Frequently Asked Questions
General What is Photrade.com? Photrade.com is a new photo site that pays users for each view of their pictures. Photrade combines the best of photo sharing, stock photography, and photo sales PLUS the ability for users to earn ad revenue. For More Information, Try these Links:
About us Take the Tour Can I Control who Buys my Photos? Users have complete control over who buys their photos and in what format. Whether its prints, t-shirts, or more, users set their own prices and control what is sold. You can also disable selling individual photos or all of your photos. You can set default prices to cover your whole portfolio under preferences by
clicking here or manage selling and pricing options of individual photos through the photo
management interface. Once you are in the photo management screen simply move the photos that you wish to price into the management workspace and click on the pricing button on the left.
How Much does it Cost to Use Photrade? Photrade is free to use and all account levels have the same access to photrade protection and monetization features - the only difference is the # of uploads. The Photrade Pro account is a great deal at $25/year and gives you an unlimited number of uploads. The pro account only impacts your upload limits – both basic and pro accounts have access to the same functionality. During our beta test all users receiving invites will get a free 1 year pro account. Additional details on the differences between a free and a pro account will be available at public launch. Are There Upload or Size Limits? Mailing address: 1776 Mentor Ave #311, Cincinnati OH, 45202.
How does copyright protection (watermarking) work? Click on user preferences (top right of your screen when you are signed in) or
click here and select the "protection" tab. From there you can create a custom watermark that will be used to protect your photos online. This watermark will apply to all of the photos that you upload. If you would like to change watermarks on individual images, you can do so on the manage photos page. Bring the photos into the workspace and click watermark (on your left) and enter text for a different watermark. If you have trouble with setting the custom watermark in the
manage photos page, please ensure that your
preferences have watermarking turned on.
How do I make my photos private? You can set all of your photos to private in your
preferences panel by clicking preferences (top right of screen) and then selecting the
protection tab. This will make all of your photos private (the preferences are always applied to your entire portfolio) You can set specific images to private in the
manage photos page. Select the photos that you want to mark as private, drag them into the management interface and insert the emails of the photrade users that you would like to have access. We are working on some more robust privacy settings, so stay tuned!
Earning Advertising Revenue What is the adcosystem and how does it work?
Photrade's adcosystem allows photographers to get paid for every view of their photos while providing free content to online publications. A photographer posts a beautiful photo of New York on Photrade.com to share within the adcosystem. A blogger, who is writing about New York searches for photos of New York and finds the perfect photo to fit the post. The blogger grabs the sharing code from Photrade and posts the photo in their blog. When the blogger grabbed the code photrade put a small advertisement at the bottom of the photo, and also added text attributing the photo to the photographer (note: any/all watermarking remains on the photo). Every time the photo is viewed the photographer earns a portion of the ad revenue generated by that image. So, the photographer gets attribution and payment for the use of their photo, advertisers get contextual in-content ads and publications get beautiful free images.
How can I earn ad revenue?
You earn ad revenue from each view of your photos on photrade or anywhere else online. You are paid ad revenue for each view of your photos on photrade; we share all of the ad revenue that we generate from our banner ads with the users who drive the traffic. We also pay you for every view of your photo anywhere on the internet. When your photo is used on a blog through the adcosystem(TM) photrade will put a line of text ad in the bottom of the photo. We then pay the image owner a portion of the ad revenue generated from views of their photos.
Note: you must have ads turned on in your preferences to earn ad revenue.
When do I get paid Ad Revenue? Photrade makes ad revenue deposits on the 1st of every month for the month before. You will see the ad revenue on your dashboard and will receive an email notification. Ad revenue is paid to our users based on the number of views of their photos online. We are currently experimenting with different advertising models to help you make the most from your photos.
How can I make more Ad Revenue? By adding more tags and better descriptions to your photos, people are more likely to find them in searches. Not only will this increase your # of views, it will also help us better target advertisements for each photo which will earn higher Ad Revenue.
How is ad revenue calculated? During the Beta test we will experiment with a variety of ad content and formats, so ad revenue may vary as we work to optimize our system to get the best payouts for our users. Ad revenue is calculated primarily on # of Ads served but also considers other criteria such as number of images served. Since we cannot tightly integrate with our current Ad providers to understand the click through rate ("CTR"), we are approximating the CTR. Each ad-type (Banner Ads, Splash Screen Ads and Picture-in-Picture ads) pays a different amount. Photrade calculates the amount of ad revenue earned for each unique view based on sharing the revenue that we earn from our advertisers. The revenue that we earn from our advertisers varies based on ad relevancy and click through, so the ad revenue payout varies as well. In the Beta test we are not charging for the Picture-in-Picture ads as we are building out statistics. We will also be giving charities free ad space as we believe our community should help support charities.
What is considered a unique view? A unique view is when a unique user views one of your images. For example, if one user views the same image and the same ad 10 times in one day, it will only count as one view. If the same user returns to that image another day it will count as two total views. If one user clicks on 10 different images in one visit, that will count as 10 unique image views.
How much ad revenue can I expect to earn? Your ad revenue earned will vary dramatically depending on the amount of traffic visiting your pictures and also the relevancy of the particular ad campaign. We can make ads more relevant when each picture has lots of relevant tags and a good description.
How do I get paid? You can see your Photrade balance in your PhoTrade account on your dashboard. Ad revenue is paid out on the 1st of every month for the month prior. You can use your balance towards purchases on Photrade.com, donate it to a charity or nonprofit group, or you can cash out your balance into PayPal. A minimum of $15.00 is required to transfer your balance to PayPal.
Is there a fee to transfer my balance to PayPal? There is no fee to transfer your balance, but you will have to pay PayPal fees as applicable.
How do I donate my balance to a Charity? (This Feature is Coming soon!) You can donate your balance to charity or nonprofit organization of your choice from your dashboard.
What if my Charity or NonProfit isn't listed? If there is a non-profit organization that you would like to see on Photrade.com please contact us.
Do I have to have ads on my photos or on my galleries? No. You can disable ads in your user preferences. We do not want to force people to display ads, but want to offer it as a new way to monetize photos.
Selling Photos How do I set prices? You can set global prices in the
preferences tab for standard prices to be applied to all of your photos and then individually manage photos through the
photo management interface. We recommend that you first set your default prices through the
preferences. These prices will be the default applied to all of your photos. Be sure to carefully manage the digital licenses for sale at the bottom of the products list. You can then manage the individual photo prices through the
manage photos interface. Simply drag that photos that you want to custom price into the workspace and set the prices with the button on the left.
How much commission does Photrade charge?
Photrade allows the photographer to keep an unprecedented 80% of the markup made on any sale. If the base price of a photo is $1 and you sell it for $5 you would earn $3.20 ($5 sales price - $1 base price = $4 markup - 20% commission = $3.20).
What are the base prices?
The base price is what photrade charges for the print or merchandise item that you are selling. We worked hard to negotiate the best prices possible while maintaining high quality professional prints. The base price the cost to create the item and you can not sell your photos for less than the base price.
Do I have to charge a markup?
No. You can keep your photos at the base price. Our minimum prices are similar to many major printing companies making Photrade a great place to order prints for your friends/family.
Note: If you do this, you will not earn any money when you sell your photos.
What if I want to order my own prints? Do I have to pay the markup?
When you order your own prints you will be charged the minimum price (by default).
When does the money from print sales show up in my account?
Your balance will be immediately updated for print sales so you can see what you are earning.
Do I need a model release to sell my photos?
A model release form is a legal form signed by a person in a photograph that allows the photographer to sell or use the image commercially. Model release forms are strongly recommended when selling prints and stock of your photos for profit. Model release forms are not required for some editorial uses (magazines, news, journalism) however they are required for your images to be sold for most other commercial or advertising uses. Model releases are only relevant when there is an identifiable person in your photo. We are in development for a process for photographers to specify which of their images have model releases. Buying Photos Buying photos on www.photrade.com is safe and secure and we want to make it easy for you. If you have any additional questions or problems, please contact us so that we can improve your experience.
Ordering Prints
Ordering prints is as easy as clicking on the print and selecting the type of merchandise. The print will then show up in your shopping cart and shipping will be added to the base cost. From there, you can check out with your credit card or paypal account using our Secure Check Out.Where are Orders Fulfilled?
Photrade fulfills all orders in partnership with EZPrints. EZ Prints offers ultrahigh quality digital photofinishing services and products for both consumer and professional photographers. EZPrints is a longtime trusted supplier of prints for professional photographers.
Printing Paper
Our quality of photo processing is second to none. We partnered with Kodak to bring you a complete solution that is at the cutting edge of the technology curve, and is sure to produce results you desire. The consistent quality of our prints comes from this partnership with Kodak. All of our prints and merchandise are of the highest quality, and if you aren't satisfied with your order please contact us and we'll do everything we can to fix it.
Payment Methods
We accept all major credit cards and paypal as payment methods. Coming Soon you will be able to use your account balance (the money you earned from selling prints and ad revenue) towards on-site purchases.
Why are all the prices different?
We let photographers set their own prices. Since photographers choose their own prices, prices may vary. Just remember, purchasing prints helps support the artists and photographers who have shared their work with us!
Shipping Information
Orders are typically printed within 1 - 2 business days from purchase; you will receive more specific information in your tracking code after placing your order. All products are shipped with US First Class Mail.
How will my prints be shipped?
Prints will be shipped via first class mail. Prints are specially packaged to prevent damage. The method of packaging will vary depending on the size and number of prints ordered. If you have trouble with a damaged order please let us know and we will do everything we can to fix the situation.
How much does Shipping cost?
Shipping charges vary depending on the number and size of prints ordered. Once you have placed the item in your cart you will see the shipping charge added to your cart total. The more you add to your cart the less you pay to ship each item.
Are there Discounts for Shipping Multiple Items? Yes. The shipping rates vary depending on the number of items that you put in your cart, the sizes, etc. You can see the total shipping charges when you check out.
What if there is a problem with my order? If you have any problems with your order, please contact us. We are committed to doing everything possible to take care of your order.
For Advertisers At this time, we are only working with select advertisers. If you are interested in learning more about advertising with PhoTrade, please
contact us or directly email our
CEO, Andrew Paradies. For Affiliates Coming Soon!