Thoughts on photo hosting/purchase site?

Any personal experience with good photo hosting sites that allow viewers to purchase prints? I'm not looking to purchase a system that I customize completely, just a place where people can log in to a password protected site, view their photos, and order prints.

I use smugmug and find it works great for me, it does all you have asked for. But there is also Zenfolio and exposure manager that do similar things. I suggest you take advantage of the free trials that they all offer, try them and see which works best for you.

If you do decide to go with smugmug, here's a coupon code that'll give you a few bucks off when you sign up - 3MDk82MhINcPg


Tim

I use smugmug, but I have a lot of client complain that their interface is hard to use. (I don't find it to be, and they provide good and fast customer service).

I'm planning to use zenfolio, I like that they use mix to print.

I vastly prefer Zenfolio. Much more customizable. And I think a bargain.

You can see my ZF site here, though I still haven't done nearly as much to polish mine up as some others have for theirs:
http://photos.robertwa​ynephotography.com/

I think it's only $100/year for the top level of membership and Mpix is hooked into the back end for print ordering at reasonably prices (though you can use any lab you want). I never even have to administer anything; I just get e-mails that X dollars have just been deposited in my account for another print order.

Here's my referal code if you're interested in joining: X9Z-9PQ-Q2Y

Hostgator, photographers shopping cart, and your own lab (manual send).

I really like Photoshelter. The slideshows that are on my site are all automatically generated by Photoshelter and I just copy and paste the code to my blog entry. You can pick from multiple printers to process your prints, set up an unlimited number of pricing models, offer coupons among other things. Their stuff integrates well with blogs (At least with Wordsmith blogs) and their staff is very cutting edge in terms of SEO and other things to help you be successful.

They are not the cheapest, but I gladly pay the extra money for all the good things they do.

smugmug is still family owned, very highly regarded in the states.

Big K wrote in post #10299597
I really like Photoshelter. The slideshows that are on my site are all automatically generated by Photoshelter and I just copy and paste the code to my blog entry. You can pick from multiple printers to process your prints, set up an unlimited number of pricing models, offer coupons among other things. Their stuff integrates well with blogs (At least with Wordsmith blogs) and their staff is very cutting edge in terms of SEO and other things to help you be successful.

They are not the cheapest, but I gladly pay the extra money for all the good things they do.

I'm not familiar with Photoshelter and I'm sure they're very capable, but I believe all of those same things are available from Zenfolio: coupons, Mpix or your choice of lab, flash slide shows that integrate with websites, blogs, FB and Twitter, multiple price lists, etc. And (or so I think) they're still pretty inexpensive.

Not saying they're a better or worse value than Photoshelter or others, but ZF had a pretty basic offering going back a few years. Now they've become pretty sophisticated and I think they're quite the bargain.

...Any others? I'm not going smugmug, I looked at them before. I don't really want an add-on service that I load onto my website and manage all the orders myself, I would rather have something that does all the ordering work.

Smugmug does all of the ordering work for me. I have the Pro level of service which allows me to set prices and create packages. I shoot a lot of weddings and my experience is it is great for showing the couple and their family/friends all of the edited images without space limitations. I get to set prices and they offer a wide range of products for me to offer. They drop ship orders so I don't have to and send me an email summary of the order. Not where I make my money but it is a great way to outsource this service.

Peacefield wrote in post #10300805
I'm not familiar with Photoshelter and I'm sure they're very capable, but I believe all of those same things are available from Zenfolio: coupons, Mpix or your choice of lab, flash slide shows that integrate with websites, blogs, FB and Twitter, multiple price lists, etc. And (or so I think) they're still pretty inexpensive.

Not saying they're a better or worse value than Photoshelter or others, but ZF had a pretty basic offering going back a few years. Now they've become pretty sophisticated and I think they're quite the bargain.

I have heard lots of good things about ZF as well. I am sure they are comparable to Photoshelter and probably cheaper. I don't think you could go wrong with either option.

Been using PickPic forever. They are going with a 'subscription model' for the latest upgrade, so I won't be updgrading for a while, but the integration with the WHCC looks convenient. I don't think there is a better cart than pickpic, but if you don't care about customizing/matching your site, it may not be worth the dough. Some friends use Red Cart and seem to be happy as well.