Is Paypal a Photographer's Friend?
First Paragraph:
Create a picture that someone wants to buy and you've already met one of photography's biggest challenges. But you still have to collect the money and that can throw up a bunch of problems all of their own. Professionals used to working with members of the public may demand a deposit at the time of booking then a check when the images are delivered, but photographers who only make occasional sales - and to people they may never actually meet in person - have to find a way to collect the cash with minimum fuss and maximum reliability.
Body:
For sales made online, that often means Paypal. It’s convenient – you don’t need more than an email address and a bank account to attach it to. It’s trusted – enough people are accustomed to using it for sellers to put aside their worries as they send through the money. And it works too. The funds appears in your Paypal account, and a few days after withdrawal, turn up in your bank account.
You can also invoice clients through Paypal’s own system, requesting money using its own invoice templates. That will save you irritating paperwork while still creating the sort of paper trail you’ll need to keep the taxman happy.
Sell a Print, Pay Paypal
But Paypal has its problems. For one, it’s not cheap. Personal account holders have to pay an eye-watering 4.9 percent plus 30 cents for a payment made by credit card. While that drops to 2.9 percent for Premier and Business Account holders generating up to $3,000 a month – the sort of rates most likely to be earned by occasional photography sellers – you’re still losing a sizeable chunk of the payment.
Sell a print for a hundred bucks and you’ll lose almost three of them to Paypal, something to bear in mind when your price may also have to cover printing, framing and mailing costs. Sell a dozen of those prints or licenses a month and you’re losing the sort of money that could pay for a meal in a restaurant or fill a tank of gas. When you’re not making a large amount of money from your photography, those losses are soon felt.
The problem is that the alternatives aren’t particularly attractive either. Checks sent by mail are the cheapest option but they can take time to arrive – longer than the client is usually willing to wait for the image – and they can bounce or be cancelled, leaving you without payment. When a buyer wants an image immediately (and when was the last time you met a buyer who didn’t want an image immediately?) they’re rarely practical.
|
