Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: RMW on February 02, 2016, 05:15:33 pm

Title: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: RMW on February 02, 2016, 05:15:33 pm: Just starting to consider selling prints on-line. Went to Fine Art America, but they do the printing. I want to print the fotos myself.
What's an economical way to show fotos and provide info on-line ? How do you go about choosing a local web designer or a website like Word Press ?
What are the range of costs and services that would be most appropriate for a beginner ? What are the pitfalls ?
Ideally I want to pay for an initial setup and then manage the site on my own.

Any and all suggestions appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

Richard
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: MattBurt on February 02, 2016, 06:44:19 pm: I use Zenfolio which hosts the site (template driven, pretty easy to make a nice looking site) and I can set up either products through their partners like MPix for stuff like bike race photos for competitors or "self fulfilled" products.
The race photos are nice to not print myself since the volume can be high. I never have to touch the photos as they ship directly to the buyer.
Fine art prints I can fulfill myself but use their ecommerce engine to get the sale. They take a cut but I find it has been worth it for me.
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: RoyH on February 04, 2016, 11:02:21 am: As Matt suggested I would also recommend you use one of the template driven sites that include an e Commerce engine. Another one to look at would be Photo Shelter (http://www.photoshelter.com/), similar to Zenfolio and any internet search on those two will bring up other options as well.

I just went through this exercise last week myself and after research will most likely go with either Zenfolio or Photo Shelter when I'm ready to proceed.

Roy
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: MattBurt on February 04, 2016, 01:46:56 pm: One thing I really liked about Zenfolio is the free 30 day trial. I started mine right before a bike race I was shooting and before the trial was over I had made enough to cover the first year's subscription so it was done with no money upfront.
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: AndyS on February 06, 2016, 03:44:15 pm: If you go down the Wordpress route then You need to be prepared to get a bit more involved in your website and the world of Wordpress. There are several e-commerce plugins for Wordpress that would let you do what you want, but unless you pay a designer you're going to have to be happy developing a few technical skills.

Of course the advantage is that you end up with complete control of layouts etc. I've gone down this approach myself recently, and pleased with what i've ended up with. I have some background in html and programming though, so it's perhaps different circumstances.

Andrew.
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: David Anderson on February 06, 2016, 05:49:59 pm: Quote from: AndyS on February 06, 2016, 03:44:15 pm
If you go down the Wordpress route then You need to be prepared to get a bit more involved in your website and the world of Wordpress.

I'm not IT guy, but have found Wordpress quite workable with some initial help from a couple friends and some Youtube time.
My experience with template sites is that they're easier to get started with, but you soon run out of options when trying to do something different.
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: BobShaw on February 07, 2016, 11:11:31 pm: Whatever you use to show your images, if you want to offer Custom Framing straight from the site then you can try this
http://www.aspirationimages.com/joomla/component/content/article.html?id=29

(Currently only for framing in Australia but i am looking at options.)
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: LeonD on March 10, 2016, 10:26:07 am: Has anyone tried Squarespace for hosting and selling? How does it compare to the two sites already mentioned?
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: Colorado David on March 10, 2016, 11:11:36 am: Quote from: LeonD on March 10, 2016, 10:26:07 am
Has anyone tried Squarespace for hosting and selling? How does it compare to the two sites already mentioned?

This website is owned by a friend of mine; http://www.overlandexpo.com/ His wife does all their IT and he reports that she likes Squarespace. I don't know anything about selling photographic prints through it, but I considered it for another website I plan to develop.
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: pcgpcg on March 13, 2016, 12:09:21 am: Terry posted this a while back...
http://luxborealis.com/blog/?p=1582
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: fredweymouth on March 27, 2016, 09:30:15 am: Quote from: Colorado David on March 10, 2016, 11:11:36 am
This website is owned by a friend of mine; http://www.overlandexpo.com/ (http://www.overlandexpo.com/) His wife does all their IT and he reports that she likes Squarespace. I don't know anything about selling photographic prints through it, but I considered it for another website I plan to develop.

Squarespace is a great platform, though they don't have a built in way to sell prints for the photographer. You can, however, integrate with other online systems for the print sales piece and fulfillment. If you are not adept and willing to customize your web site though, Squarespace won't be the right choice for you if on-line print sales and fulfillment is your goal. You would be better off with Photoshelter or Zenfolio as others have mentioned.
Title: Re: Want to sell prints on-line.
Post by: RMW on March 29, 2016, 08:22:38 pm: Thank you all very much.
I went ahead and used PhotoShelter.
My next step I guess is to make it known.
Thanks again,
Richard
RichardWallerPhotos.com