Where do you host your photos?

[aridan]

I'm shopping around for a good website to post my photos on. I've been using Flickr's free account but I don't like the layout and the way photos are organized. It all seems messy to me. It's a nice site to link random stuff of, but is not too friendly when you try to organize album or view pictures. The navigation is quite cumbersome as well.

So far, I've looked at pbase.com, blogspot.com, and smugmug.com
I'm looking for a clean, organized, and customizable layout. Something that the latter two above can offer. I don't mind spending some money to open an account, so long as it meets my criteria. Another feature I was looking for, is the capability for visitors to purchase copies. Something, which smugmug offers but I'm not sure who gets the profits, nor how profits are distributed (whether the site pockets some of it in the process).
If anyone has any input on the subject I would love to hear it.
Thanks. :)

[mbellot]

I have a SmugMug Pro account, which is the only way you'll see "profit" from you images using SM. The other account levels do not allow you to set pricing above the base print costs.

Generally I'm quite happy, its fairly customizable (within some limits) and the security features are decent.

Best of all (if you seriously intend to sell online) is their print guarantee. I had someone order several prints over the weekend including a 5x7 and 8x10. Everything I post is in 4x6 format (the bulk of my sales) and the customer didn't adjust the crop for those two and ended up chopping off a chunk of her daughter's head.

I contacted SM support as soon as I saw the problem (you can review every order placed). They couldn't stop the prints with the error, so instead they entered a new order for the 5x7 and 8x10 and allowed me to specify the crop.

The second "order" shipped the same way as the original order (Express Mail) and it was no charge to myself or the customer for the prints or shipping.

If you do decide to go with SmugMug I would appreciate it it you would use my referral code, it will save you $5 and I get a discount on renewal as well. The referral code is: 6sQ2m3UCfcZtf

SmugMug is great, but good luck whichever way to go.

EDIT:

BTW - The entire incident I had could have been avoided. SmugMug also has a feature called "Proof Delay" that allows you to review an order before it gets sent to the printer. I now have a five day proof delay on all my images that are for sale so it doesn't happen again.

[archaeoman]

Hands down, Zenfolio.com (http://www.zenfolio.com) is becoming a leader. Their Premium package is great. Check out the details on their website. Several themes and layouts to choose from. About every 2 months they have been rolling out new features as well, very progressive.

Edit: Order approval added last month.

They have a free trial.

My gallery in my sig, as well as a $5 off coupon code for Zenfolio.

[totalphoto]

My site is home-made from scratch by a guy I met 2 years ago. Canada is lacking in photo/host/sales templates.
I think I have the best around.
Check below tell me what you think.
Shoot event, upload pictures, watch money roll in, everything is taken care of for me.

[amfoto1]

Hi,

I'm using Printroom.com for about two years and have been happy with it. I've never had even one customer complaint about print/product quality. Lots of positive comments.

It serves as my ordering and fulfillment site for event photography, mostly. $99 a year now, for their "mid-level" package. They have a higher priced one I looked at, but decided this gave me all I needed.

Lots of customizing possible. You can set up either an HTML or flash storefront. I'm currently trying out the flash.

You can store a ton of photos in the galleries (only small thumbnails are needed until a print is ordered). You can set up galleries as you need them, and they can be customized easily.

The management software works pretty well. (Minor glitches, mine occasionally tells me I should do a free upgrade, but I already have the current version installed!)

They have an ICC profile for soft proofing.

Lot's of help and learning info online.

You set your own prices, and they have price "models" you can start with.

There are a ton of products available, which you can enable or disable for your customers to buy.

Some of the non-print, photo related products like coffee mugs and key chains seem a little pricey, perhaps they outsource those.

Print wholesale prices are reasonable. I'm considering using it more to generate fast prints, even in small it may cost less than using my inkjet printers, in the long run.

They do a lot to help protect copyright.

And it's an easy shopping environment for my customers.

I'd not host my own site for this purpose for several reasons. One, I don't want to have to set up a bank account to be able to accept credit cards. Yes, there are a few alternative, but they all seem to end up pretty expensive.

I also have to handle large volumes of images in very short periods of time and don't want to get bogged down maintaining the site any more than necessary. It's got to be as automated as possible.

Also, I know folks who are using Printroom.com as the galleries portion of their own website, with good results. Best of both worlds, IMHO. Lots of room on your separate site for whatever content you need, that's easily linked to the galleries/shopping services at Printroom. You can even have your storefront customized to best match your own web pages, if needed.That's what I plan to do, too, eventually.

[PhotosGuy]

I'm using Printroom.com for about two years and have been happy with it. I've never had even one customer complaint about print/product quality. Lots of positive comments. Me, too.


What image hosting/online sales program do you use? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=393106)

What are you using to sell prints online? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=391298)

online hosting and selling (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=99121)

[FlyingPhotog]

I've had a PBase account for a few years but also started a Zenfolio account in the (opptimistic) hope that someone might want to have a print of some of my work.