mary_s Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I'm looking for some software that will let me add a shopping cart, galleries,and thumbnail creator to my website. I've been using Printroom.com and have beenfairly happy with the service, but I would like to switch to doing our printingin house. Does anyone know of a software that works like pictage, collage orpirntroom, but that will let me host the galleries on my website (helps googletraffic) and that will let me do my own printing. Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn_mertz Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 eos template and pictures pro. In either case there is considerablely more work involved in getting the site and pricing set up than using printroom. Unless you are great at code be prepared to spend most of day to get it to look the way you want it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley_williamson Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Mary, I was in the same situation as you. I used Printroom for about a year and decided to move everything over and do it myself. I never really found a good solution as far as a shopping cart goes, so I just went with the KISS method (Keep it simple). For every wedding a make an online web gallery through photoshop and have the image number put in the bottom right hand corner of the image. I have an reprint order form that they print out from my website and they mail me that with their check. I was shocked at how many reprint orders I started receiving (a lot more than I ever got with Printroom) I'm not bashing Printroom in any way, they offer a wonderful service to photographers. I just think that some people don't like to use a credit card online or they don't want to take the time to try and figure out the shopping cart system. That's what works for me. Best of luck to finding what works for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lb- Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 digilabs.biz does a non branded gallery with the option to have them handle credit card processing while you do your own print fulfilment. their gallery software is super easy to use and their customer service has been excellent. check them out, might be a solution. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I have been looking at the EOS template also. http://www.eostemplate.com/eos/index.html I currently use www.eventpix.com for my onlie proofing. I can upload and set my own prices. When a customer orders, I get an email saying that there is an order. I go online and print off thier order, and fill the order myself. It costs $50 a year, and I have to pay for each upload. I do not have to pay anything on the sales of the images. I have a friend who uses smugmug, and she has the shopping disabled. So people look at them online, but they contact her directly to order via email or phone. She fills the order herself. It costs her $150 a year. I like that idea, but I want a shopping cart, and I want to fill my own orders rather than have someone else do it. I like eventpix, but I want to get away from having to pay for every upload, and I still want a shopping cart. That is why I have been looking at the eos templates. I don't know a lot about web hosing though..... If you want to see one of my galleries at eventpix to see how it works, email me and I'll send you a link and a password so you can check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn_mertz Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Mary & Kari If you want to see my a sample of my eos gallery I can email a link to you. I don't want to put one in a place so public as a forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_eicher Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 >>digilabs.biz does a non branded gallery with the option to have them handle credit card processing while you do your own print fulfilment. their gallery software is super easy to use and their customer service has been excellent. check them out, might be a solution. << Another one is Clickimage http://www.clickimage.com/ Free, they can process or you can. They handle credit card orders and have a mulitiple way of handling your business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle a. Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I've been using InstaProofs, and have been extremely happy with them. No set up fees, and upload charges, images can stay there for 9 months for free, they handle the credit card processing. Photographers do their own print fulfillment. They do however charge a 15% fee on all sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrizendine Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 You might want to check out a program called Photocart. I have not used it yet, but I have heard good things about it on this forum. It is at: http://www.picturespro.com/pages/photography_shopping_cart/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnbandmom Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I use Mals-e commerce cart which I intergrated into the Photoshop gallery. The template took a little bit of coding to get it set up but the free version of the shopping cart works pretty good. There is a free version of the orders program that he also has written which will download the orders from online to you pc. Then because I like access I use the option to dump the data out into access. If you would like to see it let me know. It's pretty good since the only fees are for paypal processing. I've used it for 2 years of marching band events. Works pretty good now that I have my workflow down to a bit of a science for it. Mals is at www.mals-e.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alec_myers Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Have a look at the open-source package Gallery (version 2) available from gallery.menalto.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim long- cincinnati, ohio Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 A good amount of my reprint orders were coming via email either directly or through my contact form, along with a message amounting to the client either being afraid of, averse to, or confused by online ordering, as Ashley said, and could they just send me a check? Which I was fine with, but it really ended up being a waste for me to pay the commission to have them proofed through Eventpix (or EM, or any other online proofing agent). I just went the 'order form' route for my last wedding- created a proof gallery on my own including each photo ID#, and a link to download an order form. It can be completed electronically and submitted as an email attachment, or printed and sent. When I receive it, the client will be invoiced and provided payment instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_lee4 Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 Ashley, I dont get how your sales would increase since you've created more work for yourself by making the gallery yourself via photoshop and then have the customer fill out a form and send a check... where Printroom is great that their software does the whole thumbnail creation, upload into a gallery, prices are already set if you knew what you're doing and direct people to it. They find what they need, if they wanted to order from me direct, email me the jpg file names that is already displayed through printroom, or for those who would want to order for themselves (which i prefer since I don't have the time to really take that on for myself) they can pay by card OR if they are wary about online payment with their card, there's an option for them to pay by credit card or check. WOW go figure. Printroom has thought of it all to make a photographer's life simple. Sticking with the KISS... I don't personally would know why you anyone want to print, ship and handle reprints themselves. Unless you're a small business that wishes to stay that small then it's truly your perogative. I'm not backing Printroom but I just don't understand your post when obviously you've created more work for yourself when Printroom was already doing the samething for you and saving you all that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_lee4 Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 oh by the way, Printroom doesn't take ANY commission if you just use them to post your images for purely proofing. It's lack of understanding how Printroom works. You need to speak to your account manager and he or she would work with you to suit your needs best. I make more sales because i have every option made available while saving me the time of having to do it all my self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_eicher Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 >>A good amount of my reprint orders were coming via email either directly or through my contact form, along with a message amounting to the client either being afraid of, averse to, or confused by online ordering, as Ashley said, and could they just send me a check? Which I was fine with, but it really ended up being a waste for me to pay the commission to have them proofed through Eventpix (or EM, or any other online proofing agent). I just went the 'order form' route for my last wedding- created a proof gallery on my own including each photo ID#, and a link to download an order form. It can be completed electronically and submitted as an email attachment, or printed and sent. When I receive it, the client will be invoiced and provided payment instructions.<< Kim, how are you displaying your photos though, for you customers to see? Do you have your own website? I too think customers get confused, and if the online site you are using, does get a commission off your sales, you can hardly state "email me the order numbers and send me a check". I don't think the online site would appreciat that. As to Printroom allow you just to display images for clients to look at.....how much is there yearly fee for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim long- cincinnati, ohio Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 Yes, I just make a gallery with Porta and upload it to my website. Oh, and just to clarify, I definitely didn't encourage anyone to contact me with orders via email before... they just did on their own. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_lee4 Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 "Kim, how are you displaying your photos though, for you customers to see? Do you have your own website? I too think customers get confused, and if the online site you are using, does get a commission off your sales, you can hardly state "email me the order numbers and send me a check". I don't think the online site would appreciat that. As to Printroom allow you just to display images for clients to look at.....how much is there yearly fee for that?" i've been using them for 3 years. i've only paid $99 for my initial set up and that was it. No fees or bills. Whoever is using Printroom or plans to, you would do best to speak to your account manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_eicher Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 Tom I know of Printrooms $99 fee, just wondering if they were only hosting and not doing printing and such, is it still $99. If that is the case, there are cheaper sites out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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