Event Photo sales - can anyone help?

[blackshadow]

Can anyone tell me of a hosting/print service that will allow me to do the following?

1 – At an event a customer wants photo and pays for photo to be taken – name, contact details and print size taken

2 – Photographer shoots photo

3 – Photographer uploads photos to website and emails customer with a coupon to cover the print size ordered and shipping

4 – Customer visits website – selects appropriate photo and print size – enters coupon code in during checkout

5 – Photo is printed and sent to customer (must be able to ship to Australia)



I am a Smugmug customer and this breaks down with them as their coupons cannot be used to pay for shipping.

[PhotosGuy]

(must be able to ship to Australia) That might be a problem. Maybe there's something in these:
Event Photographers....talk to me. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=482077)

Online orders question (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=501332)

[Dennis_Hammer]

You want ExposureManager use for this exact thing all the time. Great products, quality and customer service. Not sure on the shipping to Australia part but most likely I know the ship to Canada and PR.

http://www.exposuremanager.com/aff/hammerphotos

You get a discount and a free trial through this link.

[DC Fan]

From experience, that may not be the best way to handle event sales.

Photos at those events are impulse purchases, and anything that dampens the impulse - such as having a delay in shipping the picture - can mean lost sales. The best way to handle that is to make the picture available at the event. That means dragging a computer and printer to the event and arranging for power, a table, and demo prints.

Hauling the additional equipment is no fun, but it's necessary to handle what the customers will want. It's best to offer a product that is immediately available. That minimizes the chance that the customer might think about the purchase and turn down the offer.

[blackshadow]

That might be a problem. Maybe there's something in these:
Event Photographers....talk to me. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=482077)

Online orders question (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=501332)

Thanks

You want ExposureManager use for this exact thing all the time. Great products, quality and customer service. Not sure on the shipping to Australia part but most likely I know the ship to Canada and PR.

http://www.exposuremanager.com/aff/hammerphotos

You get a discount and a free trial through this link.

Thanks - I'll have a play around with it in a couple of days.

From experience, that may not be the best way to handle event sales.

Photos at those events are impulse purchases, and anything that dampens the impulse - such as having a delay in shipping the picture - can mean lost sales. The best way to handle that is to make the picture available at the event. That means dragging a computer and printer to the event and arranging for power, a table, and demo prints.

Hauling the additional equipment is no fun, but it's necessary to handle what the customers will want. It's best to offer a product that is immediately available. That minimizes the chance that the customer might think about the purchase and turn down the offer.

That is something I considered but it's not really an option - with the timing etc it would mean another person handling the sales and printing which would blow the pricing out of the water.

I realise I can probably make things work using Photoshelter (I already have an account with them) and their coupons. Even though it would be easier to have the printing and and shipping done directly I think the shipping from the US will be a killer so I will probably go for the self-fulfilment option and use a local pro-lab to handle the printing then I'll send 'em out.

[wyofizz]

I'm confused, in the original post this appears to be a prepay situation.