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Top 5 Microstock photography agencies
ShutterStock
ShutterStock is probably the most popular Microstock web site
and the one that provides the best returns. The reason is quite simple: ShutterStock is subscription based; For a monthly fee of $249, buyers are
entitled to download 25 royalty free image a day. If on a given day, a subscriber only needs 5
photos for his immediate needs, he will probably rush and download another
20 photos that he will save on his hard disk for future use. ShutterStock
subscribers therefore tend to download more photos than they really need and
this probably explains why sales are comparatively fast on ShutterStock
Commission: $0.25 per download
Picture Size: 4 Mpixel or larger
Approval process: You should submit your 10 best photos
and 7 need to be accepted.
Payments:
Paypal,
Moneybookers,
check
Languages: English, German, Spanish, French
URL: http://submit.shutterstock.com/
iStockPhoto
iStockPhoto was historically the first Microstock web site
to be launched and is considered by contributors to be among the most
lucrative. Some photographers even find iStockPhoto more lucrative than
ShutterStock.
Submitting photos on iStockPhoto is a bit more complex
and tedious than with other Microstock web site; however given the high
returns you can expect, it could well be worth the extra work.
Commission: 20%
Picture Size: 1600 x 1200 pixels or larger
Approval process: Pass a quiz and submit 3 photos
Payments:
Paypal,
Moneybookers,
check, Payoneer MasterCard, Direct Deposit (US bank accounts only)
Languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese,
Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Russian
URL:
http://www.istockphoto.com/
Fotolia
Fotolia is a relatively new comer on the royalty free
micro stock
photography arena and represents a substantial source of revenue for many
microstock photographers.
Commission: between 33 and 47% depending of the
contributor's ranking
Picture Size: 2400 x 1600
Approval process: Pass a test
Payments:
Paypal,
Moneybookers.
Wire transfer in the case neither Paypal nor Moneybooker is supported in
your country of residence.
Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
Portuguese, Polish, Japanese.
URL:
http://www.fotolia.com/
DreamsTime
DreamsTime is among the best microstock agencies and
offers generous commissions of up to 80% to contributors. Might not be easy
to be approved but if you fail on your first attempt don't get discouraged
and try again later.
Commission: 50 to 80%
Picture Size: minimum size of 3 MP and a maximum of 70 MP
Approval process: You should upload 10 photos
Payments:
Paypal,
Moneybookers,
check
Languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian,
Dutch, Portuguese
URL:
http://www.dreamstime.com/
StockXpert
Part of JupiterImages group is a fast growing microstock
agencies that puts emphasis on quality. Here again, getting approved might
not be easy but it's worth the effort.
Picture Size: at least 4 Million pixels/Megapixels (2200
x 1700) in JPG format
Approval process: Upload 5 photos
Payments:
Paypal,
Moneybookers,
check
Languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian,
Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Japanese
URL:
http://www.stockxpert.com/
Other Microstock Agencies
Once you successfully uploaded your royalty free photos to the Top 5 Microstock agencies, you should consider spending some time and upload your
photos to other agencies. Even if they individually return significantly
less than Shutterstock,
they might collectively represent a worthwhile additional source of income.
Click here to access our
Microstock photography directory.
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