All-in pricing
The price on the card is the price you pay. The platform fee is carved out of it on our side, not added to yours at checkout.
For customers
Know exactly what
happens first
So here is the whole thing — every step, what it costs, who is holding the money, and what happens when something goes wrong.
01Step by step
From browsing to review
A booking passes through eight states. You can see where yours is at any point.
01
Browse without signing in
Pick your city and occasion. Every photographer and studio is a real, verified profile with their own work on it.
No login wall. Search, filters, portfolios, packages, availability and policies are all readable before you ever create an account.
02
Compare like for like
Sort by KLIQS Score, filter by price band and occasion. Each card carries the portfolio, the KLIQS Score, distance from you, years of experience and a starting price.
Prices shown are all-in — the platform fee is already inside the number. What you see is what you pay.
03
Read the whole profile
Photos first, then who they are, then itemised packages: what is included, how many edited images, and how many days delivery takes.
Availability for the next two months is visible before login. For a studio you can see which crew member is free on which day.
04
Pick a date and a slot
Choose the date, the time slot and the location. Your slot is held for you while you pay.
The slot is claimed atomically and held for 10 minutes. Two people cannot book the same slot — the database refuses it, not just the interface.
05
Pay 50% to confirm
A half advance confirms the booking. It is held by the platform, not handed to the photographer.
Payments run through Razorpay. Every rupee moves through MyShootMate — there is no direct-to-vendor path, which is exactly what makes the guarantee possible.
06
The shoot happens
Outdoor packages mean the photographer travels to you, included. Indoor means you visit the studio — with directions on the page.
Need to move the date? Reschedule inside the app. The advance carries over, and you see the old price, the new price and the difference before you confirm.
07
Photos are delivered
Edited images arrive in the app, within the delivery window the package promised.
Deliverables sit in private storage. Only you and the photographer can open them, through short-lived signed links.
08
Confirm, pay the balance, review
You confirm receipt, pay the remaining 50%, and the photographer gets paid. Then you can leave a review.
If you go quiet, the booking auto-confirms after 5 days so photographers are never left waiting forever. Only a completed booking can be reviewed — one review per booking, so ratings cannot be manufactured.
02The booking timeline
Every state, in order
Each transition is recorded, so a booking always has a readable history rather than a WhatsApp thread.
| # | State | Moved by | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Slot held | Customer | Held for 10 minutes while payment completes |
| 02 | Confirmed | Payment | 50% advance captured and held |
| 03 | Shoot completed | Photographer | Marks the shoot done; the delivery clock starts |
| 04 | Delivery pending | Photographer | Edited work uploaded to private storage |
| 05 | Delivered | Photographer | Customer is notified the work is ready |
| 06 | Balance due | Customer | Confirms receipt, then pays the remaining 50% |
| 07 | Completed | Both | Booking closes; the customer can leave one review |
| 08 | Paid out | Platform | 90% released to the photographer |
03What you get
Better than a DM
Availability you can trust
Calendars come from the photographer's own working days and slots, materialised two months ahead — not a form that says 'enquire'.
Verified only
A profile cannot go live until identity and payout details have been checked and approved by our team.
Save and come back
Favourite photographers while you browse and filter down to just your saved list when you are ready to decide.
Written policies
Payment terms, cancellation windows and travel rules appear in plain language on every profile, before you book.
A real dispute route
If something goes wrong, you raise a dispute in the app and our team reviews it. Money stays put until it is resolved.
04The KLIQS Score
Higher is better. That is it.
A single number out of 100 on every photographer and every crew member. The higher the KLIQS Score, the better the photographer — and it cannot be bought.
94 KLIQS Score 94 out of 100
Look for this mark on every card and every profile. It is the default sort order, so the first results you see are the photographers with the strongest record — not the ones who paid the most.
Reading the number
- New KLIQS Score New out of 100No completed bookings yet
- 61 KLIQS Score 61 out of 100Building a record
- 84 KLIQS Score 84 out of 100Consistently good
- 96 KLIQS Score 96 out of 100Among the best on the platform
What goes into it
- Average rating40%
- On-time delivery25%
- Low cancellations20%
- Completed volume15%
Recomputed automatically every time a booking completes or a review lands.
Nobody can pay for it
There is no promoted placement, no boosted listing and no ad auction on MyShootMate. A photographer cannot spend their way to the top of your results, so a high KLIQS Score only ever means one thing.
Nobody can edit it
Not the photographer, not our sales team, not us. It is computed by the platform from bookings that actually happened, and it updates itself the moment one completes or a review lands.
The reviews behind it are real
Only the customer on a completed, paid booking can leave a review — one per booking, and it cannot be edited afterwards. There is no way to seed a profile with reviews from friends.
It is about the whole job
Stars alone tell you how a shoot felt. The KLIQS Score also counts whether the photos arrived on time, how often the photographer cancels, and how much finished work is behind the record.
05When plans change
Cancel, move, or dispute
Every rule below is published on the photographer's profile before you book, and applied automatically afterwards.
Photographer cancels or no-shows
The customer's advance is refunded in full, and the cancellation is recorded against the photographer's KLIQS Score.
Customer cancels early
Cancel well before the shoot date and a defined portion of the advance is refunded automatically.
Customer cancels close to the date
Inside the final window the advance is forfeit — the photographer has already turned other work away. The exact windows are shown on every profile before you book.
Something goes wrong
Either side can raise a dispute. The booking freezes, funds stay held, and our team reviews it and either refunds or resumes.
Rescheduling
Move a date to any free slot with the same photographer. The advance carries over, and any price difference is settled — including a refund if the new slot costs less.
Nothing moves outside the platform
Advance, balance, refunds and payouts are all recorded transactions. There is no cash-on-the-side path, which is what makes any of the above enforceable.
If a photographer goes quiet after delivering, the booking auto-confirms after 5 days. If a customer goes quiet, the same clock protects the photographer. Nobody waits forever.
For photographers & studios
Know a photographer who should be on this?
Send them here. Signing up now creates a real account on the live platform, so they are ready the day we open.
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