A Questionable Transaction

(I’m a photographer and sell some of my photos as stock images. They’re not the extra professional photos that you will find at an art exhibition, but are clear, bright, and detailed photos that can’t (or can hardly) be taken by a point-and-shoot camera. They’re mostly from moments like testing a new lens or when I get bored and just snap a shot of a pair of shoes for no reason. I just figure I can squeeze some money out of these shots. Please also note that it’s instant download: you click the payment button on my website, pay, and then get the link to download, so no communication is needed. I believed it couldn’t be any more simple. I guess I was wrong since sometimes I receive emails, and this one is recent:)

Customer:” I’m writing some books for children and I need two photos. How much would this cost?”

(The price is cheap and the policy that is already written on my website is simple. It’s basically “just pay me and you get the image without watermark to use for whatever purpose, as long as you want and as many times as you want.” I do have an FAQ page for obvious reasons, though. So, out of courtesy, I just copy-paste a part of the FAQ for them.)

Me: “Price is [price], which is visible next to each image on my website, and also in the FAQ page.”

Customer: *two days later* “I have some more questions. Will I have commercial rights for the photos and do you need to be credited as the photographer on my book.”

Me: “Yes and yes.”

Customer: *another two days* “But you don’t expect to receive anything from book sales? I only have to pay one?”

Me: “Please read the FAQ page for my terms. All the answers are in there.”

Customer: *disappears for a week before sending another message* “I will order this weekend.”

(On Monday, I receive this:)

Customer: “One last question before I order: My children’s book 8 x 11. Will the 72dpi work for a book that size or does the book need to be smaller for the 72dpi drawings to work?”

(I have two different prices for 72dpi and 300dpi.)

Me: *really wanted to tell them I’m out of business now, but also wanted to see how this would end* “If you’re going to print it out, you’ll normally need 300dpi. But if it’s just ebook then 72 dpi is enough.”

Customer: “Can you crop the images for me?”

Me: *I thought your last question was… the last question?* “Sure, if you pay extra.”

Customer: *disappears*

(All of this is over two $5 photos with unlimited usage.)