Make Money by Selling Stock Photos Online [Lazy Side Hustle]

As content creators, most of us are familiar with stock photos. We use free stock photos from Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, etc, within our blog posts.

But have you thought of using stock photos as a side hustle?

Selling stock photos is a passive income in its truest sense. Once photos get approved and published, you don’t have to undertake ANY additional effort to promote them.

How Stock Photo Websites Work 📷

Just like any online selling platform, your products are advertised and you earn when purchases happen. It’s quite easy to get started.

1. Sign up as a contributor on the stock photo platform.
2. Upload original and high-resolution photos that you have taken or digitally created.
3. Moderators will review the photos to check if it meets their platform's standards.
4. After approval, you earn a royalty fee each time a user downloads any of your photos.

How to Choose the Right Platform 📸

There are several reliable and well-known stock photo platforms available. But to make money effectively, one needs to consider various factors.

• Minimum payout — This is extremely important. In my opinion, any website having a very high minimum payout like $100 is not worth it. Not unless you have a huge portfolio of photos.

• Payment rate — Always choose platforms that offer a fair payment and commission ratio. Anything below 40% is a waste of time.

• Photo rights — The platform should allow uploaders to retain the rights to their photos. This means you can sell the same photos anywhere without committing to any exclusivity.

The Best Platforms for Beginners

I have tried several platforms, all of them considered quite reliable. However, I found only two of them to be effective.

✅ Platform #1: Adobe Stock

AI-generated images are allowed

I love Adobe Stock for the primary reason that it accepts AI-generated photos. There is no other stock photo platform that allows it. You just need to flag it correctly.

It’s an excellent advantage because you don’t have to go outdoors to get your photos shot. You can build your photo collection from the comfort of your home.

Minimum payout of $25

Adobe Stock has a minimum payout of $25. It’s quite a competitive rate when compared to other platforms like GettyImages, iStock or Dreamstime which have a $100 payout.

My experience

My first stock photo sold for 95 cents. I have only 13 images in my portfolio, all of them AI-generated.

Mathematically, I would need [13 x 24] = 312 more images to hit enough sales for the $25 mark. While 312 is a big number, using AI makes it a cakewalk.

The only disadvantage with Adobe Stock is that it takes 8 weeks to review and approve uploaded photos. However, that’s not a deal breaker if you can consistently upload 10-15 images per day.

Once you achieve a sizable photo collection, the review delay for new photos matters less because some of the existing ones keep generating income.

✅ Platform #2: Shutterstock

The next best website in my opinion is Shutterstock.

Minimum payout

It has a minimum payout of $25 just like Adobe Stock.

Data licensing options

Shutterstock also offers a unique option called data licensing.

What this means is — if some of your photos get rejected due to quality issues such as flawed exposure, noise, etc, they may be utilized for training AI image generation tools.

If approved for this feature, all those rejected images will generate a small income every 6 months for getting used in training. You can opt out of this feature if you don’t want your images to be used for AI training.

My experience

The one setback I see with Shutterstock is that the data licensing payment rates aren’t very transparent. At least not to me. I will have to wait and watch how much I get out of it.

Verdict

Both Adobe Stock and Shutterstock have similar commission rates, low payouts and identical policies in most aspects. So, it makes sense to use both platforms.

However, if I had to pick just one, I would choose Adobe Stock. It allows AI images and nobody can compete with that.

Key takeaways

Selling photos online can be a good way to earn a passive income.

But like most side hustles, persistence is the key. You need to select the right websites and invest some time each day.

If you are already into photography or happen to be an avid traveler, selling stock photos can gradually turn into a profitable side hustle. Note the emphasis on "gradually".

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