketers who search by subject. You upload and keyword the files; the agency sets prices and pays a royalty per download. It's volume work, so a large, well-tagged library matters more than a few great shots.

Best for

Hobbyists and travel shooters with large back catalogs

Sell prints and licenses yourself

Your own site sells signed prints, downloads and direct licenses at prices you choose. Each print or download is a one-time item, which Replo's checkout handles. You ship the prints yourself or order them from a print lab.

Best for

Photographers with a recognizable style and a following

Where to sell photos and what each platform charges

Fees for selling photos
Your own site (Replo checkout)Your Replo plan2.9% + $0.30 card processingReplo checkout runs on Stripe, and Replo's docs list no extra per-sale fee.
Adobe StockNothing upfrontYou earn 33% of each photo licenseAdobe sets license prices; a 10-image $29.99 plan pays you about $0.99 a photo.
ShutterstockNothing upfrontYou earn 15% to 40% per license, by levelNew contributors start at 15%, and levels reset every year.
Etsy$0.20 a listing6.5% + 3% + $0.25 processingOffsite Ads take 15% of sales they bring in, or 12% once you pass $10,000 a year.

Stock sites set the price and pay you a royalty, so earnings depend on volume. Your own site lets you set the price and keep more of each sale, but you bring the buyers.

What you keep on a $40 signed 8x10 print

Each platform's fees on one $40 sale, before shipping, taxes, monthly plans and any ads you choose to buy.

  1. Your own site (Replo checkout)$38.54 kept, $1.46 in fees
  2. Etsy$35.75 kept, $4.25 in fees

Launch checklist

  • Get a signed model release from every recognizable person before you offer a photo for commercial use.
  • Ask the agency whether a property release applies when private property or someone's artwork is the subject.
  • Submit unreleased shots of people as editorial only; editorial images can't be used to sell or promote anything.
  • Keyword every upload with subject, place, mood and likely use, because stock buyers find images by search.
  • Order a test print of each image at full size and check its sharpness before you offer that size.
  • Write terms for direct licenses: personal or commercial use, how long, how many copies, and whether credit is required.

Build your photo print shop

Replo builds a photography site on your own domain that sells prints and downloads at one-time prices and takes licensing requests.

The prompt Replo starts from

Build a site for my photography, [your name]. Make a homepage with my best images, gallery pages by [themes or places], a print shop listing each signed print and its price, a digital downloads page, an about page, and a licensing request form that asks how and where the photo will be used.
Build my storeStart for Free

Frequently asked questions

How much money can you make selling photos online?
It depends on volume and channel. Stock royalties are small per download, so stock income grows with library size. Prints and direct licenses pay more per sale but depend on an audience that knows you. You can run both: stock for reach, your own site for margin.
What is the best site to sell your photos?
For licenses to businesses, Adobe Stock and Shutterstock have the buyers. For prints and downloads, your own site keeps more of each sale, and Etsy helps people find you by search. Run the fee table above at your own price before choosing.
Do I need a model release to sell photos of people?
Yes, for commercial use. Shutterstock requires a valid model release for every recognizable person. Without releases, a photo can only be licensed as editorial content, which buyers can't use to sell or promote a business, product or service.
Do I own the copyright to photos I take?
Yes. Copyright protects your original photograph from the moment you take it, though not the subject in it. Registration is voluntary, but you need it before suing over a US work, so register images you license widely.

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