Questions about smugmug.

[Uhland]

I was planing on making my own gallery to sell my photos and taking payment via paypay.

After looking at smugmug pro I have been thinking about that.

Main thing thats selling me on it is backing up my photos.
I currently use DVD's.
With smugmug I can just store them on one HDD and use smugmug for backup.
Does anyone know how well this would work out?
How long to they allow you to access your files if you fail to renew subscription?
Do they allow RAW?

One thing thats making me not like smugmug is the 15% they take from your sales.
Thats not bad if your charging 5-20 bucks but what about my fine art shots?
Ones I want to charge 200-300 for? That 15% gets pretty large.
Considering im PAYING to sell the getting charged a percent. Meh.. Id MUCH rather it be a flat fee.

PS... post your referral code.
If i do sing up i'll use one from someone who gave me some helpfull advice.

[sandro9mm]

have u tried deviantart prints account? I think they charge flat fee per image sold, and its a huge community - u can get sales pretty fast if u have good portfolio of course.

[Uhland]

have u tried deviantart prints account? I think they charge flat fee per image sold, and its a huge community - u can get sales pretty fast if u have good portfolio of course.

no i havnt.
Very nice images on there.
Very intimidating :oops:

It doesnt look like there is much control there.
Cant password protect or hide certain galleries.

[MikeI]

I have used Smugmug since March. So far so good. Once I got used to managing the site, it became a lot easier. I have a private (unseen) gallery JUST for back up. If it doesn't make any of the other galleries, it goes into the back up gallery.

I haven't thought much about the 15% (or whatever it is) they take. Doesn't bother me much...maybe it should! IMO, it is user friendly and customizable. I have ZERO experience with building web pages, HTML, etc. Smugmug is nice because it is simple. There are lots of tutorials on how to customize you pages, which is also nice.

I don't have anything to compare it to, but I like Smugmug and will stay with them.

And just in case you sign up:

UTGvsrKUvg2y6

[blackshadow]

If I lived in the US I would happily use a smugmug pro account and adjust my prices to factor in the 15% commission they take.

As I am not in the US and they don't have facilities for me to bill clients in currencies other than US dollars and only offer payment by cheque (which takes 28 days to clear the funds for an international cheque here and attracts extra bank fees) smugmug will not be getting my business.

I have been in touch with the powers that be at smugmug as these two things are vital to me and smugmug have informed me that these are low on their priority list. But if I was in the US they would more than likely have my business.

Oh the joys of living downunder!

[Uhland]

I signed up for the 14 day trial.
So far... I really like it.
So many pricing options and features.
No way I would have been able to create something like this myself.
Soo easy too and nice backup (cant upload raw tho)

Im going to stretch out my 14 day trial then buy the pro account.

Sorry Mikel... I did a search for smugmug code on here and grabed the 1st persons code I could find when I signed up.

[Tandem]

How much is your time worth? The 15% is worth it to me considering all the time I save not having to take orders, process them, and deliver the final product. That gives me more time to take photos and make more money.

[Uhland]

And just in case you sign up:

UTGvsrKUvg2y6



Just finished my 14 day trial and used your code.
:)