Author Topic: smugmug? (Read 3869 times)

fotomy · « **on:** January 20, 2008, 18:37 »

hi, was wondering if anyone has any experience using smugmug pro galleries for selling prints and for event photography , the reason i am asking is that i will be based in France for several months this year shooting groups canoing and climbing and will be selling prints, i have been looking for a UK printer with automated upload to galleries, sales and dispatch of prints.
the problem is i can only find one company that will do this, they are called photobox and only offer a very basic pro service preferring to sub contract their pro service to another company called thirdlight which offers a very extensive service.
the problem with thirdlight is that they are very expensive $1500+.
came across smugmug USA site while looking for gallery and printing company and they seam to offer all the services that i will be needing at a very reasonable cost $159.
i am very temped to sign up but would like to here what other peoples experiences with smugmug have been, in particular if anyone has had experience with dispatching prints to Europe with smugmug as most of my clients will be from Europe.
many thanks and many downloads to all

madelaide · « **Reply #1 on:** January 20, 2008, 20:05 »

I haven't an account in Smugmug, but I know people who have and are happy with it. I regret I haven't signed up while they were cheaper...

I know a UK site called Paintings from Photos, they do sell prints too. I have only three images there and had one sale last year, but the site seems quite dead.
http://www.paintingsfromphotos.co.uk/

Regards,
Adelaide

domino · « **Reply #2 on:** January 20, 2008, 20:10 »

smugmug pro is fantastic......I highly recommend it.

fotomy · « **Reply #3 on:** January 21, 2008, 02:29 »

thanks for all your input, think i am going to go with smugmug for this year and see how it goes, am impressed by their customer service , feedback and customization of galleries.
something else i considered.
when choosing print sizes for customers smugmug allows for 3x2 format which my camera is native (canon 20D) so am able to offer 12 x 8 prints rather than the usual 10 x 8 this means no cropping of images so when working quickly composing and taking pictures i do not have to worry about having to crop images.
smugmug allows for independent customization API, and someone has written a plug-in for adobe lightroom am hoping this will speedup time spent on my computer.
many thanks

Bateleur · « **Reply #4 on:** January 21, 2008, 03:58 »

I'd love to go with Smugmug but the problem for me (being in Europe) is that they won't accept payments by PayPal.

I e-mailed them and got a very quick and helpful response ...

... we can only accept payment via credit cards. While we would love to offer you different ways of paying and receiving money for your account, it's not possible at the moment. I've made sure that our Product Manager sees your vote for it. You're absolutely right about that only the banks profit from these kind of transactions, but then we're just a small team and only concentrate on a few projects at a time ...

I earn money from my photos in US dollars, then have to change it to Swiss francs, and convert it back to dollars to pay Smugmug's credit card bill. That seems crazy ... the bankers already have as many yachts as they can use.

Maybe if more people write in to them Smugmug will open up a Paypal option. That would be cool.

sharpshot · « **Reply #5 on:** January 21, 2008, 04:35 »

Another option is zenfolio at $100 a year. Never tried either of these. Do they market your photos or do you have to get the buyers?

http://www.zenfolio.com/zf/features.aspx

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Author Topic: smugmug? (Read 3869 times)

fotomy

madelaide

domino

fotomy

Bateleur

sharpshot

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