Yet another Xmas Cards question

Nikolai · November 17, 2005

The issue seems to get hotter and hotter with the advent of the Holidays..

Here's an email I recieved from one of my customers:

...We also wanted to get holiday cards done of IMG_xxxxx but Smugmug doesn't
seem to offer them. Could we get a copy of this image so we can send it
to ofoto.com to have cards made?...

I'm not a big fan of giving away the hi-res post-processed file. But I obviously cannot design xmas cards for them, too.:dunno
Question to Pros: what would you do in this case? Sell the digital file? Just gave it for them and ask only use it for this purpose only? I don't wat to rip them off (they are buddies) and I don't want to lose money either..:scratch
What's the "right course of actions"?

TIA!

Mike Lane · November 17, 2005

Nikolai wrote:

The issue seems to get hotter and hotter with the advent of the Holidays..

Here's an email I recieved from one of my customers:

I'm not a big fan of giving away the hi-res post-processed file. But I obviously cannot design xmas cards for them, too.
Question to Pros: what would you do in this case? Sell the digital file? Just gave it for them and ask only use it for this purpose only? I don't wat to rip them off (they are buddies) and I don't want to lose money either..
What's the "right course of actions"?

TIA!

My first thought is that a christmas card wouldn't require a full sized photo. Cards are like 4x6 at most right? Maybe you could sell them a downrezzed version for cheaper?

Also I think you could go on to www.zazzle.com to create a card and make it available to anyone. I haven't done that so I really don't know much about it though.

Nikolai · November 17, 2005

Mike,

Mike Lane wrote:

My first thought is that a christmas card wouldn't require a full sized photo. Cards are like 4x6 at most right? Maybe you could sell them a downrezzed version for cheaper?

That's a good point, I'll think about it!

Also I think you could go on to www.zazzle.com to create a card and make it available to anyone. I haven't done that so I really don't know much about it though.

Still, the point is that I don't want to be an any part of xmas card design process. I would just want to let them use my picture to create it without necessarily giving away the file itself..

Thanks!

Shay Stephens · November 17, 2005

You could design the card and have it made (whereever that may be) and charge appropriately for it. Or if design is just not your thing, you could farm that out.

Another option is (as mentioned) providing the size they need but no bigger. And you don't have to give it away. You can surely charge them for it.

Sam · November 17, 2005

Nikolai wrote:

The issue seems to get hotter and hotter with the advent of the Holidays..

Here's an email I recieved from one of my customers:

I'm not a big fan of giving away the hi-res post-processed file. But I obviously cannot design xmas cards for them, too.
Question to Pros: what would you do in this case? Sell the digital file? Just gave it for them and ask only use it for this purpose only? I don't wat to rip them off (they are buddies) and I don't want to lose money either..
What's the "right course of actions"?

TIA!

DISCLAIMER! I have no intention of attacking or maligning you in any way.

:

I see this type of question quite often and to date have never responded. I know your trying to start a business and make a few $$ from your photography, so to that end I will provide my thoughts.

I am not a pro photographer but I have owned my own business.

First think of how you can meet, or preferably exceed your customers expectations. The money will follow.

You indicated that this is a current customer. I would look at what you have done for them and the amount of revenue generated. If for example you charged them a sitting fee, and in addition to this they bought a significant number of photos, I would consider just sending them a properly sized photo for the card. Wish them Merry Christmas (They are your buddies) Also billing, and tracking small amounts of money is a pain in the ^&%^.

If on the other hand the photos were taken on spec, I would think a reasonable charge very appropriate.

In any case remember you only have ONE potential customer for this photo.

Oh, and once they have the file they will consider it theirs normal, folks, non photographer, non publisher, etc., have no concept of copyrights or rights of use. If you doubt this just ask your coworkers if they bought a photo of them selves if they have the right to scan / copy this photo. I tried this at work, and the answer was always the same: to paraphrase: I paid for it, and it's a photo of me, I own it.

It sounds like your customer would like you to make Christmas cards. You don't want to make them. So the question is how do you make them happy?

You can loose money by not selling the file. Ask too much, or try to place restrictions on the use that they will not understand, and you have lost them as a customer, and any friends they could have pointed your way.

Worry about the big picture, not making the last penny on every deal. Unless this couple are millionaire's their usage will be very small, and the amount they feel is reasonable isn't going to be very high, so no matter how much you can charge for this one small use it won't even come close to the potential good will, and word of mouth you can get by exceeding their expectations.

Sam

Only when the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
Cree Indian prophecy

Nikolai · November 18, 2005

Sam, Shay
Thanks guys!

I decided to ask a small fee ($12:-) for a down-sampled 4x6 300 dpi file. I also made a clear point that I normally would not do that (selling the file, that is), but since me+SM can't acquiesce to their request, as an exception, ...:):

Thank you for your help!

Shay, I'm reading "Pricing photography":-)
Sam, you're totally right about "the big picture":-)

I appreciate the advices!

Sam · November 18, 2005

Nikolai wrote:

Thanks guys!

I decided to ask a small fee ($12:-) for a down-sampled 4x6 300 dpi file. I also made a clear point that I normally would not do that (selling the file, that is), but since me+SM can't acquiesce to their request, as an exception, ...:):

Thank you for your help!

Shay, I'm reading "Pricing photography":-)
Sam, you're totally right about "the big picture":-)

I appreciate the advices!

Nikolai,

Sounds like it all worked out. I too just went through a similar struggle tying to determine what to charge a customer. Earlier I posted some info about the job. He has a gun collection and I photographed 43 guns. He wanted two 8X10 photos, one left, and one right, of each gun along with a CD of the processed image files.

I am sure an experience professional would have charged more but I am home for a few weeks letting my wrist heal, and while limited with regard to heavy lifting, I can hold the camera, and work on the computer. I charged the customer $8.50 per photo.

I am now wating for 86 photos to arive in the mail from MPIX.

That's my story.

Sam

Nikolai · November 18, 2005

Sam,
It seems like it was a decent job

I remember you described the troubles setting light right and I think you probably should have charged more:-). However, you obviously learned a thing or two about shooting sidearms:-), so maybe other collectors will hear the world.
Nice thing about shooting (similar) stock objects is that once you figured the light on the first one, the rest become a conveyor-belt type of a job:):

Cheers!

JimM · November 18, 2005

Sam wrote:

I am sure an experience professional would have charged more but I am home for a few weeks letting my wrist heal, and while limited with regard to heavy lifting, I can hold the camera, and work on the computer. I charged the customer $8.50 per photo.

I am now wating for 86 photos to arive in the mail from MPIX.

Sounds like a good win-win to me!

Yet another Xmas Cards question

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