price of digital downloads

Marisa Heymach

HI there,

I have begun taking pictures for my children's sports leagues. I was hired to make memory mates (team pictures with individual inserts) for $10 a print. I also am taking action shots and posting to my smugmug site. Several parents have purchased prints and are now asking how they can get digital versions for their screen savers or digital frames. Any ideas on what is considered a fair pricing structure for digital images (low res, hi res and original?)? I want to be reasonable but would also like to make a profit and am worried people will just buy the digital versions without buying prints and share the digital versions with friends and relatives for free.

Marisa
http://bindingimage.smugmug.com/

vegasphotog

I would recommend $10 for 640 X 480 pix, $50 for 800 X 600 and $250 for the full file. Most folks just want an email version which is covered with the $10.

mercphoto

Marisa Heymach wrote:

I want to be reasonable but would also like to make a profit and am worried people will just buy the digital versions without buying prints and share the digital versions with friends and relatives for free.

Which they probably will do. (why buy a print if you have the file and can make your own print?) So price the digital file so that you don't care if they don't buy a print. Perhaps the same price as an 8x10? Also I'm not sure I'd offer multiple sizes of digital files, I'd probably offer the big size only.

vegasphotog

the benefits of a low rez less expensive file is they cannot print a 640px....it will look like crap...but, you just made $10.

Marisa Heymach

vegasphotog wrote:

the benefits of a low rez less expensive file is they cannot print a 640px....it will look like crap...but, you just made $10.

Thanks guys. I think I will heed advice about just offering the lower res versions.

mercphoto

vegasphotog wrote:

the benefits of a low rez less expensive file is they cannot print a 640px....it will look like crap...but, you just made $10.

You might be surprised just how good it will look. And likewise you might be surprised on just how little the customer cares if it doesn't look its utmost best. That is why you need to be careful pricing a low-res file too cheaply, because it might be the only sale you make off that image.

donek

I would suggest you be certain you are looking in similar markets for your price structure. While vegasphotog's price structure may work for him, it may not in your situation. He is in a city where people will happily stuff hundreds of dollars into machines to see faccimilies of playing cards appear on video screens. From looking at his web site, he shoots motorsports and other stock photography. Motorsports involves individuals with large expendable incomes and stock typically involves corporate clients.

You are shooting highschool students who will happily spend $2.50 for a soda, but resist spending $2 for a digital music download. They have their own digital camera on the phone they carry everywhere and value a photo as much as you value the lint under your bed. Their parents are your real customers, but lets face their kids are a reflection of them.

I asked this very question last year and read forum posts, like this one, that were all over the board. I then started visiting smugmug sites that shot highschool sports and clicked the buy button to get a glimpse of their prices. I also asked some parents I trusted to give me an honest answer regarding what they had paid in the past for similar services. What I heard was $30 to $40 for a CD of their kids pictures for the game/tournament. What I found on web sites was roughly $4 for a 1Megapixel image and $10 for a full resolution image.



I've been selling on smugmug for about a year. My images may or may not compare to yours. I am in a rural community and the economy is tight. So far my customers can be broken into two different categories.

Parents who buy prints

never buy digital files
never spend more than $20 per purchase

Parents who buy digital files

never buy prints
almost always purchase a CD for $35

This may indicate a need to raise my prices on CDs, but my sales history is very limited and short.

If you search other forums on this subject, you're likely to find just as diverse a set of responses along with a lot of opinions about the appropriateness of digital file sales. Make your own decisions on that topic and visit web sites that provide the same service you wish to.

vegasphotog

XLT post donek....you hit it spot on.....

Isn't it amazing...actually kids and parent will HAPPILY spend $4ea on a Starbucks but complain all day long about the price of your pro photo.

It's a crazy world we live in.

cecilc

Marisa Heymach wrote:

Any ideas on what is considered a fair pricing structure for digital images ....

I don't really like to sell digital versions of images ...

But, having said that, I do offer digital versions on my website. I offer a low-res version at 500x333 pixels at 72ppi for $15.00 and a high-res version at 2166x1600 pixels at 300ppi for $30.00 ... and people have purchased both versions, along with prints of the same image as well.

I personally don't think those prices are high enough, but that's what the market will bear around here. Particularly the high-res version ... I'd prefer to "sell" that at about a $50.00 price point - but people will not purchase a digital version at that price ....

A 500x333 image at 72ppi printed at 4x6 inches at 600dpi surprisingly doesn't look all that bad - it's a little pixelated ... but if you've got people that think they're "saving" money by paying $15.00 for a low-res version of an image and printing their own multiple copies then they'll probably be satisfied with how it looks .... The people who truly appreciate a well-done print will realize that a printed 500x333 version doesn't match up to the visual quality of a print that YOU produce.

MikeMcA²

I sell a few downloads from my SmugMug account, and have them priced $20 for low-res and $35 for hi-res (personal use). Teams buy the low-res downloads for the immediate access which they can then use on their webzines and web/emailed newsletters to fans and sponsors. Most then also buy prints of the same images.

I believe, however, it would be much different for school-age sports or other youth-oriented photography. If you give them a download, they'll never buy a print because they have all they need. Youth today doesn't care about paper on their walls which a few people may see, they care about their MySpace/FaceBook page and the pictures 200,000 of their closest friends can see.

dbaker1221

MikeMcA² wrote:

I sell a few downloads from my SmugMug account, and have them priced $20 for low-res and $35 for hi-res (personal use). Teams buy the low-res downloads for the immediate access which they can then use on their webzines and web/emailed newsletters to fans and sponsors. Most then also buy prints of the same images.

I believe, however, it would be much different for school-age sports or other youth-oriented photography. If you give them a download, they'll never buy a print because they have all they need. Youth today doesn't care about paper on their walls which a few people may see, they care about their MySpace/FaceBook page and the pictures 200,000 of their closest friends can see.

true...although I had a parent tell me that instead of a $10 download he could just buy a cheaper 5X7 & copy the hell out of it at home

mercphoto

dbaker1221 wrote:

true...although I had a parent tell me that instead of a $10 download he could just buy a cheaper 5X7 & copy the hell out of it at home

Long before Smugmug offered digital downloads one kart racer told me if I didn't offer him a digital file he'd just order a 4x6 and scan it himself and turn it into a mouse pad. Nevermind that I did offer mouse pads as well... I had the father of a kart racer (the dad, not the kid!) admit to my face that he screen captured an image and used it as a faint background on custom stationary. He honestly thought he was paying me a compliment. I had an (unrelated) teen age kart racer ask me how he could get his images without "proof" written across them. When I informed him he could PURCHASE them from the site I got a stare of disbelief. After complaints about the watermark I removed watermarks from my kart and motocross galleries for two races each. Site traffic was higher and sales plunged to almost zero. Put watermarks back up, sales went back up as well.

What do you do other than what I did, which was to stop doing those events altogether?

MikeMcA²

mercphoto wrote:

What do you do other than what I did, which was to stop doing those events altogether?

It is the price of doing business on the Internet. I leave watemarks on and dead in the middle of the photo, and my sales go very well. The minute I remove them, or even move the watermark to the lower corner, sales plummet but traffic rises. I have also had a customer buy a 5x7 and then email me that they paid their $15 for a print, but then "screen-printed" the image from the racing sanction's website so they could do a large print on a banner and it printed horribly. "Looked like a comic book." They were mad at me and demanded I email them my original file so they could get the banner done with a good image.

Some folks, ya just can't reach.

purple6816

I have a simular issue as you guys see. I take cheer leading pictures. My daughter is on the team and I need to be there anyway.

I figured out half way through the season that you need to lock smugmug so you cant right mouse click and save. DOH. I had heard my pictures were all over myspace and all the kids had them. But, no one bought anything so I asked how did you get my pictures and they said right mouse click. OOPS. I also found out to late that you need to set prices on all of your galleries and check them.

I have been telling them that I had to lock that so I could track what everyone liked by what they bought and not what they looked at. I feel bad for the kids because they cant ask there parents for there credit cards for the pictures to myspace post. My target it the parents and the relatives of the parents.

I need to find a way to allow a free download of a quality that cant be printed but, myspace looks fine. If I reduce the quality in PS to 0 on a print for web it makes a jpg that looks good on a montior but sucks to print so that might do the trick.

It is tough to please everyone. But, I take 1500 pictures a day and touch up lots of them and wear out my camera I need to recapture some of that.

JDrake

Purple - I learned that lesson the hard way too... only it was the watermarking for me... people just took a screenshot and then printed it out on a printer... or put it on the internet on facebook/myspace. Print quality was bad but good enough for them! I found out bc I saw a bunch of pics I had taken printed out on paper and pasted to the inside of a tack box (I took pics of their horse).... never said anything to me and I always wondered why I didn't make any sales from that shoot.... now I know. I knew if this person was doing it... EVERYONE was.... so now... I have a watermark even though everyone hates it and no right click either.

G RiC

Starbucks... I thought they changed their name to FIVEBUCKS

what happened to the .25 coffee, free air, free water?? that wasn't too long ago..1980's or 90's

vegasphotog wrote:

XLT post donek....you hit it spot on.....

Isn't it amazing...actually kids and parent will HAPPILY spend $4ea on a Starbucks but complain all day long about the price of your pro photo.

It's a crazy world we live in. [/quote

mercphoto

vegasphotog wrote:

Isn't it amazing...actually kids and parent will HAPPILY spend $4ea on a Starbucks but complain all day long about the price of your pro photo.

It's a crazy world we live in.

Its called "excellent marketing". Seriously...

MichaelKirk

Low Res Downloads - how aere you offering these?
I think Smug Mug is shooting itself in the foot here.

For those that are offering Low Resolution 72dpi downloads, how are you selling these (since SM does not offer them). I assume you just take payment thru Paypal or something and then just email the customer the file?

I get a ton of request for downloads for Blogs and website use and my Smug Mug Low Resolution (1Mpex) files are priced at $20...which is pricey for whet the customer wants. So I end up having to take payment outside of SM and emailing a Lower Resolution file (which I charge $10 for) - which truthfully is a pain in the butt - I would much rather have SM offer a web sized download and sell it directly thru my website/SM account - and SM gets a piece of that $$ (right now they get nada!)

Andy - if your reading this - is it really that difficult to add 1 additioanal product (That EVERYONE is requesting). We actualy offer the product, just looking for a lower resolution web sized download option.

Michael

geospatial_junkie

This really depends on what you are selling. For example, if I am selling digital downloads of amateur sporting events (i.e. kids soccer tourneys, etc...) I wouldn't charge very much, $5-10 dollars. However, if I am selling professional landscape photographs as digital files, then they are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive. After all, you need to pay for the over head (i.e. equipment, getting there, meals, etc...).

beetle8

I stopped offering the DL on the site and now only offer prints.
in the time I was offering them I sold @ $200 worth of DL's low res at $10
other companies out here are offering a full res CD with all images for $50 to $75
I continue to have people ask for CD's and DL's to use for what ever and I just apologize that they are not available.

My issue is that I get print sales from parents over $50 to $100 for one event, to price the DL or CD appropriately with it's usability the price becomes too high.

On the stealing and Watermark issue put the watermark obtrusively in the center of the frame,
I had a few complaints in the beginning that the WM was interfering with there ability to evaluate the image so I put a statement on the site that said if that was the case to let me know and I would relocate the WM no one complained again I'm convinced that they just wanted them removed.
Also make sure you don't allow visitors to view the original because it's not watermarked and if it's small enough or the subject is just right then a screen capture gets a free image.
I have had people complain about my prices and availability, and I have had people tell me that with what I provide my costs are too low. you definitely can't pleas'em all