Where do online stores get their images from?

Question

I'm building an online store front for a client who is selling a number of office and educational supplies (i.e. pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, glue, etc..). Rather than taking a ton of photos, manipulating, cropping etc.., I'd like to find where sites like Amazon, Wal-Mart, OfficeMax etcetera obtain their images from. Do they have internal teams that photograph and modify the images? Do vendors (i.e. Crayola) provide images? How would I get my hands on those? Since I'm looking for specific item images I would think the vendor would have those, but I don't know how I'd track them down.

Answer 1

You can find stock photo images at a number of on-line photo sites. Photostock.com, shutterstock.com, stockphotographyonline.com are a few places to check.

Most of these sites will provide images at a very reasonable price (often times <$1) that you can post either on a web site or in a catalog.

Some vendors will provide stock images of their items, but you need to be very careful when it comes to using them without their permission. Your best bet is to get in touch with the companies business relations department (often times found on their web page) and request product marketing information.

Using photos without express permission can lead to copyright infringement issues and if the owner of the image feels it warranted, bring a nightmare of legal issues, cease and desist orders and other headaches.