Photrade - share photos, get paid
How would you like to get paid for sharing your photos with your friends? Or get paid every time someone views your pics? Or someone clicks on your photos? Sounds good?
Photrade is trying to do just that. I was one of the lucky members to be accepted for the program, it’s still in beta.
It allows you to sell your photos, as well as to share the revenue that they (photrade) place on your galleries. Currently they are using Google AdSense. Personally, I think they would do much better with CPM based programs like TribalFusion or ADSDAQ.
I see that it has so far generated $263.07 only. 
It’s kind of low, but I think, again it depends on what kind of publisher program they use. With Google AdSense they won’t be making much money anyway. But AdSense is always the easiest way to get started.
Can you really make money selling your digital photos?
Sure, with the right program you can always make money. One of programs that I had success is Shutterstock. I had talked about it in this post here.
To recap, below is the Shutterstock earnings so far:
It’s making about $1.5/day, which is not much, but I would say it’s performing quite good. Because it’s self-running (automated) passive income generator. I don’t have to do anything. Just upload photos, refer my friends and see my earnings grow day by day slowly.
How about Photrade, will it work?
I think the idea of Photrade is very good. They want to make money collectively, and I think collective money making will be the future for social networking type of programs. That said, I think there is a lot of room for improvement. I am sure when the beta is over, the program will be a lot more robust and competitive.
Here is my suggestions to Photrade. They could:
- offer more publisher programs and not solely depend on AdSense
- give option for member to choose which publisher program they want to use
- allow members to control where the ads should appear (i.e sidebar, header, footer..etc)
- allow members to control which type of ad they want to display (i.e text or banner)
- introduce a referral program
I hope they will consider these suggestions.
I will talk about Photrade again in the future. I would like to test it for some time first. I have uploaded few pics to my portfolio, feel free to view them.
P.S What do you think about collective money making? Is it a good idea, where both sides win?
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By Lori on Nov 19, 2007
Did you by any chance get an invitations to send out:)
By Ades on Nov 19, 2007
Hi Lori, my account had only one invitation, which I sent it to my friend. However, I requested more invitations from Photrade. If they give me I will definitely share it with the readers. I will send you one.
By Krista Neher on Nov 19, 2007
Hi Ades
This is Krista from Photrade. Thank you for writing about us and becoming a part of our exclusive Beta test. We appreciate your comments and suggestions for site improvement and we are glad that you have enjoyed your experience so far.
- Krista
By John - Freelancer on Nov 19, 2007
Earning money by selling or sharing photographies is great. There are lots of websites ready to pay freelancers as well for their photos. Websites seem to have opened a new avenues of earning for photographers. Great.
By Michael Woo on Nov 19, 2007
eh bro, i see that your blog is unranked lah.. any news on google pr? i wonder what they are doing…
By Ades on Nov 19, 2007
Michael, what do you mean unranked? I know that they are de-ranking many blogs at the moment, this time giving PR0 to all of them.
By Sergio on Nov 19, 2007
i want an account, but i need the code invitation, please send me the code!!!
By timsdd on Nov 20, 2007
I’m not sure when the “$263.07″ was effective from? But it is clearly misleading…
I’ve only been a member 2.774 days but I was > = bummed when I saw: “When people visit your site, you will generate cash from the ads! It’s as simple as turning it on. We’re still working through some of the red tape and security to get this running — but you will soon have a bank account and get $$ just for having people look at your photos!”
BTW, I love your suggestions!
I hope they cut tape, start with something and then offer alternatives at some point.
My stats thus far:
Total Portfolio Views: 36
Total Photos Served: 726
By Krista Neher on Nov 21, 2007
This is Krista from Photrade….
The FAQ is a little out of date (pre-beta version). Should be updated today or tomorrow (we just finalized it last night). We are currently paying out on a CPM basis for the in-gallery ads, and the in-picture ads should be paying out soon (I wish I could be more specific on timing, but not 100% sure yet). The revenue earned from the site is a combination of both ad revenue earned to date as well as sales from prints and photo merchandise (where you can name your price and earn the markup).
The gallery revenue is periodically distributed, and I believe that we are planning a distribution soon. So, my appologies for the out-of-date information on the site - please feel free to contact me directly if you have any other questions/comments about the site. (krista @ photrade . com).
We value our beta users and their input - thanks for taking the time to look at our site :)
- Krista
By Rishil on Nov 22, 2007
Thanks for the info on this site. Have applied and am waiting for an invite..
By timsdd on Nov 22, 2007
Thanks for the update Krista! Much clearer now for me for sure :)
By Joey on Dec 19, 2007
How is it performing so far? :)
By Ades on Dec 19, 2007
Hi Joey, not that good, my 5 photos made 0.10 cents so far…
By Bryan on Dec 29, 2007
Hey anyone have a spare invite for me? I’m on some stock photo sites already but this sounds great. damageinc86@comcast.net
happy new year!