I was wondering what online proofing you would recommend that is free as I am just starting out. I want to use flash over html so the images cant be downloaded but with a wedding there are over a 1000 proofs and it doesn't look like the gallery tool that is built into CS3 supports that many images. Just frustrated and looking for help. Thanks....

Well, this brings a couple of questions to mind. First of all, I hope to GOD you're making some money on these weddings you're shooting. That being said, online proofing doesn't HAVE to be expensive. You have a website, you can have a host-it-yourself system for about a hundred bucks. EZ PhotoSales costs $100... I've used it for three years and I've paid myself back for it many times over! Do yourself a favor and invest in something that will work great and make a good impression on your clients, not some crappy free online gallery that looks like anyone could do it. EZPS is PHP based, not flash, and yet images are not able to be downloaded by right clicking or dragging... so that's really nice. You're also able to fully customize EZPS to blend with your website, and you can set as many product/pricing structures as you want. The shopping cart is handled by PayPal, which is obviously free (no monthly fees) and they take a minute percentage of each sale for processing credit cards and bank account transactions. Your clients need not have a PayPal account to order from you... they can pay safely and securely with any major credit card and you can transfer money right to your bank account.

If you're interested I'll be happy tell you more about EZPS. I consider myself a long-time user and I've been extremely satisfied with it. Carey Schumacher who owns and developed EZPS is a fellow OSP-er, and she and her programmer Matt are awesome when it comes to tech support should you have any questions or issues.

Good luck...

Not to thread-jack, but this question does revolve around costs...Trevor, since you self-fulfill your prints, how'd you structure your shipping costs to accommodate from small to large orders (e.g., a few small prints up to say a 16x20)? Does EXPS ask for a flat fee, percentage or what? I thought I read that you typically use (?) ProDPI, right? Are you drop shipping all orders or getting them first? (thus having to build in costs for extra shipping)...just curious how someone who's established handles this.

Thx,
Keith

I'm going to try it out - it just might be what I've been looking for!

you will LOVE EZPS.

I have 2 gallery software programs available as well - my freegallery, which is flash based, and my basicgallery system, which is database driven.

At this point, both use the paypal shopping cart, like EZ. The great part about that is the money just shows up in your account, and if you use the paypal debit card, it's super easy to fill the order and the profit just stays in your account!

As for filling the orders, I usually just drop ship. Candid2000 offers drop shipping for $1.25, plus you can get the premium packaging folders for $2.50. Even if the order is below their minimum order, the upcharge is only $3.50 I believe, so at most, your shipping costs are $7.25. If you use MPix, you can drop-ship overnight Fed-Ex for a flat rate of $9.95. WHCC offers $5.00 drop shipping, so it's pretty easy to control the shipping costs - you just go into your paypal account and set up your shipping rate as a "flat rate" model.

I know EZ has a free trial (as does my basicgallery) but if you need just simple functionality, my freegallery system is (of course!) free! It only offers 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 prints though, but that's 90% of most orders anyway.

http://www.on3galleries.com

let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

Shan

EZPS does NOT cost anything to use. you simply buy the software. one time price. 100 bucks. fully customizable. yep, the only thing you pay is paypal's little 2.9% per transaction fee.

i have paypal set up to automatically calculate shipping based on the total of the order... most people are pretty comfortable with this type of shipping calculation, and i set it to make me a bit more than actual shipping cost to obviously cover packaging and handling (i QC every order from WHCC, Pixel2Canvas or whoever the vendor is that I'm dealing with on any given order) which brings me to the part of drop shipping vs. me getting it.... yes, i have all prints come to me (well, 99% of the time) mostly because i LOVE to see my stuff on paper and I also prefer to custom package my orders and ship them with a personal touch. this isn't very expensive... very basic, and takes very little extra time. and btw, you shouldn't have to worry about these kinds of costs/a little bit of time here and there because you should be marking your prints up at least 300-500% bare minimum..... go figure.

shan's gallery sounds enticing, but i honestly have to say that the limit on print sizes is a big turn off. with EZPS you can create ANY menu you want, along with many different pricing structures that can be added independently to any gallery...

please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.... i'll be happy to get you a look into my EZPS setup, or of course you can just go to their website http://www.ezphotosales.com and download the fully functional free trial which is good for two weeks of use (yes, including actual money-making orders!)

Yeah, that limit is only on my free gallery system. It's designed for quick and easy - plus I wanted to have some incentive to go with the pro version!

You brought up a good point about the biggest difference between EZ and On3 - the on3 is based around a single price structure for items, and you can add discounts to each gallery individually. EZ is based around each gallery, so you can have different prices for 5x7s on each gallery. I went my way to streamline price changes - just change it once and it's updated immediately.

I use the flat rate based on order total shipping rate calculation as well. Paypal does now offer multiple shipping options, so you can have different levels if you want. Just realize that it always goes with the lowest price option as default, so if you put a "Studio Pickup: $0.00" option in there, you'll end up making lots of calls to out of state people trying to collect payment for shipping! (or waiting until they come in town to pick it up! LOL)

Shan

How about Instaproofs? I use it.

if you use lightroom ck out http://www.lightroomgalleries.com/template...-shopping-cart/
you can make a web gallery with a paypal shopping cart...and it's FREE! works great on smaller jobs, better and easier than ezps (which I have ) imo.
bl

how is it better than EZPS if EZPS will work for big jobs, like weddings?

imo ezps has a "clunky" interface, one which I would never use for larger jobs like weddings. For those I use Collages.net., much more elegant and professional looking, and at $39.00 per wedding is cheap imo, especially if you build the cost into your fee. I was using ezps ( you are right about their customer service, it's the best!) and waiting for their upgrade when I stumbled on the LR template. Very fast and easy to use. Have you checked it out?
bl

I have used ezps for weddings for 3 years now... You must be using it wrong. The LR plugin is nice for single photo sales, like fine art prints or something. Really uninpressive otherwise, and certainly not something I'd send my clients to.

One good free option is Photoreflect - they have a free web version of their software, you set pricing AND set your lab OR self fulfill. It's pretty much flawless that way. Not as great an interface as Collages or PhotoCart but still - for FREE.

http://www.photoreflect.com I think - ok that's for signup.

http://www.expressdigital.com/support/downloads-WE.shtm And this is for the free web edition software.

sorry Trevor, didn't mean to rile you up, one guy likes cabernet, the other merlot, that's all.
bl

Thanks TM...I'll hit you up this weekend for a peek at the system. Appreciate the advice. km