Is this a scam..?

If I have to ask the question, the answer is probably yes.

[euripydes]

I have a web site devoted to displaying my own stock photographs. I make a bit of money from advertising (enough to pay for my hobby - I still use film) and from time to time, although I don't actively market the site, I've been lucky enough to sell the odd image to a publisher. I recently got an unsolicited email from someone I didn't know which said

"Dear #*$!,

I am searching for professional photography of [city] for reproduction. Please let me know if this is of interest to you."

I sent back a fairly bland reply and got the response

"The price of #*$! sounds good to me. I would use the pictures to produce [products]in [city]... Would it be possible for you to send me a disc with all [city] photography availabe for selection?"

I think this is all very odd, and I can't help thinking that this is a con, designed to get high-res copies of my images (which are already posted on the website as 300-500k jpegs). I'm inclined not to reply, but does anyone want to talk me out of it. Or into it. Help!

The company he claims to represent doesn't have any online presence that I can find, and it's based in a European country whose language I don't speak. Plus, the email is posted from a Hotmail account. Actually, the more I think about this the odder it looks.

Euripydes

[pmkpmk]

Watermark your images with visible watermarks and send him the CD. If it's a scam, you only lost a small sum of money for CD, shipping and your time spent. If it's a business opportunity, you even prove business-attire and professionality.

[Syzygy]

I think this is all very odd, and I can't help thinking that this is a con, designed to get high-res copies of my images...

Sounds like a scam to me.

In the course of my job I buy quite a bit of stock photography - mainly from the big libraries. Not one of them would let you access useable pics (ie, medium/high/super high res) before they've been paid for, or you've set up an account on pay-per-use (pay-per-download) basis.

If you want to persue it, whether out of curiosity, or to see whether the enquirer is just naive, then you need to ensure that you get money up front before supplying anything of print quality. As you will know, all libraries will give you access to low-res comping images - but never the 'real thing'.

Standard watermarking is a good idea, but half an hour in Photoshop and it can be gone. Cash up front is a better idea.

Syzygy

[edited by: lawman at 9:14 pm (utc) on Feb. 15, 2005]

[aspect]

Watermark your photos with a highly visable watermark rendering them useless! Send him the sample disk, then ask for money up-front for the photos he wants from the sample disk.

This request doesn't seem odd to me. Stock photos are very expensive, MOST companies do not have the buget to pay the going rate, especially when they charge per impression, This leaves many companies looking for royalty free photos or to try and get deals (and don't I know it, it's often cheaper to hire a photographer for some subjects). I would think that some eastern european companies will suffer the same problem. If this is somebody trying to get photos cheap, then it explains things.

You may find that the only real problem is that you are too cheap! Try charging more money next time.

Something may have been lost in translation. He is probably asking if it's possible, not asking you to do it. I do business with Swedes, Indians, Koreans and Americans... and I still get these little misunderstandings with Americans.

It's always best to see these things through giving people the benefit of the doubt, but usual rules apply, payment before delivery. Remember, e-mails cost nothing.