SmugMug Price Increase

GwagDesigns wrote in post #14936548
...And also, with my event coverage, moving that amount of photos elsewhere would be a ridiculous task.

Is that what SM is banking on? Did they strategically keep price flat longer than they should have to make it more difficult for people to decide to walk away?

It seems like the User Agreement should include some sort of annual cap on percentage increase.

carshop wrote in post #14936713
Ive been a member for 3 years and have never sold a print...I just liked the storage.
But with this increase, Im not renewing.

Just downgrade to the Power or Portfolio level

http://www.smugmug.com …s/photo-sharing-features/

I have been a power user for a few years and love how easy SmugMug is. I am glad I am not affected by the price hike. That said if I was a working pro selling prints for a profit an extra $10 a month is not a big deal. If I am paying for photoshop, lightroom, redundant storage and the other gazillion expenses pros have to pay $10 a month is a drop in the bucket for a business expense. Especially if you consider the time it would take to migrate away. I just don't see it as a good ROI unless someone is already planning on moving their service somewhere else and just had not pulled the trigger.

tkbslc wrote in post #14935259
Can your 130 dollar external drive stay up 24x7 while serving your pictures to the web? If so, I doubt you'd have the smugmug account.

I am not trying to justify any price increases, but the storage arguments in this thread are hurting my brain. I manage a datacenter and most people have no idea what is involved. The internet bill alone is likely pushing 10k a month. Then there is power, cooling, high salaries of IT pros, server, storage.

Now none of that matters if you can't compete, but again, it's not like buying mac mini and a usb drive and plugging into DSL.

Maybe Smugmug's business model is not sustainable. Maybe they should look into cloud based services instead of managing their own datacenter. If they have 100 employees, then I would think a RIF might be inevitable if costs are getting out of hand.

Smugmug uses Amazon S3 and Amazon's prices have been decreasing.

mmcguire wrote in post #14937960
Smugmug uses Amazon S3 and Amazon's prices have been decreasing.

But have their prices been decreasing faster than user upload volume has increased? With the D800, 5DMk3 etc... and faster internet uploads it wouldn't surprise me if uploads have outpaced S3 price decreases.

The staffing increases for development is probably the biggest expense that contributed to the price increase. Especially since the majority of new features being developed/enhanced are aimed at the pros where the lower user tiers are really not seeing new features added.

mrfixitx wrote in post #14938060
But have their prices been decreasing faster than user upload volume has increased? With the D800, 5DMk3 etc... and faster internet uploads it wouldn't surprise me if uploads have outpaced S3 price decreases.

The staffing increases for development is probably the biggest expense that contributed to the price increase. Especially since the majority of new features being developed/enhanced are aimed at the pros where the lower user tiers are really not seeing new features added.

Don MacAskill has been saying the same crap about higher MP Sensors... It isn't like EVERY user on Smugmug is shooting a D800 or 5DMk3, he sure as heck would like to make it out that way...

It would be interesting to see how many XT, XTi, 40D, etc are being shot vs the higher end bodies...

Also, they compress with JPEG, so it isn't like RAW images are being sent to them (unless a customer buys their extra service).

I have been with Smugmug for about 3 years now.. This is total crap, they act like the camera sensor is the main reason for the change, however the difference between Business and Portfolio is not based off upload/image size, it just removes the marketing aspects...

The best part is that they're ignoring the majority of our comments here, and one of the SmugMug staff responded with a nice snarky one above. Further showing how little they really do care about their customers input. I sent them a nice, polite, professional email after hearing about the increase, voiced my frustration, and asked a few questions. They only answered the simplest thing, and ignored/did not respond to any input I had. Sad. PhotoShelter here I come!

jtalerico wrote in post #14938926
...
I have been with Smugmug for about 3 years now.. This is total crap, they act like the camera sensor is the main reason for the change, however the difference between Business and Portfolio is not based off upload/image size, it just removes the marketing aspects...

And theres nothing really wrong with that to be honest, if you plan on making money of a photo i am shooting for you, it will absolutely cost you more.

Thats all perfectly fine! What isn't, is the amount, the no warning, and the excuses.

And as i've mentioned, if you are gonna pitch that sort of an increase to a business, you can't make a vague promise like more features, it has to be concrete. And for the amount of the increase, it has to be substantial. This isn't a kids game or favors being passed around, you didn't increase your price for 7 years ? tough luck. Doesn't make it right. In fact, that excuse becomes even more useless based on the inflation rate, even if i average it at 2% for 7 years, you'd still only be at a 14% increase in price, a much more reasonable sum.

carshop wrote in post #14936713
Ive been a member for 3 years and have never sold a print...I just liked the storage.
But with this increase, Im not renewing.

Any particular reason why? While I don't believe Zac should have responded they way he did (there's no way to convey joking in text, this wasn't the place to try), is there any reason you weren't a power user before?

scotteisenphotography wrote in post #14939582
The best part is that they're ignoring the majority of our comments here, and one of the SmugMug staff responded with a nice snarky one above. Further showing how little they really do care about their customers input. I sent them a nice, polite, professional email after hearing about the increase, voiced my frustration, and asked a few questions. They only answered the simplest thing, and ignored/did not respond to any input I had. Sad. PhotoShelter here I come!

Hi Scott, as you can imagine we've gotten tons of feedback and emails on this over the past couple of days so we really do apologize if we aren't answering every single question you have. I promise that if you private message me directly I will spend some time helping you and even give you a call if you need it.

Standing by!

I also am in the situation of having a Pro account but only have 2 sales in the last 2 years via SmugMug. For where I am, I will most likely be downgrading my account until I can do more research.

I do find it interesting that there is such a strong denial that SM may be having financial difficulties. IMO, when the person most associated with a service oriented business and who holds a hefty title (COO) jumps ship there is 1 of 2 things going on. Either the company is sinking and they are getting while the getting is good or there is a serious philosophical difference developing and that person is leaving before the financial difficulties result because of the philosophical differences.

Well everyone can voice their opinion with their wallets. If people don't like the price then leave, simple as that. If enough people leave, watch SM change their prices QUICK lol. I don't care either way as I don't use it. But the increase isn't that big of a deal if you make a decent money from it. If you don't then I would definitely leave.

I've been with Smugmug for 8 years. They've never given me cause to leave until now. I was promised to be locked into my rate but not so. My letter doubled my rate adding another $100 a year.

Now I'm motivated to see what other sites are offering, I would not have even thought to stray with a 10-20% jump. I'm sure smugmug will loose many in this poorly executed and poorly marketed move. Incremental increases would have been more palatable and eased users into it. The lost clients would have been minimal.

This was truly ametuer hour with all the marks of greed and short-sightedness. Which will further undermine our confidence in Smugmug for years to come. I would not be surprised to learn they are for sale or bankrupted in the next six months.

shiftonephoto wrote in post #14934910
Looking at Zenfolio, yeah its $120 a year to set your own prices ect, but if you want to use their pro lab for prints its $250 a year? or is it that you dont get hit for 12% for using the pro lab if you pay 250?

If thats the case, then it certainly sounds like a much better idea. Minus the fact of moving so many galleries over would be a giant headache.

http://www.zenfolio.co​m …l-features.aspx?loc=en-US
this compares the differences between premium & premium business, I am happy w/ premium, tho I am low sales, if I were high volume premium would make more sense. I can set my own prices / have client logins, password protected galleries, my own watermarks/logos free of their monikers, etc, which is all 'i' need. Since my 1st year of ordering my referral code is out there 'somewhere' & keeps getting used I've only paid full price the 1st year I had zenfolio... each subsequent year I've either not had to pay for it or very little, which is great for me

Zenfolio gives you great ways tools to migrate your photos to your Zenfolio account http://www.zenfolio.co​m/zf/tools/migration.a​spx

Hope this helps.

That's very useful Lore, I may give that a try.
I assume your website linked is the zenfolio? It looks nice!

In Regards to Smugmug, is it possible they are trying to change their clientele and go after the higher earning photographers who do a lot of sales and simply get rid of those who don't do many online sales and simply use it for storage or a mere portfolio?

I see a lot of the ppl on this thread who are saying they will leave or are unhappy do not do a lot of sales through the site.... Is there anyone who does a lot of sales through smugmug who is leaving also? I havent seen a ton of complaints of "I do thousands of dollars of sales but I'm sill leaving" or something like that.

These are just questions as I'm noticing a trend it seems on this thread. I am not saying I agree with it, or criticizing anyone.