Expert: Marvinator - 2/16/2004

Question
We have been taking pictures throughout the SE US for several years, mostly outdoors stuff, waterfalls, wildlife, etc. Do you know of anywhere to sell photos in these auctions? Also, do you think a person would be better off selling the photos, or turning them into postcards, and then selling them in bulk? I guess what I am trying to say is do many people look through these auctions for post cards in bulk? Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Answer
There are really a couple of questions here. Let's examine them in parts.  

First, photos.   I know of a lot of people that sell their photos and prints on Ebay. A little research of Ebay will show you how those already doing it lay out their auctions and such.  From what I've seen in auctions as well as photographer's professioinal websites, yOu need to make sure that each photo carries your own copyright and logo, both the print, and the electronic version.  You can probably do this easily with a simple rubber stamp with a name and the copyright symbol.  Many photographers will also use a program like Photoshop to incorporate their name and copyright into the photo thus making it harder for someone to steal the photo from the auction and use it as their own.   

One of the few bad things about the way that the internet works is the fact that any graphic can be stolen fairly easily.  When you open a page, any graphic on that page (or auction) can be stolen and saved to your hard drive.  Photographers who post their pictures on the web are quite vulnerable to having them stolen.  It is a good idea therefore to make sure that what you post on the auction page cannot be used by some unscrupulous person. In addition, there are ways of disabling the 'right click' which will further thwart theives.  (However, if a person really knows what they are doing, any grapic can be stolen.)  

I'm not trying to scare you here, but merely make you awarae of the problem, so that if you decide to sell your photos, you will be well prepared.   

Your next question deals with post cards.  Most of the auctions I've seen that involved post cards were for vintage postcards, and not for new bulk cards. This doesn't mean that bulk cards cannot sell on Ebay, but you will probably not find much call for them.  

I hope that this helps.  If you need more clarification, feel free to ask again!