Are mediation portals worthwhile for photographers?

What do mediation portals offer for me as a photographer?

Based on my own experiences, I can understand how tempting it can be to register on various photographer portals, as the promises always sound promising. Some portals are free, while others require a monthly fee to view inquiries. Another model involves fees of 10 to 15 euros per inquiry just to be visible. Additionally, there are platforms that charge a mediation fee per assignment, either from the client, the photographer, or both. In the past year, I registered with several such portals and tested them over a few months. Here is my conclusion: In general, only a few of these portals are truly recommendable.

Fotografensuche.de

Today, my monthly subscription (15 euros net) has expired, and I have decided not to renew it. This was a well-considered decision based on several reasons. As a consequence, my profile, which I invested significant effort in, is now offline and no longer visible. According to an email from Fotografensuche.de, I was advised to convert my profile to a free profile, but this option seems unavailable.

During my usage, I occasionally thought that the platform could have potential and withdrew my previously submitted cancellation. However, now, upon closer examination, this decision no longer seems sensible.

Fotografensuche.de notifies you via email about job inquiries in your area, but not immediately – sometimes with a 2-3 day delay. The reasons for this are unclear to me. In my perception, weekend inquiries are only forwarded on Monday when potential clients may have already received enough offers, as the response rate on the platform is generally very low.

It's noticeable that most inquiries are for weddings or private events. Unfortunately, there is little understanding for the prices of a professional photographer. The response rate to inquiries is overall low, and sometimes the inquiries seem inauthentic. It has even happened that different inquiries had the same cryptic email address, without ever receiving a response. Even if potential clients were persuaded to respond, this rarely led to further collaboration after obtaining a quote.

Particularly noteworthy is that even agencies sometimes search for photo and videographers, but with unrealistically low fee expectations. This suggests that the contact person may have little experience in organizing events and therefore lacks understanding of the associated costs.

Overall, it can be stated: Unqualified inquiries, time-consuming, low response rate, and a focus on cheap offer prices. The platform seems unprofessional – an investment that is better avoided.

Malt

Malt is an international platform with a clear web design and a diverse selection of freelancers from various professional groups. This platform is not specifically focused on photographers - which is evident, among other things, in the presentation possibilities. If you're reading this: please improve the portfolio section and reconsider the option to arrange images.

The professional web interface is worth mentioning, offering little room for criticism (except for the mentioned portfolio section). After entering skills, basic information, photos, and daily rates, you compete online with the other 1000 photographers on the platform. However, I could not determine the criteria by which the algorithm prioritizes. But for me as a photographer, there are no costs, as the commission is directly deducted from the customer. Through Malt, I have generated four jobs so far, all of which went smoothly, and two even generated follow-up orders.

The handling of payment modalities directly through Malt is particularly photographer-friendly. This eliminates the need to write invoices and remind clients. Often, the amount is already deposited in advance at Malt, and once the client gives approval for the successfully completed job, the payout often occurs on the same day to your own account. I have not tested what happens if a client is dissatisfied.

Unfortunately, there are also unqualified inquiries on Malt where relevant details are missing. Additionally, it happens that clients contact several photographers and then do not respond. I learned this through conversations with photographer friends on the platform.

In my experience, about five inquiries result in one job, which is acceptable. However, it should be noted that most clients here are also very price-sensitive. Therefore, while it may not be enough to make a living, you might snag a job or two during slow times.

My conclusion:

Malt costs me, as a photographer, nothing and occasionally brings in a job, although not a big one. Clear recommendation.

Trustlocal

Another portal that does not specifically focus on photographers. At Trustlocal, you create a profile and then wait for inquiries. The costs per inquiry range from 10-15 euros net, depending on the area. The potential client sees 10 photographers based on their search and can contact their top choice and three other photographers. The favorite then has 2 hours to respond before the other three inquiries are sent. This is important to know because you pay per inquiry. In my opinion, all four inquiries always go out, as clients often want comparison options. It doesn't matter how the inquiry looks - costs are incurred as soon as it is received. When I initially joined the wedding photography pool, the inquiries came relatively close together, but the quality was really poor. For example: "Hi, we're getting married in March in a barn in Hinterwalde, can you make an offer?" - it's clear that I don't want to invest effort or pay for that.

There is the option to dispute inquiries, and this is always granted, sometimes out of goodwill. For example, one inquiry came in at 7 a.m., and when I wanted to respond at 8:15 a.m., it was already closed. This dispute was also granted. In response, I unsubscribed from the wedding pool and now have a relatively specific target group, but since then, nothing has come in. By the way, all my previous inquiries were free - Trustlocal offers 3 free inquiries for testing, which I think is a good thing.

My conclusion:

So far, I have not received any useful inquiries; all were disputed. Therefore, I am not tempted to invest money in this platform yet. I will provide an update if I can conduct further tests.

Update: 4 March 2024

Enquiries have now been made via the platform that were apparently usable. After initial communication, however, there was no further response from the interested parties, neither by email nor by telephone. Whether you want to pay €15 for such enquiries is up to you to decide.

Listando.de

Listando appears to be an emerging portal that functions similarly to Trustlocal. Unfortunately, my experiences with it haven't been as positive as I had hoped. However, it was encouraging to find a link to the statistics on the site, which provided insight into the performance of my entry. Surprisingly, my entry had only 6 clicks but no impressions. Considering that clicks usually stem from impressions, it raises questions about how these counts are conducted. Perhaps they were self-clicks. I then attempted to find myself, and now I understand why I have 0 impressions. With a placement at position 150, it's hardly possible to be found.

But I haven't even mentioned the worst part yet: the hardly visible price list. Similar to Trustlocal, they charge per lead, but the prices are sometimes almost double. For instance, an inquiry for wedding photography costs €29. Since many photographers are often contacted for weddings, this seems worthwhile only for Listando. In my opinion, it would be more prudent to save the time spent creating a profile on this platform and instead invest the money in Google Ads or other advertising strategies.