Looking for Print on Demand software.

[dgberg]

Does anyone have or know a source for Print on Demand software. Not looking for a POD service, just the setup software. Considering setting up a POD service from my print studio for my print customers. Lost a total of 4 of my good customers to online POD store fronts. Shipping is going to be the tough part. I might be adding a 24”Piezography setup for black and white speciality printing later this summer. I don’t know of anyone in the tristate area selling Piezo and think it would be a good addition. I may not get those 4 clients back but I will do my best not to lose any more.

[Alistair]

There are a ton of them out there as you have probably found but take a look at https://printscience.com/. It is very powerful, maybe too powerful if you only want it for canvases as it is quite expensive (monthly rental). And yeah, you will need to think through the packaging and shipping. That is THE biggy IMO for print on demand.

[dgberg]

From $70 to $320 a month or purchase for $2500.
A little too rich for my blood and it really looks complicated. Thanks for the link, I will dig into it a little deeper.
I would like to sell canvas, metal, fine art and photo paper prints, B&W Piezography prints plus photo mounting and framing.
Specifically to photographers and artisans selling their work. Not that interested in one off retail printing.

[Ryan Mack]

How are you doing the metal prints?

[dgberg]

Dye sublimation printers. 24" Epson CMYK f570 and a 44" converted 8 color Epson P8000 with 3 heat presses. Knight 20x25Ap, Knight 32x42 Maxipress and a Knight 40x60 Manual.

[Ryan Mack]

So you use dye sub onto a transfer paper and then bake it onto the substrate? Interesting, I always thought this was printed directly to the substrate on a printer with a straight through "paper" path. Tempted to pick up a dye sub printer to experiment with this. Does your metal substrate come with the receptive coating already on it or do you apply yourself? And there's no way this works with a pigment printer, correct? Apologies for dumb questions, this isn't something I've thought much about before.

[dgberg]

Does not work with pigment. Dye sub ink (not dye ink) on to transfer paper. Tape to precoated Chromaluxe panels. Press under pressure and heat for beautiful gloss metal prints. (Other finishes are available) Flatbed printers that print directly to different hard substrates are not dye sublimation.
Entry level Epson DS is f170 or you can convert any Epson with a piezo head to dye sub.

[Richard.Wills]

Does anyone have or know a source for Print on Demand software. Not looking for a POD service, just the setup software. Considering setting up a POD service from my print studio for my print customers. Lost a total of 4 of my good customers to online POD store fronts. Shipping is going to be the tough part. I might be adding a 24”Piezography setup for black and white speciality printing later this summer. I don’t know of anyone in the tristate area selling Piezo and think it would be a good addition. I may not get those 4 clients back but I will do my best not to lose any more.

In the past, when I've looked into this, I've gone into view source (i.e.view-source:https://forum.luminous-landsc) of other players - often, you'll find the name of the software in there. Most of them never got back to me, because we're too small.

Packaging and shipping can be a potential killer. If your primary plan is to stop losing good customers, for whom you already have a shipping / delivery method, then something as simple as wertansfer, for their upload, with you being available 24/7 (or just business hours) to respond promptly with quotes. You're mostly B2B - if they like your work, they'll appreciate and accept that you are human, and that when  order details are firmed up, you'll invoice them.

As soon as you go for an online ordering software system, you'll find that you're sliding away from B2B, to B2C, and your first order will be a 40x40 chromalux, with a 24x60 canvas, to be shipped to the other side of the country. You'll be competing with the big boys, who have dedicated packaging and shipping departments.

Photographers, and artisans, can be picky time vampires, though most are not.

[dgberg]

Richard you are going to talk me out of this.

[Alistair]

From $70 to $320 a month or purchase for $2500.
A little too rich for my blood and it really looks complicated. Thanks for the link, I will dig into it a little deeper.
I would like to sell canvas, metal, fine art and photo paper prints, B&W Piezography prints plus photo mounting and framing.
Specifically to photographers and artisans selling their work. Not that interested in one off retail printing.

In that case, provided you are using standard print sizes, a woocommerce site will do the job (probably Squarespace and Shopify too but I have not used those). You can have each print type (canvas, metal, fine art and photo paper prints, B&W Piezography) as products and then have size, mounting and framing as attributes from which product variations are created. Woocommerce runs on Wordpress and is easy to use once you get the hang of how. You can even purchase plugins which provide private store functionality for your customers. Wordpress and Woocommerce are both free but you will of course need a host. Although retired now, I have used Woocommerce extensively and recommend it highly.

I also highly recommend plugins from https://barn2.com/blog/woocommerce-print-on-demand/ . The business is UK based and the owner Katie Keith makes very high quality plugins. Price is around USD100 p.a. The link is more for photographers selling their own work but the software works for what you are doing.

Packaging is made a lot easier if you standardise on product sizes as you can purchase packing specifically made for print shipping. 

Do not be put off by the challenges, they are all surmountable and IMHO it is important to have an online offering.

[dgberg]

Thank you for your effort and encouragement.

[Richard.Wills]

Richard you are going to talk me out of this.

Not talk you out of it, but to look at ways that you can service your clients without them jumping to a faceless online supplier - what you can do for them that one click ordering can't (or how to provide OCO).

Many of the people I print for also need graphics - window vinyls, wall text panels, phototex, posters, banners. You've got the kit to do all of that. What separates you from many of the other on demand suppliers is that you have a passion for quality.  I'd be very surprised if you don't have an i1 kicking around, that will let you take inexpensive sign making materials, and profile them, so you can create a consistency of output.

If your existing customers buy into these, or things like them,  you've got the expansion without the hassle of semi-retail national shipping.

Also nothing to stop you offering the online ordering to existing clients first - 5% discount while work the bugs out, kind of thing.

[dgberg]

Many good ideas, thanks.
I have that i1 too.

[Richard.Wills]

I've found a lot of artists and galleries are wanting a mix of printed, mounted, framed images along with a desire for BIG prints. In the past I've run these on IJM528  from Canon, with a laminate - creates a photographic print. Still printing a show that opens tomorrow for a gallery whose walls are deep ink blue, so the vinyl isn't an option. Bought in, calibrated and profiled some Phototex opaque, which completely hides the blue (and bright white of filler). Makes a simple option for creating a wall of image, that a competent person can hang. Largest pieces were 80"x120" and 120"x72", with internal corners and power sockets.

Phototex here is around £20/sqm, inkload is low to mid, but goes out the door at around 5x that. You've got a high speed R2R machine, where as I'm looking at around 3-4 sqm/h in high quality production on an 8400, and I'm cutting off each panel as I go.

Get a roll of Phototex in to try - I think the rep for them posted recently over on S101 about sending out test rolls - I'd say this is a product that some of your custers are pre-qualified for.

Tail end of the year, we're moving to a new and larger premises, and the 80600 is still on my list of maybes.

[dgberg]

We have been selling PhotoTex for years off our Pigment P8000. Believe it or not we are spraying with a satin Clearshield varnish with excellent results.
Gives the protection but more importantly to me it really pops the finish, especially the blacks. Off the printer the straight PhotoTex is very flat and dull.
It also does not change the weight of the product like adding a vinyl laminate does. I know they carry solvent PhotoTex but have yet to get some for my s80600.

Probably my favorite Phototex project. A friend of mine designed this project for a local hospital. Nurses that have worked there for the last 100 years.
Printed on PhotoTex and it really looks good. (If I may say so.)