Snapwire App Review:
Product Name: Snapwire
Price: Free
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Verdict: In my personal opinion, uploading photos on your Snapwire account is worth it. Who knows, you might be able to snag a couple of good sales.
Back in the day, only photographers have access to handy cameras, nobody really takes photos unless it’s something important. That is in stark contrast to today where almost everyone has access to a high definition camera, thanks to their smartphone, everyone can take photos even of the most mundane things.
Seeing people taking photos of their food is now seen as normal whereas people in the past would view it as weird, and a waste of film. Now, everything is digital. As such, photos can be shared easily. Because of this, anyone with a camera can share their photo online. This opens up some opportunity to earn extra by selling these photos.
That’s what I am about to review today. I am going to look into a company that claims to help photographers earn money through selling their photos. The name of the company is Snapwire. Let’s start.
What Is Snapwire?
Snapwire is a photography app that serves as a marketplace for photographers. Basically, it connects photo enthusiasts from all over the world and gives them a platform to sell their photos.
Snapwire caters to two main types of people – photo sellers (photographers) and buyers. For the purpose of this review, we’re going to review this app through the eyes of sellers because that’s likely the reason you’re here.
The founders are seen below. They seem to be real people which is always a good sign because that means they believe in their products. Too many times would companies use fake profiles to make it seem like their products are legit. This doesn’t seem to be the case here.
How Can You Make Money With Snapwire?
To put it simply, you just need to upload a good quality photo on your account using their app. You earn money whenever someone purchases that photo.
To increase the exposure of your photo, you need to use your tags wisely. Make sure you post an apt description of the photo you uploaded to help their search engines identify the items in your photo. Good tagging and descriptions are needed to help your pictures get the most exposure.
How To Become A Snapwire Member?
To become a Snapwire member, you need to download the app on the Play Store or App Store. Once you’ve downloaded the app, you just need to register as you would any other app. You can even use your Facebook account as your main login credentials if you want more convenience.
They will have a couple of questions regarding the nature of the photos you will be submitting. If your album will have photos mostly of the great outdoors, then find a category that matches closely with that. Again, this helps their search engines to make sure your photos show up on appropriate keywords. You can select up to 10 categories.
How To Upload Photos On The App
First and foremost, you need to make sure that your photos are of good quality. You will never sell a photo that has bad quality since they are likely to be used in a professional setup where high quality is necessary.
Some would even suggest that you use a DSLR or mirrorless camera to ensure the highest quality possible. However, with the camera technology advancing at such as high pace, using your smartphone can be adequate, too. Of course, it still can’t compete with professional cameras but it’s more than enough for some people.
After all, if your only purpose for this app is to earn money on the side, a smartphone is a wise decision since you already own one. Buying an expensive DSLR photo for the off chance that your photo gets picked up by a company is not a wise investment at all.
How Much Can You Make From Snapwire?
Since the number of photos you will sell depends upon many factors, too many, in fact, it’s hard to give out an average earning for photographers. A good majority of users won’t earn a single cent. But don’t let that detract you from using this app. If you are a hobbyist, your photos are likely just laying around. Why not make money off it? That’s the point of this app.
To be fair, many users have reported earning good money from it. It’s just one of those things that won’t cost you much time and effort to set up. If you earn money, then good. If not, it’s still ok. As I’ve said, it’s a low risk, high reward kind of thing – a perfect side gig for many.
Of course, the app would take their commission. That’s their pay for providing you with a platform to sell your photos. They take a whopping 50% commission regardless of how much you are pricing your item. If you sold a photo for $50, you will only get $25.
For reference, bigger stock photo websites give their users 60-80% of the sale, which is considerably high than what Snapwire is offering. That’s the difference between earning $500 and $800.
Cool Quirks Of Snapwire App
If you want to earn a commission higher than 50%, you can participate in contests or challenges that clients put up every once in a while. Just read the instructions and requirements of the contest and submit your best shot.
If you win the contest, the client will award you the money but you will get 100% instead of the usual 50%. If you have the time, it’s definitely a good idea to participate in these events since it will also increase your exposure which can ultimately lead to more eyes on your work.
Snapwire also has a voting system in place to award its best contributors. They have 7 levels at the moment. Explorer, Shooter, Advanced. Expert, Elite, Pro, and Master. The higher your ranking is, the higher you can price your item, and the more exposure you will get.
Snapwire is also a partner for many platforms on the internet, which means that there is a chance your photo will get picked up by big agencies.
How To Get Paid
Snapwire pays out its users via Paypal or Stripe. They have a minimum payout threshold of $25. They pay every first of the month. If you fail to achieve at least $25 when the 1st of the month comes, you won’t receive anything.
Take note that this is for the net amount. Since you will only get 50% of the payment, this means that you need at least $50 actual sold items before you can request a withdrawal.
Thoughts About Snapwire
Things I Like About Snapwire
- It provides you with money-making potential using just your photos. If you have plenty of high-quality photos on your phone, it won’t hurt to have them for sale.
- It pays in actual cash instead of offering cash or gift cards.
- Snapwire is available worldwide and anyone can submit their photos, no problem.
Things I Don’t Like About Snapwire
- It’s hard to make a sale. Well, this is true for most stock photo websites. It’s hard to make a sale when your competitors are giant corporations using big rigs and high-quality cameras.
- Their share for every sale is an absurd 50%. That is higher than the average 25% commission of even bigger stock photo websites.
The Verdict – Is Snapwire A Good Way To Make Extra Cash?
To be honest, that question isn’t answerable by a quick Yes or No. Yes, you can make extra cash using this app but only if your photos are of high quality. Remember that you are competing with professionals here.
In my personal opinion, uploading photos on your Snapwire account is worth it. Who knows, you might be able to snag a couple of good sales. That’s the good kind of extra money, too – the ones you least expect. If you don’t really use your photos in a professional capacity, what harm would uploading a bunch of them really do?
The answer is nothing, really. If anything, uploading your photo on Snapwire provides you a chance, although small, to at least make some money out of it, which is what this app is all about. It can help you earn extra cash.
Alternatives to Snapwire
There are plenty of stock photo websites alternatives out there. I won’t even need to point this out. You can literally do a search right now and Google would come up with a list. You won’t see Snapwire on the list though. That’s primarily because it’s a relatively new website/app, and it’s frankly not the best out there.
Now, if you are not looking for a photo-related money-making opportunity, perhaps you’d want to take a look at my most recommended program today. It’s how thousands of people are making their money online. What’s more, is you can do it, too. See you there.