Do client gallery platforms charge commission on photo sales?

When you sell photos or prints through a client gallery, the platform you use can quietly take a slice of every sale. Over a busy year that adds up. Here is how commission and fees actually work across the main photography gallery platforms, and what to look for so you keep more of what you earn.

What "commission" really means

Commission is a percentage the platform takes from each sale you make through your gallery — separate from your monthly subscription. If a platform charges 15% commission and a client spends £100, the platform keeps £15 and you get £85. On free plans in particular, commission is often how the platform makes its money.

Watch out for three different charges:

• Commission — a percentage of each sale the platform keeps.
• Subscription — your monthly or yearly plan fee.
• Card processing fees — the small percentage the payment provider (for example Stripe) charges to handle the card payment. This is normal and unavoidable on any platform.

The one that varies most between platforms — and hits your take-home the hardest — is commission.

Why 0% commission matters

Commission scales with your success: the more you sell, the more it costs you. A subscription is a fixed, predictable amount. So a platform with a higher subscription but 0% commission often works out far cheaper for a working photographer than a "free" or cheap plan that takes a percentage of every sale.

A quick example. Say you sell £3,000 of photos and prints across a year:

• On a plan taking 15% commission, that is £450 gone in commission alone — on top of any subscription.
• On a 0% commission plan, you keep the full £3,000 (minus only the standard card fee), and pay just your flat monthly plan.

The busier you get, the bigger the gap.

How LensQuay handles it

LensQuay charges 0% commission on gallery sales on every paid plan. You keep 100% of what your clients pay. Your only cost is your plan — £6/month for Pro or £15/month for Pro+ — and the standard card processing fee, which the buyer covers at checkout. There is no per-sale cut.

What to check before you commit

• Is there commission on sales, and on which plans? Free plans are the usual place a cut is hidden.
• What currency are you billed in? If a platform only bills in US dollars, UK photographers also pay card currency-conversion fees.
• Who covers the card fee — you or the client?
• What is the all-in cost at the sales volume you actually do, not just the headline monthly price?

Add those up across a realistic year and the "cheapest" plan is often not the one with the lowest monthly price — it is the one that does not take a percentage of your hard-earned sales.