Become A Partner:
Put BigStockPhoto Images On Your Site With Our API Tools

We offer 2 distinct and different APIs:

BSP Reseller API Used for: image retrieval For partners who wish to sell BSP images on their site, and retrieve the images via a backend server call. Your customers do not have to know the image came from BigStockPhoto.

BSP REST API Used for: data retrieval For partners who wish to access and interface with the BigStockPhoto image database. Some partners might use our internal search algorithms and simply display the results we send you as a web page on your site -- whereas others may wish to load the BigStockPhoto data into their own server and perform the search on their side.

Who can use your API?
Anyone could become a partner - provided we are comfortable with your use of the images. You will need your own programmers to set things up and probably do some scripting to make things work the way you'd like. We'd like to discuss your image needs/project with you and offer guidance for how to best use our tools.

What do your APIs do?
The REST API allows you to query our database and retrieve results. The data that comes back can include all general data about any image, and thumbnail URLs so that you can easily display the images on your site.

The Reseller API allows you to set up an account with us so that you can purchase images on-the-fly for resale purposes. We send you a URL that you can use to grab the images you sell to your customers.

A typical example would be that you want to sell BigStockPhoto images on your photo sales website. You would use the REST API to suck data into your own database, or you could simply perform real-time searches of our database and display the real-time results we send back to you -- then if your customer buys an image, you would use the Reseller API to retrieve the image to give to your user. You would have an account set up with BigStockPhoto that would be debited when you retrieve the image.

Which API should I use?
Often, partners end up using both. A common scenario would be using the REST API for retrieving image search results for your users, and the Reseller API for retrieving the full sized BSP image that you might sell to your user. Please review the BigStockPhoto API Overview for more top level information on both APIs.

Can you set all this up for my business?
We can only provide you with the API tools, and documents, and some guidance, but we can't do the programming needed on your end. If you are not big enough yet to have programmers helping you, perhaps you can check our our Affiliate Program Tools.. they are easy to use if you know how to make a simple HTML page.

Can my users do anything they want with the images we sell them via the APIs?
All images you sell must be sold under our current Image Usage Agreement, so the same terms that apply here must also be enforced from your site.

Ok I'm interested, how can I learn more and get going?

Send us your inquiry below and we'll respond quickly. Thanks.

Contents:

• Two different APIS for partners - one for searching and one for image retrieval

• REST API Overview

• Reseller API Overview

• Things you can do with the BSP REST API

• Things you can do with the BSP Reseller API

BigStockPhoto offers two different APIS for partners that have programmers who can use an API:

1. BSP REST API

For interfacing with our database, retrieving search data, and data about our images. REST stands for Representational state transfer (REST).

2. BSP Reseller API

For accessing images that you wish to sell within your own store.

REST API Overview:

The REST (Representational State Transfer) API is used to perform image searches. It returns any needed image data, such as the image name, description, size, format, keywords, thumbnail URLs, etc. It returns data in any of these formats: CSV, XML,, HTML or JSON.

Once you receive the data, via http request, you can parse it and do whatever you like. We have provided a rough image display example in the demo.php file contained in the BSP REST API files.

Reseller API Overview:

The BSP Reseller API is used to request images from the BSP library for your own customers. This is used in order to private-label our images generally. Your user views images on your site, without any mention of BSP, and they purchase the images at your prices. You then use the Reseller API to request the actual image from BSP, and your account is debited at that time. You pass the download URL to your user so they can download the image. The BigStockPhoto name is never seen by the user.

The Reseller API is also used to keep your data fresh, since things change at BigStockPhoto daily.

What do you want to do with the BigStockPhoto APIs?

Things you can do with the BSP REST API:

• Perform a live search query to our database and receive the results in CSV, XML, JSON or HTML format. This allows you to create a form on your site that calls the BSP REST API and then the REST API responds with your results, which you can parse and display to your customers in any format you like. Typically, you could catch the results and pour them into a web page that shows the results in image thumbnails and text – just like what you see on the BSP site when you do a search for example.
• Request a live list of categories that we support
• Request any cross section of our data such as “Send me all your photos that are Model Released” or “Send me all your vector files” or “Send me all your editorial-use photos of Hollywoood celebrities.” Etc., etc.
• Perform a search and receive the thumbnail image URLs to show your users.

• Request images at any size we have and receive a URL response for accessing that image on the fly
• Request data dumps to keep your site database up to date with the BSP database
• Resize images on the fly during your request, to allow you to offer several sizes to your users
• Log into your Reseller Account and view your stats showing the images you have purchased and downloaded, your billing, and manage who is allowed to use your API via an API Access whitelist.

Please contact us to get started using either of our APIs, thanks.