Quote from: leaf on July 04, 2012, 06:10

Quote from: cidepix on July 03, 2012, 17:16

leaf, how is it going with cmsaccount?

and is it better than ktools? I currently have cmsaccount but would upgrade to ktools if it's any better..

Actually I canned the cmsaccount and bought the upgrade for ktools and I agree with the others that ktools is quite a bit more polished.  I was actually surprised with cmsaccount and how well it was put together, especially for the price - so it is a good option if you dont' want to spend the $$ for ktools, but I had problems getting the template to work the way I wanted and a few other little problems getting them to work like I wanted. 

With Ktools, the back end seems to work just as well for most things and better for some others.  It also seems easier to edit the template, which is a big improvement over V3.  I'm still playing with it, but impressed so far.

Thank you leaf, helpful info!

Good to hear a proper comparison from someone who tried them both..

I am going to get one of them for my other site while keeping the current one on cmsaccount.. I just haven't decided which one yet.. I would spend the $$$ if it's clearly better..

one of the most important things is the bulk upload feature.. where does it stand compared to agencies like stockfresh, fotolia, or canstock?

Thanks for the input again..

I currently have PhotoStore 4.0.7 installed.  Bulk upload works fine and you can upload a batch of photos and bulk add them to categories and set pricing.  I haven't found a way to bulk edit once they are imported into the database but maybe there is something I'm not seeing. 

I can post a link to my site in a week or so.. if I get it working the way I want.  So far I think it was worth the extra $100... mostly because I can edit the template with relative ease.  They have made good use of CSS in the latest version.

What do you think about Xpoze vs Ktools?

For those of you that are on the version 4.0.x, it is still a very early version of 4 and a lot was left out so it could be completed sooner than later. So with that said, more will be coming in each release, we still have a ton of features that will be added in (contributors addon, batch editing, more settings on importing, etc..).

In Control Panel - to replace a watermark, then the tab catalog to regenerate thumbnails.
I have updated the 5000+  pictures. I think it took some time

Here's a link to my site.  I did a lot of changes to the look of it but nothing to how the site actually works.  Ktools has done a lot of nice work using CSS which makes it quite easy to modify the site with a few simple lines of code.  I tried to modify the CMSaccount layout and had a very hard time and recall a confusion of tables and hard coded styles.  I have also been very happy with the ktools back end and feel things work like they should.  I'm still waiting for the bulk edit of images after they are uploaded, but once that is in place I'll be quite content with it.

Here's my site -> Real Stock Photos

Looks great, Tyler!

Looking fantastic Tyler.  Where are you hosting?

I'm hosting it on wiredtree

The cost of photostore basic is $199  (doesn't have credit system, or multi-currency, etc..). It is $299 for pro (which has credit system and multi-currency, etc..).
Also there are coupon codes that can be used on ktools site, just do a google search for "ktools coupons", and you will find a few for like 10 or 15% off.

price of CMS account has gone up.. It is now $149 for light, and $199 for full version..

- full version comes with affiliate and contributors add-ons
- both versions are unbranded
- still cheaper but lacks some important features mentioned below..

photostore, even though appears similar in price now, purchasing unbranded version and necessary add-ons brings the price to nearly $400

- dynamic watermark,
- easy customization
- additional jpeg sizes for vectors;

are upsides of photostore..

Yeah, the watermark thing and the design were dealbreakers for me.  The affiliate feature would be awfully nice on ktools and they are missing a couple batch features which are supposedly still coming.  Neither one is perfect.

You can look at this two ways. Not everyone needs to block IP's especially since it can be done at a server/hosting account level (example if you have cPanel you can use IP manager in the cPanel to block ip's).

The way Jon and I look at it is this, Photostore as a whole with everything in it is worth X amount of dollars to us. That is our one price covers all features. If you want all those features you pay that price. If you don't need those features then you can save some money by not getting them.
That is why we usually list a bundle package (all in one) for a good discount. We will be listing this soon on our site but right now we are focused on getting the contributors add-on completed for the next release (4.1 coming soon).

The price Jon and I have to charge is to keep us in business. To Jon and I this is our full time business, we sit down and work over 40 hours a week doing nothing but photo related programming on photostore or our other photo related products. Others (pixaria, cms, etc..) may sell theirs cheaper because it is a hobby or they have other unrelated products to help them. Take a look at what recently happen to pixaria which is exactly what I figured would happen eventually. It was sold it to big company and now prices have changed. This happened to those that used Jamie's (creator of pixaria) pop-photo software back in the day. Usually when a hobbyist gets bored of their project it gets canceled and you�re out support/upgrades. All those people on pixaria will now have to pay $249 (based on their site at the time of this writing) just to get a year of support and upgrades. That is more than we charge for a basic photostore.

Jon and I thought about this for years and we still do, but we can't see charging just one price that may be too much for some that don't need all the features that the pro has. For example some photographers will never plan to upload a video, or allow commenting, etc.. Why should they be forced to purchase the full version at a full price?

Photostore can be used as a simple platform to advertise your photography business. My wife used it for years before she finally got out of the wedding photography business. She landed many clients because of it, got a lot of compliments about her site being nice compared to our competitors locally. It wasn't even really used to sell prints, it was used more as a tool to sell herself, to land new wedding clients. The site basically showed a news area in which she posted info, posted some examples of her work, used the contact us form to answer questions, etc.. All she needed was a basic site, so there was no need at the time when we purchased it to buy the pro version (back when 2.8.3 had a pro and basic version).

All she needed was a basic site, so there was no need at the time when we purchased it to buy the pro version (back when 2.8.3 had a pro and basic version).

Wondering how I can post this without sounding mean (just amused).... it's cute that you and Jon made your wife "purchase" it.      Not that's a businessman!

You can look at this two ways. Not everyone needs to block IP's especially since it can be done at a server/hosting account level (example if you have cPanel you can use IP manager in the cPanel to block ip's).

The way Jon and I look at it is this, Photostore as a whole with everything in it is worth X amount of dollars to us. That is our one price covers all features. If you want all those features you pay that price. If you don't need those features then you can save some money by not getting them.
That is why we usually list a bundle package (all in one) for a good discount. We will be listing this soon on our site but right now we are focused on getting the contributors add-on completed for the next release (4.1 coming soon).

The price Jon and I have to charge is to keep us in business. To Jon and I this is our full time business, we sit down and work over 40 hours a week doing nothing but photo related programming on photostore or our other photo related products. Others (pixaria, cms, etc..) may sell theirs cheaper because it is a hobby or they have other unrelated products to help them. Take a look at what recently happen to pixaria which is exactly what I figured would happen eventually. It was sold it to big company and now prices have changed. This happened to those that used Jamie's (creator of pixaria) pop-photo software back in the day. Usually when a hobbyist gets bored of their project it gets canceled and you�re out support/upgrades. All those people on pixaria will now have to pay $249 (based on their site at the time of this writing) just to get a year of support and upgrades. That is more than we charge for a basic photostore.

Jon and I thought about this for years and we still do, but we can't see charging just one price that may be too much for some that don't need all the features that the pro has. For example some photographers will never plan to upload a video, or allow commenting, etc.. Why should they be forced to purchase the full version at a full price?

Photostore can be used as a simple platform to advertise your photography business. My wife used it for years before she finally got out of the wedding photography business. She landed many clients because of it, got a lot of compliments about her site being nice compared to our competitors locally. It wasn't even really used to sell prints, it was used more as a tool to sell herself, to land new wedding clients. The site basically showed a news area in which she posted info, posted some examples of her work, used the contact us form to answer questions, etc.. All she needed was a basic site, so there was no need at the time when we purchased it to buy the pro version (back when 2.8.3 had a pro and basic version).

Hello.
I am a user of software pixaria, objednejfoto.cz. Unfortunately, sales of large companies, the situation has changed a lot pixaria. Do not respond to queries, poor support ... just problems.
I start looking for a new software and it looks like I choose Ktools.
I used cmsaccound, but it is not good for me. I sell a lot of prints photos and I want to sell products derived from photos.
I'm here ... so I gained your experience.