photo e-commerce at Zenfolio, Smugmug, etc.

I'm planning to set up shop at one of the photo web-hosting sites with e-commerce capabilities such as zenfolio.com or smugmug.com. So far I'm leaning towards Zenfolio but am interested in hearing from other photographers about their experiences with these or similar services.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

Fantastic! I am hosted at Zenfolio...take a look: www.lostvalleyphoto.com

Hi Larry. I've seen your site before and love the presentation, not to mention the photos. I notice that there's no obvious way to add an item to a shopping cart. Is there something I'm not seeing, or do you not use the e-commerce facilities?

Also, have you ever used the mpix.com print fulfillment that Zenfolio provides? If so, can you comment on the quality of the prints?

Zenfolio is excellent. Mpix does a great job with prints, standouts and gallery wraps.

Thanks, Larry D. I see your site has an obvious shopping cart. I assume it is also hosted on Zenfolio?

Most of the photos that are available to see have not been added to a price list so that they can be ordered. Once you assign a custom price list the shopping cart shows up. Several of the people galleries have been locked out of public view...those are the one you can order from.

Great thing about what you offer...basically anything MPIX offers can be applied to a custom price list as well as several other specialty vendors. I have also added immediate download for digital images of various sizes. Yes, I use MPIX for fulfillment, have done so for about 20,000 images sold so far. They were able to keep up when I was in event photography chasing competetive cheerleading and baseball tourneys.

I can go on and on....but in my opinion, get the premium yearly package from Zinfolio and you will not go wrong with quality and options!!!

I also recently added Google Analytics to the site and can track ANYTHING about each visitor. As a matter of fact, the day you last visited I know you had a Turkey Sub for lunch!!

Pretty impressive, Larry R. I got the turkey sub for one of my dogs, though; so technically I wasn't actually eating it!

Nothing's perfect...

I can put in a good word for Smugmug, but I have no experience with their ecommerce features

Larry, I really like your site also and have been shopping for an e-commerce site myself. It seems to me the Zenfolio and Smugmug both require that you give them a cut of the sale if you use their shopping cart. Is this also true with the Premium service. Can you use the lab of your choice or do you have to use Mpix with Zenfolio. Many of my prints are done by a buisness partner so I dont know how this would work. Joe Rogers

That is correct, you will pay a cut to all services like this. But in my opinion the ease of these sites is well worth the minimal percentage. Zinfolio will allow you to create as many price lists as you want with the premium package ($100 per year Total....cheap).

There are several labs you can choose from within Zenfolio...I chose MPIX due to my previous experience. For the partner prints you can put a message on the page that states "if you want these specialty prints, contact me directly".

If anyone is interested in getting hooked up with Zinfolio I think they have a referral program, send me your email addresses and I will see what they have to offer. There may either be some sort of discount or a kickback... larry.roberts@hotmail.com

Just to be clear, what I think Larry R. is saying, and what the Zenfolio site says, is that you can fulfill orders yourself and have anyone one you want do the prints, including you or your partner.

This is from the Zenfolio site:

Selling Custom Products and Self-Fulfillment

You can setup and offer for sale your own custom products and use your own PayPal account during Cart checkout so that payment goes directly to you. If you do your own printing, or use a local lab, this is the most flexible option. There is a 4% service fee charged on all custom orders.

Yep

Although I've only recently set up my site, I'll second the opinion about Zenfolio. Their interface makes it easy to create and customize your site and the shopping cart is seamlessly integrated (i.e., no work or major learning curve on my part). As Larry mentioned the site allows you to manage different price lists for different galleries; they also give you the ability to offer customized coupons.

When you consider the cost of creating your own site (or having it done), hosting it, setting up a mercant account, etc., I think it's an incredible bargain.

Thanks, Bryan. Also, beautiful images.

Turns out if you use a referral code like mine below, you get $5 off your subscription. Not a lot, but some. Below is a copy of what they send out when I put in your email address. Use if you like. Larry

As you may already know, I have been using Zenfolio hosting service for organizing and presenting my photos online. You can view my home page at http://lostvalleyphoto.zenfolio.com/

I think Zenfolio is a great service, and I recommend you open an account as well.

Some of the features Zenfolio offers are:
- Unlimited storage
- Elegant pages with a choice of layouts and theme designs
- Highest quality presentation of photos online
- Easy to use intuitive interface
- Full screen Slideshow
- Links from auctions, blogs, and forums to seven different image sizes

You can use my referral code PET-SRG-2XZ during sign up to save $5.00 off your own subscription. Once subscribed, you'll get your own code, and if you get enough referrals, you may never need to pay for the service again.

Zenfolio offers a Free Trial account for two weeks so you can see if you like it.

http://www.zenfolio.com

Regards,

Really beautiful work, Taylor, and I like how with Smugmug navigation you don't have to click back and forth between an individual image and the image gallery.

Just setting up with Zenfolio now, and many great prints in the last 3 yrs from MPIX.
Sandy r

Thanks for your input, Sandy.