330 listing photos a month: Seedream 4.5 edit $16.50, cutouts $7.43

A seller who shoots 11 products a day for 30 days has 330 photos to clean up each month. On Sume, editing all 330 with Seedream 4.5 costs 330 x $0.05 = $16.50, cutting out each subject first adds 330 x $0.0225 = $7.425, and upscaling the best 10 percent (33 photos) adds 33 x $0.20 = $6.60. The full pipeline is $30.525 a month, or $0.0925 per photo.

The prices are Sume list prices (provider list times 1.25) as of 2026-10-09 and cover output only. They assume each edit is a single attempt.

What each step does and costs

The Image API documents Seedream 4.5 as bytedance-seed/seedream-4.5, a model that handles text-to-image and reference-guided image editing, with up to 10 reference images. Background removal (RMBG) and image upscale are separate utilities with flat prices on the Sume price list. The hosted MCP tool list names them rmbg_create and image_upscale_create, both paid tools that require an idempotency key.

Is the cutout step worth $7.425?

Often not. If you only want a cleaner studio background, send the original photo as the reference and ask for the background change in the prompt. The Image 1.0 docs show this exact pattern: a reference photo plus a prompt that says to keep the product identical and swap the background for a soft daylight studio. That path skips RMBG and costs $16.50 for 330 photos.

Add the cutout when you need a transparent PNG for a marketplace or a compositing template, or when edits keep altering the product edge. In that case the cutout gives you a clean subject to place on any generated scene. Compare the two on 10 photos before you commit the month: 10 edits cost $0.50 and 10 cutouts cost $0.225.

• Background swap only: 330 x $0.05 = $16.50
• Cutout then swap: $16.50 + $7.425 = $23.925
• Cutout, swap and 10 percent hero upscale: $30.525

Keep retries out of the bill

Sume bills image generation on an all-or-nothing basis: a completed generation is charged in full, and a failed or cancelled one is not. A bad edit that completes is still billed. Plan for a retry rate when you budget, for example 20 percent re-edits on 330 photos is 66 more edits and 66 x $0.05 = $3.30 on top.

Use public HTTPS image URLs for the references; Sume rejects localhost, private-network and non-HTTPS URLs before submission. Upload the originals to storage you control first, then pass those URLs in input_references.

Run it as a monthly routine

Group the work by day so a problem shows up early. Eleven photos a day cost 11 x $0.05 = $0.55 for edits, $0.2475 for cutouts if you use them, and $0.80 in total. A day with one upscaled hero adds $0.20. Check the first day's usage.cost values against the price list, then let the routine run.

The hosted MCP tools and the REST API charge the same list prices. If an agent runs the routine for you, the docs say paid MCP tools need an idempotency_key, and a repeated call with the same key and payload is a retry rather than a second charge. Use a key per photo and step, for example the SKU plus the step name, so a rerun after a crash does not buy the same cutout twice.