Curator Pricing

I'm still new to this whole stock thing, so I usually don't know what to ask for a clip. For my submissions here, I've mostly just let the curator decide the pricing.

I was wondering how they come up with a price.

Is it simply what they think the clip will sell at?

I've seen clips here that are upwards of $300. Surely that's the submitter asking way too much, in my opinion.

How many submitters here just let the curator decide pricing? Is it a good idea to trust that they'll do what's best for both parties (seller and P5)?

not me ..yet. Many clips here sell for $200-$300, it isn't unreasonable at all. Far too many clips sell under priced. Just think about your time and travel to capture the clip, processing, computer expenses, internet, keywording and then a relatively small percentage sell consistent. I really can't see any clip of anything being worth less than $50 and a bargain at that. A more difficult to capture clip easily worth hundreds or thousands. Just look at the photo industry, Alamy is one of the big players, photos regularly sell for hundreds each even with the micro sites that only cheat the artist. Price them so it worth your time and costs, don't worry, production players and buyers understand, that's why they buy stock instead of paying at least $1000 a day for an individual 30 second clip.

Thanks for your input. But I looked at your library, and correct me if I'm wrong, but most of your most-downloaded clips are under $50. I even saw some for $25.

So, do you think your own clips are under priced? Isn't the price a main reason they sell? Do you think a clip that's $50 may sell better than a clip priced at $250 and may even out-sell the higher priced clip because it's priced at a bargain?

You are right, I do have many that are under priced. Many were old or shakey clips that I did not think had a lot of value. I fixed some of them in pricing, thanks for highlighting. Very few of my best sellers are under $50. Since going HD I seldom list any under $55 and I do feel that HD at this price is too low. Pond5 is an absolutely great place with how they treat artists and commissions. No other agency treats their artists as good as they do here. Bottom line ... go look at artist resources and see how many high priced clips sold in the last week and last month. Then you will see that it is easy and well worth the while of a buyer to pay $100-300 for a 20 second clip. If a buyer needs a particular clip it really does not matter if it sells for $55 or $95 ... both are still excellent prices. I believe in bottom line not the number of clips that sell. A thousand sold clips a year at $10 will never pay for my time and equipment. Those who sell for less than cost should not be in the business.
.
Remember a good camera starts at $3,000, a good computer at about $3,000, software at about $1,500, internet at $500 a year plus travel. The computer, camera and software is only good for 2-3 years then the quality is surpassed by new technology. So bottom line need to make at least $5,000 a year to pay for expenses not including travel. Add to this your worth in time. $50 clips don't make it. There are not a lot of people making that much yet, many do. Anything less than $50 for HD or $40 for SD is a hobby and not really helping the buyer with the best quality.

So bottom line, nope lower prices will not increase bottom line by increasing number of sales. Quality increases will increase bottom line. P5 is a professional site, well managed, hopefully we can all work together to get quality clips to our buyers at a fair price.

I will add to that... famous photogs of yesteryear took pictures that are absolutely fantastic without the equipment of today. It's not the camera that makes a good shot, it's the artist behind the camera. Hence, it really doesn't matter what you shoot with, if it is a fantastic comp, it will sell. Quality not quantity are important. One could say that if you were to get that one money shot that every news outlet wants, you literally could make 10's of thousands off of one clip. It happens everyday and there are some making a great living at it. I read recently in a trade paper about two brothers in LA that constantly chase the police scanner announcements and get the shot. They claim to make up to 25K per week in some better weeks! They also stated that on average they have made over 250K per year for the last 3 years.. Not bad I would say.