Commission Structure

Commission

The commission is always calculated on the basis of the net turnover as defined in the Author-Licence-Agreement Section 6.4. Net sales is the remuneration paid by the image buyer less any discounts, arising taxes, reminder fees, fees of a financial institute for transactions (Pay Pal, creditcard, others) as well as other costs associated with the transaction costs of third parties. Licence fees from distribution partners, special licence partners, sales agents and other partners will be split according to the commission table after the deduction of the partner's sales commission.

¹ The commissions apply to all single image sales for all standard Royalty Free Licences, all extended licence usages, as well as for all Rights Managed Licences. The base image package price is: Web: 2,50 Euro net, Print 6,60 Euro net, extended user group licence 12,00 Euro net, and 20,00 Euro net for all other extended licences. End customer prices may vary subject to extra services to customer (corporate account, digital asset management, sales services, etc.).

² In subscriptions, merchandising licences are not available. Only licences for extended user groups as defined in 2.2.3 (a) of the End User Licence Agreement.

³ PantherMedia cooperates with many partners who sell online or offline products that are based on images, e.g. poster printers. The licence fee is based on the net sales price of the end product, e.g. poster for 60 Euro equals a licence fee of 6,00 Euro per print. This 6,00 Euro is then split according to the commission table above (30%-40%). The same principle applies to digital products, e.g. electronic postcards, advertising services or online templates. With many partners, we also agree on a fixed rate per product that is based on 10% of the average sales price.

⁴ PantherMedia offers dedicated accounts to press photographers with additional rights and duties.

⁵ Smarterpix is ​​PantherMedia's platform for private customers and commercial customers (freelancers, solopreneurs, designers) with limited license requirements. In addition to free images, Smarterpix also offers PantherMedia content as part of a paid premium membership. The PantherMedia content is remunerated according to the following formula: (sum of all membership fees of a month / sum of all downloads of a month) * number of downloads by the respective photographer * 50% = commission of the photographer in the respective month. PantherMedia content is not offered free of charge. However, if you also want to offer free content, you can upload it to your own account. These images are then offered both free of charge on Smarterpix and for a fee on PantherMedia with the corresponding license scope for the respective platform. Photographers are also paid for free downloads. Here, the success of Smarterpix (e.g. advertising income, API fees, sponsoring, other income) is taken as a basis at regular intervals and distributed to the photographers according to the formula mentioned above.

Other important facts related to your royalty payments

Currency conversion

The currency conversion is calculated on the day of the commission notification. It is based on the average exchange rate of the last three months. The exchange rate is displayed in your account next to the commission notification.

Payout

You can apply for a payout once you have reached the minimum commission of 30 Euros. Go to "MyPanther" and click on "Administration - Payout". You can choose between two payment options: PayPal or direct payment to your bank account (only EU). You must either enter your user name and password of the respective payment provider, or specify your bank account. The credit note is sent out on the last working day of the month if you requested the payout. The money is transferred to your bank account on the 15th of the following month.

International Taxes

PantherMedia is obliged to deduct a general income tax at 15% for all international photographers residing outside of Germany (§15a German Income Tax Act). Based upon the Double Tax Treaty between Germany and your respective country, you do not have to pay additional income tax in your country.

Please note: This income tax has nothing to do with VAT. All private people, as well as companies have to pay this tax in Germany. For additional info, please take a look at the Double Tax Treaty between Germany and your country or refer to your tax consultant.

If you want to apply for a certificate of exemption and/or refund of withholding tax for licensing fees according to Section 50d EStG, please fill out our form and send it to the German tax office (address included in pdf). Once we receive the tax exemption from you via email at or via fax (+49-2000213931),we will adjust your individual withholding tax rate in our system.