What I jsut wrote to SmugMug (anyone else feel this way)

Well, I just got an email from SmugMug, asking for the updated price of $250 to renew my website. Here is what I wrote to them (copied & pasted below). Does anyone else feel the same way?

I will update this thread when they respond to me.

I realize there are already some threads on the general topics of SmugMug, their new look, and the price increase. But rather than contribute to an old thread that is already several pages deep, I prefer to start a new thread. Nothing wrong with that at all!

Hello,

This year, I am wondering whether I should renew my SmugMug at all. I am not willing to pay any more than the $150 I have always payed - the service is just not worth any more than this to me. So, are there any options whereby I could still have a website thru SmugMug but pay much, much, much less than the $250 you are trying to get out of me?

I have no interest whatsoever in trying to sell prints thru my website - so I don't need a site that allows people to order prints. And I am fine with keeping the "old" look - the "legacy site", as I think you are now calling it. I frankly don't like the look of the newer layouts, and greatly prefer the look of the "old" SmugMug (that's why I went with SmugMug in the first place, because I liked the way the web pages looked so much).

Anyway, please let me know the absolutely cheapest option you have available, then I will decide whether to renew or not.

Thank you,
Tom Reichner

Read their website. They have two cheap memberships for people who don't want to use the site to sell, for $40 and $60 per year. The difference between the two is customization options. They have had both of these options for years.

I have used Smugmug for years and am delighted by the new interface. I still don't know all the wrinkles, and I ran into an apparent bug with one of the 24 new styles, but I was able to design three very different sites in an evening, all much nicer than my legacy site.

They offered very useful webinars for learning the new interface. I don't know if they are still offering them, but they posted a recording of one on their help pages. I fiund it very helpful, as I initially had trouble figuring out how to navigate the new options.

Btw, the legacy format is still there for galleries--one of about half a dozen options you can choose without any advanced customization. You can apply it to all of your galleries or to selected ones, as the galleries no longer need to follow a single format. With a bit of work, you could get a home page that looks fairly similar to the legacy look. The first template would be a logical starting pint-- it has one image on top and smaller images representing galleries below.

All accounts allow for customization. I have a Power User account ($60/y) and the major difference between it an the Portfolio account is that I can't add custom watermarks and can't set up a storefront and fulfill orders. I also can only access EZPrints for printing. To access Bay Photo and WHCC you need either a Portfolio account ($150/y) or a Pro account ($250/y).

Bob_A wrote in post #16175800
All accounts allow for customization. I have a Power User account ($60/y) and the major difference between it an the Portfolio account is that I can't add custom watermarks and can't set up a storefront and fulfill orders. I also can only access EZPrints for printing. To access Bay Photo and WHCC you need either a Portfolio account ($150/y) or a Pro account ($250/y).

It's the basic that allows less customization. See http://www.smugmug.com​/features. I have the Power account also, and it offers full customization.

paddler4 wrote in post #16175936
It's the basic that allows less customization. See http://www.smugmug.com​/features. I have the Power account also, and it offers full customization.

Correct you are!

So ... if Tom doesn't need a store or to sell prints, doesn't need to watermark and doesn't need easy access to Bay or WHCC then he could even reduce his costs by moving to a Power User account.

I looked at moving up to a Portfolio account in the past but just couldn't justify it, especially now that I do most of my own printing. I've also used EZPrints and frankly they were excellent ... except for the one an only metallic print I ever ordered.

I have the power account and the only thing I miss is watermarking. I applied and got accounts for WHCC, Millers, and CG Pro for prints and canvases. Not too sure if you get all the calibration prints and package when you go through SmugMug for printing fulfilment.

Quite frankly I can't figure out what they are doing. I have the $60/ year account......I don't know if it is called Power or what the name is. I watched their webinar or at least some of it....then I go to my site and I see nothing even asking me to transition over. None of the things/buttons in the webinar and perhaps the "new look" is only for the $150+ accounts. The $60 one does have customizations but I can't find anything new be offered post 1 August for those.

I did find that some of my photos were now just black squares. I emailed and complained and it seemed to be fixed within a few hours. Now I noticed that the Stats are all missing for my images. I think that is yet another bug inflicting me with the "new look" that doesn't seem to affect my page.

I do print through WHCC, but I just have their ROES. I never even thought about connecting it to the Smugmug, but I don't print from Smugmug or have anyone else do so.

Yup. That's what I do. If I want to watermark, I do it in Lightroom before posting to smugmug.

Yes, $60 is the power account, and yes, you get full access to all of the features of the new look. Check out mine. Your site won't ask you to transition. Go to smugmug's pages, look for the formats, pick one you like, and try it out. As the webinar explained, you can publish it or not, and as long as you don't tell it to go public, your old site will still be the one the public sees.

paddler4 wrote in post #16176575
Yup. That's what I do. If I want to watermark, I do it in Lightroom before posting to smugmug.

Yes, $60 is the power account, and yes, you get full access to all of the features of the new look. Check out mine. Your site won't ask you to transition. Go to smugmug's pages, look for the formats, pick one you like, and try it out. As the webinar explained, you can publish it or not, and as long as you don't tell it to go public, your old site will still be the one the public sees.

1. Your website is awesome. Looks great! Not exaggerating. my only disappointment was that your insect shots did not include much aquatic entomology since I flyfish and no paddling shots to be found which I was sure you would have.

2. For power account watermarking (I hope I am not hijacking this thread) In smugmug I add the watermark when exporting as a JPEG. When adding to smugmug from lightroom I just drag the edited RAW file. Are you loading JPEGs onto smugmug?

Canyoneer wrote in post #16176490
Quite frankly I can't figure out what they are doing. I have the $60/ year account......I don't know if it is called Power or what the name is. I watched their webinar or at least some of it....then I go to my site and I see nothing even asking me to transition over. None of the things/buttons in the webinar and perhaps the "new look" is only for the $150+ accounts. The $60 one does have customizations but I can't find anything new be offered post 1 August for those.

I did find that some of my photos were now just black squares. I emailed and complained and it seemed to be fixed within a few hours. Now I noticed that the Stats are all missing for my images. I think that is yet another bug inflicting me with the "new look" that doesn't seem to affect my page.

I do print through WHCC, but I just have their ROES. I never even thought about connecting it to the Smugmug, but I don't print from Smugmug or have anyone else do so.

If you want to migrate (preview) over to the new SmugMug go to yoursite.smugmug.com/m​igration

ZacW wrote in post #16178081
If you want to migrate (preview) over to the new SmugMug go to yoursite.smugmug.com/m​igration

... which does not give you any way whatsoever to do a Visitor View preview of your site. Based on some of the comments here and on DGrin I hope it's becoming very apparent to you folks at SM that this was a big miss.

Bob_A wrote in post #16178349
... which does not give you any way whatsoever to do a Visitor View preview of your site. Based on some of the comments here and on DGrin I hope it's becoming very apparent to you folks at SM that this was a big miss.

Boy I sure missed the big picture on this. I did go to my site with a "/migration" added on the URL address and there indeed were several new formats to choose from. However, I can't get back now!

Canyoneer wrote in post #16178664
Boy I sure missed the big picture on this. I did go to my site with a "/migration" added on the URL address and there indeed were several new formats to choose from. However, I can't get back now!

If you didn't do the two step process to "Unveil" your account you should see a banner at the top with "New Smugmug Preview" at the left. If that's there then when you log out you'll see your old SM site only. In this mode you've migrated your site but haven't unveiled it for the world to see. Your old site settings haven't been over-written.

To unveil you'd need to 1) click "Unveil New Smugmug" and then 2) on another screen type the words "unveil".

If all you did was migrate just click the "View Legacy Smugmug" button on the top banner. The only annoying things is that after migrating the Preview is the default view and you need to click that button every time you want to go to your legacy view.

If you see the new Smugmug site when logged out then you're out of luck as there is no going back.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #16175269
Well, I just got an email from SmugMug, asking for the updated price of $250 to renew my website. Here is what I wrote to them (copied & pasted below). Does anyone else feel the same way?

I will update this thread when they respond to me.

I realize there are already some threads on the general topics of SmugMug, their new look, and the price increase. But rather than contribute to an old thread that is already several pages deep, I prefer to start a new thread. Nothing wrong with that at all!

Hello,

This year, I am wondering whether I should renew my SmugMug at all. I am not willing to pay any more than the $150 I have always payed - the service is just not worth any more than this to me. So, are there any options whereby I could still have a website thru SmugMug but pay much, much, much less than the $250 you are trying to get out of me?

I have no interest whatsoever in trying to sell prints thru my website - so I don't need a site that allows people to order prints. And I am fine with keeping the "old" look - the "legacy site", as I think you are now calling it. I frankly don't like the look of the newer layouts, and greatly prefer the look of the "old" SmugMug (that's why I went with SmugMug in the first place, because I liked the way the web pages looked so much).

Anyway, please let me know the absolutely cheapest option you have available, then I will decide whether to renew or not.

Thank you,
Tom Reichner

Tom I left didn't renew my Smugmug went to Squarespace and am loving it. The sites are so easy to use completely customizable, you can make your own store page without having to go thru junk, technical support 24/7/365 by email within 1 hour live chat during the day, full of video tutorials easy to use.....just look at it. I locked mine in for a year at $172.80 with free domain. They have a plan for 96.00 bucks as well, great people and great site.