Help with Online Proofing

[vaswoman]

Hi there. I recently started my own business. I am only part-time, and I am looking for a reasonably priced proofing/shopping cart company. I am looking for something fairly inexpensive, because I just cannont justify spending a whole lot on proofing since I am only doing it part time. (i.e. Pictage is great, but not within the price range I am looking!)

The companies that appeal to me are the ones that take a "commission" based on my sales. I was using labprints, but they recently got rid of that plan.

Thanks

[EnronRocks]

Are you wanting to sell photos through this system or just allow users to view proofs?

If you are wanting to sell check out the following;
Zenfolio (Around $100, it is what I use)
SmugMug (Around $100 or more)
Exposure Manager (Around $100)

If you are wanting to just do proofs you could use Gallery2 or a paid version would be Photocart ($279.00 I think). If you want to know more about any of the things I listed above Google them and you will find review and the website you are looking for.

The good thing about the first three are that they also include hosting, and have multiple plans to fit your needs. So you don't have to buy web hosting plus the gallery software.

[vaswoman]

I want to be able to have them proof them and then submit the order and have their payment processed. I use WHCC, I don't need something like smugmug. I haven't been too happy with their prints. Plus, they don't die-cut their wallets. Unless I can just use them for proofing and ordering and not the printing. I don't know!

[EnronRocks]

I want to be able to have them proof them and then submit the order and have their payment processed. I use WHCC, I don't need something like smugmug. I haven't been too happy with their prints. Plus, they don't die-cut their wallets. Unless I can just use them for proofing and ordering and not the printing. I don't know!

If I understand correctly, at Zenfolio you can do your own prints. You set your own prices and shipping costs per product and so on. They still charge a transaction fee.

But if you are looking to do that, I recommend PhotoCart. It allows you to have your clients pay via paypal, authorize.net, mail in payment and so on. Then you print the order and either ship or digitally deliver the product. I also think Gallery2 can do this as well, but I am not a fan of using free scripts when credit card numbers are involved.

You will need to get hosting through a web hosting company to use PhotoCart which is probably either another $5 - $10 dollars a month or around $100 - $120 a year plus the $279 PhotoCart fee. You will need to get a domain, but if you find the right host you can get a free domain with your hosting purchase. I highly recommend you get SSL certification if you start doing credit card transfers and such on your own with PhotoCart or any server based ordering software. That will run you another $20 ish dollars.

So all together you are looking at the following with PhotoCart
PhotoCart software - $279.00
Hosting (Yearly) - $119.40 (DreamHost.com is what I used to calculate this)
Domain through GoDaddy - $6.95 + $0.25 (Or free with DreamHost hosting)
SSL Certifications on Domain - $29.99/year through GoDaddy ($99.95/year through DreamHost)

If you do the free domain with hosting through DreamHost you have to pay for the SSL Certifications through DreamHost per year although the domain itself is free for as long as you stay a DreamHost customer. I always recommend purchasing your domain through a registrar and not the company you are doing hosting with. Unless you are getting hosting and your domain through GoDaddy.

[vaswoman]

I already have a website and domain name, so that won't be necessary. I actually have been looking at Image Quix which appears to be a "pay as you upload" type site. The more you do yourself (Ordering wise) the less you pay in fees. It seems pretty reasonable as far as I have seen and the good thing is that I can just "tack on" the cost of the upload in their session fees. You basically buy credits and then use them depending on how many pics you upload.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

[EnronRocks]

I already have a website and domain name, so that won't be necessary. I actually have been looking at Image Quix which appears to be a "pay as you upload" type site. The more you do yourself (Ordering wise) the less you pay in fees. It seems pretty reasonable as far as I have seen and the good thing is that I can just "tack on" the cost of the upload in their session fees. You basically buy credits and then use them depending on how many pics you upload.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

I actually think I found a site that will work out well for you, I have never used it, and it looks kinda of blan, but it has no monthly fees all that jazz. Give it a look http://www.orderpicture.com/

[phichef]

Does anyone here have any experience with Bay Photo? They use the ROES software for uploads and then there is Bay Moments for proofing.

I am struggling with how to do this also. There is no fee to sign up and you have the option to self print (there is a fee for them to do the printing, I believe it was 10% for the payment processing). I am thinking their lab is Miller, which I have heard good things about.

While I am not new to photography, I am new at trying to get my own business off the ground, more web exposure and of course sales.

I have looked at all the other recommended sites and I like what I am seeing with Bay Photo. Any input welcomed!

[Rubi Jane]

Take a look at www.instaproofs.com
15% fee on orders placed, otherwise no cost to host images for 9 months. You set pricing so easy to build in extra to cover the 15% fee. Nice feature is the monthly reminders you can have the system send out to anyone who has viewed the images if you require them to enter their email address. Site allows for colour/sepia/B&W versions with different prices if you want to charge a premium for various tones.

I used them last year and fulfilled the orders separately, which took too much of my time. This year I'm using a site with a similar system but they fulfill and work in Canadian currency, which for me makes my accounting so much easier.

[AdrianeCale]

I was in the same boat a few years ago. I didn't want to raise my prices so I could make money and pay some site commission. I wasn't schooled enough in HTML and other website mumbo-jumbo to make something on my own. I did a lot of searching, and came up with EOS Template. It's awesome. You pay $100 USD for the files, and you use a third party gallery creator like BreezeBrowser or Jalbum to create the gallery for you. I use Jalbum cuz it's free! You can then go into an HTML editor and customize each gallery using style sheets. You can also have different pricing for various photography scenarios, i.e. portraits, weddings... what have you.

The only downfall to this, is it isn't attached to a lab. You have to crop and submit the orders to the lab of your choice. But that might be a good thing for some because you may be able to get a better price from a different lab.

You have to think, is the 10% or whatever commission really worth it? If you have a $200 order, then they make $20 for just existing and letting you host pictures on their site. And then you also have to pay for the prints! In the long run, that 10% can really make a difference!

So check out EOS Template, the time it takes to submit your order to a lab on your own will still be worth saving 10%! Just a one time charge of $100 (give or take a penny), and you'll have the files and access to the yahoo group of other users that work as a support team, not only for the system, but for business in general!

http://eostemplate.com/home/templates.html

BTW, you can set this in practically any language, take many different forms of payment, and take any currency! You can also set it up so that your customers can order albums and choose which images go into the album!

If you would like to see a sample gallery, check out my website. Click the "galleries and registries currently online" button, and the 3 at the bottom of that page aren't password protected. Yes, I use this program for wedding photography gift registries as well!

[cdifoto]

http://www.picturespro.com/pages/photography_shopping_cart/

One time purchase, no commission. Get cheap hosting & your own domain. I'd be using it if I hadn't already hacked up oscommerce. I hate paying commission fees.

[song4themoon]

I used Candid2000 There is no upload fee, no monthly fee, you just pay a percentage of what's ordered if you get orders. They do the printing and send it straight to the customer