printroom.com - the dirty lowdown

Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G IF-ED DX

07/24/2007 04:02:23 PM · #1

ok, boys and girls, i'm looking for the dirty lowdown on www.printroom.com...

i'd like to hear from current and/or former printroom users as to what they liked and didn't like about the service.

i am NOT looking for alternatives or suggestions for other services.

my smugmug account is up for renewal in a month, and, after spending about an hour on the phone this morning with a printroom account rep, i'm favorably inclined to move my stuff over there. they seem to be more geared towards serving the professional market than smugmug (especially in that they believe in complete private label branding--you own your customers! this is the exact opposite of smugmug, who refuses the photographers any access to customer information other than an email address...). it doesn't help smugmug that printroom seems to offer a lot more professional service and they don't charge as much as smugmug, either.

however, all i know is what i heard from the account rep. now, i'd like to hear from those who know the printroom experience firsthand.

thanks!!!

grigrigirl

Nikon D3

07/24/2007 04:44:53 PM · #2

They may have improved since i used them..but...they use fuji printers and paper. I find these to be far less quality than kodak..paper is thinner as well. The colors were often off...reds way too red...or greens too green. Package became an issue as well. They would roll the larger prints for shipping..which is a pain when trying to box one up and deliver it to a client. Customer service seemed swell though. They are ready to clear up printing mistakes and re-ship. Its just a pain to have to keep calling and have things reshipped for dinged corners and bad chemicals. Remember..fuji= thinner prints. Its a whole quality difference when a client is holding that thin print in their hand.

Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G IF-ED DX

07/24/2007 06:52:01 PM · #3

those are legitimate beefs, julia--thanks! i'll see what the account rep has to say. btw, how long ago was this?

any other printroomers? c'mon, there's got to be more than a couple dpcer's out of the nearly 15,000 printroom subscribers...

Message edited by author 2007-07-24 18:52:34.

grigrigirl

Nikon D3

07/24/2007 09:03:09 PM · #4

it was at least 2 years ago. Im pretty sure they have some upgraded paper choices. I can give you a far better option if you like. It just involves fulfilling your own print orders..and drop shipping them..which is really not hard to do. Another issue with printroom is that customers end up ordering screwed up cropping options and then complain about it later. If you place the orders yourself and drop ship, then you have better control.

Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G IF-ED DX

07/24/2007 09:45:11 PM · #5

julia, when you say a better option, do you mean using printroom as an online gallery, then running your customer's orders through as your own? i considered that (and have done that in the past), but would like to avoid it, if possible.

i discussed the cropping issue with the account rep (i had a similar problem at smugmug), and was told that dynamic cropping was one of the many enhancements that they were going to be rolling out this fall.

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as i mentioned, i found a lot to like, and that's why i'm looking for other feedback, just to make sure i'm not overlooking anything.

one thing i REALLY like is that they provide free client-side software that takes your originals and creates low-res images that get uploaded automatically; this is the exact opposite of smugmug, where you need to upload large files just to trigger all the product menus.

another thing i like is that the image browser gives you a shopping cart option that allows you to specify various quantities of multiple products all at once. for the most part, shopping at smugmug is a royal PITA.

grigrigirl

Nikon D3

07/24/2007 10:00:16 PM · #6

you might want to check into labprints as a storefront. You use them and then use your own lab to process orders. You can actually send your orders through the labprints software to the lab of your choice..but im not very technical and never explored that option. I think the most important thing is to find a lab with a consistent quality that you are happy with. Places like collages, pictage and printroom force you to use their printing services. Personally, having quality control is very important. Ive heard too many horror stories in regards to services that force you to use their print lab when using their storefront.

Cutter

Nikon D700

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

07/24/2007 10:40:47 PM · #7

I used printroom for my first wedding. The bg were more than happy with the prints. I (shamefully) haven't seen the prints firsthand...terrible I know....However, i can speak on their customer service, usability, etc.

1. Customer Service: Quite literally as good as it gets...and I don't throw that around. They had great email and phone "account" rep service where they walked me through any issues.
2. The interface is SO easy to use. The system is geared to photographers for what we want and for clients for what they want.
3. The customization is pretty cool and something I appreciated.

PM me skip if you had specific issues and concerns so i can address those. Otherwise, if I were, I wouldn't hesitate. I am really research crazy myself and talked with many people before deciding and will continue with them going forward.

jmlelii

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

07/24/2007 10:51:08 PM · #8

Skip, I've been using printroom.com for almost a year now. Customer Service is SUPERB. They gave me a free print run to test out their prints when I signed up, and after Downloading their ICC profile, the colors were 99% accurate. I'm editing on an Ibook 12" with CS if that helps. The quality of the prints were extremely good.

The UI is very easy to use. The site itself is great.

I'll continue to use these guys once my renewal comes up in october.

My only qualm is they don't give a TON of upload space, but you can purchase more space (for a one time fee) which I need to do myself.

07/24/2007 11:38:20 PM · #9

beau, jeremy, thanks for the feedback; julia, also!

i had/have concerns about the storage space issues, as well. you get 300mb, which they say will hold about 6000 images--as long as you use their client-side software to prep your images for uploading. also, if you use their client-side software, the print-ready images you upload when someone places an order doesn't count against your total space. even so. i understand where they're coming from, in that they don't want you holding on to galleries past their prime; but, by the same token, i had nearly 20,000 images online for just one client last year, and will easily repeat that this year. that means i'm looking at needing quite a bit more than a few more GBs, which, at $100/gb is going to add a noticeable bit to my overhead.

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julia, i definitely will be doing a test run before commiting. one thing i did/do like about photoreflect was that i there are two outstanding local labs that are print partners. i do like that flexibility, but know full well that is not an option with printroom. i'll let you know how it looks once i get a test set done.