Websites...smugmug? pbase? or what?

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

02/18/2006 06:55:10 PM · #1

I am currently using smugmug as my hosting site for my photo business. I like the fact that I can put so many pics on without having to remove old galleries. I like the price...it cost 99 a year when I signed up, I think it went up by 50 for next year. I like the layout and the ability to customize it.
I currently have the buying option turned off. I do a batch resize and copyright before I put my pics on. I shoot and post more pics than I should...but the community I live in has responded well to the site,

Right now they have to call or email me to purchase pictures. This is done with check or cash. The website takes credit cards...but in order for me to turn on the buy feature, I would have to upload all the original files. Even with highspeed it would take forever.

My brother-in-law uses a site that takes his money and emails him which files and who bought them. He has them processed and either delivers by hand or mails them to the customer. It takes credit cards. The problem with his site is it costs 50 a month and you can only have 2500 pics a month. That is about 3 events for me. Maybe less.
I think I would get more sales if I could take credit cards.

What I would love to have is a site that combines the best features from each. I do not want to give up part of my profit to the website like smugmug charges. I have had some items come back dark from smugmug...plus the cost for prints is higher than most.

What do you guys use and what features would you like to see?

Message edited by author 2006-02-18 18:57:06.

Nikon D200

02/18/2006 07:20:07 PM · #2

If you have the buying option turned off, why would you pay extra for the pro-level site? Are you running into site traffic/bandwidth issues? With regard to the increase in price, I believe that if you signed up under the $99/year rate, then you get to renew at that rate for as long as you keep it, at least for the foreseeable future. The increase was for new users.

For event or private client work, I use the "proof" watermark rather than re-sizing and (c) notice. Most of my galleries are private, unless the client agrees to have it public.

If you turn the buying option on, you will get notice of who purchased what (and when) via your Control Panel.

Regarding some of your prints coming out dark - do you have the "true color" option checked in your Gallery Customization preferences? That means no auto color correction is done, and what you see from your computer is what you'll get (assuming you are calibrated properly). It is one of the nicest features of having a Smugmug site.

Don't see a way around uploading original files. I always upload the big sizes as I also use Smugmug as a off-site backup for my work. You can turn off letting people see the original/large size shots in the Gallery Customization section. That, coupled with the watermark feature should provide you with great protection from theft or unauthorized use.

It seems certain that you would get more sales with the ability to take credit cards. In my opinion, the commission that Smugmug takes is reasonable, and well worth the customer service they provide. There will be a transaction processing fee if you decide to set up a merchant account on your own with the credit card companies, so it's kind of a wash in my book.

I know it sounds like a pain to re-upload all those shots, but they have lots of different uploading options - perhaps it won't be as hard as you think. One is unlimited as to bytes, and you could do it overnight while you are sleeping.

nards656

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Tamron SP AF 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6 AD Aspherical IF for Canon

02/18/2006 07:41:55 PM · #3

Originally posted by alixmiles:

What I would love to have is a site that combines the best features from each. I do not want to give up part of my profit to the website like smugmug charges. I have had some items come back dark from smugmug...plus the cost for prints is higher than most.

Ummm, if it's a service that you really want, it ought to be a service worth paying for, shouldn't it? That's why they charge - it's the basic law of enterprise. Surely you don't want someone to do something for free that you are going to sell to someone else, do you?

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

02/18/2006 07:47:15 PM · #4

When I started out I wanted the face to face with the customers. Being new to the business and having only lived here for a couple of years..I wanted to be able to interact with the community.

I would love to see an email about the files that I need to upload. I guess I am just worried about the customer getting dark pics. I am not bashing smugmug...I love it. I was just curious what everyone else uses and what would be your ideal site.

For example...I shot a pee wee wrestling tournament a couple of weeks ago...by myself. I was shooting 5 matches at a time for 8 hours straight. I shot 4375 pics that I needed to upload. These were all taken at the highest setting my 20d. It would take a week to do this. I even checked with my isp to see about higher upload..but it would cost about 250 a month. I just think it would be nice to have an email that would tell me when I need to upload a pic. Just brainstorming here.

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EOS-5D

02/18/2006 08:30:03 PM · #5

Can't you just wait to see what the customer orders & upload only the images they want or do you not have that kind of control?

02/18/2006 08:36:29 PM · #6

Originally posted by alixmiles:

I was shooting 5 matches at a time for 8 hours straight. I shot 4375 pics that I needed to upload. These were all taken at the highest setting my 20d.

I know that feeling! I shot 12 soccer games in one day, averaging 600 pictures per game, I came in at 7200 pictures for about 10 hours of work. My partner (really, I'm "his" partner) in this deal, shot as well, but not quite as many since he was busy running the sales end of things.

So yes, I know what you mean about uploading so many pictures.

You can see our site here www.ustarpix.com which uses //www.photoreflect.com as the host site. On this site, we are uploading the smaller thumbnails that the customer sees. They place an order and then we get an email telling us which images were purchased and we fulfill the order.

I use smugmug for my wedding photography business. And, as you've noted, I do end up uploading full size images of everything to the site. But I much prefer smugmug for what I'm doing. So I can see the need for both types of websites.

If you're interested, my website is here: //www.dterryphotography.com

02/18/2006 08:38:55 PM · #7

Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:

Can't you just wait to see what the customer orders & upload only the images they want or do you not have that kind of control?

If the customer places the order online via smugmug, smugmug fulfills the order. They do the printing. So whatever you upload, that's what will be printed. There is no "time delay" between the customer ordering and the fulfillment of the order, so you don't have a chance to upload full size images before they get printed.

I have to admit, however, that would be a nice idea. As it stands, I currently have about 26 Gigabytes of pictures online just in case anyone wants to purchase an image.

02/18/2006 09:00:28 PM · #8

Dave..I have been to your site several times and looked at your pictures. Great stuff. How do your pics that are ordered on smugmug look? I always use true color for my stuff on smugmug.

It would be a nice feature.In fact that is exactly why I started this thread...to see if there was a site out there that does it. Gonna go look at your photoreflect after I post this. will check back in in a few minutes.

02/19/2006 01:55:02 AM · #9

anybody else use something else?

Prof_Fate

02/19/2006 02:02:45 AM · #10

If you do some searching on wedding sites you will find some that do events too - almost all of these sites will tell you want was ordered and you can fulfill the order anyway you want, and they take cards and you set prices.
Cost varies - some are by event, some by the year, etc.
try //www.eventpix.com and //www.collages.net

02/19/2006 08:14:46 AM · #11

Originally posted by alixmiles:

Dave..I have been to your site several times and looked at your pictures. Great stuff. How do your pics that are ordered on smugmug look? I always use true color for my stuff on smugmug.

Yes, I always use true color. And I always use Lustre paper. Make sure you calibrate your own monitor first so that you can fairly reliably get what you want from smugmug.

And I do like what I get from smugmug. In fact, I send most of my own pictures to smugmug for printing, except when I'm in a hurry for small prints (4x6 up to 8x10), then I just take them to Inkley's across the street from where I work.