Postcards

[Eastree]

I'm in a bit of a decision-making dilemma.

It's not going to be huge earnings for me, but then again I never really intended to make loads from photography. But I digress.

A local business (thanks to someone I know showing off some of my photographs at work, and on down the line suddenly ...) wants to sell some of my photographs as postcards. I know the practices of this business enough to know their desired price range for individual cards, and also their preferred profit margin. Basically, I know the maximum I can sell them the product. This leaves me with limited options.

If I go through a post card business, I'd have the difficulty of convincing that business my photographs are worth printing and distributing. Also, they'll have a (rather large: 500+? it's what I've heard; I haven't made calls yet) minimum order size.

If I go through a printing service only (such as MPix, Overnight Prints, etc.), I'll have a much smaller minimum order size to in turn sell to the local business, but I have the feeling that things would become much more complicated than that (Would I need to register as a business? How would it affect taxes? Would it count as consigning prints of my photographs?).

And on the far end of the handling of supplying this business with prints of my work, what are the recommendations of adding a mark for copyright etc. to the postcards?

This would be the absolute first ever business transaction I've made as the originator of a sale/work. I'm a bit overwhelmed by questions.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by Eastree

A local business .....wants to sell some of my photographs as postcards. I know the practices of this business enough to know their desired price range for individual cards, and also their preferred profit margin. Basically, I know the maximum I can sell them the product. This leaves me with limited options.
.

WELL, you really need to go big or go home. I’d try speaking to a few more shops that may be interested in your cards.

Originally Posted by Eastree

If I go through a post card business, I'd have the difficulty of convincing that business my photographs are worth printing and distributing. Also, they'll have a (rather large: 500+? it's what I've heard; I haven't made calls yet) minimum order size.

If I go through a printing service only (such as MPix, Overnight Prints, etc.), I'll have a much smaller minimum order size to in turn sell to the local business, but I have the feeling that things would become much more complicated than that (Would I need to register as a business? How would it affect taxes? Would it count as consigning prints of my photographs?).
.

This wil be the hardest decision to make.
I doubt a postcard supplier will be interested in your images.. there are billions of stock images at their disposal available online.
I could be wrong.

The SIZE of your order will be very important, and probably the make or break point when you factor in the shipping costs.
Small print runs = paying shipping costs more frequently
Small print runs = higher “per print” prices

You really need to decide:
1) how much are you prepared to invest upfront with no orders.
the more orders you can get, the more you can order as you know you’re going to get your money back.. right?
The smaller your print run, the lower your profit margin. IE The larger your batch order is, the “per card” price is lower and you make more profit.
2) Do you want to supply only that one shop... or expand it to dealing with dozens or even hundreds of shops?

Originally Posted by Eastree

(Would I need to register as a business? How would it affect taxes? Would it count as consigning prints of my photographs?).
.

Hmmm... if you make money from it you will need a busines license. (Sole Proprietor or Limited Liability Company) ....my vote is the latter, but that call also depends on how big you want your postcard thing to go.
If you stick to just the one shop... i dont see a huge income from that and you might even be able to get away with declaring it on your tax form at the end of the year. (dont know.. you need to see a accountant or at least research your countrys laws in that respect.. theres always relevant Government supplied info online)

I hope thats some help anyway

All the best with it.

[lonni]

Hi

I do postcards and have a few tips.

Find a trade printer. They dont supply to the public, only people like graphic designers, print brokers etc. I know some accept photographers, as long as you can supply print ready files.

Trade printers are cheaper so you should be able to afford the volume to ge the better profit margin.

I find that distributing/merchandising etc my self is a lot better than trying to sell the businesses a bunch of cards thet they then have to try and shift.

Pretty much they only pay for what is sold or missing, less risk for them, so they will be more likely to take you up. You go in once a week or so and do a count, replace or rearrange etc.

With regards to copyright etc if you look at other post cards it is normally on the back of the cards along with where the shot was taken and i always include my website, where i sell print.

It is hard going at first and i didnt see a profit for a few months, but now its great.

I do have an advantage though, with our own prining business i have a larger profot margin.