Hello all,

I'm about to receive a "fulfillment" order from WHCC. Sounds like it comes in a plain box with WHCC's return address (not their name, but if you google the return address, you get WHCC) and nothing in the box except the prints.

Does anyone do a better job of:

1) Hiding who they are?
2) Showing who I am?
3) Allow prints larger than 11x14?

-TM

I just have everything sent to me- I repackage and send to my client. I like a little more control over how something is packaged and this way I can add my personal touches to the shipment. Sorry I couldn't be any more help!

check out ProPDI they are AWESOME, great customer service, my colors "pop" more than our WHCC prints, and their executive drop shipping is beautiful! And their new executive drop shipping boxes go up to 16x20

Hi Beth, I used to do that, but I just can't seem to find the time to handle the re-shipping. -TM



Hi Jen, Thanks, I'll take a look. How is it personalized with your studio's brand? What return address appears on the package? -TM

I'll second ProDPI. The best customer service around. I don't know what is on the return address but with each drop ship order you get a free 5X7 thank you card (print) included with the order. This card can be one of their designs or you can up load your own. Plus they have Executive Drop Shipping with really nice boxes up to 16X20. And yes, the colors pop. It must be the Fuji paper.

Another vote for ProDPi. You can design your own thank you card with your logo to keep with your branding. I also love that they're in California so my clients get their photos usually overnight!

ProDPI's exec drop shipping is great... I think it' still their return address on the package, though. Are there legality issues one might run up against putting someone else's return address on the envelope?

Like I told the lady at WHCC, they could put a PO Box on it, or an address that they don't list anywhere, so that when my client types the address into Google, they don't get the WHCC (or the ProDPI) homepage.

-TM

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate for a minute here...

How many of your customers are really going to google the return address? When I get something in the mail I am usually so excited the LAST thing on my mind is the address where it was shipped from. And, if they did know it was WHCC, would they care? Or why would you care that they knew?

All my products are through Pictage, so I have everything drop-shipped from them. Repackaging items for a consistent studio look is a fantastic idea, but I personally don't believe its worth the time that could be used in other areas of my business.

The issue is the fact that WHCC has a very easy way for YOUR clients to see what YOUR prices are on the prints they just ordered.

SO if they expect an order FROM you, and it comes from WHCC - they get curious and google it, find the pricing and then if you didn't handle their expectations properly, they will call or email you pissed about how much profit you make "on a 4x6 I could have printed at Wal-Mart!"

[I've received a few emails from a photog in my state that this happened to - she needed help dealing with the upset client.]

All things being equal, I'd rather not have them know. If I can have my cake and eat it too, why not?I just did 5 fufillment orders today with WHCC, so obviously I'm not losing sleep over it; I have a mild preference against my clients being able to find out what lab I use. -TM



Exactly. -TM

The problem with this is, that it's not that easy to simply change the return address on the FedEx or UPS labels. It's not as easy as providing a dummy PO box.

I have a corporate account, as we ship HUNDREDS of packages a month. You certainly don't want to see my FedEx bill! *grin*

Yes, my name and address are on the label. Yes, we drop ship to clients - YOUR clients. While we don't include any P2C branding in with the canvases or on the box, our name IS on the FedEx label. HOWEVER - Joe Q. Public, while they can certainly see where we are on the web, cannot view our pricing as we don't sell to the public. You need to be a registered artist to view our pricing.

I understand your situation - all I'm saying is that the solution isn't as simple as you may think.

$0.02. You may now return to your regularly scheduled post.


All the best,
Roxanne

Does ProDPI offer any online proofing options or do you use them for self-fulfillment options and have all your clients place their print orders with you?

ProDPI does have a partnership with Digiproofs. Check out ProDPI's website.

Jeff from ProDPI here, let me know if you guys have any questions at all!

HONESTLY who cares if your clients "figure out" where you get your prints from? 1.) they should understand and/or be educated about the fact that YOU OBVIOUSLY MAKE MONEY ON PRINTS and your cost is irrelevant to them and b.) they can't order prints from your lab (unless it's *gag* mpix) since pro labs require you to be a photographer/studio/artist to create an account w/ them anyway.

when my clients ask where i get prints done, i simply tell them that i process photographic prints and press products through a professional lab in the midwest, and that canvas prints are made in southern california by a super-kickass canvas facility (that's right rox, you are super-kickass!) They usually leave it at that. if i EVER send a print fulfillment order to a client, which i rarely do unless its from P2C, i'm really not too worried about people looking up the address. if they have that much time on their hands and if they're that bored with their photos, then i'm doing something wrong.

so far, no problems. it's really a non-issue for me.

Ditto for me. I aggree that it is a non-issue.

I am not sure if this has been mentioned yet, though I can not add to the debate on the return address, which btw UPS really wants to see the company that is shipping the product on the label, but I can tell you about the branding part that you mentioned.

We have had great success with our Executive Drop Ship program (Thanks OSP and DWF!). Put plain and simple. You place an order for your customer, we print, wrap in tissue paper and place in a nice black box. The box is held shut with a silver bow. We then can affix your studio sticker on the outside of the box if you would like. And lastly we put a 5x7 thank you card that you design (or use our templates) on the top. Here is an image of a presentation:

Click to view attachment


Everything is them placed in unbranded boxes/tape and shipped via UPS with a tracking number.

This is such a great idea!

Jeff... I've recently started having all prints over 8x10 mounted on styrene... can you exec drop ship those as well?

Does ProDPI do textured finishes?

Ryan,

We sure can!

On texturing: At this point we do not. We have had a slow but steady increase in requesting this service, so we are going to be looking into it.

i just checked out your site. i'd love to hear more about your service.

Drop me an email and I will make sure that you get our Digiproofs/ProDPI information!

jeff@prodpi.com

Jeff

P.S. As of March 1 we are adding Executive Drop Shipping to all Digiproofs orders!