Canadians: Selling Online, looking for some input [Archive]

mtbkanata

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 15:43

Hey all, I found that in my search for a way to sell Event Photos online, Canada is pretty lacking in what is available. In order to meet my own needs, I coded my own site from scratch ( http://www.zoomphoto.ca ), but that got me thinking, if I needed it... others might too..

So, I'm looking to see if there is something already out there for Canadians to sell in our own currency, accept GST/PST/HST, and deal with shipping in our country.

If not... is there a need for a website like that? I guess it doesn't have to be Event photos only, any photos could be displayed and sold online.

The key I think is collecting money in Canadian Dollars.. that's why I had to make my own site... Anyway, just looking for some input... what do you guys think?

Thanks in Advance,

Joe

ssim

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 18:46

Interesting site. How do you propose working this for other photographers that might want to use your site for ordering. Is is customizable and to what degree.

There are options that are available to the extent that I'm not sure that I would need to reinvent the wheel. I am in the process of having my own domain done and I will probably incorporate one of the options that is currently available.

Your site explains things very well for the consumer wanting to purchase their image. I don't see much in the way of information there to intice us photographers to subscribe.

mtbkanata

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 19:16

Oh, this site is not for others to join, this is my own company site. I wanted to write another port of it, that would be for other photographers.

Since I can't find anything on the web for Canada, I was gauging interest.

The site is very customizable, but I only wrote what I needed.. as in you can choose what size of images you will sell, and at what price for a whole folder, or overwrite those defaults my an event or image basis.

Which options are you going to use on your site? Are they Canadian specific? I searched high and low before I made my own... so many USA only sites out there! (Or the prices would drive off Canadian Customers since they are in US Dollars)

I have the code already ... I would just have to release it to the wild. Before I did the work, I was checking to see whether it would be worth my time.

Thanks for your reply though!

krista

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 23:12

Do you mean something like this: http://www.digi-labs.ca/webgalleries.php

This is who I use...

mtbkanata

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 23:17

Yeah, that looks like what I am thinking.. just not the same pricing structure.

I've never seen that website, but good to know there are some in Canada.

What is you website URL?

krista

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 23:21

www.kristajefferson.com

There isn't much offered in Canada - that's the way it goes - but this company is good and very easy to work with.

mtbkanata

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 23:25

Nice site... what part is hosted for you? I don't see any galleries where someone can make a purchase... or is that all just for the people once the event is over, they get a url to view and make purchases?

krista

22nd of February 2007 (Thu), 23:44

That's it - a client gets a link to their gallery after their photo shoot. At weddings, I hand out bus cards with the clients url on it to direct friends & family there.

If you go to the blog there is a sample gallery there.

This site has only been up for less than a week (my old site you can access off the home page by clicking on the slow connection part at the bottom) so still working out the bugs...

mtbkanata

23rd of February 2007 (Fri), 09:32

Yeah, that's a really nice site you have there! I wish I was more creative for my own sites... crazy thing, I can create photos, code and all sorts or stuff, but my drawing and design skills are terrible!

mtbkanata

9th of March 2007 (Fri), 15:32

Hmmm, not many people interested ... I guess that's why there are so few sites in Canada! I'm still kicking this idea around... I thought it would be perfect to leverage off what I've already made for those who want to sell, but have no way to in Canada to Canadian clients (Without going to a US sales portal).

transcend

9th of March 2007 (Fri), 18:01

Joe, good to see you finally decided to sell your work! People have been after you to do it for years. Good luck, and I'll see you at fortune hopefully this year if I am not in europe.

mtbkanata

10th of March 2007 (Sat), 00:16

Hey Fraser, fancy meeting you here!

When did you get into photographer? Your Flickr has some awesome shots!

transcend

10th of March 2007 (Sat), 12:32

Hey Fraser, fancy meeting you here!

When did you get into photographer? Your Flickr has some awesome shots!

Thanks, I actually started in school as a photographer, then specialized in radio, followed by print. Somehow, I ended up in Political Science after all of that?

I have been working full time with the circus for 3 years now.

mtbkanata

10th of March 2007 (Sat), 13:15

Cirque du soleil?

transcend

10th of March 2007 (Sat), 13:33

Cirque du soleil?

Unfortunately not that exciting, the World Cup circus.

bcap

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 12:01

I like your custom solution for the web gallery.

I did something similar, except I do not take payment, I request that they email me with the photo they would like.

My site is www.memoriesinmotionnf.ca ... click "Gallery" at the top to see.

mtbkanata

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 13:21

Nice website... all the galleries need a password though.

Do you sell many photos online/email?

mmahoney

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 13:24

This looks interesting but much depends on pricing .. DigiLabs can go up to 25% commission which is a pretty ridiculous amount right off the top. A $2,500 wedding and give $625 off the gross ?? .. Nuts :rolleyes:

But I think a Canadian based, reasonably priced viewing / ordering site would do very well. Again pricing is the key .. I have my own website and don't really need to pay for image hosting .. easier to get someone to write the code for me to create and manage my own galleries on my own site.
Mike

bcap

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 13:28

Nice website... all the galleries need a password though.

I think it is important to password protect them, as it is a privacy issue for the subjects in the photos.

Do you sell many photos online/email?

Absolutely not! In fact, we have barely sold anything. Organizations just like the fact that we have it.

mtbkanata

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 14:36

Oh, I understand the PW requirement, I have some galleries like that too.. I was just saying that I couldn't see the galleries.

You're not selling much eh? Are you guys the 'Official Photog's'? I used to just go and shoot, but now I make sure that *I* (Zoomphoto) are the offical photog's... we get flyers in kit bags and links on the clients website.. after an event, we get loads of people visiting... usually turns out that 5-10% make a purchase, which is not all that great, but when there are 1500 participants, that can add up to a good amount.

mmahoney: The idea I was going for was to host images for nadda... Then how we would make money is to take a percentage of sales (In this case 15%) That 15% would include you hosting, your printing, and everything.. so the client would receive the printed image in their mailbox, and you collect profit from us. Since you can set the prices, 15% is not that much... Once you add up all the fees from Collecting money, shipping, printing... it's a pretty sweet deal.

mmahoney

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 15:59

mmahoney: The idea I was going for was to host images for nadda... Then how we would make money is to take a percentage of sales (In this case 15%) That 15% would include you hosting, your printing, and everything.. so the client would receive the printed image in their mailbox, and you collect profit from us. Since you can set the prices, 15% is not that much... Once you add up all the fees from Collecting money, shipping, printing... it's a pretty sweet deal.

15% is a steal if it can get rid of my event coverage headaches :lol: But who does the color correcting, levels, maybe cropping, etc? .. and do you have a catalogue system? .. for example your Hypothermic Half Marathon has 37 pages of photos with 24 photos per page which means a customer has to sift through 888 pics to find the one they want?

I'm interested in outsourcing most all of my sports stuff next year .. it's time consuming to shoot and even worse to sell. My son has offered to shoot and all he wants to do is take the pics and upload to a server somewhere and collect his royalty cheque like a rock star :lol:.

We can take this offline if you like or talk about it here .. the more people aware of it the better but I'll have a zillion questions.
Mike

mtbkanata

12th of March 2007 (Mon), 16:19

Yup, we have a catalogue system... For example:

http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10010-101-10024113/19/

Is indexed as 1151.. you can see under the photo the index can be reported as wrong, or updated (If we put 9999 instead of the actual number).

You can search on that number from the search page, or from the Event Home page.

Not all events have numbers, so not all events can be indexed... I have a large team of quick fingered indexers.. so indexing is done very fast.

Colour correction and cropping is done at the time the photos is sent to the lab. We use Fotowire, so images are processed with Photoshop first.. usually the cropping is simple if the photo was shot properly... colour correction is just to make sure it's not over or under exposed... simple stuff.. again when it's shot correctly, there is very little to do!

The selling is a large part of a photographers time... printing, shipping, whatever... Since we do so much anyway, adding more seemed natural... and since there is nothing really like this in Canada... ;)

You can email me, or PM me anytime.

totalphoto

13th of March 2007 (Tue), 18:02

MTB-Kanata, I am very interested in using what you got, I had a quick look, but have know idea what or how it happens!
Computer Dumb-Dumb here!
I would love to host throught Flicker and have people able to drop ma an e-mail to purchase!

mmahoney

13th of March 2007 (Tue), 19:39

I would love to host throught Flicker and have people able to drop ma an e-mail to purchase!

Flickr is so easy to use in terms of uploading files and creating photo sets, etc. .. but very limited in terms of how the site looks, basically it's one size fits all.

I often wish for a Flickr type capability with my own website for those times where you want to change a picture or wording.
Mike

totalphoto

13th of March 2007 (Tue), 20:12

We will have to talk Mike! I am not very good when it comes to computers!
Leon

transcend

13th of March 2007 (Tue), 21:36

mtbkanata

13th of March 2007 (Tue), 21:45

Yeah, Flickr is great for the social networking aspect, but not good for sales outside of the Flickr system. You can buy prints through them, but you can't sell on the side for profit in your own... Plus, when you order from Mpix, it's crazy insane the shipping to Canada.. I think it's $15US!

DeluxeMan

18th of March 2008 (Tue), 21:45

is there a list of all photographer at zoomphoto.ca?
A place where the client could navigate from a photographer to an other one?

mtbkanata

18th of March 2008 (Tue), 22:02

No, not really... it's more like each photographer is a separate site within the big site. So clients are not really aware that there are more people selling... however, you can have many photographers 'work' for you and sell photos under your site and events.

I was thinking in the future to have an area where you can search for a photographer in your area, but that has not been coded.

I added a sign-up page if you're interested.. and a sign up info page (Which I should spell-check!)

Info: http://www.zoomphoto.ca/signupinfo/

The sign up link is at the bottom.

photosytes

19th of March 2008 (Wed), 19:26

Just took a quick look. Interesting.

Might want to check for spelling mistakes though. Didn't look through everything but on you products page "received" was incorrect. Just thought you'd want to know. : o ) Oh, and on one page it says shipping is $3.00 while another page says $3.50.

mtbkanata

19th of March 2008 (Wed), 20:19

Thanks.. yeah, I have a copy editor who sent me about a million spelling errors... Unfortunately the development studio app I use doesn't have spell-check!

I'll update that error this eve!

Edit: I updated received, and the pricing... (I forgot to get that page Jan 1!)

Joe

mtbkanata

19th of March 2008 (Wed), 21:18

Oh, and there is a signup page... this thread is pretty old...

http://www.zoomphoto.ca/signupinfo/

Rubi Jane

20th of March 2008 (Thu), 20:40

I signed up for an account after seeing TotalPhoto's post the other day, but the post is now MIA - weird. I think this is a perfect option for me this summer for my events. Last year I used Instaproofs in desperation and it worked out OK.

Anyway, I'm having with some of the setup (logos, watermarks & custom page) and I'm no computer dummy. Guess I'll be emailing you Joe ;)