Someone Asks You For A Price. Now What?

Thanks Dan!

3). $900 billion (presses pinky finger to lip and grins).

All good information!

this price you shoot them - where does that come from?

---Mike Savad

From prices that the artist has already established, Mike. If you don't know how much you charge, this would be an excellent opportunity to write down your pricing for typical requests. Then you'll be ready, and not scrambling at a time that's likely to be inconvenient to you. You want to be able to handle price quotes in 60 seconds.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

to date, all requests aren't typical. i have yet to get something that sounded normal. normal would be - flyers, posters, stuff like that. instead i get playing cards, giant banner for a high school, giant wall paper for a ceiling, one person wanted custom work for a changing sticker (they use a fresnel lens). there was no standard. if it was simple jobs i can just look it up on a stock site. but my stuff are all the weirdo things.

i remember when i asked for one job and everyone said - tell them $500. they gave me $2000 for that job. and it was their offer.


---Mike Savad

It seems every time I do no.2...wait, let me rephrase that...when I have to give a price out of thin air, I almost always loose the deal. I do the research and find a good middle of the road number and nothing happens. I seem to get all the "poor" customers. Who can't afford my price. Even very reasonable prices.

Maybe I need to make it all expensive.

I have no set price. I was asked a price for a commission last week and lost it

They wanted a work done of a horse that had died recently. Obviously I would be working from photos, not the horse :Z

I said quickly, off the top of my head

Sketch £45
Coloured Sketch £50
Watercolour £75
Oil painting £135

The prices were too high for the person and they went elsewhere

I wish I had thought to sort out the prices before.

That's why Dan's second choice works. They may low-ball you, but you can always tack on a bit more.

I feel your pain, Isabella. I lost every single commission last year. Not because of pricing. Other reasons. Every reason under the sun, it seems.

I wish there was a standard for beginners, intermediate and advanced artist. At least a small range in each category. Then the customer would be more aware coming in and it would take less time for me to set a price.

like right now i have to figure out a price for someone that just contacted me. i have no idea what to say.


---Mike Savad

An agency for the TVA, (Tennessee Valley Authority) wanted the file for this picture



to build a collage that would be seen by tourists at the dam at Muscle Shoals.

I gave them a price but never heard back. Don't know why they didn't just buy a print and cut it out or scan it.

Would have been a lot cheaper than the price I quoted.

it's hard to come up with a quote in 60 seconds when you don't even know the details, how many prints, etc.

---Mike Savad

Maybe it works for paintings, sculptures and the likes, but for photography I could only wish it was this simple, but it is not in most situations. Not by a long shot

#1 is not the advice I would have given. It is best to ask for a budget in that situation too in my opinion

for example

Lets' say, you tell them $500.00 while they have a $750.00 budget that you don't know about, you shoot yourself in the foot.

or let's say you tell them $500.00 and they have a $350.00 budget, you might never hear from them again while you might have been able to get $425, but since you might not get the opportunity to negotiate a little in this case, you shot yourself in the foot here too.

With photography, many requests are for licensing of some sort, which is a whole different ball game.

I think I should just have asked.. What were you thinking of?

I have not done a commission now in a year or near. All down to price but... I don't want to do this for nothing

When we had a film production house we would hear from the agency: Work with us on this one and you'll get all our business.

After you worked your tail off for nothing and turned out a good product, you would never hear from them again.

I became hard-nosed after a few of those.

i know of what you speak Chuck... in the beginning i did many spec jobs and even saved accounts for some agencies,
only to be thrown a bone every now and then... hard lessons learned...

"With photography, many requests are for licensing of some sort, which is a whole different ball game."

#1 still works, Rudy. If they are specific, coming up with a price is easy. When they are hedging, tell them what A, B and C costs. They may want D -- which they will now tell you -- but you've established the line, you're controlling the buy and handling the transaction.

People are too afraid they're going to leave $100 on the table, so they spend three days playing games and jeopardizing the deal. Shoot 'em a price, get the money, leave them feeling good and wanting more.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

"I think I should just have asked.. What were you thinking of?"

Yes, good approach Abbie. If you have a chance to talk to people you can drill down a bit and find common ground. "How do you mean?" is also an excellent in-person question.

My initial post is for those times when you have minimal information, the job could go 20 different ways and you don't want to waste time pricing scenarios you'll never get to discuss. Make them come to the table or dismiss them -- but in a professional manner.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Exactly. If someone wants one of my images (already existing) for a specific use, I can easily come up with a price. Usually, I will use two or three different licensing calculators and quote a price somewhere in the middle. I don't care what their budget is. If my price is less than they expected, then they are a happy customer. If my price is more than they expected, they will likely try to negotiate. If not, they didn't want it very badly. Asking for their budget is like saying "How much money do you have?" I know I personally hate it when salesmen won't tell me what something costs and instead try to find out how much I can afford. When that happens, I definitely look elsewhere.

Here’s the issue with NOT asking what their [insert project] budget is:

If you charge 10 percent on a $300 campaign budget, that’s $30.

If you charge 10 percent on a $1 million budget, that’s $100,000. Odds are no one is willing to pay that money, so you slide your scale down to, perhaps three percent, or $30,000. Maybe even two percent, or $20,000.

If someone has a $1 million budget and you charge a normal [pick a figure] $300.00 fee, you have left mucho dinero on the table.

i never liked the budget line either, but it's usually the easiest way to do it.

---Mike Savad

Sometimes it's also about determining what the actual question is, too. Do you know what the number one question Disney employees get asked? Here it is:

What time does the 3:00 parade start?

But that's not the actual question. Usually what it is they want to know is are they in a good location to see it, what time will it pass where they are, etc. Sometimes you have to dig a bit to get to the actual question or to find out what it is they are asking.

Just curious, Dan, do you have any standard questions you ask in return? Do you find that how you or the potential client phrase the questions or answers to be at all indicative of anything?

Jeffrey, I've never seen a situation where image expenditure is based on a percentage of the project budget. That would be like charging a higher price for a car sold to the man with a five-car garage and a lower price for the identical car sold to the man in a trailer park with no garage.

I have been approached with "We'll pay you a percentage of sales." That, of course, is an immediate "No."


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

More and more photographers are quoting the sliding percentage scale these days, Dan. I learned it from Mark, over at Snapfactory.com

I still buy quite a few photos and haven't heard of the sliding percentage scale. No photographer or stock house has mentioned it. What is it? Is there a link(s)? I want to be ready when/if it comes up!


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

His explanation, Dan, begins at the 10:42 mark.

Thanks, Jeffrey. I don't see the reason for a sliding scale. Less media = less licensing cost and vice versa. I prefer the old skool way: "We're running the ad in the east coast edition of Time and six east coast metro papers six times over three months. How much?" A stock photographer (or his rep or stock house) is not my partner. We chose a photo of his that no one asked him to take and that he may never sell. We're both lucky in that we don't need to do a custom shoot. He doesn't need to know the precise media buy or the project budget. If he does, he doesn't need to be working with me.

Custom shoots are a different story. At that point everything is negotiable.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

I don't think I'll worry about it today - maybe tomorrow.

I understand, Dan.

One of the issues for photographers is this:

John's Calendar Company needs 14 images for the 2015 edition. They have struck a deal with the printers for 100,000 calendars at $3 per unit cost. - $300,000

They plan to sell each calendar for $10. 100000 x 10 (plus s/h) = $1,000,000 + s/h

The company has approached 14 different photographers and offered $125 per image. 14 x $125 = $1750.

I do not know what adverts cost, but let's say they have struck a deal for $10,000.

$1,000,000 - $300,000 - $1750 - $10,000 = $688,250.00 + s/h

Too much for them and too little for me. :-)

Great thread Dan. I get about ten of these a month ... I always ask first how they want to use the image, or repeat to them what I understand ... they almost always come back with more or different information. Second, I always ask what is their budget for the use. Fore example, for editorial stock I meet them at their budget, and for commercial stock I ask above their budget ( after I look at their advertising rates ).

Jeffrey, I don't follow your thinking. The photographers are not partners in the calendar venture. They have no risk and no skin in the game. They coordinate nothing, manage nothing, distribute nothing, sell nothing. They were paid for their photo.

If they want more, let them become publishers, designers, investors, project managers and distributors.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

can we quote them per square inch?

I clarify before I quote. For licensing I do like Frank. I ask questions about use. I will often just repeat what they said and then ask. "Are there any other uses you can foresee right now?" I also let them know if i have similar images with my stock agency and that if that does not suit there needs I can quote them a rights managed price based on use and distribution. I clarify if it is editorial or commercial. It makes a difference. On a recent deal they said they wanted the image for use in a trade journal case study. That was an editorial use. Then they came back and said that it would also be in their company brochure. That affects the price. In some cases if they are specific enough I will send an initial quote based on what they said. But I always ask if there are any other uses they can foresee right now. If they say there are more I can now sweeten the pot by throwing that in or charge for that.
I never ask for a budget. Its none of my business. Sometimes they will let me know their photo budget and I may take that into consideration.
I take credit card payment through PayPal. In some cases I may have to let them have the image and bill them.