I am looking for a goood proofing company/host. I will use them only for image hosting and ordering. I will keep my lab so I am not interested in " do all " type bussiness like pictage. I was going to host my own software this year but I have decided to wait till I will upgrate my website. I would apreciate some suggestions.

Thax!

Instaproofs

I've been using them for almost two years and love them. They only take 15% of an order that you receive. There are no other costs and you get unlimited space. If you sign up, use my email as a referral: info@exposedbythelight.com

Good luck!

http://www.digilabs.biz
http://www.reprintorders.com


I use both and they are very good and can be seamlessly integrated into your website.

2nd vote for Instaproofs. They are awesome at implementing features that the memebers ask. Just in the past 2 weeks, at least 2 features that I know of and use have been implemented. They are the best.

We'll be installing PickPic pretty soon. If you can wait a few weeks, you might want to take a look at them. One-time installation fee. No percentage.

Adam, how customizable is the PickPic shopping cart? And how easy is it to re-configure/change it once it's installed? I was considering moving to it, but after seen the kind of response to feature requests in Instaproofs, a shoping cart started to feel a bit more difficult to manage and work with. Your thoughts?

PickPik is the best solution hands down, but it is $1000 investment. I will buy it myself but to do so I wont to upgrate my website first. And second thing it would be smart to upgrate your hosting for the security reasons. At this point all together would cost me around $3000. That is why I have to settle for something else for now.

Guys what do you know about Exposuremanager?

By the way didgilabz is charging additional annual fee of $150. I say screw them!
One thing everyone needs to understand is that those companies offer just a regular hosting nothing less nothing more. But because they add additional software they feel like they can charge multiple what would regular hosting company charge.
Digilabz charge 17% of your sells plus $ 150 annual. Whaw I can't stop laughing.

Here is something I would suggest to check out http://www.picturespro.com/. I believe credit card charging is available but you have to talk to them directly about it.

I currently use Exposure Manager, and there are things I'm happy with and things I'm not happy with.

The good:

-A very clean, attractive interface that is far less cluttered than most of the other options out there. This means ALOT to me as my website and style is all about simple and clear.

-Customizable to blend nicely with your website, no Exposure Manager branding means it doesn't feel like you've left your site for another.

- Nice large images so you can really see what you're buying (another biggy for me)

-Easy self fulfillment options, discounts, coupons, print vouchers, etc, make it all very customizable.

-They handle all the money stuff, taking credit cards, collecting tax, etc, and just send a check for the balance.

-Smaller percentage (10%) than anyone else and less than $10 a month for unlimited images posted in unlimited numbers of galleries.

-Good referral program means I haven't actually paid for awhile.

The bad:

-Lack of support for features that portrait/wedding photogs need, like adding favorites for album planning or a saved shopping cart. They're geared more toward sports/event photogs and don't seem willing to quite step up the plate for what I think portrait and wedding photogs want. This, for me, is becoming a deal breaker.

-Once a month checks means waiting a looong time for your money to come in.

-Sometimes clunky back end, like the inability to sort your products into categories so you have to wade through a long list to find what you want to add.

-No easy way to for customers to select album images, favorites, or multiple images for the same product.

-Option for lab fulfillment if you want to go that route. For my travel stuff, it's not worth it to fulfill any orders when they come in one at a time, so I upload the full size file and let them take care of everything on the printing and shipping end.

A few sample galleries:

my kids gallery: http://saraheinrichs.exposuremanager.com/g/kids
newborn proofs: http://saraheinrichs.exposuremanager.com/g/dahlia

This is what I am currently using. I started with photoreflect then moved to instaproofs.

PR sucked. Always had problem of some kind.

Instaproofs was great. I just got tired of the % fee.

I am really happy with photocart.

I have started a symilar thread a few days ago. You may look there for answers:

http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index...?showtopic=7299

Anybody use ezphotosales? For me starting out it looks like a decent option.

Lots of the child photographers I know through another forum use it and love love love it. I'm half way there myself, just as sooooon as I wrap up some lagging orders.

+1 for Instaproofs... Adam that runs the show is EXTREMELY helpful. I have been nothing but pleased.

Ezphotosales for me. It's a great company to work with and the customer service is EXCELLENT!!!

www.ezphotosales.com

forgot to post the link

www.ezphotosales.com

I switched out of Pictage a while back and went with exposure manager. I am pretty happy with them. I don't put a huge weight on my online sales though. I agree about some of the back end features. I have been pretty happy with them so far. I had them run some 16x20's for me to check print quality. Very good job. I think I found a new home.

I use www.studiocart.com I've been very happy with them. It was between studio cart and ezphotosales for me,both are affordable and can be custom tailored for your needs, but I didn't like that at EZ I had to use a paypal account to process transactions. I have my own credit card system, and don't care for the paypal version. Brian at studiocart has been very quick to get back to me when I've had questions or needed assistance.

If you do choose to go with studio cart could you do me a favor and use me as your reference (Jen Stewart Photography)

Thanks, and good luck in your search!

I have a professional account with SmugMug and have been very happy with them! You can fully customize your shopping cart for each individual job, for different categories, or set it the same across the board. You can choose to password protect. No limitation on the amount of uploads or sizes, and no limitations on how long you can keep it posted.

If you are interested in signing up for an account with smugmug, use my email address as a referral and you will get $5 off. sales@elizabethcrookphoto.com

Are there any Canadian options? (Other than shipping across the boarder).