Help with a few details

[asysin2leads]

Ok, I have 9 days left on my trial SmugMug Pro acct. While I like it, I just have an issue spending $150 on it. It's not so much spending the money, it's more I'm not sure how often I'll use it to sell prints. The 15% they take doesn't bother me either. I looked at Exposure Manager, too. I have my own webserver and domain. I set up a sample Simpleviewer gallery and the ones who have seen it really like it. I like Simpleviewer and can password protect the directories that they're in. What type of shopping cart do you think I should use with this? I'm trying to set pricing as well. I don't want to know what what price to set. I'll probably use MPix for the printing. What should the markup % be to cover S&H and make a little profit for myself? I don't want to gouge them, but at least make it worth my while.

[blackshadow]

Might be best to take a peek at the Simpleviewer forums.

Another option is to take a look at EOS Template (which is a shopping cart album template) and JAlbum (or one of the other album packages it supports) but you do have to be savvy when it comes to website programming to get the best out of it.

[figmented]

youll make the most money from unattended printing imo.. (smugmug)

[sonshine_rae]

I'll just comment on the one thing I know something about lol..

everywhere I read they say to mark-up between 3-5 times your cost.. depending on your experience and local market etc.

[canoflan]

Exposuremanager.com is $100 a year and is completely customizable.

Pat

[asysin2leads]

Well, I got the 15 day trial of EM and LOVE IT!!!!! It is SO much easier to customize than Smugmug. I will go with the Simpleviewer on the websites I do for others, but will stick w/ EM for my galleries. It takes a few minutes to go through EM's pages to get where you want to get to, but after that, the customization is rather easy. Click click and it's done. I've looked around to compare sites that focus (pardon the pun) on the type of photos I'll be concentrating on and basing my rates off their rates. I'm will compare my current rates vs. the 3-5 times markup. Thanks for all of the advice.

[liza]

I, too, am considering other avenues for my sports pics, since Smugmug uses EZ Prints, and I don't like the quality of their prints. The $150 expense plus 15% is a little ridiculous, also, since I pay less than that for professional hosting. Does Exposure Manager operate in the same manner as Smugmug in that they do the web fulfillment? I don't want to fall into the trap of having to fulfill the orders myself, as I have too many of them to make it cost effective. My time is worth something, after all. :)

[asysin2leads]

Liza,
Yes, you can have EM fulfill orders or they have "self-fulfillment". I am SO much more impressed w/ EM than Smugmug. Customization is MUCH easier, IMHO, with EM. Again, once you get the hang of where things are in EM, it's easy to customize the galleries. I know there are those who swear by Smugmug, but I have tried both and like EM much more.