Web Photography Sales Website In A Box – Does It Exist?

[pcDigiMan]

Thinking of attending my daughters (2 year and 6 months) outings and events – when I can take a couple of hours off from work.
Thinking why not take a few shots of the other kids as well as mine and see if their parents want to purchase photo from the web.
Does anyone know if any packages exist to build a simple photography sales website and who handles the exchange of the money?
How close does Microsoft Front Page or like products get you?
Expected cost...?

[Doom1701e]

I think cafepress.com might do something like that for certain size photos.

[troutbowl]

checkout www.photoreflect.com (http://www.photoreflect.com) they will host your photos and even sell them all you do is pay a comission.

[Poster Of U]

I use www.Printroom.com, check out my website, www.PosterOFu.com. My website was created using Microsoft Frontpage and I added in the Printroom website so it looks like my own. When you click on a gallery "Packers Football" the password is Dave(Case sensitive) Let me know what you think, Printroom does everything but take and edit the pictures.

[gmen]

www.photoshelter.com

Read all about it here: www.photoshelter.com/tour

---- Gavin

[ned1]

Hi, NTL have a one, they do it all for you, check the site out here http://ntlworld.photobox.co.uk/ you need the "Pro Galleries" link

[pcDigiMan]

Thanks for the feedback. Still have to check out some of the above recommended sites.

[blighty]

Shutterpoint.com

[bainsk8]

Does anybody know of one based in Europe please?

[drookie]

Smugmug.com allows sales for profit in their pro package.

[blinking8s]

http://www.photoreflect.com

[carsanbballs]

I use www.Printroom.com (http://www.Printroom.com), check out my website, www.PosterOFu.com (http://www.PosterOFu.com). My website was created using Microsoft Frontpage and I added in the Printroom website so it looks like my own. When you click on a gallery "Packers Football" the password is Dave(Case sensitive) Let me know what you think, Printroom does everything but take and edit the pictures.

I've been using Printroom for 2 years, nice use of their site.

[Swaffs]

Hi, NTL have a one, they do it all for you, check the site out here http://ntlworld.photobox.co.uk/ you need the "Pro Galleries" link

Thats only NTL jumping on the photobox bandwagon.

www.photobox.co.uk (http://www.photobox.co.uk) is a good one,

I use them to do my printing and can say they are excellent.
I actually handle all the orders and image downloads through some software called popsoft, and then upload the ordered image to photobox, and they process and deliver it for me.

If you want the whole ordering online and delivery etc. all handled by someone else try photobox.

Swaffs

[Poster Of U]

Thank you, Do you have a public site using printroom, I would like to see what other people are doing with it.

I've been using Printroom for 2 years, nice use of their site.

[imaculate]

Printroom has another vote. I've used others like photoshelter, photoreflect and smug mug. Hate them. No customer service, charge too much and doesn't really help me as a small business. Printroom however did it all for me. Email me if you want my rep's info. He's great and I would suggest you to work with him if you want to get started growing your business.

[rlhphotos]

Total Photo might work for you.

[MrTED]

Does anyone know of a site/package/template that you can display/sell your photos online without being tied to a particular lab? I am happy to send the photos myself to my own lab, but they don't provide a web service like this.

Thanks,

Nathan

[erdavis]

Try http://www.agoracart.com/ if you want to add a shopping cart to your website. Your customers order pictures, pay for them securely, then you process the order/ppictures and send them their pictures.

[cmpowell125]

Thats only NTL jumping on the photobox bandwagon.


www.photobox.co.uk (http://www.photobox.co.uk) is a good one,

I use them to do my printing and can say they are excellent.
I actually handle all the orders and image downloads through some software called popsoft, and then upload the ordered image to photobox, and they process and deliver it for me.

If you want the whole ordering online and delivery etc. all handled by someone else try photobox.

Swaffs

Popsoft? Where can I find this software? Google turns nothing up.

Chris

[Pamela107]

Smugmug .
Ive have been with them for only a month with the Pro package.
So far everything has been very smooth, non problem with sales, everyone is happy.
Check out their info at www.smugmug.com
Take a look at my page also www.exposed-images.smugmug.com
There is alot of helpful info in their forum as well.
If you are interested you can save $5 to join by using this email in the referral box
exposedimagesphotography@yahoo.com

Good Luck

[MazerRakhm]

I also use SmugMug, been with them for over 2 years now, with no problems at all, the few times I've needed to use their customer service (To change orders mostly) they have been quick to respond and professional.

I've even bought prints for myself from them if I don't print at home, and have liked everything I've gotten so far.

[scattashot]

Printroom has another vote. I've used others like photoshelter, photoreflect and smug mug. Hate them. No customer service, charge too much and doesn't really help me as a small business. Printroom however did it all for me. .

I visited the site it sounds like a good package so i am going to bookmark it for future use

thanks

[JohnnyBlood]

Still there is not a pre-packaged web site in a box for event photographers that I can find (where I'm not tied to a monthly contract and where I can reduce overhead by using my own networks server and storage). A lot of these solutions are good if you are only selling a handful of images. But for event photography, where one has to store 100s of images for each event (dozens every year), they don't seem like easy solutions.

I wish there was something out there so I don't have to give a cut of the action to someone else. I'll probably have to bite the bullet and have a programmer make one for me from scratch.

[IdeallyYours]

http://www.PhooDoo.com is a new one that might be what you're looking for.

[MrTED]

I'm in the same boat as JohnnyBlood. I want an all in one template, gallery and ordering, but there is not one supplier out there that can do this, without the ongoing monthly costs or cut of turnover. The closest thisng I have found is EOS Template. I need mine running in the next week or two, so any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Nathan

[JohnnyBlood]

I have a suggestion:

I am willing to work with a couple of "partners" to pay a web developer $$$ to create a web site template for photograph sales. It would be a design that hopefully could be shared with up to 10 to 12 investors and fellow photogs. Each would have the ability to apply their own color, logo treatment, and a few other graphic treatments. Professionally created and 100% top notch, we could probably get an awesome product created for around $5000 to $6000. Split 10 ways that's $500 to $600 each...a small price to pay for customized web site with shopping cart.

Then once every year there could be an "update" to the web page layout and design for around $1000 to make it fresh and new.

Anyone interested?

[tghaines]

I have found the following programs:
FastCart - http://www.fastcart.co.uk/
Cactushop - http://www.cactushop.com/
Shopping cart builder - http://www.shoppingcartbuilder.com/
QuickCart - http://www.quickcart.com/
Fast eCart - http://www.code9software.com/shopping-cart-builderie.html
Builder.au - http://www.builderau.com.au/downloads/info.htm?swid=39068795
etc.... Google is our friend!!

There are some freebies on download.com also....

I have not tried any of these, but I am also looking for the same thing for my site. I'll post when I find a solution that works for me.

Cheers, Trent.

[tghaines]

OK...I think I have found it. Although it looks techo and I havent tried it....

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php

Trent.

[defordphoto]

I also use Printroom. So far so good.

[tghaines]

zencart is super messy.....still looking

[tghaines]

OK.... I have "Shopping Cart X" working.

http://scx.mainretail.com/scx/welcome.htm

It's about US$ 55 (about $1Mil Australian). Easy to get running, a little time consuming to get all the data in, but might be the shop. My test site (please no cc on the photos, they were the first I found) is at http://trenthaines.myphotos.cc/shop . It's set-up to mail me every time there is an order then I guess I'd contact buyers for the $$ side of things.

Now I have this running I'll give zencart another try.....after my poor little brain cools down a little.

[RedWingNut]

I have used SmugMug (http://www.smugmug.com/) for "events" and "better" images. I like the customization of "your" site, and the fact that they will print and handle everything for you. They do prints, and gifts too, if you want to enable all the options. And YOU set what you would like to offer for sale. Different sizes and papers too. And they will send you any profits, if you give them a tax ID number.

I believe you need the PRO subscription to allow printing, otherwise, it is a photo sharing type site. Pro is $99 per year, I believe.

You can save $5 on a SmugMug subscription if you enter this code ( L5xvhn5DEtHqs ), without the parenthesis, in the 'Referred by' field on the signup form...

-----------------------

In the UK (if you favor UK-ish merchants, or anywhere really), you might want to try PhotoShare (http://www.photoshare.co.nz). The guy that runs it is VERY nice to work with.

PhotoShare just hosts pictures (no printing option), but it is WAY easier for average people to customize AND cheaper than PBase. It costs a whopping $6 for each 50mb, with a 100mb minimum. $12 per year is about half of PBase.

Their homepage isn't much, but if you look at some of the members galleries, you can see some nice layouts and things, that they offer. They have a "wizard" to use to customize, or you can do it more manually. Nice site with nice people...

[MazerRakhm]

New SmugMug pro account are now $150. You can sell prints at any subscription level, but only with the Pro account can you change the sale prices and make a profit.

[RedWingNut]

Dang, they are $150 now. Didn't know that. Still probably worth it for them doing everything after the sale, so to speak.

[MazerRakhm]

They made an announcement that they were going to raise prices a while ago, although IMHO I think it's still fairly cheap and a pretty good deal. The unlimited space is wonderful, and I've not even come close to my bandwith usage.

[linarms]

For anyone who's interested, I'm approaching the final stages of developing a dedicated photo sales system with the following features (to name a few):

* secure albums (you give clients an event name and date which they use to sign on) - optional public albums
* print sizes and types and prices defined by you
* remote album admin tool -- resamples while uploading
* dynamic zooming and watermarking (allows clients to see close-ups of faces but still watermarks the zoomed version)
* full credit card handling
* allows purchase of images for download (variable sizes)

A pro photographer is already testing the system and I'm hoping to have it ready for everyone else in a few months. If you're interested in specifics or have features to recommend, feel free to PM me.

I hope there's nothing questionable about posting this here. I'm not actually selling a product yet, and this seemed an appropriate place to engage with photographers about what they'd like to see in something like this ...

[PAS Photography]

Im a professional photographer using printroom as well. It has done wonders with my reprint sales allowing me to not have to deal with anyreprints physically anymore. I dont know what Id do without it. My time is limited having a fulltine day job on top of my photography business with the competition these days. Online ordering has been a key feature to provide customers with easy access to ordering vs going thru me directly having to run to the lab and mailing directly. An online lab does the work for you with less hassle and time consumption. The majority of big name photogs nowadays use online services to do their reprinting with the increased costs of running a business alog with ease for the consumer and speed of receiveing reprints.

[jeremy]

I placed my european portfolio online through a company called www.creativemotiondesign.co.uk. They allow for tons of image space and bascially unlimited galleries for different portfolios. Plus they have an easy to use control panel that allows me to easily add pages and edit existing info. Overall, I am pretty happy with them.

[dlphotography]

Hey guys,

Try

Picture Proofs (http://www.pictureproofs.com)

because it has exactly what this post is asking for. It does not refer your customers to another site. It allows you to make a box in your own site and

import their services (http://www.pictureproofs.com/tutorials/frames.aspx)

Also, only 5% on sales and no other costs. Can't hurt to try because it's free!

[rraman]

www.fotki.com also let's users sell their photos with the ability to set custom prices.

[Big WIll]

www.discofealey.co.uk made my site ---> www.esphoto.co.uk

[AMeyer]

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you may want to look into Shutterfly's Pro Gallery. Allows you to host images, they handle the printing/payment/shipping so you don't have to.

[Jeanelle]

Anyone here use www.dotphotopro.com ?? or know anything good or bad about it?