Needing advice on a website that I can sell images from.

[Ick]

I'm looking at moving my website to a more professional site that customers can purchase prints from and having them ship directly to the client.

I currently have Photocrati which is pretty weak, and does not allow for this at all.

Thinking of Zenfolio,

Any advice?

Eric

 

[pixmedic]

I use smugmug premium. $35 a month, but you get a lot of customer print and order fulfillment options.
i like their setup too, and the ease of changing/setting prices on galleries.

 

[wyogirl]

I use Zenfolio and I like it. Its easy for me and anyone ordering prints, plus they have a lot of options for products.

 

[GlennT]

I'm not a pro, but I love Smugmug and their commerce offerings looked extremely promising and they tout the SEO quite a lot. I went with Smugmug mostly because their Lightroom plugin is absolutely incredible. Not only does it have a great number of options, it is capable of syncing metadata without re-uploading the entire image. You can easily publish a collection with all necessary settings: password, cart options, gallery style, etc...

I tend to upload all photos to password protected albums that are really just for me. Much of that serves as an offline backup. From there, I use Smart Galleries to pull images from other galleries using keywords. On my front page, I have some favorites shown publicly (need to work on that.) Elsewhere, I use password protected or unlisted galleries that might show one event, such as "Cub Scouts", "2014", "Pinewood Derby" and I can share that with other parents. If I were a pro, I'd probably still tend to upload all, then create Smart Galleries for the customer using a keyword like "include" and you could change what images the client could see simply by adding or removing that "include" keyword in the metadata.

The only complaint I've really seen about Smugmug is how their branding shows up in various places and that it can be a chore (maybe impossible in some places) to suppress it.

 

[bribrius]

I have to ask. is anyone actually managing to sell any photographs on these sites? ill admit, I haven't sold a damn thing. course the internet is full of free pictures so why would anyone buy one I suppose....

 

[pixmedic]

I have to ask. is anyone actually managing to sell any photographs on these sites? ill admit, I haven't sold a damn thing. course the internet is full of free pictures so why would anyone buy one I suppose....

yes.
especially when they are pictures clients asked you to take.

 

[Ick]

Currently I have not sold any through my current site, but I'm adding a venue... I'm going to start taking senior pictures and this is where I want them to purchase them from.

@Whyogirl, I am way interested in the lots of options for products for clients, I have sold cards and such in the past and would love to offer that along with photo books and the like.

Eric

 

[KmH]

I recommend selling prints in person.
Most photographers that switch from an online gallery and ordering to in-person selling see a substantial increase in their average sale. A 4x increase in the average sale $$$ amount is not uncommon for those photographers that have some sales training.

I do not recommend shipping directly to the customer for 2 reasons.

1. Even the best labs occasionally make a bad print, or get print orders mixed up and send the customer the wrong prints. You should check the prints before the customer see's them.

2. Delivering the prints in person is a way to distinguish your business from competitors. Plus at delivery you get another chance to sell your products.

 

[pixmedic]

I recommend selling prints in person.
Most photographers that switch from an online gallery and ordering to in-person selling see a substantial increase in their average sale. A 4x increase in the average sale $$$ amount is not uncommon for those photographers that have some sales training.

I do not recommend shipping directly to the customer for 2 reasons.

1. Even the best labs occasionally make a bad print, or get print orders mixed up and send the customer the wrong prints. You should check the prints before the customer see's them.

2. Delivering the prints in person is a way to distinguish your business from competitors. Plus at delivery you get another chance to sell your products.

which is great until you have clients family members that are out of state, or out of the country wanting to view and purchase photos.
online galleries are soooo much cheaper than plane fare and hotel stays.

 

[Ick]

@KmH, that is great advice, I'm not a full time photographer at the moment, I have a regular full time job, wife, two dogs etc.... So I can't see me having time to do the shoot, meet with them a 2nd time to go over all of the pics, then order them off of Miller Labs, then meet with them again to deliver the product. Then they may decide to order more, (which is awesome) but then I have to do that process all over again. If I had a studio and an assistant, I would be all in for that.