I'm really liking it so far, although I haven't ordered anything yet.
Does anyone have any reviews? Pros? Cons?

Thanks! So far the Customer Service has been great.

Jessica, they're mentioned in a lot of recent posts-I'd try searching. A lot of negatives lately...

X-pensive! We're in the process of switching over to a PickPic cart. We couldn't justify staying with Pictage for what we were getting out of it...we don't use ANY of their products, or sell massive amounts of print enlargements. It just didn't add up anymore. Good luck to you...you might want to give PickPic a look.

Pictage sucks... just go over to the pictage section of the forum and read "Raped... a short story..." and you may have a bit more insight into their evilness. I'd say RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!!

Im getting out of pictage for many reasons, a couple of them have to do with their prints.

please expand on this. so far i really like their prints. at least they are on professional paper unlike many local labs

and there are a LOT more professional labs that have much better quality and service... i don't think [m]any of the pros here use "local labs"

and... i stand corrected (corrected by myself, that is) on my last post... looks like the "pictage" section of OSP has conveniently up and disappeared.... funny how those things happen when "the truth" starts to surface.

sometimes i wonder if these 'positive' posts about certain companies are plants.

sort of like a certain wanna-be "pro" lab who has a forum... and they have a bunch of new users posting rave reviews.... at the same time, negative reviews are heavily moderated, usually deleted, and the people who post the reviews are suspended, banned or at least heavily warned.....

yeah... i wouldn't be surprised if a LOT of the "positive" reviews of these shitty companies are plants.

One of the things you would see when you go through the Pictage experience....good and bad is that it doesnt profess to be for everyone. Based on what I do here in Trinidad, Pictage is a differentiator for me. I dont use their cart because it is just way to expensive and Im not too interested in the print business. I use their proofs books and album design along with their willow books. I love them personnally but not everyone does. It seems like Im in the minority.

Hi Jessica! I am so glad you are having a great experience with Pictage so far. The have a great training team and have really worked on continually improving their Customer Service.

I am sad to see some many people that responded to your thread have not had the same experience. I have been with Pictage for...still thinking...6 years! Wow! You want to talk about a company that has come a long way. Anyways, I have always said I could not have built my business from the place it is today without Pictage. I would not even know about this forum or know any of the people that I know on it without Pictage. Besides the business tools and products that it provides you, the community is one of the most powerful advantages and make sure to attend a PUG the first chance you get!

I would encourage you to have your own experience wit Pictage and keep us posted on the forum about how it is going. Pictage is a very vast service and it can be the most powerful tool in your business if you understand all the ways that you can take advantage of the service!

Good luck!

And how much Money have you lost?

Just my .02 here, so take it for what it is worth. I have said it before and will say it again, I have used ProDPI and found their service to be outstanding. Nobody would have taken the time that Jeff did to help me with monitor calibration. Their prints are very good. I do think that they do not hand review each image and I have gotten some back that were not acceptable due to color. Even if my monitor was off, some golds were bright green due to out of gamut.

I love Millers. Really tops.

I am working through an issue with Shades of Paper in NJ and X-Rite regarding a ColorMunki. I will let you know how it works out.

My name is Jeff and nobody gave me anything for saying the above.

Is it always so necessary for you to jump on any Pictage thread and be so negative? It's really getting pretty dang old.

Pictage works for some people (a lot of people) and it just simply doesn't work for others - that's cool. Let's try having constructive conversations, instead of ones filled with negativity

It's interesting, I don't post much, but I read a ton on here, and I've noticed that Trevor Meeks is so anti-Pictage that he must have had some kind of bad experience with them. That's understandable, and of course you're welcome to your opinion.

I would suggest that you form your own opinion based on the experience you have - the customer service and quality of print.

I know that for my business, it's been pretty huge. I also use WHCC for some things, but I can honestly say that I would not have been able to grow my business the way I have without a Lab/Marketing/Proofing Partner like Pictage.

There are a lot of great advantages to Pictage, and I've noticed that most of the people who complain about Pictage (and the supposed money they lost) are having a hard time really understanding the way it works.

For me, the "cost" is worth it to have:
Unlimited uploads
Pictage handles the marketing
Free Credit Card Processing
Hands Off Fulfillment
Offsite Backup of my images via FTP (worth far more than the cost!!!)
The incredible community and learning available


Do I like WHCC for some things? Yes. Is Pictage a good fit for everyone? No. Does it work for my business? Absolutely.

Disclaimer: Pictage doesn't pay me anything to say what I say, they probably don't even know who I am! I'm just sharing my experience.

I couldn't agree more - definitely let us know how your experience goes! I'm betting that you'll be pretty impressed

I agree with Jeff but I am HAPPY to give my numbers! I do not look at them very often so this will be fun! Just an FYI, we shoot about 15 to 20 high end weddings a year.

The problem with these numbers (and what most people do not understand about your numbers on Pictage) is that in the numbers are the money they collect for tax and shipping. That number is also reflected in what money Pictage takes back. So, on an order that is 1 4x6 that is 12.00 that commission is $1.20 but the tax and shipping might com to around $5 so it looks like they collected $17.00 and they kept $6.20 which you would see as them keeping 36% when in actuality they took 10% which include the cost of the credit card charge. Hope I did not loose anyone there but they have to charge our customers for tax and shipping and that is reflected in the amount the

My total print sales last year with Pictage were 10849.11
My expenses 3784.11
Total Profit from Web Sales were 7065.00

I also used P3 to collect over $100,000 last year so in that alone I save $3,000
At this point considering that shipping and tax is included in my expense total listed above. Pictage has given me money rather than cost (or lost) me money and I did not deal with a single order. Awh the good life! Thanks for making me check my numbers! I am happier than ever! I did not even realize it was that good!

hey jeff, btw, my post that you quoted and replied to had nothing to do with proDPI. I've heard nothing but good things about them, and while I haven't used them myself I don't have anything against them. I simply decline to mention the "wanna be pro lab" that I was referring to, since I don't really feel it necessary to have my name associated with them in the google index any more than it needs to be.

As far as pictage goes, yes, I hate them. I've talked to numerous people who have gotten ripped off and screwed over and treated like shit by them, and you know what? I don't find that acceptable any any way, no matter who the people are. If pictage works for some people, great. However I find that pretty inconsistent... they treat some people well and they treat others like crap and refuse to correct the errors they have made without making a huge fuss about stuff? That isn't the kind of customer service any company should uphold in any industry, and I honestly feel bad for the people who fall for the hype then get screwed in the end. Again, the people I've talked to and read reviews from have had their own real-life experiences with pictage, and those who have been taken advantage of are really upset about it.

So yes, I'm anti pictage. No, I don't have any affiliation with them whatsoever. I've never been one of their customers and I never will be. For good reason. Do I have a negative attitude about them? Yes. For good reason.

Friends don't let friends use pictage.

Goodness.

We've never lost money. In fact, we've made money, because without Pictage we would never see the traffic/print sales that we see now. I don't have the time to invest in self-fulfillment or even self-promotion at this stage in my business, and am thrilled to have a competent partner like Pictage to take care of me.

I am not a plant, either I've been using pictage for... 4? years, and I've never been happier. My clients are thrilled, as well!

Use them. Really invest in using them. Make an educated decision for yourself...

careful man...Nathan will get you!

Or probably not, he just picks on me...

just kool aid drinkers.

LOL as much as I'm sure I (unintentionally) offended Amber & Nathan, I still love 'em to death.

Maybe instead of pictage, we should all use SmugMug, because they're SOOOOO wonderful!

I Pictage.
Always have.
Sorry to hear it when people have problems. They have always done right by me.

Grape or Cherry Kool-Aid?

Isn't it funny how two other people called you out for being a negative asshole Trevor Meeks? Oops is google gonna pick that up? Darn!

LOL do you regularly feel the need to be a trolling bitch, Sarah Quiara? Apparently you do. Now fuck off!

I've had positives with Pictage.

I do recommend reviewing your statements though and talking with your pro rep about what to price your gift certificates/products at.

they've always been very helpful.

I just got a reprint order for 86 pictures - I would hate myself if I had to spend that time getting that order together. I'm sooo glad Pictage is doing the fulfillment.

Oh and also on P3 alone, I've saved OODLES of money. When I tell my accountant I don't get charged the CC processing fees, he just doesn't believe me.

I have cleared $80K with them this year so far. I am loosing my shirt. I would have had to pay out of $50K to do everything Pictage does for me over a course of a year. So the idea of earning $50K less this year is not pleasant.

Hmmmm.... A few things I do not have pay for...
Credit Card Processing
Shipping
Gas for Shipping
Time for Shipping
Packing Material for Shipping
People to make sure orders go out correctly and on time and accurately. I certainly don't have that kinda time.
Payroll taxes and accounting I save for not having those employees.
Oh! Insurance for those employees.
Work Stations and office space for those employees.
I would love to be an employer one day, but for now that will have to wait.
Time spent keeping an inventory for shipping
Initial Album Design estimated time saved 280 hours a year
Awesome Customer Service (My Experience Anyhow)
An wonderful place to get help with all my business concerns
I found out about OSP because of Pictage

What do I get in return...
More time to spend with my family
More time for my clients
Better level of customer service (because I am freed up for that)
More time to shoot
More time to be educated
More time to spend on forums
More money. Don't get me wrong they ain't cheap, but the cost of doing business can be much higher for me.
Wonderful quality of work.

I use another lab for some other work, but with recent announcements with Pictage changes that will change.

Not offended, ever

And Nathan never picks on anyone

Amber, Im so glad that you know how to be a good sport about things. Also I didn't mean to offend you, you probably knew that. I've just had conversations with some very good friends of mine who are very very good photographers and business people and it's amazing to hear how downright terrible their experiences with pictage were. Again, inconsistency isn't something you want from a company like pictage! Big bummer.

Ps. Nathan never picked on me. He's not a troll.

I have had one issue after another with pictage's billing, they always promise me a full if refund if they screw up yet again, and always find some convienent way to back out of the promise. I finally just cancelled my debit card. It's all such a hassle. I'd rather use a smugmug gallery, let friends and extended family order images through smugmug, and the bride/groom and their parents order through me and I self-fulfill from color inc with drop shipping. It's so much easier than all the time I wasted on Pictage with their ever-changing system and massive billing errors. Plus I am bothered that Pictage calls their album design service free. It's free alright, as long as you don't actually want to order it. I'm sure plenty of people have had good experiences, but it seems to be the minority.

I also had a pretty bad experience with them. I had to pay for my 'free' album I got when I signed up and no one seemed to have an answer if when I'd get that refunded or if I would get it refunded. Someone would say I would, someone would say I wouldn't - mess. The icing on the cake was the book came to me messed up and was warping after only 6 months of use - if that. Ah well, I'm onto better places!

man i havent been on osp for a while , sometimes you guys crack me up.

All right, I can't believe I'm posting here. I'm totally exposing myself to getting bombed here, but I just hopped on, cringing the whole way because of all the bad reports, to Pictage. After an insane spring of driving myself and my husband nuts with the craziness of work, I cried UNCLE and joined to simplify my life.

So I'm only two months in, so I can't give a full report, but I have to say I love having a more professional place for my clients to purchase prints. I LOVE that I don't have to dick around with print orders when I can be with my family. (Clients ended up just coming to my house to complete orders because photoreflect was so crappy.) I was surprisingly happy with the album design and it's finally pushing me to offer more products.

So glad to see that I'm not the only one who just joined. Time will tell if I'm still doing Pictage 6 months from now. I hope so, because I don't want my sample albums to be worthless. we'll see what they hike the prices up to once my into year is over.

Ok, I'm shushing. I'm at Pictage cautiously, but I know some great photographers who are using pictage so I don't see them going out of business because of it.

PS Can't we all just get along?

Wow - does anybody else think it's sketchy that all the Pictage threads are just gone?

What do you mean by this?:

"Plus I am bothered that Pictage calls their album design service free. It's free alright, as long as you don't actually want to order it."

I don't care how good a business works for (or treats) some of their customers. Any business that is so ungraceful as to cause a customer to cancel her debit card to stop the charges will never work for me.

I never seriously considered them in the first place because I don't want a lab/fulfillment company that promotes it own brand to my customers, but that's a personal decision. Image hosting and order fulfillment is a competitive business with several good options, no matter what you think about their prices and service offerings the complete lack of customer service when a photographer has a problem or wants to cancel and move to a different solution should drive everyone to find another solution.

This is just a thought, so everyone go with me on this for a sec.... walk with me talk with me lol

Since the Pictage 'album design' is free.... (as long as I use willowbook or LC, and therefore dont have to purchase the design)...Could I technically have them design something, and then 'mimick' it in photoshop to send to a different album company?

I am just wondering morally and ethically... is this right? It still saves me the 'thinking process' time, and I am relatively fast on photoshop... is it a moral 'no-no' to copy it and use another company? I mean, it IS a free design service....

thoughts?


p.s. and just so it doesnt seem like I am trying to take over this thread, I have had ups and downs with Pictage, I am in my 2nd full time year and only NOW am I seeing actual orders... as frustrating as that is, thats not their fault... I debated only using pictage for proofbooks but now that I am seeing a profit (and based on that kickass post by Sarah France and a few others as well) I think I want to have Pictage's lovechild.... well maybe not that far.... yet....

so my vote: I was a -1, then a 0, then a +1, then a 0, then a -1, then a +1...aw hell, make your own decision... who runs your company: you or people on a forum?