For those of you who sell prints..

[sam_justice]

For those of you who have a website and use it to sell prints, how do you go about this?
Do you have a model like so...
Transaction from customer -> you place order to printing company -> order arrives to you -> you send it out to customer

Or do you have a set of prints ready to send? Also, where is a good site to get prints printed? One forum member gave me a great site I've been using so far, but I want to know about other ones. More specifically, is there a place that also does good panoramic prints?

 

[Whootsinator]

I imagine it would depend on how often you get orders. I'd keep a copy of something on hand if it had been ordered before, or more if you've gotten multiple orders of an image.

You could place an order to xyz printing, put your billing address, and their shipping address.

Note: I've never sold a print, or tried, or have my own photography site.

 

[sam_justice]

I imagine it would depend on how often you get orders. I'd keep a copy of something on hand if it had been ordered before, or more if you've gotten multiple orders of an image.

You could place an order to xyz printing, put your billing address, and their shipping address.

Note: I've never sold a print, or tried, or have my own photography site.

Neither have I, I don't plan on starting one anytime soon but would like to see if I could maybe sell some prints to local shops. Just wondering about the setup for selling them online.

 

[invisible]

Or do you have a set of prints ready to send?

How would you know in advance which photos (and what sizes) people are going to buy?

Neither have I, I don't plan on starting one anytime soon but would like to see if I could maybe sell some prints to local shops.

If you want to sell prints to local shops (assuming there are shops willing to buy the photos instead of taking them in consignment), you might want to print your 12-15 strongest photos and put them in a portfolio. Then bring the portfolio with you when you visit shops, and have them choose which photos they want and what sizes. That's what I do and it works for me.

 

[IlSan]

I generally wait till I have an order.
Thing is, you cannot order off the website (in my case). You'd have to e-mail me, let me know which image you want, size, etc... and I would then get it ready and send it to you - takes about 1-2 weeks, so not too bad.

The reason is, that I like to have this interaction with a potential customer before - if I cannot see them in person, at least e-mail correspondence / telephone is nice.

Just the way I do it...

 

[KmH]

Go look at www.Zenfolio.com.

If you get a pro account ($100 a year) you upload your images, decide what size prints and/or other products you want to offer and the pricings. Zenfolio has a B2B relationship with the print lab - Mpix. Mpix will print what the customer orders and drop ship it for you in plan (not Mpix branded) packaging. Zenfolio notifies you of the order, collects the money, keeps their cut and Mpix's cost, and forwards the rest to you.

OR

You can do the order fulfilment yourself and Zenfolio takes a much smaller percentage.

The trick part is driving enough people to your web site to make any money. promoting the site takes a lot of time and effort.

Why would local shops want to buy prints? How many local shops do you see in your area that have local photographer prints hanging on the walls?

 

[sam_justice]

Why would local shops want to buy prints? How many local shops do you see in your area that have local photographer prints hanging on the walls?

I live in a popular seaside city which has a huge influx of tourists in summer, most local shops aimed at tourists stock photos from photographers around the area.

 

[Nautifish]

The small fishing Town i live in also has a few different local photographers work in stores here also...Again we are a tourist town with alot of tourists From march through till labour day weekend,and we are also famous for Friday the 13th THAT ONE SPECIFIC EVENT ALONE WE GET OVER 150,000 People in one day into our little town.:thumbup:

 

[JasonLambert]

I use telepathy...



Seriously, If you are not planing on selling a lot of images, I would use IlSan's method. No need to purchase a Zenfolio account or a 2-$300 shopping cart for your site. Besides, I am not impressed with Mpix print quality. I use Nations Photo Lab for prints... Great price and the quality is unmatched as far as I'm concerned. For the price of shipping, $7, they will send you 8x10s of 5 images on matte and metallic and color corrected and non color corrected of each for you to proof (that's 20 8x10s). I have had enlargements done and the quality is superb! I had one enlargement arrive with a bent corner, called them and they sent a new one with no questions asked... Hell, I even got to keep the one with the bent corner... and they put in that I would like any prints sent to me to be flat shipped between cardboard instead of rolled in a tube. Every order since has been shipped that way... Nice!

 

[KmH]

.......Besides, I am not impressed with Mpix print quality. I use Nations Photo Lab for prints...

Mpix is a consumer lab. Nations is a Pro lab, so you're comparing apples to oranges.

Did you check out Millers Professional Imaging, the Pro lab that owns both Mpix and MpixPro?

For printing I use 6 or 7 different labs.

 

[JasonLambert]

I just hope that if someone is selling their work, they would print professionally and not with the average consumer print shop. Wal-Mart may print pictures, but they won't be printing mine. I may not be a Spencer Tunick, Berenice Abbott or even a Keith from Iowa but I still want my prints to best resemble my vision and I would hope Sam would want the same thing.

He was being guided in the direction of Mpix via Zenfolio by yourself Keith. I was simply pointing out the difference between an apple and an orange.

 

[HikinMike]

I do sell my landscape/nature photos via my website. I use a custom "script" from Paypal. The customer purchases the print(s); I receive an e-mail letting me know which print(s); I order the image(s) from Mpix; I receive the print(s) and make sure everything is fine; I sign them and send the package.

 

[KmH]

I just hope that if someone is selling their work, they would print professionally and not with the average consumer print shop. Wal-Mart may print pictures, but they won't be printing mine. I may not be a Spencer Tunick, Berenice Abbott or even a Keith from Iowa but I still want my prints to best resemble my vision and I would hope Sam would want the same thing.

He was being guided in the direction of Mpix via Zenfolio by yourself Keith. I was simply pointing out the difference between an apple and an orange.

I wouldn't say Mpix is an average consumer print shop, and many pro shooters avail themselves of Mpix products and services.

Note I also mentioned Zenfolio users can do their own order fulfillment:

You can do the order fulfilment yourself and Zenfolio takes a much smaller percentage.

So, did you get any sample prints from Millers Professional Imaging before you decided on using Nations Photo Lab?