Other ways of making money > Print on Demand Forum
Pictorem.....Worthwhile?
PaulieWalnuts:
--- Quote from: stockastic on September 20, 2022, 13:39 ---
--- Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on September 17, 2022, 17:37 ---Pictorem is one of the labs I evaluated for Shopify integration. They have a Shopify app that offers one of the best integrations I've seen because it creates one Shopify listing with multiple product and size variations in one listing. Most of the other apps all create a different listing each for canvas, paper, metal, etc. So unless you manually combine them you end up with a mess of what appear to be duplicate product listings. FAA's Shopify app creates multiple listings.
Beyond that, I wasn't impressed. I ordered canvas and photo paper sample prints. I think their production time when I ordered was 4 days and it's now 6 days. I finally got the prints a month later. Left a voicemail with support and never got a call back. Emailed support and finally got a response about issues with suppliers. Paper print arrived in a generic brown semi-rigid mailer and no other protection. No cellophane, wrapping tissue or anything else. And prices are about double the average cost I've seen. If that order had actually been for one of my customers they probably would have either been angry or cancelled the order.
High cost, slow production, low quality presentation, and poor support is a pretty bad combination.
--- End quote ---
Sounds like they're not much different than FAA - I wouldn't be surprised if they're using the same print vendors.
After following FAA's forum for a few years, I see the pattern. Usually, they do ok but since the pandemic, shipping costs have skyrocketed and (as many forum posters have pointed out) become wildly inconsistent. Usually the order is filled on a timely basis, but sometimes things go off the rails and I've seen forum posts from angry customers who got nowhere with customer service. Quality is usually ok, but sometimes it's a disaster, probably because FAA just found a lower-cost supplier.
Looks like Pictorem is a mixed bag. I'd just like to know if it has a future - will it get better, or just go away?
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Pictorem's website makes them look like a high-end print lab but what I received was nowhere close to high-end. Seems they only have locations in New York and Canada but I'm not sure if they actually do the printing. The return address is labeled with the company Xitrade. They operate as both a print lab and a POD. Haven't tried the POD. But yes I'm also concerned about their longevity. It takes a ton of time to load products and/or integrate to something like Shopify and if they're unreliable or go out of business it's a waste of time.
With FAA, I've found the overall quality of products to be good, production times are mostly good, and customer service is a bit hit or miss. One guy owns and built the entire platform. I think he's done an amazing job with it but at some point he'll probably decide it's time to sell it. Whoever buys it will likely do the usual cost cutting and wringing artists dry. FAA has a partnership with Getty so I'm guessing they'd be one of the top potential buyers.
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