I was contacted out-of-the-blue from flickr

[dmcantrell]

Hello,

I was contacted out of the blue via flickr by someone who presents themselves as a creative director for an advertising company out of Pennsylvania. She has written me an email, and attached a mock-up of a piece that they have created for their customer including my photo. She is offering a flat fee for "rights to the image without restrictions." The amount she is offering is much higher than a standard royalty-free stock image, but in-line with what I would expect for a low-number run for a corporate advert / pamphlet when comparing to commercial photography pricing data points I've seen.

I'm just paranoid about the situation -- I'm not sure why but it just seems "to good to be true". What questions should I be asking? In other words, how can I get burned here?

Thanks in advance!

[w9ctm]

David,
ask them to send you the contract. Nobody says you have to sign it..........

[Tom]

Did you check the business they are contacting you from?

[dmcantrell]

I pulled up their website, and it seems to be on the up-and-up. They have some previous work listed and previous clients. I searched for "business-name scam" in google and did not find any meaningful results.

The next step -- which I intend to follow up with -- is to call the business and one or two of the previous clients and just talk to them and see if anything seems sketchy.

[PeteQ]

Flickr has become a standard place for Art Directors to look these days. They stand a better chance of not seeing the images they choose show up somewhere else ala iStockphoto because they can control the usage better.

They will probably ask for exclusivity and offer you a decent rate. Think of a happy price for an exclusive use or non-exclusive use and then you have a place to negotiate from. But remember to think about what makes your image valuable to them. Is it something only you have or can they find it somewhere else? Is it unique? That's the key....

[khatley]

Which photo is it?

[dmcantrell]

Well, I spoke with the creative director on the phone just now and everything seems to be legit. She said that she typically goes to istock or getty images first, then flickr as a last resort. She said that she cringes going to flickr though, due to the difficulty involved in working with flickr members that aren't business savvy. In my case, she said that she felt more comfortable since she was able to find her way to my website and saw that I was more than just a hobbyist (her words, not mine).

Anyway, this is the image :



Thanks for the guidance, this is why I enjoy my time here at TPF.

[WarrenG]

awesome deal David.

[CaptainTom]

they're happy
you're happy

what could be wrong?

I'm miserable 'cause they didnt' call ME !!

[w9ctm]

I think I'm with Cap'n Tom on this one...........


Congrats though.

[Redneck]

Do you want to share how much they paid? Just to give others an idea what they might ask for.

[dmcantrell]

I can't provide specific pricing, but if you go to corbis.com and search for royalty-free medium-sized 300dpi images of similar subject matter you should be able to get an idea. Alternatively, you could go to gettyimages.com, search for similar royalty-free images 2575x3870@300dpi and also be in the ballpark.