Fotki, Zenfolio, Smugmug $$$

I opened a Zenfolio account about 8 years ago and started hosting images from different events and shoots that were either on spec or what people requested. i believe it was $200 a year with amounts to virtually unlimited storage and the ability to sell products, directly through the website. a customer creates an account, and then chooses images to be printed on a variety of products (prints, muga, mousepads, etc etc). the processing is through several nation wide print houses like Mpix and Miller's Labs (for MpixPro). i can set my own price schedule (percent or $ amount) or i can use their 'standard' pricing.

i printed out my annual statement (a nice feature they have) which shows how much was ordered, how much revenue it generated, all of the expenses and my net profit/loss. this year, after having probably my BEST YEAR in selling prints (mostly to HS bands and sports team players and parents, so NOT big dollars) i still took a $3.16 loss. the customer pays for the product (of course) and the shipping/handling and of course Zenfolio gets their subscription fee and and service fee. all for the price of $258 per year (this year at least. i think its more but they auto pay themselves out of my revenue account).

does Smugmug work this way? how about Fotki? ive got a friend who uses Fotki but he's not the most talkative guy so i really havent been able to get much info from him. another photographer i know who's been trying to get into my market (but keeps getting rebuffed by those who want me to shoot for them) uses Smugmug and while cordial to each other, were really not about to start talking shop. the one who uses Fotki says he pays $240/3yr plan. it gives him 4Tb of storage which he says he uses only a fraction of, although he is quite busy doing T&I for different athletic concerns and weddings/high school portraits

can someone give me some more insight here? i know there was another thread asking generalities about these type hosting services but i think it was more about what they were and how how they operate and the pros/cons of each...


additionally, while many have issues with Jared Polin and his yt channel and whatever, he uses Squarespace and if anyone uses that, id appreciate some insight there too please.

thanks!

Sorry I have nothing useful to say but I remember that jared guy when he was just starting and I commented in one of his videos that he's a troll...i got attacked for it, but 10+years later, he is still a troll.

I use smugmug and it operates the same way. i dropped the "pro" account and no longer try to sell prints off my website. I believe it is $80 a year unlimited gallery size.

I get about 2 requests for prints per year and was looking for a place I could send those people. Tom Reichner pointed me to Fine Art America (fineartamerica.com). If all you're looking for in a service is a place to sell prints, this might be a good choice.

You can offer prints for 25 images for free, then the paid tier kicks in. Not sure how much that is.

Cool thing about it is you can set your own margin. Prices to the customer start at FAA's printing costs + shipping and all that, then you add your profit on top. If you want $10/print you add that. If you're looking for $10,000/print, you can do that too. They also do framing and coffee mugs and mouse pads and the like. You can set your prices on those as well.