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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Web site orders
Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 12:29 PM on 11.06.09 |
->> I use to use Photoreflect to sell photos, but I got tired of paying all the fees. I know use a template system called EOS that exports galleries out of Photomechanic and it works great, but as always I'm looking to do things better, easier, cheaper, faster.......
I'd like to see what my options are for exporting out galleries of images and then being able to upload them to my website to sell. I'd like this software to tie into my credit card paying system and also PayPal. Is there anything like this out there other than what I'm currently using? My current system is great as I have no fees involved, but like I said, always on the lookout for a better way to do things.
Thanks for any and all advice or suggestions. |
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Jon L Hendricks, Photographer
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Hobart | IN | USA | Posted: 12:36 PM on 11.06.09 |
| ->> SmugMug has a Lightroom plugin that you can use to upload directly to a gallery.... |
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Mike Burns, Photographer
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Reston | VA | USA | Posted: 12:41 PM on 11.06.09 |
->> I use SmugMug and the Lightroom plugin. Love it.
It's like the Set it & Forget it Rotisserie. |
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Joshua Brown, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 12:53 PM on 11.06.09 |
| ->> I Upload to Photoshelter from Aperture or Photo Mechanic. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 1:23 PM on 11.06.09 |
| ->> I'm not to familiar with Smugmug, but my plan is to not use another company in the equation other than my credit card processing company and PayPal. I'm going to assume Smugmug charges some fees for their service? I do self fullfillment if that maters at all. I guess I'm just looking for a plug-in or stand alone software that allows me to export out galleries that I'll uploaded to my server (I have 500GB of space) and then my clients can view and order from there. |
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Landon Finch, Photographer
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Colorado Springs | CO | USA | Posted: 1:41 PM on 11.06.09 |
->> I still use EOS as well (very limiting as you know) and will most likely switch over to www.redcart.com. It's a rather large initial investment, but well worth it from what I've read on other forums and from what I've seen of it.
Also check out www.pickpic.com or PhotoCart http://www.picturespro.com/pages/photography_shopping_cart/ |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 2:29 PM on 11.06.09 |
| ->> Photocart is excellent as well. Zero complaints |
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Kevin Seale, Photographer
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Crawfordsville | IN | United States | Posted: 4:10 PM on 11.06.09 |
| ->> You can output full web galleries with thumbnails and larger images from Aperture but am not sure how you would integrate this with your order processing capability. |
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John Cowpland, Photographer
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Napier | HB | New Zealand | Posted: 4:19 PM on 11.06.09 |
| ->> If you don't mind doing a bit of work yourself you should try gallery. http://gallery.menalto.com/ I've been using it for about four years and love it. Its very customisable and integrates into my Joomla based website. there are loads of templates and modules that let you set things up pretty much exactly as you want it. Best bit is its free! |
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Darren Whitley, Photographer
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Maryville | MO | USA | Posted: 1:34 PM on 11.08.09 |
->> I use PickPic.
Although, PickPic is a one-time cost of $1,300 or so. However, there are additional expenses is the webhost which costs another $200 or more for the support PickPic requires. And you have to buy an SSL certificate for CC processing. CC processing is costing me $500+ per year.
That quickly suggests that a service such as Zenfolio is much more elegant because there are fewer fees during the slow months.
My complaint with PickPic is that I don't have enough control over shipping costs passed onto my customers. It doesn't have a weight-based model and if a customer order prints and products, the shipping costs spiral upward. |
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Phillip Davies, Photographer
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Garden City | NY | US | Posted: 5:21 PM on 11.10.09 |
->> We started selling on Photoreflect about 4 years ago. The fees were a bit much and I did not like the interface, so we built our own system. The result is Newsphoto.com.
We now have about 500,000 images online, mostly sports, but some news items as well. In late October we started opening it up to other photographers for testing, so if anyone here wants to give it a try.....
We can offer you:
1. Shopping cart with you own Paypal account integration for credit card processing and checks
2. Customizable menu for print sizes and shipping costs.
3. Your photo and video storage is in YOUR OWN Amazon S3 cloud storage account.
4. Bulk upload applet for JPEG's
5. Automatic content feed to Google News and BigNews.biz
6. Discount module - for early purchases (amount of discount and length offered is set by photographer)
7. Commission module - Allows photographer to designate a school or organization to get a commission on each sale. (this is optional and the amount and organization is set by the photographer)
8. More features and details are online here.... http://bit.ly/4ny4bK
My wife and I run the site and are both shooters as well. Our background is photojournalism, so we've built this as a wire service that just happens to offer photo sales.
The cool part of this system is the automatic SEO news feed to BigNews.biz and Google News. So when I upload this story http://bit.ly/1mFi2v on the Nassau county boys soccer semifinal match, it also ends up on Bignews.biz http://bit.ly/2yFsHZ and on Google Search http://bit.ly/yYjW5 and Google news http://bit.ly/29w7Ed . We've found that this drives considerable traffic back to our site from the Web.
Other than the very cheap (pay for usage only) storage fees paid to Amazon for your S3 "cloud storage" account, everything else is free. No commissions or transaction fees. We make our money on the ads on the site.
If anyone wants to try it out, I'll send you an invite to be a tester. Drop me an email at phil@newsphoto.com |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 7:47 AM on 11.11.09 |
->> I may give photocart a look. Just from the quick scan of the website, it looks like it will do everything I want or pretty much everything I already do, but it has a nice looking interface which my current storefront does not.
Now, I just dread uploading all my current and past games to the site. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 2:53 PM on 11.19.09 |
| ->> Thanks for all the suggestions. I went with Photocart and so far it's awesome. Just what I was looking for. The only thing I don't like is uploading all these damn photos again. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 4:52 PM on 11.19.09 |
->> Monty,
good choice and one where you will see the most return. Instead of paying 10 to 15% you are now paying 1.6 to 2.6%. On average I pay 1.9% through my CC processing company. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 10:42 PM on 11.19.09 |
| ->> My thoughts exactly. It does everything my older software did, but it looks better and is easier to use. I've had quite a few sales already the past week and it works just fine. Thanks!!!! |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 12:34 PM on 11.20.09 |
->> Monty,
What service did you choose to use for processing the orders?
I use the email feature (half of the CC number goes to me and the other half to the admin area). |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 2:22 PM on 11.20.09 |
| ->> Not sure I understand what your asking, but my 2 options for payment are Paypal or a credit card. I have a company I use for processing already so I just had to enter my account info and I was good to go. |
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Duane Burleson, Photographer
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Sterling Heights | MI | USA | Posted: 2:41 PM on 11.20.09 |
->> Matthew,
If you were asking who makes his prints, etc. Monty stated earlier in this thread he does self fulfillment.
Cheers,
Duane |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 3:22 PM on 11.20.09 |
->> Sorry I should have stated payment processing.
thanks |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 3:34 PM on 11.20.09 |
->> I am getting some emails about this so I want to clarify the % thing.
If you look at zenfolios website they give you a break down of the costs. Everyone that sells images should always have shipping, taxes, etc included in the price. Zen does this for you, but my price is exactly the same using photocart.
The biggest difference is the very last number, zenfolios fee. They take 12% of the gross profit, using photocart software and a processing place you are looking at 1.6 to 2.6%.
On high end images that difference really adds up.
Just looking at their example you can see an 18 dollar image and their fee is $2.16, while if I did it using my place it would be, .34 cents.
And again, my price would be the same on both photocart or zenfolio.
Hope this helps clarify it and I hope I am getting this right :) |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 4:06 PM on 11.20.09 |
->> If you sell lots of photos on your site like I do, the savings add up very quickly. I think when I was using Photoreflect, I was paying them 18%. It was ridiculous.
I use a local lab to print all my images. Been using them for close to 15 years now. They have top of the line printing machines and do awesome work. I FTP the my orders and then head out 2 hours later and pick the order up. Just this week I sent over 300 8x10's to be printed and I had them in under 2 hours. Very lucky to have a great lab close by. |
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Monty Rand, Photographer
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Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 4:09 PM on 11.20.09 |
| ->> Authorize.net is my payment processing company. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Boise | ID | US | Posted: 7:35 PM on 11.20.09 |
| ->> I'm in the process of making some wordpress-based software to do something similar; what features do you look for in something like this? |
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Brad Barr, Photographer
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Port St. Lucie | FL | USA | Posted: 10:20 PM on 11.20.09 |
->> actually authorize.net is your gateway. You probably actually have another company that actually funds the sales...ie United Bankcard, Bank of America, Chase etc etc. Authorize.net just moves the info along.
Nextproof.com has one of the lowest % rates around for online sales. 7%. Its easy to just look at the % your CC company is charging you...ie 1.5-3% depending on the actually situation.....but you also have to figure in the SSL Cert and gateway fees....which you dont have with NP. It was primarily set up for wedding photogs...but they are working on making it more useful for sports guys too. Best part is, its the guys from Bigfolio.com web designs; who have great customer service.
bb |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 12:08 AM on 11.21.09 |
->> Brad,
I received a "free" SSL cert from my hosting company (hostgator.com).
There are minimums per month (usually 20 dollars) that you have to meet, but it will (or should) pay for itself within a year I would assume if you sell enough.
In the end it is a personal preference and will always be. Some like doing it themselves while others like to just shoot and forget. Either way there are a lot of good choice for people which is a good thing. |
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Luke Trottier, Photographer
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Bath | ME | US | Posted: 4:56 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> We have been using Photocart for a while and it's outstanding. Dave's Uploader is a must have as well.
Here are a few things we have run into with Photocart that may help others.
For those who receive a significant amount of traffic you will need to disable secure thumbnails. There is a file called tn.php that runs every time a thumbnail is generated to hide the thumbnail image locations. Excessive traffic will overload the CPU crashing the server and making your hosting company very very upset at you.
For those using Dave's Uploader to import your images to Photocart. We have found at about 40,000-50,000 images you will experience significant slowdowns and possibly crashing. The problem is related to the Java garbage collection algorithm. (apparently it doesn't empty the trash enough) If you have a multiple processor system add -XX:+UseParallelGC to your shortcut and you shouldn't see the slowdown. |
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