mbyrne Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I just signed up for the SmugMug Pro plan with the 14 day free trial. Have you all been staisfied with them? everything seems pretty slick on the site, it looks real nice and pro. Have your clients been happy with their products? Who does their printing, is it in-house? How do the payments work, does it have to get a certain amount, or can you withdraw money at any time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catlinhumes Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I also recently got a trail to Smug Mug. I really like what I've seen but because I am just starting out I'm not sure if I should drop the $150. I've heard it talked about on here a lot though and it seems like most people I've heard have been happy with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conraderb Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 mike - dumping pictage for smugmug was the best business decision I made last year. pays for itself many times over, great interface, fast and stable site. clients love it. printing is done by EZ prints in georgia, I think. great prints. payment is quarterly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ_konrad Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Additionally - you set your own prices and can decide what products to offer your customers. For example - we only allow our customers to purchase the "Lustre" finish on all the prints. IMHO - a much nicer finish than either matte or glossy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katie_jullian Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I've been very happy with SmugMug (however I have not used any of the other sites, so I have nothing to compare them to and as far as clients, I am relatively new to the wedding business - 4 full weddings and 4 half weddings). I believe you have to reach $100 in profit before they send you a check. If you are interested in customizing your Smugmug site yourself, the support forum is great for learning the CSS codes (and I have to admit, I found it very addictive - once you start customizing it is hard to stop). There are a few things that I would like to be able to customize that I currently can't, but they are pretty minor issues and I'm sure there are things I can do to work around them. I've had to email their customer support twice (once was a stupid error on my part, and once was on behalf of a client who couldn't get the shopping cart to work) Both times they responded within an hour's time and resolved the issues. Before you make a decision, I suggest browsing their forum - it gives you a good sense of the company and support they offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellie1 Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I have really liked SmugMug so far. The only thing I don't like is that I cannot give customers a credit for their prints. I am unable to offer that type of package because the process of having customers do a separate order to a set amount doesn't appeal to me. Maybe someone else has found a way around that, though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_rych Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I recently saw this on another local photographers site. I am glad this question got so many responses. Just from glancing at it for a few minutes and as easy as the interface is for customers I was sold. The fact that so many pro's on here are happy with it further reinforces my faith in thier service. This will be an essential part of my operation once my site is ready for launch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_schilling___chicago_ Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I love 'em................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_jay1 Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I've been loving them as well. I just customized my page for my own URL ... <A HREF="http://gallery.davidjay.com">gallery.davidjay.com</A> and if you go to <A HREF="http://smugdj.com">SmugDJ.com</A> and click through that link and type in the code on the page you can save $20 on your first years subscription! <br><br> Rock on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julietelizabeth Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I LOVE smugmug. Very user friendly, excellent print quality, and ease of service. I love the way they send prints directly to the client. Well worth $150/year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbyrne Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 So far so good with the trial. I uploaded a couple of galleries, set prices. I haven't dived into customizing yet, but I'm sure I will. One question though, is there any limit as to how many images I have up there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vito Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 SmugMug has been great so far. I have a basic free account. I walked away from Phanfare to join SmugMug. Their experiment with forcing people to join just to view your pictures was a huge failure. Plus, image quality was crappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincedistefano Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Very happy with my SmugMug account, for the same reasons others have said. Also, I found support to be incredible. I had two different support requests to them - one was a suggestion on how to improve page Search Engine optimization, and the other was a question about how to customize a gallery front-end. I got very fast, friendly replies - and I think one of them was from one of the members of the family that owns the company! They have a really neat story and SmugMug's a real homegrown, people-friendly organization. (on their staff pages, they all dress up like different Super Heroes and ham it up - kinda cool, I think!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_schuchard Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I have been with Smugmug for just over a year and just recently upgraded to the pro plan. All of my clients that have ordered prints have been very happy with the quality and commented on how fast the received them. The unlimited storage is a bargain at $150. I have found it very easy to customize your own personal site and they will help you with any problems you come across. I love smugmug! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_tatum Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Pro Plan. Two years of bliss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedding-photography-denver Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I am using them too. I have a pro plan and if the price does not climb any more, I will keep using them. I like the functionality, as do clients. What suck is that you cannot go and look at your order history, you have to email them for that information. Not a deal breaker (quite), but a big oversight in that part of the service. As for payments, I get checks fairly frequently. I think that when ever you reach $500 or a month, they send you one. Not sure exactly, but I do get checks about once a month or so. You can set the site to reflect your own so your branding (if you care about such things) carries over. Best, D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_senesouk Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I've had Smug for a couple of months now and already made up for the cost and then some on orders. So it's really not costing me anything and allows clients and potiential clients to see your work. I'm actually paying $104 for the pro account. When I signed up I used the coupon code smug30. This gave me a 30% discount. There's also smug20 too. I'm not sure if there is an expiration date on these or maybe a limited time discount or not. Try doing a search for coupon on Google. That's how I came across these codes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_senesouk Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Adding to my coupon search. YaHOo supposedly offers a 50% discount and is expiring soon. The smug30 ends 9/30/08 according to my search. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wclark5179 Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 How do you work around the pricing when the cost is shown on the SmugMug web site? Aren't clients crusing around and going to the SmugMug and find this out? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wclark5179 Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 One click from the main gets you here: http://www.smugmug.com/pro/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now