photoshelter vs smugmug

[kozmix]

Hi! I currently have my gallery with pbase, but the features are not much and i would like to host my photos on a website that allows me to sell prints and probably royalties too. Also i would like to use my url for business cards and so.

Btw, i live in Europe, and i guess that most of those sites i'm mentioning are from the US.

I've taken a look at various options and the ones i like the best are photoshelter and smugmug. How do you rate your experiencies with them? Photoshelter is really damn expensive for what i would like and personaly i don't know if it justifies it's cost, so any help would be welcome.

Thx a lot for your advice =)

[S.Horton]

SmugMug A+ in my book.

(American point-of-view)


BIG EDIT 11 OCT 07:
- We'll keep SmugMug for the local sports
- It looks like we're going to add Photoshelter, at a much higher price, for their lightbox and managed-rights / agency support

It will be the Photoshelter account which gets the custom web front-end, also. If SM supported TIF, had managed rights support and a log-in lightbox, maybe.......

[Scott6]

im in America as well, but I love smugmug.. it has everything I need and then some.

[dave_bass5]

I use Smugmug and in in the UK.
Although i dont sell any prints via it (i dont think you can as last time i looked it was for the USA only) one thing to point out is they do have maintenance down time and its in favour of the states so normally overnight for them but morning/early afternoon for Europe. Other than that i think its a great site.

[gmen]

PhotoShelter is a fantastic tool for working photographers. It offers numerous features over and above the ability to sell prints.

This current thread on ss.com is well worth a read:

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=26667

---- Gavin

[arg245]

I realize you mentioned you looked at various options, but I just wanted to make sure Zenfolio was one of them. While they aren't yet at the feature level with Smugmug, they are much better in my opinion.

Have a look here if you haven't;

www.zenfolio.com (http://www.zenfolio.com)

Their "Premium" package (which is purported to be more feature rich than Smugmug) will be available in about 6 tp 8 weeks, according the their latest estimate, and I think it will be worth the wait. I know they will come in at a much less expensive rate than Smugmug. If you can wait, I suggest you join their free membership and try them out.

If it turns out you like Zenfolio, use my code " GG8-FG1-UKY ", and you'll receive $5 off immediately.

Good Luck!

[S.Horton]

@Gavin - Great link, excellent read.

We're strongly considering PS.........

[JasonSTL739]

Shout out for Smugmug...

http://www.sedura.com

[blackshadow]

I would have gone with smugmug except they will not allow me to bill customers in local currency ($AUD) and that their payment is by cheque which means I have to wait 28 days for an international cheque to clear into my bank account after waiting for them to issue cheques monthly - it's just not good enough for a digital business as far as I'm concerned. I did look at EM and Photoreflect but neither of them met my needs either.

I'm looking forward to see what zenfolio offer in their professional package.

[Linkzi]

Shout out for Smugmug...

http://www.sedura.com

That is one of the best websites I've seen for photograpy. Awesome. Is it all Smugmug or did you link Smugmug to another web host?

EDIT: Nevermind, I read your technique in the Business forum.

[JasonSTL739]

That is one of the best websites I've seen for photograpy. Awesome. Is it all Smugmug or did you link Smugmug to another web host?

EDIT: Nevermind, I read your technique in the Business forum.

Thanks much. Trying to get it a bit more integrated as we speak - mainly after not having the pop-up to the "smugmug" part of the site.

J

[gmen]

I would have gone with smugmug except they will not allow me to bill customers in local currency ($AUD)PhotoShelter will allow you to bill in your local currency.

---- Gavin

[AB8ND]

Not to step on either Photoshelter or Smugmug, but I started a small gallery using Zenfolio. I found it easier to use than Smugmug at the same price.

Jack

[Uhland]

I use smugmug

[fetching]

i'm looking at photoshelter and printroom. i'm totally confused. :)

[jerryr]

Hi !
Big thumbs up for smugmug...

I have worked with several photographers as well in customizing their smugmug web sites. I have encountered a lot of great ideas for showing off your customer proofs as well as marketing yourself and your photography business !
To see some examples :
http://www.jrphotosandwebdesign.com/customization

- thanks -

- jerryr