download sales store software

I'm looking for software recommendations to sell digital student yearbook photos. We're a small, rural college, and we're toying with the idea of having our staff photographer take the student photos in lieu of a contract photographer.

To simplify matters, we would just like to have a flat fee for an image download instead of printed images. We also need to be able to keep photos private so that only the student and his or her parents is able to see the proofs.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

i use this and am happy, but have yet to need to hook up the full e-commerce package.

http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/nextgen-pro/

you would have to create a word press page for each student and password protect it. Doing that is very simple but on the scale of hundreds of students would probably become tedious to say the least. Then you have to manage passwords and possibly resetting them … ugh.

smug mug...set your own price and only allow downloads to be purchased. Each student has their own gallery (super easy to do), then you make it password protected and make it the password that the school assigned them for their school email and tell them that.

Once you set up your first gallery the way you want it, you simply save those setting and you can quick add those setting to any gallery.

LHB, thanks you for replying! Unfortunately, it would become quite tedious....

Thanks, Blake, we'll look into it!

BlakeC wrote in post #17622709
(super easy to do)

can you expand on that?

in WordPress it would be

Make New Page > Name Page (with student's name) > click password protect, add password > add pictures to gallery > profit

I have kind of looked at this from the point of view of doing school pics, and while i think it would be possible, I would probably have to hire someone at minimum wage to create the pages and upload the images. The potential for typos in either the person's name or password, or the potential to upload the wrong pics to the page, could easily erase any profitability.

hard to imagine smug mug being any easier or with any fewer potential errors.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17622744
can you expand on that?

in WordPress it would be

Make New Page > Name Page (with student's name) > click password protect, add password > add pictures to gallery > profit

I have kind of looked at this from the point of view of doing school pics, and while i think it would be possible, I would probably have to hire someone at minimum wage to create the pages and upload the images. The potential for typos in either the person's name or password, or the potential to upload the wrong pics to the page, could easily erase any profitability.

hard to imagine smug mug being any easier or with any fewer potential errors.

Not saying ur method isnt easy...just that smugmug is.... Pretty much the same as yours though...
New Gallery > Name Gallery (with student's name) > click password protect, add password > add pictures to gallery > profit

Making a new one for each student just sucks. Its quick but adds up. If everyone wasnt so touchy, you could just put them all in one gallery and let them buy downloads of whatever.

"If everyone wasn't so touchy."

Amen!

Maybe we make each student sign a release promising not to be "touchy" and then we upload them all.

BlakeC wrote in post #17622761
Not saying ur method isnt easy...

naw man, i didn't think you were.

i just didn't know if they had some way of making it easier, by uploading a CSV file or something. I have to imagine that is what the big studios do … probably enter the name once and then a key number. Once that is done, it is probably all bar codes and matched up electronically.

Could you have them sign some sort of "release" agreeing to the digital download and to let you put them on a private school gallery? This method, you could make one gallery for the entire "Class of 20XX" and only the students who are in it get the password emailed to them with the link. That way, you don't have to make a gallery for each student. BUT each student can see the others. No biggie if they agree to it. Just tell them "Read and sign this release to allow us to upload your photo to the class gallery...blah blah" The ones who don't sign, must pay MORE to get a print or maybe their own private gallery?

Shootproof would do what you want very inexpensively. The can also fulfill and drop ship through the labs they work with. Much less expensive than getting a Smugmug account as well since you'd have to purchase their "Pro" account in order to set your own prices.

Try it out >> http://shpr.ws/1ki

If you use that link and sign up I get a free month (in the interest of full disclosure)

Sites to Host/Selling Pictures

Try - https://www.picturespr​o.com/

I have been using their PhotoCart software for a few years now, their new software Sytist is even better, I just haven't had time to switch over to it yet.